hanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys really don't know how encouraging you are. Your words are very kind. And thanks to my beta. Let's hope I won't be such a procrastinator next time, shall we? One last thing: I am not a song writer, or an author of poems. I don't say this out of any annoying false modesty - I really can't, and if I do they aren't exactly a delightful read. However, it seemed tacky not to have at least some of Utau's song. I'm just giving you a fair warning. I can write a little free verse, but anything with rhyme, rhythm, or meter is totally beyond me. Forgive the lameness. I stole a lyric from the song "O, No we never mention him," so all rights to that lyric belong to whoever wrote it and all that. I didn't have any part in that lyric. Haha, you'll be able to tell that it's not mine because it's good.

OooOoo

When the rumors started to circulate, Utau wasn't especially worried. Untrue mutterings had always spread across the castle, and the only kind anyone ever listened to were the absurd ones. The Queen had run off with the Duke of Chaimbs, the Princess wasn't really the Princess, and there was still a theory that the King and Queen had spawned a boy who had fifteen toes.

The rumor that the Phantom Thief had been caught was one that held little humor for her, yes, but it still had to just be a rumor.

Kukai was too good to get caught. He had made his way into the very depths of the castle, for crying out loud, a simple job wouldn't have tripped him up. It was gossip. Mindless chit chat. None of it could be true.

But the next day, when Utau made her annual visit to the woods he wasn't there. Not amongst the trees. Not in his thieves house, which was empty and bare. She stayed there two hours. There was no sign of him.

"What if you were caught? What would you do?"

"I'd hang."

No, no, no.

Utau knew that she was a realist, and just this once she desperately wished she had been born optimistic. That she could plunk her head down in the sand, that she could see the silver lining in every single silly rain cloud that came down to haunt her.

But she wasn't. Instead she was brutally honest with herself. There was no denying the truth. There was no use in pretending like it wasn't so. He had failed. Made a mistake. Blundered. Misstep. Error. Fault. Whatever word you preferred didn't matter, it was all the same. He was breathing, sure, but he might as well be dead.

Thieves who stole royal possessions didn't get pardoned. They weren't locked in the dungeon.

He would hang, pure and simple.

OooOooO

"The song is done."

Leroy Fitch looked up from the papers on his desk. He had heard her come in, of course, but he hadn't said anything. He wanted to let her initiate the conversation. He wasn't entirely certain on what it was that she was here for. She was so fickle and moody - too difficult to pin down. It was best to let her do things her own way.

"Let's have a look at it." He read it over, trying to piece it together in his head.

Utau watched somewhat uncomfortably. Although it should have been one of the more minor things to think about, she couldn't help but wonder at how easily he didn't miss a beat. Malcolm had to have told her that she knew - and yet Leroy regarded everything in the same professional and detached manner that he had exuded before. Truly remarkable.

"It'll do." He handed it back to her with little emotion. She knew that Malcolm had said that he had a sort of brotherly love for her, but she just couldn't see it. Everything about Leroy was cold and prickly, and nothing about him gave one the impression of warmth and comfort.

For a second she wished she hadn't judged him so quickly and had gotten to know her better. He'd had a fiancée once. Had a life before the war. Had known her father. She wondered what stories he could tell?

"Yes?" Leroy asked in question of her presence still in his room.

"Just…Thank you."

"For what?"

"You know."

She exited the room.

OooOooO

Kukai Souma stared blankly at…well nothing really. The dungeon was really everything you would expect it to be. Cold, damp, and smelly. And very dull. Incredibly drab.

"It's a blue moon." The man in the cell next to him mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me right. It's a blue moon."

Kukai could barely make out the mans features in the dim lighting. As the sun began to dim the dungeon would become black as blood and extremely hard to see through. It was almost like the dark was a presence rather than a lighting, more of a mood to fit the oppressive atmosphere.

He'd been here a long time, Kukai thought, making out a long beard and hair on the mans head.

"Blue moons don't exist. That's just a saying." Kukai could feel the shackles rubbing his skin raw. He remembered the same feeling back when he was younger, before Shartan had come and massacred everyone.

"Says you. I know they exist." The fellow prison dweller said this with confidence.

Kukai decided against arguing. Nothing seemed very important right now. Not even finding Shartan and killing him - he had hated that creature for so long, had let his hate fester. But after he had met Utau it had simmered down a little bit. Now it seemed silly and pointless.

There was a merry music sound from above them. Kukai glanced up.

"I don't know how or why, but the ball room noise can be heard from down here." The bearded man said. "A little comfort for those who live in this place."

"Oh, will you shut up?" A voice called from somewhere. "Some of us is tryin' taa get some sleep."

Kukai ignored the unseen man and said "So you're saying that you can hear all the ballroom music down here?"

"That's what I'm saying."

"Have you ever heard Utau Hoshina?" It was a long shot. He doubted if her voice was that powerful, or that the man knew her name. Still…he had never heard her sing. It was the oddest thing - to fall in love with the greatest singer in a hundred years and never hear her voice lifted in song.

"Oh, yes. I didn't know who she was for a while, but a man was brought down here once and told us her name was Hoshina. Her voice ain't like nothing I ever heard in this life."

"What happened to the man."

"Oh, he got dragged up to court and never came back."

Kuaki could feel an eerie chill creep its way up his spine. He should stop talking. He would have gone to sleep except there was the chance that he would hear Utau.

"I never told her," Kukai muttered unhappily, mostly to himself.

"Eh?"

"I never told her that I loved her,"

"Well, sonny, that's the real crime isn't it?"

"Will you two shut it? I don't care about yer lady problems! What's a guy gotta do taa get some sleep round here?"

The music was slower now, but still bouncy. Kukai stared out at the darkness. He could just barely see the jailer, who was sleeping soundly. There probably hadn't been a jailbreak in years, and he'd grown complacent. If only Kukai could find something to pick his shackles open with. Then he'd really be cooking.

It was rather impossible when he was shackled, which he supposed was the entire point.

An hour passed on by and several singers gave lovely little songs. It should have been nice, but down on the cold floor Kukai only found it eerie.

Then came Utau's song. He knew it was hers - it had to be. It was the music she had written, and it just sounded like her. Everything about it screamed Utau. He could almost hear her cold sarcasm, her eyes that smiled when her lips didn't. He could hear the gypsy music that she had wanted.

"It really wasn't long ago

That winter was burning in freezing snow

When summer suddenly found his way in

And brought winter back to life again

And that I think was when

Winter then started to kiss the wind"

Kukai felt a lump form in his throat. He wasn't going to cry, but the lump always formed when he got emotional. She truly was great. Everyone was right, there was just something haunting and gripping about her voice. He couldn't have not listened if he had wanted too.

"Kissing the Wind

Kissing the wind

I'm afraid once you start

There's no stopping you then

Kissing the Wind?

How absurd they say

Mayhap

Mayhap

She's crazy today

But they can't understand

And never they will

How one day summer

Met Winter's chill"

He had never told her. But then, she had never told him, had she? They were both too unsentimental. Yet, here he was all lumpy throated like a little kid.

"Kissing the Wind

Kissing the Wind

I'm afraid once you start

There's no stopping you then

Then I learned of a terrible lie

And a saddened heart kissed you goodbye

I realized

I realized

I was kissing the wind.

For oh! there are so many things recall the past to me,

The breeze upon the sunny hills, the billows of the sea,

The rosy tint that decks the sky before the sun is set;

Ay every leaf I look upon forbids me to forget.

Kissing the Wind

Kissing the Wind

I'm afraid once you start

There's no stopping you then"

As the song ended Kukai was sure he could see some sort of bluish light coming from the outside, dimly lighting his small cell.

OooOooO

It took almost half a minute for the audience to start applauding. They had remained in silence for several moments, taking in the song. Then they had found that amidst all the chaos of the party they had really liked the silence. But no applause wouldn't do, and many called out "encore!"

Utau was already gone. They didn't realize what she had put before them. Her heart, all four valves, in song form.

She didn't feel like sticking around.

"Utau."

She turned to see Malcolm, slightly pale and haggard looking. He moved towards her quickly and muttered "Walk with me." She struggled to keep up with his brisk pace.

"What's the matter?"

He didn't answer. His face was locked on a figure ahead of them, silhouetted by the window. The moon had an almost bluish or lavender tint to it, Utau thought. And then the figure became a man as he stepped towards them.

"I'm too late," Malcolm hissed. He stepped in front of her, muscles coiled in anticipation.

"Run, Utau." His words sunk in, but she couldn't make her legs move. She just stared at that horrid hawk nose, those black eyes that made something rattle in her bones.

You have the same eyes, you know.

"Run," Malcolm yelled ferociously. He turned to face her, and she saw that his eyes were ready for the fight, on fire and spitting rage.

Shartan didn't wait for him to turn around. He ran over and slammed a club into Malcolm's head. Utau started to run.

Behind her she could hear him. "You're out of practice."

There was a grunt from Malcolm and then another crashing sound.

She couldn't look behind her. She couldn't stop running.

OooOooO

Thanks! Sorry for it taking so long, and I know it was short. But hope it was acceptable.