Yay! I updated! I've been writing this for a really, really, long time, and now, it's around 3,500 words, and I realized that I've skipped a scene altogether. Ah, well. I'll put it in the next chapter.

Anyway, good news! From now on, instead of calling myself nila vanathi's sister, I will be able to say that I am Nithila. Joy.

Oh, and in case any of you are following Incomplete, it is UNDER CONSTRUCTION. I read the older chapters that day, and I disliked it so much, so I'm trying to make it a bit better. But, in a few weeks, it'll be done, and the next chapter will be up, too.

So, thankyou to all those who added this story to favourites or story alerts, and extra-special thanks to the reviewers:

kitten18smile

iLoVeYaOi

Hhhhhhh

xx-MIA in eden-xx

JigokuTenshi834

isthisparadise

THANKYOU! Anyway, on with the story!

July 7th, -54.

Kirihara stared murderously at the sleeping boy in front of him. It was four o'clock in the morning. Four o'clock. And Ryoma was happily lying down in the corner of the stables, covered in hay, sleeping, completely ignoring the fact that they had work to do.

"Get. Up." He ground out, throwing his washcloth at said boy's face. Ryoma grunted, turned over, and snored loudly.

Kirihara growled in irritation. He stomped over to the other side of the room, stole a bucket of water from some random horse (who whinnied pitifully – he'd been trying to drink it) and returned to the hay stack.

He stood above Ryoma, glowering.

Then, he dumped the bucket over him.

The boy sprang up, shaking his head and coughing loudly. Then, when he'd gotten all he water out of his mouth, he looked up slowly to face Kirihara.

Kirihara took one look, and decided that it was about time he ran for his life.

Ryoma glared at space as he wiped the windows of the stables. He hadn't been awake for half an hour, and he was already having a bad day. Things might have been different f he'd been woken up a bit normally –he shot a pointed look at Kirihara, who pretended not to notice- but he hadn't. And Akutsu, the head of both the stables and the barn, would be there in another ten minutes or so, and would yell at them. Heaven knew why.

He finished his window and threw his cloth aside, then picked up a bucket and left to get some water. Kirihara hadn't given all the horses water.

As he filled his bucket, he looked towards the palace. Most of the windows were dark, and the whole area was deathly quiet. No doubt the Royal family was sleeping peacefully. Which included Fuji.

How Fuji could sleep so peacefully, when he knew about all the innocent people he'd locked up in the dungeons, and how many people suffered everyday because of him ...

Ryoma shook his head quickly. No. It was bad to ruin his mood too much in the morning. He should think about good things.

There was a pause in his thinking. Finally, he gave up on thinking good things, and instead focused on better things.

The only thing he could think of was the horses, which reminded him that his bucket was full, which reminded him that he had to go back, which reminded him that he was angry.

Muttering under his breath, he lifted the bucket and staggered back to the stables.

And saw Akutsu standing in the door way.

'Great,' he thought. 'Just great.'

Kirihara saw Ryoma come up from behind Akutsu, and hoped fervently that he'd keep quiet and wouldn't say anything stupid. He had a knack for saying the wrong things at exactly the wrong moment. And, the problem was, he couldn't even stop himself.

"Kirihara." Akutsu growled at him. Kirihara nodded respectfully and returned to his work. Akutsu seemed content with that, and he left him alone.

Ryoma locked eyes with him, and Kirihara pretended to zip his lips closed, and then held up a fist, which was their code for 'Say anything stupid and I'll punch you.'

Ryoma rolled his eyes and nodded, then stepped inside, heading towards a brown mare.

Only then did Akutsu see him. "Echizen!" he barked. "Where were you?"

Ryoma turned slightly to face him. "I was filling water for the horses."

Akutsu nodded, and Ryoma continued to pour empty his bucket into the horse's trough.

All was well.

For about two seconds.

Just then, Akutsu realized that there was a dirty spot on one of the windows. He turned around furiously, and shouted, "Do you think you can get away without doing your jobs properly? The two of you are so slow! By now, all the work should have been done, and the two of you have barely done anything! And what you have done is incomplete!"

Ryoma couldn't help himself. He snorted. "Honestly, we've done more work today than you've done in your whole life."

Akutsu rounded on him, and after making share he wasn't looking, Kirihara banged his head against the wall. 'That idiot.'

Akutsu stood towering over Ryoma, who had his back turned to him. Ryoma was completely covered in his shadow, and he could feel Akutsu's anger radiating off of him.

He gulped.

It was always a bad idea to bait Akutsu, something that Kirihara had been trying to drill into his head for the past two years. The man had a terrible temper, and absolutely no self control. From the stories the other servants had told him, Akutsu could beat him up, throw him out a window, and starve him for a week. And did Fuji care? No way. Millions of complaints had been lodged against Akutsu, but the Prince hadn't seemed to notice. As far as he was concerned, Akutsu's horses won him all his races. And that was that.

Akutsu was the sole reason as to why the stables had only two workers. And the two of them only stayed as they had nowhere else to go.

Luckily for him, Akutsu was feeling merciful that day. As Ryoma slowly started to turn around, Akutsu raised an arm and whacked him hard across his face, sending him stumbling to the ground.

"Brat," he spat. "If I have anymore cheek from you, I'll tell Fuji-san to throw you into the dungeons again. And this time, it won't just be a few days."

Ryoma went white with anger. Kirihara quickly intervened. "Akutsu-san, I think that we should take Old Bess out for a ride today. She's getting very restless."

Akutsu's face brightened a bit. Bess had been his favourite horse (which, Kirihara presumed, was why she had such a stupid name), and he had always loved riding her. "I'll take her later today," he said gruffly. "You two, finish your chores."

That said, he stomped out of the room.

Kirihara looked at Ryoma with a mixture of sympathy and exasperation. Exasperation, because no matter what Kirihara said, he insisted on getting on everybody's nerves. And sympathy, because he knew what Ryoma had experienced in the dungeons, and how hard it had been for him.

"Oi," he said, moving towards Ryoma. He was still sitting in the same position, staring furiously at thin air. "Oi, Ryoma."

The boy slowly looked up at him.

"I just remembered something."

Ryoma cocked his head slightly, telling him to go on.

"Today's Sunday, right? That's when Fuji-san and Kikumaru-san visit."

Ryoma didn't know if he should be happy or sad. On one hand, he liked Kikumaru, and enjoyed his visits. On the other, he detested Fuji.

Kirihara nodded knowingly. "I know what you mean. But..." he paused dramatically, grinning like a lunatic. "Kikumaru-san promised to take us riding in the fields today."

Ryoma grinned like a lunatic too.

Fuji stared down at his book, pretending to but not really reading it. He had a lot on his mind. His father was sick, and, as next in command, he was in charge of the whole kingdom, which wasn't very easy, even for Fuji. And the fact remained that his father wasn't just sick, he was seriously ill. He wouldn't get better for a few months at least, but Kaidoh (the palace healer) had come to see him in private the previous day, and had informed him that he wasn't sure if the king would get better at all.

Also, he'd been hearing rumours all over the kingdom that Yukimura had almost found the boy in the prophecy. Fuji hadn't seen Echizen Rinko in two years, and it had never occurred to him that he might tell Yukimura about her son, just to spite Fuji. He'd have to take care of that as well...

"Fuji."

Fuji looked up, startled. Tezuka stood in front of him, his arms crossed, his expression serious. He sighed and placed his book on the table, memorizing he page number. "Yes, Tezuka?"

Tezuka seated himself next to Fuji, and looked at him intently. Fuji stared back, unmoved.

Finally, Tezuka spoke. "What are you going to do with him?"

Fuji sighed and leaned back in his seat. Of course. This had been a topic bothering both of them for quite a while now. Echizen Ryoma.

"To be honest, Tezuka, I have no idea."

Tezuka remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"He does not respect me, or Akutsu, at all. It has been exceedingly hard to keep him under control. I was forced to throw him in the dungeons for several days, and the rains he caused flooded the village of Fiora."

Tezuka simply nodded, he was aware of that piece of information.

"Of course, no one has even suspected that he caused the flood, and he has no idea himself. But, in his anger, it's quite possible that he may end up destroying the palace. All he needs is to set it on fire." He let out a sigh of exasperation. "And he gets angry so easily."

Tezuka nodded again, seemingly amused. "So I've heard. Maybe you should tell him about his powers...?"

Fuji looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? He'd kill me!"

Tezuka raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You underestimate his hatred of me. One day, you should see how he acts when I visit the stables. If he found out that he had powers that I had all but kidnapped him because of, and that I wanted him to destroy Sviria, he would kill me not only because of that, but also because he wanted to kill me to begin with."

Tezuka pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then what are you going to do?"

Fuji looked at him. "What do you think I should do?"

Tezuka thought for a moment. Then, "You should try to earn his trust, Fuji."

Fuji laughed wryly. "Is that even possible?"

Tezuka nodded. "Ah. You could do it if you've tried. He trusts the other boy in the stables...Kirihara Akaya. And he also seems to trust Kikumaru. And he is good friends with several of the servants as well. If you tried, he may trust you too. You could start with not punishing him quite so severely."

Fuji grimaced. "I try not to, but I can't help it. He is quite...frustrating. And I don't think I can ever make him forget that I dragged him away from his house, no matter how nice I am to him."

"You did go a bit over board that day."

Fuji brushed that statement aside, waving a hand in the air. "It was necessary, Tezuka. You've never met his mother. If she'd known what I was planning on making him do, she wouldn't have let me go near him."

Tezuka stared into the distance, without replying. Fuji fell silent as well.

Finally, he stood up. "I am to visit the stables with Kikumaru today," he said. "Maybe I'll try something then. But if he doesn't respect me, well, you can't blame me for what I might do to him."

Tezuka tilted his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Good luck."

Fuji thanked him. He'd need it.

"Oi, Ryoma! Comb that horse's hair!"

"I just did!"

"Then why does it look like it's been electrified?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, go comb it again!"

"You do it!"

"You messed it up to begin with!"

"Excuse me? It looks perfectly fine to me!"

Kirihara turned back furiously to yell at Ryoma in his face, but his retort died on his throat as he looked at who was standing there.

'Oh, no.'

Ryoma looked at him curiously, wondering why he'd stopped yelling, and saw his expression. He followed Kirihara's gaze, and when he saw who he was looking at, he froze too.

Kirihara finally broke out of his trance. "Fu-Fuji-san!" he stammered, bowing low. "We're very sorry! We didn't know you were here!"

Ryoma remained silent. He stood in the corner of the room holding a bale of hay that he was feeding to a white mare, and his gaze darted back and forth, between Kirihara and Fuji.

Both of them looked at him intently, both wanting him to do the same thing.

Ryoma scowled and bowed slightly. Then he turned his back to Fuji and continued what he'd been doing.

Fuji's eyes narrowed slightly, but he remained silent. He opened his mouth to say something to Kirihara, when, suddenly, -

"OCHIBI! AKAYA-KUN!"

Half a second later, Kikumaru flew inside, tackling both Kirihara and Ryoma into a hug. "I missed you all week, nya! Now, we can finally go riding!"

"Er...Kikumaru-senpai...I can't breathe..."

Kikumaru looked at them both in confusion. Finally understanding, he let them go. "Oh, sorry, sorry!"

The two boys smiled sheepishly.

Fuji cleared his throat. "May I have my horse saddled, please?"

Kirihara nodded quickly, and hurried to get Fuji's horse, but Ryoma stared at Kikumaru, trying to tell him something. Kikumaru nodded in understanding, and turned to Fuji.

"Fuji, can we please take both of them with us? Please, please, please? I promised I would last week!"

Fuji sighed in exasperation. He had a good mind to say no, and opened his mouth to say so, but then he remembered what Tezuka had told him.

'You should try to earn his trust, Fuji.'

So instead, Fuji smiled, "Saa...I don't mind."

Ryoma's jaw dropped, Kikumaru squealed, and Kirihara cheered from somewhere no one could see him.

Fuji smirked inwardly. That wasn't so hard.

For the first time that day, Ryoma was happy. He'd always wanted to ride in the fields, and, finally, Fuji had agreed to take him. And, he could take his favourite horse, who he'd named Artemis, because of the white crescent moon symbol on his forehead. Artemis was almost pure black, and he had beautiful, dark brown eyes. All in all, he reminded him of Karupin.

Fuji was leading the group, with Kikumaru closely behind him. Ryoma and Kirihara followed them at a distance.

As Ryoma lost himself in his thoughts, Fuji slowed to a stop. Everyone turned towards him.

Fuji gestured towards the stretch in front of him. "Does anyone want to...?" he trailed off, making his meaning clear.

"Yes!" Kikumaru shouted happily. The two boys nodded vigorously.

Fuji nudged his horse slightly, and then suddenly, it broke into a fast paced gallop.

As he felt the wind against his face, Fuji closed his eyes, feeling all his worries slip away. He always felt peaceful when he was riding. For that moment, he didn't have to think about being the next king, or losing his father, or...defeating Yukimura...

Fuji opened his eyes and turned around to look at Ryoma. The boy was sitting as Fuji had been seconds earlier, bent forward, with his eyes shut tightly, and his hair blowing in the wind. Kirihara called something out to him, and he opened his eyes, and Fuji could see the excitement in them. 'If I took him riding more often, I might be able to convince him to fight Yukimura.' It was a good idea, and very simple; Fuji would barely have to talk to him.

He turned back to his horse, and nudged him again, until he slowed to a trot. The others did the same. They turned back towards the stables, and, when they reached them, they descended. Ryoma and Kirihara guided the horses back inside.

Just then, a page hurried over to Fuji. Bowing deeply, he said, "Your Highness. Akutsu-san wanted me to inform you that the boy in the stables showed him severe disrespect this morning, and that he would like you to decide how to punish him."

Fuji felt his anger returning slowly. He started to go inside, but Kikumaru stopped him quickly. "No, Fuji, remember what Tezuka said?"

So Tezuka had been talking about him behind his back. That was great. Just great.

He pushed Kikumaru aside and stormed inside. Echizen looked up at him with wide eyes, his face pale. He'd definitely heard what the page had said (thanks to his unnaturally loud voice), and was dreading what Fuji might do.

"Echizen Ryoma."

He didn't move.

"Echizen, what did you say to Akutsu this morning?"

The boy remained silent.

Fuji snapped. "Echizen!"

His voice came out harsher than he had expected. Echizen jumped, and even Kirihara twitched.

"Echizen, this has been going on for two years now. Two years. You have come from a village, and are insulting us, who have been ruling you commoners for years. And yet, we are tolerating you. But, if something like his happens one more time – "

"Why do you?" Ryoma kept is head down, and his voice low, but Fuji heard him, and stopped.

"What did you say?"

Echizen looked up at him, his eyes practically burning holes through him. "Why do you tolerate me? Do you think I want to be here? Do I think I'm honoured to work in the palace? Well, I'm not! If it weren't for you, I'd still be home, minding my own business, and you wouldn't have to put up with me! I f you didn't bother tolerating me, I'd go home, and we'd all be happy!"

Fuji was speechless.

"Well?" Ryoma demanded. "Why don't you kick me out now? We'll never see each other again, and you won't have to try to teach me manners. Why don't you?"

Fuji's eyes narrowed. "It's not that simple."

"You've done it to so many others!"

"The situation is entirely different."

"No it's not! If you just-"

"Echizen!" Fuji said sharply.

Echizen froze.

Fuji was practically seething. He had so many important things to do, so many better things to do, and he was kept back by a twelve year old, who seemed to think that he knew better than him. His father was sick, for goodness sake!

He took a deep breath, before speaking. "Echizen Ryoma, I sentence you to three days in the dungeons."

Ryoma's eyes grew even wider, and he stumbled backwards. "Wha-what?"

Fuji faked a smile. "Oh, don't worry, I'll only lock you up tomorrow. It'll be easier to calculate the time then."

He turned around and headed out of the room, but Ryoma spoke up again.

"Fuji-san."

Fuji stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Fuji-san, please don't put me in there."

So he did feel something after the last time.

"Fuji-san, please, I won't disrespect you or Akutsu-san ever again."

Fuji smirked. "As tempting as that is, Echizen, the guards will be here in the morning."

With that he left. Kikumaru was nowhere to be found, he'd escaped some time long ago. He could hear Kirihara saying something inside, and could hear Echizen stomping outside and slamming the door.

And Fuji felt a rush of satisfaction.

Kirihara watched as Ryoma left the room, slamming the door behind him. He sighed loudly, and collapsed on a hay stack.

Why did everyone make things so complicated?

He knew how much his best friend had hated the dungeons. He hadn't spoken to Kirihara for almost two days after he returned. Fuji's dungeons were cold, pitch dark, and damp, and the walls were completely sound-proofed. Three days in there would drive anyone crazy.

After a while, Ryoma returned. He went straight to his favourite horse, Artemis, and sat down next to it, stroking its mane. Finally, he spoke.

"Akaya."

"Yes?"

"When they let me out again..." he paused, and turned to face him. Kirihara could see the determination flaring in his eyes.

"We're going to go visit my family. Whether Fuji likes it or not."

Wasn't that huge? It's the longest chapter I've ever written.

Please review! Constructive criticism is appreciated. Only if it's constructive.