Chapter 3

King and Queen

Aiyumi Rayah Yagyuu never got tired of her uncle's massive house. She always felt like a princess in a castle, being given anything she asked for. Her uncle, the king, would spoil her with gifts and candies, her aunt, the queen, was mean but really deep down she loved Aiyumi, because she was her mother's child.

The small girl stopped at a large door and used her entire body mass to push the door open. The bed was massive, big enough to fit about eight people, but one person was sprawled in the middle.

The lump moved and an arm slipped from under the blankets. Aiyumi approached the bed and grabbed the slender hand, "Aunt Rayah. Wake up."

The lump moved again, grumbling a bit before sitting up a little. Aiyumi smiled brightly, "Morning auntie."

Rayah rolled her eyes, "Good morning demon spawn."

The young child giggled Rayah smirked, sitting up fully, "Get in here." The young girl clamored under the sheets and the woman smiled, lying back down, "Five more minutes."

"Aunt Rayah?"

"What?"

"Who is Tezuka?"

Rayah dropped the shirt she had in her hands and turned to look at the small girl. Aiyumi looked at her innocently, swinging her little legs back and forth as she sat on the cushioned stool in her aunt's vast closet.

"Who is who?"

"Tezuka? My mommy talks about him all the time."

The golden-eyed woman sat down next to her niece, running a hand through her slanted bangs to push them from her face, "What did she say?"

The little girl tapped her chin, "She said that you two were in love. She said that you two were happy. That you changed each other for the better."

Rayah bit her lip, "I'm sorry sweetie. I have no clue who your mother was talking about. Why don't you go help the maids with the tree?"

Aiyumi jumped down from the stool, "Whatever you say auntie!"

"Princess?"

"What Kei?" she asked, continuing her dressing.

Atobe sighed and ran a hand through his silver locks, "Rayah."

She sighed loudly and buttoned her shirt, purposefully leaving the top two buttons open, "What Keigo?"

"Why did you tell her you didn't know him?"

"I don't."

"Rayah."

"Kei don't pull that adult voice on me. Callin me by my name and shit."

"Rayah stop it!" he clutched her upper arm, "I know you hate him more than anything. In some ways I hate him too, but ore-sama will not stand for this!"

She tried to glare at him, tears in her golden eyes, "This is your fault anyway."

"Excuse me?"

"You invited him. You know how I feel about him!"

"Didn't I just say that I did?" he pulled her close and kissed her head, "Ore-sama is extremely aware of all of this. But if you don't confront him about this princess will never feel any better."

She really did hate this. When he spoke like the adult he was instead of the peacock she found herself fawning over. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pouted, "Can I break his nose?"

"Of course princess."

"Atobe sir?"

The couple stayed in their embrace and turned to the butler at the door, "What is it?" Atobe asked.

"Mr. Echizen is here."

Rayah unwrapped her arms and entangled her hand with Atobe's pulling him along with her until he walked beside her normally. When they entered the room the, still short, tennis player had the side of his head pressed to Yuki's partly swollen tummy.

"Shrimp!"

The young man cracked a smug smile at the woman as she released Atobe's hand and hugged him. Even at the age of twenty the young adult only came to just under the woman's chin.

"Hey Ray." Ryoma grinned at Atobe, "Hey Monkey King. When is she going to look like that one?" he asked, pointing at Yuki.

Atobe blushed but hid it well, descending the stairs; "Ore-sama will have babies with princess when he is good and ready."

Aiyumi ran over to Ryoma and attached herself to his leg, "Ryoma! Are you gonna teach me to play tennis?"

The man popped his gum and put his hands in his pockets, "Sure. You up for a quick match before we start Baka Money King?"

Atobe rolled his eyes, "Ore-sama is ready for anything. And he is not an idiot!"

Fuji smiled his usual bright smile as he put the star on the top of his Christmas tree in his living room. His wife, Yumi, descended the stairs and hugged him around his waist. Earning her a kiss atop her head.

"Is he on his way?" she asked him softly.

"Yes."

She kissed the blue-eyed sadist on the lips, "Well, dinner is almost ready."

Fuji gently grabbed her as she walked away to return to the kitchen and kissed her again, deeper. Yumi blushed; she was still shy and gentle, despite the fact that the two had been married for almost two years.

The doorbell rang and Fuji fully opened his eyes, "Well then. I should answer that."

Yumi nodded, "He's your best friend."

"Yes, indeed."

"You've missed him."

Fuji nodded. In truth he did miss his best friend, though he found slight resentment for him. When Tezuka had called, to relay what happened between him and Rayah, he had called him an idiot and hung up. Not calling again for almost a year. If he had remembered correctly, he used to hate Rayah... he doesn't remember the day that changed.

The man sighed and opened the front door to his modern house, smiling at his friend, "Good evening Tezuka."

"Fuji."

"How have you been?"

The man gave his friend his jacket, "Well."

Fuji had to turn away from him and smirk. Tezuka's life right about now was probably a living hell. Tezuka looked around the house. All the furniture was cutting edge and the pieces and paintings on the wall looked extremely valuable.

Then he remembered that Fuji was married to an artist. A girl they went to school with, Yumi, he thought.

Yumi entered the parlor from the kitchen, "Tezuka-san." She said sweetly, "So nice to see you." She gave the man a light hug before leading him to kitchen.

The food was laid out beautifully on the table. Tezuka sat down with a nod to Yumi, "Thank you for inviting me over."

"Nonsense, no need to thank me." She started sweetly, "You and Syuuske need to catch up. It's been almost four years right?"

He nodded, "It has. I follow your photography, both of you."

The couple looked at each other before they both smiled at him. Fuji took a bite of his food and smirked, "Have you seen the pictures of Kikumaru and Rayah?"

Tezuka squeezed his chopsticks, almost breaking them, "Yes. They look good. Are they doing well?"

"You know Kunimitsu, you missed out. She's very beautiful now. Always has been. Her love life is hot too." Fuji said, bashing Tezuka's attempt at changing the subject.

"Where are you going with this?"

"Just wondering if you know how stupid you are."

Yumi stood from the table, "Stop it! I think we've had this conversation already and both of you know how it turned out."

Both men lightened their glares on each other. Tezuka sighed, "I know all of this."

Fuji chuckled and continued to eat his dinner, "I hope you know you'll never get her back."

"Is she going to Atobe's party?"

"Of course."

"Then I'll apologize."

"Good luck with that."