Disclaimer: I do not own Pretear, I do not own Pretear, I do not own Pretear. Sasame... Hayate... NOOOOOO!

Summary: After Takako's death, Himino loses the ability to prêt, and the knights have to find a new Pretear. Their search however turns up more than they bargained for when they not only find one Pretear, but two. One of which is doomed to become the next princess of disaster. Sasame x OC Hayate x OC Contains fluff, and lemon in later chapters.

More Than A Fairytale

Chapter 1: Sasame's Tale

"If you ever need to talk, no matter what the problem, I'll listen." Sasame finished his radio show, and looked over his shoulder at the director who was smiling and flashing him a big thumbs up. "That's a wrap Sasame, Good job!" The director was still beaming as he signaled to Sasame his job's end. Sasame sighed nodding politely at the director and the remaining people in the studio as he walked past on his way out, wishing he could share the director's enthusiasm and cheer.

Sasame reached the door of the studio, and stepped out of FM Awayuki onto the brightly lit steps, the sudden change of lighting causing him to shade his eyes. Awaiting him at the bottom of the steps were his usual array of fan girls, but Sasame neither had the strength no desire to humor them today. He simply cut through them, rather rudely, and continued on his path down the side walk, leaving his fans in a state of shock, and causing one devoted fan to softly call out, "what's the matter Sasame-samma, don't you love me anymore?".
Sasame continued his journey in a state almost like a trance. He had no real destination and at the moment was just walking to walk. After a few intricate turns and direction changes, he found himself in a beautiful little park with a river running under an old wooden, and all types of flowers in bloom. "Shin would enjoy this", Sasame thought vaguely without any real feelings as to whether Shin would actually enjoy the place or not. Most of his thoughts were like that now. They were empty, and meant nothing to him. HE was empty. Rarely anything had any meaning to him these days. "That's why it's so hard for me to do the show", he thought again. "The only thing people are writing about are petty little problems that don't mean a thing to me." "That just means that this world's liefe is safe", a voice in the back of Sasame's head responded. He found this voice very annoying, and his, temper, which rarely ever showed, began to rise.
Sasame took another look around the park and spotted a bench. Figuring that here was a good enough place to stop at than any, he seated himself, and looked up at the rapidly setting sun. "Takako...", Sasame whispered. He was suddenly filled with an unbearable sadness. He couldn't believe how bad things had gotten. They had all been so perfect. Takako was back, and this time she had eyes for only him, Himeno and Hayate were getting along (except for the occasional fight), and above all the world's liefe was safe.
However, things had suddenly taken a change for the worst. Sasame had been noticing changes in Takako's attitude towards him. She was not as loving, and had become a bit cold. Not long afterwards there had been reports of disturbances within Lifienia, but the Knights had paid it no mind. There had been no decrease in liefe, and everyone was generally happy, so they simply dismissed it as a rumor. They could not however ignore the demon larvae that appeared, the fact that it absorbed a lot of Himeno's liefe so she could no longer prêt, and that Takako had given her life trying to save Himeno along with Sasame.
Sasame's eyes filled with tears as scenes of Takako's last moments played through his mind. How he could only watch helplessly as his prêt with Himeno failed, prompting the demon to attack again, and how it was Takako's body that shielded both him and Himeno from the attack. Now Takako was gone, Himeno couldn't prêt, and they needed to find a new Pretear in order to discover where the demon came from.
Sasame closed his eyes. It was all too much now. He needed some way to escape. He was tired of listening to the minor problems of teenage girls when his were so great, and he secretly longed for some one to listen to and advise him. The loss of Takako had left him extremely lonely, but aside from Hayate who was preoccupied with Himeno, all of the other knights were busy looking for a new pretear, even the little ones.
"Is it even worth finding a new pretear?" Sasame asked himself the first question with meaning in a long while. He was about to delve deeper into his confused mix of thoughts and feelings, when his supernatural hearing picked up the faintest sound nearby. He followed the sound under the bridge where a young girl was calling out to some one or other. "Princess... Princess!" Ignoring the girl, Sasame headed back to his bench, when something very small went streaking pass him. He was suddenly filled with an intense, blind rage, chasing after whatever it was, convinced it was some sort of demon, and determined to avenge Takako's death. He was so upset that he failed to notice that the "demon" was actually a small dog that the previous girl was also in hot pursuit of. She was however running towards it instead of behind . As the demon dog took a sharp turn to the left, taking his pursuers off guard, the girl and Sasame collided and were propelled backwards to the ground as a surge of electricity passed through their bodies.