Thank you for your reviews :) They really do help boost my morale and I enjoy reading every one of them! I hope you will enjoy the second chapter of their past. Of course, there are tibits on our other adorable couples. Their stories will be in there as well, but more subtly because this is about Masamune and Ritsu. The past will be only from their point of view and nothing unrelated because it is a story being told by them. I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 13: Steps to Fall in Love: Conversing

"MASMUNE! How many times do I have to tell you to stop going into town?! I know you disguise yourself and wear commoner clothing, but that is inappropriate of someone of your status to do!" A man with raven black hair and grey eyes glared angrily at his companion.

Masamune merely rolled his eyes. "Yokozawa, what's wrong with going into town as long as no one discovers it is me? I was bored and thought it would be fun to explore town for a while. I rarely have the chance to do so."

Yokozawa Takafumi simply hmphed and replied, "BECAUSE you are the prince of this kingdom. It is important that you take care of your duties. As your best friend and advisor, I cannot allow you to be so selfish and wander off without telling me anything."

"So as long as I tell you I'm going into town you'll allow me to?" Masamune could not help but think, "Such a mother hen…I have no idea what Kirishima sees in him."

The advisor sighed. "As long you bring someone with you when you go into town, then I will allow you to go. Please do not do anything that would ruin your reputation or expose yourself. I beg of you. Have some pride as a prince." All he could do was shake his head and pinch the bridge of his nose at the thoughts of all the reckless things his friend could do in town.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered. Kirishima was looking for you."

Yokozawa's eyes widened and blushed at that statement. He looked around him to see if that man is anywhere near in sight. "He's not anywhere close to here right?"

Masamune could not help but snicker at his friend's misfortune. He enjoyed watching this chase between his advisor and head knight. Ever since the head knight, Kirishima Zen met with Yokozawa, they had been involved in this roundabout romance. The head knight would pop out of nowhere and then sling his arm over the advisor. Yokozawa would try to push Kirishima away, but always unable to completely himself from the other. The head knight would continue by teasing the advisor, who in return would grumble and have a silly fit.

People in palace would always make jokes about their relationship and call them such a "lovey-dovey couple," which would in return make Kirishima smile and Yokozawa blush and grumble.

"Well, have fun avoiding Kirishima. I'm going to town again. Yuu invited me to go to this small inn. Masamune turned around and waved as he walked away.

Yokozawa was occupied about the thought of Kirishima finding him, he did not pay attention to what his prince said till last minute. "WAIT! COME BACK MASAMUNE!" By the time he said that line, the ravenette already left. The advisors sighed and hoped nothing misfortunate would occur because of the prince's mischievous behavior. He hoped that Yanase Yuu, the heir to a dukedom would keep things under control, but that was a sad dream.

…

"Yuu, why are we at this inn?" Masamune glanced around and wondered why his friend would bring to his place of all places. He had to admit that it was a rather classy and quaint inn. He figured this place would be a rather popular place and he was proven correct by the amount of people seated in it.

Yuu, a man with light brown hair and grey eyes simply shrugged and said, "I like the food here. The people are nice, so I thought you would like to try this place out."

The prince found his friend's nonchalant attitude to be rather suspicious. "Okay…Let's find a seat then."

"Ahhh… How about over there? My friend is sitting over there alone." Yuu pointed over to a table with a female that had long, chestnut hair and warm brown eyes.

"Do you know her?" Masamune was starting to understand why they came here in the first place.

"Uh yeah. I met her one time when I came here. She works here. Kohinata-san is probably on a break."

Yuu and Masamune walked over to approach this female acquaintance that obviously caught Yuu's eyes. "Kohinata-san! How have you been?" Yuu smiled and waved at the waitress.

She looked stunned for a moment before returning the smile. "Yuu-san, nice to see you again." She glanced to the side and asked, "Who is this with you?"

"Let me introduce you two." Yuu used his hand to motion between them. "This is uhhh… Masamune. He is one of my close friends." "Masamune, this Kohinata An, she is the daughter of the owner of the inn. She works here to help with the family business."

Masamune extended a hand, which An-chan accepted. Out of a polite gesture, the prince raised her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it. "It is nice to meet you Kohinata-san. I hope we get along in the future.

The female blushed and said, "Same to you Masamune-san."

*cough cough*

The two glanced at the source of the sound, Yuu. Masamune could see the twinkle of jealousy in the other's grey eyes, which made him inwardly chuckle. He could easily tell that his friend was infatuated with the pretty waitress.

Yuu asked, "Kohinata-san, are you on break at the moment?"

"I'm not working today. I'm waiting for a friend to come."

"Ahh… would it be ok if Masamune and I joined you two?"

An-chan smiled and said, "Of course we wouldn't. The more the merrier."

The two men settled down and began to make small talk with the waitress till her friend arrived.

"Ah! She's here! Ricchan! Over here!" The waitress motioned towards lovely lady wearing a large navy blue cloak.

The other noticed An-chan and walked over. She was about to say her hellos till she and Masamune made eye contact.

"It's you!" The two exclaimed at the same time.

Yuu and An-chan glanced at one another. Yuu asked, "Do you two know each other?"

Ritsu sat down next to An-chan. He hoped that the other still had not realized that she in this clothing and the he by the river are the same person. "Yesterday, I was being chased and he saved me…"

"Ricchan! You could have come here! You know that I would hide you till the people stopped looking for you." The waitress was always concerned about her friend. She understood that her friend had some personal circumstances that caused her to wear the cloak. However, she still did not know the fact that "Ricchan" was actually a he.

"I'm sorry… I just didn't want to bother you, especially with all the people after me…"

An-chan sighed, "As long as you were safe in the end, that's all that matters."

The bluenette (aka brunette) pulled his hood down. The moment he did so, he could already feel the stares of everyone in the room. He disliked it, but he came here to meet An-chan and have a good time, but that was hard at the moment when someone in the room could put the pieces together and expose him. He prayed in his heart over and over in hopes that Masamune would not.

"Did you make it home safely after yesterday?" The prince's interest was piqued the moment he met his mysterious lady. Well, he was also interested in that male he met by the river for now. Maybe he'll bump into him later, like he bumped into this girl.

"Uh yes. Thank you for help. Everyone went the other direction, so it cleared the way for me to go back." Ritsu tried not to be fidgety, but it was not easy to be at ease. He fiddled the ends of his cloak in order to distract himself.

"You never told me what your name was. I'm Masamune." Ritsu found it weird that this time the man only said his name, but he just waved that thought away. Maybe he preferred it to be more casual. "I'm…Rika." Ritsu honestly disliked using that name to introduce himself, but he had to keep his name a secret. He chose not to include his surname to ensure that the other would not realize his true identity. "Nice to meet you again." He offered a perfect smile, one he would often to practice.

Masamune returned that smile as well. "Ah. This is my friend, Yanase Yuu."

The bluenette looked towards the other male and said, "It's nice to meet you too, Yanase-san."

The duke smiled and returned the greetings. "Nice meeting you, Rika-san."

"So, tell me Rika-chan, why do you wear that cloak?" Masamune wanted to know about this mysterious, beautiful female. He could not blame all the stares directed towards her.

Ritsu sighed. "As you can see" –he motioned around the inn- "I attract a lot of attention. In order to avoid the stares, I wear a cloak to conceal my appearance, but as you can tell, it is usually unsuccessful."

"Hmmm…Shouldn't you be used to it now and just stop wearing it?" Masamune had to admit that he was fascinated by her beauty as well.

Ritsu blushed. "I-I just find it more comforting when I wear it. I don't exactly like the stares I receive either…"

The prince chuckled. He found "her" to be rather endearing and cute. "So tell me a little about yourself."

Ritsu made a "hmph." "Shouldn't you talk about yourself before asking others about themselves?"

Masamune chuckled. He liked the sass "she" had. It made her even more intriguing, especially because she appeared to have a docile nature. "Welllllllll, I'm the only child in my family. I like to horseback ride, I speak and read several languages, I love to practice swordsmanship, and my most favorite pastime happens to be reading."

"I guess I'll have to talk about myself too then. I enjoy the outdoors and especially like to walk around in the forest. I enjoy cooking and sewing, since my mother is fond of it, she taught it to me as well. I actually can also speak a few languages because of my love for literature. I love reading as well and it also happens to be my favorite pastime." Ritsu wanted to keep it nonchalant as possible, but he did find himself enjoying conversing with the other.

"We have a lot in common don't we?" Masamune's interest only continued to grow as he spoke to the beautiful bluenette.

Ritsu ended up blushing again. "I guess you could say that…"

Masamune found that the blush made the female even more adorable.

On the side, An-chan and Yuu found it hard to even come in between the two's conversation. An-chan giggled at the thought of her friend possibly developing a crush on a rather handsome man. It seemed that the other was quite interested as well. This will certainly be an exciting development. Yuu, on the other hand was worried. He was glad that his friend was enjoying his time, but he hoped that his friend would draw the line between interest and falling in love. If he did, nothing will go well for a love between a prince and a commoner. Same for him, loving a commoner would lead his parents to scold him harshly and force an arranged for him. For now, an unrequited love is the best he can do.

"Ah! An-chan! Sorry, I have to go now! I need go home and prepare dinner. I'll see you next time?" Ritsu realized how little he conversed with his dear friend and how much he conversed with the man.

"Ricchan, don't worry! Make sure you make it home safely."

"I will. Thank you, An-chan, I'll see you soon." The bluenette gave his friend a hug and bid farewell to the two others. "Good-bye Masamune-san, Yanase-san, it was nice talking to you."

"It was nice meeting you too." Yuu offered a smile.

"We should meet again. It was nice talking to you." The prince offered a sly wink as well. "In fact, let me escort you home so you can avoid any trouble."

Ritsu immediately waved his hand and said, "No! It's fine! I can make it home perfectly safe by myself!" And with that, he rushed out the door before the other could even respond or chase after him.

"Well, I think I'll excuse myself too. There is somewhere I want to go." Masamune rose from his seat.

"Wait! You're supposed to stay with me! I don't want Yokozawa to scold me!"

The prince just waved as he walked away and said, "Don't worry, I'll meet you back here later. Until I come back, why don't you just chat with Kohinata-san."

"W-wait!" Yuu's words fell onto deaf ears. "He is always so willful." The duke could only sigh, but he was happy that he would be able to converse with An-chan alone. He can only spend so much time with her.

…

Masamune wandered around time for a little, but eventually he walked right outside his destination, the forest he was lost in yesterday. Luckily, his sense of direction will allow him to navigate through the forest to some degree after being led out of it by the brunette yesterday. He's going in here in hopes of meeting him again anyways.

Slowly, the prince walked through the forest and did his best to find his away around this area. One can easily get lost in here, which can be quite scary. He could see why Rika liked walking through forests now. They are quite breathtaking if you take your time to observe it. Maybe that's why Ritsu also like to be the river.

Soon, he was able to recognize the area that was near the river and he could a faint sound of water moving. He followed that sound till he was close to the area, but saw something unexpected. It was Rika.

He was about to call out to her, when all the sudden, she pulls down her hood and pulls off her long, blue hair to reveal short brown hair, like Ritsu's…

"Rika-san…?"

Purplish-blue eyes widen and the brunette's body instantly turned around, only to see the one person he feared to discover his secret at the moment.

Only one phrase repeated in his mind, "My parents are going to kill me…"

This chapter was more on the fluffy side, so I hoped you enjoy :) So far my writing schedule is going pretty well so hopefully I will be able to finish this before college starts for me! And I definitely will finish this story no matter what! That's a promise! ^-^

Please Review :) At least another five would be nice! Thank you :)

Love and Snow Kisses! Till next time!