Hidden Roses

Chapter 3 – The Babysitter??

Hm, I've been thinking about why the heck I'm doing a romance story like this. I know I'm going to receive those reviews wanting this to be a Rath and Cesia fic (well, that's already happened, but oh well .) and then there will maybe even be those who want it to be a Bierrez and Cesia fic oO (oop, did I say something I shouldn't have? cough) And then how all these relationships are gonna be kinna skewed…and also personalities…major personality changes…oi I'll be getting hate mail on some of these…

Ah well, that's the joy of doing something almost, if not totally, against the original storyline D It's almost like creating your own story and just taking characters from another and planting them in there…hm…

Well, go on and read if you're still reading .

Night slowly fell upon the city of Draqueen as the citizens returned from their work (or going to if they had the nightshifts). But one person did not head in the direction of his home. Instead, he had already left the city limits and was going to a place where even the rays of light from the day do not reach. Many have called it the Realm of Eternal Darkness, a place hidden deep in the Garlinia Forest and where only complete darkness was accepted. This meant only the more villainous of characters ever tread through there and return back to see light again (not that they enjoyed it much, of course).

Many have told of tales of foolish souls who entered and never came back, supposedly taken captive or worse, killed and eaten. No one knew exactly what went in that small area deep in the forests, only just a few hundred yards from the city walls. Even the Black Dragon Officer, Tetheus, had become wary and had discussed with the Dragon Lord of the need of eradicating the dark society dwelling within the forest, many officials backing him up. But of course, until the Dragon Lord Lykouleon could find concrete evidence of darker activities other than pirating and thieving, as well as a direct assault to Draqueen, the secret society hidden deep within Garlinia Forest would remain unharmed by the Dragon Forces.

"Of course…that did not mean that a certain Prince could not come visit and…talk…" a voice suddenly said as Rath approached the entrance to the Realm of Eternal Darkness.

Rath just stared at the place he thought the voice came from and stated in a firm voice, "So you decided to meet me instead of me venturing inside…eh, Kharl?"

A low chuckle slithered out of the dark as two bright orbs made themselves visible and a cloaked figure stepped forth. There was a flutter of feathers as two birds readjusted themselves upon their masters' shoulders, one eye each trained on the Dragon Prince before them. "What is it that you wish from me?"

With his eyes alight with the fire of determination and passion, Rath said, "I need your help…and I need power."

Cesia sighed as she reached the front door of her home. "Tadaima!" she yelled into the house as she slipped out of her shoes and hopped onto the wooden floor.

Silence.

After a moment, she paused as she looked into the living room. "…Delte? Kitchel? Zoma?" Again hearing no response, she felt her heart speed up as she dashed around the house calling their names. Delte and Kitchel might have gone out, she reasoned, but Zoma was still unable to leave the house since the incident. What if… "Zoma!!" she yelled panicking as she raced up the stairs, her breath coming out in quick gasps as she threw open the door to his room. "ZOMA!"

"Ssh…he's sleeping."

Cesia froze as she stared at the scene before her. Nothing was wrong; Zoma was indeed in his bed sound asleep, his chest rising and falling gently, his breathing light and deep. Nothing was out of place. Nothing…except…

"Who are you?" she said, her voice firm yet shaking slightly as she stared at the stranger sitting next to Zoma's bed.

After a slight pause, the person slowly stood up and turned to look at her. As the stranger moved, Cesia noticed something underneath Zoma's arm. It was small and yellowish green in color. It most resembled a fish and a cute one at that. She could not tear her eyes off of it until the person gave a cough. "I think you were addressing me rather than my pet."

"Zoma's not your pet!" Cesia cried out in indignation.

There was a slight twitch. "I meant Galaba, my fish."

"…It has a name?"

"GALABA IS NOT AN IT!" the stranger yelled. They both froze when they saw the boy in the bed stir slightly, only to roll over onto his side, Galaba still clutched tightly, yet gently, and also asleep.

Cesia stared at the person in front of her. A girl or boy, she was not sure, though the voice definitely sounded like a male. The light short green hair hung down more like a girl's, however, and the eyes…well they're definitely not human…nor Dragon… She blinked and straightened. Yo…kai? "…Who are you?" she asked again. "Why are you here? How come you're in Zoma's room?"

"My name is Sabel, your friends dragged me off the street to look after him while they went shopping for dinner, and we've been playing around here until he got tuckered out and fell asleep."

Well…that explains everything in a nutshell. "Oh…" she said slightly embarrassed.

"What did you think I was?" Sabel asked bluntly. "Some kidnapper or child molester?"

She blinked. "Your words, not mine." Cesia paused. "…Are you a girl or a guy?"

"I'M A GUY!!" he yelled out. It was obvious that many people had asked the same question before, seeing how touchy he was about it.

A small sweat bead formed on Cesia's head as Sabel crosses his arms and started muttering something about crazy girls among the Dragons. She stepped forward and leaned down a bit so she could look up into his face as his was looking away. "New around here?"

"Only because my Lord is here," he muttered before his eyes grew wide and he brought his hands to his mouth. Shit!

Cesia gasped as she saw the long vein-like lines visible along down his wrist and halfway down his lower arm. "Your…your hand…"

Phew, I'm safe… Sabel held up a hand in front of her. "What this?" He gave a small laugh. "A condition. I stayed in the water too long once and this happened," he lied. He could not tell her the truth. It was too complicated for her to understand.

"…I see…" she said, though her face showed her skepticism. Seeing as he would say no more, she pulled up a chair and motioned for him to sit back down where he was. "So tell me, how did Delte and Kitchel managed to drag some complete stranger off the streets and baby-sit Zoma-kun?"

"I have no idea, I was just asking for directions!" he exclaimed in complete confusion. "This map this lady gave me was completely screwed up, so I decided to ask one of the inhabitants of this city to tell me directions. I came up to this house seeing as it looked like people were inside and knocked on the door. The next thing I know, before I could even say hello, two pairs of arms dragged me inside, told me to stay here and look after that Zoma kid, threatened that if they came back and found one hair missing from his head that they would give me a punishment worse than death," at this he shuddered, "and then just shot off saying something about telling this girl named Cesia that if she came back home that they went off to get something." He took a deep breath. "And so that's how it was. Zoma said my face was so complete with shock he thought I was going to just pass out or something."

Cesia chuckled. "That's so like them…but trusting you…" She stared at him harder. "I wonder why…"

He shrugged. "Beats the heck out of me. They almost trampled on Galaba in their haste to leave!" he fumed.

At the sound of his name, the fish gave a tiny blub and wriggled his way free from Zoma's now slack grasp. To Cesia's utter amazement, the fish-like creature did not just fly in the air. It swam! And in this way did the little Galaba go to his master and with another cute little blub that would make anyone's heart just skip and go "Aww…", he did a little "flip" and clapped his fins.

"Galaba-chan!!" Sabel squealed as he huggled his pet-like friend. "You're getting cuter and cuter every day!!"

"I wanna hug him!!!" Cesia squealed, her eyes all starry with desire to hold the cute creature. Galaba turning his head and making another blubsqueak made her snatch him right from out of Sabel's hands. "Eeeee!!"

"HEY!" Sabel shouted as he made a grab for Galaba. "I don't think I gave you permission to hug MY Galaba-chan!!"

"I just wanna hold him for a widdle while!" Cesia said in a cute, child voice, making Sabel jerk back in slight embarrassment and agitation. Hehe, sucker.

With a sigh, Sabel dropped his head, only to look back up and watch Cesia fondle the fish creature with a soft smile on his face. Galaba looked as if he was in absolute delight as the girl continued to coo and hug him, holding him up high and even throwing and catching him. Sabel propped his arm up on his knee and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "You know…you're the first girl who didn't scream of fright on seeing Galaba-chan."

"Why on Dusis would I do that?" Cesia laughed as she continued to baby Galaba. "He's so wai!!"

"You know I'm Yokai, right?"

The question made Cesia falter for a moment before hugging Galaba close to her chest. "Yes…I could tell from your eyes."

They sat in silence for a moment, the only sounds being Zoma's light breathing (he was still somehow asleep) and the occasional blubs Galaba gave out. The silence was broken by the sound of a door bursting open downstairs and the sounds of feet walking about the house.

"We're home!" Delte yelled upward. "Sabel-san! Cesia-chan! Zoma-kun!! Dinner!!"

At the word 'dinner', Zoma immediately sat up wide-awake, startling both Cesia and Sabel. "Dinner?!" he cried in excitement as he threw the sheets off his body and staggered out of his bed.

"Zoma, slow down," Cesia said as she quickly handed Sabel Galaba and held Zoma's slightly shaking body. "You're still feeling the after effects of the incident…"

Incident? Sabel looked down at the trembling boy and blinked. He had never noticed any signs of illness or hurt when he was playing with the kid, yet now they were as plain as day. Pale skin…bloodshot eyes…sweat drenching his clothes… What had happened here?

Immediately Galaba swam-flew over to Zoma and with a worried blub wrapped his body around the boy's shoulder. Sabel stared slightly wide-eyed as the symptoms started to fade.

Before he could speak, Kitchel threw open the door with a loud BANG and walked in. "Sorry we're late! It seemed that nearly all the stores were fresh out of…"

Sabel tuned out as Kitchel started jabbering nonsense about different sorts of fruits and vegetables that apparently had been necessary for the dish Delte had been preparing for them, and that Sabel's sudden arrival had to make them prepare another plate. He twitched slightly at that. It was not as if he had invited himself into their home. More like they dragged me in, he huffed as he crossed his arms in indignation. "I'm going downstairs," he said in a slightly annoyed voice as he walked out of the room and headed down toward the kitchen.

"Geez, what a guy that guy is," Kitchel huffed as she stared at Sabel's retreating back.

"Well…you did kinna drag him in here, Kitchel nee-san," Zoma said in a small voice, already feeling his strength return to him. "And I'm hungry! What did you guys get for us to eat?"

Kitchel grinned. "It's your favorite! Fried—"

"FRIED FISH?!?!?!?"

A small sweat bead appeared on Cesia's head. That was, without a doubt, Sabel.