Title: What Love Is

Synopsis: Sometimes recklessness can be the only thing that leads to zero regrets; Conrart hopes that Yuuri's recklessness with his love can lead to happier times than the love that Conrart had. Julia/Conrart and Yuuri/Saralegui.

Rating: K+

A/N: This is set right after episode ninety-nine. I haven't watched any further than that so I don't really know if this is timely or not, but oh well. I hope that you enjoy this, and if you would be so kind, I would very much appreciate a few reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kyo Kara Maoh, because if I did there would be a lot more Alford and a lot less Sangria.

--

Time could pass; the world could move forward, but there would never be someone like Julia again. No matter where Conrart searched and no matter how he tried to find someone to replace the memories that he had with her, there was nothing that could ever fill her shoes. Even Yuuri, whose soul had once belonged to the paragon of virtue that was Julia, could not ever hope to be the same as the woman who he had once loved. The only regret that Conrart had in his life was letting her slip away so easily.

--

Sipping some tea quietly in his chambers, Conrart prepared himself for another day. Life was fulfilling for the first time in years; for once he had something to fight for, instead of just the monotonous tones of endless war with no purpose.

The knock on his door didn't surprise Conrart. For a few days he had wondered when Yuuri was going to come talk to him; since they had returned from Small Cimaron the boy had not been his usual chipper self. There was something deeply bothering him; an unusual thing for the happy-go-lucky king. "Conrad?" A timid voice asked from the other side of the door.

"Come in, your highness." When Yuuri entered the room, Conrart stood; the usual practice for when royalty entered the vicinity. Though Yuuri didn't quite like all of the pomp and circumstance that came with the job of being the Maoh, it was something that was unavoidable. Even the people who was closest to would always have to maintain a certain level of formality with him. "Take a seat." Smiling, the young boy sat into the chair that Conrart resettled himself into. "Now, what's been troubling you, Yuuri." The boy's name was said with a certain amount of reverence; like it was something precious. For Conrart Yuuri was a sort of surrogate son; he loved him more than anything else in the world. Though he wished each day that Julia was still there, Yuuri was the one thing that continued to keep him smiling.

A flustered and embarrassed look came upon the Maoh's face. "How did you know?" He said a bit too loudly, the tone of his voice changing with chagrin and nervousness.

It was difficult to keep himself from laughing, but Conrart managed to answer the boy's question while maintaining only a grin. "You haven't been right since we left Small Cimaron. It seems as if you've been in a funk or something since we left Saralegui's palace."

The name of the king of Small Cimaron seemed to make Yuuri flinch just a bit. Since leaving there it had been a bit of a taboo; no one wanted to speak of the occasion of Yuuri letting his powers getting out of control and of Wolfram's jealousy of the young king. Saralegui was just another ally of the Great Demon Kingdom at this point; the friendship between the two kings was something that no one dared to mention at this point.

"It's just that I… I have a question for you, Conrad." Yuuri said, a painful note to his voice; whatever he was asking about was something that he didn't want to ask. This must have been some sort of last resort for the young man.

Still smiling and happy just for Yuuri's company, Conrart spoke. "Sure, go ahead. I'll answer anything you want." Hoping dearly that Yuuri's question didn't involve the birds and the bees, he waited eagerly to see what had been weighing so heavily on the young man.

For a moment Yuuri stared at the older man with a determined face. Taking a deep breath, he prepared to ask his seemingly important question. "Conrad, what is love?"

The question surprised Conrart quite a bit. For someone who preached friendship, love and peace to the world, for him to not know what it felt seemed just a bit impossible. "I'm sorry your highness, but you'll need to clarify just a bit; what about it do you want to know about? It's a rather broad topic."

Sighing, Yuuri put his elbows on the table in front of him and set his head in his two cupped hands. "I guess I want to know is what it feels like… to be in love with someone else." Pausing, he sighed even heavier than before. "How do you know if you're in love with someone?"

"I don't think Wolfram will like you asking about this." Conrart said laughing just a bit. A sour look came upon Yuuri's face as the other boy was mentioned; there was a sinking feeling in the bottom of Conrart's stomach. Apparently it was not Yuuri's fiancée who was the object of the young man's affections; though it had been relatively obvious to most of the people that were close to them for quite some time that the love in the relationship was only reciprocated on one side. "Never mind that." Conrart backtracked. "Love is sort of hard to explain; I've only been in love like that once."

Eagerly, Yuuri watched Conrart. "And what was it like?" He prodded.

Filling up his mind with scenes from twenty years ago and a young woman with beautiful blue hair, Conrart tried to remember what it felt like to be completely in love with another person. "It's a warm feeling; it makes you feel insecure in a small way as well." Eyes shut tight, the past flooded into him. The brief moments between the two of them that were always cut so short, the hurried conversations that ended too soon, the constant watching eyes of his mother and Adelbert… The love that the two of them had shared was not a usual one; then again, most love seemed to be unusual in its own way. "I think that it would probably be different for each person, but for me it was just the feeling that I wasn't who I really was around any other person. There was only a single person who I cared to be with and I could only be happy around her." Letting the last memories fade back away into the far corner of his brain, Conrart opened his eyes once again. "For me, love was a magnetic pull to her; it was something that I couldn't escape."

Hoping that his answer was suitable enough, Conrart studied Yuuri for a moment. "It was Julia, wasn't it?" The boy asked and a bit reluctantly, Conrart nodded. "So the two of you couldn't be together because of Adelbert, and then you went off to war and she-" Not wanting Yuuri to have to finish his sentence, Conrart interrupted.

"She died. We never were able to have a time to really be together, but that's how it was like in times of war. There will always be lovers who are separated and die during times of crisis. It's a sad truth of the world that we must all accept." Pausing, Conrart decided to add one last thing. "Though, I wish that I had done something at the time. My only regret is that I never had a chance to be with her the way I would have liked to."

In a jerking movement, Yuuri ripped his elbows off of the table. "So you're saying that if two people are in love, they should try to be together no matter what?"

A bit frightened of Yuuri's reaction, Conrart nodded. "Yes, I believe that."

A broad smile came upon Yuuri's face. Then as quickly as he came, he went running towards the door, only to stop momentarily to yell, "Thank you Conrad!" Then he was out the door, going as fast as he could down the hallways of the castle. Left behind, Conrart sat confused as to what the young royal was up to. But Conrart also knew that Yuuri was a caring boy, and he deserved to have someone if that was what he wanted.

Just as long as he didn't do something completely reckless and stupid.

--

After leaving his room an hour later to begin his day, Conrart was attacked by a frantic Günter. "Conrart, thank heavens you're here. We need to catch up to his highness. Just a few moments ago he ended his engagement to Wolfram and stole a boat."

"What?" Conrart asked a bit confused; there was nothing that he could think of that Yuuri could do alone with a boat.

The hysterical look in Günter's eyes grew greater as he explained. "Babbling something about not letting circumstances keep lovers apart, he's heading towards Small Cimaron to propose to King Saralegui!" Finally the excitement of the day took its toll on Günter, and the man passed out, just in time for Conrart to catch the man in his arms.

And though it all came as quite a surprise to Conrart, he couldn't help but to smile. Thinking of Julia, he wished that he had been able to be as reckless as his highness and live for his love; that way he would not have had any regrets as he did now.

--

Fin