Koumei brought you to his room and placed you on the bed. Without saying anything he went to his desk and started to work. You watched him and as time passed you realized the effects of the Galidavita were beginning to wear off. Looking around the room you saw that Koumei hadn't lit any incense in the room. It was possible that moving to his room was a better opportunity than staying in yours. Just as you thought about it, Koumei seemed to widen his eyes in realization as he looked over towards you.

Setting down what he was doing, he got up and lit an incense burner. You sighed, so he did remember. Right away, once you breathed in the burning smell your whole body lost any bit of strength it might have had. You looked over at Koumei who appeared to be completely unaffected. You assumed that he must have had an antidote for it or something that kept him immune to it.

When he finished lighting the incense, instead of sitting back at his desk he yawned and walked over towards the other side of the bed while blowing out any lamps left on. Without saying anything he began to take off his clothes. You closed your eyes, not wanting to see anything. After the rustling of cloth stopped you peeked through your eyelids to see that he was not completely undressed but still was wearing a zhongyi. You let out a sigh of relief at the white silk clothes which covered him as he slipped into the bed. He then pulled the blanket out from underneath you and put it on top of you before he wrapped his arms around your waist. Within seconds he was asleep as he began to pull you into an even tighter grip. Even if you could move, you doubted you would be able to escape his arms. You just stayed in his warm chest as you felt his breath on you.

Even with his soothing breathing you were, however, unable to fall asleep. You looked around the dark room which was lit up only from the moonlight which shone in through the window. Besides Koumei's breathing, the only thing that could be heard was the singing of crickets and the wind blowing in the trees outside. You stared at the ceiling as you hopelessly tried once more to move your body. You gave up your vain efforts and closed your eyes in hopes to fall asleep and bring the night to an end. However, even with your eyes closed you were completely wide awake. You let the night sounds fill your mind, until you heard a creaking sound pierce the music of the night.

Quickly, your eyes shot open. Through the door came a dark figure. As the person stepped into the moonlight, you recognized her as the maid who had been taking care of you these past few days. Quietly, but swiftly, she walked over to you. Then without saying anything she shoved something in your mouth which you swallowed, with the slight hope it was poison. However it wasn't and within seconds you felt your body grow lighter, freeing you from the invisible existence which held you down.

With the help of the maid you gently pried Koumei's now limp arms off you, then got up. The moment you placed your feet on the ground the coldness of the floor seemed to give even more energy. With some of your weight on the maid you both managed to silently escape the room.

Outside the door you looked up at her as you began to open your mouth for an explanation as to what was going on. Seeing you, she whispered, "not now, I'll explain everything later. For now just trust me. I'm not a liar."

Not a liar? Once again that phrase seemed so random to mention, just like in that paper... That's when you realized where you had heard her voice before. She had been that hooded lady that gave you the stupid advertisement paper. Even though you had no clue what was going on, you didn't have a care for your own safety, actually you hoped this would lead you to an opportunity to end your life. With that in mind you let her lead the way to some storage closet.

Once there, she opened the door and grabbed some clothes, before pushing you into the closet to change. In the darkness of the room you tried your best to put on what was given to you, but the clothes were so unfamiliar you couldn't tell what was what. After quite a while you thought you had it on right and decided to push open the closet door. As the light streamed in you looked down at the clothes and widened your eyes. "Why am I dressed like a boy?"

"It will be easier this way. Here put on this cloak, it should help hide the fact you don't have a man's chest." You felt yourself blush with embarrassment as you put the cloak on, why did she phrase it like that? Once the cloak was on she looked you over. "Here's a wig too...and... use this to take off any makeup you're wearing."

You looked at the dirty grey wig as she wet a rag in a filled bucket. You sighed as you put it on and took the rag from her to wipe off your face just incase any makeup remained from before Yosuke's death. You then threw the hood of the cloak over your head.

As maid began to nimbly move forward, you grabbed the advertisement out of the pocket of your old clothes, then followed behind. Every now and then you had to stop to catch your breath. Your body was still considerably weak which made the time it took to get to the palace gate much longer than expected.

Once at the gate, the maid pulled her own hood off to show she wasn't suspicious and beckoned for you to do the same. You showed your face and listened to the maid give an explanation about needing to get some medicine for a servant who was ill. You were surprised at how well this girl was at lying, but didn't she say she wasn't a liar? You shook it off as the guards let both of you pass.

After arriving on the streets you figured that you could say something now. "Um, miss... Uh?"

"Although it isn't my real name, you can call me Mari."

"Well, miss Mari... Um where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to The Crummy Cake Bakery and after that I'll be going to get some medicine for that servant I mentioned before."

"Wait, you weren't lying earlier about that earlier? I thought it was just an excuse to get past the gate"

"I was an excuse, but there is actually some who is sick. I had two reasons to leave, but if I'm questioned about anything I will only need to mention one of them. It's always good to have an alibi." That made sense, after all with you missing, Koumei would of course investigate everyone who left the palace. The way it is, Mari had made herself completely unsuspicious. Except, the guards had seen you leave with her, so if she returned alone wouldn't it be suspicious enough for her to to be found out?

"Miss Mari, um what about me? Won't they notice you left with someone and came back alone?"

"Don't worry about that. I actually had you dress up like someone I know, so he can return with me in your place."

You nodded your head. "But, why did you give me that paper rather than read it to me and when we first met why did you hide under a cloak if you were just going to show me your face later?"

"You didn't know the point of that paper? Well, I guess that was pointless then. Anyway, originally I was going to watch you undercover for a longer amount time, but something happened which has changed our plans. It seemed too cruel to leave you there any longer. I also hid myself just in case you accidentally leaked any information about me to Koumei. It is also the reason I can't tell you my real name. If Koumei actually gets his hands on you again I can't risk the lives of the people of our rebellion no matter how much I trust you. Also, don't expect anyone else to give you their real names either."

"Then what was all that crap about being able to trust you?"

"Just because I don't give you my real name, doesn't mean I'll do anything to trick you. You can trust that your safe with us whether you know our names or not."

"I see..." With that the conversation ended and you arrived at a little building with the words Crummy Cake Bakery above the doorway.

"The people inside will help you." Mari said as she left you to assume she was going to get that medicine.

You looked at the plain geometric windows and the wooden door. Nothing stood out about this building at all, it in fact looked pretty much identical to all the ones surrounding it. Still, it gave you the creeps.

You gulped in a big breath of air before pushing the door open. You looked at the silhouettes of the little baked goods on display as you tried to make out around your surroundings in the dark little room. No one seemed to be around, so you walked through some drapery into another room. This time a single lamp burned as you looked at a man looking through a scroll.

Clearing your throat you got his attention. He looked up at you then stood on his feet. "You must be (Name) (Last N.)."

"Yes, but how do you know me?"

"Don't worry. We're here to help you get out of this country. Come with me." Without really answering your question he led you to into another room then opened a small compartment hidden behind a table up against the wall. "If you'd like you can stay here for now while that Koumei guy is looking for you. This might just be the safest place you find."

You looked over at him, then kneeled down to see inside the little room which had no windows and absolutely no way to leave besides the small doorway. "How do I know you aren't slave traders or something like that?"

"You won't. The only thing you can do is trust us, after all, we aren't liars."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I'm having just a bit of writer's block... Is it obvious? Oh well, I hope I don't regret some of the things I stuck in here. If this chapter was bad (I never can tell good chapters from bad chapters) hopefully the next few will be better :D. And for anyone who doesn't read my Kouha story or never saw my update about a poll for the next story I will write, here is the URL to vote,

http://www.quotev.com/quiz/6498726/My-Next-Story/

and I've also added an external link. Also my username on Quotev is the same as the one on here (AhiruElric). Judal's in the lead so far, so if you don't want him you should definitely vote, but the chances of it not being him are slim.