I'm sorry for the wait, guys. *cries* You guys can, like, never count on me to be on time. ; ____; But atleast it's here, right? *hopeful smile*

It turned out that Kurogane's father would not be coming home. A soldier had come by the castle a few months before he turned 8, and told him that his father would not be returning home. He wondered why the news took so long to reach him, but shrugged it off. His father wasn't dead - he would feel it, wouldn't he? The young guard-in-training didn't like to think about it, instead turning to watch the now 6 year old Prince, who was currently running around the gardens. The prince didn't remember the older man, who had once, also, been given duties to protect him. "Kuro-myuu!" The child cried, running circles around the boy.

"I liked it better when you could barely talk," Kurogane huffed, crossing his arms.

Fai pouted, furrowing his eyebrows, "That's not very nice, Kuro-chii!" He gently pulled on the others arm.

"Life isn't nice," He said, though he instantly regretted saying it - feeling his eyes start to burn a bit at the memory of his father.

The blonde stopped, cocking his head to the side. "Really, Kuro-san?" He asked, interested.

"Mhm. And if you ever leave the castle's grounds, you'd perish!"

"Perish? That means to disappear, right?" The blonde piped up happily, glad that he had learned the definition of such a word at his age.

Kurogane nodded, "Only it's much more painful! Only Guards can go outside the castle's grounds."

Fai looked saddened by this, gently tugging on the ninja's sleeve with a look that held desperation and a bit of fear. "You're not gonna leave, though, right? You wouldn't leave me, would you?"

The elder of the two stared down at the prince, his crimson eyes flashing with, once again, regret, at having said that. Though he continued, "Well - no... But of course, I'll have to fight in wars and stuff, so I will be leaving every now and then."

The prince's expression changed to a look of awe and admiration for the older boy. "Hyuu! Kuro-sama's really brave~!" He gave a stupid grin, swinging lightly on the boy's arm.

"What in the world was that?"

"Oh... I don't know how to whistle." Fai replied meekly, the smile never leaving his face.

XX

Later, Kurogane had decided to go back inside, and of course, the young prince insisted on following, though it quickly changed to an eager prince leading the young guard throughout the castle.

They soon came to one of the house servants, one that Fai liked very much - and not just because she always had a cookie with her.

"Hello, young master Fai, hello Kurogane." The older woman gave a slight, polite bow - finding it hard to put much to it as she had in her 'younger' days.

Fai grinned, "You don't have to bow to us, Ms. Shizune," He said, remembering what his mother and father had always said to the woman.

Ms. Shizune smiled kindly at the two boys, before reaching in her pocket to pull out two small pieces of candy. She gave one to each of them, "Don't go eating it too quickly, now." She told them - something that always followed her little give-away.

Fai nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Ms. Shizune~" He stuffed the small piece of candy in his pocket. Kurogane nodded, giving a small hum as he did the same.

"Did your mother tell you about the fair, young master Fai?" She asked, a slight twinkle could be seen far behind her dimmed eyes.

The prince grinned, "No, ma'am."

"Well," the old lady gave a chuckle, "Your mother told me that she was taking you to the fairgrounds. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun."

"Can Kuro-rin come too?"

The woman shrugged, "I don't see why not, I'm sure your mother wouldn't mind -," she cast a glance behind her, "I should be going now, have fun you two." She winked, before walking off.

Fai turned to his friend, his face displaying pure fear, "Did you hear that? My mommy wants me to vanish - she's taking me out of the grounds,"

"N-no...," Kurogane glanced around for a second, trying to think of something before turning back to the younger boy, "You can only leave the grounds without perishing if you have a guard with you. And that, of course, would be me." The boy gave a smug smile, standing straight.

The prince sniffled, "B-but Kuro-sama... you're not a guard - at least... not yet... "

Kurogane sweatdropped, "No... I guess not - but... I will be, soon. And until then, I guess you'll just have some other guard with you."

"Ah, but you'll come to the fair, right?" The boy seemed hopeful.

"Of course! Just because I'm not a guard yet, that doesn't mean I don't have to protect you."

"Yay~ Kuro-tan's such a good guard~ Even if he isn't one yet~," the prince cheered, hugging the boy who responded to the hug with a blush.

XX

Neither boy had ever been to a fair before - they were actually rather unsure of what a fair consisted of. Fai suggested that it held dragons, imps, and faeries - like in the stories his mother told him late at night. Though Kurogane knew better; he told the prince that the fair was a place to go to get toys. Fai had to say he liked Kurogane's idea better.

They left a few moments later, Yuui deciding to come with them. A rather big guard followed closely behind them as they made their way into the carriage, though he sat up front with the 'driver,' and since Kurogane was of no royal heritage, he too sat up in the front.

"Mommy, what's a fair like?" Fai piped up, his blue eyes shown with child-like curiosity.

The queen smiled, "It's very entertaining, with animals and games --,"

"And shows! Like acrobats!" Yuui announced happily.

Fai looked a tad bit disappointed, "No fairies? Or toys?" He stuck his lower lip out, and Yuui put his hands up, as if to tell the boy to stop with the pout.

"No, no! There's that, too - but, not the fairies, exactly." He leaned in close to his little brother, "You can find those at night, if you search really, really hard."

Fai brightened up at the secret his brother had shared with him, looking out the window to search for one.

He heard his mother give a fond chuckle, but was too absorbed in his search to give it any attention.

Several moments later, the carriage came to a halt, and the family stepped off, Fai running to reunite with his friend.

"Kuro, Kuro, look! Look!" The prince jumped up and down delightedly, before pointing up at a large Ferris wheel. The two stared in awe at the ride.

"It's brilliant! What is it, brother?" He turned to Yuui. The prince always expected his older brother to know these things, he thought his brother knew everything.

"That's a Ferris wheel. You get on it, and it spins you slowly in this cart," He made a circle in the air with his finger, indicating the way it worked. "Then you can see everything!"

"Wow, can we go on that? Can we? Can we, pleeeease?" He tugged on his brother's sleeve.

At this point his mother interjected, "It'd be better to go on later in the night, before we leave. So that we can see the lights of town and castle."

Fai pouted, "I wanna go now." He crossed his arms, his lower lip sticking out.

The older guard gave a chuckle, and Fai was too young to know that the man was laughing at his stubbornness.

Kurogane eyed the area, before cutting in, "Fai, we can go see the animals, see? Over there." He pointed to a small stable - the chatter of its' occupants clear in the air.

Fai seemed to soften a bit at this, "Do they have rabbeets?" He asked, his pronunciation of the word causing his mother to smile.

"I'm sure they do, dear." His mother pushed him along gently, leading the group to the small zoo.

Fai stood on the fence, trying to peer over and into it, his hand reaching out to pet a small sheep that came by.

He laughed, "Kuro, brother, look!" He pat the creature on the head, the sheep giving an appreciative, 'baa.'

Kurogane and Yuui didn't have to stand on the fence, being tall enough. They watched the small prince giggle as a few more animals came over to be pet.

"Baa!" Fai giggled, grinning at a baby pig, "Oink! Oink!" He reached his hand farther over the fence, moving his body a bit over it to pet the tiny animal.

Fai set himself back down on the ground, turning to his brother, "I wanna see the rabbeets, now." He said simply.

His brother led him over to a smaller cage, containing a baby rabbit, chinchilla, and two baby chicks.

"Ooh! They're so cute!" He exclaimed, petting them gently.

This carried on for a few more minutes, Fai petting the animals and saying how cute they were, before being rushed on by his mother.

"Let's go and see the circus, hun." She said, and Fai reluctantly agreed.

The circus held elephants, acrobats, jugglers, clowns. Fai was utterly astonished. It all seemed so magical, and full of wonder. He was most interested in the oddities the circus showed. The 'freaks' that had never really had a home, and who had turned to the circus for a job. He gave a wave to them when they came on stage, as he did to every performer, and he was delighted at the fact that they waved back. The show went on for a good forty minutes, and when they were outside once again, and Fai was able to see that it was night time. He grinned and tugged hurriedly on his mother's sleeve.

"Mommy! Mommy! The ferris wheel, come on!" He jumped up and down, and the two other boys had to admit to themselves that they had been dying to go on the ride also.

And so it was that Fai, his mother, Kurogane, and Yuui stepped on the ride, their guard stating that he would stay on the ground, admitting sheepishly his fear of heights.

When up in the air, the ride starting, Fai was staring out the window, jumping in his seat at the world down below. "Look, it's our home!" He shouted, pointing to the castle, which seemed to glow a light blue.

"And there's the town! And the bakery! And the forest!" The prince grinned at his friend. "You can see, too, right?" He asked Kurogane.

The boy nodded, allowing himself a small smile at the delight in the prince's eyes.

Reviews again, please? Thank you all for the last reviews. ;) and this ending was sort of abrupt also. - _____ - eep, sorry about that.