Disclaimer: I don't own Princess Tutu...but I might be owning some virtual tomatoes soon...T.T

Thank you Astale5, bree luv, Chrysanth Florence, FeelTheBeat, Ineterin, James Birdsong, MeraLee, Nanenna, and yayabrande for the lovely reviews! ^_^

Thing don't always turn out the way you expect them to..."Happily Ever After" just got put on hold...it's time to see who sinks and who can swim ;3 (Please don't hit me with fish...italian food is fine, but please no fish...)

SOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRYYYYYY~! T.T I was having Fakir inner turmoil problems~!

Chapter 8: Torment

Alphonse's whole face turned red, and he ran after his sister as fast as his legs would carry him.

"Wow, he's so fast zura!" Uzura held a hand above her eyes, watching him go.

"U-Uzura..." Rue's used the table for support, "...what was that just now?"

"That was a kiss, right zura?" Uzura said happily.

"Y-yes...it was, Uzura..." Rue said, desiding to take care of her ignorance of the issue later.

"You may close the door now, Fakir," Rue sat back down, "Uzura, you may sit next to me."

Fakir made a face as he closed the door, already hearing the return of the arrogant girl he'd known long before in her tone. Uzura either didn't notice, or didn't care, and promptly took her offered seat.

"Hurry now, sit," Rue told him, impatient with how slowly he was walking, "We need to talk."

Fakir sat with a sour look on his face, "Was there any particular reason why you wanted Mytho out of the way?"

Rue frowned at him, "...Mytho is a wonderful father. If he's there, the children will be much more at ease after all this. And if I'd gone instead, I wouldn't be able to talk to you at this time."

"...I see," Fakir sighed.

Rue leaned forward in her seat, "Fakir...what do you plan to do now?"

Meanwhile...

"That girl, sh-she...!" Alphonse looked back over his shoulder before looking back at Veronica, "Sh-she gave me cooties!"

Veronica looked at him for how ridiculous he sounded, "What?"

"Yesterday Jacob, the stableboy, he told me girls give you cooties!" he shuddered, "And that girl...she planted them on my face!"

She coughed, "Um...you mean...she kissed you?"

"Whaa! Evil be gone! Evil be gone!" he wiped at his offended cheek with his sleeve.

A sly smirk appeared briefly, then Veronica sneeked a peck on his other cheek, "There, is that better?"

Horror crossed his face, and he ran forward to hide behind their father, "Papa! Veronica gave me cooties!"

Mytho stopped walking to look at his teary eyed son, "Cooties? What are cooties?"

"Girls have them!" Alphonse wiped at both cheeks now, keeping a wary eye on Veronica least she attack him again, "And Roni kissed me!"

For once, Veronica ignored the misuse of her name.

"I was only being affectionate," Veronica said, her tone implying his reaction was hurting her feelings, "Isn't it fine if I kiss my little brother on the cheek? I don't understand why you're so upset..."

"Alphonse, are cooties really such a problem that you find the need to make your sister sad?" Mytho asked in concern.

Alphonse realized he was loosing this one, "I...but...Jacob said...he said cooties were scary..."

"I don't see anything scary about your sister loving you," Mytho said, "I think you should appologize to your sister."

Obviously, Mytho didn't understand what sisters were like.

In defeat, Alphonse looked at his sister, and in his most appologetic voice he said, "I'm sorry, Veronica."

"It-it's alright," Veronica said, a gentle smile pushing away her hurt expression.

"There, that's better," Mytho said before continuing on down the hall to their bedroom.

Alphonse glared at Veronica now that Mytho wasn't looking. Making him look bad in front of their father meant war.

Veronica smirked, and whispered, "Don't start what you can't win, little brother."

Back at the conference room...

Fakir thought about it, but uncertainty and confusion was all there was to be seen in his expression. Rue and Autor shared a look, both probably realizing he hawas drawing blanks. Not that anyone could blame him.

"Charon knows you're here," Rue said, after hearing nothing but silence, "He's comes to check on you every so often. He'll be overjoyed to see you."

Fakir's eyes grew concerned as his adoptive father was mentioned.

"Charon is in retirement," Autor added, "Mytho gave him a rather nice house within the castle walls. So you don't have to worry about strangers recognising you and causing a riot when you go to see him."

"...how is he?" Fakir asked.

"He was very understanding when I explained your situation," Rue said, "He knew full well how important Ahiru was to you. I offered him the sleeping potion I gave you, but he decided he would wait for you instead. He's been living well, and he only recently retired after some convincing. He looks after Uzura when she's here..."

Rue gave Uzura a look, "She has a tendancy to run off when no one's looking. Also, while Charon was discrete about checking up on you, he would spend some time with my children. They've grown rather fond of him. He's very good with children, though I'm sure you already knew that."

Fakir considered the information, "I'll go see him."

As he stood, however, he hessitated. Athough he wanted to see Charon, he felt a nagging feeling at the back of his mind. He realized he wanted to see her before he did anything else. He hadn't shown it earlier, but he'd been really worried when she'd fainted. She was Roxanne now, but she was also Ahiru, and he had sworn to stay by her. He felt so useless, realizing he had failed to keep that promise for seven years.

"D*** it," he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to abate his sudden headache.

Rue frowned in concern, "Perhaps you should rest. I'll summon Charon for you."

Fakir nodded after a moment, "I...would like to see how Roxanne is doing."

Autor and Rue shared a undecipherable look.

"...alright," Rue said.

Till The Next Chapter...

Things are hectic, I just found out the Family Reunion I'm going to might be longer than I thought...*sigh*, I hope I'll get some nice plot bunnies on the long car ride...NICE ones, not mean ones that poke my brain with sticks...T.T I hope I'll see you all again soon~...I'll try to get back on a regular schedule when the reunion is over...I LOVES YOU! *cries*