Chapter 3

Thanks to Wolfram, Yuuri had learned about Ulrike, a priestess who could communicate with the original king and knew almost all about the other world… or at least how to get there and back.

Wolfram accompanied him to Shinou's palace with a smile. Wolfram was wearing a warm coat since it was winter now, but Yuuri was not. Yuuri continuously brought snow in from outside of the carriage and played with it, not even the slightest bit cold from his element.

"Y-Yuuri, get rid of that snow! You're letting all the cold in!" Yuuri pouted and magically threw it all outside. His pout left when he had an idea though.

"You're cold?" Wolfram nodded with a frown.

"Of course I am! I-" Wolfram was silenced when Yuuri snuggled up against him, warming him up just a bit more.

"You're a fire mazoku though; shouldn't you be warmer than me?" The blonde tried to frown, but he couldn't while looking at Yuuri's content face.

"Fire magic doesn't like to work very well in the winter…" (1)

"Ah." Well that's alright… Yuuri liked cuddling. So did Wolfram.

He opened up Wolfram's coat and sat in his lap as he slid into it partway and wrapped his arms around Wolfram's back. Wolfram turned pink and was warmed up from the inside as well as he hugged Yuuri back. It was a comfortable trip to say the least.

Yuuri was… surprised. There was an 800 year old shrine maiden forever stuck in the body of a child… and more importantly she wasn't tripping over her insanely long hair. HOW?!

Yuuri had walked up, prepared to introduce himself properly and apologize for not sending word ahead, but Ulrike had expected them. Somehow.

"Uhm… and how did you know I was coming? I was pretty sure we didn't call ahead… er… send a pigeon." She giggled and shook her head.

"It's hard not to notice such a strong magical signature coming towards you Heika." Yuuri nodded though internally he shuddered.

She can watch me? Okay, that's either intrusive or just plain creepy. Note to self, learn how to hide my magic somehow.

There was an awkward pause before she continued.

"You wanted to ask me for help controlling your magic, did you not?"

"Yes…" Nope, definitely creepy. "I want to go back to earth again, and be able to control the trip as well, but I want to bring Wolf… ram with me."

He almost called Wolfram by his nickname again. Apparently it embarrassed the blonde, so Yuuri tried not to do so in front of people… other than their family of course. They didn't mind.

"I'm not sure you can do that by yourself just yet, but I'm more than happy to help you this time. Do you want to stay and learn a while, or do you want to try and leave now? Either way you'd have to do it from here since I can't leave." Yuuri blinked as the words soaked in while Wolfram tensed at the 'now' bit. "You are in a hurry are you not?"

"Now would be good, thanks." CREEPY!

Wolfram was holding Yuuri's hand reassuringly. The blonde didn't say it aloud, but the prospect of traveling through water scared him… what if it was like being on a boat? Even the thought made him a bit sick.

Wolfram handed his sword (reluctantly) over to his brother at Yuuri's urging, and they stepped into the fountain.

"Now try to concentrate on where you want to end up approximately, and let some of your magic flow into the water. Can you do that?" When he nodded and closed his eyes he let out a stream of magic making the water swirl slowly around them.

Ulrike's eyes widened before she snapped out of her shock and concentrated. It was amazing that Wolfram had such power; she knew he did and yet seeing it (and only a fraction of it at that) was exciting. Suddenly Wolfram held in a squeak as they were sucked down into the water, and he didn't lose his grip on Yuuri's hand for a moment.

Wolfram had surfaced gasping for air and clung onto Yuuri as he looked around in confusion. Yuuri laughed silently as he watched his love's face.

Earth was a lot forest-ier than Wolfram had expected. Then again, they did land in a small pond… in a forest. A warm forest.

"Ah! Why is it so warm here?" They climbed out of the pond and Yuuri dried them as Wolfram let go of his hand and yanked off his large coat and scarf quickly. Yuuri snorted unwillingly as he held in a laugh.

"It's still nearly summer here Wolf. Time passes differently, remember?" The blonde sighed and ditched his clothes on the ground before running his hand through his dry hair.

"I knew that." Yuuri smiled softly and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Of course you did beautiful. Now let's go."

Yuuri had walked approximately seven steps when Wolfram's face turned bright red and he screamed;

"I AM NOT BEAUTIFUL!" And ran after Yuuri, who begged to differ.

So… people stared at Yuuri as he walked back up to the entrance of the building. Particularly the people who had seen him jump into the waterfall and disappear… Dat magic bro.

Yuuri ignored them, but Wolfram felt rather nervous. He didn't know any of these people, and he didn't have his sword. Bad combo.

Yuuri smiled at the man near the door and said guard suddenly felt relieved. He wasn't freaked out anymore, though how he dried his tears so quickly… ah, right, magic. That was probably it... somehow.

The door was opened, though the man looked a bit skeptical of the blonde he knew that she was with Yuuri. (Yeah, he totally thought Wolf was a girl. Wolfram was holding his hand after all.)

Yuuri squeezed Wolfram's hand both for comfort and to reassure him that nobody was about to jump out at them and that he could stop reaching for his (not there) sword every time a light flashed or something.

The blonde found it incredibly strange that there were so many double-blacks here… it really wasn't uncommon on earth.

He let go of Yuuri's hand reluctantly as he opened the door to the office and refrained from plugging his ears. Shori was all but screaming at Bob to release him while Bob was telling him it was not a good plan to chase him down right then.

Wolfram glared at them and then turned to Yuuri.

"What the heck are they yelling about Yuuri? I can't understand a thing they're saying!" Bob and Shori suddenly froze as they realized Yuuri was back, with a dry face and a smile, and he was with a stranger speaking a language… not Japanese.

"They're… it's not important." Oh look, Yuuri spoke it too. He turned to them and unknowingly switched to Wolfram. "I'm… I'm sorry for running out on you. This is Wolfram, and-"

"She's from Shin Makoku?" Bob asked curiously.

On the inside, Yuuri was rolling around laughing like an idiot and clutching his sides as he thought about how the blonde would react to being called a girl. On the outside he simply nodded since Wolfram didn't seem to understand them… it made sense if it was only by his magic he had learned the language in the first place.

"I brought… her with me. I hope that's alright." Again, internal laughter.

"You… went back? How long were you gone?" Shori asked slowly as Bob finally released him.

"A couple of days. I can only assume it was a few minutes here. I'm… fine now."

Shori nodded blankly before Yuuri's words seeped in. Shori's eyes watered and he suddenly ran at Yuuri, freaking the blonde in the room out as he pulled the smaller boy into a hug that rivaled Lady Cheri's in its awkwardness… but with less boobs.

"Yuuri, Yuuri, can you please forgive me? I didn't want to hurt you but I still did and I-"

"Release my fiancé at once!" Wolfram screamed at Shori, wishing he had his sword. Of course, he didn't understand a word, but Bob caught a few.

"Shori, she wants you to let go of Yuuri…" Yuuri and Shori both looked at Bob in confusion as Shori (to Wolfram's relief) let go of him.

"You speak Shin-Makoku-ian?" Bob nodded.

"Some. Enough to know she said 'release.'" Yuuri internally sighed in relief. How awkward would it be to explain the fiancé bit so soon?

"Yuuri…" Wolfram had a tick in his eyebrow that indicated he was trying to hold in anger. "Why didn't you push him off of you when he hugged you? Have you been cheating on me?" Yuuri was actually somewhat scared of his tone of voice. It was intimidating, no matter how strong you were.

"Wolfram, this is Shori. My brother? And that's Bob; he is the Maoh of earth." Wolfram straightened up and suddenly, realizing who they were, bowed respectfully.

"Forgive me your majesty. Yuuri's brother." He honestly didn't expect Bob to respond.

"You do not have to bow. We are friends here." His words were spoken slowly, as if he was trying to remember how to pronounce each one. Wolfram straightened again and smiled with a nod.

Yuuri simply scratched the back of his neck as he looked at Bob, then at Wolfram, and then finally at the very confused Shori.

"I take it you don't know our language?" Shori shook his head slowly as he stared at Yuuri. He then leaned over to Yuuri slowly.

"Yuuri, is that your girlfriend?" He whispered.

"W-What?!" Yuuri sputtered in shock before he realized Shori was waiting.

"If she's not, do you think she'd go on a date with me?" Embarrassment and confusion departed, protective possessiveness engaged.

"Hell no!" Yuuri moved in front of Wolfram and blocked him from view, leaving the blonde confused and trying to peek over his shoulder. "Wolfram and I… we're together okay?" Shori began laughing loudly and Wolfram was confused, but he noticed Yuuri seemed tense.

"Yuuri, is everything alright?" Oh Wolfram, your voice always calms Yuuri down... it's a skill.

"Yeah… I just told him we were together and-"

"AND HE'S LAUGHING?!" Wolfram suddenly seemed enraged and Yuuri had to hold him back as he went to presumably give a piece of his mind (and/or fist) to the one person in the room who couldn't speak their language.

1: Oh, who cares if it works fine in the canon? Snuggles are fun!

Heh… Hehehe… Heh… Wolfram's so adorable.

Wolfram: Oh you did not just call me adorable!

Yuuri: *holding back Wolfram with a small frown* you better not be hitting on him…

Oh of course not sweetie, I already have a love life… speaking of which… *runs off to glomp Murata*

Fairy5706green: I know, my word processor messed up and replaced almost every name and pronoun with 'Wolfram' and I couldn't undo it so I had to go back and fix each one. Hopefully it won't happen again.

Sawyer Fan: tsk tsk tsk, you know I don't do spoilers ;)

Merilwen-Vendethiel: Oh yes... sweets are good. Sweets are very good. *evil grin* *bounces off of walls*

Meel Jacques: I encourage EVERYBODY to write their own stories! Heck, I thought I was a crappy writer until I posted my first story and people were all like 'ooohhh write more!' and then I was happy.

Wallflower: I loooovvvveeee Yuuram. Hope my earth saga pleases you, but it's only beginning...

~Stuck Like Glue - By: Sugarland~ (Stuck in my head... dammit.)

~I Never Told You - By: Colbie Caillat~ (Did I post this song before? I don't remember T^T)

R&R