Chapter 10: Death Upon the King

250 years ago, 24 married couples landed in the neutral grounds of Flore. They hunted, farmed, and lived together in those lands. Nobody has control over what they did, or cared. Those people were washed off from a shipwreck. They all decided to form gangs. They formed off 12 gangs, with four people in each. Each gangs had control over one thing and they lived in peace. Everyone had children. Then the fight over the head of their group began. The Kurosawa gang wanted to be the leader, but others disagreed. After having the gang heads with an agreement of whoever wins the game of war, wins the leader position, they prepared. The game of war was a 12 way chess game. It was to prove who could win with war better and lead the Kurosaki clan. Hiro Kuroda won the game. The chess game over the generations turned into a live person game board, where the chess pieces were people of the clan and they followed the orders of the player. Some gangs joined forces and the clan kept getting bigger. By the fourth generation, they were considered a clan by the eyes of the world.

Hiro was alive and healthy, but when the third generation began, he had gotten old. There he searched and hunted for a way to get better. When he remembered the legend of the Black Hand ritual, he did it. The ritual had poisonous ingredients and risks, but this old man was going to do anything to stay alive. Following all of the steps, the last step was to bury him and wait for 100 years for him to dig himself out. They did it all. The clan doubted him and thought he was getting old and crazy. In 100 years, the clan, now in its seventh generation waited at where he was dug to honor the death of the first king 100 years ago.

Sunako, a young girl reached out with her delicate finger tips to press on the rough material Hiro was wrapped in. The sensation tingled her gentle tips and put her to grin with the flimsy expression Sunako always kept. Her soft and easy giggle flew through Hiro's ear. He had gracefully rose upon it. The wrinkled smile he possessed relaxed her soul. There was no one else watching, but her now. The Black Hand ritual had managed to work, but only Hiro and Sunako knew.

The Black Hand ceremony was used by dark wizards. Hiro didn't know his father was one, but he learn much of the forbidden black magic. This one is used to keep the user in his current age forever. He would no longer age from now on, but his left hand was raven black now. Hiro magic was the second generation shadow god slayer. eHHsa His father was the one who caused this. His father Kuroda, Kenta was a well-known and feared dark mage. His son, Hiro was going to be in danger, so he sent him on the boat from Bosco that would sail to Flore. Hiro who had a wife went on the boat together. This boat was going to be a trip for married couples. Over 50 couples had been on this. That boat was attacked by those hunting for Hiro and he got washed off in the neutral lands along with others.

Hiro left the clan shortly after talking with Sunako.

"The clan has developed very well!" Hiro praised. "How it is very different from what I had seen."

"I'm the princess of it!" Sunako informed. "It sucks!"

"It does?"

"Yep. Every day I train non-stop, while everyone else gets to play. I have to train to become the bride of the Kurosawa gang. I don't wanna though. He's old. My older brother choose him, because he's a close friend."

"Life is sure hard as the seventh generation. In my generation we could marry whoever we wanted."

"Really? Do you get to play if you're a princess and not act lady-like?"

"Of course. We have the freedom to choose. I don't approve of how it is now."

"I don't either! Mom gets mad at me for talking like this. She says it's not formal."

"But it's better to be you."

"Can you change it?"

"No my dear. I'm sorry, but I no longer have authority."

"But you were the first king."

"But I was, but not anymore."

"I wish everyone here was nicer. I wish they're gone!"

"Do you really?"

"Yep! They all are meanies!"

"The clan was first made to live peacefully and systematically."

"Really?!"

"Yes, but some wanted kings and it got all out of hand since then."

"Oh! So everyone was nice until the king problem."

"Yes. Now it's a terrible mess."

"I wish it wasn't."

"It seems like the clan should be destroyed now."

"It should!"

"Then I will. I'll do it slowly. When I'm done with it, I'll wait for you in Hargeon. Do the Black Hand ritual when you're 60 years old. In 60 years from now I will be working on destroying the clan, without the clan or Flore knowing the real reason why."

"Ok! Promise!"

"Yes, I promise."

Hiro and the other people who want to abolish the clan formed a gang called the Ruby Cross Flames. The Hiro was put in a high security prison for using the Black Hand ritual. There he got the nickname of the Black Hand. The Ruby Cross Flames broke him out. To get the attention of earth onto something else, he caused the south war to rage.

Now he's waiting in Hargeon. I detest him. Just because of that he caused war and killed off the clan. Not everyone in the clan was bad. He killed people I cared about. Because of him, the Kuro team I was in died off. He is the reason innocent people are suffering in the South war. Bellum and Caelum have cut off to working with the South or North. The two countries used to be close to the North countries, but now relations are all withdrawn because of the war. Hiro is the one at fault for all of this.

The Kuro team was formed to stop Hiro and his gang. We all knew well what he wanted and his promise. Sunako's diary had told all of us the story. Natsu was saved by my entire gang. We had to fake his death. The gangs wanted to save him by leaving him with the dragon. I was supposed to be in the Kuro team, where we'd fight in the war until we die, even at this young age. The real war began when I was only seven years old. I had been training hard even then, but with more effort and motivation. I would fight in the war.

This war brought in the top of Flore. Only they would remember the war, but only I will know the true outcome and how it ended. The raging war had Bosco in it too. Somehow, Hiro and his gang got them in this. I killed people. Yes, I did. It scared myself how I could kill with no hesitation. When, Hiro's men was giving warnings of the war and harassing the weaker part of the clan, Natsu was fighting. He wasn't really much smarts, and had no magic, but his strength and skills in fighting put fear over many. Natsu was 11 years old. He fought and fought, not willing to abandon anyone. Unlike me, Natsu showed compassion, whereas I could kill and not give a single thought. I'm horrible and no one can say it's not true. When a man tried to shoot Natsu down during that time, I slid my sword out and cut his throat. That's how I was raised. Natsu was in another set of training for the king's position. He never was taught to kill, only to fight.

We took out Natsu's memory with a magic recipe in the middle of war. Hiro left some at our clan and we used those banned and illegal potions all the time. Afterwards, we sucked out some of his blood and spilled it all over the sacrifice. The sacrifice was Kosuke. He had the same fit, height, weight, and similar voice as Natsu. All we needed was to dye his hair, and make it spikey. Then add in contacts and done, another Natsu was made. Kosuke was my partner in the Kuro team. I fell in love with him, but he... died. I had the job of taking Natsu to the volcano to the dragon. It was challenging, but in six months, I managed to get him up there. In the process, my mom died, along with Kumiko. Kumiko was alive after we placed Natsu there, unlike my mom, but she died in the lava, saving me. Another member of the Kuro team dead. Uncle had stroke from old age in the midpoint of battle. Kai's body was found and his heartbeat seemed to already have stopped when we located his body.

Kazuo and I were the only ones left. Everyone in the clan was dead, except for us. Hiro and his gang strived and lived well. Kazuo died injuring him, as I handled the rest of the gang. Hiro was caught and sent off to jail. Some of the gang fought me, while the others tried restlessly to break him out of jail. In four years, the war ended. How did it end? What everyone other than me believes is that my dad, the king ran off and went missing. It wasn't that. I killed the king, my dad. This is something only I know; not Hisui, Natsu, Tetsuya, or anyone else.

Chapter 11: A Opened Heart

Dad told me to kill him. He said it'd reduce the amount of lives in danger in war. The king wasn't scared of death. He put death upon himself. I killed him. I stabbed him in his heart and let him bleed to death.

"Sakura, find Natsu. Tell him everything. I love you both," was what the king uttered before his death.

The war did stop after his death. No one knows why he died, but me. Hiro let me off alive for an unknown reason. I was the only survivor left on the Kurosaki clan side. Makarov took me to a hospital after I knocked out from lack of sleep, food, and too much stress.

"Sakura," Makarov called out. "I'm joining you in the shower~"

"Perverted old man!" I punched him pissed off wrapped a towel.

The countries debated on keeping me alive or not. I snuck out of the hospital to peek on them.

"She is a dangerous being," One declared. "She must be killed, otherwise she will harm all of Flore!"

"However she will be of our use," Another protested. "Perhaps, she can intervene in the south war for-"

"No," Hisui rejected. "She has been in war since she was seven years old! Can't you see that she needs someone to save her? All her treasures have been taken away one by one in years of war by one man!"

"Kuro Sakura is young," Tetsuya chimed in. "She seen too much as a child. She doesn't need to be saved. She needs someone to love her and for her to love someone. To be loved and to love is an aspect humans require to be healthy in their minds."

"What will keeping her alive will do?" Michiko questioned. "Unless if we-"

"She's too much trouble," Another interrupted.

"Do not kill her," King Moriyama ordered. "Warlord or not, dangerous or not, can you really call this leading our world in the correct direction? What do you see in the eyes of that young girl? She does not want to fight or cause us trouble. I have seen her and briefly chatted, but all I needed was that brief talking to find out that she is only acting like this to convince us to kill her."

"If she wants to die then let her," Tatsuya yawned. "Can't we let her decide then?"

"Then tell us what do you want to do Kuro Sakura," King Moriyama asked knowing what I'd do. "What is your choice?"

I watched this with tears creeping to the surface of my eyes in the shadows hidden away. Why did he see through me? He can't see me, but he knew I'd come over here to peer at what they'd say. How come some of them wanted me alive and cared about me? I couldn't understand why a warlord who killed so many can be told that she's still a human being that needed happiness. I slipped in their view not forcing my tears in anymore. I never felt like this before. What is this emotion? I don't know myself to this day.

"I-I want to live!" I rubbed my watery eyes. "I want to live!"

Not many were shocked. They saw through me. They knew I was wondering how everyone thought of me and how confused I was on living or dying, so I sneaked in the place. It was hard not to be seen, since I was the main topic of the top in the world. Even the leaders in the South war took their time to come over to interrogate me like everyone else fixated on me in the hospital. They couldn't hear, see, or notice me hiding, but they could read my mind. It was months after the war ended that I found my place to stay.

The following years, I worked with all of them with the issues of the war and world. They were willing to do so. Hisui and I found ourselves to be close friends and shared deep secrets. Then I found Natsu after searching six months for him. I fainted, fought, and cried, but today was unlike any other day.

"Sakura came back!" Lucy cheered. "How was this meeting?"

"Nothing new," I muttered sitting on the counter tired. "Can ya get me some beer?"

"Here," Mirajane handed me a bottle. "You seem stressed."

"Nothing I haven't handled before," I jugged the bottle down. "My memories were playing in my head the entire time I walked here."

"Sakura!" Natsu jumped up. "Fight-"

I threw him over the side and let him crash into the table. He back up even more excited. I don't have the time for this. He gave me some attacks, but I ended up like how we always did; with my fist in his face.

"Sakura?" Natsu held his head. "I remember all of it now!"

"Huh?!" I exclaimed. "You-"

"I got my memories back!"

"No. No way!"

"How did the war end? How's dad and mom?"

"Shit. Just at the worst timing."

"Hey, little sis what happened all these years?"

"LITTLE SIS!" everyone exclaimed the same way I did when he got his memories back.

"No fucking way is this happening," I shook my head sighing. "My punch gave you your memories back."

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked. "Hey let's go back home and fight!"

"Onii-chan," I began. "We... no let's discuss this somewhere else."

"Why?" Natsu questioned. "Can't we just talk here?"

"... onii-chan was always an idiot," I sighed remembering. "No."

"He's your brother!?" Lucy wide eyed asked.

"And your my sister in law," I joked around to ease my mood. "Good luck."

"So that day when we met..." Ezra started. "You two do look alike."

"How did this happen?" some of the members questioned. "Natsu lost his memories?"

"Why haven't you said a thing?" Makarov asked in tears. "We had such a close and wonderful relationship! And yet you kept this-"

"We have no relationship!" I punched Makarov harder than usual to get off more stress. "Onii-chan, let's go."

"Yeah," Natsu grabbed my hand. "Where to?"

"My house," I insisted. "Or yours. Just some quiet place."

"Sure."

"Give us an explanation too," Gray requested getting ahold of my other free hand. "We're way too confused here."

"But, I wanna be alone with onii-chan," I pouted reverting back to how it was in the old days. "Lucy always steals him. She can be his wife, but I wanna have some of him to myself."

"Wife?!" Lucy blushed.

"Can't you just tell us something?" Wendy asked. "We're all in bewilderment right now."

"First you are a warlord and now you're Natsu's little sister," One guild member uttered. "What are you exactly?"

"I'm the Kurosaki's clan former princess," I set a sweet smile to shake them off. "And then Onii-chan is-"

"The prince," Carla finished off my sentence. "Of the Kurosaki clan that was destroyed three years ago."

"Destroyed?" Natsu looked over at me in sadness. "Sakura, we lost the war?"

"Geez, this is why I wanted us to be alone," I tugged on Natsu's arm. "We're going to my house."

"Rely on us," Lucy stopped me in my tracks. "We'll help Natsu get through it all!"

That stabbed me. How long how has it been since I relied on someone? I fought alone in the war. I never asked for help and brushed everyone who wanted to off. Lucy really is something. Her words really got to me. It's really been a long time since a person has told me that. I couldn't move anymore.

My strength holding on Natsu lessen and I lifted my head. The reason why I didn't let anyone help me was that I was scared they'd die like everyone in the war. That won't happen. No matter what I won't let it happen!

I rehearsed all of what had occurred in the guild holding on to Natsu. He cried, laughed, and forgave me for killing dad. I was tough and difficult to say it all. The guild listened all to it along. I never told even Hisui some of it, but today I did. I called over Hisui, Tetsuya, and King Moriyama to tell them it all. Everyone was rather surprised from my change of heart. If they were to ask why, I'd say it's all my sister in law's fault for opening my heart up.

"Onii-chan," I softly jerked on is arm. "Why are they all like this?"

I pointed at the guild members that were crying their eyes out. It was a sad story, but they just look ridiculous. I tried my best to calm them down, but... it seems in never going to end. The guild was flooded with tears, literally. I was sitting on a table next to onii-chan, but it was beginning to reach the surface of the table. Tetsuya was also sitting next to me.

"Is this even possible?" Tetsuya stared at the flood shaking his head. "These guys are on a different level."

"Yep," I laughed. "They really are."

"The south war hasn't ended, but this is a signal to party!" King Moriyama jugged down beer. "Sakura being able to open her heart puts me at ease."

"Hey King Moriyama, don't just party here!" Michiko scolded. "We still have some paperwork to do!"

"Have some fun," Hisui poured beer down her throat. "We can't sulk and cry forever."

"I'm... I'm sorry for being mean all this time, got it?" Tatsuya blushed.

"So he was always a tsundere," I giggled. "Hell, even I never saw this."

"No one did," Icebreg's king still in shock shuddered. "No one saw any of this ever happening."

"Don't just sleep there!" Michiko scolded Bosco's representative, who knocked out with one sip of beer. "Just all like children! Stop crying already! You've cried for a straight hour!"

"Michiko, stop being such a mom," Tetsuya ordered laughing. "But I suppose you can't help it when we're all like this."

Michiko isn't a bad person after all. She just wants the best for everybody, but no one listens to her unless she gets stern and unfriendly. Tatsuya was just a tsundere who was bullied despite being a prince and says random dumb things to keep his composure and hiding his true personality, so he looked foolish and cruel, but he's just a person trying to fit in and make friends, so he does his best to stand out.

Everyone here is really fun and nice! I'm seriously way too glad and cheerful right now, but whatever. I like it here, where I am right now. I can cry, smile, and laugh, whatever I want in front of them. This is where I belong.

(Hiro's POV)

Sakura is too much of a threat. I let her live because Sunako wanted the princess and prince to be kept alive, but if I still do now, Sakura might just take this chance of revenge to kill Sunako or threaten her, while Sunako is in her 100 years of sleep. I can't let that happen. Sakura has lots on her side, so it'll be hard to kill her. Since that's the case, I have to kill them all. Cherish those last moments princess, because I'm going after you now. I have to wipe out the princess.