Last Revised: Never

    Aurora looked at Yorukai and sighed. "Look at me what do you see?" She asked fearing his response.

    "Queen Ruby?" He asked getting even more confused.

    "Aurora, don't you think you better explain everything?" Mark said looking back and forth between Yorukai and Amefuri.

    "Alright let's get this over with." Aurora moaned concentrating and creating a portal. "After you." She announced with a mock bow.

    Yorukai grabbed Amefuri's arm and dragged her through the portal before she could begin to refuse to go. Mark winked at Aurora (who did not look happy at all) and went through. Aurora sighed again for good measure then went through closing the portal behind her.

    "Wow! Look at this place! It's so pretty!" Yorukai dashed around, trying to look everywhere at once.

    "It is not as grand as it use to be. The outbreak of war and being abandoned for so many years has taken its toll." Aurora looked around sadly.

    "What could have happened while I was gone?" Amefuri whispered to herself in slight shock.

    Aurora concentrated again and turned into her queen self. She looked around and was amazed that her casts were gone. "Why didn't I think of it before? If in this from I have the ability to heal planets slowly, then I can heal myself." Queen Ruby said to herself.

    "You were going to explain." Mark reminded her.

    "Ah yes. You see, a long time ago when the Moon Kingdom was young, I was a princess here. There was a great war raging and my mother tried to send my siblings and me away to protect us. The Dark Kingdom was very powerful and I refused to go so that I could help her and our army." Queen Ruby sighed softly as she started remembering more about her life.

    Mark put his arms around her giving her silent strength. Amefuri frowned at them, wishing that they would hurry up. It wasn't that matters such as those were something to be written off but she would much rather be looking for a way home.

    "During the fight, my father was killed and my mom lost her temper. She channeled her powers through the shard of Ruby's Heart that she had. She ended up destroying our dimension. I was given the task to travel through several life times to find the twelve stones of power." Queen Ruby passed to breathe. "Each stone goes to the nobility of old and when all twelve are found and are with their holders, then they will point the way to the Heart of Ruby. Only then will I be able to heal this dimension totally and make it what it once was."

    "And where does he fit into all this?" Amefuri crossed her arms while looking at Mark.

    "I was her mother's personal bodyguard. This meant I went with her almost everywhere she went. She loved her kids very much and spent a lot of time with them. After a while I found I couldn't keep my eyes off the oldest princess and I wished to be with her. Always." Mark said, also starting to remember stuff he couldn't before.

    "So you followed her through her life times and have tried to protect her from everything. How romantic." Amefuri said in the most patronizing tone she could get away with. "You still have not explained how Chikawa fits into all this. He is as far from nobility as you can possibly get."

    "Ame-chan~~! Yorukai whined pitifully, "I am SO of a noble family! Can't you tell?"

    Amefuri stared at him.

    "I don't know," Ruby said shaking her head.

    "I didn't know we had company." Oreo said coming around the corner in her human form. She looked back and forth between the four people there.

    "Oh no, It can't be you!" She pointed at Yorukai in horror. "You use to torment me! Why is he the first you find?" With that she morphed into her dog form and ran away.

    "How did she do that?" Yorukai watched her go with wide eyes.

    "She is a shape shifter and her natural form is a dog. She comes form another dimension. All her people can do that. She has been an adviser to the crown here since my mom ruled." Ruby said looking around as if expecting someone else to appear.

    "I don't care how far Tokyo is from here. I'll start walking." Amefuri stated sourly andbegan to stomp off.

    "We are on a totally different planet in another dimension. You can't walk from here and I am still a little to weak to open a portal back." Ruby informed her.

    "Then I'll open a portal and go back by myself!" Amefuri growled.

    "You can't. Only the royal family and it's chosen advisers can open portals to here." Ruby informed her, smiling.

    "I can open a portal anywhere I want!" Amefuri closed her eyes and drew upon her powers. Slowly, the dim light hovering before her formed into a portal back to Tokyo. Right as Amefuri was about to begin gloating, it collapsed before her eyes.

    "You are free to explore the castle till I am rested." Ruby informed her.

    "Hey, Ame-chan! That gives us plenty of time to explore!" Yorukai snatched Amefuri's arm and, once again, dragged her off before she could protest.

    "So what now?" Mark asked.

    "I do not know. He's bound to the stone, that is for sure.... but why him? There are so many others out there that I could stand." Ruby said rubbing her temples.

    "Chikawa! Put that down before you break it! Amefuri shouted a moment too late as a large crash and an ominous 'oops' sounded.

* * *

    Wild Fire had been working on the grounds trying to get something to grow but so far he hadn't had any luck. He should get back to the stable but didn't really want to face the whirlwind that lived there. He heard a crash coming from the front entrance way to the castle and went to check what it was.

* * *

    "That vase was worth more than anything you could ever dream of owning." Amefuri threw her hands up in the air with disgust. "And now I'm going to have to deal with the consequences for YOUR mistakes. AGAIN!"

    Perhaps Amefuri's threats would have had a more long-lasting effect if Yorukai had been listening to her. His full attention was absorbed with looking around at a tall black man that entered the castle from an exterior door. Yorukai wasn't usually a cowardly person, but he knew which people to be a little more careful around.

    "Can I help you two?" Wild Fire asked flashing them his best I-wont-hurt-you smile.

    "Yoru, what did you break?" Ruby asked while coming around the corner.

    "Nothing." He casually blocked her view of what once was an exquisitely wrought vase.

    "Ruby, I think you can handle this." Wild Fire said changing into his centaur form and headed for the kitchen.

    Amefuri had just about all she could stand from these people. What started as a pleasant day had quickly descended into a living nightmare. The only thing that kept her from bursting into a murderous rage was the comforting idea that Yorukai was bound to the service of Aurora. And since there was no chance in the cosmos that Amefuri would EVER work with Aurora, let alone become stupidly bound to her service, the odds of Amefuri being forced to spend time with either of them were very much in her favour.

    Now she had to address the problem of getting some distance between them.

    Glancing around to be certain that nobody was watching her too closely, Amefuri carefully laid a hand over her crystal and begun the process of summoning a portal. This time she would not make the mistake of omitting parts of the ritual in an attempt to escape faster. To her immense joy, a stable portal slid open with only a slight hum.

    "I'm not sure it is safe." Ruby interrupted as Amefuri tried to slip through unnoticed.

    "It is stable." Amefuri smirked as Ruby began to examine the portal with more than slight shock. She would probably have added 'I told you so' but that would have been rather childish. All that mattered was that she proved that snob wrong and could go home.

    "You are coming with me." A voice said as two hands came through the portal and grabbed both Ruby and Amefuri. The portal snapped shut behind them.

* * *

    "Where are they and who has them?" Yorukai demanded as he paced up and down the area where the portal was.

    "Well Ruby is probably going to go through some sort of test and Ame…" Mark knew inside that both would be fine but he wanted to see how Yorukai really felt about Amefuri.

    "And Ame what? What will happen to her?" Yorukai turned to face Mark with a worried frown.

    "Will probably be forced into a marriage with some really old guy and have ten kids." Mark said trying not to laugh.

    "But Ame doesn't have a motherly bone in her body." Yorukai faltered, obviously not fully understanding what Mark had said.

    "No, the marriage would be against her will and she'll have no choice but to bear him as many kids as he wants. She'll spend the rest of her life in misery."

    Mark watched Yorukai closely as a myriad of emotions paraded across his face. It appeared as if he were deciding whether he would present bland indifference, genuine worry or brotherly concern within the space of a second.

    "We have to do something I can't let that happen to Ame-chan! You have to do something!" Yorukai gestured wildly.

    "Ok. Ok. I'll get Wild Fire to open a portal to where they are and we'll go rescue them." Mark smiled to himself, having received his answer from the way Yorukai acted.

    He had revealed his obvious concern for Amefuri through a shaking voice and nervous gestures that could not be false. But Mark was so confidant in his ability to read Yorukai's expressions that he completely dismissed the inconsistencies in Yorukai's behaviour. As soon as Mark turned to find Wild Fire, Yorukai dropped his hands to his sides and watched him go with perfect calmness.

* * *

    "Great. Now where have you sent us?" Amefuri roughly shoved Ruby off of her with a grimace. Now she had 'land at the bottom of a heap' to add to her growing list of Things Gone Wrong Today.

    "I'm not sure." Ruby responded. She wanted to transform but wasn't going to let this woman know everything about her.

    "Queen Ruby and the holder of the Amethyst stone, it is a pleasure to finally receive your company." A woman appeared in front of them with long purple hair.

    "I am not a stone holder!" Amefuri bellowed, "Do you think I would be stupid enough to become a noble of HER court?!"

    "I will only give the stone to you, for your and her test shall be to work together." Amethyst looked at them like they both need a crash course in teamwork.

    "I refuse!" Amefuri repeated venomously, "There is nothing that you can do that will make me want to work with her!"

    "If you don't take the stone, then Yorukai will not be able to fight as well. He will come whining to you every time he gets hurt." Ruby said in the most solemn voice she could muster.

    Amefuri considered which fate would ultimately be worse: giving Yorukai a REAL excuse to harass her all hours of the day, or having to work with Aurora. That was a tough one. This question would require careful thought. Oh, and of course there business about being separated from the stone too long and dying but that hardly seemed like a major concern at the moment.

    "Give me the stone."

    As soon as Amefuri had picked up the stone, a strangely familiar power filled her body. It felt like the power from the Epsilon crystal, only quieter. Before she could react, a portal opened behind them and Yorukai came running out.

    "There you are, Ame-chan! Are you okay? Did I make it in time? What happened while you were trapped with Queen Ruby? You didn't try to kill her did you? Oh, there she is. Hi Ruby! Mark said horrible things would happen to you if I didn't get here! Has that nasty old man forced you to marry him yet?"

    "CHIKAWA!" Amefuri snapped, "What is nonsense you are talking about?"

    "Mark said…" Yorukai suddenly put two and two together and turned to face Mark with a look of betrayal. Mark managed to hold a straight face for a whole 2 seconds before bursting into laughter.

    "Sorry, I could not resist." He explained to Amefuri, who was glaring bloody murder at him.

    "Great. Now I have to work with the three of you." Ruby turned back to her normal self and opened a portal to Mark's apartment. "Don't know about you guys, but I'm going home." With that said, she walked through the portal.