Author's Notes: You know something? I was actually thinking of making Mimi's dad tell her she's gonna marry Joe in this chapter. But if I did where would the Tachikawa part of the story's suspense come from? So I thought. And I thought. And then I thought some more. Then I FINALLY decided that I... Hang on! I'm not going to tell you people what I decided! If I did you might not read the chapter and I certainly don't want that! So go! Read! Find out for yourself!

Disclaimer: I don't own... well, pretty much EVERYTHING in this story belongs to someone else. You know who I'm talking about! (Akiyoshi Hongo, Toei, Saban, etc.)

The ARROW, the STAFF &the SHIELD
Part 9
By Android Eleven

"So, the Marquis Mignonette has decided to arrange a ball for you and your guests on the night of your coronation," Duke Koushiro d'Izumi stated as he walked down the north corridor, alongside Prince Taichi.

"Wonderful," Taichi muttered dully.

"The Earl of the Fujiyama province," Koushiro continued, "requests permission to place a handling tax over all the imported fruits and vegetables that are sold in his prov-"

"Denied," Taichi interrupted. He had received this request from the Earl on previous occasions and, as there was no real reason to place such a tax, Taichi had refused it each time.

"And Baroness Rossa Iella was wondering whether you'd wish for a royal blue coronation cloak or a navy one." Koushiro stopped for a moment, rereading the last part of the scroll he was reading. Prince Taichi was also confused, though in a more disgusted way.

"Royal blue or navy? You mean there's a difference? Oh, wait," Taichi said as Koushiro opened his mouth to answer. "I am SURE that I don't really want to know. But why is she asking me, I don't care."

"I suppose that the Baroness is asking you because," Koushiro replied, slightly miffed by the Prince's brush-off of his explanation on the different shades of blue, "YOU are the one who is going to have to wear it."

Taichi made a disgusted face and sighed, defeated. "Fine. I'm sure that navy will be fine."

Koushiro nodded, marking it down on the scroll with a flourish. "Excellent." The two continued their walk down the corridor and he kept reading.

"Now, Baron Demensa wishes to..."

Taichi sighed tiredly as Koushiro continued reading the morning report. 'I hope this isn't a preview of things to come. I don't think I can stand another 20 days of this, much less the next 20 years...'


"Mimi, darling, your mother and I have decided that it is time for you to take a husband and- no that won't work, I need to make it sound more... understanding," The King of Tachikawa thought aloud, pacing up and down his room in the Kamiya castle. He had been trying to think of the perfect way to tell Mimi about her arranged marriage to Sir Jyuu for the past hour and he had yet to find it.

"Oh, I give up!" he muttered finally. "I'll just go and see her and say whatever comes to mind."


Princess Mimi was sitting in her own room, brushing her hair for the third time that morning, for lack of anything else to do. Oh, well, there were things to do, just nothing that she WANTED to do.

She put down her brush and walked across the room to her cloak trunk, kneeling before it. She opened it and pushed aside the many purple Tachikawa garments near the top until she reached a cloak made of soft white fur. Slowly she moved it to the side of the trunk, revealing a shield of brilliant gold. Almost reverently, Mimi ran her hand over it, circling the embedded diamonds with her fingers.

Ever since she had found the shield in the hidden room behind her father's study, Mimi had felt a strange pull towards it. She had been unable to leave it back at Tachikawa castle, no matter how hard she'd tried. Just as she had been unable to leave it in the chest she had found it in.

All of the sudden there was a knock on her door. Startled, Mimi banged her elbow on the rim of the chest. "Ow! One moment please!" she shouted to her visitor as she slammed the chest shut as quietly as she could, straightened out her dress and opened her door. Standing there in the corridor was Sir Jyuu himself.

"Um. Good Morning, my Princess," he said, bowing slightly. "I was wondering if, perhaps, you would like to accompany me on a walk through the gardens?" Jyuu fidgeted nervously, as though expecting her to say no. Mimi smiled softly at his discomfort.

"I would love to." Jyuu looked surprised at her reply, but quickly hid it. "Could you wait for just a moment please?" she asked and Jyuu nodded vigorously, stepping out into the hall.

Mimi ran to the chest and folded the cloaks back up as quickly and neatly as she could. She recovered the shield, so that no one would spot any corners or edges should they look, grabbed a plain cloak from the top of the pile and closed the chest. She told one last look at herself in the mirror and then went out to Jyuu.

"Shall we?" Mimi asked demurely, trying to cover up any signs of nervousness she may have been giving off.

"Of course, my Princess." Jyuu held out his arm for her. She took it, gave him a smile that made him blush and the two headed for the garden.


King Tachikawa was pretty sure he had it now. It included a lot of "This is for the best"s and "It will all work out in the end"s. But, as he approached Mimi's door, the King started getting nervous again. "No," he told himself firmly. "This is the reason your wife is so angry at you and Jyuu is so distraught. You have to tell her. It's now or never."

With that he walked over and knocked on Mimi's door. "Mimi," he called after a moment of silence. Still no answer. He pushed open the door, "Mimi, I have something I need to say to you. I..." He looked around the empty room for a minute, in almost disbelief of the fact that there was no one there. It took a moment before he heard the voice behind him.

"Father, is that you?" The King spun around to face back out in the corridor where Mimi was standing beside Sir Jyuu.

"Oh, um, Mimi! Yes, uh..." He looked back and forth from a blushing Jyuu to calm to an overly composed Mimi and back again. "I was, uh, I was... looking for... your mother! Yes, I was wondering if you knew where she was!"

Mimi gave him a strange look before answering skeptically. "She's having tea with Princess Hikari in the rose gardens. I should have thought that you'd have known that. You're the person who asked Crown Prince Taichi to arrange it for her."

"Oh, yes, of course," he replied starting to sweat. "I'd forgotten. Um, thank you Mimi!" With that the King took off, back the way he came. Mimi looked ready to yell something after him, but decided not to bother. Jyuu looked at her curiously.

"What is it?"

Mimi sighed. "I thought that he might like to know that the rose gardens are back that way." Mimi gestured in the opposite direction.


Author's Notes: Not the best chapter I've ever written. I think my muse took off again, because this chapter took longer than any of the others and it's not even that good. Anyways, sorry about that, but I don't want to rewrite it. I guess this chapter was just to show that Mimi brought the shield with her and that she and Joe are actually pretty good friends. Oh, I've been meaning to say that, NO this isn't a Mimato or a Sorato (it's a Taiora, a Takari and a Jyumi), but for all the reviewers who asked for one (or the other), I'll write some later and then I'll dedicate them to you guys, Kay? Anyways, gotta go, hope you enjoyed, Part X will be out soon. Toodles! ^_^