dark-birdie: well, it has been an interesting adventure for our heroes so far. . .what dangers ensue for them? Who knows! Just read you twit!

Undying Death- Chapter Three

After their little excursion in Shy's orphanage, because of the deaths of the owners of the orphanage, Lykouleon invited all the abandoned children to stay in the Dragon Castle. "The more the merrier," was his remark as he shrank at the sight of an angry white dragon officer, but Alfeegi, too, didn't want to just leave the children in another orphanage, and so agreed with Lykouleon's decision.

But that didn't mean he was happy.

"Nohiro! Stop jumping on the bed! Ah! Ringleys, those books are expensive! Put them down this instant! MIYABI! I TOLD YOU NOT TO SWING ON THE CURTAINS!" Alfeegi continued to explode around the room as tiny little midget kids decided to ruin his life. ((btw, forget the fact that I said Miyabi and Shian were dead. . .because I just brought them back to life. . .just replace their names with someone else's))

The remaining children from the orphanage, including Zoma, were six children. Three boys, and three girls. The boys being Zoma, Nohiro, and Ringleys, and the three girls being Hana Kusuku, Miyabi, and Shian. And so far, Alfeegi wasn't too happy about the fact of six crazy kids ruining the castle. Except for Hana Kusuku, of course. He and everyone else, especially Cernozura, simply ADORED her. Mainly because they thought she was the cutest, most kind and pitiful thing they had ever seen. Ever since she had set foot in the castle, she followed around the head Chamberlain wherever she went. Perhaps it was because when Cernozura had seen the state the pink-haired girl was in, she immediately turned to her motherly mode and tended to her every need. And, well, Hana Kusuku, never ever having anyone tend to her, was filled with joy that someone was actually caring for her.

And the result of this was. . .

Both Lykouleon and Ruwalk stared out the office door as Cernozura passed by it, bearing a laundry basket in her hands. And then, as soon as she had passed, Hana Kusuku passed the door right after her, carrying a smaller basket of laundry in her hands. Then Cernozura passed by the door again, bringing out a fresh pile of clothes, followed by Hana Kusuku carrying the same thing.

"Doesn't that get annoying after a while?" muttered Ruwalk to his childhood friend, piling up more papers on the Lord's desk.

This act of passing back and forth in front of Lykouleon's office door happened several more times, until finally Cernozura paused right in front of the door.

And then a few seconds later. . .

Hana Kusuku rubbed her nose as she collided with the elder woman's back, looking up startled as to why she had stopped.

"I don't think Cernozura minds," replied Lykouleon, smiling as the chamberlain squealed, "You're so adorable!" and put the pink-haired girl in a death hug.

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"Hey guys, guess what!" Rath was quite used to the child act now, and actually had fun playing with his young friends. "I'm an automatic lighter!" He snapped his fingers, and a flame erupted at the tip of his nail. He continued to snap his fingers, "On, off, on, off, on, off, on, off o-"

"Zoma, WE GET IT!" snapped Ringleys, dousing his friend's finger with a nearby bucket of water. He always had one handy just in case Zoma decided to set something on fire.

"Well, I think it's cool," said Nohiro, leaning on the bedpost of his new and very comfortable bed. "Hey, let's go find some ants and burn them!" He happily jumped off the bed ((flying up a couple feet first, though)) and landed on the ground. "Now, where to find some an- AH!" Nohiro darted underneath his blankets as a person popped out of seemingly nowhere. "O-oh! Tetheus!" Nohiro peered out from his covers and smiled with fear. Ever since the Black Dragon Officer had caught him sneaking highly expensive Elven wine from the pantry, Nohiro had been terrifyingly scared of the emotionless officer.

"I was just told. . ." started Tetheus, staring oddly at the boy underneath the blankets.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it!" shouted Nohiro, covering himself up even more. "It's not my fault that Lady Raseleane's favorite vase in the third corridor on the fifth floor, two right turns from the entering staircase is falling apart because of a pathetic attempt to glue it back together!"

Tetheus raised an eyebrow at this rather long statement and continued on with his announcement. "I was just told. . .to bring Zoma to the Lord's Office," he concluded, then staring accusingly at the lump underneath the blankets. "But I shall be visiting Lady Raseleane's favorite vase in the third corridor on the fifth floor, two right turns form the entering staircase, that SHOULD be perfectly fine and not cracked or glued together in any way."

"DAMMIT!" screamed Nohiro into his pillow as he realized he had just blew it once again.

"I wonder what Lykouleon wants with Zoma?" said Ringleys, watching the violet-eyed boy follow the Black Dragon Officer out of the room.

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"A Dragon Knight?"

"Yes, the Dragon Knight of Fire, to be exact," said the Dragon Lord, looking down at the boy from his seat behind his wide oak desk. "I hear Thatz gave you a rather…poor explanation of what you were."

"Hey, what's wrong with being special!" argued Thatz, from his corner of the room. Rune stood next to him, sighing as he thought his friend couldn't get any dumber. ((gomen Thatz fans out there… I made him SUCH an airhead))

Lykouleon gave a slight sweat and continued on, "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is. You are no longer human. You're a dragon, to be exact. One of the special clan who rule over Draqueen."

"SEE! I told ya he was special!" shouted Thatz, he then gave a poor impersonation of the Dragon Lord; "One of the SPECIAL clan who rule over Draqueen." He yelled, flapping his arms in the air like a child.

And, accordingly, Rune proceeded to land a rather GARGANTOUS rock on top of the bumbling twit's head, shouting, "SHUT UP WHEN THE LORD IS TALKING YOU DOLT!"

Anywho…

"AS I WAS SAYING…" continued Lykouleon, "the fire dragon knight is a particularly special position."

Rath let the words flow through his ears then out again. Ya dee ya dee ya… It was the same speech he was given last time, he didn't need to hear it again. He just smiled and nodded once in a while, then continued with following the trail of a speck of dust.

"Oh, and I would like you to meet our fortune teller," Lykouleon came out from behind his desk, "She helped us find you."

"Nn…" murmured Rath to himself, turning to face the door. 'Of course, duh, Sarazar is always the one to tell you where things are…'

Ruwalk opened the door, and the fortuneteller walked in, clad in her special-occasion, white fortune telling outfit.

And watering, slightly puffed and slightly red, eyes.

Rath's heart jumped a beat as he saw the girl enter the room. 'Cesia!' He searched and searched his mind as to when she had started being the fortune teller of the Dragon Castle. 'Think, think…'

Oh, wait, now he remembered! It was when he and the other knights had come back from retrieving Nadil's head. Yeah, that was it. And then when they got back to the castle, the Dragon Lord had already taken her in as their official fortune teller.

'How could I forget?' he thought to himself, fiddling around with the silver cross around his neck.

"I'm sorry," said the demon witch, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, "Something just got into my eye…" she lied, downcast.

"Cesia, this is Zoma," said Lykouleon, introducing the boy besides him. "The new Fire Dragon Knight."

The girl looked down at the small boy and forced a smile upon her face. Her words stuttered as she spoke. "V-very nice to…" a small tear slide down her cheek, "meet…" and another tear, "you…"

And then the girl burst into tears.

"I'm sorry!" she half shouted, trying to soak up all her tears with her sleeve, "I'm r-really sorry! I-I just…" she could no longer hold back her emotions. She rushed out of the room as quickly as possible and ran down the hall straight back to her room.

Rath stared. 'Cesia…' What had just happened? Never in his entire life had he ever seen the yokai cry. Not even the sight of dying people or bloodied corpses.

"I'm sorry for the, um…outburst," said Lykouleon, looking down at the child. "She recently lost a very good friend."

"What?" Rath no longer thought to himself, but aloud. No way, she was crying over his death? A small thing like that…and she was crying about it?

"She blames his death on herself," Lykouleon looked out the door that Cesia had left through.

Rath felt his stomach do a back flip. "…why?"

"Well," the Dragon Lord bent down on one knee to be on face level with Rath, "because she loved him. You might not get it now, but," he glanced over at Lady Raseleane, who was patiently waiting on the other side of the room, "When you come to love someone, you will do anything in your way to keep them safe. Even at the cost of one's own life." His golden eyes slightly dimmed, "But if that person were to die…then one would blame themselves for their death, because they would think it was their fault for not being there, their fault for not stopping them, or their fault for not being strong enough." He got up from the ground. "It's okay if you don't understand, You're still very young, after all."

No, Rath had understood all the Dragon Lord had said.

Cesia had loved him.

And he had just figured it out now.

'God, why am I so stupid?'

()(X)()

dark-birdie: excuse me while I continuously hit myself with a spikey stick for making Rath go through such heartache… -hits herself with said stick- I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY RATH! Don't forget to review! ((btw, did you catch the Fruits Basket thing with Hana Kusuku and Cernozura?))