INTRODUCTION
Baraggan Louisenbairn was the ancient, decrepit king of a small dying kingdom trapped in the middle of several growing kingdoms that were threatening to take over his land and destroy him. Thankfully he had four sons that were helping him make allies of the surrounding kingdoms through marriage. The oldest son, Sosuke had married the elegant yet hopelessly stoic and unfeeling Princess Shirayuki* of the kingdom to the North. She would one day be the true Ice Queen in title and not just the opinion of her people. He was well suited to his wife being quite cold and calculating himself with a perpetually unflappable personality. The third son, Grimmjow was betrothed to Queen Harribel of the West who had already been crowned the reigning monarch after her father's unexpected death from being killed in a joust. Without a doubt they would have the most appealing and downright sexy children in all of the land. The youngest son, Ulquiorra, had been married off to the Southern Kingdom's Princess Orihime who was as brainless as she was beautiful. Despite their opposing personalities and arranged marriage, they loved each other very much. Then, there was the second son, Coyote: unmarried, unmotivated, and undeniably lazy. The only suitable female left for him to marry was the Princess of the Eastern Kingdom which would also secure King Barragan's borders and once again extend his boundaries through matrimonial bonds. However, that Princess, or her father for that matter, would not be so easily won over.
Yumiko was the oldest daughter of King Kuchiki, the arrogant and excessively proper King of the East. To her father's great distress, his daughter had a reputation that proceeded her. Stubborn, strong willed, and just plain mean spirited she balked at her father's desire to keep up appearances and wish for her to adhere to the strict set of rules for behavior he had set for his daughters. She wore britches, rode horses, and learned to be an archer much to her father's embarrassment and the amusement of the whole kingdom. The people loved her because she often wore commoner's clothes and spent more time in the streets among them than she did inside the castle staring down at them from the tall towers. Her sister Rukia was constantly admonishing her and berating her for humiliating the family especially their father. During particularly irritating rants, Yumiko would remind her about the less than royal social status of her boyfriend, Renji who was one of the King's Knights. Father would not be thrilled about that either. Her mother, Hisana, would gently reprimand her but was never as stern or serious as the King with his punishments. The Queen would sometimes 'accidentally' allow the girl to sneak away from her needlepoint lessons for archery lessons and had even aided her in fleeing from the teacher her husband had hired for math and literature tutoring. She thought it was more important the girl learn about her people and how to rule them someday than to learn how to add them together or recite useless poetry to entertain guests at boring parties.
Yumiko had been out running through the countryside and hunting rabbits with her archery teacher Uryƫ and her best friend Ichigo who was a commmoner and the son of the doctor who tended the royal family. After scaling the wall to her bedroom window, she pulled herself over the stone sill to drop soundlessly into her room. It was after sunset, and she was late getting home for dinner. With any luck, the cook and her helpers would be running late also with getting dinner on the table tonight. The lamp in her room suddenly burst to life, illuminating her table where her unopened school books sat. Gasping in horror and pressing her body against the wall in a useless attempt to hide in what remained of the shadows in her room, the dim golden glow revealed the face of a very displeased father sitting at her study table.
"Where have you been?" King Byakuya calmly inquired, his stormy gray eyes meeting his daughter's eyes that were the same shade of dark slate gray.
"Uh, um, I...I was...I was out..." she mumbled, nervously twirling a lock of her straight black hair that had come loose from the bun on her head.
"I know what you were out doing and who you were doing it with so please don't lie to me," he requested, pressing his fingers to his temples to massage them from the ache that had erupted there. He closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight of her holding her hands behind her back because not only were they stained with blood from hunting the nails were chipped and dirty from climbing the tower wall to her room. If only she had been a male child, all of these things would not only be permissable but also a source of fatherly pride. Opening his eyes, he allowed them to take in the full sight of his comely royal daughter who looked anything but that at the moment. She was wearing brown knee high boots over brown leather knickers as well as a peasant shirt under a deep green vest. Her long bow was strapped to her back along with a quiver of arrows. Her pretty face was marred with smudges of dirt and blood and her sometimes shiny ebony hair was a complete disheveled disaster. "What a lovely bride you'll be," he muttered under his breath with uncharacteristic sarcasm. "Please, go bathe and get ready for dinner. Your mother and sister are waiting."
"What do you mean bride?" Yumiko asked, rushing to her father and catching him by the arm as he was trying to leave. Snatching away her filthy hand, she bit her lower lip apprehensively when she saw the smear of blood on his white shirt sleeve.
Byakuya sighed and turned back to look at his daughter. Reaching out to touch her cheek, he did not care about the grime streaking her skin. He had received an invitation to the castle of the Central Kingdom. King Baraggan had finally made the strategic political move he had been expecting - and dreading - for years: he had requested a meeting to discuss the terms of betrothal of his slothful second son, Coyote, to King Kuchiki's sweet and special Yumiko. He smiled at the memory that he had pled with her mother not to give her that name because it meant child of the bow and arrow. His daughter was living up to her name and the proof was on her back.
"Miko, clean up and come for dinner. I'll discuss it then," he said, kissing the one clean spot on her face that was hidden beneath her overly long bangs covering her forehead. After patting her cheek, he turned back to the door to leave.
"Daddy?" she called, staring at his back as he waited to exit. "Do I have to get married?"
For the first time in her life, Byakuya was going to give her the option to make the right choice without being forced into it. "You don't have to get married. If you consent to this marriage, you will unite our kingdom with four very strong lands. If you refuse, you will start a war. The decision is yours."
Byakuya walked away to leave his daughter to think. He never promised her it would be an easy decision.
~\..'../~
"Coyote," the melodious female voice sang, invading his sweet dream of the barmaid he had bedded last night.
Coyote groaned wishing the sound would go away to leave him to his lusty memory. He did not want to wake up because he was tired and hungover. It had been another late night at the brothel for him and his friends. Moving brought undesired pain and also drew him closer to that unwelcome state called wakefulness. A brain crushing blow was delivered to the side of his head at the same time the proof of his manhood was crushed beneath a bony knee.
"Wake up, Coyote!" the shrill voice of Lilynette burst through his eardrums.
Could his father have possibly employed a more annoying creature to be his private servant? The girl's voice was like the sound of a clanging cymbal, and she had the body of a ten year old boy. Worse yet, the small blond seemed to have a desperate crush on him along with a disturbing penchant for being lewd and perverse.
"Go away, Lilynette!" he yelled, thrusting out his open palms in hopes of pushing her off of him. Instead, he felt her small hands pull his palms tightly against her chest where her breasts should be if she were developed like a girl in her late teens normally would be.
"But I want you. Please, can't you just make love to me? I'd be so much better than those whores," she told him, straddling his hips and hanging on tight with her knees as he squirmed beneath her.
"Out! Get out!" he bellowed, sitting up and thrusting his hands forward at the same time. He laughed loudly as she rolled over backwards then flipped off the bed to go sprawling painfully onto the cold stone floor. "Get out, you pervert!"
"By the way, your father is expecting you downstairs in five minutes. Your wife-to-be will be arriving today," she announced, straightening her dress before walking out of the door.
"My what?"
*Rukia's zanpakuto spirit seemed to be the only female suitable to be his mate. Her personality is much like his and he needs a beauty with brains by his side.
I think Orihime and Ulquiorra make a cute couple. Orihime isn't one of my favorites, but hey if I can deal with it, so can you.
Grimmjow and Harribel - well, duh. They just seem suited to each other looks wise and personality too for that matter.
This was only an introduction to the story and hopefully has piqued some interest.
