Chapter 4

Everything was grey.

Makoto was used to this; Iwatobi was a desolate place. Rocky ground and gravel pits littered the landscape broken only by irrigation canals fed by the snow of the nearby mountain range. The peaks blocked all weather coming from the north – where the prevailing winds usually originated over the sea – and as such, rain was such a rare thing Makoto could not say he had ever seen it.

Makoto leaned his head into his hand as he looked out over the sunrise, giving a warm gleam to the stone landscape and setting the far-off southern desert afire. The sky was a perfect gradient without a single cloud to interrupt the change from black, to purple, to gold, to red. He blinked sleepily, a yawn escaping his mouth. He had awoken a bit early today – too early to head out – and was enjoying his infrequent time for relaxation. Life had been a bit hectic lately.

Makoto smiled as a small white feline emerged from across the street, padding out of alleyway and up to his open window. It gave a small yip and hopped onto the sill, rubbing its little head against Makoto's bicep. He petted it absentmindedly, scratching its pale ears and chuckling lightly as its purr crescendoed.

"Makoto."

His head snapped to the side, startling the cat as he straightened up, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Haru?" The figure took a few steps closer until they stood just outside the window. A plain tan cloak wrapped around them, Makoto had to stoop once more to see their face. Surely enough, he was met with a familiar pair of cobalt eyes, guarded and closed off, yet full of light and passion.

With a gasp of surprise Makoto dashed out of the nearby door and pulled the man inside with him, locking the entrance and closing the shutters. The cat mewed pitifully from the other side of the wood.

"What are you doing, Haru?" Makoto groaned, sounding for all the world as if his appearance was an annoyance, while of course it was just the opposite. "I was going to show up in an hour anyway. Walking the streets in the dark is dangerous! You know that!"

The man appeared unmoved, removing Makoto's hands from his shoulders after a moment. His fingers lingered just barely on the other's, pale soft skin against tanned and toughened calluses.

"I didn't come here to see you," he spoke bluntly, yet softening the blow of his seemingly cold words with an apologetic glance. Makoto blinked, brushing off the slight twinge in his chest and furrowing his brows. The few times Haru would show up at his home had always been because he needed Makoto for some thing or another. Sometimes he just wanted to be talked to. Either way, something was off today. Haru seemed too tense, his expression too strained.

He wrapped the cloak tighter around himself and took a step back towards the door. "I need to show you something." His eyes flashed as Makoto opened his mouth to protest, his lips hardening into a firm line. It's important. Now.

Makoto held his hands up in surrender, - Okay, okay - reaching over momentarily to grab his sword from where it always hung on the wall. He strapped it over his back and slipped on his sandals, just catching the door as Haru let it fling shut behind him.

They strode through the just-awakening city, Haru proceeding quickly, surely, Makoto alert, keeping an eye on every alleyway, every rooftop, every step that the man in front of him took. It was habit – no robber would be stupid enough to attack two grown men – but one he wasn't about to try and shake. He needed these instincts. His awareness was important; it could alone save or raze the kingdom.

The sun rose higher, heating the air around them considerably. Makoto found his tongue dry and he was glad Haru didn't seem to want him to talk; his mouth felt like sandpaper. He licked his lips, feeling the precious moisture instantly evaporate, leaving his skin more chapped than before.

They were out of the suburbs now, into the small knolls and prickly brush that lined the base of the highlands. Haru worked his way through the tangles, occasionally slapping Makoto in the face with a trailing branch on accident. Said taller boy barely held his tongue as his companion struggled through the thorns. He knew Haru didn't want him to help him, didn't like him to baby him, but sometimes Makoto couldn't help it. Protecting was in his job description, and when it came to Haru there was not much else he'd rather do.

The two finally stumbled into a clearing, strangely thin and long, stretching for quite a distance in two directions. Haru stopped short, staring downwards at the ground, silent, gesturing after a second for Makoto to come by his side. He pointed to the relative center of the clearing, equal distance from either side. The ground sloped down slightly, a path worn into the grit and rock. In a shallow dip a cupful of water had pooled, murky with dust blown in by the wind.

"The canals have dried up." Haru's voice was quiet as Makoto finally realized what he was looking at. It was part of the irrigation system, a stream that began in the heights of the mountains, carrying melted snow downwards. He looked upwards, squinting to see the peaks in the dim morning light. He was greeted with the sight of an unusual stark color, no patterns of ice spread across the range. There was no snow, and there had been no seaside weather for a while now.

"Most of the city wells are just damp holes." Makoto's eyes widened as he turned to face Haru again. His face was downturned, contemplative. "Soon there will be a famine, riots. I've already called for rationing but it's not helping much." His gaze turned to Makoto, blue meeting green.

"My people will die." The words were simple, the tone intense. Haru's faced hardened like the stone making up the landscape around them. Makoto held his breath, wheels turning in his head. He had heard of the water ration, but hadn't known expressly how bad the situation was. Obviously without water Iwatobi would not survive, but what was Haru trying to say?

His azure gaze held until he spoke again, words pointed, "I must find water," and things clicked into place. He exhaled, eyes breaking away before he could stop them. Haru must have seen the discomfort on his face, the slight trace of bitterness, for he reached out a hand, wrapping the other man's fingers around his own. It made sense now, why this was urgent, why it was Haru's problem personally, and why he had chosen to tell Makoto.

"I'm coming with you," Makoto mumbled out, more a question than a declaration. Haru closed his eyes, nodding slowly, and rubbing circles on the back of Makoto's hand. A small sigh came out of the shorter man as he looked past the buildings of the city and into the desert, the horizon a hazy distortion between sand and sky. He knew the land out there, he knew the path to his destination, but somehow it still seemed almost certain that he would lose his way.

"Good morning Your Majesty!" Ai practically shouted, throwing his head to the ground from his position on his knees. There was a shuffle as a curtain was pushed aside, the prince emerging from his chambers. Ai kept his head down, hands in front of him submissively.

The royal groaned irritably. "You're so loud. It's too early for this, kid."

"S-sorry, sir!"

"You don't have to call me 'sir'."

Ai lifted his head, smiling sheepishly. The prince was dressed in loose black robes, his hair a tangled mess. He chewed on his lip absentmindedly, eyes still droopy with sleep. "O-okay! Sorry, sir- Sorry!" He quickly corrected himself.

The man just shook his head and stepped around the kneeling boy, traipsing through an archway into a reclining room.

Ai smiled, pulling himself up from the floor and striding across the courtyard. It had been three days since his little confrontation with the prince. In that time he had managed to somewhat figure out his new role in the palace. He cleaned the royal suite and attended to its inhabitant, living in a tiny side dorm so that he would be there anytime he was needed. This usually only included delivering food and running laundry and other errands to the lowers floors.

However one notable afternoon the prince had just started talking to him as he relaxed in the water. Pointless little things, but talking nonetheless. He seemed to like Ai, or at least he didn't dislike him.

Despite his initial fright, Ai found himself growing somehow fond of the man. Perhaps it was just the fact that he was so unused to having his presence noticed that it being of some sort of use - to a noble no less - was almost blissful. Though the prince was away for most of the day, whenever he returned he was interesting, sarcastic and seemingly world-weary, but wonderfully puzzling at the same time, full of an intrigue that Ai had never experienced. In just a few days Ai had begun to expect the weird moods and understand to an extent what they meant. There was never another occasion in which the prince yelled at him however.

Ai rung the bell hanging near the main door three times, having to use all of his weight to pull the rope descending to the kitchen far below. In a few minutes he checked the stairwell and as usual the princes breakfast was waiting, set up nicely on a sliver tray, with a little bit of something set aside for

him.

He grabbed the bread and fruit, sticking it into his shallow pocket before lifting the tray and carrying it over to the room his master had entered. Inside, the man had reclined on a cushion at a low lying table by a window, the frame open to the balcony beyond to let the soft morning breeze through. Ai inclined his head as they met eyes, setting the tray in front of him. Out of habit he slid over to a wall, arranging cushions lying about the floor, and refilled an incense lantern. With another short bow he turned to leave the room, but the prince lifted his hand, a curiously bemused look in his eye.

"Going to make me eat all alone?" His voice was laced with light sarcasm, a smirk tugging at the edge of his lips. Ai's chest lifted. He seemed in a good mood today.

"Only if you want to," he inclined his head toward the seat opposite him and the man shrugged. Ai sat down, heart hammering excitedly in his chest.

Ai knew this wasn't how the upper class usually treated servants. He'd had too many accidents, too many slip ups, to regularly expect civility from them. But he was beginning to understand that the prince, who'd even requested to be called by his name, wasn't extraordinarily orthodox. He wasn't a friend exactly - the castes still existed - but Ai knew that had their situations been different that's what they would likely become. As it was, Ai wanted a job. As for the prince, Rin...

"'Say there's a heat wave coming." The redhead pushed hair off his sticky forehead and scowled at the searing outside sky. "God forsaken weather."

Ai smiled.

Rin just wanted someone to talk to.

It wasn't perfect, but it was nice, better than any situation he had been in before. Here he had security, food, and an almost-friend that would take care of everything if he just took care of him.

"Hey, make sure you clean the pool today." The princes voice brought Ai back to reality. "If it's gonna be this fucking hot then I want to be able to do something about it." He fanned himself with a hand, lazily pushing grains of rice around his plate.

Ai took a bite of his roll, peeling an overripe banana with his other hand. "Agh," he moaned good-naturedly. "That sounds so hard though..." Across from him the man raised an eyebrow and reached across the table to lightly smack Ai on the forehead, mumbling something about a 'lazy bastard'.

With an upbeat apology and tilt of his head it suddenly set in for Ai that he had never been happier.

For the whole morning he washed the floors. At noon he aired all the fabrics and beat the rugs over a window sill. By late afternoon Ai was standing at the edge of the water, eyeing a slight dirty stain on the ceramic wall with reluctance.

The thing was, the pool was kind of important to Rin. It was some sign of his power and wealth, being that he could have such a quantity of something so scarce to others. Plus almost every day he would return from his work and collapse in the thing, swimming around indolently if he pleased. He enjoyed it, Ai understood that. Ai also understood that he had absolutely no idea of how to maintain a body of water. It wasn't as if he often got to deal with the liquid.

He dipped his hand in, the temperate a warm but refreshing blanket around his skin. Does it require some kind of treatment? Should he scrub the walls and floor? What should he do about the gunk that would kick up? The prince certainly would not be happy to have dirt floating around while he swam.

Ai sighed, standing up and shaking his hand to dry it. He'd have to try something. He glanced at the water cautiously. He had a scrub brush; perhaps if he lowered himself-

"I am not in the mood right now!" Ai spun around to the sound of the prince's voice, the main door opening, a group of people spilling into the courtyard.

"For God's sake, just listen to me! Brother!"

"My lady! Gou! You can't leave your room right now!"

"My name is KOU!"

Ai stiffened as Rin barreled past and stepped behind him, seemingly using the younger boy as a shield against the other two visitors. Red in the face and seemingly breathless was the guard Ai remembered from his first day on the top floor. Beside him was a petite young woman with the same colorings as the man positioned being Ai. With a start he realized she must be the princess. However, she was currently not behaving much like one.

"Oh piss off, Seijuro." She made a sweeping motion behind her, pretty face scrunching up irritably. "All I ever do is sit around in that place. I'm not even one hundred feet from the entrance-"

"That's because it's where you're supposed to stay!" Seijuro spat back, hands flitting restlessly around near the girl's shoulders. For all of his strength and size he looked about as helpless as a dizzy kitten. Ai couldn't blame him; the princess did seem rather ferocious. "Your mother ordered me to protect you, Gou, and-"

"I said to call me Kou! Gou is a boy's name!"

"That's the point! Another defensive measure! To make the people see you as a man and respect you-"

"I don't care!"

"And that's why RinRin here has his pissy little lady's name, to even out the playing field-"

"HEY." The room went silent as Rin barked out the word threateningly. Risking a glance back at him Ai saw his wide eyes, furious and shocked at that same time. His next words were low, the growl of an antagonized tiger. "If you actually have something important to say then spit it out, Christ. Otherwise go take your goddamn lover's squabble back outside where I don't have to hear it!"

This instantly garnered a reaction. Blossoms of red spread across both of the quarrelers faces and they mumbled incoherent excuses, not meeting anyone's gaze. Ai didn't miss how Rin's face twitched irately at this.

Ai couldn't help but let loose an awkward giggle, stepping sideways to get out of the line of fire. A pair of round ruby eyes were drawn were drawn by the motion, Princess Gou (Kou?) finally seeming to notice his presence.

"Oh my!" She exclaimed breathily, stepping forward to look the boy's face up and down. "Brother, is this your new servant?" Her smile was wide, lashes batting charmingly, and in the back of his mind Ai noted that she was excellent at changing the subject.

Rin scowled, Ai squirming under the sudden weight of his gaze. His hands itched, the direct attention still unusual. "Yeah, he's mine." The words were very matter-of-fact.

A snort found its way out of Seijuro, his arms crossing as an amused smirk spread across his face. "And you've actually stuck around this long? Well, I suppose it's not that much of a surprise. I mean everyone's always mentioning Rin's gracious and warm personality."

"Be quiet." Rin's words held their usual authority, but the soldier didn't retract his stupid grin, seeming to think that the man wouldn't reprimand him if he didn't. Ai was beginning to believe the same. To his constant surprise, the Samezuka royals seemed to be comparatively casual with their servants. This incident only served to cement this assumption. Judging by Seijuro's belittling nickname for the prince –RinRin- he had been around the two for quite a while. He was untouchable.

Despite the contentment the realization should have brought, Ai felt some kind of coldness stir inside him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but as the trio argued and laughed, Gou poking her brother's arm impishly while he snarled halfheartedly back, it grew, spreading a sad smile onto his face. This gentle companionship, something about it seemed fragile, threatened, like a sand viper burrowed into the path below your feet.

"Hey, Kid. Nitori." Ai practically jumped. It was the first time the prince had used his name, even if it was just his last one.

"Yes, sir!" He replied eagerly and the man scowled. He realized he forgot to drop the 'sir' again.

"Go make some tea," he sighed, turning away from the princess and her bodyguard to meet his eyes. "Something that will calm them down. I swear, it's like they drank peyote juice…" Ai bowed slightly before jogging off to the supply room.

He grabbed some chamomile and pumped up some hot water from the boilers, the liquid taking a second to seep out from the pipes. Popping the herbs into the water he threw some cup onto a tray and carried it back into the courtyard, following the sounds of voices to a side room where the three had sat on rugs around the center of the room.

Just like in the beginning of the day he set the tray down in front of the prince, bowed, and turned to walk away. And just like in the beginning of the day a voice called him back, eyes glancing to the neighboring seat as an invitation. With a nervous smile he sat down, keeping his head low but eyes high as he glanced around the circle.

There was the princess, with her silken drapery and bangles all down her arms, long scarlet hair pulled away to tumble down her back. Beside her was Seijuro, the soldier, watching her every move with a fierce sort of attention that Ai could tell was produced by more than just his duty. His scimitar was ever present at his side, a golden gleaming warning to anyone who threatened the peace of the palace. Finally there was Rin, the prince, sitting at Ai's side with an impassive expression, his eyes sharp yet relaxed, emanating power, wealth, and a strange sort of heat that Ai could feel from half a foot away.

He served up the tea, passing it around the table with a nod to each person – they were all of higher status than him – and sat back on his heels, sipping his own share of the warm beverage timidly.

The cold churning in his stomach had begun to subside, the foreboding taking a comfortable place in the back of his mind. Blinking sleepily in the sticky heat of the room, Ai looked to the side, halfway blinded by the light streaming in through an uncurtained window. The light carved Rin's silhouette in a perfect mix of black and red and gold, his cerise eyes shining like gems when they glanced over to meet Ai's cerulean ones. The servant boy smiled after a moment, giving a slight almost confused shrug. The noble blinked once or twice, perhaps in surprise, but didn't look away. The edge of his lips twitched.

Ai wasn't sure what he was worrying about.

AN: Whoa, my chapter's keep getting longer.

So Makoto and Haru finally make an appearance (My other OTP 3333) I have a lot in store for them...do you think perhaps they're going to run into Rin? Maybe? Perhaps it'll cause a huge conflict that will sink every ship that's sailing? It's possible. We'll see ;)

I've been absent for a while because of midterms and an utter onslaught of fandoms. I'm also busy with an OC story and I'm starting a colab SNK fic with my neighbor. (Thanks a lot Katadenza. I really did not need to now about that show ;A;) But, I've also basically realized that I'm probably never going to be able to update like I used to. I like to think it's because my writing is improving so it takes me longer and I'm more picky...?

Speaking of improving, does anyone feel my plots always progress too slowly? I'm constantly worried about that...

Thanks to all of you who reviewed, followed, or faved! You deserve to have a sparkly tea party with Rin!