*Yuko*

Yuko stared at her master as he mixed some chopped up carrots, eggs, milk, and butter into a sticky dough.

Yuko jotted down the steps in the tiny notebook in her hands.

"Oh, your handwriting has gotten better," Master said as he looked over my shoulder.

Yuko blushed. "T-thanks. Ximena taught Yuko and Nori during down time."

"During your training? You didn't play?"

Yuko tilted her head and looked up at the bright kitchen lights. It wasn't as big as the one from the palace, but it was still pretty fancy. It was obvious a prince had this place built.

"Yuko doesn't know what to play." Yuko stared at her notebook. "But learning is fun."

Master smiled. "Sometimes. Still, think you should play some games." He sighed. "If only we didn't need to get Agnes fixed in Xeleria. Those carnival games probably would've done you some good."

"Those throwing ones?" Yuko asked, flicking a non existent ball toward the entrance. "They seem easy."

"They do?"

Yuko smiled at Master. "Yeah. Yuko's great at throwing."

Master chuckled. "Oh, yeah. You stabbed an abysmal with your knife from a far during one of our first trips to Abyssia."

Yuko reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a golden pen-like object.

"Yuko needs to get this back to the bunny."

"The bunny? Conrad?"

Yuko nodded. "Yeah. This seems to have been his."

"Right, that angel girl who appeared from it seems to have known him."

Yuko pressed the pen against her chest. "Yuko senses a lot of sadness. But also a hint of joy. I think she's glad to be close to her friend again, but also worried."

"Makes sense."

Yuko smiled at Master. "Yuko's sister is also looking forward to seeing her friend. Hopefully this cake and the stew given the bunny the energy to hop."

Master snorted.

"W-what?" Yuko asked, blushing.

"You're so adorable."

Yuko's face felt tingly as it turned bright red.

Master chuckled more. "What? Don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot?"

"Yuko doesn't mind," Yuko said, fidgeting.

His laughter died down. "Say, how can you understand some expressions?"

Yuko's ears wiggled underneath her hat. "Mean mi- Master's father was fond of them."

He picked up the bowl. "I see. Ya know, ya don't have to stop yourself from calling him 'mean mister'. He might be my father, but that doesn't clear him of his crimes. I still think him being separated from us might be his punishment for what he did to ya."

Yuko lowered her head. "So Master's family is suffering for Yuko, Nori, and big sis's justice? If so, Yuko will forgive him. Yuko doesn't want Master's family to be sad."

Master removed one of his oven mittens and patted Yuko's head. "It's fine."

"Hey, if Rosa sees you two, she's going to be jealous again," Serrano said as he walked over to us.

Master slowly let go of Yuko's head. "I'm just being friendly."

The crown princess who followed behind him narrowed her eyes at Master. "Yeah, right."

Master turned his head toward the oven. He remained strangely quiet. What was he thinking?

"Hey, how is the food coming along!" Rosa yelled as she burst into the kitchen with Yuko's sister. Master nearly dropped the bowl in his hands as he poured it into a pan by the oven.

"Good," Master said with a nervous smile.

Master... Was he undecided still? Had Yuko and Rosa put pressure on him to do so? Yuko didn't like seeing him like this. Yuko loved her master, but she also wanted him to be happy.

The little princess frowned. "You alright?"

Setty crossed her arms. "Caught him being a flirt. Seems his guilt has gotten to him."

Serra sighed and grabbed the big princess on the shoulders. He pulled her away.

"H-hey! What are you doing?"

"Taking you away of course. This isn't something you should get involved in."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "We talked about this before. I'm only looking out for Rosa."

Yuko's sister leered at Master. "Don't blame you. That said, I do recommend being quiet. Else you might put your foot in your mouth like I did."

Master huffed. "Setsuko does that a lot but never learns."

"Hey, don't make this about me!"

Rosa sighed. "Stop arguing." The princess averted her gaze. "Plus, I feel we should lay off the pressure for him to decide. If he takes too long, I'll just move on." She laughed as she finished talking.

Tetsu grumbled. "How is that laying off the pressure?"

Yuko patted his arm.

Master smiled and returned to his task.

"Come, I'll make you something something nice," Serrano said, nudging his fiancee.

The big princess looked over her shoulder. "Are you trying to pacify me with food?"

Serrano laughed nervously. "Maybe."

She scoffed. "Such as?"

Master's cousin smiled. "I was thinking of cooking up some potatoes. We got some out in the field. Assuming they're still good. The downpour before we left to meet you five knights might have wiped them out."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You cared for potatoes all these years?"

He nodded. "Well, more like Takuya and Teresa did. I allowed them to use this land. Not like I had any need for it, being a college student and all."

"The land of this valley produces tasty root vegetables," Master's brother said as he walked over to us. He pointed at the stew with his thumb. "Ya'll see once the stew is done."

"Interesting. Make me this potato dish you have in mind and I might calm down," Setsuko said with a smile as she nodded her head.

"What a princess," Master said, laughing.

Setsuko shot him a glare.

"Hey, don't start again. I'll be back! Let me go get those potatoes!"

Setsuko sighed and followed after him. "Let me join you. I'm curious to see uncle's lands."

"Only if you don't use your powers. Knowing you, you might break them."

The big princess leered at him as he opened the back door. "My earth control is better now. I bet I can take them all out without damaging any."

Serrano laughed. "Maybe you can try later."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, worrywart."

"Poor Serra sure has his hands full with that one," Master said once they were gone.

"Hey, Setty is nice!" Rosa said. She fidgeted. "Though, sometimes she can be pretty intense." She laughed. "But so are you. Must've been hard on Serra to have such domineering cousins."

"H-hey!"

The sword knight snickered as he walked into the kitchen with Kohri, the scary knife guy, and Hideo's shy sister.

"Can't talk about Tetsuya, but that Setsuko was a handful," the raven-haired knight said. He rubbed his shoulder and sighed. "Felt as if she would dislocate my arm several times with her pulling."

"Scary," Yuko mumbled.

The little princess jumped at the sound of the door of the kitchen suddenly opening. A glossy-eyed Conrad made his way over to us. "Carrots..." he mumbled as he made his way toward Takuya's pot.

Takuya chuckled. "It'll be ready in a few."

Conrad opened the pot, not heeding a word Master's brother said.

"C-Conrad?" Yuko's big sis asked.

"How odd, I know he loves carrots a lot, but he usually isn't this distracted. Poor bunny boy must be hungrier than usual," Kohri said.

"I think he might be sleepwalking," Hyosetsu said.

Naoru dashed over to him and snapped his fingers.

Conrad blinked and looked down at the boiling pot of carrot stew. "Food!"

Master's brother chuckled as he took the lid back from him. "Yeah, but it's not ready yet. Wait a little bit."

He sighed and turned away. "Okay..." Conrad blinked as he noticed Naoru. "Oh, grumpy pants two! What are you doing here?"

Naoru's left eye twitched. "W-what did you call me? Wait, who is one?"

Conrad glanced at Hyosetsu but quickly turned away. He smiled. "I rather not say."

The sword knight sighed. "It's obvious who you mean."

The bunny boy lowered his head. "Sorry. Thank you too."

Hyosetsu tilted his head. "What are you thinking me for?"

He raised his head. "For saving me! If not for you, I would've continued hurting all of you, or worse."

The sword knight sighed. "You? That wasn't you. That was Ifrit."

Kohri grinned. "Yeah. Grumpy pants two is right, it was that demon who made you do it."

The bunny smiled. "Be nice to your big brother, Kohri."

Kohri patted his brother's back. "What do you mean? I'm always nice!"

The sword knight removed his brother's hand from his back. "Yeah, right."

Master chuckled. "Though, you aren't wrong to call him a grumpy pants."

Hyosetsu glared at him.

Conrad smiled. "Oh, it's you. Jerktsuya!"

Master grumbled. "What a rude bunny. Guess I'll be eating all this carrot cake I'm making!" Master said as he turned on the over.

The bunny boy started to drool. "Carrot cake?"

Master nodded. "Yup, all mine."

"I'm sorry. Please give me some!" the bunny boy whined.

Master snickered. "I'm just joking. Do you think I'm that petty?"

"Well..." Rosa began.

"Hey!"

Yuko patted Master's hand and laughed.

He pouted. "Yuko, don't join them."

Everyone, even Naoru, Hyosetsu, and Camila laughed, much to Master's annoyance.

"Conrad? Have you seen Conrad?" the man who looked like Serrano and Conrad combined asked as he rushed into the kitchen.

"Dad!" Conrad said, running over to him. He jumped up and hugged him.

"Are you better now? You aren't going to faint again are you?"

Yuko turned away. Yuko couldn't help but think of her papa. Yuko missed him very much. Onami must've too as she had a sad look on her face too. Or maybe Yuko's sis was thinking of how much her friend had to endure to get to this point.

"Yeah," Conrad answered, smiling. He wobbled. "Well, still a little hungry."

"Catch!" Tetsuya yelled as he threw a leftover carrot at him.

Conrad let go of his father and jumped into the air, catching the carrot in his mouth.

Azami laughed. "I thought you were a bunny! What are you doing, catching things like a dog? Wait, did your mom teach you to catch things like that?"

"My aunt did that?" Master asked.

"Yeah. She taught Serra that way too. Your grandfather raised her that way."

Master crossed his arms. "That guy... Wonder when he'll make his next move."

The atmosphere in the room turned tense.

"My grandpa, huh?" Conrad mumbled. "I... I'm not sure if I'll be able to fight him. But, I will help you with the demons! Plus, they declared war on Abyssia too, so regardless, I won't be going against either them or Zionia!"

Yuko's sister smiled. "Not bad thinking there, Con."

He grinned. "Thanks."

Hyosetsu sighed. "I'm going to return to training."

"Already?" Rosalba asked.

He touched his katana and nodded. "Eiichi's been practicing like crazy. With him overcoming his roadblock in Munil, he's likely to get stronger quicker. If I don't keep up, he'll surpass me."

"Eiichi fainted before we came here, so ya can relax," Teresa said as she entered the house with Nico. The two were sweaty.

Hyosetsu smiled. "No, that's even more reason for me to continue practicing." He walked past Master's sister and Nico.

Nico turned around. "I'll join you."

The sword knight looked over his shoulder. "If you think you can keep up then be my guest."

Nico smiled. "I'll try my best!"

"I'll join you too!" Kohri said, running over.

"Can I join too?" Conrad asked.

The two brothers exchanged glances.

"Not sure if that's a good idea," Naoru said, closing his eyes. "Within you is Ifrit. Making you stronger could create a bigger issue down the road, should he take over again."

Conrad lowered his head.

Master's brother placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think he might be able to do it. Plus, Ximena and I are here. We can restrain him should Ifrit take over."

Conrad's daddy smiled. "Plus, it'll help him be able to defend himself better against the demons." He placed a hand on his son's other shoulder. "That said, it might be best to train you personally."

"Eh? You're going to train someone?" the little princess asked.

Her uncle raised an eyebrow at her. "What's with that judgmental look? Don't think that I can do it?"

Rosa blushed and lowered her head slightly. "Well, Dad said you weren't much of a fighter."

"I don't know, he did pretty decent in the tower," Master said.

Azami smiled. "Thanks, Dad!"

Master blinked. "Huh?"

Conrad's dad turned away and laughed. "Sorry. It's just that you look a lot like my old man did."

Master sighed. "Yeah, I've gotten that a lot." He smiled. "While the cake bakes, how about we join you?"

Yuko's ears moved up and down underneath her hat. Hoped Master was including Yuko in 'we'.

"Sure, the more the merrier!"

Master turned to look at me. "Sorry, Yuko. We might have to hold off on playing a little longer."

Yuko smiled and shook her head. "No, it's fine. Yuko wanted to train anyway."

Rosa nodded. "Me too!"

Master laughed. "No one asked ya, princess."

The little princess grumbled. "No one needed to."

Yuko grabbed Master's arm and pulled him. "Master and princess can go argue outside!"

Master blushed. "Hey, don't make us sound like kids."

Yuko huffed. "Master needs to mature still."

Master smiled. "Okay. Enough teasing. Got enough for a lifetime already."

Yuko grinned. "Alright, Yuko will stop." For now.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts theories? Predictions**