Something really bright blocked my view when I opened my eyes. Argh, the curtain! Too much sun too early in the morning…!

But when I shifted, the sunlight miraculously disappeared, and it took me few minutes to realize that the "sunlight" was hair of the boy who slept curled up next to me. The boy seemed fit to be part of Vienna Boys' Choir, with his ivory skin and wavy blond hair that partly covered his thick gold eyelashes. If he opened his eyes, marble-like transparent aqua eyes would stare at you, flashing bright green when they caught sunlight. No matter how much I looked at him, I couldn't get over how beautiful he was, despite that he was a boy who had same thing I had between my legs.

Mr. Prospective Member of Vienna Choir Boy's eyes flustered open as I was thinking this, and as they flickered into focus Wolfram slowly pouted until he was positively scowling. Don't do that to your pretty face; it might get stuck that way…

"Good morning," I offered. Wolfram (Mr. Vienna Choir Boy) glared.

"Wimp," he hissed as he untangled his limbs from mine. I cringed, not at his words, but at the hostile tone of his voice.

"It's not my fault. I didn't know what to do," I feebly said. Wait, that sounded like I would've done something if I knew what to do. Which I wasn't going to. Really. "And anyway, we haven't known each other for a long time. And we're still really young. Besides from the fact that I don't have any condoms—"

"We don't have much time!" Wolfram impatiently said, shaking his head. Wow, that looked just like that shampoo commercial I saw last night… "Yuuri, the engagement was not done in presence of any noble, so it's not binding! We need to consummate the engagement if it will be accepted by other nobles. You need to claim me before my brother finds me."

"Wolfram," I snapped, starting to feel frustrated myself, "That's not a good reason to have sex with someone. It's an expression of love, not… some sort of means for you to rebel against your big brother. I feel like you're using me."

"You were perfectly willing last night, weren't you?" Wolfram retorted, and I felt my cheeks heating up.

"Because you were seducing me! I told you I'm not interested in you that way! Just because you're so pretty and I have this teenage hormone thing going on—"

"Oh, so it's my fault now?!"

"Yeah, because obviously we don't love each other and it's wrong for us to have sex just because you don't want to marry another guy and my stupid dick can't listen to reason!"

That was when Wolfram slammed the pillow at my face. He kept hitting me until feathers were flying everywhere, I was knocked back on the bed in a daze, and Wolfram was panting heavily. His green eyes were full of hurt.

"I don't know about you," he said softly. "But I love you, you moron."

He chucked the battered pillow at my face for a good measure before he stomped out of the room.

*****

"Your hair grows so quickly," Mom said, sighing as she examined my newly dyed hair. I mutely stared at the dark orange brown hair reflected in the mirror. I had just gotten out of the shower after mom had dyed it. "Shou-chan's hair, too. I wonder why my boys both have black hair and eyes? Uma-chan has grey hair and grey eyes, and Mama has brown hair and brown eyes."

I'm tired of dying my hair and wearing color contacts, too, Mom.

"You're running out of color contacts, aren't you? What color do you want this time? I think hazel is very nice! Or would you like green, like Pu-chan's?"

I love you, you moron.

I shifted uncomfortably. I haven't seen Wolfram all morning, after he followed Shouri out to help him with his chores. While I collected eggs and pulled out weeds, I kept thinking about Wolfram's expression. His voice. What he said.

I didn't believe in that whole love at first sight thing, so it was really weird that Wolfram would suddenly throw a love confession at my face like that. How was it possible that he would like me that much in such a short time? Wolfram was gorgeous, I found out I could feel lust towards him, and he had unexpectedly cute side to him, but that wasn't the same thing as love. I liked Wolfram, but I didn't want to spend rest of my life with him. I was willing to be his friend, but…

"…chan? Yuu-chan?"

"Huh?" I stupidly replied, and Mom puffed her cheeks.

"Contacts. What color?"

"Uh, brown. Like right now."

"You're so boring! Fine. I'll get some when I pick up Pu-chan's school uniform, okay?"

"Okay."

The doorbell rang, and I stood up. "I got it."

I opened the door and looked up at a handsome guy with brown hair and brown eyes. His smile looked friendly, but I didn't take the door chain off, just in case. "Yes?"

"Excuse me. My name is Conrad Weller," the man said. His smile deepened, showing off his dimple. "I'm looking for my brother, who ran away from home. My subordinate told me there was a boy here who matched his description."

Wow, that was fast. The guy didn't look anything like Wolfram, but who else could he be talking about? "Uh, what does your brother look like?" I asked, stalling for time. I wasn't sure if it was right thing to do, lying to Wolfram's family member who must be worried to death about him, but I just couldn't agree to an arranged marriage. That wasn't fair for Wolfram. But running away from home didn't seem like the right thing to do, either. I didn't know what to do, but I wasn't going to give Wolfram away in his absence.

"Blond, green eyes, average height. His physique is just about the same as yours." The man called Conrad gently said, "We're all very worried about Wolfram."

I hesitated, and then shook my head. "I, um, think you're mistaken… Maybe they thought Murata Ken was this… Er… Vorufu person. My friend is also blond with green eyes and he comes here all the time, you know, to hang out."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, that must be it."

The man studied me. I squirmed. It felt like he could see right through my lies, but he smiled again and nodded. "Then I must ask you to forgive me for taking up your time."

The man certainly didn't look like someone who'd marry off his unwilling baby brother to an old creepy geezer, and I thought I should talk to Wolfram once he came back when I noticed a blond walking towards our home. Conrad was facing me, so he couldn't see the approaching boy, but I felt panicked. Surely Wolfram would recognize his brother and turn back and hide?!

"Shibuya!"

Or not. Actually, great timing, Murata! Murata with his slightly wavy blond hair and green eyes walked towards us, cheerfully waving. I happily waved back, and Conrad turned to look at Murata. Murata and Conrad studied each other before they both smiled, and Conrad waved at me before he started his car and left.

While I was sighing with relief, Murata curiously looked after the car and then he turned to ask me, "What's Sir Conrad Weller doing here? He came to see Lord Bielefeld?"

How the heck does he know all these people?! You demon culture maniac…!;;;;;;;

"You know him?!"

"Well, he's the son of the demon queen, you know," Murata said, smiling. "And half-brother of Lord Bielefeld, whom you got engaged to recently. Humans aren't interested in demons, period, and vice versa, so you wouldn't know. But they're actually very famous people."

"Son of demon queen?! Wait, he's a prince?!" Another, even scarier realization hit me. "Wolfram is a prince?!!!"

"The crown prince," Murata cheerfully told me. "Close your mouth, Shibuya. A fly could get in if you open it that wide."

Wait, a crown prince? But didn't that mean…? "He's going to be the next king, then?" I asked, just to make sure. Murata shook his head.

"Actually, the current queen decided she wants to surrender the throne, and the ten nobles gathered together to ask the Original King if he'd approve of Lord Bielefeld ascending to the throne. To everyone's surprise, he flatly refused and said he chose someone else. The higher-ups are totally freaking out at the demon country right now." Murata smiled. His glasses glinted. "Just so you know."

Oh, shit. That meant…

"Hello, Older Brother of Shibuya," Murata happily said, waving. "Hi, Lord Bielefeld."

"Friend of Younger Brother! What are you doing here?" Shouri asked. I didn't know why Shouri was always so rude to Murata. I wondered where Wolfram was, before I realized that Wolfram was hiding behind Shouri. What was he doing?;;

"I was wondering if you'd let me try out your SubaSeka(1) if you're done playing it. I wanted to try it out before I buy my copy," Murata said. My brother immediately softened at mention of a game. If you'd just look at his outward appearance, objectively speaking my brother was a tall, handsome man, but he was a true A-boy(2) at heart.;;

"Come up to my room, then," a very mollified Shouri said, and Murata trailed after him. That left Wolfram and me alone. Wolfram avoided my eyes, fussing with the hem of his shirt.

"Wolfram, I met your brother," I said. That got his attention. "Conrad Weller came looking for you. I've talked to him, Wolf, and he seems like a really nice guy…"

"I do not acknowledge that man as my brother," Wolfram snarled, his green eyes flashing. "Gwendal is my respected elder brother."

"What are you talking about? Your older brother is your older brother, even if he acts like hikikomori(3) during summer vacations and play eroge(4) all day!" I scolded, and Wolfram cocked his head to one side. He looked really cute like that, but that aside.

"Hiki… komaru? What?"

"That's not important. Anyway, he seemed genuinely worried about you. I don't agree with arranged marriage either, but you're making your family really worried about you. This isn't the right way to solve your problems. You should talk to your brother, heart to heart, and I'm sure he'd understand, too."

"I've talked to Elder Brother," Wolfram said, staring at the ground. "Elder Brother said… that it is my duty. And… I know he's right. No matter how you look at it, the marriage is advantageous—nay, necessary. But I…"

"Marrying someone you don't like is not a duty," I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "What about your other brother? He seemed really nice."

"Do you love him?!" Wolfram snapped, glaring at me. Uh... So why is this conversation going back to homosexual romance again?;;;;;;;;;

Choosing to ignore that question, I asked again, "Did you talk to your other brother?"

"Sir Weller doesn't really care about me," he replied, looking annoyed. I think Wolfram knew as well as I that that was BS. I mean, why would the guy come all the way out here to look for him if he didn't care about Wolf? "Anyway, who cares about what he thinks? He's not even an official noble, and he's a dirty half human…"

Wolfram trailed away and bit into his lips, and then said in a small voice, "Sorry."

"No, no offense taken. It's actually the demon side of my blood that's causing me problems, so I don't care." I smiled to reassure him, but Wolfram continued to search my face with troubled eyes. I guess he couldn't help being haughty. After all, he was a prince… "But that really makes me wonder why you, um, love me."

"I don't know." Wolfram took hold of my hand and put it over his chest. It was beating unbelievably fast, in a steady rhythm. "When I see you, my heart quickens up so much that it hurts…"

Oh, shit. That wasn't good. He looked so cute just now that it felt like my own heart stopped for a second before my heartbeat was trying to match Wolf's. Something stirred in my veins again. That sound uncannily like roar of waves filling my ears, that voice that was too deep to be mine shouting inside my head, the—

"Yuuri?"

Emerald eyes looked up at me in concern. Small fingers touched my cheek, and then my forehead.

"What's wrong? You look weird. And your eyes…?"

I shook my head. I felt dizzy, and there was that flashing light again. Wolfram touched my cheek again, using both of his hands to caress my skin, and his eyes widened.

"Your energy is fluctuating so much! Yuuri, this is dangerous! You don't know how to control your energy yet?" Without waiting for my answer, Wolfram tightly hugged me. Something got… sucked out of me? It sort of felt like that. As something was being sucked out, I started to feel better, but Wolfram started to look strange. His pupils dilated and then suddenly his eyes became almost blindingly bright. His skin paled even more than it already was until he looked deathly pale.

"Wolfram," I snarled. My voice was weird. I didn't sound this deep… I didn't snarl out my words like this! "Wolfram von Bielefeld, cease this immediately. Thou shall die!"

I lifted my hand to ease Wolfram away from me, but I was shocked to see long, sharp… claws? What the hell was happening to me?! I shook my head and found out that my short hair had turned into mane of a hair, trailing down to my shoulders in a mess of coal black hair. Hey, I just got the dye job done this morning! What was going on? More importantly, Wolfram was going to die! Fire element user cannot accept such huge amount of water element's power and be possibly safe!

Abruptly, as if pulling out a power plug, the power drained out of me and I stumbled. Wolfram collapsed and I fell on top of him. We both had trouble breathing, and poor Wolfram was violently trembling underneath me. I managed to roll off of him and then pulled him into my chest, holding him while he kept shaking, clutching at my shirt like a drowning kitten. After few minutes, I finally managed to breath easily again, even though my heart was still pounding too quickly for it to feel comfortable. Wolfram pulled away a little to look up into my face.

"Yuuri, what are you?" he asked. There was fear in his eyes, but also... something else. Awe? "Sir Weller has no magic what-so-ever, but you… I am considered a high ranking magic user, but I am nothing compared to you. I have only felt such power among the most advanced spell casters… What are you, Yuuri?"

I'd like to know, too.

"Just what are you supposed to be?"

I didn't say anything, because I didn't know what to say. I thought I should thank Wolfram for probably saving my life, but my thought was in such a jumble that I just kept staring at the child I was holding in my arms. Wolfram hadn't hesitated when he thought I was in danger, even though his own life had been in peril. This beautiful creature really loved me that much.

"Is it because you are double black, the owner of hair the color of midnight skies and onyx-colored eyes…?"

My body already knew how sweet he could taste, how good it would feel to kiss him. But that was wrong. I only felt lust towards him because of my stupid teenage hormones. To play around with someone who was as sincere as this, who was willing to die for me…

"Are you listening to me, Wimp? You have a really weird expression on your face." Wolfram started to laugh. His green eyes sparkled. Passing breeze played with tresses of his bright gold, silky hair lightly. I kissed his nose. Wolfram's laughter got cut off as his eyes widened, and then curved in a sweet, loving smile.

I didn't love him.

I held him close to me as I pressed my lips against the rose-colored lips, and felt his hands clutching at my back. The autumn sun felt warm on my back as I flipped him over and towered over him, kissing the sweet, smiling lips again and again.

[ To Be Continued ]
(1) The World Ends With You. Copyrighted by Square Enix.
(2) Akihabara Boy. Otaku. Maniac.
(3) Someone who is terrified of outside world and locks himself/herself into his/her room all day. In worst cases, he has trouble even going to the store to buy food, as he thinks that people will laugh at him. This is currently a big social problem in Japan. Yuuri is, of course, jokingingly referring to his brother as one.
(4) Erotic game.

Some of you expressed a concern that the previous chapter was a bit, ahem, strong. I apologize. I'll do a better job of editting next time... (laughs) And yes, this story is based more on the original novel than the animation, because the novel is more amusing.