Yuki and the Beast

Chapter 7: Life For a Life

"Are you sure?" I asked. I didn't want to risk the possibility of waking Kira up. You know how scary he is by now.

"Yes! Now follow us." Kori said, Neon standing beside him. We began walking through the castle.

Once we got towards the end of the castle, Kori pointed to the left staircase on the side of us.

"As you know, that's where your room is."

Neon pointed to the right staircase.

"The west wing is up there somewhere in that section, but don't you DARE go up to the west wing. In front of us is a ballroom."

I nodded.

"Of course I won't go up into the west wing."

But of course that just got me even more inquisitive about the whole west wing thing.

I began to walk up the staircase. Neon and Kori blocked my way.

"You'll get to know the castle better if you follow us." Neon said. I walked back down the stairs.

Kori and Neon got back in front of me. I pretended to follow Neon and Kori, but when they weren't looking, I went up those stairs and didn't look back. I made sure to make my way towards the west wing as quickly but quietly as I could.
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As I walked down the hall, I knew I was getting close to the west wing. I stopped walking once I was in front of two dark red, torn up curtains. From age or from Kira? Maybe both, but that didn't matter. This must be it.

To the left side of the west wing entrance was a room, but the door was closed. I wonder if it was a room that belonged to Kira.

I shrugged it off and entered the west wing, keeping my footsteps light as possible in order to avoid waking Kira up if that room next to this area really was his room. I looked around in the darkness as my eyes grew adjusted to it.

As I was walking around, I noticed pictures on the walls and on the floor. The pictures on the floor had cracked frames while others stayed intact. Some of the pictures looked like a family of three while others looked like portraits of someone with blue hair.

"These pictures must be of Kira's family while others must be of him..." I thought as I stepped on something, looking down and seeing I had stepped on a picture that laid curled up in the middle of the room. Crouching down, I tried to smooth down the picture that had fallen out of its frame.

Despite the scratches on it, I could tell it was Kira, but the partially torn portrait made it hard to tell what Kira originally looked like.

"Ah, that's right. Didn't Neon imply everyone in this castle was once human? Poor guy must think that he's never gonna be back in his human form..." I thought, sighing and standing back up. No wonder why the boy is so angry all the time.

The only light in here was coming through the open balcony window near the back of the room. As I walked towards the back of the room, I noticed a rose sitting on a round table held captive by a glass case some feet in front of the balcony. The moon seemed to emphasize this, as it shone on the case and appeared to make the glass even brighter than it should be. Only one chair was seated with this table.

I couldn't help it. It was almost like I was drawn to it. The vibrant pink color of the rose called to me, seeming to be enchanted as it shimmered inside the glass.

I walked towards it. I had to see it. I no longer cared if my footsteps were quiet or not.

Once I was close enough, I seemed to fall in a trance as I stared at it. Why didn't it look normal? How strange.