On the other side of the room, Tohma's life was ending. It'd been a pretty calm day, aside from Mika busting down his office door. It was currently duct-taped to his hinges, as per Caspian's brilliant ingenuity. He had thought that the brown-haired servant had looked familiar, but soon as he spotted the new prince, everything had come rushing back to him. That damn street rat and his bunny-wielding friend were still alive.

"Why me…" Tohma blubbered, sinking down to the floor. "If Mika finds out, she'll kill me! I told her the prisoner was dead…"

"Good move, kemosabe." Caspian said from Tohma's shoulder.

"For once, bird, for once in your life can't you be a little nice to me?" Tohma said mournfully, leaning his face against Caspian's soft feathers. "I can't handle the attitude, my life is over. She'll have me executed…she hates it when I lie."

"Fine, fine." Caspian said, surrendering himself to being a nice bird.

The two sat in silence for a while, watching the group in the middle of the room. Mika seemed very pleased with the new prince, and his tall retainer seemed to really be selling him. When Tohma noted that she'd smiled more in twenty minutes than in the last year, he started to worry. With his luck, she'd pick this new guy instead of the first prince. Tohma groaned and flopped onto his back, taking Caspian down with him.

"How long have we been friends?" Tohma asked sentimentally. His mind had checked out due to stress, leaving his eyes blank and listless.

"Too long." Caspian answered back. He had considered implying that they had never been friends, but he had promised Tohma that he'd be nice.

Tohma was quiet for a while longer, and glanced over at the people huddled in the middle again. It seemed to be going very well. The tall blond man was gesturing towards the new prince and his face displayed quite a stunning array of expressions. Tohma guessed that he was really selling his master to Mika, trying to convince her to accept his candidacy or even to hand Shuichi over. Judging by the look on Mika's face, Tohma was now convinced that she would indeed choose the masquerading street rat over the first prince. Tears welled up in his eyes as he pictured a gruesome variety of deaths, trying to imagine which one would be his fate.

His mind started racing, giving him a series of flashbacks from his life. He remembered meeting Caspian. He'd been a pathetic pile of feathers in one of the exotic bird shops in the marketplace. Tohma had thought he was adorable, and he'd been looking for a present for Mika. The first time the little parrot saw her, however, he dive-bombed her head and ripped out several chunks of hair. Needless to say, Tohma had gotten stuck with the tiny bird. He smiled at the memory, and tried to remember how Caspian had gotten his gift of gab. As far as he knew, it had been an accident. The thought of never hearing Caspian's parrot squall had Tohma crying again, and in a sudden burst of affection, he addressed his long-time companion.

"I love you bird."

"Ok." Caspian replied, scratching his head slowly.

"No, man, I'm serious."

"Ok."

"Caspian."

"Tohma."

"You said you'd be nice!" Tohma said, feeling hurt.

"And you just declared your love for a bird." Caspian replied, starting to tire of the benign and somewhat deep conversation. This wasn't his normal cup of tea. And he wasn't about to admit his feelings for Tohma. He had an image to maintain, after all.

Tohma stayed quiet and crossed his arms, refusing to give Caspian anymore ammunition to use against him. His feelings of love and affection for the bird had completely faded. He muttered something about stupid, heartless parrots and was silent again. The bird eventually got bored enough to strike out on his own and went to investigate the elephant that had been loitering near the door for all of the proceedings. Meanwhile, K's attempt to win Mika over was going extremely well.

"Prince Eiri, I've decided to accept your candidacy. If half of what your assistant has said about you is true, you excel beyond the greatest limits of the other suitors." Mika said, satisfied with her decision.

"I'm honored, majesty." Yuki said, bowing his head to Mika. He had planned on being charming and sweet to win over the Sultana, but thanks to K, he hadn't been able to get a word in at all. The upside was that he kept Shuichi and Hiro quiet.

"He'll be the perfect match for your son, and for your lovely city." K said, beaming.

"I'm sure he will be." Mika answered, extending her hand to K. "You have me sold, and I'm eager to get to know him better."

"Wait a minute, doesn't Shuichi get any say in this?" Hiro asked incredulously. He couldn't believe that he'd practically just been dismissed and that Shuichi had been thrown to the wolves like this. "That's not fair."

"You didn't seem to complain when you were in his shoes, Prince Nakano." Mika answered snarkily, ready to defend her decision. "And no, he does not get any say, he's not to be trusted. Why do you think I want him to marry someone who has they're head on straight?"

"I…" Hiro stuttered, taken aback by Mika's first sentence. He turned and looked at Shuichi with a helpless feeling to his face. He hated being in this position; there was nothing he could do. Shuichi moved towards him and put a hand on Hiro's shoulder. Yuki raised his eyebrow at this, but remained calm, unwilling to blow his cover.

"And besides, nothing's final yet. I'm considering you both." Mika added quickly, trying to retain some adherence to the rules.

"It's alright, Hiroshi. I'm used to it by now." Shuichi said, ignoring the secrecy that had surrounded their friendship and glaring at Yuki again. The crazy one with the ponytail had shushed him every time he opened his mouth, and he'd eventually given up trying. He sent Mika the same glare and stalked off, leaving the room entirely. He hung around in the entrance hall, waiting for Hiro to come out.

"Now that that's settled – " Mika started to say, but the rest of her sentence was drowned out by an extremely loud squawking noise coming from the vicinity of the elephant.

Caspian and the flying carpet were locked together, the bird's beak clamped around a tassel and the rug beating the bird with one of its free ones. Every few seconds, Caspian would bite something new and the rug would intensify its attack, making Caspian scream even louder than he already was. Mika tried to shout to Tohma to corral his sidekick, but the parroty war shrieks that were bouncing off of the walls prevented anyone from hearing anything besides the afore-mentioned screeches.

Apparently, the rug was finally taking its orders to watch and protect the elephant seriously. Caspian had been casually soaring above the elephant scoping things out, when the rug had flown up and shooed him away with two of its tassels. With Caspian having a temper rivaling that of Attila the Hun, he couldn't let such an insult slide. He said a few choice words to the rug and landed on top of the elephant. Ignoring the rug's protests entirely, he flopped onto his back and stretched out his wings lazily. He yawned a bit, and faked drifting off.

This was the last straw for the rug. It flew down to where Caspian was supposedly napping and flicked him off of the elephant. Caspian couldn't catch his bearings in time, and landed on the floor with a decent plopping noise, causing a small cloud of feathers and dust to float up. Once he had gotten his eyes to focus and his head to stop spinning, he let out a horrendous war cry and charged the celebrating rug. He hit it in the middle and rammed it into a pillar. At that point, the rug grabbed the bird to toss him off and Caspian sank his razor-sharp beak into the rug's tassel. Bird against flooring, locked in an epic battle to the death. A few seconds later, the rug proceeded to beat the bird, and his ensuing screeches interrupted the conversation occurring below.

"Caspian! Come here!" Tohma attempted, but it was a lost cause. Caspian was in it to win it and was ignoring everyone's attempts to calm him down. The rug was the same, as it was ignoring K's commands as well.

For five minutes, everyone tried to stop the fight, and the warriors eventually tired each other out, plummeting to the ground in a blur of thread and feathers. Caspian came scuttling out of the dust cloud at light speed, and hopped on Tohma's foot, panting like a rabid dog. The rug stood up and dusted itself off. K pointed sternly to the elephant and the rug slunk off in that direction.

"Sorry about him…" Tohma said, scooping up the exhausted and bloodthirsty parrot. "He gets cranky."

"Enough about your retarded parrot, we have business to discuss." Mika said, cutting Tohma off before he could say anything else. Tohma clamped Caspian's beak shut, sensing the bird's desire to retaliate. "I'll have a suite prepared for your party, Prince Eiri. You can make yourself at home while we work out the details."

"Thank you, Sultana. You're most gracious." K said, and Yuki nodded his agreement.

"Perfect. I'll have one of my guards show you out." Mika returned, and she called in a guard to escort them to their lodgings.

K walked over and hoisted Ryuichi off of the floor, Kuma and all. Hiro stared Yuki down, furious that he might lose Shuichi to him. He still wondered if he really was the street rat from a few days earlier. Yuki returned the stare easily, used to glaring at anything that moved, let alone initiated a stare-down with him. Yuki sensed that Hiro could be a potential problem, and that he would definitely fight for Shuichi. Hopefully the Sultana would take care of that little problem. The guard showed up a few minutes later, and the three left with the rug gliding after them. The elephant was led to the courtyard and had its load removed.

"Prince Nakano, if you'd wait in the hall for a few minutes I'd appreciate it." Mika said, putting a hand on Hiro's back and leading him towards the door after Yuki's group was out of sight. "I have a few matters to discuss with my vizier."

"Of course." Hiro replied through slightly gritted teeth, having to try very hard to conceal his anger. He acknowledged that he had to listen, and walked out of the room.

"Tohma! Get over here!" Mika snapped, eager to get the discussion underway. She had to convince Tohma to support Prince Eiri so she could dismiss Prince Nakano. He didn't fit into her plan and she guessed that Shuichi preferred him based on his behavior before storming out.

"What now?" Tohma asked, sounded slightly irritated as he pulled Caspian's beak off of his pointer finger. After his scuffle with the rug, Caspian was riled up and currently thought he was Jaws. Whenever Tohma stopped paying attention to him, he would sink his chomper on the closest Tohma appendage. "One more time bird, one more time…I swear…"

"What are you muttering about? We need to decide what to do about Prince Nakano." Mika snapped as Tohma jogged up with Caspian in flight behind him humming the opening theme from Jaws.

"I think he should stay here. The new guy…I just don't know…"Tohma said, suddenly serious and hoping against hope that he could convince Mika to drop the fake prince's candidacy. As he finished his sentence, Caspian bit him again. He smacked Caspian, shaking his finger warningly at the snappy conure.

"And what's wrong with Prince Eiri?" Mika said, narrowing her eyes and tapping her foot. "He's much more qualified than Nakano."

Tohma noted that Mika had stopped using Prince Nakano's title, and this worried him. It would take a miracle to make Mika abandon her new golden child and Tohma didn't feel up to the challenge at the moment. Caspian settled down and fell asleep on Tohma's shoulder, snoring loudly.

He started to panic slightly, and tried to think of reasons to deny Prince Eiri's right to court Mika's mischievous stepson. Mika started to clear her throat and turned her stare on Tohma.

"So? What's wrong with him?" Mika asked, a slight smile on her face. Although she didn't know why, Tohma was panicking, and it never failed to amuse her.

"He's…he's…too blond." Tohma said, thinking of Eiri's hair.

"Too blond, Tohma?"Mika returned, her smile widening.

"Yeah, way too blond." Tohma plowed on, oblivious to the look on Mika's face. He nodded seriously and muttered something about blonds under his breath.

"Tohma, I have one question for you." Mika said, her smile now even wider. "What color is your hair?"

"It-…uh…" Tohma stuttered, completely taken back. Fortunately for him, Caspian was still snoozing peacefully. "It's…blond…"

"Exactly." Mika said, practically laughing. "Any other non-existent qualms?"

"He's too reliant on other people." Tohma said quickly, recovering from his hair blunder. His nerves were starting to show, however, his eyes were watering and he kept running his fingers through his platinum locks. "That tall weirdo did all the talking for him, he's probably incompetent."

Mika sighed, wondering how she'd ended up here, and looked at the sleeping parrot on Tohma's shoulder.

"And what's that, then?" Mika asked, pointing at the drooling fiend nestled under Tohma's frazzled-looking hair.

"That's…that's…"

"Uh huh, you can't even answer a simple question without him giving you the answer." Mika replied, very pleased with herself but seriously wondering about her choice of vizier. "Anything else you'd like to complain about?"

"I'm thinking." Tohma snapped, causing Mika to raise her eyebrows and lean back slightly. He tried to keep himself composed, but the image of Mika holding an executioner's axe kept popping into his head. He gulped and continued to think hard, almost wishing that Caspian was awake just to fill the air and distract Mika's murderous stare away from his face. "He's too flashy!"

"Alright, let's take a step back from this one." Mika said on a sigh, wanting to drastically embarrass Tohma this time. If she was going to spend the rest of her life with him, he had to learn how to stop annoying her with his incessant stupidity. "How many layers of clothing are you wearing today?"

"Four." Tohma said without thinking, and immediately regretting it when he saw the victorious look on Mika's face. He was terrified of what was coming next, and half expected to see the axe leave his thoughts and materialize in her hands.

"Four? And what accessories are you sporting?"

Tohma shook his head, indicating that he wouldn't be answering, but Mika cocked her head slightly and narrowed her eyes.

"I have…gloves…satin shoes…hand-sewn detailing on my vest…" Tohma said slowly, wincing each time. Mika looked very happy, and he was on the verge of wetting himself. He hated screwing up in front of Mika. "And my boa…"

As he said the last three words, he resignedly pulled out his lime green boa and waved it droopily at Mika.

"Exactly. And every time you go anywhere, you arrive with a bang. That stupid talking bird is always announcing you, you always have on multiple layers of extravagant clothes and I've caught you dying your hair six times in the last two months!" Mika said, her voice ramping up towards the end of her rant.

Tohma didn't answer her, and instead bowed his head, ready for the axe to fall.

"I'm going to regret asking this, but do you have anything else?"

"He's too high-maintenance!" Tohma shouted out, at this point saying whatever comes to mind.

"Can't you get this one on your own?" Mika asked, the thrill of humiliating Tohma starting to wear off. "You have to have your hat cleaned nightly, you fluff that horrid boa constantly, Caspian has to be groomed before you'll let him out in public, yes I know about that and don't you give me that look, and you have to press your clothes yourself at least twice a day. And you think he's high-maintenance? Please."

"His clothes look pressed…" Tohma muttered under his breath.

"I assume you're out of ridiculous excuses to shun Prince Eiri, right?" Mika asked, trying not to laugh at the look on Tohma's face. He was an idiot, sure, but he had his moments and those kept her beyond amused.

"No! Of course not!" Tohma practically shouted, not wanting to give up on his crusade. He started to twitch with the effort of thinking up a new excuse, and all defeatist thoughts were left in the dust. As he opened his mouth to reply to Mika, she raised her hand and silenced him.

"That's enough. I want Nakano to leave, he doesn't have anything close to resembling the qualifications of Prince Eiri and he doesn't want to rule Agrabah, he wants to go home. It won't work." Mika said to Tohma, putting emphasis on her last three words and exaggerating her face to further the importance.

"Alright, alright…" Tohma replied, pulling out a carved pen. He hated having to give up on his crusade against Eiri, but he wasn't too blind to see Mika's hint about their future plans. He had no choice but to agree with Mika and approve the dismissal of Prince Nakano.

"Guard, please bring in Prince Nakano. He should be waiting outside the door." Mika said to one of the guards normally stationed by the doors that she had called over.

"Of course, milady."

A few minutes later, Hiro walked into the throne room, prepared for anything. He hadn't been able to overhear the conversation between Mika and Tohma, as they had been on the other end of the room and nowhere near the door. The guard tried to shut the door quickly behind the entering dignitary, but Shuichi shoved the door open and stalked in after Hiro, still looking murderous. He was getting tired of his future being manhandled by Mika and had decided to do something about it.

"Not you, get out." Mika said when she saw Shuichi stomping along behind Hiro.

"No, I'm not going to sit back and let you ruin-" Shuichi started to say before a look from Mika silenced him. She was smiling, on the verge of laughter. Slightly shocked, Shuichi took a step back and stared at his stepmother.

"Ruin? Ruin? I'm trying to save your life, you ungrateful little brat!" Mika said, the smile still in place. "I've found you the perfect prince, I'm practically handing you the city, and I've taken care of you for the last seven years!"

"Oh yeah, sure, taken care of me. When you're not ignoring me, you're insulting me or abusing me, and your matchmaking was completely unwanted! I don't want to get married, I don't want your 'perfect prince'!" Shuichi shrieked, tears in his eyes.

"Enough, enough, I have more important things to deal with." Mika said, the smile leaving her face at having been called out by Shuichi. It still struck a nerve that she had been left to take care of the boy when her husband had abandoned her. "Prince Nakano, we need to discuss our…situation."

"Our situation, Sultana?" Hiro asked coldly, tired of bothering to disguise his voice. The Sultana's behavior towards Shuichi disgusted him.

"The vizier and I have decided that Prince Eiri is the best choice for my stepson. I'm sorry, but I have to…respectfully decline your candidacy."

"What?" Shuichi and Hiro said at the same time.

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best." Mika said, reaching for Hiro's hand and grabbing it, forcefully shaking it. "I hope this doesn't affect our lands diplomatically."

"Of…of course not…" Hiro answered, his voice dead. He wouldn't even get a chance to compete for Shuichi, to save him from the handsome blond jackass. He looked at Shuichi, who was on his left, and mouthed the words 'I'm sorry'. He nodded his head toward Mika and Tohma and left the throne room.

"You had no right…" Shuichi said quietly after Hiro's footsteps had died out. "You had no right to make him leave…"

"I had, and have, all the right. In case you haven't realized it, I'm in charge of your life." Mika returned, completely unruffled by Shuichi's comment.

Shuichi made a few angry noises and turned to leave the room. He desperately wanted to fight it out, but he knew better. Nothing would get changed, and Mika would doom him to some horrible punishment. Plus, he wanted to see if he could catch Hiro before he left for good.

"Stay there, I'm not done with you yet." Mika ordered.

"I thought you didn't want me in here." Shuichi said, glaring over his shoulder and continuing in the direction of the door.

"Now that Nakano is gone, I have some use for you. Get over here." Mika ordered. Her memory jogged by Shuichi's insolence, she turned to Tohma. "By the way, the arrest warrant that I gave you earlier is revoked."

"Ah, good…" Tohma said, having completely forgotten that he was supposed to be apprehending the young Prince. The parade had sufficiently distracted him away from his prescribed duties.

"Shuichi, we need to talk." Mika said, changing her voice to a softer tone as Shuichi slowly walked back over to her. "We need to make Prince Eiri feel at home, feel like he's welcome. And when I say 'we' I mean you."

"I'm not following." Shuichi replied, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms.

"You need to behave. You need to be nice."

"You first."

"Don't start this again. I'm surprised that Nakano lasted as long as he did. I'm serious this time, you need to be nice to this one." Mika said, wishing there was a way to replace Shuichi with someone else until the marriage was finalized.

"He's a prince, you know. Use his title." Shuichi said in a quiet voice, his hatred for Mika making him shake slightly.

"Whatever." Mika replied, sensing that she'd hit a nerve. "We need to cover some ground rules, and I want you to keep your mouth shut until I'm done."

"Fine." Shuichi replied sulkily, again knowing when not to mess with Mika.

"First, you will be more than nice to Prince Eiri. You will go out of your way to make him feel welcome. Do whatever's necessary, don't hold back. Get my drift?"

"I'm not a slut, that's you." Shuichi said in a whisper, thinking of how Mika had behaved when she had been wooing his dad.

"Second, you will stop all of your antics, and you'll leave that elephant alone until everything is drawn up and signed." Mika continued, having been deaf to Shuichi's previous comment. Beside her, Tohma nodded seriously, trying to seem important.

"Third, you will hold your snake-ish tongue when you're talking to me, or to any of our guests. You will be demure, you will be polite, you will keep all of your thoughts and comments to yourself."

"Alright." Shuichi answered through gritted teeth, intending to break every rule as soon as possible. "But do you honestly expect this to come together in four days, or how ever many are left?"

"No. That time limit was my invention, I thought the pressure would keep you under control." Mika answered with a wave of her hand, not taking the question seriously.

"You're kidding, right?" Shuichi said, his composure threatening to leave again.

"Calm down, kid."

"That was pretty clever, milady." Tohma interjected, wanting to be involved in the conversation. On his shoulder, Caspian grunted in his sleep and rolled over.

"This time around I want you to take it slow and win him over. I don't want this to be forced for him." Mika told Shuichi.

"And what about me?"

"What about you?" Mika replied nonchalantly. "Your job is to make him feel wanted, lay on the charm, got it?"

Shuichi just stared at Mika.

"Woo him." Tohma offered, trying to be helpful. Caspian sneezed in his sleep and fell into Tohma's gesturing hand. Tohma looked at the bird in his hand with surprise and carefully replaced him.

"…woo him?" Shuichi asked, his voice low.

"To put it simply…" Mika replied, looking askance at Tohma. "We clear?"

Shuichi nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"You're dismissed then." Mika said, not entirely satisfied with Shuichi. He was bound to mis-behave. "And Shuichi, screw up once and I'll kill that damned elephant."

Shuichi glared at Mika again and left the room. Mika had seemed serious this time, and the last thing he wanted to do was to endanger Cinda. He sighed, and resigned himself to staying within Mika's rules. He wasn't going to screw the new guy, but he would try to keep his tongue to himself. At this thought he snickered, thinking that that would be breaking the first rule.

He stood in the entrance hall for a few minutes, doing some deep breathing exercises, and headed for the staircase to go back to his room. Halfway up the stairs, he remembered that he had wanted to see Hiro and took off pell-mell down the hallway that led to the other prince's room. He knocked over a confused guard and skidded to a halt in front of the door. Without knocking, he wrenched the door open; the room was empty. He walked over to the window and saw the end of Hiro's entourage leaving the city.

"Great…" Shuichi said to the empty room as he walked out of the door, thinking of the Prince that had left and the one he was stuck with. "Just great."

Wow, the gargantuan throne room scene is over! I know you're dying for some Shuichi/Yuki action, it's coming, just wait. Don't get your panties in a bunch, take a deep breath and yank. It'll be in the next chapter for sure, and I feel like I'm on a roll so hopefully it'll be here soon.

As always, thank you so much for all of the reviews, they always inspire me to keep going. Caspian's molting, so he's declining to comment. See you next time.

-Amaya