Why do I have to do this?

Slaine swallowed a lump in his throat and grit his teeth. There had to be someone better for this job. There just had to be.

His hands were shaking as he tried to iron out the clothes, but not single one of his attempts seemed to be working out the way he wanted them to.

"It looks fine, Slaine. Come on, now."

"Ehh, right."

Slaine straightened his back and held out the white pimped dress, politely averting his eyes from her. It didn't work, because in the corner of his vision he could still see a bare, slender arm reaching out. His muscles tensed and he felt the hot yet at the same time icy cold sweat running down the back of his neck.

The moment the last part of the dress lost contact with his skin, he retreated. Fast.

"Please excuse me," he said in a rush before bolting out through the door.

He didn't dare lean on them after they closed, as they'd just automatically open again. Instead, he moved to the nearby wall and leaned on it, feeling his tensed muscles finally beginning to relax.

Really, why do I have to do this?

Just thinking of it, he felt the blood rush to his face. He hit the wall with the back of his fist. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.

Was it a conspiracy? Or was it revenge? Both, even? Either way, it was clearly working, because he still couldn't get his raging heartbeat under control. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to keep his calm back in the room, but now, the blood was rushing to his head and he knew, he knew that his face had to be beat read, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Maybe stick it into the ice bucket. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. Now, where was he going to get an ice bu-?

"You can come in, Slaine."

He stiffened. In a moment, his heart went from raging to frozen.

It was her revenge. It had to be.

"Y-yes," he said, pushing off from the wall. His feet felt like weed and making the two steps to the door was suddenly harder than it had ever been before. There was no way she could be this fast, not with that kind of a crazy outfit. Simply impossible.

But he made the step, rather fearfully, and the automatic door opened.

What he saw in the doorway deflated all his fears and, once again, he felt his muscles relax. He hoped it was for good, this time.

Asseylum stood with hands held out front, fully dressed in her latest fashion garment, a quizzical smile on her face.

"Is everything alright, Slaine?" she asked.

Yes. It was revenge. He was absolutely certain of it now.

"Yes, Princess," he said.

"I'm glad." She paused for a moment, before her smile widened. "So, how do I look?"

"Eh-um…" Slaine felt the heat rushing to his face again. Now he was absolutely, undoubtedly certain that she was doing this on purpose. "Y-you look beautiful, Princess." And boy, she did. She looked absolutely majestic. The dress, while quite honestly not something he would ever suggest her to wear, looked a lot better on her than he'd been expecting it to.

"Thank you. Now, all that's left to do is finish with the hair. You can take a break, if you'd like."

Slaine nodded, giving her a polite bow. "Understood, Princess."

It wasn't fair. No matter how much he wanted to scream that, the words weren't coming out. He dreaded that part of himself that seemed to be enjoying this as much as she was. When he looked up again, it was to see a cute pout on his face, as if there was something she was dissatisfied with, but could not determine what.

Slaine just hoped she would give up on that hairstyle that she'd been intending to try. She looked fantastic and that just looked weird. But she hadn't listened to him when he'd suggested a bit more pragmatic clothing and she certainly had not listened to him when he'd suggested not going at all, so he didn't think she was going to take this particular advice to heart, either.

She seemed to come to a conclusion of some kind, because her face brightened. But before she could say whatever it was on her mind, they both heard the automatic door slide open.

"Milady."

Slaine and the Princess both regarded the new arrival, a man only several years older than Slaine. However, it was not a face Slaine recognized, but the Princess probably did, because she smiled.

It was a polite smile, the one she reserved for dealing with people whom she could not get rid of, for one reason or another.

"Yes?"

"The final plan has been worked out. Upon landing, we will take an hour and a half to drive slowly throughout the Shinawara City, before the formal reception at three o'clock. The front of the City Hall is where we meet with the Terran representatives. Security details have been worked out and chief will come to personally inform you about it."

Asseylum nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you."

"Is there anything else you wish to be informed about, Milady?"

"No, that would be all for now. You may leave."

Wordlessly, the man bowed and left. The moment the automatic door closed, the mask of polite calamity that Asseylum had been wearing dropped and a much more fierce pout appeared on her face. She crossed her arms and sat down on the sofa with a huff.

"This isn't fair. This isn't fair! An hour and a half in a car with tinted windows? I won't be able to see anything at all!"

Slaine tensed. "I must remind you, the windows are made of special glass and, if worst comes to worst, they should be able to block any bullet. It is solely for the sake of your protection, Princess."

"But I want to be able to see it! To see everything! Yet, they're just stuffing me in cars and offices. This isn't fair."

No, this isn't fair. Having me come along is what is not fair. Protecting you, that's fair. Slaine swallowed the words, however. His eyes met with hers and she let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know that you were against this from the beginning, Slaine, but please have faith in me. I know what I'm doing."

I wonder about that, sometimes…

"There is no reason Earth and Mars should be in war. Peace is not out of reach and I will personally end these animosities. However, I really am sorry for pulling you into this directly. Eddelrittou insisted on coming with me, but I couldn't just let her come with a flu. What if she gets even more sick? And I could really only remember you on such a short notice. Do you… mind?"

The slightly tilted head and the purse to her lower lip made it look, but only for a moment, as if she was actually uncertain about his presence there. Slaine was not going to fall for it!

"N-no! No, of course not! I could never leave you alone, Princess. In fact, I'm deeply grateful for this honor."

"I'm glad."

The smile on her face confirmed it a hundred times over. She was definitely doing this on purpose. So, what was her goal? Was she trying to drive him insane? Or was it her revenge because he had been trying to dissuade her from visiting Earth from the very first moment she came to him with that idea? One thing he was certain about was that Count Cruhteo was not going to overlook this.

Somehow, he didn't particularly mind. Although, acting maid for the Princess left a lot to be desired in terms of his career path, at least it meant that he could get some more time to talk to her-at least, that was what he had been thinking at the beginning. However, all her actions and demands so far had been particularly thought up in order to make him squirm.

If this was her way of taking revenge, he absolutely dreaded what she might do to Count Cruhteo if she found out that he had foregone trying to talk her out of this and spoken to the Emperor directly. Granted, it didn't work, but just the thought of all the possibilities left him shuddering.

No, he was absolutely, completely, undeniably and irrevocably determined not to speak a word about it.

"How long until we land?" she asked.

Slaine made his glance towards the watch as unnoticeable as possible. "Thirty six minutes."

Asseylum jumped to her feet. "Right. I still have the time to do my hair. Wait for me here."

"Ah, yes," he agreed and bowed as she disappeared out the room.

Slaine released a long breath, letting his head drop. This was going to be a long, long day.

"Here. This is where you are going to be at exactly 2:55 PM and this is the route that you will take. Is that clear?"

"Yes," Slaine replied.

"Good. Any tardiness will not be tolerated. Now, everybody, move out!"

The turmoil caused by a large number of people participating in this goodwill visit increased at least three times compared to what it had been only several minutes ago. People were moving left and right, barely avoiding each other at the last moment and rushing to finish the final preparations.

The princess was already in the car, smiling politely, but pouting whenever there was no one looking. The only reason Slaine even knew that was because, until a few moments ago, she had kept the car window wide open, until the security chief had approached and advised against it.

Slaine wondered how she might have reacted. She had done as suggested, but it had certainly not left her feeling happy.

He sighed, hand unconsciously reaching for the medallion hanging out his neck.

In the end, he really hadn't gotten a chance to give it to her.

He'd wanted her to have it. One thing from Earth that would ultimately belong to her, a symbol that conveyed the peace that she desired so much. It would also carry his prayers for peace and her safety and to serve as a good luck charm, if anything were to happen. He firmly believed in that.

He heard the engines ignite and watched the cars leaving. The turmoil caused by continuous human activity was now gone as more and more people moved into their positions. In the matter of minutes, Slaine was left completely on his own, something he doubted was a coincidence.

As per orders, he was to remain here as a member of the support team with four others, but the aforementioned four were nowhere to be found. Slaine was not surprised. He'd been half expecting it, anyway.

At least the Princess had insisted he accompany her during the meeting with the Earth representatives. He wasn't sure whether to consider himself lucky or cursed.

After a few minutes, he spotted the first sign of human life in form of a slender human girl. She was looking around with curiosity, as if she had stumbled into a place she had never seen before and was eager to explore. Her hair was shoulder-length and colored ginger and she smiled brightly the moment she spotted Slaine.

That was the first sign to him that something was not right.

"Can you help me?" she asked as she approached, holding her finger to her chin.

Slaine tensed. He had his duty, that was true, but other than standing there and wasting time until he was supposed to meet with the Princess, he didn't really have much to do. He did, however, have a strange foreboding feeling at the back of his mind that something really was not right.

"Uhm…"

She seemed to regard his lack of vocal clarity as an agreement, however, because she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along before he could say a word.

"Come on."

"H-hey, what are you-?"

"Just come on, I want to see."

There was something to that smile, that voice, that seemed much too familiar to Slaine. It puzzled him enough not to resist, not immediately, anyway. A single, irrational thought passed through his mind and before he could stop himself, a whisper escaped his lips.

"Princess?"

The girl froze, turning to face him with wide eyes. Wide, green eyes.

"Oh, no! Is the disguise not working?" She covered her mouth. "No, if the disguise isn't…"

"Disguise?" Slaine found himself repeating. Then all the pieces that didn't fit came together, forming an image, an exact image he was seeing right before his eyes. "Princess?! What are you-no, how did you even get here? Why? How do you look…" he trailed off as a sheepish smile appeared on her face.

"Arisa-san said she liked the car," she said, as if it explained everything.

"What? What? But, Princess-"

"No, really. She said she liked the car. So I…" she looked away, her cheeks reddening. "I told her that I wasn't feeling too well and that she should stay in the car instead."

There were so many things he wanted to do. He wanted to yell, he wanted to make sure she was alright, he wanted to know why, he wanted to scold her-but all that he did do, however, was cover his eyes with his hands. All in all, he really should have been expecting something this.

"Waah, don't be angry, Slaine!" she said immediately. "I told her I was going to stay with the support team. I might have asked her not to tell the chief right away, but I am with the support team." She smiled. "You are from the support team."

Slaine inhaled deeply. Just what was he going to do with her? What he should do is get in contact with the security chief and tell him that the person in the car was Arisa, what he should do is notify the rest of the support team that Asseylum Vers Alussia was with them and that they had to make sure she stayed that way… but she wouldn't agree with that, would she?

"So…" she said. "Are you going to show me around?"

No. No, no, no and no. He hesitated.

"Are you… are you aware of how many people must be worried about you now, Princess?" he asked. "This… this is too reckless. We can't just go off on our own. And then there is the meeting with the representatives, were you going to go and let Arisa-san handle that, too?"

"What? No!" Asseylum shook her head vigorously. "No, never. I do not wish to miss that meeting! But have you heard the plan? They left no time for me to see anything. When I brought it up with the chief, he said we might be able to squeeze some time later, but…" She sighed. "There is no way anyone will recognize me with this disguise."

Slaine opened his mouth to object.

She smiled. "Well, except for you."

Slaine lowered his head. "At 2:55 PM exactly, we must be in front of the City Hall. Is that clear?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Now, come on," she said as she once again grabbed him by the arm. "I want to see everything!"

Author's Note: No, don't ask me anything. Will I continue this? Why did I even bother? Just, don't ask. The plot bunny was just there, torturing me. There was nothing I could do. It wouldn't stop. Especially after I saw that the category was added. Just... YESSS. This isn't meant to be too serious, but dear lord, I see exactly how it could become. If I do eventually expand on it, it is going to be of epic proportions. If not, just consider it a nice Slaine/Asseylum friendship one-shot. Title is subject to change, though.

And no, you perverts. Asseylum was not naked at the start. Geeeeezz...