Out in the hallway, Caspian's preparations were going exactly according to plan. He'd strewn his own feathers all over the floor and was perched on top of a tall pillar, waiting for his prey to emerge. He'd heard some wild screams earlier, and now he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was going on. Every once in a while, he'd hear something that he wished he hadn't.

He sighed and ruffled up, tired of waiting. Tohma had threatened him with his life last night if he screwed up again, and Caspian wasn't eager to take him up on his offer. He stayed where he was, waiting to unroll his next master plan.

"Damn…" Shuichi said aloud, stretching out and putting his arms behind his head. Next to him, Yuki was half-asleep on his side, mumbling something every once in a while.

He rolled over and stroked Yuki's back, scooting up to him and kissing the back of his shoulder. He slung an arm around over his waist and kissed his shoulder again, waiting for some kind of response.

"Un uh. Back off." Yuki said quietly on an exhale. He maneuvered himself onto his back and pulled Shuichi onto his chest. "Just calm down…"

"Can't."

"Try harder."

"Okay!"

"Not that, moron."

"Oh…"

Yuki kissed Shuichi's forehead and settled into the pillow, planning on catching a few extra hours of sleep.

"What're you doing?" Shuichi asked after approximately seventeen seconds of silence.

"Attempting to sleep."

"I thought I was the one that was supposed to be tired…"

"Then why aren't you?"

"Dunno." Shuichi chirped, pulling himself all the way onto Yuki's chest and stomach.

Yuki raised an eyebrow and looked down his nose at Shuichi.

"You can sleep." Shuichi said, snuggling into Yuki's neck with a contented sigh.

"I'm not sure I trust you not to molest me."

"I'll behave."

"I can guarantee that I won't return the favor if you don't." Yuki replied, trusting that it would take Shuichi a decent amount of time to figure out what he'd just said. He'd be sound asleep by the time his overenthusiastic lover had any idea what he'd just said.

Five minutes later, Yuki was asleep and Shuichi was still trying to determine if he had permission to do naughty things. He stayed where he was on Yuki, resting his chin on Yuki's sternum. He got bored fast, and his mind started to wander. It'd given up trying to un-jumble Yuki's words and had moved onto greener pastures. Shuichi turned his head so that he was looking out at his balcony, and a few memories came back to him.

He remembered seeing Hiro there the night he'd met Yuki, and he could remember the booby traps that he and his friend had set up the morning they'd terrorized Mika. Before he knew what was happening, he could feel the tears running down his face. He knew that he missed Hiro, but he hadn't realized how much. He'd been too distracted by Yuki's return from the dead to think about anyone else, even Hiro.

He tried to stay quiet, but all he could do now was think of Hiro and how alone he felt without him. Sure, he had Yuki, but Hiro had been his first friend. No one had ever wanted to be his friend for him, only for his title, or money, or because they felt obligated to. Hiro'd been real, he'd been there for him, and he'd wanted to stay even after seeing how crazy he could be. When he felt like he couldn't keep it together any longer, he woke up the one person that he had left.

"Yuki?"

"Mmm?" Yuki replied, awake. He'd woken up when Shuichi had started crying, as if some sort of bat signal had gone off in the vicinity.

"I miss Hiro."

"Who?" Yuki asked without thinking. "Oh…the other one."

"He's more than that…" Shuichi answered, slightly taken aback.

"He was."

"Stop it…" Shuichi said through his sniffles. He stared at Yuki, thinking that some sort of alien had taken him over. Last time he'd cried in front of him, he'd been so nice. Now he was just being heartless, almost like he didn't care. "He was my friend."

"I'm sorry?" Yuki responded in a blasé tone, not sure how to handle the situation. On the one hand, Hiro was Shuichi's friend, but on the other, he was Yuki's competition. If he paid his absence too much attention, Shuichi might focus a little too much on his absent friend.

"He was important to me…" Shuichi murmured, getting off of Yuki and sitting on one side of his bed. He swung his legs off and got up, walking over to his balcony rather quickly. "He's my best friend."

"Then why did you let Mika run him off?" Yuki questioned, feeling insecure. He knew that Shuichi was crazy about him, that was obvious, but Hiro only gave Shuichi up because Mika had made him, and Yuki had the distinct feeling that Shuichi could've eventually been persuaded. The Sultana hadn't bothered to hide the fact that she preferred him, and that Hiro wouldn't be staying. He'd only brought it up to perturb Shuichi. His jealously had clearly gained control of his vocal cords.

"I didn't!" Shuichi yelled, his grief turning into anger in a split second. He was internally glad that his normal mood swings had returned. "She made him leave because of you!"

"And you're sad about that?" Yuki asked bitingly, trying to pinpoint where Shuichi's favor really lie. He couldn't stand the thought of losing Shuichi to outside forces. He was fine with leaving him, but he refused to be left. He got off of the bed and stretched, leaning against a bedpost when he was done.

"I am now." Shuichi retorted, narrowing his eyes. He hadn't thought it was possible to think anything negative about Yuki, but here it was; the anger was overwhelming. He was belittling Hiro, and Yuki seemed genuinely glad that he was gone, no matter how much pain it caused him.

Yuki stopped himself before he made any more mistakes. Shuichi looked like he was actually upset and Yuki didn't want to mess this up, no matter how miffed he felt about Shuichi's Hiro attachment. He took a few deep breaths, attempting to push all the jealous anxiety out.

"Just try to see it from my point of view." Yuki said finally, thinking that if Shuichi saw his dislike of Hiro stemming from a place of apparent love, than he'd forget that he was mad and go back to being in his happy Yuki-induced daze.

"No! See it from mine!" Shuichi shouted, tears streaming down his face. He'd been this angry before, but never at Yuki. He hadn't thought it was possible, and he'd had no idea that he was that attached to Hiro. In the back of his mind, a little voice kept telling him to calm down before he ruined everything, but he couldn't swallow his feelings. "He's my only friend! He's the only one that really cares about me!"

"What the hell? I trekked halfway across a fucking desert, get locked in a cave with Ryuichi, almost get killed by a mad genie, just to see you and that's what I get?" Yuki yelled back, his insecurities about Hiro getting the better of his temper.

"If you cared, you'd understand how I feel." Shuichi spat, his hands balled into fists at his side. He knew that he loved Yuki, that he'd never wanted anyone else, but he found himself missing Hiro just as much as he'd missed Yuki. He didn't have the guilt constantly weighing on his mind, though he felt the hole his heart.

"I do care, Shuichi, that's why I'm here, you dumbass." Yuki countered, feeling cornered. No matter what he said, he had the feeling that Shuichi was just going to get angrier. Hiro was apparently a sensitive subject.

"Get out." Shuichi said suddenly, pointing to his door and looking away from Yuki. He needed some time to think, and he didn't want Yuki there distracting him. He didn't want to get angrier, and he didn't want to just smooth this over with sex.

"What?" Yuki sputtered, more than a little surprised. He'd never thought that things could go this wrong. "You actually want me to leave?"

Shuichi sighed and marched across the room, throwing his door open. It smashed into the wall with a loud 'bang', and if the two combatants had been paying more attention, then the bird-like muttering that followed would not have gone unnoticed.

"Go." Shuichi ordered, turning his back on Yuki and striding into his closet. He waited until he was all the way inside to unleash the tears that he was barely holding back.

Yuki stared after him for a few beats, but when he heard footsteps coming back out of the large closet, he made a break for it. Shuichi looked like he could pack quite a punch when he was this mad, and Yuki didn't want it to escalate to that point. If he lost his temper, he had no idea what he was capable of doing, even to Shuichi.

He quietly shut the door behind him and started walking down the long hallway, unsure of how to feel. Part of him wanted to be angry with Shuichi for having such strong feelings for someone else, but that same part was also shouting that that didn't matter; he was leaving soon anyway. It didn't matter how Shuichi felt about anyone else, and hell, it was probably a good thing. This way he wouldn't be totally abandoned. Yuki sighed; this was for the best. If the fighting kept up, it would be so much easier to walk away without looking back.

The other part of him was livid with himself. It couldn't believe that he'd let things get that out of control. He knew that Shuichi was crazy about him, and that Hiro was only a friend. He'd seen Shuichi with Hiro, the way that he looked at his friend, and it was completely different from how Shuichi looked at him. Shuichi had never considered Hiro more than a friend, though the other was not so innocent. If anything, Yuki's mind kept telling him, he should have lashed out at Hiro, not his adorable lover.

Yuki sighed, stopping and leaning against a wall. He felt awful. He'd never had a fight end like this, and he'd never had someone to fight with before. Whenever he'd had fights with Ryuichi, he'd just waited for him to come back. He always had, and Yuki had no experience with things like this. On top of that, he had no idea which part of his head was right. He couldn't decide if he wanted to be angry with Shuichi, with himself, or happy that this had happened. He was avoiding settling on the latter, though he knew it was the most logical. If he was leaving anyway, Shuichi might as well have a chance to be happy. He groaned and pushed off of the wall, not paying attention to anything around him. He was too caught up in his own personal tragedy to think about anything else.

When he suddenly slipped and face planted into the marble floor, he snapped out of his reverie. He looked around and noticed that he entire place was covered in feathers. He gulped and stood up as fast as he could, slipping a few times on the feathers.

"Caspian?" he called out, hoping against hope that the bird didn't answer. He looked over his shoulder at Shuichi's closed door, but decided that he'd rather face the conure than the Prince.

"ATTACK!" Caspian yelled in response, diving off of his column and landing on Yuki's head.

Yuki spun on the spot, trying to dislodge the parrot, but it was too late. Caspian had wrapped his talons into Yuki's hair and was holding on for dear life. Yuki started swatting his head, trying to hit the bird. He finally made contact, and Caspian sunk his beak into Yuki's palm, drawing some blood. Yuki cried out, waving his hand like a maniac. Caspian just tightened his bloody grip and used his clawed feet to get a better position.

The bird held on to the fleshy hand and released Yuki's hair, trying to find a way to get closer to the jugular. He couldn't fail this time; Tohma would never let him hear the end of it. He relinquished his hold on Yuki's streaming hand hopped onto his shoulder, making a beeline for his neck.

"NO!" Yuki roared, grabbing the parrot in mid-run. "My turn."

"Release me, you fool!" Caspian squawked, attempting to make contact with Yuki's fingers.

"I don't think so." Yuki replied, shifting his hand so that Caspian couldn't get a decent bite in. "You're coming with me."

Yuki set off down the hallway again, murderous conure in hand, and his quarrel with Shuichi practically forgotten. His thirst for revenge had replaced all thoughts of jealously and auburn-haired upstarts named Nakano.

When he was around the corner from his suite, everything changed; two guards were on a patrol, and they'd spotted him before he could hide the blabbering parrot.

"Umm…sir?" one of them said timidly. "That's a wanted bird you're holding…"

"He attacked me, I'm handling this." Yuki answered, drawing himself up to his full height. He stood half a head over the tallest of the two, and he figured that that would help his cause. He cleared his throat authoritatively and tried to sidestep them.

"We have direct orders from the Sultana to apprehend the feathered suspect in your clutches…"

"No, that's not necessary, I can handle things from here." Yuki said quickly, perfectly aware that once Caspian was with the guards he'd be free. Even if Mika had issued a real warrant for his arrest, Tohma would find a way to get him back or the bird would resort to violence. No matter what, he had to keep the bird or the attacks would continue.

"I'm sorry, majesty, but we have to take him with us." One of the guards said in a calm voice, noticing the panicked look in Yuki's eyes. His partner held up a small iron cage and showed it to Yuki, for reassurance. "Don't worry, we'll make sure he doesn't get loose."

"Yeah right…" Yuki muttered, reviewing his options. He could run, but they would catch him rather quickly. He could only find his way to his room and Shuichi's without help. He could also try to lock himself into his suite, but he was sure that they had a master key somewhere or the ability to break down the door. He sighed resignedly and handed them the now-cackling conure. "Just kill it."

"HEY!" Caspian screeched, taking a swipe with his beak at Yuki's fingers. "I'm not an it!"

"That's enough, calm down you." The guard holding Caspian told him, trying to keep the peace. Plus, he'd heard horror stories about Caspian and knew that you had to head him off before he got worked up if you wanted to live out the remainder of your life with all your limbs intact.

"Never!" Caspian yelled, taking a chunk out of the guard's thumb. Yuki started backing up, ready to run for it if needed.

"Dammit!" the guard cursed, dropping the bird before his comrade could get the little cage open.

"Freedom! Fish!" Caspian sang, sailing down the hallway and out of reach. "This isn't over!"

"You should've let me finish him off." Yuki spat at the guards, not at all happy. "Good job."

With that, he stormed past the guards and into his suite, slamming the door behind him.

"What the hell happened to you?" K asked immediately, noticing the blood dripping steadily from Yuki's torn hand.

"Conure."

"Ah."

"Chicken?" Ryuichi piped up, taking his best guess at what a conure was.

"A green one." Yuki answered, not in the mood to deal with Ryuichi. He figured going along with him would end the conversation sooner.

"That breathes fire and eats stuffed rabbits." K added, thrilled with himself.

"KUMA!" Ryuichi bellowed, running out of the main room and into his room, slamming the door behind him. He'd left Kuma alone so that he could nap, but now that a rabbit-eating green monster was on the loose, he wasn't going to let him out of his sight.

"Okay, now that he's gone…" K said, getting off of a couch and walking up to Yuki. Yuki backed up a step and stared up at K, his antics from the previous night flooding back into his brain.

"It's not like he's completely innocent…" Yuki explained quietly, searching for a reprieve from the beating he was sure he was about to get.

Before he could finish his thought, K smacked him upside the head and walked away muttering.

"If only genies could kill…"

"What?" Yuki asked, massaging his assaulted face. "And I told you to stop hitting me!"

"Then stop molesting the teenager!"

"He's not a teenager!"

"Nine-TEEN!"

"He's an adult, a consenting one, trust me."

"You filthy, little…"

"I'm NOT little."

"Hmph."

"Just ask Shuichi." Yuki threw at K before he could stop himself. He took one startled glance at K and flinched, waiting for the pain.

"Enough, enough." K said, falling onto a couch and covering his eyes. "You're obviously incorrigible."

"Yeah…" Yuki said slowly, unsure of how to read K. He was still feeling off after the fight with Shuichi.

"You don't bring it up, I won't bring it up, just call it good." K told Yuki. He'd done some thinking last night and realized that it wasn't worth the effort. Yuki was always going to be a dirty pervert, and Shuichi's purity was definitely long gone by now.

"Deal."

"Did the bird come after you again or something?" K offered, changing the subject.

"Yeah, he ambushed me outside of Shuichi's room." Yuki answered, draping himself across an armchair and wiping the blood off of his hand with a cloth that K had thrown him.

"That's not good." K said, running a hand through his hair. He'd hoped that Tohma and Caspian would at least take a few days off.

"Tell me about it."

"YUKI!" Ryuichi screamed, bursting back into the main room with Kuma tied to his head. "THE CONURE'S GONNA GET ME!"

"Not now…" Yuki muttered, avoiding looking at Ryuichi. He was painfully reminded of Shuichi.

"UH HUH! HE'S GONNA GET KUMA!" Ryuichi yelled back, catapulting himself into Yuki's lap and attaching instantly.

"Get off." Yuki ordered, shoving Ryuichi as hard as he could. When nothing happened, he sighed and stood up. Ryuichi maintained his hold on Yuki's neck and waist and refused to give up.

"But you're supposed to protect us…" Ryuichi said softly to Yuki, looking up at his face. "You said…"

"That was years ago, don't bring it up again." Yuki said quickly, glaring preemptively at K.

"But…" Ryuichi stammered, the tears welling up in his eyes. He was genuinely scared of Caspian eating his best bunny friend.

"Ryuichi…" Yuki sighed, looking down at his accomplice. As soon as their eyes met, all Yuki could see was Shuichi's face with the same tears in his eyes.

"Please…" Ryuichi cried, tightening his grip on Yuki's neck and burrowing into his collar bone. "I don't want Kuma to get hurt."

"He won't, you'll be fine. Stay with K." Yuki told Ryuichi, trying to undo his intertwined fingers from behind his neck. As soon as he'd heard Ryuichi use that tone, he known what he needed to do. He couldn't leave things with Shuichi like that. He couldn't let him hurt that much and walk away. When he left, he only wanted to take happy memories of Shuichi with him. He didn't want this hanging over his head. He had to go back and it had to be now, before Shuichi made him leave for good. "I have to go see someone, I'll be back. K will keep you safe."

"Yeah, I'll take care of it." K reassured Ryuichi, pulling a rocket launcher out of thin air. He could tell that something was really bothering Yuki, but he knew enough not to get involved. He'd learned fast over the last few days.

"Okay…" Ryuichi consented, releasing Yuki and waddling over to K with Kuma swaying precariously on top of his head.

"I'll be back later." Yuki told K over his shoulder as he walked over to the door.

"You have a time estimate?" K asked Yuki, looking worried. Ryuichi was attached to his waist.

"Probably this evening."

"That long? It's noon!" K squalled, using the rocket launched to separate Ryuichi from his midsection.

"Yeah, that long." Yuki replied, shutting the door behind him. If things went well, then he'd probably be gone longer. If not, he'd need some time to think before he told K that he'd ruined his magical scheme. "Have fun."

Yuki checked the hall for signs of the crazed parrot or his master and then set out for Shuichi's room. He went over what he was going to say, and made sure that he had it memorized. If Shuichi turned on him, he had to control himself, no matter what. He figured that if he went in with something prepared, he'd have a better chance of controlling himself. Letting his temper do the talking wasn't working out too well for him.

He was halfway there when he realized that what he had to say wasn't going to be good enough. If he wanted to have any chance at redemption, he was going to have to think this through. He backtracked to a larger hallway and followed it, hoping it would lead him somewhere where he could think without being disturbed by his roommates or feathered demons, man and bird alike.

Ah, back to the crazy conure. I have too much fun when Caspian gets involved, especially if I'm jamming to Adam Lambert at the same time. Have fun with this one guys. And oh my, two updates in less than a week…skeery.

-Amaya