Tatsuha's head snapped up off of the table; he stumbled out of his chair and drunkenly meandered to the door to his room. He poked his groggy head out and looked up and down the hallway. He swore he'd heard the Prince scream, but he couldn't be sure. He walked out of his room and went in search of the noise. After all, the Prince was so similar to Ryuichi, and if he had the chance to merely catch of a glimpse of the thief, it would all be worth it.

"Ryuichi? Majesty?" Tatsuha called tentatively.

His voice echoed around the hall, but it was not answered. Tatsuha tried a few more times to make contact with the cause of the yell, but he had no luck.

"Damn…" Tatsuha said on a sigh.

Ever since Kuma's tea party, all he'd been able to think about was Ryuichi. He hadn't yet figured out why Ryuichi had been in the palace in the first place, but at this point, he didn't care. He was sure that the thief couldn't possibly be up to no good. Sneaking around the palace, especially in the royal suites, was completely innocent. Providing that he got to spend more time with his pesky little obsession, he could care less what he was up to. As far as Tatsuha was concerned, Ryuichi had cuteness as an eternal alibi.

At times, his jealousy got the better of him and he started to focus on the tall man that had been with Ryuichi that night. He hadn't recognized him, and the guards that had been in the area mysteriously had concussions. None of them had the slightest inkling of what had happened to them, but Tatsuha was apt to blame the mighty Kumagoro beam that Ryuichi seemed so fond of unleashing on unsuspecting, and suspecting, targets.

Tatsuha sighed again and wandered back into his room. He pulled on his sword belt and the rest of his uniform, double-checking in a mirror that his hat was on right. He was slotted for duty in a few minutes, and he had to focus. Some of his subordinates had noticed his dazed looks, and many had attempted to take advantage of this to score time off. If he didn't stop them now, he'd be responsible for watching all of Agrabah. He shuddered and shook his head a few times, reminding himself that if he had to guard an entire city on his own, he'd never have time to see his darling beloved.

"There!" Shuichi exclaimed, walking backwards and admiring his handiwork. He and Ryuichi had played 'rock, paper, scissors' to determine who would get the first makeover, and, after all the dust had settled and the blood had been cleaned up, Ryuichi had emerged the victor. "All done!"

"Yay!" Ryuichi squealed, spinning around in his seat to face Shuichi's large vanity mirror. He gasped with delight, completely taken with his new look. Behind him, Shuichi beamed proudly, satisfied with his hard work.

He'd curled Ryuichi's hair to within an inch of its life and then he'd plastered a purple, gluey glitter all over it. After he'd finished with the hair, he'd painted Ryuichi's eyelids bright pink. He lined Ryuich's eyes with a neon blue color and curled his eyelashes. The final touch had been adding some rouge and painting his lips pink to match his eyelids.

"Your turn!" Ryuichi said suddenly, spinning around again and almost knocking Shuichi over. Both had been so absorbed in Ryuichi's new face that they'd lost all senses of reality.

"Okay!" Shuichi answered brightly, no fear present in his voice though any other person would have been terrified at the idea of Ryuichi coming at them with a hair curler.

Shuichi and Ryuichi traded places, both too excited to talk. Ryuichi laid out his tools of choice and cracked his knuckles. He spent a few minutes pondering what to do with Shuichi, completely silent. Shuichi tried to say something a few times, but every time he opened his mouth Ryuichi violently shushed him.

"I'm bored…" Shuichi finally got out, ignoring Ryuichi's shushing. He looked back at Ryuichi and was slightly startled; the usual playful glint was absent. Ryuichi looked quite serious, and Shuichi was a bit unnerved. He was unaware that a makeover was such important business.

"Here. He'll tell you a story." Ryuichi said tonelessly, grabbing Kumagoro and plopping him down in front of Shuichi.

"OK…" Shuichi replied quietly, cocking his head to the side and staring at the mute pink bunny. Shuichi waited for the story to begin, but he eventually gave it up; the bunny wasn't saying anything. Ryuichi grabbed his head and straightened it, concentrating very hard on the task at hand.

"Has he gotten to the picture part yet?" Ryuichi asked absent-mindedly after a few minutes had passed, nodding along to himself and giving Kuma a small high-five for something that amused him.

"The what part?"

"Oh, he says he's just now covering the dance routine. You'll get there." Ryuichi said, smiling to himself and starting to hum a tune.

"What's he covering?" Shuichi asked, completely confused.

"Shh! Listen to Kuma-chan's story!" Ryuichi whispered, taking a well-aimed swipe at Shuichi's face with his paints. "And close your eyes!"

Shuichi did as he was told, even though he had no idea what was going on. Ryuichi was scary when he was styling, and he didn't want to anger the one holding the scissors. After half an hour of Shuichi and Kuma having a staring contest while Ryuichi swooped in and out of Shuichi's line of vision with his various utensils, Ryuichi announced that he was finished.

"Done!" Ryuichi sang, twirling Shuichi around so that he could see the glory of Ryuichi's masterpiece. Ryuichi put a hand over Shuichi's eyes and then pulled it away for dramatic effect. "Look!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Yuki said, entering the room with K close behind. "Trust me."

"Hey!" Ryuichi yelled, immediately reverting back to his goofy self and getting offended.

"Gonna have to say the same to you." K told Ryuichi, shaking his head and whistling slowly. They both looked like cheap drag queens with five year-olds for make-up artists.

"Not cool…" Shuichi said, narrowing his eyes at K. He crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at the blonds, clearly not happy with their appraisal of his and Ryuichi's handiwork. "And he likes the way he looks!"

Ryuichi nodded vigorously and Shuichi started doing a mini victory dance. K sighed and turned to Yuki to make a comment, but the other man's face was clouded. K nudged him with his elbow, but Yuki only shuffled to his left, clearly avoiding him.

"You alright?" K asked quietly, relying on Shuichi's little jig to keep him and Ryuichi distracted.

Yuki slowly turned his head and looked at K, content to keep quiet.

"Hmph." K said, crossing his arms and deciding to ignore Yuki for the remainder of the night. He was still upset about their earlier conversation, not to mention this new slight.

K and Yuki watched in silence as the other two flitted around the room, admiring themselves profusely, deciding unanimously to stay out of it. K stepped in only when they started fighting over a small mirror and Ryuichi tried to Kumagoro beam Shuichi.

"Ryuichi!" K yelled, causing Ryuichi to freeze in mid-throw. He looked at K in confusion and resumed his attack. "NO."

"No?" Ryuichi asked, still confused as to why K was stopping his fun. Three feet in front of him, Shuichi stood cringing, waiting for the blow to fall.

"Just move out of the way." Yuki said to Shuichi, marveling at the idiocy in the room. K was now attempting to wrestle the pink rabbit from Ryuichi's clutches and was failing miserably.

"Huh?" Shuichi replied, relaxing his pose and staring quizzically at Yuki.

Yuki sighed and crossed the room, sidestepping the pile of flailing limbs that was K, Ryuichi, and Kuma. He picked Shuichi up and dumped him onto his bed, sitting next to him and watching the brawl.

"That works." Shuichi said, instantly attaching himself to Yuki.

"Not in front of the kids." Yuki responded, putting his hand on Shuichi's forehead and trying to push him away. Shuichi only tightened his grip.

K and Ryuichi continued to roll around, each dead-set on winning the rights to Kuma. When they resorted to biting and hair-pulling, Yuki cleared his throat and leaned forward.

"Ladies, please." Yuki said, wanting to stop the fight before

any unnecessary deaths occurred. "Play nice."

K immediately stopped fighting and took to glaring at Yuki. Several choice responses were on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't want to air them out in front of Shuichi. He figured Yuki was a bad enough influence and he didn't want to doom the kid anymore than he already was.

"That's it? That's all you can come up with?" Yuki continued from the bed, safely out of K's reach. "Pretty sad…"

"Yuki!" Shuichi hissed, afraid that the brawl might move towards them. He let go of Yuki and stared at the side of his head, trying to convince him to be nice with his brainwaves.

"He can handle it." Yuki replied quietly, putting a hand over Shuichi's mouth and pushing him backwards. He let out a small yelp and toppled over.

"Not going to dignify your taunts with a response." K snapped, crossing his arms. The rug, who had managed to stay out of the making-over mania and the rumble over Kuma, swooped down and patted K on the head. "Heh, good one."

"And now you're talking to the carpet?" Yuki sniped, feeling rather pleased at the flustered look on K's face. He had one final blow to deal, one that would finish K off, but he had to save if for the perfect moment.

"Real mature, blondie."

"Look who's talking."

"Who's talking?" Ryuichi whispered, failing to follow the conversation.

"Why don't you two clear out? I want to call it a night early." Yuki aimed at K before the latter could formulate a taunting response. Yuki felt sure he'd dealt the death blow; K looked absolutely unhinged. After the lecture K had tried to give him earlier, he was thirsty for revenge. At these words, Shuichi's head snapped up and the wildly expectant look on his face told everyone in the room that he knew exactly what Yuki was talking about.

"You…you…no." K stuttered, trying to hold back the rage. All of his emotions from their fight came flying back. Yuki smiled at him and put a hand on Shuichi's leg, motioning with his head that Ryuichi and K should be moving towards the door.

"Okay!" Ryuichi sang out, hopping onto the carpet with Kuma and flying towards the balcony, completely missing the point. "Night, night!"

"Ryuichi!" K shouted, trying to think of how to make Ryuichi stay.

"You can walk!" Ryuichi called back, sailing out the door and over the balcony.

"Night, K!" Shuichi chirped, flopping back onto the bed again. When Yuki removed his hand, he scowled, but decided not to make a scene; he didn't want to annoy his lover.

"I'm not giving up that easily!" K said, plopping down onto a chair and huffing.

"Alright, stay and watch then." Yuki replied, undoing the sash around his waist and starting to take off his shirt.

"PUT YOUR DAMN CLOTHES BACK ON!" K ordered as loudly as he could without his voice cracking.

"I'd rather not…" Yuki said, pulling his shirt up to his eyes and peeking over the neckline at K. He raised his eyebrows twice.

K stared at Yuki with balled fists, using every ounce of self-control that he possessed to keep himself from tackling the insolent rat winking at him from the bed. He felt his eye start to twitch, and the thought that he was turning into the enemy flitted across his troubled mind. He shuddered at the thought.

Yuki was about to continue tormenting his genie, but Shuichi made the next move instead. The real prince got off of the bed and crossed the room to the spasm-riddled K.

"You need sleep, K-san. You look awful." Shuichi said in a small voice, trying to soothe the obviously-troubled K. Behind Shuichi, Yuki pulled his shirt back on and flopped back onto the bed, crossing his arms behind his head. He winked at K again and closed his eyes, smiling to himself.

"But…"

Shuichi put a finger on K's lips and started to slowly push him towards the door. K didn't resist, as he felt numb from the neck down. Yuki's horrid behavior had pushed him over the edge and sent him into shock.

"But…he's…" K stuttered, his eyebrows knitted together in consternation. He was trying so hard to be articulate, but every time he saw the smug look on Yuki's face, he almost went into silent hysterics. "You're a bad man!"

Yuki started hissing from the bed, containing his laughter. Usually K was good with words, especially if they were insulting and aimed at him. He kept chortling quietly to himself while Shuichi gave K a few more shoves and locked the door behind the still-stuttering genie.

"What was that all about?" Shuichi asked, skipping over to the bed and landing in the middle of Yuki.

"He's trying to protect your virtue." Yuki answered, pulling Shuichi onto his chest and putting his chin on the smaller man's head.

"My what?" Shuichi asked, pulling back and propping himself up by putting his elbows on Yuki's chest.

"Trust me, it's a lost cause."

"Aww…" Shuichi said, apparently pining for his virtue.

"You're better off without it." Yuki said, pulling Shuichi back down and kissing him.

"I'm not sure…" Shuichi responded, unsure if he really was better off without whatever it was that he had lost. "Why can't I know what it was?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Shuichi quipped, thinking back to Ryuichi's 'cool' explanation.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Yuki said with a smile, kissing Shuichi again. He leaned back against the pillows and looked up at Shuichi. The carnage from Ryuichi's styling was still splashed across his normally picturesque face. "You look ridiculous."

"No I don't!" Shuichi squalled, eager to defend Ryuichi. Ryuichi had gone with a Jekyll-Hyde approach to styling. His hair was loosely curled on one side and ramrod straight on the other. On the curled side, his eye was painted with bright red glitter shadow, and his cheeks and lips matched it. The opposite of his face was dark, to match the severely straightened hair. Ryuichi had made him even paler than normal and had heaped gargantuan amounts of black shadow and mascara onto his eye. He'd painted his lips black to match the rest of the macabre side.

"We need to fix this." Yuki decided, nodding his head. He got up and carried Shuichi over the vanity without much trouble, the latter content just to be in Yuki's arms. His emotional attention span was surprisingly short.

Yuki dropped Shuichi onto the chair in front of the mirror and grabbed a cloth from one of the drawers. He wet it in the water basin that was off to the side and started to dab at Shuichi's Ryuichi-ravaged face, being shockingly tender.

"Aww, come on, leave it alone…" Shuichi whined, turning to face Yuki and wrapping his arms around his neck. He tried to kiss him, but Yuki pulled away and pushed him back down onto the chair.

"Not until that mess is off your face." Yuki replied, continuing his paint removal. He ran into some problems when he got to Shuichi's eyes. Ryuichi had piled so much gunk onto them that Yuki was surprised that Shuichi could even blink.

"You didn't mind earlier…"

"You were cute earlier."

Shuichi crossed his arms and started pouting. He sat still while Yuki finished the scourging, boycotting any contact that wasn't completely necessary.

"There. Done." Yuki announced, tossing the soiled rag into the water basin and dusting his hands together. "Let's go to bed."

"Hmph."

Yuki ignored Shuichi's noises and sauntered over to the bed. He sat on the edge and stretched, then patted the spot next to him.

"HMPH." Shuichi said louder, crossing his legs and jiggling one of his feet repeatedly.

"What now?" Yuki said exasperatedly.

"Not telling." Shuichi answered, his feathers ruffled after Yuki's rude dismissal of his and Ryuichi's hard work.

"Alright. Night then." Yuki replied, hoisting himself off of the plush bed and heading for the door.

Shuichi pursed his lips and sat absolutely still, not wanting to give up so easily. He lost it, however, when Yuki was halfway out of the door.

"WAIT!" Shuichi screeched, launching himself across the room and hitting Yuki square in the back. They both went toppling though the door, and they landed with Shuichi sitting on Yuki's back.

"You're a lunatic, you know that?" Yuki asked, feeling snippy. Shuichi was a lot heavier than he looked.

"Yep!"

"You still pouting?"

"Nope!"

"Jeez…"

"Huh?"

"Just get off…." Yuki muttered, his kidneys starting to ache. He was starting to think that Shuichi would be the end of him.

"OK!"

Shuichi bounced up, happy that Yuki was still there. He hopped back into his room, whistling to himself. Yuki stayed in the hall for a few seconds, trying to muster the energy to get up. He eventually did, and leaned against the nearest wall for support. He glanced into Shuichi's room and noticed that it was surprisingly, and thankfully, empty. He sighed and walked back in, wondering what he had gotten himself into.

"Shuichi?" Yuki called, years of living with Ryuichi leaving him frightened of unexplained absences.

"Out here!" Shuichi responded from the balcony. Yuki heard a few grunts and figured that Shuichi was saying goodnight to Cinda.

"You're not still mad, are you?" Yuki asked tentatively, unsure of what to make out of Shuichi's mood swings. He made Ryuichi look benign sometimes. He held his breath, waiting for an answer.

"Nope!"

Yuki exhaled and shook his head. He was definitely worse than Ryuichi.

"I'm happy as long as you stay."

Yuki's heart stopped; K must have gotten to him.

"Why's that?" Yuki queried in a slightly higher-than-normal voice.

"I dunno, I just like being with you." Shuichi answered lightly, coming back into the room and giving the shocked Yuki a tight hug.

"Right…" Yuki managed to reply. K hadn't had a chance to talk to Shuichi, he'd watched him all night. Yuki did some deep breathing and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to calm himself down. He couldn't quite figure out why he was so worked up over this, but he'd definitely felt something.

"You alright?" Shuichi asked, concerned. He got on the bed behind Yuki and started to rub his back.

"I'll be fine." Yuki lied, not sure if he would be or not. He'd never experienced this kind of feeling before. Eager to reclaim his normal mindset, he turned around and kissed Shuichi, pushing him down onto the bed.

Wow…so much for the double-update weekend. Stupid finals. Anyway, my plan for Chapter 20 was utterly destroyed by what's coming up in the next post, so it's either going to be three parts or four parts depending on what happens next. Otherwise Part B would've been thirty-eight pages long…

Anyway, I hope everyone had a good holiday run, and happy New Year. Hopefully this monstrosity will be wrapped up before 2011. If it's not, I might just throw my laptop out of a window. I'll see you next post, which will be in a few days seeing as it's already completely finished.

-Amaya