K ran up the stairs, convinced that he was going to have a disaster on his hands. He tried hard to listen for any more noise, but the palace had gone eerily silent. He couldn't hear any more bangs, and not even a giggle echoed down the empty hallway. K started to feel unnerved, and jogged down the hall towards the door to the suite. Even if the dastardly duo weren't inside, he could at least enlist Yuki's assistance.
"Yuki?" K called, stepping into the suite and taking a quick glance around the room. When his eyes reached Yuki's door, however, he groaned and walked over; the door was hanging off of its hinges. K guessed that this was the origin of the bangs he'd heard earlier. He progressed slowly across the room, unsure of what he was going to find inside Yuki's bedroom and more than afraid of the possibilities.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" Yuki roared, still out of K's line of sight. K picked up his pace and jogged to the destroyed door frame.
"But you're not pretty yet!" Ryuichi said, a clear-cut whine in his voice. "Your hair's not done!"
"Oh no…" K muttered, worried for everyone's safety. Since he'd met Yuki, the hair seemed to be one of his bigger buttons, and he was surprised that Ryuichi was feeling daring enough to push it.
K took a deep breath and stepped into the room. He tried his best to reign in his laughter, but couldn't. Yuki was spread-eagled on his back with his jaw clenched and eyes closed. Half of his hair was curled within an inch of its life, his eyes had a bright, electric blue paint smeared around them, and his cheeks were clumsily smudged with pink. He was clearly exercising some serious amounts of self-control, and K could see why. Shuichi was straddling his chest, leaning forward, and holding his wrists down to the carpet. Meanwhile, Ryuichi was prancing around the room with a large quantity of what appeared to be make-up. Whenever his leaps and twirls brought him too close to Yuki, the latter started wriggling, but he seemed to be holding back for Shuichi's sake.
"Pitiful, Yuki-san, pitiful…" K said, crossing his arms and leaning against the nearest wall. "Overcome by these two?"
"Don't start." Yuki hissed, keeping his eyes firmly closed.
"We surprised him." Shuichi said, throwing K a quick smile over his shoulder before resuming his vigil. "I'm supposed to keep him here, doesn't seem too hard."
"Not for you…" K said to himself, secretly hoping that Yuki would overhear and be incapable of doing anything about it. "Ryuichi…what's this all about?"
"We got bored after you ran away…" Ryuichi said, flopping onto Yuki's bed and starting to nibble on Kuma's ear. "So we decided to visit Yuki."
"Some visit…" Yuki murmured, trying to whip his wrists out of Shuichi's grasp and failing in his endeavor.
"He didn't look so good so we figured we needed to make him prettiful."Ryuichi finished with a dramatic nod. "Right, Shuichi?"
"Yep!" Shuichi agreed, his usual goofy grin in place. Yuki glared at him from the floor, resisting the urge to throw him off and do things that would earn him a thousand slaps from K. "We fixed part of his hair, and then we painted his eyes, and, and, and then we were about to do his lips when you came in. Oh, oh! You could help!"
"Well, I think he's pretty enough for now…" K said, sensing Yuki's temper was getting dangerously close to the breaking point.
"I suppose…" Ryuichi replied, rocking back and forth on Yuki's bed and hugging Kuma.
"Why don't you make each other pretty?" K suggested, sensing Ryuichi's sudden sadness. "Here, I'll donate to the cause."
K snapped his fingers and an entire platter of various paints, powders, and hair clips appeared.
"Now, you can only have it if you promise not to use any of it on me." K told the two trouble-makers, pointing a finger at both of them and raising his eyebrows. When Yuki made a few derisive noises K added, "And you can't use it on Yuki either."
"Ok!" Shuichi and Ryuichi said in unison, thrilled with K's suggestion.
"Get off." Yuki said quietly, directing the majority of his glaring at Shuichi. "You have five seconds."
"You don't want to stay and play?" Shuichi asked Yuki, his face clouding.
"Four seconds."
"But..!" Shuichi stammered, trying to think of a way to keep Yuki with him.
"Three…two…" Yuki continued, mentally cracking his knuckles and preparing for what he was about to do. K might hit him, but at least he'd be free. "One."
Before Yuki could do any serious damage to the petit prince, however, K grabbed Shuichi's collar and hoisted him up, out of Yuki's reach.
"Last warning. Either be nice or the jig is up." K said to Yuki, setting Shuichi down gently and pretending to dust off his shoulders.
"No need. Everyone in the room knows the truth." Yuki retorted, getting up off of the floor and stretching.
"Someone else could be watching, though." K responded, gesturing with his head to the other room. Yuki picked up on the silent cue and left, giving Shuichi a quick kiss on the head on his way out. "You two should probably relocate. Otherwise Yuki might lose his cool."
At the thought of Yuki losing his cool, Ryuichi gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth. K sighed and left, trying not to feel the least bit curious about Ryuichi's reaction. At this point, he didn't even want to know.
"What's a cool?" Shuichi asked, confused by K's words and Ryuichi's freaked out face.
"We'll tell you when you're older." Ryuichi said solemnly, nodding seriously and patting Kuma on the head.
"Alright!" Shuichi replied, content with Ryuichi's answer and feeling hyper from Yuki's farewell gesture. "Let's go to my room, Yuki won't lose anything if we go there."
"Yay!" Ryuichi squealed, grabbing Kuma and spinning around. The two divided up K's supplies and bounded out of the room, laughing and singing the entire way. The rug, who had remained incognito for its personal safety, and for the benefit of watching Yuki being tortured without getting caught, flew after the twins. It figured it was safe now that Yuki was leaving.
"Wonder where they're going…" K mused, shutting the door behind the new best friends.
"Don't." Yuki responded, glad that they were gone. He grabbed a rag from the washroom in the suite and started to clean his face, tiring of the looks that he was getting from K.
"Whatever."
"Who do you think is listening? The Sultana worships me, that damned vizier and his parrot are locked up, and the guard captain is in love with Ryuichi. I think we're pretty safe." Yuki said, finishing the make-up removal and flopping onto a comfy chair. The pampered palace life was suiting him well.
"The vizier isn't locked up, that's the thing. Neither is the parrot. They're both down in his office." K responded, sitting opposite of Yuki and looking pensive.
"What?" Yuki said in an alarmed voice.
"I'm not sure if the Sultana let him out or not…he doesn't really seem capable of escaping on his own."
"He's not, believe me. She must have arrested him to make a scene for us." Yuki replied, crossing his arms and leaning back. "How do you know all of this?"
"I left after you went to sleep. Ryuichi tried to make me put on a dress and Shuichi was eyeing my ponytail in a way that I definitely did not approve of." K answered, shaking out his long hair and snorting. "When I got there, Tohma was trying to fix the office. It was hilarious…"
"Get on with it…" Yuki said under his breath, more to himself than to K.
"Anyway, I decided to have some fun with him and I cast the proper spell when he wasn't looking. He spent the next five minutes parading around like a puffed-up peacock, but then I heard some pretty loud noises up here and came back." K explained, smiling at the memory.
"Yeah…I'm pretty sure one of them used the other as a battering ram to knock my door down." Yuki said, rubbing his temples and getting up. "We should make sure that Tohma and Caspian are still in the office and not up to anything."
"Sure. We'll bug the place too, keep some tabs on them." K said as he snapped his fingers, causing a pile of varying electronics to appear.
"Good idea." Yuki affirmed, stretching again and heading for the exit.
Yuki walked out the door closely followed by K with an armful of surveillance equipment. They met no opposition, and the palace seemed deserted. They walked in silence, each wrapped up in their own thoughts until they were about halfway to the office.
K had been thinking of his last trip to the office and hoping that it wouldn't go the same way. Then he remembered his conversation with Shuichi about Yuki and Ryuichi's lives on the streets. He stopped and cleared his throat loudly; he had a bone to pick with Yuki.
"Wait a minute, we still need to talk." K called down the hallway, trying to keep the anger out of his voice so he wouldn't scare Yuki off. "You and Ryuichi lied to me."
"About what?" Yuki asked, slowing down and glancing over his shoulder at K.
"About your past. You two didn't tell me that you were thieves!" K retorted, his indignant feelings returning.
"You never asked about our past."
"Yes I did!"
"When?"
"When we…when…" K stumbled, very aware of the fact that he suddenly couldn't remember ever discussing this particular topic with the street rats.
"Exactly."
"Well, you should've told me!" K shot back, his voice defensive.
"You should've asked." Yuki shot back, enjoying this small victory.
"You're on the most-wanted list! That could've ruined everything! You should have told me that!" K replied, his voice rising.
"Don't ask, don't tell." Yuki replied, smiling.
"Dammit!" K yelled, throwing a few devices at Yuki with intent to wound.
"Keep your voice down, someone will hear you." Yuki ordered, dodging the ill-aimed projectiles and sauntering off down the hallway.
"I have half a mind to undo this thing myself." K retorted, picked up his equipment and catching up with Yuki.
"Do that and you'll never get wished free."
"Speaking of that, you've used two wishes…"
"Quiet, we're here." Yuki said quickly, regretting mentioning the wishes. He wasn't ready to be without K's powers. He crept across the entrance hall and approached Tohma's office very quietly, hoping that he'd be able to hear something worthwhile.
Behind him, K started to unravel his wires and place bugs around the area. When the office had been silent for ten minutes, K nodded to Yuki and the latter peeked around the doorframe. Inside the office, Tohma was draped across a chaise lounge, clearly asleep. Yuki rolled his eyes and motioned K forward.
"Wow." K said, at a loss for any other word.
"We were worried about that?" Yuki asked, starting to wonder if everything that had happened earlier that morning had been some kind of nightmare.
"That's just sad."
"Morbidly so."
"Wait…where's the parrot?" K queried, scanning the room for Caspian but coming up with nothing.
"Not sure." Yuki responded concisely. He stared around the room, very concerned about Caspian's absence. "There he is!"
Yuki pointed to Tohma snoozing on the chair. Caspian was nuzzled into the folds of Tohma's multiple layers of clothing. He was sound asleep on his back with his feet sticking up in the air at odd angles.
"There's the problem child." Yuki stated, feeling more relieved than he wanted to show.
"Good to know. Let's bug this place…" K started to sneak into the office, but something stopped him dead in his tracks; Caspian was moving. "Abort, abort!"
Yuki started back-pedaling immediately, debating on whether or not to run for it and leave K behind.
"Don't you dare!" K hissed, grabbing the back of Yuki's shirt and holding him back. "I think we're safe, he's sleep-scuttling."
Yuki raised an eyebrow, a little unsure of K's explanation. He peered over K's shoulder and was blessed with sudden understanding. Caspian was wandering around on Tohma's stomach, apparently trying to find a new spot to settle down in. Yuki bit his lip and tried not to make any noise. K couldn't help himself and snorted at Caspian's blind wandering. In response, the bird let out a shrill scream and ran straight for Tohma's neck. Yuki and K both took a quick step forward, ready to intervene if necessary. Both had privately decided that a Tohma-free Caspian was much, much worse than one watched by the crazy vizier.
Instead of ripping out his owner's jugular, Caspian dived between Tohma's neck and hair, burrowing deeply as possible. Once he was settled, he made a few quiet noises of approval and fell silent. Yuki and K looked at each, both wondering what they were up against.
"That was…" K started, unsure of what to say.
"Special." Yuki finished, backing up to the doorframe and leaning against it.
"Well, well, well, look at you finishing my sentences." K said to Yuki, winking and nudging him with an elbow. "I knew we were secretly soul mates."
"You wish…" Yuki muttered, highly offended.
"Oh, that's right…I don't look like a twelve year-old girl…I guess it wouldn't work out between us."
"You..! I..." Yuki stammered, taken aback at K's comment. "Dammit, K!"
"Let's move past your interesting taste in men for now." K replied, pleased with himself. He snapped his fingers discreetly to muffle Tohma and Caspian's hearing. The last thing they needed was for him to overheard anything important. Not to mention he was in no mood for a Caspian re-match. "We need to get this placed bugged, and besides, Shuichi and Ryuichi have been left alone for too long."
"That's probably for the best, I'm not sure if I want to know what they're up to." Yuki said, his pride a bit wounded. "And he's not a twelve year-old girl."
"How would you know?" K asked. He knew that Yuki'd spent the night in Shuichi's room, and that the Prince had sounded pretty suggestive before he lost his communication feed, but he'd expected more out of both of them. Besides, Yuki should know better. If Mika found out, she might cancel the deal.
"Trust me, I know."
"I repeat, how?"
"You really want to know?" Yuki said darkly, smiling and raising his eyebrows. "I can give you all the gory details if necessary."
"You didn't!" K gasped, his eyes widening.
"I did. Several times."
"I should've known…" K muttered.
Yuki merely smiled at K.
"You should know better." K snapped, feeling pissy. "If he tells anyone about this…"
"He won't, he had way too much fun." Yuk said, his smile widening at K's shocked expression. "You're just jealous that you're not getting any."
"I could get some if I wanted to…" K whispered. "You need to be respectful."
"I know, I know, he's the Prince, I got it." Yuki said, rolling his eyes. He sensed that the conversation was deteriorating extremely quickly, but he didn't really care. On the chaise lounge, Tohma groaned and rolled over.
"Not just that…he's your lover, isn't he? Don't talk about him like that." K said, scowling at Yuki and throwing him a few wires. "Make sure you don't electrocute yourself."
"Electrocute?" Yuki asked, unfamiliar with electricity. "He's not my lover."
"I'm not even going to try to explain electricity to you. If he's not your lover, what is he?"
"I don't know, does he need a title?" Yuki replied, hiding a few wires along the wall of Tohma's office.
"I thought he meant more to you than that." K answered, ceasing his work and staring over at Yuki. "You've been through hell to get to him."
"I know, I know…" Yuki said in an exasperated tone. He really didn't want to have this conversation with K.
"Where do you think this thing is going, anyway?" K queried, flipping a switch and dusting his hands together. Caspian made a few squeaky noises and his maroon tail disappeared further into Tohma's hair.
"It doesn't have to go anywhere." Yuki said quickly. He'd been purposely avoiding this subject in his head. He had no idea where Shuichi thought this would end up, and Mika's plan did not appeal to him in the least.
"Yes, it does. You're supposed to be his fiancé, you understand that, right? That's what the Sultana is planning, that's what Shuichi's surely expecting."
"Then they'll be disappointed."
"That's terrible."
"That's how it is. We done in here?"
"Yeah. We're done." K said, shaking his head at Yuki. He snapped his fingers to undo his jinx on Tohma and Caspian and walked out of the office. "You have to tell him."
"I don't have to do anything but die." Yuki responded, pushing his way past K and starting up the stairs. K started to say something else, but Yuki cut him off by raising his hand. "I'm done talking about this. I'll deal with the Sultana and Shuichi when the time comes. I was never planning on forever, I just wanted to see him again. If I have to, I'll wish you free and disappear. He'll be fine without me."
"You honestly think that?" K said, ignoring Yuki's shushing noises. "That Sultana hates him, you can see it in her eyes. She's been trying to push him off on any jerk that'll take him. You're going to let that happen? You're going to leave him to that fate, after he finally has a chance to be happy with you?"
"Enough!" Yuki snarled. "And he wouldn't be happy with me…"
"You don't know that."
"Yes I do." Yuki said flatly. When he sensed K's desire to reply, he silenced him. "K! Shut it."
"Fine, master." K returned sarcastically, too angry to continue the conversation. He'd started to feel attached to Shuichi, and it broke his heart that Yuki was going to leave him. He sighed, glared at Yuki, and stalked up the stairs, intent on spending as much time as he could making Shuichi happy before Yuki got tired of him.
Shuichi and Ryuichi skipped down the hallway, hand in hand, Kuma swinging wildly from Ryuichi's free hand. The rug drifted along behind them, wanting to keep an eye on the duo now that K was out of the area. It'd kept out of the dress-up conflict for its own good, completely adverse to the idea of changing its look. It'd never been happier about humans lacking the gift of flight.
"Too bad Rug Man won't come down…" Ryuichi pouted, staring wistfully at the hovering rug.
"It's so cool…" Shuichi said, gazing starry-eyed at the carpet. He'd tried to make friends in the suite, but the rug considered anyone that was that far behind enemy lines a threat. It still had a major issue with Yuki.
They spent the rest of the walk in silence. Ryuichi was busy having a rhetorical conversation with Kuma about the merits of camel jockeys and Shuichi was occupied with thinking about how to win over the rug. Ryuichi tried to lead the way, but without K's assistance, he had no hope of finding Shuichi's room. When he had led them near the dungeons, Shuichi snapped out of his reverie and took in his surroundings.
"Umm…Ryuichi?" Shuichi asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt the seemingly vital camel conversation.
"Hmm?" Ryuichi responded, walking backwards and smiling at Shuichi.
"Do you know where you're going?"
"Nope!" Ryuichi sang out, turning around and resuming his in-depth talk with Kuma.
Shuichi sighed and looked at Ryuichi skeptically, wondering how Yuki put up with him. He stopped walking and watched Ryuichi amble down the hallway, bumping into vases and off of walls, completely absorbed in himself and Kuma. The rug landed next to Shuichi and put an understanding tassel on his shoulder.
"We should turn around…the guard's quarters are down there…" Shuichi called down the hallway, deciding that he needed to get Ryuichi turned around before anything bad happened. He didn't want to give Mika yet another reason to yell at him.
The rug shook its upper half and patted Shuichi again. It knew when Ryuichi was too far gone. It flew after Ryuichi and tossed him in the air, catching him conveniently before he hit the ground. It returned to a startled Shuichi and stopped in front of him, waiting for him to join his cohort. Shuichi's face immediately split into a smile and he launched himself at the rug with a shriek of glee. Once he was seated, the rug took off through the palace, making a beeline for Shuichi's room.
Well, I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and an insane Black Friday. Caspian stayed pretty quiet, my dad kept eyeing him suspiciously with the carving knife and I threatened him with a gravy bath. It was a pretty special day...the bird is convinced that the Christmas tree is part of a raging conspiracy to end him; he won't go within five feet of it. Enough about Po…
This is the first part of Chapter Twenty, and I plan on posting the second part on Friday or Saturday of this week. Key word: plan. I have most of the next part done, but I don't know what classes are going to do or if my muse is going to head for warmer climates without giving me notice. I'm planning on this being my last steady update until finals are over. That might not be the case, but here's fair warning.
Enjoy, and as always, thanks for the reviews, they make me want to write. I really appreciate the feedback.
-Amaya