Two Days Later

Two Days Later

~*~*~

Today was the day that the two princesses were to arrive. The whole castle was buzzing, busy as bees. The King was making sure the few good knights he had were in full armor, standing at ease in the hallway of the thrones. This group included Sir. Taichi, and the newly appointed knight (and Taichi's favorite) Sir. Daisuke.

The Queen had her best maids do her hair in the finest way. Her blonde locks were piled on top of her head in little curls, making her look ten years younger; which is exactly what she wanted. She had these same maids fix up the princes, making them look more handsome then they already had, although they made quite a fuss while the girls combed their hair.

Whereas the whole town had smiles upon their faces, thinking of how their princes are soon to be married, Takeru and Yamato looked as if they were heading towards a funeral.

"Come on boys!" The King called, banging on Yamato's door where the two princes had hidden. "Time to meet your ladies!"

"We've already met them though!" Takeru whispered to Yamato, which cause the older prince to laugh.

~*~*~

In the courtroom, The King and Queen sat in their thrones, while a prince stood on each side. The knights were in line on the right side of the room (Yamato's side) and the nobles were on the left (Takeru's side.).

Takeru saw out of the corner of his eye, Hikari in the far corner, behind the knights, looking not too happy. He tried to let her see that he saw her, but his mother grabbed his arm and kept him from moving.

The doors swung open and there stood Koushirou, standing tall and regal.

"Your highnesses and nobles. Knights and ladies! I present to you, the princesses from the kingdoms of Takenouchi and Inoue! Princess Sora and Princess Miyako!" He bowed down as two beautiful young ladies walked in.

The older one, which had to be Princess Sora, had short reddish hair, and large brown eyes. She had a sad face on, showing quite clearly that she did not want to be here.

The other princess, Miyako, however, was more then pleased having to be married to one of the handsome Ishida princes. She looked around, her purple hair swinging in front of her face, for her prince. She turned towards her friend and advisor, Count Iori Hida.

"Which one is mine?" She whispered. Iori sighed and looked towards the two princes.

"The shorter one, my lady." Miyako frowned at his remark, and looked towards the royal family.

"AH!" The King exclaimed. "Welcome ladies, to my kingdom!" When the two were close enough, they each curtseyed.

"It's an…honor." Sora whispered, looking away from The King and towards Yamato.

"It is such a pleasure to be here!" Miyako exclaimed shooting a perfect smile towards Takeru, who darted his eyes away.

The King and Queen got down from their thrones, and shook hands with the princesses. Then they each shot one of their sons a look, and the princes came over and bowed in front of their 'chosen lady'.

Hikari wasn't paying attention to anything. Not the King, not the Lord, just Takeru and the purple haired princess. She could have died at the way Miyako was staring at her Takeru. The purple haired princess had her arm around Takeru's and was giving him googly eyes times five! Hikari looked away and bit the inside of her cheek.

"My lady?" Hikari looked up and there was the knight Taichi had introduced her to, Sir. Daisuke. She rolled her eyes and looked up at him.

"Yes Daisuke?" He smiled, happy that she remembered his name.

"You seem…upset, what in the world is the matter?" How dumb can this boy be? Hikari thought. She sighed and looked away.

"Um, it's that time of the month." She shot him a satisfied look, pleased with her lie. Daisuke nodded, understanding her because his older sister was often saying the exact same phrase.

"Now, my two sons will take their ladies off, you know, to get to know each other!" The King stated, sending Yamato a look 'You better treat her right'. Yamato sighed and showed Sora out the door. The Queen pushed Takeru and Miyako out the other door, happy that her sons didn't make scene.

Taichi came up to his sister and took her hand.

"Come on, we have to get home…we are no longer needed." His voice seemed sad and far away. Hikari noticed this and stood up.

"What's the matter with you? Why are you so pale? Did you see a ghost?" Taichi nodded his head dreamily,

"I think…I did…" He sighed and pulled Hikari out the door, not allowing her to think about what he was saying.

~*~*~

"So, Takeru, what do you enjoy?" Miyako was literally ripping Takeru's arm out of its socket. Takeru didn't want to be rude, but he pulled his arm out of her grasp and stuck his hand in his pockets.

"Archery." He said simply. Miyako's eyes shined.

"Ooh! That's wonderful! I also enjoy archery! Are you any good? As my father always says, a good archer always has a good eye. You know, in the sense of finding a lady?" Takeru stopped dead in his tracks. This girl has every intention of marrying him, unlike what he had thought. He took in a deep breath, and he was about to tell her the truth, when Sir. Daisuke ran up towards the two.

"I'm…so, sorry your highnesses." He looked up towards Miyako and stopped for a second, entranced by her beauty. Miyako also caught his stare and blushed furiously, turning away.

"As you were saying?" Takeru asked, noticing the connection the two had just made. Daisuke shook his head.

"So sorry. Lord Koushirou needs to speak with you immediately, your majesty." Takeru thought for a moment, why would Koushirou need him? The prince nodded to the knight, and then looked at the princess.

"Please excuse me," He said, bowing towards Miyako. "Sir. Daisuke here will keep you company until I return." Miyako nodded, not paying attention to Takeru at all; rather her eyes were set on Daisuke.

~*~*~

Takeru made his way to Koushirou's house. He walked up the familiar path, and knocked on the door. Mimi opened the door.

Her face was tear stained and she was hiccupping. Her pink hair was a mess behind her handkerchief.

"Oh Takeru!" Mimi cried, falling into his arms, crying hysterically. "Yama's princess is so beautiful! He's going to fall in love with her! He's going to leave me!" Takeru picked her up, hands on her shoulders.

"No he's not." He whispered. "He loves you too much to ever forget you! You are his wife. There's not a chance in hell that he will leave you!" Mimi's sobs slowed down, and she nodded.

"Thank you, come, come inside." She fixed her handkerchief.

"Is there a reason that Koushirou called for me?" Takeru asked, taking a seat at the table. Mimi came back from the fireplace with a teapot. She poured the tea in two cups and handed Takeru it. She smiled.

"He has an idea. Hikari helped him think it up." Takeru smiled and took a sip of his tea.

~Meanwhile~

"I'm sorry your highness if I don't seem like I'm enjoying this trip." Sora said to Yamato. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "I'm still getting over the loss of my…my one true love." Yamato turned to her, looking into her tear filled eyes.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Sora bit the inside of her cheek.

"A few months ago…I was in love. This young knight stole my heart…he was so kind and brave, he was everything I ever wanted." She held back her tears. "Then our town was burned to the ground by the raiders from the unknown lands, hundreds died…including my love and his family." She looked up at Yamato who was watching her intensely. "I can't marry you. I'm sorry, I don't love you." Yamato nodded.

"No offense, but it's the same problem here. I married my true love two days ago." Sora's eyes widened and Yamato looked towards the ground. "No matter how wonderful, or beautiful you are, there's no way that I could ever love anyone other then she." Sora nodded and sighed.

"What's going to happen? My father wants me married, if I'm not, then it's war." Yamato nodded.

"We'll have to find you a husband." He said simply. Sora sighed.

"But I can't love anyone else like I did my knight. And my father knows that! He's just so intent on not going to war that he sent me away to some unknown kingdom! At this very moment I hate him." Yamato and Sora sat down on the grass of the vast fields of the castle.

"Yes, my father isn't one of my favorite people either. I know that he doesn't love me…at least not as much as Takeru." Sora put his hand on his knee.

"Oh, don't believe that. I suppose our fathers both love us very much, but they are being blinded by the threat of war…they can't see anything else but hatred."

~On the other side of the castle~

"Are you serious?" Daisuke asked Miyako. "You ate ten apple pies?!" Miyako nodded proudly.

"All by myself. Of course, my parents don't know this. They would've have tightened my girdle five notches!" The two laughed as they walked the fields on castle.

"I can't believe that! You're so pretty and petite, I can't believe you did that." He stopped himself and blushed, looking away. Miyako bit her lip. He was more amusing then Takeru was, the prince hadn't seemed interested in her at all.

"Thank you…you talk a lot more then the prince, he was totally oblivious to me." Daisuke nodded.

"I'm pretty sure I know why." Miyako turned to him, interested. "He has a thing with a lady in the Lord's manor." Daisuke sighed. "She's really pretty and nice, but she's totally in love with the prince. I have no chance." Miyako nodded.

"So if we were married, it wouldn't be a happy marriage?" Daisuke nodded. Miyako sighed. "And I was so intent on marrying. He's very handsome; I couldn't believe that I was going to marry an Ishida prince. That was like a dream come true." Daisuke looked down.

"Love is more complicated then good looks." He said softly, turning towards Miyako who was thinking. "The two people have to get along. They have to be able to laugh together, and be able to be around each other all the time and not get annoyed with each other. They have to be able to talk to each other and never run out of things to say." He stopped and looked out towards the pastures. He saw the town that he now defends and the fields beyond that. If he squinted his eyes he could see the hotel that he lived, with the other knights.

"How do you know so much about love?" Miyako asked, looking out towards the town. Daisuke shrugged.

"I've had a few experiences…I guess you can say that I get…um, obsessive. Not to the point where I hurt the lady, but I get as if I can't live without them, and they all end up hating to live with me…" He sighed at the sad memories. Miyako wondered, is he one to fall in love easily? That's not good, but she's never had such butterflies in her stomach before. Could she take the chance?

"I think I'd be able to spend a day with you, and not get annoyed." She said softly, turning to the knight. Daisuke's neck turned red and he looked at the princess.

"Really? I do tend to get annoying." Miyako smiled and nodded.

"Yeah…I seem to fall for the annoying ones." She bit her lip and looked Daisuke right in the eyes. Daisuke smiled and he leaned in and the two kissed softly.

They pulled apart and Miyako bit her lips.

"This is not good, what are the Kings going to say?" Daisuke thought about this, the Kings were going to be furious.

~Back at Koushirou's House~

"So where is Hikari?" Takeru asked; looking at some of the paintings Koushirou had on his walls. Mimi was sitting at the table, her head in her hands. Her head was throbbing and her stomach…

"Excuse me your highness…" She choked out, running outside and soon Takeru heard her vomiting. He ran outside and found her, behind the bushes. She had stopped and was just sitting there, looking tired.

"Are you alright?" Takeru asked her nervously, helping her to her feet. Mimi sighed.

"I'm not sure…I've been feeling nauseous all week." She wiped her forehead and turned to Takeru. "Probably just a virus." Takeru nodded and helped her into the house.

"I want you to go to bed, I'll tell the doctor that you are sick, and he'll come over." Mimi smiled and nodded.

"Thank you your highness." She whispered, breathing in deeply. Takeru smiled at her and helped her up the stairs.

"Hey, we're family now. You can call me TK." She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.