Co-written with miss mika namariya! We own nothing. :)

Kyoko was late. Kuon knew this, not because he couldn't see her (he was used to that by now), but because he could see his other guards. Kyoko hadn't arrived yet to relieve them. Which meant that something absolutely awful must have happened, because Kyoko was never late. Kuon paced his room like a trapped animal, trying to think of where she might be.

"D'you think she's sick?" he heard Yuusei ask.

"She seemed fine yesterday," Shinichi replied. "But maybe it's… y'know… her moon time."

"She's never missed work before this time of the month, though."

Footsteps hurried up the hallway, heralding Hikaru's return. "One of the kitchen staff said that she went for a walk in the gardens around dawn, but she hasn't seen her since."

Kuon stopped listening at that point and vaulted out of his window to sprint towards the gardens. Sure, Kyoko would hate him leaving his guards without them knowing, but something had to be catastrophically wrong for her to vanish without a trace. She might be hurt, or kidnapped, or-

Or protecting an injured frog from one of the garden pond's herons. Yeah, that seemed right. Kuon sank to his knees in relief as she scared away the bird. " There you are."

Her head snapped over to him. "Prince Kuon!" Then her eyes widened and she squinted frantically up at the sun. He saw her swallow. "Oh, no… no, no, no…."

"I got worried when you didn't show up." He fought back the overwhelming urge to hold her, to make sure she was real. "You're never late, so I thought something bad had happened to you."

She handed him the frog.

He took it, confused. "Uh… thanks?"

"I'M SO SORRY!" She threw herself flat on the ground. "I HAVE DISGRACED MY TRAINING AND NEGLECTED MY DUTIES BY FAILING TO SHOW UP ON TIME, I AM LESS THAN MUD-"

"It's fine, it's fine!" He hurried to shush her, not wanting to attract prying ears. "But, uh, why am I holding a frog?"

She sat up on her knees. "So Sir Hoppington wouldn't get crushed when I apologized for my fatal error."

There was so much going on with that sentence that Kuon wasn't sure where to start. He chose the amphibian in his hands. "Sir Hoppington?"

"Yes." She nodded sharply. "I found him protecting the local faeries from the heron, and such a valiant effort deserves knighthood. After all, he put himself between them and something that could eat him."

He didn't know whether to laugh or not. She seemed dead serious about this, as she was about many things. She really, truly believed in faeries. And thought that the frog should be knighted for saving some from a heron. A frog he was now holding. It was all too much for the prince, and he doubled over from laughter.

"This is not a laughing matter!" Kyoko scolded, taking Sir Hoppington from his shaking hands. "He's hurt! He may never hop again with his leg like this!"

Gods help me, I want to knight this frog for her. The thought made him laugh harder. "I'm sorry - I'm not laughing at that -" his laughter cut him off.

Kyoko sighed, petting the little frog, who ribbited softly in approval. "May I find appropriate accommodations for him before I leave?"

That made him stop laughing abruptly. He stared at her. "Leave? What do you mean, leave?"

She stared back, equally bewildered. "Aren't I being dismissed? I was late, and made you come look for me, putting yourself in danger." She realized something then. "Where are your other guards?"

"You're not being dismissed!" I was going to knight a frog for you. Of course you're not leaving! "And I, uh, kind of snuck out through my window. So I don't know if they know that I've left my quarters."

"I'm not?" She blinked at him. "But I-"

He interrupted her, eager to derail the conversation. "I haven't had breakfast yet. Have you eaten?"

Her stomach growled. She blushed. "I generally take my morning walk before I eat."

"Come on, then." He got to his feet and held out his hand to her.

"Oh, you want to hold him?" She placed the frog in his hand and bounced to her feet.

He sighed, but hadn't really expected anything else from Kyoko. "Sure. What was his name again?"

"Sir Hoppington of Moss," she replied promptly. "Because he was sitting on moss when the heron arrived. What sounds good for breakfast?"

"Ribbit."

"Yes, I'll catch you some bugs. But I was talking to the prince, good sir." They started walking back to the castle.

Kuon shrugged as best he could without upsetting the frog. "Whatever sounds good to you. Lady's choice."

She looked at him strangely. "I'm not a Lady, Your Highness. Just a simple bodyguard."

"That's not - simple isn't a word to describe you. But still, you pick."

"Ribbit."

"Not bugs. Well, not most bugs. Some are edible, but I'm not a big fan of them," Kyoko said, adding to the list of things Kuon wondered about her. "Maybe eggs? I know Henrietta laid some this morning."

"You're on a first-name basis with the hens?"

"Of course, they're very hard workers who are vital to the survival of the castle." She held the kitchen's side door open for him.

He was met by the grumpy chef, wielding a large knife. He glared at the frog.

"He's Kyoko's?" Kuon offered sheepishly.

The chef nodded and turned back to making Kuu's second breakfast. Kuon just walked through the kitchen, shielding the frog from the other staff, trusting Kyoko to obtain food for them. She never let him carry it, though that didn't stop him from trying.

"Ribbit," said the frog in his hand.

"I know, right?" He leaned against the wall as he waited.

"Ribbit-rib."

"Indeed." Wait. I'm talking to a frog. "Why am I like this now?"

"Rib-rib!"

"Good point, she's adorable."

Kyoko left the kitchen then, food in hands, saving him from further conversation with a frog. When they reached his chambers, Kyoko apologized profusely (due to the food, she thankfully could not throw herself on the ground) to his other guards. The three were just happy to see that she was safe (Hikaru was a little too happy, in Kuon's opinion) and waved off her apologies. They then left Kuon, Kyoko, and Sir Hoppington to their breakfast.

"I think Sir Hoppington," let it be to Kuon's credit that he said the name without laughing, "should live in my chambers. We can get him a nice, big tank. Besides, you're here most of the time, anyway." Not in the way that I would like, but it's true.

Kyoko nodded. "That does make sense. I can get some plant life from his home to make him more comfortable."

"Ribbit."

"I think he approves."

If Kuon knighted the frog with a toothpick, Kyoko was the only witness.

After breakfast, Kuon arranged to bring an old fish tank out of storage. Some servants, endlessly amused, cleaned it up and filled it partway with clean water. While he was doing that, Kyoko called another guard to come watch him. She vanished before Kuon could ask where she was going.

Ten minutes later, Kyoko reappeared, soaking wet and carrying a mossy rock and some lily pads. "Here you are, Sir Hoppington!"

Kuon couldn't hold back his laughter.

Fortunately for Kyoko, Kuon was too busy laughing to notice the way that her cheeks dusted pink. Because after all, anyone who was that kind to an injured frog really couldn't be bad at all.