Chapter 35: Red Riding Hood
...
Yui was a little shocked at first. She raised a black eyebrow, seeing the Princess come in to her Imperial Palace's front entrance, white marble pillars about...with a metal armed Teizen.
The ex-soldier hugged the little girl and her Princely playmate tightly, picking them up and clutching them to his chest smiling, he said, "I've missed you guys so much!"
"Teizen...Ribs..." The ten year old friends groaned out from the boys legitimately robotic strength.
The boy looked down at them, "How're you guys doing?"
Kyoichi brushed some dog hair off his baby blue suit and cleared his little throat, "I'm fine Officer, why aren't you at your post serving Dad?"
"Didn't you hear little brother?" Ayumi said smiling brightly, meshing her fingers with Teizen's metal ones, "Dad discharged him, he's going to live with us for a while."
The little boy crossed his arms, "For how long?"
"For as long as he wants." The black haired tiara wearing beauty said turning to her lover, gazing into his orange-ish hazel eyes with her light blue ones.
Teizen drew the teen closer to his body and, in full view of her little brother, kissed Ayumi deeply on the mouth, her heel wearing right foot rising, and mumbled, "Make that forever then."
Yui giggled as Kyoichi pretended to hurl, the little Prince squeaked out, complaining, "Onee-san! (Big sister)! Gross!"
The AI awakened by the twins raised a finger, "Actually, Romantic relationships can improve one's mental health, good work my lady." She said curtsying in her plain white dress the Royal Couple gave her.
"Why thank you Yui." Ayumi said nodding.
The Royal Couple appeared, Yashiro, wearing his simple Imperial platinum encrusted crown, next to his wife Mariko wearing her gold one.
Teizen instantly knelt, but the black haired man chuckled, "There's no need for that anymore."
"M-my lord?" The boy asked, looking up at his Emperor.
"You're part of the Imperial Family now son," The Emperor said, "You're one of us." The man said, waving his hand to Yui and his son Kyoichi.
"Thank you your Holiness." Teizen said smiling and rising.
Yashiro patted him on the back, "Let's go to the mini golf course! Have some fun!"
..
As Ayumi helped her little brother putt, Yui spoke to Teizen.
"Mister? Do you know where my parents are?" The little girl asked cutely, pulling on the tall boys blue pant leg.
The Wolf's heart sank seeing her black eyes shimmer, feeling her Longing, and he sighed, "Yes Yui-chan, I know where they are."
"Can I please see them now? I miss them..."
He shook his head, "Your parents are in hiding. I'm afraid you can never see them as long as the Kinzai House rules."
"So, Yashiro is the only thing in the way of letting me see Papa or Mama?"
The ex soldier rubbed the top of Yui's head smiling, "That's correct Yui."
The black haired AI gripped her putter before lining up a shot and shooting it perfectly, aiming even better than the Prince.
"Wow, nice shot!" The Emperor said, seeing her enter it in one hit.
Why thank you my lord. The girl thought, smiling at him.
..
..
Kazuto's eyes sprang open when he realized he had slept atop Asuna's body, used to feeling.
The girl, already awake, looked down at him, "How'd you sleep hun?"
"Better than I've slept in ages." He murmured, rubbing his right eye and yawning, before smiling up at her, "You know what? This is the happiest moment of my entire life." Kazuto said, feeling a golden glow flutter in his chest, seeing the chestnut haired warrior smile down at him.
"Really? Why?" The girl asked.
He laced his hand with hers and said, "Because its the start of our new life together. From this day forward, I want to live by your side."
"Oh Kirito." Asuna said, wiping an onyx lock behind her lovers ear, "I do too."
"Great, help me get up." He said, knowing his body was still incredibly weak from Minko.
Asuna let him lean his frail body on hers, and with his left arm over her shoulder, she helped him out to the massive kitchen in the huge apartment complex.
"Kirito!" Keiko squeaked, sprinting to him with her boyfriend by her side.
"Nagata? Silica? Y-you guys are alive?" He asked in shock, smiling a little as the shorter and younger couple hugged him.
Tsuboi, Nomi and Andrew snuck up behind them and got him.
They wrapped him in a group hug, and Tsuboi chortled, "You son of a bitch, you did it! You beat the Wolf!"
"T-Thanks." The skinny teen said, being almost crushed under the weight of his friends hugs.
"Where's Asuna?" Andrew asked, curious to meet her in the real world.
"Right here." The dragon said, leaning against the door to their room with a white sneaker covered foot raised against it, her hands in her black leather jacket.
"A-Asuna?" Tsuboi gasped.
"Yo." She said simply, smirking.
Shinichi felt his heart stop, seeing her black war paint and striking amber eyes. His girlfriend thinking the same thing.
She's so awesome!
The group hug moved to Asuna, stuffing her next to her in game husband, and lifting them up together, cheering, smiling and laughing.
"Hey can I get in on this?" Derek, the tall and ripped blonde American asked, before using his incredible strength and lifting the enormous group of people and crushing them all in a huge hug.
Kazuto wheezed out, "Hey guys...as touching as this all is...can I have some breakfast please?"
"Oh crap, I'm sorry!" Tsuboi said, sprinting off to make him some food with Nomi, as everyone apologized quickly, forgetting how hungry the poor boy was.
A bowl of fried eggs was shoved in front of him across a counter, and he smiled at Nomi and Tsuboi standing next to each other, "So, Ryou. Why haven't you married Nomi yet?"
Shinichi smiled, "Yeah. You two are perfect for each other!"
The grown men grumbled something along the lines of, 'Stupid kids.' And walked off, their faces slightly red.
"Who was that Indian guy?" Asuna asked, taking a seat at the black marble counter of the kitchen next to Kazuto.
"Nomi Saluja. He's fast, good with knives. Decent cook." He admitted, chowing down as many eggs as he could eat.
The Ginza Rebel leader walked over and offered his hand, "Hello there. I always wanted to meet you. The famed Kazuto of Bunkyo, I-"
"I'm sorry Derek, can you give us some air for like- two seconds?"
"All right, all right." The American said, backing off, his hands above his shoulders defensively.
Seeing the sheer size of that man, and Asuna's vastly shorter body, he turned to his lover and asked, "Wait, he's afraid of you?"
"Eh." The girl said shrugging, "When you hand the Empire its own ass on a platter you get some respect. I don't need to tell you that though." She added, nodding in approval of the tales she heard.
"Aww...Thanks honey." Kazuto said, kissing her.
Asuna backed away with a hand over her mouth, her milky white face turning slightly red under the black warpaint, "Kirito-kun! Not in front of my rebels!"
"What?" The boy asked, eating some more eggs from his bowl, "My men are right here." He said, throwing his ear over his right shoulder at the young men eating breakfast behind him.
"All of them are single! Isn't that rude?"
"Not Shinichi or Andrew." Kazuto said, Keiko and Bianca eating next to them, holding hands.
"Ergh. You're right...so, I know you must get tired of me asking this but...What do we do now?" The chestnut haired teen asked.
"Well its simple, we live together." He said, using his left hand to hold hers, while using his right to finish his bowl of eggs.
"Yeah but, what about Yui, and the Rebellion? Are we just done with that?"
"I just got out of prison Asuna, can we take things slower? Please? Honestly, I feel like my life is a bullet train right now." He said, meeting her amber eyes and moving back to his eggs.
"But I think-"
Kazuto cut her off, lifting her chin and kissing her again, before returning to his eggs, "One step at a time. One step at a time."
"Fine." She grumbled, looking out the window towards the war torn city below.
..
..
Yui sat at her lunch table with the Imperial family. She always felt isolated, like it was wrong.
She looked around the table, there was the Empress Mariko. She was kind to Yui, but she barely knew her. Then there was Yashiro, who acted kind around his family, but was a brute to his people.
Then there was Teizen, who she sympathized with, being adopted and an outsider. But again, she barely knew him, her memory of their day in his brain wiped off her code.
Out of the five people around her, chatting and eating lunch, she only trusted two people: the Princess and her little brother Kyoichi.
"Yui? Yui?" The Prince asked, seeing her doze off.
"Oh sorry." She said, picking up her fork and returning to the baked cod the servants prepared.
"I met your parents Yui-chan." Teizen said, after swallowing a mouthful of mashed potatoes, "They were very honorable people. I respect that." He said tapping his chest with a fist, as was the Nagano way.
"They were rebels." Yashiro cursed, shaking his head, "They are such nuisances. I have to spend so much money on that damned new Army. Ugh."
"You plan to do anything else with that Army Your Holiness?" The teen asked, wiping mashed potatoes from his Ayumi-hand free hand.
"Ah! Sneaky snake, trying to weave your way into my Military command, you. Maybe when this civil war nonsense is over, we'll talk."
Ayumi gripped Teizen's metal hand and thought worriedly.
I swear if he conscripts him again...
Yui finished her cod, and sat patiently waiting, watching the Imperial family finish eating.
After everyone had finished, Teizen was led by hand, out of the view of her parents obviously, to the Princesses room.
Kouwahaka had never been in it, and it was...as elegant as the Princess who lived in it. Perfect lines of classic books lining her shelf, with an old Toshiba laptop charging on her tan brown desk.
The second Ayumi walked into the room, she took off her tiara and let it rest atop a purple pillow next to her laptop.
The discharged soldier cleared his throat, "Uh...So where will I be staying? I saw a ton of empty guest rooms walking over here-"
"In my room." The plain black satin dress wearing teen said smirking, sitting on her bed, hands under her thighs.
"Er...Isn't that unethical?"
"Why?" Ayumi asked, raising a jet black eyebrow, "We're together right?"
"We are, but we're not married."
"Well." The taller teen said crossing her arms raising her nose, "I brought you here to sleep by me, not by yourself."
The Wolf looked aside disbelievingly in thought.
Greedy girl...
Teizen then bowed, "As my lady commands."
"Your lady? I thought we were equals?"
"Hmm...we are I guess." He said, letting Ayumi rest her tall and slender body again on his muscular one like they used to in Nagano.
The boy ran his metallic fingers through the kind Royal's long clean black hair and asked, "Hey Ayumi?"
"Yeah?"
"Do my new metal arms...unsettle you?" He asked, looking at them firmly and surgically attached to his torso.
The teen rolled her light blue eyes, "I thought we established this. I love you for who you are, regardless of anything else."
"Thanks Princess." He said, his hand stopping on the top of her head.
The sun light glimmered in from her window on their bed perfectly, the teens awkwardly laying there for a small moment.
Suddenly, Ayumi sat atop his stomach, attacking his neck, before the dark brown haired boy could react.
"Yumi-chan!" Teizen exclaimed, looking at the back of her head.
"C'mon, let's fool around!" She snickered, her head next to his, nibbling on his ear lobe.
"Nah." He said, grabbing her shoulders, "Let just nap here."
"C'mon!" She implored, ignoring him.
He threw a metal right hand at the white door to Ayumi's room, "Your parents are across the damned hall, have you no respect woman?"
"No." She said, giggling a little.
Teizen sighed, using a simple Jiu Jitsu move to throw her off his toned stomach back onto the bed next to him, on his right.
"WAAAGH!"
She yelped in surprise, before he locked her in place with a left leg over her waist, her back to him as they both laid on their right sides.
"I said, I just wanted to lay here. Damn girl, don't be so selfish!"
The teen blew some of her hair out of her face in defeat, "All right then. But I'll attack you again when you least expect it." She said, turning her head slightly to him warningly.
"I'll be ready." The ex Colonel said, murmuring into the back of her long onyx colored hair.
...
...
Kazuto rubbed his eyes, groaning out next to Asuna in a lounge type area in the top floor of the apartment building.
"Tired from speaking to everyone?" She asked, flipping a page in her book.
"Uh-huh. I think I got everyone's names. Bianca, and her son T.J. are Agil's family. The twins are Yoshida 1 and 2. Your blonde foreign friends are Vicky and Derek, they lead the Ginza rebellion. Is that everyone?"
"Mhm."
"Yeah. Where'd you get that?"
The warrior pointed to a small stack of books in the corner of the lounge.
"What's it about?" The clear black haired boy asked.
"There's two young people who fall in love during the Sengoku Era. Their clans are bitter enemies so their love is forbidden."
"Wow, sounds interesting." Kazuto said nodding, "How does it end?"
"Haven't gotten there."
The youngest Yoshida triplet appeared with his identical brother. Three said, "Their fathers find out."
"The Seijo Clan leader grows furious over it, massacres them both along with the entire Makeda Clan and plants all their heads on pikes." His older twin said, Asuna growing angry, gripping her book tightly as she couldn't stop them as they spoke so quickly.
They then said in unison, their yellow eyes shining, "The novel is: At Our Sudden Moon. Published in 1948, by Yori Kaiyoko."
Kazuto laughed out loudly, and Asuna smacked both of them on the back of the necks with her closed book, "BAKAS!" She roared, "You spoiled the ending!"
As they rubbed their napes and walked off, the girl huffed as she collapsed into a chair angrily, "Stupid super geniuses."
"I've actually seen the movie adaptation, its really good." Shinichi added, being essentially the authority on old movies.
Keiko nodded in agreement, "I think those light blue haired guys are smart enough to create a television right?"
Kazuto hollered out, "Hey Yoshidas!"
"Yes?" They asked, appearing next to his egg like white chair.
"Can you whip up a TV for us?"
"We don't work for free." Two said.
"What'll it be?" Asuna asked, throwing the book aside after knowing how it ended, curious to see the film.
"Booze." They said together, as they literally operated on it, "And lots of it."
Keiko shivered from the creepy feeling of seeing them speak at the same time, before muttering, "So weird..."
They teens promptly dispersed to find alcohol for the two scientists, as they themselves prepared the materials to create the television.
...
...
Yui smirked from under her cup, watching the Emperor as he sat down with his family to eat.
Yashiro looked at the girl, "Wow, you're quite the punctual one. Perhaps you'd make a good wife for my son."
"I'm sure I would." She said smiling legitimately, knowing what would happen when the man drank from his cup. Taking Kyoichi's hand to convince his father, and making the little boy turn red and tuck his hand away from Yui's into his expensive pants pocket.
Yashiro stood up and lifted his cup, "Here I have a wonderful lover for my daughter, and my son. To romance!"
"To romance." The AI said through the long black haired dead girls body, smirking happily knowing no one would force her to be married the second the man withdrew his lips from the cup.
The Emperor drank his morning cup of coffee with his family, before sitting down and reaching for a napkin.
He began to sweat incessantly, Mariko growing worried over her husband, "Yasshy? What's wrong?"
"I-I-I..." Yashiro trailed, passing out on the floor.
"Papa!" His children screamed, running from their chairs to help him.
Palace Sentinels sprinted to him in their white helmets, as he laid out cold on the floor.
They pressed a finger to his wrist, one said, "His pulse is dropping, we need to get him to a doctor quick!"
After Teizen and the guards carried him away, Yui was left alone at the dining table.
She looked at her clenched fist, and thought.
Mama. Papa. I will find you. If Kyoichi-kun becomes Emperor, I can see you in seconds. Whenever I please. I will have saved Japan from further war. Thank you so much for inspiring me.
She then sat in Yashiro's chair and giggled to herself.
I wonder if anyone will ever think it was me. I mean who would suspect an obedient and punctual subject, loyal to her Empire and her Prince?
The girl laughed out loud, after making sure no one could hear her, "People are so stupid!"
...
...
"A-Aki-kun." The girl said, reaching for her lover on screen.
"Iyo...Let's grow old together." Aki said, before the forbidden lovers said, taking their hands under their sudden moon on their bridge, the lands of their clans behind them, "I want to get married tonight, I don't care what our fathers say."
Shinichi was crying his eyes out over the beautiful love story happening on the television the twins made, while Asuna and Keiko just eyed him with crossed arms.
Pansy. They both thought, as the recovering Kazuto devoured popcorn incessantly, two huge bowls of it next to him in case he'd need them.
"Yes, Aki-kun." The brown-ish black haired girl said nodding, standing in the bridge above the river.
Suddenly, Aki's father, the great Ayoke of the Seijo clan appeared with his attendants, the Makeda attendants appeared on Iyo's side of the river.
"Samurai!" Ayoke ordered, holding his katana in the air, "Wipe them all out!"
"D-Daimyo-san, that's your youngest son on that bridge!" One attendant exclaimed.
"That is no son of mine." He snarled, as he spurred his horse towards the bridge, his samurai howling for blood behind him, katanas raised, red armor clinking.
Before Ayoke's blade met his son's throat, the channel fuzzed and buzzed before a newsperson fixed his glasses on screen, "We interrupt tonights programming to bring you an important bulletin. Emperor Yashiro, has been poisoned."
"Poisoned?" The four teens asked, seeing the newsperson fix his papers in front of him.
"Guys! Come see this!" Kazuto hollered before shoveling more popcorn down his incredibly hungry throat, calling the rebels over to the television. His strengthening hand moved from the bowl of popcorn in his lap, to the makeshift remote the twins made, turning up the volume to the television.
"Was it the blue Kabuki masked spirit?" Nomi asked, scratching some stubble on his skin, seeing the broadcast play.
"Could've been anyone." Three said mumbling and stroking the light blue stubble on his face.
Andrew chuckled, bringing Bianca closer to his side, clutching T.J. to his chest and saying, "Glad that asshole finally chokes it."
"No." Three said shaking his head, "This is worse."
"Worse? The Empire is doomed! We can win!" Derek said happily.
"Yeah, its the only central authority keeping the country together!" The middle Yoshida said, thinking with his brother.
His younger twin built on that, "Do you guys not understand how the military is structured? Each prefecture offers their own soldiers to the Emperor, if he dies without an heir, the country is going to fracture again."
"So it'll like before Tokugawa took over? Damn." Kazuto said, his love of history bubbling in his mind, incessantly eating more and more popcorn after having nearly starved to death.
"So the hell hole we're in here in Tokyo..." Keiko said slowly, "Will extend to the entire country?"
The Yoshidas bowed and spoke at the same time again, "Exactly."
"Well...crap." Asuna said, raising both thin chestnut colored eyebrows surprised, "I've never wanted the Emperor to ever not die so much before."
"There is a chance however. If the Emperor can name a strong heir before he croaks, someone strong and fierce, who's dedicated to keeping central authority stable, the prefectural overseers will stay in check. But there's no one that loyal."
"There is." Asuna and Kazuto said in unison, the raven haired teen swallowing the mouthful of popcorn, and as a scratchy seed slipped down his throat, they both became seriously worried, hoping he'd loose those wolflike tendencies he kept.
...
...
Yashiro coughed, calling for a servant with a frail finger, and saying hoarsely, "G-Get me the boy. The- HACH HACH!" He said, coughing terribly, "Get me the tall one."
"Yes my lord." He said, nodding quickly before walking into the hallway outside his small ward at the bottom of St. Lukes.
Outside his ward was a flurry of people. They were the prefectural overseers, or modern Daimyo, appointed by Yashiro himself, now questioning their loyalties to the Crown, muttering amongst themselves, scheming and forming possible alliances should the civil war extend beyond Tokyo.
Kyoichi was crying, leaning on his older sisters shoulder, while she spoke worriedly to her mother. Teizen sat calmly next to her, looking into his lap.
"He wants to see you." The servant said, poking his head out of the Emperor's ward, and pointing to the tall and strong metal armed teen.
"M-me?" Teizen asked pointing to himself.
"Yes you, now come on."
Teizen ran his metal hands over his light blue shirt, before assuming his usual military posture and walking towards his Emperor.
"My liege." The boy said, taking a stool next to the dying man and bowing his head.
"All, right listen up kid. I- AHACH AHACH! Don't have much time left." Yashiro muttered, feeling the room glow blurry.
"Yes?" He asked curiously.
"You ever hear how the pen is more powerful than the sword?"
Teizen nodded, "Of course your Holiness."
"Well...here ya go." The dying man said, tossing the boy a golden pen while he felt Yui's poison near his heart.
"T-This is Hirohito's pen! All Imperial orders are written with this!" The boy exclaimed in disbelief, feeling like he had a nuclear warhead in his black iron synthetic hand.
"Get him some paper." Yashiro ordered, a servant instantly passing the seventeen year old boy a clipboard with a paper on it.
"All right, write this down:
I Kinzai Yashiro...titles titles titles..."
Teizen scribbled on the white sheet: I Kinzai Yashiro, ruler of the waves and Lord Protector and Acting Regent of Japan.
"Hereby proclaim."
Hereby proclaim.
"The boy Kouwahaka Teizen, the next Regent of Japan."
"But that'll mean I'm..."
"Emperor..." He whispered with an observing servant, the golden pen shaking before moving.
The boy Kouwahaka Teizen (コワハカ ティーゼン), the next Regent of Japan.
"Keep writing kid:" He groaned out, coughing as the teen's scribbling continued.
"He is to marry my daughter, Ayumi, and take the Kinzai family name. And be crowned the night of the wedding, which will be tomorrow, February 15th. Any sons produced by this union shall be illegitimate to Kyoichi's ascension. He's then to assure my son's safe inheritance of the throne until he turns of age, at eighteen. Signed:"
Teizen initially wanted to protest to the treatment of his Princess as a trophy, but obliged nonetheless, loyal to the bitter end.
"Pass me the paper son." Yashiro asked, reaching for the paper, Teizen shakily passing the dying Emperor the paper with the golden pen in hand.
The man signed it weakly, his name imprinted coldly on the document.
Kinzai Yashiro (キンザイ ヤシロ)
He started coughing up some blood before passing it back to him. His name signed on the document, making it Imperial law the second he finished writing.
Yashiro kept speaking in his dying and coarse voice, his handsome face barely moving with emotion, he said, "All right boy, before you and all my attendants leave me here in peace to die. Know this. You've been loyal to me-"
"My lord, I-"
"Sh." He said, shushing him instantly, "You have. This is my reward to you for being loyal, the one I considered before. You see all those suits out there, outside my ward? They're not real men, they're not soldiers, they're not loyal. But you are." He added, digging a shaking and frail finger into the center of Teizen's proud muscular chest, "I chose you to be the sitter of my throne instead of them because you won't fight pettily over it when I'm gone. You'll make my Empire stronger, for sure."
The man groaned, "ERGH! I've done a lot of bad shit kid, I'm going to hell."
"Its been an honor serving you my lord." Teizen said smiling warmly at the man he'd die for.
"Thanks. Here, take this." He said, tossing the boy the golden pen, "Write whatever you want. A call for an invasion, taxes whatever. Get ready for that wedding, I'd make it quick. You have to marry my daughter before you're crowned, that's absolutely HACH! important." He said after coughing.
"Sayonara, my lord." The boy said bowing, taking the document in hand along with the pen.
"Sayonara...my favorite Wolf." Yashiro said, closing his eyes before muttering, "Now go, let a man enjoy his last minutes alive. Alone."
"Yes my lord. Come along now." He said, holding the document, walking out of the ward with his new servants.
He closed the door behind him, over fifty pairs of eyes on his face before Ayumi, pearly white tiara on her pretty head, asked, standing up with her family, "Well, what'd Daddy say?"
"I-I'm to be crowned Emperor tomorrow. After marrying you." The boy said, sweating a little, and rubbing the skin next to his ear a little.
"Let me see that!" A prefectural overseer snarled, swiping the document from the boy, "Hmm. I'll be damned."
The suits around him looked in, and a bald and graying overseer fixed his glasses and said, "Its the boys handwriting probably, but the Emperor's words. His name is signed there."
They all looked to the boy slowly, before dropping to their knees instantly, swearing fealty in seconds after they all read it.
"My Emperor." They all said together, kneeling and looking down at their right hands on their hospital's clean floor, tales of the Wolf's ferocity and tenacity reaching even their faraway ears.
Teizen looked at the golden pen that lay in his hand, before to the men kneeling to him on the floor.
He looked to Ayumi, and said shakily, "D-Do you w-want to marry me?"
The Princess, soon to be Empress smiled, "Well. I mean, its a little early, but if we have to..." She said, rubbing her left ear lobe shyly a little.
"No." He said confidently, taking her cold hands with his metal ones and looking into her eyes, "No way. If you have any regrets about our union, tell me. I never would push you into something you had no desire in. Please, tell me what you think my love."
She looked at the suits rising slowly from the floor and said, "Look. I love you, but if we're going to make this work, there's to be no bourbon or cigarettes or "Wolf" moments you hear?" The gorgeous girl asked, turning her head warningly.
"Ugh...Yumi-chan..." He pleaded, using an actual legitimate smile.
"Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Nope, don't use that damned Teizen charm. Nope. If you're to be my husband, you gotta play by my rules."
"All right then, I won't smoke, drink or kill anymore. I promise." He said, bringing Ayumi to his side, before muttering, "For you." And he said smiling, "Let's go get married!"
The taller girl kissed him on the cheek and Yui smiled and thought hopefully.
Teizen seems nice. I only just met him yesterday anyway.
Right?
...
...
The news anchor raised a finger to his ear, listening, "Yes? Mhm. All right then." He fixed his papers and kept speaking, "Reports have come in that on his deathbed, Emperor Yashiro has named an heir, the boy Kouwahaka Teizen will be crowned tomorrow at 9:00. More information to follow." He said, the channel buzzing back to the old film.
"Whoa! He's still alive?" Derek asked, the blonde man shocked.
"Wait." Kazuto said, thinking, "So is that good or bad?"
Asuna rubbed her chin, "Well...its both really. I spoke to Princess Ayumi-"
"YOU WHAT?" The rebels roared, looking at her.
"Yeah. Sorry for lying to you Derek, but I got what I wanted." She said, taking the slowly recovering weak hand of Kazuto, "Kick me out of the Ginza rebellion. Don't, I don't care either way."
"Clever girl." The American snarled, his younger sister Vicky holding him back from smashing the television in rage.
"Yeah so I spoke to Ayumi, she said she'd try her best to you know...make him not a crazy person."
"Did it work?" Kazuto asked, knowing how outlandishly barbaric the things he pulled were.
She shook her head, "I have no clue."
The dragon saw the furious blonde man shiver in anger, but despite his alarming muscles and height, she just shrugged and ignored him, "So really, the fate of everyone in the whole Empire...Is in his hands?"
The Yoshidas spoke together, cortex chips clicking, "Not just the Empire. The entire world."
"Whaaat?" Kazuto asked, rubbing his forehead in confusion.
"He's right." Andrew admitted, drawing his family closer to him in fright, "Yashiro has millions of soldiers in those ridiculously powerful Panzer Wolf Armor suits based in Kyoto. He also has the largest and most modern navy on the planet. If he could've just located and eliminated us before dying, he probably would've conquered the world."
Kazuto shook his head, speaking in a calm voice, "That's not all. Teizen's a military genius, I know him well. If he has that much military power, the world's his if he wants it. If we didn't stand a chance against Yashiro before, we don't stand a chance now. We're so, so screwed."
"So whether we die or not, is his choice?" Keiko asked, scared, and remembering the Demon that descended on her church.
Asuna gripped Kazuto's hand, seeing Teizen's military ID photo being brought on screen after Three changed the channel to the news. She closed her eyes.
Ayumi. Please. Restrain the Wolf.
...
...
(The morning of the Coronation. 06:34 AM.)
..
Teizen woke up slowly, Ayumi lying next to him in their bed.
He noticed the blue bands covering her arm, and asked, "Ayumi?"
"Yeah?" She mumbled out sleepily.
"Did you...Donate blood for me?"
"I did." She groaned against her pillow.
"Did you also...pay for my medical bill?"
"Of course I did." She turned, opening her eyes and letting him get lost in that light blue ocean that were her eyes, "I'd do anything for you."
He looked down at his metal right hand before meshing it with hers, and saying, "We're to be married today. And then I'm to be crowned."
"Strange world huh Tei-san?"
"Yes." He looked to a black lock on her shoulder before brushing it off and saying, "I still think its too soon-"
"Hey." She warned, cutting him off, "I said I had no regrets. Do you?"
"None. But I do love you, a lot." He said, staring into her eyes with his tiger like ones, "Do you miss your father?"
"He was...kind to Kyoichi and I. But he was a bloodthirsty maniac, like you used to be, so I'm not missing him at all."
"You're not curious as to who murdered him?"
"No. But if I do meet him, I'll thank him."
The boy laughed a little, some air huffing out of his round little nose, he rested a metal left hand against her cheek and said, his heart warming, "For saving my life. My heart is yours. My sword is yours. My life is yours. My body is yours. I am yours."
Ayumi laughed, "You know everything you just said. We'll make it official. Tonight."
Teizen closed his eyes and nodded, "I can't wait."
The boy got out of their bed and stretched, "All right!" He clapped loudly, "Let's get this crazy life changing day started!"
The Princess smiled, and said smugly, "Why don't you start by getting that mane of yours cut?"
"What?" He asked, surprised, "You don't like the hair?"
"Nope. Keep the braids however."
He shook his head, "I'll cut 'em off. But I'll let you call me Tei-kun."
"But I thought you hated that name!" She said, remembering he felt it stripped away his masculinity.
He chuckled, "If we're to be wed. And spend the rest of our lives together, there's one thing we've got to nail down: compromise."
She shrugged, "All right. My Tei-kun." Ayumi said smiling, batting her eyelashes at him and growing slightly red.
He put his hand on the doorknob, "I'll see you at the signing room for the papers."
Teizen walked out of her room groaning.
This is going to be one hell of a day.
...
There was a large obsidian block built on the remains of the Red Swords compound in Bunkyo.
The boy responsible for the ashes stood right there, looking around it, dozens of men of Wolf Brigade, still in their Wolf Armor, protecting him. The men smiled under their helmets, happy their old Sergeant had come far.
He felt the golden pen in his pocket grow heavier by the second, approaching the memorial block, hundreds of names he killed written on it.
Teizen, in his new jet black suit, instead of his usual blue jeans and green shirt, rested his metal hand against the names of three specific girls.
He looked down, his new short blackish brown hair hanging slightly off his head, his two braids cut off only minutes before.
The boy kept pressing his metal fingers to the memorial the citizens made, and thought, sniffling a little.
Teizen made sure his Sentinels weren't looking when crying a little.
Asada. Suguha. Rika. Please. I'm begging you three. Forgive me. Please.
The wind said nothing, the boy feeling his heart being crushed.
All the weight of everything hurt him. The things he'd done. The responsibility of managing the most powerful nation on the planet.
At the flick of Yashiro's pen, the teen had become the most powerful man on the planet, capable of worldwide domination.
He sighed, wiping the tears aside. The whispers of ghosts that would never come couldn't help him, only the living could.
Teizen's metal hand retreated from the obsidian block. Before walking away from it, his back to the hundreds of names he'd caused to be written there.
The boy went inside his bullet proof limousine, the Wolf Brigade mounted their motorbikes, shielding him, before starting off towards the Imperial Palace.
As he passed his old training camp and his old roadblock, he thought to himself, the world's most powerful pen laying in his pocket.
I've come a long ass way from my little farm. But I've done...a lot of things I'm definitely proud of. God, I'm marrying Ayumi, the love of my life in a couple minutes, and being crowned Emperor only minutes afterward. Why is my life moving so damned fast? There's got to be someone who can listen to my thoughts.
The boy gasped in his limousine, remembering the Psyche System.
"So for Ayumi to truly love me, I have to humanize myself?"
"Yes." Yui said nodding.
Teizen's literally iron fist curled around his golden pen in his pocket.
I want to make my Yumi-chan as happy as possible. I'm going to speak to Yui and improve my mental state, I have so much on my chest right now I feel like my heart's collapsing. Goddamn, the world turns fast.
The limousine stopped, and the boy looked to the enormous and expensive looking ceremonial hall Yashiro had constructed for his own coronation.
He let a lot of air escape his lips exhaustively, and thought.
There's this small signing room in the corner of the ceremonial hall. There I'll sign the papers binding me to Ayumi. And then...I'll be crowned Emperor? Jeez.
The boy smirked, before stepping out of his limousine.
I'll be the greatest Emperor to ever live!
...
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