Disclaimer: The characters within this story all belong to writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata.
Warnings: Clean.
Summary: Sir Light, master chess player and a knight under his father, sets out on a mission: Retrieve the scholar of the neighboring kingdom.
Completed: January 16, 2010
To Play a Game
by: Kagome-reincarnation
Sir Light yawned as he observed yet another paltry chess game. He was leaning against the wall in the commons that had been reserved for those that had been knighted, and from his position, he could see quite well: there were many different moves that Sir Touta could have made to prevent the demise of his black king at the hands of Sir Shuichi's white knight.
"W-wait a minute!" the young man panicked, desperately searching for a way to keep the defending king alive, if even for another move.
"It's too bad," the older knight commented with good humor. "Had you kept your hand on it, I might have allowed you to take back your move." He gestured towards Light, who grinned at the recognition. "But as it is, Yagami over there's a stickler for the rules, so this game is mine."
"N-no!" Sir Touta protested, his wide eyes looking towards the knight who knew the rules so well. "L-Light, you can look away for a little bit, can't you?" he pleaded.
Sir Light shook his head, his amusement obvious. "Sorry, Matsuda," he said unapologetically. "Looks like you lose this round."
"And now you're stuck," Sir Kanzo cut in, "You've got two weeks to go and come back." He nodded stoically to Sir Soichiro, Sir Light's father, to whom the youngest knight also respectfully bowed his head.
"But it was my first time playing!" Sir Touta cried out, obviously disheartened at the thought of going to seek out the scholar they were to retrieve for King Raye. He'd been hoping to stay for the tournament that the others would be participating in as the loser of the games went to seek out the man in question.
The scholar himself was quite a mystery. King Raye had been seeking him especially, but the good ruler hadn't given any hints as to what he might want to scholar for or even what the scholar looked like. As a result, no one was even sure of where to begin searching. The only thing that they knew was that the scholar resided in the lands of the Queen Naomi who ruled the neighboring country.
Prince Raye Penber and Princess Naomi Misora had met accidentally when the two had both secretly decided on their own to visit a border town to find the cause of a drought. They'd gotten along magnificently, and as such, their countries shared both peace and the bountiful and plentiful benefits that came along with such a union. That had been five years ago.
Now, the two were to be wed and the countries joined within the next year, but for now, the free reign of powerful figures from one country were restrained in the other, not because anyone wished it to be so, but because of certain rules that had been set in place – and reinforced – a long time ago.
"Sorry, Touta," Light's father said to the distraught young man. "It looks like you're stuck."
Pitying the younger man, Sir Light spoke up, "I'll go." The others turned to him, and he had to keep himself from gawking at the confused gratitude on Sir Touta's face.
"Light –" his father began to protest.
Sir Light simply shook his head, moving away from the wall, his expression schooled to seriousness as he spoke to his father. "Father, I understand that the games were fair and square, and I wouldn't bother had it been anyone else," he nodded towards Sir Touta. "But Sir Matsuda's family sorely needs the money and there are two of us to compete."
Sir Soichiro, Commander of the Knights of the Realm knew sound reasoning when he heard it. That did not, however, mean that he wanted to hear it.
"Your mother is going to kill me," he informed his son, causing the teenager to nod at him.
"It will be okay, Father," Sir Light told him. "Sayu will remind Mother of the Queen's upcoming wedding and distract her so you can flee."
The gathered knights all laughed at Sir Light's comment. Sachiko Yagami was the seamstress that had been given the privilege of working with Mary Kenwood to oversee the making of Queen Naomi's dress. Any mention of the upcoming meeting with Thierry Morello, the man that had been given the duties of tailoring King Raye's clothes, would effectively derail whatever argument she was making as her mind immediately switched roles from that of 'Mother' to 'Seamstress'.
Fortunately for Sir Soichiro, Sayu Yagami, his daughter, and Sachiko's apprentice in clothes-making, had gotten into trouble frequently enough to learn how to quickly turn her mother's attention away from her and onto other things. She'd be a life-saver in the weeks to come.
"How can I make it up to you?" Sir Touta asked him, his gratefulness obvious.
Sir Light shook his head with a small smile. "Don't worry about it," he said nonchalantly. "I've been getting a bit bored doing nothing around here. None of you could play to save your lives."
At this, he got a few half-hearted glares. It had long since been established that Light could efficiently destroy anyone in a game of chess within the first five moves. Any move after was simply to taunt his opponent, or perhaps take pity on him if they were in a public place.
He'd learned from his father before surpassing him. They'd been first and second in the contest to decide who remained for the tournament.
"Anyways," he said, nodding to the covey of knights, "I'll be preparing to leave. I'll need to hurry if I want to get a good distance away before the parades begin."
As the others returned to their tasks, Sir Soichiro frowned at his son's words. "I'd been hoping you'd at least come home tonight and leave in the morning," he said.
Sir Light looked at him incredulously. "And face Mother's wrath? No thank you!"
His father sighed, defeated. "Very well," he said, unhappy. "How far do you intend to go tonight? I'll help you pack."
Sir Light named a town not too far, but still out of the way of any incoming trains of lords or ladies.
The Knight Commander only sighed once more before leading the way out of the commons. Packing would be a quick affair.
"How confident are you about this?" he asked his son as the moved through the corridors.
Sir Light shrugged. "Fairly confident," he answered easily. "It can't possibly be so difficult to find a man that goes by the name of 'L,' after all."
AN: I thought some people might be confused, so I'm including the full names of the people that were mentioned in the story.
Light Yagami Thanks for reading.
Touta Matsuda
Shuichi Aizawa
Kanzo Mogi
Soichiro Yagami
Raye Penber
Naomi Misora
Sachiko Yagami
Sayu Yagami
Mary Kenwood/Wedy
Thierry Morello/Aiber
L Lawliet