Title: Rainy Days Bring Unexpected Happenings

Author: Littlestkitten (saratu on lj)

Fandom: Kyou Kara Maou

Pairing: Conrad/Yuuri (mostly pre-slash though)

Rating: PG

Word Count: 1,119

Notes: Written for zangetsugirl with the prompt of "facing the lion", more or less Yuuri seeing why Conrad is called the Lion of Ruttenburg. This wasn't at all what I thought it was going to end up being. I actually had quite a bit of trouble with it and ended up having to edit it a lot more than usual. Hopefully the final version turned out okay. I still feel rather meh about it though. Also, there's a reason why I usually don't write dialogue.

It had been an unseasonably rainy few days. Wolfram, in a fit of anxiety, had insisted that Yuuri not be allowed anywhere outside in case he got spirited off in a raindrop. For some reason (and Yuuri felt very lucky for this), he didn't seem to think the baths posed a threat and was at least willing to allow the young king that luxury. Although, Yuuri secretly thought that it had more to do with Wolfram insisting that it was "unkingly" for Yuuri to be dirty.

Because of the ban against leaving the castle, Yuuri found himself wandering the halls looking for new places to explore. He figured it was about time he learned his way around the less used passageways. He had decided (after having to ask a guard for directions for the umpteenth time) that only being able to find his way to the dining room and his office was not sufficient. Even Greta knew her way around better! This would not do, Wolfram had enough reasons to call him a wimp, he didn't need to give him more.

And that was how Yuuri found himself lost in his own castle. It was a rather embarrassing predicament to be in, and he knew that Wolfram would never let him hear the end of it if he ever found out. The area he had wandered into seemed to have fallen into disuse and there was a thick layer of dust covering everything and muffling his footsteps. Cobwebs hung from the sconces and most of the doorways. Yuuri, although he would never admit, was actually getting rather creeped out by his surroundings. Suddenly every shadow was someone in wait to get him and every noise was an enemy just out of sight. A skittering sound and a black object coming toward him caused him to let out an unmanly shriek and jump into the air. He was instantly relieved (and a little grossed out) to discover it was simply a rat.

He was not so relieved when he heard footsteps a few moments later. Quite convinced at this point that he was being followed by ghosts (or at least assassins) he pushed his way into the nearest room. It appeared to be an old bedroom, and he soon decided that it had at one point had belonged to a woman. The furnishings and decorations all seemed to have a feminine touch, and it actually reminded him of his room when he had still been a child, and had been forced to allow his mother to decorate for him. Shuddering at the memory of the ghastly pinkness his room had once been, he glanced around him for a hiding space.

He discarded the wardrobe, still remembering the disaster that hiding in one had been the last time, and dove under the bed. The heavy wooden door opened a few moments later and allowed brown leather boots to make their way into the room. Thanking his, for once, good luck that he hadn't chosen the wardrobe (it was the first place the man looked), he did his best to quiet his breathing and press himself as close to the wall as possible, hoping the man would soon give up and leave.

"Who's in here?" Yuuri let out a sigh of relief at the sound of the voice. It was only Conrad; the man had probably been looking for him or patrolling. Everything was okay now, and he suddenly felt rather silly for conjuring up the idea of ghosts and assassins. But before he could leave his hiding place Conrad spoke again.

"Whoever's in here had best come out right now. You have no right to be in here!" Yuuri felt himself shrink back against the wall again. He'd never heard Conrad sound so angry before. At that moment he actually felt scared of the man who had been his one constant in the crazy world he had found himself in. Even when they had been forced to meet each other as enemies during the search for the Forbidden Boxes, Conrad hadn't showed him a scary face, and while Yuuri knew he was formidable, he had never truly come face to face with the fact. Right now, he would rather pose for another of Wolfram's smelly paintings than let Conrad know where he was.

This didn't seem to be his choice to make, however, as Conrad chose that moment to pull the heavy frame of the bed away from the wall, and taking away his hiding place. Yuuri squeaked and barely managed to duck in time in order to miss being brained by the edge of the bed. He didn't know who was more shocked at that moment. Yuuri, for having his hiding place stolen so suddenly, or Conrad, for discovering that it was his king he had been yelling at moments before.

"Yuuri," Conrad said, before gently smiling down at the boy. "What are you doing in a place like this?"

And although Conrad seemed to have forgiven him whatever slight he had appeared to have made, Yuuri could not forget those few moments where he had seen the deadly expression of rage on the soldier's face. He knew that he was trespassing somewhere special, somewhere very important to Conrad and suddenly felt very guilty. Although he didn't fully understand what he had done, he knew it shouldn't be something so easily forgiven.

"I'm so sorry!" He burst out, causing Conrad to blink at him in a surprised sort of way. "I didn't mean to come in here, it's just that there was a rat and then I heard footsteps and I thought it was ghost or an assassin and I didn't know what to do. I'll never do it again, I promise!"

Conrad, if anything seemed even more shocked by this outburst. He smiled softly at Yuuri and held his hand out to help the boy up.

"Don't worry about it Heika," he murmured, "I'm not angry at you. This room used to belong to someone special to me and I thought an intruder was hiding in here. You may come here anytime you wish. I promise I won't be upset."

And while Yuuri knew that Conrad wouldn't lie to him, he also remembered very clearly the expression that had been on the man's face when he had discovered Yuuri. Before, he had only understood Conrad's reputation as a soldier in an abstract sort of way, and had never experienced that fierceness close up. Now that he had witnessed it for himself, well, he would do his best to never anger Conrad again. And he would start by staying as far away from this part of the castle as possible.