Mizuki flew off to Atobe's house on a magic carpet. Okay, not really. Though getting from place to place in his newest novel seemed a heck of a lot cooler than… public transportation. Whatever. He glanced up from his book and stared out the bus window. He wondered why he was going to such lengths for a friend's cat.

The bus stopped abruptly. The driver looked at Mizuki and yelled out, "Last stop, kiddo. This is it." Suddenly snapped out of his daydreaming, Mizuki grabbed his bag and dashed down the stairs. His feet his solid ground, the bus doors slammed closed, and it screeched off. The taillights drifted off into the distance. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized he was in the middle of nowhere. Was this some kind of trick?! There was no house for miles! What was he going to do?

About that time was when he realized a tall black gate with winding spires that seemed to be way higher than needed. Creepy, thought Mizuki, It could be like the gates of Hell or Morodor or something. Then again, it was probably the darkness playing tricks on his eyes. Oh, That's right, recalled Mizuki, He told me some sort of gate code. He walked over to the keypad and punched in 6-6-2-6. Within about a minute, a limosine pulled up and the black gate opened automatically. Mizuki just gaped. Who lived like that?

The maid inside looked at him apologetically and stated, "Very sorry, Master Keigo likes to greet his guest personally when they arrive, but he's been up in his room all day with Keira."

Keira. That must be the cat, Mizuki thought.

The limosine stopped outside of a tremendous double door. (It was huge! No wonder they had people hired specifically to open doors!) Mizuki stepped out of the car and looked up at the doorframe. It was maybe 2 and a half or 3 times his own height! The doors were opened for him and he stepped inside. Oh! This is awesome! I never knew Atobe lived in a castle! Well, practically a castle! He stared wide-eyed at famous paintings, cathedral ceilings, and stained glass windows.

It seemed like they walked forever. The house never seemed to end. By now he had been herded through endless corridors and rooms, and had lost all track of where he was. Luckily the butler and maid beside him knew exactly where they were headed. The next door they walked through was a completely clear crystal door. Upon entering, before him were acres of tropical garden. Colorful parrots flitted in and out among the branches and ripe oranges grew on the trees. Wow… Amazing. Mizuki decided that he could stop being surprised now. As far as he was concerned Atobe's house was the eighth wonder of the world. That was even before he saw the Olympic-sized swimming pool, four tennis courts, and ballroom.

When they stepped out of the garden and back into the house, the maid and butler slowed to a stop outside of a door and rang a bell on the wall. Ding-ding. "Come in!" shouted Atobe's voice. Finally, something familiar! Thought Mizuki. The maid and butler bowed simultaneously, and left him to his own devices from that point on.

He opened the door and greeted his buddy informally. "Yo." Though personally, he wanted to add, why didn't you ever tell me that you lived in a castle?! However, his greeting didn't receive a "Yo" in return. Instead Atobe looked up from his position of laying on the bed and said, "Thank you for coming here."

"Not a problem." He replied as he spectualted the room. Atobe was laying on a bed of roses next to Keira, who was a purebred angorra with long, pure white fur and stunning green eyes. A bed of roses?! His first thought was that someone should take a picture. His second thought was that he wondered if he ever had girls over. What a loser I am! Of course he does! He nearly blushed at his own thought. Atobe was one of the most popular people at his school, he gathered that just by a couple tennis matches against Hyotei.

He tried not to get too distracted, but being in a room with his friend laying on a bed of roses with his friend seemed really… weird. It was distracting whether he wanted it to be or not.

"W-what's wrong with her?" Mizuki asked to get his mind off the bed.

"I don't know. She's just been laying there. She won't eat anything. I've been trying to get her to eat all day."

Gulping, and realizing he couldn't pretend to stare out the window anymore, he dared to glance down at the bed. What the heck?! A closer look showed him that the roses were in fact printed on the bed sheets. Oh my gosh... I freaked out for no reason. He sighed a breath of relief. All the weirdness flew out of the room, and Mizuki sat down on the bed next to Atobe and Keira.

Mizuki proceeded to take the kitten's vital signs. Heart rate, blood pressure, etc. Apparently Mizuki showed some shock in his face as he read the information, because Atobe grabbed his arm and said, "Mizuki! What's wrong?!"

It was no use lying to make Atobe feel better. He looked up with a sad face.

"Her blood pressure is very low. I think… if its okay… you better send her home with me tonight. My dad is a vet. If she has any chance, that will be it. If you don't wanna leave her… you can stay at my house for the night, but I'll have to warn you…" He looked around himself, "Its nothing like this."

Atobe smiled and shook his head. "Thank you. that would be great. I would love to."

He rung a bell signaling the nearest maid and told her, "Get Keira ready to travel, and tell the cooks to start preparing us dinner."

This was too amazing, thought Mizuki as he ate some unnamed delicacy. What a day. He suddenly remembered work. He was sorry to push training the new kid onto Jirou, but it had been worth it, and strangely enough, Jirou seemed more than happy to do it. Maybe he liked the idea of bossing someone around? Who knew? He guessed he would see how it went tomorrow.

On the Limo ride home, Mizuki and Atobe talked about a lot of things, from childhood memories, to when Atobe first got Keira, to when they both started playing tennis. He was glad Atobe was so easy to talk to. Still, he was a little embarrassed that his entire house, though not by any means a small house, was maybe about the size of Atobe's bedroom on each floor. As the car pulled up to Mizuki's house, he inquired, "Sure you're alright staying here?" Atobe smiled and said, "Of course."

They grabbed Keira's travel box and headed into Mizuki's house.

"Hey dad? This is my friend Atobe Keigo."

After some introductions, Mizuki stated, "Dad, we have a sick kitty in here. Her blood pressure is really low. I gave her iron already, but I don't know what else to to because she won't eat."

Mizuki's father nodded. He took Keira out of her box and felt around her stomache. She weakly mewed, and his dad looked at both of them and said, "It looks like internal bleeding. I can give her blood clotters, but as for whether she makes it or not, that will have to wait till morning."

Atobe went pale. Makes it or not?! It was that bad?!

Mizuki put his arm around Atobe's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I knew it was bad. But I didn't know it was this bad."

Mizuki's dad looked at them and said, "Its late, why don't you two go to bed," then he looked at Atobe, "I will watch her through the night, but you are welcome to get up and check on her if you get worried during the night."

Atobe nodded, and they went to sleep in the bunk beds in Mizuki's room.

"It used to be my brother's." He replied to Atobe's questioning look. The answer seemed to satisfy Atobe, and he crawled into bed. Mizuki hit the light switch, and the room filled up with darkness. Suddenly that same weird feeling came back as he had earlier with the whole the bed of roses experience. Unsure of whether he wanted to walk closer to Atobe or closer to his pillow, he forced his legs to carry him to the top bunk, and he tried to shake the feeling entirely.

He slipped under the covers, and tried to clear his mind. It was a long time before he fell asleep, but he was pretty sure Atobe never slept at all.