Truce Between Two Kingdoms

By Sakuralily

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King…;___; Although I would very much like to own Hao.

Claimer: Lily belongs to me since she's me…I like to think I own myself! ^__^

A/N: Warnings include yaoi and shonen-ai, specifically, YohXManta and HorohoroXRen. And a self-insertion couple HaoXLily. Thanks, Wusai, for being my super great beta-reader! :D

A/N 2: Aa...I must also state that the Tall!Manta in this fic is not CTR-sama's Manta. I merely made the original Manta taller...because I was breaking my brain trying to imagine Manta riding a huge stallion...and so I made him tall so that he could without my brain going "SPLAT!" every time I tried. So I apologize to CTR-sama for causing that confusion and to anyone else who thought so. Hontou ne gomen nasai! ::bows::

~Chapter 2~

"Your Highness, Their Majesties wish to speak to you." Anna glanced up from the book that she had been reading to acknowledge the bowed servant before her, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"Mother and Father…I see…I'll be there right away."

The servant bowed again and left quickly. Anna rose from her seat, brushing at her dark dress in annoyance as it rustled and tried to think of any reason why King Eike and Queen Rainya would wish to summon her. She and her royal parents were fairly close, but they rarely spoke on such formal terms and most discussions were done over the breakfast or dinner. She frowned and hoped that it wasn't bad news. Well there wasn't much use worrying about it now she thought since she was going to find out soon enough. The throne room was relatively close and as she entered she caught her parents speaking.

"….No…it's better for me to…"
"Nonetheless. It is her….and…we…"

Anna stepped into the room purposely making more noise than necessary to announce her presence. King Eike stopped speaking immediately, his sentence drifted off unfinished.

"Anna."

Queen Rainya greeted her with a smile, but Anna could see that it was strained. King Eike's nervous smile was also another sign for Anna to be nervous and she noted with narrowed eyes the way her father wouldn't look at her directly.

"Mother and Father."

She curtsied politely and wondered what it could be that had her parents so worked up and it obviously at something to do with her.

"Anna…" Her father began hesitantly, his dark brown eyes still cast downward. She waited, watching carefully and keeping her face neutral. Her mother placed a calming hand on her father's arm and they shot each other a look. Finally her father sighed and looked at her with saddened brown eyes and Anna knew immediately that it wasn't going to be something she liked.

"What is it Father?"

She finally asked when all her father did remain quiet. King Eike ran a hand through his black hair, casting his wife another glance. Queen Rainya gave him a weak smile and nodded slowly.

"Anna…there's been a problem…between our kingdom and another." Anna nodded curtly preparing herself for the blow that she knew was coming.

"We…your mother and I…can't possibly gather a force strong enough to go against the other kingdom if we were to go to war. If."
"Whose kingdom is it?"

Her father froze, surprise on his face. Anna sighed impatient, she didn't have time for this, and she wanted to get to the point NOW.

"…Lord Asakura Hao…" Her mother inserted softly. Anna's eyes widened slightly in shock.
"You're joking, Mother. You're joking." She said slowly in disbelief. No one in history so far could go against Asakura Hao and win. No one. Not one kingdom that he decided to invade ever won and in the end failed miserably. Queen Rainya show her head, her blue eyes sad and Anna knew that they weren't lying.

"….What are you planning on doing then?" Anna questioned quietly, her hands clenched into fist forcing herself to calm and look at the situation.

"Your Mother and I hope to form an alliance with him or perhaps his twin Asakura Yoh. I don't think he would attack any kingdom that was under his own twin's command."

She nodded understanding, waiting still. King Eike paused for a moment and then continued, "We're sending you on an treaty mission to Lord Yoh's kingdom and ask for an alliance."

Anna nodded slowly yet again, there was something missing here that she felt. It was something in her father's tone that hinted something. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You're not telling me something Father. What is it?"

Queen Rainya laughed quietly almost bitterly.

"I told you that you couldn't keep it from her, dear. She's too perceptive for you to hide it from her." King Eike sighed with great reluctance, smiling weakly at Anna.
"If…the treaty should fail…we might…try a marriage…"

Anna flinched and bit her lip to keep from crying out.

"However…we don't know if a marriage should work since…" Her father coughed a bright red flush darkened his face. Anna raised a skeptical eyebrow and watched as her father stammered for a moment.

"Since…?"
"To put it bluntly…Lord Yoh…prefers…men…to women."

Anna paused for a moment to process this bit of information.

"So you're saying Father that you want me to marry a man who is…gay? Do you realize how wrong that sounds?"

Queen Rainya gave up stifling the laughter that had been bubbling at the edge of her throat. King Eike blushed and tried vainly to make his wife stop laughing.

"It's not LIKE that Anna!…But Lord Yoh will still want an heir won't he? And wouldn't it all be better for us?"
"Most likely and probably not."

Anna sighed.

"This IS the alternate possibility right? There is still a chance that I don't have to marry this gay guy right?"

Her father nodded quickly, his eyes averted and the blush still on his face.

"Very well then…when shall I leave?"

King Eike smiled weakly at his daughter, unable to contain the hope in his eyes.

"So you'll go?"
"No. Its too much trouble."

Eike almost fell from his throne, but managed valiantly not to.

"Give me some face won't you Anna?"
"Fine."

Anna shrugged her face neutral. King Eike sighed in relief and leaned back against his throne.
"You shall leave in about a week. We don't want to drag out the treaty for too long and if possible before Lily returns from boarding school…"

Anna nodded, thinking about how her half-sister would worry if she came back only to find her gone.

"Definitely. Lily would probably go and try to murder Lord Hao herself if it all came down to it." Her parents nodded with a sigh.
"Lily's…very protective of you apparently. I don't know why, but it seems to be so."

She shrugged carelessly, but smiled a little.

"Yes she is. May I be excused now?"

King Eike nodded and waved in a dismissive gesture, smiling at his oldest daughter. Anna curtsied again and left, her thoughts occupied about the events that would take place a week from now.


~*~

Lily glanced at her scythe then back up to her friend Tao Ren's face.

"You…are SO…dead."

Ren smirked, his slanted golden eyes gleaming with glee.

"Not if you can't come and get me."

Lily glared at him for a moment and then calmly wiped the dripping red paint off of her scythe.

"Next time…your glaive is most definitely going to come in pieces." She smiled sweetly at him as he glared back.
"Not this time, you're not going to get to it in the first place."

Several other students watched on with amused expressions. These prank fights between Ren and Lily had become common occurrences over the last year and none were surprised.

"Yes I will, you're going to pay for even touching my scythe."

She continued to wipe off the paint that clung to her precious scythe.

"It's your fault for taking my glaive and painting it pink. This is only pay back." Ren replied a tic at the edge of his forehead twitching as he smirked triumphantly. Lily stuck her tongue out at him briefly and continued to clean until all the red paint was off. Looking it over and satisfied that none had stained her scythe permanently, she grinned.

"That wasn't too creative though Ren."

The pointy-haired young teen shrugged elegantly unconsciously posing himself gaining a few dreamy sighs from a few passing girls.

"It doesn't matter, I thought it was rather good."

He smirked arrogantly which gained another round of sighs. Lily rolled her eyes in exasperation and decided it was best to ignore all of Ren's fans from now on…even though she had made the resolution for the whole year…

"Fine then. My next one will be better than yours will. Just you wait."

Ren put his hands on his hips glaring, his eyes narrowed.

"We'll see about that."

Lily shrugged copying Ren's earlier smirk.

"Anyhow I was coming to ask you a question."

She folded her scythe together with several well-placed clicks on the staff. Ren watched impatiently.

"What did you want to ask?"
"What are you going to do after you get out of school?"

He blinked slightly surprised by the randomness of the question.

"I don't know yet…I was going to go home I suppose, not that I really want to…" he said glaring at the wall as if he had said something that revealed a weakness. Lily grinned happily at him, ignoring the way he was glaring at the wall.

"Well if you don't want to go home…why don't you come visit MY home?" Ren…blinked at the wall…turned and blinked at her.
"You mean like go with you…?" She nodded with a shrug.
"Yes. It's just a suggestion that you might want to consider. It'll be fun if you do. I can spar with you and you'll beat me up and I'll beat you up, but you know."

Ren paused for a moment mulling over the suggestion.

"Right…as if you could beat me up. I'll come with you if only to show that you can't." He smirked and looked away. Lily grinned.
"Yes, but don't get mad when YOU'RE the one who's beat up."
"Oh shut up….Thanks…"

Lily shrugged twirling her closed scythe around.

"How am I supposed to shut up and say you're welcome at the same time?"

Ren whacked her, blushing.

"OUCH! HEY!"


~*~

Yes. Chapter 2…I work fast don't I? Um…reviews? Comments? Love it? Still hate it? Thanks for reading!