It's my first fanfiction, so I'm not quite sure what to do- besides, I'm from Germany and I have to admit that I have some trouble with this page ='D So please don't kill me if I do anything wrong^^' Hope you'll enjoy the story. I really wanted to write this, because I think Yaone and Kou make a real nice couple.


He couldn't take his eyes off her. So close had he been to losing her, so close... He didn't know what that crazy Nii had planned with her, but he was fairly sure that nothing good could come from that monster that had, to his shame, successfully tried to melt him into a personal weapon- a killing doll, obedient to him and Lady Gyokumen Koushu alone.

A hand on his shoulder made him abandon his dark thoughts. He looked up to see Dokugakuji smiling at him. "Hey, Kou. Don't worry. We got her before any harm was done, she's all safe now."

"If we had been just a few moments later...maybe it would have been too late. I was about to lose my sister and didn't even notice it! Damn!" He slammed a fist into the wall next to him, leaving a hole where it had made contact with the solid stone. He couldn't keep his eyes off Lirin.

"Kougaiji-sama!", Yaone cried and hurried over to him. "Don't, it wasn't your fault! You did not know what you were doing because of that doctor. But in the end, you snapped out of it, didn't you? You became yourself again and managed to rescue Lady Lirin. We will never again let her be taken by that man." She looked him straight in the face, something she rarely did. He saw the intensity with which she spoke burning in her eyes and couldn't help his own expression becoming soft.

He let his right hand rest on her shoulder when he gave her a tiny smile and said: "I know, Yaone, Dokugakuji. Forgive me, it's just the thought that I might lose her the very moment I take my eyes off her."

He went over to the couch on which his little sister was sleeping soundly. Gently, he took one of her orange curls and tucked it back behind her ear.

With tears in her eyes Yaone watched the scene in front of her, touched by the love her prince's face displayed. She quickly wiped the tears away before she cleared her throat and addressed the prince. "Kougaiji-sama, I think it would be best if I brought Lady Lirin to bed now. I prepared the room next to your own for her, so that you can keep an eye on her."

"Thank you, Yaone, I really appreciate it. I'll come with you." He pulled Lirin to his chest and carried her to her new room, wishing Dokugakuji a good night when passing by. The castle was totally quiet except for Yaone's light footsteps right behind him. He turned to look at her. She was walking with her head bowed, her arms folded in front of her belly. He frowned, then stood still until she had caught up with him.

"Why do you walk behind me?", he asked her. "There is no need to let yourself fall behind. You are free to walk next to me, Yaone." He did not want her to be so obedient. She absolutely had his respect, even more, his complete trust. He did not consider himself her master, neither did he do with Dokugakuji. They were his companions, not his subordinates.

"Yes, Kougaiji-sama.", Yaone whispered, still keeping her head down. A slight blush was blooming on her cheeks. 'He is always so nice to me, as if I were really worthy of being by his side.'

"Allow me to open the door for you.", she said and hurried ahead to Lirin's new room. She watched her prince putting his sister to bed, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

'I'm so glad he is back to his normal self!', Yaone thought, raising her hand to her lips as if to hide the adoring smile on her lips. Her breath hitched when he suddenly turned around and caught her staring at him.

His eyes widened when he became aware of her expression. There was so much... -he didn't know how to say it- in it. Happiness? Bliss? Pure pleasure? Even... affection?

Carefully he left his sister's side, not wanting to wake her, and approached the nervous woman in the door frame. "What's with that look?", he asked, bemused.

Yaone didn't know where to look, a furious blush covered her whole face. "I...I just watched you with Lady Lirin, and I... and I... I'm just so glad you are yourself again!" Suddenly she couldn't hold back the tears anymore, they just poured out of her eyes like a waterfall. "We didn't know what to do because you didn't even seem to recognize us, and then we realized Lady Lirin was gone, but we weren't able to help her at all. When they told us you were sent out to assassinate the Sanzo party, we were so afraid, we... I was terrified. I thought I would never see you again." She covered her face with her hands while the tears streamed down her skin, being an odd mixture of today's relief and the fear and concern of the last days.

He froze when he saw her tears. Suddenly he remembered her face when she had realized that he had snapped out off that whole brainwashing shit. She had looked at him as if her own personal sun had risen before her in a moment of utter darkness. He also remembered her first attempt to kill the Sanzo party. She tried to kill herself when she didn't manage to take them out, and if it hadn't been for Hakkai and later himself, she would have succeed in doing so. She would have killed herself for HIS sake. Ridiculous! As if he ever had expected that from her!

"Yaone.", Kougaiji mumbled, clasping her wrist with his long fingers. He gently pulled her hands away from her face. Her big, watery eyes were staring at him, insecure and ashamed. Suddenly she seemed as small and helpless as Lirin had been when he freed her before. He couldn't help pulling her in his arms and stroking the back of her head soothingly. "Shh, it's okay, it's fine. I'm back and there is no way I'll ever fall for the stupid tricks of that damn doctor again."

Yaone's heart hammered inside her chest when he suddenly was so close to her. She was so shocked about this sudden nearness that her tears stopped flowing on their own. "Kougaiji-sama.", she whispered and closed her eyes, resting her head against his chest in an unthinking movement. When she felt him tense she tried to hastily pull away. What had she been thinking? He was a noble prince, for crying out loud, what right did she have to be this close to him?

"I'm... I'm sorry, Kougaiji-sama, I.... please excuse me!" With these words, she freed herself from his embrace and fled from him, disappearing in the darkness of the corridor.

Kougaiji stared after her. "What was that just now?", he whispered slowly. "Yaone?", he added, though she couldn't hear him anymore.