Disclaimer: I do not own KKM!

Author Notes: Done! It has been almost a month since I last updated and I am truly sorry about that. I can't even say I had writers block because this chapter was written out. I was just too lazy to type. Anyways I am not really happy with this chapter since I felt it isn't really up to the mark but it should do for now. Review Replies:

Sawyer fan:Thanks. I really can't believe that I have managed to reach 50 reviews! Poor Gwendal. But I really love his and Anissina's pairing. A truly dynamic pair. You have guessed right. But the surprise isn't over yet!

Allergictohw:Thanks J Everyone seems to be commenting on Gwendal's lack of eyebrows :D And Wolfram is a strong soldier first. I doubt he would show himself broken to others no matter what. That's why he is called proud!

Poetrylover: Thanks for your advice! I will follow it!

Angelanddevil2:The story is progressing a bit too slowly for my tastes too but I cant help it! Sorry.

Ilovekkm:Awesome to see you back! I was wondering where you were. J Glad to know that you liked this story. I hope you will continue reading this :D

Belldandy55555:He will suffer like Wolfram has suffered. : P

Anyways I hope that this chapter is satisfactory for now despite its short length.

Chapter 8: Calm before the Storm

She can only take so much, she has been bottling her emotions, she is about to break. This is the calm before the storm- Unknown

Was the paperwork magically restocking itself every time I looked away? Because that was exactly what I felt was happening. I repressed a sigh as I threw my quill on the table and massaged my aching hand.

I was not able to concentrate on anything. It wasn't because I was bored. At least that wasn't only the only reason. The main reason was because of Wolfram.

I leaned back on my chair as I thought about my ex- fiancé. It had barely been half a week and I already miss him. Not in that way of course, in a friendly way! He was also my best friend after all. Now my ex best friend. It seemed like everything h was to me had an 'ex' attached to it.

I scowled. It would be so much easier for both of us if he had accepted the fact that we wouldn't- couldn't get married. I love him- like a friend- and didn't want to see him hurt. But if I dragged on the engagement any longer, I would feel like I was leading him on.

But then why was I feeling like I had done the worst thing imaginable?

Maybe because I lost Wolfram friendship too when I broke the engagement. But there was one thing I couldn't deny no matter what. There was another reason other than this to break the engagement. A reason that I would never tell anyone.

Why did things have to be so complicated?

Just as I was thinking about what to do about it- the conversation I had with Wolfram yesterday had disturbed me a bit more than I would admit- Gwendal entered. I half expected him to be carrying another stack of paperwork but fortunately for me he was empty handed.

I watched warily as he glared at me with his steely blue eyes. It vaguely reminded me of a documentary I had seen of the Japanese army. One of the generals had the same kind of steely blue eyes. When I first saw Gwendal's eyes, I had wondered if it had the power to freeze people in their places. The kind of power a mother would have.

"You can go and take a break Your Majesty." He growled. At least that was what it sounded to me. I sat there looking at him for a moment. Mr. Grumpy Do- Your- Paperwork- Yourself is letting e take a break? Impossible! My mind ranged from chances of alien abduction or one of Anissina's experiment gone wrong. And one of it did go wrong. I had to remind myself of that fact as I resisted the urge to laugh at is absurdly missing eyebrows.

As I sat there controlling my urge to laugh, he became incredibly irritable. "Go." It wasn't a request, it was an order. Even I wasn't stupid enough not to listen to it. I quickly got up and ran from there as fast as I could.

But after leaving Gwendal's office, I realized that I had nothing to do. There was no way I wanted to study. Greta was nowhere to be seen. Actually I rarely saw her these days. She was spending all her free time with Anissina. It made me feel strangely lonely.

I made up my mind to go and see her. Bit for that I would have to go to Anissina's lab. I prayed that Anissina won't catch me and force me to be her guinea pig. You never know with that woman. People had every right to be scared of her. I would not even go near her secret lair where she sapped men- especially Gunter and Gwendal- of all their Maryuko if I hadn't wanted to see my daughter. But with all the time Greta has been spending with her, we might have another Mad Scientist on our hands soon.

As I neared her lab, I expected to hear screams of agony. But it was strangely quiet. And that made me feel even more nervous. It meant that there was no test subject in her lab and she might need one.

I gulped but didn't turn back. I was on a mission to retrieve my daughter. If she was here.

Hesitating for a few seconds, I hoped that she was here and my trip to this dangerous territory was not in vain. Imagine if Greta was not here AND Anissina managed to catch me.

I gulped but kept on going. I sneaked to her lab and peeked in. And blinked. Then blinked again. There were no dangerous machines or the even more dangerous Poison Lady in sight. Only Greta was there, sitting and humming to herself as she wrote something on a sheet of paper. There were different kind of chemicals all around but almost all of them were out of Greta's reach.

I entered; feeling safer now that I was sure the Poison Lady wasn't going to attack me all of a sudden and make me her teat subject.

"Hey Greta!" I greeted cheerfully as I looked at the various items lining up the shelves. I shivered. It looked similar to the medieval era torture devices.

Focusing my attention back on my daughter, I grinned and looked at the paper she was writing in.

She smiled brilliantly. She was so cute! "I won't show it to you now!" She declared, folding it up and tucking it into her pocket.

I mock pouted but hugged her anyway. "My cute little daughter! What would I do without you?" And it was true. Greta had become more and more like a daughter to me. Before coming to Shin Makuko I had never even imagines that I would be having a daughter by 30 let alone 15.

She giggled and hugged me back. I pulled back and grinned at her. "Well then! Let us go and pay some baseball."

"Yay!" Greta cheered as she got down from her chair and caught my hand. Grinning, we both made our way out of Anissina's lab.

-OooO-

"Your Majesty!" I tuned back, only to spot Conrad coming towards us. I had already retrieved my gloves and ball from ou- my room.

I smiled and replied. "Hey Conrad. And it's Yuri." I got tired of telling him all me Yuri. No matter how many times I tell him to call me Yuri he still calls me Your Majesty.

He reached us and Greta proceeded to smile brightly and greet him too. "Hello Conrart. Yuri and I were going to play baseball. Do you want to join us?" I almost burst with the pride filling my chest. My daughter had marvelous manners. She was going to grow up to be a fabulous young woman.

Conrad's smile widened and he nodded his head. "I would love to." Conrart seemed to be in a better mood that the past few days. I was glad. I couldn't bear all the three brothers being angry at me at the same time. I knew that all of them were angry, even Conrad even if he didn't show it.

After all, it was his little brother and he loved and cared for Wolfram more than me. Maybe he was starting to understand why I did this.

Maybe.

-OooO-

I stopped short from the courtyard. I knew I looked ridiculous standing there with a glove in one hand and the ball in another with my mouth hanging open but I couldn't help it. The sight was too shocking for me to take in at once.

Murata and Wolfram. Sword fighting. For a moment I thought it was a real duel until Murata fell down and started laughing as even Wolfram cracked something similar to a smile. My grip on the ball automatically tightened. What were they doing together? I had never seen them talking for more than a few minutes let alone sword fighting.

I was curious. So I made my way towards them, nearly forgetting about my companions. As I turned back to call them to join me, I caught a peculiar look on Greta's face. It looked... Sad. She was looking at the scene of Murata laughing and Wolfram smiling almost wistfully. What was wrong?

"Greta?" I called out and the look instantly disappeared. Her usual cute smile filled up hr face as she ran towards Wolfram without waiting for me.

"Wolfram!" She nearly screamed with joy as she ran forward to hug him. Wolfram looked pleasantly surprised. The scene of them hugging bought a warm feeling in my chest. They looked like a real family. I could have never even imagined that Wolfram would grow so close to Greta. He with his hot headedness and intolerance for anything remotely human was the thing that caused the accidental engagement in the first place. And to see him hugging a girl that was not only completely human but also the princess of a human country made me realize how much he had changed since I first met him.

"Hey Shibuya. Lord Weller." Murata greeted us discarding his sword on the ground. "

"Good morning Your Highness." Conrart replied. They glanced at each other significantly. I felt like I was missing something. Oh well! It is probably nothing.

"Hey Murata. What are you doing here?" Normally Murata never came to the castle unless there was some kind of emergency. I wondered if everything was alright. But before I could ask him, he started speaking.

"No real reason. I was just feeling bored so I thought I would come and meet you. Just as I was coming to your office I met Lord von Bielefeld." He gestured toward Wolfram who was patiently listening to something Greta was saying a few feet away. "We started arguing about my sword skills. So we decided to have a friendly duel." He laughed. I smiled back and hoped that this meant that Wolfram was turning normal again.

"Then tomorrow we both, Wolfram and me, will go to the City Market." That was not normal. Wolfram never really went to the city unless required. And for him to so suddenly... I realized something.

"Since when did you start calling Wolfram by his name?" I asked eyeing him warily.

He just smiled cheekily, his eyes mocking. "Since we became friends." Luckily Wolfram as standing a bit away from us with Greta so he couldn't hear us. I hope. Conrad stood silently side of me. As for me, I didn't know what I was feeling. The first emotion was disbelief. Over the fact that they actually managed to become friends. Then hurt. I felt even lonelier than ever. Wolfram had never agreed to go to the Market with me before. And jealousy? No way!

I forced a smile on my face and nodded. "Good." I resisted the urge to stomp around and whine about how unfair it was. And it was not really unfair. He was no longer my fiancé so it meant that he no longer had to stay near me constantly. And I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss him terribly.

He was my best friend after all.

By now, Wolfram and Greta had joined us. I looked at Greta. She was holding onto Wolframs left hand tightly. I observed her face. She looked happier than before but I really couldn't forget the expression on her face a while ago when she saw Wolfram with Murata.

"Papa can I go to the Market with Wolfram tomorrow?" She asked bouncing up and down. I glanced at Wolfram. He was looking at her with an amused but soft expression.

"I don't think Yuri would have any problem Greta." Conrad answered for me. I almost jumped in surprise at his voice. He had been so quiet that I had almost forgotten he was here.

'Or you were too busy staring at Wolfram that you forgot about everyone else.' A small voice in my head interrupted. I ignored it.

"Of course you can. Why don't we all go together?" I asked eagerly. It would be good to get out of the Castle for a while. Conrad and Murata exchanged another glance.

"I am sorry Your Majesty but I don't think that would be possible." Conrad said an apologetic smile on his face even though his eyes said the complete opposite.

"But why?" I was aware of the fact that I sounded like a small child whining for something can't have but I really didn't care.

"Gwendal wants you to sort out some issues about tax payments." He explained.

"He solves it on his own every time! Why does he need me now?" I asked pouting. I really wanted to go out of the Castle with Greta and Wagram. Oh and Murata too.

"This involves some hag ranking nobles so it required His Majesty's attention."

I frowned but didn't argue. There was no swaying Gwendal once he had decided something. Maybe I could sneak out...

"Awww!" Greta pouted. She came up to me and hugged me. Her head came up to my stomach. "Don't worry Yuri! Greta will bring lots of souvenirs for Yuri." I smiled and hugged her back.

"Thank you Greta."

I glanced at Murata and Wolfram. They seemed to be in a heated discussion about something. They were speaking in whispers though, making it hard to hear.

"What happened?" I asked. They stopped talking at once and looked at me.

"Nothing. Just planning the places we will visit tomorrow." Murata grinned.

Wolfram had a disgruntled expression on his face. Maybe he didn't like the place Murata had suggested.

Well, it wasn't my business to pry. "Dent you want to go?" Still I couldn't help it. Wolfram looked at me for a second before returning his glare to the ground.

"I want to go." He replied curtly. I sighed. No matter what I do, he would never talk to me properly. The urge of stomping around like a child came back again but I resisted it. Again. I was after all a king. Not some 1 year old spoiled brat who would get his way no matter what.

But before I could say anything else a guard came up to us.

"Your Majesty! A carriage has arrived and your presence is immediately required." He bowed and ran back the way he came front before I had a chance to question him further.

"We have a visitor? Who is it?" Greta asked bouncing in her eagerness to meet the visitor. I ran some names through my head. It couldn't be the nobles since they would have informed before coming. To arrive in a carriage indicated that the person was of some high ranking. But my immediate presence-

"Well then; let us go and see who it is." Conrart smiled as Greta squealed and led the way towards the front door of the castle.

I just hoped that this mysterious visitor was someone who is calm and collected and has no kind of grievances towards us.

I had met enough of those kinds of people already. It was enough for a hundred lifetimes. On the other hand, if it was a girl... I smiled and quickened my pace.

Future Soul Mate here I come.

Author Notes: This is a really very short chapter. Just barely crossing 3,000 words. Oh well! It can't be helped. I will try to put up the next chapter as soon as I can. And I am aware that I didn't use the last chapter Sneak Preview in this chapter but I couldn't help it. It just didn't fit anywhere.

Sneak Preview:

The market was crowded. A bit too crowded if you asked me. People bustled around going about their daily business. All kinds if products could be seen lining up the shelves of shops and stalls. I was a typical market place.

Maybe, just maybe, I would be able to enjoy myself.

"Wolfram." Or not. My head automatically snapped up as my eyes searched for the person who had called out my name.

One thing was true. When troubles come, they come all together. All the things I feared were turning into reality. But this was the worst.

I wondered if there was a sand hole around here. It would be good place to hide in for a while. I just needed some supplies and I have found myself a new pace to stay.

Again, thanks to all my reviewers and people who added me on their fav or alerts list. Though it would be great if you reviewed too!