When Shuichi awoke the next morning, he was extremely happy. He had finally gotten on the demon's good side and no longer felt the need to annoy him. That is, until he found out about the two new prisoners from the screaming match going on downstairs. Apparently, Yuki had also discovered his dungeon to be a little bit more cramped and was not at all happy about it.
"I TOLD YOU NO MORE PRISONERS, YOU STUPID CANDLESTICK!" screamed Yuki at his defiant head of staff.
"THEY WERE HERE TO TAKE SHUICHI! I THOUGHT I WAS DOING YOU A FAVOR!" replied the angry candle.
"DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN! NO MORE PRISONERS! AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN ASK! GET THEM OUT! NOW!" yelled Yuki as he started advancing on Tohma and his feather boa.
"Ummm…Love and Peace guys…" said Shuichi quite calmly as he descended the large staircase. "Love…and…Peace."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean! GET LOST!" retorted the snarling demon, even though he had immediately stopped trying to murder his head of staff as soon as the boy entered the war. "Stay out of it."
"He's right you know…I was only trying to help out and you're DEFINITELY overreacting." Said Tohma with a matter-of-fact tone to his voice.
"Get. Lost. Now. Tohma." Seethed the demon as he stalked off to the dungeons, boa in one hand, Shuichi's wrist in the other. "I'll take…care of the prisoners. And with that he disappeared down the hallway, dragging a very worried Shuichi behind him.
"K?" whispered Hiro quietly into the sleeping man's ear. "K? K!"
"I didn't do it!" screamed K as he came to. "I swear…I didn't shoot the guy…I didn't!"
"Shut up you idiot! This is all YOUR fault!" snarled Hiro as he attempted to strangle K. "You were wrong!"
"Well excuse me! No one asked you to come along! It is MY son after all!"
"Oh give it a rest! He's my best friend!"
"Why don't you both give it a rest and stop bickering like a bunch of idiotic two years olds! I get enough of stupidity from him." Sneered the demon as he gestured toward Shuichi while entering the dungeon.
"Shu! Are you all alright!" shrieked K as soon as he saw his son in one piece.
"Shuichi! I thought you'd be dead by now!" exclaimed Hiro when he caught sight of his best friend.
"Guys…you REALLY shouldn't be here…" said Shuichi as he entered the dungeon still being dragged around by Yuki. "You really shouldn't have come."
"Shut up!" snarled Yuki as he threw the boy to the ground and ordered him to stay put. "I'll take care of this."
Ten seconds later, Yuki had opened the window, grabbed Hiro, and was dangling him out by his feet when something stopped him.
"Yuki! Please! Don't!" choked Shuichi between heavy tears. "Please!"
"One good reason. Give me ONE good reason. They're trespassing and trying to break our deal. I'm not about to let that happen, understood?" retorted the pissed demon.
"He's my friend….he didn't know any better! My idiot father probably tricked him into coming! Please don't' kill him!" answered Shuichi while still sobbing.
"Fine. But you owe me." Snorted Yuki as he stared at the teen and threw the prisoner to the floor. "Get out. Both of you."
The prisoners both walked away surprisingly uninjured, though they left a very distraught Shuichi behind. His only chance for rescue had come, and he had blown it. Maybe Yuki was right. Maybe he was just an idiot after all.
"Let's go, brat. Now."
"Coming…" replied Shuichi droopily as he slowly started to follow Yuki down the winding stairs.
"You disobeyed me. I told you to be quiet. You owe me double. One for not punishing you, and another for not killing your stupid rescue party." Spat the peeved demon when they had reached the main hall. "Go to your room and just stay there. I'll come get you later on."
"Yes, sir." Muttered the unhappy boy in response. "Hey…Yuki?"
"What, punk?"
"What do you want me to do to pay you back?"
"I'll think of something, you think of something. Surprise me. BUT! If you injure my staff, my castle, or me, you're dead meat. Understood?" replied the demon with a smirk clouding his handsome features.
"Right. I'll get to work on my part of the surprise!" sang the now energetic boy as he took off for the kitchens. "And don't' worry!" he called back as he saw the look of horror on Yuki's face at the thought of Shuichi cooking.
"Heh…him…cooking….heh, heh, heh…." Laughed Yuki in a manic way as he flew into the rafters to await his surprise.
"Hey Judy? JUDY!" called Shuichi as he skipped into the kitchen. "Where's the flour?"
"Why?" asked the teapot in a sly and worried tone. "You don't need flour."
"I want to make cookies for Yuki. I owe him a favor." Answered the boy with a large amount of energy, seeing it was already six o'clock at night. He was a late sleeper.
"Fine. DISHES! Get in here and help him!"
Half an hour later, Shuichi had apparently attempted to concoct ginger cookies and had somehow managed to insert doughy lumps into the gurgling and angry stove. Feeling quite proud of himself, he turned around to face the cleanup, but his emotions of hope immediately vanished. Standing in the door was a very surprised Yuki. You could even say he was flabbergasted.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY KITCHEN!" screeched Yuki as he saw that the entire kitchen was covered in flour.
"Ummm…I cooked?" answered Shuichi quietly, but at that precise moment, the stove caught on fire and started running around the kitchen screaming at the top of its lungs. "Oops…"
"DAMMIT!" screamed Yuki as he dodged the flaming stove. "PUT YOURSELF OUT ALREADY!"
The stove immediately un-ignited itself. It then ran back to its original spot and spat out the crusty cookie dough, causing Shuichi to scream and dive out of the way. Shuichi then noticed that there was still fresh smoke coming from somewhere. And then he saw it. Yuki's baggy shirt sleeve was on fire.
Trying not to alert the already angered demon, the boy crept towards him slyly. Yuki stared at him oddly, but let him come closer. When Shuichi was within a couple feet of the fire, Yuki suddenly noticed and started screaming, causing Shuichi to cover his ears and run for his life.
"I'M ON FIRE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" accused the flaming demon. "AND WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING! PUT OUT THE DAMN FIRE!" ordered Yuki as he saw Shuichi running for his life in the opposite direction.
Ten minutes later the fire had been put out, Shuichi was, for the moment, in one piece, and the kitchen was well on its way to being cleaned up.
"That's it. Bed. You. NOW!" ordered Yuki as he pointed a clawed finger toward the East Wing. "NOW!"
"Alright, alright…I'm going!" answered Shuichi as he dodged a heavy mixing spoon aimed at his head by the demon.
The next morning the whole castle was up and around bright and early, all except for Yuki of course. He had spent the night thinking up ways of torturing the pesky youth without really hurting him. He slept in late, and was not happy to find Shuichi already out of his room and already proving that he was indeed an idiot.
The boy was running around in a pair of boxers and a loose shirt, fully equipped with knee-socks. He appeared to be sliding down the stair railing, and jumping off before he reached the end and then proceeding to slide across the main hall all the while screaming.
"What are you doing? Or do I even want to know?" questioned the demon with an interested yet scared expression on his face.
"AHHHH! You scared me…sorry…Just exploring." Answered Shuichi innocently as he slid and slipped back up the staircase to start his routine over.
"Whatever." Muttered the demon as he started the descend the large staircase. "Just don't bother meaaaAHHHHHH! OWWW!"
The boy had slid into Yuki, knocking them both down the painfully long MARBLE staircase. They spilled into the great hall and ended up hitting a wall. After the dust cleared(lazy servants, eh?) the two were found as Shuichi sitting on top a very annoyed and pissed demon who was gritting his teeth and emitting an odd hissing noise.
Much to Shuichi's surprise, the hissing noise was actually Yuki laughing. His face contorted so that it looked almost painful, the demon lay there chuckling, staring at the startled boy still sitting on top of him.
"Ummm…..Yuki?"
"What?" answered the demon, still chortling.
"Are you OK?"
"Yes. You couldn't hurt me even if you tried, brat."
"Wanna bet?" said Shuichi with a mean smile, pounding his small fist into his palm.
This only made Yuki start laughing harder, and Shuichi promptly came to the conclusion that the demon must be drunk on some foreign substance. The laughter finally subsided and allowed Yuki to breathe again and speak to the still staring boy. Who was still sitting on him, though neither of them seemed to care very much.
"Shuichi?"
"Yeah?"
"I have something I want to ask you." Replied Yuki in a very tender tone. Shuichi was touched, thinking something nice, or maybe even romantic was about to be said.
"Really?"
"Really…" said Yuki, pretending to act shy. "Well….the thing is…May I eat your horse?"
"WHAT! NOOOO! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! WHO ASKS A QUESTION LIKE THAT AFTER ALL THAT BUILDUP! YOU'RE PHYSCO!"
"Ya know…you don't really have a choice."
"YOU ARE NOT EATING MY HORSE!"
"Fine…Then at least come and keep me company at dinner. I think Tohma's been poisoning the food he keeps slipping you."
"Dinner?" replied the now touched boy. "With you?"
"Why not? I'll come and get you when it's time. Until then, NO MORE SOCKS."
The demon then disappeared off to the West Wing, humming to himself. Shuichi got up off of the cold floor and practically floated back to the East Wing. He fully realized it now. He was for sure falling in love with the demon.
Meanwhile, back to Yuki's POV.
He had decided. He definitely refused to fall in love with the boy. Yes, he liked him. Yes, he was killer hot, and yes, he wanted to sleep with him. But he had to control himself. And he WOULD NOT fall in love with the boy. Absolutely not. Not him.
Even though falling in love and having that love returned meant breaking the curse, Yuki found himself sadly not caring about that anymore. Some three days ago, all the demon could ever think about was breaking the curse. Now the only thing on his mind was the boy.
"Its only been three or four days….How could I already be falling for him?" muttered the demon as he passed into an uneasy sleep for his afternoon siesta. The nap was a very short one, however, because he was interrupted by Shuichi ten minutes after falling asleep.
"Yuki? Yuki…?" questioned the boy quietly as he reached out a finger to poke the demon. As his finger made contact with the sleeping demon's ear, Yuki woke up and Shuichi had to dodge flying objects for five minutes before the demon was calm enough to have a peaceful conversation.
"Yuki?"
"What do you want, brat?"
"About dinner…can I pick what we have? I mean…" said Shuichi quietly, fearing rejection. However, he was cut off before he could finish his request.
"Sure. I don't care. Go tell Judy. And then go back to your room and STAY there. Understood!"
"Thanks!" sang the boy as he kissed Yuki on the cheek and then ran for the kitchens to tell Judy of his marvelous dinner plans.
Yuki stood staring after the boy for five minutes, holding the cheek that Shuichi has kissed. Trying to free his mind of the youth, he concentrated on the upcoming dinner. He felt a mixture of apprehension caused by fear of what Shuichi could have come up with and apprehension caused by nerves of screwing things up with the boy.