Author's note: I'm so sorry for the long update! I was so busy with life and all!(By slacking and distracted by anime :X) Onto the next chapter! Thank you all for your sweet reviews! ^^ And thank you 3Bella for the lovely suggestions ^^
"Here we are! Ueno Zoo!"
Yuuri exclaimed as he and Wolfram reached the entrance to the most famous yet oldest zoo in Japan. Yuuri ran inside while Wolfram was eyeing the greenery of their surroundings. Yuuri eagerly nudged Wolfram to walk side by side with him so they would not get lost. Wolfram eyed the surroundings curiously; admiring the greenery and watching happy families walking pass them. Wolfram then smiled.
"What's wrong Wolf? Did you see something nice?" Yuuri asked when he found out Wolfram was way behind Yuuri's pace. Wolfram turned to face Yuuri and blinked. Wolfram shook his head and continued to walk alongside the double black.
Wolfram waited for Yuuri near the Ticket Entrance while Yuuri's buying the tickets for the admission to the zoo. Wolfram's eyes drifted towards to two children, around five years old, chasing after each other with a gleeful laughter and angelic smiles on their adorable faces. Wolfram smiled but it turned into a small frown when a thought interrupted his little admiration.
It's been a few years since we're engaged. When will we ever settle down? But Yuuri wouldn't want that. The whole engagement thing was an accident to him. Should we just end this useless relationship? Are we even treating each other as fiancés from the first place?
"Wolfram? You're okay?" Wolfram turned to see a concerned Yuuri, holding a pair of tickets onto his right hand. He eyed Yuuri cautiously and shrugged. Yuuri gave Wolfram a gentle smile, patted on Wolfram's shoulder to ensure that everything's going to be alright and moved on.
Once they entered the zoo, the scenery was breathtaking and the sound of nature surrounded the area. Wolfram was amazed by the many different habitats and animals on every corner he took his eyes to. Wolfram stopped walking and stared at the different signs he saw at the directions. Yuuri turned to see Wolfram was way behind him and sighed happily. He went towards Wolfram and grabbed his wrist, running towards the Lion's Habitat.
Wolfram's eyes grew wide when he saw a gigantic cat, sitting and licking its paws affectionately behind the glass window.
"That cat's huge!" Wolfram exclaimed, not bothering to hide his surprise, amazed by its beauty.
"Yep! Those animals are called Lions. On Earth, Lions are known as the King of the Jungle but that's unnecessarily not true. Lions don't live in Jungles; they live in open spacious habitats. Lions are Wild Animals in the Cat Family. They are much bigger and ferocious than normal house cats. See that Lion with a mane? That's a male. Those without manes are females." Yuuri explained happily.
Wolfram blinked, his hands on the glass window and stared at the male Lion Yuuri was explaining about. The Lion roared and Wolfram backed away a bit. Yuuri chuckled at Wolfram's cute reaction and nudged him to view the other animals in the zoo.
The couple went towards the Bear Hill, where Yuuri brought him to view the Asian Black Bears. Wolfram looked over the fence and grinned.
"Those animals look like you Yuuri!" Wolfram suddenly exclaimed with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"What? Don't compare me with a bear!"
"Really! They're all black! Like you!" Wolfram narrowed his eyebrows as he grinned; giving the idea that Wolfram was just teasing Yuuri. Yuuri, getting impatient, asked.
"Shall we go then?"
"No no wait! They look like bearbees. Or are they? Why don't they have any wings?"
Yuuri smiled, glad to know that Wolfram stopped the teasing and turned to face the bears.
"They're not Bearbees. Bearbees don't exist on Earth. They're Bears. And the ones we're looking at now are called the Asian Black Bear. There are many different species of Bears all around the world, with many different kinds of fur color and sizes. Later on, I'll show you the Polar- Wolf?" When Yuuri turned to face Wolfram, but he couldn't.
Wolfram wasn't beside him.
Yuuri looked around the area desperately for the beautiful Mazoku but he was nowhere to be seen. Furious, he ran around the area to find his blonde friend but to no avail.
"Damn! He's supposed to be so easy to spot due to his beautiful features and blonde hair that look way out of place here in Japan! But why the hell isn't he here?" Yuuri muttered furiously.
Yuuri turned and saw a mysterious brunette, wearing a blue cap and huge sunglasses. He stared at the man. The man found out that Yuuri's staring at him and walked away quickly.
"I knew it… Conrad."
O*O*O*O*O*O**O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*OO*O*O*O*O*OO*O*O*O*O*O
"Such cute black and white bears!" Wolfram exclaimed while he watched a panda rolling on the grass while holding onto its food.
Wolfram realized that Yuuri didn't reply and turned to find that his King wasn't with him.
"That idiot! Getting lost!" Wolfram muttered furiously but when his eyes turned to see the panda again, he smiled. Wolfram was unaware that many citizens were staring right at him.
Wolfram left the exhibit to find Yuuri but he found himself at the Monkey's Hill. He watched as the chimps swung themselves from branch to branch and scratching each other's head, as if they are looking for a certain insect crawling on their fur. Wolfram then saw an odd lilac head among the monkeys, but he couldn't see the creature any further as it was covered by branches and leaves. Wolfram shrugged and walked away.
"I guess I'll tour around here until the wimp finds me." Wolfram told himself and went towards the Tiger's Forest. He couldn't help but feel anxious when he saw families walking passed him, making him thinking about his own future with Yuuri.
But then… It's impossible isn't it?
Wolfram's felt the smooth glass with his hands as he stared at the giant beauty. His eyes grew wide with amazement and curiosity, hoping to get a touch of its fur.
Wolfram was about to ask Yuuri what kind of animal is this enormous striped cat, but he realized that Yuuri wasn't with him. Wolfram frowned.
What is this feeling? Why do I feel so weird inside of me?
"Oh yeah… He's lost somewhere." Wolfram said and exited the exhibit.
Wolfram walked aimlessly out of the exhibit, until he saw the entrance of the zoo where he and Yuuri first came in. He sighed.
Just then, a brunette wearing a blue cap and huge sunglasses walked passed him. Wolfram blinked and turned. His eyebrow twitched.
"Conrad!" Wolfram called but the other man ran.
"No use running you idiot! I can tell by your walking posture!" Wolfram called out again but suddenly, he felt a pang of pain in his chest.
It felt weird yet painful. Wolfram bit his lips while clutching his chest tightly, trying to get rid of the horrible feeling. It felt as if his heart was ripping apart, yet he knew it wasn't due to emotional distress. It's different. It felt more physical.
"Wolfram! Wolfram! Can you hear me?" Conrad's concerned voice brought Wolfram back to his senses.
"Eh? Did I pass out? It sure doesn't felt like it." Wolfram replied and then he realized, the excruciating pain was gone.
"You didn't pass out. You looked as if something's paining you. You were clutching your chest tightly and you wouldn't answer me when I called out for you. Are you sure you're okay now?"
Conrad asked with a hint of concern in his gentle voice. Wolfram got annoyed and reassured that he's fine. Wolfram won't let Conrad pry on it too much.
What's happening to me?
O**OO*O*O*O*O*O*O*OO**O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*OO**OO*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*
"Seriously! Where did that pretty boy go?" Yuuri muttered anxiously as he ran from the Bear's Hill to the Tiger's Forest, searching for a certain mazoku.
Yuuri stopped for awhile and his eyes drifted towards the Tigers.
How Beautiful. Wolfram would have loved this.
"Heikaa! Save me!" Yuuri turned to see a certain lilac running towards him, his long hair swashed everywhere, glittering as he ran.
"Günter? Why are you here? Actually, I've already suspected either you or Conrad would be following us but, what are you running away from?"
Before Günter could answer, Yuuri saw two zookeepers running towards them. Yuuri figured that they were chasing after Günter and they ran out of the exhibit, losing sight of the two zookeepers.
They finally stopped running near the entrance of the zoo.
Yuuri waited for Günter to catch his breath. But Günter seems to be taking a rather long time to recover. Yuuri heard Günter heavily panting, as if he's in pain.
Yuuri brought Günter's face to face him. Günter was clutching his shirt tightly for some reason.
"Günter? Günter! Hold on there! Hey!"
At that sentence, Günter got on his feet and looked at his King.
"Heika? Did you say something?" Günter asked, as if nothing had happened.
"Say something? I was worried for you! I called you so many times! You were in pain! Günter! Are you alright?" Yuuri was anxiously checking on Günter, but he couldn't depict what went wrong.
"Heika, I'm alright now. There was nothing to worry. I guess I was tired from hiding with those monkeys."
"Monkeys? You hid among them?"
"Yes."
"No wonder they were running after you." Yuuri sighed and walked towards the zoo entrance. He then saw a crowd of people surrounding near the entrance. Yuuri's eyebrows twitched.
"Found you." He muttered and ran towards the crowd.
Yuuri broke through the crowd and finally saw Wolfram and Conrad in the middle of the crowd. He grabbed Wolfram's wrist, dragged him out of the crowd and ran out of the entrance of the zoo, leaving Günter and Conrad behind despite Günter's desperate pleas for Yuuri to stop running.
Why am I feeling this way? It feels as if I don't want anyone to come near you.
"Where were you, hennachoko! I've been looking everywhere for you! Why did you disappear just like that?" Wolfram scolded Yuuri in the very moment when they stopped running.
"You're the one to talk! You suddenly disappeared when I was explaining to you about bears!"
Both of them stared at each other, their eyes ablaze.
"Whatever! Let go of me! You're hurting me."
Yuuri's eyes drifted towards his hand and he realized that he was squeezing onto Wolfram's hand too tightly, not to mention he didn't notice that he was still holding onto Wolfram's hand.
Yuuri quickly let go of them, abashed.
"Ah, sorry. Come on, Wolf. I'll bring you to somewhere breathtaking around here okay? And we'll grab something sweet to eat."
Why did my heart skipped a beat just now?
O*O*O**O*O*O*O*O*O*O**O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O**O*O*OO*O**O*O*O*O*O*O*O*OO
"Here we are! Shinobazu Pond!"
Wolfram couldn't take his eyes off the breathtaking view of birds and ducks swimming or flying in or across pond. Yuuri told Wolfram to wait for him here and went off somewhere.
It doesn't seem that any moment had passed when Yuuri came back to Wolfram holding two Ice cream cones, one green, and another white.
"Which one? "Yuuri asked and Wolfram pointed to the Vanilla cone. Yuuri chuckled, as if he knew that Wolfram would choose Vanilla.
Yuuri licked his Green Tea Ice Cream while enjoying the panoramic view. Suddenly, Wolfram took a lick from Yuuri's Ice Cream cone.
"Hey! No fair! You have your own cone!"
"But yours looks delicious! I guess I can't judge books by its cover. Your Ice Cream tasted like tea instead of swe-"Yuuri interrupted Wolfram by licking Wolfram's Ice Cream cone.
"Hey!"
"A tit for a tat Wolf! Yuuri grinned at Wolfram's bewildered reaction.
They stood silently for a moment, enjoying the wonderful world of Nature, watching the ducks and birds leaving the clear pond.
"Wolfram." Yuuri suddenly called out to Wolfram, not taking his eyes off the scenery. Wolfram turned to face Yuuri while still trying to finish off the last remaining ice cream cone.
"I'm glad I've met you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have so much fun today. Sure I got frustrated when you disappeared but then, it was fun looking for you."
"Don't say such embarrassing stuff all of a sudden!"
Yuuri turned to look at Wolfram's abashed face. Yuuri blinked, and then smiled. He couldn't help but chuckle and ate the remaining ice cream cone.
Why was he blushing?
Yuuri stretched himself and gave a sigh of relief.
"Alright! Let's go back home! To Shin Makoku!" Yuuri shouted towards the spacious pond.
Wolfram blinked in surprise. Yuuri turned to face Wolfram.
"I missed my country, that's all." Yuuri turned to look at the bushed behind them. He nodded to the two figures standing behind the bushes.
The two figures stepped out to reveal both Conrad and Günter. Both of them seemed to be reluctant to go back to Shin Makoku, but they just nodded in agreement.
TBC…