"Are we even now?" Shuichi asked an hour later, nuzzling Yuki's neck.
"Not even close." Yuki said, sitting up and stretching.
"Hey! I tried!" Shuichi said indignantly.
Yuki raised an eyebrow.
"I did!" Shuichi said. He chucked a pillow at Yuki when he raised his other eyebrow and got out of bed, stomping off to his closet.
Yuki laughed quietly and got up too, pulling on his disheveled clothes. He figured he'd hold this debt over Shuichi's head for as long as possible. He wanted the benefits to last.
"What are you gonna do today?" Shuichi called from the closet.
"Try not to get myself killed, remember?" Yuki replied. Shuichi had made sure to remind him about Tohma and his deranged bird several times. He was clearly worried that Yuki might die for real.
"Ha, ha, very funny." Shuichi said, walking back into the room. He tied a burgundy sash around his waist, completing his new ensemble. "But seriously, don't underestimate the parrot, he's got a screw loose."
"I'm not afraid of a bird. Trust me, I've fought off worse than him." Yuki said, straightening his shirt. He still wasn't used to the nicer clothes. K had spent half an hour lecturing him about keeping them nice and orderly, and Yuki didn't feel like he had the energy to withstand a K attack this morning.
"Yuki!" Shuichi said, worry etched across his face.
"Fine, fine, I'll watch out for the damn parrot."
Shuichi beamed at him from the other side of the room, looking extremely pleased. Yuki sighed, and sat back down on the bed. He felt like he'd been run over by a rampaging elephant. In the future, he was going to have to restrain himself when in the presence of Shuichi.
"You ok?" Shuichi asked, combing out his hair and glancing over at Yuki. "You don't look so good."
"Just tired." Yuki replied, wondering how Shuichi could sound so awake.
"Me too..." Shuichi said, skipping over to the balcony and pulling open the curtains.
"Morning person, are you?" Yuki asked bitterly, stifling a yawn and shielding his eyes with his arm.
"I'm an all day person Yuki!" Shuichi replied, tying back the curtains.
Yuki lowered his arm a smidgeon and stared at Shuichi; the kid was getting more hyper by the second.
"I'd better get back. Otherwise K'll show up, shoot at me, and start demanding an explanation for my tardiness." Yuki said, rubbing his temples and getting up.
"Ok!" Shuichi said, running over to Yuki and giving him a quick kiss. "Don't get shot!"
Yuki's eyes widened slightly and he fumbled for the door handle. Shuichi was freaking him out a little bit. Sure, he knew the kid wasn't exactly a great conversationalist, but it wasn't even nine o'clock yet and he was already chipper as a chipmunk. He said goodbye to Shuichi and ducked into the hallway, a little bit relieved to be away from the manic maniac.
"Ah, there he is. Good morning." someone in the shadows said when Yuki had rounded the corner.
"Excuse me?" Yuki said, squinting into the darkness. "Who's there?"
"It's just me, your friendly neighborhood vizier." Tohma answered, stepping into the light and smiling at Yuki. Several guards flanked him.
Yuki's blood ran cold at the sight. Shuichi had said Tohma was harmless, but he hadn't said anything about his guards.
"What do you want?" Yuki asked, swallowing. He tried his best at a glare. Tohma didn't even flinch.
"Only wanted to say hi." Tohma replied. "And to tell you you're under arrest. Guards."
"What for?" Yuki said, taking several steps back and wishing he hadn't left K's lamp in the suite.
"Does it really matter, Prince?" Tohma said, putting a lot of emphasis on his last word. "I could list several...infractions."
The guards moved forward, several fingering their swords. Yuki thought about bolting back to Shuichi's room and jumping off the balcony, but he didn't want to endanger him.
"Breaking curfew, trespassing, breaking and entering, inappropriate behavior..." Tohma read off of a list, enjoying himself immensely. "Shall I continue?"
"Not necessary." Yuki said, realizing that there wasn't a way out of this. Hopefully K would get suspicious and come looking for him. He put up his hands and let the guards tie his hands.
"Let's get going gentlemen." Tohma said, putting the list away and smirking at Yuki.
Yuki glared back, this time succeeding. Tohma gulped and walked a few feet ahead of the group, unwilling to get too close to Yuki. When the group reached the ground floor, Tohma threw up his hand to halt the procession.
"I'll take him from here guys. It's no problem." Tohma said. If Yuki made it to the dungeons, he'd be too well-guarded for Caspian's plan to succeed.
"Yes, sir." one of them replied, giving Tohma a giddy smile. The guard next to him elbowed him in the ribs.
Tohma grabbed one of Yuki's arms and steered him down the hallway, aiming for his office.
"I got you this time..." Tohma muttered. "You're dead, you stupid little cockroach."
"Right..." Yuki replied, rolling his eyes. Internally, however, his stomach was doing back-flips. Tohma was going to kill him, and K might not get there in time to save him.
Tohma ignored Yuki's weak reply and marched him over to the broom closet door, making sure no one was watching. He shoved him into the office and locked the door behind him.
"Took you long enough." Caspian said, climbing out of his cage and stretching. "I fell asleep waiting on you."
"I had to wait for him to leave the prince's room." Tohma said, pushing Yuki into a chair and tying his hands to the back of it. He started to cross the room, but a kick from Yuki sent him into a spectacular face plant instead. Tohma got off the floor and threw one of his shoes at Caspian, who was on his back, cackling with laughter. He stomped over to Yuki and bound his legs as well. For good measure, he shoved a cloth in his mouth to keep him quiet. It took Caspian a few minutes to regain his composure enough to speak.
"Did...did everything go according to plan? Were the guards suspicious?" Caspian asked, still gasping slightly.
"Yeah, they didn't suspect a thing. I took your advice and used those idiots that guard the throne room to watch Shuichi's room for me. They almost screwed it up, though..." Tohma said, dusting off his clothes and taking a seat behind his desk. "They scared him off the first time he showed up. At least he managed to find a way inside."
Yuki glared at Tohma, his ego still mortally wounded after the guard's teasing. He couldn't believe it had all been a set-up, let alone one engineered by a bird.
"They helped with the arrest too. We're golden." Tohma said, putting his arms behind his head and winking at Yuki. "I'm going to go tell Mika that he's gone, most likely dead in the streets. Some little sob story like that."
"No, we need to do this right." Caspian said, pacing on his cage. "Call a conference, make sure everyone is there; his retainers, the guards that arrested him, the Prince...everyone."
"Why?" Tohma asked, curious about the bird's intentions.
"Because." Caspian said, flying over and landing on Yuki's head. "We need to make this official, plus, it'll kill the Prince. Bonus points."
Yuki shook his head violently, unseating Caspian, at the mention of Shuichi.
"Oh, look, birdman. Someone's in love." Tohma sneered, getting up and patting Yuki on the head. Yuki tried to kick him, hit him, anything, but he was bound too tightly. All he could do was give Tohma his angriest glare.
"Go arrange the conference. The sooner, the better. We need to get these rats out of here." Caspian said, jumping up from the floor and landing on Yuki's shoulder.
"What are you going to do?" Tohma asked as he grabbed his feather boa off of the coat rack by the door and slung it around his shoulders.
"I'm going to kill him of course."
"You're going to kill him?" Tohma said incredulously. Yuki was a full-grown, very strong, man. Caspian was a tiny bird. Homicidal, yes, but tiny.
"Just go, Tohma. I'll...take care of things here." Caspian said, looking absolutely evil. When Yuki tried to shake him off again, Caspian sank his beak into his ear, causing Yuki to scream and tip the chair over.
"Nice knowing you, street rat." Tohma said over his shoulder as he exited the office. He gave the office a final look before he shut the door; Caspian was rummaging around in his cage, muttering to himself, and Yuki was still on the floor, a surprisingly steady stream of blood flowing from his ear wound. Tohma shuddered, and closed the door, thankful that he wasn't going to be around for the violent conclusion of Caspian's master plan.
"He's late, Rug Man." K said, pacing the suite floor anxiously. True, he'd never given Yuki a specific time to return, but he was still much later than K had expected.
The rug didn't offer much of a response and instead continued to drift lazily around the room. The lack of Ryuichi and Yuki had been a welcome change for it. It missed the peace and quiet of the Cave of Random Objects.
"Maybe I should go check on him." K said, ceasing his pacing and glancing at the rug for reassurance.
The rug stopped drifting and made a cutthroat gesture, indicating that it in no way agreed with K's idea. When K stepped towards the door anyway, the rug swooped forward and grabbed his ponytail, yanking him away from the door.
"What do you mean, give him his privacy?" K asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. "I never had you pegged as a supporter for Yuki's rights. I thought you hated him."
The rug nodded, and started to reconsider its answer. K sighed and started pacing again, wishing he had more than a carpet to talk to. Believe it or not, he was starting to miss Ryuichi and Yuki. At least they kept things interesting.
"Speaking of Ryuichi…wonder what he's up to…" K mused, thinking back to their encounter with Tatsuha, the guard captain. "He seemed pretty harmless. I can't imagine him hurting Ryuichi, just said he wanted to play a game."
The rug didn't seem too concerned either. Instead, it flitted out of the room, trying to decide whether or not to let K barge in on Yuki's first stint of privacy.
K sat down heavily on one of the couches, awaiting the rug's response.
"Like I need permission from a piece of carpet…" K muttered. A few seconds later, a cushion sailed through the air and smacked him in the back of the head. "HEY!"
The rug re-entered the room, trying its best to look innocent. K saw right through it and through the cushion back.
"I'm leaving, I have to go find him." K said, turning on his heel and heading for the door. "And no, you're not going to stop me."
The rug acted as if it were sighing and threw another pillow at K's retreating back. This was going to start one hell of a fight; Yuki was going to kill K. But on the other tassel, this would make Yuki miserable. Deciding that it supported anything that ruined Yuki's life, the rug rolled up and settled down in the corner for a morning snooze.
Out in the hall, K was formulating his game plan. He'd have to have a good excuse, or Yuki would filet him.
"He's going to livid anyway…" K muttered, walking down the hall. "Even if I had a real reason for dragging him out of there."
K whistled a tune and continued to amble through the palace. There was no need to hurry. The longer Yuki got to stay with his prince, the better off K would be. He figured he'd tell Yuki that the Sultana wanted to see him, and rush him back to their suite to spiffy him up. At that point, he'd distract him with embarrassing questions. Hopefully, he'd forget about the fake meeting.
K finally reached Shuichi's hallway, feeling exceptionally pleased with himself. He was sure his plan would work. Clearing his throat confidently, he raised his fist to knock on the door. Without warning the door was pulled back and someone collided with him, knocking him over.
"I'm sorry!" the perpetrator squealed, running over to K and trying to hoist him up. He latched onto K's arm and pulled with all of his might. K stared at him quizzically, wondering what he was trying to do. Realizing that the poor kid was trying to help him up, K played along and stood up shakily, allowing the smaller person to support him for a few seconds.
"It's OK…" K said, patting the culprit on the shoulder and giving him a pained smile. K shook his ponytail out of his face and took a closer look at the person in front of him; it was the Prince. "Oh, your Majesty, good morning."
"Morning!" Shuichi said brightly, completely forgetting to be apologetic and concerned. "You're one of Yuki's friends, right?"
"Don't call him that!" K hissed, clapping a hand over Shuichi's mouth and then removing it immediately when he realized he'd practically assaulted the Prince. "He's supposed to be dead, remember?"
"Oh yeah…" Shuichi said, nodding slowly and then winking at K. "Right right."
K raised an eyebrow, again finding himself questioning Yuki's taste. Sure, Shuichi was pretty, and rich, but he seemed like he was a few coconuts short of a palm tree. He weighed the negatives and positives, trying to figure out why Yuki had been so focused on getting to him. When he realized that Shuichi was staring at him with a quizzical expression, he cleared his throat and came back to the present.
"Speaking of Eiri, have you seen him?" K asked, halting the debate in his head and putting particular emphasis on Yuki's fake name.
"No…he left already." Shuichi said, looking over his shoulder to make sure Yuki wasn't secretly hiding in his room.
"Damn." K muttered, frustrated that he had once again lost his charge. "Any idea where he went?"
"He said he was going back to his room…he didn't want you to worry." Shuichi said, furrowing his brow as he recalled the information.
"More like he didn't want to get shot…" K said under his breath, thinking of where Yuki could have wandered off to. "You sure he didn't say anything about leaving the palace or going back to his place?"
"No, nothing like that…" Shuichi responded. He paused for a few seconds, obviously deep in thought. "Hey! Let's go look for him! I'll help!"
K looked down at Shuichi and saw Ryuichi's twin staring back at him. The enthusiasm, the excitement, the twitchiness…everything was the same. K sighed deeply and nodded, causing Shuichi to squeal with delight and start bouncing up and down on the spot.
"Where should we start?" Shuichi asked, still bouncing.
"First of all, stop that." K said, placing his hands on Shuichi's shoulders and holding him down. "We need to be calm. This isn't a game, he's missing."
"Oh…you think he's in trouble?" Shuichi asked, rapidly becoming serious.
"I'm not sure." K answered, a bit taken aback by Shuichi's sudden mood swing.
"We should check Tohma's office first." Shuichi said, still looking serious.
"Tohma? Isn't he the vizier?" K asked, only half paying attention. He was still trying to think of where Yuki could be.
"Yeah." Shuichi said, grabbing K's arm and dragging him down the hall. The taller of the two was still lost in his thoughts, and didn't really notice. "He has this murderous parrot, you see…that's what we should be worrying about."
"Why would a bird want to kill him?" K questioned, snapping out of his stupor. He couldn't come up with anything better than Shuichi's theory, so he figured he'd just run with it.
"Because he belongs to the vizier, and the vizier has been trying to kill him since he met me. He's the one that arrested him in the first place." Shuichi answered, continuing to drag K through the halls. "Tohma told me he was dead, and then he showed up here with you."
"Wait a minute, the vizier wants him dead?" K asked, realizing that Yuki and Ryuichi hadn't told him jack squat about themselves.
"Yeah, he said it was because he caught him with me. Yuki's a criminal too. Tohma said he was on some list or something. I guess Ryuichi's on it too, I think they work together." Shuichi said, navigating himself and K down a flight of stairs.
"Right." K answered, getting free of Shuichi and half-jogging down the stairs. When he found Yuki, he was going to kill him. He hadn't bargained for this mess. He was fine with helping Yuki get his prince, but this was outrageous. Not only was the guy wanted dead by one of the most powerful men in the city, but he was also a notorious criminal, along with Ryuichi. "I'm going to kill that little…"
"Come on, we have to check his office. Hopefully Caspian won't be there."
"I'm not too worried about a pint-sized feather ball." K said, fingering his gun and the fully-functioning gun-shaped lamp that Yuki had haphazardly left in the suite. K had grabbed it, worrying about Ryuichi causing a scene.
"You should be." Shuichi said, sounding scared.
The duo picked up their pace and hurried through the palace, taking the quickest route to Tohma's office. When they reached the main hall, however, a guard dashed forward and approached Shuichi.
"Majesty, the vizier and the Sultana want you to come to the throne room immediately." The guard said, sounding out of breath. "I'm sorry, I would have told you sooner, but I couldn't find you."
"Why do they want me?" Shuichi queried, constantly skeptical of Mika and Tohma's intentions.
"They wouldn't say, Prince. Please, hurry." the guard returned, gesturing towards the door and looking stressed.
"Alright." Shuichi responded, sighing. "I guess you're on your own." He said to K, looking worried. He hoped that he could find Yuki, and that the latter would be okay.
Shuichi walked into the throne room with K looking on. The doors closed behind him, leaving K standing alone in the entrance hall. K glanced around, wishing Shuichi had told him where the vizier's office was. He couldn't see any obvious locations, but Shuichi had led him here. Surely the office was somewhere nearby. He jogged around the room, following any off-shooting hallways, but quickly realizing that his search was fruitless; the hallways were all empty.
He returned to the entrance hall and took a second look. Tucked away behind a potted plant was a dingy door.
"You've got to be kidding me." K said, walking over to the door. He couldn't quite fathom why the vizier's office would be in a closet.
He wrenched open the door and the entrance hall was suddenly flooded with red light. From inside the office, he could hear the sound of gigantic drums. K gasped, and took a step back. He mouthed soundlessly, doing a very effective impression of a fish, and couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"What the hell…?"
Sorry this is so late…I thought I was on a roll, but apparently I wasn't. Fun times. It was kinda strange actually, I opened the document and found eight pages that I couldn't remember writing. Either I've been sleep-writing or the bird learned how to type. In either case, I hoped you enjoyed it. With any luck, the next update will only take two weeks. *crosses fingers*
Anyway, I'm glad to be back to writing Caspian scenes. I'm really excited about the upcoming scene…expect lots of Caspian antics. I'm going to my favorite place in the world, my zoo, tomorrow morning, so I'd better dash. Night folks.
-Amaya