A/N: I just HAD to do something about this. Forgive me for betraying my Yuuri x Wolfram addiction! And, uh, warning: this fic is not beta'd. I do not have a beta, but I hope my writing comes up to scratch.

The Broken Trinity

By: Magician April Aries

Prologue: Splintering

Even at the best of times, the palace wasn't exactly quiet; there were always maids scurrying about, soldiers patrolling the halls, and of course the regular mishap occurring. Today, however, was one of those days.

"You wimp! You coward! And you call yourself a king?!"

Passers-by winced at the loud, furious voice echoing down the halls. "I wonder what's gotten into Lord von Bielefeld this time?" whispered one of the chatty maids.

Another smiled knowingly. "It has to be another lover's quarrel with His Majesty."

"Wolfram, calm down!" they heard Yuuri holler back at the hot-tempered prince "I didn't mean it the way it sounded! Oh, for crying out loud—"

"Calm down?" Wolfram raged. "Just once, why don't you try growing a backbone? You wimp!"

"Put that down!" Yuuri yelled back. They heard the sound of something crashing against the wall.

"I'll bet that their room will be a real job to clean up later," sighed one of the maids.

"Do you think it's another cover-up for their passionate love for each other?" giggled one clutching a large basket piled with laundry.

"Oh no! I've been betting on Lord Weller all this time!" protested another one. "It has to be them. Didn't you see the necklace he gave His Majesty?"

"We all have," the first one answered tartly. "But that doesn't necessarily mean that His Majesty feels the same way about him. His heart already belongs to Lord von Bielefeld."

"What a tragic love for Lord Weller, then," sighed the other one, swooning.

"No, you're wrong. It's Lord von Bielefeld's love that's one-sided. His Majesty obviously returns Lord Weller's feelings."

Murata Ken smiled inwardly as he overheard their conversation. Since the past year, eh had abandoned the temple—Ulrike was managing admirably without him, perhaps even better without his distracting presence—and left it to attend to duties within the palace instead. Really, the palace maids meant no harm, and they were obviously bored stiff with their duties; besides, their idle gossip wasn't hurting anyone. Instead, he hurried past them with a polite greeting, which they duly returned.

But not without hearing them say, "What about the Great Sage?"

"Oh, His Highness? Well, he's a double black just like His Majesty. They're both from that other world. And they are close to each other. Maybe their friendship is just a mask for their deep love for each other!"

One of the soldiers passing by stared at the convulsive laughter on the Great Sage's face. "Your Highness, are you all right?"

"Perfectly fine, thank you," he replied, mildly irritated that he had had to stop to answer the question. Wasn't it obvious that he was in a hurry? "Go on, now."

As the soldier saluted him and marched away, the maids kept on mumbling something as they flitted back and forth from their duties. "What do you think about Lord von Bielefeld and the Great Sage?"

"You think that there's something there?" one of them asked.

"Well, they seem to treat each other differently. You know, Lord von Bielefeld usually goes crazy at the sight of His Majesty even talking to someone else. And even though he was the same way with the Great Sage at first, he doesn't bother anymore!"

"Ooh, you're right!"

Murata's smile vanished.

By the time that the Great Sage had gotten to them, they were already past the screaming-and-ranting stage, and had moved on to the Wolfram-sulking-as-Yuuri-tried-to-appease-him stage. Later on there would be the Yuuri-gave-up stage, and the young king would stalk off to do something else; probably baseball, if Günter didn't force him into one of his lessons. And that would be followed by the Wolfram-awkwardly-apologizes-while-insulting-him stage, with Yuuri readily accepting just so that they could be friends again.

"Hello," Murata said as he stuck his head in. The rest of the palace would rather have died than face the wrath of the quarreling twosome, and they considered the Great Sage to be either very brave or very stupid. "What's all the noise about?"

Yuuri made an exasperated noise. "Wolfram here—"

"Oh, so now it's my fault?" Wolfram shot back sharply.

"That's not what I said! Can't a king say two words without being accused around here?"

Murata gave them one of his placid smiles. "I see that there's a bit of a conflict here…"

Wolfram shook his head. "I'm going out," he said abruptly, walking by the Great Sage to exit the room.

"You should really keep your temper in check," Murata murmured as he passed him.

"You think that I don't know that, Great Sage?" was Wolfram's dull reply.

Yuuri rubbed the back of his neck. "It really wasn't my fault, Murata. He just flew off the handle like he usually does."

"What were you going on about, anyway?"

The king shrugged. "I was telling him about home."

"Home?"

"Yeah. Japan. You know… earth." Yuuri's eyes clouded. "He seemed upset for some reason when I told him all about our school and our friends and my family. Then he asked me why I was still here, if I liked it so much. And then I told him that I liked this place too. He asked me to choose, and I said that I couldn't."

Murata sighed. There were times when Shibuya Yuuri could be very, very dense. "Listen, Shibuya…"

"Are you going to tell me that I was insensitive again?"

"Yes."

Yuuri threw his hands up in frustration. "Well, what was I supposed to say? How about, 'Gee, Wolfram, you're right! Maybe I should just abandon this place! Or better yet, abandon my family and home forever!'"

"I'm not blaming you for saying what you did, Shibuya. But Wolfram's a bit…"

"Insane, is the right word," Yuuri mumbled.

Murata could see a lost battle. Yuuri was annoyed, and also partly in the right. At this point, he would have to take the battle elsewhere if he hoped to mend things between the two. "Okay, okay. I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?"

"To see Wolfram, naturally."

Yuuri's expression cleared. "Oh." He hesitated a moment. "When you see him, tell him I'm sorry, will you?" he asked awkwardly. "I don't know exactly what I did wrong, but I can tell that I upset him. And I didn't mean to. I just… well, tell him that I love it here. That I consider it to be my home as well as Japan."

"Sure, I'll tell him."

The young king smiled. "Thanks for being a mediator again, Murata. Sure it isn't too much trouble for you?"

"No problem."

The hardest part about this was the let's-look-for-Wolfram part of the game. He could be anywhere, depending on what part of his currently mixed-up, pissed off mind was controlling him at the moment. He searched the training grounds, the garden, even retraced his steps to see if Wolfram had decided to return to his room with Yuuri. Eventually he found him in the bath.

Wolfram blinked at him from the middle of the enormous bath, bubbles and pink mist all around him. "You found me," he said, looking less angry than before. "I figured that now that you're finished with the wimp, you would locate me eventually. Although I rather hoped that you wouldn't think of coming here."

"I looked everywhere else. I was bound to come here eventually."

Wolfram sighed. "That wimp makes me so mad sometimes." He frowned. "Could you go? I'm kind of… you know, bathing?"

"Shibuya told me to tell you he was sorry," Murata said, instead sitting down near the edge of the gigantic… well, it was hardly a tub; more like a chest-deep swimming pool, really. "He said that this place is his home too."

"I'm over it by now, really," Wolfram returned, completely forgetting that he had just asked the Great Sage to leave. "I just wish that sometimes, you know, he would make a choice. About his real home."

"He will, eventually. He has to."

"And about me."

"He'll have to choose about that too."

"I tried to be patient, I really have. I know that he's going against a lifetime of teachings and principles here. But for all his preaching of free love and whatever, he sure is a hypocrite."

Murata smiled sadly down at him. "Whatever choice Shibuya makes…"

"It's up to him now," Wolfram said, cutting him off He ducked under the water with a splash.

"And what if he doesn't love you, Wolfram?" Murata wondered softly. It was a good thing that the young prince couldn't hear him underwater, or else he would have either received a scathing comment or a pensive one. He didn't know which he would have preferred.

Wolfram resurfaced, his green eyes now tranquil. "Okay, I have to apologize to the wimp too," he said reluctantly. "I guess I did overreact. Can you toss me that towel?" He caught it deftly. "Thanks." He dried his hair with it. Then he hesitated. "Uh… would you mind…?"

"Oh. Yes, I understand," Murata said, immediately retreating. He left, closing the door behind him. Oh Shinou… if Shibuya doesn't love him back, what then?

A/N: Okay, okay, I know it isn't all that great yet, but I promise to upload soon if I get enough people interested in this. So please review? ; ) I reply to all reviews, and I appreciate the criticism along with the praise.