Ugh…Yeah yeah, I'm not very good with most details of the Sengoku Period. But I live in Middle-O-Nowhere, TX. I'm lucky just to get Inu-Yasha and my fill of Marmalade Boy or .Hack/Sign on a regular basis! It's tough being an otaku down here…
I forgot to warn you before hand about something…This story also concerns Kenyako! It's the first time I've done more than hinting about another relationship besides Takari! Hope you like it! (Ideas, please, helpful as always!)
Disclaimer: You have a better chance of a DigiEgg popping out of the computer right now and landing in my lap than of me owning Digimon.
A Feudal Fairy Tale
Scroll 2: Princess Light
"So your brother just ran off and left you there?" Ken asked, leaning over his bunk to look at Takeru, below him.
Takeru nodded, leaning back on his pillow and keeping his mouth closed about the details.
"Ouch." Davis muttered from the bunk across from them. "That says something for family relations."
Takeru closed his eyes and rolled over away from them. Ken nodded, leaning up to put out the lamp and plunging the bunkhouse into the darkness of night. After a few moments he was asleep, and Daisuke was snoring away. Takeru struggled with the thoughts of sleep a moment, but was finally content with his warm bed and dropped off like the other two.
Out of the darkness, someone grabbed him roughly by the collar, hoisting him off his feet. The ground was almost four feet below the poor little boy, hanging fearfully in the older boy's grasp.
"I didn't see ya at lunch today, twerp." he growled viciously. "I missed that second serving…"
The arm snapped like a whip, sending the child flying. He hit the wall hard and crumpled in pain. His eyes filled with tears as the older boy kicked him in the stomach again and again. Then he laughed viciously, cracking his knuckles and preparing for another beating on the smaller boy, who trembled in fear.
"B-Brother…" he sobbed. "Yamato…Where are you? You said…you'd help me…Please, help me!"
Takeru burst awake. It took a few minutes of gasping for breath before he realized he wasn't lying in that cold, wet place behind the orphanage, but was still in that nice, dry, warm bunkhouse in the Lord's castle.
He stumbled out the door, into the warm spring night air. Once out in the courtyard he knelt by a basin of water and took a nice long drink.
There were quiet footsteps behind him. Always tense and ready, he waited until they were only a few feet back, then spun around with a long, thin piece of wood in hand to defend.
"Calm down!" Yamato put his hands up, showing he wasn't carrying a weapon. "It's just me!"
Takeru was not comforted. "What do you want?" he spat angrily, tossing the wood away.
"I heard noises, thought I'd investigate…" Yamato muttered sheepishly. Takeru humphed, not buying his excuse, and went back to his drink.
Yamato sighed, sitting on the porch next to his brother. Takeru put the basin back down, but remained sitting with his eyes closed. For a moment neither said anything, then the elder leaned back to look at the other.
"Takeru…" he said slowly, his voice shaking. "…I thought you were dead…"
"The one you knew is." Takeru growled, pulling his legs in and leaning over them. "I'm just some stranger who took his place a long time ago."
Yamato sighed hopelessly, and silence fell over them again. Then he tried again. "Takeru…I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Takeru asked in a mocking tone. "'Sorry' doesn't cut it."
"I didn't mean to forget about you." Yamato tried to explain. "It's just that…while I was training, I had to push some things aside…"
"Like me." Takeru snapped.
"Well, yeah…I mean, no!" the usually calm-headed Yamato panicked a bit at the slight of his own tongue. "I'd never…I did come back!"
"A little too late!" Takeru cried. Those awful memories were still panging in the back of his mind. "Four years and not even a letter! Let alone a visit or anything! Not a single sign that you were even still alive! What was I supposed to do?!"
"Takeru…" Yamato started, but the younger was already on his feet. With the speed that only a samurai could have, he was back in the bunkhouse with the door closed before his brother could finish his sentence.
Yamato sighed, brushing his bangs back from his eyes and staring after him. "Damn." he whispered after a moment, then left silently and easily.
~ * ~ * ~
The next few weeks went smoothly, despite bad brotherly relations. Takeru treated Yamato as a superior, nothing else. Yamato gave his brother the occasional longing glance, but otherwise he was just another subordinate.
About a week later, the three young warriors were spending some free time in a wood off to the side of the castle, practicing their archery, when Ken had a fateful encounter…
"Ready?" Daisuke asked, aiming his bow. "Aim…fire!"
The three arrows went flying. Takeru's hit a direct bulls-eye, while Daisuke's buried itself into the third ring. Ken, on the other hand, had never been a very good archer and was caught off-balance, so his went flying past the trees and into the grassy fields beyond.
"Smooth, Ken." Takeru laughed, watching it zip away. "You better go get that."
"Yeah yeah, I'm goin', I'm goin'!" Ken sighed, putting his bow down and heading forward. "And don't shoot while I'm over here, got it?"
He stepped through the woods to find that they ended three feet into the trees, opening up into great rolling hills of fresh green grass and beautiful flowers, ending in in the crystal-clear river that separated the village from the castle grounds. A wooden bridge connect the two, and a variety of young women were picking the flowers.
"Great…" Ken muttered with a sigh. "It had to land in the woman's flower field…"
He took a deep breath and started searching, trying not to draw attention to himself. The arrow's feathers would stand out pretty well, they were black and these flowers were white. It only took him about ten minutes to spot it.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, reaching for it. And as he did his hand touched another.
The owners of both hands looked up, locking eyes, and Ken found himself facing the cutest girl he'd ever seen. Her hair was long and dark, reaching her waist, and her eyes were enchanting green. She wore a gentle yukata, a summer kimono, in red with a white sash.
Ken straightened quickly, gulping. "Oh…" he gasped. "I'm sorry…"
The girl leaned down and picked up the arrow, handing it to him. "Here." she said, smiling gently. "I think this is yours…"
"Thanks…" Ken muttered, still blushing as he took it.
The girl giggled a bit at his embarrassment. "It's nice to meet you." she said with a respectful bow. "My name is Yolei."
"I'm…Ken." the boy muttered quietly.
Yolei nodded, smiling. "You're one of the new samurais, right?" she asked, folding her hands in front of her. "I work at the castle too. I'm one of the princess's handmaids."
"The Lord has a daughter?" Ken raised his eyebrows, surprised.
"No no, of course not!" Yolei giggled. "The Princess is Lord Taichi's younger sister! Really, where have you been?"
"Lost." Ken sighed, and Yolei laughed again. Ken's heart did back flips. "What a girl…What a girl…" he kept saying over and over in his mind.
"Yolei!" another girl called from the distance. "Where'd you go to?"
"I'm coming, your highness!" Yolei called, then turned back to Ken a moment. "I've got to go. I'll see you around sometime, right?"
"Yeah, okay…" Ken muttered as she turned. "Bye…"
Yolei ran ahead, then turned back a moment. She was carrying a white wreath of flowers, something the woman made to give to their friends or, more romantically, their lovers.
"Here." she said quietly, blushing as she came to his side again. She put the wreath around his neck. Then, with one quick movement, she planted a kiss on his cheek. "Meet me sometime." she whispered sweetly in his ear, then ran back to her duties.
Ken stood there a moment, stunned, then his hand raised to touch his cheek in remembrance of the kiss. He wandered back to the archery field in a daze. Daisuke looked up from his spot as his friend entered. "There you are, Ken!" he exclaimed. "It's about time you showed up!"
"What took you?" Takeru asked, then spotted something that made him grin. "Oh…Who gave you the flowers?"
"Just…a girl…" Ken sighed, sitting down on the ground next to them. A dreaming blush was spreading over his cheeks as his fingered the white wreath. He folded his hands behind his head and leaned back against the grass with a contented smile.
Takeru and Daisuke grinned at each other mischievously. "Just 'a girl' huh?" Daisuke asked.
"Mm-hm…" Ken muttered quietly, not listening. His mind was already in the clouds.
~ * ~ * ~
Princess Hikari pursed her lips in concentration, bent over her task. Her room was filled with a quiet click-clack-click-clack sound of her loom, weaving intricate designs into her work. She did this quite often, it was one of her favorite pass times, when her suitors weren't around.
She sighed to herself. Suitors. They bothered her day and night, never letting up. Her brother had his power to marry her to whomever he thought best, someone who'd take care of her. But he didn't want to force her into anything, so always gave her a chance to get to know each one, all of whom she sent away.
It's not that any of them were really bad. The thing was is they were all after her to increase their wealth. None of them actually loved her, and if she married for anything, she wanted it to be love.
"Yolei." she said suddenly, not really looking up. "Could you please hand me the green yarn?"
There was no answer. The princess looked up, finding her friend sitting at the sliding door and peaking out nervously.
"Yolei?" Hikari called again, and this time the other girl snapped around.
"Oh dear, I'm very sorry." she muttered, scrambling across the room for a spindle of green yarn.
The princess stood quietly, walking over to the screen. "What were you looking at out there?" she asked.
"Oh…" Yolei blushed. "Well…You know, those young samurais are practicing in the courtyard…"
"Ah." Hikari smirked, reaching for the screen so she herself could peak out. "You were watching that boy you met in the fields the other day, weren't you?"
"Well…uh…yeah…" Yolei muttered sheepishly. "I mean…he's…well, you know."
Hikari nodded and peaked out herself. Yes, that was him, alright. Dark hair, a deep look of concentration, definitely Yolei's type. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground, watching his friends in a practice duel. The Captain of the Guards was watching them, calling out occasional advice.
The princess's eyes came to rest on one of the young men dueling. Just one look and her heart skipped a beat, she drew in a sharp breath of surprise.
"Yolei…" she said slowly. "Do you know that boy out there, dueling?"
Yolei stood and looked out with her friend. "Which one?" she asked.
"The blonde one." Hikari whispered. "The one who's facing us."
Yolei examined the young man's face. Messy blonde hair. Crystal blue eyes. Pale skin, tanned slightly golden from the sun. She contemplated a moment before answering.
"Well…I don't know his name." she muttered. "But you know, that's the one they say is Master Yamato's younger brother."
"I didn't know Yamato had a brother!" Hikari exclaimed, looking back.
"Apparently, neither did he." Yolei chuckled. "That boy's been presumed dead for almost eight years now."
Hikari looked back out the window, her heart panging every time she looked at that boy. This was it. This was what she'd longed for. Maybe it was only passion for a pretty face, as insincere as it was, but that was what she wanted. It was love. And she'd know his name soon.