"Tohma, come on. Figure it out already." Said Caspian in an exasperated tone as Tohma continued to pour over the large volume in a vain attempt to find the correct spell. The man had been at it all day and into the night.

"Caspian…just shut up. Why do you even speak?"

"Because I can."

"I could make it so you can't. Consider that."

"Well then consider that you can't even do card tricks let alone jinx me…" said Caspian while he casually scratched his head with his foot.

"I found it! I FOUND IT!" shouted Tohma excitedly as he jumped around the room with the big book. "Now we can get down to business."

"Oh boy…" returned Caspian, not in the least excited. He could really care less. He just wanted some Fruit Loops.

"It calls for a conure feather interestingly enough…" muttered Tohma while he calculated the risk of stealing one of Caspian's feathers.

"Hell no. You are NOT getting one of these babies!" retorted Caspian, quickly starting to fly around the room. "No, no, no, no, AHHH!"

Tohma had apparently grabbed the green parrot by his tail when he had started flying. The vizier now held a single tail feather in his gloved hand.

"Gotcha."

"I hate you…I'm leaving."

"Oh, and where do you think you're going? This is your room too."

"I'm perfectly aware." Said Caspian with his hurt tail and strong pride influencing his voice. "I'm going to my cage now. And I'm not helping you."

"Grudge holding parrot…" coughed Tohma as he took his feather over to the book. "Oh well. I'll manage…"

The large book contained pages covering the spell, but an owner of the past had inserted a small and tattered note-card. Noticing the imperfection within the volume, Tohma carefully removed the note and read the small scribbled lines. And then his face lit up, his day was made. The card was a shortcut. A simple task was now laid out in front of the vizier. And it turned out that he didn't even need the conure feather.

"Hey, Caspo…you want your feather back?" posed Tohma quietly as he eyed the cage containing the infamous bird. "Caspian?"

"I'm not speaking to you." Returned the sulking bird with contempt.

"Fine. I'll just throw it away then. It's only a little, meaningless feather…" said Tohma while he casually twirled the feather around in his fingers.

"Give me that you twit!" Exclaimed Caspian with annoyance as he swooped from his cage and grabbed the feather. He spent the remaining time in the Ultra Secret Lair attempting to reattach his tail feather and smirking at Tohma's odd tries for success.

"Now…it says I need to create a storm. How do I do that…? Oh…it says here…" said Tohma to himself as he read the card over again.

After ten minutes of pondering and dissecting the meaning of the card, Tohma finally had a plan. He needed lumber. And lots of it. Grabbing his treasury slip and heading out the door, Tohma had a plan in mind. And it was quite complex.

He was back twenty minutes later armed with two sticks and some dried up palm leaves. He needed fire, and fire he would have. Of course, he could have just taken some fire from the palace, but it wasn't one of Tohma's bright days. It was a pink apron kind of day for Tohma. Caspian watched the fire spectacle unfold with cackling delight. He loved watching stupid people do stupid things.

Forty-five minutes yielded a blazing leaf fire, creating entirely by Tohma while following verbal directions from Caspian. To decide his new course of action, Tohma regarded the note-card. It called for cold air to mix with his fire. Now Tohma faced a new problem. Snow. In the middle of the desert.

"Oh Caspian…" cooed Tohma soothingly, thinking of Caspian's strong wings and the breeze produced when he flew. "Come here, good bird…"

"I'm not a good bird and I don't like your tone…" retorted Caspian as he ran along his cage watching Tohma.

"Come here."

"Never. I'm not helping you, you dirty feather thief."

"Caspian, you don't have a choice…"

"Oh yes I do!"

With those words, the battle began. Man against bird, evil versus feathered, genius pitted against mastermind. And it lasted about ten seconds. It all came to a mighty end with Tohma grabbing Caspian and with the latter emitting some very parroty squawking noises.

"Alright…let's get this thing moving, eh?" said Tohma pensively while he rubbed his hands together and started some evil laughter. And then he stroked his lime green feather boa for the first time in a long time.

Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, let's go back to Shuichi's master escape, before Tohma got a clue.

Shuichi had never tasted freedom before. All his life he had had others telling him what to do, telling him how to live. His only friend had always been Cinda. Even his own father had been far too busy for him to be around. And his mother had died during childbirth. So far, freedom was great. But the approaching shadow threatened to ruin everything.

The shadow belonged to a lowly guard. Normally he wouldn't have even considered looking down the alleyway containing Shuichi, but his captain, Tatsuha, had ordered everyone to crack down on security to catch two notorious robbers. Their names were Yuki and Ryuichi, and they were un-catchable supposedly. There was rumor going around that Tatsuha only wanted the two stopped so he could 'talk' to Ryuichi, but no one had been able to confirm it.

So with his new orders in place, the subordinate casually strolled down the dark alleyway, and he was not expecting to meet someone else. Especially not someone that fit the description of Ryuichi almost to a tee.

"You there! You're under arrest…for being a thief!" shouted the guard as he drew his sword.

"Wha? I'm not a thief! I'm the prin--…I mean, I'm not a thief, that's for sure!" answered Shuichi nervously. He had never experienced something like this before.

"You're under arrest, Ryuichi!"

"That's not my name!" said Shuichi desperately while the man continued to advance towards him. And then hope arrived in the form of someone more beautiful than anyone Shuichi had ever laid eyes on.

Yuki stood at the entrance to the alleyway with Ryuichi and Kuma not far behind. The two had been on the lookout for the guards for the purpose of having some fun with them. But this new discovery was worth Yuki's attention. The scene before him showed a small teen that looked surprisingly like Ryuichi. Except his hair. It was ridiculously pink; the moonlight showed it quite clearly. His clothes were fine, so he must've come from money. And not to mention the fact that Yuki found him downright, captivatingly…cute.

"Thank you so much for finding him…I've been looking around all night…" said Yuki suavely as he quickly approached the guard and a newly startled Shuichi with a serious look in his golden eyes.

"He's under arrest…and you might be too, I've got to check my pictures…" said the guard as he began to rummage through his pockets.

"That won't be necessary. Don't worry. I'm a doctor." Said Yuki seriously. With a quick move, he stepped behind Shuichi and grabbed his arm.

"Hey! Let go of me!" said Shuichi in a worried tone while he struggled against Yuki's strong grip.

"You see, he thinks he's a cat burglar…" said Yuki to the guard. And then to Shuichi very quietly, "Play along and you'll get out of this one…"

"A cat burglar…?" asked the guard suspiciously.

"Meow?" replied Shuichi tentatively, not sure of what to do.

"You see?" said Yuki to the guard as he wrapped his arm around Shuichi's waist and let go of his arm. "He's a tad touched in the head…" With that, Yuki started twirling his finger around his ear in the universal signal for crazy.

"Alright then. Get him home."

"Thank you, sir. I'm glad you understand…" said Yuki as he quickly walked back along the alley dragging a slightly protesting Shuichi with him. Ryuichi and Kuma awaited them patiently at the end of the alleyway.

"Thank you for saving me…" said Shuichi quietly when they had reached the end of the alley. "I'll just get going now…"

"You're not going anywhere." Said Yuki matter-of-factly.

"What? What do you mean…?" said Shuichi, starting to wonder just who had saved him.

"In point blank terms, you're an idiot. You walked right into a guard, almost blew my excuse, and just look plain stupid. I'm doing you a favor." Stated Yuki quite frankly, ignoring completely the angry and pained look Shuichi acquired after the first few sentences.

"Oh…" said Shuichi, still very nervous around the tall stranger. "Well, who are you?"

"My name is Yuki. No other questions asked…" replied Yuki carefully as he didn't want the boy to know his full name. He might have heard of his illustrious career. He couldn't believe the kid was falling for his lame excuse. "He must be more of an idiot than I thought…" Yuki muttered to himself.

"Hmm? Say something Yuki?" Shuichi asked brightly, spinning around to look Yuki in the eyes.

Yuki didn't respond and instead raised his eyebrows. Shuichi was walking backwards in front of him, smiling like a fool. Yuki sighed and ran a hand through his hair. A part of him was starting to regret tricking Shuichi into coming home with him; the kid was starting to grate on his nerves.

"You're pretty quiet…but that thing you did with the guard, that was amazing! You're so cool…" Shuichi spewed, turning around again to face forwards. He glanced over his shoulder and gave Yuki his brightest smile. For a response Yuki merely glared at him, and Shuichi smiled again.

"Just be quiet. If the guards catch you again, I'm leaving you behind." Yuki said blankly, ignoring Shuichi's attempts to draw him out.

"OK, Yuki." Shuichi returned, his voice still irritatingly happy. "So, where do you guys liv-"

"What did I tell you?" Yuki spat, grabbing Shuichi's shoulder and spinning him around.

"To be quiet…" Shuichi answered, shuffling his feet and looking down at the ground. Behind Yuki, Ryuichi laughed to himself. The new guy was funny. To make sure that Kuma didn't get in trouble, he covered the rabbit's mouth and waited for Yuki to start moving again.

"Exactly. Learn to listen." Yuki said as he released Shuichi's shoulder and moved past him.

Shuichi was quiet for most of the walk, but he couldn't contain his curiosity. He was fascinated by Yuki. He was hands-down the most gorgeous person he'd ever seen, and the way he'd handled the guard, and the way his eyes seemed to pierce-. He stopped himself before he started drooling and ran up to talk to Yuki again.

"Before you even start, don't." Yuki said, sensing Shuichi's desire to speak. "Don't even."

"Sorry Yuki…" Shuichi answered. He was quiet for about thirty seconds, and then he just couldn't help himself anymore. "So, what do you do for a living?"

"For the love of…shut up, kid." Yuki said, rubbing his temple and closing his eyes in an attempt to rid himself of the sight of Shuichi.

"I just want to know…is that so bad?" Shuichi quipped. He had no talent for knowing when to stop, and at this point Yuki was looking murderous.

"We're…" Ryuichi started to explain, before Yuki spun around and put a hand over his mouth.

"If anyone says one more word, so help me, I'll kill you both." Yuki said in a dangerously quiet voice. "I swear it, I will…"

The trio continued their stroll in peace, and Shuichi kept his mouth shut. Internally, his mind was running a marathon. He was captivated by Yuki, completely enthralled. Ryuichi was busy adjusting Kuma's bowtie, and Yuki was keeping a keen eye out for the guards.

"Hey, hey, hey, Yuki?" asked Ryuichi as Kuma.

"Not now…" Yuki hissed, trying to control his temper. Then a thought struck him: he hadn't calculated Ryuichi into his plan. He thought for a few seconds, and then found the way to remove his accomplice from the equation. "How about you go on a little 'mission'? Go find Tatsuha and steal his hat again, ne?"

"YAY! Mission Time Kuma!" sang the older man loudly as he skipped down the street to find his target.

"Now that he's gone…my place is this way, seeing as you're so stupid that I have to bring you along." Said Yuki as he grabbed Shuichi's wrist to lead him. He made sure to follow through with his excuse.

"I'm not that stupid, Yuki." Shuichi replied, a little hurt by the continued insults.

"Sure you're not. And the sky really isn't that blue." Yuki returned, getting a kick out of tormenting Shuichi.

"Of course it's not blue! Now who's the stupid one, huh, huh?" Shuichi said, a huge, gloating smile plastered across his face.

Yuki couldn't fathom a response and instead raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms, waiting for Shuichi's explanation though a good chunk of him didn't want to hear it.

"It's nighttime, silly! The sky is black!" Shuichi said, still smiling.

"You've got to be kidding…" Yuki said on a sigh. He rolled his eyes and grabbed Shuichi's arm again, pulling him forward. "Let's go, genius."

"Genius is good, right? It's not a code word for stupid is it?" Shuichi asked, trying to recall the word's meaning from his jumbled mind.

Yuki was again left speechless. He thought about replying, but couldn't bring himself to face Shuichi again. It was a shame, really. He was a perfect case of beauty without the brains. But, he reminded himself, it would be worth it. If he could just struggle through the mind-numbing conversation, it would be worth it. It had, after all, been a very long time for him.

"OK. I think it's a good word. I like it much better than 'stupid' or 'idiot'." Shuichi said finally, having been lost in thought for the duration of Yuki's internal reverie.

"Good for you."

"How long 'til we get there?" Shuichi asked, ignoring the death threat issued earlier.

"You're talking again."

"Are we there yet?"

"Obviously not." Yuki said, trying his best to contain his temper. At this point, he was hoping for a guard to come along and relieve him of his babysitting. Shuichi was thankfully quiet for a handful of seconds, but Yuki knew it wouldn't last.

"Are we there yet? Huh, are we?" Shuichi asked again, clearly wanting a response. "Yuki? Are we there yet?"

"NO!" Yuki yelled, losing his composure. "No, we are NOT there yet. You psychotic little…"

"Psychotic…?" said Shuichi quietly as he started to lag behind, pondering the big word. "I don't like big words, Yuki…"

"And I don't like you, but here we are." Muttered Yuki bitterly.

The two continued down the street until they reached a rundown part of town. Ryuichi was nowhere to be seen and Yuki was regretting his decision more and more as the seconds wore on.

"So, I get to stay with you, right?" asked Shuichi confidently.

"No. You get to sleep on the doorstep and I expect you to be gone in the morning once I wake up. Got it?" Yuki returned, having decided against inviting Shuichi into his bed. He didn't think he could handle having to deal with him beyond tonight.

"But you said-"

"I said nothing! I felt sorry for you, so I unwittingly agreed to let you stay for ONE night." Returned Yuki angrily. He stopped in front of one of the more tumble-down houses and waited for Shuichi to catch up.

"Is this it?" asked Shuichi quietly. He was accustomed to the palace. "It's…it's…"

"Just shut up. I don't care what you think." Said Yuki strongly as he turned away and started quietly at the house. Without warning, he walked in.

"Yuki-san… I'm sorry."

"Shut up. Your voice is annoying me."

Shuichi decided to follow Yuki's advice and kept his mouth shut; better not to annoy his host any more than he usually would. He followed Yuki into the small house and didn't know what to say. It wasn't what he had expected.

The duo lived in the upper story of the small house. One wall had been practically demolished, and it offered an excellent view of the palace. Along the wall next to the view were one pillow and one blanket that had been meticulously folded. In the complete opposite corner was a huge stack of pillows. There were several blankets, and one of the pillows had the words 'Kuma-chan' stitched into it. Shuichi guessed that the latter belonged to the guy that was on the 'mission'. Yuki didn't seem like a pillow guy.

"You can grab one of the idiot's pillows and sleep on the doorstep." Said Yuki dryly as he unfolded his blanket carefully. "I don't want to hear you, see you, or even know you're here."

"If you don't want me here, then why did you help me?" asked Shuichi, his temper starting to rise. "You don't even care, so why am I here?!"

"I made a bad life decision. Let it go…"

"No!"

"Are you arguing with me? I could throw you out this window without a second thought!" threatened Yuki, looking lethal.

"Alright…alright. I'm sorry, Yuki-san…" said Shuichi blankly and spiritlessly.

"It doesn't matter. Go to sleep and leave me the hell alone." Now that he knew for sure that he wouldn't be getting any, Yuki was even crankier.

Shuichi silently accepted his surrender and slept through part of the night. But something was nagging him. He woke up around midnight to a full moon. There was something about Yuki. Shuichi couldn't place it, though he tried. After fifteen minutes of pondering, he stumbled across it.

"I like him…" whispered Shuichi quietly.

"I told you I didn't want to hear you…" drawled Yuki from his corner. His eyes were closed, and he looked very tired. He had spent some of his night pondering too. He still couldn't figure out why he had saved the kid now sleeping on his doorstep. He figured that he was probably really tired at the time, or he was drunk, or maybe because the kid was cute. But he really hoped it wasn't the latter. The kid was downright annoying.