Chapter Six
The sunlight filtered in from the trees, waking a startled Taichi up. He, like his wife, had spent the night on the floor of the woods. Unlike Sora, however, Taichi had slept well with Mimi's cloak wrapped around him like a blanket. He had also slept later, well into the day. It had been nearly noon when he was waken. Getting up, Taichi yawned and stretched.
"Mister!" Takato roared as he ran into the clearing Taichi had spent the night in. "Mister!"
Taichi stifled a yawn. "Yes?" he asked sleepily, drawing Mimi's red cape off his shoulders. "What is it?"
Takato excitedly pushed a small leather bag at Taichi. "It's full of gold," Takato quickly said, happiness in his voice. "Now, can I have my cow back?"
"What?"
Takato grinned. "You said I could buy Milky back," Takato said. "And I think that's enough."
Taichi blushed slightly and yawned again. "Um..." he mumbled.
"Where is Milky, anyways?" Takato asked, looking eagerly around the clearing.
"With my wife at home," Taichi said, looking at the sack of gold in his hand. The gold could pay for many things that Sora and he would need. Although, that would mean giving up the cow and the chance for a child.
"Then we'll go to your house and fetch Milky!" Takato grinned happily.
"Um..." Taichi said quietly. "I, uh, don't think this will be enough."
Takato blinked at him. "Oh," he said. "That's all right! I'll go steal some more gold from the giants in the sky!"
With this, Takato ran off leaving a confused Taichi in the forest. The baker looked at the gold he was carrying and did a little dance of delight. He was rich. Or at least a little bit richer than he had been.
"How much is a child worth?"
Taichi jumped in surprise and turned around. An old man was looking at him from his position of leaning against a tree. "How badly do you wish to have a child? How much are you willing to pay? A bag of gold?" the old man asked. "Or three? How about a dozen bags?"
Taichi was about to say something when suddenly the old man leaped up and grabbed the bag of gold from him. "Hey!" cried Taichi. "Give that back, it isn't yours!"
The old man turned back to Taichi sadly. "By rights it isn't yours or even Takato's," he said and left.
Taichi blinked in surprise when the old man returned pulling along Milky the cow. "Here," the old man said, giving him the lead. "Your wife lost the cow last night and I found it."
With that, the old man left again. "Um," Taichi said awkwardly.
-
"Lady!"
Sora turned around quickly. Mrs. Matsuki, dressed in better clothes then she was used to, ran up to her. "Have you seen a young boy with brown hair and a good natured but slightly dreamy demeanor around lately?" Mrs. Matsuki asked, her breath was heavy, as if she had been running for a while.
"The one which is particularly fond of a white cow?"
Mrs. Matsuki nodded hopefully. "That's right! That's my Takato! Have you seen him around?" she asked.
"No," Sora said. "Have you seen the cow?"
Mrs. Matsuki groaned. "No and I don't want to see that thing ever again," she groaned. "Children can be so odd about their animals. Be careful with your children."
Sora sighed wistfully. "I don't have any children," she said quietly.
Takato's mother caught the tone in Sora's voice. "That's fine, too," she said, giving Sora an awkward pat on the shoulder. "I just hope Takato didn't wander up that cursed beanstalk again..."
With this, Mrs. Matsuki wandered off in search of her only son. Sora shook her head and continued towards the tower where Hikari lived.
-
Caring for her long hair was the only thing Hikari could do in her tower. Humming a tune she had heard a Hawkmon singing the other day, she stroked her hair with the new hairbrush Yoshino had given her. The Prince Daisuke had been a handsome prince, all kisses and velvet. The prince had spoken of fine things outside the forest and outside the tower. Things that made her long for the outside world.
Yoshino couldn't learn of Daisuke, she would be angry. That Hikari knew very well. Daisuke wasn't the first man to try to rescue her but he could be the last one. She smiled faintly at the memory of the charming prince. He even brought up a Digimon with him. That Digimon was so funny and cute.
A sudden shout broke Hikari's train of thought. "Hikari, Hikari! Let down your hair to me!"
Hikari blinked. That wasn't the voice of Yoshino, her mother, and she didn't think it was Daisuke. Could he have gotten sick with some disease? It was possible, Yoshino had told her about such things. She decided to play it safe. "Is that you, my prince?" she called out the window. The small figure on the ground stood silent for a little bit.
Sora paused. "Yes!" she bellowed up, in a slightly more gruffer tone.
Hikari shrugged off the slight shrillness of his voice. He probably had gotten a disease, like she thought. Who was she to argue with a prince, anyways? "All right!" she yelled back. "Here it comes!"
Sora was surprised at how much hair Hikari had. Grabbing a handful, she ran but was stopped. Higher up, Hikari gave a shriek of pain. "Forgive me!" Sora bellowed up. "This'll hurt!"
Sora, closing her eyes, yanked hard. A clump of hair came loose and Hikari gave another shriek of pain. "Hey!" Hikari called from the single window. "Why did you do that, prince?"
She didn't receive an answer, Sora had ran away. Hikari gave a shrug. Princes indeed were strange.
-
Izumi hated her shoes as she slipped once again in the woods. Like the night before, she slipped in front of Sora. "You do take many falls, don't you?" Sora asked, the lock of Hikari's hair wrapped around her neck like a scarf, sitting down beside her.
"Yes," Izumi sighed. "It's my stupid shoes."
"Did you go to the ball again tonight?"
Izumi gave another sigh, a longing tone in it. "I did," she said. "They had too much food."
"And the prince?"
"I think I was rude when I ran from him," Izumi said, mostly to herself.
Sora gave a sigh. "Can I see your shoe again?" she asked hopefully.
Izumi blinked slightly but took one off and showed it to Sora, who bit it. "I'd say this is as pure as gold," Sora said happily.
"Yes," Izumi sighed, taking the shoe back. "It is."
The noise of an approaching search party made Izumi get up in alarm. Sora, who had tried sneaking her hands towards the shoe in Izumi's hand, attached herself to Izumi's arm. "Let go of me!" Izumi shrieked in shock. "I need to go!"
Sora would not let go and the voices started to get louder. In desperation, Izumi started to beat Sora off with the golden shoe. Sora let go suddenly and Izumi made her escape.
"Where did she go?!" bellowed Junpei as he entered the place Sora was in.
"I tried to stop her," Sora apologized. "But she escaped that way."
"I can capture my own maidens," Junpei scolded. "But thank you anyways."
He ran in the direction that Izumi ran just as Juri and Chiaki came running with Leomon nearby. Chiaki was shaking. "Where did that prince go?" Juri asked crossly, trying to comfort her daughter.
Sora pointed in the opposite direction from the way Junpei took. "That way, he's too far away. You'll never catch him," she lied.
Leomon gave a growl of dissapointment. "We would have caught the prince if that ruffian with the cow hadn't tried to molest Chiaki," he growled. "Come on, Juri, let's go home."
"He's coming!" Chiaki shrieked and pointed at the direction Taichi was entering. He had Mimi's cloak around his shoulders and Milky in tow.
"Let me check to see the richness of your hair!" he was calling at Chiaki. Leomon simply picked up both Juri and Chiaki and ran off in the direction of their home.
Sora shook her head. This had been an odd day. Princes, maidens in towers, yelling stepmothers and angry Digimon. She was going to be happy when all this was over.