"I'll only be gone a short time." Conrad smiled at Yuuri, an apology already in his eyes.

"Two weeks isn't a short time!" Yuuri groaned, as he clung to Conrad's uniform to keep the man from climbing atop his horse and leaving.

"I'm sorry, Yuuri." Conrad's voice dropped lower, as he ruffled Yuuri's hair.. dear Shinou, the looks Yuuri gave him; sometimes he didn't know where he got the strength to say no to those eyes.

Really though, how often did he say no?

Not very.

Conrad did not want to be away from his king either. If he had his way, they would be chained together always.

And... if things were to go even more his way, well.. they would probably never leave the same bed.

Conrad carefully collected those thoughts and locked them away once more. He shouldn't feel that way.

Yuuri was far too innocent, far too royal, far too young and far too engaged. Conrad had resolved long ago never to allow himself to act on his desires for his king. It was wrong of him to harbor these emotions and thoughts to begin with.

Yuuri was barely an adult on Earth and hadn't yet discovered the pleasures of women or much of anything, really.

It was his duty to protect Yuuri, so he could experience those moments. He would watch Yuuri grow and never hinder him with his own needs. It was better this way.

"I'll be back soon, please wait for me here your- Yuuri." With all his will power, Conrad gently untangled Yuuri's fingers from his jacket, kissed them softly, and got on his horse. "Please, forgive me for leaving your side once more."

"Just.. Come back to me, please." Yuuri barely got out, his eyes looked miserable as he watched Conrad ride off, Yozak close behind.

"Don't worry Kiddo!" the redhead called over his shoulder at the boy king. "I'll bring him back, like I always do!" he laughed, but it did nothing to soothe Yuuri's anxiety.

There was a long moment of silence as Yuuri watched their retreating forms. When both figures finally vanished along the horizon and out of sight, Wolfram spoke.

"You're always like this when he leaves." it startled Yuuri, who hadn't heard Wolfram approaching.

"I just worry, that's all." he mumbled, trying his best to hide the tightness in his throat. Why did it always have to be Conrad on these missions? Why couldn't anyone else go? When Conrad left, Yuuri always felt alone- no matter how many people surrounded him.

Wolfram could read Yuuri's face like a book. He wasn't stupid. Yuuri- whether the idiot knew it or not, was falling in love with his brother.

It pissed him off to no end.

What the hell did Weller have that he didn't? What could Conrad possibly offer Yuuri? Baseball?

However, Wolfram refused to say anything. If Yuuri wasn't aware of his feelings yet, then Wolfram still had time to change Yuuri's mind.

He wasn't going to sit and watch as the love of his life ran off with his brother. He wasn't going to lay down and take this. If Weller thought he could snatch the one good thing in his life away from him- he had another thing coming.

These thoughts always made Wolfram feel uneasy, because deep down, he really cared about both of them. But what was he suppose to do? He and Yuuri were suppose to be together.. they even had a daughter! He had to fight for their relationship.

If he didn't fight, wouldn't it mean he didn't care?

He had to be willing to risk everything to be with Yuuri- and Wolfram was more than willing. Yuuri was his friend, his love, his fiance and a father to their daughter. He was the reason Wolfram got up these days, and the driving force behind everything he did.

Yuuri had changed him completely since they had met. His views, his thoughts, his feelings. Yuuri deserved to be fought over, he was worth it.

"Hey Wolf, let's go back inside.. I think it's gunna rain." Yuuri took Wolfram by the arm then, and walked with him towards the castle.

"He'll be back," Wolfram's words betrayed his inner struggle. "He can't stay away from you for long, he doesn't like leaving you either." The blonde laid a hand over Yuuri's as they walked.

What was he saying? He had to be more clever than that if he was going to win Yuuri's heart..

"I just feel so alone sometimes when he's not here- sorry Wolf.. I don't mean that you aren't good company, it's just.. how I feel." Yuuri looked guilty, but Wolfram just sighed.

The blonde prince realized that all he wanted to do at the moment was make Yuuri smile again. He didn't care about winning when he had to look at Yuuri's miserable expression.

Stupid Conrad, he always managed to make Yuuri sad.

"C'mon, let's go curl up in bed for a while. We can read to Greta- reading on rainy days is the best, right Yuuri?"

"Yeah," Yuuri gave a weak smile. "I'd actually like that a lot, thanks Wolf."

0-0-0-0-0

It had already been four weeks with no word from Conrad or Yozak and Yuuri was absolutely done with waiting and being held inside the castle.

He was also pathetically heart-broken.

He'd gone back in time five times to try and stop Conrad from going, or to go with Conrad- and had failed miserably.

As a result, Yuuri had to live that four weeks a couple of times over.. and overall that added up to a whole lot of time away from Conrad.

He was going mad, to say the least.

He hadn't been able to find Shinou or Murata anywhere- which figures.. they were only around when things were interesting and never around when you really needed them.

Only when you were about to die or something would they choose to grace you with their presence.

Yuuri paced the halls, the mark on his chest read '01' and Yuuri was certain now it was counting down to how many times he could go back in time- though he wasn't sure why there was a limit.. Wasn't it his own power? Being Maoh had been pretty awesome when he had unlimited time travel, now it just sucked.

Now he only had one try left, and he was scared- no, terrified.

Gwendal, his troops, and Anissina had left in one of Anissina's inventions to go look for Conrad while Yuuri was forced to stay at the castle with Gunter and Wolfram, which was the first time he had been left behind. It made him feel so useless.

He was only forced to stay behind because Conrad wasn't there to protect his interests and support him. How pitiful was that? Yuuri couldn't get much done on his own without Conrad backing him up. He was starting to realize that now.

It wasn't that Yuuri couldn't order that he go- he'd tried that.. but it hadn't worked. Apparently the king wasn't allowed to put himself in danger and the courts had a say in that.

Conrad had once tried to explain it..

"It's like chess. The King is not allowed to put himself 'check' because if you lose your king, you lose the game. We can not replace you, Yuuri. Sometimes you will be overruled by the courts if your actions are too risky when it comes to your wellbeing."

Yuuri understood it, but he thought it was stupid. Everyone else could put their lives on the line for him, but he couldn't for them? It seemed so unfair. Not that he supported the idea of lives on lines to begin with.

At the moment, Yuuri was wandering aimlessly down the castle's many hallways.

Wolfram and him weren't exactly on speaking terms.. he'd been so upset about Conrad, that he'd neglected and ignored Wolfram until the blonde had snapped.

They'd fought.. and Yuuri had admitted he cared more about Conrad than Wolfram.

He hadn't worded it right at all and it had sent Wolfram into a hysterical fit.

Yuuri felt miserable about it- since he'd hurt Wolfram and now the blonde was avoiding him, just when Yuuri felt he needed Wolfram's company the most.

He deserved it, he guessed.

While lost in thought about the royal trio of brothers he happened to end up in a hallway that seemed kind of familiar... the hallway lead out to the courtyard where Conrad trained his soldiers.

Oh! This hallway had a door in it- that lead to the lesser treasuries.

Yuuri stopped walking after spotting the very door he'd been thinking about...

He wasn't sure what he'd find in there.. but decided to go anyway, because thinking back on it- this was the first place he'd started time traveling.. it seemed like so long ago.

He opened the door, and walked down the steps into the darkness. At the bottom a torch was lit, and someone was there.

"Hello..?" He neared the bottom. "Oh! Murata!" Yuuri gasped, there he was! It was about time!

"Why hello Shibuya!" the Sage beamed, he was looking through some dusty items on a shelf.

"Where have you been, Murata!? I haven't been able to find you for weeks! Have you been at the temple all along?" he walked closer, "I need your help-"

"Nah, I've been here for a while now- can you hold the torch for a sec? I need my hands to look for something."

"Uh- sure.." Yuuri held the torch and watched his friend get on his hands and knees, looking around on the ground. "Um.. What are you looking for?"

"Something really small- I've been trying to find it for a while now, ever since I found out you've been time traveling."

"EEEEEEHHHH? YOU KNOW?!" Yuuri blanched, nearly dropping the torch.

"Of course! I'm not The Great Wise Man for nothing, am I?" He blew dust away, making a small cloud that caused him to cough.

"Shinou said you've been leaping through time for a few weeks now, but he said he hadn't told you anything about it- he's such a jerk sometimes, don't you think?"

"Y-yeah, I guess.. hey- are you maybe looking for uh.. for like.. a little walnut shaped thing?"

Ken looked up at Yuuri, tilting his head. "Yes I am, do you have it?"

"N-no- I just- remember seeing it here.. a while ago, I think it's over here- where I fell."

"That would explain a lot." Murata smiled as he followed Yuuri over to the shelves where Yuuri had fell- a rather large pile of junk lay at their feet.

"Ah- there it is- shine the torch there-" Murata moved over the piles of copper vases and tin 'treasures' to pick up the small walnut shaped item, gently dusting it off with his fingers.

There was silence for a while.

"I bet you had a lot of fun leaping back through time." Murata said, grinning at the device in his hand. "I bet you didn't know you could leap forwards in time too, huh?"

"I- Murata.. Conrad is missing."

"I know."

"Do you know where he is?"

"I don't, but- this device.. you can't go traveling through time without consequences.. and Shinou didn't tell you that either- so he let you use it over and over without you knowing that it builds up a respectable amount of bad energy."

"Bad energy?" Yuuri didn't feel so good all of the sudden.. "Murata- so you mean this thing is what makes me able to time travel? Not my own powers?"

"Yep! It uses 'good' or positive energy, built up over thousands of years- to charge you with enough divine energy to leap through time.. I'm not even sure how it works entirely, all I can say is: it runs on good ol' magic."

"So- how did I.."

"When you fell, I bet you fell right on this, and somehow activated it- do you know what part of you touched it? ...Was it your bum?"

"My what? Oh! No, I fell on it forwards- my chest.." Yuuri didn't catch Murata's snicker as he set the torch in a nearby pot, and showed Ken the mark.

"Oh wow- you only have one left! That's.. worse than I thought.. you really have been time traveling a lot, did you know it starts you out with 100?"

"Y-yeah.. but.. when I saw the mark for the first time it was at 90. Anyway, Conrad's missing now, what did you say about bad energy..?"

"Well, messing with time is always a fickle thing- and since positive divine energy was used to make this device, whenever you jump through time, a little bit of bad energy – or negated energy- is released. I say released but, negated energy is a void that requires something to fill it to correct the balance it has misplaced in the world."

"But, what does that mean?"

"It means after a while.. you're gunna get payback for all those wonderful things you got from leaping through time."

Yuuri's blood was turning cold- payback? Conrad had been gone for awfully long- surely his time travel wasn't connected to Conrad's sudden disappearance.. Not to mention Wolfram now hated him- Yuuri had felt like an awful lot of bad things had been happening to him just recently.

"Murata- tell me- I think maybe my time traveling has been the cause of Conrad being gone for so long.. I.. I just can't tell and.. I only have one left- I tried to keep him from leaving but he left anyway, it was like no matter what I did or how hard I tried he wouldn't stay- like something was forcing him to go, it was so strange."

The Sage looked sad for a moment, thinking it over. "It's funny they would carelessly leave this valuable device in such a place." he picked the torch up and beckoned Yuuri to follow him.

"It's the only one I've been able to find for.. centuries." he shook his head. "I thought all of them had been destroyed- I personally destroyed them when I found out how awful they were.. but I guess one got away."

They went back upstairs, where Murata handed the device to Yuuri and put the torch in a holder upon the wall.

"I think we need to talk to Shinou, while I am The Great Wise Man, my memory is kinda hazy sometimes, so.. there's probably some stuff about this little device that I've forgotten."

Yuuri nodded and put the device in his pocket.

'Conrad..' he thought, as he followed Murata to the stables to saddle up.

'I hope this isn't what I think it is.. If he's hurt I swear, I'll go back in time before I ever touched this device and I'll make sure he never leaves my sight again.' he vowed silently.

As if the weather was in tune with Yuuri's emotions, it began to rain.