The Day With Wolfram Chapter 7: The Distance, a kyo kara maoh!/今日からマ王！ fanfic

The Day With Wolfram, Chapter Seven

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Gunter rushed into Gwendal's office early the next morning. "Terrible news! Er…" he looked around, seeing that Gwendal was not there.

The advisor nearly screamed. "Bad, bad, bad omen!" he shouted, slamming shut the door to Gwendal's office as he searched Blood Pledge Castle.

He found the black-haired Mazoku in the dining room, drinking tea and trying to wake up enough to deal with certain over-the-top noblemen and eccentric noblewomen.

"Sir Von Walde!" Gunter shouted, running to Gwendal and nearly falling down when he reached him. "Terrible news!"

Gwendal grunted. "It's not about my brother and the Maou eloping, is it?"

Gunter was shocked for a moment, but he quickly recovered. "It's not about that selfish loafer! The Great Sage learned of a small army that plans to attack New Makoku!" He pulled on his hair. "And the dear Maou isn't back yet! What if he gets caught up in this? Ah! It'll be my fault!"

Gwendal gave him a bizarre look. "Well, he IS our king, so the attack would be his problem anyway." He finished his tea before standing up. "Where are the Great Sage and Conrad?"

"Well, they decided to stay out to look for his Majesty and the Prince."

"What?" Gwendal held his head in his hands for a moment. "We're about to come under attack. Our king is gone. Our best swordsman is gone."

"I'm still here!"

"Our best PRACTICING swordsman is gone. And Wolfram…" he sighed. "He may be a brat, but he's an excellent soldier and his majutsu can only be bested by the Maou. Not only that, but the Great Sage is in danger."

Gunter nodded. "It's all so terrible!"

Gwendal said, "Yes, it is, but we still have an army. If we're lucky, the enemy will not be very strong. We've grown too used to depending on that boy Maou for our own safety."

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When Wolfram awoke, he felt warmer than usual, and relaxed. He stayed like that for a few moments, not opening his eyes, but simply enjoying whatever he was feeling right then.

Something next to him moved, and he opened his eyes quickly to see Yuuri lying next to him on his back, black eyes wide open, and staring at the ceiling. He noticed that his left arm was slung across Yuuri's chest, and Yuuri held Wolfram's left wrist with his right hand, keeping him close, and keeping him in place.

Wolfram took all this in, then shut his eyes quickly so that Yuuri would not realize that he was awake. He didn't want Yuuri to push him away because he was embarrassed, and he knew that he himself should have pushed Yuuri away, should have said something about 'taking privileges', but he didn't want to.

Yuuri was…holding him.

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I need to get used to this. It's for Wolfram. If I can't get used to being close to him, or touching him…it just wouldn't be fair to him. His body feels nice enough, anyway, even if I'm just hugging him or lying next to him.

There's more than that, though. How far does he want to go? What do I need to be prepared to do?

Yuuri felt Wolfram's heartbeat and breathing patterns change, and he knew that his fiancé had awoken. He didn't move, though. He'd been in that position with Wolfram for the last hour, and he at least wanted Wolfram to see that he was alright with certain amounts of physical proximity.

He turned his head to look at Wolfram's face. Wolfram had closed his eyes, and there was a look of frustration in his face. Yuuri unconsciously reached for Wolfram, letting go of Wolfram's wrist and letting his fingers touch his cheek.

Wolfram's green eyes shot open in surprise, and he sat up quickly, pulling away from Yuuri.

They stared at each other for a few moments, and a look of realization came onto Wolfram's face.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwww! My arm fell asleep!" the prince shouted, rubbing his left arm quickly, and averting his eyes from Yuuri.

Yuuri wasn't quite sure of what to make of this. Maybe he's just trying to pretend that nothing happened. It's something he would do.

Wolfram glared at him then, and Yuuri jumped back.

"What are you staring at, you wimp?" he demanded of Yuuri.

Yuuri gave him a look. "I was just wondering if your arm was okay."

"Well, it just fell asleep. It's nothing for you to worry about." With that, feeling came back into Wolfram's arm, and he started to flex his fingers.

His eyes found Yuuri's face again, and he found that he was still being stared at.

"What?" he demanded before throwing a pillow at Yuuri.

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Murata had searched for Shibuya and Wolfram all night with the help of Sir Weller, but there were no leads on either of them. There were no reports of a young man with black hair, or a blonde with green eyes.

They stopped to let their horses rest and to eat at a restaurant in one of the towns they came across.

As they sat down, Murata asked Conrad, "Do you think that they're still in this country?"

The soldier shook his head. "We have no way of knowing. They've been gone for two days now, and that's enough time for them to cross anyone of our borders." He sighed. "I hope that this was just a childish act of Wolfram's and that Yuuri will return home soon."

"I don't know if Wolfram would have done something like this. He DOES know that Yuuri is very important to the country, after all," Murata countered.

"Yes, but if you had grown up with Wolfram, you'd know that he often doesn't follow the most logical course of action."

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"YUURI!"

His Majesty King Yuuri looked over his shoulder to see Wolfram fuming at him. Yuuri had been speaking with a shop owner (a woman, in Wolfram's eyes) about the nearby towns, and the conversation had been completely innocent…

Yuuri tried to let it go.

The woman he'd been speaking to looked over his shoulder. "Do you know him?" she asked.

"Heh heh…yeah…" Yuuri said, not sure of how to answer. He knew that Wolfram was listening, though, so he said, "He's my fiancé," very quickly so that he could not stop himself partway through the admission.

The woman stared at him for a second.

"What?"

Yuuri bit the inside of his cheek. She has a problem with it? But I still need to…it's for Wolfram…

"He's, uh, my fiancé. We're going to get married."

"Oh." The woman blinked, and said, "Good luck with that."

Yuuri thanked her and nervously turned around to see Wolfram standing with his arms folded, looking down the road they'd walked down, obviously pretending that he hadn't heard Yuuri.

He snapped his head in Yuuri's direction and barked, "Did you get directions?"

"Yeah."

Wolfram now turned his whole body in Yuuri's direction, and asked, "Where to, then?"

Yuuri sighed inwardly. "We have to go back through the other side of the town, and follow that road. When the road meets a forest, it will intersect another road. We're supposed to take the new road by turning right, and that will take us back to New Makoku."

"Well, good," Wolfram said. Something seemed to have agitated him, and he seemed flustered. He surprised Yuuri by suddenly grabbing his hand and pulling him down the road in the direction Yuuri had told him they were supposed to go.

Yuuri let himself be pulled at first, but then he pulled his hand away from Wolfram's forcefully. When Wolfram turned around to object, he took Wolfram's hand in his own and interlaced their fingers.

He held up their linked hands and asked, "It's okay like this, right?"

Wolfram could only reply by staring at him in silence.

Yuuri had actually accepted him.

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When Murata and Conrad began to mount their horses, a flash of black caught Murata's eye. When he looked away from his horse, he saw none other than the Demon King himself walking down the road, and holding hands with his bratty, blonde, male fiancé.

Conrad had seen it too, and he stared at the odd sight for a moment before smiling. "Well, I'm glad that's taken care of," he said before mounting his horse.

Murata smiled and nodded before mounting his own horse. "So, are we going to pick them up and bring them to New Makoku?" he asked.

The soldier blinked. "Of course, Great Sage. I don't know what else we'd do after finding them."

"We could…make it a little more fun…"

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Yuuri wiped the sweat from his forehead as he trudged down the road with Wolfram. They'd stopped holding hands hours ago, partially due to the fact that Wolfram had become embarrassed and had pushed Yuuri away. The day had become hotter since that morning, and even the ever-dignified Wolfram was showing signs of weariness.

The prince kept silent, though, and chose to take his mind off the heat by ridiculing his fiancé.

"Are you hot, you wimp?" he asked Yuuri after neither of them had spoken for a while. Yuuri glared in his general direction. There was a smug look on Wolfram's face, though Yuuri didn't know what had put it there.

Yuuri sighed. "I'm not used to this. Whenever we have to cover a lot of ground, there are usually horses and carriages."

"Hpmh. If you had endured soldier training, you'd know better than to complain about days like this." The blonde boy smirked and folded his arms across his chest.

Soldier training, huh?

"How long has it been since your training?" Yuuri suddenly asked him.

Wolfram stared at him in surprise, then said, "It's been about twelve years since I completed my training. I still practice swordfighting and majutsu frequently, though."

"Makes me think of baseball," Yuuri said absentmindedly.

"That GAME again?" Wolfram asked, now agitated. "I guess that if you like chasing around balls or running around, that that would be entertaining." He shot Yuuri a sideways look. "Or is it because Weller likes it too?"

"It has nothing to do with that!"

"Then why would you get defensive about it?"

Yuuri threw his hands up in the air. He thought about retorting, but…there was no reason. He would just have to calm down, and wait for Wolfram to get out of whatever mood he was in.

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Murata watched them from a ways back. Conrad seemed to have lost interest in his brother and Yuuri…possibly because the fun had warn off after watching them, completely unnoticed, for the first hour.

"Hey," the Great Sage said, "Aren't we getting close to home?"

Conrad looked at their surroundings. "I think we're still a ways off."

Murata sighed. "You want to just pick them up? We'll probably get home faster."

Conrad nodded, and he guided his horse into a gallop. Murata followed suit, and they began to close in on Yuuri and Wolfram.

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Upon hearing the sounds of horses's hooves, Yuuri turned around to see none other than Conrad and Murata approaching. He was a little shocked but mostly overjoyed, and he started to jump up and down and to wave at them.

"Murata! Conrad!" he shouted.

"What are you--" Wolfram turned around and sneered. "Since when did they get here?" he spat angrily. Yuuri chose to ignore him.

Murata smiled widely at Yuuri when they had caught up to him. "Enjoying your vacation, Shibuya?" he asked.

"Well, sort of…" Wolfram shot him a glare.

"I'm glad to see you're safe, Your Majesty," Conrad said, waiting for Yuuri to respond with his usual, 'Don't call me that! You're the Man Who Named Me!'.

Instead, Yuuri sighed and shook his head. "I just want to get back home now…" He looked at Murata's and Conrads horses.

Two horses. Four people.

Puzzle time.

Wolfram will want to ride with me…I've appeased him enough recently.

Conrad would let me ride with him.

Murata would let me ride with him, but Wolfram will not want to ride with Conrad.

So, I could ride with Conrad and Murata could ride with Wolfram…but Wolfram will say I'm flirting with Conrad and he'll make a big deal out of it.

I could just appease him…after all, we're supposed to be getting closer—I mean, I'm supposed to let him get closer to me—I mean, I want to get closer to Wolfram—

"What are you doing, you wimp?" Wolfram asked. Yuuri looked around to see that Wolfram was no longer standing next to him.

He saw Wolfram sitting on Murata's horse, with Murata still on it.

WHAT?

Wolfram glared at him. "Hurry up and ride with Conrad. You wanted to get back home, didn't you?"

Yuuri stared at him, then shook his thoughts off and obeyed.

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Teenagers could be so strange. That was Conrad's analysis, at least, as he watched Wolfram try to avoid Yuuri.

He knew that Wolfram often denied the way he truly felt, and this was most likely the product of that side of his personality.

Something must have happened since they left the castle, he thought. Yuuri had fallen silent soon after the 'elopers' had been 'rescued', so Conrad planned to talk to him later.

In all honesty, he was afraid for Wolfram. His feelings did not coincide with Yuuri's, and it was their feelings that both boys usually acted on. Yuuri had never been in any position to be hurt by Wolfram, their first fight notwithstanding, but Wolfram, for all of his defenses and distancing and cover-ups, was incredibly vulernable.

Conrad wondered if the boy dozing behind him could have hurt Wolfram, intentionally or not.

He shook his head. The sun was setting and New Makoku was still not in sight. The Great Sage seemed to be in good condition for not having slept over the past few days, and Wolfram, though still awake, had fallen silent. Conrad noticed that Wolfram was sitting rather stiffly behind Murata.

He doesn't want to be close to anyone other than Yuuri, does he? Conrad mused. That's why he hasn't fallen asleep yet.

Wolfram's soldier training might have been a factor too, but Conrad chose to ignore it.

Murata let his horse slow down so that he and Conrad were side by side, and he asked, "How's Shibuya?"

Conrad looked at the Great Sage to see that Wolfram had looked away, not wanting to see Yuuri so close to his half-brother, even if he was the one who had decided that they would ride together. "I think he'll be fine," he replied.

"That's good." Murata faced the road and sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "I think that we'll need to stop in a while, either by finding a hotel or setting up camp."

"You two didn't bring any supplies…" Wolfram grumbled, still not looking at Yuuri or Conrad.

Murata laughed. "Oh we didn't, now did we? Well, we'll just go to the next town then."

"As the Great Sage wishes," Conrad said, smiling at his younger half-brother.

"Hpmh."

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They arrived at the next town soon after, and found a hotel with a few spare rooms. Wolfram did not protest when Murata asked for two rooms with two beds. He did not want to force Yuuri to try to appease him like a child.

The rooms they were assigned were across the hall from each other. Wolfram stared at the doors to their rooms, as if he was going to make a suggestions about sleeping arrangements, when Murata grabbed his arm and pulled him into one of the rooms, leaving Conrad standing in the hallway, holding a still-sleeping Yuuri and the key to the other room.

"What--" Wolfram tried to protest.

Murata grinned like a madman. "We're traveling buddies now! That means that we're going to share a room!"

Wolfram stared at him, and his anger drained away. "Oh…I guess that's alright." he said, sitting down on the far bed in defeat.

"Of course it is!" The Great Sage struck a 'teacher's pose', with one hand on his hip and the other waving in the air with his index finger up, telling Wolfram he intended to make a point. "I think that you had a good idea about the riding assignments, Wolfram!" he said, accenting each word by jabbing the air. "Until we get back to New Makoku, you and I will eat, sleep, and ride together, and Shibuya will do the same with Conrad!"

Wolfram bit his lip and looked away. "Yes…I guess that's right."

Frustrated but not showing it, Murata continued. "After all, you won't have to be around Yuuri then. And Yuuri sees Conrad like a father figure, and he hasn't been able to see him over the last two days, so I'm sure that they have a lot of catching up to do!" He sat down on his bed with a flourish and continued. "I think that we have a lot of catching up to do, too!"

Wolfram blinked. "Like what?"

Murata smiled at him evilly. "Well, you and I haven't really been able to become friends yet, so there are a lot of things we can talk about so that we can get to know each other?"

"I…don't really want to…."

"It's perfectly alright!" Murata said, cutting off his protest. He shifted so that he was sitting cross-legged on his bed, and he leaned forward on his elbows, giving a confused Wolfram his full attention.

"What kind of sports do you like, Wolfram?" he asked, smiling at the prince.

Wolfram sat back on his bed, somehow intimidated by this very strange person. Murata had been correct in saying that they weren't friends.

What the HELL is the Great Sage up to?

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Conrad sighed as he carefully lowered Yuuri onto one of the beds in what was now their hotel room. It had bothered him that Wolfram had not requested to share a bed, or at least a room, with the Demon King. Something had happened between them, and Wolfram was trying to push Yuuri away.

He briefly checked over his godson's body for wounds. Yuuri hadn't complained about any injuries, but Conrad knew better than to accept Yuuri's condition at face value.

He found the wounds on Yuuri's wrists from when he had been cuffed, and he wondered where they had come from. Also, if he had indeed been handcuffed, what else had happened during his capture? Had he or Wolfram been injured? Conrad doubted that either of them had been tortured for information, since Wolfram was too stubborn and Yuuri, too brave and stupid, to give up information before being wounded severely.

Some injuries, though, were not purely physical.

He would have to ask the two of them tomorrow.

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Notes:

No M-rating yet. If/when it happens, the story will of course be moved to the M section.

It's painful, but I must apologize for the lack of updates. The reviews I've received have been wonderful. M.L. Patton, you are actually what inspired me to keep going. Once again, this is a very painful admission.

Thank you for reading the Day With Wolfram. No, it's not over yet, just sayin' thanks anyway.

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