´¯..´¯.´¯
Unsung
Things are goin' crazy and I'm not sure who to blame
Everything is changing and I do not feel the same
I'm slipping through the cracks of floors I thought were strong
I'm trying to find a place where I can feel like I belong
´¯..´¯.´¯
Joyous Heartache
Chapter 9: Dying Embers
A/N: Enjoy!
Try to remember that Taichi has been corrupted by his father ect, I know he's really ooc but, yeh, It'll get better I promise. I actually like Tai, so it will… Sorry if it annoys you.
AGES: (3yrs after last chapter)
Takeru, Hikari 16yrs
Yamato, Sora, Tai 19yrs.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The sun was slowly setting on the Ishida realm, and the sound of clashing metal was echoing across the valley above which the castle was situated. Inside a shed were two teenagers, one younger, but no less stronger than the other. Their blonde hair was moving along with their movements, and their blue eyes sparkling with challenge. They held their swords up, a few paces away from each other, as the sword master talked to them about foot movements and what not.
"Spar," the sword master ordered, watching the two best knights in the valley lunge at one another. He had trained the two princes since they were old enough to walk, and both were born leaders, and born knights. They were easily the best in the country. The older prince had always seemed to be better at fighting martial arts and using a sword, but in recent years, the past two to be exact, the younger boy of 16, Ishida Takeru, had shown his own flare at the fighting arts, and had long surpassed his older brother.
He watched them now, barking out orders to them both as they became lazy and forgot things that may have caused their death in a real battle. He became silent soon, as they focused more and Takeru deftly manoeuvred around his older brother, kicking him in the back and forcing him to his knees his sword resting lightly on his neck. Yamato yielded and his little brother offered his hand to help him up, laughing and joking a little.
The sword master was about to congratulate the younger prince at his stunning victory against his brother, until a sound came from the door, a clapping sound.
All three turned around, to come face to face with a being whom neither one of them had noticed. The king. The sword master wasn't the only one who noticed the smile disappear quickly from Takeru's face, and the way all the colour and brightness seemed to drain from the youngest princes' face and eyes.
The King smiled, and Yamato raised an eyebrow. "Well done," he said, "Yes, well done Takeru. I haven't come to one of your practices for an extremely long time, and I can see you have made much improvement. That really was an amazing fight."
Takeru's eye's widened and Yamato's eyebrows were so high they couldn't get any higher even if they wanted to.
The king received no response from his children, so continued himself. "If you continue like this, mayhaps you can lead our army along with your brother. It seems I have underestimated you Takeru."
There was a stunned silence, Yamato came around first and elbowed his younger brother waking him out of his stupor.
"Ah, um." Takeru stuttered, "Th- Thankyou, Father. I would be honoured."
The king nodded, smiling, his eyes cleared a little of the anger and grief that had clouded them for so long, before walking out.
Takeru looked at Yamato, his eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Yamato just shrugged, he as stunned as his little brother.
The sword master smiled at the brotherly exchange, and decided to put in. "Not that its any of my business, my lords," he started, and the princes turned around, "But it seems to me that our liege may be finally starting to come around."
A small smile appeared on both princes faces, as they considered this.
"Ah, well, I believe that is enough for today." He said, "And for you, Takeru, I don't want to see you back here today, go out for a ride with your brother or something. You've trained enough."
"Thankyou," the younger prince said, lowering his head in a sign of appreciation and respect, which was mirrored in his teacher, before he followed after his brother.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yamato walked absent-mindedly down the royal corridor, passing his door and walking to the one next to it, softly knocking three times before entering.
His younger brother was lying down on his bed, staring into space, lost in thought.
"Hey, Takeru otouto-chan?"
The younger boy made no sign that he had heard his older brother until he answered, still staring at nothing, "Hai, onii-chan?"
"You want to take Hiro and Kai out for a ride?" He asked, "we could go to the place we always used to go when we were younger, the lake by the hill?"
Takeru looked up, "Yeah, sure, why not. I haven't ridden Hiro anywhere except round the yard for a while." He said.
It took them no time at all to saddle up their horses, and soon they took off into the forest, down a small trial that had been marked long ago.
Takeru cantered up to the clearing, There was a small hill, and a lake. Tree's were scattered across the plane, in unpredictable positions. He held Hiro's reigns for a while, halting as Yamato and his horse Kaiser caught up.
Yamato smiled at his little brother, before they trotted into the clearing. They both dismounted, the midday sun was high in the sky.
They let their horses free, nibbling on grass, and Takeru sat down by the lake, letting his fingers get wet.
"Mato?" he asked,
"Hai?"
"What do you think about Father?"
"I don't know what to make of him anymore, Takeru." Yamato said, "This morning he was acting so strange. It wasn't like him at all."
There was silence.
"What do you think?" Yamato asked
"I- I'm not sure." He said, "I believe that people can change, but this is too sudden."
"I'm sure there was benefit to him as well," Yamato offered, "One day maybe Father will have a change of heart, and we can be a family again, but I'm sure he was just caught out."
Takeru sighed, "But did you see his eyes? They were almost human!"
Yamato laughed, "yeah! He's probably afraid you'll start a revolution, the war is approaching fast, and he realised he wants you on his side!"
The younger boy laughed, before staring into the lake, "Maybe" he whispered.
"Lets just wait to see what the new day brings, ne?" Yamato said.
Takeru nodded, "I think we should get back now. I was looking at the dates, and we have 2 weeks to train our new recruits, before, you know."
Matt nodded, "Ok, I'll call them all together as soon as we get back," he laughed, "But I thought you weren't supposed to do any work, swordmasters orders!"
"oh quiet!"
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TakenouchiKingdom (Month beforehand)
A beautiful princess was sitting on her windowsill looking out the window. The Takenouchi land was exotic in a tropical way, and an extremely joyful place, but their princess looked anything but at the moment.
"Sora?"
The young princess looked up, her father walked into the room.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked her, "I'm leaving it up to you, but you've always been so against it, I don't really understand."
Sora sighed, "I never really wanted to, but…"
Looking out the window, her eyes lost in thought she nodded, "Yes, I'm sure father. Can you send Lara up, please?" she asked.
"Of course, I'll send them both up now,"
The princess sighed, and looked out the window, she had never wanted to make this decision, but she really had no choice.
-Flashback-
"Sora! You have to take sides!" Tai had screamed at her,
"Why?" she questioned, "Why do I have to, why cant I just remain neutral between you both. I'm sick of it, but I don't want to take sides!"
"Sora, you don't understand, war is almost upon us, and your recruits could make a lot of difference with who is victorious!"
"And so all you care about is winning, is that it?"
"Well, no," he said, "But yes… I mean, you make it sound like a bad thing!"
Sora looked up, "I don't want to choose between you. Don't make me."
"Father needs you're aid, it could mean the winner and the loser, the War is coming, are you just going to watch? You can't do that." Taichi said, "You've got to choose at some point!"
"You've changed so much Taichi, can't you see your fathers using you? You've got to think for yourself sometimes too. This country has turned Totalitarian, if their prince won't try to change that, who will?"
There was an small awkward pause, "You don't know what you're talking about," Taichi said, sounding more unsure that he'd have liked. Soras words hit like a blow, and the doubts were beginning to tumble in. He pushed them as far aside as possible.
She looked at him, shaking her head, before looking at the ground and mumbling beneath her breath,, "Yama told me I didn't have to."
"Who?" he said, sharper than he would have liked.
"See, look at that!" She said to him, "You've really changed, Tai, and not for the better"
-End Flashback –
There was a knock at the door. A girl of 16 came in, her long blonde hair came down past her waist, a beautiful honeycomb blonde. Her bright emerald eyes lit up when she saw Sora.
She was holding a boy's hand tightly, as if not wanting to let go. It was her fiancé, Davis, who had brown hair, seemingly gravity defying, and dark brown eyes. He didn't seem to mind the way the girl was holding his hand, and seemed to understand what she was going through, his brown eyes also seemed troubled and unsure.
Sora stopped looking out the window and turned to her guests, her dress trailing behind her as she stood.
"Lara, Daisuke, its wonderful to see you both again," she said.
"Its great to see you too Sora, its been a while." Lara replied,
"It has," Sora said, before turning to Davis, "Daisuke, thankyou for doing this for me, I just didn't know anyone else."
"Its no problem, Sora." Davis said.
Lara nodded, "We're more worried about you, are you alright with all of this?"
"I'm okay," Sora said softly, "I just never thought I'd have to do it."
Davis smiled, "You're making the right choice, Sora." He said.
"Are you sure?" she asked, "I just know I would regret it forever if something happened to him, and I feel so selfish, just standing on the side. Then last month, when I was in the Kamiya kingdom, it hit me, about how good he's been"
Lara gave Sora a questioning look.
Sora smiled, "I mean, I'm his girlfriend, but I've never really shown support, shown how much I believe in him, in both of them."
"I just want to show that I think they can make a difference."
Lara smiled, "That's because they already know, they don't mind, really."
"I know, but still," she said, "I've made my decision. Are you guys going to be alright?"
"'course, because he's going to come back!" Lara said threateningly.
Davis smiled at her, "Its fine Sora," he said, "Don't worry."
Sora smiled, tears coming to her eyes, "we need a leader like you Davis, they'll follow you wherever you lead them, I cant thank you enough,"
"You already have!" Davis said, he smiled, "I'll tell him you love him for you!" He said, giving Lara a kiss, before leaving.
"Do you really think this will work out?" Lara asked, "I'm afraid he wont come back… don't you feel like that about Matt sometimes?"
Sora smiled, "Of course, but you've got to understand that they do what they have to do, and at the end of the day, you're the reason that they are returning."
Lara smiled, and Sora continued, "He'll be back…" she whispered, "They all will."
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KamiyaKingdom, Present Day (morning)
The Queen slowly walked into her daughters room. It had been three years since her daughter had been returned to her, and it still seemed a little surreal, to be able to watch her daughter grow up, when she had been deprived of that happiness for so long.
She was happiest at these times, being able to watch her daughter, the unconscious emotions that played across her face as she dreamed in her beautiful pink bed. Her daughter had a ghost of a smile of absolute happiness of peace; almost a smile of memory. She watched her the way her child seemed to light up at whatever she was dreaming about. The queen had never seen someone so utterly happy and carefree in their dreams as her daughter now.
The princess had grown into quite the Kamiyan, in her ideals, her looks, thoughts, and power, but yet she never let these control her emotions and was still inside the kind-hearted inquisitive child that had never quite grown up. She just never really showed it anymore.
The queen remembered then why she had come into the pale pink princess' room, and quietly, the queen bent down to her childs ear, and whispered "Come, my princess; the sun is high in the sky, and it is well past time to be up."
Her teenage girl moaned, and the beautiful smile disappeared to a different smile; not as carefree, full of troubles and rules.
"Mother…?" she questioned, her eyes opening and blinking, shining her rubies to the world. "I was having the nicest dream."
"I could see." Her mother replied. "What was it about?"
"An angel," Hikari said wistfully, her eyes glazing as if in a memory. "He was the most beautiful of all angels. He had golden hair, and the brightest blue eyes I have ever seen."
Her mother smiled. "Have you seen many angels?"
Kari laughed. "Iie! That was not what I meant, mother! But from the moment he appeared I could tell, I could tell that he was the angel of all angels. A prince among his kin."
"and it was so real…"
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Hikari walked down the corridor, and into the dining hall. Her dress was a black corset, and she walked elegantly down the hall, she had matured much and grown into herself in the past three years.
Taichi smiled at her, his little sister was the perfect Kamiyan girl.
"Good morning Father, Tai." She said, curtseying.
"Morning Hikari" they chorused.
She kept her eyes down and her face neutral and as passive as possible while talking to her father, who was the king of the country and therefore much higher than her. She had learned all of these lessons in her classes, and they were rules that ought to be listened to, and stuck to.
She had to wait until her father allowed her to speak, as that was the way of the house.
Afterall, her brother and father were going to lead this family into victory against their greatest enemy. They deserved her respect.
Her father nodded, extremely pleased with his daughter.
"What news is there of the war?" she questioned softly.
"We sent an official challenge to the Ishida realm," Taichi smirked, "We've finally decided that enough is enough, we've been darting around the edges of this war for ages, and its time to show them what we're made of"
Hikari smirked, "And our chances of success?"
"Affirmative," He said, "all our way, we have enough men to outnumber them 4-1."
"Well," she said, "That's good news,"
Kari ignored her shaking hand, and beating heart, as she smiled at her brother who was going on of the wonders of the upcoming war.
She didn't understand her feelings, why was she feeling like this? She was probably just afraid for her family, she decided, yet it felt like so much more. Her whole body felt filled with an icy dread. She just didn't understand.
Her head started aching again, pounded as if trying to push something back into her mind, some long forgotten memory that she had hidden away.
Strange images seemed to flash before her eyes,
a stable, a girl with long blonde hair, horses, a strange castle that she'd seen somewhere before…
She held her head moaning, and Taichi helped her, the images disappearing as fast as they had arrived.
"Hikari?" He asked frantically, "Hikari! Answer me, can you hear me?"
She nodded, regretting the action instantly, as her head hurt even more. Tears came to her eyes.
"It hurts! Tai, make it stop" she cried, "Please!"
He put her arm around his shoulders, helping her to her feet, "Its alright," he assured, "You're going to be alright."
He brought her to her room, lying her down on her bed, as she cried.
"I'm just a call away if you need me, Hikari." He said, and she nodded, before burying her face in her pillow.
Why? She questioned herself, Why did everything she ever believed in the past 3 years hurt her so much? Why couldn't she just belong, find her place, fill the hole in her heart that was missing?
Why did every day feel like a lie?
Why did it hurt so much?
Why did she dread the war so much?
Why did it make her heart ache, and her head pound?
She questioned it so much her head started hurting again, and the pictures flashed so quickly she could hardly recognize them.
The sunset, a hill, a stable, a girl with long blonde hair, horses, a strange castle that she'd seen somewhere before, a room somewhat like hers; bathed in bright golden light, her angel smiling above her, touching her face softly.
She whimpered, the tears soaking her pillow. The images fading as quickly as they had appeared.
What did it all mean?
Why did it hurt so much?
Couldn't she just continue being herself?
Couldn't she just belong in her family?
Was it possible to be both?
Hikari sighed, she didn't really even know who she was anymore. She had lost her identity long ago.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The knights, new recruits, scouts and pages were all lined up, no scouts were in the Kamiya region at the moment, all had reported back to the Ishida realm for new instructions from their leaders.
"Line up!" Yamato ordered from on top of his horse, Kaiser. Yamato looked at TK, and was filled with pride for his brother; he really looked like a prince on top of Hiro, sword by his side.
All the knights got into formation for their commanders, although they had never seen the younger one before, they could recognise power when they saw it.
Yamato looked over at Takeru, nodding slightly indicating for him to give his orders.
Takeru nodded, "We have 2 weeks," he started, "To become the perfect army. Want you to all pair up, older knights watch over the new ones. Any problems, report to Yamato and I." Takeru said.
The younger ones, who weren't even real knights yet, paired off, and the older knights started teaching them, telling them the best way to do things. In the time being, Yamato and Takeru's sword master ran up.
"My princes," he started, "The king, your father, calls for you. He says you have some unexpected visitors."
Yamato ordered his captain to watch over them, and he and Takeru trotted off.
They came round a corner, to see a massive sight, over 400 soldiers were standing there, and a certain brown haired boy on top of a horse dismounted, patting his horse.
Takeru and Yamato dismounted, barely holding onto Hiro and Kai's reigns as they looked about at the small army.
The brown haired boy smiled cheekly, a glint in his dark brown eyes.
"Surprise" he said.
Takeru laughed, "Davis!" he said, in awe, "… what is this?"
Daisuke coughed importantly, and stood up straight, "The Takenouchi kingdom sends reinforcements for the Ishida realm." He smiled, "Sora, Lara and my densly annoying sister send their regards and love."
He smiled happily, giving his best friend a hug, and shaking Matts hand.
"This is…" Yamato started, lost for words "Daisuke, this is… wow…"
Takeru looked puzzled, "I thought that the Takenouchi kingdom wasn't going to take sides."
Davis shrugged, nonchalantly. The princes were smart enough to realise that something outside their power had occurred.
TK smiled, "Davis it's great to see you again,"
Davis laughed, pointing at his best friend, "You too! Look at you! You almost look half-decent."
Takeru punched him on the shoulder. "Is that so?"
"It is," Davis smiled, "Ok, so maybe you do look like the prince you are, but still, I'm not going to admit it."
Takeru and Yamato glanced at each other, before laughing.
"See! This is why I don't visit anymore! You two always gang up on me!"
Takeru snorted, "You don't visit anymore because you're too in love with Lara to leave her for to long alone!"
Davis shrugged, and smiled, and brothers laughed again, "Now if we can stop teasing Davis, mayhaps me and my soldiers can actually become of some use to this realm, before we decide to turn tail and leave this region on its own."
Yamato laughed, "No, no no," he said, "We were only jesting, come, Takeru and I will take you to the stables where they can rest their horses."
- - -
1 week later
- - -
"Yamato! My son, listen to me, NOW is the time for war!"
"But father we are not ready!"
"We've been skirting round the edges for far too long, and now the Kamiyans send us a challenge, we are not going to be the ones who back down!"
Takeru looked annoyed, "Its pointless to go into war without a lot of hard thinking, we need provisions, extra swords, loads of armours, and we are in charge of much bigger numbers now. War isn't something that we can just rush into!"
The king glared at his youngest, his eyes crazy, "Who said we were rushing into it! We aren't! We are facing a challenge full on and defeating the enemy once and for all!" he said, "Yamato, you and Takeru must be the commanders, the provisions are ready. Go into the Kamiya region and set up camp. We will not be the ones to back down this time!"
"Yes father," Yamato said, "Where can we get the provisions from?"
"I don't know, find them yourselves, but I want you, and both armies out of here and into war in 3 days," He ordered, "Do you think you can do that?"
Yamato nodded, "it'll be tough, but we can try."
The king nodded, happy with his olders respose, and set his steely gaze on his youngest.
"Takeru?"
Takeru nodded, his face nonchalant.
"Don't let me down."
"Yes father" He said with determination.
- - - - -
And so it was, that three days later, in the coming of dawn, the king watched his sons, Davis, and an army over 1000 strong head East, into the rising sun, and to the beginning of a great war; one to be told in tales throughout time.
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to be continued
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A/N: anti climax, I know, I couldn't be bothered to write about the provisions. Things will be getting really interesting in the next few chapters or so, and I'm sorry about the corrupted-ness of Tai. It'll change, eventually, its in this chapter that he starts to realise whats happened to him, but it doesn't change for a while.
I've also started a new story, that actually has character development (yay!) as I have realised this story has little or none. I got the idea while writing JH, and so it's alike in quite a few ways. I wouldn't mind a beta, if someone wants to go over it, and tell me if its worth writing or not.
I've also written a one-shot mini story about this story, but I'm not sure whether to put it up or not, ideas? Should i? would you be bothered to read it? Its not v. long, but sweet. More about Mato, Tai and Sor.
I have the rest of this story completely worked out, and so it should be smooth sailing from here to the end of the story (4/5 chapters away)
I'm very proud of myself; I finished this chapter in 2weeks. A record at the moment. (I know, a pathetic record, but I have been slack for the past yr) unfortunately I couldn't re-read it until after the exams, but still. Yay!
Review Responses
Daughter of Zorro: Thanks! Yeah, I think I'll be doing number 2… Thanks for the review!
Review Lord: I'm glad you thought it was emotional, that's what I was going for and its nice to know that I achieved that! Thanks a lot!
Solarice04: The other digidestined? I'm not sure, I was going to have some Michi, but I'm not a huge fan of that, and there are so many Taiora (shivers) fans out there, that I'm not sure if I should. I'm really not sure how I can fit them in here at this point in the story, but they are going to be in my next one (it's a trilogy, with a lot of similarities to this one, just a lot more action, mystery and character development). Hm. I'm not sure if the Ishida king is the villain, he's not the major one at least, but somehow it turned out that way, I suppose. Yeah. Tai has definitely dug himself into one big hole, ne? Kari ain't gonna be a happy chappy, I'll tell you that much, but, you know Kari. Anyways, thanks a lot for the informative review! (those are my favourites!)
ArieI hope this was soon enough, yeah, I'll prolly be doing no. 2, just because its nice to get some feedback while you're writing the story, and I don't want to spend months without updating again (even if afterwards they come even quicker) I'll be doing no. 1 for my next story tho. Thanks!
AngewomonandmeYeah, Kari's in a bit of a fiddle. Thanks , English is one of my favourite subjects, but I don't really think I'm that good (stuffed up my English exam so badly…). I'm a bit freaked out about going into yr 10 (only got a few more weeks left in yr 9…) cause its like the upper school, and the uniform changes, and then at the end we chose our HSC subjects… it's a bit daunting. Thanks so much!
Miaow227: I'm trying to, the exams weren't as bad as I thought they'd be… I'm glad you liked the ending, and that the chappy was sad (that's what I was going for). Yeah, for some reason I've been taking a lil break from cliffhangers… but don't worry, that'll change next chapter evil laugh. Anyways, i'm going to try to do no. 2, but I'm close to the end, so I'm not sure if I'll get around to it. Thanks a lot!
Tabbycat411: Thanks, yeah, I'll be doing that for my next story, its so much more efficient and easy! . Thanks a lot!
Curtis Zidane Ziraa: Yeh, that'd work! I'm not to sure though. Still deciding (I have a few alternate endings) Thanks a lot!
Shenny G. Potter: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter so much! They're in an awkward spot at the moment, but don't worry (and don't die) it'll start getting better soon… sort of… hmm… anyways! Thanks heaps!
BluesakuramonYeh. She's going to be getting pretty confused in the next chapters… thanks a lot!
Kay: Thankyou!!!
Kaze Ookami: Don't worry, I decided from the beginning that this would have a happy ending, I've had a few sad ending idea's though, but I don't think I'm going to use any of them. Yeah, I don't think her dad and brother would be too happy about the topic of conversation "Don't bag out the Ishida's!"… do you play hockey too? That's cool. It's a fun game. Thanks for the review!
Animefreak85: I hope this is soon enough. The next one will come even quicker! Thanks for the review!
RogueSummersLoverYeah, I'm sorry about the hatred with Tai, but he has been corrupted by his Father, it hasn't had the same effect on Matt and Tk, because they don't love and respect their father as much as Tai does his, and so that allowed his father to shape and twist Tai's mind when he was younger, and probably vulnerable due to the fact that he just lost his little sister. Thanks for the review!
Crazy4Takari: Thanks a lot! I'm glad i've been able to keep you in suspense. Thankyou!
Yyhpunk Thankyou! I'm glad you like it!
Ok. Well that seems to be about it. Until next time,
Em
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Sunday 7th of November 2004