First let me bow down on my knees and beg for everyone's forgiveness. Things have been so hectic at school and I had to concentrate on my sport. HOWEVER, I kept all of my readers in mind (I love you guys!) and I typed as much as I can! This Chapter is going out to Dance-Love-Forever, Shadow-Chan 4, DarksAngeloftheNight, and
PerfectlyImperfect-EmMandC for the encouraging reviews! Write more after the chapter!

Love and Daggers!

Rain and Sunshine

Chapter 4

Vlad turns her head and watches Amy and Wolfram ride off to a nearby stable and shakes her head. Poor Wolfram, Vlad thinks unsympathetically, (Seeing him in person was a real let down) Amy is going to bang the crap out of him. I wonder what the penalty for rape is here…

Sighing, she pushes her hands into her pockets and continues walking towards the castle entrance, trying her hardest to not stare at Lord Weller's royal butt. In her mind's eye, she knows that he wouldn't be able to tell if she stares at it all day long, but she felt somewhere in the deep corners of her mind where thoughts of Conrad don't dare to venture (which must be a very small corner) that she needs to find out how in the hell Amy and she arrived in this place and why.

Kicking a small rock out of her way, Vlad continues to follow Conrad into the castle. I know for a fact that Shinou had something to do with us being here, Vlad contemplates as the rock skids across the path. That must have been Murata we saw hiding in the woods. But, it makes not a lick of sense why he didn't just come out in the open and say, 'Oh, hey I know who you lovely ladies are. Please come with me and I'll explain everything.' No, he had to wait for the frikin Bonies to come pick us up. However, he isn't stupid, so why did he want us to see him? Vlad stops walking for a second after that thought crosses her mind, but she shakes her head with an annoyed expression on her face and continues to march on. I'm sick of trying to figure guys out. They are supposed to be simple minded! Alcohol, sex, and sports are suppose to be they're top three obsessions, not confuse the hell out of the new girl, spy on the new girls, and give this particular new girl a headache.

Once inside, she stops right in the middle of the grand hallway and stares upward towards the ceiling. Hanging above her was a beautiful chandelier, and above that was the ceiling decked with gorgeous artwork that could challenge the ones in the Vatican. Vlad stood there staring at the painted dragons and clashed swords until Conrad came back and stopped underneath the hanging orbs of glass. He too looked upward and said, "It was installed by Lord von Voltaire's great grandfather. The paint work was done in the time of The Great One, right after a major battle."

Vlad, who completely zoned out and didn't notice Conrad stand right next to her, nearly has a heart attack and had to force herself to not jump up to the chandelier. Who f-ing cares what Murata knows? Conrad actually came and talked to me without me initiating anything! (Vlad mentally does her happy dance) But then again, I did stop in the splat middle of the frikin hallway and he most likely thought that I ran off somewhere. Well, you can't blame a girl who hoping. Vlad sighs internally and nods. "So, besides Gwendal working himself to death and obsessing over fluffy things, does he show any of his great grand-dad's potential or is he as sucky as Wolfram?"

Conrad looks down at her with eyes slightly narrowed and says slowly, "Painting wise, no, but he is very competent at drawing." He shakes his head. "Forgive me, but it is unsettling to hear a complete stranger have so much insight on my family's practices. You can surely understand why it is hard for my brother and I to doubt that your friend and you are spies from an opposing country."

Vlad mentally slaps herself; of course he's gonna keep giving me the stink eye if I keep on talking like I already know who they are and what their talents (or lack of thereof) are. "I can promise you, we are not spies, but I don't expect you and Wolfram, especially him, to believe us until you hear us out. And I can tell you right now that Murata and Shin-person will back us up…I think…I hope…uh right," Vlad pushes her bangs out of her eyes nervously. They better back us up. It would suck if they lied and said that we were spies. I would kill Murata before they'd kill me…But then again, what's the use? He'll just come back later on in life and dance on my grave. Vlad makes a bitter face and began to walk on. "Besides, if we were spies, we are stuck in the middle of enemies who would surely cut us up into little pieces and then be given to Wolfram who would burn our remains into ash, and then somehow burn our ashes into smaller pieces of ash, and then flush us down the toilet. So, we would be screwing ourselves, if you think about it."

Conrad gives Vlad an appalled look and says revolted, "Don't you believe that that's a little extreme for a punishment."

Vlad smiles sweetly up at him and says, "Yeppers, I do, that's why it would be a fitting castigation. It would scare the other spies away. So, you would be doing three good things; you would be getting rid of the spies you have already, be scaring away other emissaries, and be saving their lives too."

Conrad chuckles at that as they turn a corner. "That is an interesting way to look at that. Now tell me, what if the other spies don't pay attention to that gruesome slaughter and try to spy on us anyways? What shall we do to them?"

"Put them in the cell with Saralegui if he ever gets thrown into prison. I think that's punishment enough." (I hate that bitch)

Conrad laughs, and Vlad felt her heart fly out of her chest. (she's a cheesy romantic) Oh my Gosh, I just made him laugh! Screw Jared Leto, Conrad is my new number one! Don't feel to bad, lemon lips, your still my number two… hang on a second. What the hell?

Up ahead, she sees a dark headed boy with black-grey eyes be dragged into a closet by a tall, silver-haired man with a disturbing bulge in the front of his pants. Oh, dear Lord, you got to be kidding me, Vlad thinks exasperatedly as she sprints over, ignoring Conrad's startled yell, and kicks open the door to a yaoi lover's dream. Gunter had stripped off Yuri's shirt and was nuzzling his neck, apparently oblivious to Yuri's frantic squeaks of, "Get the hell off of me Gunter! GET OFF! Oh, thank God you're here. Help, please?"

"Oh, Your Majesty," Gunter croons (Vlad shivers in disgust), "Please don't leave yet. I'm desperate to see what is underneath…" Gunter fingers the waistline of Yuri's pants.

"Ok, there is so much gay stuff that I can take in one day, and that is my limit," Vlad says bluntly as she grabs Yuri and shuts the door on the Gay Lord. Yuri slumps against the stone wall, taking shallow breaths. Poor kiddo, Vlad thinks as Gunter begins to pound against the door, wailing. How in the hell does he stay alive with one crazy guy after the junk in his trunk, and another after his eternal love? No wonder people make him a girl in so many fanfics. He is the star in any girl's dream. "Are you alright, kiddo?"

Yuri gives her a scathing look and sarcastically says, "Oh, yes, I'm fine. I was just sexually molested and mentally scarred for life!"

Vlad just stares at him while he's telling her this and she candidly says, "Nice abs."

Yuri looks down at his bare chest and his face turns beet red. "I-I-I what?"

Vlad laughs just as Conrad runs up to Yuri. "Heika, what happened to your shirt?"

Vlad tries not to snicker as Yuri wraps his arms around his body. She knows how it feels to be in extremely awkward situations like these, and does not wish to make it worse, but hell, he DOES have nice abs. "He was attacked by a vicious beast who wanted to ruin Yuri's virtue. I trapped the uncontrollable beast behind the door."

Behind the door she was holding down, Gunter says in a throaty, seductive voice, "Yu-chan, come back and play."

Conrad's eyes go round and Yuri stands behind him and yells out, "NO!"

Gunter wails again in despair and continues to pound on the door. Vlad, still leaning against it, raises an eyebrow to Conrad. "So, what are we are going to do with the ravenous animal?"

"Yuri! Are you okay?" Wolfram runs up to Yuri and tackles him to the ground.

Vlad looks at Conrad and holds up three fingers, silently putting one down after a second, and then the other. Conrad just looks at her confusedly and says, "What…?"

After the last finger goes down, Amy runs around the corner, screaming, "WOLFRAM!" She glomps him, making him fall right back onto Yuri. "When you walk away, you don't hear me say, please. Oh, baby, Oh no." (If you have never played Kingdom Hearts, I bet this just went way over your head.)

Wolfram struggles to shove Amy off of him. "What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you see that I'm trying to help my fiancé?"

Amy's face collapses, suddenly depressed at the sudden realization that Wolfram and Yuri were STILL engaged. Shite, I forgot that they were engaged, Amy thinks forlornly as Wolfram stands back up and holds out a hand to Yuri to help him up. Amy feels a wicked smile creep onto her face as she thinks, Yu-chan, you're going down, bitch.

Vlad watches the emotions change from the hurt puppy dog look on Amy's face to the manical what-the-hell expression that she wears when someone seriously pisses her off. Oh, God in Heaven, have mercy on their souls, Vlad silently says a quick prayer and directs a sharp look at Amy. "Whatever you're thinking kiddo, do NOT do it."

Conrad turns back to look at Amy, who quickly puts on a mask of angelic innocence (Haven't you all noticed that the blondes are always good at pulling it off?) and says ingenuously, "Whatever are talking about, Vlady?"

Conrad frowns and turns back to Vlad. "What are you talking about?"

Amy sticks her tongue out at Vlad, who just shakes her head. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Anywho, do you want me to let Lord Hump-A-Lot out of his cage or just leave him here?"

Wolfram's green eyes narrows and he barks, "Who?"

Conrad shifts his feet uncomfortably and says awkwardly, "Uh, I believe that is the name she came up for Lord von Christ as he is the one responsible for, uh, attacking Yuri."'

Wolfram was silent for a second and Vlad, who knew what was going to happen, sidesteps out of the way whenever Wolfram throws a massive ball of fire at the door. Gunter yells out in agony, "NO! My beautiful hair!" (Forgive me, Gunter lovers. In my mind's eye, he's this gay.)

Wolfram, who is so mad that flames are flaring out of his nostrils, (literally) screams, "I don't give a f*** (Amy gasps at this curse word. Oh please, look at me when you say that again.) about your damn hair! You nearly raped my fiancé, you horny bastard. You are a disgrace to the entire demon race!" And on and on he goes.

Gunter, who was griping his now bald head, begins to cry pathetically and looks imploringly to Yuri, "Yu-chan, he's scaring me. Make the big bad wolf go away."

Yuri, who had calmed down a whole lot and was beginning to be a bit more sympathetic towards Gunter, looks at him uncertainly, "Uh, did you just refer Wolfram to a wolf?"

Wolfram's face turns red and he turns onto Yuri, "Shut up, wimp! Who's side are you on? I ran up three stories of stairs to save your ass (pun not intended) and this is how you treat me? Typical!"

"Uh, technically it was me that saved him, not you," Vlad says as a tall man with long brown hair walks towards their small party.

"DO YOU THINK I GIVE A SHIT ABOUT TECHNICALITY?"

"What the hell is going on here? Wolfram, why are you yelling at the prisoners?" Gwendal says alarmed as he stops and sees Yuri without his shirt off and Gunter with no hair. He sighs and shakes his head tiredly, "Not again, Gunter."

"Whoa, hold on a sec, we are so not spies, and now we're prisoners? Yeah right! We walked in here all by ourselves thank you very much!," Amy pipes up and stands in front of Gwendal with her hands on her hips. Wait, maybe that wasn't smartest thing to say, Amy realizes as she plays back what she said in her head. Ugh, I just sounded like we stupidly walked in here. I hate being blonde.

Gwendal raises an eyebrow and looks down at her, "Perhaps not you, but that one over there," he points over at Vlad, who smacks her head in exasperation, "may be."

"For the love of all things holy, I am not a spy!"

"Can I have my shirt back?" Yuri says from behind Conrad, his body shaking from the cold.

Amy, ignoring Yuri, pinches Gwendal and angrily says, "What? Am I not good enough to be a spy? What is with you people?" Yuri's plea finally registers with her brain and she takes a closer look at him. "Nice abs."

Yuri's face turns red again and he tugs his shirt back on quickly. Wolfram begins to wail on Amy, "I don't ever want to hear you say that ever again, you understand that wimp?"

"Why? Are you jealous, Wolfram?" Amy asks flirtingly. Oh, baby, trust me. You have nothing to worry about, but you do have to admit, he does have hot abs.

"Yes I am, and I don't like it when people talk about my fiancé in that way!"

Amy face-faults, and while that was going on, Vlad was doing a head count of who was all there. "Almost the entire gang is here. We are missing just one person…" She walks around the corner, cups her hands around her mouth and hollers, "HEY MURATA! GREAT SAGE! GEEK IN THE PINK!"

"Why are you yelling?" A voice says from behind Vlad.

Vlad jumps three feet in the air, Amy shrieks, and Wolfram yells, "How in the hell did you do that? I swear, on minute he wasn't there and then he was!"

Conrad stares at Murata and shakes his head, muttering, "I didn't blink that time and I still didn't see him."

Murata just sighs and shakes his dark head in disappointment. "I never told you guys that I was a ninja in another life? The skills are still with me!" He turns and looks at Vlad with a flirty look in his eye, and she gives him a what-the-hell look. "You called, my dear?"

Vlad rolls her eyes, "Yes, darling, I did. We saw you in the woods whenever the Bonies picked Amy and I up from the meadow, so I know for a fact that you know exactly who we are and why we are here. So, if you would be so kind, please explain to this bunch," she points towards the group behind her, "that we are absolutely, positively, utterly, completely, and obviously not spies."

Murata eyes her with a keen look in his eyes and he smiles, "I'm amazed you said that in one breath." Vlad smacks her head and mutters something about ADD kids. Murata smirks and walks besides Vlad, "Vlad and Amy are absolutely, positively, utterly, completely, and obviously not spies. Vlad, however," he adds as he slips his arm around Vlad's waist, "is my lover, aren't you darlin'?"

Amy's mouth drops open, Wolfram shakes his head in disgust, Conrad's eyes widen, Yuri goes, "Really?" and Vlad smiles as sweetly as she can and says lovingly, "Oh, honey." She grabs onto the hand that was resting on her hipbone and flips Murata over onto his back. He goes down with an bang, and Vlad stands over him with a strangely amused expression on her face, "Only in your bondage fantasies."

Murata groans and struggles to sit up. He grunts, "I like a girl who knows how to take a guy down."

"And I can admire a guy who refuses to give up. Don't push your luck too far today, kiddo," Vlad offers a hand and pulls him back up on his feet.

Amy openly gapes at the sage, now on his feet, bow his head and kiss Vlad's hand. Whoa now, I'm not sure if this is legitimate or just an act he's putting on. Well, looks like Conrad is out of the game. Amy looks down at Lord Weller's butt and corrects herself. I stand corrected. There is no way in hell that Vlad is not going to resist that ass.

Wolfram breaks the awkward silence by saying in that bratty voice of his that makes Amy imagine of how hot he must be instructing his army, "If they're not spies, then what the hell are they and why are they here?" (Haven't you noticed what his favorite word is?)

Murata sighs and shakes his dark head. "Why must you cuss at me, Wolfram? You know it hurts my delicate, perfect ears." Wolfram gives him a revolted look. "Fine, whatever," Murata pushes his glasses back on his nose. "Why we don't take over Gwendal's office and chat about it in there? It's better than sitting out here and blabbing about planet Earth, and plus your fan club might over hear us."

Wolfram and Yuri turns slowly around at the exact same time to see a gaggle of maids drooling at the hallway entrance. Amy turns and looks, smacks her forehead and says, "For the love of God, really?"

Vlad just raises an eyebrow and uncharacteristically doesn't comment.

"Uh, right," Gwendal's eye twitches and he starts backing away to an open door leading to his office. (insert dramatic music)

"Ugh! I don't want to be attacked again!" Yuri groans and he sprints into the room and hides behind a curtain. Vlad's eyebrow raises higher as she and the other guppies enter the room.

Murata sits behind Gunter's desk, clasped his hands on top of it, and stares at them all seriously. Gwendal, grumbling something incoherent, shoves Murata out of his seat, who falls with a pathetic cry. Vlad, no longer able to raise her eyebrow any higher, simply raises her other one and Amy looks at her and says, "Ya know, one of these days, your face is going to stay like that and you'll never be loved. EVER," Amy extends the word so it sounds like eeeevvvveeeeerrrr.

Vlad sticks her tongue out at her, and Gwendal says irritably as he sits down in his proper place, "Now, can you ladies please tell us how you came to be in our world."

Vlad takes a deep breath and says calmly, "Amy and I were watching for a comet last night on our planet Earth." Her brow scrunches up, "You won't believe how weird it is explaining that we come from Earth. Anyways, for awhile, we couldn't see the comet, and then a star that I was watching started falling straight for us, so I kind of figured that it was the comet."

Amy chips in, "We started running as fast as we could away from it, but Vlad got caught up in it, and then I ran into it."

Wolfram gives Amy a weird look. "Why did you run into the comet? That's a stupid thing to do."

Vlad rolls her eyes at Wolfram. "Whenever you get friends Wolfram, you'll understand. Anywho, so we were spinning around in the comet, which freaked us out 'cause we kindof expected to burn to death, and we heard Shino's voice say… uh, what did he say, Reeves?"

"You two would do just fine."

"Really? I thought it was, 'You'll do just fine,' or something like that," Vlad makes her voice go low like Shino's whenever she quoted him.

"DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE TECHNICAL WITH YOU, VLADY?" Amy growls at Vlad, who just rolls her eyes at the blonde.

"Well, yeah. You might leave out the important details. Anyways, I think we blacked out, 'cause the next thing that we can remember is waking up in the middle of a field."

Conrad frowns and asks, puzzled, "I believe you, Vlad, but what I have trouble understanding is why did Shino summon you two. And why did he use a celestial being to bring you to our world?" He looks at Murata, directing the question to him.

Murata's glasses glint in the sunlight beaming in from the window, "I'm not quite sure why Shino brought the girls like he did. Perhaps they were miles away from the nearest water source and there was no way for them to fall into it." He shrugs and continues. "Now, Conrad, I'm surprised you missed a very important detail in their arrival. Tsk Tsk."

Conrad's brow furrows as he tries to recall what exactly he's missing. Amy looks at Vlad with an eyebrow raised, asking her what they're missing. Vlad shakes her head at her friend. I have no idea what he's talking about. Was it the fact that I had to nearly promise myself to a nunnery to keep Conrad from being the latest rape victim? Wait… there is the fact that we can understand the language. I thought… Vlad snaps her fingers and blurts out excitedly, "Is it the fact that Amy and I can understand you language?" She turns to Amy, "Didn't you tell me that the only reason why Yuri could understand the language whenever he got flushed down the toilet (Yuri's face turns pink and he buries his head in his hands. "That's a painful memory.") was that he was half-demon? Oh dear God," Vlad's face turns white and she sits back in her chair, "You don't mean that Amy and I are…?"

Murata smiles at Vlad with hearts in his eyes, "Wow, she's not just gorgeous, but smart too!"

Amy jumps up at the exact time Wolfram stands and they both say, "No way!"

Wolfram glares at Amy and mutters, "Another pathetic excuse for a demon."

Yuri, who was silent through the entire interrogation, speaks up, "Wait a second, how do they know that I got flushed down a toilet?"

Wolfram whips his head around and glares at the duo. "Yeah, and what else do you know?"

"I know that you sleep in pink nightgowns with bows on it. I have a picture as proof if ya want to see it," Vlad states bluntly and pulls out her phone and flashes the picture to the room.

Wolfram's face turns a bright shade of red as Amy squeals, "AHH! SO KAWAII!"

"Everyone please shut up!" Gwendal yells as he slams his hands on his desk. "Are they really demons, Murata?"

Murata frowns as he says, "To be honest, I don't know what they are exactly, but I do know that they are related to the Demonic race in a sense, but they're not precisely demons."

Amy groans and begins to die on the inside. Damn it! I really wanted to be related to Gunter! He could've given me some tips.

Gwendal stands up suddenly. "Conrad, who gave the girls the Gift?"

"I gave it to Vlad, but only after I discovered that Avron, a soldier under Wolfram's command, gave the Gift to Miss Reeves. Why is this any important may I ask?"

Gwendal's eye twitches and Murata's face lightens up as he realizes where Gwendal is getting at. "What he means," The Great Sage begins slowly, "Is that Shino and I were not the only ones expecting them and knew of their relation to the kingdom."

Vlad and Amy exchange a look just as Conrad and Wolfram jump up and run out of the room. Although Conrad managed to close the door behind them, Amy can hear her love scream out in fury, "DAMN IT! WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME THAT GET THE REAL SPIES MIXED UP WITH THE WANNA BES?"

Yuri stands and takes Conrad's seat "So, Avron is a spy, Gwendal?"

Gwendal sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Apparently he is, Heika. Forgive me my ladies, but I'm afraid we're going to hold this meeting off until we clear up this cloud of danger. Now, we have to come up with a cover story for the two of you."

Vlad raises an eyebrow (Dang my forehead is sore), "What do you mean? Do we have to hide from whomever knows about Amy and I?"

Gwendal nods. "That's the idea. Now," he looks at Amy and stares at her hard. She nervously shuffles her feet, after a few minutes she mutters, "Why is it always the old ones that check me out?"

Gwendal chuckles at this and says, "Touche. Now, you look similarly like Gunter's dead second cousin. She died when she was age of twelve of a horrible disease and Gunter sent her away to live near the ocean as her dying request. The story we will tell the court is that you survived the disease and traveled across the seas exploring them and gaining back your strength. From this day forward you will be pretending to be a countess, and I daresay that you will need royalty lessons," he finishes thoughtfully.

Amy sits in her chair with a stunned expression on her face. So…just like that, I'm royalty? She's silent for three minutes and then she explodes upward and runs out the door screaming her heart out, "I HAVE A CHANCE! I HAVE A CHANCE!"

Gwendal's eye twitches. "Ah, and they call her 'Grace.' Now on to you, Miss Vlad."

Vlad sits up straighter in her chair. I wonder what he'll make me be? Please don't make me be related to Conrad. Please don't be cruel. "You can be a maid."

Vlad facefaults, and slowly rises up off of the stone floor. "Excuse me?"

Gwendal shuffles the papers on his desk, his focus slipping away from Vlad's now sucky life. "We have no other place in court that you could actually fit in. Miss Reeves has the look of royalty. You, unfortunately, do not. You will be safe as a maid, and you'll be close to your friend."

Vlad crosses her arms. "Let me make this easy for you to understand; I am not going to be a maid. I can barely clean up my own room and you want me to pretend to be a maid? Fine, but I get to clean up your room, and God knows what's going to happen to Mr. Fluffy Bunny and Mrs. Cutesy Bear whenever you're not there to hear their muffled cries."

Murata somehow sneaks up behind Vlad and wraps an arm around her waist as Gwendal's eyes go so round that Vlad is afraid that they'll pop out of his head. "How about this? Why doesn't Vlad come and be the Great Sage's assistant? It'll be a great cover up for her, and plus we can say that Amy met Vlad over her travels and Vlad stuck with her as they crossed over into our country."

Vlad is so surprised by Murata's suggestion that she doesn't notice his arm around her waist. "Seriously?"

Murata gives her a genuine smile and holds her hand in his. "Seriously. And it's not like you have to become a maiden or something. You just come along with me and help me with things concerning Shino and stuff."

"That's fine with me. Just keep her far away as possible from my room," Gwendal says from the doorway, startling the two of them. Vlad shakes her head and gently removes her hand from Murata's. Oh my Lord. Did I just have a moment with Murata? I must be going crazy.

Murata sticks his tongue out at Gwendal's retreating back and turns back to Vlad. "How does that sound to ya?"

Vlad smiles and begins to walk out of the office with her new employer. (I hope I don't have to sue for sexual molestation. The question is, who will I be suing; Murata or myself?) "Sounds great. Um, where did Amy go?"

Alrighty my loves. Sorry to say this, but Amy isn't here to commet, so you have to sit there and listen to meeeee. (MWHAHAHA) Now listen to this. Saturday night, I finished this chapter and was so excited to post it on Fanfiction. I go on here to post it, and it shut down EXACTLY the same time i tried uploading it. F.M.L! Anywho, hope you all enjoyed it. And I can promise you all, as soon as the month of April is over, I will post chapters so quick, you all be going "DANG, SHES GOOD." Please Review and Leave me sweet love notes.

LOVE AND DAGGERS,

RAIN AND SUNSHINE