Hasty Demands

1. Murata's subtlety

Ken Murata was a good man. He was sensible, intelligent, polite, courteous and most of all, wise. And Murata was a very observant, and knew how to spot potential dangers to his beloved King early enough to subtly act and prevent them. Most of the time, Ken Murata alone had prevented wars and royal scandals without anyone noticing, much less thanking him. But he was all right with that, as long as Yuuri Shibuya stayed safe, nothing else could bother him.

He was observing now, while chopping some carrots and listening to Miko's talk about how wonderful it was to have them home for Shori's birthday.

Night was falling and everything looked cozy and warm in the Shibuya's living room right now. Miko kept on talking, while Shoma would steal glances at his beloved wife and smile at her without her noticing, a fondness impossible to hide in his eyes. Shori himself was sitting next to Yuuri, telling him to be careful on… well everything, and beware of everyone (but that was normal on Shori).

The only one who didn't look like he belonged anymore was Yuuri. He was sitting back straight, his eyes focused on Shori and a small frown between his brows, yet for years of observing, Murata knew Yuuri's mind was somewhere else. For that was the same look Yuuri put on when meetings with the Nobles was beyond ridiculous superfluous, or when he had already made up his mind and was listening only to be courteous. The only sign of where his mind actually was, was when Yuuri would absentmindedly rub the silver ring on his right hand. It was such a small gesture, anyone else would miss it. But not Murata. That (rather slim) ring was a gift from Wolfram...

"Ken-chan! Careful, are you hurt? Oh no look at that…" Miko actually paled at the sight of Murata's blood coming out of the small cut. He cringed and looked surprised at the knife in his other hand.

"Oh sorry Mamma I…"

"Murata?" Yuuri stood up and walked closer, a bit worried but mostly relieved to have an excuse to stop Shori's lecture.

"It's nothing, I must have dozed off or something"

"Nontheless" Yuuri took Murata's hand easily between his, focused on the cut and in a matter of seconds his maryoku flowed.

Murata closed his eyes and tired hard not to gasps or jump. It was always like this, no one's maryoku felt quite like Yuuri's. It was air, and it was wet waves of strong magic, and yet somehow it was also fire that healed. Not many could say that they have felt the Maou's power flowing into them like this, so casually.

"There" said Yuuri triumphantly, taking a step back.

Murata opened his eyes and looked at his hand, and breathing calmly flexed his fingers.

"Not bad, thank you Shibuya. Now I can go back to helping Mamma with the carrot"

"Oh no Ken-Chan, I can see you're so hungry you're fainting, go sit for a moment, it is almost finished anyway".

Yuuri smiled at his mother, then went to sit at the table with Murata. It was when they were sitting that that gesture came back. Yuuri looked absently at the window, and started circling that ring again. Murata frowned. He knew the story of that ring, even if he was the only one Yuuri had told so far; that thin piece of silver wasn't impressive in the slightest, no one would notice it and it was certainly not fit to be in the Maou's finger. Still, Yuuri couldn't think of nothing else.

Murata crossed his arms over his chest and remembered the night they had come from Shin Makoku for Shori's birthday, two days early to spend some time with Yuuri's parents. Or so was the excuse they made when they left Shin Makoku in such a haste.

Yuuri had been trembling slightly when they arrived, he was flushed and nervous, and it was not till the next day that Yuuri had confessed what had truly pushed him to come to Earth early.

Wolfram had cornered Yuuri somewhere –nothing new in that, and had accused Yuuri of cheating –as usual, had gone so far as to threaten the King's safety (with fireballs that put the curtains of the royal chamber on fire, thank Shinou Yuuri had enough practice now to quickly put them off). But after that, the brat had dragged Yuuri into his old room for some time. No one knew what had happened there, but Yuuri came out with the ring firmly in place.

"Wolfram. He… he pro-proposed. He proposed to me, in the Earth way" Yuuri had looked deeply mortified admitting that, the tip of his ears a bright red. "He even kneeled, and said all those sappy ridiculous lines from my mom's romantic novels. Just right after he tried to fry me!"

Yuuri had looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown then, not knowing where to look. And Murata could not help him then, because he was speechless as well. To think Wolfram, the all-hating-humans mazoku would bother to learn such an Earth-y tradition was both hilarious and mortifying.

"So you ran away?" asked Murata at least, bemused.

"I had to! What would you have done? Wolfram's a guy!"

"You know that doesn't matter in Shink Makoku"

"It matters to me!" Yuuri had shouted, angry and bright red. He had looked away then, and they have not touched the subject again.

It was after dinner, and when Miko had given them all a slice of cake for Shori's birthday, that Murata and Yuuri went outside to get some fresh air. The night was quiet and warm, some crickets nearby the only sound.

Cake completely forgotten, Yuuri started playing with his ring again. Murata leaned closer, placing his hand on top of Yuuri's, exasperated at last with the fumbling. Yuuri looked up startled (probably didn't even realize what he was doing) and Murata held his gaze.

"Do you love him?"

"Wha-"

"Do you love Wolfram?"

"You know I… he's my friend, like a brother, not like Shori though, but-"

Murata looked up in exasperation, and holding Yuuri's hand tightly in his tried again.

"Do you love Wolfram, enough to marry him and spend the rest of your life by his side?" And then, for some reason, added, "Will you stand the jealousy, the territoriality, the fireballs and demands, when he doesn't listen to you or anyone, when he won't let you greet any female or handsome male, when he kicks you out of bed every morning, when he looks at you suspiciously and yells at you, bossing you around the castle as if he were the Maou himself?"

Yuuri looked taken aback, and gulped nervously before closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"I… I can't do it Murata. I can't ma-marry W-Wolfram… I just can't".

Murata nodded, somewhat out of breath himself –and why was his heart beating so fast anyway?

"I didn't thought you would. So what will you do Shibuya?"

"I will… annul the engagement as soon as we return".

Murata nodded again, reminding himself that all he did was observe wisely, as was his due.