A Tale Of Two Kingdoms

Chapter 9: All's Well That Ends Well!

Tsukuyo leaned against the balcony, quietly smoking her kiseru, only her amethyst eyes belying her anxiety. Tae stood beside her, smiling as always, but it was obvious that she was just as worried as Tsukuyo. It had been a day since Kamui, the eldest prince had arrived and it had become quite apparent that he was totally serious about bringing his sister back and teaching her 'lover' a fatal lesson. Not that the two had ever doubted it. It was well known that the prince, no matter how badass he was or no matter how many battles he fought, always was a total siscon. Often to such an extent that it could be called positively destructive.

"Say, Tae, what's gonna happen ta Kagura? Her elder bro's hell bent on ruining her life, what a damned siscon…"

"Siscon? I think that's rather ironic. Any brother would want their sister to be happy, Tsukuyo. The way Kamui sama is going, all he's going to be doing is to make Kagura-chan cry. The guy's as big an idiot as his bald dad."

"There ain't nothing we can do, an' I hate it. We don't stand a chance against tha idiot prince in a fight and if we die, we'll just be breaking our last promise ta Kagura. An' I won't do that."

"It really seems like we're between the devil and the deep sea, doesn't it? Ah, Tama, what's the matter?"

"There are a few carriages headed this way. And I think, we should go and greet them. After all, it is part of royal etiquette, is it not, that a princess returning home with her fiancé should be welcomed by her retainers?" Tama smiled, her shining red eyes the only clue to how excited she was.

"Kagura chan is back?!" "Oi, let's get goin'!"

And the three women rushed out of the palace, led by Tama, not slowing down until they reached the sakura trees lining the road leading to the gates of the palace. From where they stood, they could see two magnificent carriages drawn by white stallions racing towards them, a giant white dog running side by side with them.

In almost no time, the carriages drew up before the three smiling women. Sougo, dressed in simple, yet regal attire, stepped out, carrying Kagura, who was fast asleep securely in his arms. Tsukuyo smiled a little to see them and said," Ah, Hime sama's fast asleep. Say, are ya a real prince or not? We don't even know yer name, even though yer gonna marry our little sister."

"Huh? I never thought China was such an idiot that she would come all this way for someone whose name she didn't know. Not that I'm too surprised… I'm Okita Sougo, the prince of the planet of sadism and now the king of Edo, so do you find my credentials good enough for marriage?"

"Oh, as long as Kagura chan says so, they are. Princes are generally a stupid lot anyway, so we aren't too fussy. However, why is she so deeply asleep? I hope you haven't done anything to my little sister, now." "Tae, yer becoming as bad as Kamui, yanno."

"Nope, unfortunately not. This glutton is just sleeping because of exhaustion from the long journey. In a way, I rather prefer this, because I don't have to hear her continuous yelling and whimsical demands. Seriously, do you guys never feed her, or does she have black hole as a stomach? Also, your princess can curse worse than a drunk sailor, not to mention that she fights like a monster. Really, what kind of bringing up did you give her?"

Sougo smirked at on seeing the shock on the faces of the three women in front of him. Seems like they're totally shell-shocked by me… Well, I couldn't be bothered to put on courtly manners and all. Moreover, it's the absolute truth, China. Now it looks like I'll never be welcomed as your husband… Huh? They're laughing? Why ever…

For Tae had burst out into giggles on hearing Sougo's description, Tsukuyo was chuckling under her breath while Tama was also laughing quietly. Finally, when they got a grip on themselves, Tsukuyo said, " Yanno, tha description of Kagura is totally correct. Our princess, no, little sister is truly an unbelievable glutton and monster who can curse and yell like a gangster." Tae put in, "Okita kun, we heartily approve of your marrying Kagura chan now. It's true that she's nothing like a typical princess, but she's the best princess we've ever known." Tama added, "And we want her to marry someone who can accept her for who she is, and who is as crazy as her. I do think, that you're perfectly suited to each other!"

Sougo stared at them, for it was his turn to be surprised. Finally, a small grin tugged at the edges of his lips, as he murmured," Well, looks like your family's as insane as you, China. But for an extreme sadist like me, that is suitable enough."

Kamui stood in front of the castle gates, as his companion Abuto kept grumbling quietly behind his back. The prince wondered where Tsukuyo, Tae and Tama had rushed off to in such a hurry as he waited calmly for them to come back. He loved to see the anger and terror on the servants' faces when he was interrogating them, smiling as brightly as ever. His 'antenna' wiggled as he saw the outlines of the three women approaching the castle, followed by a person carrying something and a huge dog. The last sight made him frown, the last member of the little troupe could only be Sadaharu. But that meant, Kagura…

Abuto looked up to, hearing the faint thud of Sadaharu's paws. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the person in the centre. It was a handsome, sandy haired man, with the bearing and authority of a king, but what alarmed Abuto was not that. It was the fact that the said person was carrying a sleeping red haired girl whom he recognized to be his idiotic leader's little sister in his arms. Worse, he could already feel the man beside him emanating a highly murderous aura.

Sougo sighed, shifting his arms so that Kagura would stop tossing and turning about in her sleep. Tama had suggested that he let Sadaharu carry her, but he had refused firmly. Somehow, he did not feel open to the idea of sharing his China doll with anyone else, not even a giant dog. As he walked, several questions began to spin out in his mind. Since when did this nuisance of a brat become so important to me? And however did I fall head over heels for her? But it isn't too bad, either…. He looked up as he saw the vast castle in front of him, before focusing on the duo at its entrance, one of whom looked a lot like his China and who now seemed ready to kill somebody. And Sougo had little difficulty guessing who his target was.

"Oi, oi, who do you think you're carrying like that over there? I would advise you put her down, unless you want to be killed in the most painful way possible." Kamui said calmly, a chillingly cheerful smile plastered on his face. Sougo merely deadpanned at his threat, saying, " I see that you don't know yet. Well, I'm carrying my extremely lazy and gluttonous future wife and I believe no one in the world has a right to object to that."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure her big brother has that right. Not to mention the authority to slice the man spoiling his sister's purity into a thousand bits."

"Looks like you are even bigger a siscon than me, Big brother san. However, can you keep your voice down for the moment? It'll be troublesome if your sister wakes up, for she'll just be yelling for pickled seaweed again. If you want a fight, you'll get it after I put this China brat to bed." And Sougo calmly walked past Kamui, leaving Tae, Tsukuyo and Tama delicately smirking behind him. Kamui, on the other hand, stood stunned, unable to believe that anyone could ignore his sadistic siscon aura and just walk by. Abuto sighed, knowing that there was going to be a lot of bloodshed and violence later, before murmuring to himself, "Goddamnit, that is one sadistic husband the little missy has found. Seriously, everyone in this kingdom is totally insane."

Quite a few hours later, Kagura woke up to find herself tucked up in her bed, Sadaharu dozing beside her. Trying to recall what had happened recently, she noted that the sadist was nowhere to be seen. Faint clangs of clashing metal could be heard, though it all seemed very far away to Kagura, who was still half-asleep. Yawning hugely, she pulled herself out of the bed, fixing her messed up hair in the mirror, her thoughts straying towards a red-eyed sadist. I wonder where that idiot is… It's not like him to leave me alone in bed and go away without doing anything… I hope Tsukky isn't too mad at me… huh? What about Papi? There's no way he wouldn't be shouting now, but I can't hear him! Wait, is everything all right? Those sounds from before, don't tell me, he and the sadist are having a fight?! Her heart racing uncontrollably from apprehension, Kagura grabbed her umbrella and bolted out of the room, fairly flying down the stairs.

Meanwhile...

Clang! The sound of a sword and umbrella clashing echoed throughout the palace. All the residents of the palace, from the newest retainer to the very king, Umibozu stood in a wide circle around the fighters, each and every one of them shocked at the ferocity and sadism of the fighters. Umibozu himself felt that the fight was going way too far, though he admitted that he too would have loved to beat up the bastard who stole his daughter without his permission. But as he watched the young man fight, he realized that possibly, no matter how much he searched or how many balls he held, he would never find a man strong enough to fight on nearly equal terms with his idiot son and consequentially, strong enough to deal with and protect his precious daughter. And the fact that Kagura had gone searching for him, taking such risks was proof that she cared about him too, right? All his life, he had regretted not being able to save his wife from her chronic illness and not being able to bring up his son properly. And the last thing that he wanted to do was to regret that he had failed to give his only daughter the happiness she deserved so much.

Both the combatants seemed at their limits now, their faces and hands dripping with blood and their weapons shattered at their feet. But they still were going at it, though it was apparent that Kamui held the upper hand now. Umibozu grimly picked up his umbrella, it was time to stop this fight before it became too late.

Suddenly…

There was a huge report of gunshots, aimed at Kamui and Sougo. Both of them scattered, dodging the bullets. Looking up in rage to see who had interrupted their fight, they both saw a furious Kagura pointing her umbrella at both of them, a terrifyingly angry halo of black waves swirling behind her. In mere seconds, the raging fighters from before were trying not to shiver before their enraged sister/fiancée.

"What the hell do the two of you think you're doing? You just ruined my beauty sleep, uh huh. Seems like you truly are begging for a funeral now… Hey Sadist, did you really think that I would not notice the fact that my clothes are different from earlier? And Baka-niichan, did you think I was going to forgive you for disappearing without a word and just turning up one day to ruin my life? Both of you, prepare to die here, uh huh."

"China, are you seriously going to kill your fiancee?" "Imouto-chan, surely you won't murder your big brother, right?"

Kagura glared at them, as if she really meant to do what she threatened, before marching up to them and banging their heads together, finally giving them both a tight hug each, with a light kiss in Sougo's case.

Kamui's eyes flashed dangerously as he watched his sister kiss Sougo. But all of a sudden, they softened when Kagura hugged him tightly, mumbling something about him being the worst big brother ever. As he patted his little sister's head, he decided that perhaps his future brother-in-law wasn't too bad, after all, he could make Kagura smile and as he had just learnt himself, he could take care of his crazy sister too. Slowly, the tension in the air cracked as some began to laugh and everyone smiled, feeling truly happy at how things had turned out.

A/N: So there ends the ninth chapter! Everyone's made up their differences and our favorite couple are soon going to live happily ever after. The next chapter will most probably be the last one, about their marriage and a little bit about their life after it. I'm really getting a bittersweet feeling now, seems like I've become rather attached to this story… I do hope you enjoy this story as well!

Many, many and many more thanks to Akely for her wonderful reviews, they always inspire me and fire me up! But I'm afraid I can hardly express all my gratitude in a few words, heehee. And to everyone who's reading this story, I'm really thankful to you all! As ever, please send me reviews, criticism, suggestions, anything you like, I am always happy to hear what you think of it!