-1Long Live the King! - A Kyo Kara Maoh! Fanfic
Rating: R (subject to change)
Pairings: Lots and lots :]
Summary: Once upon a time, in a world far away from Earth... a war had broken out upon the planet containing one of the most power demon races across the universe; the Great Demon Kingdom. Only recently having acquired a new king to reign its vast expansion, the kingdom was struggling to prevent the war from growing into an out of control massacre...
Yuuri Shibuya, also known as the Great Demon King, was struggling to keep control of such a large kingdom without things getting to a point where it would turn for the worst, doing everything in his power to stop the war completely. However, despite his many attempts to stop the fighting between the Humans and the Demon Tribes, communication was failing miserably and there was no hope but to find an alternate means of putting an end to the raging war.
At his side, he had the advise of his trusted companions; the noble Conrad, the stoic Gwendal, the gullible Gunter, and his brat fiancé, Wolfram. Together, his four companions vowed to both carry out their orders given to them as well as protect their beloved Demon King... the only problem was...
... It seemed Yuuri was the idol of each one's affections.
Part One
"Your Highness...!"
A flurry of white and silver passed through the various halls and nearly burst down every door in the castle while searching for its objective. It appeared that, once again, the Great Demon King had gone off to somewhere where the advisor couldn't find him, casting poor Gunter into despair.
"Ack! Lord Gunter, just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Wolfram was nearly ran over in the process, plastering himself to the wall to avoid the stampede as the lord ran right by him.
"Oh, Lord von Bielefeld... this is just awful! I can't seem to find His Highness anywhere in the castle... please, oh please tell me that you've seen him!" Worried hands caught up Wolfram's own as sparkling eyes begged for anything, a mere clue as to where the king had ran off to this time.
"... No, he's missing again? Why can't he just learn to stay put?" growled Wolfram with a roll of his eyes, jerking his hands away from Gunter's and storming off down the hall, apparently joining the search as they were engaged, after all. "I can't believe this; he thinks he can just up and walk around without me being there to keep an eye on him! That wimp doesn't seem to understand that half of what he says is flirting!"
"W-wait! Lord von Bielefeld... wait for me! I'm coming too!" Gunter cried and hurried to catch up with the steaming blonde.
Once he thought it was safe, Yuuri poked his head out from around one of the crates in the last room Gunter had checked, having stowed away there when he heard the frantic cries of his pursuer. He hung his head with a sigh... there never seemed to be any time to get out and just enjoy the outdoors these days with Gunter hanging over his shoulder and blabbering to him about studying and how important their kingdom's history was. The problem wasn't that the history and stuff wasn't interesting... but more the fact that lately, Gunter had become even more clingier than usual.
Conrad stepped to the side up against the wall, perfectly in time to avoid Gunter rush by and Wolfram storm by swearing all sorts of pain on his godson. Conrad watched them both disappear around a corner, before he smiled to himself and continued his stroll down the hallway, pausing outside the room Yuuri was secretly hiding in and leaning against the wall to casually wait for the boy to poke his head out.
Yuuri stepped out fully without much notice to the man that had so easily spotted him, brushing off his shoulder before he caught a glimpse of brown out of the corner of his eyes. Turning his head to the side, he suddenly yelped and stumbled backwards away from Conrad, sweatdropping, "C-Conrad! Where did... where did you come from? Don't tell me you're with them... I don't want to study!" _
Conrad just chuckled and rest a hand on his hips with a slightly teasing quirk on his lips. "Now, heika, learning the history and politics of the Great Demon Kingdom is extremely important. And there's court mannerisms and etiquette that also needs instruction."
"C'mon, Conrad... I have to sit in that room alone with Gunter every day! And haven't I told you not to call me heika; you're responsible for my name after all, so you might as well use it," Yuuri sighed, running a hand through his black hair.
"Of course...Yuuri..." Conrad smiled warmly, his voice softening even as he said Yuuri's name. He then pulled out a catchers mitt, holding it for Yuuri to see. "Well, I suppose a break from heavy studying can be allowed now and then."
Yuuri's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the familiar baseball glove, feeling his heart soar just by looking at it, "Yeah! I'd love to, thanks Conrad..."
Conrad tilted his head with a smile and walked with Yuuri out to their usual practice area to play a bit of catch.
Gwendal frowned and took a moment to look up from the stacks of paperwork on his desk, listening as Wolfram and Gunter stormed the castle in their almost daily search for the maoh. He eyebrow twitched just slightly as he ignored the urge to join the search, instead, grumpily looking back to his work with a scowl and praying Gunter didn't come to him whining.
"Ooooh, GWENDAL!" A feminine voice suddenly called out down the halls just outside of Gwendal's office.
Gwendal froze, eyes widening in uncharacteristic horror at that voice. Oh no... He spared no time in getting up and walking swiftly out of his office, running over any unfortunate servants that happened to get between him and escape from that woman. If she found him... "..."
"Oh! Lord Gwendal!" Having spotted the man just as he came out of his quarters, Gunter rushed up and begged with sad, pleading eyes, "Oh this is terrible... we just can't find his Majesty anywhere. He wouldn't have happened to waltz by your room, Gwendal?"
Gwendal immediately scowled his darkest, most intimidating scowl. "No I haven't. Try Lord Weller, since he seems to have an acute sense to the royal pain's location at all times. Now out of my way."
"AHA! FREEZE!" Annissina appeared at that moment, pointing at a confused Gunter and a horrified Gwendal. She wagged her finger and smirked, chuckling to herself. "Mm-hm-hmmm...Tired of looking for the Maoh? Can't seem to find him anywhere? Well, you three come along and I'll show you my greatest invention that will make the days of a missing maoh non-existent!"
"... I'm not sticking around for this," Wolfram made a face and turned around the moment he wheeled into view, heading back the way he came.
"A new... invention?" Gunter blinked with curiosity at the mention of something that could possibly reveal their king's location. "Can you... can you really find his Highness, Lady Anissina..?"
"Ah ha ha! Of course it'll find him! The Mr.-Moah-Sniffer-3001-Vs 6 is perfectly suited for no other purpose!" Anissina laughed proudly to herself at Gunter's question.
Gwendal sweatdropped. "What happened with the first five versions?"
"Huh? Oh...they blew up when I tried to use them. But version 6 is FLAWLESS!" 8-)
Gwendal immediately tried to run for it.
"Oh, Lord Gwendal, perhaps this one will be different!" Gunter nearly sobbed as he immediately latched on to the elder of three brothers, pleading up at him with desperate violets that were quickly beginning to brim with unshed tears. "We must find His Majesty... we must! Our kingdom depends on it!"
"No our kingdom doesn't. As I said, he's probably with Lord Weller..." Gwendal argued and tried to pry himself free and run for it.
Annissina just smiled and fisted her hand in victory. If she's hooked Gunter, Gwendal would get dragged along in the end. It never failed.
"But sir, what if the poor boy has been kidnapped? He could be all alone out here, scared and suffering whilst praying for the heavens to open up and swallow him whole! He needs us! He needs you , Lord von Voltaire..!" Gunter's face snapped into sudden seriousness, holding his hands firm in his own as he stared him down.
Gwendal grit his teeth with a faint blush and a taken aback expression, even going so far as to sweatdrop at Gunter's sheer serious look. He could also feel a speck of indignancy flare up in him. "N-Now wait a minute, here! Where do you get off with the idea that for the Maoh I'd willing deal with her and her inventions!"
"Oh come now, Gwendy. I've known you since we were kids," Anissina grinned evilly, catching on to Gunter's plot, though she only had an inkling of an idea what it might be.
Gwendal looked completely flabbergasted by the mere suggestion that he would even have a soft spot for Yuuri.
Gunter retained his serious expression, if only to cling tighter to the general, "Think about it, Lord von Voltaire... what if he was out there, all alone with nothing but the stray cats to keep him company in his dingy cell? The soft matted fur of the poor things would be the only thing to keep him warm during the cold, chilling nights..."
Gwendal stood growling low to himself with Gunter beside him, both of them within Anissina's workshop as she presented to them that accursed new invention of hers. All he could think about? He really needed an excuse to escape these people...
Gunter seemed to be watching with the usual gullible fascination, peering closer at the device as it was revealed.
"YES! This is the wonderful, masterful Mr.-Maoh-Sniffer-3001-Vs 6!" Anissina announced happily.
To those who knew it, it looked like a toaster with a large nose hovering above it with a set of wings. To Gwendal, it could only bode disaster.
"Oh... and how does this contraption work?" Gunter stared at it quizzically, walking forward so he could examine it closer.
"Simple! We just these two power cores and give it to Lord von Voltaire," Anissina began to explain handing Gwendal a metal red clip in one hand and a metal blue clip in the other, both attached to a wire that fed into opposite sides of the device.
Gwendal held them, not looking pleased at all.
"Oh, I see..." Gunter rubbed his chin and leaned in even further, eager to see if it could really find their beloved Maoh.
"Anissina...I have to protest. This doesn't seem at all...safe..." Gwendal argued grumpily. He had a very bad feeling.
"Oh enough from you. Now...we just flick this switch," Anissina began, moving to flick said switch.
Gunter just stood there, having been caught within the blast, which in turn had covered him from head to toe in black. He coughed once... and blinked. o_o "... Did we find him?"
"No..." Gwendal growled with all the venom of a full grown dragon, still clutching the two ends of the wire in a death grip while his hair officially stood out...everywhere.
"I don't understand what happened. You must have put to much power in," Anissina ignored them both, looking over the ruined device as she started trying to figure out what improvements were needed.
Gwendal sighed and tossed the wires to the floor like yesterday's trash, turning and quietly but deadly leaving the room.
Gunter coughed a second time, wondering if the contraption had blew up not from not from a power overdose, but perhaps the Maoh was very close by... No, that would be too silly.
Conrad looked up right after he caught one of Yuuri's throws, looking back towards the castle where he'd sensed a great disturbance of magic.
"Something the matter, Conrad..?" Yuuri blinked, trying to look around to stare at the building too, giving the thing a quizzical look.
"Oh nothing," Conrad chuckled and turned his attention back to their game. "By the way. I overheard an interesting rumor in the city today."
"Really? What happened?" Yuuri looked to him with curious eyes.
"Ah...nothing traumatic. There's just a rumor that an ancient artifact of the Kingdom has recently cropped up in the mountains just beyond dragon territory." ^^
Yuuri paused, his eyes suddenly lighting up for a second time, "Like... more dragons...? We can see the dragons again...?"
"Of course. And I'm sure the baby misses you," Conrad smiled warmly. "However, it might be a bit hard talking Gunter and Gwendal into allowing such an exploration."
"We could always just go without them..." Yuuri murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. It'd be ok if he had Conrad with him...
"What? Did I just hear the words 'go without them' come out of your mouth, you pathetic wimp?" Without notice, Wolfram appeared beside Yuuri with a furious look on his face, placing both hands on his hips defiantly as he puffed out his cheeks. "You are most certainly NOT going anywhere without taking me along! Heaven forbid if I left the two of you alone, what you might get into your head or let this unruly brother of mine do to you!"
"W-Wolfram!" Yuuri let out a surprised yelp before he backed up a few steps, making sure he was closer to Conrad. "H-hey, look, you've got it all wrong... I didn't say anything about going anywhere, really! You must have been hearing things." ^^'
"Damnit, Yuuri! I know what I heard, and I'll have you know that the whole castle is being turned upside down in Gunter's search for you! You can't keep running away from your studies all the time, don't you understand? If it wasn't for me-"
"Shhhhh!" the Maoh panicked and quickly covered the blonde's mouth with his hand, less the maids hear them and would go running to alert Gunter. "Erm... Wolfram.." _
Conrad sighed and closed his eyes, face expressionless though inside he was only just barely annoyed. He'd wanted to take a quiet trip with Yuuri. Now he would have to find a REAL artifact beyond the dragon territory before Wolfram realized it had been just a ploy to give Yuuri and him an excuse to travel a bit and see the dragons once more.
"Look... Wolfram..." Yuuri sighed and let go of the blonde, resting his hands on his hips. "Um... Conrad was saying that there's a rumor going on downtown that another ancient artifact out past.. um... the dragon territory. I think it would be best if we kept the party maximum as low as we possibly can... and the dragons like me, so it's not like we'd be in danger... so..."
"Absolutely not! I will not have you going off and fraternizing with my brother! If you have to go off and find this item, then either I'm coming with you to keep tabs on you or we're not going to go at all, Yuuri!" scolded Wolfram, narrowing his jaded eyes to make sure he got the point across.
Yuuri sighed; looked like they weren't going to have any choice but to take Wolfram..
Conrad continued to watch and wait, not wanting to upset Yuuri or Wolfram with his own opinions.
Yuuri heaved a sigh and turned to look at Conrad with an apologetic smile, "So..."
"I will gather a small group of guards, our horses, and provisions...heika," Conrad simply smiled and bowed to Yuuri, turning to do so and pausing when he suddenly noticed a large burst of light and smoke coming from the direction of Anissina's workshop. "..."
"What... was that?" Yuuri stared at the smoke in shock, knowing it was never a good sign if something was rising up from their castle in such a manner... though it was often something that occurred rather close to Anissina's workshop.
"It's fine...It came from the direction of Anissina's workshop," Conrad sweatdropped with an exasperated but amused expression.
"Oh... I hope they're alright," Yuuri frowned up at Anissina's workshop.
"They'll be just fine, Yuuri.. Now if we're going to be going on a trip, we need to gather up some of your things and get them ready. Come on," Wolfram grabbed Yuuri by the arm and started to drag him back inside.