"Koyo wo Tanoshimi masho," Haruhi told Zakuro as they walked through one of the parks to get to their housing complex, "all of the red, yellow, and orange colors of leaves as they bring a nice breeze as the seasons change."

Zakuro looked up at the colors as a few leaves fell down, "autumn will be starting soon won't it? Do you think the Prince will have us dress in outfits that came from the Magical World or something more casual?"

Haruhi shook her head, "I don't really know what's going on in his head sometimes, and I don't really care, but when we came back home last week sempai seemed shaken up a bit."

"Yeah I guess, ten days in the human world translates to about a day in the Magical World," Zakuro said pulling some leaves out of her hair, "they only spent half a day there and already Tamaki-chan is getting these crazy ideas. Did you know he wanted to know what kind of extras I have on my wand?"

"Really what for," she asked looking into Zakuro's hair pulling out a stick she missed.

"All I use are those two spells, La Etoile Brillant and La Fleur Spirale, nothing else. But when you look at my wand I have more spells and extras – I just choose not to use them."

"Demo, Zakuro-san is really talented and popular – how come you don't use magic?"

Zakuro looked down at her young friend and saw a shining blue heart like the color of the ocean mist and was about to say something about it when Haruhi looked up suddenly and pointed towards a clearing, "isn't that a cherry tree Zakuro-san, why is it here?"

Zakuro turned around and saw it then noticed the black ribbon tied around it, "that's a special request from Le Royaume," she said as she started to walk closer to the tree as Haruhi followed close by until they got almost directly under the tree as Zakuro spoke up, "I am Zakuro Meilleure – what news do you bring your princess?"

Haruhi took hold of Zakuro's arm from behind as they saw little pink fairies fly around until the two girls made out their faces. The fairies giggled as Zakuro held out a hand to let one of them stand in her palm as the little fairy talked, "we're envoys from the Walpurgis Night executive committee princess." Another sat on Haruhi's shoulder as the first one finished, "you have the special permission from the High Council, Vanilla-sama, and your grandfather to bring your human friends this year."

"Really," the two girls asked at the same time as the Sakura fairies flew back into the tree as it began to fly away. "Yes princess, really," they said back as the tree left their eye range. Zakuro looked down at Haruhi with a smile as Haruhi smiled back until they decided to walk off again to where they lived.

When they got back to their housing complex Haruhi's father was talking to Pierre while Ichigo was standing outside the gates waiting for them to get home. When the two girls got within hearing range Ichigo waved her hands and quietly spoke while they walked to the right floor level as Ichigo spoke of the party.

"Did you get the invite for the masquerade party tonight?"

Zakuro patted Ichigo's head, "just a little while ago. Everyone from Ouran can come, I'm happy about that!"

Ichigo shook her head, "yes, Zakuro-san should be since mama was the one who persuaded the councils to invite them. Do you want to know what she said to get the ok?"

Haruhi spoke up, "is it along the lines of, 'if you don't let them attend then Zakuro will freeze even more of the Magical World', am I even close to that line?"

Zakuro looked back at Haruhi as Ichigo began to speak, "well …"

They stopped walking when they heard her say 'well' as all three girls finally reached the right floor level, "really? She said that!?"

Ichigo became a little nervous as she finished, "… I really do think that is what she told the council when they were deciding the list for this year. My father and uncle will be escorting your friends while Pierre-sensei will be escorting us Zakuro, if that's okay with you ...." Ichigo finished as she turned her head to the fathers then looked back at Haruhi this time, "… he doesn't want to upset you too much Zakuro, he does love you even though he tries not to show it."

Zakuro began to walk towards the adults when a familiar voice called out her name. "Hey Zaku-chan, Ichi-chan, come down and give us hugs!" Both girls looked over the railing and into the little house clearing to see Woo and Soul, wearing normal looking attire to blend in. Woo held up a hand, "why aren't the girls ready Pierre? We said we were coming over right away and both of them are still in their school uniforms? You're starting to slack off!"

Zakuro smirked as Haruhi patted her friend's back then walked over to her dad. Pierre came up behind Zakuro to rub her head as he spoke to her, "did Ichigo tell you that I wanted to escort you two?" She nodded her head, "I'm going down there ok?"

She was halfway to the other end of the walkway where a tree was standing as Woo and Soul ran closer to the house thinking she would jump off the balcony as she would in the Magical World. Zakuro jumped the ledge, swung onto one of the branches, and dropped down on her feet as she ran into Woo's arms.

"You crazy girl," he said hugging her back, "you're just like Chocolat in every way possible, not a single ounce of Pierre is in you;" he said then looked up at Pierre on the higher floor level, "are you sure Zakuro is your child? She's every bit of Chocolat and nothing like you!"

"Ha! Chocolat cheated on Pierre," Soul said very loudly as he hugged Ichigo after she ran down the stairs and into his arms, "we all knew that Zakuro wasn't Pierre's daughter."

"Father," Ichigo said in surprise taunt, "you and uncle are just mad because Chocolat-sama didn't marry either one of you."

"That's right," Zakuro chimed in, "you two were her loyal bodyguards but she loved my father since they were little."

"Besides that," they looked up to see that it was Pierre, "you have to thank her father, Glace', for the marriage part. That was the main reason why Candy and Chocolat's grandfather approved of the wedding that following year."

Zakuro walked over next to Pierre as Haruhi called out from above, "everyone is going over to Kyoya's house to get ready, we should be too since sempai is having a car sent over to pick us up." Zakuro could tell that she said something else but she ignored it for the moment as she turned back to the group, "if you don't mind, I need to pack Duke and a bag. Feel free to ride with us to Kyoya's house later ok?"

When they all got to Kyoya's house Zakuro glanced down at Haruhi, who seemed like she was both amazed and embarrassed at the same time, while she walked up to the door to have Kyoya answer it himself. "The rest of my family is here," he said allowing the group to enter, "and I told them that we were going over to Zakuro-san's home country overseas."

When they all got in, Kyoya closed the door as he led Pierre to his dad, Woo and Soul began looking around the house admiring everything, and Ichigo stayed close to Haruhi and Zakuro. As Pierre talked to Kyoya's father, Kyoya noticed how his brothers were looking at the three girls. He went over to the girls as he mentioned for them to follow him around the house. As they walked by the two elder brothers, Ichigo noticed how they both had purple hearts, for whom though she couldn't understand.

"This is where I stay at," Kyoya said as he opened up a door leading to a room that had a modern feel to it while being simple yet elegant at the same time, "also my sister likes to try to put my clothes away so there's a mess right now, she's not very good at housekeeping and – ah, Ichigo not in there!"

Ichigo opened up a pair of double doors to revel a really big bed with white and pale purple touches on a metallic bed frame. Ichigo fell face first into his bed, "this bed is bigger than Zakuro's bed in Le Royaume," the three stared at her while she moved around, "and much more comfortable than a sugar cloud."

Zakuro rubbed her head in frustration, Haruhi walked outside the room, and Kyoya tried to get her off his bed before someone saw. Ichigo kept edging away from his reach until he fell on his bed from trying to lean over too far, then Ichigo stretched her hand over to try to touch for his sides as both Haruhi and Zakuro pulled her off by her legs and dragged her out of his room leaving him alone for a moment.

"You have a death wish if you want to mess with Kyoya," Zakuro said in a whisper finished off by Haruhi, "he is known as the Dark Prince, not only is he second in command but he also takes the first place spot when the time calls, you do not want to upset him!"

The doorbell rang just in time as Kyoya emerged from his corner to take the girls back to the main way to meet the rest of the group. Zakuro hung back a bit watching Ichigo get squeezed to death by the twins, while at the same time out the corner of her eye, she saw the same two purple hearts Ichigo saw before only being a shade or two darker this time. Zakuro felt a hand on her shoulder, turned her head, and saw Kyoya hold a lock of her hair close to his face while staring at his brothers.

"We should get going before we're late."

"Yeah," she said looking back seeing now noir hearts, "blocus!"

Zakuro took Kyoya's brothers' hearts on a minimal barrier. Once taken out, his brothers seemed to be in a daze; Kyoya let her hair fall back the way it was and led her out of the house.

Woo and Soul led the way down past the school, through the town, and down past the river where they waited on top of a bridge for the moon to come out from behind the clouds. Haruhi held onto the side as she leaned over watching the reflection pass, "can you fly even though you're in our world Zakuro-san?"

Zakuro looked at her for a moment, over to Ichigo, then over to the three adults as they smirked and held out a hand. Zakuro smirked back as she sighed then patted her back a bit, "Haruhi, did you want me to pick you up for a bit before you fly on your own?"

Haruhi turned around and shook her head 'no' as she talked in a nervous tone, "I was just wondering because you have your broom and you take me flying at night or foggy days but you don't really do anything else, that's why I was asking."

"Can you really do that," Kaoru asked then Hikaru, "can you really fly outside the Magical World?"

Zakuro held out her hand as her wand came out, "you see this one," she said pointing to a blue stone, "it's the color of the sky reflecting on the ocean; it's called the Immortal Wings. It can make me fly whenever I want in the human world."

"Ohh, Zakuro-san has so many options on her wand but Zakuro-san doesn't use any magic," Hikaru and Kaoru said at the same time as they took each of her shoulders, "is the reason behind this because Zakuro-san is that far ahead of Ichigo-san?"

Zakuro stared at the heart shaped crystal at the top of her wand while she thought about her mother's wand, "I don't take the yellow, green, rainbow or blue hearts. The hearts of noir are the ones I've collected most and they take off points."

"It's time," Woo and Soul said in unison as they chanted a spell before they jumped off the bridge. Pierre took hold of Ichigo's hand then they jumped, pretty soon it was just Zakuro and her friends now looking into the reflection of the moon.

Koyo wo Tanoshimi masho – look at the changing colors