Notes: All right, Tamachi and Tokyo show up in this part, and I just wanted to remind you all that these are not the places in

Notes: All right, Tamachi and Tokyo show up in this part, and I just wanted to remind you all that these are not the places in Japan, they're just town names for whatever universe I made up. ^^

The fairy tale Jun reads to Daisuke in this part is "The Tinder Box" by Hans Christian Andersen. Special thanks goes to those lovely people on the DaisukeKen ML who gave me suggestions! (eternalsailorsolarwind, Ari, Kathleen, Terrie… ::glomps all of them::)

And last but not lease, many thanks to my thesaurus, which has help me come up with many fic titles in the past, including this one. ^^;

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, its characters, Tokyo, Tamachi, or "The Tinder Box". I own the blue dragon. *^_^*

Bewitching the Dragon
Part One -- Chapter One
By: Hanae Michiko
===============
 
 

Motomiya Daisuke thrust his sword into the straw dummy tied onto the post in front of him until it came out the other side and then removed it from the dummy's torso, jumping back as if dodging the dummy's own weapon. Supporting most of his weight on the balls of his feet, he circled the dummy, waiting for the next appropriate opportunity to strike. His breath came heavily, in ragged, uneven gasps, and sweat covered his bronze-colored skin, making it glisten but not doing much in the way of cooling him off. Despite his obvious exhaustion, Daisuke continued with his exercises.

Just as he was about to jump forward and slice off the dummy's head, a pretty pink-haired lady stepped in front of him, blocking Daisuke's pursuit of the dummy and coming perilously close to having her own head lopped from her shoulders.

"Kami!" Daisuke cursed between tightly clenched teeth when he managed to freeze the movement of his sword mere millimeters from the lady's neck. "Lady Mimi, you really need to stop doing that to me. You're going to get yourself killed some day."

Mimi smiled brightly at Daisuke with an air of confidence that seemed to say, "Or so you think."

"Lady Sora wishes to see you," she announced politely.

Daisuke brought one arm to his forehead to wipe away the sweat and was about to answer, "I'm busy," but thought better of rejecting his superior.

"Tell her I'll be with her in a moment. I need to clean up."

Mimi nodded curtly and turned to head back to Sora. Daisuke let out a heavy sigh and dropped his sword. He began walking back to his quaint cottage-like home, not even bothering to wait until he reached the house before starting to rid himself of his sweaty training clothes. Once he felt he was presentable enough, Daisuke approached Sora's throne, which was in the middle of the courtyard that was considered the center of Tokyo.

"Daisuke!" Sora smiled cheerfully at her favorite knight as he knelt in front of her throne. "Stand up."

He did so and met Sora's gaze with the eagerness of a child who was about to be told he could have a box of cookies if he washed his hands before dinner. Sora always saved the best assignments for him.

"Lady Mimi informs me that there's trouble in Tamachi," Sora explained nonchalantly, as if this was the sort of trouble people experienced every day.

Daisuke knew better. Assignments that started with a description of "trouble" meant "bad…danger…you no like this." The young auburn-haired man could feel his hands getting clammy. However, it was the only outward sign of his growing nervousness…or he hoped, anyway.

"Trouble…?" Daisuke inquired, trying to sound more excited and interested than as apprehensive as he was.

"Yes. Apparently there's a large blue dragon wrecking havoc upon the town."

"D…dragon?" He could barely contain the squeak threatening to escape his throat and replace coherent words.

Sora only smiled and nodded slowly. Dragon shmagon, this was going to be a piece of cake, right?

"I…I suppose you want me to slay the dragon for you?"

Much to Daisuke's chagrin, Sora nodded again.

"Yes, please."

Daisuke brought a sweaty hand to the back of his neck and rubbed the area right below his hairline in an unconsciously nervous gesture. He forced a smile.

"No problem! I can handle anything! This dragon should be easy!"

Sora smiled again.

"I was hoping you would think so. Thank you, Daisuke. You will leave tomorrow."

Daisuke took a deep breath to steady himself, and he nodded.

"Sure…tomorrow…no problem…gotcha."

He let Mimi lead him to the courtyard's exit, and he walked numbly back to his house.

"Dragon…?" he asked himself. "I…I have to slay a dragon? I have to leave tomorrow…to go to Tamachi…to slay a large blue dragon?"

Daisuke began laughing. This had to be a joke, right? Sora was sending him on a suicide mission! Dragon? Yeah, right.

The usually over-confident young man suddenly felt as if everything had crumbled around him, and he couldn't shake the sense of dread suddenly overwhelming him and causing his heart to clench painfully. Surely this meant the end of Motomiya Daisuke.

* * * * *

"Jun, make me some sandwiches!" Daisuke commanded the moment he walked through the door.

Lady Motomiya Jun, Daisuke's older sister of three years, turned from where she stood at the small wood stove to narrow her eyes at her younger brother.

"I'm not your slave!" she retorted. "Besides, I'm busy."

Daisuke sighed exasperatedly and sauntered into the kitchen, a smug grin curving his lips.

"Are you still trying to woo that blonde?" the redhead asked, leaning against a countertop next to the oven and eyeing his sister suspiciously.

Jun rolled her eyes.

"I'm merely making a cake to be friendly. But you wouldn't understand, you're just a kid."

"Not too much of a kid to have Sora send me to Tamachi to slay a dragon."

Jun's attention was immediately caught, and she turned to her brother again, eyes wide with fear and surprise.

"What?!"

"That's right. Apparently there's this blue dragon terrorizing Tamachi, and Sora wants me to get rid of it."

"But…a dragon?!"

Daisuke smiled inwardly while trying to remain nonchalant for his sister. He loved when Jun showed him concern. She hated to be caught caring about her younger brother, and Daisuke knew that very well, so any opportunity to win in their little game of sibling rivalry was a good thing. Plus, it made Daisuke feel loved.

"Yes, a dragon. What's the big deal?"

"It's a dragon! Angry, fire-breathing monster with sharp teeth and even sharper claws!"

"Jun, it's nice that you worry about me and all, but I really need to start packing, so if you would make me some sandwiches for my journey, that'd be a real help. Thanks," Daisuke said before turning abruptly and heading to his bedroom.

Jun sputtered.

"I wasn't worrying about you!" she cried after him even as she moved to make her brother his sandwiches. "I was worrying about the dragon!"

She heard Daisuke scoff at her from his room, but she ignored it.

Inside his room, Daisuke shuffled through a large mess of his belongings until he found a bag, and then proceeded to throw random articles of clothing into it. He grabbed a map from his bedside table and studied it. Tamachi was a long way from Tokyo, especially on foot, but he estimated that with his efficient means of traveling he would make it there in no less than four days. Lying back on his bed, Daisuke tried to calm himself. He could feel his heart palpitating against his sternum and could hear his pulse thundering in his ears. He almost chided himself for being so apprehensive when he had never been nervous about any of Sora's assignments before now, but reasoned that before now, Sora had never sent him to slay a dragon.

"I'm young…I still have my whole life ahead of me…what was she thinking?!"

Daisuke was a healthy sixteen years old, having studied and apprenticed under some of Tokyo's best knights. He was squired when he was ten years old and had impressed all the warriors in Tokyo, and Sora, so much that he had been knighted before he was even of legal age. Most men were knighted when they were old enough to move away and marry. Daisuke was still required to be under the custody of his parents.

The redhead was Sora's pride and joy. She was overjoyed to find out she had such a skilled knight in her court, and one of such a young age. Tokyo's orange-haired leader often bragged to many a city that she had a prepubescent (which Daisuke didn't take to flattery) knight who was more skilled in the trade than most of her older knights of several years were. Whenever she sent her knights out on assignments, Daisuke was always the one to get the best, and frequently most trying, ones so that he would have almost endless opportunities to show off.

Until now, they had always been "Save The Damsel in Distress" types.

Or "Chase the Snakes out of Ireland" types.

He knew it was part of a knight's job to have to kill when necessary, but Sora had always said he was too young to be killing. Now this! A war might have eased him into it, but here she threw this dragon onto him as if it was nothing!

"Daisuke, your sandwiches are done!" Jun called from the kitchen before he had more time to fret.

"Great…" Daisuke grumbled on his way to the kitchen. "One more step closer to inevitable doom."

* * * * *

He was packed. He had food, clothing, money, blankets, a map, a compass, his weapons, a lucky charm or two, and some things to write with incase he needed to make out a will. After checking over his inventory for the umpteenth time, Daisuke sighed. His clock had been ticking away for quite a while, and the night had long since turned into very early morning, yet he couldn't sleep. Apprehension and fear had kept him awake for many hours, despite the knowledge that he would be barely functional the next morning if he didn't go to bed.

A light knock on his bedroom door stopped Daisuke from pacing, and he answered the door, finding Jun on the other side of the threshold.

"Daisuke, please go to sleep. I can hear you pacing in my room and it's driving me nuts."

"Sorry, I was just…" Daisuke trailed of, never willing to admit to his sister that he was scared or worried, "…thinking."

Jun smiled skeptically, but didn't press the subject further. She teased her little brother about almost everything, but this was one topic she simply couldn't find the heart to pester him about.

"Come on…lay down in bed and I'll read you a story."

Daisuke scoffed, not hiding from Jun at all how very offended this treatment made him feel.

"I'm not a child."

"No," Jun agreed. "But I think you could use it. Now get in bed."

Daisuke heaved a heavy, exasperated sigh, but reluctantly climbed into his bed. Jun pulled one of Daisuke's favorite fairy tales from childhood off his bookshelf. It was one she used to read to him whenever he had nightmares. Smiling, she began reading.

"A soldier came marching along the high road…"

Daisuke rested his head against the pillow and closed his eyes, trying to let Jun's voice and the story take over his thoughts.

"…As he walked on, he met a very frightful-looking old witch in the road…"

The fairy tale was his comfort story, and always succeeded in helping him get to sleep. Plus, and this was something Daisuke had never confided in anybody, he liked to pretend he was the princess. He liked the idea of being swept away to a cabin at night to court a handsome soldier, especially the one in the story Jun was reading to him, and not being the hero for once.

"…As soon as the rope was tied, the soldier climbed up the tree, and let himself down through the hollow to the ground beneath…"

Daisuke had long since gotten over his small crush on the soldier, but the desire to meet someone like him had yet to be extinguished.

"…Then he went into the third room, and there the dog was really hideous…"

As visions of his hero danced through his head, Daisuke slowly drifted off into the world of dreams.

Jun, having only gotten past the first couple pages, had to chuckle when she noticed her brother had fallen fast asleep. A sweet smile curved her lips upwards and her eyes softened. She was praying for her brother. As much as she teased him, and as much as he annoyed her, and as much as she disliked him most of the time, he was still her brother, and she still loved him, and she hoped more than anything in the world that he would come out of Sora's crazy assignment alive.

The raspberry-haired girl stood, placing the book she had been reading on the chair she had been sitting in, and kissed her brother's forehead.

"Good night, Dai'ototo-chan. Good luck."

* * * * *

"Quick! Get all of the women and children out first!"

"Run north! The dragon never leaves town, and the quickest way out is north!"

"Mommy! Mommy, where are you? Mommy, I'm scared!"

"Why hasn't anyone come yet? Why won't anyone help us?"

"Doesn't the thing sleep? Even in the middle of the night it comes rampaging!"

"Where did it come from? Why does it want to hurt us?"

"HELP! My baby! I can't find my baby!"

"Daddy! Daddy, watch out! Don't try to fight the dragon!"

"NOOOO!!"

~End Chapter One~