Chapter 9:

Tatsuha jumped off Isilra hastily. Her chaperon walked quickly towards them, yanking Isilra off the ground. She was seething with anger. "On the day of your engagement! What is wrong with you? You're a princess, why can't you do your duty? I'm ashamed of you…go to your room right now." She pushed the Princess in the direction of the palace. "If you dare go anywhere else, I'll tell the king and see that you get married tomorrow, good predictions or bad!"

Tatsuha watched Isilra walk away her head held high, she was still defiant. He turned to face Aria, keeping his face expressionless. She rounded on him fiercely. "She's your brother's fiancée. They are going to be married whether they like it or not!"

That was it. He had enough of everyone forcing everyone else into a marriage. "Not if I can help it. I don't understand you people! You're supposed to have nursed her since she was a child. You want her to throw herself away into a loveless marriage? Yuki's not even going to love her…he's a cold person, much colder than you'll know! If you want her to waste her life, fine! But I'm not going to stand it! You should be ashamed!" he walked away leaving the lady staring after him.

Aria watched him leave and shook her head. This was supposed to be a fairly simple journey. Isilra was supposed to marry the heir and fall in love eventually; she would bear his children and be happy. Now the younger prince had fallen for her, the heir was just as reluctant as she was to marry; every way you looked at it, things would remain complicated. King Davideus would not agree to the younger prince marrying his daughter, he was too ambitious for that! A month, oh gods, what would happen in a month?

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Shuichi came down early to the beach. He smiled when he found Isilra already there, wading up and down feet deep in the waves. She was wearing some kind of longs mages robe sort of thing, sheer, but pretty in black. She looked at him and smiled, walking up to him. "Good morning Shuichi…I hope you had a good night!"

He smiled back at her as she sat down in the sand. "I did thanks. What about you?" he sat down next to her, noticing that she blushed slightly. "It was OK." She looked away as though she was thinking. "By the way, Shuichi, do you know any self defense?"

Shuichi looked at her in surprise. "I don't actually. They did try to teach me in school, but that was just for one class and that was ages back. Why though?" she frowned a little. "Well, I was just thinking, if that Taki finds out your close to prince Yuki, then he might try something. And well, you're like my brother, man from the future. I don't want you to get hurt. Would you like to learn some knife fighting?" suddenly a knife appeared and disappeared in her hand. "I could teach you…"

Shuichi grinned. "I wouldn't mind. It would be fun. How did you do that knife thing?" she grinned back. "That's why I'm wearing long sleeves. Those stupid Atlantean clothes or some of those clothes from my own country are useless to hide knives in. I mean really look at them, they all have brute strength and fight bare handed…actually, I could teach you that too."

He nodded; she stood up, her tone changing. "Up. How many push ups can you give me? We can't go straight into exercises, you know, you'll need to build up some muscles. And if I even hope to make you a passable knife fighter by the end of this week you'll have to work hard." Hundred push ups and a few grueling exercises later, she taught him how to punch perfectly and after that she taught him a few thrusts with the knife.

Shuichi was exhausted when she let him stop. It was already midday and they had to back for lunch. She looked him up and down, smiling suddenly. "Good work. I didn't expect you to keep up you know. I'm actually damn proud of you. Practice a little more this evening and you'll be able to fight pretty well in a fortnight." She started to walk away before turning back to the pink haired man stretched out face down on the sand. "Um…Shuichi, you might want to stay with me today during the evening meal, that way it'll be easier for you to spend time with Yuki."

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"Isilra! Where have you been all morning?" Isilra walked past Aria, her nose in the air. She picked out some new clothes had a bath and dressed. Lunch was a lot more fun, because she was seated between Tatsuha and Yuki. Tatsuha made some really funny jokes about his ministers and the priests which cracked her up. She found herself wishing that Tatsuha was the one she was marrying.

Yuki watched Shuichi who was seated opposite him, almost dozing off into his bowl of soup. He wondered why the man was so exhausted. Shuichi met his eyes and smiled faintly, before once more placing his nose in the plate of chicken that had just been set before him.

"And I decided to teach him some fighting arts. I'm so proud of him, he learns very fast and he's quite good too!" Yuki turned to look at Isilra incredulously for the first time noticing her slender but very fit form. He sized her up to be quite a fighter. So Shuichi was learning from her? That was good; you never knew when you needed self defense! She turned to him and smiled a little.

"He is really good you know I was surprised…I hope you don't mind me teaching him…" her smile turned slightly apologetic. Yuki shook his head. "no I guess it's something for him to do when I'm not around. So has Tatsuha been bugging you?" he nodded towards his brother who was deep in conversation with on his left.

"No. he's been really nice actually and he kisses real…um, no I'm not bugged with him. He's funny, sweet and makes me feel really good about myse…" she stopped abruptly again and gulped down some water. Then she whispered to him trying to ignore the big smirk on his face. "I guess I wore your love out too much…he hasn't removed his head from that plate in hours. Your father's looking at him with this weird expression." Yuki kicked his lover under the table and Shuichi woke up with a loud gasp. He looked around at all the people staring at him, or mostly at his nose which was all creamy from the cream sauce it had just been lying in. he apologized and excused himself from the table.

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Taki watched the guy from the future walk out and then noticed that Yuki followed a few minutes later. What the hell was going on? He stood up, and started to follow Yuki out. He followed the Prince all through the winding corridors and saw him disappear into one of the secluded garden paths. He followed him in halfway before coming face to face with Isilra.

"Good afternoon, lord Taki." She smiled at him. He smiled back trying to get past her. But she blocked him once more and he didn't dare try to push her away when one of the guards might suddenly spot them. "Would you like to take a short walk in the gardens?"

"I'm a little busy right now, Princess…" Taki was almost past her when she grabbed his arm and guided him away slowly but a little determinedly. "Ah, Taki, don't tell me that you're angry with me about the last time? I was a little headstrong. And I'd really like to apologize right now…I mean it this time." Like Hades, I do! She succeeded in steering him away to a small gazebo in one of the gardens a little farther away. The conversation was one of the most boring ones she'd ever had, but she succeeded in holding back her yawns. At last he led him to the door and bid him farewell.

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Yuki grabbed Shuichi and pulled him into a corner as he heard Isilra's voice. Good afternoon, lord Taki… he cursed silently. He hoped to Poseidon, that she would be able to lead the idiot away. Shuichi wrapped his arms around his lover, both holding their breath until she led him, away. They heard footsteps retreating and sighed.

"That man is really trying to bring you down Yuki…" Shuichi looked at his lover worriedly. "And you have to tell Isilra to stop trying to help us, if he finds out that she's only with him to keep him away from us…he might turn his attention to her. She has humiliated him a lot you know." Yuki nodded, but right now he wanted to spend time with Shuichi.

They sat down together under the pretty hanging vines and snuggled up. Shuichi was in no mood for sex, being too exhausted for that, so they just talked about stuff. "Your brother's in love wit her you know…I just feel so bad for him. I get to spend time with you, but since Isilra's a woman, I don't think he'll get to spend as much time with her. I don't know if he'll ever get her to fall for him."

Yuki chuckled. " I think she already has, idiot." Then he became serious once more. "In a way, I wish she hadn't. This marriage is inevitable Shuichi…it's going to be harder for her to have Tatsuha around all the time, but not be able to stay with him." Shuichi nodded. He snuggled closer and fell asleep. Yuki looked down at the man in his arms and smiled sadly, he'd give an arm and a leg to get out of this predicament.

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Tatsuha found his love sitting in the garden, her long hair undone. She hadn't seen him yet, and the last rays of the sun were soaking into her beautiful hair as she brushed it out. She heard him coming at last and smiled up at him…he looked at her with a little surprise because the smile was a shy one.

"So, Princess, how was your afternoon? I heard that Taki had come to visit." Tatsuha leaned on the parapet of the gazebo smiling down at her. She nodded, pushing back her hair and standing up. "Yes, but I've never had such a boring conversation in my life. It was all about how awesome he was. It took all my self control not to throw a bowl at him and doze off." She gathered all her hair and reached to tie it up, when Tatsuha caught hold of her wrist.

"Don't. You look very beautiful with it down…I like it like this." He saw the faint blush that stained her cheeks and pulled her into a long kiss. Right now he didn't care if Aria or the king himself walked in. when they pulled away, she leaned into him, still letting him embrace her. They stood like that for a long time just watching the golden sunset.

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The bitch! Taki watched Tatsuha kiss her…how dare she toy with him like that. He punched the ground. It seemed he would have to take care of her first before, he settled score with Yuki. He'd make that princess bitch pay with every thing she had!

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A/N: alright I'm, too tired to continue and it has been a long chappie, so I'm off to sleep, long day tomorrow! I am right now a completely exhausted zombie and I don't wish to be one forever. So goodnight folks. (Dozes of on the pizza in front of her after saving chapter.)

Taka

Kai II- you baka! If you are reading this story you had better review, otherwise I'll sick Lia on you and she'll bite all your socks. If you read this without reviewing once more cousin, you'll regret it to the end of your days!