A/N: Hi there again! I would like to thank the people who took the time to review the previous chapter, so…thank you! This chapter debuts Uzura, who I mainly wrote this story for. Seriously, Uzura needs to be written into more Princess Tutu fan fiction. She's just too adorable! Well anyway, expect a little more angst, some comfort, and some slight humor (I always need to write some humor when the mood gets so serious lol) in this chapter and enjoy!

Child-like Innocence

Ever since the prayer service had started, Uzura had been quietly sitting in the back pew trying to figure out the situation surrounding her. It had been a week since she last saw her creator Charon. The most recent memory she had of him was of him screaming and clutching his heart. That memory frightened her; she didn't know what to make of it. Then after that, Fakir took Charon's body away and she hadn't seen him since.

Now she looked over towards the casket where her creator/father lay and laid her eyes on him for the first time in a week. He looked like he was sleeping, she first noted in her child-like brain, but he didn't make those funny noises he usually did when he was. Uzura loved those funny noises; almost as much as she loved clutching his noise between her small hands when he was asleep and having him swat them away. She would always giggle and continued until he woke up so he could start making breakfast. After all, Uzura was the household's living alarm clock.

Every morning as soon as the sunlight would hit her face in the guest bedroom where she slept, she would wake up immediately with a bright smile on her face and start beating her drum like a mad woman. She'd do this while running down the halls and screaming, "Wakey, wakey-zura!" for the whole world to hear. Charon was a heavy sleeper though, so she always had to resort to nearly suffocating the man to wake him up.

After concluding that Charon couldn't be asleep, she continued to stare at him with an owl-like intensity. Maybe he was sick? He was rather pale looking but that didn't seem quite right. He wouldn't wake up either when she asked him too, (she almost regretted that action because it made Duck cry for some reason, but it was way past dinner time and the man had to get up!), and even when Duck and her friends were making all that noise he still wouldn't stir.

Uzura crossed her arms in confusion. Just what was going on? And why was Fakir acting so weird and staying away from Duck and her? He began acting that way after Charon collapsed. The knight-turned-storywriter stayed away for hours at a time after that and then he just up and vanished! Uzura remembered Duck explaining to her that Fakir wanted some time alone and was sleeping over at Autor's house. Was he purposely staying away from Duck! Away from Uzura? Weren't they family? Weren't Duck and him lovey-dovey? (Ok, they hadn't admitted their feelings to each other yet, much to her annoyance, but it was so obvious!) Uzura just didn't know what to think of the situation. She would normally ask Fakir to answer her questions, but seeing as he was still avoiding her, and everyone else for that matter, she thought of the next best thing. Duck!

Uzura jumped down from the pew and started walking towards the direction Duck was (in the middle of the aisle), in order to ask the girl her multiple questions. That is, until Duck started marching towards Fakir towards the other side of the room. Uzura watched in fascination as Duck made an attempt to talk to the grieving knight. In order to get a better view, Uzura sat down in the middle pew just two pews away from where Fakir was leaning against the wall, and listened in.

Duck rung her hands nervously together as she approached the knight she loved. What was she going to say? What could she say to make him talk to her? She could barely make the boy even look at her! The young girl gave an audible sigh once she arrived at her destination. She noted how Fakir didn't even twitch from the noise she gave, even though she was in such close proximity to him. Duck looked up at him forlornly, almost feeling the depression that emanated from the boy. Gathering her courage she brought herself to speak.

"Fakir…?" she asked tentatively, berating herself for sounding so meek.

Unsurprisingly, Fakir didn't react.

Duck brought herself to ask again uncertainly. "Fakir…can we talk?"

Again, nothing.

Tears were welling up behind her eyes in agitation. "Fakir…please…please answer me!" she cried.

Again, no response.

The tears cascaded down her face as she hid her eyes from him, giving up. Maybe Raetsel wasn't right, maybe he wouldn't talk to her.

"No I can't think like that! I mustn't give up!" She thought with new resolve. With this newfound courage she eliminated the distance between her and her grieving friend and touched his shoulder in order to comfort him and gain his attention.

The sudden touch was just the thing he needed because the abrupt contact startled Fakir out of his guilt trip. His emerald green eyes scanned the room in sudden fear at the touch, until his eyes noted the little hand on his shoulder. Following the owners hand to their shoulder, then to their face, Fakir and Duck's eyes met.

The eye contact was met with silence as duck and knight stared into each other, Duck's asking if he was alright and Fakir's wavering uncertainly.

"Please stop avoiding me, Fakir." Duck pleaded softly, breaking the silence.

"Duck…" he whispered, breaking the eye contact and looking away in shame. That was the first word she heard from Fakir's mouth in over a week. Duck took this as a good sign and tried to continue breaking him out of his trance.

"I know how badly you feel about…Charon's death," she stated hesitantly, not sure if she should have mentioned it right off the bat. "I know… how troubled you were over your parents' death, and when…you know…he died before you like they did… it must have been horrible for you to experience that again." She noted just as hesitantly.

Upon hearing Duck mention Charon's name and relating his death to his parents', Fakir's body gave in involuntary twitch. She couldn't have hit the nail more directly on the head.

"I don't know how that must feel for you, and I'm sure I'll never fully understand the pain you're going through right now…"

"You're right…you don't. So how about you stay out of my business." Fakir interrupted her forcefully, still looking away. He hated talking to her like that but he just wanted to be left alone with his memories and his mistakes. He didn't want to drag her into his mess as well.

Duck was shocked by his outburst, but she stomped her foot and stood her ground. He was talking now so there was no backing out.

"No, I won't. Not when you're like this Fakir!" she cried. Despite her determination to keep her game face on, new tears threatened to spill behind her sapphire eyes. "Uzura, the rest of our friends, and I are sad about Charon too. He was the only father I ever had!" She exclaimed in a slightly higher tone. Noticing that her voice was starting to break from emotion and frustration, the tears finally started to spill down her cheeks. "I refuse to let you go through this alone Fakir! I refuse to have you push the people you love away because of this and I refuse to let you keep these feelings bottled up inside you anymore! I won't sit back and watch you destroy yourself Fakir!" She practically screamed in desperation, as the tears ran down her face like waterfalls.

Fakir stared at the hysterical girl in shock. He never would have expected her to show these kind of emotions to him with such intensity. He took one sincere look into her aquatic blue eyes and almost ran away from the girl in shame. What truly gave him the right to hurt his friends in this way? What gave him the right to hurt her in this way? He swiftly looked away from her, his face the perfect picture of self loathing. "I'm so sorry Duck…"

Shocked by his apology, Ducks tears found their end. She looked at him then, taking in his self-loathing appearance. How she wanted to take that pain away. Fakir had been through enough, he shouldn't have to feel any more pain! With those thoughts in mind, Duck stepped closer to Fakir and placed her hand on his cheek. Moving his head so she could look into those green eyes she loved so much, she spoke to him, "Don't be sorry. Just be here for Charon…for your friends…for me."

She spoke with such intensity in her eyes and words that Fakir couldn't help but be mesmerized. His green eyes bore into her blue ones desperately, looking for an escape, if there was an escape, from the depression he had set upon himself.

Gazing just as intently back, Duck whispered these next words to her desperate knight, "Don't hold it all back anymore Fakir. Let it all out, let the grief wash away and come back to me."

He couldn't deny her or himself any longer, and with that he brought his head to Duck's shoulder, and cried.