DISCLAIMER: SKIP BEAT! and its associated characters are the creations of Yoshiki Nakamura. This author claims no ownership of Skip Beat or any of its characters. All other rights reserved.

Author's Note: The word for this one is "Foretell." This one is a little longer than the 1k limit I'd set for myself, and frankly, it could be a LOT longer than that. And frankly, it reads more like a summary than a story, but ehhhhhhhh. Between DoK and Aris, I've got my work cut out for me. Cut me some slack, LOL. Please?

The Foretelling

Kuon Hizuri was the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Antarsia. He was, as princes often are, intelligent, handsome, and kind. He loved his country. He was twenty years of age now, and full of ideas about the country's future. He considered his position to be a privilege—he looked forward to the opportunity to serve his people, though he didn't like the idea of his father dying first. Antarsia was vast and beautiful, prosperous and content. Mountains formed its border to the north, a mighty river formed its border to the east, and a beautiful azure sea surrounded it to the west and the south like a jeweled girdle. The people of Antarsia were never hungry and their lands and holdings were fruitful. To Antarsians, poverty and wickedness seemed like cruel fictions told to unruly children at night.

One day, Kuon was called to his father's study. This made him nervous—it was so unusual that he couldn't help but think something strange had happened. Kuon came in and bowed respectfully to his father, who was seated at a table next to a hooded and robed figure. "My son," the King Kuu said, "there has been a Foretelling. The High Priestess has had a vision, and you must go on a quest." Kuon swallowed. His father was a dignified man, but today there was something sad about him. Something that almost looked like dread, or fear. A foretelling? Was the foretelling what made his father look so unlike himself?

"A quest?" he asked.

"The things you must learn are not things you can learn in Antarsia, my son," said the King. "You must leave and go to the kingdom of Shoutaran."

Kuon gasped. Shoutaran was a land far across the sea, a place that was rumored to be dark and evil—a place so depraved that the rich were known to traffic in the bodies of the poor to fill their coffers.

"The quest is this, young man," said the Priestess in a voice that sounded like a creaky hinge, "You must go to Shoutaran and learn three lessons. And when you have done so, you must bring back that which you cannot live without."

"That which I cannot live without?" Kuon asked, puzzled.

"It will become clear to you in time," said the Priestess.

And so the young Prince left his beloved Country with nothing but a sword and some coin, booking passage on a respectable Antarsian ship bound for trade across the sea. He alighted at Viane, a port city somewhat far from Shoutaran's capital. It was a shocking sight. In Antarsia, each port took great pride in itself. Buildings were often brightly painted, streets were swept and watered. Refuse was painstakingly gathered, sorted, and disposed of in an orderly fashion. But here in Viane, Kuon saw rows and rows of dilapidated buildings—some looking as if they had roofs of cardboard, others looking as if they were being held together merely by twine. Running on the docks he saw unshod children begging for alms, some so thin that he could see their ribs through pallid skin. Trash clogged the waterways, which were brown and redolent with the stench of the city's sewage.

Kuon took his first step onto Shoutaran land and was instantly mobbed—by the poverty-struck children, by vendors hawking their wares, by prostitutes looking at his body with lust in their eyes. It was clear from his clothing and his bearing that he was a noble, and here in Viane, such a personage was a catch. The crowd was aggressive and invasive and really quite…pungent, and Kuon did everything he could to get away.

When he did, he realized that the pouch containing his coin had been stolen. It was then that he realized he'd learned the first of the Priestess's lessons: that a man, no matter how high-born, could have his wealth stolen from him in an instant and through no fault of his own.

No matter, he thought. I am young and able-bodied, and I can work. He found work quickly at a dockside warehouse, and worked for two weeks. But at the end of two weeks, he was handed mere pennies. When he protested, the foreman laughed. "That's all you get, boy," he said, "after the boss takes a cut, and the government takes a cut, and after I take a cut." And so it was that Kuon learned the second of the Priestess's lessons: that a man may work tirelessly and still not make a fair wage.

Dejected, Kuon went off to wander the streets. He was so tired that he lost track of his surroundings. Viane was a dangerous city even in the daytime. At night, it could be lethal. He had traveled a fair distance when he realized he was lost and had attracted an unsavory following. Kuon was well-trained in combat, but even he felt threatened by the gang of hard-looking men that surrounded him.

"Looks like a pretty princeling, doesn't he? Those clothes'll fetch a nice price" said a one-toothed man. He was holding a dagger, twirling it and throwing it in one hand.

"Yes, his organs will fetch a good price too," said his friend. Kuon had crouched in a fighting stance and was getting ready to defend himself when a lithe figure with short orange hair landed from above, placing herself between the gang and Kuon.

Kuon barely had time to register this new entrant into the fight, but the gang reacted immediately. "It's Kyoko!" they cried, "the Scourge of Viane!"

"I've told you time and time again," she said, "Any gang that seeks to harm a person will have to deal with me." At her words, an unearthly whooping rose up and Kuon could see a score of people in the shadows, looking armed and ready to fight.

The gang of men that had been tailing him turned and ran as fast as they could into the night.

Kuon took one look at the girl with orange hair, and realized he'd learned the Priestess's third lesson: That virtue could be found anywhere, even in the darkest slums of Viane. And as he kept looking at her, he realized he'd found what it was that he could not live without.

Later on, he would find out that Kyoko was the daughter of the long-deceased Duke of Viane, who had been deposed by a cabal of gang leaders who sought control over the port city's lucrative shipping industry. Though her title and her birthright were long gone, she took it upon herself to protect the people of Viane from the excesses of the evils which plagued them. Much as he would have liked to have gone home immediately with Kyoko, he couldn't. First of all, Kyoko was not in love with him, and she thought the idea of love at first sight was ridiculous. Second, Kyoko felt as strongly about the people of Viane as he did about the people of Antarsia, and she would not leave them behind simply because a prince asked her to. And so Kuon stayed, working with Kyoko to rid the town of the gangs that plagued its citizens and to hold its politicians and its wealthy accountable for their corruption. Through her efforts, the citizenry were able to establish a town council. Step-by-step, Viane was transformed from a city of slums to a city that took care of its own.

Five years after meeting him, Kyoko realized that perhaps she did love Kuon after all, and finally agreed to leave her beloved city to reign as the eventual Queen of Antarsia. Everyone in Viane came to see them off.

After a calm voyage out, Kuon finally presented his bride, the 'thing he could not live without,' to his parents. A very proud King Kuu welcomed them back to the palace, where they were soon married and lived happily ever after.