"Sakuno, don't look!" a girl screamed, trying to cover her friend's eyes.
"Tomo, what's happening?" the girl next to her asked, her voice panicky.
"There are naked men about to kiss!" Tomo said.
"We are not!" Ryoma snapped, "I'd never kiss him!" He added, looking at Fuji in disgust.
Sakuno pushed Tomo's hand away, saw Fuji and Ryoma standing there, soaked to the skin and, in Ryoma's case, shirtless and blushed bright red.
"Who are you?" Tomo asked.
"Prince Echizen Ryoma," Ryoma spat, the implication of cheating on Tezuka with Fuji had riled him up, "who the hell are you?"
Tomo bristled, "Princess Tomoka of Taranis," she said.
Before the royal argument could get any worse, Fuji clamped a hand over Ryoma's mouth.
"Ladies, would you happen to know where our rooms are?" Fuji asked, "We're some of the delegates from the Hyotei Empire."
"Isn't he supposed to be dead?" Tomoka asked coolly pointing at Ryoma.
"That was a misunderstanding," Fuji said smoothly.
"Your rooms are in the east wing," Sakuno said, "I can take you there if you want."
"That would be very nice, thank you," Fuji said before Tomoka could object.
Sakuno showed them to their rooms and then scuttled off, looking very embarrassed.
"Has she never seen a shirtless man before?" Ryoma asked incredulously.
"I think she's just shy," Fuji said, pushing him towards the bathroom.
"I really dodged a bullet by not marrying that princess," Ryoma continued, "we'd end up killing each other!"
"I'm glad Tezuka has you as well," Fuji said, "now take a bath and warm up."
"Humans aren't that fragile," Ryoma muttered as the bathroom door shut behind him.
The bathroom was big, covered in marble and had a large window overlooking the gardens at the side of the palace. Ryoma filled the bath and sunk into the hot water. There had been a bottle of bubble bath on the edge of the bath, so Ryoma had added some. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he really liked bubble baths.
He let out a long breath and settled back, the tension running off him into the hot water.
He was really thankful that he'd made his decision to stay at Seigaku. Princess Tomoka was probably nice when not confronted with two wet men, but right now Ryoma couldn't care less. He was happy he wasn't going to marry her. He'd run away if he was forced into marriage, he'd find some way of getting back home to Seigaku.
He wondered how negotiations were going. He'd never been in any kind of political discussions before, so it probably had been a good idea to send him away. But still, they would be talking about him in there, he wanted to know what they were saying.
He glanced out of the window once he was dried off and dressed and saw Oshitari and Gakuto playing around in the rain and hiding under a tree were Shishidoh, Ootori and Hiyoshi. They'd all escaped the peace negotiations as well. It was a definitely good thing that Ryoma had left too if it were that boring.
Dinner that night was a grand formal affair, Ryoma hadn't eaten in a formal setting for so long that he'd forgotten some of the etiquette and was glad he had been sat between Fuji and Kaidoh who didn't judge him for forgetting which spoon was for the soup. The vampires all sipped blood from crystal champagne flutes, their plates remaining empty in front of them.
After dinner, Ryoma was surprised to find Kabaji follow him back to his room. He didn't say anything until they were both in his room.
"Did Atobe send you?" He asked.
"Yes," Kabaji replied.
When he didn't elaborate further, Ryoma asked, "To protect me?"
"Yes."
Ryoma nodded and quickly changed out of his dinner suit into his pyjamas. "Look after this," he said, placing the diamond into Kabaji's hands, "do not give it to anyone! Not even Atobe."
"Yes," Kabaji said, his giant hand closing around the jewel.
Whilst Ryoma was getting ready for bed, in the next room, Fuji was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He got up and pulled a suitcase out the wardrobe. It hadn't been unpacked by the palace's maids as Fuji had locked it with a code that only he knew, it wouldn't do to have anyone find out what was in this particular suitcase.
He put it on the bed and input the code into the lock. Inside the suitcase were an array of throwing knives and a gun. He'd felt exposed walking in the garden without a weapon, he always felt exposed without at least one weapon on his body, a feeling that was left over from his previous life. He knew he could take on a human opponent one-on-one, but taking on multiple opponents whilst trying to protect Echizen was perhaps too much to do unarmed.
At least he'd been right and they hadn't attacked on their first day there. Echizen had Kabaji in his room tonight and Fuji trusted him to keep Ryoma alive and if he heard any sound of trouble he could get to Echizen's room in a matter of seconds. He'd checked out the windows when they'd been walking around the gardens and knew he could jump from his windowsill to Echizen's with little trouble at all should it come to that.
He felt guilty parading Echizen around the grounds, hoping to attract trouble, especially since Tezuka had expressly forbidden it. But this was Atobe's plan and the best way to find out who was after Echizen was to capture them whilst they were attacking. He would protect Echizen, no matter what.
He started to hide the knives and gun under his clothes in places where they'd be easy to get at should the need arise. Once they were all hidden, he shut the suitcase and put it away then sat in one the chairs, staring at the door and listening intently.
He could hear all the noises of the palace, people moving around above and below him, the sounds of the night outside and the palace creaking gently around him, listening for anything that might indicate an attack.
It was going to be a long night.