A/N: Hi, this is Yukiko saying hi for the first time! I hope you guys will like this... I have a bad habit of not finishing stuff when I don't have any more motivation, so please review. o0 Watch me not get any reviews. Yay.

Enjoy!

You, Aomori Yasuo, chief secretary of the Shaman Kingdom, are invited to the palace of His Highest Majesty Emperor Asakura Kazuo to celebrate his twenty-fifth birthday. This is an honor not many have received and His Highest Majesty graciously allows you and your wife and children to accompany him in this grand annual celebration…

Yasuo looked up from reading the grossly over-adorned invitation. His wife smiled at him and said, "Oh, of course we'll come, Yasuo." She patted him on the shoulder in a comforting matter.

Yasuo hadn't been worried about his wife's reaction. He was mainly worried about two of the three younger shamans in the room. Two were his son and daughter, Isamu and Miyoko, and the other was a young man named Hajime. Hajime was Yasuo's nephew, the same age as Isamu. He had no family and so out of compassion Yasuo had taken him into his own family.

Miyoko and Hajime looked away pointedly. Yasuo knew they were both preparing to refuse the proposal. Just as Hajime opened his mouth to argue, Yasuo headed him off. "I know what you're thinking, but…"

"… but your father, Miyoko – your uncle, Hajime – has a very high position in this kingdom and if we don't show up… well, not only will it offend everyone, we might be persecuted by the king. You know how he is with all those who offend him." Chiyo came to her husband's rescue.

"But what if we just stay home, uncle?" Hajime argued. "You and mother can go, and Isamu if he wants to."

"He'll notice, Miyoko. Either he or his advisors will notice, and then we'll all be in trouble." Yasuo replied patiently. Then he added, "We mustn't miss this opportunity."

"Yeah, an opportunity to suck up to that -" Miyoko muttered under her breath.

"Don't let him hear you say that," her mother warned. "Miyoko, it can't be so hard. We go through this every year. It's only once, and you won't have to do all this again until next year."

Miyoko grumbled. Her mother got up from the regal red chair that seemed like such a throne of authority and whisked her out of the room and up the stairs. A young maid materialized out of nowhere and took Chiyo's place as Miyoko's guide to her room. Once there, the maid scurried into Miyoko's roomy closet to look for something fancy to wear to the occasion. After all, it was only a few hours away.

--

A few hours away had arrived, much to Miyoko's distaste. As she sat in the carriage bringing them to the grandiose castle – cars and all things eighteenth century and beyond had been banned, with only a handful of exceptions – she still wore a face resembling thunder looming over the horizon and Yasuo wondered when the storm would break. Hajime was more refined in concealing his dissatisfaction, but the dark halo of moodiness was underscored in everybody's minds. All in all, the atmosphere wasn't too enjoyable.

The carriage stopped and Miyoko hopped out almost even before the door had opened. Back straight, she haughtily walked up the stairs to the main doors and went through without waiting for the rest of her family and escort. Yasuo sighed. "She is the most difficult girl I've ever had the misfortune to raise."

"She's the only girl you've ever had the misfortune to raise," his wife pointed out.

"I could give her away to a family of twelve princesses and they'd say the same," Yasuo grumbled.

--

The party was an immense one. All the important people came from all over the world, not wanting to offend their superior. They all understood Asakura Kazuo's moods and tempers. He was quite a pathetic person, really, but he carried so much power there wasn't room for the opinion to breathe.

"It's been like this for the last eight hundred years," Miyoko stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Hajime as they whispered to each other. "Only a generation down from the fourth reincarnation of Asakura Hao and they'd already gotten this bad with all the corruption." Hajime nodded in agreement.

Hao's third reincarnation was the one where he fought his legendary battle with Asakura Yoh and his friends. The fourth reincarnation, five hundred years after that, Hao had joined the Shaman Fight with full confidence, because beforehand he had slaughtered all the other Asakuras, his descendants. His followers numbered in the thousands and there was no question from the beginning – he would be the King of Spirits. He finally accomplished his goal of his Shamans-only world. The ones who opposed him were trampled, and so Hao reigned for the next ninety years over his kingdom peacefully. However, even the great onmyoji didn't avoid old age in the end. He told his son he would be back five hundred years later, just like all his other reincarnations.

The five hundred years went by and a wailing baby was brought into the world – and kicked back out. The Asakura father, Hao's descendant and ruler at the time, destroyed Hao with his own hands, brutally. To prevent Hao from ever gaining enough power to overthrow the corrupt Asakura dynasty, the father also sealed away Hao's spirit ally, the Spirit of Fire that had absorbed the Great Spirits but kept its own form.

Miyoko and Hajime both knew this history better than most of the other shamans living in the world. Their clan, the Aomori, was an old one, dating back a few thousand years. Not as old as the Asakuras, or as influential as they had been before Hao had took over. Miyoko's father held the position in the shamanic court that his forerunners had. The Aomoris, ever since the Asakura dynasty had been established, had served the Asakuras.

--

Asakura Kazuo sat on his throne, festooned in precious cloths and riches to gloat his prestige over all his subjects. All the officials, nobles, and important figures in the world had gathered in his palace all on his whim. He could do whatever he wanted! After all, he controlled the world. One wave of his hand and the land could be furnished with beauty or laid to waste. He had complete power.

"Announcing the twenty-fifth birthday of Asakura Kazuo, the Highest Majesty, the Emperor!" Kazuo's steward bellowed over the crowd. He glanced to either side. Good, everyone was here. The emperor's guards stood around him, always poised for action. Kazuo's younger brother stood in the throne's shadow in a deferential manner.

Kazuo's advisor leaned over. "Sir, congratulations on turning twenty five… also, don't you think it's time to look for a queen?"

Kazuo raised his eyebrow. "That was sudden."

"I'm so very sorry, sir, but don't you think it's a good idea?"

The figure in the corner behind the throne shifted, as if the idea interested him. To the form Kazuo snapped, "No, you stay out of this. I won't permit any of your cheek today."

Kazuo's younger brother was Katsu. He was only a year younger than Kazuo, and Kazuo knew hardly anything about him. Come to think of it, Kazuo reflected, I can't even recall what the maggot looks like… he's always skulking and hiding under his hood. Then again… Kazuo shrugged. It doesn't matter to me anyways.

"If I may suggest it, sir," the advisor continued boldly, "You could look at the girls present here today, I'm sure one would to be to your tastes. After all, only the most worthy shamans are here today."

"No, you may not suggest it, impertinent worm." Kazuo snarled. Then, sitting back, he cast his gaze over the crowd, doing exactly what the advisor had told him to do. He saw a few promising, good-looking females and pointed them out to the advisor, who summoned someone to gather the chosen ones up to meet Kazuo.

--

Miyoko was still talking to Hajime when the servant came over to beckon her. Irritated, she shooed the man away impatiently. "But madam," the servant groveled, "The emperor wishes for your presence."

Miyoko looked up at the shrouded man sitting higher than everyone else. "The madam wishes for her peace."

Kazuo looked at the servant cringing in front of the willful girl. Then his glare shifted to Hajime standing nearby. "She wants to talk to him, does she? Instead of me, the emperor of all?" he muttered thunderously. As the servant came back shakily, afraid the emperor would take offence at Miyoko and unleash his temper on an innocent bystander, Kazuo flicked his gaze down at him. "Go tell the guards to arrest that man next to her."

"Yes, sir!" The servant gasped and quickly bowed while leaving as quickly as he could.

The ensuing ruckus caused most of the heads in the room to snap around like rubber bands. The guards were yelling and Miyoko was venting her anger on them. "What are you doing? He has done absolutely nothing!" Only Hajime was quiet as he was dragged away, grinning sheepishly at Miyoko.

"Get back here, you wimp! Fight! Do something!" Miyoko yelled after him. A hand restrained her from going after her cousin and she whipped around to see it was her father.

"We're leaving," was all that he said.

--

Nothing was said on the way back. In the living room of their large house, sudden shouts alarmed the various pets who had been drowsing. Miyoko and Yasuo were having a shouting match. Chiyo was trying to calm them down, and Isamu just sat there, wondering how many people would need to take sleeping pills tonight.

"You knew perfectly well it was on the emperor's orders, yet you deliberately disobey him! Not only that, you endanger Hajime by being impertinent right under the emperor's nose!" Yasuo accused.

"Oh, what do you care, all you care about is your stupid freaking position and your stupid freaking image!" Miyoko shot back heatedly. "The only reason you took in Hajime was because of what people would think if you didn't! You never cared about him! And he could tell!"

"Yasuo, darling, just calm dow—"

SLAP.

Miyoko's eyes were filled with tears. Kazuo's soldiers rammed through the door. Two grabbed each of her arms, one tied her hands behind her back. All had their Oversouls on. The family looked on in surprise, then dismay, then terror. Isamu shrieked and tried to fight the guards and get his sister back. The guards pushed him back easily. Chiyo looked thunderstruck. Yasuo…

"Mother! Father!" Miyoko shrieked. She writhed, twisted, tried to fight. More soldiers held her down and prevented her from activating her Oversoul. They hauled her to the door. Her tears were everywhere. Yasuo was ignoring the scene, abandoning her. How could he do this? Even though they had their disagreements, he was her father! He had a duty to her, to the family! Her eyes were blind with tears and rage. "Mother, please…" her voice quieted. Chiyo shuddered and looked away, looked at her son on the ground.

As Miyoko was taken farther away from the doorstep, she heard from the open doors, the low words: "It's for the better." Then, a wail, and a thump, as if her mother had flung herself on the ground. Nothing more.