Sleeping Prodigy Chapter 1: Prologue, a prince of tennis fanfic

The Sleeping Prodigy by Marla (alternatively known as iceshade or demon m-chan depending on which site this is being posted on) Prologue

Dedicated to a1y puff and tacuma because they inspire me, I love their tezufuji fanfics, and this fractured fairy tale series was their idea first... :sends love and hugs with a shameless pimp: ...read their stuff!

Warnings: sap, AU, crack, fluff, children (in this part), and of course, the GHEY (oh noez)…
Rating: PG-ish for this part
Pairings: TezukaxFuji, hints of Golden Pair, among others which will be revealed later
Disclaimer: I don't have any claims to Prince of Tennis, Konomi-sensei does, and if I was in charge, there would be a lot more canon yaoi... neither do I own Sleeping Beuty, the Disney OR the original fairy tale version

IMPORTANT note: I mention the characters in the western way, (given name, family name) but refer to them by the name you are most likely to know them by, usually the family name. Also, their last names in this type of fic are not actual family names, but closer to a title i.e., Lord Tachibana is really Lord Kippei of the Tachibana provinces/lands/fiefs/etc. but I call him Lord Tachibana and Prince Niou (or just Niou) is really Prince Masaharu of the Niou Kingdom…

And yes, I know I took some liberties with this story, along with certain character relationships, but bear with me please, I needed to make it work somehow, I just could not write a fic without one of my favorite doubles pairs, and Fuji is too smart to prick his finger on a spindle just like that. Also, because one of the things that bothers me about Disney/fairy tales is how they always fall in love at first sight based on external appearances, so Fuji can't sleep for 50, 100, 200, whatever, years because otherwise Tezuka would be too old. See, I tried to plug as many plot holes as possible.

I wrote every rhyme in this fic, don't steal any of them; I actually put effort into making the phrases really rhyme, keeping the timing right, along with them making sense and fitting the mood

I kind of let the characters' personalities bounce off one another, and parts of the fic just wrote themselves

oOoOo

Once upon a time in a faraway land, there lived a king and queen, who, like most royal couples, had trouble conceiving. The name of this place was the land of Fuji, and for a long time had family of the current king and queen ruled with fairness and justice, and the people loved them. But still Queen Yoshiko lacked a child. It was their dearest wish to have a son or to continue their line and rule after them, or a daughter whom they could marry to the prince of the neighboring Kingdom of Tezuka and unite the two kingdoms in peace forever as the King had no other siblings to carry on if he died.

At long last, and after many unsuccessful tries, the queen bore a son. The whole land of Fuji was in shock, as all the magicians and other seers had predicted a daughter. All of them, except one: the seer Yumiko, who was the sister of the queen and had never yet been wrong in her predictions. All the preparations had been made, and there was a lavish party prepared for the whole Fuji Kingdom and two of the closer neighboring lands, Tezuka and Niou. As they had expected the baby to be a princess and not a prince, it was also supposed to be an engagement feast, to celebrate the future union of the baby to one of the princes of those kingdoms once the child turned half a year old, and once the queen bore what turned out to be a boy, it was too late to change the invitations.

As was custom for the time, the king and queen invited all the faeries of their land to the celebrations to honor them as the child's godparents, with the hope that they would bless the newborn prince. They commissioned place settings of gold and precious jewels for the faeries as gifts for their use. They knew of eight faeries that called the Kingdom of Fuji home, but they could only locate seven of them. Though once they had located the first faery, who knew everything and everyone, the other six were quickly located, but the last faery either had disappeared from their world, or was living in solitude and secrecy. Besides, the king and queen were told, that particular faery didn't like parties and rarely attended them. So the king and queen set aside a special place setting in case the eighth faery showed up at a later point in time, for they did not want to seem dishonorable or disrespectful, though they sent out no invitation to the last faery.
The festivities lasted for a week, and all the nobles and royalty of the three kingdoms were in attendance. There were enormous feasts and tournaments with championships and prizes, and many tangible gifts that were exchanged. The whole kingdom was celebrating for they finally had an heir to the throne, and hopefully the great friendship that would grow between their crown prince and the princes of the other lands would lead to a prosperous alliance. There were parades in the streets, and from the richest noble to the poorest commoner there was joyfulness. Even those who could not afford to come to the palace, or make it in time, or fit inside once it got too crowded, were merry and excited.

On the last day of the celebrations the faeries were once again present to present their gifts to the prince, and so were the kings and queens of the Tezuka and Niou Kingdoms with their children. The eldest princes of those kingdoms, Kunimistu and Masaharu, respectively, were only a few years old themselves, but they knew each other well and were looking forward to meeting the person who would be their newest playmate. They stood on their tiptoes and peered over the sides of the newborn prince's cradle with interest.

"That's Prince Syuusuke," a feminine voice said over Niou's shoulders, and the two of them looked up to see Yumiko standing behind him, "he's a very special child with an interesting future, so treat him with care. Had he been born a girl, a princess, one of you would have been engaged to her." The seer smiled at them, her aquamarine eyes seeming to pierce right through their innocent stares.

Just then, the baby prince, who until then had been sleeping quietly, scrunched up his face and turned over, awaking with a hiccup. The other two princes turned back to the baby in time to see him begin to tear up and ball his hands into fists. Just before he could start to begin an all-out tantrum at awaking to strangers and noise, young Prince Tezuka reached into the cradle to take one of Syuusuke's tiny hands in one of his.

"Don't cry Syuusuke," he said to the baby prince, "we'll protect you. Me and Masaru will be your friends forever."

Syuusuke looked up at the contact to see who was there, and immediately calmed down. Blinking rapidly, his mouth spread into a smile and he gurgled happily, opening his also aquamarine eyes and waving his feet and free hand in the air. Tezuka smiled in response, surprising Yumiko, and both of the slightly older princes said a soft hello to baby Fuji. Prince Niou took Syuusuke's other hand in his and, with a grin, began telling him all the fun things they would be able to do together once he was old enough.

With a nod to the queen by one of the faeries, King Fuji walked over to his son's cradle and gently extracted him from the princes' hands and brought him over to the queen who was sitting nearby. She held him gently, and wrapped him in a blanket, for her long-awaited child was everything to her, and she didn't want anything to happen to him. Princes Kunimitsu and Masaharu followed the king in order to be near their new friend. The faeries flew over from where they had congregated and the large hall fell silent in anticipation, as it was time for them to bless the prince.

All seven of the faeries that had been invited were in attendance, and all were prominent enough that practically all the guests knew who each of them were. They greeted Yumiko amicably, as the seer was more in touch with the world of the Fae than most, and they knew each other, before surrounding the queen and newborn. All of them had translucent dragonfly wings, sparkling clothes, and were carrying golden tennis racquets.

The first faery, who had strange black hair that seemed slicked back in parts and shaved off in others, stepped forward, and he was the obvious leader of them all, as he had previously been watching over all of them like a mother hen. "I am the Faery known to you as Oishi," he announced to the Great Hall, "and I represent all seven of us here in expressing our thanks to the rulers and the people of this kingdom. We wish to each bestow a gift upon the young prince in the hopes that he may grow up to be a King and a person that will make us all proud." He raised his golden racquet, transforming it into a simple golden wand which he held above his head, and intoned:

"Spirits of Day and beings of Night,
Patrons of Darkness and creatures of Light;
Warriors' peace and guardians' wars
Release the heavens, set forth the stars,
Grant this boon and hear our plea,
Past, present, and future – so mote it be!"

There was a clap of thunder and Oishi began to glow with a soft light. He waved his wand above Prince Syuusuke, and sparkles fell from the tip to float down and land on the baby, who giggled and tried to grab them from the air. Oishi smiled as he gave the prince his gift.

"Prince, my gift to you is the gift of splendor. Your beauty shall outshine all others, male or female, and you shall be a vision to all who see you. May you always walk in glory and never want for love." The glow faded from around Oishi, and he lowered his wand, which turned back into a golden tennis racquet. The king and queen thanked him and he backed away to let the next faery give his gift.

"Ii data," one of the faeries in the corner muttered under his breath, as he scribbled something down in a small notebook, his glasses hiding his eyes from view.

The second faery was an energetic redhead who spent most of his time hanging onto or around Oishi. He introduced himself as Kikumaru, and repeated the same process as Oishi had before him, speaking the enchantment before waving his wand and giving his blessing to the baby.

Kikumaru waited as the sparks began to fly from his wand. "Prince, my gift to you is the gift of laughter. You shall always have a smile on your face and be able to find the joy in everything; and if you can't you will make it so. May you always find happiness and good humor."

He too lowered his wand and let it turn back into a golden tennis racquet. Again the King and queen thanked the faery, who stepped aside and bounced over to Oishi so the next faery could give his gift. And so they continued in this pattern for the next four faeries.

The third faery, Kaidoh, gave the prince musical talent; the ability to play any instrument and a voice like angels. The fourth faery, Kawamura, gave the prince grace: a gentle je ne sais quoi and a gentle soul to match his outer grace. The fifth faery, Momoshiro, gave the prince courage; strength of body, mind and heart. The sixth faery, Akutsu, gave the prince justice; the mind of a leader, to be both fair and just, to know both when to lead and how to lead. He glared fiercely at everyone as he gave the gift, though he did not show his anger outwardly to the baby, but it was during the seventh's faery's gift that the pattern really changed.

Inui, the faery who had been muttering to himself and writing in a little notebook off to the side for most of the parties, had just finished giving his gift – great intelligence, wit, cunning, and any other synonym that he said could be thought of – when a loud crack split the Great Hall, and an even deeper silence fell throughout the people as a heavy darkness fell throughout the room. A high, eerie laugh rang out, raising the hairs on the back of everyone's necks.

The darkness cleared almost as fast as it had fallen, like thick fog being blown away by a strong wind, and standing in the middle of the Great Throne Room was a young man dressed mostly in dark purples and blacks. He had a black hat that was pulled down over his eyes, but he too glowed and had a pair of translucent dragonfly wings on his back, but he also wore a long black cape. He removed his hat, revealing a pair of golden, cat-like eyes, and held out his hand, revealing a golden tennis racquet, which instead of turning into a golden wand, turned into a long, golden staff with a crystal ball on the end.

"What is this," he shouted out to the room, "there was a party, and I was not invited!? There were tournaments, and I was not given the opportunity to play in them!? You call all the faeries of the land, and yet I am not counted among them to be given honor!? How dare you!"

"Ii data," Inui muttered, once again scribbling in his notebook, and was promptly smacked by Kaidoh.

"Please Your Honor," the king pleaded, coming to the front and kneeling before the faery; "we meant no disrespect, honestly, we were told that you did not like parties, and no one could locate you to send you an invitation anyway. Had we known, we most certainly would have found a way."
"Silence!" the faery roared, "you insult the great Echizen with your words! I too have a gift for the newborn prince, and I am certain it will make his life more interesting."

"We are sorry, Great Echizen," the queen cried out, clutching her now crying infant son even tighter to her chest, "had we known—"

"Had this, had that, had everything," he interrupted her, "ah, Karupin," he said slowly to the fuzzy cat on his shoulder, "what should be the response to such an outrage? Do they really deserve it?"

Raising both his hands above his head, along with the staff, a cloud of energy formed in the crystal on the top as he began to speak again:

"Of course they do. Prince, it is true, you shall always know love and laughter and courage, and your life shall be full of joy and grandiose, and all the other gifts you have been given. There will be no puzzle you will not be able to solve, you shall be loved by all as long as you live, and even the mighty will tremble before you. Until the time comes for you to reach adulthood. My gift to you is this, little prince; your life shall be full of all this for it will end when the time comes for you to be considered a true man." Echizen looked around the room and noticed a tapestry of beautifully spun silk. "By the night of your seventeenth birthday, you will have pricked your finger on a spindle and you will die. But it shall not be quick. You shall endure a full day of immeasurable pain before finally succumbing to true death. And all present now, will be present to watch you break."

"No!" A small voice rang out, halting Echizen in his tracks, "no! You can't!" Echizen looked down to see the young Prince Masaharu of the Niou kingdom standing in front of the queen with his arms outstretched, his eyes burning with anger, and his silver hair in disarray. "You can't do this to the prince, I won't let you! He's my friend and I'm going to protect him. Echizen gave a cruel smile, his lip curling upwards, revealing teeth sharper than any human's.

"I'd like to see you try." He reached out his free hand in front of him and muttered a few words under his breath. A ball of glowing, crackling energy formed in his palm, and he threw it at Masaharu. It speed through the air and struck the prince directly on the chest. Masaharu was thrown backwards into the wall, which he hit with a sickening crack. Kunimitsu broke free of his mother's restraining grasp at her shock, and ran over to his unmoving friend as Echizen laughed. "You shouldn't have interfered, boy," he said as everyone but the king and queen of Fuji and a few others rushed over to the fallen prince. Kikumaru threw himself into Oishi's embrace and buried his face in his beloved's chest, refusing to admit something like this was truly happening as Oishi rubbed soothing hand's up and down the redhead's back.

Echizen moved his staff in the air in a circular motion, letting the energy in his staff swell before he finally sent it at Syuusuke. It hovered over the infant's body for a few seconds before slowly engulfing him and then dissipating. Once it was all gone, Syuusuke stopped crying and fell asleep, so suddenly the queen thought he might have stopped breathing. With one last cackle, there was another crack of thunder and Echizen vanished, leaving the guards the king had sent after him staring bewildered at the spot where he had been standing just moments before.

Silvery tears ran down Queen Yoshiko's face as she held her son tightly, she herself wrapped in the arms of her husband. What would happen if young Masaharu died also? She would never forgive herself, that's what. Why hadn't there been something she could do? Why had no one warned them?

Wait.

"Seer Yumiko," she called, her head snapping up to look for the elusive woman, "Where are you hiding? Why could you not give us any indication that something of this magnitude would happen? We let you come and go as you please, but this is a betrayal of our trust. If Prince Masaharu dies—"

Yumiko stepped out of the shadows, shaking her head. "There are some things I may not tell you, My Queen, whether I see them clearly or not. There are certain things that must be allowed to come to pass. I am sorry My Queen, but I have told you this before also."

"And even if she had seen this, for surely Echizen's power would have blocked some of her Sight if not all of it, we would not have allowed her to tell." Oishi said, still holding onto Kikumaru, "there are restrictions on those with the Sight, and if they do not want it warped, they must obey."

"Masaharu isn't dead, nya," the smaller faery said, meeting the queen's eyes, "and neither is Syuusuke. There is one faery still left to give his gift, he can help your son, and we can help Masaharu."

"There is?" Yoshiko asked, her eyes opening with hope, "could he really save Syuusuke? But, wait… we did not invite another faery, is he mad too? We did not know of his existence, and Lord Inui never informed us."

"Yeah," the pale Akutsu growled, surprising everyone that wasn't of the Fae, for he was not someone that spoke often, "but it's okay, he's a friend of mine, I guess. I brought him here as my guest, I hope you don't mind. He's finished his training a little while ago, and wanted so see us work first-hand or something." He rolled his eyes, "he's a bit shy though, so you probably wouldn't have even known if this hadn't happened. He used to really look up to Echizen before this, so this came as a bit of a shock to him."

Kawamura had walked over to Akutsu, and looked at his shoulder. "Oh! I didn't know he was here, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" He exclaimed, "that's really cool! Aww, he still has the band you gave him."

"Hey, Danny," Akutsu said, also looking at his shoulder, "you should come out now. We need your help." Though his voice was gruff, everyone could hear a faint amount of tenderness under the surface, "you don't have to worry, they're not gonna be mad at you."

A small faery poked his head out from behind Akutsu's shoulder. He was still in his chibi form, and looked around shyly at all the people staring at Akutsu. His shaggy hair was held back by a green headband, which he kept having to push out of his eyes. His eyes were wide and doe-like, and he had one hand buried in Akutsu's hair, presumably helping him keep himself in place on the large faery's body.

"Hi Dan," Yumiko whispered softly, "I'm Yumiko, you might have heard of me before. We're happy to have you, but you need to be in your other form to cast big magic. You're safe here, little one." Dan looked around once again before nodding. He closed his eyes before his form was surrounded by a golden glow, and golden sparkles that swirled around him.

When the light faded, he stood next to Akutsu, one hand holding onto Akutsu's shirt and the other fisted near his mouth like a lost child. And that wasn't that much of an inaccurate description, as the top of Dan's head only reached Akutsu's waist, and he really wasn't sure where he was.

"Your Royal Majesties," he began, bowing to the king and queen of Fuji, "I apologize for showing up like this at your celebration, desu. I hope you can forgive me, I did not mean to cause ripples, desu, but thank you for allowing me to stay. Lord Echizen was once my idol, and maybe I can help make up for this tragedy."

"That's not what matters. Can you save him?" the king and queen asked, hopefuly, "can you remove Echizen's curse?"

Dan shook his head. "Ano… as my friends probably told you, Echizen is too strong for any of us to remove his curse individually, and the laws that bind us prevent us from granting more than one gift to a child, desu," he looked down sheepishly. The royal couple handed their child over to the faery, who proceeded to rock him gently back and forth. "But I can make it so that he doesn't die and doesn't experience pain either, desu. I—I can lessen the curse a bit." He reached behind him and pulled out his golden tennis racquet, which he transformed into his golden wand, and gave to Syuusuke, whom he had woken, to hold before he began.

"Oh he's so cute!" Kikumaru squealed, glomping onto a shocked Dan, "he's so small and adorable! I remember when we were that size!" He would have begun to poke and prod at the small faery, had a warning growl from Akutsu not caused him to freeze.

"Off." Akutsu barked, and Kikumaru shot away from the boy as if he had been burned.

"Nya, sorry, sorry," he hurried to say, holding up his hands and letting out a short laugh.

"I'm small because my magic isn't so powerful, Kikumaru," Dan said wryly, "and I'm more comfortable this way, desu." He turned back to the newborn Prince and began his spell.

"Spirits of Day and beings of Night,
Patrons of Darkness and creatures of Light;
Warriors of peace and guardians of wars
Release the Fates, undo the stars,
Turn back time, and hear my plea,
Erase this blight– so mote it be!"

Syuusuke cooed as the sparkles erupted from the end of Dan's wand, much stronger and brighter than any of the faeries' before. Dan closed his eyes in concentration, as he turned his thoughts outward to Yumiko. "What do you see, desu?" he asked her, speaking in her mind only, smiling as he heard her response.

"I see peace, I see life, I see darkness and light, and I see a castle of thorns. But most of all, I see love. All hope is not lost, Lord Dan. I give you all my power to help." She walked over to the faery and placed her hands on his shoulders. Dan nodded.

"My gift to you, my prince, is thus: you shall not die, but only sleep, to lie in wait in sheltered keep. If spindle shall your finger prick, to enter into Life's great trick; dead to all, yes, you shall seem; at peace you'll be, alive in Dream. In sheltered walls to lie in wait, the flow of time depends on Fate. How many years one cannot tell, in slumber remained within this spell. And if you indeed the curse shall take, with true love's kiss the hex will break. Yet if first light of morning come and this prince still alive in sun, with you awake to gaze on all – be darkness gone, be evil done."

Dan opened his eyes, noticeably drained, as was Yumiko, and quickly handed the little prince over to his parents so he wouldn't drop him. Once he was sure Syuusuke's parents had a good hold on their son and he had his wand back in hand, Dan promptly passed out, only Akutsu's quick reflexes catching him before he hit the floor.

"Thank you Akustu, desu," he whispered, looking up at the man who held him. Akutsu only grunted in response, looking anywhere but the boy.

"You didn't need to make it rhyme, squirt."

"I know, desu, but rhyming makes a spell more powerful, remember?"

Akutsu only grunted again, and everyone else was silent.

"We can help Prince Masaharu," Oishi said finally, speaking to the kings and queens of Niou, Tezuka and Fuji, "but we need to take him and raise him with the Fae, with us, for a while. We can heal him, though that will take time, but to cleanse his body of the magics that Echizen forced upon him would take even more time; maybe more than ten whole years, I can't tell." Oishi shook his head in resignation, "I'm so sorry, but it's the only thing we can do to save him."

Kunimistu, who held his dead-to-the-world friend in his arms, looked up at the faeries with tears in his eyes. "But you can save him," he asked, "you wouldn't let him die, would you?" the faeries turned to the small boy at this, and Kawamura, the gentlest of all of them, kneeled down next to Kuminitsu, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We can," he replied softly, "but we would have to take him with us. He cannot stay in your world and survive. It would mean losing your friend for most of your childhood." The boy thought about this for a little while before nodding.

"I know it's not my decision, but I would rather have my friend alive and well yet not be able to see him, than knowing it was my stubbornness that caused him to die," he paused, "and I'll still get the chance to see him again once he gets all better."

Kawamura smiled down at him, "that's right, Kunimitsu, you would still get to see him once he gets all better."

"From the mouth of babes…" murmured one of the royals, "this child is wise beyond his years, Kuniharu, he will be a great man someday." Kuniharu, the king of Tezuka, grunted in agreement.

The Queen of Niou stepped forward, and all the Faeries could see where the young prince had gotten most of his features from, and approached the faeries. She held her dress daintily in her hands and curtseyed slightly before them.

"If I let you take my son," she began, "will you promise to care for my Masaharu as if he were your own? I would not let him die, but I would not have in grow up in a place without love either. And I want him back once he is healed. I can still have more children, but he is our heir."

"You wouldn't have to worry about that, my lady;" Oishi hurried to say, "the birth of an infant is so rare for the Fae, that all children are treated like precious stones. I give you my word that I would raise Prince Masaharu as if he were my own. But as for returning him, we would have to give him his own choice, as no Fae can truly force a human to do anything short of using their magic."

"Your majesty, if I may," Yumiko put in softly from where she was leaning on Kaidoh's shoulder, "I do see one thing in your son's future, should this be the path you take…" she waited until the queen gave her the nod to continue, "your son will find love, and I see an unexpectedly long amount of time spent with Prince Syuusuke, though the baby prince will find his own future, but you must agree that you will not judge your son based on the person he chooses to be his other half. You must not arrange a marriage for Prince Masaharu, but rather let him find love on his own. The Fae are very protective of their young, as they said, and if what I see comes to pass, they will defend the prince to their last breath, and if you retaliate it could result in a war."

"This is true," Inui affirmed, putting one of his notebooks away for the moment, "and I would not doubt what the Seer Yumiko sees, as she has a gift greater than anyone I have ever known."

"Thank you Inui," Yumiko replied, placing a hand to her heart as she looked at the floor in a rare show of humility, "coming from you that is one of the greatest honors I could receive." With word to Kaidoh, he gently placed Yumiko against the wall before walking over to the rest of the faeries.

"We are sorry that something like this had happened, but we will be back to make sure everything is going right," Oishi said, "Until we meet again."

Queen Niou bid her son a tearful farewell as Oishi took Masaharu into his arms, already glowing as he began to heal the young prince with his magic. Momoshiro and Kawamura together held Dan and as a group they all lifted into the air and began to glow with a soft light. Their wings beating fast, the glow grew brighter until everyone in the hall had to look away. Once the light cleared and everyone could see again, the eight faeries were gone.

oOoOo

A few years past since the tragedy of Prince Syuusuke's gift ceremony, and the Queen of Fuji once again found herself to be with child. Instead of doing what most of the nobles expected and banning all spindles from their country and burning them, they only banned them from the castle; waiting until the prince was old enough to understand, before beating it into his head every day and night that he was never to touch a spindle, so that should he ever come across one he would know to stay clear of it. It was in the lull between the birth of their second child, who was to be named Yuuta, and his christening ceremony that Yumiko appeared before the queen, with Dan and Inui in attendance, with disparaging news. Akutsu stood at the doorway silently with his arms crossed, watching over the smaller faery.

"Are you sure?" Yoshiko asked, shocked, "there is no other way?"

"I have seen it in the fire," Yumiko responded somberly, "and Inui has collected it in his data. Lord Echizen's anger has only somewhat been abated, though the invitation to Prince Yuuta's celebration was a major step. Were he to appear and realize the spell that Dan has placed on Syuusuke to lessen his curse, he would most surely fly into a rage.

"Are you sure?" Yoshiko asked, shocked, "there is no other way?"

"I'm sorry my queen," Inui continued, "We are also afraid that if Echizen finds out about what Dan did to his curse he will add on to it. He might make it so that Syuusuke will never truly wake up, or something even worse." Inui sighed, flipping though his notebook, "we have calculated that Syuusuke's best chances of survival would be if we spirited him away before Prince Yuuta's christening, and raised him until we are sure the time span for the curse has passed. We would keep him safe and hidden and you wouldn't have to worry. Excessively."

"He wouldn't be alone," Dan reminded the queen, "Prince Masaharu is still with us, desu, so he wouldn't want for a companion."

There was a long moment of silence where the queen just sat and stared at the baby she held in her arms. "Do we have your permission, my queen?" Yumiko asked, "I would be able to be in contact with them over the years."

"Thirteen years," Yoshiko said finally, "Syuusuke is over four years old right now, and Echizen's curse is supposed to take affect the year he turns seventeen, so I want my son back by the time he turns eighteen. That means that in thirteen years from now you must return him to me."

"Whatever," Akutsu broke in, ignoring Dan's shocked; "Akutsu, be polite, she's the queen, desu!" and Inui's muttered; "Ii data." He took a few steps forward, "as long as you agree now, we're fine."

"Yes, Akutsu," Yoshiko said, turning to face him, though her eyes remained closed, "but it would do you good to remember who rules here."

"Of course, your majesty," the three of them chorused, Akutsu after being elbowed discreetly by Inui, bowing to her before the three faeries vanished from the room, leaving Yumiko there alone with the queen.

"You knew," Yoshiko said to Yumiko, not really stating it as a question.

"Yes." Yumiko replied, "but it was not certain, and so I could not warn you. Echizen will learn of what they did, and he will be angry, but by removing the prince from the direct path of danger, his retaliation shall be greatly lessened."

"I understand somewhat," the queen sighed, "but this is what's best for my son, and so I must."

"Everything shall all be resolved in the end," Yumiko said cryptically, "maybe even better than we hoped." And with that, Yumiko curtsied to Yoshiko before they both lapsed once more into silence.

oOoOo

Oishi kneeled in front of Prince Syuusuke with Kikumaru standing by his side. The prince looked with wide eyes as the faery with the strange hairstyle spoke to him, and explained what was going to happen to him for the next chunk of his life. He had said goodbye to his parents and baby brother, and was waiting for them to begin.

"We won't erase your memories of the first four years of your life; only suppress them," Oishi said slowly, "when the time is right, you will recall everything, but until then we will raise you as a commoner. No one may know who you truly are, and we will have to change your name. Do you understand prince?"

"I understand," Prince Syuusuke replied, "if mother, father and Yumiko-nee trust you, then I trust you too."

Oishi nodded to signal he was ready, and closed his eyes. He waved his hand across Syuusuke's face once, and the prince's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell asleep, falling to the floor. "The next time you wake up little prince, you won't remember anything," Oishi whispered as Kikumaru picked the boy up, "all you'll know is us." He stood up and watched the redheaded faery rock Syuusuke gently.

"Living as mortals," Kikumaru said finally, breaking the silence, "can you imagine it? All of us together without our magic, Inui is going to go nuts having to collect data normally."

"Do you think we can do it? Live like mortals and still be good guardians, I mean. Humans have so many limits." Oishi walked over to Kikumaru and wrapped an arm around his shoulders; "can we be the type of parents they need, even like this?"

"I trust you Oishi," Kikumaru replied, leaning into the other faery's touch and resting his head on Oishi's shoulder, "you're the most nurturing and caring of all of us, and if anyone can do it, it's you. And you're forgetting, that as Fae we also had limits and rules we had to follow, rules that will no longer apply in this self-imposed exile. Now that we're going to be living as mortals, we can finally be together truly"

"Together? You mean—?"

"Yeah," Kikumaru said shyly, blushing as he looked down at the child in his arms, "we can finally be bonded. It's permitted for morals, even magical ones, whereas it was forbidden for faeries. Not only in spirit, but in flesh too. We won't have to hide anymore."

"Thank you Eiji," Oishi whispered, hugging him tighter and pressing a kiss to his temple. "Thank you, for everything."

"I'd do anything for you Oishi," Kikumaru hummed, feeling true happiness for the first time since the prince of Fuji had been curse those years ago. The two were silent together for a few moments before silently calling out to the rest of the faeries, and all of them left the castle to take the prince into hiding.

TBC…

yes, all the guy are fairies... snerk... XD :is bane!kicked:

Please review! all comments are greatly appreciated, and flames will be used to, I dunno... toast marshmallows or something...

two last things: 1. I will NEVER just abandon a fic unless I explicitly say so, so even if I do't update for a while, don't consider it dead, and
2. I also post stuff on my livejournal (link under "homepage" in my ff profile), under the username iceshade, so you can check there also for stuff, as I will most likely post there first

thank you in advance!