"It's been a while, mom and dad aren't home yet?" Sakata asked the other two males, who took their eyes off what they were doing to look at the redhead.

"No..." A hint of worry appeared in the raven-haired's voice.

"Well, mom and dad said that it might take longer." Senra pointed out, the redhead nodded his head in understanding but still looked unsure.

"I'm sure they're fine."

"I'll go hang out with Urata then~" Sakata said as he smiled, "bye Senra, niichan~"

The redhead walked out and headed to the green eyed brunette's house.

"Thinking of Urata instantly cheers him up." Senra said with a small chuckle.

"Just like how thinking of Riku makes you smile." Soraru stated, not looking away from the book.

The blonde blushed at the comment, he stuttered as he tried to retort back.

"J-J-Just like how you get embarrassed whenever Amatsuki and Mafu tease you!"

"Normally I'd get annoyed at you, but since you repeated what I said it doesn't work much."

Senra just sighed as he flopped on the bed, the two were sitting in silence until the blonde spoke up again.

"I sometimes think about how you guys accepted me, I kinda still find it surreal."

"Still?" Soraru looked at the blonde with a surprised expression, "it's been a while."

Senra sheepishly laughed, "yeah, but I still don't really expect it."

"Hey Soraru, have you ever fallen in love?"

"......."

The blonde looked up to see the raven-haired awkwardly looking away.

"Eh?!? You have?!?"

"Oi! Don't shout!"

"Who is it~"

"And now you're suddenly annoying, go back to contemplating about your life." Soraru looked back at the book while the blonde laughed.

"Nope~ now you've piqued my interest."

"You don't need to know."

"But I'm your little brother~"

Soraru still refused to talk about it while the blonde continued to probe the topic.

"Is it Lon~? Or Mafu~? Maybe even possibly Kashi or Amatsuki."

"Shut up."

"Www."

The two then heard a knock on their door. The blonde got up to open it to see a maid there.

"Shima and Riku are here my prince." The maid announced before walking away.

Senra perked up and left to go meet the males. Soraru just watched him leave, rolling his eyes as he laughed. Those two are way too obvious, but I guess I kinda am too. He looked back at the book, a small smile on his face. The pendant hanging around his neck, the swirls of the mixture of red, blue and yellow gleamed with the sunlight.

Time had passed as the raven-haired sat around his room lazily when he suddenly heard a loud commotion from downstairs.

"He in critical condition, we're still trying to heal him."

Soraru got worried and left the room to look at what's happening. As he walked down stairs he widened his eyes in shock at the sight.

"D-Dad?!?" Soraru rushed to where his father was, the king was bloodied and barely able to stand up even with the support of others.

"W-What happened?!?" Soraru began to bombard his father with questions.

The king just lifted his hand to make the raven-haired stop.

"I-It's okay my son, I-I'll be fine...."

"B-But–!"

"Let's get him to the doctor now before he gets even weaker. I'm sorry prince but we have to leave." The servants said as they left with the king in a hurry.

"W-Wait!" Soraru tried to call out, before frantically looking for his mother.

He ran around the castle, occasionally hearing people's comments and concerns, which only made him even more worried. M-Mom was with dad so those that mean that–

"Soraru?"

The raven-haired stopped as he turned to looked at his mother. He immediately ran to give her a hug, she returned the gesture, soothly rubbing his back.

"I'm fine my sweet child, your father and I got separated and I tried to find him. When I did, I was shocked at the sight too."

"H-He's going to be fine?" Soraru said in between his tears.

"I don't know but so far they say he'll be okay. Your father isn't the king for nothing." Aihi smiled at the raven-haired as she crouched down to wipe the tears away.

Soraru just nodded his head in understanding as he rubbed his tears away. He could see that his mother was trying to hold back tears.

"I think it's best if you look for your brothers. We still don't know exactly what is happening and we don't want to risk you guys getting hurt."

Soraru nodded his head and left the castle to look for the other two. They're with Urata and Shima, it won't be hard to find them.

Aihi watched the raven-haired leave, she didn't want to let him go on his own but she needed to make sure that her husband was okay. They don't need to worry about losing both their parents if that were the case. She prayed that they'd be okay. Something's happening and I'm scared, not just for them but for their friends too.

*******

"How'd we lose both Senra and Riku?" Shima said as he looked around the forest.

He had gone with the two males and Hana to walk around, but once they turned their backs the two were gone. Hana decided that they'd split up to find the two.

"Hey guys, quit flirting and get back here." Shima called out, hoping the tease would make them suddenly appear before him.

"Seriously? Normally Riku would get annoyed and shout at me."

Shima continued to walk around, checking his surroundings, but was still unable to find the two. He was starting to get worried.

"G-Guys! This isn't funny anymore! Come out!"

But the forest was silent.

Shima began to panic on the inside. P-Please be okay guys! The purple-haired then spotted something in up ahead. He carefully walked towards it before widening his eyes and sprinting towards it.

"U-Urata?!?"

The green eyed brunette was laying unconscious on the ground. Shima shook him, hoping to get a response but got nothing.

"U-Urata!!"

The short brunette didn't reply.

"W-What's happening? First Senra and Riku leave, now this?!?"

Shima picked up the green eyed brunette, he could see a few burn marks on him, which confused him a bit.

Burn marks? The only person that comes to mind is Sakata.....but he wouldn't.... The purple-haired wrapped Urata's arm around his neck to support him.

"I need to tell the others–"

"Shima, why are– wait what happened to Urata?"

Shima turned to see the raven-haired, who rushed to their side.

"I-I don't know. I found him like this and I-I just– I don't know."

"Where's Sakata?" Soraru grew worried, the purple-haired just shrugged.

"Me and Hana also lost Senra and Riku."

Soraru was starting to get hysteric, he was about to talk again before he shouted in pain.

"S-Soraru?!?" Shima asked in concerned as the raven-haired held his arm.

"W-Why do I feel like I was shot in the arm?" Soraru asked in confusion, he then noticed something different about his pendant.

The red parts were glowing, Soraru then felt another shot, but this time it felt like it had just barely missed him.

"Wait, y-your pendant," Shima said as realization struck the two, "t-then that means that–"

"S-Sakata!" Soraru then looked at the purple-haired, "you'll take Urata back to the castle while I look for Sakata."

Shima nodded and the two split, with him carrying Urata back while Soraru headed to where the redhead was with the short brunette.

The raven-haired made it but just stood still, not believing what he saw. The short brunette's house was up in flames, he frantically looked around for sight of the redhead.

"S-Sakata!" Soraru shouted in fear, "Sakata!"

He quickly moved away from the arrow that was shot at him and threw a dagger-shaped ice, hitting the person in the arm. He saw them wince, grabbing their arm. He couldn't identify their face due to the hoodie but noticed the strands of red in their hair. Soraru then threw another ice dagger, hitting them again, before using the time to run away.

The raven-haired continued to call out the redhead's name as he ran in the forest, the flames from the building began a wildfire.

"S-Sakata–!"

Soraru spotted something up ahead, he quickly approached to the redhead that was cowering behind the tree.

"Sakata–"

"D-Don't hurt me– niichan!" The redhead tackled the raven-haired in a tight hug.

Soraru could see the scratch and wounds on the redhead.

"I-I...." Sakata was choking his words as tears kept pouring out of his eyes, "I-I d-didn't mean–"

"What are you talking about?"

"I-I...."

The redhead then widened his eyes as he stared at the raven-haired in concern. "N-Niichan!"

Soraru was shot in the back, he moved in front of the redhead to protect him from the shot. He winced while Sakata began to panic.

"I-I'm fine. W-We need to get back fast."

Sakata nodded his head and the two ran back to the castle, trying their best to escape the people chasing after them.

*******

"How's Urata?" Shima asked Nqrse and Hana.

"He's still alive, that's for sure." Hana said as she used her healing magic to see if that would wake up the short brunette.

"This is seriously confusing, why is this suddenly happening?" Nqrse said in confusion as the other two shrugged.

"How should we know?" Hana then looked at the purple-haired, "you couldn't find them?"

Shima shook his head, Hana just cursed under her breath.

"Where's Soraru and Sakata?" The three turned their heads to see the blonde and indigo-haired male.

"Hey! What happened? Why'd you ditch us?" Hana said in irritation, "don't you know how worried we were!"

"Ditched you? You guys were the ones that ditched us." Senra said, causing the purple-haired to tilt his head.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"We saw you two go deeper into the forest than we usually do and followed you. Once we caught up, you two were gone." Riku said, Hana just stared at them in confusion.

"But we never went further into the forest, if anything we saw you guys walk back to the pond before suddenly disappearing."

"Could something have happened that made you guys see things that weren't there?" Nqrse jumped in the conversation, the others just stared at each other in unease.

"Something's off–"

"No duh."

Riku just glared at the pink haired female that cut him off.

"What happened to Urata?" Senra asked, "and why's Sakata not here with him? The two of them were together.....right?"

"I don't know, when I was looking for you guys I found him unconscious."

They then heard the sounds of people's footsteps seem to run through the halls, murmurs and worried-filled voiced made them curious.

"I'll stay in case Urata wakes up." Hana said as she gestured for the others to go.

They left and quickly headed to the entrance, Senra's face paled as he rushed to the barely standing raven-haired and redhead.

"W-What happened?!?"

"W-We need to get the doctor!" A servant said as a few went to look for one.

Soraru was using his shoulder to support Sakata, who was exhausted from the running.

"Are you guys okay?!?" Shima asked in concern.

"We're perfectly fine, can't you tell?" Soraru sarcastically replied, the blonde gave him a scolding glare.

"Now's not the time for sarcastic comments!"

"I don't think shouting at him is going to help at the moment." Riku stated as the blonde just sighed.

"I should've went with you," Shima said but the raven-haired shook his head.

"And leave Urata alone in the forest?"

"Though, he was just unconscious, not injuries." Shima pointed out, Soraru gave him a dumbfounded look.

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"If you think about it, Sakata's the only one injured and the two of them were together." Riku mentioned, the purple-haired looked at him in confusion.

"Are you trying to say he hurt Sakata?"

"Eh?" Riku shook his head, causing Shima to sigh in relief, "I'm just saying that whatever's happening and whoever's involved didn't hurt him."

"Meaning he'd be okay, but still, leaving him alone is terrible."

"Nqrse, you've been quiet for a while." Shima said to the pink haired male, who looked at him.

"I'm just trying to figure out why that's the case," Nqrse then shifted his gaze towards the raven-haired, "you'll probably tell us what you saw."

Soraru just nodded his head before following the maids and servants to where the doctor was. They were able to heal the wounds, some scars were faint but still visible. The doctor left the guys as he went back to where the king was. Soraru just glanced at the redhead, who was silent and fiddling with the bandages on his arm, before looking at the others.

"So what exactly happened?" Nqrse asked, "so far we know that you found Shima with an unconscious Urata."

"Well...." Soraru then glanced back at the redhead, who was now sitting still on the bed, not looking at them. The raven-haired was debating with himself as he watched the redhead hug his knees.

"I...I saw that a part of the forest was burning," they could see the redhead tense up and hug his knees tighter, "someone tried to shoot me but I managed to escape them. I then found Sakata hiding behind a tree. We were then getting attacked as we ran away."

"They didn't follow you?" Riku said, surprised once he saw the raven-haired shake his head.

"But why is this happening? I mean, we haven't done anything to anger the people." Senra said, looking at Soraru with a confused face, "right?"

"I'm going back to see how Urata's doing." Nqrse said as he got up and left.

"Yeah, let's see, he might be awake now." Senra said, he tilted his head once he saw the redhead tense up again out of the corner of his eyes, "Sakata?"

"E-Eh? W-What is it?" Sakata nervously said, trying to sound calm.

"You look scared." Shima pointed out, the redhead nervously laughed.

"I-I'm just s-still shaken up about before."

"Well, let's go see if he's okay." Riku said as they headed to where the green eyed brunette was.

Soraru got off the bed and began to walk until he felt the redhead grab his arm.

"Eh?"

"Why didn't you say that you saw–"

"I'll eventually tell them, I just don't want you to get bombarded with questions at the moment. You look like you're going to throw up." Soraru stated as the redhead just nodded his head in understanding.

"U-Um....can we just stay here niichan? I....." Sakata fiddled with the bandages again as he shifted his eyes away.

Soraru just sighed as he sat back down on the bed. Sakata hugged his knees, staring at the floor blankly as his face was void of its usual cheerfulness. The sight broke the raven-haired's heart, he just patted the redhead as they stayed in the room while the others were with the green eyed brunette. Whatever is happening, I'll just do my best to protect them.

—————————————
A/n

Will I ever stop making them suffer? Who knows ww

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter~