An hour later, Hibari was dressed in her finest clothes and ready for the peace talks to begin. She was still fuming over Nantar's assumptions, not to mention the fact that he took her breakfast from her. She left her crown on her vanity, determined more than ever not to wear it. There was another knock on the door.

"Come in." She said loudly, thinking it was Hotohori, as Nantar never knocked.

The door opened slowly, revealing the blond general. Hibari tried to hide the look of disappointment on her face, but she was pretty sure he saw it. She straightened her shoulders and gave him an indifferent look.

"Well?" She asked, not sure why he had come.

He raised his eyebrows a little. "I am here to take you to the conference." He said emotionlessly.

"Oh..." Hibari felt flustered for a moment, then regained her composure and nodded. "Of course. Lead the way, general."

She followed him through the palace to a wide hall where Hotohori sat with his advisors around a huge wooden table. He stood when she entered the room, and they quickly did the same.

Hibari felt flustered again, not sure of what to do. Hotohori saw her apprehension and motioned to a seat next to him. She gladly took it just as Nantar walked in, his head held high. When he saw Hibari, he was about to smile, but then he noticed the absence of her crown. He didn't try to hide his scowl, but once again, she ignored him and turned to Hotohori.

"Good morning." She said, smiling. He smiled back and returned her greeting as one of his advisors cleared his throat. Hibari turned away from the emperor and listened attentively as the men started talking. Unfortunately, she got lost after a few minutes when she let her mind wander for a moment, and eventually she gave up and sat back in her chair. Still listening however, she only caught bits and pieces of things that she understood. She silently cursed herself for not paying more attention to Nantar on the way to Konan. He had tried to explain some of the more detailed points of what would be discussed at this meeting, but she had almost completely ignored him for the entire ride and had not heard much of what he said.

Of course, she knew that although she was the official ambassador, she wasn't expecting to be listened to herself during these meetings. As she thought, she noticed Nantar was standing up and arguing his point to one of Hotohori's advisors. He's the real ambassador, she thought a little bitterly. She stole a sideways glance at Hotohori. He was listening to Nantar carefully, but when he saw her looking at him out of the corner of his eye, he smiled again at her, then rolled his eyes.

That was a little unexpected, especially coming from Hotohori. He seemed so serious all the time, Hibari thought, hiding a smile behind her hand. She wondered if he felt the same way that she did about Nantar. Speaking of, he was still talking, but louder now, as if the person he was speaking to didn't agree with him and he couldn't believe it. Hibari turned her attention back to what he was saying.

"-asion is not our objective!" He was saying angrily. "Kotou has no reason to attack your country!"

"We have reports of at least two attacks by your soldiers in villages next to the border, and at least seven recorded deaths!" One of Hotohori's advisors argued.

"My father gave no order to attack villages, and he never has." Hibari spoke up, annoyed. "If those reports are true, and I'm not saying they aren't, then the order to attack was most likely given by the officer in command of those troops." She gave the man an irate look. "In all probability, those soldiers were provoked. They would not attack without a direct order from their captain unless aggravated."

Everyone looked at her for a second, then the man Nantar was arguing with frowned and turned back to Nantar. "If that is the case," he continued, "then you need to keep a closer watch on your soldiers."

"They shouldn't be in Konan anyway!" Another advisor muttered.

"We are trying to protect the interests of Kutou." The blond general said simply.

"Who are you?" A Konan advisor asked a little angrily.

"This is Nakago," Nantar said huffily. "He is in charge of Kutou's armies."

Hibari made a mental note to herself to remember his name from now on, but her thoughts were interrupted by an outburst from one of the Konan advisors. Suddenly, everyone was yelling loudly, arguing about Kutou's armies, land boundaries and other things. Hibari turned to Hotohori and saw that his eyes were wide. He looked at her and shrugged his shoulders, looking a little apprehensive.

Suddenly, one of Hotohori's counselors stood up and yelled for silence. Everyone stopped talking, and Hibari noticed a strange look on Nantar's face as he stared at the once-silent advisor. Nantar almost looked as if he had an idea, but when he saw Hibari looking at him, he turned away.

The first meeting ended later that afternoon, and not much had gotten done. Each time anyone had started an argument, the same advisor stopped everyone from fighting, and Nantar ended up with a very satisfied look on his face.

Hibari sat in her room at her vanity and sighed. It wasn't going at all the way she had planned. All the men kept arguing about stupid things like political boundaries, and not about how many people were starving or dying-in either country. All the things she wanted to say had been silenced by menacing looks from Nantar, as if he was worried she might get them off the more 'important' subjects. True, her father hadn't told her what to discuss when she was here, she assumed that Nantar would fill her in on the way. Of course, she hadn't been listening to him most of the way, but she knew that if he had said anything she really needed to hear, she would have listened. She sighed again. What exactly was Nantar planning? She hated him more than ever now, knowing that he was trying to sabotage her ideas for peace. Was it because she was a woman? Or because Hotohori paid so much attention to her? He had invited her to another sunset stroll, and she had, without thinking, said yes, even though Nantar had forbidden her from being with him anywhere else but meals and meetings.

It was no use...she'd just have to tell Hotohori that she couldn't see him tonight. Nantar would have a fit if he found out, since earlier that afternoon, as she was heading back to her room, he had stopped her in the hallway. Almost as if he knew what she was planning, he told her that he was going to check in on her at random intervals that evening, and if she wasn't in her room, she would be punished.

She headed to Hotohori's chamber sadly, afraid of how he would react to her sudden decision. Knocking on his door, she sighed again when she heard his voice say, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Hibari..." she said, a little hesitantly. "I need to speak to you."

The door opened quickly, and there was Hotohori, smiling down at her. She thought her heart would melt. Before she could speak, he glanced up and down the hallway, then hurried her inside.

"We don't want that Nantar of yours catching us, do we?" he teased.

"Well...that's what I wanted to speak to you about..." she said softly, not looking at him.

He noticed her shyness and smiled. "Please, sit down." He guestured toward a chair.

"No, I have to go." She said, shaking her head quickly. "I just wanted to tell you...that I can't go for a walk with you tonight." She braced herself for his angry reply, but there was none. She kept her eyes on the ground and hurried on. "You see, Nantar is very angry with me because I do things with you...alone...and he told me that I wasn't allowed to go walking with you tonight. Normally, I wouldn't care about disobeying him...but if he saw us walking in the gardens...I don't know what he would do..." She stepped backward, toward the door, and opened it, all the time not letting herself look at Hotohori. When Hotohori still didn't speak, she murmmered, "I'm really sorry." and left, shutting the door behind her her. Once back in her room, she burst into tears.