A/N - I was originally planning to add a scene where Kouen and Hakuei walk in on Judal and Hakuryuu to the end of Danse du Ventre, but it didn't seem to fit. So I cut it out of that, wrote it as a standalone story, and then all of this happened. This starts right where Danse du Ventre left off.

~0~

"You touch my sister again, I'll kill you."

- Sonny Corleone, The Godfather

~0~

Perhaps, Kouen had to admit to himself, it was somewhat indecent for him and Hakuei to slip away from everyone else without so much as an excuse or a goodbye to go and take some time to themselves, and in the courtesans' quarters, no less. However, at the moment, he simply could not bring himself to care if anyone had a problem with it. What would they do about it anyway? He was crown prince, and Hakuei first princess, and if someone disapproved of their actions, well, they would just have to bite their tongue and deal with it.

Hakuei's eyes were bright and her smile mischievous as she led him by the hand down the dim corridor to the room farthest to the back, where they were least likely to be caught and most likely to be able to slip out undiscovered if they happened to hear anyone coming. The hall was unusually quiet tonight, and they had hardly seen anyone around the palace in general, let alone around here. So, neither Kouen nor Hakuei were paying enough attention to their surroundings to hear the low moans and whimpers coming from their chosen room, nor were either of them expecting the sight that greeted them when Hakuei flung the door open.

There in the middle of the carpeted floor were Hakuryuu and Judal, stark naked and dripping sweat, the prince in mid-plow with the Magi's long legs slung over his shoulders.

At either the sound of the door opening or the sound of the elder two quite loudly gasping in shock, Hakuryuu's head snapped back to look, and Kouen was surprised and somewhat disturbed at how quickly the boy's face went bone white and how huge his eyes became. "A-Aneue?! Wh-What are you doing here?!" he spluttered.

"Huh?" Judal craned his neck up to see what all the fuss was about (or why Hakuryuu had stopped pleasuring him, Kouen supposed it could be either one) and upon seeing who had walked in on them, his face broke into an enormous grin. "Well, good evening, Ei-nee-san, Kouen," he said cheerfully, waving politely with one bare foot. "Fancy meeting you here!"

"Don't wave at them, Judal!" Hakuryuu shrieked. His initial surprise hadn't lasted long, and the humiliating realization that he was currently giving his wide-eyed sister (and cousin, but Kouen didn't get the feeling that he was a matter of great importance at the moment) a huge eyeful of his and his boyfriend's bare bodies spurred him into action. He quickly twisted around, ignoring the yelp Judal gave at being so roughly exited, grabbed a large red blanket off the nearest couch, and threw it over the two of them. "Damn it..." he snarled, fumbling around for their discarded clothes, hastily pulling his own on, and throwing Judal's at the still-supine Magi. "What are you even doing here, anyway?! We didn't think anyone else would come; everyone's supposed to be at the stupid party - "

He broke off, paused, and then pulled the blanket back just enough to uncover his head, so that he could look more closely at Hakuei and Kouen, who were standing fairly close together, hand in hand. Kouen could almost see the gears turning in his younger cousin's head, and wondered with a sinking feeling whether Hakuryuu had noticed Hakuei eagerly dragging him away from the party, but hadn't expected that they'd be going this far so soon.

Not to be left out of what was, for him, a great joke, Judal poked his head out too, his grin broadening. "Yeah, you two," he drawled. "What're you doing here in the wing of sex dens?"

At those last two words, Hakuryuu made a noise like an offended lizard, and as he turned to look at Kouen, his eyes stretched almost comically wider as he finally connected the dots. "You motherfucker!" he yelled accusingly, leaping to his feet and ignoring Hakuei's reprimanding shout of his name.

"Technically, sisterfucker would be the better - "

"Shut up, Judal!" Hakuryuu screeched, turning around to angrily hurl two nearby pillows at Judal's exposed head as hard as he could. "And you!" He wheeled back around to glare at Kouen with pure murder in his eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing with my sister, you - !"

"Hold that thought, Hakuryuu," Kouen interrupted, keeping his voice and face carefully blank and nonconfrontational. "I believe one of my brothers is calling me. Excuse me, Hakuei - "

With that, he beat a hasty retreat back the way they had come, hoping to get as far away as possible before Hakuryuu absolutely exploded. As ambitious and hot-blooded as the boy was, he was far smaller, skinnier, and less skilled than Kouen, and he really didn't want to end up hurting him. Hopefully Hakuei will be able to hold him off long enough for me to lose him.

~0~

"No one's calling you, you liar! Come back here! Kouen!"

The enraged prince lunged for the door, but Hakuei quickly moved to block him. "Wait, Hakuryuu!" she ordered, grabbing her brother by the shoulders. "You need to take a minute and calm down!"

"Don't tell me to calm down, aneue!" Hakuryuu cried. "I can't be calm about this!"

"Of course you can! You don't see me throwing a tantrum about finding my little brother...A-Ah..."

"Balls-deep in the local Magi's sweet ass?" Judal filled in brightly, and started laughing when now both siblings shouted at him to be quiet.

"You do whatever you want, aneue! But I'm not going to just stand here and let someone stain my only sister's honor!" Hakuryuu declared, and before Hakuei could react he pushed past her and charged down the hall after Kouen, his voice high and cracking with fury as he screamed his cousin's name like a battle cry.

"Hakuryuu!" Hakuei shouted after him. "Hakuryuu! Come back here! Haku - Will you stop laughing, Judal-kun?! Why is this so funny to you?"

Judal smirked at her, and between giggles, he said, "Come on, Ei-nee-san, you've got to admit that this is a pretty funny situation. Hakuryuu wasn't having any fun at that dumbass party your pig uncle's throwing, so all I was planning on was bringing him down here and showing him some fun. I sure wasn't expecting you and the goat man to come down here doing the same thing!"

"Judal-kun! This is serious!"

"Why? This turned out, like, ten times more entertaining than I thought it would!"

"They could hurt each other! And I don't care if you would find that even funnier, we're both going after them and calming them down! Get dressed and let's go!"

Judal was about to refuse, but then reasoned that it would be much more fun to see what happened when Hakuryuu caught up to Kouen than to stay here teasing the princess and missing it all. So he quickly pulled on his pants and followed Hakuei out after their boyfriends. "Lead the way, General!"

~0~

"You know, parties were never much to my taste," Ithnan remarked, refilling his cup of sake and sinking back leisurely into one of the many plush chairs in the empress' bedroom. "But I'm glad you were able to slip away, Arba; it's nice to sit back and relax once in a while."

"Isn't it, though?" Gyokuen agreed, taking a delicate sip of her own drink. "Although...I do get the sense that there's something else going on around here. As if something's about to disturb our peace."

Ithnan raised his eyebrows. "Why do you say that? We've taken every precaution to ensure that this whole city is the safest place in the world for the organization. There's no way there could be any danger."

"No, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you - ?"

All of a sudden, a high-pitched war screech from just outside their wing of the palace made Ithnan jump so badly half of his drink sloshed onto the front of his robes. "What in hell - ?!" He leaped up from his seat and rushed to the window, looking down frantically for the source. When he found it, he went from panicked to entirely unimpressed in less than a second. "Arba, is that your idiot son?"

"I told you: no danger, just Hakuryuu," Gyokuen said with a light laugh, getting up and crossing the room to join him at the window. "What's he doing?"

"I can't quite tell, but it looks like he's...chasing something?"

"Hold on a minute." Gyokuen went over to her nightstand and retrieved two pairs of binoculars for them. "Here," she said, offering one to Ithnan. "You know how to use these, right?"

He took it, his eyes widening slightly. "You just...have these? In your room? What for?"

"Use your imagination," she told him curtly, putting her pair to her eyes and leaning on the windowsill. "My goodness, look at him. He's going to make quite a spectacle of himself, isn't he?"

"I suppose so."

Ithnan used his own binoculars to get a good look at the boy. He knew, from what his companion had told him of her youngest spawn, that Hakuryuu was, in essence, a tiny, seething, blue-haired ball of pent-up rage. But he had not actually seen said ball of rage in action until tonight. The prince looked quite wild, with his hair flying loose and his clothes unkempt, his eyes stretched wide and his face shining with sweat. He looked like a rabid hunting dog stuck on a particular scent, and Ithnan only had to turn slightly to see what his chosen quarry was.

"...I don't believe Kouen-kun is quite as enthusiastic about this chase as Hakuryuu-kun is," he remarked. The redhead looked about as anxious about having his young cousin on his heels and out for his blood as he would about having a fly buzzing around his face. However, it did not seem that he cared to expend the effort of punching the boy's lights out, and was instead choosing to run from the conflict - with the most deadpan look on his face that Ithnan had ever seen in his whole life. "I wonder, though, just what is this commotion all about?"

Barely a second later, Hakuryuu screamed his answer: "How dare you touch my sister, you bastard! Do you think she's yours to take whatever you want from?! Answer me! Hey! I said answer me! Don't act like you can't hear me! I know you can!"

"And so can everyone else within a fifty-mile radius, I presume," Gyokuen muttered, as the two princes sprinted away, Hakuryuu yelling that when he caught up to Kouen, he was going to rip his goatee out of his face and then punch him in it until it caved in. "I must say, I never expected that this would be what made him finally snap."

"What, finding out that his sister's been successfully seducing the crown prince? It was my understanding that most of the palace knew by now."

"Well, Hakuryuu has never been the sharpest knife in the drawer, now has he?" Gyokuen pointed out, a smile growing on her face. "But on the other hand, I'm actually quite proud of Hakuei. She knows what she wants and goes right for it; that's my girl. You know, Hakuryuu may be my favorite child, but I've always been at least somewhat fond of Hakuei."

Not that that will do much for either of them, Ithnan thought. "Indeed. And speaking of which..."

As Hakuryuu heatedly called his cousin a name that involved intercourse and goats, his yowling faded out, to be replaced by a higher, worried voice, that was altogether much more pleasant to listen to. "Hakuryuu! Hakuryuu! Will you just stop for a minute and listen to me?!" Hakuei cried as she ran into sight, with Judal floating lazily along beside her. "Why won't he listen to me?"

Judal shrugged. "He's a stupid stubborn prince, that's why. You should know this by now."

"And where did he learn to swear like a drunken sailor? I've never heard that kind of language from him before!" She turned to look at Judal, the worry on her face turning to distinct irritation. "I'll bet it was from you, wasn't it?"

Judal shrugged again. "Eh, I don't think all of it was me. He travels around a lot, how should I know where he picked it up? Although..." He flipped around in midair and gave Hakuei an upside-down grin. "I did teach him everything he knows about how to talk dirty."

The princess narrowed her eyes, unamused. "I have no idea what Hakuryuu sees in you. Now where did they go...?" she murmured, realizing that they'd lost sight of their targets. She had only glanced around to look for them for a moment, when she caught sight of the pair watching her from an upstairs window and jumped slightly. "Oh! G-Good evening, Mother, Ithnan-dono!" she said, folding her hands and bowing her head respectfully.

Judal turned right-side-up and waved lazily up at them. "Yo. How long've you been watching?"

Gyokuen put on a beatific smile for her daughter and her Magi. "Long enough. Have you and Prince Kouen been having a good time this evening?"

"Yes, Mother, we have, thank you. Though, did you happen to see which way Hakuryuu was going? I'm so sorry I lost him, I - "

"Don't worry about that, darling, it couldn't have been your fault!"

Hakuei sighed. "I tried to get him to calm down, but he's gotten himself quite worked up. This was...not exactly the way I had intended him to find out that Kouen was successful in courting me."

"Oh?" The empress' smile broadened. "But what, exactly, made him so angry? Surely he can't object to his only sister taking pleasure in the company of one she loves?"

The question was said innocently enough, but the implication that her mother was casually inquiring about her sex life made Hakuei's cheeks turn pink. "Ah...He...We ran into him and Judal in the courtesans' quarters," she admitted, unable to meet Gyokuen's eyes. "It wasn't exactly as if we could lie about what we were in there to do."

"No, I suppose not." She noticed that Judal had raised his hand like a student asking permission to speak. "Yes, Judal?"

"Uh, yeah, I just wanted to let you know that I'm boning your kid too. The angry one over there, not the competent one here," he said, pointing first in Hakuryuu's direction and then at Hakuei, ignoring his companion's scandalized look. "That okay with you?"

Gyokuen's smile did not falter one bit as she answered, "It would be hypocritical of me to say no to you boys when I allow Hakuei and Kouen to run around unchecked, wouldn't it? Just don't hurt each other."

"Well, I'm fairly sore right now in certain places, does that count or - ?"

"Judal-kun!" Hakuei cut him off from between clenched teeth, as her cheeks flushed darker. "That's hardly the kind of thing you should be telling our mother about like it's the most casual thing in the world!"

"It's all right, Hakuei," Gyokuen called down. "He's been raiding my makeup drawers for the past two years, and it's nice to finally find out what he was trying to look pretty for."

"Eeh?! You knew about that?" Judal squawked, nearly falling out of the air in shock.

"Of course, Judal, dear; you don't still think you can hide things from me, do you? Now, while it's lovely to talk with my children, I do think you two should run along and catch Hakuryuu. You know how he can get sometimes, and I hate to think of him doing something foolish and regretting it later."

"Yes, Mother, right away! Come on, Judal-kun!" Without waiting for him to respond, Hakuei grabbed Judal's wrist and ran off, pulling the protesting Magi behind her like a large, oddly-shaped balloon.

As soon as they too were out of sight, Ithnan posed a question that had been on his mind for a while. "Arba, why is it that when it comes to romance and sex, all of your children are uniquely troublesome?"

Gyokuen tilted her head, somewhat puzzled. "I wouldn't say all of them are troublesome. Remember how Hakuyuu never bothered with that sort of thing? He was always too focused on his studies and his training and such. Or maybe he simply wasn't interested."

"Either that or he was gayer than a treeful of brightly colored parrots, and unlike with Judal, you never realized."

"...That's a possibility too, I suppose. Either way, my point still stands. Hakuren, on the other hand, now he was ridiculous. I swear, that boy slept with every woman in this city and all the other places his father took him on campaign. He was the person that the phrase 'aggressively straight' was made for."

"It would appear that he's the only straight one," Ithnan pointed out.

"Perhaps. You know, it's actually quite funny: Hakuryuu's always tended to blush and get shy around particularly pretty girls, but it seems he's not at all shy about pounding Judal like a stud horse."

Ithnan gave her the most disapproving look she had ever seen on his face before. "Please do not ever put any of those words together again. But you have to admit, as problematic as it might be to have your arguably least competent offspring getting into this serious of a relationship with our most important tool, theirs certainly isn't the oddest affair. Doesn't Hakuei have that...thing going on with her Djinn? And doesn't Prince Kouen get in on that sometimes as well?"

"I've heard varying claims about that, but none from the happy couple themselves. If you want clarification, though, feel free to ask them. And I don't think Hakuryuu and Judal getting together will be much of a problem at all. They're lustful teenaged boys; at best, this will keep them distracted and happy while we keep doing what we need to do."

"If you say so."

"All in all, I think I've raised my children to have good taste in partners, if I do say so myself. In fact, I actually find myself hoping that they are as content in their relationships as I was in mine."

Ithnan raised an eyebrow. "...Your last relationship ended with you having your husband shot through the face with an arrow. An arrow that was on fire."

"Well, every marriage has its little hang-ups, doesn't it? It was unfortunate that it had to end that way, I rather liked having him as my husband. I liked it quite a lot, in fact..." Gyokuen's smile widened just a bit too much, and the glint in her eyes made Ithnan fairly uncomfortable. "For all his unalterable faults, my Toku was an absolute god in bed."

"Arba..." he growled warningly. I am not having this conversation, I am not...

"Oh, come now, why else do you think I ended up bearing him four children?"

"Arba, you - !" Ithnan broke off, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a deep breath. "You know what? I need something to knock those last few images you just gave me out of my head. Let's just go back to drinking and forget we ever had this conversation, shall we?"

~0~

The next afternoon...

This was the absolute last place Ren Hakuryuu wanted to be at the moment.

Well, if he was being completely honest and rational about this, it wasn't that bad. There were plenty of places that could be worse: in the throne room being lectured by his uncle, for one, or anyplace that involved him, his mother, and no chance of escape. But stuck in a small sunroom, sitting on a flat cushion across a table from his oldest cousin, forbidden to leave on pain of his sister getting upset and possibly crying and making him feel like a guilty jackass, seemed equally bad at the moment.

Sometimes Hakuryuu really hated how utterly impossible it was to tell what Kouen was thinking or feeling at any given moment. The bastard's face was always so freakishly blank, and he might as well be trying to read the emotions of a stone wall. Well, he wasn't going to be so damned apathetic. He was fixing the redhead with a glare that (the way he pictured it) could melt metal, letting him know without words exactly what he felt about everything that had transpired. It appeared that this wasn't enough to elicit a response, so after about ten minutes of awkwardness he supposed he would have to be the one to break the silence.

"Aneue suggests," he began levelly, "that after the events of last night, the two of us talk it out and express our feelings about what happened."

Kouen nodded. "She also seems to be of the opinion that you overreacted to finding out that we're together now."

Hakuryuu gritted his teeth to keep from snapping something rude back. He was perfectly justified in trying to defend the honor of his only sister, as he was certain Hakuyuu or Hakuren would have done were they still alive to do it. However, even considering that, maybe he had overreacted. Just a little bit. But there was no way he was going to admit that to Kouen. "I don't believe I overreacted in the slightest."

"Hakuryuu, to get you to calm down, Hakuei had to have Judal jump on you, sit on you, use a pressure point in your neck to knock you out, and then carry you off over his shoulder."

"...I'm well aware of that." Damn that traitor for picking last night of all nights to start obeying the orders of someone other than Gyokuen. "But even so, I believe my - " Fury, wrath, ire, uncontrollable volcanic spewing rage - "displeasure was reasonable, whether aneue feels the same way or not. About your relationship, or about mine."

"I see. In that case, how shall we proceed? I also want us to come to a peaceful resolution. Do you feel the same way, cousin?"

Hakuryuu did not answer right away, taking a deep breath before he spoke again. "Let me make this perfectly clear: I don't agree with my sister entering into a romantic relationship with you. Though, I will admit that I would probably feel the same way about anyone beginning that kind of relationship with my sister, and I have nothing against you personally."

That was partially a lie, he reflected. While it was true that, on principle, he likely would react badly to anyone other than Kouen courting Hakuei, now that he'd had time to think over how he really felt about it, he had realized that there was another problem he had with this new development. He still wasn't certain of where Kouen's true loyalties lay, or of whether he was doing anything to help al-Thamen beyond letting them run rampant in the palace and the rest of the empire. Such a person in such close proximity to his sister made him fairly nervous, to say the least; he had already lost his father and brothers to the cult and was not about to lose his sister to them too. But to be so open about those particular suspicions wouldn't be a very smart move. However, he would still be as truthful as he could in getting his message across.

"However..." Hakuryuu stared Kouen directly in the eyes, spoke as confidently as possible, and hoped the older royal was taking him seriously and not just humoring him. "Hakuei is my only living sibling, and I'm sure you of all people can understand why I am protective of her. She told me before bringing me here that she loves you. So I have to ask: Do you love my sister back, Kouen? Truly love her?"

If nothing else, the conviction in Kouen's voice was reassuring as he answered, "Yes. I truly do."

"That's good. But while I have full faith in her abilities to judge a person's character, choose a worthy partner, and take care of herself with or without me there to help guard her honor, it doesn't change the fact that to be in love is to put your heart in someone else's hands and make yourself vulnerable to pain. The person you love can make you feel joy and ecstasy beyond anything you've ever felt before, but they can also hurt you more deeply than anyone else can. So, Kouen..." Hakuryuu narrowed his eyes, not breaking his stare. "If you ever do anything to hurt my sister, anything at all, I will make you feel ten times the pain she does. I don't care that you're the crown prince. I don't care that you're a general. I don't care that you're a three-time Dungeon Capturer. I'll take those precious Metal Vessels of yours and shove them all down your throat. Do you understand me?"

Perhaps it wasn't his place to be saying such things - all right, it definitely wasn't his place - but Kouen did not look at all insulted. "I understand. I must say, I admire your honesty, and your devotion to Hakuei. If I ever did hurt her, I suppose I would deserve all of that, wouldn't I?"

"It's nice to know that we can see eye-to-eye on this."

"It is. But, Hakuryuu, there's more than one side to this. I also have concerns about - " The sudden sound of rapid footsteps and familiar voices made both of them look to the closed door behind Kouen. "Ah. Speak of a demon and he shall appear."

Hakuryuu was momentarily confused until the door opened and a cheerful Hakuei poked her head in. Standing behind her was Judal, who looked significantly less cheerful. "How are we doing here, boys?" she asked. "Getting along all right?"

"Well, we haven't killed each other yet," Hakuryuu said dryly.

"So good, more or less," Kouen confirmed. "How are you and Judal doing?"

"And what have you two been doing all morning?" Hakuryuu asked. He and Kouen had only been in here for a little while, but according to Hakuei, Judal had been stuck with her almost since he'd woken up.

"Oh, a bit of everything. If my little brother's going to have a boyfriend, he'll have one that knows exactly how to treat him, and I'm just the one to teach him all he needs to know!" Hakuei said brightly, while Judal crossed his arms and grumbled unintelligibly in disagreement.

Hakuryuu smirked, just because he knew it would annoy the Magi. "Ah, I see. I hope you're having fun with that."

"So far I have been. Well, I don't have much time to spend here - my next lesson will be teaching Judal how to cook all your favorite meals!"

The speed at which Hakuryuu's face could go from amused and cocky to pale and horrified, and twice in less than twenty-four hours too, was truly impressive, Kouen thought. His own expression did not change, but his eyes went wide - he had heard plenty from Ri Seishun about the first princess' potentially lethal cooking. Judal had not, but he could gather as much from the other two's reactions and immediately tried to get out of it. "H-Hey, Ei-nee-san, I don't really think we need to do that, do we?"

Hakuei raised her eyebrows, puzzled and oblivious to the panicking of her brother and cousin. "I think we should. Why not? Is there something wrong, Judal-kun?"

"Uh..." Judal's eyes darted back and forth from Hakuei's innocently inquisitive face to Hakuryuu frantically running his fingers across his throat behind her. Normally I would be able to come up with an at least passable excuse, but you guys are really putting me on the spot here! "Uhh...No?"

Hakuryuu promptly slammed his forehead into the table, groaning in exasperation, while Kouen closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Hakuei, noticing neither of them, smiled brightly. "Wonderful! Let's go, then!" With that, she grabbed Judal's hand and walked briskly off.

Kouen waited until both of them were out of earshot to say solemnly, "That poor boy."

"...Aneue's asked you to taste her cooking too?" Hakuryuu asked, lifting his now-reddened head from the table.

"Unfortunately. She was very excited to make food for me that she thought I would enjoy, though...I didn't want to disappoint her."

"Yes, I know the feeling well." Hakuryuu hesitated, then said slowly, "I suppose that's one other thing we have in common, at least when it comes to her."

He was surprised at the softness of Kouen's next words. "Perhaps we can come to terms with this situation by finding similar common ground? That's a perfectly rational solution, isn't it?"

Damn it, he was right. "That does make sense. I think...So long as I can be certain you're treating my sister correctly, maybe I can just...look the other way for a while."

"If that would be best for you, then it's good for me as well," Kouen said, and he actually sounded pleased at that.

"So it's settled, then." That wasn't so bad, Hakuryuu thought. Perhaps he and Kouen really could learn to have at least a marginally friendly relationship -

"Not quite. As I was saying before, we also have to think about what's best for you. So I have to ask, Hakuryuu: are you sure becoming this attached to Judal is a good idea? Are you sure you can trust him completely?"

Or maybe not. The older prince's words immediately brought all his worries about al-Thamen rushing back, and put him right back on guard. He couldn't let his defenses down again, not for a minute, not even for family. Despite knowing who Judal really took orders from, some deep gut instinct assured him that the Magi would never betray him. Kouen, though...He had no such certainty about him. He'd forgotten himself, forgotten who he was dealing with. That was dangerous, and he could not let himself do it again.

"Believe me, Kouen," he answered, his eyes narrowed and his tone level, "I know exactly who I can trust in this place. Judal will stay by my side."

Kouen didn't look convinced, but for now, he opted not to press the point. "Whatever you say, then, cousin."

~0~

After about three and a half hours in the palace kitchens, Hakuei had finally decided to take him back to Hakuryuu's bedroom (he had his own, but he hadn't slept in it in years - even when the prince was gone, Judal found it much more comfortable to stay in his bed) and leave him be. It's going to take a hell of a lot of peach juice to wash this taste out of my mouth, he internally grumbled. When he finally managed to make Hakuryuu a king, he would ensure that his first decree would be to exile whatever idiot told the princess she was capable of cooking.

"Thank you for being so patient with me for all this time," Hakuei said, finally letting go of his hand. "You understand I just want to make sure that the person Hakuryuu wants to be close to will treat him as well as he deserves to be treated, right? As his older sister, that's just my responsibility."

She was still giving him that smile that made it impossible for him to be truly angry at her. And she did have a point. "Yeah, I get it. Don't worry, I totally want to treat Hakuryuu right." He chose to leave out that however much knowledge she crammed into his head, it would be putting that knowledge into practice that could be a problem for him. Though if I did screw up somehow, I don't see what you could do about it.

"That's good. You know, I like that I'm so easily able to trust you, Judal-kun. I haven't forgotten that you were the one who led me through the dungeon so I could have Paimon. I'm sure that you would never do anything to hurt him..."

Some slight but unmistakable change in her tone made Judal turn to look directly at her, and what he saw made him jump. Hakuei had gone too still, staring at him intently, and her smile was stretched just a bit too wide. "You wouldn't hurt my little brother, would you?" she asked, and this time the threat was clear in her voice. "I hate to imagine what I would have to do to you if you ever did..."

For a second, Judal could have sworn that he saw the princess' eyes flash scarlet, and the sight made a very different Ren woman's name run through his head, prompting a reaction that had been instilled in him since before he could remember: Grovel! Grovel, you fool!

He immediately dropped to his knees, extending his arms in front of him as he pressed his forehead to the floor. "I swear, I'll be better to Hakuryuu than you could ever imagine!" he burst out. "I'll protect him with my own life, no matter what happens! Y-You have nothing to worry about, Ei-nee-s...aneue-sama!"

His fear was short-lived; the next moment, Hakuei was gently taking hold of his chin and lifting his head to look up at her, with her usual kind smile back in place. "There's no need to do all of that, Judal-kun. Though I appreciate your enthusiasm," she said, amused. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you like that."

"Ahaha...I didn't think so," Judal said as she helped him back to his feet, plastering a smile on his own face. Like hell she didn't mean that - she's as protective of Hakuryuu as Gyokuen isn't! I underestimated her...It'd probably be good for my health if I never do that again.

"I hope you understand, that was just a precaution. I get the sense that you and Hakuryuu will take very good care of each other. And you should be aware that this goes both ways: if Hakuryuu's not treating you right, you just come to me and I'll straighten him out. Well...maybe that's not quite the correct word choice, but you get the point." Then, Hakuei surprised Judal for the second time in under five minutes by wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a quick but tight hug. "Have a good night, Judal-kun."

With that, she walked off and left the Magi standing there, staring after her long after she'd disappeared around the corner to her own bedroom. She's still genuinely nice, but Ei-nee-san can be a lot scarier than I thought if she wants to be, he decided. Gyokuen should count herself lucky that she's still blissfully ignorant of what actually happened to Yuu-nii-san and Ren-nii-san. Really, really lucky.

As he went into the bedroom to wait for Hakuryuu to return, Judal promised himself (sincerely this time, now that the pressure was off him) again that he would do the best he could to protect the young prince, whether the threat of Hakuei raining hell on him if he failed to do so remained or not. Hakuryuu was his chosen king, after all - it would be a poor excuse for a Magi who could not keep such a precious person alive and well.

~0~

"Hey, is there ever going to be a night when you don't hog all my blankets, Judal?"

"...Mmmphf."

"Judal." The word was accompanied by a poke in his head that was surely rougher than necessary, and that was what woke him fully.

"Ungh?" he mumbled, rolling over in bed to gaze up with bleary eyes at Hakuryuu, already changed into nightclothes and looking to get into bed too, and he felt a smile crawl onto his face. "Oh...Didn't notice you came in."

"Well, I'm here now, so like I said, move your lazy self over," the prince said, slipping under the sheets and snuggling up to the Magi's bare body.

Judal smirked - even if he sounded annoyed, Hakuryuu could never really be angry at him. "So, I forgot to ask, how'd it go with you and the barn animal before?"

Hakuryuu snorted. "Kouen might look smart, but he's got a thicker skull than any goat. How'd it go with you and aneue?"

"...You didn't tell me your sister was so scary, Hakuryuu."

"Yeah, I was spending the afternoon hoping that she hadn't killed you with that spicy vegetable soup recipe of hers - "

"No, I mean she's really scary. Like, on your mother's level kind of scary."

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes and gave him a skeptical look. "Look, I know you're only talking so weird because you're half-asleep, but you should know that my mother is the last person I want you to bring up in bed."

"Ah, never mind," Judal sighed, curling up closer to his prince. "Let's just go to sleep and we can talk about it tomorrow."

"Well, one of those sounds like a good idea," Hakuryuu agreed, looping an arm around the older boy's shoulders.

"...Maybe I'll dance for you again tomorrow?"

"Heh...Go to sleep, Judal."

"Maybe the four of us can all go on a date together, then?"

"Go to sleep, Judal."

~0~

A/N - A few things: first, the little move Judal pulls at the beginning comes from an episode of The Golden Girls, where Blanche tells a story about how her teacher caught her in her dorm having sex with a guy, and she "waved politely over his shoulder, with [her] foot." I thought that was exactly the kind of thing Judal would do, and that Hakuryuu would start screeching over. :) Second, in writing this, Gyokuen and Ithnan became my newest Brotp, and it became my headcanon that Gyokuen is possessed of acute "somewhere my son is being a little bitch" senses (which were going wild during the Zagan's Dungeon arc).