I: Shou

He had no idea how he had gotten there. Nor did he have any idea why he was wearing a simple white tunic. The gentle scent of lilacs was what woke him up, their drooping blooms gently touched his face enough to wake him from the slumber that had been induced upon him. There were voices, he could hear them, quiet voices of other males other than him. The sound of running water was somewhere in the distance, but the sound of voices was what attracted him the most.

Where was he? How did he get here? His head hurt from thinking so much. Or was it that he had been hit? No, that couldn't be it, there was no tender spot anywhere on his head to tell him that he had been struck anywhere.

A thin, sparkling fog seemed to surround everything, it was odd, there was no memory of going to any place like this. Perhaps this was a hallucination from drinking too much last night. Yes, that would explain the headache. But that didn't explain anything else, the place, he had never seen anything like it. Everything seemed to have an ethereal feel to it, almost as if everything was a part of a dream. He couldn't believe that such a place existed.

"Is he awake?"

"I think he is..."

"Either he is or he's just one Hell of a sleep walker."

Laughter, he could hear laughter from a distance. There were others here, that was obvious, the voices from before assured him that much. Were they here for the same reason as he was? Then again, what was his reason for being here in the first place?

"Hello?"

"Oh! He speaks! So he is alive!"

"Right, like Lord Halath would bring back a dead body. You've got one hell of a sense of humor, Hiroto."

"Well excuse me if I thought he was dead, Tora, he was only laying there for HOURS not moving."

He could see shapes in the distance, there were four others. Each of them dressed just like him, and they were approaching. It was then when he realized that he was laying face down in quite an awkward position, one foot was in the water of a pond nearby, a small dribble of drool clung to the corner of his mouth, no doubt his hair was a complete and utter mess, and the headache that he had woken up to refused to subside.

All four of them stood right above him now, staring down at his vulnerable body. He was going to die. They were some sort of freakish race that had teleported him into this world, wherever it was. He was sure there was no place in all of Koukan that looked anything like this. The place was... magical, that was the only word that would come to his mind to describe the place.

Just absolutely magical.

The young prince shook his head slightly in an attempt to alleviate him of his headache. Sadly, it only worsened it. It took him a moment to master the pain of the headache but eventually, it faded to a dull throb. Gently, he pulled his that was dipped in the water and found that there was no other body part that was actually in pain. Another wave of nausea later and several curses at his own clumsiness, he was able to pull himself into a sitting position.

"Ugh... Where am I?"

"The palace of Reja."

"That explains a lot."

"Sure does doesn't it?"

"So... Uhm... is there a reason why I'm here?"

The four others stood there staring at him with slightly curious looks on their faces. The tallest one had a small smirk on his face. It was as if he knew something that he didn't know. Well, then again, that was obvious, he had only been conscious for only a few minutes at the most . The prince couldn't put his finger on it, but he swore, he iswore/i that the taller man was, mocking him. He wasn't too grateful when he heard the taller man speak.

"Well isn't it obvious? You committed a crime of love."

"I don't think he knows what you're talking about, Tora." The shortest one spoke to him. "He's only been here for like... never."

"Hiroto, either way, he should know the sin that he committed."

Tora, and Hiroto, so they did have names. Names that were pronounceable at least. They sounded relatively local, nothing from any sort of foreign land. That was good, the prince hated dealing with foreigners of any sort. Normally, he would just let his parents deal with it. His life as a prince meant that he was respected, he was loved, and he didn't have to do anything while his parents were alive.

His train of memories of his own castle was quickly shattered by the sound of Hiroto's voice. The shorter man stared at the taller one, challenging Tora's opinion.

"Some people aren't as observant as you." He chided. "Some of us aren't all about knowing what sin we've committed like you. And anyways, it's not like you're innocent of the same sort of crime."

"Well they should be." Tora retorted with a slight sneer at the prince. "He even has a little crown. Must mean that he's committed the worst crime out of all of us if he can carry around that thing. I wonder if he should be proud..." Tora snorted slightly when Hiroto mentioned his sin. "Yes, I'm guilty of the same crime, so are you and so is everyone else here. I don't see why he has to get special treatment."

"Tora, you really need to work on your social skills you know that? Just because you're a noble, don't treat everyone else like they're dirt. He's new here. We might as well make him feel welcome." Hiroto cringed at how proud Tora seemed to be. The shorter man shrank just slightly against the intimidating aura that Tora was giving off.

"He doesn't have to feel welcome, ihere/i" Tora sneered. "None of us really have to feel welcome, or needed. We're just very free prisoners."

"You make it sound like a punishment!"

"It is! How in the world is this something that you would like?!"

The rest of the conversation, the prince tuned out, their voices getting too loud for his liking. He turned to the other two who were standing there who only looked exasperatedly at two that were fighting.

"Fine. Since you two are so involved with talking amongst yourselves and ignoring the new one, we might as well explain the whole situation to you before you start going crazy. My name's Nao, this here is Saga, those two over there are Tora and Hiroto." He gestured with a perfectly manicured hand.

Saga nodded when Nao gestured towards him his dark brown hair covered one of his eyes, to the prince, he seemed to be a gentle soul who would be willing to help out, though, there was still an air of mystery about him, something that he couldn't put his finger on. "To make it simple for all of us, I might as well give you a briefing of why we're here. Though, you'll experience that first hand in the morning."

That didn't sound good.

Nao finished the speech for Saga. "Pretty much the lot of us are held here 'cause we committed a crime of love. For the most part, I'm pretty sure it's a case of bad loyalty. We've all got our reasons and our stories, but that's for some other time. Lord Halath's daughter over there watches over us for the most part to make sure that we don't run off somewhere."

"His daughter watches over you guys?"

"Yes, are you deaf of hearing or something? Anyways---"

"You've never tried to rebel against her? She's only a girl."

"Right, only a girl who's got mastery over magic. Sure, we'd love to try and rebel against her." Saga's voice dripped with sarcasm as he watched the exchange between the prince and Nao. "It's the obvious and very logical thing to do." The brunette chuckled slightly.

The prince looked over his shoulder where Nao pointing to see an exceptionally pale girl sitting and pouring her heart out over a book it seemed.

A book.

How frivolous!

He wanted to laugh, he wanted take the pages of the book and rip them from her grasp. Women weren't supposed to be informed through words, they were born and made for gossip! There was no way, no way that this girl could be educated enough to read a book. He himself was quite disgusted at the thought. A feeling of hatred welled up inside of him, a feeling that he couldn't explain, but right then and there, he knew that he was going to have problems with her. He knew, right there that there was something just wrong with her. A girl like her shouldn't exist.

"Tell me, Nao..." He murmured staring at the girl in the corner. "What's her name?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Lajath." Nao answered squatting down from where he stood and played with a few stray strands of grass that had grown faster than their neighbors. "Or at least, that's what I think..."

"Lajath eh?"

He snorted slightly, a fittingly odd name for an odd girl. He couldn't help but want to laugh at everything about her. There was nothing 'lady like' about her. No matter how grand the castle was, no matter how beautiful it wall was and all of it splendors, she was no lady. He could tell that right away. No lady would spend the night reading outside in the moonlight. It was just simply unheard of.

Was she trying to pick a suitor out of the five of them? She was probably the one who had whisked the lot of them here. Yes, that was it, that was her reason for being here. The 'caretaker' or 'watcher' role that she took, why, that was just a cover up for her to get close to them. That had to be it. There was no other explanation for her odd behavior. That had to be it, what a disgusting girl, taking advantage of men, asking for her dear father to bring them at her beck and call. It made him want to vomit. A female such as her shouldn't exist. There shouldn't be someone like her, it was her fault that he was missing out his wedding, it was her fault that his country would crumble, it was all her fault.

I "A girl like that... should be killed... as soon as possible..."/i

"Oh, that's right. We never got your name." Nao said out of the blue, making the young prince snap out of his reverie. "It's only polite to introduce yourself after you've been introduced to."

Both Hiroto and Tora stopped their bickering for a moment, remembering that there was indeed another person in their wake. Saga looked up the pond of water, he had been hunched over, drawing little shapes in the water, mumbling little incoherent things to himself.

"... Shou." The prince finally said after a moment of silence had transpired from the realization that none of them knew his name. "Prince Shou of the Koukan kingdom."

"Well... that explains the crown they gave you." Tora muttered with a smirk, earning a glare from the prince.

"Indeed, this... is an interesting turn of events..." Hiroto mumbled staring at Shou. "An interesting turn of events indeed. Looks like you're not the only noble here now." He jested poking the taller man in the side. Tora made a slight grunting noise but said nothing.

Another moment of silence, this one more awkward than the last one. He could almost feel the pressure that he had put on all of them.

He could tell that this was going to be one Hell of an adventure with these men.

"So... what happens in the morning?" He asked, wondering what punishment awaited them.