Disclaimer: No property of Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime belongs to me. All characters and related titles are copyrighted to BIRTHDAY, NAS, TV Tokyo, BANDAI NETWORKS, NEC Interchannel, Ciao Comics, Hal Film Maker, etc. Just remember that I hold no ownership to them.

Author's note: These one-shots are done for the LiveJournal community 52flavours. Since the fandom lacks fanfiction to this wonderful series, I decided to try my hand at them. I was going to do Eclipse x Rein, but why not focus it on the infamous love square? There will be 52 chapters of course, and all couples will be one-sided. (I may intend on putting Eclipse x Rein, though.)

There also will be spoilers for those who haven't followed the series to where I am at now, so read at your own risk!

Also, the themes for 52flavours rotated, so the following themes might vary!

Serendipity
Theme #10 - You close your mind
To their gentle questions
What do these people know about love?

Shade was not alien to the wonders of love. He'd read about it many of the books lying deep, deep in the royal libraries, or overheard the young maids gossiping about their love lives. He'd received several love letters of his own, each from girls who showered him in compliments on how educated, good-looking, and generous he was.

True, he had received the highest education possible. It was not a lie that he assisted others whenever he came upon them during their moments of need.

But other than that, these girls didn't know any more about him. Anything he never made public and kept within the castle prevented the girls from understanding further. Shade often received letters asking about what type of girls he liked, if he preferred the Flame Kingdom's spicy fried rice over the crispy vegetables of the Seed Kingdom. He'd never answer to these directly; the girls could only speculate what his favorite flavor of ice cream was, or what was his favorite color. This type of information seemed harmless, but Shade knew through observation of other officials that the best way to be the strongest was never to let anyone else know too much about you.

Which was why he kept his alter ego and "secret life" out of the eyes and hears of everyone he knew and saw. This was the best thing to do, he figured. There was no need for everyone to know about Eclipse, for it would expectedly ruin his observations to what the chancellor had secretly been doing behind everyone else's backs. What was the best way to ruin him? Do the same — in secret and out of everyone else's view.

Secrets were kept in hushed, unspoken thoughts that Shade held private in his mind. He'd been branded as "mysterious", which the maids often noted as one of his charming points, an attractive allure. Keeping secrets was what he was best at, and it made him all the more desirable to females across the planet.

Bright was Shade's foil. He was like an open book — facts and information exposed out into the open, allowing people to know both his strengths and weaknesses. Had Shade been Bright's opponent in any event named, he'd easily track down one of his failing points and defeat him. Bright made it all too easy.

When Shade saw Princess Rein, he was immediately sickened at how she'd gush over Prince Bright as if she knew everything about him. Of course she didn't; she never understood any of the negative aspects of Bright. If she did, how could she not know that Bright was not as perfect as he seemed? Shade would often see flashes of stress across Bright's face that others would dismiss as their imagination. Shade noticed Bright's occasional decisions that would lead him into even more trouble. Bright was no one special. He was weak. Inferior. How could Rein claim to be in love with a guy like him? Love wasn't about perfection and the embodiment of limitless grace.

As always, Shade would try to repress these thoughts. He wasn't jealous of Bright.