I was planning to update weekly, but because of the overwhelming support and reviews that I've gotten over the past few days after last chapter, I decided to upload this chapter earlier. I hope you enjoy!
'Why does Master always have to dote on Kuon?!' Koga thought as he watched Rick and Kuon laugh at a joke that Rick had just told Kuon. All of Rick's disciples were seated at a table, eating dinner together that had been made by Koga, but Koga just couldn't understand why the bond between Rick and Kuon was so strong.
All in all, Rick had ten disciples: Hiromune Koga as the senior disciple, Matsunai Ruriko, Ishibashi Hikaru, Ishibashi Yuusei, Ishibashi Shinichi, Momose Itsumi, Hidehito Kijima, Morizumi Kimiko, Oohara Airi, and Hizuri Kuon.
Koga was jealous that Kuon, who was the newest of the disciples, was even closer to Rick than he was! Koga remembered the days fondly when it was just him and Rick training. Ah, the good ol' days.
And to top it all off, all of the female disciples were head over heels in love with Kuon! And he wasn't even trying to gain their affections! The latest female disciple to fall for him was Momose Itsumi after he had smiled and helped her up after he had beaten her in a sparring match. That damn smile was too enticing to females! Koga knew that those of the Fairy Kingdom were renowned for their beautiful appearances, but to see this kind of thing happen up close was astounding. It made Koga kinda hate the guy.
…
"You're back already? Are you ready to report on your meeting with the generals?" Saena asked. Kyoko took a bow in front of her.
"It's necessary that we go to war since otherwise the North Sea's king will marry one of his three sons to Morizumi Kimiko who has taken control of the self-proclaimed Pixie Kingdom that is the cause for tension in the North Sea. If she ends up with control of the Far Sea region of the North Sea in any way, then she might free King Reino from his ice prison. This is why we must immediately put a stop to this so that the actions of 70,000 years ago aren't repeated again," Kyoko relayed.
"So what do you propose we do about that pesky King Ishibashi?" Saena narrowed her eyes, daring her daughter to give a satisfactory proposal.
"I will go myself to persuade the king to change his ways," Kyoko replied.
"Won't this raise Morizumi Kimiko's suspicion when the Crown Princess goes to talk with the king of the North Sea?" Saena asked as she scrutinized Kyoko.
"That's why I want to ask if I can go undercover to persuade the North Sea's King. It won't draw any unwanted attention, and I will be able to change his mind quickly as the Crown Princess," Kyoko replied.
"If this matter is not resolved within a few days, then I will start the war without King Ishibashi's approval. I sincerely hope that you can change his mind for his sake before he's labeled as a traitor for going against me," Saena frowned. Kyoko bowed and stood up, quickly leaving Saena alone in the throne room.
...
As Ren came back to his hut from chopping firewood, he dropped the bundle he was carrying and ran inside since he had seen smoke coming out of the chimney. He only knew one person who would be cooking at his home.
Ren's mouth turned into a huge grin at seeing his wife again cooking at the kitchen. Running up behind her, Ren enveloped her in his arms.
"I'm home," Kyoko said as she inhaled his scent and closed her eyes in bliss at being with him again.
"I missed you so much, Kyoko," Ren said as he pressed small kisses to her head.
"Do you know it's been a year and nine months since you've left?" Ren asked as he held her tighter.
"I know," Kyoko said guiltily.
"I'm worried that the next time you come back, I'll already be old. Maybe you'll have found someone better, or maybe your family doesn't like me and you married someone else. You don't have another husband, do you?" Ren asked as he stared nervously into her eyes.
"No. You're the only man I've ever married. And I'm making plans for us to stay together for a long time so that we can grow old together instead of being apart all the time," Kyoko said, soothing his worries until he glanced down at the pan of meat and vegetables she was cooking.
"Kyoko! The food!" Ren exclaimed as Kyoko immediately turned back to her cooking and made sure it didn't burn.
"That's a lot of food..." Ren gulped.
"Since I'm back, I'm going to make sure you're eating right. We're going to finish all of this food together!" Kyoko grinned.
After Kyoko had finished making a couple dishes, she brought them to the dinner table which Ren had set. Picking up her chopsticks, she smiled at him to signal that he could start eating. When the food hit his tastebuds, Ren smiled and took another bite, having missed Kyoko's excellent cooking. Maybe there was a chance he could finish the food since it tasted so delicious.
"I have to go far away again soon," Kyoko smiled sadly.
"Take me with you this time," Ren responded, setting down his chopsticks to take hold of her hand and squeeze it.
"Ren, I can't. It's too dangerous," Kyoko replied as she looked down sadly into her bowl of rice.
"I don't care if it's dangerous. I would rather be in danger and with you than alone and safe. Please, Kyoko. I don't care what happens to me, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Even if we have to always be on the run because of dangers, then I still choose to be with you," Ren said, determined to convince her to let him come with her.
Kyoko didn't want Ren to be in danger since she was traveling to the immortal realm, and he was only a mortal, but she really did want to spend time with him. Since she would be going undercover and her mother wouldn't contact her until she was done, it was an even better opportunity to spend time with Ren. Besides, she would probably be gone for almost a decade in the mortal world, and she didn't want to leave Ren alone for such a long time.
"Okay then. We leave tomorrow morning," Kyoko smiled, making Ren grin at her.
"Really? I thought you would offer up more resistance," Ren admitted.
"I don't want to keep leaving you alone here for years on end. I want to be together," Kyoko smiled before Ren got up from the table to come to her side. She widened her eyes in surprise as he leaned down and used his fingers to lift her chin and meet her lips in a loving kiss. Kyoko smiled against him and kissed back, happy that she was back with him.
...
The next morning, Ren woke up earlier than Kyoko and started to get ready for their journey. He only had one bird that he had taken in recently, and it had pretty much healed already, so he let it fly away.
"I apologize that I can't feed you anymore," Ren said as the bird flew off. After letting the bird go, Ren went back to the bed to see Kyoko starting to put on her clothes. She smiled at him as she put on her cloak and held out her hand which he happily took. Ren helped her off the bed, and they set off together with Kyoko leading the way, only with a few weapons, their matching blue stones, a basket of food, and the clothes on their backs.
They walked for the whole day towards their destination, talking and laughing together after so long of not seeing each other. At one point when Kyoko had wanted to take a break since they had been walking for so long and since Kyoko was used to teleporting herself to get to places, Ren immediately picked her up princess style and walked like that until they came upon a shaded forest where they had lunch. She giggled at how prince-like he always was and how she really did feel like a princess with him.
Once they had rested for some time, Kyoko grinned mischievously and placed a flower on Ren's ear, making him look absolutely adorable. He grinned back at her and did the same, giving them matching hair accessories. He caressed her cheek as he looked upon her beauty and brought her hand to his lips, gently kissing it. Kyoko grabbed his other hand and placed it around her waist while she placed her hand on his shoulder. Understanding what she wanted to do, Ren smiled and started to lead them in a ballroom dance to imaginary music. Kyoko giggled as he twirled her multiple times and yelped when he suddenly dipped her. He laughed at her reaction to his antics, and the two locked hands to continue on their journey together before it would get too dark.
When it was nearing night, Kyoko froze as she felt a magical presence coming towards them. She instinctively drew her weapon and just in time as a band of bandits launched themselves at the pair. Ren took out his own sword, standing back to back with Kyoko as they fought the bandits off. The bandits didn't think they would be such good fighters, so they tried to use magic to forcibly push them back, but Kyoko immediately threw up a magical shield to protect them. She looked over her shoulder to see a man aiming a fireball at Ren, and rage built up inside her. Kyoko cast a column of water towards the man who stumbled backwards, his fireball immediately extinguished.
"Stop right there!" A man shouted, making the bandits look at each other in fear and start to retreat. Kyoko looked around to see a group of soldiers approaching them, a man on a horse leading the group. She turned to Ren and looked around him to see if he was hurt in any way.
"I'm fine, Kyoko. You didn't get hurt, right?" Ren asked as the soldiers approached the pair. The leader dismounted his horse and looked between the pair, confused why this immortal woman looked curiously like the Crown Princess who he had seen at a generals meeting not too long ago. But why did she have auburn hair? And to top that off, she was wearing a pale pink robe instead of the telltale deep purple of the royal family.
As for the brown-haired man, the general was reminded of a fellow disciple almost 70,000 years ago. This man looked almost exactly how he would expect Hizuri Kuon to look after so many years, but he had brown hair and brown eyes instead of the Hizuri king's telltale green eyes and blonde hair. And on top of that, the man had no immortal breath.
"Who are you two?" The general asked. Kyoko looked at him, seeing his opulent armor and guessing that he was of high rank. She vaguely remembered seeing him while talking with the generals with Sho. Kyoko looked at Ren who only looked back at her, confused on what they should respond with.
"May I speak to you in private?" Kyoko asked, looking around at the soldiers behind the man. He nodded, and they broke off from the group.
"I'm Crown Princess Kyoko and I've come here on an undercover mission. Aren't you one of the generals of this region?" Kyoko asked.
"Oh! Yes! My name is Ishibashi Hikaru! It's an honor to see you again, Princess! No wonder you looked so familiar!" Hikaru exclaimed. He started to bow before Kyoko placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
"Please don't bow to me here, Ishibashi-san. I don't want anyone else to know of my identity. Including that man," Kyoko said, motioning to Ren.
"I understand. Please call me Hikaru so that you don't confuse me with my brothers or my father," Hikaru smiled. "Why are you here at the North Sea, Crown Princess?"
"I'm here to try to persuade your father to go to war," Kyoko responded.
"Ah! I remember you saying that you would try to stop him from marrying one his sons off to Kimiko-san," Hikaru realized.
"Actually, I'm the son that he plans to marry off, so I'm personally glad that you've come," Hikaru smiled.
"Let me lead you to the Crystal Palace," Hikaru announced so that everyone could hear. Kyoko motioned for Ren to come over, and he immediately took her hand with a smile. Ren didn't know why, but he felt a little possessive of her around this guy.
Kyoko and Ren followed Hikaru's troops until they came upon a gate where the ground changed from forest to sand once you stepped through it.
"We're entering the immortal realm now. Time here moves slower, so hopefully you two don't have anyone waiting for you in the mortal realm?" Hikaru asked.
"We only have each other as husband and wife," Ren replied, bringing Kyoko's hand to his lips. Hikaru smiled at him before stepping through the gate, and everyone else followed him as he led them through the North Sea territory towards the Crystal Palace. At one point, Hikaru's troops departed, leaving him alone with Kyoko and Ren whom he led inside the Crystal Palace himself. The palace maids and butlers greeted him as he walked inside, and he led both Kyoko and Ren to a guest room.
"Thank you for letting us stay here, Hikaru-san," Kyoko smiled.
"No problem! Let me know if you two need anything else!" Hikaru smiled back, leaving the two alone.
"It's surprising that we get to stay in such a nice place. Do you know Hikaru-san well?" Ren asked with a sparkly smile to hide his jealousy. Kyoko looked at him quizzically before smiling.
"I've met him once before. He's nice to let us stay here. I haven't been here before, so would you like to go look around?" Kyoko asked. Ren nodded, and the two left their possessions in the room and exited the Crystal Palace.
Once outside, the two linked hands and walked along the beach together. Neither of them had been to a beach before, so it was a new experience that both thoroughly enjoyed. At one point, both took their shoes off to walk barefoot through the sand and play a little in the waves until it started to get dark. They started to head back before Ren spotted Hikaru and two other men out of the corner of his eye, sitting on natural rock formations around a tide pool. He unconsciously drifted over to crouch behind a rock so he could listen to their conversation, wanting to know more about this man who Kyoko seemed to know.
"You've met the Crown Princess?! Is she as beautiful as they say she is?" The blonde one of the bunch asked.
"She's extremely polite and very cute. If only she wasn't marrying Kuon-san, or I would surely try to court her. But alas, you know how much of a ladies man Kuon-san was," Hikaru laughed.
"Yeah, we stand no chance if she's already been seduced by Kuon-san. You remember how he got all of the female disciples to fall in love with him eventually? Man, he even got Momose-san!" Shinichi chuckled.
"We wouldn't have stood a chance anyways. We're just princes of the North Sea. She wouldn't be able to marry anyone lower in status than the royal family of each kingdom. We're just district princes in the North Sea of the Water Kingdom. She's going to become Heavenly Empress in the future. I heard that when she was born, the Heavens lit up and colorful birds chirped and flew around the Sky Palace. The Crown Princess was also the youngest immortal to ascend to the rank of high immortal after enduring bolts of heavenly lightning. I've heard stories of her studying up to 14 hours a day straight. We can't possibly keep up with someone like that," Shinichi groaned.
"You know it's not that polite to eavesdrop on people right, Ren?" Kyoko whispered, embarrassing Ren on getting caught.
"Well I just found it interesting what they were taking about. The Crown Princess sounds like an interesting woman," Ren replied back. Kyoko tiptoed away with Ren so that the three men wouldn't know that they were ever there while trying to stifle a laugh from her amusement at Ren's interest in the Crown Princess. She wondered what he would say if he knew he was married to her.
I know it was just one paragraph, but I really liked the mental image of Kyoko and Ren laughing and dancing together. I wish we could see that in the manga, but it'll probably be another few years if the author even puts a scene like that in the manga.
Thank you to all who reviewed last chapter!
Ezra- I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Hope you liked this update!
H-Nala- Hopefully I can get out chapters maybe even more regularly than every week like I did today!
Guest- I hope you thought Ren and Kyoko were cute in this chapter as well!
IVY- I'm so glad you love to read my story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Paulagato- This chapter primarily focused on Ren and Kyoko spending more time together, so I hope you enjoyed that! Lory and Kuu won't be looking for Kuon anytime soon since they have no idea where to start, and it won't be a while until they find him. The next few chapters will be more on Ren and Kyoko more than Saena and Sho, so we'll have to see what happens to them later...