Hey guys. This is my first fan-fiction. It had to be on Natsuki and Shizuru since they're my all time favourite yuri couple. This story is practically Anastasia, since that is one of my favourite films ever, but from a different view I guess, so in this case Natsuki's view. The story's beginning is just a bit about what happened and then it jumps to the present and the actual story. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Oh! And I had Shizuru as Viola instead of Fujino cause it just sounded more fitting to the story. You'll see in time.

(Russian term instead of Japanese)

*Babushka=Grandmother

*Czar=King

Disclaimer: I do not own Mai HiME, or Anastasia.

Chapter 1: On my way.

It was the year 1916, a time in which there used to be elegant palaces and grand parties and where the citizens would look upon the Czar of Imperial Russia with great respect. One winter's night, a celebration was held at the Catherine Palace in honour of the 300th anniversary of the Viola's family rule. Within the family was of course the King of Russia, his queen and his five children and they all lived a life full of prosperity and love. It was on same night when the King's mother, the Dowager Empress, had arrived from Paris to visit her family during this grand celebration. However, the Viola family knew that her visit would end shortly and as a result the youngest daughter of the Viola family begged her babushka to stay. Because the Empress had already anticipated the obvious grief and distress in her youngest granddaughter, she had a music box specially made for her to make the separation easier for the two of them.

"Oh, babushka! For me?"

"Yes, my dear."

As the young princess gently took the gift from her babushka's hands, she was also given a special necklace with an inscription on the back which read 'Together in Paris' that was to be used as a key to open the music box. After turning the clogs a few times, a gentle tune began playing and the little box opened up to reveal two figures waltzing to the tune. The sweet princess recognised the tune immediately, "babushka! It play's our lullaby!" The princess exclaimed contentedly, to which her babushka smiled and replied.

"You can sing our lullaby before you sleep every night and pretend it's me who's singing. Remember my sweet and precious child; I'll always be with you as long as you have this box and necklace."

As the sweet tune kept playing, the Empress began to sing along to which the young princess happily joined in with. All was good for the Viola family at that moment, that moment where they were all together.

And then that moment ended, for a power-mad and dangerous man had descended upon the house of the Viola's. His name was Nagi Homura and he was believed to be a holy man. He once worked as the Czar's confidant but betrayed the royal family. In his anger he cursed the royal family to die within a fortnight by the unholy powers of a reliquary he possessed. Consumed by his hatred of the Viola family, he sold his soul for the power to destroy them and from that moment on, a revolution had broken out against the Viola family.

On that night of the revolution the Viola family made an attempt to escape their persecution. The Empress had found her youngest granddaughter and as they were escaping the princess realised she had left her music box in her room. Not wanting to leave the precious gift behind, she ran back to her room while her babushka frantically ran after her. On entering the room the Empress hastily closed the door and then a few moments later the two of them heard a series of gunshots. Realising that the revolutionists were approaching the room the Empress tightly held her granddaughter in her arms and began to gently sing their lullaby while desperately trying not to break down. The Empress looked up after hearing a sudden noise and saw a girl, she was a servant that worked for the royal family standing by a hidden opening in the wall.

"Through here! Out the servant's quarters. You can escape, so please hurry!" the girl exclaimed while running towards them to drag them over to the hidden passage.

While going through the passage, the princess had accidentally dropped the music box, "my music box! Please…"

But she was quickly cut off by the servant girl, "there's no time! You have to leave now! Go! GO!" Not long after the door to the hidden passage had been closed and the Viola's out of sight, the revolutionists entered the room only to find the young servant girl quietly standing by the bed. They interrogated her but she didn't answer, so they brutally bashed her head against the wall and she fell unconscious.

Meanwhile, the Empress and princess were running across the frozen river in a desperate attempt to flee before they were found and killed. They went under a bridge and little did they know that Nagi was watching them. He suddenly jumped down from the bridge and grabbed onto the princesses' leg.

"Please! Let me go! Please!" The princess cried out in distress while trying to free herself from the grasp of the evil man.

"You will not escape me! I will see you die, even if it's the last thing I do!"

Luckily for the princess though the ice beneath Nagi suddenly cracked open and he fell in. After several frantic attempts of trying to escape the freezing water, his strength began to falter and he sunk to his death leaving the reliquary behind.

The princess and the Empress were quick to leave the scene and ran as fast they could to the train station. They had no plan as to where they were going, all they knew was that they had to leave St. Petersburg so they started running after a moving train. The Empress managed to get on but she was struggling to pull her granddaughter on as the train was quickly picking up the speed.

"Babushka! Babushka!"

"Hold on! Hold on to my hand!"

"Don't let go babushka!"

Unfortunately the princess tripped which resulted in her hitting her head on the ground and falling unconscious. The Empress had to be held back from the passengers on the train because she was trying to jump off after her granddaughter. In her grief of losing the only family she had left, she sank to her knees and began to cry uncontrollably. After that night, no one had heard of the Viola family again, but the mysterious disappearance of the youngest princess never left the minds of the people of Russia.

X-8-8-8-X

Ten years later, on the outskirts of a small town called St. Vlas…

"Whoa! What the hell?!" A young woman with raven hair exclaimed as she was shoved to the snowy ground.

"Sorry Kuga. You know the rules. Once you're 18 you're out. Now leave and get yourself a life! And take your pesky dog with you!" A rather stout old man angrily shouted as he tossed a small black and grey wolf like dog towards the woman.

"Duran! Grrr! Even though I'm 18 and I have to leave, it doesn't give you the right to treat me like shit! What the hell is wrong with you?!" The raven haired woman angrily asked the old man as she petted her dog that was brutally thrown to the ground in front of her.

"You have been a pain in my ass ever since I picked you up from the streets ten years ago. I'm finally able to get rid of you and this is how you deserve to be kicked out after all that time I had to put up with you." The old man explained with a smug smile on his face.

"Whatever! I'm happy to be out of that godforsaken orphanage anyway… I hope you get sued someday" the woman retorted and did her famous glare that sent chills down the old man's spine.

The old man sighed, "Look, Natsuki… You know we care for you. Me and my wife raised, fed and provided for you. But you have always been so problematic. You fought with all the children, and gained the title 'ice-princess'. You became rebellious once you hit teenage years and you never made an effort to be friends with anyone. Understand that it was hard for us to look after someone that gave so little in return when all we wanted to do was to help you."

"Care for me my ass! And you think it was easy for me?! After all this time, all I can remember is my name and nothing else! I don't remember where I came from, who my family was or what happened to them. And all those kids ever did was pester me; they never really cared about me or how I was feeling. All I have is Duran! And he's all I've ever had!"

"And you thought that being such a bitch all those years was gonna solve your problems?"

"…"

"Kuga… Just go now, ok. You need to find a life, instead of trying to live in something you don't even remember. You're smart; you went to school unlike the rest of the children here. You can be someone. So why don't you just let it go"

"Tch. Like I'd let it go just like that. I know my family is out there somewhere, and I promise myself that I'll find them no matter what"

"Suit yourself. Goodbye, Natsuki Kuga. I really do wish you a happy life." And with that, the old man went back into the medium sized building leaving Natsuki and her dog to fend for themselves. Natsuki was small, round about 5 foot and 2 inches. She was slim but well-toned making her strong, and since she had been in many fights during the last ten years of her life she was an experienced fighter which was going to be useful for if she ever got into trouble. She had long raven hair, pale skin and a well-proportioned face with striking forest green eyes. She was wearing a huge but warm navy blue coat, some gloves with holes at the tips of the fingers, black snow boots, trousers and a dark grey news boy's cap. She stood there for a few minutes just staring at the path along the forest.

"Looks like we're on our own now, huh Duran?" she said as she looked down to her fury companion. Duran just glanced up at her and tilted his head slightly to the side.

Natsuki sighed then started walking through the path with no destination in mind. After about half an hour of her and Duran playing fetch while walking along the path, she began to think of what to do. "Ok… so now that I'm out on my own with no money, no extra clothes, no food and no idea as to where I'm going… what should I do and where do I go?" it was true, Natsuki indeed had nothing and she knew that money was vital if she was going to survive. "Damn! I should have planned this out better!" Natsuki mentally scolded herself for her carelessness and lack of advanced preparation.

Natsuki was pulled out of her thoughts when Duran suddenly started barking. Now that she was focused again, she noticed that the forest path she was walking on had come to three other paths going off in different directions. There was a sign post that indicated St. Petersburg straight ahead, Moscow to the left and Petrozavodsk to the right.

The raven haired woaman looked at the different paths and back at the signs again. She stood there analysing the different names for two minutes and concluded that they were all cities.

"Ok… Moscow is definitely not an option since it's the capital and it'll be the most expensive place for accommodation and food. I've heard of the other two but never been to either of them"

Duran started barking playfully and jumped in an attempt to reach the signs on the post. Natsuki then had an idea.

"Right"

The woman turned around and took three steps away from the sign post. She then crouched down gathering a lump of snow in her hands and made a snow ball. "Duran! Come here boy." As soon as the little wolf like dog was standing in front of Natsuki, she looked back to make sure she knew roughly where her two options where, she turned around again, mentally counted to three and threw the snowball behind her. After hearing a small thud she slowly turned around again and saw that the snow had hit the sign directing to St. Petersburg.

"Alright then, St. Petersburg it is." She said out loud and started walking in that direction, waving her hand around so that Duran would follow.

"You know Duran, I don't know why but I think I'll honestly find some answers in St. Petersburg… Maybe, just maybe I'll find something about my family." Natsuki said with hope and excitement clear in her voice. Duran let out a small bark and started to wag his tail as he looked up at his master.

X-8-8-8-X

After two weeks of making their way to St. Petersburg and having to find food from leftovers in bins, or asking for any spare food from the citizens of the small villages they passed through, Natsuki and Duran found that they were coping just fine. Despite the fact that Natsuki was wearing the same clothes for the past two weeks, she was able to stay clean. She even washed her clothes and made small fires in little shelters and farm barns that she encountered during her travels to stay warm during the nights. The people who owned these barns and shelters didn't mind her much since she didn't cause any trouble and some didn't even know she was there.

One day as the two travellers were walking down the path, Natsuki started to talk to her dog to take away her boredom.

"You know boy, once we reach St. Petersburg I'll find us a small house we can rent out. I'll get a job to earn us some money and that way we won't have to be scavenging for food every other day. I'll get you a collar so that you can roam around freely without having the dog pound people come chasing after you and we can start searching for my family." She said as she smiled down at her dog, to which Duran gave a series of happy barks. But then all of a sudden Duran stopped in his tracks, looked straight ahead for a few seconds, and then without warning bolted off at fast speed.

Full of confusion and worry at her dog's sudden and uncharacteristic reaction Natsuki ran after him. "Duran!? Where are you going?! Stop!"

As she ran after him, she noticed that Duran had picked up the pace and vanished into a bush. She slowed down when she heard a soft, angelic voice somewhere in the distance.

"Give me a sign. Anything!"

So! That's what I've got so far. I know the beginning isn't actually that captivating, but it's the best start I can come up with. Besides, it's my first fanfic so I still need a lot of pointers and experience? I'll be updating this chapter later on though, I feel like it needs some changes, but first I'll be posting up new chapters while thinking of ideas for this one on the way.

Yes, the story is very predictable in terms of we know who the characters are and what's going to happen, but I think we shouldn't look too much into that. I prefer to think of what happens on the way and see how that progresses.

Any how, hope you've enjoyed this one so far and hop you'll e looking forward to the second chapter.