Title: Pretty in Pink
Author: CptnSuz
Disclaimer: I make no claims of ownership on Kyou Kara Maou or its characters. No infringements intended.
"This way!"
Conrart's damp feet slid on the cobblestones as he followed his best friend through another alleyway. They'd hardly been in the town a week and Yosak already knew every nook and cranny.
Unfortunately so did the governor's guards who were chasing them through the streets.
"Yosak!" The brown-haired boy gasped. "We need to find some clothes!"
It had seemed like such a good idea when Yosak suggested it. Sneak into the governor's courtyard and go skinny-dipping in the huge new fountain at night? Brilliant. Except for the part where the guards came to chase them out and they'd had to leave their clothes behind. And now he and his red-haired companion were dashing through the dark, naked as the day they'd been born.
"I've got it!" Yosak shouted back at him.
They scampered across an empty thoroughfare and into another alley. Yosak darted ahead and scrambled up a parked cart. Nimble hands yanked items from the clotheslines overhead. He tossed a shirt and pants down to his friend before jumping off.
"Hurry! They'll still know it's us!" Conrart looked over his shoulder checking the street for guards. He did a double-take as Yosak's face emerged from the collar of a pink frock. "Why…?"
Before he finished the question, shouts echoed behind them and the two boys started sprinting again. To the end of the passage, up a pile of loose bricks, and over a hedgerow, they dropped into a stable, dimly lit by a couple of flickering lanterns at the back door of a tavern and inn. All was quiet, so they paused, panting, hands on their knees.
"Think we lost them?" Conrart asked between deep lungfuls of air.
"Hope so! Do you hear anything?"
"Nope."
"I do. Get back!" Yosak tugged them both into the dark corner amid the hay bales. Feet slipped on the loose straw and they tumbled. Conrart found himself sprawled over his friend. He rose to his hands and knees just as two of the governor's guards came clanking into the stable. One jogged right to the commotion in the hay pile. Below his friend, Yosak squealed and pressed his face in Conrart's shirt. The brunette lowered his own face in the hope of not being recognized.
"Is it them?" the second guard shouted.
"Nah, just a couple of young lovebirds. Let's check the tavern. Maybe they ran inside."
After their pursuers moved away, Conrart eased back on his heels. The two boys stared at each other, not believing their own dumb luck.
Finally Conrart pulled his friend to his feet. "We should head back before my father knows we're gone."
"Yeah."
The two walked side-by-side down the moonlit streets, buzzing with unexpressed excitement.
"Don't you feel weird wearing a dress?" Conrart questioned, noticing the way his friend was almost skipping along in the feminine outfit.
In the deserted road Yosak awkwardly twirled the pink folds of the skirt. "I don't know. I kinda like it." He flipped the mangy tails of his orange locks and batted his eyes at Conrart. "How do I look?"