Disclaimer: I own not a thing in the Tortal series but those that I create.

A/N: Hey! Sorry that it took long to update. Well… anyways, here’s chapter six. Hope you like it. I’ve been a bit pressed lately.

Chapter 6: Secret’s Out

Thankful that Sakura took off before I left with Sosonokatsu, I whistle for her. She comes up from the first floor in her battle form. I leap onto her back from the railing and she floats closer to the ground.

“To the Healer’s Sakura,” I whisper to her. She glances back at me, curiously, as she glides downward. She can actually go pretty fast, we are running on air. She touches down in front of the Healer’s building and I immediately leap off for the door. She becomes her cute little self and jumps onto my shoulder, giving me a little comfort.

A Healer in training came to great me. “Hello! Do you need any help?” I look her over a letter before answering.

“Where is… Sosonokatsu… recuperating?”

“Oh! This way, please follow me.”

She led the way as I dazedly followed the bubbly girl as she went on about what floors were for what. I, of course, wasn’t listening very well.

“A friendly… hyper little thing, ain’t she Sakura.”

She mewed, “She reminds me of a dog. I don’t like dogs.”

I just chuckled and shook my head as we followed behind, like a couple of ducklings. I then silently follow behind the girl as she merrily skipped down the hall chatting away. She leads me up and down stairs and hallways. She then slows down at a door.

“Well, this is-!”

I hear voices talking within, so I firmly place my hand around her mouth and pull her away from the door. I drag us around the corner next to Katsu’s room. That’s where we sat, listening. She quieted down a little and stopped squirming, but I still keep a hold of her. I let my control go over my ears and they transform and I can now hear better.

“What is this I’ve heard? You’ve been with a girl of The Night! This is outrageous! Where is she?” He sounded angry. I had no idea who he was until…

“Calm down father. I’m just using her. I mean, I can get… useful… information out of her. She is the princess of Night after all.”

What!? He’s using me!? He does deserve his name. This should teach me not to flirt with just anybody.

“That is a good point son. Good job. Keep up with it and pass on any information of any kind onto me.”

Momentary tears sprung into my eyes before I angrily swipe them away. It wouldn’t do for a mortal to see an immortal cry. I turn away from the door. Dragging the Healer along with me, I go back the way we came. As soon as we’re two flights down and at least four aisles away, I let go of the girl.

“What in the name of The Goddess was that for!? Huh!? I could barely breathe throuh your hand!”

“Sorry but I couldn’t let them hear you. Then I would have been killed on sight. I’d rather not die right now at this age. I want to live a nice long life.”

Then, with that and no other explanation, I run as fast as this human body would allow and went down the rest of the stairs, out the main door and down to the pond. Little did I know, Sir Alanna watched me fly out the door and decided to follow me to the pool, but at her own pace.

I place Sakura sown on the grass and then jumped into the water. I swam downward as deep as I could in my human body, then transformed back to my hybrid self and swam down to the bottom the forty foot deep lake. I then shot up, throwing my head back, and hair, and sucked in as much air as I could.

“So this is your little secret.”

At the sound of Alanna’s voice, I whirl around. Upon seeing her, I gulped. It was too late to alter into my human form; she had seen my tail and furry ears. Here I was, in my youkai form and she was just sitting there like nothing was wrong, as calm as ever. Seeing that she wasn’t going anywhere, I swam up to her.

I get out a ways from her and shake all of the water out of my fur and hair. I glance at her to see if she would say anything. She didn’t, but she held amusement in her eyes. Sighing, I go sit next to her. For a while we just sat there, looking out over the lake. She was absently stroking my cat, making me believe that she either has or had a cat herself.

“I suppose you’re wondering what I am.”

“No. I know what you are.”

“Then who I really am.”

“That and why you hid that you are a youkai immortal.”

“Okay, fine. I really am Princess Diana Relina Taiyono; daughter of King Raikol Taiyono and Relina Biotono. My father, Raikol Taiyono, is the lord or, among your people, king of The Night; a rebellion group of youkai who oppose The Night and The Light. My mother is the queen of the Cyans; a group of hanyou that keep to themselves, not allowing themselves to been known to everyone, who live deep within the jungle of Carthak, near the river; they are a warrior people who mostly live by their spears and bows, although a selected few can use swords.”

“That explains who you are, but not why hid your youkai blood.”

“My mother said I was not tell anyone what I was.”

“Aah, so it was the parents. I suspected when Sosonokatsu started paying attention to you when he’s ignored all of the other girls.”

My eyes narrow dangerously when she mentioned his name. My thoughts went back to that memory. Visions of me strangling his neck and slicing off his head while stringing his guts all over the palace danced through my mind. I then shake out of them. They were dishonorable thoughts, unworthy of me. Alanna must have sensed my anger because she changed the subject right away.

“So… what type of youkai are you?”

“I’m a hybrid. I’m not very strong either. Only recently have I been able to change fully human.”

“I mean, what breeds are you.”

“Oh… a mixture of cat and wolf, maybe a little bit dog as well. I’m also part human.”

We stayed like that for a few hours. We just talked about random things. She also promised not to tell anyone else what I was until I was ready. We were just starting to talk about other immortals when Sakura nudged me. She wanted to go to bed. I said my goodbyes to Alanna and went to my rooms. I got there early and went to bed.