Early morning sunlight filtered lazily into the room through the glass doors leading out onto the balcony, spreading over the plush carpet, the desk and chair, the neutral-coloured walls and the large bed, in which two figures were snuggled together, fast asleep.  Rai stirred, screwing up his face at the intrusion of the light into his slumber.  "Hnf... stupid sun..." he muttered irritably, turning away from the source of the light and burying his head into the neck of the other person in the bed, not quite ready to wake up and face the day just yet.  "Must've forgotten to... shut the... curtains..."  Whether he liked it or not (and believe him, he did not), he was beginning to awaken properly, and as his mouth formed the words of his sentence, his eyes cracked open slightly, blinking blearily in a vain attempt to clear some of the remnants of sleep from them.  He took a deep breath and yawned, inhaling a familiar sweet scent as he did so, a mixture of roses, vanilla and something fruity.  A morning chill crept up his spine and he shivered, clutching at the thinly-clothed back of his bed companion and pressing himself up against them, willing some of their warmth to pass into him.
It was then that everything came flooding back to him.  The night before... the serious expression on Akasuki's face... the sudden confession of love... the kiss... by the Gods, the kiss...  Quickly, as though burned, Rai let go of the other male and shuffled backwards across the bed away from him, a horrified expression on his face and a hot blush banishing any chills he had had previously.  Akasuki barely stirred, only exhaling softly as his arms fell away from where they'd been loosely draped around the younger's waist.  Rai watched him carefully for a few moments, in case he suddenly woke up, however when Akasuki's quiet and steady breathing continued undisturbed the blonde snuck out of the room and onto the balcony, narrowly missing tripping over one of his own shoes.

Only once outside did Rai release a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.  Padding softly over to the balcony railings (he'd left the door open, so he couldn't make too much noise lest Sleeping Beauty awaken), he leaned heavily on them, lowering himself down as well until his forehead touched the cool metal.  Strangely enough, his surprising morning encounter had warmed him up considerably, and the crisp not-quite-spring air provided a much-needed cooling-down.  What the hell am I doing?  What the hell is he doing?  Baka Akasuki, doing something stupid like confessing his love to me.  And then kissing me like that... although... no, me!  Don't get distracted.  I do not want anything like a relationship with him, ever!  Baka Akasuki.  ... Bakasuki.  That seems like a decent enough nickname for him.  ... He can't have meant it though, that confession, could he?  He looked... serious enough, though.  I mean... why would you say something like that to someone if you didn't mean it.  "I love you", he said.  Isn't that a bit... forward? I mean, we've not even been engaged five minutes, and-  Wait.  I just acknowledged the fact that we're engaged.  Why do I keep doing this to myself?  Rai sighed, bending his knees and sinking down further.
A soft whoosh indicated that someone was opening a balcony door.  Standing up straight again and composing himself, Rai turned to his right to see Amethyst exiting the room next door, and coming out onto the balcony.  She was already fully dressed in ¾ leggings and a long T-shirt even though it was still very early.  Not to mention she hated mornings almost as much as Rai did.  Her wavy hair had been left loose, flowing down her back in a violet cascade.  She walked to the balcony railings, leant on them, and looked out across the expanse of land surrounding Julian's manor, with the town of St. Kiru in the distance.  However, she gave no indication of seeing Rai whatsoever.  "Morning," he called to her, rubbing his forehead where he was sure there'd be a red mark where he'd leant it on the railing.  At this, she turned slowly to him, almost as if she were in a trance, and stared at him.  No greeting, no sarcastic remark, no cheery grin.  Just a blank face and an eerie stare.  That's when Rai noticed the strangest thing: normally the girl's eyes were a bright purple, sometimes with a tinge of pink depending on the light.  However, this morning there was no trace of purple about them at all.
They were red.  Cold, lifeless, blood red.
Rai blinked long and hard, thinking he was seeing things.  However, when he opened his eyes to meet those scarlet orbs once again, he knew something had to be wrong.  "Ameth-" he began, but she turned and walked wordlessly inside again, closing the balcony door behind her.  "What the hell...?" he muttered to himself, turning towards the entrance to his room, and leaning his back against the railings.  He tilted his head back and gazed up at the pale blue sky, squinting against the gradually-growing strength of the sunlight.  "Did I just imagine that...?"
"Imagine what, sweetie?"
Rai almost fell over the railings.  Once he'd gotten over the initial fright and composed himself enough, he tilted his head forward again and studied his fiancé, who had spoken, at length.  He didn't look embarrassed, confused, freaked out, or anything Rai was feeling at that moment.  He looked like he always did.  Cheerful and pretty, with a soft smile.  Even after just waking up Akasuki didn't looked as dishevelled as he probably should, the blonde thought absently.  Eventually, Rai realised he'd been asked a question, and he cast his gaze to the left, at next door's balcony.
"Just... thought I saw Amethyst," he replied quietly.  "Guess I must have been seeing things."  After all, there was no way she'd see Rai and not fire some sort of cheeky one-liner at him.  And there was equally as little a chance of the girl having crimson-coloured eyes, like some sort of monster.  I must have still been half-asleep, Rai reasoned.  Akasuki merely "hmm"ed in reply and then fell silent again.  He approached Rai, but instead of hugging him or kissing him or molesting him like the blonde had expected, he simply stood next to him and leant on the railings as Rai had done minutes earlier.  Rai stayed as he was, back to the railings, watching the older male out of the corner of his eye.
"... Rai-kun," Akasuki said eventually, eyes staring straight ahead at something Rai couldn't see.
"What?" he replied, attempting to sound casual.
"What if... never mind."
He was curious now.  "What if what?"
"... What if... you can't find your Princess?  Or what if you find her and she's... dead?  What will you do then?"
He paused, took a deep breath, and then spoke.  "I guess... I'll just go home.  Back to the castle."
"Oh.  ... What about the girls?"
"Amethyst'll come back with me.  And... I guess Sayu'll go back to her village."
"I guess..."
"What about you?  Where will you go?  Where are you from?"
"Me?"  He gave a short, nervous-sounding laugh.  "I'm not from anywhere.  I don't have a home to go back to."
"Oh..." Rai swallowed, feeling awkward and not really sure what to say.  "I'm... sorry."
"Don't be."
After this short exchange they were silent for a few minutes.  Rai was beginning to feel the cold now; he could see the gooseflesh appearing on his bare arms.  Just as he was about to suggest they go back inside, Akasuki spoke again.
"Live with me?"
Rai blinked blankly.  "... Excuse me?"
Akasuki turned to him, putting a hand on the swordsman's arm lightly.  "When... this ends... come and live with me?"
"Wh-where?"
"Anywhere!  I don't care, as long as it's with you."  Rai blushed.  "Please."
"But I... I have a job... as the Princess Guard..."
"Well if she's dead you won't have a job to go back to, will you!?"  He sounded... desperate, Rai thought.  It was scary.  "Promise me!"
And Rai snapped.  "No!  I'm not promising you anything!  Not that I'll marry you, or live with you, or grow old with you, or whatever the hell else you want me to say!  I don't like you!  Now you listen to me, Bakasuki, Princess Ruby will not be dead, you hear me!?  She'll be alive and then we'll save her, and then me and Amethyst'll go back to our lives, and Sayu can go and do whatever the hell it is a Hiko does, and you can leave us the hell alone!"  He shrugged off the hand and stormed back inside, slamming the balcony door and wrenching the curtain shut behind him.
When Akasuki went back inside Rai was gone without a trace, his clothes missing from the chair and floor they'd been scattered on the night before, and his sword gone from where it had been carefully placed on the dressing table.  Despite the considerable sting he felt from Rai's biting remarks from before, Akasuki couldn't help a small, amused, yet somehow sad smile creeping onto his face.  He's so determined to succeed in his quest.  It's a pity... he won't be able to.

"Ah, morning, Rai-sama," Sayu greeted cheerfully as she saw the blonde descend the stairs.  Noticing the foul look on his face, however, she was immediately concerned.  "You okays?"
"Fine," he replied quickly, hooking his fingers around the bottom of the banister and using it to swing himself around the corner.  "You seen Amethyst?"
The brunette girl thought for a moment, hand absently twirling a lock of hair.  "Erm... yes!  She came down a few minutes ago, went towards the kitchen.  Whys?"
"No reason.  Thanks anyway."  Rai hurried past Sayu before she could stall him any longer, down the ornate hall in the direction of the delicious-smelling kitchen.  As he did so, Julian's maid, Remi, exited from one of the rooms off the hall, nearly slamming right into him.  She squeaked in surprise, muttered "my deepest apologies, sir" and bowed slightly, looking downcast as he ignored her completely and disappeared into the kitchen.  Her eyes met Sayu's, and the Hiko girl smiled.  "Don't worries, he's in a bad mood or somethings this morning," she reassured the maid, who simply nodded in reply and went about her business.

Amethyst was hovering around Julian, who was chopping something-or-other near the sink, when Rai entered the kitchen.  She was chattering away, which was a relief.  And when she turned around to see who had come in, Rai was glad to see her eyes were their normal mischievous purple selves.  Still... she was dressed in the leggings and T-shirt that Rai had seen her in before, although her hair was now tied up in its usual bunches.  I couldn't have known what she was going to be wearing before I saw her, could I?  Which means... I really must have seen her out on the balcony... But then...
"You're up early," she commented, grabbing an apple from somewhere next to Julian's elbow and sinking her teeth into it after she spoke.  The sound of her voice, so normal, effectively derailed Rai's train of thought and he snapped back to reality.
"Well, back at you," he replied, sticking his tongue out at her, to which she only grinned back with a mouthful of apple.  "You're usually dead to the world till about noon."
At this she looked thoughtful.  She swallowed her apple, and said "Yeah, I know... it was weird though; it was like when I woke up, I was standing in the middle of my room, dressed and everything.  I must have just been in a daze or something up until then though... unless I was, like, sleepwalking or something.  But I don't usually sleepwalk..."
"Strange indeed," Julian added, turning around to face Rai.  He was wiping his hands with a tea towel.  "Speaking of strange occurrences, Rai-chan, I noticed Akasuki-kun go into your room last night... and as far as I'm aware, he didn't come out again."  The redheaded chef raised his eyebrows suggestively at Rai.
"What!?  Really!?" Amethyst screeched, gaping at Rai in disbelief.  "Who'da thought it?  Rai finally loses his virginity at 23, and in Julian-san's mansion as well!  How rude~!"
"What!?  Wait, don't get the wrong idea, we didn't-!" the blonde spluttered, resisting the urge to stamp his foot childishly.  Dammit, why did that girl always have to blow something completely out of proportion!?
"Yeah, yeah, we know," said girl dismissed his protests with a wave of her hand, continuing to nom on her apple in between words.  "You're just frigid."
Julian snorted, turning back to the sink and straining whatever he'd been chopping before.  Amethyst smirked devilishly, but her triumph was short-lived as Rai, embarrassed beyond belief, pounced on her.  She squealed shrilly as the blonde swordsman chased her around the large kitchen, reminiscent of their days back at the castle, when she would trip Rai up or say something to piss him off and then they'd be off, her sprinting nimbly down the long halls and him always that one step behind her.
Sayu appeared at the doorway, unnoticed by her peers due to the mayhem going on in the kitchen.  She held a pink envelope in her hand.  "Um, guys..." she started to say, but was cut off by a loud laugh from Amethyst and a stream of curses from Rai as the latter banged his knee off the table.  "Guys... guys..."  Still nothing.  Sayu exhaled sharply through her nose and pouted, feeling an angry rush of magic well up inside her...
"GUYS!"  The word, while forceful on its own, was punctuated by a thick blast of pure energy, which rolled off the annoyed girl in waves.  As soon as it hit the squabbling pair, they stopped still, a glazed look washing over their faces, before they sank to their knees, breathing deeply.  After that it seemed to dissipate, and the two snapped out of their trance-like states, the soul returning to their eyes.
"The $*!* was that...?" Amethyst asked generally, ignoring a half-assed "watch your language" from Julian as he turned around once again to observe what was happening.  Sayu seemed to snap out of her own little trance, and a look of extreme guilt replaced her annoyed pout.
"S-sorry," she apologised quickly, rushing forward to help Amethyst, then Rai up.  "Th-that was my faults... you weren't listening to me, and I lost my temper... I can't control the full extent of my magics yet, so sometimes stuff like that happens...  Sorry."
"No worries..." Rai grinned sheepishly at the Hiko, absently running a hand through his hair.  "If your magic can shut Amethyst up then it's definitely something else."  Ignoring the elbow to the ribs he received for his comment, he continued, "We should've been listening.  What did you want us for?"
"Well..."  She held up the envelope.  "I found this on the table in the lounge... it's a letter from C, I thinks."

Five minutes later, the four of them (Akasuki hadn't come down yet, and Rai would be damned if he was going to go and fetch that idiot) were scattered around the sofas in the large lounge area; Rai on one with Sayu practically pressed to his side, Julian sprawled out on the other with Amethyst perched on the armrest beside his feet.
"So, who's this C person, and how do you know them?" the redheaded chef asked, casually crossing his arms behind his head as a makeshift cushion.
Rai took a deep breath.  "We're on a mission to save the Princess of the Kingdom that me and Amethyst come from.  On the way we met Sayu and... Akasuki, and they agreed to help us.  ... C is the person that kidnapped the Princess, along with Akasuki's brother."
At this, Julian sat up rather quickly, staring in disbelief at the blonde.  "N-no way... that can't be right... Hiro-kun wouldn't do something like that..."
"You know him?" Sayu asked, blinking her chocolate brown eyes curiously at the affectionate nickname the man apparently called the purple-eyed twin by.
"Of course I do!" Jules replied immediately, standing up now, arms folded over his chest.  He looked genuinely concerned, although Rai got the impression it wasn't for the Princess's wellbeing.  The redhead began to pace absently up and down the lounge, muttering to himself.  "... Can't be Hiro-kun... he wouldn't do... something like that... to kidnap someone... that's awful... he wouldn't... not Hiro-kun..."
"Well, it was!" Rai interrupted the other man's voiced thoughts, not best pleased at Julian's denial.  "We saw him with our own eyes!  Right, Amethyst?  ... Amethyst...?"
When the girl didn't reply right away, the other three in the room cast their eyes over to her.  She was still perched on the armrest of the now-vacant couch, still as could be.  She could have been mistaken for a waxwork, had her chest not been rising and falling ever-so-slightly with the small breaths she was taking.  "Amethyst?"  Rai tried her name again, and this time got a response.  Her head turned slowly towards him, but she gave no sign of recognition.  Instead, her crimson eyes stared right through him, not seeing him at all.  Wait, crimson...?
"##^*i"  The blonde was on his feet immediately, and that's when Amethyst took off, fleeing from the lounge and out into the hall.  She almost collided with Akasuki, who had just come off the bottom of the stairs, but she managed to twist her slender body around him and speed off down the hall and through the large kitchen, heading for the manor's back door.  Moments later Rai followed, his shoes squeaking on the polished laminate flooring.  He briefly glanced at Akasuki, but chose to ignore him and instead follow the rogue girl.  Julian was next out, then finally Sayu.  Akasuki blinked a few times, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.  A piece of paper, baby pink in colour, lying abandoned on the floor caught his attention.  He recognised the handwriting immediately, mentally matching it to the other two letters the group had received before.  He bent down and snatched it up, eyes scanning its short message:
There is a traitor in your midst.
-  C
Eyes widening, he rammed the letter into a pocket and followed the others, breaking into a run halfway down the hall.

Rai didn't know what he expected to see when he caught up with Amethyst. Maybe she'd snap out of whatever spell she was under and apologise and tease and they could all get on with their quest.  Maybe she'd be crying into a tree trunk and screaming at Rai that he's a jerk and she doesn't want to do this any more and complaining that she was hungry again, and then they'd calm her down and promise her food and everything'd be fine.  Maybe he wouldn't catch up with her at all, and she'd be missing forever, and they'd never find the Princess and everything wouldn't be fine.
What he definitely didn't expect was to run out into the huge, immaculate garden space, with Jules and Sayu screeching to a halt behind him, and see red-eyed Amethyst standing with none other than bloody Hirosuki Kirei.  Hirosuki grinned when he saw Rai and Sayu, although it faltered a little when he caught sight of the redheaded chef with them.
"Hey~ Blondie, long time no see!" he greeted with a slight wave.  "Who's your new friend?  She wasn't with you last time we met.  A new recruit in your band of Merry Men and Women?"
Sayu pouted, stepping forward.  "I'm Sayu Saki, for your informations," she fearlessly corrected him.  "And you are?"
However, he didn't get a chance to reply as Julian approached him, a look of disbelief apparent on his face.  "Hiro-kun... is it true?  That you kidnapped a member of royalty?  What's happened to you?  Your brother didn't mention anything about this...  What happened to the little Hiro-kun I used to know?"
Hirosuki glanced off to the side, for a moment unsure of himself.  "Th-that 'me' is dead.  This is the new 'me'.  And this... is all for the best..."  He seemed to shake himself, and then his smirk from before was back.  "Speaking of my brother, where is he?  Not with his precious fiancé today?"
Rai bristled, and a voice behind him said, "I'm right here."  Akasuki walked forward to face his brother, motioning to the spellbound girl in front of him.  "Hiro-chan, what have you done to her?"
"I haven't done anything," came the reply.  "It was Cherie-sama who placed the curse on her, and Pigtails herself was stupid enough to let herself get cursed.  I only came to collect her."
Cherie-sama? Rai thought, turning the unfamiliar name over in his head.
"Give Amecchi back!" Sayu shouted.  She had summoned her Hiko wings now, and the brilliant white feathers dazzled in the sunlight.
"Can't do, I'm afraid," he answered.  "She obeys me now, she wouldn't want to go back with you."  As Sayu's face fell, his smirk only widened.  "Get 'em, Pigtails."
Quick as a flash (they didn't call her Quick-Draw Ammy for nothing, after all), she had unloaded her bow from where she'd had it strapped to her back, plucked an arrow from its quiver and fired it towards the group.  Sayu immediately kicked off from the ground and took to the skies with a few beats of her large wings, swiftly avoiding the incoming projectile.  Seeing that it was now heading towards the most-definitely unarmed Julian, Rai jumped in front of the chef to protect him.  However, he knew that in doing so he wouldn't have time to draw his sword, and so could only raise his arms in defence and shut his eyes tight as he waited for the inevitable piercing pain...
Clink
No pain came, and Rai cautiously opened his eyes and lowered his arms again.  The arrow was lying on the ground about a metre in front of him, and it was then that he noticed a slight shimmer in the air around him and Julian, in a dome shape surrounding them.  A forcefield.  Glancing up again, the spherical shield disintegrated, and Rai barely had time to think before he was pounced on and pulled into a bone-crushing embrace, warm lips crashing against his own in a fierce kiss.  Moments later, Akasuki pulled away, cupping Rai's face with his hands and stroking one of the blonde's cheeks with thumb lightly.  He looked sincerely worried, but managed a small, apologetic smile nonetheless.  "I'm so sorry, are you okay?  Gods, if I hadn't put that shield up in time... I don't even want to think what would've..."  For a horrific moment Rai thought the older male was going to burst into tears, but thankfully, he didn't.  "I'm sorry for acting weird this morning and making you mad.  I still love you."  The blonde flushed shyly as Akasuki leant down and briefly brushed their lips together again.  He offered a warm smile as he pulled back this time, hands leaving Rai's face and one instead moving down to entwine their fingers together.
The ivory-haired male turned to his twin.  He took a deep breath.  "Hiro-chan... you're my brother, my only family, and Gods I love you, but I love Rai-kun too... and if you ever dare try to hurt my sweetie or his friends ever again... then I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to forgive you.  ... We'll be enemies from then on."
Hirosuki's manic grin disappeared, but was quickly replaced by an angry snarl, as he clenched his fists by his sides.  "Pigtails!" he commanded, and Amethyst obliged, stumbling forward a few steps, still in her trance-like state, and loaded two arrows into her bow.  Immediately, Rai drew his sword, Akasuki prepared his magic and Sayu descended a little, hovering just above their heads, ready to strike at any time.  Hirosuki laughed – it started as a small giggle, and developed into a full-on, maniacal guffaw.  "Enemies you say!?" he wheezed out.  "That's just fine by me!"
And the arrows flew.

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