Ryoma woke up feeling warm and totally relaxed, like he was floating. He opened his eyes and found himself in a richly decorated room, lit only by a fire crackling happily in the grate opposite the bed. Someone had cleaned him and dressed him in soft cotton pyjamas. He reached up and found a bandage on his head where he'd hit it off the rock. There was also a drip attached to his other arm, connected to a bag of blood

So last night had happened.

Tentatively, he touched his neck and found another bandage there.

Last night had definitely happened.

Why had he been bitten? Who had bitten him? Where was he now? Had his assassins given up? Or where they still trying to find him? Was Karupin okay?
He tried to sit up, but all his muscles protested so he gave up and settled down amongst the soft pillows, waiting for someone to come.

He must have dozed off, because he couldn't remember anything between waking up and hearing the door open. He looked over and saw a pretty, young man smiling gently at him.

"You're awake," The man's voice was soft and bright, but there was something about him that put Ryoma's nerves on edge.

"Where am I?" Ryoma asked, his eyes moving to the bowl of soup on a tray in his hand, his stomach remembered it hadn't eaten for a very long time and started gurgling loudly. Ryoma ignored it and tried to remain as regal as possible. He was a prince after all. "Who are you?"

"You can call me Fuji," The man replied, bringing the tray over. He helped Ryoma sit up before setting the tray in front of him. "You're in Seigaku Castle. Don't worry, you're safe."

Ryoma's stomach growled and he dug into the soup. It was bland and the bread roll was stale, but he didn't care.

"My friends and I got rid of your pursuers," Fuji continued, "they won't be coming back." He sat on the edge of the bed and watched Ryoma eat, "I'm sorry it's not a good meal, we don't keep a lot of fresh food."

"It doesn't matter," Ryoma assured him as he scraped up the last of the soup and stuffed the last of his bread into his mouth. "What happened to me last night? Who bit me?"

"I think I should tell you when you're a bit stronger."

"No. Tell me now," Ryoma glared at him.

"If you're sure," Fuji said. "Last night, you were bitten by the man who is now your mate."

"My mate?" Ryoma repeated. "I can't have a mate! I'm going to get married in a few days."

"I'm afraid you're not," Fuji told him, "if you leave you will die."

"What?" Ryoma asked, totally confused now. Humans didn't have mates and, even if they did, they didn't die from being away from them.

"Use your brain," Fuji said softly. "Think. What sucks your blood?"

"A mosquito?"

"No, not quite," Fuji chuckled, he was having far too much fun with this, "you need to think of something more human shaped."

Ryoma had an answer. But it was so stupid it surely couldn't be right.

Fuji grinned at him, took his tray and was at the door in the blink of an eye. "I'll leave you to rest." And then he was gone.

Ryoma slid down into the bed and stared at the canopy above his four poster bed.

Vampires? It was like he'd ran out of the car and right into a fairy tale. Of course, he knew vampires existed, everyone did. They had an entire country to themselves. At least that helped place where he was. The Hyotei Empire.

And he couldn't leave? Well that was stupid. How could leaving kill him? He didn't feel any different, couldn't feel anything that felt like he was bonded to someone. Not like he knew what that would feel like, but still, he would know if something was different.

Was Fuji his new mate (whatever that meant)? It hadn't sounded like it, but it also seemed like Fuji liked to mess with people. He really hoped it wasn't Fuji.
Well, one thing was clear. He wasn't going to get answers by lying around in bed, not unless Fuji or someone else came back.

I'm a vampire's mate, huh? He thought. Could it be any worse than being married to some princess he'd never met? He shook his head, not sure why he'd even considered it being a good thing. He wondered what his new vampire looked like. Probably a decrepit old man, dressed all in black who spoke with a horrific accent. He shivered at the thought.

He spent the next few hours dozing and staring at the canopy above him, lost in his own thoughts. The same questions swirled around his mind, none of them any closer to being answered. Occasionally, he heard voices from outside the door, but no one came in to visit him.

He did feel a lot stronger now though and was able to sit up in bed without any help. He didn't feel brave enough to try standing up though.

The door opened and Ryoma jumped, he hadn't heard anyone approaching the room.

"Good morning," Fuji said cheerfully, "Did you sleep well?"

"It's morning?" Ryoma asked, looking over at the closed curtains.

"It is," Fuji replied, pulling open the curtains before disappearing and appearing on the other side of Ryoma's bed.

"Doesn't sunlight dissolve vampires?" Ryoma asked, noting that Fuji was sat in the shadows.

"Legend says we set on fire," Fuji corrected him, "but we have a drink that stops us from doing that. There are some unfortunate side effects though."

Ryoma was tempted to pull Fuji's hand into the sunlight and see these 'unfortunate side effects were', but had the feeling he might lose his hand if he tried.

Instead he just huffed and asked, "so when do I get to meet my mate?"

"Soon," Fuji replied, "when you're better. So, how about you tell me a bit about yourself. After all, you know my name, but I don't know yours."

Ryoma was taken aback, he was so used to everyone knowing who he was and had just assumed Fuji had known too. "My name is Echizen Ryoma," he said, "I'm the Prince of Ensinkil."

"I thought you were," Fuji purred, brushing Ryoma's dark hair out of his face to get a good look at his eyes, "they say the eyes of the Echizen family were turned gold by the wealth they hoarded around them." His face was incredibly close to Ryoma's now and Ryoma couldn't look away from the piercing blue eyes that were pinning him down. "Of course, that's not the case now. Is it?"

"No," Ryoma muttered bitterly.

"Successive generations of kings spent all the money and now your country is stone broke," Fuji continued, "and after the tragic death of your parents the government, sick of watching useless kings empting the county's coffers, took over and got rid of all the monarchy's power. I take it they were sending you get married so they could get your bride's dowry?"

"Yeah."

"Poor little prince."

"Shut up," Ryoma pushed Fuji's hand away.

"Well, good news for you, you're not being sold off."

"But I'm stuck here."

"It's not that bad. And it's not like you have a choice."

"Do you have a mate?" Ryoma asked, wanting to get as far away from his countries problems as he could.

"Not at the moment. I am currently in the process of courting him."

"Is he human like me?"

"You're really nosy," Fuji chided him gently, "yes, he is a human."

"And he gets a choice whether he gets to be your mate?"

"Of course. You were just very unlucky and bumped into Tezuka whilst he was in a state of bloodlust. He could either make you his mate or kill you, you're lucky he came to his senses before it was too late. Vampires usually only mate with the person, or people they love."

"Usually?"

"Well, sometimes you have odd situations," Fuji told him, "I'm sure you'll find out about it someday."

"Right," Ryoma nodded, he figured he should get as many answers out of Fuji whilst he had him here. "What are my duties as a vampire's mate?"

"Don't worry, Tezuka's not going to make you do anything you don't want to. The only human's blood he can now drink is yours, but he can survive off animal blood if needs be. We also have the ability to take some of your blood without you needing to be bitten."

"So I don't need to do anything?"

"Traditionally, you would love and look after your mate and they would do the same for you. You drank some of Tezuka's blood to become his mate, so now you have slightly enhanced speed and strength. You'll notice it more when you fully recover. "The one thing you cannot do is leave Tezuka's side for too long, otherwise you'll both die."

"What if I get killed? Or die of old age?"

"Then Tezuka will die as well. It doesn't work the other way round though, although it'll feel like you've lost part of yourself."

Ryoma nodded. That bit didn't quite make sense, but then again, he had slept through most of his lessons about the citizens of other countries. "And there's no way to get out of it?"

"Well," Fuji was now very close, running a finger up Ryoma's neck and taking a hold of his chin, "you can always change your mate. How about it?"

"No," Ryoma batted Fuji's hand away. He had no idea what his mate was like, but he definitely didn't want to be bound to Fuji for eternity. Fuji just laughed at him. "So, what's he like then?" Ryoma asked, definitely not pouting.

"Who? Tezuka? It would spoil the fun if I told you now," Fuji replied.

"He's not like you, is he?"

"He's almost the exact opposite of me," Fuji told him, "he's nice."

"Is it just you and him living here?"

"No, no. There's seven of us. Eight now, including you. They're all eager to meet you, but you need to rest."

They must be bad if they sent you to take care of me, Ryoma thought, then realised Fuji was still talking.

"You need to be stronger before you meet Tezuka. You'll find out why when you do."

Ryoma filed that under deeply suspicious. He wanted to press further, but the look on Fuji's face told him all he'd receive for his efforts would be more riddles. He was suddenly feeling very tired and dealing with Fuji wasn't helping. "If I need to get stronger, go away. I need to sleep."

"As you wish, my prince," Fuji replied in a tone of voice that made Ryoma want to reach out and strangle him.

Fuji left in a flash, and Ryoma settled back against his pillows. After a few minutes, overwhelming fatigue set in and he fell asleep.

It was still light when he woke up. He'd slept like a log and now felt a lot better than when he'd first woken up. He swung his legs out of bed, ready to see if his legs were strong enough to take his weight. They were, if rather shaky. He wobbled his way over to the mirror on the other side of the room and peered at his reflection.

He looked like hell. Whilst he was naturally pale to begin with, he's never been this chalky white, the only colour was the dark circles under his eyes. His hair was a mess and his eyes, there was something different about his eyes. They looked…wilder. His attention was drawn to the bandage at the joint between his neck and shoulder. He reached up and gently peeled it off, wincing as it tugged at his hair.

Underneath were two small holes and further exploration found two more further back.

Vampires, huh?

They were just four tiny dots now. He must have been given superfast healing powers or something.

He walked over to the window, his legs now much less shaky. The view was stunning, looking out over the valley and down into a large town. He pushed the window open, letting in the crisp, cool air, a refreshing change from the stuffy air in his room.

He looked down into the courtyard below him and relief washed through him. Karupin was sitting on a bench, casually cleaning himself. He leaned against the windowsill and smiled to himself, his cat was alive and well. He wasn't alone.

His eyes wandered over the landscape, all mountains and forests. He'd spent all his life in the palace, rarely being allowed outside into the city. He'd never been out into the countryside so the landscape around him was so beautiful it almost didn't seem real, almost like he'd walked into a painting.

He looked back down at Karupin, who had been joined on the bench by a man. One of the other vampires, Ryoma assumed, he couldn't make out much detail beyond his neat brown hair and lavender shirt and how he was awkwardly petting Karupin, who seemed to enjoy it.

He was starting to feel hot, his skin prickling and breaking out in a sweat.

And then, the man looked up at him.

Ryoma's heart beat so hard he was sure it was about to break free of his chest. It suddenly got hard to breathe and Ryoma was gasping for breath as he stumbled back from the window.

How had just looking at one guy caused this? Was that Tezuka? Was this why Fuji had wanted him to wait before meeting him?

His legs gave out from underneath him and he collapsed on the floor, shaking and gasping for breath, his blood feeling as though it was on fire.
He wasn't aware of the door opening, but was oh so thankful for the cool hands on his shoulder and forehead.

"Relax, it'll be over soon," A deep soothing voice said.

Ryoma wanted to tell him that he couldn't relax, that his body was in so much pain, but all that came out was a strained moan. He wanted to turn his head to see the owner of the voice, but his body wasn't obeying him right now. The voice kept repeating 'relax', it was a nice voice, Ryoma couldn't help thinking, it felt like it was cutting through the pain, pulling Ryoma away from it.

The pain started to die away and his body stopped shaking. He was starting to feel more in control now, enough to push himself up, the cool hands guiding him into a sitting position. Ryoma quickly wiped away the tears in his eyes and looked up at the man.

He recognised him as the man who had been patting Karupin. He was older than Ryoma, although probably not by much despite the air around him that made him seen centuries older than his face. His face was handsome if rather emotionless, although Ryoma could see the concern in the brown eyes watching him through a pair of glasses.

"You're…Tezuka?" Ryoma asked, still getting his breath back to normal. Tezuka nodded. "What…was that?"

"A reaction human mates have when they see the vampire they are mated with for the first time," Tezuka explained, helping Ryoma to his feet and guiding him back to the bed, "it won't happen again."

Ryoma just nodded, "you were playing with Karupin."

"That cat? He's yours?"

"Yeah, he escaped with me," Ryoma replied. "Can-"

"He'll be brought up to you as soon as possible."

"Thanks."

"It's the least I can do," Tezuka said, stepping away from the bed, "If you need anything, all you need to do is ask."

Ryoma nodded, "I will."

"I'll go and get our doctor," Tezuka said, "I'll be back soon."

With that he left the room leaving Ryoma to his thoughts.

Well, his new mate did seem nice, if rather emotionless. He was rather good looking as well, Ryoma couldn't help but note. He was still stuck here though, although if the assassination attempt hadn't happened he'd just be stuck in another castle, just with a human and not a vampire. Except, he knew what he was walking into with other humans.

Vampires were different.

Why had he never payed attention in his lessons? He tried to remember something, anything from them. But there was nothing, all he could think about was the tutor's voice droning in the background as he played with Karupin under the table and tried not to fall asleep. He'd never considered them important, always thought his parents would be around and that he would learn this stuff once he was let out of the palace. Well, now he was out of the palace and had to learn everything he'd missed quickly.

He couldn't help but feel bitter about Tezuka biting him though.

Tezuka appeared a few minutes later followed by a kind looking man with an…unusual haircut. Tezuka introduced him as Oishi Shuichiro and he smiled and gave Ryoma a small wave.

"I didn't want you to meet Tezuka until you'd fully recovered from your bite," Oishi said, putting his bag of equipment on the bed and getting ready to examine him, "but it can't be helped."

Whilst he was being examined, Ryoma noticed a gathering of people around the door. He recognised Fuji, who gave him a cheery wave which Ryoma returned with a glare. Fuji's companion was gazing at him curiously, he had red hair and was practically bouncing. But Ryoma's eyes were drawn straight to what was in his arms.

"Karupin!" He tried to get up, but Oishi kept him in bed.

"Is that his name?" The red haired man asked, Ryoma nodded, smiling slightly as Karupin tried to struggle out of the man's arms. "Ahh, Karupin! You can't go over there yet!"

Ryoma sat sulkily through the rest of his examination, his eyes fixed on Karupin.

"Well, you seem to be okay," Oishi said, "I wouldn't do anything too strenuous for a few days though."

The people at the door took this as a cue to come into the room. Karupin was deposited onto the bed and he strutted over to Ryoma, who pulled him into his arms.

I'm so happy you're safe, He thought at Karupin, not wanting to say it out loud in front of his visitors.

"Hi," The red haired man said brightly, interrupting Ryoma's beautiful reunion with Karupin, "I'm Kikumaru Eiji."

"Hi," Ryoma said simply. Karupin stretched himself over his lap and purred loudly as Ryoma stroked him.

"Do you want a tour of the castle?" Kikumaru asked.

"Eiji!" Oishi admonished him, "he needs to rest."

"No, I'm fine," Ryoma insisted, "I want to have a tour." He was sick of this room now anyway, plus it'd be nice to have a walk, even if his legs didn't agree.

His first few steps were wobbly, but his legs soon found their strength and he was ready to go.

Then he realised he was dressed in a pair of badly fitting pyjamas.

"Your clothes were in a bad state," Tezuka said, almost as if he could read Ryoma's mind, "you can go shopping tomorrow."

"Yes, I'll take you!" Eiji volunteered enthusiastically, "it doesn't matter about your pyjamas now, it's warm in the castle!"

"Maybe for a vampire, but not for a human," Oishi protested.

"Here," Tezuka was suddenly at Ryoma's side, offering him a knitted jumper.

"Thanks," Ryoma muttered, taking the jumper and putting it on.

The castle was a maze of passageways, rooms and staircases all mashed together in no logical manner. It was like someone had gathered the parts you needed in a castle and smashed them together without any vision as to what it was supposed to finally look like. In the end, Ryoma stopped trying to memorise his way around and just resigned himself to getting lost anytime he wanted to go anywhere.

Half the rooms seemed to be exactly what Ryoma expected a vampire castle to be. Grand, dark rooms filled with antiques and, in a couple, torture devices and coffins. The rest was, well, normal. Ryoma had grown up in a palace so knew all about keeping one half private, whilst the rest was open to the public.

According to Fuji, the castle was open to the public during the summer, whilst the vampires retired up into the mountains. The public expected vampires to live in dark, sprawling castles with no modern technology, so they'd made the parts of the castle that weren't in use into a tourist attraction. The tour included the fake torture and coffin rooms as well as the grand rooms of the castle like the ballroom and long gallery.

"Where is everyone?" Eiji moaned as they walked down an empty corridor, "they were all so eager to meet you, but they've disappeared!"

"They'll appear," Fuji said cheerily, patting his friend on the shoulder.
There should only be three people I haven't met, Ryoma thought.

"Let's go to Inui's lab, then you meet with our other human friend," Eiji said.

"You'll probably meet Kaidoh as well," Fuji added and Eiji giggled. "Oh, and Eiji, we have more than one human friend."

"I'm sorry I forgot about your boyfriend," Eiji said teasingly.

Inui's lab was, quite appropriately, in the deep depths of the castle cellars.

"We refurbished the dungeons for him," Fuji said pleasantly as they passed through a set of wrought iron gates.

"Right," Ryoma said, "what do you use as dungeons now?"

"The local police station."

The passageways under the castle were well maintained, well lit and clean, nothing like the dank, dark tunnels Ryoma had imagined. They reached a door with a small sign on reading 'Inui's Laboratory'. Inside was a tall man with spiky black hair and square glasses standing behind a bench filled with what Ryoma could only describe as 'science equipment'. Next to him was another man wearing a green bandana and a surely expression.

"These are Inui and Kaidoh," Fuji introduced him, "Inui is our resident university student. He's studying vampires for his PHD."

"Kaidoh, the cat's called Karupin!" Eiji interrupted, "he belongs to Shorty!"

Ryoma, in his whole life, had never been called 'Shorty'. Everyone around him had treated him with the reverence and respect he deserved as a prince and future king. He opened his mouth to protest his new nickname, but Inui was at his side, towering over him.

"So you're Tezuka's mate?" Inui asked, holding out a hand.

"Yeah," Ryoma replied, taking the hand and shaking it, "Echizen Ryoma."

"Do you prefer 'Echizen' or 'Your Highness'?"

"Echizen's fine," Ryoma said, "'Your Highness' is a pain."

"You're right," Inui said, producing a notebook out of somewhere, "So tell me, how does it feel being a vampire's mate?"

"Urm…" Ryoma started, taken slightly aback, "no different to how I feel normally."

"Did it hurts when you first saw him? How painful was it? What did it feel like?"

Ryoma looked to Fuji for help, who was watching them with amusement.

"Inui, he's only just woken up." Luckily for Ryoma, Kikumaru had seen his distress and had come to save him. "You should wait before you interrogate him."

"But it is best to do it whilst the memories are still fresh," Inui objected.

"Oh, okay then," Kikumaru said, floored by the barrage of logic. Both men turned and looked intently at Ryoma.

"Doesn't anyone else have a mate?" Ryoma asked.

"I do," Kikumaru said, "but I was a vampire when we mated so I didn't have the same reaction."

"It hurt," Ryoma gave up resisting, "it was like my blood was on fire."

"Very interesting," Inui said started scribbling in his notebook, "anything else?"

"It was hard to breath and I couldn't stand up, I don't know, all I really remember is the pain," Ryoma finished lamely. It was true though, all he could really remember was the overwhelming pain and how Tezuka's voice had helped clear the pain away.

"Excellent," Inui said, "this is good data. My thesis will be much improved with a first hand account of what a human goes through when they mate with a vampire."

"That's good," Ryoma said, not quite sure it was the right thing to say. He didn't want to sign himself up for endless questioning.

Fuji cleared his throat and for a fraction of a second Ryoma thought he was going to be saved. Until Fuji opened his mouth. "I have to leave now," he said and Ryoma's heart sunk. "Have fun," he added before slipping away, leaving Ryoma behind to be interrogated for science.

Vampires had had to evolve over the years. It made no sense to stay as the evil monster in the dark castle kidnapping women when the mob that would come to your door arrived with more and more advanced weaponry. And so, vampires and humans had come to live in peace. Or, as peacefully as humans lives with other humans.

The town below the castle was peaceful, most of it's income came from vampire related tourism, so if anyone were to think of trying to drum up a mob with pitchforks and torches they would be run out of town long before any of the residents turned against the vampires.

Fuji strolled down to the town, humming happily to himself. It was certainly going to be interesting having Echizen around the place.

There was a full moon, casting enough light for him to easily see his way. He enjoyed the moonlight a lot more than the sunlight. There was a lot of truth about vampires being weak against sunlight. It wasn't instant, but if a vampire stayed out in direct sunlight for a few days in a row they would set on fire.

Thankfully, scientists had found that it was due to vampires being very sensitive to UVA radiation and come to the conclusion that sunscreen would allow vampires to go out in the sun everyday, as long as it was applied thoroughly and regularly.

Inui had applied himself to the problem and created a drink that would allow a vampire to go into the sun without applying sunscreen. Unfortunately it had two minor side effects, one being that it tasted disgusting to anyone but Fuji. Fuji much preferred it to sunscreen because he didn't like the spending the day sticky. It wasn't like he went into the sun very much anyway and turning into a human shaped glitter ball (the other side-effect) when he did so didn't bother him.

Something at the side of the road caught his eye, shining in the moonlight. He walked over and picked it up, sliding it through his fingers and grinning to himself. He pocketed it and continued down to town.

His destination was a sushi shop in the town centre. The regulars nodded at him as he walked in and took his place in his seat at the end of the counter.

"Hello Fuji," the man behind the counter said, giving him a warm smile. The man was Kawamura Takashi, the owner and head chef of the restaurant as well as Fuji's boyfriend.

They'd met a few weeks after Taka-san had moved to the town and had literally bumped into each other. Taka-san had insisted that Fuji come back to the restaurant and have some sushi on the house as an apology. They'd got talking and everything had just clicked. They had now been dating for a couple of years.

Fuji was broken out of his reminiscing by a plate of sushi being put down in front of him along with a jar of wasabi paste, with his name written on the label.

"Thank you," Fuji said, smiling up at Taka-san, who blushed. It was nice making Taka-san blush.

Fuji spent the rest of the evening slowly eating his sushi and watching Taka-san serve the other patrons. Soon, closing time rolled around and Fuji was the only person left in the shop.

"Do you need a hand?" Fuji asked as Taka-san gathered up the last of the dirty dishes.

"I'm fine," Taka-san assured him, "How are you? I haven't see you for a few days."

"I'm sorry about that, but we've got a new guest at the castle and I volunteered to look after him."

"A guest?"

"A very unexpected one," Fuji chuckled, "he's now Tezuka's mate."

"I didn't know Tezuka was seeing anyone," Taka-san said, "send him my congratulations."

"Sadly, it's not like that. It was an accident and now they're stuck with each other."

Taka-san's face fell, "that's not good," he said pointlessly, just wanting to say something.

"That's the way it is, hopefully they'll grow to like each other."

"Yeah," Taka-san nodded. "It just makes you realise how lucky we are."

Fuji hummed in agreement.

"So, who is it?" Taka-san asked a bit nervously, not sure if he was allowed to be privy to such information.

Fuji's eyes slid along the counter to a pile of newspapers. The top one had a picture of a grumpy looking Echizen on the front page, emblazoned with the headline 'MISSING PRINCE FEARED DEAD'. Taka-san followed Fuji's eye line, his eyes widening as he came to the realisation of who exactly Tezuka had become mates with.

"So, he's not dead then?"

"Not unless someone's murdered him since I left the castle," Fuji replied. "We're not telling anyone about it yet though."

"I'll keep it a secret," Taka-san promised.

"I know you will."

"Wasn't he going to marry Taranis's princess or something?" Taka-san asked. Whilst he did keep up with world news, the details were fuzzy.

"Yeah," Fuji replied, "but he doesn't seem to be too bothered about not going. I think he cares more about his cat than his country."

"Does he hate Tezuka?"

"I don't think so," Fuji said thoughtfully, "I don't think he's made up his mind about him. The poor kid's been through a lot recently, that's why we're keeping it a secret he's here. I think there's something deeper going on that what we can see, but we're going to have to play it by ear until we find out what it is."

"What makes you say that?"

"Someone tried to assassinate him. He was running from them when, well, when he ran into Tezuka."

"Damn," Taka-san breathed, slightly shell shocked, "poor guy."

"Indeed," Fuji agreed, "but I think that's enough about Prince Ryoma for the night."

"Are you staying the night?"

Fuji shook his head, "I shouldn't," he said, getting to his feet and, in a flash, appearing by Taka-san's side. "But I can stay for a few hours," he said, looking up through his eyelashes.

"I'm almost done here," Taka-san said, turning red.

"Excellent," Fuji practically purred. He leaned against the counter, watching Taka-san finish cleaning up for the night, his mind slowly turning over everything he knew about Echizen. There wasn't enough information to come to any real conclusions yet, but he was definitely going to get to the bottom of it.

Taka-san finished and turned to Fuji, smiling. "All done."

Fuji put away all thoughts of Echizen and walked straight into Taka-san's arms. "Shall we go up to your room?"

"Of course, Fujiko" Taka-san said, kissing his forehead and then picking Fuji up and tossing him over his shoulder.

Fuji laughed and Taka-san carried him to his room.