AN: Chapters 1-5 modified 8/3/2013.

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Once, there was a short grumpy prince who was bored sick of his life. If he had to go to another history lesson, or royal ceremony, or masquerade ball (an unfortunate favorite of his father's), he thought he would go insane.

One morning as he was waking up, he found another boy staring at him...in his bed about half a foot away. Being the healthy red-blooded male he was, the prince promptly shrieked and ducked under the covers. This would have been more effective had the other boy not been sitting on them. Ultimately the prince ended up having only enough blanket slack to cover up to his eyebrows and a tuft of dark hair poked out obviously at the top of the covers.

The strange boy giggled. "Are you trying to hide?"

"Yes."

"It doesn't look like you're doing it all that well," the boy said frankly.

"Maybe if I don't see you, you don't exist," the prince said with determination.

The boy giggled again. "You're funny. You're more interesting than I thought you would be."

The prince carefully lowered the blanket just enough so one eye peeked over the edge. "I wasn't exactly joking," he said hesitantly. At the sight of the strange boy still as close as before (why hadn't he moved away?), the prince jumped back behind his shield.

"Geez, do I look that bad? Or is there something on my face?"

"Who ARE you?"

"Me? Oh, I guess I forgot."

The prince gasped when the blanket was suddenly torn away from him and his face was filled with the features of the strange boy, who leaned in, steadying a hand on the headboard above the prince's head for support.

"I'm Chen, your new best friend. Nice to meet you!"

And just like that the short grumpy prince had a best friend, and life in the castle wasn't boring anymore. Chen followed him everywhere he went, and amused the prince through the rest of his boring lessons and ceremonies and masquerades. After the initial stage of extreme mistrust, followed by the next ten or so stages of decreasing degrees of acute suspicion, the prince learned to regard Chen with a casual daily wariness. He couldn't completely let down his guard because Chen by nature was a very suspicious person, if his preference for outlandish, spicy food was any sign.

Another strange thing about Chen was that no one seemed to notice him except for the prince. Chen also mysteriously disappeared whenever other people were near. So one day, the prince asked Chen about it.

"Hey, can anyone else see you?"

Chen tilted his head and smiled. "Nope," he replied simply.

"Oh, I thought not."

The prince paused as another thought hit him."Hey, Chen?"

"Hmm?"

The prince asked seriously. "Am I crazy?"

Now that shocked a laugh out of Chen, and he wiped his eyes briefly before answering with amusement, "No, you're not. Gods. I've been with you for almost a year and I still can't get used to your bluntness."

The prince squinted at the other boy, a pout forming on his face. "Okay, then what are you if I'm not crazy and hallucinating you?"

Chen played his long fingers through the prince's dark hair, tugging gently at some of the strands, half-smile perched at the edge of his mouth. Used to Chen's touchiness, the prince tilted his head into the hand and waited. Chen's fingers felt sort of nice.

"What if I told you I was a ghost?" Chen mused quietly, as if to himself.

The prince's eyes fluttered open, surprised partly because of the question and partly because he hadn't realized his eyes had closed in the first place.

"Like…dead?"

A chuckle. "Sort of," was the ambiguous reply. "What if I told you I was a ghost of your past and your future? I am the brother you will never meet, the comrade you once had, the friend who will love you…forever." The last word ended in a whisper and Chen looked so uncharacteristically sad at that moment that the prince rushed forward to hug his friend. The short grumpy prince wasn't accustomed to hugs so he misjudged the distance.

The boy oof-ed as the prince collided with him. Chen had always been taller than the prince, even after his growth spurt, so the prince's face nestled comfortably in the hollow of Chen's throat. Until then Chen hadn't bothered to wonder how the prince could touch him.

"Don't feel sad, okay? Don't be so sad about—about all that." He didn't understand completely but he grabbed at Chen's shirt, pulling him down to the prince's level. "If you're from my past and my future, that means we'll be together. Forever. Right?"

Chen exhaled, eyes filling with not tears, but something else just as saddening. The prince pouted worriedly at him. Chen touched his cheek gently to relieve some of that tension.

"Don't worry. I'm not sad anymore. But I still love you. So much, too much really." The prince looked confused.

"Is that a bad thing?"

When Chen's eyes were fully open they were the brilliant blue of a clear summer day. They were both gentle and fierce at once, so the prince wasn't surprised Chen hardly ever opened his eyes fully. They were too intense for every day. Now, they opened and reminded the prince of their intensity.

"No, that's not a bad thing at all," Chen said, right before he placed a soft kiss on the prince's lips. The short grumpy prince found himself gaping in shock.

The prince was just twelve years old.

"Ne, Fuji? What are you looking at?"

Syuusuke reluctantly drew his eyes away from their target and found his redheaded friend peering curiously over his shoulder. "Oh nothing, I was just daydreaming. Eiji, how was your weekend?" Fuji said breezily.

Kikumaru shrugged. "Not bad. I got to watch a movie with Oishi. Oh, that reminds me!" The boy exclaimed as he jumped up. "I forgot to return Oishi's chem homework to him! Big danger! Gotta go, Fujiko, see you in English!" Kikumaru scampered off, leaving just as abruptly as he had arrived.

Fuji, now free of interruptions, went back to his gazing. He was sitting at one of the benches near the back of the school. If one turned a corner, they would find themselves in a secluded pocket near the tennis courts, with plenty of wall to practice on. Where Fuji was sitting, he could see this area through a spotty divider of trees and bushes. It wasn't a perfect view, but good enough.

He saw flashes of white, a bouncing ball, bare legs, a head of dark hair tucked under a cap. Sometimes, he was lucky enough to see the whole figure. Syuusuke leaned back on the bench and stared lazily, lax as a cat under the sun.

If anyone had seen him, they would have thought he was just daydreaming as he gazed into the foliage.