Arbaphem was a busy town, with people bustling around in their every day lives trying to get to their every day job. Carriages pulled by strong, lean horses were working all day and all night, hauling lords and land owners, the middle class and upper class, through the large city's veining roads. It was like one big heart, pumping with people in and out each morning and evening, and the King was the artery vein. The place was so full of life, that it was quite too much to handle sometimes. One such man found it almost unbearable as he made his way down the cobble stone streets.

The city people stared and stole glances at the foreign intruder with utter curiosity and suspicion. No one was used to change around these parts, especially when some guy shows up with bright golden hair. The man rolled his eyes at the looks everyone was giving him and snorted at the whispering comments he heard from groups not too far away.

"Who is that?" A peasant woman asked.

"I don't know, but he looks a bit strange to me." One man answered.

"If you ask me, he seems like one of those Americans I keep hearing about nowadays." A old duchess snarled her lip haughtily, only angry because this man had attracted so much attention.

"What if he's a spy? Is he going to corrupt us!" A frantic older man exclaimed quite loudly, though the traveller ignored it as best he could.

'Sheesh! What kind of manners did these people grow up with? I can't take their senseless babbling anymore!' The foreigner thought as he strolled nonchalantly down the lane. Had they never seen a man with blonde hair before? He assumed not.

This particular man was headed for the outskirts of town where the countryside was. Since he worked as a travelling author, he always needed peace and tranquillity to write his stories. They were romance novels, and the blonde was famous for them in America, though the people here obviously didn't know that. By the way everyone was spreading rumors about his arrival, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to find an inn to stay at that night. Either way, he needed to get out of this crowded city, and fast! A major headache was already forming on his brow.

As the "well-known" author walked through the market place, it became tighter as the roads got smaller, causing a young man to bump into him and knock all the books he had onto the ground.

"Ah, great." The foreigner muttered and began picking them all up.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't watch where I was going!" The other man helped him gather his belongings.

"Watch where you're going next time kid." He growled carelessly, and strutted away once all his stuff was well kept in his hands again. As he turned a corner, the traveller thought, 'Was that guy carrying a bunny?'

Look! It's Yuki smoking!

Alongside the entrance of the city was a streak of large mansions lined up along the streets, all belonging to the richest dukes, land owners, and lords. The first one was the grandest of them all, having been made of white marble and jade, with cement statues and fountains in the front driveway. A polished black carriage pulled up into that enormous driveway with one of the most powerful people in Arbaphem city besides the King. Tohma Seguchi was a wealthy landowner who owned the largest trading post in the English world. His business brought him to the top rank of the caste system right underneath the Monarchy. His wife, Mika Seguchi, was also part of his foundation, and both were equally feared. As the two stepped out of their cart, people stopped to stare at the pair, their clothes and air about them almost gushing "wealth". Tax collectors especially liked them because the Seguchi's always gave such generous offerings of money toward their King. If fact, they could pay off the whole city's debt if they wanted, though the thought never did cross their mind. Loved, admired, and loathed at the same time, the Seguchi family was a one of a kind sight to see around the town.

Once the carriage drove away, a leaping ball of energy came hopping toward the sun blonde man, almost knocking him to the pebble driveway.

"Tohma! I missed you!" The older man yelled gleefully while latching onto the landowner's neck playfully.

"Ryuichi-san! I'm not surprised to see you here." He smiled.

"Don't forget Mr. Kumagorou too!" He said, holding up the childhood rabbit up in the man's face.

Tohma chuckled. "Don't worry. I didn't. How are you today, Kuma-chan?"

Ryuichi nodded the bunny's head for him and hugged him softly. "Na! Where have you been, Tohma-chan?" Ryuichi stood up straight.

"I was working a deal with china for some more of its jade."

"How did things turn out with the pretty china dolls?" He made Kumagorou do a little dance.

"Quite fine, actually. We're trading some of our herbal medicines for many great slabs of jade. And what about your business, Ryuichi-san?"

"Me and Mr. Kumagorou are giving away lots of pretty land to lots of pretty people! I even put holes in the ground for some of the families so that Kumagorou's friends can come live with them!" He sparkled excitedly.

"Oh, uh... really..." Tohma sweat dropped. Those were gonna be some unhappy people later on... "So, uh anything new happen while I was away?"

"Nope!...well, except this one new guy came into town and everyone was staring at him... I think it was because his hair was so shiny and gold. He was kinda rude, but his head was still really pretty, na no da?" Ryuichi smiled and tilted his head cutely while squeezing the life out of Kumagorou.

"Hmmm, I see." Tohma rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I should meet this new fellow, huh? I always do like to get acquainted with newcomers anyhow." He grinned again almost eerily this time.

"Yeah! Thoma-chan should meet the shiny guy! Their hairs are alike, except the shiny guy's head was more like a big, poofy sunflower! Kuma-chan likes sunflowers, ne Kuma-chan? They're so big and round and dizzy dizzy dizzy..." Ryuichi smiled and twirled the stuffed animal around like a ring-around-the-rosy game, practically hitting Thoma in the process.

"Ryuichi-san! Watch where you swing him!"

As this was all going on, Mika walked inside the mansion, deciding that today was not the day to hang around the ever hyper Ryuichi-san.

Elsewhere, the blonde novelist was at town square and decided to take a rest on a cement bench that was available. Many people still stared at him warily, but he had gotten to where he would ignore them completely. His feet were already killing him from many days walks, but no matter how far he travelled, the man couldn't find the inspiration he was looking for. A few weeks ago, an old merchant told him of a city with great things lying inside and beauty displayed in many hidden forms. Arbaphem. So far, the author only found noisy crowds, men with pink bunnies, and people with no manners. What was so fascinating about this place? He couldn't wait until he finally reached the quiet countryside filled with nothing but nature and...well, nature hopefully.

After a few minutes, the blonde noticed that a crowd was gathering around and certain area in the town square, like they were waiting for something. Having nothing else to do until later, he got up and headed over toward the mass of people near a wooden stage. Was there going to be an act? And puppet show? The curtains were drawn so nothing could be seen, which irritated the man because he hated being kept in suspense. As he got a bit closer to the front of the stage the novelist noticed some bowl hats and cans situated at the rim of the platform. He was about to ask someone what they were for, when an array of shimmering streamers came fluttering down from the top of the curtains support, covering the crowd in the substance. A catchy rhythm began with the sounds of a tambourine, piccolo, bongos, and violin. Soon the crimson curtain lit up and behind its confinement was a shadow that obviously suggested a woman's body was there. Many of the people "oooh"ed and "ahhh"ed at the marvel set before them, wondering what was behind that red cloth. Once the beat slowed and got louder, the curtain fell and out came dancing a lilac haired, violet-eyed gypsy clad in silky red parachute pants, a red tube top with sheer sleeves that fell on her shoulders, a red sheer cloth floating over her mouth, and little golden dancing shoes. The woman had a tambourine in her hand and was tapping it to the music. The crowd watched in awe at the display, some enticed, and some disgusted. The author's question of what the hats and cans were for was finally answered when he saw coins and pieces of food being thrown into them. It seemed that the gypsy was well practiced in the art of dancing and knew what she was doing. The blonde shook his head lightly when he saw drooling old men clawing up on stage after her, fortunately with no avail since there were guards holding them back.

During the dance, the traveller found the girl on stage winking and blowing kisses at him from afar, which he found quite amusing in some way, but not interested. Near the end of the show, the maiden slinked down to the foreigner's eye level, inching slowly toward his face seductively, about to kiss him, when...

"What's going on here!" A young voice came shouting into the crowd. Everyone stopped watching and looked behind them to see who had interrupted the interpretive dance and gasped in shock. "What ruckus is being caused here that I can't even think straight!" The child with aqua hair stormed through the people toward the front of the stage and looked up into a pair of familiar eyes. "Ahh... Noriko Ukai. I should have know it was you who was poisoning these people's minds with your witchly dance."

"Oh my, it seems you found me... my dear, Fujisaki Suguru."

AN/Well! That's it for now! I'll write more tomorrow if I can. It'll get better soon. This whole beginning is just like a big prologue right now. The REAL plot will soon fall into place once I introduce all the characters. Then we'll get to see more of Shuichi, kay? The reason I started this fan-fic was because I had dream about this certain plot and HAD to write it down, na no da? Of course I had to add a few things since it was a bit choppy in my dream, but it's going great so far! PLEASE REVIEW. Thank you! --
Oh Yeah! I'm gonna be gone this weekend for a wedding so I won't be able to update until Sunday. So I'll finish ch. 3 by then!