Disclaimer: look at chap 1
Chapter 5:
"What are you going to do now? Have you contacted Davideus yet?" Yuki sat down. It looked like it was going to be a long day.
"Yes I have. In fact I've also made other arrangements. Davideus' wants marriage as a binding contract. So we have decided to completely merge our interests. He's giving us his daughter, to be queen of Atlantis." The king smiled.
"You can't get married at this age! My god, Davideus can't really want that!" Tatsuha who'd been standing silently in a corner burst out. But Yuki was silent. Yuki understood that his father wanted him to take Mika's place. Marry one of Davideus' daughters and never be with Shuichi again.
"I meant she will marry Yuki! He's the heir to the throne. Will you do it my son?" the king smiled again at Yuki, who couldn't possibly say no. Yuki nodded mutely, he'd known it would happen someday, but he'd entertained hopes of getting to know and falling at least partly in love with the princess. But now he was in love with Shuichi and doomed to be trapped into a loveless marriage. Tohma, what have you done?
------------------------------------------
Shuichi ran his fingers over his lover's chest. "Yuki, what's wrong? Something is wrong, tell me!" Yuki looked away for a moment. Then he sat up and turned to Shuichi. It was going to hurt him to say this.
"Tohma ran away with Mika. So my father wants me to take Mika's place. I'm getting married to one of Davideus' daughters. She will be arriving soon. My father used one of the mages to talk to him and his daughter might already be on her way." Yuki kept his face expressionless. Showing Shuichi how much he loved him wouldn't help now.
Shuichi paled. "Married? But he can't force you Yuki! You can say no. you can plead with him, you can settle this in other ways." Yuki shook his head angrily.
"There is no other way! He wants a marriage, Davideus' wants a marriage and I'm the bloody heir to the bloody throne! I'd love to walk away, run away like Tohma did, but I can't!" he grabbed Shuichi by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Don't you think I would get out off it if I could? I'm not ready for marriage! I…I would rather be with you! I'm not a free person, I'm a prince and I can't run away!"
"It's ok. Lets make the best of what we've got." Shuichi kissed him, softly. It deepened into something more passionate. They forgot their problems then, living only for the moment.
----------------------------------------
The princess arrived three days later. Those three days Shuichi and Yuki spent as much time together as they could without anyone noticing. The moment she arrived, Yuki started to avoid Shuichi like the plague. Shuichi stood in court to get a glimpse of her, but she didn't come. Nobody saw her, her chaperon begged the king to give her some allowance as she was very tired from the journey.
Shuichi walked back to the room miserably. He didn't know how he could bear not being with Yuki…suddenly he heard an angry female voice from behind the door he was passing. "I will not marry him! Father cannot force me to. No I will never go outside, let the old goofball who rules this place do as he likes, I will not marry his son! I don't want to be queen!"
"Isilra! Be quiet! Do you want the guards outside to hear you? You are a princess you will do as you're told. Please don't make a fuss…you might fall in love with the prince, you never know! Now go to sleep and behave your age! You are 20 not a 17 year old." The chaperon's voice sounded said.
"It's not fair." He heard the woman whisper quietly. He slipped away to his own room, wondering why anyone parent would want their children to live through a loveless marriage just for political reasons.
-------------------------------------
Shuichi slipped out at dawn. He was feeling restless. He decided to go for a swim, he had swum everyday in Japan, and there was no reason why he shouldn't do so now. He stripped to his loin cloth and waded into the sea. He looked at the statue of Poseidon and decided to swim there and back.
He headed out using powerful side strokes, going faster than he should have, he needed to get all the excess energy out. He reached the statue and started to turn back. When he was midway he slowly started loosing breath. It was then he realized he was swimming against the rip tide. He began striking out, but nothing seemed to be happening. A wave enveloped him, he got yanked under water, and he tried to reach the surface furiously. At last he broke through the water gasping for air. Another wave yanked him under again. "Shuichi!" he heard a yell, but he couldn't focus anymore. He faintly heard movement next to him as something streaked towards him and grabbed him. the hands yanked him up to the surface. He gulped in the air again, and they went under.
"Hold onto to me. I can't get you out of here, in the normal way. The tides too strong for me." He opened his eyes and saw a blurred mix of gold orange and blue. He reached out and slipped his arms around the person. He suddenly felt a jolt and looked down. They were floating a little above the sea and towards the shore. They hit the shore hard; Shuichi's hands slipped off and rolled a little way down the beach.
"Shuichi!" he felt arms embrace him. It was Yuki. He looked further down the shore at his rescuer. The sight took his breath away. A beautiful woman was slowly getting to her feet. Her long golden hair streaked with orange and red, shining in the light of the rising sun, fell to her feet, her wet pale yellow Grecian dress clung to her and above her perfect cheek bones were slightly large almond shaped forest green eyes.
"Are you alright?" she stared at him her red lips parted slightly as she panted a little. Her eyes were filled with concern. "I thought I was going to lose you…see if you can vomit out all that salt water…no let's do it the slightly easier way." She walked up to him and he saw green light sparking around her fingers. She touched his forehead, and he felt the headache disappearing along with the queasy feeling. She stopped and paled slightly.
"Are you ok?" Shuichi asked her. She smiled and nodded. "I'll be fine. By the way I'm Isilra." Then it was like she noticed Yuki. "Oh! You must be the prince Yuki. I'm princess Isilra by the way."
"I'm Shindou Shuichi. I'm here from the future. Don't ask how it's a long story." He smiled at her. Funny, he'd been expecting a haughty princess, who was all for the marriage and who would be trying to get every man in court to look at her. This girl had just saved his life and was talking to him like she was just a commoner. She didn't even have Yuki's outward haughtiness.
"Um…before my chaperon comes…I have to say this. I really don't want to marry you your highness. I wanted to study a lot more, my teachers tell me I'm already the most powerful sorceress in Greece and I would love to be a priestess at the temple of Athena. Is there anyway of convincing your father that we might be able to form an alliance with out ruining their children's life?" she stared at Yuki pleadingly. Shuichi covered a smile with his hand. He didn't think anyone had blatantly refused Yuki, and the look on his face was priceless.
----------------------------------
A/N: I know this is abrupt, but I wanted to end here! So ja mata aimasho!
Taka