Author's Notes: Never understood the point of only updating once a week or so, if I have the chapter ready, why not post it up? No good reason for it to collect dust (metaphorically speaking), right? So, without further ado, onto the next chapter! I have a sneaking feeling you'll rather enjoy this one. Or so I hope. XD Constructive Criticism is always welcomed.

Ceteris Paribus

Chapter Five: Cracking the Mask

Takeru kept his attentions fixed to the board, the latest development having given him a lot to think about.

Mako's concern for her sister was genuine, something he no longer doubted, if he had had any to begin with. He admired her controlled anger. He was no slouch when it came to masking his true feelings, but he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to think as calmly as Mako had had it been his little sister who had been nearly attacked by another man. His brows furrowed in ire just thinking about it.

"Have I stumped you at last?"

Takeru looked up at his playing partner, smoothing out his features as he did so. She had gotten quicker at catching the nuances in his facial and body expressions, reading them as if he were voicing his thoughts out loud. Fortunately, this time, she had read his frustration as part of the board game and not his true thoughts. He'd be in trouble the day she could read those.

When he simply looked back at her with his mask more firmly in place, Mako's teasing smile faded slightly and she looked away silently as if remembering something she had forgotten. It was times like these, times when her carefully poised façade so resembled his own that he had to work his hardest to seem disinterested, to not break his vow of silence toward her or anyone else in this place and ask what was going on in her head, what thoughts raced behind such sharp, intelligent eyes.

"Hime," Ryunosuke's voice sounded urgently as he re-entered Mako's rooms alone, noting that Kotoha must have been resting quietly in Mako's innermost quarters, leaving Mako and Takeru alone in the room.

"Where is Chiaki?" she inquired, her eyes not leaving the board.

"Carrying out your will for the former-guard," Ryunosuke informed her at once. "But – Hime are you sure it's…wise to allow this new person so close to you and your sister?"

"I have every faith that you will inquire as far into his background as is humanly possible Ryunosuke, just as you have always done," she stated simply before moving her chosen piece and finally looking up at the poor flustered man. "I realize it seems like a rash decision, but he did protect Kotoha, whatever his actual intentions."

"What if this is all some kind of ploy by one of the other Ladies, or even your father?" Ryunosuke's eyes darted about as he kept his tone low. "You have to be careful about whom you trust Hime."

Mako leaned back in her seat, tucking her legs up on the seat. "I am all too aware Ryunosuke, I assure you," her tone was quiet. "But would it not be better to keep him close, so as to better keep an eye on him than allow him to wander unchecked in the halls, if that is indeed the case?" Her eyes were steady as she watched Ryunosuke pause and consider her question. "If he is genuine in his intentions, than all the better for us – and for Kotoha."

"Hime?"

Mako's smile was mysterious. "Neither party objected to the idea in the slightest. Chiaki's only hesitation was that this new position was forced rather than voluntary." She heard the unmistakable sound of an Agnitio piece having been moved on the board and redirected her gaze. Her smile grew at what she saw. "I believe I shall keep a close eye on this newly budding situation, and judge for myself whether I have seen what I believe I see."

She moved her piece on the board with a knowing grin. "I do believe I win this round," she told her playing partner, leaving Takeru blinking rapidly at the board and Ryunosuke still trying to puzzle out his princess's enigmatic statement.

"Hey, not so far ahead," Chiaki's voice sounded, making Kotoha's smile widen as she slowed her pace even more to allow her new personal shadow the chance to catch up. "Do you always walk so fast?"

Kotoha shrugged. "It's a force of habit," she admitted.

Chiaki sighed vocally. "I promised your sister that I'd watch out for you; no one will bother you while I'm around."

Kotoha's smile grew as she watched the grumpy-appearing man walking beside her. She had discovered that when he was rarely as aggravated as he sounded. He liked to put on a tough show, especially when he was embarrassed, and for reasons she could not fathom, Kotoha found it not only highly amusing but endearing as well. She liked getting him flustered and tongue-tied. She had also discovered that he was quite the prankster and seemed at no lack for keeping himself entertained, making Kotoha laugh constantly at his antics.

Chiaki stole a glance over at his charge and felt that frustrating flush creep across his cheeks when he caught her eyes dancing as she watched him. "I've been wondering…"

"Yes?"

"What's with that quiet guy in your sister's rooms?"

Kotoha looked confused. "You mean Takeru?"

Chiaki blinked at the name but pressed on. "The one who plays that board game with her all the time but never says a word."

Kotoha nodded. "That's Takeru."

Chiaki bit back a sigh. "Sure, Takeru. But who is he?"

"Haven't you been working here since before my sister's coming-of-age ceremony?" Kotoha looked genuinely puzzled.

"Yes, but I wasn't exactly invited to the show," he answered her. "I was assigned to some other part of the palace at the time. I had only been recently promoted before your sister gave me my new position."

Kotoha took the information in with a nod. "But surely you know about the traditional 'gift' our father bestows upon his daughters when they come of age?"

Chiaki scowled. "What? You mean a sex slave?" His eyes widened and he nearly tripped over his own two feet. "You mean Takeru's a sex slave!?"

Kotoha burst out laughing at Chiaki's incredulous expression. "I'm sure that was – is our father's intent," she nodded. "Takeru's supposedly the prince of one of the rival kingdoms, and this is Father's way of humiliating him, demoralizing Takeru's home country, and showing off Father's own superiority and power." She shrugged. "Mako's not entirely convinced that our father is even telling the truth about Takeru's identity though she's inclined to believe him…this time."

"This time?"

Kotoha shrugged again. "Father isn't known for his honesty unless he has something to gain from it. Seeing as Takeru's situation would give Father nothing but increased advantage, no matter which way you look at it, it's less likely to be a lie." Her brows knit together in concentration as she recalled an earlier conversation with her sister. "Mako's doubt only stems from the fact that Father only hopes that Takeru is who he says he is…well, who others say he is, as according to Ryunosuke, Takeru has never spoken a word from the moment he was first captured in battle. Not even when he was…below." Her hand waved vaguely to the ground. Chiaki was quick to catch on to the direction of the dungeons and all that it implied.

"Why does your sister not believe Takeru is who he says he is? Or...whatever." Chiaki watched the innocent-eyed girl next to him.

"No one can prove Takeru is who he's supposed to be, but they can't disprove it either," Kotoha explained. "According to Ryunosuke, Takeru was wearing the colors of…" she frowned.

"Ten no Michi?"

Kotoha blinked rapidly at the strange word. "What?"

"Caelestis Via," Chiaki amended quickly. "It's the country Pluvia has allied itself with."

Kotoha frowned at Chiaki. "What was that word you said before?"

Chiaki cursed at himself internally, wanting to bite his tongue for his slip. "It's another name for Caelestis Via," he told her. "It's what they call their own country, in their language."

"Oh!" Kotoha's eyes lit up in surprise. "Do you know their language?"

"It's hard not to hear people yelling for their home country's honor when in battle," he answered her vaguely.

Kotoha nodded, accepting his reasonable response. "So you've seen battle then? You've been on the outside?" Her eyes were curious, not suspicious.

"…Yes." Chiaki's answer was curt.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Kotoha flustered, surprising Chiaki. "I'm sure you don't want to be reminded of that." She shuddered. "I can't imagine how horrifying it must be to be caught in the midst of battle. I know I wouldn't want to be reminded of it."

"I hope you don't have to see it," Chiaki's voice was soft as he looked down at the petite girl next to him, her naïveté spilling out of her like one of the palace's water fountains.

"Huh?" Kotoha looked up at him with confused, innocent eyes.

"I asked why your sister would doubt Takeru's identity if he was wearing Caelestis Via's colors," Chiaki answered quickly, covering his previous words, and stubbornly stamping down on the flush that was threatening to creep across his face again at her bright gaze fixed on his.

"Well," Kotoha bit her lip, trying to remember. "I suppose it's because Mako believes it could all be a ruse."

"A trick?" Chiaki watched her carefully, his shoulders tensing.

Kotoha nodded. "Anyone with intentions to harm our country could simply dress up someone in some country's colors and claim him to be royalty, couldn't they?" Kotoha questioned, missing the intent gaze her partner was directing at her. "At least, that's what Mako thinks." She shrugged. "I think Mako might be thinking too much about it, but she does have a point. This country, Caelestis Via, doesn't seem too eager to get their prince back if it's all true. They haven't exactly started charging down our doors to get him back."

"Maybe they've given him up as a lost cause," Chiaki's tone was weary.

Kotoha shook her head, her dark, unbound curls bouncing around her face beneath the sheer head veil she wore. "They have to know he's alive," Kotoha argued back lightly. "Father has no qualms about grand displays of killings." Her eyes flickered to a wall and Chiaki knew she was thinking about the wall that lay on the outskirts of the city, one that contained the remains of traitors, enemies of the country, or just anyone who had displeased the King in some way and he needed to make a public statement about. "They would know if Father had killed him." Her voice was quiet.

Chiaki grimaced as his partner fell silent at the morbid subject. "So," he ventured to pull her mind from dark places. "Who do you think he is then?"

Kotoha blinked rapidly. "I'm not sure," she answered truthfully. "But I do believe that he is not just a random civilian who was pulled off the street," she confided. "He is much too intelligent for that; he watches her too closely to be a normal man lucky enough to be given to my sister."

Chiaki snorted. "Lucky? You think a man who is forced into slavery is lucky?"

Kotoha shook her head. "No, but to end up in my sister's quarters…?" She looked at her companion shrewdly. "Can we call ourselves anything but lucky?"

Chiaki grunted in reply, unwilling to comment on the question. Kotoha smiled brightly in return as the two walked along the halls.

Mako re-entered her main rooms as quietly as she had left them. All seemed to be as she had left them, Takeru reading quietly in one corner, Ryunosuke busy with his letters in another. Both men seemed to be largely ignoring each other, but Mako was glad to see that the original tension that had once filled the room upon Takeru's first arrival had lessened a great deal; she finally felt that she could breathe in the same space the two occupied.

She silently slid her finished letter underneath Ryunosuke's other papers, keeping her body well placed in between Takeru's line of sight and her movements. Only Kotoha and Ryunosuke were aware of her writings, and she preferred to keep it that way – the less people who knew about her plans, the safer they all were.

She turned to Takeru with a smile as Ryunosuke nonchalantly covered Mako's letter and buried it within his other work. "I see you've taken up my offer of reading," she commented lightly to the silent figure sitting in the opposite corner. "I'm glad."

Takeru glanced up at her briefly before returning to the book he was reading.

Mako stifled a sigh. She felt like she was talking to her walls sometimes – or like she wanted to hit her head on one of them whenever she received such an unresponsive movement. It frustrated her to no end that no matter how long he had been here, she could not get him to speak to her again. She would have thought him mute had he not spoken to her that one time, but even that had been a single word. Mako studied him out of the corner of her eye as she made to move toward her bookshelf herself. Sometimes she wondered if he simply spoke another language and so had difficulty following hers, but his reactions to her words were those of someone who understood clearly enough that she had dismissed this thought every time it came into her mind.

She perused her shelves with a sweep of her gaze, wondering which one would catch her eye today. A sudden rustle of movement sounded behind her as Ryunosuke gathered his work and stood up.

"I have some business to attend to Hime," he informed her. "I'll return shortly. If you need anything…"

Mako turned and nodded with a smile. "Thank you Ryunosuke."

He bowed in return before making his exit.

Mako glanced at Takeru quickly but he hadn't so much as twitched a finger. She sighed quietly. The two of them were alone in the room together and still he contained himself within his own personal space. Not that she blamed him, of course. She had made her intentions clear, that because of who her father wanted Takeru to be, she had firmly drawn the line in the sand. It appeared that Takeru was of a similar mind, keeping his distance from her as she had requested. Though, she noted. It seems to have relaxed him too. He's not as wary anymore. He doesn't watch us like a snake that's going to jump up and bite him the moment he closes his eyes. She spotted a book on the topmost shelf and stretched herself on tiptoe to reach it. That's something of a relief at least. I suppose it's progress, no matter how painstakingly slow.

Mako froze at the sudden shadow that rose behind her, whirling on the spot and nearly losing her balance before a hand shot out to catch her.

Two pairs of wide eyes watched each other in utter astonishment for several tense heartbeats.

Mako stared up at Takeru, completely aware of his nearness, feeling as if the summer desert's heat had arrived early and centered itself in her room. He was so close she could feel his body's warmth radiating from him, and an intoxicating scent that could only be his, wrap itself around her. His fingers seemed to burn the exposed skin of her upper arm where his hand rested after he caught her to steady her from her near-fall. His other arm was suspended above her head, leaving his face very near hers. She blinked rapidly, her heart pounding furiously from his proximity, unable to focus on anything else but her next breath.

Takeru's eyes never left hers as he slowly brought his arm down; showing Mako what was clutched in his hand.

Her eyes had trouble focusing on the object before her for a minute. Ever so slowly, her brain registered that it was the book she had been reaching for just moments before. Her hands felt like they were moving through water as she reached up to gently take the book from his hand, her fingers brushing his accidently and she felt a rush like electricity travel from her fingertips all the way down to her toes. "Thank you," she whispered, suddenly shy.

He nodded haltingly, watching in fascination as a delicate rose tint graced her cheeks. It wasn't until her eyes traveled to her arm that he realized he was still holding her. With a jerky motion he snapped his hand back to his side and she slid sideways to the far side of the room and settled herself on her favorite settee.

Mako immediately opened her book and buried her nose inside, her eyes fixed firmly on the pages.

Takeru swiftly returned to his seat and pulled his own book closer, stealing glances up at Mako every so often, trying to discern her thoughts. He hadn't meant to get so close to her – to touch her. He had simply looked up to see her struggling to get a book and had thought nothing of the gesture to help her with it. He hadn't meant to startle her, but when she had nearly toppled over his body had just – reacted. Takeru reasoned with himself that it was natural to reach out and help someone when they were about to fall. But then how come you didn't want to let go? A little voice in the back of his head asked.

He gazed blankly at the pages in front of him, seeing nothing but the scene replaying itself over and over again. It was her scent, he realized. Something delicate and heady all at the same time. It had drawn him in like a moth to a light. He looked at his hand, the one that had caught her and he felt her smooth, soft skin beneath his like a corporeal memory. He clenched his hand in his fist suddenly, trying to dispel the potent shadow from his head. There was a line he had drawn, one that he refused to cross.

Too much was at stake to trip up now over some – some woman. First Princess of the Court, his mind reminded him. The court of your enemy. He nodded firmly in his mind. He needed to keep that thought fixed in his head, maintain the boundaries he had set when he had first been informed by the king that he would be nothing more than a toy for his daughter's amusement. 'To do with as she pleased,' the words echoed back at him from the grand banquet where he had first been introduced to her, humiliated in front of the king's entire court.

Even as he remembered the abject shame that had flooded through his system at the time, he glanced up at her now and felt the quietest of voices in his mind wonder if she too had felt the rush like fire that had flooded his system at their touch.

He returned his eyes to his book in a flash when he heard the doors to her rooms open and a set of footsteps enter. Takeru kept his gaze firmly fixed on the words, sweeping his eyes from side to side as if he were reading, but straining his ears for the slightest of sounds to fill him in on what was happening on the other side of the room.

He heard the footsteps pause.

"Hime?" Ryunosuke's voice carried to Takeru's ears. "Why is that book you're reading upside down?"

Takeru's eyes flashed across the room to see Mako's face flush the brightest of reds he had ever seen as she silently turned the book the right way up and kept her gaze fixated on the pages, her jaw set in refusal to answer.

For the first time in what felt like a very, very long time, Takeru felt the urge to smile. He stamped down on it firmly, lest he give away more than he could afford to lose, but had anyone been looking into his eyes at the moment, the mirth that filled them would have been apparent to even the blind.