Crown of Flowers

Chapter Four

By Dejiko Mew Mew

Yuuri dashed about the castle wildly, shouting for Konrad at the top of his lungs, over and over again.

"KONRAD!!!!"

"Heika...?" he responded with surprise when at last Yuuri had caught him. "What's wrong? You're out of breath."

"W... W... Wolfram...!" Yuuri expelled in short gasps. Konrad's eyes narrowed. He grabbed Yuuri's shoulders and gazed into his eyes.

"What about him?" Konrad asked.

"He's... He's been kidnapped!!" Yuuri bawled. To this, Konrad lowered his head and, although he attempted to hold it in, laughed a bit. "What's so funny!!?? Why does everyone laugh when I say that!!??" He remembered when Cheri had first told him, and Günter began laughing uncontrollably. He remembered when he ran to Gwendal's study, and even he seemed to crack his hard exterior and laugh a bit. "Not you, too, Konrad..."

"My apologies," Konrad bowed. "If it's Wolfram, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. He is quite strong, after all."

"But it's because of that that I'm worried," Yuuri explained. "If he's that strong, how was he taken in the first place? Are these guys really that strong?? Or... Or maybe... he let himself get taken..."

"Let himself?" Konrad echoed. "Did something happen?"

"Ah... Well..." Yuuri frowned, blushing with embarrassment. Konrad laid a soft hand upon his shoulder.

"It's all right, if you don't want to talk about it," he assured him. Yuuri smiled faintly. "Now, how shall we go about retrieving Wolfram?"

"Well, Cheri-sama found this in his room..." he replied, unfolding the letter and handing it to Konrad.

"A ransom note?" he realized. "So, money was their objective..."

"I guess even in this country, there are people desperate enough for it... right?" Yuuri questioned. Konrad simply nodded, to which Yuuri felt a bit disheartened. "It doesn't matter where you go, does it? There's always poverty, crime, discrimination, and wars..."

"But there is also kindness, justice, friendship, and love," Konrad smiled. Yuuri smiled. Konrad was always so optimistic, but everything he said always had truth to it. Compared to the other brothers, Yuuri was the most comfortable around him.

Meanwhile, Wolfram sat in a rather dull room with not even a window and only a couple of pint-sized candles for light. He sat, his arms behind his back and chained to a chair, with a collar strapped around his neck. There were three men guarding him.

"Damnit...!!" he thought to himself. "If only they hadn't put this stupid collar on me, I could use my fire power to get out of here easily...!"

Apparently, the collar was a special item which restricted its bearer from using magic. Wolfram sighed heavily, his expression set on anger.

Kidnapped. He absolutely couldn't believe it. And yet, he was most upset about letting it happen. Had he not been so upset about Yuuri, he wouldn't have been caught off-guard like that.

And then, the thought of Yuuri broke his angry façade and he became a bit depressed once more. How could he have done that with Günter!?

"Yuuri, you big, stupid idiot!!!!" Wolfram shouted now, rocking back and forth in his chair, throwing quite a tantrum. His guards didn't seem to know how to respond to this. They just sort of eyed Wolfram uneasily.

After calming down a bit, Wolfram remembered that his kidnappers had left a ransom note. He wondered if Yuuri would come...

Konrad sat mounted upon his horse, and he extended his hand toward Yuuri, offering a lift. Yuuri blinked a few times in confusion.

"We're only taking one horse?" he asked. Konrad nodded.

"The letter says we should arrive at eleven tonight. If we want to make it on time, we've got to hurry, and... Well, Heika hasn't quite fully grasped the ability of riding just yet."

Yuuri blushed with embarrassment. He hated to admit that Konrad was right. He made a note to practice a bit more here and there. Nevertheless, he took Konrad's hand and sat behind him.

"Hold on tight," Konrad instructed. Yuuri didn't react as quickly, perhaps, as he should have, and when the horse took off, he fell back a bit and grabbed Konrad's waist tightly so as not too fall. He found himself clung tightly to his back.

"Hmm... Konrad really is a warm person, both emotionally and physically..." Yuuri noted. "... I mean, why am I thinking things like that!!??"

"Are you all right, Heika?" Konrad asked him, glancing back over his shoulder.

"H-Hai!" Yuuri assured him.

"Don't worry," Konrad smiled then. "I won't let you fall."

They rode on for a while, exchanging stories every so often, but Yuuri never let go of Konrad.

Suddenly, the horse came to a stop. Konrad and Yuuri now found themselves face to face with what appeared to be a gang of thieves. They all wielded weapons and wore masks over their faces.

"What's this?" Yuuri questioned. "A traveling circus?"

"No, Heika," Konrad politely corrected. "These are bandits."

"B-B-Bandits!!??" Yuuri shrieked. "No... No!! Not now!!"

"Don't worry," Konrad said again. "I won't let anything happen...!!"

Several moments later...

"K... Konrad...?" Yuuri said. "... What happened?"

"My apologies, Heika..." Konrad sighed. "The skill of these bandits was a bit more than I had estimated..."

"Skill?" Yuuri retorted. "They all jumped you! No one could have stood up to that, no matter how good a fighter!"

"But even so..." Konrad frowned. "I... failed to protect you..."

"N-Not at all!" Yuuri insisted. "Besides... worse things could have happened..."

By this, Yuuri was referring to the fact that the two of them were only tied up, for now at least. But he bet those bandits thought it was hilarious to tie them together, facing each other. They lie on the ground with Yuuri atop Konrad, snugly forced against one another.

"We just don't have time for this, is all..." Yuuri frowned. "Wolfram..."

"This is pretty boring," one of Wolfram's guards sighed. The three of them had hardly moved since binding Wolfram to the chair.

"Who cares?" another laughed. "Think of how much we're getting paid for this!"

"Idiots," Wolfram scoffed. "No one's coming for me..."

Suddenly, the door burst open. The guards gasped and drew their weapons, but lowered them when they realized who their visitor was.

"That's not true, Wolf!" Cheri exclaimed. She ran towards him and embraced his head while laughing. "Awwww, don't you look adorable all tied up like that?"

"M-M-Mother!!??" Wolfram choked out. "What are you doing here!? Don't tell me you're actually going to pay the ransom..."

"Ransom? What ransom?" she chuckled. "I just came to see how things are going. Hmmm, Heika's not here yet, is he?"

"Wait... Just what are you talking about? Yuuri's coming...!?" Wolfram asked in shock, his eyes lighting up. He really hadn't expected him to come.

"Of course," she winked. "Men will always come with their lover is in danger. You make such a cute damsel-in-distress."

"Mother!!" Wolfram shouted furiously. One of the guards coughed purposefully to attract her attention.

"There's still the matter of payment..." he reminded.

"Yes, yes," she smiled to them. "That will all be taken care of once everything is settled."

Wolfram may have fallen over at this moment had he not been bound to the chair.

"M-Mother!? Don't tell me you set this up!!" Wolfram finally deduced.

"Well, of course I did!" she giggled. "Did you only just realize that? Ohhh, Wolf, were you scared?"

"I wasn't scared!!!" he assured her. "I can't believe you would do something like this!! Well... Maybe I can... But, still! Quit meddling in other people's affairs!! I'm going to tell Yuuri as soon as he gets here that—"

"That what?" she interrupted. "You wanted an honest answer, didn't you?"

"An... An honest answer...?" Wolfram repeated.

"About how he feels about you," she explained. Wolfram blushed wildly. "Trust me, I know his type. He'll never say it, or maybe even realize it, unless something drastic were to happen. So, play along, ne? Please, Wolf?"

To Be Continued... Yet Again