When Bharat woke up, all he could smell was flowers. He blinked drowsily and swung his legs off the bed, stretching his arms and walking towards the door frame. Once he reached there, he turned back, and could not help as a smile took over his face when he spotted the sleeping and peaceful form of Mandavi. Mandavi, usually, didn't wake up too early, so it was to her daily chagrin that Bharat woke up once the first ray of dawn peeked over the edges of the mountains in the distance.

Bharat swung the door open, trying not to let the hinges squeak as they were prone to doing, and stepped out, taking in another deep breath. The sickly sweet aroma of gladiolas hit his nose, and he sighed, before blinking his eyes open. Every single vase that lined the halls was filled with a bunch of pink, blue, or white flowers, and Bharat grinned. Shrutakirti. Sure, they may be enemies in the battle of the arts, but he respected her practice or making everyone wake up happily.

An idea popped into Bharat's mind, and he smiled as he walked towards Shatrughan's room, pushing the door open. "AAAH!" Shatrughan screamed, sitting up and covering his chest with covers and blankets, his eyes as wide as the sun. "Don't you have any shame bhaiyya? Barging into a married man's room like that. Imagine if Shrutakirti was next to me!" Shatrughan waggled his finger before giving the air a delicate sniff. "Is that-"

"Flowers." Bharat sighed, shaking his head. "Instead of being next to you, asleep, Shrutakirti woke up and put flowers in the hallways." He walked closer towards Shatrughan, and Shatrughan only went deeper under the covers. "Oh calm down, you're not even naked. You're already wearing clothes. You were too busy staying up last night and counting down to the New Year that you went out like a light and fast asleep. None of us could wake you up."

Shatrughan paused, stroking his chin. "But you know who wasn't out like a light?" he asked, a half-smile taking over his face. Bharat raised an eyebrow. "Ram bhaiyya. As far as I remember, Sita bhabhi and Ram bhaiyya were in quite the romantic mood last night, if you're catching on to what I'm saying." Bharat groaned and shook his head, stepping out of the doorway. "Hey, where're you going?!" Shatrughan cried. "I want to wake up Ram bhaiyya too! It's gonna be hilarious!"

With a sigh, Bharat waited as Shatrughan got presentable, and they both headed down the hallways, occasionally bickering at each other. Till, of course, they reached the rosewood door that they knew belonged to their brother. Bharat suddenly got the jitters. "No no! We shouldn't do this, Shatru! I mean-it's Sita bhabhi's modesty we're talking about here. It's just wrong. Remember, if Lakshman wouldn't do it, we shouldn't either. Ram bhaiyya wouldn't do it to us-say if it were Mandavi and I."

Shatrughan rolled his eyes, swatting his arm. "Lakshman and Ram bhaiyya don't do anything. They're too virtuous. Well, there's still some hope left for Lakshman actually. Let's just do it. Besides, Sita bhabhi is going to be up already. Come on!" And with that, Shatrughan kicked open the door and pounced on Ram's bed, where Ram let out a yell, matched with Bharat's girlish scream. "Hello bhaiyya!" Shatrughan laughed as Ram fully sat up and gave Shatrughan a feeble glare.

"Shatru-you shouldn't do that. What if your Sita bhabhi was here too? Imagine, barging into her when she's asleep!" Ram smacked the back of his head. "Thankfully, both of us were tired last night, so none of that happened." Bharat turned bright red. "And you! Bharat! We both know that Shatrughan only listens to you, even more than his own mothers and I! You're supposed to be the wise person that guides him! Instead, here he is, barging into people's rooms uninvited!"

Shatrughan quickly rushed to defend the tomato-like Bharat. "Aww bhaiyya. It's New Year's Day! Now's not the time to be chiding people! Now's the time to be celebrating like I plan to do with my family! Speaking of family-where' is my beloved and most lovely twin brother? Fast asleep, isn't he? Well we have to change that, don't we? Or imagine! Maybe he'll remain asleep for the entire year!"

Before Ram could reach out and stop him, before Bharat could say otherwise, Shatrughan had jumped off of Ram's bed and was racing out the door, quickly followed by Bharat and a very dishevelled Ram. Bharat skidded to a stop just as Shatrughan wrenched open the door towards Lakshman's room. "This isn't going to end well," he groaned. "This really is not going to end well!"
-----O-----

The family sat at the dining table, all of them eating quietly. Lakshman occasionally still glared at Shatrughan and rubbed his head where he had fallen off the bed and gotten a large red scratch. Shrutakirti, in consolation and apology for her husband, had offered him a humongous pink flower, which he had taken, but it didn't stop the atmosphere from being very uncomfortable. Still, Sita looked up, ready to cut through it. "Look! It's the New Year! We should do charitable things, good things! Maybe we can feed the poor in Ayodhya or-"

Mandavi cut her off. "Sita didi, there's plenty of other time to do that! Feed the poor, take care of the sick! We do that all the time, on every holiday! But today, it's New Year's! We should be celebrating, not being charitable!" There were mutters of agreement down the table, and even Shrutakirti, kind and philanthropic, nodded her agreement. "What we do today is going to be throughout the year-or so they say. So might as well be happy!"

Lakshman cleared his throat, rubbing his head. "yes , but our happiness means different things. For Ram bhaiyya and Sita bhabhi, it's helping others. For Bharat bhaiyya, it's painting, for Mandavi bhabhi, it's sword fighting and teasing. For me it's fighting, for Urmila it's talking-" Urmila swatted his arm. "What? It's true! And for Shatrughan it's pranking. And Shrutakirti just likes being nice to everyone everywhere, and she already does that. We can't possibly all be happy. I say we all just go back to sleep."

Urmila smacked his arm again. "Way to ruin the mood you pessimistic monster! What's something that we all like?" When all that met her was silence, she grumbled, slumping in her seat. "We all like parties! And grand stuff. And festivities. Well, except you, Lakshman-you hate parties and grandness and everything to do with them-but the majority wins so your vote doesn't count anymore!" Shatrughan grinned. "We can hold a party of some sort!"

-----O-----

Bharat and Mandavi were put in charge of the activities. The thing was-they couldn't agree on what activities they should plan. "I say that we should plan a giant paint and eating session." Bharat declared as they looked through books for ideas. "I mean everyone likes getting painted, and everyone likes eating. It's going to be a universally fun project, now isn't it? Besides, it's some nice family bonding time, and I can get my practice in too!"

Mandavi snorted. "Bharat, not everyone likes standing still for hours upon end as you paint and complain and eat, which we have to watch you do with our stomachs rumbling. What about a tournament of some sort? Like a competition? Maybe we could go against each other for something. How does that sound now?" Bharat shook his head, still engrossed with the painting idea. "Look here-no one here is good at painting other than you and Urmi."

Bharat sighed. "But-I like painting!" he whined. "And I thought that was the better option, because I was going to suggest reading ancient literature to get a better view of our ancestors! But I didn't think you'd like that-because you don't like reading very much now do you." He sighed, crossing his arms across his chest. "It's not fair. How do Ram bhaiyya and Sita bhabhi get along so well? It's like they were made for each other. And here we are, with our conflicting interests." he swallowed.

Mandavi set down her book and turned towards him. "Ram and Sita didi were made for each other, yes, but so are we! They have similar interests, and we have separate. Sure, sometimes I'm too stubborn. Sure, sometimes you have completely different ideas and propositions which I don't like. That doesn't mean we're not meant for each other! Besides, my sensibleness and reasonableness cancels out your airiness."

Bharat chuckled, but then he paused. "What about-" his eyes twinkled. "A talent show!"

-----O------

"That's perfect!" gasped Shrutakirti. She and Shatrughan were trusted with choosing good food and drinks for the party, and so far, she was doing all the work as Shatrughan just ate sweets. "That's a really good sweet yogurt! We should serve this stuff!" She paused expectantly. "Shatru?" Turning around, she spotted him with his stash of toffee, looking like a criminal caught in action, eyes wide, mouth full, hands in the air. "Aw no! Shatru! Why would you do tha-here." she handed him a glass of water. "With the amount of sweets you eat, I don't know how you keep in shape."

Shatrughan waggled his eyebrows. "You would know." When Shrutakirit turned a bubblegum pink, he burst into laughter. "Alright, alright, I'll try the sweets and you can approve them." Shatrughan looked around. "Do you think they gave us this job on purpose, Kirti? Because everyone knows that we like to eat, and they wanted to tease us?" he paused. "Naah, they wouldn't be that mean. Besides, it's a blessing in disguise! I get to eat and spend time with you! My favorite things!"

Shrutakirti gave a big awww. "Awwwww, you're a little sweetoo at heart!" She took his cheeks and pinched them. "You've got the heart of a child, haven't you?" Shatrughan looked at her with half lidded eyes, an exasperated glare. "Alright, alright, I'll stop." she let go and continued to check the kitchens. "Besides, I know what else you like." Shatrughan looked up, paling. Had she discovered that he liked fancy clothes? Already? "Pranking. You're going to come up with a big scheme, aren't you?"

Shatrughan grinned maliciously. "Yep! I'm going to come up with the biggest scheme anyone has ever come up with in their entire lives!"

-----O----

"No!" cried Urmila, shaking her head. "Don't do that!" Lakshman pouted and drew the banner that he was about to put up down. This couple had been assigned to decorations, and so far, they were not having an easy time of it. "Red shouldn't go with yellow! We should have some nice contrasting colors! Like purple!" Lakshman gagged. "What? Purple and yellow? Blue and orange! Red and green! Contrast! We need contrast!"

Lakshman shook his head. "What we need is for it to look good, but it's not going to look good, if we have purple and yellow, blue and orange, red and green! How about red and yellow? What's wrong with that?" Urmila waved her hand dismissively and Lakshman grumbled, stepping off the ladder and handing her the banner. "Well then you decorate. I'm off to do something else! Something other than purple and yellow."
Urmila grabbed his arm and pulled him right back. "Oh no you don't! We've both been assigned to decoration, and I will not have you abandoning your position like that!" She scowled at him. "How about blue and yellow? Doesn't that sound nice, blue and yellow? Blue is nice and royal. Yellow is nice and royal. Sure-they're not exactly contrasting, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. Blue and yellow. How's that?"

"Blue and silver!" Lakshman cried stubbornly. "Blue is nice and royal, and silver is a little less nice, but it's still royal, right?" Lakshman picked up a long garland of periwinkle blue flowers and began to string them up on the high ceilings as Urmila watched thoughtfully. "See, that doesn't look terrible now does it? Besides, you're not the only one that has a good sense of art, You'll find that I'm quite decent as well!" He stepped off. "Ah! We're finally done!

Urmila snorted. "Yeah right. You hate art. But that doesn't look terrible. Now flowers." Lakshman fainted.

-----O-----

"Oh no! Is he alright?" asked Ram worriedly, fanning himself. Sita rolled his eyes and gestured for a maid to pick up the explosions director. Ram leaned in confusedly as the man cowered, joining his hands together. "Okay, we want smoke bombs and explosions and-"

"Anything for my Yuvraj," the man stammered, and walked away.

------O-------

"Happy New Year!" Dasharath shouted, laughing, his hands wide as the entire royal family celebrated. Bharat (who it turned out was very skilled at dancing), guided Mandavi across the dance floor. Shatrughan and Shrutakirti exchanged flowers and candies. Ram and Sita were literally millimeters away from each other. And Urmila was there, alone, tinkering with the ribbon of a little gift she had gotten for Lakshman. Dasharath turned around, and noticed the absence of his third youngest son. "Hey, where's the champ?"

"PAPA!" Lakshman roared, dashing into the courtyard like a sprint runner. His red hair was disheveled, his face sweaty, and in his hands, he held a tightly wrapped gift. He paused there, handing Urmila the gift with trembling hands as he looked around. "Oh thank God. I thought that-" A loud boom interrupted his voice, and fireworks started exploding everywhere. The courtyard was filled with smoke and colors.

Moments later, once the smoke and fire cleared, Lakshman stood there, face impassive. "-the explosions director had messed up." He rubbed his eyes as Bharat too, peeked out, face green and blue, and Mandavi burst into laughter. 

A/N-Hola amigos! By the way, when I say daily updates, it can be of either book. Did y'all know that? Because I just realized. Okay, anyways, there will be a part 2, (no yaar, I thought it just said part 1 for FfuUNn), and yeah. That's all I have to say.