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.be my wife.
Disclaimer: not owning Shaman King or its characters, but the plot is originally mine.
Dedicated to all HaoxJeanne lovers.
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It was a bright morning of some sort when Iron Maiden Jeanne woke up that day.
She yawned dizzily, blinking not once but twice to adjust her ruby eyes to the sunlight. One of her dearest companion: Lyserg Diethel, has been telling her to try living like a normal teenage girl for once and forget the iron maiden.
Jeanne smiled at the memory of this and quietly slipped out of her comforting bed, feeling the soft, polished wooden floor touching her feet skin. She walked to the window, opened it widely and gazed at the view outside, feeling the soft breeze caressing her cheek.
It was such a lovely day; she would love to spend her day doing absolutely nothing but to relax, but…
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Jeanne opened the door, and was quickly greeted by a polite smile that was Marco's.
"Jeanne-sama." The commander of X-Laws said, a sophisticated smile on his lips. "Good morning. I'm sorry to interrupt your slumber."
"It's okay." The Maiden smiled softly. "I was just looking at the view outside. What is it, Marco?"
Her faithful companion handed her a letter, wrapped neatly in an envelope. "This…" He said breathlessly yet slowly, "… is from Asakura Hao."
The gentle face of the X-Laws' leader dropped and increased in its intensity. "Hao?" She asked, her voice growing stern, "How come?"
"Asakura Yoh had just dropped by with his fiancée early this morning, Jeanne-sama." Marco explained, "They told me to give this letter to you. Hao's twin brother said that it is to be read privately."
Jeanne eyed the letter warily then accepted it. "Okay, then." She said at last, "Then please leave me alone, Marco. Thank you."
"Yes, Jeanne-sama." Marco replied and quietly withdrew from the room.
The now sixteen years old maiden sat down on her bed and looked at the letter in her hands carefully, her hands tracing the envelope carefully.
It had been five years since she last met him.
Hao. There were so many words to describe him.
He was the so-called future king, the source of all evil, the shaman who owned the Spirit of Fire – his only dream was to make a kingdom of shamans.
What problem does he have with her right now, after all those bloody shaman fights?
Carefully, Jeanne tore the envelope open. She unfolded the letter and glanced at it for a while - There was only one sentence written so neatly on the smooth, plain white paper.
She nearly fainted when she read it.
Dear Jeanne-san,
Please do me the honor of being the mother of my future child.
With love,
Asakura Hao.
--
.prologue.
--
Kyoyama Anna was not really happy. In fact, she was nearing furious. Today was supposedly the real first date between Yoh and her, but why oh why should his own twin brother interrupt it?
Life wasn't good.
The vein in her temple just won't stop twitching madly as she groaned as the twins behind her back exploded in laughter, talking about something she'd rather not know.
"Pathetic group of men." She grumbled under her breath just as the laughter died, and apparently both Hao and Yoh caught her four words sentence.
"What did you say?" He asked teasingly, leaning back on his chair as a smile appeared on his thin lips. "Pathetic group of men? Anna, I never expect you – of all people – to say that."
She shifted uncomfortably on her chair and sent a smirk over to him. "Sure." The famous Itako replied sarcastically. She shook her head a little as her lips moved, "Anyway, Hao… What did you write to that Iron Maiden Jeanne that it was so important to deliver it this exact morning, through Yoh and I, moreover?"
He blinked, half-amused. "Don't tell me you're mad at me just because the favor I asked you to do, Anna." He said huskily, causing Anna to growl at him. "You lack patience. Yoh doesn't even get mad."
"It's Yoh." The bride-to-be said softly, her eyes softening just for a second as she glanced at her fiancée, but then turned hard again as she turned to her fiancée's twin brother. Growl. She always disliked his smug attitude. "I, on the other hand, am not as patient as he is."
"I know that." Hao said pleasantly. "You are not even half as patient as he is."
His statement caused Yoh to cough loudly, covering up for the sudden glee in his stomach. Geez, this twin brother of his – he always liked to tease Anna so. And not that it was bad for Yoh, either. He always liked to see Anna getting pissed off but was often too scared of her slaps that he couldn't tease her his own. She was so sweet and cute when she was angry.
"Shut up." Anna retorted back, just as coolly. "Back to my question – what?"
"Hmm?" Hao blinked again, amusement playing in his dark-colored eyes "So you are interested." He said, relaxing on his chair as Yoh chuckled again. Hao shook his head for a while and looked at the undeclared couple. "You wouldn't believe me even if I tell you." He said with assurance as he stood up. "Though I believe that even the Maiden herself wouldn't believe me when she read that-" He stopped and realized that Anna was just asking the question to cut the topic between Yoh and him. Aww, she's jealous… "Don't worry, Anna." He said cockily, "I'll go now."
The eighteen years old Itako smiled evilly. "The quicker, the better." She said, causing Yoh to shudder. What did she intend to do to me after Hao's gone?
"Good luck, then." Hao smirked at his brother a second before he vanished.
--
Jeanne was clearly not having the time of her life. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she glanced at the letter in her hands for the nth time that minute.
What?
She read it not only twice but six times, making sure that she was reading it right. Her eyes were not wrong, her brain was working properly, and she was sure that she still knows her alphabets – it was the letter that was on fault.
HAO had just asked her to be the mother of his child.
Hao had just asked HER to be the mother of his child.
Hao had just asked her to be THE MOTHER OF HIS CHILD.
What?
The sentence just sounded so wrooong that Jeanne couldn't believe it one bit. She thought if one day Hao had the time and heart to send her a letter, it would either be a letter of asking forgiveness or an invitation to another battle – anything, at least not a letter like this! Hao's letters should sound Hao-ish! He would call her 'Iron Maiden Jeanne', not 'Jeanne-san', not by her name with a honorific behind it, not by anything else than her honorable title. He would also end the letter with anything but 'With Love'. It just didn't sound right – in fact, everything about the letter sounded horribly wrong.
Jeanne looked at the letter again and stared at the words carefully.
This must be some sort of an unfunny prank somebody was pulling at her. Everybody – everybody – knew that she hates Hao with passion and until now it didn't change much. Her hatred was still a fact.
She sighed and shook her pretty head gently. She must still be a little sleepy, getting this much affected by just a prank letter…
"Yo." A rich, baritone voice rang clearly from the side of her window.
Jeanne whirled around, gasping. She didn't notice the furyoku aura, nor did she notice the presence of the newcomer – she was too distracted to be on alert, apparently.
"Hello." The pleasant eyes of Asakura Hao greeted, twinkling in mild amusement.
"Hao!" The maiden gaped, losing her self-control. "What are you doing here?"
"Just visiting." The eighteen years old man said huskily, stepping down from the windowsill and into the room. He stopped for a while as his eyes scattered around her. "My," He said slowly, referring to her slightly transparent lavender nightgown that traced her body frame so. "You've grown a lot, Jeanne-chan."
The honorific changed again.
Jeanne held up her hand and was about to slap him away. She hated this man! She despised this smug, evil, proud, so-full-of-himself attitude of his!
Hao caught both of her hands with ease. It looked like he had learnt his lesson with Anna already. He looked at her, smirking. "Now go pack your things." He instructed, "And we'll get going."
"Wh-What?" Jeanne stared at him in disbelief. What did he just say? Go? "What do you mean?"
"It means, dear Jeanne-chan…" His grip on her hands tightened as he leaned forward, close to her face.
The maiden automatically held her breath as she felt his breath tickling her neck. For the first time in her life, she felt vulnerable, so unprotected, so damn weak, so… so… so humiliated… The closeness of his face…
Hao's next sentence came one level huskier than what he intended.
"… that you are going to be…"
His eagle eyes stared into hers demandingly.
"… my wife."
.to be continued.
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.end notes.
Okay. I must confess that the characters in this are probably highly OOC, and that I'm not that used yet to writing them. This is really my first SK fic, and that's about it…
So yeah. This is also just the prologue, and that there will be more to come. Until then, please review and tell me where I got the characters OOC, the grammar errors, and the stuff.
Thank you for reading!