"What the hell was that?" inquired Yuki vehemently with a hiss. "I told you that she was NOT to leave her quarters unless in my company, and I specifically stated that she was to be dining with ME, NOT YOU!"

"I'm sorry…I…I…she…well…." Stuttered the unusually nervous candlestick.

"She what, Tohma?"

"She was hungry…?" came the quiet reply.

"I could care less about whether she was hungry or not! The fact of the matter is that YOU disobeyed my DIRECT orders, you numskull!" shouted Yuki at his quivering head of staff. "Now give me the stupid boa and go to your room!"

"But Yuki…! That's not fair! I don wanna go to my room!" squalled Tohma in a baby voice.

"Tohma, if you ever talk in that voice again, I swear on my sister I'll kill you. That was wrong, dude." Said Yuki as he stared with wide eyes at the candlestick.

As Tohma quietly slunk off to his room, the Sakano attempted to creep out from underneath his table, but was spotted by the still wide-eyed demon.

"And just where do you think you're going, clock?" seethed Yuki as he noticed the creeping servant.

"Umm…nowhere, sir. Absolutely nowhere!" squeaked Sakano quietly.

"Stay here and wait for her to wake up. It's a waste of my time. When she does decide to come about, take her back to her quarters. Immediately. No daredevil antics, no escaping, and no communicating with that stupid candlestick, got it?" ordered Yuki as he turned to fly back to the West Wing.

"Yes, my Liege!" answered the clock promptly.

(Meanwhile, back to K! Yay! Everybody loves K!)

As the strange carriage dropped K off at the outskirts of the village, K headed straight for the local pub to find some help for his captured son. Upon entering the musky bar, everyone became completely silent as they all watched K work his way up to the main man of the place, which was none other than Tatsuha. Making his way up to the burly youth, K mentally prepared his plea for help.

"What do you want, old man?" inquired Tatsuha as K approached him.

"I need your help! It's my son! He's been kidnapped!" shouted K as he stood before the dark-haired hunk.

"Shuichi? What's he done this time? Please don't tell me he got himself stuck in the well again." Answered Tatsuha dryly.

"I TOLD YOU HE WAS KIDNAPPED, YOU DOLT! ARE YOU DEAF! NOW ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME OR NOT?" screamed K at the top of his lungs.

"Calm down, you crazed lunatic. Now who kidnapped my precious Shuichi?" replied Tatsuha smoothly.

"An enormous monster with wings and fangs!"

"Were they sharp fangs?" taunted one of Tatsuha's drunken friends from the bar.

While all of this nonsense was going on, the wheels in Tatsuha's head were turning. A demon with fangs and wings? No…it couldn't be. Once he had had a brother. A brother named Eiri, whom at sixteen had been horribly transformed into a malicious beast. He hadn't been seen for over six years. The subject was still a tender spot for Tatsuha, who couldn't take his mangled brother being insulted.

"Extremely sharp! And white! And he could fly, and there was this talking candlestick, and a clock and a-" rambled K as fast as he could before he was cut off by a seething Tatsuha.

"HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT HIM THAT WAY!" roared Tatsuha at K. "You just back off and go back to you sorry little cabin! My brother is NOT a horrible beast and you're insane! Get lost, old man!"

" But it's the truth! Will no one help me rescue my son!" squalled K as he was thrown out the door by one of Tatsuha's many cronies.

Yet, as this fiasco was coming to an end, there was one person that actually cared. His name was Hiroshi Nakano, and he and Shuichi had been best friends for many years. Recently, he had been away, and hadn't had the chance to go visit the pink-haired teen.

"Yo, Tatsuha. Let me buy you a drink. The old man's a loon." Offered Hiro in a questionable tone. He had a plan. He intended to see it out.

"Whatever, sure." answered Tatsuha. He wasn't quite sure what Hiroshi was getting at, but at least it got him a free drink.

After a couple of drinks, Tatsuha was getting pretty loose in the lips and was on the verge of spilling the very information on which Hiro had started this odd…quest for.

"So…what was that old inventor getting on about? Demons with fangs? And wings? I've sure never heard of such things."

"He…they…exist. I…had a brother….once…" sputtered Tatsuha between hiccups. "This…witch…girl…thing…changed him…into a monster…"

"A monster, eh?" replied Hiro with peaking regret mixed with curiosity. "Never seen one of those, either."

"I'm serious, man…he's real messed…up. Him and…my sister…and her husband…" Tatsuha lamely said as he hic-ed his way through another ale. "They're….in….this castle place…in the woods…"

Within the next fifteen minutes Tatsuha had told the story and whereabouts of the castle, all the while teetering on the edge of passing out.

After paying the bartender for the pile of empty ales, Hiro said an unnecessary 'good-bye' to Tatsuha, who had recently passed out at the bar. He mentally concluded that the money and the whole experience had been worth the trouble for he now knew of the location of the….enchanted castle.

As he walked through the colorful evening atmosphere to the inventor's small house, Hiro was wondering what the hell Shuichi had gotten himself into this time 'round. It seemed that every time Hiro had come back to visit, his reckless friend had somehow gotten into some kind of insanely weird and troublesome predicament.

Approaching the odd looking door, Hiro decided not to knock and go right in. K loved surprises.

"K? You in there? It's me, Hiro. I'm back in town. Hello? K?" called Hiro as he walked into the cramped foyer. "K? I'm here to ask some questions about where Shuichi is. I want to go check it out. K? Are you even here?"

Hiro's calls were answered only by complete silence. The now worried adolescence wandered through the quiet house, beginning to reach one conclusion: That K had already left to go back for him. With this new thought, Hiro became even more worried. K on his own out in the wilderness was most definitely not a good thing. Even K just on his own ANYWHERE was not a good thing.

Walking out the door, Hiro went over his plan mentally. First, he would find this 'castle' place. Then, in the dead of night, he would sneak in, and locate his friend's whereabouts, if he was even there. Following that he would sneak back out, and wait for another quiet night. Finally, he would get back into the castle, and get himself and Shuichi out of there. After all of this, he and Shuichi would make their way back to village, and await K's return.

Climbing onto his horse, Hiro spurred him toward the nearest northern village, just like Tatsuha had described twenty minutes earlier. Meanwhile, a mile and a half ahead, K was rapidly approaching the beginning of the woods, and the crossroads.

"Umm…Shuichi? Are you awake yet?" whispered Sakano as he prodded the sleeping boy.

The only thing that followed the clock's timid question was undaunted silence and small snores coming from Shuichi. This of course was not a good thing, due to fact that the Master had seemed very impatient and almost anxious for the boy to wake up. Sakano had an idea why, but he had no intention of proving his clock intuition.

"Uhhh…Sakano? Where are we? Are we dead yet? Did Yuki kill us already?" mumbled the boy as he came to.

"No…The Master didn't kill us…yet. He just wanted me to escort you to your quarters as soon as you woke up, so we had better get moving."

"But I want to stay and see the pretty pony…" mumbled the sleep-drunken boy as he unsteadily walked out of the dining room.

As the odd duo ascended the stairs, they were intercepted by none other than Yuki.

"Give her to me, Sakano. I'll take over things from here." muttered the sullen demon.

"Of course, Sire!" answered Sakano promptly.

"Shuichi, didn't I tell you to stay away from that candlestick?" asked the demon quietly, yet menacing as soon as they were away from Sakano.

"Yes…but…."

"No. No 'buts' about it! This is MY castle, MY rules, and if you can't get that through your impenetrably thick skull than I'm going to THROW YOU OUT A WINDOW! Yelled Yuki as the trembling Shuichi made a mad dash for his room. "AND DON'T COME BACK OUT UNTIL I SAY SO!"