"Captain?" Noelle asked, her voice timid. She hated to even broach the subject, but she knew she must.

Yami read his newspaper, a curl of smoke coming from his cigarette. Whether he was ignoring her, or he just didn't hear, she did not know.

"Captain." She repeated with more strength to her voice. From the sigh behind the paper, Noelle knew he had heard her this time. He folded the document down and looked up at her letting a cloud of smoke escape his lips.

"What?"

"The Knight's Ball is next week."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, I'm surprised you hadn't mentioned it yet."

"I wasn't planning on it. We don't do balls." He flipped the paper back up and went back to his reading.

Noelle furrowed her brow, determined.

"Well, then, Captain, I regret to inform you that I have to attend. I would be remiss in my royal duties if I did not."

"Fine. Whatever. Go." The voice came from behind the newspaper. Another cloud of smoke disappated around its edges.

Noelle opened her mouth to speak, closed it, checking her anger before continuing.

"I can't exactly go by myself."

He sighed again, folding up his paper and setting it aside.

"Fine. Hey, Kid!" He called to Asta, who sat at the table chowing down on breakfast with Charmy. "Take Noelle to this Ball thing." He waved his hand dismissively.

Noelle sputtered and her face grew red.

"C-Captain. I can't go with him."

"Why not?"

She stammered as she fought for an explanation which would not reveal how she felt for the peasant.

"Be-Because..." She took a deep breath and steadied her voice. "Because typically the entire squad attends these events." She smiled, satisfied with her explanation though she knew it to be demonstrably false.

"Tch. What a pain in the ass."

"What's a ball?" Asta asked from the table, around a mouth full of food.

"It's a kind of party where people get dressed up in fancy clothes. There's music, dancing and so. much. food." Charmy explained as she continued shoveling food into her mouth.

"Did someone say party? I wonder if there will be lots of pretty girls there." Finral piped in.

"It's mostly for the Magic Knights, so..." Yami said, expecting the explanation to be enough to discourage him.

"Oh." A grin spread over Finral's face. "I'm sure the ladies of the Blue Rose Squad look lovely all dolled up."

Yami blew a cloud of smoke at the junior knight.

"They would eat you alive."

"But what a way to go, eh Boss?"

Yami took a long drag on his cigarette. He didn't want to go. He had always hated going to the Ball when he was in Julius' squad, but his then captain had insisted, saying it was an important cultural education for him. Julius had insisted on a lot of things, and when he had given Yami his own squad, Yami had decided he would never do them again. He had received the invitation for the squad every year, but he never told the lot of them about the Ball's existence. He knew the invitation was a formality, anyway, only done because to leave one of the squads out would have been in bad taste. His choosing not to attend was in bad taste too, but he didn't give a fuck.

Still, the thought of seeing Her dressed up again did arouse some... interest.

"I wonder what kind of drinks they'll have." Vanessa roused herself from the chair in which she had collapsed the night before. "Can we go, Yami?" She crawled onto the couch next to him and looked up at him with her gray-lavender eyes sparkling. "Please?"

"No."

Vanessa sat back next to him and crossed her arms over her chest. Her womanly wiles had never really worked on him, and it frustrated her to no end.

The squad members in the room erupted in protest-namely Finral, Charmy and Noelle, but even Asta joined in.

"Why are you so excited? You didn't even know what the ball was a few minutes ago." Yami asked the young man.

"But if it's something the Magic Knights do, I want to try it. I need to know these things if I'm going to be Wizard King."

"I would love to show my Marie the beauty of such an event." Gauch added to the arguments. Even Gray and Gordon seemed interested in attending. Yami scowled as the noise grew into a cacophony. He slammed his magic-enhanced fist into the table before him.

"Shut up!"

The squad members fell silent.

"You want to go? Fine. We'll go. Just don't expect it to be any fun, or to fit in. The entire damn thing is boring as hell. The drinks aren't that good; the food is mediocre. And formal clothes suck. But if you all want to go, we'll go."

A cheer erupted from the rest of the bulls. The female members scattered to their dormitory wing, Noelle and Vanessa talking excitedly about dresses, Charmy following with a bowl of fried rice in her hands.

"Gray." Yami turned to the large form of the transformation mage. "If you're going, you're not going like that."

Gray transformed into Finral.

"I'll go like this then. I'm sure Finral would appreciate having a twin for the night."

"No."

Gray transformed into Vanessa.

"No."

Gray transformed into Gordon.

"Gods, no. If you're going to go, you need to go as yourself."

Gray transformed into a short, blue-haired femme presenting person who seemed far younger than their twenty-four years. They shrunk into themselves a bit. Yami placed a large hand on Gray's head.

"It will be fine, alright? We all look out for each other, right?"

They nodded before slinking after the girls.

Yami looked around the common room, which had emptied out rather quickly after he agreed to let them go. He sat back down and flipped through the paper to the article he had been reading.

"Bunch o' assholes." he muttered as he lit another cigarette.

He tried to focus on the paper, but the articles could not hold his interest. His mind kept returning to the ball he had agreed to attend. He hadn't been to one in six or seven years now. He had hated them then, and he had little hope of enjoying this one. But like the reluctant father giving into his kids demands, he would go. He would bring them, and he would make sure they had a good time, even if he did not.

"Shit." He flicked the ash which had built up on the end of his cigarette to the floor. He realized he also needed something to wear. He had burned all of his formal clothes when Julius had given him command of the Bulls. The squad was brand new, and Yami was not one to stand on formality. He had vowed then he would never need such things again. He stood and walked out of the building. If he had to go, if he had to take part in the ridiculous pageantry, he would do it on his own terms, just as he did everything else. He called Finral to send him to the Castle Town. He had a very specific tailor he needed to meet.

A/N: Just a silly idea I've had kicking around, based on the idea of military balls.