Slumping into the cushy chair, Yuri leaned his neck back in order to search for the top of the piles of paperwork. Oddly enough, the contours did ring out a rather fitting Alpine skyline. He hung his head dejectedly, in doing so, spotting his feather quill and bottle of ink.

He wondered about making a stamp, but figured Gunter would protest, especially with how things seem to go missing from the palace…

As he reached for the quill he felt his skin brush against a soft, cashmere-like textured knit. His hand detoured in order to grab it, pulling it from behind the pile, he smiled warmly. Sure he hated wearing all the cutesy clothes, but somehow the bear-bee cap just couldn't make him flinch, it really was too adorable to detest. He could tell this one was new, too. It wasn't a true cap, more like a wide hair band, the fabric knitted about fifteen centimeters in height with two protrusions for ears and two flaps at the bottom, the color a soft crème shade that would accentuate his black hair poking out from the top and underneath the lip.

Smiling, Yuri stood up and approached a mirrored tray in order to put it on to model.

"Wow! Sugoi!" Yuri approved, making a now serious face, he returned to the desk thankful that Gwendel was such an avid knitter, and liked him as a prospective brother-in-law and maoh. He eyed the paperwork, alright, maybe not as maoh… if he hadn't made the headgear, Yuri was sure, the alps would be missing the Romanian borders. He sighed before taking up the quill and bottle of ink, setting forth in signing.

Yuri was surprised when the person to interrupt his paperwork ritual was no-other than Gwendel, himself, Conrad not far behind him as he discussed matters with Gunter.

"Yuri-heika, your other duties require your attention…" Gwendel began, he hesitated upon seeing his cap donned by their ruler. A blush crept up his cheeks until Conrad nudged him pleasantly, stiffly, in the back between his ribs. "Hm, yes, currently you are needed to inspect the city-works project."

Letting out a low groan, Yuri cracked his back while stretching upright, putting the quill down. "I hardly even dented the pile, though, if all this keeps up I'm not going to be able to get to rest 'til I'm… Conrad, how long to half-Mazoku tend to live?"

"Well into their four-hundreds, Heika."

"I see, thanks, until I'm 440."

"If it takes you that long to finish signing all the paperwork I'll personally…" Gwendel cut short his internal 'kill you' to, in the same pleasant way Conrad nudged him, substitute, "work on it while you're inspecting them."

Yuri turned his head, "A public-works project, though? In Shin Makoku? Which city?"

"Ah," Gunter began to spin about in epic poses as his arms outstretched, lecture mode on, "Heika, after you inspect the new city it will be honored by the name you deem worthy for it! After all, as the 27th Maoh of Shin Makoku and the reason for the village's construct, it is only appropria—eh?"

Before Gunter could finish the sentence, Yuri was out of his seat rushing for the courtyard, "Why didn't you say it was their village! Come on! Let's go! I can't wait to see how they're all settling in!" Yuri smiled, Conrad quickly matching pace to keep up with the teen.

"Oh, heika!" Cheri waved excitedly upon spotting him, clutches of fabric in her grasp. Conrad felt the tell-tale prickles of nervous sweat as Yuri, and he slowed know that was the wrong response for now. "There you are! Mou, I've been telling Gwen-Gwen to schedule some time with you two for consultation."

Yuri turned his head to the side, "Eh?"

"Well, we have so much planning to do! After all, there's the flowers, the colors, the location, cuisine, guest lists… not to mention your…"

"EH?!" Yuri's eyes went wide, apparently Cheri really would be planning the wedding, he thought she just wanted to meddle, not actually, well… she had a portfolio seven inches thick with planning information!

"Mother, unfortunately, at this moment Yuri-heika must hurry to attend a meeting at the new village. We can discuss these finer details later tonight, at dinner perhaps?" Conrad said, bowing politely and cutting off his own mother's tangents knowing just how excited she became. It was in his life-experiences how he had learned to keep her from putting the cart before the horse in anything romantic.

"Oh, no fair, here you are, having hogged him for months and months at a time," She elbowed him suggestively, "doing who knows what with him and that innocent face and now you're denying me the pleasure of…"

"Who's denying you anything, mother?" Conrad's scarred eyebrow rose, "Earth does not have the same time-flow as here. Although holing him off for months between the two of us isn't particularly unpleasant of a thought to me, as I'm sure you could understand."

Cheri blushed, "Oh Conrart! I knew you took after me, you're such a romanticist!" She clutched Conrad to her chest to squeeze him tightly, Yuri watched the banter go back and forth, blushing as Cheri pressed her son's face to her bosom until he was pulled into the same embrace which made him turn even more deeply crimson. Between Conrad's face being next to his, and being pressed to a woman's… very well endowed breasts, it was enough to make any healthy, normal teenage boy turn colors.

Yuri pulled back, after making sure to keep his hands out and away from her in a way that screams 'this is platonic even if I AM turning scarlet' reaction. "Aha, ha… Cheri-sama, we really have to… go to the… a…"

"Village." Conrad finished for him, having freed himself from his enthused mother. "Gwendel will surely be able to schedule a meeting once Yuri has caught up with his works and duties. Until then, he still needs to recover from using his majestic powers back on Earth."

Seemingly pleased with that, Cheri smiled, "Alright. I'll just run some of the color-schemes by him to help narrow it down." She pointed happily.

"Uh… wait…" Yuri's hand stuck out, Conrad shook his head telling him to let it drop there, his hand did just that as he muttered loud enough for Conrad to hear, even with Cheri's squeals in time with her retreat, "…but he's going to pick cutesy colors like pinks, isn't he? That'll be almost as bad as one of us actually really WEARING a dress…"

Conrad laughed into his knuckle, "I'm sure he wouldn't be so insensitive to our own tastes. He does have a good grasp on our personalities after all. Besides, we can always decide else-wise later."

"…True."

"So, let's head to the village now, I'm sure Minami-san and Kiyosuke-san will be glad to see you." He smiled, particularly happy when that same reaction spread to Yuri.

"You're right. We have time to deal with that later."

Conrad's fingers found the tips of Yuri's black bangs that protruded from the crème headpiece, "Of course."

Yuri smiled before leaning in close to Conrad, kissing him, the sounds of a wolf-whistle and whooping made him quickly spin to spot several soldiers cheering for their captain and Yozak, fingers still touching to his lips.

Conrad smiled confidently before waving at them, even as Yuri wilted in embarrassment.

"We can continue that in the carriage if you'd prefer." Conrad smirked, his hand pressed behind Yuri's back and to his shoulder guiding him onward.

"Oh, um, y-yeah." Stammering, blushing, Yuri agreed before turning back to face Conrad. Taking Conrad's hand in his own, they walked albeit awkwardly with the two points of contact to the carriage where Conrad helped him inside. "So, how far away is the village from here?" Yuri asked, Gunter and Gwendel having caught up to accompany the royal couple.

"A quarter-day's ride, we should be back tonight in time for the court dinner." Gwendel informed.

"…Anou, you're coming too? You didn't want to stay behind? Its unusual for you and Gunter to both leave like this…"

"We're staying in Shin Makoku and you need a royal guard, your fiancé can hardly be seen as the only one taking you about, even if it is unannounced."

"…You're saying that so we can't elope?" Yuri asked.

Gunter smiled, "That is correct, if you did that, the allied countries would fear political ramifications, that it might mean you were ready to proceed to war."

Eyes widening, Yuri looked at Conrad shocked.

"Once you've gone on the circuits that sort of concern will easily be forgotten, of course, Yuri." Conrad informed, kissing Yuri's hand within the private audience.

"Oh thank goodness." Yuri turned to face Gwendel, not really tempting the fates to ask what was being done for the paperwork, but the dark-grey haired Mazoku seemed to catch on.

"Under these very narrow circumstances, Anissina was more than happy to volunteer in the assistance with this. She's taken a liking to the leader of their village."

"…You mean Mi--"

"Of course I'm talking about Kiyosuke. She and Minami will never meet. Ever." Gwendel's face darkened threateningly, "EVER."

Yuri nodded sheepishly, "…Ahaha, uh, right… ever. But she likes Kiyosuke? That's strange, isn't it? I didn't think he would be her type…" He paused to think as to why Minami was able to stay so close to Kiyosuke, the fact that she escorted a handful of children over, the wheel clicking, "Wait! Minami and Kiyosuke aren't together are they? Minami got along with him, and those two are so much alike, but I didn't think those two got along like that, after all Minami has her own child and husb…"

"It appears Kiyosuke is her half-brother." Gwendel informed, trying to end those thoughts on the matter there. "Whether they get along for that reason or otherwise I do not know nor do I wish to know. She appears to be married though, yes."

Yuri let out a breath, "Oh, I see." Yuri glanced at Conrad demonstrating in his black orbs that he was still a bit confused.

"They seem like they were close, growing up. It might be a strange take of a brother-complex?" Conrad smiled, teasing Yuri just a bit about Shori, "Oh, well, in this case as it appears mutual, maybe a sister-complex is the better way to state it."

With that, Yozak approached the carriage, bowing he explained, "I'll be your driver today, Heika… Captain, please enjoy the scenery, I'll try not to interrupt any further impromptu make-out sessions. Though Captain, you dog you… out in the open air like that."

"Yozak!" Conrad's hand reached the hilt of his sword, ending the conversation at that.

And with that, the group rode into the noon sun, knowing that by day's end the royal couple would ride back in by carriage into the setting sun.

The End.

A/N: This will be continued in future stories within this series. To all of the readers keeping tabs on the story, thank you, please continue to R & R! I hope to see your reviews in future chapters.

(So far, the timeline has made this Self-Restraint-Necromancer-Endangered Hearts (please read it, I swear it has more to offer than KeeRam and MuRam, it does give back story for future parts!)-Lured Away from this Life- on aff-dot-net Lemonade for Hangovers. More is on the way, again, so please look forward to it!) I'll try to come up with a series name soon so I can just state that and then it's number in there. ((May 30, 2008)) Also! Thank you for getting me up to so many reviews! I'd love to see the story hit 110 and thus beat out my record with a story in a different fandom (that is "slightly" longer) but I'm still happy just getting as many as I have! You guys rock!