Aaahh, I'm really displeased with how the beginning is because it sounds so generic and cliche when I really wanted it to be different, but. It's hard. I'm trying my best, okay. -Facedesks.- Generic, generic.

The title is supposed to mean that there's a lot of mystical things going on and it's so fast-paced you can't breathe, so, just, remember to sit back and breathe. Then if you look at the official chapter names (not my two-cent 'part one entails' heading down there) I'm going to eventually spell a sentence with the chapter names-if I remember to keep it up.

(Hopefully) Enjoy!

Mystics; Breathe

Written by Ko-Sensei

part two entails of a poetic monologue but not really made by a prince

Wanted Notice

Iwatobi. イワトビ.

Rewards Depending On Circumstance

Dead Or Alive

Any member of the treason-warranted Iwatobi organization. This organization has been increasing their numbers at an alarming rate, and they have a large number of members as well as captains and squads. Their motive is to bring down many of the flourishing empire and eliminate royalty in Arabia, and as such in Balbadd, they are considered filthy criminals, spies and traitors.

Any proven Iwatobi-affiliated persons brought before the royalty in all empires dead or alive will be taken as a prisoner to be executed, and the bounty hunters will be rewarded handsomely. On a special note; whoever catches the lead figure of Iwatobi will be rewarded a noble estate, princely status, twenty camels bearing gold, an elite harem of fifty, ten gifts of engraven jewels, a magician, and the status of a royal.

Any information on Iwatobi is also wanted and will be bought; please give notice to the Balbadd guards.

『夢と生活との間に違いはありますか？』

『Is there a difference between dreaming and living?』

"Alright," Haru says with a completely straight and blank face. "Rei's going to be the black card."

.

.

.

"NANI?!"

Which spurs on another fit of escalated arguing, because Rei is half-apologizing and half-arguing that he can't do it all at the same time ("I'm really sorry, senpai about that, it was really unintentional… but no! I can't dress as a girl, because it would ruin my pride-uh, I mean, for strategic purposes, I have the letter, remember?"), Nagisa is demanding that Haru give it up and let them dress him up already, ("Get off of Haru-chan, Rei!") and Makoto is trying to hold back the blond from bodily tackling the two sitting together ("Even if you feel left out, Nagisa, you can't just attack them, Haru would do something drastic!")

It takes a while, but Makoto manages to get everyone settled down by…

A) Pressing a handkerchief into Nagisa's ranting mouth to get him to be quiet.

B) Taking Rei physically and prying him away from Haru, because Rei staying there could only either mean being harassed by Haru to take his job, or having Rei pass out from too much exposure, or have Nagisa spontaneously combust at the show of affection, or… have the world end. Since this was Haru, after all.

C) Sitting down the three in their designated corners of the square, and reminding them that they must sneak into the palace by today.

("Thank you for saying square, Makoto," Rei sniffs. "It's never a circle, it's politically incorrect.").

Bam, bam, and bam.

With all of the goodness of Mother Nature smiling down upon them in smiles and sparkles emanating from Makoto, the Tachibana-team once again gets down to discuss their plans…

…. Under threat of death, because Makoto is giving off a dangerous vibe that if they don't get things done soon, they will get their asses kicked again.

(Shiver.)

"Alright," Makoto says, and brings a hand to his chin thoughtfully, thinking. "I think we're all set. You aren't supposed to bring many possessions into the palace, other than what you can carry on your person. They'll give it to you. So we'll set off and get in tonight. I already talked to some people and connected us, so all we have to do is show up in our clothes by the west gate."

Crossing his legs to sit more comfortably, Rei shifts. "Sounds good, Makoto-senpai. The only thing I have to bring is the letter of introduction, and then all of us can start right away. Then we can meet up regularly in the palace, since it's not unusual for the workers to have friendships there.. as long as it doesn't interfere with our schedules. Haru's going to be the only one that'll have free reign to go anywhere."

Not taking part in the conversation, Haru looks up disinterestedly, but nods every once and a while to show that he's paying attention.

"I know that we'll always have weapons on us since we'll be palace guards, but.." Makoto trails off, looking at Nagisa seriously. "It would be suspicious for a kitchen boy to be discovered hiding weapons under his clothes, and you probably won't be able to do much about that. Will you be alright, Nagisa…?"

The actual person (Nagisa) in question doesn't seem too bothered about this aspect. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I always have people talking about how cute I am. I won't be suspected. Don't worry, I'll always keep something on me… since I'm too cool not to!" Nagisa ends, grinning brightly.

Rei and Makoto both frown, bothered by the blond's nonchalant attitude.. though maybe it's a good thing, because people do tend to relax around Nagisa. That might be the thing that would keep him from getting caught.

(Besides, Rei whispers to Makoto. All of the enemy would soon realize that Nagisa had the mentality of a five-year old, so there's no way that he'd be suspected. Ever.)

"What about Haru-chan?" Nagisa inquires further, clapping his hands together with a glint in his eyes. "Now that Haru-chan gets to be a girl servant, we'll have to pretty him up. Besides, by the way, I'm thinking about dressing as a girl, too. So maybe we'll room together."

"..." The entire group stares at Nagisa, dumbfounded.

Rei is the one who first gets around to voicing their thoughts, but even so, he sounds exasperated because today, really, had already been a crazy day and he wasn't sure anything else could even surprise him at this point.

"But.. but, we spent all that time arguing over who had to be the crossdresser people-pleaser and now you're saying you're going to be a girl?!"

The blond shrugs. "I didn't want to be the girl attendant, people on the streets say that it's the most dangerous job in the palace. Well, virginity-wise, anyways, and since even when comparing myself to other girls, people have always noticed me for being cute. Therefore," Nagisa declares, pointing a finger at everyone in the room as he dramatically trails off. "I…..I am…"

Even Haru is watching and paying avid attention now, perturbed. Makoto simply seems confused, and Rei actually seems to be considering Nagisa seriously for once, since this is an important topic.

"I… I am…" Nagisa pounds a fist against his chest. "Compared to the rest of you, I…. I… I am too cute."

Silence.

"..."

"What? It's true," The blond defends himself. "You three probably wouldn't ever be noticed, but I'm too cute, someone would definitely get their eyes on me, and when the dirty deed happens at night, and they start undressing me, when my pants get taken down, I….I would be FOUND."

They all (minus Haru) jump at the loud sound.

Okay, Rei thinks blankly, and wonders if it was a mistake after all teaming up with Makoto's team simply because Nagisa had found him and begged him to after all this time, because although they had been through a lot together so far, there were still some times when really, the situations they would get into were ridiculous and he wanted to pray. Pray to God, that they would all remain intact with their sanities-

"Anyways," Nagisa chirps. "That's that, and although Haru-chan is pretty too, we all know that he can take care of himself. So, so. Dress-up time!"

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Roses, roses!"

"Wine, wine! Just arrived today from the foreign lands of the East, bitter and sweet, tangy and sour!"

"Cloaks, draperies! Protect your skin from the unforgiving sun! The most skilled tailors in the world!"

So Haru finds himself being sat down in the middle of the room and being fussed over.

Despite his protests, he finally accepts that he'll have to dress as a girl… and he calms down.

And naturally, Nagisa demands that he close his eyes so his "beauty spell" can be a surprise.

The fingers that are slipping into his shirt to undo the pins and specifically cut layers of clothing are definitely Nagisa's. His hands are warm and soft, and Haru actually doesn't mind being undressed too much. It's really way too hot (although the inside of the room is significantly cooler), and the temperature change is welcome.

"Haru-chan, do we really have to do simple clothing?" Nagisa asks, pouting as he unwraps the scarf that had been laid across Haru's shoulders.

"Mhm." Haru had made it clear to point out that he wanted very plain, simple clothing. Maybe even to the point of being poor. Simple layers of clothing, no jewelry, and no makeup- though he had compromised with the blond about at least wearing eyeliner. It was okay, Haru supposed, since if male royalty wore it, then it wouldn't be too demeaning. He had definitely seen the King wear such things before.

"It's okay. Haruka-senpai looks prettier being natural anyways," Rei comments, and with his eyes still closed, Haru determines that the cool fingers tracing lines in his hair must be Rei's. There's a thin metal headband placed on the top of his head, with a weight attached to it.

"Haru-chan, don't move," Nagisa instructs before Haru feels something cold prod at his eyes. It feels wet and cold and just weird, and it takes a lot of willpower to not squirm away from the feeling. The eyeliner, maybe?

"Sorry about this, Haru." That is definitely Makoto, Haru thinks, as one of his hands is moved away and placed delicately on the ground. There's another cold feeling that comes to him when Makoto smudges something on his nails, and… is he painting them?

"Oooh, nice, Mako-chan. Blue, huh? I wanna do mine, too!"

Makoto laughs. "I don't think blue would go well with you, though. Why don't you wait until you go into the palace? There would probably be other girl servants that would share with you… or rather, I bet they would be fighting to see who would get to dress you up."

"Fiiiiine. And good thing you got the quick-dry nail paint, I doubt Haru would stay still for more than ten minutes."

"True. Good thinking, Makoto-senpai. And… what are you doing, Nagisa?! You're putting on way too much liner, Haruka-senpai doesn't need that much! Give it to me."

"E-Eeeh? But I wanna do it!"

"No way! You're trying to do a more 'cute' and 'feminine' style, since the angles and trajectories are thicker and shorter with each stroke, when actually for a 'beautiful'-type of person like Haruka-senpai, you have to do it so it's unnoticeable and shapes the eyes. Give it to me."

"Waaaahh, but I'm almost.. almost… Ha. I finished, Rei-chan."

"Nagisa, stop being immature!"

"Mako-chaaaann, Rei's bullying me!"

"...What?! I want to complain that I'm the one being bullied!"

『白鳥は、男の腕を壊す可能性があります。』

『A swan may break a man's arm.』

"...Haruka-senpai," Rei suddenly says, breaking the model out of his reverie, and gently clasps Haru's wrists, leading him to stand up as the boy being dressed up had been sitting on the floor. "Really. Look in the mirror. This is perfect."

Nagisa's hands are lifted from his eyes. "Beauty spell complete, Haru-chan! That's using up one of your wishes already." The teasing makes everyone laugh, especially when Nagisa places a lamp in Haru's hands, pretending to float out, crossing his arms and staring at Haru sternly-like he's a genie.

Haru opens his eyes.

Rei is holding a mirror in front of him, beaming, while Makoto also nods approvingly.

At first, he doesn't believe the reflection he's seeing in the mirror, because honestly…

.. The person staring back at him is a female.

There is no way that is him, because Haru just doesn't.

…..Doesn't believe this.

Despite his requests to be dressed in rather simple clothes, it looked like Nagisa hadn't listened to him since there were some issues with what he was wearing.

And, they had gone overboard with the decorating.

Haru makes a distasteful face. Spreading his fingers out to look at him, they're painted a shiny blue, and there are golden bracelets clicking around on his wrists. There is also a cold weight hanging around his neck, and when he looks down, there are two necklaces they put on him; one fancy, and one more commonplace. His clothes are similar to the ones he normally wears while traveling outside (Makoto had probably pulled some mother-hen-strings here), as he still had the white and blue cut layers of clothing (though now there was no head scarf). But a lot of the material had been changed to a veil-like fabric with embroidered gems in it, and it was rather see-through. And for the record, the amount of shoulder, navel, back, and leg exposure it had didn't sit well with him.

… This was too much.

Definitely not what he would call a magic beauty spell.

"..." Ignoring the blatant protests of Nagisa, Rei and Makoto, Haru whips around and moves quickly-before they can stop him.

Splashing water on his face from one of the ceramic vases, he rubs the contour lining, wiping it with ("Stop, Haru-chan!") one of the layers on his shirt, he proceeds to completely smudge off all the makeup, rip out the tiny tied-bunches of braids with flowers put into them, slide his thumbs around the necklaces and unhook them, completely mess up his hair so it sticks out in all directions, and turns around.

"...Better," Haru says, and makes a contented face.

.

.

.

…. While the rest of them have a mental break-down right then and there.

(Makoto looks like he's about to cry, saying "H-Haruuuu," Rei looks utterly devastated that his work has gone to waste, and Nagisa is indignant at the entire thing.)

But he just ignores them, because he knows that they'll go along with him anyways.

(Unbeknownst to the rest of them, Haru deftly slips an object into one of the folds of clothing around his waist, doing so quietly because he knows they would take it away from him.)

The elusive dolphin boy glances in the mirror again. His appearance is now much better-a bit messy, casual, and improper now, which sits much better with him because he's honestly never worried about making an impression on people or looking nice. Though the eyeliner still makes him look sharp, he's rubbed off all the powder and coloring, so it looks completely natural now. And his lips are back to being pale and colorless. His long hair is now sticking down straight and flat (though in completely different directions) and he yanks one of the necklaces off, leaving the cheaper one there (since Rei looks like he's about to cry).

It's not too bad, Haru muses. He could deal with this. The messy look is much better.

.

.

.

(The rest of them just cry.)

"Purely-wrought gold from the mountains! The best quality you can find for leagues."

"Enchanted items! Real, living, in-the-flesh enchanted items, found from dungeons. Only a fool would turn their heads away from this!"

"Pastries, bread, cakes. Fresh from the oven, with a ever-so-slight crispy outside and melting insides, topped with sweet cream and nutmeg."

『フクロウは壊れとして見下ろしする傾向がある。』

『Owlets tend to be looked upon as fragile.』

Th-Thump. Th-Thump. Th-Thump.

They're all riding on horses. Normally, these kinds of equine animals could not survive in the desert, and were never seen, since the amount of water they needed to get through a day was just not found. But in large oases or large cities (like the capitals), such things could be provided and such things were found.

Haru tightens his grip on Makoto.

He's sitting right behind the green-eyed boy, able to hang on to the rough riding only because his arms were linked around Makoto's waist tightly. Which he was still making a petulant face about, since he still did not understand why they wouldn't let him use his own.

At first, he was really disbelieving because none of them would let him ride one (Haru was actually really good at it, really skilled) due to it not being 'womanly.'

All they were going to do was ride to the palace, right?

Haru had argued this point, but they refused because they didn't want Haru to stand out.

So here he was, clinging onto Makoto like a lifeline while the rest of them got to have fun racing around on the energetic, high-bred mares.

(Rakuda, his camel, had been left behind at one of the Iwatobi bases, to Haru's dismay.)

"Caaaan't catch me, Rei-chan, Mako-chan! Penguin's faster than all of you!" Nagisa exclaims excitedly, and digs his heels into the sides of his horse-causing it to immediately go from trotting to an all-out canter, which makes him move forward with a burst of speed.

(What was with that ridiculous name_? Nagisa did have a tendency to name things, but still.)

"By using a mare named Penguin? Try me," Rei promises darkly, before he follows right after Nagisa. And like before, Haru requests that they too go faster by tugging on Makoto's shirtline-

"Gomen, Haru. I would, but I think all the wind and sand would mess up how pretty you are."

-But it's a futile request, because Makoto insists that Haru be kept looking like this.

Leaving three sets of hoofprints scattered over the dunes of sand, the four make their way to the palace, scarves flapping in the wind.

… And they don't notice a red gleam staring after them.

『によって、我々の名前はどれも持っていません呼んでいること。』

『By that which we call a name has none.』

Slash. Swerve.

He staggers and falls down on all fours-knees holding him up, elbows extended over to steady himself. Panting and scowling at the outcome, displeased with the results.

"Again." The sensei instructs, tapping the redhead's back with the flat of his practicing blade.

Rin makes a face. This training was way too arduous, and going at it like this for three hours was just incredulously impossible. It really was. His arms felt like lead, and he could hardly breathe.. not to mention, there were probably a number of purple, unattractive bruises decorating his sides and legs.

What a pain, he'd have to cover them up for the next few weeks.

The night is dark, there's the sound of chatter coming from the courtyards around the palace, the lights are on, there are candles framing the pathway decoratively, the sound of instruments being played comes through faintly, the stars are shining, and even though his body is telling him otherwise, he just feels alive because there are just so many dreams being reached for right now.

Despite the activity they're doing right now, it does feel really calm and serene. Cool wind blows down into the courtyard, and lights from the palace light up the dauntless sky, making a dramatic contrast.

『ビューティ。』

『Beauty.』

It's like the scene out of a fairytale book, Rin reminisces. A moving scene, because the decorations around the palace flow and ripple with the wind, and the lights are distracting.

Military power. Despite all of the splendor and artistic layouts Balbadd may have had, it was based not on wisdom or intelligence… it was all military-based. And if he couldn't keep up with the rest of the royalty here, then he would be declared useless and sent back to Samezuka.

Which he couldn't afford.

"Are you too tired, Matsuoka? We're only halfway done."

Despite the way his legs tremble underneath him (they better not go out on him, that would be embarrassing as fuck), Rin only flashes a grin and gets up again, steadying his sword (and hoping to God that he doesn't mess up again.)

(But he'll lie through his teeth and keep on going because he just can't afford to be sent back.)

(Eh heh.)

"Whatever do you mean? I haven't even started."

Thanks to TsundereGiggles, CapturedbyNoodles, Peque Saltamones, Oshawott-sama, L. Monster, Butterfly Rei, Break of Dawn, and Pipulp99.