Chapter 2: Don't Ask If I'm Happy

She could have flown back to the castle in a matter of minutes, but she needed to collect herself. The cool air beating against Chai's face helped her to refocus and concentrate on calming her heart. It slammed against her chest like a battering ram for what felt like forever. At the speed she was flying, forever was the time it took to leave the outskirts of West City, fly past Parsley City and begin to smell the tall pine trees that made up the acres of forest between her and the Ox Kingdom. The sky was handsome tonight. Cirrus clouds and stars decorated the navy hue and below, fog skimmed the tops of the mountains. Some were dusted with snow, but the farther south she flew, the less frost she could see. She also noted that the moose were beginning to migrate south.

Maybe I could talk Yerba-san into taking some meat so he'll lay off our produce. Or maybe he'll give me extra ore if I just offer both.

That morning

She had barely dressed and left her chambers when her steward, Basil, came towards her, brandishing a stack of papers in his hand. His green hair wasn't even tied back as it normally was, instead brushing over his shoulder in waves. She also noted how his cobalt overcoat was misbuttoned.

"Your Majesty, I apologize for coming to you this early but the civil war has spilled outside of the Rat Kingdom's borders. General Clove is concerned that it'll spread here by the end of next month."

"It's already the 28th of November, Basil. That is hardly four weeks."

Basil handed her the papers and Chai began going over them.

"The revolt was hardly two days ago. How did it get so out of control?" she asked.

"Prince Hibiscus suspects his sister to have outside support. Another kingdom is funding her more soldiers and supplies to take over but the Rat Prince maintains a stronghold. And so Her Highness is trying to take other kingdoms in the meantime."

Chai handed the paperwork back to the green-haired man and shook her head. "Call everyone to the Main Hall."

All of Chai's courtiers sat around the long table, Her Majesty at the head of it. There was coffee and tea all around as it was hardly seven in the morning. Many hadn't had breakfast yet.

"The Rat Kingdom is roughly 2000 kilometers away. So there is a possibility the war could get here before the end of December," General Cayenne reported from two chairs over. She was the only one fully dressed, including her shining armor and burnt orange cape.

"If she hasn't gathered other forces, then it might be better for Cayenne and myself to squash the Rats now," General Clove agreed, stroking his bronze chin.

Chai shook her head. This might have been the first time in her entire rulership that she was backing down from a fight. "Our armory hasn't fully replenished yet. We can hardly supply 6,000 soldiers and I'd want to supply all of them. If we intervene now we are inviting warfare and we aren't ready for such a thing."

'I could just take care of it myself, but that is suggesting a political alliance', she thought.

"Let's be ready for defense instead of offense," Chai said, sipping at her vanilla coffee. "It isn't our business and we simply want to prevent it from becoming our business. Besides, Clove, I want you around to safeguard the transport of produce to the Horse Kingdom."

He nodded in agreement when one of the Ambassadors spoke up.

"Your Grace, His Majesty, King Yerba has made extra demands."

She slammed down her cup, cracking it up the side.

"Since when!?"

"L-last night. H-he now requires 100 tons of produce per month, and he is als-so offering l-less ore," Ambassador Rue stuttered.

"Damn him!" Chai growled. "He knows our economy depends on smithing; which depends on ore! Further, we can't produce more weapons..." She shook her head. It was ludicrous. They were cousins! King Yerba never acted like this before.

"Based on the records, His Majesty is likely to just keep increasing his demands. Cousins or not, you might want to handle this differently," Cinna offered. He was the archivist and often knew facts off of the top of his head.

"How long has it been since we've been trading like this?"

"A year, Your Majesty. A year since the storm came through."

"And how much treasure have we recovered?"

"Less than 10%," Treasurer Cassia reported, looking over her large metal glasses at the report before her. "Essentially, we have spent more paying workers to dig for it than we have brought in. Likely, Your Majesty, the vast majority is in the ocean and long gone."

Cassia looked Chai in the eyes when she said this. It was something many were shy to do, though the queen wasn't usually severe with her own delegates. She supposed it was just part of their upbringing.

"Cut the Recovery Program," Chai told her. "Offer land in exchange to the workers and let's see the increased crops we can bring in."

"That should be sufficient, Your Majesty…"

Everything else that was said was drowned out when Chai felt Trunks-kun power up suddenly. She didn't feel anyone else and wondered what was going on but ignored it.

"...Until we can buy the ore again…"

The boy powered down after a few seconds but now there was another ki. One similar to his vibrant, warm energy except this one was calmer and less relenting. It was dampened by her father powering up, then the two went back and forth, going beyond the other until they both powered down.

What the fuck was that?!

Chai tensed her whole body, feeling a ki so much like her fathers but… not. Like her father's but … evil… She felt it out for several seconds before it was suddenly gone again. She couldn't recall anything that was said to her as no other spikes in ki occurred over the course of the day, but she didn't stop monitoring everyone now.

Still, why did that huge ki feel like Papa?

The young queen sighed and angled herself for descent as the Ox Kingdom came into view. When the castle had been rebuilt, it was made not nearly as large and grandiose as the previous one. Half as much so. It was made to include the basics: dining hall, throne room, private rooms for herself, residents, and guests. There was also the armory, the garrison, a room dedicated to her family's artifacts and trophies won in conquest, as well as a few other designations. The rest of the land in which the castle previously rested on was left bare as 11-year old Chai wasn't sure what else to do with it. Thus to this day, it remained so. In all honesty, infrastructure wasn't the queen's strong suit.

She touched down on the balcony attached to her quarters and used a special key to gain access, locking it behind her once again and drawing the curtains. Chai made her way across the room to the lamps and began turning on a few so the room was dimly lit. Her head still hurt far too much to surround herself in such bright light.

"You've gotten great at stealth, Tsu-chan, but you need to work on hiding your ki," the queen spoke, turning towards her bed.

Sitting in the center of her pillows, almost enshadowed from the light was the small figure of Chai's baby sister. She was still dressed in what she wore at the party - a black, flowy knee-length dress and a white sheer top underneath. If not for her shirt and her pale skin, Chai may not have even seen her.

"Why did you leave the party?" Tsuchi asked as Chai padded closer.

Chai pulled off her shoes and began pulling the pins holding her hair at the base of her neck. Should she bother bringing her sister into her own one-sided, ill-fated, half-faded feelings?

"I had a really long day," Chai told her, now tugging gently on the waist of her dress. The lace made it tricky to remove.

The girl crawled down the bed to sit on the edge of it. She always liked looking at Chai's gowns, appreciating their femininity more than the queen herself did.

"Mirai-san looked sad that you left suddenly. A few more people tried to talk to him and he just went inside," Tsuchi explained.

Chai smiled sadly.

So we're calling him that again. Makes sense.

By now, she'd gotten the dress off and began working on removing the sai from her thighs.

"Why did you leave?" she turned the question on the smaller Son.

Tsuchi looked up from the gown that still swayed from the breeze through the window. Her hands were clasped in her lap like a good princess. The girl looked quite a bit like a small Chi-Chi.

She's definitely going to be prettier than me. Splendid.

"The party ended. Mama said I could check on you if I wanted."

"Ah, well let her know, I'm no closing to getting married than Fortuneteller Baba."

"Who?"

"Short, pink hair, rides on a giant orb."

"Oh yes. I've only met her once," she nodded, then hopped down onto the floor to begin removing her own dress.

"Something to work on. You need to remember people after the slightest of meetings, or you may start a war," Chai said cheekily.

"Mama was worried you'd be upset."

So much for changing the subject.

"I mean, the Rat Kingdom's civil war is going to spill south any day now and Yerba-san is being hard-up about providing ore like they don't already own hundreds of mines. Speaking of, did you read the books I gave you about foreign affairs and trade?"

"I did. They were incredibly dry reads.." After a beat Tsuchi spoke once more. "Mama thought you'd be upset about Mirai."

Chai stood topless before her closet, with only her cascading black hair to cover her modest chest. She pushed aside all of the gowns roughly to look for something more comfortable to sleep in. She pulled down an oversized shirt, and for her sister's sake, a pair of shorts.

"Those hardly cover your butt, Chai!" Tsuchi cried out.

The older demi rolled her eyes, though she was immensely pleased with her sister's level of modesty.

"It's getting late. Are you staying overnight?"

After a phone call to her mother's house, the two girls tucked in together. The bed was amazingly comfortable after days like this, and her sister's company wasn't a bad touch. Chai wrapped her arms around the twelve-year old, wondering how much longer the girl would allow such affectionate gestures before teenagehood set in. Being queen, Chai missed out on a lot of the twins' lives. More than she would have preferred.

"So you did fancy him," Tsuchi stated.

"What makes you say that?" Chai sighed.

"Why else would you two dance together?"

Chai shrugged the shoulder that her sister wasn't snuggled up against. Still, she couldn't help feeling as though there was a tiny hole inside of her.

"We're good friends. You dance with Trunks-kun sometimes."

The princess let out a high pitched yawn. "Yes but… it's different…"

"Why?" Chai chuckled.

"Because they are different."

The two had fallen asleep without another word on the subject. It didn't surprise Chai much that her sister took such an interest in the time traveler and the friendship the two had. For starters, anyone would be excited to meet an older version of their own friends. Plus,it wasn't like the girl didn't pick up on the things Chai didn't say when telling the stories about him. Besides, Chai knew the little dance was going to draw attention, and in her sobriety she couldn't believe how stupid she was. It was bound to make things awkward and for what? To hold him to a promise that he had clearly forgotten about?

She didn't know how bright dusk could be until he kissed her under that dusty mauve sky. Large fingers softly grazing along her own as they flew against the background of stars.

"How is your skin purer than the moon?"

Deep purple sheets - nearly the color of eggplant - bunched around two tangled bodies almost too big to share the bed. The shadows of her hand as she caressed his cheek in the blinding light of dawn.

The tiny hole in her gut hadn't refilled itself by morning. Chai groaned to herself as the morning rays began peeking through the tiny cracks the curtain didn't cover. She was going to have to visit him again, and soon - just to apologize for being such a shithead.

K'sho… her inner beast purred, making that hole grow a little. In Earthling, it meant "mate".

Her thoughts were interrupted by the glow of the small orb sitting on her bedside table, as well as the voice of her least favorite cousin calling her name. Chai's eyes snapped open as she glared at the glass piece which was magnifying the size of King Yerba's chin and jawline. At this angle, the fucker actually looked like a horse. Chai picked up the orb in one hand and shielded her eyes with the other.

"Heigh-ho, Silver," the woman muttered.

"Chai, I - what?"

She shook her head and blinked. "Nevermind, go on."

"The Rat Kingdom's civil war is breaking south. My scouts say they will be at our border by noon today. Chai-chan, I need help! We don't have enough troops! My cities will be destroyed, and we aren't even their target!"

Chai bolted upwards. She knew this would become a problem, she just didn't anticipate how soon. The first thing she ever did as queen was rebuild her kingdom. It took years, so much hard work and a lot of sacrifice that depended on the people more than any monarch would admit. Yet, Yerba demanded so much already. But wasn't she in his debt right now? He didn't have to give her the ore. What really irked her was the demands weren't upfront. Then again, a war on your doorstep was not something you preplanned.

"How many?" she asked, finally. She could feel Tsuchi stirring next to her and began running a hand through the girl's smooth strands.

"5,000 troops?"

"Done."

Yerba's irritating mug disappeared and Chai replaced the orb on her bedside table. Tsuchi had turned to look up at the queen who was studying the little one's face.

Just the Ox was a no go, but paired with the Horse should at least throw the Rats off their game. At least, Princess Rooibos's forces.

Tsuchi stared at her with sleepy brown eyes before stretching her face in a yawn. Chai sighed. She needed to spend more time with the twins. Dad was always training, Gohan-kun had his family, and Mom was a bit one-track minded. At this point, they spent more time at Capsule Corps than their own house.

Well, they can spend a little more time there.

Besides, she needed to apologize to Mirai.

"How about some training?" She asked Tsuchi.