Straw Into Gold

Disclaimer: Skip Beat is not mine. I get nothing from writing this.

To clarify, Kyoko is around 2 and Kuon is around 6 (just under since his birthday is still a few months off). The two of them do love and care for each other but only as friends at this point because they are really too young for the feeling to go deeper than that. And I REALLY love childhood friendships so expect more chibi-Kyoko and Kuon fluff for a few chapters.


Kuon woke up to find himself in a soft bed with his father sitting at a nearby table that was full of empty plates that Kuon guessed had contained Kuu's afternoon "snack". Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he tried to remember how he now found himself in bed. Last he could remember was sitting with Princess Kyoko under a tree after she feel asleep on his lap.

"How did I get here?" Kuon asked his father.

"Ahh...you're awake," Kuu commented. "And I carried you here. These will be your rooms while we're here visiting. Your mom's and mine are across the hall. You really shouldn't fall asleep outside at this time of year son. What would I do if my precious child got sick because he was sleeping on the cold hard ground in the middle of winter?"

Kuon rolled his eyes at his father's dramatics before asking, "Is the little princess alright? I was going to carry her back here but I guess I fell asleep."

Kuu absolutely beamed at his son, "Little Kyoko is fine. Her father carried her back to her room which by the way is right next door. She is such an adorable little girl. I heartily approve my son! You have chosen well."

"Huh? Chosen what dad?" Kuon asked confused by his father.

"Ahh...right. Too early. Never mind." Kuu told his son noting that he should try bringing the subject back up in about a decade.

Kuon just shook his head at his father, already used to his strangeness. "How late is it?" Kuon decide to ask instead.

"Just a bit before supper. You might want to bathe and change. We'll be dining with Lori, Kouki, Lina, and Kyoko tonight. Tomorrow will be the big Yuletide supper and you children will be stuck eating in the nursery so we decided that we'll have a family dinner tonight." Kuu informed him.

Kuon pouted and glared at his father indignantly as he protested, "I don't really need another bath. I took one right after we arrived. I'm also too old to dine in the nursery."

"You smell of dogs and dirt son so yes you do need to bathe and I already called for a bath for you." Then grinning mischievously, "If you don't think you can handle bathing by yourself I can call your mother in to help you. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to help you bathe and choose your clothes."

"No I'll bathe by myself." Kuon yelped.

"Good. And as for tomorrow, though I know you're mature enough to sit with the adults, would you really leave the little princess to eat alone?" Kuu frowned at his son seemingly disappointed that he would leave a lady to dine by herself.

"Wouldn't she be eating with the other children?" Kuon asked.

"Hmm...she just arrived here a week ago and hasn't gotten to make friends yet. I also heard the other children don't like her much yet. They think she's too young to play with and I've heard she gets teased a lot." Kuu told his son trying to appeal to the gentlemanly sensibilities that he had been trying to instill in his son since he could walk and talk.

"She did tell me she didn't have any friends. The other children are idiots. Kyoko is special not weird!" Kuon defended his new playmate. He frowned at the thought of the sweet cheerful girl eating by herself for Yuletide. He didn't think much of the noble children if they did pick on the child. Being able to talk to elementals just made her powerful and talented especially if they liked her as much as they seemed to. Kuon had studied enough magic, even though he had only recently started, to know that elemental masters were very powerful. If the elementals liked you they were willing to help you do a lot of things. His ability to talk to the sylphs would allow him one day to fly, a talent not many had. "If I'll be eating with Princess Kyoko then I guess it'll be okay."

"That's my boy!" Kuu exclaimed happily as he got up and left Kuon.


When Kuon was done bathing and changing into fresh clothing he left his rooms to find both his parents waiting for him. They smiled at him before leading him out of the wing of the castle that they were in and down a flight of stairs. "We'll be using that room over there whenever we dine or meet informally. You and the little princess will be eating in there tomorrow with Miss Itsumi, Princess Kyoko's nurse, or you can choose to dine in one of your rooms'. Thank you for agreeing to eat with her tomorrow." Juli told him before leading the way to the rooms pointed out.

When they entered the doors, Kuon blinked in surprise and turned back around to make sure they had come from inside the castle. A beach scene with pretty trees and flowers that Kuon had never seen before greeted his sight. The Elven King sat at an elaborate table spread with exotic dishes dressed in a skirt that looked like it was made of grass and garlands of flowers in his hair and around his neck. As soon as Lori spotted them he stood up and greeted them with, "Welcome to my Yuletide luau!"

Kuon just stared as his parents laughed. A regal feminine voice came from the table and Kuon looked to see a woman with blue-green hair and aqua eyes wearing an outfit similar to King Lori's saying, "Big dinners and celebrations are celebrated this way in one of the human lands bordering my kingdom and Lori has decided to have Kyoko's first Yuletide dinner celebrated in this manner. I apologize for introducing him to this."

"We've known Lori long enough to be used to this. I wonder if we should change into similar costume." Juli replied grinning. Kuon looked at his mother horrified at the thought of wearing something similar to King Lori's outfit. Juli upon seeing her son's horrified face laughed before saying, "Or maybe not. I don't think Kuon was quite ready for Lori. It is nice to see you again Queen Kai. Will you be staying here long?"

The Merrow Queen smiled gently before replying, "No I'll only be staying long enough to celebrate Kyoko's second birthday. Then I must be back to my kingdom."

"Let me introduce you to my son, Kuon. Kuon, you have of course met King Lori this afternoon. The lady next to Lori is Queen Kai of the Merrow Kingdom and Princess Kyoko's grandmother." Juli stated motioning to Kuon to bow, which he did.

At that moment the door to the room opened again and Kuon had barely turned to see who had just entered when he felt the breath knocked out of him by something colliding with his stomach. Looking down he saw Kyoko looking up at him with an adoring face and amusingly enough dressed in a grass skirt and decked with garlands of flowers as well.

As soon as Kyoko had entered the room she had seen her new friend and rushed over to give him a hug attaching herself to him. Her chubby little arms were wrapped as tightly as she could manage around his waist and her head nuzzled his stomach. With a cry of joy she greeted him, "Corn! You're here! Kyoko happy to see Corn!"

"Corn?" Kuu questioned as he covered his mouth to hide a snicker.

Kuon blushed brightly not sure how to explain the child's error. Looking at her cheerful face he resigned himself to the adults knowing of his odd nickname since he couldn't bring himself to correct her. She sounded and looked too cute and he half hoped and half dreaded that she would grow out of it. He instead opted to glare at his father before shrugging haplessly.

"Kyoko. Your manners." Queen Kai admonished her granddaughter. She smiled in amusement at the child attached firmly to the boy. Then noticing the glow around the two turned sharp startled eyes to Lori. Lori glared at the boy that had his precious granddaughter's attention to the exclusion of everyone else including himself but upon noticing the Merrow Queen's look discretely nodded his head. Smirking at Lori's pouting visage, Queen Kai returned to instructing Kyoko, "You should introduce yourself to everyone dear."

"Eep." Kyoko exclaimed as she released her friend and blushed cutely noticing everyone else in the room before attempting a clumsy curtsey, "I'm sorry. My name is Kyoko. It's nice to meet you."

It only took Juli a second before she squealed with glee and grabbed the little girl into a hug. "It's so wonderful to finally meet you Kyoko! I'm Kuon's mom, Juli! You must call me Juli-mama!"

A bit surprised by the pretty lady's reaction to her Kyoko asked her sweetly, "You're Corn's mama? Corn! Your mama is very pretty!"

"Ahh...I can't wait to play with you little Kyoko! Lina she's adorable. I'm so jealous! My Kuon is a wonderful boy but I've always wanted a daughter. We can share Kyoko, right? I have so many dresses I made for her to wear. Kuon won't let me dress him in dresses." Juli pouted as Kuon rolled his eyes at his mother's last comment.

Kuu laughed at his wife's antics before going over to introduce himself. "Hello Kyoko. My name is Kuu and I'm Kuon's papa. Why don't you call me Kuu-papa."

Kuon looked at his parents in confusion. He wondered why they were telling Kyoko to call them mama and papa. He could only assume they wanted Kyoko to be part of their family, but Kyoko already had her own mama and papa. Not that he would mind Kyoko being part of his family; she would make a cute little sister. She was cute and nice and he already felt very protective of her.

"You can't have her yet you two. She's still MY little princess," Kouki declared jealously. Kuu pouted at him but figured it was alright because Kyoko would eventually become his daughter-in-law.

Lina laughed at all the idiotic adults trying to claim her little girl and decided to stop them before they got too far in their rivalry over the little girl's attention. "Why don't we eat. There is plenty of time for everything else. Kyoko and Kuon would you like to sit together?" When both nodded eagerly Lina took her daughter back from Juli and carried her to a chair created to be higher than the others so the child could see the table. Lina motioned for Kuon to sit on one side of the chair and took the one of the other side of it. The rest of the company filled out the table around them.

Supper was delicious and enjoyable. The adults questioned the two children on what they were doing outside and everyone smiled at Kyoko's enthusiastic description of her afternoon with her new friends. More laughter was had when Kyoko noticed how little Kuon ate and started scolding the older boy on how he needs to eat to grow up strong and healthy causing Kuon to get flustered at being scolded by someone so much younger than him. Juli agreed with the little girl energetically and started force-feeding Kuon, only to start pouting when Kyoko yelled at her in alarm to stop. "Juli-mama! You're going to kill Corn. He's turning blue!"

Kuon threw a thankful look to the little girl. While the food was delicious, unlike his mother's cooking that she had tried to force-feed him before, he just could not eat that much especially at the rate she forced it into his mouth. Maybe they could compromise on how much he ate.


It was a couple hours after dinner was finished that the two children were put to bed for the night knowing they both had long days and the next day would be busy and just as eventful. The adults were gathered in Lori's private sitting room all with serious expressions on their faces.

"What are we going to do about the children?" Kuu asked as he enjoyed a cup of wine.

"Do we need to do anything about them yet? They are still children. Maybe we're mistaken and they will grow out of whatever it is." Kouki suggested.

Lori shook his head, "No, I know what I saw. It's unmistakable, they are soul mates. What bothers me is that these connections don't usually manifest this young. Youngest I've ever heard of them forming is after both sides have at least reached puberty."

"Politically it is a great match. It further fortifies the long-standing alliance between the Elven and Fairy Kingdom. With Kyoko being of the Merrow Kingdom's royal family as well that makes the Seelie Court's alliance firmer." Queen Kai thoughtfully pointed out.

"It's a strong connection. I know my son and I can already tell he adores Kyoko. He's a kind boy but I've never seen him so gentle and sweet to anyone before. If I had my guess their connection formed as soon as they met. The more time they spend together it'll only get stronger. Their magic is already working to connect them. We might as well just go ahead and form an engagement now. They will naturally become more attracted to each other." Juliena told them.

"Kuon will be more powerful than I am once he grows up and Kyoko will probably be just as magically powerful if she can already interact with at least three of the four elemental types. Protecting them from mercenary alliances in the future might not be a bad idea." Kuu thoughtfully added.

"Yes, but is it a good idea restrict them to each other through a marriage contract so young?" Lina questioned. "They are young and need to grow and form bonds with others even if they will eventually be life-bonded."

"We could just make it an informal engagement that either are free to break once they come of age." Juli suggested. "That way if we are wrong about the bond, they are not confined in their choice. Also we don't need to tell them about it until they are older and can understand."

Lori sighed tiredly, "As much as I don't want to lose Kyoko anytime soon to your son, an informal engagement might be needed. The Troll King and Queen accepting our invitation unnerves me. I sent the invitations to all the magical kingdoms but I never expected the trolls to accept. We have not been on bad terms with them, but we have NEVER been on friendly terms with them either. They are Unseelie, and follow a different code of rules and morals than we do. I can't help but thank they want something specific from coming here and I think it might involve Kyoko."

Kouki looked at his father in alarm, "Do you think they will push for an engagement with Kyoko?"

Lori shrugged, "Who knows? Politically it makes sense. If we agree to it Kyoko will be trapped in a marriage to someone she will likely not be able to love and the trolls will hold leverage against the Merrow and Elven kingdoms. If we refuse them without good cause then they can claim insult and cause trouble. It may be they are looking to start a war for some reason or hoping to claim indemnity for the insult."

"Would an informal marriage arrangement be enough to put them off?" Kuu asked worriedly.

"Probably not. They would just consider it us trying to deny them a rightful marriage arrangement and claim insult." Kai confirmed, "We would have to create a magically binding marriage contract, but create enough loopholes that the children will still have the option of choosing their fate once they are grown."

Looking to his daughter-in-law and son he asked them, "She is your daughter. What do you think?" Lina and Kouki reluctantly agreed to the idea. Lori then turned to Kuu and Juli, "Are you two okay with this as well? Kuon is the crown prince and will one day become the Fairy King. Kyoko may one day become the Elven Queen if Kouki and Lina don't give birth to a son and that would unite the two kingdoms. Kyoko is also far down in the Merrow inheritance but it is not impossible for her to become Merrow Queen as well. The Merrow monarchy is passed down through the female line after all. It's rather world changing if those two get married."

The Fairy King and queen looked at each other communicating purely through their eyes and as one nodded. "You may be worried about protecting Kyoko now, but we want to protect Kuon against mercenary young ladies in the future and this would be a good way to do so. Kuon will probably be grateful for this way to keep the ladies that only want to be Fairy Queen off of him." Kuu agreed. "None of those types of girls are good enough for my brilliant, kind, beautiful son."

Having agreed on a course of action the monarchs spent several more hours that evening working out a flexible marriage contract that would still protect their children from other unwanted marriages. They placed their magic into the contracts before signing it and binding it with magical oaths to secure it. Having done all they could, they retired to bed, spent but satisfied to rest for a busy next day.


A/N: Shorter than planned but figured a short update is better than no update. I'm starting to lose steam on this story and figured writing what I can when I feel like it is better than writing nothing.

On another note, I've been listening to a lot of Vocaloid songs a covers from Nico Nico singers lately and greatly enjoying them so don't be surprised if I recommend some of the songs as themes for future chapters. If you know Vocaloids, does Kagamine Len remind anyone else of fourteen-year-old Kuon?

Again, PLEASE REVIEW! I really don't mind criticism as long as it's constructive and not flames and I do consider all feedback whether or not I decide to do something with it.