North's POV:

We watched in horror as Sang's face became pale and her lips a bluish color before she fainted.

Doc and I ran immediately to her side and I took her in my arms, "Go ahead! I will carry her!" I shouted at him and he ran for the infirmary.

Once I entered the room I deposited my precious burden into one of the cots. She was barely alive, her breathing labored through a swollen throat.

Doc came running with a syringe and I forced myself to step back to give him space to do his work.

He injected the antidote into Sang and a couple of minutes later her breathing improved, after fifteen minutes her color was back but she remained asleep.

"Will she be okay now, Doc?" I asked him, controlling myself.

"Yes, North. I expect she will awake in a couple of hours. The poison was strong and took a lot out of her but we applied the antidote quickly and she should be better once she wake up; maybe with some nausea and a little weakness for a few days."

The fury burned through me, but I was silent in my rage. I nodded my head at him and left the infirmary knowing that my brothers would stay glued to her side while I was away.

Walking down the hall silently, I kept to the shadows as I stepped into the kitchen and glanced around taking note of all the workers and their expressions.

Amid these servants was a murderer and he or she would pay for their betrayal.

......

Sean's POV:

"I am going to fucking kill that ass-face, shit-eating-betrayer, goddamned motherfucker!" Gabriel swore vehemently and even I had to agree with him.

Whoever had betrayed our mistress was going to pay.

Sang was stable and Kota and Victor were sitting at either side of her cot. Gabriel was pacing from one side of the room to the next, hands fisted, body shaking face red as he swore up the walls.

I knew he was truly terrified, as were all of us. We'd almost lost her.

Owen was standing by the window, his back ran-rod straight turned to us but I could see his hands were fisted to the point where his finger' joints turned white.

"There is something I'd like to discuss with you boys." He began to say, his back still turned to us. "I was going to wait until the others came back, but I think now is the best moment."

We all looked over at him, I already knew where he was going with this.

"I have been noticing these past few weeks how some of you behave around Sorenson-sama. I need to know how each of you feels about her." he finally turned to face us, his face inscrutable, gray eyes demanding an answer.

Kota was the first one to answer, "I love her." he said simply.

"So do I," said Victor. "I am sorry, but I can't help but love her. There is no protecting myself from this feeling."

"You don't need to apologize, Victor. Never apologize for your feelings; they are the most sincere part of yourself." I told him before I answered Owen's question even though he already knew the answer, "I love her too."

"Fuck!" Gabriel swore, "Great, just great. You all love her. Now I know there is no way she will ever look at me as anything other than a friend." He sounded defeated and I frowned at him.

I hated that Gabriel couldn't see himself the way we saw him or even the way Sang saw him. Because she looked at the punk boy with eyes filled with caring and admiration.

She looked at most of us like that which was why I thought this plan might work.

"I am assuming, Coleman-kun, that by that you mean you also love her?" Owen spoke.

"Yes, fuck! I fucking love that girl." He said, hands on hips, glaring daggers at Owen.

Owen just nodded his head in accordance, and said calmly, "So do I and I believe so do your brothers who aren't here at the moment." He took in a deep breath and fixed his glasses on his face before going on, "That being said I believe we should discuss about finding a way to make everyone happy."

Victor looked sadly at Owen, "There is no way, Blackbourne-san. Even if Sang-chan marries outside of social class, she will be marrying only one of us."

"If there is a will there is a way, Morgan-kun." Owen told him firmly, his grey eyes glinting with determination, "And if there is no way, we create one. Tell me, how do each of you feel about sharing?"

Kota frowned "Sharing?"

"Yes, Lee-kun." Owen answered, "That is the only way I see for us to keep her while making everyone happy."

"Sharing, as in, we all get to have a piece of her? She is ours?" Gabriel asked immediately.

Owen nodded his head, "Yes, this is something we all have to agree at, we all share her or we all give her up."

"I am willing." Gabe said without further ado.

I smiled at his haste.

"I am willing." Victor added his agreement.

"I am willing." I told them. Only Kota was left.

I looked over at the boy who had taken unto his shoulders the responsibility of becoming the family head and Owen's left hand when I wasn't there.

He was a strong boy, with a huge sense of responsibility born from being the only male in a house with two females.

His mother had remarried and she and his sister lived happily now in another clan but Kota had been raised to make the hard decisions and deal with the consequences.

He wouldn't make this choice lightly nor would he make it based on his feelings alone. Even now that brilliant brain of his studied every possibility, risk, outcome.

He lifted his eyes to meet with Owen's and threw his shoulders back, taking on an air of authority and certainty.

"I am willing."

......

The enemy's POV:

"The bitch is still alive!" screamed the wannabe murderess. "How can she still be alive, God damnit?"

"I told you poison would not work against that one." A voice answered calmly. "She is surrounded by some of the most competent ninjas from japan."

"And you think that an attack would work?" the woman screamed, "You just said they are "competent"! Your men will never get through them to reach her!"

The other person rose from the couch and smiled evilly, "Then we will have to seduce one of them to our side." The voice purred softly.

The woman paused, her thoughts turning to the nine handsome boys who were serving the wench.

Any of them would look really pretty in her bed for a little while until she tired of them.

"I could add one or two of them to my harem..." the woman mused quietly before her smile turned wicked.

"So, I guess we have a plan." Agreed her accomplice with a smile.

......

Nathan's POV:

We are almost giving up finding a trail to Marie' and Elise's location when I stumble upon a servant acting strangely on the Academy household.

Once my brothers and I were safely inside the walls of the academy we had dropped our guards and gotten rid of our costumes knowing that they were useless in a place where we had grown up in.

The servant in question was out in the middle of the night, when all others should be sleeping and he carried a message to Jack-sama's rooms.

The old man was still alive because Wil's mother had begged for her husband's life.

I thought that was a bad decision on the boy's part, as proved by the skulking of the aforementioned servant, but who was I to judge?

Moving silently I stepped behind the servant and snaked one arm around his throat, cutting his air supply.

He struggled for a couple of minutes before fainting and I dropped him to the ground, tying his hands behind his back along with his feet.

A piece of cloth went around his mouth to keep him silent and a quick check revealed a concealed kunai and a few shuriken in his person.

Once he was secured I threw him over my shoulder, grabbed the message and walked back to our rooms, where the others were resting.

I dropped the servant into my cot, waking the other two who jumped up with their knives drawn.

"It's just me." I said into the dark room.

The sound of a match being lit up and then the light of a candle illuminated the room.

Luke and Silas looked tired but they both went wide-awake when they caught sight of my prey.

"Well, and what do we have here?" Luke asked with a dark thread into his voice.

"I found him lurking around Jack-sama's rooms. He had this letter in his hands." I told them, giving Silas the message.

He read it aloud for us all to hear:

"The bitch survived. Her ninjas are proving to be a problem. We would appreciate it if you could offer any useful information about them."

We froze completely, not daring to drawn a breath as the implications of the letter settled into our minds.

This could only be about Sang-chan; someone had already made a play for her life and we weren't there to help.

The memory of her trembling body in my arms surged in my mind; she'd been frail and terrified when she'd killed her father, allowing me to take care of her meekly. I had enjoyed it far too much probably.

The blood ran cold in my veins before my eyes rose to my brothers' and met in shared fury and determination.

We moved as one, not needing to discuss or plan, already knowing from experience what each one would do.

Silas left the room to finish what Wil had been unable to do. Luke began to pack our things and I carried the servant to the horses we would be using on our travel.

We were going back home.