Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, only the plot.

Many thanks to MysteryPT for applying for beta post~

bluebell: thank you. Here's the third chapter :)

Anonymous: many thanks ^^

Thanks again to all who'd been so kind and drop some reviews!

Chapter 3: Calm Before Storm

"Are you coming to get me?!" the boy practically jumped in joy. His green eyes sparkled with hope and joy. Krowell didn't know how the boy lived his life. From his reaction, probably a considerably lonely one.

"I am not here to get you out for I not know how," answered the man. Disappointment quickly colored the boy's face. His fire quickly diminished, leaving no trace of his previous felicity, only sadness and loneliness. "But I can be your friend, if that helps?" the prince offered. His face was stoic but kindness laced his voice.

Sensing the prince's intention, Teito looked up. A small smile graced his rose-colored lips. "If you can come in, that means you know where the door is, no?"

Teito stood and turned his back to Krowell. Without waiting for the man to respond, he walked towards his bed and pointed to the chair he sat a moment ago. Krowell raised one eyebrow. Of course he knew what the boy meant, but that was rude. The man was a prince and the boy was supposed to show some respect. But then, obviously the latter knew nothing about that.

Silently pardoning the boy's ignorance, Krowell took the pointed seat. Instead of talking, he waited, arms and legs crossed. Before long, the boy cracked.

"Do you know where the exit is?" the boy started carefully. "I want to go out."

Krowell stared at the hem of the boy's white over-sized one piece, his head's gears turned rapidly. He could try to take the boy out but he doubt it would be that simple. The spell might kill the boy, or worse, Krowell as well. The prince weighted his answer for a final confirmation before lifting his gaze to meet the boy's forest eyes.

"I can't tell you. Even if I did, surely you know you can't leave so easily." Krowell said, testing the boy.

The brunette's head lowered down slightly, obstructing his eyes from Krowell's critical eyes. The latter was unperturbed.

"I know." He finally said with a heavy sigh. "I know it won't be that easy. But still…" the words trailed off into a stretched silence. Still, Krowell waited. After a minutes of silence, the mass of brown finally looked up. A smile formed. "I'm sorry for asking the impossible. I'm Teito. And you are?"

Krowell coldly inspected the boy's slender arm as he offered his hand. He was too thin, too fragile. He would probably snapped like a twig if Krowell put too much strength into his clasp.

"Ayanami," the prince finally said after what seemed like forever in Teito's head.

The royaltydidn't hesitate to take the boy's smaller hand into a clasp. Instead, he noticed the burn on his supposedly smooth fingers. The unsuspecting boy gasped when the man twisted his wrist sligly, inspecting the damage.

Teito was debating whether he should pull his trapped hand back or left the strange man held it. On one side, he freaked out because this was the first time someone other than Ouka had touched him. On the other hand, the touch felt soothing. Teito knew he was craving for contact and this confirmed his uncertainty.

"Um…is anything wrong?"

Ayanami didn't raise his head. Instead, his eyes darted up. "You burned your hand." He said. It was more like a statement than question. Teito answered the question with a slight blush and nod. "I don't see any fire or at least remaining of one. Not even the smell was left. But this," the man pulled his hand higher, reaching his lips. "This is definitely new wound."

"I…uh…touched the seal," the brunette answered a bit too quickly. His face was steadily reddening but still he made no move to pull his hand away. "Um, sir, can you…erm…my hand…"

"Your hand?" the man smirked. Teito was stuttering and Ayanami was enjoying the torture. "Did you feel disturbed by only an almost-kiss to your fingers?" Ayanami was expecting that line would push the boy to draw his hand back. But instead of a furious boy, he found a questioning stare from the younger male. Teito's eyes darted from Ayanami to his hand, and back to Ayanami again.

"What do you mean by almost-kiss?"

If Ayanami was a man with bad manner, he would have laughed his head off. Fortunately he wasn't. Though the question amused him a lot, Ayanami understood where it came from. This boy - Teito - wasn't raised like a normal child. It was a miracle by itself for him to understand words at all.

"Before I answer you that, Teito-kun, where did you learn to use words?"

"Words?" the boy tilted his head in confusion.

"How can you understand me? You're trapped in this tower for so long, how can you use language at all?" the strange man patiently explained.

"Ah, I don't know what words is but I understand the meaning of your question. I have known names of things as long as I remember. I learned more by reading books."

Ayanami remembered there was a room before this that was filled with racks and books. Surely one or two dictionaries inside the piles were not strange at all. In fact, that sped up things a lot. At least now he knew he didn't have to teach the boy each and every words.

"Name of things - Teito - is one way to describe a word. Bed is a word. Chair is also a word. When word are combined with other words, they become a sentence. Like what we did right now. We are talking with sentences."

"Words…sentences…then what about almost-kiss?"

The strange man smirked. Such curiosity! That feeling might as well hurt the boy one day. But the man kept the comment inside. With husky tone, he answered, "An almost kiss is this," the man lowered his head down, pulling the boy's hand up. His free hand slipped to Teito's waist, forcing the boy to stood and fell into his arms. Their lips were inches apart. Teito could practically felt the man's warm breath caressing his trembling lips. Ayanami smiled widely and continued, "…and this is a kiss."

Their lips were connecting. Teito felt shiver on his spine. Ayanami licked his clamped lips, but Teito simply didn't know what to do, so he waited in stillness. The man didn't linger for long. When he left his lips, Teito blinked.

"I felt…weird in my back."

Ayanami unexpectedly laughed at that.

"So now you know how to kiss. But do it only to one you love. A kiss is a vow to your beloved that you, your soul and body, belonged to him and only him."

"But you kiss me. Am I your beloved?"

The man smirked again. "No," he said. "I'm showing you how. That won't count."

Putting aside the rather shameful (not to mention stupid blushing) beginning he had with Ayanami, Teito was happy to have the man with him. Ayanami was more than what Teito had hoped for. The man sometimes left but always returned. When he came back, there would be more books for Teito.

To put it as simple as it was, Teito liked him. Ouka found out about the man not too long after. She said something about the wind whispering something and somewhat. She was less happy but sometimes Teito found her enjoying herself listening to the man's stories.

The world - according to Ayanami's tale - was a place of wonder. The kingdom of ice - or Raggs, as the man named it - was a snow kingdom. By snow he meant the ice drops falling from the sky. All year long, beautiful snowflakes would fall and cover the earth with white blanket. There were no colorful flowers as it was with Barsburg but many colorful crystals decorated the houses. At night, when looked closer, the town was sparkling with rainbow shine. Houses were built like layers of red roofs, reaching higher and higher until the Castle which stood on the top of the hill.

It was probably more beautiful than what Teito had in his mind or saw from distance. Ayanami said the town was probably the most mesmerizing during the Scarlet Day.

Scarlet Day; that was how they named that day Teito always waited. Teito curiously asked the man why they named it that way one day. The answer Teito got was a smile conveying secrets. Ayanami always showed that grim smile whenever Teito threw him a question he didn't want to answer. Of course, Teito knew better than to push his luck.

Teito would hate to see Ayanami felt uncomfortable. If he did, the man might leave and never came back forever. Teito's only link to outside world would be broken. And finally, he would return to his solitary life. Teito didn't want that to happen. Besides, the boy enjoyed his company more than anything.

Ayanami taught him a lot of things. He learned a lot of new words. New stories meant new list of things he would check and do when he was free. It might be just a wishful thinking, but Teito couldn't stop hoping.

"So, how does the barrier work?"

Teito looked up from his thought and diverted his gaze from Ayanami to the window. A moment of contemplating his answer, Teito's eyes returned to the man.

"Try to stretch your hand outside." Teito stood from his bed. His long one piece fell gracefully to his shin. Ayanami followed and stood behind him. Without a slightest reluctance, he stretched his hand long. Nothing happened and Teito gave him a sad smile. "Seems like nothing happened, huh?"

"Well? Did something supposed to happen?"

Teito nodded. "Something like this." The boy copied Ayanami and lengthened his arms. However, before he could reached even half of Ayanami's arm, a loud spark ignited. His fingers were burned. Teito hastily retreated his hand before more damage was dealt. "The seal burned my flesh the moment I try to pass the barrier."

Deep frown etched on the man's eyebrows when Teito showed his burned fingers.

"I see you tried this often."

The boy smiled at the statement. It was so true he didn't even have any defense to make. It wasn't like he was trying to hide it anyway. Though, having someone other than Ouka to see the hideous scar was somewhat repulsive. It was like a part of him had to be strip naked. Teito knew, however, it was only his narrow-mindedness to think as such. He had been living in solitude for so long, he didn't know how to feel about many things involving others.

"I always want to go out," whispered the boy. It was intended for his own ears but Ayanami's hearing was better than the brunette thought. "Anyway, tell me about the Kingdom of Ice!"

The man's frown grew deeper at the boy's obvious attempt to avoid the topic. To tell the truth, Ayanami hated lies. He had put many of those shoe-licker liars to God knows where. Teito's avoidance, though not directly a lie, Ayanami hated it just as much. Not that he could send the boy to wherever end of somewhere just because of that. He had no authority over this boy. Moreover, this place had been otherworldly and isolatedenough for Ayanami to feel pity growing. It was another thing stirred awake by meeting the boy.

"You never get bored with that, aren't you?"

"Nope!" The boy chimed happily. His previous dark mood had gone completely.

"But where's Ouka? Usually she's the eager one to listen?"

Ayanami looked around to find the sign of the pigtails girl, but she was nowhere to be seen. At least not in Teito's room. In fact, Ayanami hadn't even heard her voice for some time now. Demanding answer, the man looked pointedly at the boy. The latter heaved a sigh.

"We had a fight."

"Oh?"

Teito stole a glance at the man from the corner of his eyes. He had no idea why Ayanami seemed to look so interested in that. Well, not quite so. That tone he used meant he demanded answer and Teito couldn't say no. Nor was he allowed to anyway. Authoritative bastard, Teito thought secretly.

"She was jealous because I spend so much time with you. She had always opposed my idea to go out. And with you here, she felt threatened…probably."

"I see. What do you want to do once released from this prison?"

Teito blinked confusedly. He had never thought of that. He just thought about leaving, but never the purpose. The question remained unanswered until the sun hide itself and moon came to replace it. Ayanami had gone by that time, but Teito's mind wandered still to the man and his question.

"What…do I want to do?"

Teito sat on his chair, eyes gazing to the sky, head rested lazily on his arms as usual. It had been three days since Ayanami's last visit and the man has yet to come again. Teito was not waiting. Not this time. He had not had the answer for Ayanami's question and he felt they shouldn't meet until Teito found at least one satisfying reason.

He sighed for the nth time. From the moment he woke up this morning, Teito had been sighing heavily. No matter how much he force the gears in his mind to work, he still didn't find an answer strong enough to convince himself. He thought, because his desire to leave was so intense, he would have at least one or two reasons. But now that the question was brought up, he realized, he had none.

Maybe Ouka was right. Maybe he shouldn't have left. Maybe this was the right place for him, for both of them. But then, his wish was too precious to be discarded. How could he throw them away now when all his life he had been wishing for it?

"…to…Teito!"

The sudden yell to his ear snapped the boy awake from his ponder. The boy looked up from his resting arms to give an irritated look to the girl. Teito had been with her for so long, he had learned to forgive her every self-centered action. Only lately that he found her annoying to the point of extremity.

"What is it, Ouka?" replied the boy half-heartedly. He ignored the look Ouka was throwing at him and instead chose to laze himself back to his favorite window.

"You have been doing that for days, Teito."

The boy sighed. He felt his head throbbing with pain. He was tempted to massage his temple but decided not to do so. He didn't want Ouka to continue whining. Instead, Teito stared hard at the Kingdom of Ice. It was less festive as compared to the previous days. It was as if the people knew how lonely he felt.

"Why are you ignoring me again?!"

Teito tore his gaze away from the kingdom and finally looked at the girl in the eyes. Her orbs were red and puffy. Her usual silky hair was such a mess, Teito couldn't help but pity her.

"I'm not ignoring you, but you have been rather disagreeable."

"Disagreeable?! You're the one who caused it! Ever since that man came, you always spend time with him. You don't need me now that you have him, do you?"

"Ouka, I'm not…"

"I won't let you go with him! We must stay at this tower!"

Ouka was practically screaming at the last sentence. Hearing that, Teito sadly turned his head away. He knew that already. There was no need for her to rub salt at his open wound. What Teito did was merely an effort to escape from the harsh reality of her words, but the girl, having misunderstood his gesture, snapped.

"If his existence makes you feel this way, then I'll just make sure he won't ever come here again."

For so long he had been together with this girl, this was probably the first time he got so furious. Not that he never got mad, but what she said was out of line. She literally threatened to kill the outsider. Getting mad and annoying was one thing Teito could tolerate, but not murder for unjust cause.

Unable to hold his anger, Teito snapped back, "If you dare, I'll hate you forever, Ouka."

The words slipped out so easily from his lips and Teito regretted it almost immediately. Pain flashed across the girl's eyes, then replaced by dark look. That eyes, they were scary. Before Teito knew what happened, Ouka had pushed him half outside the window. His back hit the barrier and jolt of pain hit his head like hammer. Teito screamed in pain as he smelled his burning flesh. The pain didn't last long as he felt almost immediately after into dark oblivion.