Beneath the Glacier

Tohru nearly fainted when she saw Yuki approach her. He sat down the bed beside her and gazed at her before reaching out to touch her forehead.

"You will rest today," he decided. "I'll call another maid to take your place."

"Eh? I'm fine!"

"I'll let Hatori decide on that. For now, do as I say. I am the Prince, in case you forgot," he reminded her dryly.

She sighed. "Yes, Ice Prince, I mean, Your Highness."

But what happened next was something she didn't totally expect at all.

He gave her a small smile that nearly set her whole heart on fire.

"Ice Prince, huh? Somebody finally had the guts to call me by that nickname right in front of me." he said, amused, before leaving the room.

Kisa was reading the bible again as a young man dressed in a dark prince suit sat under the cherryblossom tree, looking up at the skies.

"Praise him for his mighty acts; praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of trumpets; praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance; praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals; praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals," read Kisa slowly.

"Let everything that hath breath praise him. Praise him," finished the man. "Psalms 150."

The little girl looked up. "Your knowledge in scriptures is still good, Haru-san."

"Thank you, but you see, I will be late. I must see Prince Yuki now."

"He's in his room, I think. He spends awfully a lot of time in there," said the little girl helpfully.

"I'll climb to his window there," decided the white-haired prince, heading for they royal chambers.

"Look, I would be glad to give you medical check-ups any given time, Prince Yuki, but I can not give my medical services to people who do not have royal blood," explained Hatori impatiently. "Now leave me alone and I still have a lot of things to do."

Yuki clenched his fists. "You're supposed to be a doctor! You swore on an oath to practice no discrimination in your profession!"

"I also swore an oath to practice my profession exclusively to people who are part of royal families only."

"I can't believe this!" groaned Yuki. "I'm the next-in-line in the throne, and you have no right to refuse me."

"So is Kyo, therefore, your rank is meaningless unless verified by the Lord Akito."

"Hatori!"

The doctor looked up and saw Ayame and Shigure standing by the door, arms crossed.

"What do you two want?" asked Hatori, annoyed. Dear Lord, what ever did I do to deserve this awful day?

Ayame clicked his tongue. "Don't you have a heart, 'Tori? The poor Honda Tohru is lying in bed, sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. Si-"

"Shut up! I heard it the first time. Geez!" The doctor crossed his arms firmly. "There is no way you can make me go to the maids' quarters just to check on a maid. Anyway, it's just a fever. Give her some sponge bath and-"

"You're heartless!" exclaimed Shigure, bending towards the startled doctor who was muttering on how fast did Shigure appear beside him. "You are suppose to have one of the noblest professions in the land! How dare you do this, 'Tori!"

"This noble profession is used on noble blood only,. Now get out of my clinic, all of you! You're disturbing me!" yelled Hatori but Ayame quickly took the doctor's hand and pressed it on his chest.

"Dear 'Tori, please do this one favor for me only this once. Go visit the poor girl, and I promise to stop picking on the locks of your bedroom door."

Hatori paused. "So that's how you wound up in my room every night."

"What do you say?" asked Ayame eagerly.

"Alright, but just this once," he said reluctantly. "So let's go to the maids' quarters."

"Er, actually, she's not in there," said Yuki slowly, trying to think how he could explain things to them.

"So where is she? Did she faint in the hallway or something?" asked Shigure.

"N-No. She's lying…in my bed right now," said Yuki, looking down on the floor as gasps filled the room.

Tohru tried to sit up, but discovered that her vision was blurred. She fell back on bed, just as someone crashed into the bedroom from the window. She got up, panicked.

A white-haired young man stood up, blinked, then looked around. "W-Where am I?"

Her jaw dropped. He dropped in here from the window and now he was going to say that he didn't know where he was?

The boy snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! In Yuki's room!" He looked at the bed where Tohru was lying, watching him curiously. "Hey, you're not Yuki."

She jumped. "Eh? Of course not!"

"So…am I in the wrong room?" he asked

"No…" she said cautiously, suddenly realizing the absurdity of the situation.

"So you're in the wrong room?" he asked again.

"Yes…"

"You got lost?"

"Sort of…"

"Want me to help you find your way back to wherever you came from?" he offered kindly.

"No need. I-I can do it." She tried to stand up but collapsed. Acting quickly, the boy caught her.

Poof!

Tohru panicked. "Aah!!!" She hurried towards the door just as it opened, with Hatori stepping in. She crashed into the doctor, and the latter turned into a seahorse. She tried to avoid stepping on the animal so she swerved to the left and crashed into Ayame, and he turned into a snake.

Shigure and Yuki entered the room and found a cow, a seahorse, and a snake on the floor of Yuki's bedroom. Tohru was leaning on the wall, a freaked look on her face.

"Um, did you happen to move the palace menagerie here, Yuki?" asked Shigure, picking up the seahorse.

Yuki sighed. "What a mess."

Kyo was walking along town, trying to hide from Kagura. She had blackmailed him into going to a stroll in town so she wouldn't throw a tantrum, but just two minutes with her had sent him running away from her as fast as he could.

He then spotted a shop selling candies. He went inside to check it out.

"Well, dear Tohru, what can you say for yourself, now that a Sohma prince has already taken you to his bed?" teased Shigure, making the girl blush hotly. Yuki said nothing as he covered her with a warm blanket.

Haru the cow sat on one corner, watching his cousins fuss over the girl. He had never seen this scene before the entire time he knew them. It was…peculiar to watch.

"Your Highness, I'm sorry for the bother," said Tohru, looking at the prince shyly.

"No need to apologize. The damage has been done anyway," said Yuki, trying to fake sarcasm but failed.

And the cow noticed that. He immediately knew that in one way or another, something changed in Yuki.

"So what do I do next?" asked Shigure eagerly, looking at the seahorse who was directing him on what to do with the sick patient.

"Then you massage her, gently," said the doctor sternly.

"Oh, fun!" said the novelist eagerly. "So Tohru-kun, what kind of massage do you want? Swiss? Amorous, er, A Mother's?"

Yuki glared at his cousin. "We'll have someone else do it, Shigure."

"But I want to help!"

"You can help us by shutting up," said the Ice Prince.

"Really mean, Yuki-kun," teased Shigure, pouting.

Ayame slithered towards Tohru. "Dear Tohru, how are you feeling? Would you like me to do the massaging for you?"

Yuki took the tail of the snake between his thumb and point finger, and with a graceful flick of his wrist, he threw the snake out of the window.

"Honda-san, go to sleep. I'll call for our nurse to look after you. We're going to leave now so we won't disturb you anymore," he said.

Shigure took the seahorse. "See you later, Kirei-san!"

Yuki bowed and left the room.

"So you're going to sleep in his room?" asked the cow, who was forgotten at the corner of the room.

She looked at it. "Eh?"

"Nothing. It's just that…Yuki is usually not this kind to others…I was just wondering…is he…I mean, are you his wife?"

"EH?! No!" exclaimed Tohru. "I'm just a maid here."

"But I don't understand!" The cow was completely puzzled. "Why is he so kind to you?"

Silence.

"Honda-san?"

"H-How did you know my name?"

"I heard him call you that."

"Oh."

"Honda-san?"

"Yes?"

"I trust you know about the Juunishi curse."

"Y-Yes."

It looked at her intensely. "Promise me one important thing: that you will not, in any under circumstances, tell the secret. This will endanger Prince Yuki and everyone's lives."

She nodded solemnly. "I am aware of that, and I will never blab the secret. I will take it to my grave."

"I'm glad." With that, he transformed back into his human form.

"Ah!!!" shrieked Tohru, face flaming.

"Honda-san?" Yuki entered the room again, worried. He then saw naked Haru gaping at him.

"Oh, Hi, Yuki!" greeted Haru, turning to him, oblivious of his current wear. "It's been quite a while, eh?"

"GET OUT!!!"

That afternoon, Tohru was surprised to see Kyo in Yuki's bedroom.

"I heard you were sick," said the orange-haired prince, sitting down on a chair beside her. "However, I do not understand how you made your way to the snob's bed."

"Long story," she laughed.

"Must be," said Kyo. "Oh, I have something for you. I picked it up in town while Kagura and I were strolling." He conveniently forgot to mention that Kagura was dragging him all the way.

Tohru's eyes widened when she saw fresh sunflowers wrapped in ribbons and pretty foil. "Ah! Thank you, Kyo-san!"

He smiled slowly. "I…I'm glad you liked it."

"I loved it!" she said, hugging the flowers. "But what are these for?"

"Er…"

The door opened, and Yuki came in, face composed in deadly calm. "So you're back, baka neko. Why did you bother to?"

"If I didn't, I don't know what you could have done to Tohru. You might scold her for "not doing her job" or "slacking off and using sickness an excuse". I know you, damn rat!" said Kyo.

Tohru panicked. "But Kyo-san, it was-"

"No need to cover his snobbishness, Tohru. He's been always like that, self-centered, arrogant, and totally unconcerned about others," said Kyo. "And nobody bothered to tell him that! That's why I left this place."

"Kyo-san!"

Yuki's face remained passive. "Is that all you're going to say? If so, you may leave my room."

"And leave Tohru with you?"

"Take her with you then."

"I will!" He looked at Tohru, who looked too weak to move. "Tomorrow," he added hastily. "But don't you dare sleep with her!"

"I'm not Shigure."

Kyo glared at him for a few more minutes then stormed out of the room.

Tohru looked at Yuki. "Why didn't you tell him that you were the one who looked after me all day?"

"I don't promote my acts of charity," he said simply, closing the door.

"But he thinks all the wrong things about you."

"Let him think, as long as I know that all of those aren't true." He sat down beside her and touched her forehead. "Your fever has subsided. Hatori gave you a good medicine." He looked at the bouquet on her lap.

"Looks like those gave you a good reason to be cheerful too," he remarked.

She was speechless.

He reached in his coat. "This is not as plenty as those, but…" He handed her single red rose, full-bloomed, its stem not having a single thorn.

"Ah!" She looked down at the flower, not knowing what to say.

He stood up. "Goodnight."

"W-Where will you sleep?"

"None of your business."

"I-I can go back to my own bed…"

"You will stay here, where I can check on your progress more often," he said firmly. He opened the door.

"Y-Your Highness?"

"What is it?"

"Thank you for the rose. I-It's beautiful," she said softly.

Again. , Just like what happened awhile ago, he smiled. "You can pick another one in my garden as soon as you feel well."

"I-I don't have to go through the hole?"

"You can pass by the front gate of my garden. That is, if you get well soon."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

"Don't practice false courtesy, Call me 'Ice Prince' if that is the name you are used to."

"Ah, but I am wrong. You're not made of ice. You are as warm as a candle flame, flickering uncertainly, but is aflame with kindness," she said.

He quickly turned away to hide his slightly flushed cheeks. "Flattery will get you nowhere." He quickly shut the door.

Okaasan, I met a lot of Sohmas today, and the Juunishi curse was reinforced right in front of my eyes.

But so was my belief that beneath the glacier lies a heart oh-so-kind.

The prince who everyone thought had abandoned his smile.

tsuzuku