How many times must I say it? Digimon is not mine. All I own is one very messy desktop and a scooter with broken wheels.

Chapter 3

"Tell us more, Kari! Tell us more!" Annie begged.

"Well…" Kari stood and swooped around in front of the kids, the 'cape' flying out behind her. Catherine was standing beside her on the stump, giggling like mad "Then the Prince turned to the girl and said, 'I apologize greatly for this. I had no idea.' The girl sighed, and reached her hand out to touch his." she lead Catherine's hand to hers. "And she told him she knew it couldn't have been him."

Kari immediately crouched back and pulled the cloak up to her chin. "But the prince was deadly shy by the prospect of the girl, and he pulled away. Then he turned to the guard and told him to take the girl down and fetch her father, while he went out and dealt with the Lord Regent."

She pulled the 'cloak' off and gave it back to Gregory. The church bell rang six times. Kari grinned. "Time to go home now, children." she said. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Kari!" the kids once again ran down the hill and into their homes.

Kari grinned and turned to leave. She walked down the hill, swinging her basket and feeling the grass against her bare feet. A familiar voice rang out. "Kari!"

She looked up. "Tai!" she cried. "What are you doing up here? It's got to be bad for your condition!"

Her brother looked wild with excitement. "The Prince just sent a messenger." he gasped. "He wants to give you a job, a real job! With good pay and free room. You'd be perfect Kari!"

"But I'd be leaving you short-handed!" Kari said, "I can't do that…"

Tai looked at his sister for a moment. Then he reached out and took her hand. "Please, Kari." he begged. "Please take the job!"

Kari shook her head slowly. He sighed, and fingered the ring on her hand. "You know I…I promised mother…before she died… I promised her I'd take care of you. I promised her I'd make sure you had the best we could. And this is the only way we really can now." he looked at her earnestly. "Please, Kari. Take the job. Please."

"But…Tai…"

"Please Kari. Please."

Kari looked at his face. He was pleading with her to take this job. She sighed. "All right. I'll do it…"

Tai sighed with relief. "You really don't know what this means to me, Kari." he said earnestly, releasing her hand. "You're my sister… Since I got sick, I feel like I've made you take care of me. I feel like I'm holding you back from what you're supposed to do." he broke into a fit of coughing.

Kari put her hands on his shoulders to support him. "Here. I'll get you back to the inn." she said, pulling his arm over her.

~ * ~ * ~

Daricon gazed over the landscape out his window. He smiled an evil smile. "Prefect." he hissed. "This will get that little rat out of my hair for good…There's only one problem…"

There was a flaw in his plan. If he was to drag the boy out, someone was bound to notice. "I have the plan…" he growled. "But all I need is…the bait…"

"Prince Takaru." Cody announced. "The girl you summoned is here."

Takaru smiled and sat up eagerly. Kari came slowly into the huge palace hall, filled with red and gold satin, white carvings, huge portraits of what she assumed must be the royal family past and present. The thrones, a large one for the soon-too-be-king, and a smaller one for the queen, sat apon a light raise of stairs.

The prince ran down the steps to meet her. "Kari! I am so glad to see…" he coughed, straightened himself up and became sort of stiff. "I mean, I'm glad you decided to accept my offer. We could use your help."

"Hello, your Majesty…" Kari whispered.

Takaru looked at her worriedly. "Is something the matter?"

Kari looked up at him. "I'm worried about Tai." she said, upset. "You know, he's sick…I don't know if I should have taken this job…"

"I offered him a job too." the prince said. "I asked him to work on some of the books up here, in the library, but he refused."

Kari looked down, gazing guiltily off to one side. "I know it's hard, Kari." Takaru said, touching her shoulder. "But it will get better. I promise. You can visit your brother whenever you'd like. As long as you get your basic job done, no one cares what you do afterwards…" He smiled at her. "I am glad that you accepted my offer…"

Kari sighed, turned and smiled at him. "All right then, your majesty." she said politely, curtsying. "What can I do for you?"

"First of all," the prince waved a warning finger at her in a cheerful manner. "Don't call me 'Prince' 'Your Majesty' or even 'Takaru'. I don't care weither you work for me or not, but just call me T.K."

Kari smiled a bit more. "Alright then, T.K." she said, pulling her arms behind her back. "What is to be my job?"

T.K. smiled. "I'm making you the head of this house hold, under my dear advisor Cody." he grinned over his shoulder at the man standing by the throne, who acted very stiff but allowed a slight smile to trickle out. "Since you know so much about keeping a home good, clean, and friendly, you'll be in charge of our small cleaning staff…and of the garden, if you would like."

Kari looked down, shifted her weight, and smiled. The garden was outside of the main castle walls, at the top of the high cliff. It was originally planted by the King for the Prince's Lady Mother, and was filled with roses, tulips, carnations, and bushes of exotic, imported flowers. At the very edge was a high, steep cliff that curved inward, and the castle with its garden sat about a hundred feet from an inland sea, which was filled with monstrous currents.

T.K. continued. "Also, since I know how important Tai is to you, you can have any time during the week you want to go visit him. And as for your wages…"

"Couldn't you send them to him instead?" Kari asked, looking up. "To Tai, I mean…He's the one who really needs the money."

T.K. smiled. "I thought you would say that." he turned and called the royal advisor over. "Cody, please show Kari where she will be staying, and the deeper extent of her duties, if you would be so kind." he instructed. "I'm afraid I have business to attend to…"

"Yes, my lord." the advisor said with a bow.

T.K. gave him a sigh of laughing exasperation, then turned for the throne as Cody began to lead Kari off. As she passed, however, he slipped one of the pink roses from the garden into her hand, wrapped in a white cloth so as not to prick her. She looked down, surprised, and he gave her a secret smile. She returned it, then followed Cody out the door.

~ * ~ * ~

The next few weeks went pretty smoothly. Kari became more and more at home in the palace, spending hours in the garden, tending the flowers, and even more time inside, cleaning and instructing the maids and butlers. T.K., meanwhile, was ever so slightly showing her his feelings, starting with the flower he handed her, and leading up to notes in her room, and talking while she worked and he studied.

As they got closer, Daricon could see that special glimmer in both of their eyes. And he knew that it was time to strike, and he would finally get all he ever dreamed of…

"Tai!" Kari called, stepping into the inn after three weeks. "I've come to…visit?"

Her brother wasn't, as he had been for months, either lying in bed or wrapped in a scraggly blanket. His face was not pale or flushed, but full and rosy-cheeked. His eyes sparkled in a way they had not since the plague.

"Hello, Kari!" he called from where he was sweeping the floor exuberantly. "How are you faring at the palace?"

Kari still could hardly speak. "T-Tai…" she gasped. "You're…out of bed…"

"I know, isn't it great?" Tai said, setting his broom against the wall. "The doctor came by last week and changed his orders, saying that fresh air and motion was just what I needed, as long as I stay dry and warm. So now look at me! I'm better than ever!"

"That's great, Tai!" Kari cheered enthusiastically. "I can't believe it, you look so…so much…"

"Better?"

"Exactly!"

They talked for a long while longer, then Kari heard the clock strike four. "Oh dear…Tai, I'm afraid I have to go." she said apologetically. "I'll be back to visit soon!"

"See you then!" Tai called as she shut the door.

Kari grinned to herself and began to move back towards the castle. She was glad, really, that Tai was feeling better, but part of her was a little hurt. It was like, the moment she left and he didn't have to worry about her, he'd gotten better.

She was so deep in her own thoughts, she didn't hear the footsteps behind her. It took several minutes before she heard the approaching noises.

She stopped and turned around. "Hello?" she called, glancing over her shoulder, both ways. "Who's there? Hello?" But there was no one.

There was a sudden rush of noise to her right. Her head snapped around and she had just enough time to see her attacker before he fell on her.

~ * ~ * ~

T.K. sighed and set down his book back on the shelf in the library. He stretched for the ceiling, glanced around, saw no one, and secretly decided to 'walk in' on Kari as she worked on one of the rooms.

He slid into the master bedroom, but she wasn't there. Not the kitchen, the dinning room, the halls or anything. She just wasn't there at all.

He approached the Great Hall and decided to stop being so quiet. "Kari?" he called, and his voice echoed through the empty hall. "Kari, are you in here?"

"My Lord?"

From the shadows stepped Daricon, his cloak swishing along behind him. T.K. jumped, then recomposed himself. "Oh…Lord Daricon. Have you seen Kari?"

"Kari? Oh, you mean the village girl?" Daricon asked, thinking for a moment. "Why, I believe she's been tending the garden all morning."

"Ah." T.K. tried to remain stiff, like he was supposed to. "Thank you, Lord Daricon. That will be all." was murmured, and he hurried out to the garden.

Kari was bent over a task by the bushes near the edge of the cliff. She looked as though she was planting a new flower. T.K. grinned and carefully plucked one of the blue and pink flowers from a near-by bush, came up as silently as he could behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Oh, Ka-ri…"

The girl turned and T.K. nearly fell over. A piece of white cloth was tied around her mouth so she couldn't speak. Her arms were bound to her sides with heavy rope, which had been hidden by her shawl. Her ankles, too, were bound tightly with the same heavy coils.

"What is this?" T.K. demanded, going for the ropes around her. "Kari, what happened?"

Kari's gag was still in place, but she squirmed loudly and made muffled sounds until he'd loosened her bonds and reached for the gag. As it came loose, she shouted to him. "It's a trap!"

T.K. was startled. "What?!" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Behind you!" the girl warned, and Takaru spun around just as a pair of hands wrapped in red and black gave them both an almighty shove.

Kari and the prince went flying off the edge of the high cliffs and plunged into the sea.

~ * ~ * ~

There came a knock on the Inn door late that night. Tai looked up from his figures. "Now who could that be?" he asked out loud, rising to answer it.

He opened the door to find a frazzled-looking young man, about the same age as he was, with short, dark brown hair and dark eyes. "Mr. Tai Kamiya?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry to bother you at this time of night…" he looked a mite upset. "My name is Cody Hida, I'm the Royal Advisor up at the palace…"

"Oh, I see." Tai opened the door at bit wider. "Please come in."

"Thank you." the man stepped inside and Tai closed the door behind him.

"Please." Tai pointed to the two chairs at the table. "Take a seat."

Cody sat down and brushed himself off. Tai looked up. "I there something wrong at the palace?" he asked, a little concerned.

"Very wrong." the advisor sighed, brushing back his hair.

"What…" Tai stuttered. "Why? Did something happen to the Prince?"

"The Prince." said Cody seriously. "Is dead."

Tai started in surprise. "What?!" he gasped.

Cody's face was grim. "Your sister as well…"

"What?!" Tai squeaked, dropping the book he'd been holding in total surprise. "Kari…The Prince…"

"Both dead." Cody said grimly. He looked down at the floor, like holding back tears.

"But…how?" Tai gasped. "How?!"

Cody sighed again. "The Lord Daricon was watching from his tower window when it happened." he sighed. "They were talking, walking together on the cliff edge. The girl slipped. Prince Takaru tried to help her, but they both…" he dropped off.

Tai sat there, stunned. "The prince…Dead…" he whispered in shock. "Kari…My sister…my baby sister…Dead…"

Cody whipped his eye and set his hands on the table. "The Prince…" he whispered. "Takaru…more than a prince…he was my dearest friend…Dead…"

There was a silence. "Now what will happen?" Tai asked quietly, looking away. "Daricon will take over, right?"

"Yes." Cody answered grimly. "He will."

"Then how do we know he didn't kill off Takaru and Kari, then dump their bodies in the sea?" Tai demanded angrily. "How do we know he's not a murderer?"

Cody sighed. "We don't." he muttered. "But we have no proof, no choice. Daricon will take over…"

"And after that?" prompted Tai, sitting down.

"After that…I don't know…"