The next morning was the time Yamato had okayed for the (h/c) haired girl to get some time in the sun. Over-eagerly, she ran out into the backyard, Kiana bolting alongside her and barking. Masaru was more obedient, sitting next to the brunette in case he was given an order. The male merely whistled, letting the shepherd run off and practically tackle the husky, the two starting to play-fight.

Akari also bolted out of the house at full speed, heading straight for the biggest tree. (Y/n) gawked at the speed he had in climbing it, the blonde unbothered by the roughness of the bark. On the contrary, he just kept jumping higher and higher, sticking his head out to wave when he reached the top. He was like a kid on the playground, overcome with excitement. Though, even if not for the massive smile on his face, everyone knew he was having a blast from his rapid and energetic movements.

"He's going to fall," the younger girl chuckled, earning a scoff from Rei.

"He won't. He's our wild child. Besides, he's climbed bigger things before."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, he's climbed the palace before, so...about ten stories? Though, I think he used to swing on the ledges of his parents' penthouse. That was about 35 stories up. He only stopped because they caught him doing it."

"How has he not died?!"

"Don't ask me. I've seen him jump down from three stories and be perfectly fine. Here, watch. Akari, jump down from there!"

The younger male perked up at the sound of Rei's voice, giving an eager nod before falling from the top of the tree. The (h/c) haired girl shrieked as it happened, but, like the prince said, Akari was unbothered by the fall, landing square on his feet and rushing over to his playmate. Rei snickered while the girl tried to wrap her head around it, rewarding Akari with a pat on the back.

"Need something?" the younger male beamed.

"No. Just wanted to see if you were still a little freak."

"Okay!"

Akari rushed back off again to climb the tree. This time, perhaps because he knew the shape and stability of the tree, it was even faster. (Y/n) had about three separate heart attacks when he jumped back to catch a hold, but he never fell. He just amused himself like a squirrel - nature's crackhead. As she thought that, the male hung upside-down on one of the branches to show off the fact that he had caught an actual squirrel, the poor animal terrified beyond belief.

"You put that down!" the girl yelled, "You're going to get rabies!"

The blonde turned to look at the animal only to point at it to verify she was talking about it. Of course, she shouted again, to which he released it, the thing flying down the trunk for the sole purpose of escaping Akari. Of course, he was none too fond about it, missing his new friend, but he cheered up again by spinning himself around on the branch like it was a gymnastics bar. (Y/n) averted her eyes.

"Hey," Haru mumbled, pushing the girl forward stubbornly, "You have to get in the sun. Vitamin D is good for you. That's why I let you out."

(Y/n) didn't resist. She just led him to a nice chunk of sun, the girl falling down to lay on the ground and soak it all up. It was so peaceful. It was weird to think of her abduction as that but it was. As she glanced at the others, she couldn't help but notice how they were all getting along. There wasn't any arguing, there wasn't any tension, and they were all working together to keep her there. It was weird.

She began to fiddle with the bush behind her as she thought about it. It had become clear to her that many of them, if not all, had some kind of affection for her. Shota and Takuya obviously had romantic feelings and she might have counted Rei as having that, too, but he was hard to read. Yamato was also teetering on romantic versus platonic love, too. At least, that was how she saw it since she was having a difficult time figuring it out. Haru...She just figured he was jumping on the bandwagon. And for Akari, he'd already made his feelings of subservience clear regardless of the reason behind it.

Sighing, she figured she would think about it later, reaching into the backpack she took outside and pulling out a book. Reading helped her relax, and the nice warmth of the sun on her face felt great even despite the cold wind. Of course, even that was short-lived, Haru mumbling that she should head back inside before she got a sunburn. Why she would have gotten one in the middle of winter astounded her but Haru's logic was Haru's logic. So, reluctantly, she shoved her things in her backpack and followed everyone inside.

She practically sprinted back to her room, too, making Rei grumble but there was nothing he could have done. It was Yamato's fault for giving her privacy. And he could have glared at the brunette all he liked but it wouldn't have changed that fact. Yamato wasn't paying attention to him anyway, too occupied with getting the dogs some food. Rei thought he spoiled them rotten for dumb animals who wouldn't even know to appreciate it. Though, he said nothing of it, laying down on the couch in an attempt to figure out how to get the younger girl to fall for him.

. . .

(Y/n) jolted up from the coach as she heard a loud shattering coming from downstairs. Shouting ensued, too. From what she could hear, everyone seemed to be involved. At least, she could distinguish Yamato and Rei's voices. Akari's voice was prominent, too, and she could have sworn she heard Shota, too. Though she thought it would be best to stay out of it, her curiosity got the better of her. It always did.

Creeping to the stairs, she chose to peek over the balcony at them before she got caught up in the mess and was unable to escape. Interestingly, she ended up seeing a new face. Though, considering the fact that Rei was strangling the fuck out of them, they probably weren't all that welcome. Nonetheless, the others were trying to get the blonde off of him, especially Akari which was weird. She didn't think he would ever tell Rei what to do.

"If one of you bastards hadn't unloaded my gun, I wouldn't have to choke him out!" Rei screamed, trying to wiggle out of Yamato's grasp.

"You really think I was going to let you keep that here with the bullets?" Shota sighed, motioning to the situation before him, "Clearly, you're too violent for your own good. You really would have shot one of us."

"Thanks to you, I can't kill this good-for-nothing! Let me go!"

Akari was quick to help the male Rei was strangling to his feet, clearly concerned about his well-being. Though, (Y/n) couldn't deduce who the new male was. She couldn't see his features, but, even from a distance, she could easily tell the male had silvery-blue hair. The girl gazed curiously at it. It was a very, very rare color. At least, it wasn't one she had ever seen before, so she couldn't help but stare at it, ignoring Rei's threats in order to do so.

"Ichi, I told you to - "

From the door, an older male walked in. He, too, had an unusual hair color. It was like gold, shimmery and shiny. His voice was gorgeous, too. At his appearance though, Rei suddenly stopped struggling. Instead, he shut himself up and tapped Yamato to let him go. Calmly, as though nothing happened, the male brushed past the blue-haired male and stood in front of the other one, waiting for something to happen. The older male then raised his arms up before Rei immediately took the opportunity to start hugging him as tightly as he could.

"I missed you, too," the older blonde murmured, petting Rei on the head like he was a harmless puppy (and really, with that hug, it definitely seemed like he was).

"Hey! He just tried to shoot me, Zuki!"

Rei narrowed his eyes at the blue-haired male before ignoring him completely. He was solely focused on hugging the other male. Of course, the same didn't mean it was true of him. The older blonde pushed him away a bit and leaned down slightly to get on his eye-level. There were no words exchanged between them but it definitely appeared like communication was happening. Rei became very anxious before exploding into excuses.

"It's his fault! He burst in here with no warning and I didn't know who he was! For all I know, he could've been here to kill me!"

"Rei...," the older male sighed, immensely tired, "Don't pretend you didn't know who he was. I've heard a lot of your excuses but that is the most ridiculous one yet. Anyone could tell who he is by the color of his hair, especially you."

"Well - Well, he got off just fine, but he cut me! Look! He used a knife and everything!"

"If that gun was loaded, I would have died!" the blue-haired male shouted back, "And I only used a knife to get you off of me! You strangled me first!"

"Both of you," the older male snapped, "Knock it off."

If only because he said so, the males both quieted down, crossing their arms over their chests and looking away from the other. No apologies were made but the older male probably wasn't looking for that. Instead, he checked up on Rei's cuts and made sure the blue-haired male wasn't harmed. That was his only real goal. In the end, they both glomped onto one of his arms, refusing to let go. Akari started fretting - something the older male must have noticed.

"It's alright. Just let them be. I don't mind."

"You should mind," Rei huffed, "I wouldn't want a failure touching me. I could get infected."

"Rei!"

"Well," the other one snapped, "you shouldn't want a self-absorbed brat touching you either, Zuki!"

"Ichi!"

The squabbling continued, both males attempting to tug on the older male's arm in hopes of getting him for themselves. It was like two children playing tug of war with a favorite teddy bear. Though, the one in the middle, tugged every which way, gave a strained expression. They really might have just broken him in two. Luckily, once he voiced his pain, they stopped. At least, Rei pretended to stop before yanking him over to get him all to himself. He must have had a smug look on his face, too, since his next words sounded full of arrogance.

"You can go home now, Ichi. Oh, wait. Guess you'll have to make do with your little apartment."

"Zuki lives there, too!"

"He won't when I'm king. Right, Zuki? You'll come home with me?"

"He's going to stay with me!"

"No, he's not!"

"Yes, he is!"

"Hey," Haru mumbled, stepping in between them and giving a glance to the two unfamiliar faces, "I don't mean to be rude...except I kind of do. I couldn't care less about your feelings. Get out of my house. You'll wake up my frére."

"No way! We came here for a reason!"

"How'd you even know to come here?" Rei huffed.

"A friend," the older male smiled, "As for why we came, mother and father can't seem to get in contact with you. They want to get you ready for your speech."

Rei made a face. (Y/n) wasn't sure if it was because he disliked the mention of his parents or if he was dreading "the speech". Either way, he was happy enough to lead the older male to the couch, sitting him down to talk better. On the way there, however, the blue-haired male, in an attempt to avoid looking at Rei, accidentally let his gaze fall on the stairs, at which point he saw the (h/c) haired girl. Hesitantly, he gave a little wave, attracting Rei's attention. As a result, the blonde ran over and pushed him.

"Don't talk to her."

"I wasn't talking! I waved! I can't wave?!"

"No. She's mine and you know I don't like you touching my stuff."

"Yours?" the older blonde mumbled, his face lighting up in surprise, "Rei, is she - "

"Oh! (Y/n), come here! I don't know why you were watching us like a creep but you should come down so I can introduce you to my big brother."

Hesitantly, the younger girl made her way down the stairs. It probably wasn't smart to do so but she was interested in the male's brothers. She swore she remembered Rei talking about his elder brother but she wasn't aware there was another one. At least, she was assuming the blue-haired male was also his brother. That would have explained the hatred and rivalry they had for each other as well as their tug-of-war session over their elder brother. Cautiously, she sat down beside Rei, who very proudly leaned his head on hers.

"Zuki, meet (Y/n)," he smiled, "This is the girl I want to make all mine."

"I see," the older male mumbled, surprised but contained and elegant as he moved to shake her hand politely, "It's nice to meet you, (Y/n). I'm not sure I can say more to introduce myself than has already been said. My brothers call me Zuki but my name is Kazuki. Please call me that."

"What? Why can't she call you Zuki, too? She'll be family soon, too, so - "

"Pardon me?" Shota scoffed.

"I've already decided that none of you can compare to me. Just be grateful I'm letting you spend time with her now, okay?" Rei simpered, turning back to his brother despite Yamato and Shota's opposition, "Anyway, she should be able to call you Zuki. Everyone else does."

"In the family," the older blonde sighed, holding up his hand contentedly to show off a ring, "I can't have any other girl calling me that."

"You say that like you're married. That's just a stupid promise ring."

(Y/n) hummed while Rei tried to get his brother to let her call him by his nickname. So, they were brothers. That meant they were also Vethelan princes. She could definitely see a princely demeanor in the older one but the blue-haired male seemed about as mature as Rei, if not less. Though, she'd never met a prince before Rei, so she couldn't really compare what should be prince-like behavior.

"Ichi, would you like to introduce yourself?" Kazuki suggested gently.

"She doesn't need to meet that piece of trash. No, cupcake, you don't need to listen to a thing he says, okay?"

"Rei. I've told you to stop calling him that. I don't care that you two don't get along. You're family," Silence. "Ichi?"

"Oh," the blue-haired male gaped, "Uh, it's nice to meet you, I guess. I'm Ichiro. I'm technically Rei's older brother, but I doubt we'll ever meet again. He gets bored of girls quick. 'Course, I'm sure you're too good for him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rei snapped, "You're always falling in love with the first person who's nice to you and, somehow, despite all your money and the fact you're technically still a prince, you always get rejected. Maybe I played around before but I'm serious this time. You should think before you open your stupid mouth or else - "

Before the male said another word, his elder brother stood up as quickly as he could, walking straight to the door. Ichiro followed after him, throwing a glare to Rei. Of course, despite the fact that Rei apologized to Kazuki, he didn't want to hear it. If they were going to keep picking fights, it was better to separate them. Rei's apologies didn't do anything, especially since he wasn't apologizing to the person who he was actually hurting.

"Zuki? Zuki. You should stay. You can have Akari's room! Right, Akari?"

Akari nodded, eager to spare his room for the eldest Vethelan prince. Kazuki paused to throw an appreciative look to Akari, presumably thanking him for putting up with Rei. Still, it didn't stop him from leaving. It wasn't like Rei was really planning on treating Ichiro like anything but a bug anyway. Before they left, the blue-haired male turned to Akari, too, glancing up as though he was thinking.

"Oh! Akari, do me a favor and let your dad know I'll be in a hotel by the photoshoot tonight. You know, the one in Asakai? So, if he wants to get a jump on it, let me know, okay? 'Kay, bye!"

"Rei," Kazuki mumbled on his way out the door, "Call mother."

With that, they left. Rei remained, somewhere between mortified, betrayed, and spiteful. He clenched his fist in anger, making (Y/n) wonder if he was going to run after them. And, yet, he didn't. Instead, he stormed upstairs, dragging Akari along with him. The younger blonde gave a little wave to her, mouthing that Rei would be okay, not that it really mattered to her. Despite the stupid look on his face, she was more concerned about Akari. Then again, she had something more important to worry about.