Disclaimer: I do not own Suikoden V, for if it were mine I would have put more PrincexLyon moments, probably even hurt the prince on one occasion to see a protective Lyon get mad at whoever had hurt him. :]

A//N: Typos, yadda yadda. May also have OOC-ness.

His Question

"Frey, this is Lyon. She'll be staying here from now on." The small silver-haired boy nodded and looked curiously at this new person his father brought home.

This 'Lyon' person was a small girl; she looked to be around the same age as him. She had pale skin, and short black hair barley passing her ears. She didn't look timid in the least, but did seem to tense up a bit when introduced. Her dark eyes and face were carefully guarded as not to show what she was feeling, seemingly accustomed to doing this when she was amongst people.

The young prince wondered what had happened to her to cause her to act like that, especially for someone so young, but he would not find out the reason until he was older.

The small silver-haired boy approached the equally small girl, who was trying to keep her emotions in check and show the Prince that she was not becoming increasingly uncomfortable from his action of coming closer.

Frey stopped in from of Lyon, and gave her a friendly smile. "Hello Lyon, it's nice to meet you." He then held out his hand to her, and once she had done the same he shook it.

"Welcome to the castle."

Lyon was a little dumbfounded at his recent gesture of the handshake, as well as the friendly smile that he had on his face upon meeting her, something that Lyon just wasn't used to. But she still managed a small smile in return, and said, "It's nice to meet you too."

The Prince released his grip on her hand, his smile a little bigger when she gave a smile back. He liked this quiet girl for some reason, and wanted to be friends with her.

"Why don't I show you around?"

***

Frey laughed as he remembers when he first met Lyon. That had been about six years ago, and after that first meeting Frey would go and hang out with Lyon whenever he wasn't busy. After awhile of spending time together she had begun to open up little by little, soon becoming close friends. She had even gone to his father and asked if she could train as a Queen's Knight Apprentice. His father agreed and when the Prince found out he asked her why, out of curiosity, and her answer;

"I want to be able to protect things that are important to me, as well as repay His Highness Ferid for all he's done for me."

She eventually ended up being appointed to be his personal bodyguard. He was happy when his father and Lyon told him this, even though it didn't really change anything. The two were usually together all the time, and Lyon had already taken it upon herself to protect him, this had just made it official.

When or why she had become so protective of him, he had no idea..

A knocking at his door stopped his train of thought. He sat up on his bed, and looked out the window to see what time it may be, which he guessed was about mid-morning since the sun was quite that high in the cloudless blue sky as it usually was during the afternoon. A warm day lay ahead for the people of Falena.

Another knock, more persistent this time urging him to hurry up and open the door, caused the prince to hurry out of bed and walk quickly to let whoever (Lyon) was at the door inside.

He opened the door and stood face to face with the same girl he met all those years ago. Lyon still had the same features, just noticeably taller and she now wore a Queen's knight's uniform with a sword bound to her hip. Another noticeable thing was her eyes, they were not as guarded as they used to be when she had been younger, and she was also friendlier towards strangers. (Unless she thought they may be a threat - then they got an evil stare from Lyon, warning them to not make any sudden moves.)

"Good morning, Prince." He stepped aside to let her into his clean room.

"Good morning to you as well, Lyon." He said in return, waiting for her to continue.

"I'm surprised you're already up and ready." She said, rather amused because it was she who usually had to wake him up to get ready for the day, luckily he wasn't like Lady Saileeds in the matter if you woke her up, it usually ended with violence towards the person who disturbed her sleep.

"Hey, I can get up early myself every now and then." He replied back. He had gotten up rather early this morning, already changed out of his pajamas and into his standard orange shirt and white pants, long silver hair pulled back into a braid.

Lyon laughed at his rather defensive statement, and told him that his family was getting ready to eat breakfast in the dining hall. He grumbled a bit but let go of their short argument to retrieve his weapon, where it was placed near his bed. He then went about placing it on his lower back where he would be able to retrieve his unusual weapon at any given time.

The two friends then proceeded to make their way to the dining hall, the Prince all the while continuing what he had been thinking before Lyon had come to retrieve him. Going through different memories that he had shared with Lyon, he realized that she had never really given him a definite answer of when her birthday was.

Sure, he had asked her every year when it was but she usually would dismiss the question or change the subject to something more interesting. But six years of evading the question left one curious prince to wonder why she so was secretive about it, and this year he would get a definite answer out of her.

Besides being curious of what the problem may be, he also wanted to give her a real celebration for the day of her birth; Instead of giving her a present any random day like he would usually do. Heck, she would accept any gift with a smile on her face even if she didn't like the thing she received. (He knew this; he had tried it awhile back.)

No, this year she would receive a real party. It wouldn't be a big one like his or his younger sister's birthday parties filled with snobby nobles that just wanted to try and sneak their way into the Royal Family or some such. It would most likely end up a small party with those who genuinely cared for Lyon and anyone else who she wished to invite.

Once the two had reached the dining room, the prince decided now would be the best time to ask her the question.

"Say Lyon, when's your birthday?"

Lyon didn't answer right way, she finally said, "Does it really matter right now, your highness?"

She hadn't been expecting him to ask her such a random question out of nowhere. She should've been expecting it though, since he had asked her every year.

"Well, I do think it matters actually, and would like to know when you were born.."

Lyon inwardly sighed; he just wasn't going to let it go this time. Why did he want to know so badly? Instead of dodging the question like she usual she answered his question with saying, "I'll let you know tomorrow, I promise."

Since really, she would have to give his question some thought. Fortunately her response satisfied him, as he would soon be getting an answer. "Okay."

Then he opened the door to join his family for breakfast, all the while already planning what he should do for his best friend's birthday, even if he didn't know when it was yet.

***

It was in the early afternoon when the prince had to get changed out of his standard royal clothes and into one of his other outfits that was actually princely looking because of the family photo that they were taking in an hour. He hated being in almost any of his other outfits, since they were usually too hard to move around in, and they were also a bit itchy.

It helped a little that he could keep his braid, because if his mother made him wear it down, or have it somehow resemble her hairstyle, he would certainly look girlier than he already did, and it didn't help that he looked a lot like his mother. What if someone mistook them for sisters? It had happened once - he being mistaken for a girl - a nobleman had thought Frey was Queen Arshtat's daughter, when his younger sister wasn't even born yet, of course the noblemen learned 'She' was a 'He', he promptly apologized, fearing for his life of treason for insulting the Prince. Luckily, the Queen knew he was honestly mistaken, so forgave his misinterpretation and said to remember next time that her eldest child was a son.

He grumbled as he and Lyon walked down to the room where the picture was to be taken, ignoring Lyon's squeals of how handsome he looked. She was doing this on purpose. He just knew she was acting this way on purpose. It was probably revenge for all the times he's said how adorable she looked when Little Lym made her dress up in pretty dresses when they played together. He was just teasing her those times too.

He entered the room where everyone was already waiting. His mother wore a different gown than she usually did, but still as long and beautiful. His younger sister matched hers' in color, and in pattern, as he noticed before the little girl tackle hugged him once she saw him. He hugged her back, laughing quietly as he saw his father squirming in the attire that was somewhat like Frey's.

"Your majesties, are we ready to begin?"

"Yes, thank you. Frey, Lym, come and stand in your positions." Her children obeyed, each standing where they were supposed to, and each near the parent they most looked like. "Okay that's good." The camera man told them as he adjusted whatever it was under the blanket that covered him and the rare device. Lyon, Miakis - who was snickering at Lym's response to her brother's entrance - and some other soldiers and guards where standing off to the sides, ever vigilant with their duties of protecting the Royal Family.

"Smile." And the family did, soon adjusting their positions to get different photos. Why were they doing this anyways? The Prince wondered while he smiled again at the camera. It was a lot faster than paintings, that's for sure.

Lady Sialeeds finally entered the room when it was a little later, yawning as she stood wherever she pleased, anyone could tell the woman had just woken up.

After all the family photos, the photographer had taken individual portraits, and these were the ones, as well as one family one, that would be hung up somewhere in the castle like all the others that had been taken or painted and hung over the years.

________

Review? 8D
I shall start the next chapter..soon. I hope.