Hi everybody.

I'm just dropping here that this is a last chapter of the story.

Thank you to everybody who read and even sometimes left a comment, it really gave me joy. I try to answer everybody but, sometimes life gets in the way and I forgot who I replied to and who I didn't. I'm sorry if I didn't, honestly.

I love you all.

Not as much as RinHaru but hey.

Here is the finale.

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They walk down to the Palace exit through the front door. Nagisa stops there, on the steps; he isn't allowed to go any further. Tears of sadness and joy entwined are falling down his eyes.

"Goodbye," He says, his face buried in Haru's old robe; "I wish you to be happy, so very happy - thank you for everything Haru-chan, thank you I'll never forget you."

It's kind of a shock to bid his farewell to the one who had been living with him for the past three years - and still Haru can't believe it, he cannot acknowledge the fact that he is a free man, that his dream finally came true just a few minutes ago. He's walking on the sand path like a newborn lamb, it seems that he has forgotten how to walk on his own now that Rin isn't owning him.

Rin.

Why did he free him so suddenly?

What is he doing right now?

What is he thinking?

He desperately needs to know.

The Favorite - Final Chapter

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Haru casts a look behind his back; the Palace is even more intimidating now that he has the chance to watch at him from the outside.

"You can't come back here as you please," Rei tells him when he notices the unsteadiness of his steps. "The people are allowed in the gardens of course but you need a special authorization to come into the Palace. You can also ask for an audience, but the Prince alone decides the moment of the meeting."

"Do you mean I can't stay here?"

"I'm afraid not, Sir."

Rei has suddenly used a very polite vocabulary with him, as if by being free Haru has become nothing but another stranger passing by. The newfound taste of liberty isn't as delightful as he thought it would be.

"But it's my home." Haru says, his voice strangled by the raw emotion he feels. "The Palace is my only home I have nowhere else to go."

Rei looks at him with some concern in his eyes. "Come with me Sir, there is still something you need to get back."

They walk toward the stables, Rei ignoring his last complaint. There are a dozen of purebred Arabs, strong and gleaming; someone probably just took care of them. They walk past the horses and then, waiting for them in front of Haru's very eyes, stands a man next to a sand-colored camel, its loading untouched compared to what it was five years ago.

"Saba!" Haru recognizes his old mount immediately. He runs next to the soldier guarding it, and the tall ginger man in armor hands him the new reins - Haru caresses the animal's head. It seems to recognize him as well and Haru is glad; it's like a part of his old life was back and suddenly the world outside the Palace isn't that scary anymore.

"What does 'Saba' means?" The soldier asks, as Rei joins them. He shrugs and then, expectantly, looks back at Haru.

"I don't know either," The free man says, "My grandmother used to talk about it a lot when I was younger. I named it after her when she died."

Haru pays attention to every single details of Saba's fur - ignoring the circumspect looks he receives from the other two, and the new guard 'Does it mean his grandmother was called Saba?' unnecessary comment - and finds out surprisingly that during all those years, he has been very well treated.

As if it surprises him, that kind of behavior, coming from Rin.

Rin...

Is he trying to get rid of him?

"Can I ask you something?" Haru asks, as Rei escorts him to the city. The huge entrance porch is now within sight, surrounded by magnificent flowers and bushes, and even sculptures of some foreign animals that curiously share the same teeth as Rin. Even if he didn't have time to spend the days in the city before, Haru can tell just how much it has grown just by casting a simple look. The people were recovering little by little from the great heatwave that occurred three years ago, and the lack of water and supplies is now probably just a distant bad memory for most of the citizens in the same way their last common colds were.

"Anything." Rei answers him. The guard studies him, as Haru stares at the new buildings and sanded roads he's about to walk on.

"Have you heard about the people from Iwami, who used to live at the frontier?"

Rei frowns when he heard the name of Haru's lost tribe. "I might have. Wasn't it that city which had been robbed and massacred a few years ago?"

"That's where I come from."

"O-oh I-I-I'm so-"

"It's okay." Haru says calmly. "I was there. I saw what happened. And it's not like it was your fault, you don't have to be sorry for anything."

Half of the village had been slaughtered that day, and Haru had been lucky to stay alive - he knew that, way too much. But if only half of them had been killed, that also implies that half of them are still alive, somewhere.

"I've heard migrants came here during the heatwave; because of the proximity of the Palace it was easier to find water in the big city. There might be someone from the street that might be able to answer your inquiries - her name is Amaya, she is a dancer and knows most of the population here. The local guards always talk about her and her impressive knowledge of the population."

"Thank you." Haru says. They stop their steps.

They have reached the porch now.

Rei couldn't go any further than that.

The last chain of slavery falls on the floor; Haru takes a step into the outside world for the first time in five years and by doing so he starts to write an entire new part of his life.

"Well then, I bid you farewell, Nanase Haruka."

Haru turns on his heels at the speed of light; he hasn't heard his full name in ages - how could he-

"It was written on your contract. I couldn't help but have a look...excuse me, Nanase-san."

The guard blows, saluting him just like the first time he met he and Nagisa in Rin's old room. This time, his movements look more convinced, thoughtfully executed, and when he finally sets back upright Rei has some tears licking from the corner of his eyes.

Haru witnesses, dumbfounded, as the guard sweeps them away behind his red spectacles.

"Excuse me Sir...but Nagisa-kun told me all about you..." He sobs, and Haru can't help but smile as he hears Nagisa being called that way, "He told me about you and the Prince and...what he did...what it gave back to you - it's probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

As far as he can remember, from the moment he had been caught by the robbers in Iwami Haru has always wanted nothing more but to be free. As days, weeks, months and years had passed he had longed for nothing more but that. Haru wanted his freedom back. He wanted to regain his honor and to be considered a man. Those five years had been far from grueling thanks to his relationship with the Prince but the comfort he had been given all this time couldn't possibly compare to the feeling of freedom, growing on his back and giving him wings.

Haru feels like he could fly. He feels like the whole world was opened to him; no places, no gardens no rooms were forbidden to him anymore. He could go wherever he wants whenever he wants.

Except, maybe, within the Palace's walls.

"Farewell, Ryuugazaki Rei."

Haru bends as well, and then he turns around, his back to the white and imposing building that had been his home for so long.

He could almost feel burning red eyes staring at the back of his neck from the Prince's bedroom. Haru fights the urge to check if his intuition was right. That was not something he could have handle anyway.

Because then he would remember that even if he was free, the sole and only place where he would eventually want to end his days is still out of his reach. What was it that Rin told him, just the night before? Ah, that's right. You don't need to be a slave to feel trapped in a cage. Freedom is just some kind of illusion men give themselves to cope with their condition.

There is a huge gap between the concept of being free and the reality of it.

Nevertheless, Rin gave him everything he needed. He made him leave. That way, Haru will never have to see them, Rin and the Bride, the man he loves and his replacement, walking through the gardens hand in hand, with the whole court praising them, as well as the round belly that would soon be seen under the white robes of the Bride.

The sight would have probably end him.

And Rin didn't want that. Rin loves him, he really does, that's why he had no other solution than to make him free, to deliver Haru from his own grip; being apart from each other was the only way for Haru to heal.

And that was indeed the most beautiful gift Rin could have given to him.

After a few hours of wandering, Haru eventually found the so famous Amaya everybody talked about.

Indeed, the kind woman told him there was a few survivors of Iwami who had settled here after the attack. One of them was an old soldier, with dyed blond hair - something that had to do with sorcery she told him, or new sciences from the Occident - and a scar, the form of a star, on the side of his skull. The man was called Sasabe Goro, he owned an establishment called 'Iwami Returns' and was selling 'stuffs'.

She asked him then if he was feeling alright, and if he wanted to stay for the night - he politely declined, and she patted him on the back. Did he really look that bad?

It was horrible to be so far away from Rin. To know that he will never be able to see him, to talk to him to touch him like he used to - like he yearns to. If people wandering by him were asked they would certainly never guess that the sad man with bright blue eyes walking with a camel just next to them had just been set free by the Prince. Because somehow, Haru realized in horror, he still felt trapped. He is still trapped and bound to Rin by his feelings for him.

Now, Haru stands in front of the shop where the last Iwamis were supposed to live. The place looks very much like a bazar - they were jewels, clothes, ceramics, and a gorgeous white and blue tunic at the very end of the shop. Strangely they were no one inside when Haru enters the room and pushed by his newfound wings, he takes the liberty to look around a little while waiting for someone to come in.

He didn't have to wait very long though. A few minutes later, the sound of a broken glass alarms him of the presence of a new incomer.

"Ha...Ha-Ha...Ha- is that-Oh my-"

"...Makoto!?"

And there in front of him, hands shaking and eyes already wet, stands Makoto Tachibana, his very best friend, the one he had spent his childhood with, the one he thought he had definitely lost five years from now.

"I thought you were-"

But his friend never lets him the opportunity to finish his sentence; the next moment Haru's feet are leaving the solid ground and the only thing he knows, is that Makoto's heart is beating fast in his chest, that his cheeks are wet and that he is, as well as himself, alive; and that's the only thing that matters.

They weren't given a lot of time to cheer up and make up for lost time though; as soon as Goro Sasabe came back from his errands Makoto had to work again, and having nothing else to do Haru helped him in his task. Ren and Ran are there as well, and the four of them are now busy embroidering a very refined piece of clothes, made of white silk and golden motives - even if Ren felt offended as a man to do a woman's duty, Makoto and Haru got on with it pretty well. Haru's job is to make small patterns of a very cute blue flowers. Ran told him they were called forget-me-nots; and that the name came from a legend from a faraway land, where a knight fell in a river as he was picking flowers for his fiancée. As the stream got him farther from his love, he threw the flowers he'd just cut towards her, and yelled 'Forget me not!' - what a silly idea.

When Haru asks where he could find some of those, everybody laugh at him.

"In Germany, perhaps." Makoto says kindly.

"What is it?"

"A place in Europe." Sasabe tells him.

Haru has never felt so very ignorant in his life.

"Hot! Hot!"

Sasabe comes out of the kitchen with a steaming meal and hot couscous. They all eat together in what Haru would have called the scullery, and even if it's probably not the best tagine he has ever eaten in his life, this is far from being an unpleasant meal. Everything is lively and joyful. Having found Makoto and his siblings again had made his heart go lighter and warmer.

It's not enough to make him forget about Rin's absence though; or about the others who hadn't survived.

Haru watches the twins beg for their brother to stay longer with him. They're still afraid of being alone in the dark.

"When you were in the public bathrooms the robbers came into our house," Makoto tells him as they drink their tea outside the shop when they're finally alone. "They cut our mother's throat in front of their eyes. My father yelled and I took them with me. I wasn't really thinking and I ran as far as I could, I took the first mean of transport I found and we were able to escape. I only came back days after when the slave merchants were gone. I buried their corpses and...I buried your parents' as well."

The news isn't what Haru would called surprising; but still he finds it hard to ignore how much his eyes are burning him right now.

"Thanks to the twins people helped us a lot. We moved here during the heatwave and found old man Sasabe here. He took us with him on one condition; we had to work for free. But he gave us a roof under which we could sleep and two warm meals every day, so I told him we weren't doing it for free in the end. He is a nice guy. He knew our fathers."

They take a slip of their tea silently. Under the moonlight Haru finds himself missing the singing of the crickets. As Makoto doesn't add anything for the time being, Haru is tempted to go for a walk around the city to take a look at the Palace again. The legend Ran told them this evening is still racing in his mind. He wants nothing more than to draw Rin's some flowers and to shout their names as he'll throw his drawing on the balcony, before he leaves the place for good.

Why does it frighten him so much that Rin could forget about him?

"And for you? What happened?" Makoto asks, eventually.

"I was made prisoner. I was bought by the Prince as a slave. I stayed there for 5 years."

It almost makes Makoto spit out his beverage. "What?! But it's horrible! What happened? Did they treat you well? How did you escape?!"

"I didn't," Haru tells him, "Ri-The Prince set me free."

"The Prince did what?"

"He set me free." Haru repeats calmly.

Except that it's not true. Haru is everything but free at the moment.

Makoto looks utterly dumbfounded at Haru's statement, but as soon as he opens his mouth to ask for more details they hear a loud bang coming from the shop. They hurry inside. Sasabe is there with the robe they have worked on so hard in his hands, saved from a more than regrettable fall. Its rack is lying on the floor.

Makoto sighs is so loud that it manages to pick Haru's curiosity over the wonderful piece of fabric. And so he asks. And then he regrets.

It's the wedding robe for the Bride.

"Makoto I think the twins are waiting for you."

"Ah, okay. I'll see you tomorrow then. Haru..."

Makoto tries to catch his gaze but Haru's is stuck on the white robe the old man holds.

"...I'm really glad you're okay." He breathes, and then he disappears upstairs to take care of his siblings. It leaves only Haru, Sasabe and...

The Bride.

When did fate turn up to be so merciless? Even far away from the Palace, from Rin and from the wedding, the Bride is still lurking him, following him and reminding Haru of her suffocating presence. The same presence that had ruined Haru's life. The same presence that is maybe the reason why he is a free man tonight.

"Haruka, help me, would you?"

"What?" Haru snaps abruptly.

"We need to put it back on the rack. The Prince will kill us all if there is a single fold on his Bride's robe."

His fingers are shaking as he touches the fabric. They haven't been when he has embroidered it only hours ago but now everything is different. Haru touches the robe as if it were fragile and dangerous, as if it were something he hates but admires at the same time, as if he knew he didn't have the right to touch it but did anyway. Under his fingertips he can feel all the details, the quality of the raw materials, the refinement of the pattern - this robe is a pure work of art. Its blue and gold colors contrast with the whiteness of the silk.

The Bride will be beautiful, without a single doubt. And Rin will probably look even more stunning.

Suddenly Haru's sight starts to get blurred and it's only then that he realizes he's crying. The owner of the shop looks at him with a warm smile.

"I've heard about you, you know."

"Hn?" He mumbles, and dries his eyes.

"I made some delivery at the Palace. Makoto often comes with me too. I thought it'd be okay to interrupt your discussion earlier - you don't mind that?"

"No, of course not."

His reunion with Makoto and his siblings had been emotionally intense enough for both of them; Makoto probably didn't need to be told everything Haru had been through - and that he was madly in love with the Prince, on top of that; in fact Haru especially wanted to avoid talking about that very detail.

He looks back at the dress again. He still doesn't know if he would rather destroy it or wear it during the night.

"Mah, it's no use to talk about the past, is it? What's done is done." Sasabe pats his shoulder and then, takes a thin mattress which he lays on the floor. "You'll need a good night of sleep. I'm sorry I have nothing more to offer at the moment, but it'll only be temporary, right?"

Sasabe winks at him but again, but Haru's eyes are glued too much on the robe to notice.

He doesn't even realize he's gone before he goes to sleep.

Only one day left.

Haru slept very little that night.

He had trouble falling asleep. The gleaming coming from the moon reflects on the golden laces, the golden belt. He doesn't know why but he is facing the robe again, completely hypnotized by it - it's exactly the same thing as staring at Rin, it's not something he has control of; just like the fact that the simple mention of the Prince's name is enough to make his heart beat faster in his chest - and when Sasabe comes down from his room it's only to find Haru still staring at it, intensely.

Makoto joins them for breakfast. The twins are still sleeping peacefully - it's barely sunset yet.

"When do we have to deliver the whole thing?"

"Before noon." Sasabe answers Makoto request, and takes another Makrout in his mouth.

"It's finally time. The Prince sure took long enough. He almost reached the limit; I really wonder what took him so long."

"He was maybe making sure that it was the good one, who knows?" Sasabe says.

"He had two years for that."

"Well you know it doesn't work like that, they are some conditions-"

"What are you two talking about?"

Haru finds himself listening to their conversation in spite of his reticence. As soon as Rin's marriage has been put on the table he has felt his stomach turning upside down and hasn't been able to eat something decent.

"Well," Makoto starts, his eyes curious on him, "You were at the Palace all this time; you should probably know better than us what is happening down there, don't you?"

His statement should be true, except that it's not, it's even far from that. Haru doesn't know about Rin's wedding because of multiple reason; the first one being that the other gossipers hated him too much to share any useful information with him and secondly, because he has never really wanted to know. Even Nagisa didn't...wait, what did Nagisa say already?

"Ah, it's a matter of tradition here; it's okay not to know. I guess they didn't tell you a lot about that in the brothel, right Haruka?"

"The brothel?!"

"Makoto, it's alright." He sends daggers to the old man. That's why he didn't want to talk about his past at the Palace. Haru knew it would eventually end with Makoto feeling sick worried and horrified and then, Haru would have to explain how in fact it has probably been the most happiest days of his life...

And now, all those precious memories belong to the past.

"Tell me about what?" Haru goes on. "The Prince's marriage?"

"Traditions." Sasabe corrects him. "But sure the Prince's marital union is part of it."

He takes a large mouthful of black coffee - too black and sour coffee - and then, the old man starts to tell him about the local traditions Haru has always neglected to learn about.

"Here, there is the custom about the wedding of the Prince. The coronation must imperatively take place the day after the twentieth birthday of the Prince and in such regards, he must find a Bride before that time. If he hasn't find one that suits his taste before the baneful date of his twentieth anniversary, the Council then must find a Bride for him."

"So this is someone who had been imposed to him? The Bride? The one you're making that beautiful dress for?" Haru asks bitterly.

"Actually, no," Makoto says, "And it's rather weird if you'd ask me because we got the order for the robe almost two years ago."

"What?"

Haru feels like throwing up. It doesn't make any sense. His thoughts are fuzzing, not really understanding what's happening, what their words mean - Rin had ordered the dress two years ago? But he was still - they were still - did Rin - why did -

"And the only thing we were told at that time were the mensuration of the Bride and the colors of his eyes." Makoto goes on.

"Yeah, that was so romantic."

"What did he say?"

The helplessness in his voice alarms his two hosts, and then both look back at him with a confused look on their face.

"About the eyes." Haru's are already wet, memories of their very first meeting rushing everywhere in his mind. "What did he say?"

After a while, Sasabe smiles.

"He said the Bride has very pretty blue eyes, as clear as water."

Haru feels as all the air he has kept in his lungs exploded, and climb up to his throat, forbidding him to talk, or to breathe. His legs give up, and he ends up on his knees first and then, as his muscles refuse to obey him one by one, his body falls on the floor. He wants to scream. He wants to roll on the ground and be swallowed into the earth, never to reappear again.

Rin...

Rin!

Has he wanted to marry him for so long? For two long years?

Is everything screwed up now that Haru has left the Palade and is not allowed within its wall? Is that too late for that dream to become his again?

How can life be so unfair to one single human being!?

"This..." He chokes, between hard sobs, "This isn't possible. Why didn't he tell me? Why did he never ask?"

Makoto has knelt right next to his best friend, not understanding, not knowing what to do in front of such distress.

"Haru...you..."

"Well, they are some conditions that make it impossible for the Prince to propose to you, I assume."

Sasabe came to his side as well, his hands resting on his knees.

"I know." Haru mutters, ignoring Makoto's inquiring gaze, ignoring the tears that are falling down his eyes. "I'm a slave. I'm less than a human how could Rin marry such a thing?"

"But, Haru, you're not-"

"Nanase Haruka." The old man says, his voice loud and grave, "Stand up."

But Haru feels like all the strength he has left has abandoned him the moment he learned the truth behind Rin's intentions. He seeks for Makoto's help, and his friend lends him a hand - and his arms, his shoulders, his support - and miraculously despite his awful state, he manages to get on his feet.

"I'll only ask you this once," Sasabe states when Haru eventually finds his balance, "Are you a slave?"

And then, he realizes.

There is only one answer to that question; and even if Haru still feels like he is bound to Rin there is something that he no longer is.

Haru is not a slave anymore.

Haru is a free man.

Haru is now worthy to be married.

He leans further into Makoto's lap, his force leaving him but this time for an entire other reason. His heart has never felt lighter in his whole life. His body, his soul, everything is now floating in the air, transported by the new wings Rin gave him the day before and from where he flies he could see the Palace, he could see Rin's room and its balcony and if he closes his eyes, he can hear it, the singing of the crickets, the cracking of the fire coming from the torch, the guards' footsteps walking in sync on the sanded path. It's no longer the feeling of freedom that guides his steps; it's the rhythm of his beating heart again and the adoration he knows Rin still has for him that take control over his life.

"There is one other condition for the Prince to marry someone." Sasabe 's voice echoes from far, far away and brings Haru's back to the solid ground, regretfully.

"What is it?" He asks, eager to know, more than ever. "What do I have to do?"

"Well, the Prince has to court you first."

"What?" The two best friends speak, at the same time.

"It is customary not to talk, or do anything to the Prince without him having act first; well this rule has an exception when it concerns marriage. You see, the Prince cannot by any means propose to someone who has not manifest any interest in him previously - they need to confess their love first. You see it comes from a very old story, the 8th King of History was very ugly and he got turned down so many times that the shame was..."

But the old man never finds the need to finish his pointless silly little story.

Haruka is crying tears, of joy and relief; maybe some were of anger towards the Prince who had probably hid all those information, all his schemes away but in the end, it doesn't matter. Because as soon as he had seen him in his shop Goro Sasabe knew it was the man he had made the robe for.

Makoto was holding the former slave, his old friend, so tightly in his arms - he has probably started crying as well, the man is so sensitive - and it's with an ounce of regret that he finds him forced to end their touching embrace.

"Haruka, I have one last thing to ask you."

Haruka lifts his head from Makoto's shoulder, showing that in spite of the rollercoaster of emotion he has been through in such a short amount of time, he is still all ears.

"What are you still doing here?"

There is something that shines brighter in the depth of those blue eyes. Haruka had returned from his trip to Hell, then to Heaven. Now, his mind is solidly walking upon the earth and there is one last place he needs to go to give this fairy tale the happy ending it deserves.

The former slave looks at his friend, as if silently asking for permission - advice - acceptance. Makoto smiles from ear to ear, small drops of salty water are falling on his sharp cheeks.

"I'll see you at the delivery." He says then.

The former slave smiles as well, but his cheeks are freed from tears. He casts one last look at the robe inside the shop, and then he blows to the old man who had sewn it for him. One instant later he's running out of their sight just like an elegant gazelle hunting its pray.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the Bride was gone.

When Haru finally reaches the Palace again his breath comes out in short cut. He has run so fast without thinking that he actually needs to stop to rest for a minute or two; but his body is only responding to the fast beating of his heart bounding in his chest, and soon he starts running again. He won't stop, not until he sees Rin, not until he tells him just how much he loves him.

He just hopes, from the bottom of his heart, that it's not too late.

But he still has a day, right? Rin won't be twenty until tomorrow. The Council cannot force him to marry someone else when Haru was now free. He won't let that happen.

He reaches the entrance, where guards are standing and forbidding him to overstep. It's on these very steps that Nagisa said farewell to him. He can't imagine it was only a day ago - so much happened to him in the short time of a day, Haru feels like he'd lived twenty years of his life since he left the Palace. And yet he has never felt so young.

"You're okay?" A man asked him, and gives him some water. He's not a stranger, Haru notices; he is part of Rin's court, he has seen him more than once striding along the Palace's alleys.

But it's not only that. Those eyes, those blue-lagoon eyes...he had seen them before. He just can't remember where. Haru doesn't have the chance to ask the man if they have already met however, because when he's finished with the flask of water the stranger is already gone. Haru stands quite bemused in the middle of the principal alley; and then he remembers why he's here and of the short time he has ahead of him, and starts running again.

He can't believe how much the Palace has changed since he's gone. The few people he runs into never meet his eyes. Coming from the other side of the door makes it very hard for him to find his landmark. He messes up the direction all the time, never turning right or left when he should have and it's only maybe half an hour after entering the Palace that Haru find himself in the gardens at last.

The only place where he's allowed to be.

There is no doubt that Rin will be there. He just knows it. It can't be otherwise.

From the corner of his eyes Haru can see a long, dark cape facing him, standing where the white camellias are planted. The man has his hair made with a white piece of cloth and some jewels, tied on the side of the headdress. Deep red bands are falling on the back of his neck.

Rin turns around, a white camellia trapped in his hand. He smiles as soon as his eyes fall on Haru's slender silhouette.

"You took your time." He says nonchalantly. As if the whole situation was just common. As if the couple of days they have just lived weren't out of the ordinary. Rin's smile even grows wider, somehow in an amused and arrogant way that suit him so well, and he just waits for Haru to reach him.

As for Haru, his feet are glued to the ground. It's not that he doesn't want to see Rin, to run into his arms or to hug him, to kiss him and love him on the white camellia field, to hold him so close to his heart that he would never be able to leave it; Haru wants all of that. But paradoxically he also wants to shout at him, to punch him, to wrestle with him on the white camellia field, to cry on his face and to ask him why; why did he have to make things so complicated?

"You look upset." Rin is still standing where Haru found him, his fingers playing with the white flower and its stem. "I thought freedom would suit you better. You have always been so difficult to handle."

"Why?"

The stem stops swirling into Rin's grip as soon as Haru's plea reaches his ears. The Prince looks away from him, as if he didn't know where to start, as if he wasn't sure about what to say - what Haru wants to hear - how much he already knows.

"I...It's, you won't understand anyway. I just, needed to know first."

"Know what?"

"If you loved me."

"I told you I did!"

"And look how difficult it was for me to get that from you! That's why I knew you wouldn't understand. I needed to know."

Their voices get passionate, their bodies start to tense; Haru tries again to catch Rin's gaze, afraid that he might have realized what all this really implied.

"You...you didn't trust me? That's why you freed me? Because you thought I was lying?"

"Everybody lies to me Haru, and-" He stops, as he caught Haru's fist turning curling on themselves and the rage, burning inside his usually calm blue eyes, distorting his face like it never did before. "No I, it was all planned, long ago I've always wanted to get your freedom back, for a very long time Haru I swear. It...why is that always so complicated when it comes to you?"

There's a little bench, made of white marble just like the rest of the Palace, where Rin sits as he collects his thoughts. Things haven't changed that much, Haru realizes as he studies Rin and his features. He still looks very lonely. He still looks very lost.

Haru had been a slave, but he had never been alone. He'd always had people to count on. His family back in Iwami, Nagisa and Rin here at the Palace, and even when he thought he would be alone in a city he didn't know, Rei helped him, the dancer helped him, and he had found Makoto and this fact alone is a real miracle. Haru feels as lucky as a man who'd have traveled a lifetime in the desert always finding on his route an Oasis or a generous man with a flask full of water to quench his thirst.

As for Rin, he probably had an easier path, he has probably never felt the blaze of sand burning the sole of his feet; but he lives every day of his life wondering if the flask he is being handed isn't another sly attempt to murder him in disguise.

"How long has it been, five years? Yeah it was five years ago, Sousuke bought you for my fifteen birthday after all."

"Is that the man with large shoulders and severe clear eyes?" Haru asks. It has to be him anyway. Now, Haru remembers where he had seen him before. It was in the desert, in his cell the day after he'd been captured. His white shall had covered his hair, his face, but not his eyes.

"He told me he saw you coming. He's the one who warned me, actually; I've asked everybody to get into their room so we'd be alone. You know, he knows me rather well..." Rin's body relaxes at last, his shoulders fall slightly from their previous posture. "He knew, the moment he saw you, that I'd like you. Though I don't really think he could have imagine how much this turned out to be true."

Haru's feet walk on their own. He stops as his toes brush against the camellias. Somehow it feels like the perfect distance to be away from Rin. Just like in his dream, where his love was surrounded by small, pink petals from an unknown tree; Haru feels like it's too soon yet to reach him.

He's looking at him now. His smile curls into something else again. Maybe it's adoration. Haru hopes it is.

"I fell in love with you, so quickly. And the fall never seemed to end. Every time I looked at you I found something more to love about you, and at the end of every day I went to sleep being a little bit more addicted to you. And then..." This time Rin's smile shows some sign of pain, bitterness, even maybe anger. "Then I turned eighteen, and my mother told it was time to stop fooling around with you. That I needed to look for someone to marry, someone that would fit the function, you see?"

The only thing Haru can see are the tears that shine in Rin's eyes. They don't fall in his face, though; the Prince sighs deeply and then, his speech goes on.

"I was really mad at that time. I wanted to abdicate, I truly did. Not only because of you but; as I grew up I realized that I'll never really have the control over my life, that whatever dreams I could have would always have the second place, that my duties as the future King would come first. I was eighteen, I was young and stupid and in love-"

"You're still young and stupid."

They both laugh quietly. They don't need to be told that he's still in love as well.

"That night, I made a bet with Sousuke." Rin adds when their smiles have died on their lips. "I told him I was going to marry you, no matter what; and that if I lose he could have whatever he wanted - I never thought he would ask for Gou's hand but, whatever - and when my mother heard of it we had a fight. Do you know what I did to upset her even more?"

Rin looks at him expectantly. As if Haru could know, or guess, out of the blue.

Unless...unless it's...

"You ordered the dress." He breathes.

According to the look on Rin's face, he must have been right. "I knew you'd find them."

"So you knew they were from my village?" Haru asks, "That's why you came to them?"

"Yeah; trust me it was not for their sewing capacity. The old man was illegally selling alcohol and nudes behind the market place with two little children when I found him the first time. I didn't really give him the choice."

Silence falls between them. There is no one walking on the marbled alleys, no crickets; only some birds chattered in the gardens, and the wind making the plants shiver as its blows. It's a time Haru needs to put all the pieces he missed into their rightful place, to finish the puzzle that had been his love life with Rin, full of things left unsaid and of misunderstanding. Some pieces are still missing for the picture to be complete.

"Why didn't you tell me before you freed me? Why make me live through that nightmare these past few days? You could just have told me. I would have - you didn't need to, frustrate me-"

"It's the protocol Haru. I've tried to make you talk about it but you always refused to confess I had no other choice than to-"

"You ordered my execution!"

"And look at you you're still alive! I would have never agree on that; because you know you were right that night, I love you too much to be so cruel. I still feel very upset about it...are you mad at me?"

Haru clenches his fist. Of course he is, but it's not the memory of that night that had hurt him the most - those tiny, sync moans of pleasure the night he went to see Rin's room; it's something he will never be able to forget.

"Who was the woman?" Rin raises an eyebrow, so Haru has to explain his mind and the words ache him as they pass his throat. "The woman walking in your steps, the one that was holding your arm, the one...the one you had sex with that night."

Rin frowns, "I told you it was just a girl my mother bought me - to get distracted from you of course but-"

"No no, I don't mean that one." He had forgotten about that one to be honest but it's not like Rin will remember her, or had thought of substituting him with her so it doesn't actually bother him one bit. "The night before I got into your room, when you gave me the dagger."

"...Oh. That must have been Gou."

"...Excuse me?"

"Oh no no. No! That wasn't - I wasn't in my room! It wasn't me you heard - dammit Haru have you ever see me sleeping in an unguarded room?"

Well, no; now that Rin says it the scene had felt quite unreal when Haru had walked to Rin's door.

"My grandmother had...a vision of someone trying to kill me so I had to change room...I let Sousuke with my sister so they could have some time together without my mother knowing...it was just to upset her once more but-"

"Yeah, how convenient, an attempt of assassination coming out of nowhere-"

"Well she was just one day early, wasn't she?" Rin corrects him; and suddenly Haru can't find his words. His eyes fall on the ground; camellias are actually very pretty flowers - he wonders what's their meaning.

"I was running out of time." Rin says after a short pause, his voice quavering with a kind of internal and immense sadness Haru doesn't know where it comes from. "Every day I was falling more and more in love with you and I could see you loved me too. And yet you refused to give me your approval, you refused to let me court you properly so even if I freed you, what good would it be if I couldn't ask you to be my Bride? You gave me no choice, Haru; I had to force you, I had to make you miserable, to test you, to break you into pieces to see just how much I meant to you. I am really, really sorry it had to come to this."

"It doesn't explain why you didn't tell me."

It could have been so much simple. If only Haru had known all these traditions, if he hadn't been so damn proud and stubborn, if Rin hadn't become so suspicious about everybody than it even shook the trust he had in the one he loved the most, if only they had just talked about it...

But Haru stands in front of Rin, and Rin loves him, and Haru loves him back just as much and they are just, both men; and if he concentrates a little Haru can see the giant pink tree and its petals, floating around Rin's face.

"It's because I wanted you to have the choice." He says. "I wanted you to be a free man first. I was scared that if I told you about this before freeing you, you might make the wrong decision. Because, and it's still the case, at that time I was afraid that you'd love freedom better than me. That you'd agree on marrying me just to escape slavery and not because you really wanted to."

Rin stands up from his seat. He walks towards Haru, and takes his hands in his. They eyes lock.

"Haru, you don't owe me anything, okay?" Rin's grip on his fingers is intense, but also hesitant; he sounds really resolved but at the same time he looks scared and totally destitute. "You don't have to stay here. You can go and live the life you want, wherever you want. You can go back to the city and stay with your people. You can walk on the desert and settle in a new village. Or you can decide to stay here, with me; but I didn't get you freedom so I could marry you. I gave you your freedom back so you can decide what to do with it on your own."

Rin has said a lot of things to him, during all those years. A lot of it is probably full of obscenities and of yelling and Haru loves that part of him that can literally drive Rin crazy. Some of it were words of love. But nothing like this. Nothing like what Rin has just told him.

Rin has given away everything they had just to make sure Haru would make his own happiness pass first. He took the risk to lose him forever but didn't care really, as long as it was Haru's choice, as long as he would be happy, as long as Haru was free.

"You...idiot." Haru joins their forehead, as streams of water run on his cheek. "You're nothing but a fucking idiot."

"Ah ah, I am your Prince, Sir Nanase; and I shall warn you that your insolence isn't tolerated anymore within the Palace walls - or I shall punish you myself, very severely."

"Don't be a dick." Rin looks utterly and falsely offended. "To me you're not the Prince. To me you're only Rin. We're the same. We're just two men. I am Haruka Nanase and you, you're just the man I helplessly fell in love with."

Haru stands on tip-toes; his lips moving forward to capture Rin's but the soft skin only falls on the palm of a hand.

"Wait..." Rin mutters something about doing things properly but Haru can't tell; he's too busy laughing about how red Rin's face is. "I need to do something first." And then, Rin releases his hands.

.

Once upon a time there was a young Prince without a father, who had the heavy task of leading his people during an area of hardship. One day, the Prince saw another young boy, about his age, who had eyes as clear as water and he instantaneously fell in love with him. To win his heart, the Prince did everything he could: he learned everything about the boy first, he gave him a comfortable place to stay, he answered all his requests, he learned how to be the best lover the boy would dream to have; and every single day the Prince simply loved him, without asking anything in return. The boys they were became men. But still, even if he knew he would only love him for the rest of his life, the Prince couldn't make him his Bride, because the man was a slave and because the Prince has doubts about his true feelings. As everything the Prince wanted, more than his own happiness, was the one of the man he loved, he decided to free him. He gave his lover the wings he needed to get out of the Palace and to leave his embrace, even if it meant never to see him again.

Against all odds, the man returned; because he shared the Prince's feelings and had been in love with him all his life, so much that freedom couldn't really taste like it if they weren't together to enjoy it.

Today the two lovers are reunited in the holy silence of the Palace's gardens; with their love so powerful that it has made the time stop, at least for a few moments. The two lovers lovingly stare at each other's eyes, as if their love was eternal, as if nothing could disturb the obviousness of their union;

.

And then, to the former slave's greatest surprise,

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The Prince kneels.

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~~ The Favorite - The End. ~~

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"And they lived happily ever after."

Haru closed the book and cast a look at his daughter. The small child had fallen asleep it seemed. Her very tiny hands were out of the pink blanket, curled into fists, her red eyes closed to the pale gleaming of the night-light.

He smiled; he turned the light out, kissed her forehead lovingly and exited her sanctuary, closing the door soundlessly behind him.

In her dreams, the little girl could see the white Palace that was her home. She was walking through the garden on Uncle Sousuke's shoulders, who was walking hand in hand with Aunt Gou. They walked to the big cherry blossom that was blooming just for her eyes. And then, under the pink petals, the little girl could see her fathers hidden from the world, peacefully sleeping in each other's arms.

I hope you liked it. Thank you to everyone who helped me, my betas, my friends. Thanks to the readers as well. Thank you!

It's my first multi chapter ending ever so I feel kinda weird but...hey, everygood things has an end.

See you soon I hope :)

Queenie