Warnings/Notes: Hey There! Here's another absurd irrational story by me! Let it be known to all that this story contains shounen ai, so if you have any problems with that, please feel free to press the back button!
Oh, and it's an AU.
(Sighs) I'm really, really sorry about the wait, but it just couldn't be helped. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, or any of its characters. Nor do I own any of the fairytales which this story may refer to.
Happily Ever After
Chapter Five; The Middle- Part Four
Tyson hurriedly made his way over to their motel room.
From the time just before Max had arrived with Kenny and the tow truck, he had had an extremely bad feeling gnawing at him, and he was sure that it had something to do with Kai.
As he approached the room his apprehension increased dramatically, especially when he saw that the door was open.
Cautiously, he stuck his head in. In this kind of situation you never knew what bloodthirsty entity might jump out and try to rip your head off.
Nope. Kai definitely wasn't there, bloodthirsty or otherwise.
Just a small clock lying in the middle of the floor.
Tyson stared at it.
From what he knew of Kai, Tyson could easily deduce that he was definitely not the sort of person to leave things lying around on the floor.
Worry cackled evilly and continued to chew gleefully on his insides.
Max appeared in the doorway behind him.
"He's gone," stated Tyson.
Max bit his lip, "He probably wandered off somewhere, I'm sure he's alri-"
Tyson bent down next to the clock, "He's been kidnapped."
"I think you maybe overreacting…………."
The blonde trailed off as Tyson stood up and turned to face him, face tense with concentration and barely suppressed anger, "It was that princess Mariah he was worried about before. That Kevin kid from the toll booth let down our tires to stop us from getting away, and while we were all gone, they got that big beefy guy Gary to grab him."
Max frowned, "You're making a lot of assumptions, you know……….How can you know for sure," he paused and then looked excited, "Is it some kind of intuitive power you have when it comes to Kai! It is, isn't it! Ooh! That would be so cool!"
Tyson's intense expression didn't falter for a second, "No, that's what the note on I found under the clock says."
Max fell over.
Tyson walked past him, a determined expression now on his face, "And now I'm going to go to that castle and rescue him! I'll fight anyone who stands in my way! I'll climb up the tallest tower if I have to! Nothing and nobody Mariah throws at me will prevent me from fulfilling my duty!" He drew his sword and held it over his head as he struck a heroic pose.
Behind him, Max sat up sparkly eyed, "That's the way Tyson! You're a true hero!" He paused and put a finger to his cheek looking thoughtful, "But how are you going to get there without a car?"
Tyson sweatdropped, and while his arm did not lower, his sword definately drooped, "Err………"
Kai's mind fought its way out of unconsciousness, and he lay where he was with his eyes closed.
Strange, he didn't remember going to sleep…………
Memories swirled through his mind.
Tala. The kiss. The stranger. The apple. Mariah. Gary. Chloroform. Darkness.
Oh god help him, Mariah.
Fear clawed his insides as his imagination supplied him with all the awful scenarios he may find himself in when he opened his eyes.
He swallowed.
'It'll be okay,' he thought to himself, 'Nothing, nothing could possibly be worse than that time with the dolls and the makeup……..'
Slowly, he sat up, and peaked out at his surroundings from underneath his eyelashes.
The walls of the room were covered in mirrors, meaning that he could see his reflection clearly from where he was sitting on the bed.
'……..okay, so maybe I was wrong. Just. Stay. Calm. ….. Stay calm…… We are cool, we are detached, we are Princess Kai Hiwatari, aka the Ice Bitch, and we will not panic...'
For a few seconds Kaimanaged to sitperfectly still...
...and then hepanicked.
Tyson moaned.
Bounce.
He gritted his teeth.
Bounce.
He tried very hard not to think about it.
Bounce.
He clutched the reigns with white knuckles in a death grip.
Bounce.
He looked to his side, and scowled. Max seemed to be having the time of his life.
Bounce.
He turned to the other side, and glowered.
So was Rei.
Bounce.
Kenny caught his eye and cringed at his expression.
Bounce.
"I'm sorry," said Kenny, "It's the only method of transportation I had available. You were lucky that we even had enough. And it's not much further, you'll see!"
Bounce.
Tyson rubbed at his arse.
Bounce.
Horses.
Bloody horses.
Oh if Hilary could see him now.
She'd be absolutely thrilled.
"We need to go faster!" said Rei, spurring his horse on.
Tyson gave him a dark look, but sped up.
Bounce.
Bounce.
Bounce.
Bounce.
Bounce.
Bounce.
Bounce.
Thank god the castle wasn't all that far away.
He wasn't going to be able to sit down properly for awhile.
Kai owed him big time for this.
'Deep breaths, just take nice deep breaths...'
It was, Kai mused, probably one of the most horrifically embarrassing things he'd ever endured in his life.
It was at that stage that he remembered that being a male princess was a horrifically embarrassing thing that he endured every day of his life, and in the scheme of things this really shouldn't bother him.
It did.
"You're awake!" Mariah beamed at him form the chair she had been sitting in, on the other side of the room, completely ignoring the fact that Kai had just finished a nice long bout of hyperventilation.
Kai grunted, and delicately touched the tiara and one of the flowers that had been woven into his hair, while staring into the mirror on the wall across form him.
"Don't do that! You'll mess up your hair!"
'It's just a horrible nightmare,' Kai thought desperately, 'And you really can't kill her for this because despite how dreadful it is, she really is sincerely trying to be nice.'
"I heard what you said about the pink," continued Mariah, unperturbed by Kai's silence, "And I have to agree, it really isn't your color, but I must say, the deep crimson really does agree with your skin tone."
Kai took a deep calming breath, "Mariah?"
"Yes?"
"I can understand the dress, I understand the makeup, I get the crown, the flowers, the nail polish, the jewelry, the stockings, thehigh heelsand even the garter, but why, why all the lace and ruffles?"
Mariah sighed, "I guess it is a little over the top, isn't it."
Kai choked back the sardonic, 'A little?' that rushed to his lips, "Yes." He said. "Yes it is. Especially since I am a boy."
Mariah made a face, "I know………… it's just ……..you look so cute!"
Kai gave her a very weak smile, "Thank you, but if it's all the same, I was wearing pants this morning, and I'd very much like to see through the evening wearing them too."
Mariah sighed sadly, but nodded, "Fine……I'll let you dress normally as long as you promise to have tea and a chat with me first, and maybe a few other princessy things as well," She looked at him with big sad golden eyes, and her bottom lip trembled "It's been so long since I've spent some time with a fellow princess."
Kai considered his options as he ignored the pouty look Mariah was giving him. There was no window for him to jump out of, and it would mean he could end this little cross-dressing adventure. "Deal." He said finally, completely sure that he would regret it later.
"But you have to keep the tiara and the flowers," added Mariah, "After all, you are a princess."
Kai considered the small crown and a collection of the local vegetation the least of his current tribulations, and nodded sighing. "Just get me my pants."
It was as he watched Mariah head to the door and beckon for him to follow that a sudden and extremely unpleasant thought hit him.
"Who was the one that changed my clothes?"
Mariah turned back to smirk at him, "Oh, that would have been me."
Tyson swung off the horse and tied it to a tree. Words couldn't describe the joyous feeling he was currently experiencing due to his reunion with the ground.
He scowled as he noticed Rei smirking at him, "What?" he snapped, really not in the mood to even try to be nice.
Rei's infuriatingly smug smile didn't even falter for a second, "Is your highnesses posterior experiencing some problems?"
Tyson muttered something uncomplimentary and began to stomp towards the rear of the castle.
"Where are you going?" Max called after him.
Tyson ignored him and kept on going.
Max sighed and looked at Rei questioningly.
Rei shrugged, "Probably gone off to sulk."
Max nodded sagely, "Probably. But I really don't think we have time to wait for him."
"No, we can't," replied Rei primly tying his own horse to a tree, "That's why we're not going to." He looked at Kenny who up until then felt as though he had been forgotten, "Are you going to come with us?"
Kenny bit his lip, "Err………" Kenny didn't consider himself to be a coward, he merely tried his best to avoid trouble, though the neko-jin and the blonde haired boys standing with him didn't appear to be half as much of a magnet to disaster that that long navy haired guy had seemed to be, he could still see a lot of potential danger in going with them.
It was at that point that he chose to look back into the woods they had come from. Bushed rustled ominously, and in the distance something howled.
Kenny shivered, swallowed, and quickly came to a decision, "I'll go with you."
As he followed his newly found companions he wondered if he had made the right decision.
But really, how much trouble could these guys get into?
Kenny blinked and looked around frowning.
Odd.
He'd thought he'd heard someone laughing.
Contrary to popular belied, Tyson had not stormed off to sulk.
He Had A Plan! (the capital letters and exclamation marks are in fact necessary, because not only did Tyson have a plan, but he was a prince/hero with a plan, and that meant something.)
He carefully poked around the back of the castle with a stick.
"That Rei thinks he knows everything," he muttered darkly, "Well I can say this, he's definitely not royalty! If he was he'd know that every palace always has a secret back entrance. It's the rules."
He continued to poke around, but stopped when he noticed a stone in the castles wall wasn't quite as fluorescent as its companions.
Grinning, he pressed it.
On reflection, mused Tyson, as he began to fall down the pitch black hole that had suddenly opened up below him, he probably should have considered the fact that not only did castles always have secret entrances, but they also usually had secret traps for the people who thought they were being clever by trying to use them.
Would you please pass the sugar?"
Kai obediently did so, and then went back to sipping his tea, absent mindedly tugging at his skirt so that it was covering as much as possible.
As far as he was concerned things could be a lot worse.
Yes, he was sitting on something abhorrently pink and frilly (it was labeled as 'something' because Kai firmly believed that it could never be referred to as a chair – nothing that puffy could ever be called a chair),and yes he was having some minor breathing problems due to the corset, but at least he was indoors, away from a group of crazy people, most of whom intent on marrying him, he was fed, and, well, clean.
The last few days hadn't exactly been filled with opportunities to bathe or change his clothes, and he had been more than keen to accept Mariah's offer (though it would be better described as an order) to do so.
Oh the joys of not smelling like something that had been dragged out of the bushes.
Mariah had even given clean clothes that weren't pink!
Granted they were purple, but, thought Kai smugly, he did pull the color off exceptionally well.
Though he did hope that the others would get off their arses and rescue him soon--
"Another jam bun Kai?"
"No thanky-" Another bun was put on his plate.
--he could only fit so much into his stomach.
Kenny sniffled as he shielded himself from the hail of fish.
They had just reached the castle courtyard when the defensive spell had kicked in, blocking them from progressing further.
Rei was enjoying the situation as much as a neko jin would, and Max was altogether too happy with the current development.
"An exemplary example of the 'Fishishus' spell!" Max exclaimed, blue eyes sparkling as he absentmindedly sidestepped, dodging a rather large cod, "I'm so glad to have been able to see it!"
Having been earlier informed that Max was an apprentice wizard, Kenny cried, "Can't you do anything to counter it!"
Kenny had not been given details on just how far it was exactly that Max's talents really went.
"Hmmm," Max studied the fish in a businesslike manner, while Kenny shielded them both with his jacket.
Rei was still blissfully preoccupied, jumping around trying to grab the largest fish he could see (each time he saw a larger one he would drop the one he was currently holding), thus meaning that there was no one to intervene in Max's spell casting.
"Right! Got it! …….. Hickelty pickelty gish! I wish there weren't any fish!" Max gave a sweeping motion with his hands.
The hail of fish ceased.
There were a few seconds of normality (and a severely disappointed neko-jin) and then………..
……….all the fish on the ground began to turn into rabbits, accompanied by a light magical popping sound.
Max sweatdropped as the courtyard rapidly began to fill with confused fluffy mammals.
"At least it's not raining fish!" he sad brightly, laughing with a hand behind his head.
Kenny fell over, and in the background Rei sulked.
Max continued to giggle as he stepped over bunnies of various colors, sizes and shapes (quite a few had a distinct fish like quality to them), and headed towards a large and ornately decorated door that could only lead to the throne room.
He suddenly stopped, still smiling, "Excuse me sir, but could you please remove your sword from my throat?"
The newcomer, and owner of the sword seemed to considered this, "Err…….no."
"And so then I said……..Kai? Are you alright?"
Kai carefully placed his teacup back on the table.
He felt, strange, almost……… light headed.
"Mariah," he said slowly and carefully, "Did you put something in my drink?"
Mariah smiled charmingly at him, "Why of course my dear! Just a little something I had our resident wizard cook up for you! You know, to help you be more proper!"
Kai's eyes blazed with anger and jumped up out of his seat, not caring in the least about his skirt flying up, "Why you manipulative bit-Oh boy! My dear Mariah, these buns are just lovely!" Kai sat down again straightening his skirt, "And I could really do with another cup of tea! And who cut your hair for you? Mines just so messy! I can never get it to sit properly! And yours is such a gorgeous color!"
Mariah simply smiled and poured Kai another cup of tea.
TBC………………