Title: Fairytales Unlimited

Author: Miss Takin

Summary: The short tale of two knights, a kidnapped princess, an unhappily betrothed couple, two indecisive dukes, and the scandalous sidestories of kitchen maids and squires for your entertainment. Presenting, Fairytales Unlimited

Chapter: Day 2: Girls Will Be Girls

A/N: Updated version of Day 2. Biggest change is in the scene with Princess Mimi.

Disclaimer: Toei owns Digimon and all related names, characters, items and locations. I don't. Also, don't expect me to be all historically correct. If someone does something that was impossible in the feudal era, just let it be.


As the first rays of sunlight made their way through the trees, Taichi and Yamato slowly stirred into consciousness. It had been a relatively warm night, so both of them had shed their blankets in their sleep, but now they awoke to find the cool morning a bit of a shock to their bare skin.

Taichi slowly blinked and glanced around before sitting up. He looked around in confusion for a moment.

"Where are the horses?" he asked.

"Huh?" Yamato said sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"I said, 'where are the horses?'. They're not here," Taichi said, starting to panic. He got up and grabbed the saddlebags, looking through his own. "We haven't been robbed, everything's still here." Then he looked up and spotted the branch that the reins had been tied to, or rather the lack of that branch. It had broken off.

Yamato sat up. "The horses are gone," he said.

"That's what I just said."

Yamato stood up and rubbed his arms. "What are we going to do?" he said. "If we have no horses, how are we going to get to the princess?"

Taichi looked at him, and they stared at each other in shock for a moment before Yamato finally said, "we're going to have to walk."

Taichi sighed and picked up his saddlebags, and together they walked back toward the road.


"Ugh, I am so bored."

"Me too."

The two boys sulked in the garden, Daisuke laying on the ground and Takeru sitting on a rock near him.

Hikari rolled her eyes. "Perhaps you should be thankful for your time off, now that they're gone," she said. She had just recently escaped from doing laundry and was sitting in the dirt with them.

"But it's so boring," Daisuke replied. "At least I have stuff to do when Sir Taichi is around."

Takeru murmured in agreement.

"You two always find something to complain about," Hikari said, shaking her head.

Takeru murmured again.

"I think I should be getting back. They'll notice soon that I'm gone."

Hikari got up and dusted off her skirts, composing herself and then walking off.

"Wait, where are you going?" Takeru asked, looking up at her in confusion. "The laundry rooms are in the other direction."

"Huh?" Hikari asked, panic creeping into her expression.

"Yeah, and you never worry about what they think," Daisuke chimed in.

"Well, maybe I'm looking for a little more respect around here, unlike you two," she countered, standing up as straight as she could.

"By going off in the direction of the squires' quarters?" Takeru said with a smirk.

Hikari gasped at the insult. "I can't believe you would dare insinuate such a thing," she said, turning on her heels with a hint of defeat. "Goodbye."

Daisuke looked from Takeru to Hikari and back again, not fully understanding. "What? What is it?"

"It's nothing," Takeru said, "go back to your nap."

"But I want to know!"

"It's Hikari's business, let her get in trouble for it," Takeru said to him in a patronizing tone that he was so used to taking with the brunette.

Daisuke scowled at him, but lay back down with his eyes closed and fell asleep quickly as Takeru thought about his recent discovery and wondered which of the other squires living in the castle could be Hikari's lover.


Jyou bit his nails as he sat at the table. He was having Iori over for brunch in his small castle, but he could barely keep his mind on his guest.

"She's been gone for more than a day now," he said.

Iori nodded. "I'm sure Sir Yamato and Sir Taichi are well on their way to saving her by now. They might even be on their way back."

Jyou crossed his arms. "I just-- I don't feel right doing nothing," he said. "I feel like I should be out there helping her. Maybe I could unpack my old sword…"

"Jyou, we are dukes. We rule over our pieces of land – however small they may be – and we do not go out and fight wars and save damsels unless the king asks us to," Iori said matter-of-factly. "You know the king likes you. That is probably precisely why he didn't ask you to go out and do the dirty work."

"You really think the king likes me?"

Iori sighed. "Why would he let you marry his daughter if he didn't? A king's got to be picky about these things, Jyou. I'm sure he took more than a second glance at you and in the end, it's to you who he's looking forward to giving his place on the throne."

"I guess so…"

Iori sighed in frustration and sat back in his chair. He supposed that maybe it was useless trying to cheer up his friend while Princess Sora was away, so he gave up and went back to his brunch.


Hikari sighed and snuggled in closer to Ken's bare chest.

"I'm sorry for leaving you for so long," Ken mumbled into her hair.

"I think that was apology enough," Hikari replied with a smirk. She pulled away and looked up into his eyes, taking in all she could of his post-coital beauty.

The squires' quarters were two beds to a room – an upgrade from the maids' quarters, which were four beds – and Ken had managed to lock the door after they had found themselves alone in there, so now they lay in his bed, serene and without a care in the world.

That was, until Hikari glanced out the window and saw how high the sun was.

"It's almost lunch time! They're going to come looking for me!"

Hikari was thrown into a panic as she leapt out of bed and gathered up her clothes. Ken watched her with a smile. "I'm sure they won't mind if you're just a bit late," he said.

"Oh, but this is lunch time. That's the time when all the knights and squires in the castle suddenly realize that they haven't eaten since breakfast, and even all the maids in the kitchen at once isn't enough to keep them satisfied," she said. She hastily tied her apron on, rushed over to give him a quick kiss, and then flew out the door in a flurry.

Ken sighed and began looking around for his own clothes. As he did so, he couldn't help but smile fondly to himself.


Taichi slowly chewed on his piece of bread as they trudged along the trail, both men looking tired and defeated.

"So… what are we going to do once we save her?" Taichi asked, glancing over at the blond.

"What do you mean?" Yamato said, barely taking an interest.

"Well, I'm assuming that you wanted to do this because you want to marry her."

Yamato looked over at him skeptically. "I guess you could say that," he said. "Didn't really think about that before. Is that why you're doing this?"

Taichi shrugged defensively. "Maybe, maybe not…" he said. "I was just wondering if that turned out to be both of our goals, what would we do once we saved her?"

Yamato gave him a sly grin. "Well, I could always just kill you," he told him.

"Wha--," Taichi stopped in shock. "I know you hate me and everything, but would you really kill me?"

Yamato rolled his eyes and kept walking. "I don't hate you."

Now Taichi thought he was just messing with his head, and he jogged to catch up to the blond. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Yamato said, now looking him in the eye. "I don't hate you, Taichi, never did. And I won't unless you do something really stupid."

Taichi pouted. "Well now I feel guilty," he said.

"Why?"

"Because I've passionately hated you for all of these years under the assumption that you hated me as well."

Yamato shrugged. "I guess there's more than meets the eye."

Taichi processed this for a moment, but before he could venture any further, they heard wagon wheels approaching from behind. The two knights turned to see the source of the sound.

It turned out to be more than one wagon, and in fact there were many lavish and extravagant wagons all in a row. As they kept moving up the trail, Taichi and Yamato could only gaze in awe at each new piece of the procession that came into view.

"I wonder who…"

"Let's find out, they might be able to get us to where we're going faster," Yamato said, and he started walking to the first wagon in the long line.

"Excuse me," he said, jogging beside the wagon, "are you continuing along this trail for very long?"

The man who held the reins nodded. "We are. But you'll have to ask the passengers if they want guests or not."

Just as he said this, a young woman with long lilac hair pulled back into a braid stuck her head out of the window.

"Princess Mimi has requested that you stop so that she may speak to these travelers," she said.

The man sighed and held up his hand to signal the drivers behind him, before bringing the horses to a stop. The girl with lilac hair stepped out and behind her, another young woman came out of the carriage. Her honey colored hair curled gracefully at her shoulders, and her smile was enough to dazzle both Yamato and Taichi into stunned silence.

"Hello!" she greeted them excitedly.

They smiled and nodded in reply.

"I suppose you two are looking for a ride?" she said, continuing to smile. Suddenly she giggled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I just…"

"Didn't mean it like what?" Taichi asked. Yamato brought his hand up to his forehead in embarrassment. Mimi looked a little annoyed with Taichi and rolled her eyes subtly.

"Well, in the way you did mean it, I suppose we are," Yamato said pleasantly, throwing a glare at Taichi. "We're knights, and we're looking to get to the border."

"Oh, did you hear that Miyako? They're knights!" she said to the young woman, who nodded happily. "Would you please tell Prince Koushiro that we're taking on some guests for the time being?"

The last sentence lacked the excitement and glee that the others had contained, but Taichi and Yamato were in no place to ask who Prince Koushiro was. Instead, they followed her into the carriage, which proved to have two rooms: a main seating area, and a back room that neither Taichi nor Yamato were meant to see. A redhead was seated at the front of the carriage, next to Miyako, but he didn't even seem to notice them as they stepped through the door. He was preoccupied with a small wooden structure he held in his hand, which he appeared to be piecing together with the help of a knife to shave the wood to fit. This, as the two knights quickly deduced, was Prince Koushiro.

"Please, make yourself at home," Mimi said, donning another wide smile and gesturing to a bench. The knights sat down and glanced at each other, both suddenly getting that sinking feeling in their stomachs which told them to turn back. As the carriage gave a jerk and they began moving down the road, both knew that it was too late.


Hikari hated washing dishes.

Lunch had come and gone, and because she had been late getting to the kitchen to help, she had been punished with cleaning more than her usual share of dishes. That left her alone now, with nothing but a sponge and a large pile of dirty plates for company.

The door to the garden opened and she turned to see who it was. It was Takeru, with a sly grin that she had never seen before on his face.

"What is it? You've already had lunch, haven't you?" she asked suspiciously. He nodded.

"I just came by because I was wondering why you were so late," he said with a confident air about him.

Hikari scoffed. "I don't need you snooping around in my business," she said. "It's not like you have any right to be…"

She stopped speaking and gasped. She put one hand to her stomach and the other over her mouth. "Excuse me," she mumbled behind her hand, rushing out of the kitchen and into the garden just in time to spill the contents of her stomach into the far end of a flower bed.

Takeru ran to the door in concern. "Hikari? Are you alright?" he asked, gripping the doorframe.

Hikari shook her head. "Don't worry. I must have caught something from one of the other maids… they tend to get sick while they're cleaning up…"

Takeru walked over to her and held her shoulders. "Hikari, you have to think about another possibility."

Hikari shook her head. "No, I can't be," she said. "I just can't."

Takeru sighed. "Hikari, when is the last time that you…" he found this incredibly awkward, but as a close friend, he knew it had to be said. "I know that you've been with one of the squires recently. Just tell me when."

Hikari rolled her eyes pompously. "Well it was this morning, if you really must know," she told him.

"I have to say I saw that coming," he said. "But what about before that."

Hikari bit her lip and her eyes widened. "It started months ago, but I… Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. I am not ready to deal with this."

Hikari stormed past him and was about to go back into the kitchen when a smooth voice stopped her.

"Hikari."

She looked at Ken, who had just come into the garden and had a lady-killer smile on his face that made her melt.

"Did I come at a bad time?" he asked, looking from her to Takeru. Takeru's mouth was hanging open in understanding.

"I'm just washing dishes," Hikari said with a false smile.

"It's awfully late…"

"I know," she said with a forced laugh. "The senior maids are punishing me for being late again. I'll see you later, alright?"

Ken nodded with a concealed smirk, looked back at Takeru and turned to go. Hikari continued storming back into the kitchen.

"Ken? Really?" Takeru said with a laugh.

"He's a very attractive man," Hikari countered. "I wouldn't expect you to appreciate that."

Takeru shook his head, amused.

"How am I going to tell him…?" Hikari said to herself as she viciously scrubbed a dish clean.

"What's going to happen to Daisuke?" Takeru wondered aloud.

"Daisuke?" Hikari asked, turning to face him again.

Takeru nodded. "Yeah. He thinks he's in love with you. I thought you knew?"

Hikari dropped the sponge and stared at him with her mouth hanging open as she shook her head slowly. "Takeru, you can't expect me to… I can't believe…"

"I probably shouldn't have told you that," Takeru said, upon further reflection.

Hikari let out an angry groan. "I can't deal with this right now. You should go."

"But, Hikari --"

"Please, Takeru."

He stood in the kitchen for a moment as she leaned over the sink, staring into the filthy water. As he opened his mouth to say something, she plunged both hands back into the pile of dishes and scrubbed them clean, one by one, with less vigor than usual. Closing his mouth again, Takeru let out a silent sigh and turned to leave.


Sora glanced around the corner warily, knowing full well that there were guards at the door. The few that were in the fortress were searching everywhere, but there were always two or three at the door, waiting for her to try and escape. Sora still had her weapon with her, but she knew that taking three guards on at once would be a stretch, and these guards would see her coming.

In her preoccupation with figuring out how to deal with the guards, she failed to hear the footsteps coming around the corner behind her.

"Hey! It's you!"

Sora gasped, and without a second thought, she clubbed him over the head just as she had done to the other guard. The armor clanging against the stone floors when the man fell was enough to alert the guards at the door, so Sora moved to get out of there as quickly as possible.

But, she thought after noticing the sword at the fallen man's hip, it might help to have a weapon that was at least a little bit intimidating, instead of the less-than-deadly piece of wood she had been carrying around. Reaching a decision, she grabbed the sword and ran off into the fortress again, hoping she wouldn't have to bring another man to his untimely end.


Yamato glanced over at Taichi and found him sleeping with his arms crossed, his head thrown back, and his mouth wide open. The blond sighed in boredom.

"Would you like something to read?"

He looked up at the young woman who had nearly blended in with the background. She was smiling up at him with warm eyes, her hands resting on the pages of a leather-bound book in her lap.

"No, that's alright," he said, eyeing her suspiciously. He had thought she was just Mimi's personal maid, but the fact that she could read threw him off that track.

She watched him and giggled quietly. "Princess Mimi demanded that I be taught how to read in her place when I expressed my interest in the castle's library. They still taught her of course, but she only allowed it when I attended the lessons with her. I'm very blessed to have been assigned to her. She's wonderful, don't you think?"

Yamato glanced at the door, beyond which the Princess and Prince Koushiro had retired earlier. "I really couldn't say. She seems very pleasant, based on my first impression."

Miyako's smile gained a bit of mischief. "She's a little on edge lately, because of Prince Koushiro," she told him in a low voice. "She doesn't want to be here, with him."

"Then why are they married?" Yamato asked, leaning over so that she could hear him. "Politics?"

Miyako nodded. "The Tachikawa and Izumi countries have had a few differences over the years, so the current kings decided to marry their children in order to bring a bit more peace. Those two have been betrothed to each other since they were born, whether they like it or not. And Mimi certainly doesn't like it."

Yamato gave a light sigh. "Sometimes, I'm glad I'm not royalty."

"Seeing what Princess Mimi's going through, I know it can be frustrating, but a girl can still dream…" Miyako said before she glanced back down at her book. "So why do you two need to get to the border?"

Yamato threw a look back at his partner and cringed a little at the light snoring that had started up while he had been talking. "We have to save our princess. She's been kidnapped."

Miyako clapped her hands together excitedly. "That is so romantic!" she exclaimed, before realizing how loud she had been as Taichi gave a particularly loud snort.

"I suppose it is…"

"But wait, there are two of you," Miyako stated. "How can there be two of you?"

Yamato gave her a clueless look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, in the stories, the knight always saves the princess, and then they get married and live happily ever after. How will you decide who gets the girl?"

Yamato stared at Miyako's curious face for a moment, thinking back to what he and Taichi had been discussing shortly before they were picked up. "Somehow, I don't think that's what either of us wants, as strange as it sounds. But if Taichi wants to marry her, then I would be fine with that."

The knight was surprised at the way his tone betrayed him. He couldn't understand – he had no special feelings for the Princess, so why did he sound so bitter at the thought of Taichi marrying her?

Suddenly, the door separating them from the betrothed couple swung open and Princess Mimi came out, a sour look on her face.

"Miyako, I don't know what to do. All he does is curl up as close as he can to the edge of the bed and then he falls asleep without even saying goodnight! I'm about to go insane! You know, it wouldn't hurt just to cuddle with me once in a while."

Yamato felt the urge to melt into the wall. He really shouldn't have heard any of what the Princess had said. It was much too personal.

Miyako giggled as Mimi miserably sat down beside her. "Well, I guess you could always just tell him what you want. It can't hurt, can it?"

"He's always fiddling with his little 'inventions'," Mimi said with disdain. "There's no way to get through to him. He's thickheaded, and I don't like him."

She appeared more like a child than ever as she sat there, pouting about her unaffectionate husband. Yamato smirked in spite of himself.

Mimi set her eyes down on the knight. "Real men are just so hard to come by these days, don't you think, Sir Yamato?"

He felt a little embarrassed now, and his voice fell into a distant tone in an attempt to take her attention away from him. "I wouldn't know," he told her.

"Oh, come now, don't be like that," Mimi said playfully. "I bet on the inside you're just a big cuddly teddy bear."

Yamato couldn't even stop himself before he gave Mimi one of the most shocked and confused looks he had ever given – he was a knight, and people didn't usually say things like that about knights, not to his knowledge. Princess Mimi and Miyako started giggling as he slowly regained his composure.

"I couldn't say, Princess. I've never been anyone's big cuddly teddy bear."

It almost hurt to say the words, and he cringed just at the thought.

"You could be mine. Goodness knows when that Prince will finally come around, if he ever does," Mimi said, her eyes alight with mischief. He was squirming uncomfortably and she seemed to revel in it.

"I'm sorry, Princess, I've got a job to do at the moment, and I'm quite committed to that right now…"

The two girls could barely hold in their bubbly laughter as the blond glanced at Taichi warily. The other knight just wouldn't wake up, no matter how loud the conversation was getting.

"I'm just joking, Sir Yamato," Mimi reassured him with that sly smile. "I wouldn't want to distract you from whatever you're doing – what is that again?"

"Oh, Princess, you wouldn't believe it," Miyako cut in excitedly. "Those two are saving their princess! Isn't that romantic?"

Princess Mimi's reaction was much the same as Miyako's, and they squealed quietly to one another as Yamato felt his eyelids beginning to drop.

"Oops, I think it's past Sir Yamato's bedtime," Mimi said, shushing Miyako with another giggle. "We better quiet down, or else he might get cranky in the morning."

Yamato barely had enough energy to retort, so he settled for an uneasy frown as he finally allowed himself to nod off. He vaguely remembered wondering how much Taichi would mind if he used his shoulder for a pillow, but those thoughts vanished quickly as sleep overwhelmed him.

"Goodnight," said Miyako softly. And then it was dark.