Sora had always made a lousy princess. At least, Taichi thought so.
The pair met every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Odaiba park by the "good drinking fountain" - so named because unlike the other fountains scattered throughout the park, it worked, and was not usually plugged up by gum - and raced to the shiny red and blue jungle gym. Once there, they began preparations for their favorite game, Playground Kingdom. Taichi would hunt under the surrounding trees and bushes for a stick that was long and sturdy, but light - qualities necessary for the perfect sword. Meanwhile, Sora would carefully scan the area for flowers, trying to select ones which she remembered her mother saying represented royalty and honor (but mostly finding dandelions and fallen sakura blossoms) and weaving them together into a crown. After bestowing upon themselves these items, the children transformed. No longer were they Taichi and Sora; now they were Taichi the Knight and Sora the Princess.
Taichi liked being the knight. It was a role that required a lot of running around and wacking stuff. Taichi excelled at such activities, but was particularly good at the latter. He knew he made an impressive knight. Sora, however, was a terrible princess. Whenever Taichi was having trouble slaying the dragon or battling the wizard, she would abandon her tower, pick up the nearest sword and rush into the fray, completely ignoring the universal rules of Playground Kingdom. One warm summer day, when she leapt right between him and the giant troll he was about to vanquish, he finally confronted her.
"Sor-ra!" he shouted, snatching the stick from her hands. "Fighting is the knight's job," he reminded her smugly, pointing his stubby, dirt-coated thumb proudly at himself. "The princess is supposed to wait in the tower for the knight to save her," he continued exasperatedly, gesturing with both of their sticks from her - the "princess" - to the platform at the top of the slide - the "tower" - and back to himself - the "knight" - nearly poking his eye out in the process. "That's how fairytales are."
"But I don't want to wait in the tower! I want to kill trolls like you!" Sora exclaimed excitedly, and attempted to retrieve her "sword" from her companion's grasp.
"You can't," Taichi replied as he dodged the assault, nearly tripping over the bottom of a yellow climbing net. "You're the princess, and the princess has to wait until the knight saves her!"
"Then I don't wanna be the princess! I wanna be a knight," she cried, and made a second grab for her weapon, again narrowly missing due to another swift dodge by Taichi.
"You can't!"
"Why not?"
"Because you're a girl and girls are princesses and boys are knights. Those are the Rules." He spoke the last word with the reverence of one citing a sacred, inviolable code - and to his six year-old mind, that's exactly what "the Rules" were. At his declaration, Sora paused mid-swipe and took a step back, absorbing this statement. Then she raised her chin defiantly, crossed her arms and looked Taichi square in the eye.
"I wanna be a knight. I wanna fight monsters and save princesses. I wanna be a hero too. It's not fair."
Taichi opened his mouth to reply - You can't be a knight, that's against the Rules - but stopped. Sora had said it wasn't fair that she had to be a princess, and fairness was important to Taichi. He considered the situation; he was a boy and she was a girl, and according to the Rules, that meant he was supposed to be the knight, and she the princess. That was how it had been done since the beginning of Playground Kingdom history! Most girls preferred it that way; girls liked stuff like that: they liked wearing their pretty dresses, they liked playing with their dolls, and they liked being called "Your Majesty," sitting on top of the slide or the monkey bars, giggling and waving at the boys tussling in the sand below. But..Sora wasn't like other girls. Sora didn't wear pretty dresses; she wore T-shirts and sneakers. And Sora didn't play with dolls; she played with soccer balls or baseball bats. So, it made sense that Sora wouldn't sit around watching someone else do all the fighting, either. And suddenly it didn't seem fair to make Sora be a princess just because the Rules said so. Taichi never really liked rules anyway.
"Okay," he said, returning her sword. "You can be the knight, but I don't wanna be a princess," Taichi decided firmly.
"Okay, what do you want to be? You can be whatever you want. I don't care," she said, content to be wielding her stick without resistance.
"A clown," was his solemn response.
"A clown? There's no clowns in fairytales!"
"Well, that's what I wanna be," the boy said stubbornly, and stamped his foot.
Sora thought about it; if Taichi said she could be a knight, it wasn't fair for her not to let him be a clown.
"Fine. You're a clown. Now go wait in the tower, Clown, and I'll come save you after I kill this ugly troll," Sora announced bravely, slashing at the sinister fire-pole beside her.
"Clowns don't sit in towers," Taichi informed her, interrupting her attack. "They walk around in funny hats and tell jokes to the King."
Sora sighed, and turned back to her friend. "Well, then, who am I supposed to save from the troll?"
"A princess, DUH!"
"But you're a clown!"
"Then go find a princess in danger and save her, dummy," Taichi retorted, and stuck out his tongue.
"Ugh, Tai, you're such a jerk!" she exclaimed, and after kicking her friend soundly in the shin, the young knight took off in search of a princess who needed to be rescued.
"Ow! Meanie!" he called after her, and clutching his wounded leg, the now gimp clown hobbled off seeking a King who could use a chuckle.
And so ended the tale of Taichi the Knight and Sora the Princess, and began the tale of Sora the Knight, and Taichi the Clown.