Shades of Black

Chapter 1

In the Palace of the Original King Shino, the Head Priestess Ulirike was meditating in the large, seemingly cold room with Shino himself looking on at nothing in particular, lost in thought for things long past. That was until an almost overwhelming flash of pure, sharp energy exploded through the land of Shin Makoku that had Ulrike and the founding ruler gasping in surprise and shock. Even the Koshihitzuku dropped from the sky and started huddling together in seeming fear startling all citizens, commoners and nobles alike.

Lord Gwendal von Voltaire felt the disturbance in his very soul and stood from the chair in his office, completely ignoring the paperwork in front of him. He was on his way outside to see what in the world was going on when Gunter burst into the room in a panic.

"Gwendal!" shouted the lilac haired man. "The Maou! The Maou's back!"

The Maou? Yuri's appearance have never caused such a rush of environmental commotion before. What in the world was going on?

Seeing his younger brothers almost flying in a rush behind Gunter he decided to follow and all four men flung themselves on saddles and went straight for The Palace of the Original King to the bewilderment and anxiety of the people around them.

"Aniue!" Wolfram called from his horse a little behind his. "Did you feel it too?!"

Gwendal's only response was a knot on his brow and to urge his horse to go faster until he came astride Conrart.

"I don't have any Maryoku and still I felt that," Conrart muttered to him as they both rode astride each other without looking at his older brother. "That was not Yuuri."

"Hn." The oldest child of the previous Maou replied.

Conrart was right, of course; that was not Yuuri at all.

Arriving at the temple; everyone rushed forward and went inside; none of the guards dared stop them. All of them rushed towards the fountain where Yuuri usually appeared, swords drawn for any threat and saw that Shinou and Ulrike were already there.

"Ulrike-sama! What happened?!" Gunter exclaimed as they stopped in front of the priestess. "Where is Yuuri-heika?!"

At the grim look on Shinou's face and the fact that he had not glanced at them once, all four men stiffened and remained alert as they caught their breaths and waited for the threat to arrive.

Suddenly, a pair of familiar black heads of hair bobbed out of the water's surface and two 19 year old boys gasped in much needed air as they came up. Conrart, Wolfram and Gunter all sighed in relief and lowered their swords as they saw their Maou appear however Gwendal's battle worn senses refused to relax especially since he had noticed Shinou had not moved a single muscle and kept on staring at the Maou and the Great Sage.

"Yuuri!" Wolfram cried out, sounding angry but sporting a hot blush on his face as he approached his fiancé beside a smiling Conrart and Gunter. "You idiot! What the hell took you so long to get back! Y-"

To their amazement, Yuuri stopped them with a look from his cat slit eyes while Murata glanced at them and Yuuri warily. Yuuri then turned away from them and knelt into the water, snapping coldly at Murata. "Now."

Murata merely nodded; uncharacteristically serious; even a little frightened; and knelt into the water again as well. Both black clad young men reached into the water and, pulling at the exact same time; they managed to pull out another raven haired figure to the surface. Although this one's exotic raven colored hair reached the small of her back and had slightly tanned skin. She was wearing what Gwendal would assume would be the female version of the black college raiment Yuuri and Murata were both wearing. It was entirely in black from the skirt to the blazer and feet seemed to be encased in dark brown leather boots. The most noticeable thing about the girl held between their Maou and Great Sage was the fact that she was flailing and sputtering like mad. And the aura around her was enough to make Shinou-heika flinch.

"Hanashite!" she demanded, screaming now and trying to tug her wrists out of both boys' hands. Murata let go of her immediately and stepped off the fountain, shooting both of them a wary and concerned glance before hiding his eyes behind his glasses and avoiding Shinou's glances. "Yuuri! Hanashite!"

"Iie." Was all Yuuri said; his voice cold and uncompromising before tugging her off the fountain and ignoring everyone around him as he tugged the struggling young woman behind him without any seeming effort whatsoever.

"Yuuri, please—"

"Iie."

Reason and sanity seemed to have left Wolfram when he saw the young woman being dragged along by his fiancé and he forgot who he was dealing with as he angrily stomped towards Yuuri. "Yuuri! You cheater!"

But he was frozen on the spot at the ice cold look on the soukoku king's face. It wasn't just him but the entire assembly stopped in their tracks as though held still by a terrifying, unseen force. For the first time since they've known him, the Maou's entire entourage felt fear churn their insides in the presence of their naively kind, innocent Maou. Sure they have been held in awe of the young ruler multiple times in the past but they had never ever feared for their personal well being while in his presence before. This was different. Whatever mood Yuuri was in right now, it was bad enough to kill any of them if they made one wrong move. Even Gwendal could do nothing but stand there, cold sweat dotting his brow at the mixed auras mingling in the same area. Even Ulrike was standing behind Murata, trembling in discomfort as she stared at the Maou and the young woman.

The girl seemed oblivious to this, however, as she continued to struggle against Yuuri's grasp. "Yuuri, stop it! Let go! I said, let go!"

Instead of complying, Yuuri merely turned his eyes over to a perfectly still Conrart. "Have you brought Ao with you?"

"H-hai, Yuuri-heika." Conrart stuttered, struggling to stay calm.

"Good." Was all he said before dragging the still struggling girl away from the crowd.

As soon as he was out of earshot, each and every one of them turned their eyes over to a serious and worried Murata; everyone asking the same silent question.

Who was that girl?

"Geika…?" Ulrike began to ask tentatively.

"Her name is Higurashi Kagome," Murata Ken sighed, pushed his glasses up and looked up into the sky wearily before he answered. "She's Shibuya's twin sister…"