Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A Story for Suzie

Chapter: 21

Ryo Akiyama entered the Queen's chambers and closed the door behind him. Turning, he found Rumiko sitting in front of her mirror, a stern look on her face.

"How may I serve, my Queen?" he asked, bowing his head slightly.

"Any further news?" she asked, not turning to look at him.

"Nothing as yet," Ryo replied. Rumiko pressed her lips together and nodded, though she clearly was not happy about the Prince's response.

"It's been two days," she said, getting up from her seat and moving toward him. "We've tested everyone in the court and the knight has had his silly horse have the run of the city in order to sniff out any other Reapers."

"To be fair," Ryo began cautiously, "Takato and Guilmon are not yet finished with their search. It's a big city and scents can be washed away."

"But there hasn't been any trouble since the one has been caught."

Ryo gave a dry laugh. "I think you know as well as I do that could only mean that any others have decided to lie low until the storm blows over."

Rumiko's violet eyes flashed at him but she reluctantly nodded.

"True," she said. Turning, she went over to her table and picked up a bottle of wine, pouring it into a small glass. "So we are forced to wait?" she asked, presenting Ryo with the wine. Approaching her, Ryo accepted it and took a small sip.

"For a while. I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of having Motomiya close off the gates leading out of the city."

"Is that wise?" Rumiko asked. "Wouldn't it be better if we simply allowed the agents to leave?"

"Without guarantee that they won't be returning in force?"

"If what the brush knight says is true…"

"He's telling the truth."

Rumiko snorted. "You looked into the mind of his animal."

"Guilmon is smarter than you give him credit for," Ryo smiled. Not to mention that he's taking to his new body better than anyone would have expected. If only Takato knew… "That aside…" Ryo took another sip and licked his lips. "…it's not as though Takato has been lounging around doing nothing. He and Rika have spoken to the guards and Takato is close to finishing his notes for Dolphin. From what I've seen they're quite extensive."

"Hmmm…" Rumiko poured herself some wine and took such a deep drink from it Ryo couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the woman. "But that's not what he's doing now."

Ryo simply tilted his head quizzically. Rumiko gave a light laugh as her cheeks began to blush from the alcohol. "I think you had best look into the matter personally. For your sake and the sake of my kingdom, you will do well to…put our dear knight in his place."

Ryo took a troubled breath, already having an idea as to where Rumiko's mind was turning in regards to the brush knight of Hypnos.

###

"Troubled dear?"

Ryo jerked in surprise as he found Lady Hata fall into step beside him.

"Troubled by the fact that I keep getting surprised by you. You're the only person I know who can do that. Well, besides Rika I mean."

"She takes after me," Seiko smiled. "Rumiko tried as a child, but I think it's a gift that skips a generation."

Ryo grinned. "So did you just happen to be passing by or are you being mysterious as the shadows you pop out of like always?"

Seiko gave him a sly, knowing look out of the corner of her eye. "Oh… I'm just heading down to the kitchens to get a bite to eat."

"No servants?"

"No. I just wanted to go there myself. I do it from time to time to stay independent. I'm certain the servants have more important things to do than attending me."

Ryo's grin widened. "You know, sometimes I wonder just how much you know about what goes on around here…"

Seiko looked away, her face betraying nothing. "No more than anyone to be honest."

"Right." Ryo shook his head, not believing her one bit. "So why do I get the feeling that you won't be surprised at all by what we'll find?"

"As I said," Seiko replied, a ghost of a smile playing on the corners of her lips, "no more than anyone."

###

His hands powdered, Takato finished a role of dough and turned it over.

"So it's ka, ki, ku, ke, ko," he said, looking over the piece of paper sitting off to his side, a small frown on his face. "But a single…ah…dot is used for…what?"

"It's two dots, not one," Rika said across from him, her hands equally covered in flour and, surprisingly, her hair tied back by a bandanna to keep it from getting in her way. Reaching over she grabbed the paper and scowled at it. "There's flour on it you dork." Brushing at it, her scowl deepened as she found that her hands, covered as they were only made the problem worse. "Its role," she growled, grabbing a towel and dabbing at the flour, "is to be a diacritic sign."

"I don't even know what that means…"

Rika looked up at him dumbfounded. Honestly, she wasn't sure what to make of him. He picked up some nuances of their language quickly, but some things that were obvious to her seemed to trip him up. "We just discussed it an hour ago."

"You can't exactly expect me to learn your alphabet, make lunch, and work on my notes at the same time you know."

Rika rolled her eyes. "It was your idea! Seriously…do you make a habit of taking on more than you can handle?"

"I was just venting, sorry." Takato grinned at her. "I've got a lot to learn and little time to do it in."

Rika snorted. "What? Do you expect to be tossed out on the streets or something?"

"Just…thinking." Takato's grin slipped. "It's been awfully quiet lately."

Rika found herself nodding in agreement after only a moment's thought. "You're thinking like all those people in the court that my mom deals with."

"I've known some mayors who think like that," Takato admitted. "They got impatient when we couldn't get instant results. It was like watching two worlds crashing together."

"The world of the politician and the world of the soldier," Rika nodded in understanding. "Before Ryo showed up, my mother and her generals and captains kept arguing about why we couldn't just win a war whenever we wanted."

"Yeah," Takato responded, looking at her with awe. "Exactly." Taking up the bread dough he flipped it over and slammed it down on the table. "There was this one time we had to deal with a guy…a nobleman…who kept yelling at us to go attack an invading Reaper force—Searchers, Bubble types, Pendulum Feet…a full army—when we had only a small squad and bad terrain to work with. Leo eventually had to belt the guy to shut him up."

"Oh?" Rika raised an elegant eyebrow. "I thought Hypnos Knights could work miracles."

"It was a bad fight no matter what. We're good but we're not that good," Takato said, not looking up from his bread dough. "Besides, the Miracle Knight was tackling bigger fish. Well, more like a giant, angry chimera with a ton of arms…and…" All of a sudden Takato's nose twitched and before he could stop himself he let out a loud sneeze that blew flour all across the table. With a surprised "whoop!" Rika snatched back their papers and looked at Takato with stunned amazement.

"Wh…What was…?" she began as the corners of her lips quirked and twitched. Now it was her turn to do something unexpected, even to herself. She laughed.

It began as a light rolling guffaw that quickly escalated into barely controlled snorts as she fought to control it. Looking at Takato stare at her, eyes wide and incredulous, caused her to lose it completely. Doubling over, Rika grabbed hold of the countertop to keep her balance. "Oh gods…" she breathed, wiping at a tear that formed in the corner of one eye. "You sneezed and then…poof!" Looking back up at him nearly caused her to fall into another bout of laughter, but she managed to restrain it with a giggle. That surprised her. She never giggled.

At least not since I was a kid…

"You look like a fairy or a ghost," she said, pointing at the knight.

"If I'm a ghost then I must have died and you're an angel," Takato chuckled, replacing the dough on the table and re-flouring the surface. "You have a nice laugh, you know that? A person could fall in love."

Rika's humor drained away and a light blush formed on her cheeks. Did he just…?

"Laughter's good," the knight continued on, seeming to not notice as he worked on the dough. "Henry had a talking dog during the war and he always made jokes to keep everyone's spirits up. He was actually really annoying, but he tried." He paused to look at himself and frowned. "Actually I'd better get cleaned up first before I do anything else." He glanced up at Rika and his brow furrowed worriedly. "Are you okay? You look like you're having a fever all of a sudden."

"I'm fine!" Rika said, quickly brushing the strange feeling that wormed through her stomach aside. "Are you done with that dough yet? It's like we've been here forever now."

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, just about. I just have to finish flouring it and get it shaped right and…"

"Then get on with it!" she snapped. Cocking a confused eyebrow at her, Takato hesitated for a moment before moving to clean himself up. Rika watched him warily as he went over to the sink and busied himself with the plumbing.

Why did he say that? she wondered. Calling me an angel. Just because I laughed? Is he trying to get good with me or something like Ryo? It was only two days ago he was asking to be my friend and…

She wanted to shake her head. In the two days that she had known him she picked up on a number of his quirks. He didn't seem like the type to do anything other than wear his feelings on his shirt. He was honest.

Still… I'm a princess after all. That's my most valuable asset to the kingdom and the Millenium Empire no matter how powerful I am…

She wanted to hate herself for even entertaining the thought that Takato, her brush knight bodyguard, would even…

"Who started the war?" came Ryo's sudden voice as he entered the kitchen, brown eyebrows raised as he surveyed the kitchen. Rika glanced at the flour-encrusted tabletop and shrugged.

"Ryo," she greeted simply before noticing her grandmother following closely behind.

"Oh my…" Seiko noted. "I do hope we weren't interrupting anything."

"We were just working," Rika explained, setting the papers down. "Takato wanted to make lunch."

"Why not just ask a servant to do that?" Ryo asked as Takato returned, drying his face off.

"I think better when my hands are busy," Takato said with a warm smile. "I guess I picked it up while training. Besides, Rika didn't believe me when I told her that I can cook."

"You said that you grew up in a bakery," Rika said, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's a difference."

"There is?"

Shaking her head, Rika picked back up the papers and sifted through them, removing a select few and passing them over to her grandmother. "We're going to be bringing these to Dolphin when we're done here."

"What are they?" Seiko asked, looking through them. She looked mildly surprised as she looked over the rough sketches. "Ah. The notes on the Reaper…"

"My memory is pretty good, but I'm still not sure that they're finished," said Takato apologetically. "I've highlighted things to watch out for with the scouts and the best methods to take down the warrior class, especially the Horn Strikers." Takato gave a light laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "Although the Queen shooting its head off is pretty effective…"

"That's not something everyone can do," Ryo grinned, clasping the knight on the shoulder companionably. "Pretty sure those notes will come in handy."

"If there are any more Reapers," Takato said. Ryo looked at him uncertainly.

"You don't think there are?"

"Uh… Well… It's just been so quiet these past couple days. I know it's early and we're still not done searching but…" Takato shrugged. "The odds say yes, but the evidence says otherwise."

"These are well done," Seiko said, passing the sketches back to Rika. She glanced down at his work with the dough and smiled. "You're quite talented."

"Not really," Takato laughed. "Actually I had to work pretty hard back home to get bread making right, and my time with Hypnos kind of drove it home. We did a lot of rotation with food preparation for the army."

Ryo snorted. "Is the old egg-head still cracking the whip?"

"Egg-hea…? Oh! Digitamamon?" Takato restrained a laugh. "Oh, he'd be mad if he ever heard that one."

"Who's Digitamamon?" Rika asked, arching an eyebrow at the pair.

"First rule of Digitamamon," Ryo and Takato both said at the same time. "Don't talk about Digitamamon." Looking at each other as they finished, the two both laughed, leaving the shaman looking at them bewildered for a moment.

"Pretty sure you just broke that rule," Rika glowered.

"We broke a lot of rules," Ryo grinned, giving Takato a wink as the knight lifted the dough and began shaping it. He worked quickly, Ryo noticed, and within short order began to pile the dough balls onto a cooking sheet.

"Wish I had time to make Guilmon Bread," Takato said, popping it into the oven. "Hopefully after this is all over I can do that."

Behind him, Rika and Ryo exchanged glances.

"What is Guilmon Bread?" asked Seiko for them. Takato perked up, realizing that he had spoken out loud he turned a bit red and gave a nervous laugh.

"Ah! It's…ah…it's kind of my family's special recipe. A tribute to the Dragon god I guess you could say. Everyone in my home village really liked it and I've sometimes wondered if other people would as well."

"I see," Seiko nodded. "Just out of curiosity what are your plans for when this business with the Reaper is over?"

"Hm? I guess it would depend on whether or not Rika releases me from her service," Takato laughed. "Sorry," he coughed, seeing Rika frown slightly at him. "I guess continue what I was doing before or go home. I'm really not sure. I left home without a plan to be honest." His expression became downfallen slightly as he continued to think about Seiko's question. "I'm sure my family and friends are worried about me. I haven't sent them word or anything."

"We could send them a message," spoke up Rika, shifting and folding her arms back over her chest. Glancing at her, Ryo found himself rather surprised. Unless he missed his guess, there seemed to be something about her expression…the way she held herself with her arms…made her look uncomfortable with the topic. "Carrier pigeon or something like that. I could get fancy too and cast a spell that lets you talk to them directly."

"That one is rather complicated dear," Seiko said. "Would you like my help with it?"

Rika harrumphed and shifted again. "I can do it."

"Very well dear. If you say so."

"I'm sure she can do it," Takato laughed. "I mean, so far she's been of more help to me than I have to her. She's even saved my life." He beamed at Rika who squirmed under his smile, a small blush rematerializing.

"It's no big deal," she said, pushing herself off the table. "Is there anything we can get you two since you went through all the trouble to come here?"

"I think I'd like to help myself to a little of what Takato made," Seiko said with a small smile. Her eyes fell upon him and now it was his turn to feel a little uncomfortable over someone's gaze. "Perhaps I could trouble you to make some of this Guilmon Bread you mentioned?"

"Um…" Takato scratched the side of his head. "Well, it kind of takes a little longer because of the ingredients, but I suppose…"

"It doesn't have to be now dear. I can see that you're busy after all. It's just a personal request."

"Sure! I'll make a list!"

All the while Ryo was watching Rika carefully. Something in the way she now smiled at her grandmother and bodyguard as they got along made him remember Rumiko's words, leaving him feeling almost disappointed that things had to be the way they were.

"For your sake and the sake of my kingdom, you will do well to…put our dear knight in his place."

That would be the worst thing to do, he thought. It won't make things easier between myself and Rika. In fact, it would only make them worse. She'll hate me for doing that to Takato.

A small grin curved on his lips as a thought occurred to him.

Then again, maybe that would be the best thing to do…

"Hey Takato," Ryo began. "I was wondering if you would have a practice bout with me."

"A bout?" Takato asked. "You mean like…"

"Fighting with wooden swords. A little fun to pass the time while we wait for the food to cook." He grinned at Rika whose eyes were now furrowing in confusion at Ryo's offer. He wasn't surprised. He didn't spar with just anyone really. "You'll be able to show Wildcat Rika here how good you are too."

"No!" Rika exclaimed, her hands tightening into angry fists as if realizing what he was up to.

"Huh?" Takato blinked. "Why not?"

"I…" Rika's lips trembled as she fought to answer. Glaring at Ryo, she jabbed a finger at him. "You and me, outside now."

"Uh… Rika? What's going o-?" Takato stopped as the girl fixed him with a hard glare. With another wordless look at Ryo, she exited the kitchen, Ryo following behind, who cast an apologetic look over his shoulder.

"This won't take long," he said before closing the door behind them.

"What was that about?" Takato asked. Seiko sighed and shook her head.

"Politics," she said simply. "Whether it's the throne or in the bedchambers, for those of royal blood it is all politics."

"Bedchambers?" Takato asked, confused. "I don't… Oh!"

"Yes, you understand now," Seiko nodded. "Those two are betrothed. In fact, your arrival here with news of the Reaper infiltrating the city may have delayed their wedding."

"I'm…I'm sorry," Takato said.

"It's all right," Seiko said, shaking her head and placing a hand on Takato's arm. "These things happen."

###

"Is there a reason why you don't want me sparring with Takato?" Ryo asked upon their exit of the kitchen. Whirling about on him with furious eyes, Rika stabbed a finger at him and her shadow shook dangerously, something Ryo took note of.

"I know what you're doing!" she grated angrily. "Mom put you up to it, didn't she?"

"I just want a friendly match," Ryo responded. This much at least was true. He had wanted to have a chance to gauge Takato's skill since he became a more regular fixture of the castle. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"There is when you plan on humiliating him to protect a stupid alliance!"

"Protective of him, pumpkin?" Ryo grinned, to which Rika flushed. To her credit she pushed through it.

"You're going to complicate things, Ryo. Takato needs to feel like he has our cooperation so he can do the job we've given him! You're not helping him!"

"Not unless he beats me," Ryo returned. "You don't think he can?"

Stepping close to him, Rika jabbed a finger into his sternum. "Don't. Do it," she warned. "He's under my protection, Ryo. I won't have you messing with him to satisfy my mother or your father."

"It's entirely his decision, Rika. Besides, it's his job is to protect you. Not the other way around. He'll do that, even if he doesn't know about it." He paused before adding, "The Queen is watching you know." Lowering his voice, he continued, "Do you want her to become direct about this?"

Rika's violet eyes stabbed into Ryo's azure ones as she breathed heavily, angry…furious at the Prince and her mother. "I won't allow this to happen."

Ryo stepped back and turned back toward the kitchen. "It's his choice," he said. "How direct do you want to be about this?"

Ryo pulled open the door as Rika pulled her fingers from her palm, her palms showing deep indentations from her nails.

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