Kyou Kara Maou Fan Fiction ❯ But I Don't Like Boys? ❯ Preparation ( Chapter 18 )

Disclaimer: Same as before.

Warnings/Spoilers: Yeah, same as before, too.

Author yapping: Okay, so I nearly forgot I had put BIDLB up on MediaMiner, but here's another chapter. Sad to say that since the last "update", there's only been two new chapters. A lot of RL stuff has gotten in the way of my writing and creativity, but I hope you enjoy what I've got for you for now.

-o-o-

Chapter 18: Preparation

“Oh, good, you’re back,” Gwendal said to Yuri as he entered the king’s study, “You can go over these papers with us.”

Yuri had merely poked his head into the study after arriving back from Shinou’s temple, wondering why there hadn’t been anyone there to greet him, and Gwendal already wanted him to return to his kingly duties. Yuri sighed and trudged unceremoniously to the desk. Gwendal sat in the large-back chair in the middle of the desk, but stood up and offered it to Yuri, handing him a few pieces of paper that he and Wolfram had been looking over.

Wolfram gave Yuri a small smile when the king looked over at the blond sitting in a smaller chair to his left. Yuri smiled back, about to say ‘hello’, when Gwendal put more papers on the desk, diverting the blond’s attention. The king frowned a little, put off by the unfriendly greeting. Sure, Wolfram had acknowledged his presence with a nod, but so had everyone else. Wolfram couldn’t possibly find what Gwendal was saying on the other side of him all that interesting.

“And this one is for the bridge.” Gwendal moved the paper to the side and put another one next to it. “Here’s another for a road. All of these constructional entreaties would require another tax increase, so we’ve decided to allow one project for now to ease the tax payer’s burden. If you look over the documents,” he pointed at the middle one, “you’ll see all the details required to complete it.”

“decided?” Yuri took the first document Gwendal had placed before him about a building in a village he had never heard of. He’d have to look over the maps again.

Wolfram nodded. “Yes, Gwendal and I looked through all the requests and picked out the five most plausible and suitable projects.”

“You and Gwendal?”

Gwendal cleared his throat, jerking the king’s attention back to him. “Is that a problem, Your Majesty?”

Yuri slightly colored. “Well, no. I just – I don’t know. It’s sort of strange, I guess. You two doing this.”

“As the future prince consort, I thought it was time Wolfram learn his duties as well,” Gwendal said pointedly.

“Prince… consort?” The king turned to Wolfram when the blond nodded. “So, if…” he trailed off and colored a bit more. “we got, um, married, you’d still be a prince?”

Wolfram gave Yuri a slight nod again. “Only one person can hold the title of Maou whether he be male or female. Their spouse is a consort, a rank just below the Maou.”

Yuri sat back in his chair and rested his arms out on the desk in front of him. “Then there’s no king Just one or the other? If I married a girl then, she wouldn’t be my queen?”

Wolfram quickly pushed his chair back then, standing to fist his hands at this side. “You want a queen?!” His eyes filled with anger, and Yuri cringed under the look. “Is there a girl? Huh, you cheater?”

Yuri put his hands up defensively, sweating a little. “Calm down, Wolfram. There’s no girl. I swear.”

Wolfram huffed and none-to-gracefully plopped back into the chair. “If you want a queen, I suggest you go be the king of some human land.”

“Wolfram!” Yuri yelled, a little surprised at his own volume. He shrank into his chair. “I…”

Gwendal cleared his throat as seemed to be his specialty for the time being. Wolfram just grunted and went back to looking at the entreaty documents. Yuri swallowed and did the same, nervously glancing over at the blond from time to time.

But in the end, the documents seemed to distract the blond prince enough for him to forget the issue of queens. Which Yuri was glad for since he was starting to get dizzy trying to go through all the paperwork, and the brat prince was helping him sort out the details.

Hours later, Yuri finally agreed with Wolfram and Gwendal that another bridge would probably be most beneficial to the kingdom in that it would allow easier travel rather than the current route that zigzagged through the mountains. It wasn’t far from the castle either, so Yuri could check on its progress if he wanted to without too much complaint from the others.

-o-o-

It wasn’t yet dark when they were called for dinner, and the three of them continued their talk about the bridge construction. Yuri was eager to see it started, but Gwendal assured him that it could be months before the preparations for it were complete. The king hung his head, excited to see his kingly duties in motion and yet having to wait for them to follow through.

Wolfram gave him a pat on the back and said that the people will be pleased with the new bridge. Yuri smiled.

Yuri made sure that his mother’s cherry pie was brought out for dessert, and everyone got a small piece since there were seven people to split it with. Ken had stayed to eat at the shrine, but Yuri invited him to dine with them whenever possible.

Wolfram followed Yuri back to his room when dessert was over, the two of them quiet the whole way. But Yuri had something he wanted to say as he opened the door.

“What was that all about, Wolfram?” Yuri closed the door behind him, eyeing the blond as he walked towards the bed.

Wolfram turned to face Yuri again and sat on the edge of the bed. “What was what all about?”

Yuri pushed off the door and snorted. “That greeting earlier. It was like –"

“Like what?” Wolfram stood again, walking towards the clearly distressed king.

Yuri looked at Wolfram when the blond stopped in front of him. “I don’t know. I mean, you didn’t say ‘hello’ or ‘welcome back’. Sure, I got a nod, an acknowledgement, but,” he stopped his small rant to look at the floor near Wolfram’s foot. “I just thought…”

“Do you want the greeting I would have given you?”

“Eh?” Yuri stared at the blond for a moment before Wolfram stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Yuri’s neck.

Wolfram gave him a small kiss on the lips and drew his head back to smile. “Welcome back, Yuri.” Yuri blushed a deep red and his body stiffened with nerves. Wolfram stepped back to take in Yuri’s flustered state and laughed. “Was that what you wanted?”

Yuri was starting to return to a normal color, but the blush lingered despite his wishes. “Well, no, but…”

Wolfram smirked and put a hand on his hip. “It was hardly appropriate to give you that sort of greeting with Gwendal sitting right there. But if you’re going to make a big deal out of etiquette, I’ll give you more attention in the future.”

“No! That’s not it at all!” Yuri tried to argue, and anything he was about to say died in his throat. He sighed and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Wolfram. You… can greet me any way you want.”

Wolfram cocked an eyebrow at the king. “You’re such a wimp, Yuri.” He turned and walked towards the bed, kicking off his boots as he sat down. “Let’s get to bed.”

Yuri nodded his agreement and went to the closet to change. Why did things have to get so complicated?

-o-o-

“You ready, Your Majesty?” Amelia asked as Yuri waded around in the large bucket of water.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Yuri said with a smile.

Yuri had gone through the week preparing documents and other kingly duties under Gwendal and Gunter’s watch. Nothing particularly exciting happened, but somehow he had caught up with his work, and almost with his school work as well, so Yuri insisted that he train with Amelia. Working on his maryoku was something he needed as the king, so it took little argument to agree to let him train with Amelia the next day.

Yuri had sent out a letter hastily to ask Amelia to join him at the castle for some one-on-one water teleportation instruction. The girl had quickly responded and come over the following day.

“Tell it to me one more time.”

Amelia bent down and put her hand in the water. “Greta’s over there by that bucket of water. You want to go there. Simple.”

Yuri felt the familiar pull of the water, and in moments, was standing next to Greta. “But I wanted to do it on my own this time!” Yuri yelled at Amelia from across the small courtyard.

“Then get back over here!” She yelled back.

Yuri gave Greta a small pat on her head and stepped out of the water. Amelia immediately yelled at him to get back into the bucket and try to transport himself over to her. He rolled his eyes. said than done…

Greta stood beside him, repeating what she had heard Amelia say to her father earlier that day. “Vision where you want to go, Papa. Picture Amelia and that bucket over there. Um… oh! Focus on the water. I know you can do it.”

Yuri smiled down at his daughter, grateful for her support. He had done this a hundred times, going back and forth between his world and this one, but Murata had been there to act as his buffer once Shinou no longer controlled his transportation. Amelia wasn’t in a different world at all, just a short distance away, and yet, Yuri hadn’t been able to transport himself to or from her. Amelia had ended up transporting him a few times in hopes that Yuri would start to get into the rhythm of the water and pick up any necessary techniques as he went.

Yuri closed his eyes and wiggled his bare toes in the water below him. If he understood Amelia correctly, he had to somehow meld this small body of water with the water in the bucket near Amelia. He needed a focus – Amelia should be the focus. Yuri was eager to work this out so that he could take Wolfram and Greta to Earth without having to drag Murata along. His date with Wolfram was next week…

The water swirled at his ankles, and Yuri squeezed his eyes tighter. This was it, he just needed to concentrate. He could feel the water latching onto his skin, starting to pull, and now that he was paying attention to it, it felt really weird. He stifled a giggle, since it almost tickled, and imagined Wolfram yelling at him for being a wimp.

Yuri felt the major pull and braced himself. The cool water rushed up over his head as he was completely submerged. Yuri quickly surfaced, taking in a breath. He groaned as he stood up, the water coming up to his chest. This wasn’t the bucket next to Amelia at all! the heck did I get into the bath chamber? thought as he took a wide look around the steamy room.

“Yuri?”

The king flipped around in the water, his heart slamming up into his throat as he found himself standing face-to-face with Wolfram. He stuttered out an embarrassed, “Yeah?” and tried to keep his eyes above the water.

Wolfram looked at Yuri, puzzled. “Did you… just transport yourself here?”

Yuri nodded, embarrassment starting to flood his cheeks. “I’m training with Amelia, and I was to go to her, but I’m not sure what happened.”

“Oh,” Wolfram said, turning to grab the soap behind him. “Is that going well?”

“If I ended up here instead of where I wanted to go, I’d say it’s not going all that well,” Yuri huffed.

Wolfram shrugged. “I see. But you might want to get out of the water with your clothes or transport yourself back soon.”

“Ah…” Yuri heavily walked through the water to the edge of the bath. “I still think there has to be an easier way than this.” He hoisted himself out of the water, a huge puddle splashing itself into existence as it seeped from his clothing.

Wolfram looked up at Yuri beside him and started to rub the liquid soap into his hair, small foamy bubbles forming in his blonde locks. “I wouldn’t know too much about it, but could you just the water from your body? I mean, I can start a fire and make it go away…”

Yuri thought about it for a moment, drawing his knees up to his chest. “I dunno. Can you get rid of a fire that you didn’t start?”

“No. But that’s completely different, Yuri. Water and fire are –" He stopped short when Yuri leaned over to take the soap bottle from him, scooted to sit behind him, and began scrubbing his hair. Wolfram blushed immediately, not sure how he felt about Yuri suddenly washing his hair; Yuri had never wanted to before. “Water and fire are different elements. And our maryoku have completely different levels...” He resisted leaning into Yuri’s hand as it massaged the soap at the base of his neck.

Yuri was baffled as to what possessed him to wash Wolfram’s hair, but now that he was doing it, he didn’t really mind. Wolfram hadn’t put up a fight, but then again, why would he have? “But I’ve never used my powers, except for healing, when I’m just me.”

Wolfram leaned his head back against Yuri’s sopping wet ankles as the king had sat down cross-legged behind him. “Healing’s a start.” He moved to get back up again, realizing that he was getting soap all over Yuri’s pants.
But Yuri pulled his head back down to rest on his legs. Wolfram didn’t need to have his hair cleaned for this long, but Yuri was willingly touching him, and as long as he didn’t try to take things anything further and freak-out his inexperienced king… “I’ll ask Amelia about it. You think I might be able to do something like that, Wolfram?”

“I don’t see why not. You should see some of the things you’re capable of as the Maou, Yuri.” Wolfram craned his neck to look up at Yuri behind him. “It really is amazing.”

Yuri looked away, his hands pausing in Wolfram’s hair. “That’s just it. As theMaou I’m not capable of what he can do.”

The blond sunk into the water, taking a quick rinse. He arose facing Yuri, trails of bubbles still lingering in his slicked-back hair. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. Maybe your doubt is what’s holding you back from harnessing your maryoku to its full potential.”

“More like my lack of abilities.” Yuri rolled his eyes and moved to stand up, but Wolfram reached out and pulled him into the bath. He surfaced, sputtering. “What was that for?!”

“Go to Amelia, now,” Wolfram said, pushing at Yuri to stand up straighter.

Yuri pushed Wolfram away gently. “But I can’t.”

The prince sighed and stood in front of Yuri. “Why can’t you? What were her instructions about transporting yourself through the water?”

“I don’t know…”

“You’re a useless student,” Wolfram groaned. “I know she gave you some techniques or something. Use them.”

Yuri was suddenly glad the water was full of bubbly soap, keeping him from being able to see the extent of Wolfram’s body under the water. “She said stuff about picturing where you want to go and, uh, merging waters. I don’t know, it was all complicated, and-"

“Did Amelia send you here?”

“No, she... didn’t.” Yuri paused, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “Amelia didn’t transport me here. At least, I don’t think so since I was next to Greta, and Amelia wasn’t touching me.”

“See? You probably did it on your own then, Yuri.” Wolfram smiled back, placing a hand on Yuri’s shoulder. “Just do what you did then, again.”

“I…” Yuri paused again, his smile turning into a slightly surprised ‘o’. “I thought about you.”

This resulted in a soft blush from Wolfram. “I, um, don’t think that will get you back to Amelia. You have to think about where you want to go, right?”

“And that’s why… I ended up here. Amelia was my focus, I swear. I just got distracted with thinking about getting this right for our date, and-"

“Our date?” Wolfram interrupted.

Yuri scrunched his face, embarrassed at having been caught. “Yeah, our date. I meant to keep it a surprise, but my mom is setting up one for us on Earth.”

“And you to go on another date?” The blond stepped forward in the water while Yuri stepped back. Yuri was comfortable with the distance between them, but he didn’t want to confirm whether Wolfram had on a towel under the water or not. “You’re willingly going on a second date?”

Yuri blushed, averting his eyes again. “I told you I wanted to try to work this out. How am I supposed to if I don’t try the normal couple stuff? I,” he started but fumbled, “I do like you, Wolfram. Just give me time to… to think about it. I mean, I don’t know what your culture requires for a second date, or if there are any implications behind it, but…”

Wolfram smiled, staying that safe distance away from Yuri to keep the black-haired boy from turning tail and running. “Second dates are to confirm compatibility. You catch your interest’s attention in the first – it’s all about pleasing them. The second says that you realized they were responsive to your advances and want to see how the two of you can interact with one another.”

“But isn’t that the same thing?” Yuri asked.

“Yes and no… Hold on a moment.” Wolfram leaned his head back to fully rinse out his hair and came back up with a quick head shake. “What are second dates for you on Earth?”

“Why are we still talking about this?”

“You wanted to know about dates.”

“Yeah, but why like this?” Yuri gestured at the water. “I’m still dressed. And you, you’re-” His face flamed.

“Taking a bath?” Wolfram offered. “You were the one that barged in. If you’re so uncomfortable, then why haven’t you left already? If you can’t teleport yourself back, you could have just walked out and gone back to Amelia.”

“Wanting to see you was what got me here in the first place!” Yuri yelled, immediately wishing to take it back. “I keep trying to go back, to see if I can, and all that I can think about is you here, and… at this rate, I have to walk back.”

Wolfram watched Yuri huffily stalk through the water to the bath’s edge and snickered. “Should I make myself scarce to see if you can go back then?”

Yuri sighed.

-o-o-

End of chapter 18.

And I would have written more so I could just leap into them going to Earth in the next chapter, but I just kept going with it. So, we’ll still get to Earth in the next chapter, just probably a scene or two later.

Read and review, please!