Prologue

They played outside as the snow was falling lightly from the dark grey skies. Throwing snowballs at one and another as they ran around in from of a magnificent and elegant castle. They two of them seemed inseparable from one and another it seemed like, enjoying every minuet of their time together before the sun would go down for the night. They were the best of friends, Shadow and Kuroni, they were growing up together in their small homeland Eterna. Out of every one, Kuroni was the only one besides her family that accepted Shadow for who she was, some thing about her made most of the men in the town very angry, until her baby sister Anno was born. Shadow was very close to Anno, even though communication between them was extremely difficult, however, there was Kuroni who helped them out, at least, helped Anno know what Shadow was saying. So instead of it being Shadow and Kuroni as the best of friends, it was Anno, Shadow and Kuroni, a trio of friends. However, there was one person on the sidelines who became very jealous of them, and became even more so when Anno was accepted instead of him. To him... it was his brothers’ entire fault... Kuroni. It was Kuroni's younger brother, Intaku who was jealous of them only because of his deep feelings for Shadow and how he was always around her and allowed some one like Anno join their group instead of him. His jealousy got the best of him and he plotted his revenge to get just what he wanted, he wasn't going down without some kind of struggle.

During the daytime of Shadow's 8th birthday, her mother Lynnian came to Kuroni in a warning on what was going to happen during the night, a prediction that only she and Kuroni would know. He didn't like the thought on what was to happen this night, a special night for Shadow. It sickened him to the bottom of his stomach, to think that his younger brother was going to murder the family. He was given a special mission to get Shadow out of this castle unharmed from Intaku's wrath when the time was to come for it. He didn't act too much of himself on that day which made Shadow wonder even though she didn't ask about it to him. As night came around, she noticed that he was acting a bit more strangely than normal from how he was during the day, which was starting to worry her.

'Kuroni?' Her lips moved silently as they looked at each other, a rather concerned look lingered on her face. "What is it Shadow?" He asked her, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly, a bit curious to know what she needed to say. 'What's going on? You've been acting so strange today and you seem like you're ready to kill some one now...' After she had said that, there was only silence between them, not like there was any sound from her in the first place. However, her bedroom lay silent as neither of them said a word. He looked away from her slightly, frowning a bit as his ears lowered down a bit but then he looked back at her, blinking a bit as he watched her crawl over closer to him as they sat on her fairly large queen sized bed. She stopped just right next to him, the front of her body facing his left side. Their eyes locked with each other’s, icy blue against the fiery red. They just stared at each other in the eyes, and it almost seemed like they were talking telepathically to each other, reading one and another minds. Kuroni had looked deep into her innocent eyes and so he sighed deeply as he prepared to tell her. "You see Shadow, it's like this..." He begun but stopped as he and Shadow both jumped at the sound of some thing falling or collapsing onto the ground rather hard. Kuroni jumped onto his feet on the ground and seemed to be getting into a fighting related stance. Shadow looked at Kuroni then back at her bedroom door, then quickly looked back at him, 'Kuroni?' She asked but before she could even realize what was fully going on, Kuroni picked her up as her bedroom door was being opened and Intaku cloaked in black stepped through. However, by the time Intaku came in, Kuroni and Shadow were gone, he had jumped out from her balcony and started to take her out to some where where Intaku wouldn't be able to find them at all.

'Kuroni! Please explain what is going on here!' Shadow said as her eyes started to well up in tears as she stared at him once they had gotten into an abandoned house that was located in the middle of the Forest of Iced Castle. Kuroni caught his breath as he had sat her down onto the only bed that was in the house and then sat down next to her. Once he had his breath back, he looked at her and frowned. "Shadow, your mother had told me this morning that some thing bad was going to happen this night... and it was the fact that every one was suppose to be..." He paused and bit his bottom lip harshly as blood started to leak out from his fang digging into his lip. Shadow blank more and leaned in to him and licked the blood away that was trailing down his chin then she looked at him with a worried, watery gleam in her eyes. 'Tell me...' He looked at her, letting go of his bottom lip. He sighed, knowing he couldn't keep it a secret from her, "...Killed." That word seemed to have struck Shadow deeply, her eyes widen in horror as her tears let loose and came streaming down her cheeks, causing them to become wet. She turned her head and looked down at the ground, little around crystal gems hit the ground, and gems made from her own tears. Her hands clenched as she grabbed the bottom of her dress and she started to shake, as all she could do was silently cry. Kuroni's ears went down onto the back of his head. He knew that this would have hurt her, but she had to know what was going on, and he couldn't keep secrets from her. He put his arm closest to her around her as he pulled her closer to him and then wrapped his other arm around her, holding her as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. "I'm... so sorry Shadow... your mother gave me a mission to take you out and far away as possible when that time came around. She wanted to make sure you'd stay safe so you could take over when the time is right for you." He whispered to her as he held her in his arms tightly. She turned her upper body, unclenching her hands as she wrapped her arms around him, clinging onto him as she buried her face into his chest as she cried hard and silent. He sighed and started to rock side to side to calm her down some, knowing how hard it must be. Deep down however, much hatred started to form against his youngest brother. He couldn't believe on what was going on, his own sibling, turning against him and what were friends. It also hurt him to know about this too, and how Shadow must feel now that she's the only one alive in her family, and only at such a very young age at that. He sighed as he shook his head gently as he looked at her with a caring look in his eyes. "Hey, maybe we should head off to bed for now. We'll head back to Eterna and see what is to happen..." He said to her. She looked back at him, sniffling as she used an arm to wipe her tears away. Her breathing started to calm down gradually as she nodded her head slowly, not saying any thing to him. With that, he had her stand up as he prepared the bed they were sitting on and he had her lay down on it as he got ready to sleep on the ground. Shadow looked at him and frowned, 'Kuroni...' He looked at her as he saw her lips move. "What is it Shadow?" He asked her. 'Can you sleep with me...?' She asked him, looking rather frightened. He smiled a bit as he chuckled, "All right... if it'll make you feel safe then." He said as he lay next to her and held her in his arms as they both drifted off into their slumber...

By the next morning, they both woke up at the loud sound coming from the city that was not too far off from the place they were at. They both got out of bed and ran outside and ran towards the city. Every one was out, women, men and children alike, all of them were gathered at the castle and they approached them. "Look! One of them lives still!" A woman said as she pointed at Shadow. Shadow stood there, blinking; she looked at the people as they all turned and stared at her. Her ears went down to the back of her head, almost scared like. "And it's the one who slaughtered the family! Intaku's older brother!" Another woman said and every one glared at Kuroni, whom was struck in shock. His eyes had widen and so did Shadow's. 'No, no! You got it all wrong!' She said to them, but the people seemed to ignore her, only because they didn't know she was speaking at all. "Out with him!" A man said as the crowd started to walk forth to the two kids. Before they could do any thing or say any thing, the men had grabbed Kuroni and started to drag him away, the women had held back Shadow as she struggled to get free to chase after them. "Shadow!!" Kuroni cried out as he too struggled to get loose. He kicked one of the guys then the other and started to run towards her, but once again grabbed by another man and was dragged away and thrown out of the city, which the special barrier for the banned was active again and Kuroni could no longer step foot into the city, no matter how hard he tried. "Get lost you fiend!" The men yelled and he growled at them as he fought back tears, which came streaming down his cheeks. He ran off, looking back at Shadow, moving his lips to say 'I'm sorry...' To her and she broke down and started to cry. The people parted off, leaving her alone and not caring that she was crying, for they couldn't hear it and never bothered to look at her. One of the butlers appeared suddenly at her side, "Lady Shadow... Come, let's go inside..." He said to her and she looked up at him, eyes red from crying while her cheeks were wet and her bottom lip quivered. He picked her up into his arms and carried her inside, however as he walked towards the castle to head inside, she fell asleep once she had rested her head on his shoulder. He noticed this and so he took her into her bedroom, where he left her to rest.

When she had woken up from her slumber, she saw another one of her friends, one she didn't get to see all that often due to the fact they lived in different towns. 'Myuka...?' Her lips moved as her vision was coming back to normal again. Her friend nodded, her silver fox ears low on her head, "Yeah.. It's me." She answered her as she was sitting on a chair next to her bed. 'How long was I out for?' "Close to a week. Five days you were out for." 'What about...' "Kuroni? He's... not coming back... ever..." She said, knowing it was some thing Shadow didn't want to hear. Shadow frowned and sighed silently, sitting up as she rubbed her forehead. 'I knew it was Intaku who did it...' Myuka blank from what Shadow had said. "Yeah, I know... Hiro told me when he came and got Rosemary and me. He explained it on the way here the second day you were out." Shadow nodded her head to what Myuka had said. 'Where is Rosemary?' "She's sleeping, Hiro is watching out for her since him and I take shifts watching you." She said as she gave a big smile on her face. Shadow looked at her and smiled back and seemed to have laughed a bit, 'Well now that I'm awake, you don't have to worry about that any more.' She said then looked at her stomach as she heard it growl at her. She gave a grin to Myuka as she looked back at her, 'And I could go for some thing to eat!' And with that, Myuka laughed hard. But then the two got up and went out of her room and headed to the dinning hall, where they would get some thing splendid to eat. While they were eating their food, Shadow was told by Hiro, the butler, what was going on as she was in her deep slumber. She found out when they did the special funeral for her family, Miho's body wasn't to be found when they came to get the bodies, but other than that, there wasn't any thing strange going on. She understood but what lingered in her mind was what happened to his body. However, during that meal she declared that she was going to get revenge on her family, she was going to kill Intaku to redeem her family for the death they shouldn't have, taking her whole family from her. 'I'm going to kill Intaku, even if it takes me the rest of my life to do it... I will!' Shadow said aloud as she stood up. Myuka looked at her and blank as she swallowed the food that was in her mouth. "What are you doing Shadow? Are you done eating all ready?" She asked as she tilted her head to the side as she was a bit curious and a bit confused. Shadow shook her head, 'No I'm not done eating... but there is some thing I need to get...' She said as she left the room and Myuka quickly went after her. "Shadow! What is it that you're getting?" She asked as she followed, just so her curiosity could be satisfied. Shadow walked through the castle, taking her into the throne room and went to the right side of the fairly large room where there was a door that led into a special room.

This room was an average sized room, however, what was stored inside that made it very Grande and only certain people were allowed into this historical room. When Shadow and Myuka stepped forth, Myuka's eyes widen in just pure amazement. This room was filled with every single blade and weapon that every King and Queen have wielded, some being handed down some generations. Portraits hung above each blade and weapon, and if more than one person had the same weapon, there would be multiple pictures in one frame. Shadow went to a certain one none of the less though, the most recent death of a ruler... Her father Youkotiru who wielded the blade knew as Kumora. She stared at her fathers’ picture and the blade that was sheathed and hung below the picture. She frowned as she saw the picture of her now dead father. She sighed deeply as she bowed her head in respect before lifting her head up and she looked at Myuka who was looking at all of the weapons in amazement. She then stopped her loudness and looked at Shadow who was looking at her seriously. Her ears lowered onto the back of her head, "Sorry." She said as she gave a slight smile and walked over to her. Shadow turned her head towards the blade that was mounted on the wall. 'Father... I know you are not around to teach me the ways of the Kumora. I am going to teach myself a new way of the blade and master its powers my own way... It's the only way that is best.' Her lips moved, speaking as she had stared at her fathers’ picture. Myuka watched Shadow's lips move and she blank from what she had said. "The Kumora was supposed to be passed down to you?" She asked and she saw Shadow's head nod 'yes'. Shadow then used both of her hands to grab the sheathed blade and took it down, at first it was rather heavy to her and she almost dropped it. However, after holding the blade, it was rather light as it was becoming lighter and lighter in her arms. She stared at her fathers picture and lowered her head in respect, 'Thank you father.' Her lips moved then she looked at Myuka and smiled brightly. 'You can go back and eat now. I'm going to take this to my room and meet up with you in the dinning hall.' She said. "All righty then!" Myuka said as they both exited out of the room and left the throne room. Just as Shadow said, she took the blade up to her room and met back up with Myuka and they finished eating.

Ever since Shadow had gotten the Kumora, she trained herself every day, as hard as she could, pushing herself over her own limits to reach new ones. However, it was very hard for her in the process, she had to figure out Kumora's special abilities on her own. After all, she didn't have her father by her side to train her and teach her the proper ways. Some how, she was able to perfect the Kumora in her own special way.