Author's Note: Some of your responses/comments on this story are greatly in-tune with the story plot/character's motivations and thoughts. It's quite fascinating, really. :) I can't wait to see what else you divine from the story before it's through! (Which is going to be awhile still I think...) Enjoy! Constructive Criticism is always welcomed.

Ceteris Paribus

Chapter Eight: Consider the Impossible

"Mako? Why don't you come with us for a little while?" Kotoha urged. "You look like you could use the fresh air."

Mako smiled. "Thank you," her voice was a whisper. "But I'm fine here."

Kotoha opened her mouth to argue, but stopped when Chiaki laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. She sighed. She knew better than anyone how stubborn her sister could be. Takeru had yet to regain consciousness with his fever still raging. Kotoha knew Mako would refuse to leave his side for any duration of time exceeding the "absolutely necessary," but she still had to try. "Are you sure Mako? Genta will be here any minute. He can watch Takeru for a bit. He –" She paused suddenly, her head tilting to the side like a curious little bird. "What's that sound?"

Chiaki and Mako looked at Kotoha in confusion; even Ryunosuke paused in what he was doing to listen.

"I don't hear anything," Chiaki admitted after several minutes of hard listening.

"Really? But I – there it is again." Kotoha turned about this time, searching for the source of the noise.

Mako blinked at her sister, wondering what she could possibly be hearing when an indistinct sound reached her ears. "I hear it too," she said softly. It had just caught the edge of her hearing, too low to make sense of.

Chiaki looked at the two girls in complete bewilderment as they turned their heads about, searching for whatever they had heard. He sighed, "It's probably just the wind or something."

Kotoha shook her head. "I don't think so. It sounds like…like someone is trying to say something, but I can't make any sense out of it."

Mako and Kotoha's eyes met in twin looks of wondering before they both looked down at Takeru simultaneously.

Kotoha's eyes were wide. "So he can talk…"

Sure enough, Takeru's lips were moving in his fevered-dreams; sometimes his voice was just barely audible, other times it was completely soundless. Either way, neither girl could make heads or tails of what he was saying. It sounded like incoherent mutterings to their ears.

Ryunosuke was at their sides in a flash as all four stared down at the unconscious man before them in astonished silence.

"Hey guys!" Genta's voice broke into the quiet with its usual fervor. "What has everyone so tense this lovely afternoon?"

Ryunosuke gestured wildly to get the man to keep silent for a few minutes.

Bewildered, Genta approached on quick, anxious feet. "Is something wrong with Takeru? Did something happen?"

"Something's happened alright," Chiaki muttered too low for the girls to hear as they had drawn in closer to listen better. "The house guest is talking in his sleep."

Genta looked at his companion in complete confusion.

"In his own language," Chiaki continued.

It took a moment for the information to click before Genta looked down at Takeru, dumbfounded.

"Exactly," Chiaki correctly interpreted Genta's expression. He grasped Genta by the arm and pulled him back slightly. "What now?"

Genta shrugged. "About what?"

Chiaki scowled.

Genta rolled his eyes in response. "It's not like they can understand what he's saying," he assured the younger man beside him. "For all they know, he's just incoherent."

"Fine, but we can understand him. We know what he's saying." His eyes darted around the room before lowering his voice in further. "And we don't know who else in this place might be able to."

"Then it's a good thing he's here and not in some other Lady's room or the dungeons," Genta insisted. "He's fine."

Chiaki's look darkened. "It's not exactly safe here either." He jerked his head in the direction of Mako and Takeru. "Did you forget what caused the bruising around her neck or why he's unconscious in the first place?"

Genta sighed. "Fine, point taken."

"So what do we do?"

Genta watched as Mako's head lifted, her eyes finding his in question and Genta knew she had already pieced more of the puzzle together. He nodded to her and she turned back to Takeru. "She's quick, almost too quick," he muttered.

"What?"

Genta shook his head. "We're going to trust her, that's what we're going to do." He made to join Mako and Kotoha at Takeru's side when Chiaki's hand shot out and held his elbow firmly.

"Are you sure that's the right idea?"

"Do we have another choice?" Genta challenged. "Besides," his eyes darted to Mako's intent form, "it's only a matter of time."

Chiaki looked ready to ask exactly what Genta had meant by that statement but stopped when Mako looked back once more, wondering what was taking Genta so long. Chiaki dropped his hand from Genta's elbow immediately when her eyes latched on to the hold. He tried to look unconcerned as she studied him quizzically. He tried not to fidget under her gaze.

As Genta went to Mako's side, Chiaki turned to Ryunosuke who had remained silent throughout the entire exchange. "What do you think?"

"I agree with Genta," Ryunosuke told him.

"About what?"

His eyebrow lifted at the younger man's question. "You should trust her." He left it at that and moved closer, leaving the younger man more confused and irritated than before.

Mako looked up when she felt Genta standing behind her. "What is he saying?" she asked her voice breathless from its abuse as he knelt down beside her.

The room was absolutely silent as they listened intently.

Genta frowned in concentration, letting none of what Takeru said show on his face.

"Is he alright?" Mako asked impatiently when Genta made no move to interpret right away.

"Just dreaming, I think," Genta explained. He looked at her sideways. "How did you know…?"

Mako met his inquiring gaze with an elegant shrug. "More of a hope," she admitted. "If you knew him as a child, you'd have a better chance at understanding him." She looked back at Takeru. "And if the stories are true, I'd rather have him speaking in his native tongue than nonsensical mutterings from a side-effect of the poison or this prolonged fever."

Genta nodded in acceptance of her answer while Chiaki glared daggers into Genta's back.

"What's he saying?" she insisted.

"Hime," Ryunosuke warned. Mako ducked her head; he had given her permission to begin using her voice again but not to "strain it unnecessarily."

"About home," Genta told her.

Mako noted that Genta seemed to have included himself in that statement; no matter how much he had claimed to have traveled about. She looked at him imploringly.

Genta sighed. "You should ask him yourself when he awakens." He caught her look of stubbornness. "You could order me to tell you," he admitted and she flushed. "And I'll answer, but I can't guarantee how honest I'll be in my responses." His gaze drifted back down to his friend. "Besides, I think he deserves to keep his private thoughts to himself, don't you? He hasn't been allowed to keep much else here."

Mako's face flushed a deep red, her eyes downcast.

Ryunosuke made a warning noise and Genta looked up with a start, realizing what he had said.

"Don't get me wrong Princess," Genta hastily covered. "You've done more for him than I have any right to expect, all things considered, but…you did steal his first kiss."

All eyes turned to gape at Genta's cheeky grin, all eyes but Mako's who had suddenly found the intricate embroidery of her clothes to be fascinating as her face turned steadily scarlet.

"What?" Genta looked taken a back. "Don't tell me that was your first kiss too?" When Mako's flush only deepened, turning even her ears red, Genta couldn't hide his overly bright grin.

"I think that's enough for now," Ryunosuke broke in, grabbing Genta by the arm and hauling him to his feet. "Excuse us Hime," he addressed Mako. "I think I need to have a little chat with our cook here to discuss the topic of tact." He dragged a protesting Genta out the door.

There was an awkward silence as Chiaki stood there, torn between watching the girls and joining Ryunosuke and Genta outside. When Kotoha gave him an assuring wave of her hand he nodded. "I'll be right outside," he told her before making a hasty exit.

Kotoha smiled brightly as she watched him leave before placing a gentle hand on Mako's shoulder, drawing her sister's gaze. "It's okay, you know," she told her kindly. "What you did… it was necessary. You saved his life, Mako."

Mako picked at the stitches of her outfit until Kotoha gave her hands a gentle squeeze. Mako looked up at her sister then.

"And it's okay to want to be…interested in someone," her tone was soft.

Mako shook her head. "No," she told her quietly. "No, it's not."

When Kotoha looked at her questioningly, Mako took a moment to study Takeru's face before she looked back at her sister's. "You know why," she insisted.

Kotoha's brows furrowed as she opened her mouth to argue but Mako cut her off.

"I can't," she insisted. "There's a line there that neither of us should cross." She bit her lip. "And if he's – if Takeru really is who they say he is – then all the more so."

"But – why? Mako, I don't understand."

Mako looked at her sister despondently. "I have more reasons than I can count. But for him – for Takeru? For his country? What would it look like to them if we – if anything were to happen? And that would be assuming that both of us were even willing to be…interested."

Kotoha considered what her sister was implying. "I see what you mean," she answered slowly. "But…shouldn't that be something Takeru decides for himself? If he really is the prince of Caelestis Via, than wouldn't he know his people's reaction better than us?" Her smile quickened. "Maybe he could take you with him to his country – take you away from this place."

Mako blinked rapidly before shaking her head. "Those romance stories of yours…" She looked at her sister seriously. "Or maybe he's just some poor, average civilian who was plucked off the streets of Caelestis Via. One who is under orders to disguise himself as a royal, allow himself to be captured, and get as close to us as he can – to get as much information from the inside as possible to send back to his kingdom."

Kotoha's brow rose. "And you say I read too much fantasy." She watched Takeru's lips move in his mutterings, all the words as foreign to her as the country they came from. "But…we don't know Mako; we can't make assumptions like this."

"That's my point Kotoha," Mako insisted. "We don't know anything about him."

Kotoha looked her sister in the eye. "Then when he wakes up, you should ask." Mako blinked at her little sister. "You're a fairly good judge of when someone's lying to you," she continued. "You'll know if he's telling you the truth or not. Then you won't have to worry as much anymore."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Mako admitted.

"Afraid of what, exactly?"

"What if it is all true? What if the stories and rumors are not false?"

Kotoha bit her lip. "I guess we cross that bridge when we come to it. But why be afraid of it being true?" She studied the rosy dusting across her sister's face. "Are you attracted to him?"

Mako didn't respond and Kotoha felt a small smile beginning on her face. "That's not entirely a bad thing, you know." She looked back at Takeru. "He's a fairly good-looking man." Mako glared playfully at her sister and Kotoha giggled. "You're not denying it," she pointed out.

"Just because a man is easy on the eyes does not mean a girl should lose her head," Mako responded tartly.

Kotoha did her best not to laugh at her sister's grumpy tone, even if it was still muted in volume. "I don't know Mako," she sighed. "He did save your life. He didn't have to."

"You know how it would have looked otherwise. He would have looked like he'd done the deed himself. How long do you think they'd let him live after that?"

Kotoha paused and considered that. "True…but it also would have been the best opportunity for him." When Mako looked at her in confusion, Kotoha pressed on. "There were only four of us," she pointed out. "If we had come back to find you…gone, all Takeru would have had to do was hide until Genta came in. With the confusion that would have followed, the two of them could have slipped out unnoticed until long after we realized they were missing." She shrugged. "By that time, they could have been well on their way back to their own people."

Mako allowed her sister's logic to counteract her own for a moment, suddenly thrown off-balance once again. She sighed quietly to herself, not knowing what to believe or think anymore.

Mako started awake when she heard a low hiss of pain. She had fallen asleep next to the settee again. She blinked rapidly to clear the dreamy haze from her gaze as she looked at the lamps she had left burning, wondering at what time it was.

The sound came again and Mako's gaze was immediately drawn to its source. She felt a jolt go through her when she caught blurry eyes looking back at hers. She felt an intense wave of relief and happiness pass through her as she watched him watching her. "You're awake," she whispered.

He watched her, a look of confusion dominant on his face.

"The assassin," she explained. "His blade was poisoned. We gave you an antidote but you've still been unconscious for some days now." She studied him. "Do you remember any of it?"

He nodded haltingly after a moment and she smiled a little sadly.

"Good." When he gave her a puzzled expression her smiled widened. "We didn't know what affect the poison or the fever would have on you. When you started talking in your sleep, I was hopeful that there wasn't any damage, but until you woke up we couldn't be sure." She caught his look of alarm. "Don't worry, whatever you muttered, I couldn't understand it. Genta would only tell me that you were talking about your home."

She interpreted his look. "You were speaking in your own native language," she admitted. When he watched her warily, her smile was bittersweet – she recognized the look all too well within herself. "I have my…concerns, but until we get a chance to talk…" She shrugged.

When his eyes began to slide shut she sighed quietly and lifted the cloth on his forehead, resting her fingers there instead. His eyes shot open in a flash, surprise evident in his gaze.

"I think your fever finally broke," she said, whether to him or to herself she wasn't sure. "That's a relief."

She dipped the mostly-dry cloth into the basin near her feet, squeezing it out firmly before wiping away at the dried sweat on his face. When he jerked back in reaction she froze.

I should have expected that. Her face fell. "I'm sorry." She looked away. "I'll have someone fetch Genta for you; he'll want to know you're awake anyways." She stood up to move towards the door when his hand clamped firmly around her wrist.

Mako's head turned so fast she gasped from the pain it caused her still-healing neck. Her eyes watered as she brought her free hand to it in an involuntary reaction. She looked briefly over at him, unable to read his expression from her blurry gaze. "Don't worry," she whispered her voice softer than before. "He told me himself of his own free will that you've known each other for quite some time if that's what you're concerned about." When she made to move again she felt the tug on her wrist, gentler than before. She managed to clear her vision as he pulled her closer, his eyes burning with guarded curiosity.

Mako let him guide her so that she was sitting on the settee beside him. She watched him steadily as his hand released her wrist and rose to gently move aside the silken scarf she had draped around her neck. Her heart pounded in her chest but her face revealed nothing as she waited with bated breath.

Takeru's arm froze, his eyes widening slightly at what he saw there.

Mako knew it was ugly. The mottled mix of yellows, purples, blues and greens that still decorated her neck in the rough circular pattern left over from the homemade noose made even her cringe to look at.

"It's okay," she told him. "Ryunosuke says there's no lasting damage. My voice is healing smoothly, and the bruises will fade eventually."

He dropped his hand and looked away.

"I want to thank you," her voice shy in the charged silence.

He looked back at her, his expression unreadable.

"For saving my life," she elaborated. "Whatever the reason for it, I'm thankful to be alive. And I thank you for giving me that." Her eyes met his, the intensity in them surprising him. "Why…why did you save me? You protected me when you could have made your escape instead. If you had…you might be free right now."

He was silent for so long, Mako gave up expecting him to talk to her now, no matter what he had voiced before. His gaze dropped from hers to study the wall.

"…I don't know."

Mako's smile was bittersweet, part of her thrilling in the fact that he had spoken to her, even if he couldn't look at her to do so. "It's okay," she told him as she stood. She paused. "And thank you, for not giving up." She glanced back with a soft smile when his eyes flitted over to hers. "Thank you for fighting to stay alive."

Takeru watched her as her outline faded into the night's shadows, his gaze fixed there long after he couldn't see her anymore.

"Hey Take-chan," Genta greeted quietly, his voice tense but a smile still lit up his face all the same. The sun had long risen by the time the message had reached Genta and he was able to break away from his duties long enough to steal some time with his friend. "Glad to see you back in the world with the rest of us. How are you feeling?"

After Mako had left, Takeru had fallen asleep again in exhaustion. By the time he awoke, she had all but disappeared, replaced by Ryunosuke who had kept to his corner of the room, quietly working away.

"Like I was run over by an entire caravan," he admitted.

Genta cracked a grin. "Proof of being alive." He shook his head at his friend. "You gave us quite the scare you know."

"Sorry," Takeru mumbled.

Genta waved his apology away. "I wasn't looking for an apology Take-chan, I'm just curious as to why you risked your life like that." He dropped his voice conspiratorially. "And I'm not the only one who'd like to know."

Takeru looked at him questioningly.

Genta nodded. "We had to let them know…just in case." He shrugged it off. "You're recuperating well enough now, so that's nothing to worry about." He grinned impishly. "You had quite the little healer's aide glued to your side you know."

Takeru looked at his friend in puzzlement.

"The little Lady hardly left your side," he gave his friend an audacious wink. "She even supplied the antidote to you in a rather – charming fashion." When Takeru's expression didn't change, Genta's grin grew. "Congratulations Take-chan," he patted his friend's shoulder gently. "You've now officially had your first kiss."

Takeru choked on his inhale of air and Genta burst out laughing, causing Ryunosuke to look up from his work with a scowl to rival Chiaki's.

"Stop worrying," Genta called over to Ryunosuke. "Your princesses are getting some fresh air with Chiaki; he'll keep them out for a while."

Ryunosuke shook his head, muttering mutinously to himself before returning to his work.

Genta grinned in response before turning back to Takeru, delighted to see a flush reaching its way across his face, even if it was accompanied by a glare. He held up his hands in defense. "You were refusing the antidote – she had to get creative in its administration." He eyed his friend. "No offense Take-chan, you're my closest friend and all, but I wouldn't have been able to do the same. Had she not been in the room, you'd probably be dead right now."

Takeru nodded, taking it all in. "What else happened when I was out?"

"How much do you remember of that day?" Genta countered.

Takeru thought back, shifting through his scattered memories. "I was reading," his brows furrowed in concentration. "I heard her gasp, and when I looked up he had a chord wrapped around her neck." He remembered feeling shock at first, like a swift punch to the gut, rooting him to his chair in complete disbelief as he had watched her work desperately at the material cutting off her air supply. It had been too surreal. That's what had taken him so long to react – the absolute shock at what he was witnessing. And then something – something had just taken over. He had reacted without thinking; his only thought was to protect her somehow, against all logical reasoning.

Search as he might, he couldn't find a rational reason for why he had reacted the way he did. It didn't make any sense. Mako had been right. The smart thing to do would have been to use the opportunity to escape and find his way back to his camp, leaving Chiaki and Genta here to continue what was already in motion. He could be of more use elsewhere.

He sighed. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just reacted." He looked down at his wrists and felt a jolt of surprise. His bindings were gone, clean bandages had replaced the ugly, abrasive cuffs. He lifted a hand to his neck, to feel a simple, if not thick, leather strap there instead.

Genta's grin was wide. "She had them removed the same day," he told him. "She was adamant." He laughed. "I would have loved to have been there to see that fierce face of hers as she demanded for the key." Both of them could imagine it all too clearly. He nodded to Takeru's bandaged wrists. "They were a little worse for wear after your tussle. She made sure they were taken care of once the bindings came off."

Takeru was speechless. He should have realized when he had first woken up that his bindings were gone. Maybe it was the remnants of the fever that had just had him solely focused on the face in front of him instead? Yes, that had to be it.

"I imagine they were a little restrictive in your fighting?" Genta ventured. "You'd never let yourself get cut so easily otherwise."

Takeru nodded, shaking away his thoughts. "It was frustrating. I wasn't able to move the way I wanted to – the way I needed to. His blade only grazed me but…"

Genta frowned. "It was a little more than a grazing Take-chan. You're going to have a nice scar there. Though Ryunosuke here did a pretty decent job of stitching you up so it shouldn't be too bad."

Takeru's eyes meet Ryunosuke's briefly who had looked up at his name being mentioned. Takeru nodded his thanks. Ryunosuke acknowledged it with his own nod before turning back to his work.

"Anything else?" Genta prompted.

Takeru vividly recalled warning the would-be assassin not to touch Mako, another moment he could not give reason to. The words had just slipped past his lips without any other thought than to keep the man from hurting her again. He remembered her hoarse voice, one full of absolute disbelief, calling out his name before everything had begun to go dark.

His memories brought up the moment his shaking muscles had finally given out on him as the poison savaged his nerves and muscles and he had collapsed on top of her, felt her soft and warm body beneath his, her steadily pounding heart sounding so absolutely vital beneath his ear…

Takeru wrenched his thoughts away from that pathway.

He shook his head. "Everything pretty much goes blank after that. There isn't anything to remember until I woke up and she was there, watching me."

Watching me and thanking me.

"Hey, Take-chan?" Genta's tone pulled Takeru out of his wanderings and he looked up at the hesitancy in his friend's voice.

"I…may have let some things slip."

Takeru waited for him to elaborate.

"Well, she knows now that I've known you since we were kids." He grimaced as Takeru's eyebrow rose. "And that we're from Ten no Michi."

Takeru sighed deeply, feeling suddenly exhausted.

"Takeru?"

"It's okay, she told me as much when I first awoke."

Genta looked slightly surprised but refrained from commenting.

"How…how's her neck?" Takeru asked tentatively after a moment.

Genta looked to Ryunosuke to respond.

"Healing," Ryunosuke answered curtly. "We were lucky."

"Lucky?"

Genta winced. "Apparently it's not the first time…" He elaborated when Takeru look at him inquiringly. By the time he was done, Takeru could only blink in response, words failing him.

"She'll be fine," Ryunosuke assured them firmly. "She's stronger than she looks. She's gone through this before – she knows how to handle it."

Takeru looked at Genta with a raised brow, but Genta could only shrug in response. Takeru didn't know what to think.

There was a knock at the door and Ryunosuke stood up to get it. Genta checked that Ryunosuke was out of hearing before he leaned in close.

"You have another message," he slipped the note to Takeru, allowing him to peruse it thoroughly before retrieving it and stowing it away when Takeru nodded. Genta looked at him questioningly but Takeru only shook his head when voices sounded from the doorway.

Genta glanced over to see the trio returning, Ryunosuke ushering them in. He hesitated for only a fraction of second before he turned to Takeru and murmured so quietly that Takeru almost missed it, his face serious, devoid of its usual humor. "Trust her Take-chan. I know you want to, trust that instinct. It hasn't failed you yet."

Takeru watched his friend carefully as Genta jovially greeted everyone with his usual smile in place. He found his eyes wandering to Mako, and felt a jolt pass through him when he found hers were looking right back. They regarded each other silently, a battle of wills raging inside them as each tried to puzzle out where to go from here.

Everything had changed.

One instant, one decision had altered the course of their lives.

And neither was sure if they were entirely ready for it, whatever it was.