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Keiji nodded with a smile as he wrapped his hand around hers and began leading her toward the window. However, before they reached their exit, they heard three raps on the door.
Samuru: Sis… Listen, I’m sorry for yelling…
Yume paused and turned her head toward the door, then looked back up to Keiji with wide eyes and a blank expression, as if asking for help.
Yume: My…my brother…!
Keiji: Come on!
He whispered with intensity, breaking into a run towards the balcony, dragging the princess behind him.
Samuru: I just—I’m your brother. I’m always looking out for you, sis. I don’t want you to get hurt…
Keiji jumped up to the balcony railing and grabbed a hold of the vines. Moving quickly, he made his way down the wall, the princess staring at him as he repelled. He touched down on the ground and let go of the vines, then returned his gaze to the princess.
Keiji: Your turn.
She looked down and nodded.
Yume: Alright…
She took hold of the vines growing along the palace walls and began to slowly make her decent, clinging to the thick plants with her life as she made her way down.
Keiji: Okay… Now just slowly slide down. Don’t rush… You’ll be fine…
Slowly and steadily, she began to make her descent. She shut her eyes tight, praying that she’d make it.
Yume: (Don’t fall… Please don’t fall…)
Keiji: That’s it… Don’t worry…
Samuru: Sis… Sis, are you even listening?
Yume’s heart sank deep into the pit of her stomach as she heard the door squeak open. She lost all of her concentration and let go of the vine, plummeting to the ground below.
Keiji: PRINCESS!
He rushed beneath her and caught her in his arms before losing his balance and falling down, the young princess landing in his lap.
Yume: Oh…ow…
Keiji: Are you alright, Princess?
Yume: Oh... yes, I’m fine, thanks to you…
She nodded as she looked to her left, brushing her nose against his.
Yume: Ah!
She blushed brightly and quickly jumped back to her feet, brushing off her little nightgown and fixing her jostled curls.
Keiji: Hehe…
He stood up nervously, not really knowing what to do now. Keiji had never been the best around women.
Samuru: YUME!
The two teens turned their heads back up to the balcony to see the Hitomi prince, staring back at them with anger pulsing throughout him and his deep brown eyes burning in anger.
Keiji: RUN!
He took the princess’s hand again and began to sprint through the palace courtyard, dragging the poor girl behind him, who tried her hardest not to slow him down.
Yume: You… You’re the boy from the party earlier that waved to me, aren’t you?
Keiji: That’d be me.
She chuckled at his simple answer.
Yume: I’m Yume Katori.
Keiji: I know, Princess.
Yume: Then why aren’t you calling me that?
He gave a weak chuckle as he continued to sprint, the wind blowing through his shaggy hair.
Keiji: My name’s Keiji. Keiji Taiyou.
Yume: In that case: thank you, Keiji. For everything.
She gave another one of her priceless smiles, making Keiji nearly melt as she saw the beautiful splendor on her face once again.
Guard: Hey! You there!
A guard came running from the palace accompanied by a few others behind him.
Keiji: Oh crud…
He looked over to them and instinctively began to hesitate, but the princess continued forward, yanking his arm with her.
Yume: C’mon! Keep running!
She called to him with a smile. Though they were in a perilous situation, the princess seemed to be having the time of her life.

Keiji and Yume jumped onto the boat, the guards still running towards them as Keiji quickly began to untie the tethers.
Akio: Oi! Keiji! What’s the rush?
His two friends came out from the cabin to see their friend frantically untying the boat.
Keiji: Not now! Just help me get the boat out on the water already!
Akio: Why?
Keiji: Just help!
Mokoto: K-Keiji…
He began to stammer as he gazed off to the sandy beach, where he saw ten or so palace guards, each of them armed and yelling in their direction, running closer and closer to the Horizon.
Mokoto: Why is there a huge throng of guards headed our way?
Keiji: QUESTIONS LATER! NOW HELP ME GET THE BOAT!
Without asking anything else, the two others began untying the remaining tethers and helped Keiji push the boat further away from the dock. Just as the soldiers began to run across the wooden pathway, getting closer and closer to the vessel, the sails opened up, collecting enough wind to start sailing further away from the beautiful island.
Yume: Phew…
The princess wiped her forehead and sank to her knees.
Yume: That was a close one.
The heads of Mokoto and Akio turned slowly to the girl sitting down on the deck, her eyes bright as she smiled.
Yume: So where’re we going?
Mokoto: Keiji… Why is she still awake?
He asked the question without taking his eyes off the girl.
Keiji: Um…don’t…
He began, not wanting the princess to know the truth.
Akio: Jeez, you make us go through the trouble of putting out the other two and you just let yours walk out of there all… KEIJI!
He stopped in mid-sentence, his mouth dropping and his eyes bugged out so far that the vivid greenness was almost glow-in-the-dark.
Akio: IS THAT…!?!
Mokoto took a look over to the girl and saw it too.
Mokoto: KEIJI! YOU KIDNAPPED THE PRINCESS!?!
Yume: Um…but he helped me get away from…
Keiji: Princess, I…
Mokoto: WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING!?! WE CAN’T KIDNAP A PRINCESS! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE WE’RE GOING TO BE INTO!?!
Yume: But he didn’t kidnap me, I…
Keiji: Yume…
Keiji let out a deep sigh then turned to the princess and took her hands into his own.
Keiji: The truth is, I was there to kidnap you…
Yume: B-but… You… I… You said you wanted to help me!
Keiji: And I did, but…
Yume: You lied to me!
She pulled her hands away to slap him across the face. Tears began to well up in her eyes as he pleaded for forgiveness.
Keiji: Yume, I…
He massaged his cheek and drew to a silence, knowing now that there was no way to get through to her.
Yume: Don’t you dare call me by my name, you creep!
With that, she took off towards the cabin, slamming the door and locking it behind her.
Keiji: Yume!
Akio: Wow… You really suck with women.
Keiji just sighed.
Mokoto: So you just kidnapped a princess by tricking her into thinking that you were trying to help her?
Keiji: I wasn’t tricking her! I really did want to help her!
Akio: By throwing her on a boat, getting a map from the diamond in her wrist, then shipping her back home?
Keiji: I thought I…
Mokoto: Well, we better get that map, now. Before we know it, the whole Hitomi Navy’s gonna be out here trying to kill us because we kidnapped a princess--thanks to you.
Keiji: But I didn’t want to kidnap her, I wanted to…!
Mokoto: Enough! No matter how you try to correct yourself, she’s not gonna believe you now.
He headed over to the cabin door and jiggled the handle, but was disheartened as he did so.
Mokoto: Um… Okay, who knows how to pick a lock?

Yume: (I can’t believe that I believed him… He was a complete stranger! He must’ve put me into a trance somehow…)
She touched her lips delicately, remembering how his lips had touched hers earlier that evening.
Yume: (Oh, he wasn’t even that good of a kisser anyway. Besides, he’s just some scumbag pirate… I’m scared of what he has planned for me. Ransom? Rape? Death? Oh… Why did I listen to him?)
She was sitting in the cabin, in one of the bedrooms, up against the wall while hugging her knees to her chest. The room was dark and she didn’t bother to light a lamp. Besides, she’d rather not know what these men were keeping hidden in their bedrooms.
Yume: (Why didn’t I just listen to Samuru? “You can’t trust strangers. They can hurt you in ways you could never imagine.” And of course, what did I do? I listened to a stranger.)
She banged her head against the wall behind her, hearing a loud thump due to the collision.
Yume: (Why do I have to take after my mother? Curiosity…it’s going to kill me one day. That’s what happened to her, anyway…)
Amaya: Hm…
A soft groan came from the other side of the room. Yume jumped to her feet, scared of who had uttered it.
Yume: Who’s there?
The figure sat up abruptly, her sleep interrupted by the princess.
Amaya: What?! Mm…sorry… You startled me… Who are you?
Yume: Oh…um… Yume. Yume Katori.
Amaya: The princess…? Oh, I get it now. That guy who I stole the wallet from… He was a royal, hm? And now I’m in prison… Well, I knew they’d get me someday…
Yume: No, this isn’t prison. We’re on a boat… I don’t know about you, but I’ve been kidnapped.
Amaya: Kidnapped!?
She jumped to her feet, as if the shock of it all gave her a sudden burst of energy.
Amaya: THAT SON OF A—!
Takara: Hm… Mom… Please, I’m trying to sleep…
A second figure laid out on the bed jostled a bit, then sat up straight with a jolt.
Takara: Wait… This isn’t my bed.
She looked up and saw the two girls standing in front of her.
Takara: AHHH! WHERE AM I!?!
Yume: Calm down… It’s alright. What’s your name?
Takara: Takara Mizu...
Amaya: I’m Amaya Tachikawa. This is Yume Katori.
Takara: The princess…? What’s…what’s going on?
Amaya: Well I dunno about you, but we’ve been kidnapped.
She spoke a bit mockingly.
Takara: K-kidnapped…? AHHHHHHHHH! No no no! I’m too young to die! This isn’t right—I can’t be—how did—Why the—?
She stopped abruptly, her eyes growing narrow with anger.
Takara: THAT MAN! HE TOOK ME RIGHT OUT OF MY BED!!! NOW I REMEMBER!
Amaya: He woke me up, inflicted a duel, but then instead of fighting, he just threw gas pellets. That’s all I remember.
Her voice and expression became flat, knowing that for once, someone had been cleverer than she.
Yume: At least you guys had no way of stopping it…
She grew tense at the thought.
Yume: He convinced me that he wanted to help me escape from the palace, but instead he lured me down here, got me onto the boat, then told me that he had been kidnapping me all along…
Amaya: Hmph. Jackass.
She flipped her long, black hair over her shoulder.
Amaya: So, any idea what they took us for?
She turned to Yume, curious to why they were stuck here.
Amaya: I mean, I understand why you. You’re a princess, but why me and Blondie over here?
Yume: Oh… I don’t know…
She put her right hand to her cheek as she thought.
Yume: I mean, it could be for their own pleasure, ransom, to…
Amaya: Princess!
Amaya took the princess’s hand away from her face into hers and looked to the metallic strip on her wrist.
Yume: Oh, that. I’ve had it all my life. My father said it’s just a weird birthmark.
Amaya didn’t speak but instead held her wrist in front of the girl’s face, showing her the exact same “birthmark” as if it were in a tinted mirror.
Yume: Oh my god…
Amaya: Pretty strange, huh? I’ve never seen another person with…
Silently, Takara put her wrist between the other two girls’. Both Yume and Amaya looked to one another, then to Takara at the same time.
Takara: Pretty freaky, I know. What’s freakier is that the only two people I’ve ever seen them with are standing right in front of me, all three of us kidnapped by the same men.
Yume: Could this be why they…?
Amaya: I think so. I mean, do you see any other similarities between us?
Yume: But… I mean, I don’t even know what it is. It’s probably just some sort of skin condition or something…
Amaya: Well I dunno what it is. But whatever it is, I have a feeling it’s what’s gotten us into this trouble.

Akio: So how’d you convince her into thinking that you were trying to help her, hm?
Keiji: What do you mean?
Akio: Well we all know that you don’t just walk up to someone and say “Wanna come with me?” And we know even better that they’d never say yes. So how’d you do it? Hypnotism? Brainwashing?
Keiji: I didn’t…
Akio: Oh look, Mokoto. It was something embarrassing. See him blushing?
Mokoto: What could he have possibly done that was…? Oh, Keiji. You didn’t.
Keiji: Do what?
He was blushing even more now, just as much as he had done when he was actually kissing her.
Mokoto: You kissed her, didn’t you?
Keiji: How did you…? But I… It was the only way to stop her from screaming! I just kissed her really fast, and then asked her if she wanted to come with me, and she said yes! It wasn’t my fault!
Mokoto: Do you have any idea how much she hates you right now?
Keiji: Enough to leave a handprint on my cheek…
Keiji touched his face, feeling the red bruise left by Yume’s soft—yet powerful—hand.
Akio: Ha! There. I got the lock.
He pulled the hairpin out of the door handle and pushed the cabin door open.
Akio: After you, Keiji.
Keiji: Why me first?
Akio: You’re the one that kidnapped the princess. Chances say that they’re gonna hate you most, anyway.
Keiji: Ugh. Brilliant.
He stepped forward into the cabin hall. There were two bedrooms on each side and a bathroom at the end of the hall. The kitchen was down a small staircase and a small dining room was connected. For three people, it was actually a pretty nice boat.
Mokoto: They’re in your room.
Keiji: My room!? Why didn’t you just put them in the spare room?
Akio: We figured they’d be more comfortable in the captain’s quarters.
Keiji: Oy.
Keiji put his hand on the knob of the first door to the right, then turned it slowly to hear muttering behind it. As he opened the door and stepped inside, he saw no one.
Keiji: Where are th?—OW!
In mid-sentence, he felt a broom handle collide with his head.
Amaya: HAHA! Got him! Wait, that wasn’t him…
Yume: Yes it was!
Amaya: No, he had black hair…
Takara: No, he was blonde!
The two other men peeked inside to see Keiji on the floor, massaging the lump on his head, and the three girls: Amaya armed with a broom, Yume and Takara standing behind her.
Amaya and Takara: THERE HE IS!
Akio and Mokoto: GAHH!
They pulled their heads back outside and slammed the door shut before the girls could take action against them.
Mokoto: Oh my god… What are we dealing with, here?
Akio: They’re…crazy…
Yume: What do you want with us!?
The princess screamed at Keiji, who was still rubbing his head.
Yume: Does it have something to do with these?
She held up her arm and pointed to the octagonal-shaped, pink birthmark.
Yume: What do you know that we don’t?
Keiji: Those “birthmarks” as you call them, are no ordinary marks.
He stood up and took a safe step backwards.
Keiji: Beneath those birthmarks are the three diamonds of Hitomi. And those diamonds will lead us to the greatest treasure of all time.

-PREVIEW!-
Mikona: Puu! I'm here to help Starlite give a preview for her next chapter!
Well, looks like the girls know what's going on. But is it true? Only one way to find out!
Next time on Beyond the Horizon: "Worth a Shot"
Mikona can't wait!
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