Chapter 2: My Sunrise

"Ferio, where are we going?" Fuu asked, a little nervous. Their surroundings had grown darker and the forest more dense. And she was certain they had been walking for hours.

Ferio narrowed his eyes and examined their surroundings. Setting Fuu down on her feet, he turned around and gazed intently in the direction from which they had come. Fuu swayed on her tiptoes sleepily; she felt the dew from the soft grass soaking into her bedroom slippers. "Dew...I was right, it's close to morning," she thought to herself.

Fuu heard a rustling in the tree above them, and looked up just in time to see her prince drop down from the foliage to land beside her. "We're here!" he announced happily. And scooping her up in his arms again, he leapt up the huge pine tree, branch by branch. Fuu squeaked, throwing her arms around his neck as pine needles scraped against her face. "And...where is...here?" she managed to squeak.

"I dunno, but this'll do fine."

"We're lost?!"

"Not entirely. We know where we are, which is the Forest of Silence, we just don't know where in the Forest of Silence we are. Make sense?"

he landed on what appeared to be the highest possible branch that would hold their weight. "Not really..." Fuu sighed, climbing down to sit next to him on the branch, "but so little does nowadays, I'm not surprised." Ferio laughed. "Trust me, you'll like this. And this is the perfect morning for it..."

He squinted his eyes, scanning the horizon, which was just beginning to turn the fluorescent purple of dawn.

Fuu adjusted her robe and removed her glasses, tucking them into her pocket. "They've taken enough abuse tonight," she thought regretfully, remembering the sharp branches and pine needles that had swiped across her face.

Ferio moved out of his crouching position to plop down beside her on the branch. "This is great, huh? Best seat in the house!"

"For what?" Fuu questioned.

The swordsman blinked, surprised. "Oh crud, I forgot to tell you!" he smacked himself in the forehead. "You must really trust me, letting me carry you off aimlessly to who-knows-where!" he shook his head as Fuu giggled. "We're watching the sunrise."

"How sweet!" Feeling a little tired, Fuu leaned her head against Ferio's shoulder. "You're sacrificing your night's sleep just to watch a little sunrise with me? Thank you, Ferio..." the Magic Knight blushed, and Ferio stared down at the ground, in a trance. "Yeah...my night's sleep...my beautiful sleep...my beautiful, wonderful sleep...my beautiful, wonderful, peaceful sleep...my beautiful, wonderful, peaceful, relaxing night's sleep... my beautiful, wonderful, peaceful, relaxing, amazing night's sleep...my—"

"Ferio!"

"Heheh...sorry."

The first rays of sunlight were starting to peek over the distant horizon, and Fuu could just make out the outline of Cephiro castle against the sky. "I can barely see the castle...I can't believe we walked that far!" Fuu breathed. "Everyone should be waking up soon...oh no." she thought of something. "Clef will be very angry, won't he?"

"Absolutely livid, yeah."

"Umi and Hikaru will be in hysterics."

"If I know those two, they sure will be."

"Will they send out a search party?"

"And Lafarga's militia squad, I'll bet. Why?"

"...No reason."

Just then, their attention was drawn back to the skyline by a bright flash of red-orange light. "Oh, here it comes! This is going to be a great one!" Ferio exclaimed. Neither spoke a word, focusing in on the growing light in the distance. With almost no warning, Cephiro's sun exploded over the horizon, staining the clouds pink and purple, as if splashed with watercolor paints. The castle was only a black shadow, almost as thin as a line, against the natural fireworks show.

Fuu gasped in amazement. "It sure does rise fast here..." she whispered, squinting against the bright sky. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen...more beautiful than rainbows, even..."

"A...what?"

Fuu looked at him disbelievingly. "You've never heard of rainbows?"

"Nope. Are they pretty?"

"Very!" As Fuu went on to explain rainbows, Ferio listened closely, fascinated. She was so pretty when she made him feel stupid..."

"—rio... Ferio? Ferio!" Fuu's voice broke into his thoughts. "Umm...yes?" he replied, trying to pretend he'd been following her all along.

"It's just...you were staring at me really hard... Is something wrong?"

Fuu asked, concerned.

"No, nothing's wrong!" Ferio took a deep breath. Here went nothing!

"Um...Fuu...what would you do if...I kissed you now?"

Here came the blush again. "I...I think...that would be alright..." she managed to squeak, overcome by the moment.

Ferio smiled, his face highlighted by the distant sunrise. "She/he is so cute..." they thought simultaneously. As he moved a little closer, Fuu closed her eyes, fighting back embarrassment. Their faces were less than an inch apart when—

"FUUUUU! Where AAARRRE YOOOUUU?"

"Prince, come out THIS INSTANT!"

Hikaru's anxious form hopped into the clearing, followed by a furious Clef, a smug Umi, a grinning Lafarga, and several foot soldiers. Some unknown extra sense alerted Clef to look up, and you could practically see the steam leaking out of the Master Mage's ears. "Get down here RIGHT NOW, young man!"

Ferio growled in Clef's direction and glomped onto Fuu tightly. "NO! GO AWAY!"

"Ferio...!" Fuu froze up, and sweatdropped when Hikaru saw them and began to giggle. "Ooooh, Fuu and Ferio, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"And we were doing just fine until you got here!" Ferio yelled back down to the search party. Umi stepped forward, a wide smirk on her face. "Y'know, Fuu, what I said in the bedroom...I was just kidding."

"Umi-SAN!!" Fuu snarled down at them. "We weren't DOING anything!"

"Well, actually, we would've—"

"Don't help, Ferio!"

"...okay."

Caldina came crashing through the underbrush right behind the others, panting and out-of-breath. "Ah! Here ya'll are!" she spied Fuu and Ferio among the branches, and Clef now attempting to use his staff as an axe to chop down the tree. "And there you two are! Hey, stop canoodling! It's almost breakfast time!"

The three Magic Knights floated to the floor of Tokyo Tower and stepped onto the hard marble. "I am gonna kill that marshmallow..." Umi growled: Mokona had jumped between her and Ascot just as they were about to hug goodbye, and given her a loud kiss on the cheek. It was nearly a miracle Hikaru and Fuu had restrained her long enough to clasp her hands and teleport out of there before anyone got hurt.

Hikaru giggled, and turned back to Fuu. "Hey, d'you think Ferio will be okay? I mean, Clef hit him pretty hard..."

"Oh, he'll manage! He did have it coming, pulling Clef's robes over his (Clef's) head like that," Fuu smiled. "Besides, I'm sure it's illegal for the Master Mage to murder the Prince!" Umi and Hikaru sweatdropped.

"Fuu! FUU!" Kuu Hououji pushed through the crowd, formally dressed in a light pink kimono with a gold butterfly pattern and lavender obi. Hikaru and Umi waved to Fuu's older sister. "Hi, Kuu-chan! What a pretty kimono!" Hikaru chirped happily, as Umi nodded in agreement. The chestnut-haired girl paused to smile at the others, and then returned her worried gaze to Fuu.

"You have to come home, quick! A messenger from Grandfather's house arrived about an hour ago. We've all been summoned to arrive at noon, so we have to hurry home and get you dressed! Now!" Kuu urgently grabbed her sister's wrist. Fuu turned pale as she remembered the last time their grandfather had summoned them for a family meeting: he had not wanted her uncle to accept a job he had been hired for, and a huge family feud had resulted. This had to be something serious.

Umi noticed her worried look, and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry Fuu, I'm sure no one has died or anything..." she said happily. Call me when it's over, okay?"

"Me too!" Hikaru chimed. Fuu smiled shakily. "Very well...I'll see you both later!" And with that, she let Kuu lead her off into the crowd.

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Yours truly: Hiya! Okay, a show of hands! Who wants a lemon?

Pervy fans: (raise their hands)

Yours truly: (takes a fruit basket and hands out lemons) Here you go! I'll have to go to the store and buy more soon! Heheh. Oh, by the way, I'll be away for a while, because (drumroll) I'll be going on a trip to Disney World! Wheeee! And if you're all good little readers and leave nice reviews, I'll bring you all back Mickey Mouse snow globes! Okies? Ja ne! --