Macchi is crying.

Unless you have a really strong but soft heart, try not to go into fostering kids. My parents did. We got these two wonderful boys on Sunday, and we lost them today. They left footprints on my heart, as well as on my shirt. I miss them already.

Anyhew, thanks to

Elizabeth (anon)

XxKyeru-TanadaxX

Davison (anon)

(anon)

Chikanpo

Dysfunctional Death Angel

Varshe05

Toan Daxland

67rosary-bead42

For reviewing. You really made my day, everyone.

I was rudely jolted awake by a young prince who was bouncing on my bed. He knows I hate that...but at least he was on his knees. "Ri-n, why would you lock the door on me and Luka?" I took one glance at his messy blond hair put up in a tight ponytail at the back of his head and his concerned blue eyes, then flipped over onto my stomach and buried my face into my pillow. I felt something whack me on the back of my head, so I instinctively moved to slap him. The cheeky brat was holding a paper tablet over my head! He'd stuck the writing utensil behind his ear, so I couldn't get at it and stab him in the chest. Not that I really would...probably. I grinned and sat up as I rubbed the back of my head, and then I pounced. He refused to fall over, and tossing the tablet onto my pillow, Len tackled me and hugged me so tightly that I thought that I was going to die. As he loosened his grip around me, I snuggled into his chest, which wasn't as stick-like as it used to be.

If I was a cat, I would have purred in contentment.

I heard a soft sound come from the window and my head snapped to the direction of the opening. Len's head turned with mine, and as we saw the hem of Luka's skirt enter our view as she climbed down a rope, Len pushed me away so that I was sitting on my pillow and he was perched on the side of my bed. Luka quickly came down the rope and swung into my room, where I guess she found an amusing sight, because it looked like she was having a really hard time keeping a straight face. "What exactly were you two doing? Your faces are bright red!" I squeezed my eyes tight in humiliation as Len explained our...predicament. "I was giving her that writing pad and we started playing around a bit." I facepalmed. Why, Len, why did you have to say it like that? I reached out my arm sneaky sneaky and grabbed the scarf that he was wearing to stay warm, wrapping it around myself. Using the hand that wasn't preoccupied with tugging on Len's unruly bangs, I grabbed the charcoal behind his ear, then grabbed the pad and scribbled on it.

Luka. Leave it.

Luka frowned, obviously signaling her disapproval of our harmless interaction, and then turned to climb back up the rope while instructing us. "Since someone decided to sleep through last night's dinner and today's breakfast, I suppose you'll just have to wait for lunch. The royal family is having a late lunch, so you two need to be back from gallivanting around town in about five hours." Her pink hair disappeared from our view. I got out of my bed and sat down next to Len. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I snuggled in closer and looked up at him expectantly. Len smirked a bit and stood up, picking me up and carrying me to my door then set me down.

I scribbled on the pad as he began to unblock my door and held it up for him to see, tugging on the hem of his cloak to get his attention. Do you still love me? Is our betrothal still in effect? He smiled and ruffled my hair as I glared at him indignantly. "Of course, Rin." He opened the door and, taking my hand, ushered me out of the room.

I somewhat reluctantly drew my hand out of his. He looked at me quizzically as I gestured at my rumpled orange gown and frowned. Len laughed, and I smiled at the sound. "You look fine, Rin! So come on, we have time to go out into the town and have some fun! But first-" He drew out a thick white ribbon from his pocket and tied it around my head, leaving the giant bow standing straight up on the top of my head. He grinned at me. "Can't let you go out without your signature." I grinned and fiddled with the bow. For as long as I can remember, before the storm at least, I had always had a large white bow on my head. Sure, people and nobles laughed, but I didn't care. I loved that bow! And when it got lost...I missed it. But not as much as I missed Len.

While I was busy reminiscing, Len had taken me out of the palace as far as the far end of the moat. "Where do you want to go? The bakery? Market? Or..." I shook my head on every option, and then wrote where I wanted to go on my pad. I want to go to that one cove on the beach. You know which one.

He grinned and nodded, and as he led me to the beach, I waved happily at all of the people who were staring at me and wondering "how exactly had that weird girl come back from wherever she had disappeared to?"

With my pad under one arm and my slippers in the other hand, I plopped down on the warm sand with Len next to me. In a sense, I kinda missed the ocean. I had lots of good friends down there, and I had always had a lot of fun every day. Len lay back and sighed. "You know, I really missed you. What with my parents trying to set up another marriage between me and that one princess, you know, the one with the long turquoise hair, and learning how to take over the kingdom once Father dies, it's been really rough..." I poked his cheek; not liking the sad look on his face, then lay down next to him, content. "Rin, I hope that nothing bad happened to you. But it is rather odd that you happened to come back right before the marriage negotiations were finalized. Not that I'm upset or anything, but it's certainly surprising." I looked at him and gently brushed a bit of his bangs out of his face. In the process, though, I swept a bit of sand into his eyes.

Len sat bolt upright and glared at me menacingly. I sat up and shrank away from him, unused to this new side. He stood up, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to the ocean. No! Not the ocean! You have NO idea how much I want to stay away from that place! Ignoring my silent pleas of mercy, Len continued to drag me into the nasty, salty water and dunked me. I came up sputtering (deja vu?) and immediately yanked on his outstretched hand, pulling him into the water next to me. He jumped up and shook his head like my sweet little puppy should, then helped me to my feet. I latched myself onto his neck and refused to let go until he relented and leaned over. I pretty much jumped on his back, and then he gave me a piggyback ride, which I enjoyed immensely. As we played around on the beach, Luka came yelling for us.

"Prince! Rin! You're late for the lunch! We need to hurry up and get back to the palace...and clean you up." She looked disapprovingly at our wet, sandy clothes and I grimaced. Why did I have to get my favorite orange dress dirty...? Luka forced Len to let me down, and since we attempted to sneak away from her multiple times, she bought a thick linen piece of cloth from a nearby vendor and tied us to each other and to herself.

Nevertheless, Len and I gave her a very...fun time.

Once she finally dragged us back to the palace, it was quite a long time past noon. Another maid ran up to Luka and whispered in her ear, and then Luka turned to us with an overly composed expression. "...it seems that the royal family is extremely irritated with you, since you made them wait for a full hour. I daresay that they should make you wait until supper, but they decided to wait for you, since there is something important that needs to happen." Len looked at her, puzzled, as I held up a hastily scribbled on page. He read what I wrote. "...what sort of important thing?" Luka grimaced. "You two won't like it."

"The princess Miku and her entourage are here to finalize the marriage arrangements."

I blinked, not really believing her. No...no way...this wasn't supposed to happen! I was supposed to come here and...I forced that thought to get out of my mind. No. No. I just came here to see Len. That's all I came to do...I think. Apparently, my subconscious had different plans.

Luka untied us, gently saying, "You both need to go change clothes, freshen up, and be back here for the meal in a quarter of an hour." As soon as the linen came off of my wrist, I darted away from Len and his servant as fast as I could. I reached my room, just a bit out of breath, and flopped onto my bed after barricading the door. I seriously gotta stop doing that...this was my second time in a day! At least I have a good reason to sulk! As Len banged worriedly on my door, I ignored him and simply thought. I thought about Len and the fact that he was getting married to a goody-goody princess, and how I should be glad for him because I was gonna die anyway in...oh seaweed. (Yup, I hate that stuff enough to curse with it.) I wasted almost a whole day already! Just a day and a half left, and I was no closer to Len than I was two years ago. If anything, I was farther from my goal.

I.

Am.

Going.

To.

Die.

Luka knocked on my door. "Rin, I know that that was probably upsetting for you, but you really need to go out there. Len's not that happy either, and you need to be next to him, okay? I'm coming in now." Even though I had three chairs and a heavy chest in front of the door, Luka still got through after wiggling the doorknob. She opened the door with a triumphant smile, waving around a key. "Being a senior maid gives you special privileges, Rin. Don't underestimate a maid, ever." She brought me to my feet and had me stand on a stool as she rifled through my clothes. "This one is still a little short, but I think that you can pass it off." Luka held up a pale orange dress to my...shamefully tiny figure. "Yup. Wonderful. You are going to the meal in this." I wanted to shrivel up. The thing I hated most about Len's family was the fact that they took hours for a formal dinner-slash-lunch thingie. Horrible.

After Luka dolled me up against my will in a record ten minutes and pushed me out the door, I refused to go anywhere, thus forcing her to drag me to the dining hall with all of the royal family.

And her royalness, Princess Miku.

I used to like her. We used to be best friends.

But then I got caught on one of our days outside by some slavers and bought by Len's family. I was one of his servants until we fell in love, somehow found out that I was from a rich and prominent family (I think that Len just made that up so his parents would agree), and got betrothed. Of course, I'd seen Miku on-and-off during my time as a servant, but she never noticed me, because she was always trying to get both Len's attention and affection.

Enough with the sob story.

I was trying to avoid going into the dining hall by holding on to the doors, but as Luka was about to pry me off of the doors and shove me into the hall, Len came walking down the corridor in all his princely glory. I immediately let go of the door and latched onto him from the back. Len laughed. "Rin, Luka, what's going on?" I scribbled on my pad as quickly as I could, trying to get my side of the story out before Luka. I don't want to go! I don't want to see Miku! Luka snatched the tablet from Len as he read it. "Len, she's moping because she's jealous." I know I turned bright red, because Len turned around, and once he saw me, he turned bright red too. "Um, Luka...go on to your quarters. I'll get Rin in there."

After Luka left, Len made me let go of him and had me sit down. "Rin, it's fine. I've been protesting the marriage, and with you here, it should affect my parents a bit more. So, let's go in there and show them you're alive." He kissed my forehead lightly and brought me to my feet. I leaned against his chest until he pushed me away. I pouted, and he chuckled. "Not now, Rin. Can't you hear Mother and Father calling?" I scribbled on my tablet. Yup. Wish I couldn't, though... He grinned. "Too bad." Len offered me his arm and we entered the ominous dining hall.

The first thing I heard is going to stay in my memories forever.

"RIN!"

As for the first thing I felt...well...it hurt. A lot.

I was knocked to the ground as a gorgeous tealette barreled into me, hugging me like she hadn't seen me in two years. Of course, she hadn't, but I think that's a fair enough analogy. Even after I tried to push her off of me, Miku still held on tight and tried to get me to hug her back. I relented and leaned over to hug her back. "Ri-in! I missed you a lot! Where have you been? You weren't near my kingdom, or Len's, because we were looking everywhere! Don't worry us like that!"

I grinned, remembering exactly why I had been her friend in the first place. With that friendly and outgoing personality, she could be friends with anyone, even a shy introverted former maid at her palace. Miku made me let go of her, and then after leaning me back a bit, she looked me over. "Rin! You haven't changed a bit! You're still the same tiny girl you always have been!" Obviously, she didn't remember that I hated it when she brought that up. She, on the other hand, had changed a lot. She was taller, the teal hair put up in twin tails was longer, her aqua eyes were brighter, and there seemed to be sparkles all around her...?

Nah, that was just the light.

Len coughed. "Miku, Rin, I think we should greet my parents?" My head snapped up. Oh seaweed...the king and queen were looking straight at us with the weirdest expressions ever...King Kaito's face was contorted into some mixture of confusion and horror, while Queen Meiko's wine goblet was held up to her mouth and the remnants were slowly dribbling down her chin onto the napkin positioned on her chest to catch every drop. Ignoring them, my eyes wandered to a girl with auburn hair in the back, standing behind the chair that I could only assume was Miku's. The girl's eyes were narrowed at me, and she was holding a cat, which was glaring at me too. The reigning couple stood up. "Len, she's dead, isn't she?" The King spoke up while his wife stood dumbstruck in her position. "Father. Mother. Rin came back yesterday. I believe this means that the prior betrothal is still in effect, then?"

Hearing the Queen's slightly slurred voice, I turned my attention back to them and curtsied, albeit rather...okay. I fell over. Miku giggled along with Queen Meiko, while King Kaito glanced at Len. "Len, I'm afraid that my knowledge of the laws isn't quite to that extent. Go ask Lord Gakupo in the morning." Len bowed. "Yes, Father." "Now, Rin. Where have you been?" I blanched slightly and poked Len. "Father, she can't talk." Meiko jumped off of the slightly elevated platform that she stood on. Yup. She was drinking a long time before we got here. "Weeell then. Oi guess wee'll hafta figgur somfin out fer her, roit?" Kaito came down after her and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Dear, I think that you should go lie down...Iroha, I realize that you are Princess Miku's servant, but would you please escort my wife to her bed?" The glaring girl behind Miku's chair bowed, not daring to oppose the king, I suppose, and then took the Queen's hand and not-too-gently led her out of the dining hall.

King Kaito turned his attention back to us. "You three, we can discuss this predicament further as we eat. So," he gestured at the two chairs sitting around the table on our level. "Rin and Miku, you sit down there. Len shall sit up here in his mother's seat." Len began to protest. "But we have another empty chair at that ta-" A glare from his comically blue-haired father silenced him and he reluctantly climbed up and sat next to his father. I sat next to Miku, who glanced at me worriedly. "Rin...you really can't talk, can you?" I shook my head and, taking out my tablet from a handy pouch at my waist, scribbled a note for her. I really can't. Glad to see you though, Miku! She grinned wildly, and I suspect that she was about to hug me until the King spoke up.

"Rin, I want you to tell me everything. Iroha," he glanced at the creepy servant girl who had somehow re-entered the room. "Would you please fetch some paper, a pen, and some ink from the desk beside my bed?" She bowed again and seemed to disappear. Momentarily, she appeared by my side and handed me the supplies, grimacing slightly as my hand brushed hers.

While I wrote down the...humanized events of the past two years, turning Teto into a doctor of sorts and Neru into the person who gave me passage here, also omitting our deal, the three royals ate. As I finished, I handed my narrative to Iroha, who took it and brought it to the King. With a glance from his father, Len got up and made his way over to Miku and I. "He's going to be reading that for a while, and it's getting rather late, so we have permission to go back to our rooms." He offered his arm to Miku, who grinned at him, and nodded at me. "You can get back to your room, right? I have to take her to hers, so goodnight." Miku piped up in her giggly voice. "See ya in the morning, Rin! We have a lot of talking to do!" I waved goodnight to them as I wondered exactly what had happened during the couple hours that we ate, to make it so late that the sky was dark.

I opened the door of my room to see a rather angry maid by the name of Luka, who was holding up a scrap of the dress that I'd been wearing earlier today and the pillow that I had been sleeping on last night. A crab was hanging doggedly (or was it crabbedly?) onto the dress scrap and the pillow was stained with blue.

"Explain. Now."

Goodbye, world...

*sigh* I think that that chapter was more of a transitional thing than a chapter. It disgusts me. XD (I DID MY BEST TO NOT MAKE MIKU EVIL! I'm even trying to make her somewhat of a likeable character…) And it was pretty hard to write for me, what with everything going on.

Oh, FYI, I'm going to be gone for a while. With no Internet. So, hopefully I can type up enough for another chapter by the time I get back. Possibly. (Toan, I love talking with you. Elizabeth…GET AN ACCOUNT ALREADY XD)

Question: Where do you think this story is going to go, and why?

If I like your answer enough, I might…tweak my plans to add it in, okay? So review, answer my question, and make me feel better enough to want to keep typing.