Disclaimer: I don't own Chaotic

Tom and Kaz watched from the balcony in the throne room. Why there was a balcony was beyond their comprehension, but it certainly was useful at the moment. Agitos was already gone, and Takinom sat quietly in Chaor's lap. She wasn't smiling, but she only sat for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around her leader's neck.

"I don't think she's comfortable." Tom whispered to Kaz

"Keep watching." Kaz knew Takinom well enough to know that if she wasn't comfortable then she would say something.

"You sure are quite." The humans could hardly understand what Chaor was saying from how soft his voice was. Tom shivered a bit from what he was seeing; if he was Takinom, he wouldn't smile either.

"I'm just distracted." Takinom assured him.

"By what?" Chaor wasn't being so quiet anymore, but he didn't sound as intimidating as Tom would have imagined.

"A few things." Takinom knew she was going to have to lie her way out of it, and she didn't like saying things that weren't true.

"Such as?" Chaor was getting annoyed, but he kept himself under control. He knew Takinom and Kopond were probably getting attached; he had been worried about that ever since she went out to dinner with the muge. If he lost his temper with her now, he might lose her forever.

"You've been this affectionate." Takinom tried to put it off with minor details that Chaor might fall for. It was better than flat out lying to him, and maybe he had a better chance of falling for it. "I don't really understand why you would wait this long to make a move on me. Don't you want someone younger than me?"

"No." Chaor said sternly "You've proven to me that I can trust you. You've had multiple opportunities to get rid of me, but you remained loyal throughout the solans. I've seen what you're capable of, and what you're willing to do." Chaor nuzzled her before continuing. "You've done such a good job with Nivenna, but your time with her was limited. I'm sure that you could do even more wonders with a child if you had more time with him."

Takinom leaned against her ruler, loving everything he was saying. She had proven herself to him. She was loyal and she knew that his position made him venerable. There were to many creatures who would be attracted to them for nothing other than there power, and those creatures were not fit to be their partners. She saw now that they both wanted the same things; loyalty and commitment- someone they could trust in.

But could she really trust in her ruler to give that to her?

"And what if I don't meet your expectations?" she asked as she closed her eyes.

Chaor narrowed his at her. What kind of question was that supposed to be? Exactly what expectations was she talking about?

"I'm sure we don't have to worry about that." Chaor said as he placed his large hands on her hips, hoping that his answer would be good enough for her. After all, wasn't he displaying trust and confidence in her?

But Takinom wasn't satisfied with that answer. She placed her hands over his and easily took them off of her. She waisted no time in getting up.

"Well, now that we've settled that, I suppose I should be going. My lunch break won't last forever."

"You could have lunch with me." Chaor offered. He didn't know she was upset with him; she did say that the matter was 'settled'.

"I have plans." She looked back to make sure he wasn't following her.

"Suit yourself." Chaor didn't have to put effort into figuring out where she was going. Considering that something was going on between her and Kopond, he didn't need to know the details. He was going to be thinking over it the entire time she was gone, and if he knew where she was going, then he would probably lose his temper and go after her. He didn't want to embarrass her, especially not in front of her other boyfriend. Kopond was already a wedge between them, and if Chaor got involved now, Kopond would find some way to turn her again him.

"That didn't go very well." Tom told Kaz as soon as Takinom shut the door. "Takinom doesn't like him, and I don't blame her."

"Wait here, and be quiet." Kaz instructed before he stood up. "Hi Chaor!" Kaz said happily, trying to get on the creature's good side. If he was going to prove to Tom that Chaor wasn't as bad as he thought, then he was going to have to take a chance, and there was a chance that Chaor might not go along with his plan.

"How long have you been up there?" Chaor asked, hoping Kaz knew what to do.

"A few minutes." Kaz said as he climbed onto the ledge. "I heard the whole thing."

"What are you doing?" Tom would have never expected Chaor to sound so worried about Kaz. Kaz smiled at Chaor's concern over him. If only Tom could see Chaor's face just then, but Kaz couldn't let Chaor know that Tom was there. If Chaor knew, he wouldn't be walking over to the balcony like he was now.

"Catch me!"

Kaz didn't pull out his scanner before he jumped. He was sure that Chaor was going to catch him. But half way down, Chaor's face turned from one of concern to one of anger. Now Kaz was worried. A fall like this could break both of his legs. To scared to think straight, Kaz closed his eyes, not thinking about his scanner or porting out.

Just before the human could hit the floor, Chaor reached out both arms. Kaz knew who's hands were under his arms, but he didn't fully believe it.

He opened his eyes and looked up into Chaor's. The ruler of the Underworld looked annoyed, but Kaz could see worry in his eyes.

"You really do care!" Kaz beamed with excitement until Chaor purposefully dropped him.

"Don't ever do that again." Chaor said casually, not knowing that Tom was looking over the edge of the balcony.

"I heard that conversation you just had with Takinom." Kaz told him, now worried that Chaor was going to beat some sense into him.

"I don't think that went very well." Chaor admitted as he began to walk back to his seat.

"Takinom still doesn't trust you." Kaz confirmed

"What do I have to do to get her to trust me?" Chaor asked "I thought she already did. She's always been so loyal to me, even when Van Bloot offered her more than I could. If she had sided with him, she could have been second in command instead of fourth. Gothos Tower would have made it so easy for that traitor to get rid of me. You saw what happened when he turned invisible!" Chaor propped his head on his fist. He hated admitting that he almost lost, but he had something more important to worry about just then. "Did Takinom only help me out of fear? Was she afraid of what would happen to her if I won without her?"

Now Tom starting to feel bad for the Underworlder. The female who he seemed to genuinely love could have been afraid of him. How would he feel if he found out that Sarah had only agreed to share pizza and ice cream with him while Kaz and Peyton were on their scavenger scan quest because she was afraid of saying 'no'?

"Takinom is going to love you, she just needs more time." Kaz assured him "Do you know where she was going?" Chaor probably didn't, but asking was worth a shot.

"Probably to see Kopond."

Now Tom felt sick. Having to deal with all of this while knowing that Takinom was in a relationship with someone else was more than he thought Chaor was willing to deal with.

And apparently Kaz agreed. "Why don't you just find another female to keep you busy while she's with Kopond?"

Kaz knew that Chaor wouldn't dare, but if he was going to get Chaor to understand what he was doing wrong, then Kaz was going to have to use some psychology.

Chaor glared at Kaz for a few seconds, knowing that the human would never dare say such a thing. The boy was up to something, but what?

"You heard what I told her."

"But did she understand?"