Competition for Erutis' Heart? Krayon is Confused!

By: OtakuSailorV

Erutis sat lazily in her chair, yawning widely, her eyelids drooping. She had stayed up late to help practice with Chris and had been rudely awakened early in the morning by Raenef. She had been unable to go back to sleep all day, despite her obvious fatigue.

Leaning over the desk that the chair was propped by, she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, but as always a distraction popped up.

Seeing Erutis lying down on the job, Chris could help but whack the back of her head with his staff, driving her face into the harsh unforgiving wood of the table. At first she was still, only a mild groan escaped her lips. Thinking he might have actually killed her this time, he leaned closer to see if she was alright only to have his feet swept out from under him.

She had stuck her leg out while he was investigating and now was getting up to glare at him through sleep-bleary eyes. Her face was red in the place that had hit the table the hardest. "Would you like me to kill you now or later?" She questioned tersely, eyebrow twitching.

"Yeah right, you can't beat me!" He challenged and waved his staff into a fighting position.

Erutis pulled forth her sword and she looked fit to charge when Eclipse's droning voice flowed into the room. "No fighting, children."

Both were instantly vexed and turned on the demon, even though they knew that neither of them stood a chance against Eclipse's dark magic.

"Oh, you wanna piece too!" Chris challenged, getting a bit ahead of himself again.

Eclipse leveled him with a dark glare just as Raenef bounced into the room looking as cheerful as ever. "What's going on?" He questioned happily, all aglow in shoujo sparkles.

Chris glared at him. "You have the worst timing ever!"

Raenef looked about to cry, hurt by Chris' harsh words. Seeing that his Lord was upset, Eclipse immediately raised his arm and conjured a ball of dark magic. Chris flinched and backed up, pushing Erutis in front of him and waving the staff at Eclipse from behind her in a menacing manner.

Erutis sighed and hung her head. Stepping to one side, she let Eclipse shoot his magic at Chris. Chris yelped as the ball of dark energy whizzed toward, only to duck at the last minute. "You were aiming to kill that time!" He accused.

"I was hoping," Eclipse replied nonchalantly.

This brought a roar of outrage from Chris who had sprung forward to battle Eclipse when Erutis had stopped him by placing one hand on his forehead and pushing her weight against him.

"Let me go, Erutis! I will rid the world of all demon scum!" Chris cried, trying to look as warrior-like as possible while shouting his catch phrase.

From the trees outside, a certain floppy-haired demon observed them with jealous scrutiny. How did they manage to get so many different emotions out of his Erutis, to make her talk so smoothly with them like she did?

It wasn't fair! He was the one that had chosen Erutis as his queen, not that puny Demon Lord Raenef V! How dare he keep her in his castle like that, making jokes with her, getting hugs from her, making her smile! It just wasn't fair! He loved her, not them!

…Or did they? His mind suddenly shifted to the thought. Maybe they were all competing for her heart like he was, though they were not as open about it. Yes, that had to be it! That was the only explanation for their behavior around her! Demon Lord Raenef, the Cleric Chris and even Eclipse were now his enemy then!

He snorted derisively at the thought. Well, he had always enjoyed a challenge, which was one reason he loved Erutis, but this made it all the more worthwhile. He would show those imbeciles that he was the only one deserving of Erutis' heart!

Swooping down from his hiding spot, he appeared in the room just as it began to look as if everyone were going to kill each other.

Raenef and Chris looked surprised, Eclipse looked as stoic as ever and Erutis' expression changed so many times that he wasn't sure what her real reaction to his sudden visit was.

He gave them all a toothy grin, not letting on that he knew what they were up to. 'Oh yes, I see right through your disguises now and I shall not let you win!' He thought to himself as he made yet another flashy entrance.

"Hello," he greeted, nodding to them all. "And hello to you, dearest Erutis."

Erutis snorted, glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest. "What are you doing here?" She demanded of him.

Krayon placed a hand over his heart and tried to look genuinely shaken by her harsh words. "Why, how can you ask such a thing, Erutis? I came to see your lovely face, of course," he replied with a melancholy smile.

She snorted again and turned her head aside sharply, showing her distaste. "Well I don't want to see you, ever thought of that?"

The Demon Lord immediately turned to stone, his heart shattering into a million pieces. She didn't…want to…see him? But…that was impossible! Jealousy throbbed in his veins again and he was all flames inside. Those other three were her chosen then? She had already ruled him out! They had turned her against him!

"Don't be like that, dear Erutis," he said imploringly, coming closer with his arms open in welcome. "I am truthful in my words, I wanted only to be with you."

"Wow, she's got him on a leash," Chris commented with an evil grin to Raenef.

The young Demon Lord nodded, only to stop halfway through and look at Chris questioningly. "'On a leash?'"

Chris looked at him for a moment before hanging his head in defeat. "…Nevermind…"

Erutis' face flushed brighter and brighter the closer the floppy haired Demon Lord got and hurriedly backed away from him.

Eclipse rolled his eyes. And he had thought that Lord Raenef was outrageously un-Demon-like…

Seeing that Erutis was not going to come near him, he sighed in tragic defeat. Striking a dramatic pose, he tried to look as teary-eyed as possible. "If you must be that way, then I shall leave you for now, dear Erutis," he said and turned to the others with a harsh glare.

"I know what you are up to and I shall not allow you to win!" He proclaimed loudly, pointing at them as he wrapped one arm protectively around Erutis' shoulders. And with that he disappeared, leaving behind shoujo sparkles, a flowery fragrance and a very angry Erutis.

Disappointed that Erutis would not respond to his love, Krayon hunted around the castle the rest of the day. He played tricks, set traps and terrorized the other three 'competitors' for Erutis' heart. Or rather- he tried to terrorize Eclipse, but all he ended up doing was making him angry. The other two were quite easy to scare or trick, though Raenef was troublesome at times because he would sometimes smile and play with the apparitions like they were his friends.

Still, it was fun to create bats that burst from every book in the library or put an ingredient in the cake that they ate as a snack after lunch that made it taste like rotten mushrooms and smelly cheese. His favorite was the bucket of dirty water he had dumped over Eclipse's head. Or there was the ball of dark energy he had hit the cleric with, only to have him go and attack Raenef for the blow. They were so amusing to toy with.

While setting up another trap in the hallway, he was tapped on the shoulder rudely by a damp hand that prodded him as if it wanted to drill a hole through his arm. "Ow, who dares-!" he started when he spun to find Erutis sopping wet and looked quite disgruntled. She had a bucket over her head, she had slipped it back some so that she could see him.

Krayon frowned. He had liked the look of Eclipse so much when he had been splashed with the dirty water that he had set up another trap just like it, but he hadn't ever suspected that his dear Erutis would walk into one of his traps! This was a major set back!

"You're handiwork, I assume?" Erutis said stiffly, obviously trying to hold down her temper to some degree.

When in doubt, act oblivious.

"Erutis! What happened to you, look you're all covered in dirty soap water! You're completely soaked through, here take my cloak and dry off. Would you like me to give you a bath?" He hurriedly took off his cape and wiped her face with it, only to receive a punch from the vixen at the mention of a bath.

"Thank you, but I am-" this time Erutis cut off as she saw a ball of fire speeding toward them.

In his haste to distract Erutis, Krayon had let go of his half-completed spell-trap and now the unfinished product had slammed right into his back. He smelled of charcoal now and his perfectly crisp clothing and hair had been dirtied and blown completely out of place. He felt like a fool. Oh his Erutis, how she must hate him!

He slouched forward, shoulders sagging. He was quite defeated. He had come here to fight off the contender's for Erutis' heart and here he had wasted his time making foolish traps. He would have been better off challenging them to a duel and killing them that way, He was sure he could get rid of them quite easily, maybe it wasn't too late to do that.

"Why are you doing all this?" Erutis asked in exasperation, pushing the bucket off her head and sighing.

"Because they tried to take you away from me," Krayon replied with a noble pout.

Erutis sighed again. "Who?" She questioned, wondering what he was going on about this time.

"Eclipse, the Cleric and that Demon Lord, they are trying to take you away from me, but fear not Erutis, for I shall not let them tear us apart! I have seen our fate in the stars and we are destined to be together!" He proclaimed, taking her hands in his with a gleeful grin.

She gave one last, long sigh, her shoulders sagging this time. "You really are an idiot…Like they could take me away from you."

Krayon hopped with joy. "Then you do love me?" He cried happily. "Oh, we shall be so happy together!"

Erutis pushed him away before he hugged her; her face was beat red again. "I-I never said anything like that, damnit! I just meant that they couldn't ever force you away because you're insane!"

The Demon Lord did not hear her however, he was too busy going on about wedding arrangements and if he should invite this second cousin on his father's side or that aunt with the beard or that uncle thrice removed and a very big drinker at that.

One-shot, crazy thing I thought up when I was in the car one day. I have been writing way too much angst and drama lately, I seriously need to work on something more light-hearted again or I'm gonna come off as a writer that only does overly melodramatic stories. (Really, that's what I think I am, I have no idea whatothers would think...) So thus this little ficlet was born. I have a horrible time writing humor, every time I try it feels as if I'm just babbling or something, so I tend to stay away from it. Which is probably the reason I'm writing so much freakin' drama and angst...

Anyway, to get off that topic- I also created this ficlet so that I could have something else EruKra based for those out there that have read Curse of the Goblin King, which shall be finished by next week. I already have the last chapter written. Heheh. Anyway, that story was highly dramatic (it seemed so to me at least) and I needed something happy to write.

Thanks for reading this fiction minna-san and please leave a review, even a constructive or negative review, I don't care. Ja'ne!

Review Please?