Title: Demon World, Meet Modern Technology!

General Pairings: Yuuri/Wolfram, Yuuri/Saralegui, one-sided Everyone/Yuuri, Shinou/Daikenja

Extra Pairings for this Chapter: slight Shinou/Ulrike

Chapter 2: Wincott Posion, Horny Shrine Maidens, and Holding Your Head High

It was a week later, and things were ready to be set up all around the world for those that were interested in being a part of this project. Gunter looked worried. Gwendal looked stressed. Anissina was in the room, and she looked proud with her hands on her hips, and her chest puffed out. She was so ready to do this.

"We have recieved mail from Caloria, Francia, and Small Shimaron." Gwendal said. He handed the small letters to Yuuri. Caloria and Francia's letters were short but formal. They were both on board. Neither of them compared to the informal, shortest reply from Saralegui, though-a ginormous YES and underneath it, it read,

Yuuri, I look very forward to these towers! I look forward to your reply! Better yet, send Anissina to my country right away so that our replies can be through text! I can't wait to hear from you, and also to see you again soon!

-Sara

Yuuri sweatdropped a little bit.

"Glad to see that Sara is excited. Can we start today? Everything is ready." Yuuri said.

"Not quite, Heika. The satellites are not installed. All we have to do is figure out how to get them up there, and we can do this!" Anissina said. She was looking deeply forward to this. This would be her greatest feat so far, and for once (though these people were worried about it) everyone was on board with the idea. It might even get her a bigger chance to forward the feminist movement! She was thrilled.

"Um... Heika? You said we wouldn't have to provide any Maryoku for this... right?" Gunter said.

"We wouldn't be able to power all of those towers forever. If Heika had said that we would have to provide our powers as per usual, I would have been completely against this." Gwendal said with his arms crossed.

"Um, I'm not sure about the satelites, but I know that the towers and the cellphones, and all of the rest of that stuff will be running on electricity." Yuuri said.

"Heika even said that we could keep the world from getting polluted by using solar energy! Isn't that marvelous? And I have discovered the way we will get the satelites up there!" the redhead said. She looked at Gunter and Gwendal expectantly. They gulped and started to sweat. This wouldn't be fun.

.X.O.X.O.X.

Yuuri asked for entry into Shinou's castle, and it was granted him.

"...and he literally saw EVERYTHING." Murata stressed.

"Why don't you let me see everything, my sage? After all, how bad could it-" Shinou stopped once he realized that the current Maou was in the room.

"Oh, hello Yuuri-Heika." Shinou said. To Yuuri, the way he was adressed sounded like he was being dismissed.

"U-um... I need the Wincott Poison." Yuuri said, twiddling his fingers awkwardly, not sure what to do with his hands.

"What do you need it for?" Murata asked.

"Gunter and Gwendal 'volunteered' to help get the satelites up into space." Yuuri said, an amused smile on his face.

"Space?" Shinou looked thoughtfully above him at the sky, the light shining through on his blonde hair. "Daikenja, let's go to space with them! This will be fun!"

"But, Shinou! I don't want to! I already have enough problems as it is! We would need to wait until someone from the Wincott family came to release our souls back in our bodies! How are YOU even going to help!?" Murata said.

"I can help with my Maryoku. As for all of the chores the temple maidens keep trying to make you do, they will stop if I tell them to. Let's go." Shinou said. The two soukoku followed him for a moment, and then Ulrike appeared before them.

"Shinou-Heika? Yuuri-Heika? Geika? Where are you going?" she looked a bit concerned. None of the temple maidens liked to see the Original King leave his castle. It wasn't very good for morale, and even if it made no sense, it made everybody paranoid (and some of them slightly bipolar, and partially schizophrenic. Nobody asked for details, but everybody blamed it on the alcohol [which none of them were supposed to be having]. Some blamed Shinou's abscense, as if he actually gave them solidity on the grounds he walked, and claimed to have a clearer head just by breathing the same air he did. Murata whole-heartedly believes that it's just because everybody thinks he's hot, Shinou agrees, and Ulrike is done with their crap).

"To space. I am sorry that it bothers everybody so much when I leave my castle, but I am needed. Would you like to come?" Shinou asked.

"Shinou-Heika, I don't know if I should-" Ulrike was stopped, and Shinou spoke.

"Truthfully, though you were told to never leave my castle all these 800 years, the real truth is that you were needed by my side. That means the rule is broken whenever I leave." she looked sad. "Do not fret, genshi miko. You are not wrong, and you haven't lived a lie all of this time. You served a crucial purpose in helping me become who I am now, and I am thankful for it. If you wish you may come with us to help us further world peace." her face looked less downcast, but she did still look worried.

"What about the other pristessess? Are they supposed to go with you wherever you go?" she asked. He looked out the door. He couldn't see any of the others nearby, but he could feel them. He knew it wouldn't be heard when he said,

"Though they may be here to help protect my castle, they do not serve the same purpose as you do."

"So basically, you're saying that you like Ulrike better than the other preistessess, aren't you?" Murata joked. Shinou blushed a bit. Not because he had a crush on her (his love was for someone else), but because of the fact that his sage had said something like that out loud. He quickly regained his composure (though Murata could see a little bit of blush left on his face), and spoke,

"Honestly, the others aren't the same. I have communicated the truth more to Ulrike than to any other genshi miko, and that even includes you, my sage."

"That's only because of the fact that you just had to interupt my mission to save you from Shoshu by having me randomly reincarnate as a genshi miko! I only had that life for about a few minutes, and it was only because you were lonely!" Murata said, placing his hands on his hips. "Good grief, you're so childish sometimes!"

"Being lonely is a completely reasonable explaination for that!" Shinou retorted.

"But as a genshi miko, how was I supposed to save you if I could never leave the castle?!"

"I was prepared for that, and I felt selfish at the time, and I just wanted you there with me!"

"I was still working on saving you, and I honestly hadn't been gone for that long! You literally made me have that life for a few minutes by sticking my soul in that poor girl's body... "

"You call several hundred years 'not that long'?!"

"And I was scared, because it was the first time in a long time that I had been in Shin Makoku, and suddenly I was called into that body when that girl was in the middle of some sort of purification ritual! I wasn't prepared for that! Also, I think my soul may have forced hers out, and then when I demanded you let me go back to work, she may have died!"

Yuuri whispered to Ulrike, "I think we've been forgotten. How do we remind them we have things we're supposed to be doing right now?"

"I think speaking up might get us in trouble... just wait for a bit and maybe they will cool down." Ulrike whispered back.

"Not to mention, since I was SO focused on saving you, I hadn't had the pleasure of learning about how those ceremonies work, so I made us look like fools!"

"Remember? I was possessed by Shoshu? I wasn't myself? The part of me that hadn't been totally taken by him desired to see you so badly that I called you to me. I am sorry for troubling you that day, but I missed you." Murata went silent. He had missed him, too. "And yes, that girl died. The whole country was in chaos for a bit. I know it was wrong, but I just couldn't help it."

"My soul was in that girl right after my time as Geneus. How much do you think I just wanted to drop everything and stay with you?" Murata said softly.

"God, I feel so uncomfortable." Yuuri whispered. "I feel like I was probably not supposed to be here for this conversation..."

"I feel the same..." Ulrike whispered back.

Yuuri cleared his throat. That got the two out of their sad conversation and back into the present. The soukoku and the Original King stared at Yuuri blankly.

"Um... shall we get going?" Yuuri said awkwardly.

They wordlessly left the room and walked past the other shrine maidens, who stopped sweeping and stared as Shinou, the Great Sage, the 27th Maou, and the current genshi miko headed for the exit as the sky was starting to show signs that the day was slowly coming to an end. Some whispered amongst themselves, and others looked at Shinou and his sage with lust in their eyes, something unbecoming of holy maidens. Murata's glasses had a glare on them from the light of the setting sun, and he was greatful. It helped to shield his face from showing what he was thinking. His eyes, mirrors to a soul that have seen over 4,000 years of carnage and knowledge were glancing at the blushing maidens, the jealous maidens, and then maidens that were trying to pretend to be useful by slowly going back to sweeping. He didn't know what made him angrier: the ones who wished they could service the king in his theoretical bedchambers, or the ones that were glaring at Ulrike.

Stand tall. Those who are against you are against me, also. Shinou said telepathically, sending the message to Ulrike who had unconsciously been praying for his protection. She brightened a little bit, held her head higher, and left the castle with the three men to head to Blood Pledge Castle.

Shinou-Heika... I will.

Genshi Miko=I can't find a good translation for genshi, but miko means priestess. The genshi miko is the one that communicates the most with Shinou-Heika, and is held in the highest honor among the other priestesses.

Maryoku=Demon World magic.

Miko=Priestess. I interchange these English and Japanese words a lot.

Heika=Your Majesty

Geika=Your Holiness/Excellency/Eminence/Grace. There are many translations for it in the fansubbed anime, and I don't know which one to use, which is one reason why I use Heika and Geika instead. That, and it's much shorter than typing their titles every single time.

Soukoku=Double black. Having black eyes and black hair is rare in the Demon World.

Daikenja=Great Sage

Ore no Daikenja=My (Great) Sage. It is how Shinou regularly refers to Murata. I interchangeably use the English words 'my Sage' and the Japanese words 'ore no Daikenja' depending on which suits the situation better. I love how he says it though, especially in Japanese. God, I love ShinouXDaikenja! They are probably my current favorite pairing! My OTP!