Kitty: (sigh) I haven't changed any of this story to first-person yet, but since you're not in the prologue, I guess it's okay to post this right now. Yeah, so... The rating of this will go up to R in the third or fourth chapter, just because of the overall theme of it. (It's pretty much based on sexual stuff...) Just a note, this switches between serious and comical moods pretty rapidly.
Dedication: (I feel so special doing this.) I'd like to dedicate this fic to SGCred. She's been so sweet to me and helped me so much with this. Also, if you haven't done so already, you should check out her new youXRen fic 'Black Magic, White Starlight.' READ IT, or else...
Disclaimer: Why anyone would think Shaman King belongs to me is one of the great mysteries of life.
Prologue
The year was 1506, and a new Shaman King had been crowned just a three years before. The world had been returned to relative peace all too quickly due to the new King's fierce rule. And, finding nothing else to do with Himself now that order had been restored, the King had taken to building a palace for Himself. Due to the help of His many servants and followers, the palace had been erected quite abruptly within a matter of months. It's location: hidden in a valley in the many mountains of China, where only the bravest of voyagers dared to travel. This was partially unnecessary, since only a small fraction of the people on Earth even knew about the Shaman King, let alone His palace deep in the mountains of China. But in this hidden palace is where our tale begins...
The mid-morning sun loomed through a large window into one of the bedrooms of the palace. Currently, a shirtless purple-haired teen was occupying the bed, if only slightly. Quite a large portion of his upper body was draped off the bed, threatening to fall with each loud snore he emitted. The fact that his sheets, as well as his pants, were made of silk just added to the danger. A bit of drool dripped from his mouth as it curved into a wide grin. Seeing as he was upside-down, the drool then trickled down into his nose, causing him to sneeze lightly. A small giggle followed this, then a blissful exclamation of, "Watch out for that chipmunk!"
Almost as soon as he had said this, a young green-haired woman flung open the door, a stern expression stuck to her pretty features.
"Little brother!" she yelled into the room, causing the purple-haired teen to jerk awake, then promptly fall off the bed onto the very point of his hair. "Ren! You're sixteen years old, now! You can't sleep this late anymore!" Ren cast a glare at the woman as he climbed back up into his silk nest, cuddling back into the warm sheets and closing his eyes, his head pounding.
"Not now, big sister," he moaned, pulling the blankets up so that only the very tip of his spike was visible. "Jun, I have a headache, and you're not helping it, so go away." Jun crossed her arms impatiently.
"Then you shouldn't have had so much to drink last night," she huffed. "You know that Mother and Father will have your head if they find out that you were drinking, don't you?"
"I'm the Shaman King; I can do whatever I want," Ren grumbled into his pillow. "Now leave!" he added, flinging a throw pillow at his sister.
"No," Jun said simply, frowning a little.
"GET OUT!!!" the hung-over teen bellowed, quickly wishing he hadn't. A quiet moan escaped his lips as he pulled frantically at his hair; anything to distract him from this headache.
"Just so you know, Mother and Father are waiting for you; they said that they needed to talk to you about something important," the green-haired woman said matter-of-factly. Ren bolted upright.
"What?!" he shouted, quickly wincing and clutching his head. "Why didn't you tell me?" he growled, trying not to aggravate his headache.
"Because you kept interrupting me and telling me to leave," Jun groused. "I'll send Faust up here to give you something for your headache," she added, closing the door quietly so Ren could get dressed. Ren sighed, rolling off the bed and plunking onto the floor. He crawled over to his closet, as he wasn't in much of a walking-mood. As soon as he had pulled on a shirt, a knock sounded from the door.
"Come in," he said, tying up the front of his shirt. A tired-looking blonde man strolled in, carrying a tray with a small teacup and teapot resting on it.
"Good morning, your majesty," the man said merrily, despite his drowsy appearance. Ren nodded in greeting as he sat down on the bed. "Miss Jun told me you have a hangover," he chirped, pouring some funny-smelling tea into the teacup. Ren growled. "I see that she was right."
"Just give me the tea, Faust," Ren snarled, grabbing the teacup and draining half of it in one gulp. He coughed and sputtered, trying to rid himself of the bitter taste. "What did you put in here?" Ren choked. Faust looked surprised.
"Nothing unusual, your highness; although I wouldn't expect you to have tasted this before. This is the first time you've had a hangover, am I correct?"
"Yes, but what did you put in here?" Ren demanded, becoming slightly nauseas when he noticed little bits of something floating in the brownish liquid.
"It's just an infusion of cayenne, ginkgo, and violet, your grace," Faust said nervously. Ren eyed the concoction warily before gulping down the last of it. Then he shoved the teacup onto the tray and scooted out of the room, feeling slightly guilty at how long he had kept his parents waiting. When he reached the door to his parents' room, his headache was almost completely gone. Damn, Faust was good. Ren knocked on the door, feeling slightly foolish for being late.
"You may enter," came his father's dour voice. Ren opened the door to his parents' darkened room, and was greeted by a rather pathetic sight. Both his parents were sitting in their large bed, looking sickly and weak. They had fallen ill with an unknown disease, which was currently ripping through China's population, killing many children and adults alike. Ren feared for his parent's; Faust had said that, in their older age, they only had about a year of life left in them.
"Come here, my son," En said sternly, though a friendly hand motion beckoned Ren over to the bed. Ran smiled at her son gently, and patted the mattress in front of her to summon her child to join her on the bed. Ren hopped up onto the bed, feeling slightly worried; his parents were hardly ever that kind to him. He sat cross-legged in front of them near the foot of the bed.
"Jun said you wanted to talk to me," Ren said to neither of the sickly adults in particular. Ran nodded weakly.
"Yes, child," she murmured. Then she looked to En, seemingly not knowing what to say. He cleared his throat.
"We're getting old, Ren," he said gravely.
"Yes, Father; I know," Ren said nervously. After hearing Ran cough dryly, En continued.
"And we're not in the best of health. I'm afraid we have one last favor to ask of you." Ren's eyes widened slightly. One last favor?! Even though he would never admit it, he loved his parents very dearly; even after the horrible torture they put him through to be sure he would be crowned Shaman King.
"Of course," he breathed. "Anything." Ran sighed.
"Ren, we want to see a grandchild before we must pass into the next world," she said, a hint of a smile tickling the corners of her mouth as Ren almost fell off the bed.
"A g-grandchild?" he stuttered, eyes the size of paper lanterns. "F-From me?" En smiled a very uncharacteristic grin at his son.
"Of course!" he boomed, momentarily recovering from his illness. "You need an heir to the throne! Is there a problem with that?"
"M-Me?" Ren squeaked, still aghast. "I can't--I don't--me?!" Ran heaved yet another sigh.
"Ren, we wouldn't ask this of you if we didn't think you were ready. You might not think you are, but we do. If you can become Shaman King, you can certainly father at least one child."
"But Mother! I can't!" Ren insisted, even though he wasn't completely sure what he "couldn't" do.
"Ren," En sighed, laughing slightly. "That's what we have Faust for. He can fix that little problem in a heartbeat." Ren blushed furiously.
"Not that, Father!" Ren wailed, noticing his mother was now giggling slightly. "I just can't!--I won't!"
(A few minutes later, outside the bedroom.)
"Big sister, they want me to father a child," Ren whined to his Jun, who was shaking her head a bit.
"I thought they would say something like that," Jun said insightfully.
"But Jun, you don't understand! I can't!" he moaned, gripping his hair.
"Faust can help," the dao-shi suggested. Ren smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand.
"Big sister, it's not ethical!" he shrieked. "I'm only sixteen! I don't want to be married yet! I have my whole life ahead of me! I can't!"
"Don't be so moral, little brother," Jun huffed. "We're not talking about marriage, love, or even attraction with a girl. Just providing an heir to the throne. It's not like you must provide for the girl who is pregnant with your child; once she gives birth, you wouldn't need to speak to her again. It's that simple." Ren, who was momentarily stunned by his sisters words of wisdom, tried to remember what he was going to use as a comeback, but failed.
"I can't!" Ren wailed once again. Words of wisdom or not, when a drowning man finds a lifeline, he will cling.
"I'm sure you can," Jun chirped, instantly happy about something. "Don't overthink it. You'll have a great time if you just relax." Ren blushed furiously. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to Yoh about some new Kyonshii for the army. Wouldn't want any pesky mortals getting here, now would we?" With that, she disappeared down the hall in search of the military commander.
The mentioning of a certain brunette brought back quite a few memories, the most recent being allowing Yoh to lead the army of Kyonshii. He wondered what Yoh would think of his situation... He rushed off to find the sleepy brunette before his sister did; he knew that new Kyonshii meant that Yoh would be out searching for corpses for the rest of the day, maybe longer.
Kitty: Send me a nice, happy review, and I'll get the next chapter changed from second-person to first-person as soon as I can!