A Digimon Frontier Fanfic
By: Sakura Martinez (a.k.a Haru Glory)
A/N: Well, it took longer than expected. I have to apologize once again for the delay of updates. I was so busy with my contest piece that I didn't have time to right until just recently. Anyhow, thanks for the reviews that you have been giving my fanfics, everyone, I really appreciate it. Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter!
The Rabbit on the Moon
Discord and Lectures
Takuya stirred awake, his head pounding and spinning. Placing a hand on his forehead, he felt something wet and somewhat sticky. Upon looking at his hands as his vision returned to normal, he saw that it was blood muddled with the sand from the ground.
He adjusted himself on the large bolder which had now cracked in the middle from his impact. He tried to remember what had happened, but before he could someone grabbed him by the collar of his cape before punching him at the side of his face sending trickles of blood splattering on the cold and sandy ground.
"Vice Commander!" Came the surprised shout of Kouichi as he struggled to make his superior release his grip on his friend.
"You idiot!" Shouted Kouji, his eyes flaming with anger, his teeth gritted as he said those words. "You were supposed to protect her! Why the hell did you let those men take her away?"
"W-what?" Takuya questioned, his memory still hazy on what had happened before hand and the shock of having been punched soon after he had regained consciousness did not help at all. "What are you talking about, Vice Commander?"
"Shin," Came Kouichi's explanation in his calm voice. "Lady Megumi had been taken by those men – those knights we fought earlier."
"What?" Came a surprise reply. But soon, the surprised look on Takuya's face vanished as he remembered fully what had happened soon after awaking from his rest.
They had been ambushed unexpectedly on their way to Guara. He could not accept that by having his mind wander at such a critical time, thinking of other things, he had allowed Izumi to be captured by whoever it was they were facing.
He had been tasked to do something by a superior and he had failed. He did not like the feeling one bit. Yet, he acknowledged his failure with his head bent low, his eyes not wanting to meet the eyes of the person who had trusted him, although the trust at that time was because they did not have much of a choice. Despite that, a trust is a trust and once trust is broken it is hard to fix – he knew that.
Kouji was still fuming.
This was the very reason why he would rather work alone than have some inexperience apprentices tag along with him – this was the very reason why he loved working by himself on missions, because no one would be able to disappoint him as much as this person right in front of him had disappointed him.
His anger and resentment over this person made his mind clouded that instead of keeping something a secret he suddenly blurted his feeling out:
"Have you any idea just who that person, that woman, truly is?" He suddenly spat, his fists still clenched wanting to just punch him in the face once more. "Have you any idea what kind of problem you have brought upon us?"
"Vice-Commander, please, that's enough." Kouichi said trying to calm him down. "I think Shin had managed to get a grasp of the situation already."
"No." He replied sternly, the power of a Vice Commander resonating in his voice as he spoke. "He is not fully aware of the matter, just like you. He is not fully aware on what consequences this might entail for the Eastern Corps Division of the King's Knights."
"We know she's your sister, Vice Commander," Kouichi assured him. "We know how much she means to you…"
But Kouji cut him off. "She is not my sister. Megumi Minamoto does not exist! She is in fact the daughter of the Eastern Commander, she is Izumi Orimoto!"
Silence. It was the silence signaling that Kouichi was surprised by the sudden revelation, and the silence which, unbeknownst to Kouji, was the silence signaling that Takuya did not want them to know that he had known for quite a while now. It was a deafening silence which lasted for minutes.
"Now, have you begun to comprehend just how much trouble having Izumi kidnapped will cost us?" Kouji asked.
"She's…his daughter?" Kouichi asked, still dumbfounded, then thought to himself, "So that is why she seemed so familiar. I've seen her before at one of the parties my grandfather attended…"
Takuya was still silent. He could not think of what to say even as he knew full well what his friend and fellow Knight Apprentice would say once they are out of Kouji's earshot. He wondered if he should tell him that he already knew of that fact or not. He thought of the consequences it would bring, of the possible slip-ups that may occur and it scared him.
He hated the fact of being unable to have even the slightest conversation with Izumi again. He had already admitted it to himself that he had fallen for the daughter of his father's rival. He knew that if time would come that the Vice Commander will realize who he is, he would certainly be eyes even suspiciously as he was already being and he would certainly not be trusted so much that it would be possible for the Kouji to just suddenly leave him behind.
He was surely in a pinch – a much more tighter pinch than what they were all currently at.
"Then if she's the Eastern Commander's daughter, who are those men and who are they working for?" Kouji suddenly asked aloud that it snapped Takuya right back from his thoughts.
Takuya listened closely to what Kouji had to say…
"I don't really know just yet, but I do have my suspicions that they must be hired by the Western Commander." He said. "What confuses me is how they found out about our plans, even with spies around the mansion, they could not possibly have learned of our whereabouts so fast to ambush us like they did."
"A typical answer." Takuya thought to himself. "But I have to admit that father is the only primary suspect at this."
"Are you saying that one of us are spies for him?" Kouichi asked quite taken aback.
Kouji looked at Takuya as if saying that he thinks he is the one, but replied. "I don't know. You could very well be spies, but that still does not answer how they could have figured out on their own who she really is."
At that Takuya spoke as he remembered what happened at the buried city.
"I remember back at the buried city that those thieves were quite certain on who they were targeting." Takuya said. "I don't know about you two, but the number of thugs who were following us were certainly large. Not only that but I remember hearing someone speak to those thugs as if leading them saying that they want her."
"Is that the truth or are you just trying to mislead us?" Kouji quickly asked.
"Please, Vice Commander," Kouichi suddenly intervened just before Takuya could answer back and possibly worsen the situation. "I can assure you in the name of my grandfather, the General of the South, that he is not what you think he is. I have known him since we began our apprenticeship."
Kouji did not speak as he continued to eye Takuya suspiciously. But soon, he decided to deal with more pressing matters, matters such as pursuing Izumi's kidnappers and rescuing her before something ill happens.
"I don't have time to deal with this now." He said. "We have to bring her back!"
"We agree with you, Vice Commander and we are willing to help you do so." Kouichi stated as Takuya nodded. "We don't want the conflicts inside the circle of the King's Knights to worsen."
At that, the trio climbed on their horses after packing all of their stuff. Kouji led the way followed by Kouichi who was holding unto the reigns of his horse and of the horse of their kidnapped companion while Takuya trailed not to far behind.
The wound on his head caused by the large armored man hitting him throbbed and was still left in its fashion – contaminated by dirt with the blood already clotted. He sighed, it was obvious that Kouji did not care much about him at the moment and who could blame him after the blunder that he had caused.
"It couldn't be helped now." He once again thought to himself as he galloped along with the others. "I bet Izumi with shout at me when he sees how I didn't took care of this wound."
Takuya, although he was not showing it, was desperate to help. He didn't want his superior, or anyone for that matter, to think that he is inferior, that he is not needed.
He was so deep in thought that he did not notice that Kouichi had slowed down his pace to match with his.
"Hey, Takuya," he whispered.
Takuya nodded to acknowledge that he heard and is listening to whatever his friend has to say.
"We're already in a pinch now." Kouichi continued. "Who would have thought that she is your father's rival's daughter? Not only that, but did you notice the armor those men were wearing?"
At the mention of the armor, Kouichi managed to fully attain the attention of Takuya.
"The armor?" Takuya asked, then said. "Now that you mention it, I have the strangest feeling that I've seen the armor before…"
The two began to think back and try to recall where they have seen such armor as they rode off, following the trails of those unknown assailants that kidnapped Izumi.
It was as if a powerful force was hindering them from remembering anything or obtaining any clues, and even against them rescuing Izumi, for no sooner had they began their pursuit, did the tracks vanished leaving the four males to ponder as to where their enemy has run off to.
"This isn't possible, is it?" Kouichi asked as he jumped down from his horse and began to walk around the area. "They couldn't have just vanished!"
"They must have some base or hideout nearby." Kouji voiced his thought. "I'm sure they are around here somewhere, all we have to do is look, and look hard!"
"Yes sir!" the two apprentices agreed saluting their superior in the process.
They then began to search the premises, each searching on different directions hoping to find any clue as to where they need to go or where they may find Izumi and those who kidnapped her. But, as the clock ticked and as hours passed, they were unable to find anything.
Frustrated, Kouji once again vented his anger on the person whom he saw was at fault – Shin.
"This is all your fault!" The Vice-Commander began once again, his fist was clenched as if wanting to punch Takuya right then and there. "If you had only been paying attention to your surroundings and did not doze off, then maybe Izumi would still be with us and we are still heading for our destination!"
Takuya, who was also frustrated at that point and time suddenly spat back. "Why do you keep on blaming me, when I am not the only one who's at fault. I'm not the only one who dozed off now, am I?"
Taken aback with Takuya fighting back, Kouji and Kouichi both showed surprise in their faces.
"Stop blaming me for your inability to command us properly and your inability to fight back during that skirmish, Vice-Commander!" Takuya continued on. "If you think that you're the only one who is frustrated at the sudden turn of events, then you are dead wrong!"
"Takuya…" Kouichi can't help but mutter to himself.
"Have you forgotten whom you are talking to, Apprentice?" Kouji asked, his voice demanding some respect.
"No, I haven't forgotten, Vice-Commander." Takuya replied, stressing the words 'Vice Commander'.
Sensing that this fight would erupt into a much larger scale, Kouichi decided to stop it from escalating any further.
"Quit it, you guys." Kouichi intervened. "We won't be able to do much if you guys would only think about fighting about something that we can no longer change."
At Kouichi's words, the two hot-headed knights turn to face the other direction.
As he was looking the other way, Takuya caught sight of something. Something that gave him an idea on where their enemy might be.
"Hey, Kouichi," Takuya said, his eyes focused on the horse's footprints on the hard ground covered by sand. "Do you remember the lecture we heard about the Riders of Burgeloth?"
"Riders of Burgeloth?" Kouichi repeated as he tried to remember that particular lecture that has suddenly caught the attention of his friend. "That was the lecture about the strategy of the Burgeloth Knights, the strategy they used to confuse their foes in thinking that they suddenly…wait a minute!"
A realization suddenly occurred in him, as Takuya nodded.
"What is it?" Kouji asked.
"Vice-Commander, I think Shin may have just broke through the illusion created by our enemies." Kouichi suddenly said, then, as if to answer the look of inquest in his superior's face began to explain as Takuya/Shin began to walk back the way they came. "The Riders of Burgeloth, they were the ones who, I believe, first thought this illusion up."
"Illusion? What illusion?"
"The illusion of their tracks suddenly disappearing." Kouichi replied. "They did it with a simple trick – by stepping on the same tracks that they have left while moving backwards. It's hard to pull of with a horse, but it is possible."
"I see…" was the only reply of the Vice-Commander.
Just then, Takuya called out to them as he made his way towards his companions.
"Did you find anything, Shin?" Kouichi asked.
Takuya nodded. "The tracks were faint a couple of ways back, but it is there. I think they may have done what the Riders of Burgeloth did then hurriedly erased their tracks, but they sure did some sloppy work on it."
"Great!" Kouichi said, then faced Kouji. "Vice Commander, we're ready to depart now. I bet those armored men would be quite surprise when we catch up to them."
Kouji nodded and ordered them to move out.
To be continued…
A/N: Well, that was quite longer than I initially planed it to be, although I did plan to write the whole rescue-Izumi-thing only on a single chapter…but I guess it would not do, so I changed it instead to a two to three chapter thing. Anyways, I hope I did good on this chapter. I can't help but notice the decline in the number of reviews per chapter, though…sigh…Well, I guess most of the readers are busy…
Putting that aside, the next chapter could be as long as this one and may be updated sometime soon (maybe this Sunday or Saturday). I have been doing a lot of things lately, including making a boards which I hope you would all join in, it is not a forum here in FFN, though. If you guys are interested, just check my profile out to find out where this forum/board is.
Well, with that said, it's time for me to log out, so until next time, this is Sakura Martinez saying "PEACE" and signing out! Ja ne!