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Rikiya tried to leave with upmost haste, so that the queen's crazy and ugly lover wouldn't catch him, but Kuya of course caught him by the shoulder as if he had snuck up behind him.

"Ku, ku, ku… I have some business to pursue with you," he chuckled, causing Rikiya to have a crawling sense of terror.

"I hope it's just business you're pursuing," Rikiya muttered under his breath, seeing Kuya as sort of the flirtatious creep kind of person.

"You wish,~" he answered with a grin. Rikiya's crawling sense of terror turned into a speeding sense of doom.

"I'm having a tour of the castle. Can this wait?" he tried to persuade.

Kuya shook his head. "I won't be long." He gave another cold hearted grin.

"May I bring my captain with me?" Rikiya asked. Kuya shook his head again, grabbed Rikiya by the sleeve, and pulled him away from Karl and Tama. They gave him a silent wish of luck.

When Kuya and Rikiya were finally in a more secluded and private area of the castle to talk, Kuya adjusted his glasses to get an actual and good look at this person who had made it through the fissure when he hadn't.

The first thing he noticed was the cat on his shoulders.

Came from somewhere that wasn't Ebilon, eh? Kuya smirked to himself. For a quick test he pulled a pinecone out of his pocket and threw it out in the air. The cat jumped off Rikiya's shoulder and caught it mid-air with her mouth. A sure sign she had been trained in Klastiam.

"S-she's normal like that…. S-some say she's supernatural." Rikiya made something up. Kuya could tell he was lying, meaning he was obviously important enough to know about his cat, especially when he had his own personal one.

"What's her name?" Kuya asked casually, wondering if in fact it was his.

"Cat Pussyfoot," Rikiya answered easily. Kuya nodded. In the progressive awkward silence, Kuya stared at Rikiya looking at him up and down. Obviously he was from Klastiam and important, and Kuya had the rough description of most people from the kingdom. He knew their names, faces, addresses, and sometimes in odd circumstances their most embarrassing secret. He learned it all from cameras he had flown up to space. Sort of had been very proud of that successful project.

After a few minutes of staring at Rikiya's blonde hair, blue eyes and odd clothing, he noticed his bow that he was carrying.

"Any good?" he asked casually.

"One of the best." Rikiya smiled proudly.

"Ku, ku, ku…. Prove it." Kuya ordered. Rikiya smiled and shot an arrow through a small hole in the secluded area they were talking. It flew through the castle and bounced off a board just to fly back into the hole and into Rikiya's hands.

"Did that prove it?" he asked. Kuya chuckled. Only one person was this amazing with a bow in Klastiam, and that was Prince Rikiya.

"Very much, so…. Prince." He hummed the last word sort of teasingly.

"What do you mean, 'prince'?" Rikiya asked.

"Rein, was it?" Kuya asked. "I have some questions to ask you and you will answer truthfully. All right? Ku, ku, ku."

"And if I don't?" Rikiya asked, curious if he decided to screw around with this insane guy.

"I'll inform everyone you're prince Rikiya from Klastiam," Kuya threatened. Rikiya's mouth dropped open. He had no idea how this guy had figured out, and now that he had, he was screwed. The psycho was loyal to the queen as her lover and would obviously announce his presence. His only chance of survival was murder. He gripped a dagger in his pocket which he thought he could conceal to get Kuya unguarded. Kuya seemed to notice.

"Yeah, go ahead and kill the only other person here aiding Klastiam. Smart move, Prince," Kuya sarcastically agreed. Rikiya's hand loosened around his dagger confused. He looked at Kuya as if wishing for him to carry on.

"We'll talk about your worries after my worries. First tell me about climbing through the fissure," Kuya ordered. Rikiya looking confused and, realizing this crazy guy only wanted to know about the fissure, relaxed.

"It was a bit tough of a climb, very steep and treacherous and I wouldn't recommend it for those not strong enough, but it was like any normal cliff." Rikiya gave his best opinion, leaving out the part about falling and the ghost-like voice. Kuya glared at him.

"I'm a scientist, a man of knowledge I don't want to know anything about the physical aspect of it. I want to know if anything unusual happened," Kuya ordered. Rikiya bit his lip remembering the voice. "Well?" Kuya asked, glaring at him. He needed to know everything about the place that denied his machines.

"…There was a strange voice that said 'get out,' causing me to fall, but I miraculously survived the fall," Rikiya admitted. This guy was crazy anyway; it didn't matter if he thought Rikiya was crazy, too.

"So…. There's someone in there?" Kuya asked, slowly and lost in thought.

"I don't believe so," answered Rikiya.

"Where did you wake up?" Kuya asked, wondering if he had made it to the bottom.

"On a crater. Bottom of the fissure. Then I climbed back up," he explained. A look of disappointment fell over Kuya's face. He had learned nothing and only gained more questions. He could probably answer the crater issue with science, but the voice couldn't be judged until something of his didn't explode in the fissure. "Is that all?" Rikiya asked hopefully, wondering if he could question the strange man now about aiding his home country. Kuya shook his head.

"One more thing…" Kuya promised; he bit his lip as if he were nervous about something. "Were….Were there any bodies down there? Any human remains? Any traces at all?" Kuya asked a sort of desperation and nervousness in his voice that Rikiya hadn't heard in the man before. Kuya almost looked as if he was slightly human and not just a creepy jerk.

"No. Just a crater. Nothing else," Rikiya answered. "Were you hoping for something specific?" he asked. Kuya shook his head, a look of relief and sadness on his face.

"That damn fissure strikes again. It even swallowed her remains…." Kuya muttered to himself under his breath. He looked a bit irritated, but Rikiya felt it was time to ask Kuya what he meant by aiding Klastiam.

"What did you mean about aiding Klastiam?" he wondered.

"Exactly like it sounded like," replied Kuya. "I'm trying to invent some sort of flying machine to go over the fissure and transport troops. No one in this blasted kingdom suspects a thing." Rikiya sensed the pride in Kuya's voice and gained a certain level of respect for the creeper. If they were supposedly aiding the same cause, did that mean they were allies? "What are you doing here, Prince?" Kuya asked.

"…I came here to prove myself in the eyes of my family," answered Rikiya. He didn't want to say anything about his Princess-Summer-murdering dilemma that wouldn't happen due to lovesickness.

"I'm assuming by murdering a member of the royal family?" Kuya asked, seeing immediately what Rikiya's goal was. He was a genius after all. "Since you're protecting Princess Summer I would assume she's the one you decided to kill?" he asked, smiling. "Good riddance. She was an annoying bother."

"Don't talk about Princess Summer like that!" Rikiya became angry and pushed Kuya against a wall.

"Oh? So it's more complicated than that, Prince?" Kuya asked.

"Call me Rein… my new name here," Rikiya ordered. Kuya dipped his head.

"As you wish," he answered with a smirk. "So you've fallen for the princess's charm when you're supposed to murder her, is that correct?" he asked, seeing Rikiya's enraged expression about even the slightest offense against Princess Summer. Rikiya said nothing and only blushed. After thinking for a moment he was about to deny it, when jealous took hold of him.

"Did you become captured and charmed by her too?" he asked angrily. Kuya laughed.

"No, she's hideous. Ku, ku, ku. Anyway, I don't become charmed by people. I think of them all as the same thing—test subjects." Kuya grinned, laughing. Rikiya punched Kuya in the arm for calling his princess hideous. "Pain. I love it. Ku, ku, ku," he laughed. Rikiya fumed with anger. Kuya, seeing this as not the best chance to converse based on his odds of survival, decided it was best to leave. He inched towards the door.

"My questions have been answered at the moment. There's no more use for you." Kuya opened the door, just as Rikiya realized he might tell someone about loving Summer or that he was from Klastiam. "No worries, I'll tell no one. There's no need to at the moment. I would suggest cooling down the next time I see you. I'm the only one who knows your dilemma so I'm sure you'll seek me eventually for help." Kuya gave a superior smirk, leaving Rikiya standing there as he was about to leave.

"Wait!" Rikiya begged. Kuya turned around, grinning just as he saw Karl and Tama stride forward. He couldn't ask him anything about Klastiam now so he decided to ask the first thing that popped into his head. "What are those things on your ears?' he asked. Kuya touched the device hooked to his ears, and looked briefly amused.

"You're the first person to ask about this. This is one of my inventions that will play music into my ears automatically. It helps boredom." He looked at Rikiya one last time before leaving. "Drop by some time. Perhaps you're not as stupid as I first thought. Perhaps." He suggested. Rikiya wondered if perhaps Kuya was happy someone had asked him something about his invention. "And I'll be able to flirt with you some more!" Kuya blew a kiss creepily. "Good-bye, my prince!" He waved, disappearing like the pinecone thrown to Cat Pussyfoot.

Rikiya wondered what his life had become.