Truce Between Two Kingdoms
By SakuraLily

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. ::sobs:: Although I would very much like to own Hao...;___;
Claimer: I own Lily, of course, because she's me. :D!

A/N: Warnings for this fic include yaoi and shonen-ai...YohXManta and HorohoroXRen. Oh. >_> Self-insertion coupling. HaoXLily...because I REALLY seriously, can't see Hao with anyone in the manga...that and I am...HAO-OBSESSED! :D Please read? ;___;


~Chapter 1~


Anna was annoyed. This could easily be told from the tick that was twitching besides her eye. The servants cowered, unsure what had made their princess so annoyed, and what way to remedy it.

"Leave. Now. I wish to be alone."

Her chilly clipped tone was more than enough to convince them, and they all scurried away, glad that none of them was the reason for her wrath. When the last servant had disappeared out the door, and closed it, she rose to pace around her room. The rustle of black silk as she moved distracted her momentarily, but only for a brief moment.

She fidgeted absently with the string of beads that hung around her neck as she walked. Finally, she said to the nearest wall, "I need to get out of here." The wall remained silent, not answering. She growled in disgusted annoyance at it, even though she had known it wouldn't answer in the first place.

"I'm talking to a wall. I'm going insane. THIS place is driving me insane."

Anna sighed and sat down again. She needed to get out of the palace. This place was simply too containing, and without her sister here, there was nothing to keep her entertained. Her sister, Lily, had been taken to a boarding school for a year and wouldn't return until about a month later. She had managed to survive on various activities that flurried around the palace, but lately everything seemed to have settled into…nothingness. That fact was driving her crazy with pure boredom.

Anna glanced around the room, running her eyes over each and every detail she could catch. The overly large and flowery bed. The wide closet filled with dresses and gowns that were much too complicated and expensive for her taste. The balcony that led out to the warm summer air outside and had a wonderful view of the royal gardens…which bored Anna. What was so beautiful about a bunch of green bushes and too colorful flowers? A small red velvet couch for her to sit on. A couple of wooden, but richly designed chairs finished her room. It was boring, but expensive and rich. She was amazed by the sheer boredom of it all.

"Ugh," She said eloquently and stared into the mirror in front of her. The mirror reflected a pale young woman with dark brown eyes framed by blonde hair that curled slightly at her shoulders. The small golden crown in her hair shimmered in the light. She glared at it and pulled it off, setting it in front of her. It reminded her all too much of the fact that she was a princess and soon she would be married to some unknown suitor.

Anna bit her lip lightly. It was her duty as princess, but still it wasn't a duty she particularly liked. She'd do it and do it with flare and honor, but that didn't mean she would like it one bit. It didn't help that her father had no sons and her mother could bear no more children. She needed to marry to someone with power, someone that could suitably take over the kingdom without trouble and wouldn't cause a stir. Someone who wouldn't treat her like some…sheltered and fragile princess. She wasn't that. Not at all and the very thought about being some…housewife made her ill and disgusted.

Anna glanced at the crown again. It remained there on the table, shimmering brightly, coldly; the duty it represented wouldn't go away. Angered, she swatted at it and it fell to the carpeted floor with a thud and remained there out of sight. This was not helping her mood any and she didn't think that breaking her crown, again, would do any good. It was impractical anyhow and it wasn't going to change anything. She leaned back in her chair with another disgusted sigh and closed her eyes. Maybe there will be something to do tomorrow, she thought.

~*~

Lord Asakura Hao sat in his leather chair called "The Evil Throne of Doom". The name was peculiar and admittedly old, but Lord Asakura Yoh hadn't been particularly creative that day and it seemed like a good name at the time. Hao had been amused and easily adopted the name for his "throne". Hao brushed absently back a lock of his long hair that had fallen into his eyes, his mind going through possibilities of amusement and coming back with none.

"I am bored."

He declared this solemnly to his friend who sat besides him. Lord Horohoro raised an eyebrow at Hao, his expression mildly surprised and amused.

"Already? I was thinking that my company was amusing for you."

Hao grinned slowly somehow managing to look evil despite the fact he was only grinning.

"You know perfectly well by now that I don't mean it that way."

Horohoro grinned back in the cheerful and completely unheld back way that was his.

"Still. I'm surprised. I thought that girl that I gave you would entertain you enough," Horohoro said thoughtfully as Hao sighed regretfully.
"She was pretty I suppose, but she was too typical. She reacted like any other expensively-bought girl, nothing new and certainly not interesting."
"What did you do to her?" Horohoro asked resignedly, but also interested at the same time. Hao grinned again…this time managing to look innocent…yet evil which really made no sense at all, but you needed to see it to understand.
"I didn't really DO anything…she was boring as it was. By the time you left she had practically stripped herself and was trying to seduce me. That's happened too often, too much and is too…unoriginal. I just sort of…threw her out of my room bare naked and let some of the servants take her away."

Hao shrugged carelessly, his long brownish-red hair rippling over his shoulders like liquid silk. "Well then she did give you some entertainment even though it was brief."

Horohoro sighed.

"I can't tell whether to say you're too easily amused or get bored too easily." Hao grinned again and tugged absently on his gloves.
"I'd like to think I'm neither, since neither is a compliment." The blue spiky haired lord shrugged with a laugh and drank from the goblet of wine in front of him.
"Isn't Yoh coming to visit tomorrow morning with Manta I believe?"
"Yes he is. That should relieve some of my boredom for awhile, my twin is entertaining."
"You take everything as entertainment, nothing seems to matter to you…"

Hao raised a skeptical eyebrow at Horohoro.

"Everything is entertainment in one form or another. It doesn't matter to me." He rose from his seat, his customary smile on his face, but Horohoro could see it was slightly flawed. Just slightly. He wanted to say something about it, but didn't dare not when Hao was acting as if everything was perfectly fine.

"I have something to attend to, I'll return later." Horohoro nodded quietly and watched as Hao swept out of the room, his long hair swirling after him. His friend seemed so lonely…

~*~

"Maanntaaa~ where are you?" Yoh opened his eyes blearily to look around the bedroom for his lover.
"Over here." The tall blonde boy said with a small smile, a towel was wrapped around his waist and his hair dripping wet. Yoh stared for a moment unable to resist and said slowly, "You're not supposed to get up before me…" Manta grinned.
"Why ever not?"
"Because you're not supposed to."

Manta laughed, his laughter ringing through the bedroom.

"That's not a reason, Yoh."

He sat down besides Yoh whom promptly pulled him into a hug.

"It's not, but I don't care," Yoh said defiantly and rested his chin on Manta's shoulder with a soft sigh.
"Why would you worry? You know perfectly well that I wouldn't just leave you there." Manta said amusedly and tilted his head slightly to rest on Yoh's breathing in his lover's scent, which reminded him of leaves and rain. Yoh shrugged a little.

"It's just a feeling I can't help but feeling so stop getting up before me."

The arms around Manta tightened ever so slightly and Manta nodded.

"I won't then if you feel that way." They stayed like that for awhile until Yoh finally released Manta, grinning happily.
"We're going to visit Nii-chan tomorrow, I can't wait! It's been awhile since I last saw him." Manta smiled at his lover's enthusiasm.
"It has, we should go to visit more often Hao's probably bored out of his mind again."

Yoh snorted delicately and tried to imagine when his twin wasn't bored.

"Nii-chan's always bored. He's either bored or amused and most of the time he's bored."
"True. There's nothing to keep him entertained. He goes through everything too quickly and too thoroughly." Yoh nodded and ran a hand through his dark hair with a sigh.
"Sometimes I think he just needs to find someone to entertain him, he's too lonely." Manta's expression was slightly skeptical and Yoh shrugged carelessly, much like Hao had done.
"I know there's probably no one alive that could keep up with Nii-chan and not bore him to death by the end of a week, but I can hope. I don't like the fact that Nii-chan has no one to be with." "You're hoping too much for a fairy tale, Yoh…not everyone can be happy." Yoh grimaced slightly and nodded.
"I guess you're right, but I like to be optimistic of the impossible. Stop being so practical Manta." He poked at Manta's nose lightly in reprimand. Manta grinned and caught Yoh's wrist.
"I suppose…are you going to punish me for that?" Yoh poked at him lightly with his other hand. "…We just finished! Think about something else for a while won't you?" Manta let go of Yoh's wrist laughing.
"I was just kidding. I'm willing to bet that there's some problem waiting for my great Lord Asakura to solve." Yoh stuck his tongue out at Manta, which caused his lover to laugh even more.

~*~

Right...Um...reviews? Comments? Like it? Hate it? Tell me anyway! Because I need comments to improve! Thanks for reading if you're still THERE!