Disclaimer: Digimon is not mine

The Beginning and Takeru's Escape!

It was a nice beautiful morning, the towns were full of happy laughter of people, and the markets were as busy as ever. It was usually like this in the town, happy, jolly and full of free spirited people. One of those free spirited people and the one who's usually never seen with a smile off his face was supposed to be busy today too, after all he had a lot of things to do today…but…things aren't going on to a fresh start…

"TAAAAAAIIIII!!!!! Come on Tai WAKE UP!" yelled the girl with brown hair trying to wake her sleeping brother to get ready for work. "Come on Tai please…you're supposed to be open in a few minutes!"

"…zzzzzzzz…zzzzzz…five more minutes Kari…zzzzZZzzzz" called Tai while rolling to face the other direction

"Oh no, enough of the five minutes Tai. I've been trying to wake you up for about twenty minutes straight!" said Kari, apparently Tai wasn't a light sleeper, so Kari decided to just force her brother up another way "Tai…Davis asked me out yesterday and I kind of said 'yes'."

With this Tai shot up from bed and yelled "YOU WHAT?????!!!!!???? And you didn't ask permission? I told him not to get near you! That's the final straw he's going to get it right now! When I see him I'm gonna…"

Kari then started to burst out laughing "I can't believe that's the only thing that I had to do to wake you up Tai. I should've done that earlier."

Tai pouted at his little sister "Weren't you supposed to be nice?" he asked

"I am Tai, but it would take me another hour before I could wake you up if I didn't think of something to do." Said Kari

"Alright, alright I'm up already. Just don't tell me those things again or else Davis might really get it." Said Tai as he stood up and went to grab some clothes so he could take a bath and change.

"Well I'll be waiting for you down stairs alright. Ken could be arriving any minute now. And to think that you should already be down there." Said Kari as she went out of Tai's room and climbed down the stairs

Kari got down to where the restaurant was and it was a bright sunny morning, something that she loved about Kimlaska was it's good weather. Then after a few minutes to herself the front doors flew open and there came in Ken.

"Hello, good morning Kari." Greeted Ken as he went inside

"Morning to you too Ken, If you're looking for Tai he's just getting changed he'll be here in a while." Said Kari

"So I take it that he woke up late again huh? Did he give you a hard time today too?" asked Ken, he knew that this kind of setting happened pretty often and he'd usually get here before Tai was even up from bed.

"Yeah it took me a whole twenty minutes to wake him up. I had to tell him hat I accepted Davis' invitation on a date just so he'd get out from bed, and he threw quite a tantrum too." Said Kari with a slight giggle

"Heh, well we all know how Tai feels about guys getting near you Kari, especially Davis so I'm not that surprised to hear that he threw a tantrum." Said Ken, he also laughed imagining Tai's reaction.

A few second later they heard footsteps coming down from the staircase and that's when Tai finally got down for work.

"Hey there Ken, glad to see you're early today just like always." Said Tai as he greeted Ken

"He's earlier than you most of the time too Tai, not just today." Said Kari stating her point to her brother

"I know okay, I'm sorry for waking up late all the time, but I'm not an early bird so you really have to get used to that." Said Tai as he started to prepare the tables and chars properly before he opened the restaurant.

"Well then seeing as how you two don't need me anymore I better get going I'm helping out Sora today." Said Kari "Take care Tai and don't wok too hard, you too Ken." Then she left for Sora's flower shop

"She's a really nice girl Tai." Commented Ken, even if he just recently moved here with Davis and the others he knew how the people of this kingdom were like.

"Yeah…sometimes too nice for her own good. That's why I don't want her to end up getting hurt by anybody, not just her but all of my friends at that." Said Tai then snapping back to reality he called out to Ken once more "Come on Ken let's get to work I have a feeling we'll be busy today."

"Right." And with that response from Ken the two got ready for anther busy day

Kari was making her way to the flower shop and she was looking forward to seeing Sora again that day. Working at the flower shop made Kari feel happy that she was able to help Sora out and she had someone there to talk to as well. Kari happily opened the doors to the flower shop and saw that Sora was already starting to water the flowers and arranging them in pots.

"Hello Sor, sorry if I was a bit late today." Said Kari apologetically as she put down some of her things.

"Hello there Kari, nice to see you're hear today. So let me guess…you had to wake Tai up again right?" asked Sora smiling at Kari as she greeted her

"Yeah…it's like doing that is becoming part of my daily routine. He's such a heavy sleeper, but he's really funny too." Said Kari with a laugh remembering what happened earlier at home.

"So I think something must've happened again today huh. Well at least he's being a good brother making his sister laugh a lot. Now that you think about it Tai's always been the comedian of the group hasn't he?" said Sora as she placed the last flower in her hand to a pot and started to water it.

"Yeah he has, I've always been happy to have a brother like him. Although I wish he wouldn't be so overprotective all the time." Said Kari

"Don't worry about it Kari, believe me Tai's always been that way even with Meems and me too. He didn't like seeing people get hurt, be it physically or emotionally. He just wants to protect his sister from getting hurt that's all. And if this has something to do with guys in your life…the right one will come, you'll know for sure and he will too. So don't worry too much alright." Advised Sora, she knew what Tai was like and so did everyone else in their group, so she also knew that Kari had nothing to worry about.

"I know, I'll just have to wait then." Replied Kari with a smile then asked "Hey Sor, is there anything that you need me to do today?"

"Well…there isn't really much to do…tell you what, why don't you go over to the fields and meadows and have some time off today? I'm sure you'll find Yolei and Cody there and Davis too, you guys can hang out or something." Suggested Sora, she wanted Kari to take a little break for all the help that she's been offering her ever since she started to work there.

"Really? Are you going to be okay working here alone?" asked Kari

"Yeah I'll be just fine, no need to worry I might just drop by over at Mimi's later this afternoon. But if you want to help out here you can use one of the baskets and pick some flowers that may be possible to grow out in the garden, but have fun while you're there." Said Sora

"Alright I'll go then, but don't worry I'll definitely offer more help tomorrow." Said Kari as she grabbed a basket and went of to the beautiful fields

"Have fun!" called Sora as she watched Kari's figure slowly fade away

While all was happy and jolly in the villages and towns of the kingdom of Kimlaska I couldn't say the same for some people in the palace.

The palace was as usual surrounded by guards and well…it wasn't the happiest place that you'd want to be at the moment. Actually right now something was already happening in the throne room and it didn't look like a happy event either.

"But father…" called a boy with blond hair, complaining about his fathers demands

"No butts Yamato, you are now 21 years of age I cannot allow you to act like a child any longer. You must follow your duties as a prince to the Kingdom." Said King Hiroaki

"Father please give big brother a chance I don't think that it's right to force him to do any of this. It just doesn't seem right at all." Agreed the younger blond

"Takeru, please remember that you are also a prince of this kingdom and what I am telling your brother to do is just a simple task of being a prince, you should know that the kingdom is depending on you both as well and you must learn to make wise decisions when it is necessary." Explained King Hiroaki

"With all due respect father, how can marrying a complete stranger to me be a SIMPLE task? I barely know the girl, and now you're asking me to jump into marriage?" asked Yamato trying to convince his father that the idea was completely absurd. Then he turned to his mother "Mother, please tell me that you aren't going to simply agree to this are you, please don't ruin my life like this."

"I only want what is best for you…" as the king was about to start another lecture he was cut off

"Now Yamato why don't you just give her a chance first, get to know her and if it really doesn't work out that's when we can talk. You've already seen Princess Cassandra haven't you so why don't you just give her a chance. She's be arriving in a few days so just e ready to welcome her." Said Queen Natsuko, then she saw her sons give her grateful smiles and a sign of thank you…at least they still have some time to think of a way out of this.

Takeru and Yamato went straight for their rooms right after the conversation they had with their parents. Then when they were finally alone the two of them started to have their normal brotherly conversations once again.

"I can't believe this! As if it's not bad enough that they keep us locked up in this place, now they want me to marry?" yelled Yamato as he was using one of the pillows to pour his anger out on.

"Come on big brother at least mother was able to buy us a little bit more time. But you're right abut one thing I don't like being locked in this place either. It's as if we're so trapped here." Said Takeru, he's always wanted freedom at least a chance to see what it's like to live freely on the outside

"We are locked in a cage Takeru and even if we wanted to leave guards would just be swarming all over us following us around everywhere we go. It won't make any difference we'd still be followed." Said Yamato

"Yes I know that. I just wish we'd have at least one chance to make new friends I mean we don't have any around here. And we don't have anyone our age to talk to as well, at least not unless princess Cassandra comes and visits…or unless he visits us here." as Takeru mentioned her name Yamato couldn't handle it again

"And why did she have to be the one I have to marry? I don't even like her! I've seen what kind of person she is Takeru and you know how spoiled she is and gets everything that she wants." Said Yamato "I'm telling you Takeru I can't even stand her how do they expect me to want to marry her?"

"It's father's orders and you know that we can't really disobey them, her family is very close to ours, I don't like her either, and well…it's not like they're giving us the freedom to actually choose to marry someone we love right." Stated Takeru, all their life everything was being told for them to do and all they had to do was obey and now they were both getting really sick of it.

"Yeah, to actually marry someone you love…how is that even possible for us? All the girls we've ever met were either arranged to meet us or the ones in the ball that father throws. None of those girls even know us for who we are." Said Yamato and he sighed "I guess we just have to wait for a miracle to happen. Takeru I'm going to take some rest for a while alright. There isn't any point in arguing with father right now anyway." Said Yamato

"Alright, get some sleep, you're going to need it once she gets here." Said Takru teasing his brother "I'll be off then Yamato see you later." And with that Takeru left the room leaving his brother to peacefully drift to sleep.

While Takeru was walking around the different halls of the castle he couldn't help but want to move away from it for a while, he wanted to somehow escape the prison where he was currently being held. He and his brother never really got the idea of why they should be locked up here to begin with. He knew that the village was full of lively and friendly people all around so what's the big reason to keep them here?

With all these thoughts that wandered into his mind Takeru just couldn't take it anymore, so he ran his way and made it to the stables without anyone noticing him there. He went to the stable where his horse, Asellor was. Asellor belonged to Takeru as his mothers birthday gift. His brother had one too and they would both enjoy just riding during their free time.

Now on the other hand Takeru was planning to use Asellor for a different reason and not just riding. He jumped onto his horse and Asellor gave of a loud neigh sound which Takeru heard quite clearly.

"Shhhhh, no boy no sound alright. I know that I might regret what I'm doing but…I really want to do this. Don't worry though we'll be back here before noon." Takeru then went near the palace entrance an saw that the gate was wide open, he figured that someone might have made a delivery into the palace. He saw that it was his chance, the guards were currently examining the packages to be sent in and so he took his best shot and went for it.

Luckily for him he actually made t out with no one noticing, Takeru took a few last glances towards the castle. It's not as if he's running away and he knew that if someone found out he was missing he'd probably get twice the punishment once he got back. He regretted not telling Yamato either, but this could be his one chance and he was willing to take the risk. So he made his way to the town and was awaiting to see what new things would lie ahead.

Kari got to the fields that had a wide variety of different types of nature surrounding it. She noticed that none of her friends were there. She figured that Yolei was with Mimi helping out at the bakery and that the others might just be plain busy. Although Kari didn't mind being alone at all, in fact she loved the feeling of being able to be at peace. Sora's idea of taking a break seemed to have worked on her. Kari started to stop her slight relaxation and decided to start picking flowers to add top the shop and maybe she could take some home as well.

Down at the town things were going as busy as usual and Takeru was really surprised at what he was seeing. He had never imagined so many people all laughing and enjoying themselves in one place, maybe because the palace was never this lively. It wasn't even close. As Takeru was roaming around he's already been greeted with a lot of surprised looks, as to why he was out of the palace, and bows greeting him "Your Highness" although he didn't really like being called that he ignored it and returned the kind gesture. He noticed how the rumors were true that the people in the town were very respectful.

Takeru was making his way around the village when he heard his stomach start to grumble.

"Hello there your highness." Takeru turned around to look at the person that greeted him and saw a girl with long brown hair.(A/N: Using the hair in the epilogue of the show) "Oh I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself, my name is Mimi Tachikawa. I run the bakery near here." Introduced the girl

"Oh hello…you run a bakery?…but you're just about the same age as my brother?" said Takeru with a questioning look he never would've imagined that someone Yamoto's age would be running a business

"Well there are a lot of us that run our own business around here your highness and um…I couldn't help but notice that you seem quite hungry." Said Mimi as she heard the sound earlier as well, she knew that one of the kings sons were younger than her, but she also had a high respect for the royal family.

"Um…yes, I'm sorry about that. Would you mind helping me find a place to eat?" asked Takeru kindly

"Of course I'd be honored to. If you would please come with me I know the perfect place." Said Mimi with a light giggle, and she led the way to only one place…Tai's restaurant.

Tai and Ken were cleaning up the restaurant, their last customer for the time being had left and they were setting up a new set of tables just in case someone else would care to come in and eat.

"Thanks a lot for all the help Ken, sorry if I don't pay you enough though." Apologized Tai as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Come on Tai, you know I could care less about the money, and besides I do this because I want to not because I get paid to do so. Not to mention that the money you give me is more than enough to put as my savings." Said Ken

A few minutes later, right after the tables were all cleaned and set up the door flew open and Mimi came in with Takeru. Tai and Ken turned to the door and were shocked to see who the guy with Mimi was…

"M-Meems…what brings you here?" asked Tai

"Hey Tai do you mind serving up some food for our guest?" asked Mimi as she pointed to Takeru

"O-oh…um well…*cough* Sorry where are my manners…Hello Your Highness it's a pleasure to see you here. My name is Taichi Yagami, but call me Tai please I'm the owner of this restaurant and this here is a good friend of mine, Ken Ichijouji." Said Tai as he bowed to show respect.

"Pleasure to see you your highness please do call me Ken." Said Ken

"Oh hello…it's nice to meet you all. Thank you for taking me here Ms. Tachikawa." Said Takeru facing Mimi

"Oh…it was no problem at all. Please no need to use formalities on me Mimi is just fine." Said Mimi, for some reason what Takeru did made her smile and it made Tai and Ken smile too. For a prince Takeru was still very respectful and they liked that about him a lot.

"So your highness stay here I'd like to go ahead and make something for you to eat." Said Tai and went straight for the kitchen.

"Well…I better go assist him, please excuse me." Said Ken as he went to race off after Tai

"They don't seem to be too happy that I'm here." Said Takeru

"That's nonsense! Of course they are, you're a very kind person and very respected all throughout Kimlaska." Said Mimi as she looked at the boy in front of her

"Yeah, you're wanted everywhere, all that you do is always dictated for you, you never have an ounce of freedom in your life…" Takeru was too deep in his thoughts to even realize the things he was telling Mimi

"If I may speak freely your highness it would seem as though you're not…" before Mimi could finish Tai and Ken burst out from the kitchen and had the food ready.

"Food's all done!" called Tai as Ken helped him carry the stuff to the table

As Takeru said his thanks and began to eat it wasn't long before he was done and he was starting to ask Tai and the others how their lives were here in the village and he envied them for having such a normal life, something he wished he and his brother could experience. As they were all talling their sides of the story someone came in through the doors and they all turned to look at who it was.

"Hey! Tai I'm back!" called Kari as she entered the restaurant with the basket full of flowers in her hands.

"Hey there Kari! You're back earlier than usual. No work?" asked Mimi

"Hi there Meems! I'm glad to see you here and nope Sor gave me the day off today." Said Kari with a smile and then she saw that Takeru was looking at her then she spoke "Oh…hello your highness pleasure to see you here as well. I'm Hikari Yagami, Tai's younger sister, I help out at Sora's flower shop."

Takeru couldn't help but stare at the girl in front of him, it looked to him that she was about his age and he didn't know what was going on, but he couldn't help staring at her and her smile to say the least then he came back to his senses "Oh…um…hello nice to meet you too…"

"Um…if I may ask your highness what brings you here in the village?" Kari suddenly popped out the question that everyone was thinking about he whole time. They all knew that people of the royal family were rarely allowed to leave the castle especially the princes and when they mean rarely it usually means once in a lifetime. So what was he doing here?

"Now that you mention it what are you doing here your highness?" added Ken

"Well I…" Takeru had a hard time answering, but he knew he had to say something he just wished he wasn't making the wrong choice "I kinda ran away…"

"YOU WHAT?!?!?" they were all n shock about his answer it made them yell

"B-but why?!? Y-you ran away???" asked Tai, he couldn't believe it that means that sooner or later there was a chance that they'd find out he was gone right.

"Aren't they going to find out that you're gone, they might search for you." Said Mimi worriedly

"The rules of the palace are strict your highness, and what reason would you possibly have to run away?" asked Ken

"Well…I know that I'd get in trouble if ever they find out but…I just wanted to know what it was like to be well…normal I guess." Stated Takeru then he added "Please don't call any of the guards here, I promise not to get you all involved in this if ever they find me here."

They all saw the look in Takeru's eyes the same one Mimi saw earlier before she was cut off by Tai running out of the kitchen, so Mimi decided to take the first shot here "It sounds as though your not happy with your life at all…" she said sadly looking at the boy

"Truth be told…no I'm not. I feel as though I'm cut off from the world, like I'm a bird stuck in a huge cage. Unable to be free and fly, my brother and I have been locked up there for as long as we can remember. All that we do, we usually do it simply because we were told to do so. Both of us have never been given the chance to think for our own selves and even have friends our own age, all our life we've only had one and he rarely comes to visit. So we're both really lonely, before I left the castle today my brother had a fight with our father, because he was being forced to marry and well…I guess I couldn't help but want to be free from it all…so that's why I ran away." Explained Takeru

All of them stood there silently and no one moved. They now slowly understood Takeru's sadness and from the looks of it his reason for running away was pretty understandable in their point of view. Who would want to live in a place where everything was always decided for you? No freedom, no friends, just plain misery.

Tai soon decided to break the silence and spoke up "So in short you're trying to tell me that your home is more like a prison to you?" asked Tai

"Well…yeah you can put it that way. At least it did seem like a prison for me and my brother." Said Takeru

"Well….where's your brother then your high-…." Before Mimi could ask she was cut off

"Takeru. My name is Takeru Ishida." He introduced

"Wha?" asked Tai

'I meant that I want you guys to just call me Takeru. I do have a name you know and I've been really tired of always hearing people call me your highness. It's always like that no one other than my family calls me or my brother by our first names." Explained Takeru

"Are you sure that's alright with you?" asked Ken

"Yeah, It would make me really happy if you did that." Replied Takeru with a smile

"Okay…." Replied Ken

"That's just not going to work out." Said Tai

"Oh come on Tai that's not very nice, give the guy a break here." Called Mimi

"Well Mimi we cant call him by his first name because well…we've just met." Said Tai

"So what do you want us to do about that then Tai?" asked Ken as she shot Tai a questioning look

"It's alright I understand if you guys aren't very comfortable having me around…" said Takeru sadly

"Who said anything about not wanting you here?" asked Tai as he looked at the blond boy

"W-what do you mean?" asked Takeru

"Well…for us to call you by your first name we'd have to be well acquainted so…" before Tai could finish he first looked at the others who already seemed to get where he was going "What do you say guys? How about we add another friend to the group?" asked Tai

"Sure."

"You bet!"

"That's a great idea!"

"So it's settled then, from now on you can come visit us and we can show you around and stuff and introduce you to our other friends…Takeru." Said Tai with a huge grin on his face

Takeru was shocked, these people who he just recently met took him in and now they were asking him to be their friend. "Thank you…Taichi right?"

"Tai would be fine with me everyone calls me that." Said Tai

"Once again welcome Takeru. You'll love getting to know the people here I'm sure of it. And you can call me Meems." Introduced Mimi once again

"Tai…it's too long." Interrupted Kari all of a sudden

"What do you mean Kari?" asked Tai

"I meant his name Tai…can we give him a nickname just like everyone else?" asked Kari as she looked up at her brother

"Yeah sure but what?" asked Tai

"What about T.K?" asked Kari

"Wow that was fast…but it's perfect. Is that alright with you Takeru?" asked Mimi

"Yeah it's fine thank you…Kari." Said T.K with a smile, he felt very happy with all of his new found friends.

"No problem." She replied with a smile which made T.K blush

"Awwww look Tai, he's blushing now you have someone other than Davis to worry about." Joked Mimi and Ken ended up laughing too

"Come on Meems knock it off!" said Kari and surprisingly made Kari's face turn red as well

"Oh there is just one rule…DO NOT TOUCH MY SISTER. Of course unless you have permission to do so." Said Tai with a smile

"There you go again Tai with your Im-an-overprotective-brother-touch-my-sis-and die mode." Said Mimi as she rolled her eyes

"Hey what can I say I want to wait till she actually finds someone I'm sure won't hurt her." Said Tai

As they al continued to laugh around and talk T.K for the first time was having a lot of fun and he was grateful for all these kind people around him. Not too long after that the bell of the castle rang telling the people that it was getting dark and the sun was about to set. This was T.k's cue to go.

"Um…everyone thank you I've had a really good time. I have to go now, I'm pretty surprised that no one's noticed that I was gone, but I have to go before they do find out." Said T.K

"Awww you have to go already, but we were just getting to know each other better." Said Mimi

"Sorry everyone but I really have to go I'd be lucky enough to sneak in without getting caught." Said T.K then he continued "I had a really great time today thank you, Oh Tai I haven't paid for the food yet."

"No need it's on the house." Said Tai with a smile "Just promise us that you'll come back here alright and bring your bro along with you next time alright we'd like to meet him too."

"Alright then." Said T.K with a laugh "Thank you."

They went with T.K out of the restaurant and he rode his horse Asellor that he tied to nearby post.

"Take care of yourself alright, be careful. Come back with your brother here someday so you guys can meet the others too." Said Kari in a concerned tone

"I'll be fine thank you." Said T.K and with that he pulled Asellor's reigns and he went off back to the castle.

"Don't worry Kari he'll be back." Said Mimi in a teasing tone

"I-I know that. I was just worried about him. Replied Kari

"Exactly! Why do you worry about him so much? Aw look Tai I think she likes T.K." said Mimi

"Oh no! Not yet your still young." Said Tai facing his sister

"I didn't say anything!!!!" said Kari in a defensive tone

They all ended up laughing and Tai was rambling about Kari and how too young she was and other stuff like that which made Kari turn red. But all in all they had a really great time hoping to see their new friend again someday.

T.K got to the castle before dark and he went to the gates and saw that it was locked…

"Oh no what am I supposed to do now?" he thought in worry

"Your Highness!" called the gate keeper "what are you doing outside?"

"Shhhh please Nicholas don't tell anyone just please open the doors for me." Begged T.K

"But…" Nicholas, their gatekeeper was having second thoughts but saw the pleading eyes that T.K was giving off and slowly opened the door

"You owe me an explanation your highness." Said Nicholas with a smile as the gates were opened

"Thank you Nicholas I will explain this to you when I have the time, for now I have to go." Said T.K

As he went back it was as if he was never gone, everything was all normal. So ignoring the whole situation he went up the stairs and heard a voice greet him there

"You seem to be back from your little adventure Takeru." Greeted no other than Yamato

"Y-yamato…big brother, hello you're awake already?" asked T.K

"Yes in fact I am. You've got a lot of explaining to do after dinner and I want a full explanation by tomorrow." Said Yamato

"Alright I'll tell you everything I promise." Said T.K with a nod

"Good, now let's go to dinner, you're lucky no one other than me noticed you were gone. Where have you been anyway?" Yamato asked his younger brother

"You'll see I'll tell you everything." Said T.K with a smile

Authors note: This is the first chapter of the story tell me what you think about it okay. Please click the review button and review. Thank you.