Hey guys...wow...so much reviews...I LOVE IT!! Hehe...keep it up ^_^ Alright, wanna thank all of u for ur support...so glad u like the story...but...

Halo, I'm really happy u like Kyouru so much...and I really do think it's nice u read my fic and took the time to comment (so I'm hoping that meant u liked my last chapter)...however, ur remark was a little...abrupt...and unnecessary. I'm glad u like Tohru and Kyou together (BTW, all of my readers are always welcomed to show their support for the couple they like hehe ^_^ ...like lil_xueli, kcarrie, etc. - u guys so great!)...but I really don't appreciate flames unless I made any mechanical errors or my writings were just plain bad...I'm hoping u were just joking around and trying to show ur extreme support for Kyou hehe...but if you really do insist on flaming me in the future for any story plots u happen to dislike...then I'm just going to have to sigh and ignore u...

Anyways, keep reading, guys! Feel free to always voice your opinion hehe...just not in an unreasonable way...

And in case, any of you are worried I changed my story (like Tenshi no Ai...thank u soooo much for ur comments!! Make me feel so . . . so . . . so loved!! Hehe...) don't be...I actually already had the ending in mind when I began the fic lol...so I definitely won't change the story line...

So sorry about this long monologue...keep reviewing!!

~Maeven~

Chapter Six: Yuki

Yuki stared out the window. Tohru and Kyou walked slowly back to the palace, hair still damp. He turned away and leaned against the wall, folding his arms in front of him.

"Oooo, they're back!" Shigure cheerfully crowed. "Ne, why are you both wet?? What have you two been doing??"

"N - nothing," Kyou spluttered.

"Hmmmm, you sure? I smell something fishy about this!" Shigure leered at them and they turned red.

"F - fishy?" Kyou repeated dumbly.

"AHA! So you two did do something!"

"NO! SHUT UP! Tohru, ignore him."

"Ooooo, so protective..."

"Stop it, Gure-san! My Kyou-kun will never betray me, right darling?"

"Oh, shut up!"

"NANI?! SO YOU DID DO SOMETHING WITH HER?! HOW COULD YOU?!!"

"Oi! Stop it! You're killing my lil brother!"

Yuki sighed, rubbing his temples. [Why me?] He turned around and hurried out of the room before any member of his lunatic family noticed him.

* * *

Dig. Scoop. Bury. Dig. Scoop. Bury. Dig. Scoop. Bury. Dig. Sc-

"What are you doing?"

Yuki looked up, startled. Tohru stared at him curiously. "Why are you playing in dirt?"

He grinned, chuckling. "Making mud pies."

The girl nodded solemnly. "Oh, I see."

He blinked and laughed, "Silly, what do you think I'm doing?"

"Uh....you - you just said...m - making mud pies?" she answered confusedly.

He dropped his shovel, brushed off his pants and stretched. Hiding his smile, he nodded somberly, "Okay...you caught me. I'm actually at my secret base planning a surprise attack against the enemies of my people: the Ant Force and their Weed Bombs."

She bit her lip, furrowing her eyebrow. "Oh...that - that sounds dangerous, I guess. Are the mud pies food for your soldiers?"

He burst out laughing, making the poor mermaid jump. "You - you really do believe everything I'm saying, aren't you? Oh god..."

"So you were lying?" she asked hesitantly.

"No, I was just fabricating stories with my creative sense of imagination," he grinned.

"Ah...ha," she carefully responded. He laughed again. "Am I really that amusing?" she asked, a little hurt.

He shook his head, wiping tears from his eyes. "I - I'm sorry. It's just that I never met someone as, ahem, naïve as you. It's really refreshing." He smiled tenderly down at her.

She turned red, "Y - you meant stupid, didn't you?"

He shook his head, smiling sheepishly. "Nooooo...of course not..." The girl continued to stare at him skeptically.

He laughed. "It's true! I really am sorry...I don't know what just came over me before...I never acted like that before. It was incredibly rude of me to make fun of you like that...please accept my apology." He flashed her a blinding smile.

She flushed, smiling back earnestly. "It's okay...I really am pretty dumb...so I don't mind it at all when you laugh at me...it's nice to see a smile on your face. You shouldn't always have to keep a wooden façade on everyday...it's really okay if you just want to let yourself go and laugh at me...it's really okay...but of course, uh, if you would also be so kind as to, um, tell me why I'm so amusing at those certain moments...that'll be even better too!"

He blinked, touched at the simple innocence of the few words...and then he started chuckling again.

She looked crestfallen. "I - I still don't understand what's so funny..."

"Ah, I'm sorry yet again," he grinned. "How about I make it up to you by showing you the wonders of gardening?"

She blinked. "G - gardening?"

He nodded and bent down. "You see, it's my only device of escapism..."

"From what?"

He wrinkled his nose. "Everything...but especially my family."

She bent down next to him, wrapping her arms around her legs while resting her chin on her knees. "Why? I think your family's great! So big -"

"- and dysfunctional," he finished with a wry smile.

She smiled sadly, "At least you have someone."

Yuki stared at the wistful look on the girl's face. [It shouldn't belong there.] He picked up his shovel and began digging a hole. "Where're your parents?" He asked quietly, watching the girl out of the corner of his eyes.

She hugged herself tighter. "Father died two months before I was born in the war against the octop - ahem, yeah. My mother died when I was five...she was driving and lost control of the dol - ahem, and rammed into a coral - ahem, yeah."

Yuki looked at her weirdly. "Do you have a cough or something?"

She nodded furiously and began hacking into her hand. "Uh, yeah...a little."

"Uh...huh. So who raised you?"

Tohru stopped coughing and dropped her hand limply. "My sister."

"Ah, I see. Where is she now?"

"She died...two years ago."

"Oh...I'm sorry." Yuki furiously stabbed his shovel in the hole he made.

"D - don't be." She took the shovel from him, smiling softly, and began shifting dirt back into the pit. "It happened a long time ago...at least I still have great friends like Uo-chan, Hana-chan, Kisa...and Kyou-kun."

"The baka neko...huh, I'll think he'll cause you more grief than comfort."

She shook her head, biting her lip. "No, Kyou-kun was actually...very nice...he still is. He was the one who convinced his parents, the merkin - ahem - to let me live in the palace as a maid...of course, they never treated me as a servant...they all looked after me...they all became my family. And then when he went off to fight the sh - ahem - he made sure that nobody will bully me while he was away; he even gave me self-defense lessons so I'll know how to protect myself." She giggled.

He smiled a little. "How'd that go?"

"He stopped after I accidentally gave him a black eye. He decided it'll be much safer to let Uo-chan protect me," she grinned.

He grinned. "Safer for him, I bet. So...he was your champion then?"

She turned red. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call him that -"

"Good. It'll be a shame to have him as your protector...an absolute atrocity...you deserve someone way better," he propped his chin up in the palm of his hand and stared into her eyes evenly, his amethyst eyes darkening into dark mauve.

Tohru found herself reddening...and a little short of breath, especially now that the human prince sitting across from her was slowly, ever so slightly, inching towards her. His hand raised up, reaching out to her, brushing her arm ever so slightly; goosebumps raced down her skin and she shivered involuntarily. He leaned towards her and she bit her lip nervously as he came closer and closer and...

"Here you go!" Yuki plucked a flower from behind the girl and presented it to her cheerfully. He leaned back and rested himself back in his original position.

Tohru blinked. "Uh - uh - t - thank you," she took the flower and then with a little cry, dropped it. She raised her hand and saw a tiny drop of blood forming on the tip of her finger.

"Ah, gomen! I shouldn't have given you a rose before taking out the thorns! Are you okay?" He tried to take her hand, but she quickly hid it behind her back.

"Ah, don't worry! I'm fine! Just fine!" She smiled nervously. [I can't let him see my finger! Mermaids are almost immortal, healing at a much faster rate than humans. He's going to know I'm different from him; he's going to think I'm weird!]

"Are you sure? May I see your fingers to make sure?"

"NO! I - I mean, it's okay...I'm fine," she chuckled uneasily.

He raised an eyebrow. "Alright then, if you say so..."

"Uh-huh, yeah, so that flower is called a rose? That's so - "

In a flash, the boy grabbed the girl's hand before she could stop him. He wrinkled his brows. "That's funny...I could have sworn I saw you bleeding before."

"Hahahaha...I told you I was fine! See? I was just surprised by the prick...don't worry, it didn't break skin!" she beamed brightly. [Please believe me, please believe me, please believe me...]

Yuki nodded slowly, befuddled. In an attempt to change the subject, Tohru asked fiercely, "So that flower is called a rose?"

"Huh?" Yuki blinked. "Oh, yeah...but then again, 'a rose by any other name will smell just as sweet'." He grinned and then his smile slowly faded as he continued. "A rose is one of the most beautiful things nature has to offer...but I guess the best things in life all have to come with a price." He picked up the discarded flower and twirled it in his fingers, raising it to his nose. "It smells so sweet and the petals are so satiny soft...but if you're not careful...." He ran a finger down the stem, stopping before a thorn. "...then prick. That's how life treats you. Fate gives you a seemingly wonderful life and just as you're about to thank the gods...a thorn pricks you."

She hesitated. "But once you stumble over a thorn, you learn...and for the next rose you come across, you'll know how to avoid the pains...your treasure will come to you much more easily."

He stared up at her over the crimson petals and whispered softly, "Did you know I never had a friend when I was little? My only companion was this - my garden. No one ever treated me as their equal, avoiding me constantly...scared, awed, uneasy because I was royalty..........no one ever completely welcomed me with open arms. Being a prince is being a rose...everyone admires it but they're always afraid of the thorns...always having to be careful around it. So, Honda-san, what if the thorns can't be avoided?"

"Then the rose will smell much sweeter...because of the pains you took to get it...there's always reward after hard work...I'm sure the rose will be the most beautiful of them all," she said firmly.

Yuki chuckled, closing his eyes. He drawled lazily, "Then why don't I just leave the rose by itself and just enjoy its beauty in its habitat? It's a win-win situation...I don't have to get hurt and the rose can continue to flourish in the garden."

Tohru flushed, unable to answer. She stammered, "I - I suppose that's true...it does sound better...but - but...that doesn't mean you shouldn't work for your goals...and - and I thought we were talking about - uh - oh - huh - hmmm -"

The prince laughed. "Oh, Honda-san, you're so kawaii."

"Eh?" She blushed.

He smiled tenderly down at the girl. "I do believe I've just found nature's only pure treasure...one that comes without any price."

"Huh?"

He brushed the scarlet petals against his lips softly and then held out the rose gently to the girl. "You, Honda Tohru, are the only thornless rose I've ever met...and believe me, I've seen many flowers in this world...you're definitely absolutely one of a kind."