Mission Accepted

Hansha lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling for a long time, thinking. Strong attraction was a new thing to him, and he wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it.

But the way he figured it, something he had learned in all his magical training applied in a lot of other areas of life too. Magic was not something for cowardly or shy people. When you wanted to cast spells and such, you had to know what you wanted, and put everything you had into getting it, and making it come out right. And if that was applied to this situation, if he found himself wanting Shiroi, he ought to go for it.

He supposed he could try to set his shyness aside if the prize was something as fine as the Blue Eyes. One of the other prominent problems, however, was Hansha's engagement to Midori. He hadn't seen her for a long time either, but he supposed she'd probably become quite a fine young lady by now. But he and Midori had never gotten very close. They were polite to each other in passing, but neither of them had taken much of an interest in the other.

Hansha didn't think Midori would mind too much not marrying him. It was just that there was a set of laws of engagement, and cheating on a fiancée or breaking the engagement so that one could screw his fiancée's brother were crimes of a high sort. He could get into a whole lot of trouble for doing a thing like that. Not to mention what it could cause between the two kingdoms that were meant to be joined by this marriage. What if all out war occurred, just because Hansha followed his hormones?

So on the one hand, his teaching told him he should go for it. On the other hand, law dictated that he definitely should not. Hansha was thinking he was going to need a tiebreaker here.

There was a light knock on the door. Thinking it was Shiroi coming back, and suddenly very eager to see the Blue Eyes again, Hansha sat up quickly and tried to smooth back his soft purple hair, calling out, "Come in."

But the woman that entered was definitely not Shiroi. She was dressed elegantly in a long black dress, her black hair tied back and her red eyes glinting calculatingly as she looked over Hansha. "So you're the Dark Magician then, are you? Not quite what I was expecting."

Hansha blinked at her, this stunning creature who watched him with such arrogant irritation. "Indeed, I am the Dark Magician. Who might you be, pray tell?"

She laughed softly, as if he should have known who she was already. "The Red Eyes Black Dragon, but you may address me as Ruby."

She waited, watching Hansha with that same calculating stare, until the Dark Magician finally became a little uncomfortable. "And… what can I do for you, Miss Ruby?" he finally asked.

Ruby smiled at him with glistening red-painted lips, the exact color of fresh blood. "You can stay away from Shiroi."

Hansha blinked, taken aback. "P-pardon me?"

The Red Eyes folded her arms, glaring at him. "You show up here, unannounced, and all of a sudden Shiroi is sending me home. You've only been here five minutes and already you're upsetting my plans."

"Plans?" the Dark Magician echoes back faintly.

"To make Shiroi mine," Ruby clarified, smiling sweetly. "My lover, my mate. I can't have you messing that up. I've been planning this for a long time. And I suggest you make your stay here brief." She turned on her pointed heel and stalked out of the room, the door slamming behind her.

Hansha blinked after her, slowly deciding that this was the tiebreaker he had been waiting for. He couldn't let his friend fall into the clutches of her. She was mean! So obviously the only thing to be done was take Shiroi for himself, to keep him away from the Red Eyes Black Dragon.

He smiled slightly. He had no idea how flawed that logic was, but it was just the excuse he needed. Hansha stood up, opening the bag he'd brought, and started to unpack. It looked like he might be staying here for quite a while.