Disclaimer: I don't own Kyo Kara Maoh.

Wonderful Wonder World

~ Chapter Six: Her Secret ~

Gunter rushed from the open doorway nearby. "Oh, your majesty!" While Yuuri was in the other world, he had been up to his hocus pocus again and Greta stepped out behind him wearing a dark green cloak with a hood. They both looked happy to see Yuuri again.

Yuuri stared at his daughter with raised eyebrows. "So, did you and Gunter have a good time?" Oh boy, here we go again. It somewhat scared him what had taken place with Gunter and Greta, not that he thought Gunter was some sort of serial rapist or serial killer. It was just that Greta was a little girl and, not that she was too stupid to know better, but Gunter could really fill a little girl with things she need not worry about just yet.

Fleur felt very dumb as she just stared slack jawed at the tall, thin, muscular man with silver hair and brilliant eyes. It was as if she hadn't expected there to have ever been another guy that was just as lovely as Conrart. "Uh, h-hi," she managed to say to him. This man…

Greta nodded with a big smile on her face. "Gunter taught me lots of big people stuff," she told her father excitedly. Wolfram may not think so, but Gunter's very helpful.

Wolfram gave his daughter a warm smile. "Hi, Greta." Unlike his usual tone of voice, he had warmth and sugar to his words. It was as if he had a certain tone of voice he used towards Yuuri when he was being serious or when he was just picking at him and a totally different tone of voice he used when speaking to Greta.

Fleur shivered in her wet clothes. Even though she didn't like soaking wet clothes, even in the middle of summer, she still hadn't learned her lesson and was all too familiar with the freezing cold she thought she wouldn't feel in the middle of summer. It didn't matter if it was water or sweat, whenever she entered an air conditioned building, she froze. Funny because she wasn't able to sleep when it was stuffy hot in her bedroom at night.

Gunter noticed the young woman shivering and sent a warm smile her way. "Well, shall the young lady take a bath?" Gosh, she must be cold! He figured they would skip introductions for now. That wasn't as important as treating a guest well.

Fleur smiled at him and shrugged. "Sure." I could use a nice bath right about now. Self-consciously, she began to have the urge to take a sniff at her pits just to make sure they didn't stink. She questioned whether or not she had remembered to put deodorant on that morning.

"Very well then, right this way." Gunter lead her towards the open doorway. He made his way through the open doorway with a goofy smile on his face. It made him happy to just simply be of some service.

She followed right behind him, hoping, praying with all of her being, that she wouldn't be left on her own as soon as the man turned a corner. Her eyes widened as they darted all around her.

Gunter stopped in front of a wooden door. He reached for the wooden handle, turned it and then pushed the door open, revealing a small, square shaped built into the ground tub with shelves upon shelves of hair and body cleansers as well as towels and washcloths. He entered the bathroom and approached the shelves, reaching for and grabbing a towel and a washcloth. Next, he searched the shelves for the correct shampoo, conditioner and body wash. As soon as he found what he was looking for, he placed the items on the side of the tub.

Fleur sat down by the tub and reached a hand into the steamed water. She considered the interesting fact that the water must have been from a stream of some sort, but it could have been filtered, for it did look crystal clear to her eyes. Nature probably also had something to do with the heat. She noticed that Gunter hadn't made a single move to leave the bathroom. "Hey, um…"

Gunter gave her a warm smile. "My name is Gunter von Christ. You can just call me Gunter if you want." Even though a young lady waited to tend to her personal hygiene, he completely forgot to give her some privacy in order to do so. He was just so caught up in the excitement of a visitor.

Nervously, she reached her right hand up towards her hair and began to curl the strands around her fingers. Heat rose to her face and she could have sworn she was glowing beet red. "Okay, Gunter…well…My name is Fleur Couer…and, uh…" She held back. Wait. How do I say this without coming off as mean?

He blinked, confused. "What is it?"

"N-Nothing at all, I just-" She bit down hard on her tongue in order to stop herself before she were to spill her guts to a total stranger. Tears rushed into her eyes and she had the urge to scream. Ouch, why'd I have to go and do that?

Anissina showed up in the open doorway. "Hey! No men allowed!" She rushed into the bathroom, reached for Gunter's hands, grabbed them and then pulled him out of the bathroom. "Besides, Mr., you've got an appointment with a certain inventor."

Gunter desperately tried to pull away, but it seemed to him as if he was being held in place by some weird force. He figured it was probably just one of Anissina's annoying inventions. Maybe she invented some crazy magnetic force that performed some weird duty.

Anissina grinned from ear to ear. "So, tell me, how do you like it?" She had created a new invention and she currently used it on Gunter. I wonder if that airhead even notices.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Like what?" What is she up to? To him, she was always the scientific inventor kind of conspirator. For some reason, she was always requesting that either him or Gwendal be the guinea pig.

She bragged about her new invention to him. "Oh, just my newest invention. I call it Stick To Me With Magnet." This should help with trying to get people to follow me.

Gunter whimpered. Oh no! He struggled all the more to get away. "This isn't funny!" What was she going to do to him next? Was she going to shock him and explain to him that she was trying to get his brain waves? There was no telling with her. For all he knew, she would probably make him wear the most ridiculous hat with flashing light bulbs and claim that it was supposed to help him sleep better.

This is so much fun! She laughed. "Sorry, Gunter, no can do. You're north and I'm south." Her cryptic words were meant to confuse him all the more. She enjoyed messing around with him. It was one of her favorite past times.

He gasped, eyes widening. "What are you talking about?" Woman, you'd better stop this at once! The poor man was almost to tears! To him, women like the one who refused to quit picking at him were so unusual.

"Think of dipping a magnet into a cup of cereal and milk. When you pull the magnet out, you can see the nutrition you're getting from the cereal and milk." That was exactly how she had explained her invention to him. It didn't seem to her to make a difference. He still looked pathetically lost.

"No, really, stop it! I need to go to the bathroom!"

She sighed and rolled her eyes at him. "Jeez, you're such a big baby." You've ruined my fun. She wanted him to whine, scream and cry more. However, if he really did have to go to the bathroom, she didn't want to be there for that one.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Fleur heard their voices echoing amongst the walls of the castle and couldn't help but to burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. She laughed until her sides and stomach ached and she began to hiccup. Tears ran along her face.

"What are you laughing so much for?" Conrart couldn't help but to curiously check out the situation when he heard her laugh so much. He figured something funny was taking place. Of course, he was no pervert and so he didn't stand there with his eyes glued to her. In fact, his back was facing her.

"Eeek!" Startled and embarrassed, she dove into the water. So not cool! Her head popped up and she blew bubbles under the water as she considered what to do or say next.

Conrart heard the mouse like sound and the splash behind him as well as the bubble blowing and chuckled. She's a cute one. He couldn't help but to picture her dressed in cute little outfits and singing or dancing. It was just the type of woman he saw in her.

Fleur sat up, not daring to look in his direction. Instead, she stared down at the water. "So, what is it that you guys do for fun? Nerf dart wars?" Why on earth am I talking while taking a bath?! It felt so weird to her. Then again, no one was home usually when she decided that it was time for her to take a bath or a shower.

"What is that?" He still didn't turn around, but that didn't mean he wasn't genuinely curious about the world where Fleur had come from. What he had recently witnessed couldn't be all that there was in that particular world.

"It is these weird guns that you pull the trigger and send these darts flying at people." A fond memory came to her. One time she had hidden behind a couch inside a random room while playing with the younger ones. She just wanted to see how long it would take for someone to find her. Just that was fun enough for her.

"That sounds dangerous."

She emerged from the tub as she explained it to him. "It's not as if we use bee bees or anything like that. I mean, there's no telling if some people actually do, but I know for a fact that I don't. I mean, whether the bee bees are plastic or actual metal, it still hurts. I learned that one the hard way when my younger sister shot some plastic bee bees at me while I was trying to help her clean up her bedroom."

He hesitantly turned around, tired of staring down the hallway. "Would you like to go for a boat ride?" The scene he was met with made him wonder if he should turn right back around and continue staring at the hallway. Just as she was about to look his way, he decided that it was best to just turn back around. What on earth did I just see?

She practically fell over right then and there. "Wait…what? Really? Um, doesn't it cost, like, a ton of money?"

"Actually, Yuuri and Wolfram are going on vacation very soon and I have been relieved of my duties. I'd like to, if at all possible, cruise around to different islands and show them to you." It would be nice to just relax some.

Forgetting all about the fact that she had merely a towel between her naked body and the air around her, she rushed up behind him and gave him a great big hug. "I'd love to!" The towel fell from her body. Water dripped from the strands of her hair.

Now, how on earth can someone so little be so full of energy? It puzzled him that such a tiny body could hold so much energy. Her small arms around his waist loosened and she made no sound.

Her vision blurred and her eyelids lowered as her knees buckled from underneath her and her feet slid every which way. Before she could fall and hit her head on the bathroom floor, she stuck her arms out as a shield.

Conrart spun around and dropped to his knees in front of her. "Hey, are you all right?" She seemed so fragile, like if he handled her too roughly, she would shatter into a million pieces.

She struggled to sit up, sparkles invading her vision. "I'm okay." Actually, she wasn't okay, but whatever. It was stupid and embarrassing. She just wanted to go to bed. I could sleep it off. It was a bad idea, going to bed and not having eaten supper. However, she just didn't feel hungry and she feared that she'd end up with a stomachache if she were to eat something. She definitely didn't want to throw up or end up with bowel issues.

Conrart wrapped her in the towel and then he lifted her up into his arms. He carried her from the bathroom, along the hall, up several flights of stairs and finally into the guest chambers. He entered through the door that had been left open for some reason and approached the bed. He noticed the clothes at the foot of the bed. Oh, it's some of Nicola's clothes. Why didn't these get brought to the bathroom?

He laid her down upon the bed and then went back to shut the bedroom door. The last thing he needed was others looking in on the nude woman and him changing her into some clean clothes.

He approached the bed again and picked up the clothes, bringing them closer to the woman. He unwrapped the towel from around her body and tossed it aside. I should probably ask Nicola or someone else to do this, but I can't just leave her to catch a cold while I hunt them down. With a sigh and a slow blink, he grabbed the girly underwear first and, to his surprise, when he lifted her right foot to slip it through the right whatever it was called in the underwear, he could practically feel every single bone in her foot and ankle.

He slipped the other foot into place and then pulled the cloth up along her smooth legs. It only took one quick glance at a full view of her nude body to tell that her arms, legs and pubic area were free of hair and something else caught his attention. It was something more concerning. Was he supposed to be able to see a young woman's bones? He would think not.

Next, he took the night gown and hoisted it up just above her head. First, he slid her head through the center hole and then he slid her right arm through the right hole and her left arm through the left hole. He then smoothed the cloth down around her.

He then reached over to her right side and pulled at the sheets and bedspread. He reached over to her left side and pulled at the sheets and bedspread there as well. He lifted her slightly and placed her on top of the bottom sheet and then pulled the top sheet and the bedspread over her.

Just as he turned around and was about to leave, she opened her eyes the slightest bit, reached out and grabbed his hand. "No, please, stay," she said in a weak voice. I don't want to be alone. She didn't like being alone like she was most of the time back at home.

"Glad you're awake. Now, if you don't mind, could you please tell me what's going on?" She didn't look like this at all when I first saw her. He remembered that she looked a lot more healthier when he had first seen her. Her energy didn't come in spurts back then either. He was starting to get the feeling that something was up.

She smiled and laughed a little. Oh no, what do I do? "Um, yeah…about that…I'm just peachy!" It was difficult for her to breathe and her chest was starting to hurt. That didn't stop her from keeping her mouth clamped shut against food.

He stared at her in disbelief. "Oh, I'm so glad you think this is funny because I surely don't." He was starting to get a little sarcastic on her. That was something new.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I know. I can't fool you." She sighed and held up her hands, head lowered, eyes closed. "Well, you got me. I'm as guilty as charged." She lowered her hands to her sides and looked at him. "So, what are you going to do?" What could he possibly do? He wasn't her father. He surely couldn't force her into something she didn't want.

He had no idea what to do. In the demon world and in that time period, there were no known records of such a thing. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was a man. For all he knew, she had some kind of illness that was mostly known in her world and in her time period. "Well, it looks like you might have to return to your world."

She shook her head and began to protest. "I'm not going back home! Do you not understand just how my family drives me crazy?" I absolutely refuse to go back home! Home had a sense of loneliness with her. She was mostly left home all by herself while everyone else had work or school.

He shook his head. "That doesn't matter at the moment, Fleur." She really needs to take care of this before it gets worse. Maybe he shouldn't have taken her to the demon world in the first place. She looked sick!

She glared at him, raising her voice. "If I had to choose between going back to my world to take care of this and dying, I'd rather die!" I don't want to go back home.

He sighed. "You're being unreasonable."

"So what? Suck it up!" She crossed her arms over her ample chest and stuck her tongue out at him. If her family didn't understand her, well then, who would? She felt so lonely in the world she had left behind. I know I'm just being stupid, but I really don't want to go home.