-kou : prince ; -hime : Princess

Tohru decided to wake up early so it would be less likely for her to get caught. She had set the alarm last night to wake her at six am, that's when she ended up waking up. To her dismay she had been clever enough to leave the clock across the room from her bed last night. No, snooze button today… The sun had barely raised, still a faint golden circle behind the horizon.In about an hour she finished taking a bath, getting dressed in a simple beige dress and tying a matching bow in her long brown locks. Quietly she poked her head out her bedroom door peering down the empty hallway. She let out a deep breath and shut the door locking it behind her. Tohru swung open the windows and climbed down the rope with more grace this time.

She ran down the path with overflowing energy. Tohru hadn't even realized how fast she was going until she stumbled upon the sidewalk of the town. Her bright brown eyes scanned the market areas looking for a certain someone within the growing crowds.

"Is he here yet? I don't see him… I hope he gets here soon! I want to stay with him for as long as possible… But that'll be hard when I have to be back before lunch…" Tohru thought to herself as she sat down under a tall tree on the edge of town.

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"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuki!" a voice sang full of glee and cheer. Footsteps stopped at the edge of Yuki's haven of a bed. Whoever was disturbing him from his peaceful slumber was going to pay. Yuki threw a pillow at the intruder hitting him directly in the face. He rolled over in his bed muttering, "Shut up…"

The pillow slid off the long haired man dropping to the floor. He picked it up setting it back onto Yuki's bed with a small frown. That man could be no other then Yuki's brother. Twenty seven year old Ayame Sohma, the tailor of the palace. Ayame was a tall man with long silver hair. He was one of those people who just demanded attention, something Yuki never gave to him.

"But it's eight….."

Those three words that slipped out of his mouth made Yuki jump up. He scrambled out of his bed grasping his alarm clock in disbelief. It couldn't be this late already! His hair was a mess; his silver bangs covered his eyes in disarray, his shirt only half buttoned. Ayame stared at Yuki startled. This was the first time he had ever seen Yuki in such a panicked state.

"What's wrong little brother? Did you have something planned today?" Ayame asked cocking his head to the side.

"That's none of your business, now get out. Go back to your own room," Yuki ordered running his fingers through his sloppy hair. When Ayame didn't budge Yuki pointed to the door, a hint of anger glinting in his grey eyes.

"Ah! The gods are smiling down upon me for my little brother has nothing to do! It'd be a shame if we let it go to waste without deepening our bond!" Ayame cooed excitedly rambling on about nonsense. He jumped around dancing around the room like a five year old kid on Christmas.

"Are you even listening? I said GET OUT!" Yuki repeated his patience on the brink of breaking.

"Now Yuki, don't be shy! We shall spend this glorious day together side by side! I will even sacrifice myself to you, doing whatever you may ask! Only three people in the world are capable of such brotherly love and I of course am number one!" Ayame told Yuki placing his hand to his heart.

Yuki's eyes widened at this signaling his interest.

"So… You'll do anything I tell you to?"

"Of course! My dear brother, shall I rush and complete a new suit for you?" Ayame offered waving his hands around as he described his thoughts on how the clothes would look. Yuki rolled his eyes at his self centered brother.

"All I want is for you to get out," replied Yuki shoving Ayame out of his room and slamming the door shut. Ayame fell outside in the hall looking back at the door dumbfounded by Yuki's actions.

Yuki sighed, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He walked to his bathroom splashing water over his tired face. His hands reached out in the direction of a towel, finding someone handing it to him. Yuki dried his face before looking at Ayame with fury. Did he even understand the concept of space and when he was invading his, which was probably every second of his life?

"Would you like me to assist you with such a gruesome task, little brother?" Ayame suggested standing in the bathroom with him. In his arms he held another towel, a tooth brush, tooth paste and the scariest thing a rubber duckie. Yuki didn't even want to find out what that was for but one thing was for sure, if Ayame wanted to bathe him like a mere child he was going to slaughter him.

"I thought I told you to get out…"

"Ah…. Dearest brother there was but one problem with your request… You see when you told me to get out you never restricted me from opening the door and coming back in so therefore-!" Ayame started.

Before he could finish Yuki slammed the door in his face. He slumped down against the door his hands gripping the front ends of his hair tightly. "How am I supposed to get out now? At this rate I won't be there any earlier then nine… I hope Tohru isn't waiting too long…"

"Yuki! Little brother!" Ayame cried pounding against the door.

"Just leave me alone…"

"THIS is probably the reason why he's not going to be the heir to the throne… He can't act mature for a single minute…"

There was silence then the soft thud of a door shutting. Yuki opened the bathroom door sticking his head to look around the empty room. Ayame was nowhere to be found. He hesitantly walked out expecting Ayame to jump out and attack him with more idiotic words but he didn't. Yuki even checked places he could have been hiding.

"He actually left…" Yuki let out a sigh of relief.

"Of course I did! I told you I shall obey your every command! I cannot fail you as your role model!" Ayame's muffled voice could be heard through the door. Yuki jumped back in surprise.

"Leaning against my door and eaves-dropping is NOT leaving me alone!" Yuki yelled.

Yuki couldn't make out what he said next but there was stillness afterward. He concluded that Ayame actually left. Quickly he took a short shower and got dressed. Without even properly drying himself off he locked the door and snuck off the palace grounds in an instant. Yuki climbed up the wall surrounding the castle and jumped off at an incredibly fast pace. He bolted down the road. The wind whipped at his face, blowing the water out of his hair. It wasn't until he was nearly halfway to town did he consider the possibility of using a vehicle of some sort. But it was too late to go back now; he had run too far to turn around. All that was left to do was to keep going forward and pray that Tohru was still there.

He slowed down to a jog when he reached town. His eyes ran across the people loitering around. There were so many people standing about, it was difficult to find the one person he wanted. Yuki was beginning to regret not coming up with a meeting place. Sighing he walked up to a middle aged man in the middle of the street asking, "Have you seen a dark haired girl with beautiful brown eyes?"

"Yuki-kou! Su-Such an honor!" exclaimed the man dropping to his knees. A crowd started to gather around Yuki. Seeing the man bowing drew a lot of attention from every single bystander. Now everyone was whispering, "Yuki-kou…"

At least without them scattered around he could check to see where Tohru was. Girls were getting obnoxiously close to him, blushing and trying to get his attention. Yuki spotted Tohru sitting against a tree, resting in the cool shade. It didn't look like she noticed him amongst the crowd. He pushed his way through the crowd muttering, "Excuse me…"

"Yuki-kou!" the girls whined.

"I'm sorry. I'm meeting someone…" Yuki apologized though deep inside he wasn't sorry at all.

The girls pouted and frowned but Yuki ignored them. The crowd slowly dispatched. Yuki made his way over to Tohru. Her eyes lit up brightly when she saw him. She smiled and waved excitedly. He returned the smile, lifting his hand in a small greeting. Tohru had a relieved expression on her face, glad that he had come and that he wasn't harmed in anyway.

"Good morning Yuki-kun!" She greeted him happily.

"Good morning… I'm sorry… Have you been waiting long?" Yuki asked stopping in front of her. She moved aside allowing him some space on the grass. He dropped down next to her tiredly. Tohru turned around to face him still grinning widely.

"Not at all… But I was starting to wonder where you were though…" Tohru added trailing off.

"I overslept…" Yuki smiled sheepishly.

"I never imagined you to be a late sleeper!" Tohru giggled. Yuki peered over at her with a fake look of offense. She looked up at him, the only effect his face was having was making her laugh more. He smiled, no one had ever told him anything like that before. Everything said to him was always some sort of overdone compliment. Her honestly and bluntness was something new to him, something he already started to enjoy.

"And why is that?"

Tohru shrugged managing to stop laughing.

"You're lucky I like you or I can get very angry," Yuki teased her. Tohru looked away from him trying to hide her dark cheeks. He saw her blush anyways but decided not to comment for her sake.

"He likes me…?"

"What do you want to do Yuki-kun?" Tohru asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter… I just wanted to see you…"

She stared at him, his words slowly sinking in. When people asked to meet them they usually wanted to see you but this was the first time someone outside of her family had asked her to. Let alone say that's what they wanted so easily. He looked at her and smiled wondering if he had been too straight forward. Her beaming face didn't show any signs of awkwardness. Yuki extended his hand to her, to which she could only stare.

"Come on… I want to show you something…"

Happy Valentines Day! –hugs and kisses-

Yay! I've actually been working on this (the hand written part that is!) 350 pages! Maybe it'll end on page 400… big twist later on that you may be able to guess if you read CAREFULLY! . review!