Thorns by liahime

12 Rose Kidnapping

Disclaimer: If liahime owned Digimon, then she could jump into a huge pile of one dollar bills and feel very rich. But she doesn't... so no jumping in money for her.

Priscilla was in a bad mood.

Here she was walking- walking!- in the dust, without an entourage, ruining the edges of her peach silk and absolutely murdering the calf-skin slippers. Her skin would be ruined in the harsh night air. She could feel her angelic voice beginning to crack. In only ten minutes, they had covered over five hundred feet! Her skin would surely blister!

First off- the most foul stench came from the hag tramping along in front of her. Ancient gray fabric and food stains mixed with mud into a far-far-away, once-upon-a-time ball gown.. The witch was murmuring under her breath, chewing on a ratty strand of hair. Flaking bits of fabric came from the witch as she twitched and stomped along.

To make things worse- a silent assassin walked steadily in front as well. Handsome as he was, he wouldn't even glance at her, or comment on her spun sunlight gold curls, or her poor dead shoes. He walked in stony silence, glaring out with a frown. Bloodshot eyes darted back and forth. Whatever his name was, he was flatly ignoring her, concentrating on his collection of knives.

But the worst thing of all- a thorn had snagged her dress, ripping a section out of the intricate lace work! Why did these things happen to her?

You are a perfect princess, Priscilla! You are a queen already, amazingly beautiful, and a joy to have around always! So it's not surprising that the world's jealous of you. Her inner self reminded her.

Don't tell me the obvious, dear. Priscilla smiled to herself. If only the world was as wonderful and admiring as her inner self... she was sure that world peace and the long-winded topics that those ministers always droned on about would follow.

And along with your gorgeous appearance lies an amazing mind. You have the magical ability to conjure up the wittiest sayings. A fashionable genius, that's you!

The blonde girl flipped a few curls over her shoulder and stood up straighter. Go on, she told her inner-princess. Tell me more.

Darling Priscilla, you have the voice of an angel. Such talent, beauty, and intelligence often eclipse those jealous people around you.

As she walked on, listening to the pleasant voice of her inner self, she held her head high in the air, gliding to the beat of the inner song of compliments. As she floated on, she closed her eyes, and waltzed straight into the stone wall.

Life, grumbled Priscilla, was not fair to the perfect people.

-

The stone faced assassin, was, in perfect truth, ignoring his useless client. But as absolutely air-headed as she was, and though he wanted to throw a dagger in her direction to shut the eternal whine behind him, he agreed with her on one point.

Life wasn't fair.

His charmed baby brother had gotten out of the seemingly unescapable dungeon, and was hiding somewhere, far from the reach of death. The same charmed, stupid little kid had probably managed to leap across the canyons he had carved in the packed kitchen garden soil. So here he was exhausted from the use of an immense amount of magic, while Ryo was probably off falling into wells and coming out with a magical sword and a three-layer cake.

But wasn't it he who was it carrying on the family business, and supporting their father in his old age?

Who chased his little brother over three kingdoms to get him to go back to the training school?

Hadn't he gone and fulfilled his father's dream for him, becoming the youngest of the top five assassins in the realm? Making sure that the family name would stay on top of the most wanted list of every kingdom, fief, and country?

And after all that, why was it that his baby brother was still the family favorite?

No matter how this foolish thing ended, he was the "evil" one to the commonplace world. Lazy Ryo would be the tragic, beloved hero, with a statue of him erected in some royal park.

Immediately, it was decided that if his brother's image was a statue somewhere, he'd recruit a pigeon army to live on it, day and night. If there was any form of revenge, tiny or huge, he'd take it. Kami knew that he had been looking for it long enough.

It had been impossible as children for his brother to stay sad. If Ryo's toy had broken, he had found some new delight and joy in playing with the fish in a stream. When the fish were gone, he mourned their loss, but found a new happiness in winter's snow. No matter how he tried, he couldn't find something that would dampen his brother's indestructible happiness. Everything seemed to turn out sunny-side up for him.

The old witch swivelled around slowly and pointed a bony, shakingfinger at him. "You."

He stared back, drawn from his thoughts. "What."

"Look at this." She held out her browned hand. Nestled in the wrinkles of her old skin was an opalescent glove of glass. As he picked it up, the glass shimmered and settled to a firm image.

Shimmering in and out, was a girl, a few years younger than him. She was laughing, and he could almost hear the clear sound ringing out in the dark night. Bright hair, and eyes in the oddest shade he had seen- as purple as the souls of violets.

The dry hand snatched the globe back from him. "That girl. She's the target." The old eyes looked up at him greedily. "Make sure that you let me kill her at the end."

He looked at the glass shining in her hand, at the flickering image of the laughing girl. "I don't know about that, hag. Who's the girl?"

"The princess, you stupid idiot! The person you were hired to kill!"

"You're serious." He raised an eyebrow. "This person is walking around, without complaining." He looked over to his client, perched on a stone wall and rubbing her forehead, whining to herself. "That's not a princess."

"If I lie- well, if I lie this time- then may my toad be cursed and my hair fall out!" She stamped her foot angrily, letting the glass orb fall to the ground. The assassin snatched it up before it shattered, holding it up to eye level.

Something new had come up. Next to the laughing girl was an all too familiar face, looking happier than ever before. The orb showed him laughing with the princess, grinning as if all the gold in the world had come pouring down on him. And in his eyes, there was no doubt about it- it was the violet eyed girl-princess that was making Ryo this happy.

A slow shark's smile spread across his face.

He had found his revenge.

-

It had been easy to lose the whining Priscilla and the screeching old witch. He had merely stepped back into the shadows, blending into the bricks of the wall as they stomped past him, complaining on the state of their feet all the way. Once they had left, he slipped out into the night.

He wasn't quite sure what he would do, but his mission was clear- at least a bit of his brother's happiness needed to be permanently wiped out. In his mind he toyed with the idea of killing her in front of his brother, but brushed it off quickly. If he was going to make his brother suffer, it was going to be for more than a few minutes. The world would know- it would be indignity, failure, and sorrow all in one- a perfect payback for the past.

A memory came back to him for a fleeting second.

He was six again. Sitting on the courtyard bricks was his three year old brother, bawling his eyes out because he didn't get to play with his brother's birthday present. Their mother snapped at them both, and gave the toy back to Ryo.

"Why aren't you nicer to your little brother?"

Nicer. Feh, he was tired of being 'nicer and sacrificing for the younger kid who didn't know better.' Any revenge he had would have to be long and sweet. Listening carefully for the sound of voices, he climbed up a nearby gingko tree.

"Be like Ryo. Shame on you for not acting more like him. He helped get us into the rich old lady's house last night. Learn to be initiative."

He would have said that Ryo still didn't, and would never be told that the old lady had been robbed by his father and uncle, but his mouth was closed with a stinging slap.

"No talking back. Learn from your younger brother."

Learn from his younger brother indeed. The leaves of the old tree fell softly to the ground as he climbed angrily. If he was being petty, then it was years of injustice that had caused it. For once, he needed to stop acting mature and just get his revenge on his brother.

Leaping from tree to stable roof, he caught the wisp of a voice. He ducked down and watched. Fading into the green gingko, he leaned in closer to listen.

The girl in the globe was there. In the dim light he could just pick out the form of his brother. By him, out of place in the mud of the horse barns, was the girl. Without knowing, he caught his breath.

In the dancing light of a solitary candle, every sign of the selfish wealth of every typical monarch was there. Silk and seed pearls glittered. There was a rustle of silk as she walked past his brother. Covered in silk and ruffles and layers of lace that would cost a fortune- but- holding the one light against the moonless night, the candle lit up her face, there was something to her that most princesses, major or minor, didn't seem to have. There was a sense of fearlessness and an immeasurably strong dignity that she seemed to possess, standing there, despite everything that had happened to her that- well, yes, that he had, - caused to happen in her life.

In fact, he could almost admit that she was beautiful.

He shook himself. This was a target, hired by a rich client. The key to his vengeance. Nothing more. He closed off his protesting brain, and plotted the best course of action, concentrating his thoughts only on the knives in his hand.

After all, this was your typical run-of-the-mill princess, who'd be as easy as the four that had come before her. Screaming, hysterics, breaking into tears. They all had the same core, he reasoned. How hard could it be?

Taking a breath, he leaped to claim his revenge.

-

Ryo and Rika, were walking, when Rika froze. "There's something awake in the stable."

"It's a horse. Don't worry."

"It's not a horse, Ryo. Someone's there."

"A stableboy then, who fell asleep there. Don't worry about it, we need to keep moving."

Three...

Rika peered into the shadows. "It's not that kind of thing, stupid, otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. There's something bigger. I'm going to go look."

Two...

"Scared of things that go bump in the night, wildcat? I'll protect you, don't worry."

One...

Rika turned and snapped at him, the skirt of the dress nearly touching the person waiting in the shadows. "No. Don't. You probably need a bodyguard more than I do, and I am sick of being watched constantly."

The person in the shadows strode out, sweeping Rika up off her feet. "Yes, otouto. Do leave the princess alone. I've got it covered, thanks."

Rika looked up at him. He was a near copy of Ryo, just older, with heavy lines under his eyes, and a thin scar running up his cheek. She opened her mouth- he anticipated the scream, gritting his teeth-

and there wasn't one. She slipped out of his grasp, and began to run towards the stack of firewood. Smarter than the average princess, but not quite. A pity. He had thought she'd be a bit smarter-

Ryo gaped. "What are you doing here? Are you crazy?"

His brother flatly ignored him, sending one fist back flying to keep him away. The princess was escaping. In a few seconds, he had caught her, grabbing her by the arm. She twirled around, and pounded his free arm with a stick of the wood. As he blocked it, she slashed into him with the firewood as if it was a sabre, hitting him over and over again as he tried to block the assault with his free arm.

"Would you quit?" He pulled a dagger out of seemingly thin air, slicing the air dangerously close to her face. "Anyways, have a nice life!"

Throwing Rika unceremoniously over his shoulder, he waved cheerfully to his brother, recovering from the blow his head had recieved. Gritting his teeth once again, from Rika kicking her foot into his stomach, he threw down a smoke bomb- no need to explode his little brother quite yet.

For a moment as he watched the smoke curl up, he felt guilty- plotting to and- hopefully- making his brother miserable and knocking him unconscious for a few minutes and sending a bomb down on his head as well.

He quickly forgot about it, seeing Ryo sending a piece of sharply pointed metal in the direction of his head.

"See you later, dear little brother of mine!"

Despite the choking veil of smoke, Rika kicked him again. Metal slammed into his stomach, making the assassin cough and fall off balance.

It seemed that not all princesses had the same core.

Zyzychyn- thank you! If only I could get less homework...

My Dream's Shadow- Thank you!

Anna- thank you tons for reviewing! Glad you like the story

lady-snow- ehehe.. Glad you're not confused.. Thank you!

TiNyLoVeBuBBleS- I'll try to update faster and make it less confusing..thank you!

DigiChick- ah.. I hope your foot gets better.. (I've run into screen/glass doors too..)

Dolce Saito- I'll work on updating faster! sorry for wait.. Thank you!

GTKari-123- I can't kill Priscilla now because something needs to happen to her later.. But I'm not saying! (Because I don't know yet...) I'll work on writing less-confusing chapters and update soon!

Lil' Lilo- Thank you for reviewing! Sorry for the wait (I'm working on the next chapter now!)

kau-sama- happy birthday, I'm working on your birthday-fanfic (and yes, I will buy you a present too.. So don't ask.--..)

authoress notes

I'm trying to get q-RO (ragnarok..) to work on my computer, but it's not installing right.. Yes, liahime finally has time on her hands! I have a four day weekend, and I'll try to write a lot during that time.. By the way, please tell me what is confusing, and why if there is any confusing parts.. I'm trying to work in explanation with the story, so... any help is great. (This means you too, silent readers! I know you're there! I can see you through the screen!)

you should review, btw, silent readers..! especially since liahime is getting up much earlier than normal so she can cram writing time in (and the chapters are still later than I want them to be TT)

sorry for wait (I had it typed up, no time to post!), again. PIANO and HOMEWORK..there's too much of both... was this chapter very bad/confusing? please tell me if it is or not, so I can rewrite/revise it quickly...augh.. I keep thinking I should edit more.. but I need to post.. and I need to get off the computer and sleep or else I'll be in HUGE trouble with my mom...

worrying.. worrying..worrying.. hope you like this!

liahime