Author's Notes: to those who are actually viewing this, wow, you're alive, i'm alive! haha, sorry took a long time. teally, this was finished a few hours after the first, however, it was lost, found, lost, found, lost, and finally dug up. so here it is, with the -snickers- surprise, though not too surprising.

Disclaimer: Nope, not the author's.

Oh, before anything else, people to thank:

Rikkali – a million smiles for you, hehe.. (you'll know why i'm laughing)

KB – hey, it's you! love your site. glad you like this.. here, it's continued!

What2callmyself – hey, the '2' is missing! yup, yup, will try best to update other fics! on the way, they are!

Ankara Mailey – i hope you continue reading, maybe you'll be interested in some other aspect of it, smiles

Hedi Dracona – yay, hope you really do like this

rubyred4512 – sorry, this was as soon as i could…

okay, now on to it!

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Lubid
"rope"

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I know you can give me paradise
but I was born free
what a Bitter Love of yours,
that caught you in a grip
and has no mercy for you.

-Franco Sansalone, Amore Amare-

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Chapter 2.

There are definitely days when things eventually turn bad. And then worse. You wake up with this apprehensive feeling – although all is light, you just KNOW that something will happen, and this will not be to your favor.This especially occurs when revelations are suddenly poured unto you the night before.

Kurama, also known as Minamino Shuuichi in the human world, had stalled for as long as he could in school. He volunteered for so many things, and yet everything finished well off before late eveing came. Really, tomorrow would have been fine.

The reason for hiding out like this? It was his mom's sweet voice calling out to him as he left early morning to school, "Shuu-chan, please be home as early as you can. Your fiance will come to visit you later."

What a way to break the news! He hadn't even fully accepted that he was a prince, much less that he was already engaged, and now, she was coming over for a visit! No, the redhead wasn't acting like a rebellious teenager. He wasn't in love with anyone in particular, though many prospects would arise if he thought hard about it. Really, he had no reason to protest, except that his youko spirit detested being chained like this. He wanted choices, let his fiance fall in line like those drooling fangirls.

Here it was, the gate to their house. It had never looked like jail bars before like it did now. Gingerly, his arm left his side, while the rest of him revolted. His arm was a traitor! Eventually, though, his fingers touched the button to the lock and punched in numbers he remembered all-too-well. The cold metal slid open with an ominous scraping sound. One foot, one step, and he was inside.

Oh boy.

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Reizo met him looking quite distraught. The redhead took that for another bad sign. The butler spoke, hesitance clear in his voice, "Your.. mother is at the sun-room… with her guests."

Nodding, trying to keep calm, he allowed his jacket to be slipped off his shoulders, and removed, then asked, "And my fiance?"

Paler, his face was, "In there too."

All too soon, he had reached the room with the large window, overlooking some trees in Kurama's secret garden. He had been given the space to cultivate all the plants or whatever else he wanted to grow (include a certain fire demon who loved to trample and sleep on his flower beds, and who seemed to add to his hobbies strawberry-stealing), as a gift for his fifteenth birthday. It was a big enough lot to build another house on, (quite a large house, actually). It had a gate with a lock, whose combination was only known by the youngest member of their family. He could spend hours and hours just tilling the soil and coaxing seeds to grow. Right now, it didn't provide any sort of comfort to the redhead.

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The moon was full and hung proudly on the dark sky. "Excuse me…" his soft voice caught the attention of the three occupants of the room.

Holding a delicate porcelain cup, and balancing a saucer with the other, was his mother. She placed the cup on the saucer, then lay both on the glass-topped table excitedly at the sight of her son coming in, "Shuuichi! You certainly took your time!"

She beckoned him to move closer. As he did so, he was able to see their two guests more clearly. The one closer to him was a boy, no, a man in the making. His sullen look made him appear to be around 20, when he probably couldn't be more than 18. He had silver-blonde hair, and sharp, azure eyes. Some wisps of hair covered part of his face – he looked quite unruly for nobility. From his posture, he looked to be about as tall as Kuwabara, maybe an inch or two more. His semi-fair skin gleamed in the moonlight and looked to be almost un-blemished. He was lean, with a body type like that of a swimmer's. He could have easily passed for a gangster boss, but in his regal clothes, his cocky air was justifiable. Truly royalty.

Slowly, Kurama turned to the one he was to marry. She sat primly, tinted lips smiling quite adorably. Her face tilted a bit to the side, with azure eyes, a bit less captivating than her companion's, that didn't hide her scrutiny. She had a long, shimmering mane, a more vibrant color than the other, that curled around the edges. Her not-at-all shy eyes were framed by fairy-like wisps of long lashes. She was a midway between cream and tan, and was unblemished, no work or stress touched this one. Her long fingers rested at her lap, some, intertwining with the soft folds of her immaculate dress. She looked like she was older than her brother (Kurama had assumed they were siblings, after all, there were resemblances here and there), and the half-youko felt awkward, and thought that perhaps having a bride older than you were, were part of their kingdom's customs.

She stood up, batted her eyelashes as prettily as she could, and spoke in a slightly, but regally-sounding fangirl voice (aka, fangirl with dignity), "Oh, Shuuichi, darling (you don't mind me calling you that, do you?)", then glided up to him (for royalty never skips), and gave his cheeks a peck each.

Abruptly, she blushed, then stepped back a bit, "Oh, I got carried away". She offered her gloved hand to be kissed. Such Botan-ish attitude made Kurama suspect that unlike him, she had known her entire life that she was betrothed. Not wanting to offend her (which would perhaps start a war, judging from her personality), he bent a bit, took the hand as gently as he could, and kissed it. As he straightened, the woman trapped his head in between her hands, and shamelessly stared at each feature. "Oh, wonderful upbringing. And what a dream you've become, right?" The 'you' in the sentence could have been omitted since the question was directed to her companions.

Wait, something's not right here… Uh-oh, dread's knocking on the door.

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She gestured towards the young man, "Come now, Kasumi-chan, and greet your fiance".

The man, now known as Kasumi (THE), approached, and gave him a full kiss on the lips.

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There, done! Honestly don't know when the next chapter will be, but the third had already been drafted, and was supposed to be attached to this chapter. Boo.

But i think i will be updating all my other fics soon. This is a promise!

Gah, please review, thank you!