Chapter 3: Orphans and Panacea
The morning was quiet and serene. Everyone was still asleep, minutes before the servants would come in and get them prepared for the day. Tai lay on his royal blue four-posted bed with the curtains opened. He was mumbling in his sleep, totally unintelligible. A few feet from his bed lay Augumon on a bed of gold coins like a dragon's hoard. Since there was always a chance he might breathe out a few sparks in his sleep, the family coudn't chance him igniting regular bedding material. Those two were always the last to get up, but were always wide awake seconds after sitting up. Tai yawned loudly and stretched out just as a servant with long green hair stepped in. "My lord Taichi, I have drawn you and Augumon your baths and a change of clothes is ready for you," he said, bowing respectfully.
"Thank you, Cray," Tai addressed the green-haired servant. He got out of bed wearing only a pair of dark blue braies and popped his neck a few times. "I'll awaken Augumon. You're dismissed. We'll just call if we need you."
Cray smiled and bowed. "Thank you, my lord." With that, he turned and walked down the hall. Cray had been one of Tai's three personal servants since childhood and the young lord regarded the green-haired man as an uncle instead of a butler.
Tai nudged Augumon. "Come on. Wake up."
Augumon stirred but didn't get off his bed of coins.
Tai smirked. He had an idea, though it was only a wild shot. "Hey Augumon? Biyomon wants to see you," he said slowly. Tai had noticed last night how the two digimon had been staying fairly close and talking animatedly for most of the evening. It was incredibly cute to watch, as Lady Kamiya never tired of reminding everyone. She hadn't been that excited since she saw Gatomon and Patamon in a similar scenario.
The orange lizard digimon sprang up with a start. "Where," he asked excitedly. When he saw Tai laughing he frowned. "Very funny." Augumon put his clawed hands on his hips and puffed and indignant cloud of smoke towards the cieling.
Tai regained his composure and straightened up. "I'm sorry. But we need to get ready. Come on."
Still grumbling, Augumon followed Tai down the hall to the bath room. As Cray promised, two hot baths were ready. Tai took off his braies and stepped into the water, taking a minute to relax. Augumon climbed into his digimon-sized bath and stared at the ceiling. The two friends sat in silence for a moment before an evil smirk crossed Augumon's face. Tai was now staring out the window, oblivious to reality and Augumon turned to the door. "Oh, hello Sora!"
Tai jumped and looked toward the door, his face beat red. When he saw no one their and turned to see Augumon choking back laughter, he scowled. The scowl quickly became a smile though and Tai soon started laughing heartily with his counterpart. "I suppose I deserved that."
"Yeah. We know each other too well, though," Augumon responded, wiping a tear from his cheek.
"So there is something between you and Biyomon," Tai smirked.
"Like you and Sora are any better," Augumon retorted. "You just fall all over a girl with brown eyes."
"Aha! Her eyes are red," Tai shot back haughtily.
"Aha! Thank you for proving my point," Augumon exclaimed.
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A half-hour later, Tai and Augumon joined everyone at breakfast. The meal went by rather uneventfully until the guards burst in dragging a tall blue-haired boy and a short young boy with brown hair and green eyes by chains. The blue-haired boy wore a blue tunic with black trousers and shoes with spectacles over his eyes and had a white tabard over all of it with a blue medical cross emlbazened on the front and a similar cross which everyone knew represented reliability on the back. The younger boy wore sandals, wide-legged white pants, and a powder blue gi. The young boy was glaring at a guard on his left who held a wakizashi in its scabbard.
"My lords," piped one of the men. He was Eckrin, one of the land owners. He had only been around a short while but no one in the royal houses liked him as he was very cold and uncaring. "We found these two foreigners going through my land. The small one carries a weapon, which I absolutely forbid on my territory, and the other claims to be a healer, though I think he has other intentions. Foreign scum are never what they seem."
Through all of this, everyone at the table was shocked, but Tai was seething. He stood up so quickly that he knocked his chair over. "How dare you," the young lord shouted. "How dare you make such foul accusations against anyone!"
Eckrin was surprised by Taichi's outburst along with everyone else but kept a level head. "But my lord, you know that we can't trust forgeigners. They always harbor ideas of coup and rebellion."
This time, Sora lost her temper. She stood beside Tai and shrieked at Eckrin. "You bastard!" Every head in the room snapped towards Sora. "I am not of this land! I am foreign to Odaiba! Don't you dare insult my honor!" She was going red in the face from yelling. Before Tai could speak to her, Sora jumped over the table, stormed over to Eckrin and to everyone's shock, slapped him so hard that he was sent staggering. The amazon was positively furious at the insults to her integrity and honor.
Eckrin sneered as he regained his orientation. "You little harlot," he shouted indignantly. "I'll have you thrown in chains for that!" With that threat, he slapped Sora right back.
Matt was about to open his mouth to speak when Tai jumped over the table as Sora did, but instead of slapping the cruel land owner, Tai surprised everyone, even Sora. He punched Eckrin in the stomach, pulled him into an arm lock, then threw him several feet after popping his arm out of the socket. As Tai walked over to the beaten land owner, his fists were visibly trembling with rage. "Don't ever do that again," Tai said in his most dangerous voice.
Sora was hurt by Eckrin's insults and was livid when he struck her, but was quickly growing afraid of Tai's anger. The guards holding the two boys were as pale as sheets.
Tai calmed himself a little with a few deep breaths. "I am revoking your privelages as a land-owner. You may keep what property you have bought with your own money, but I will hand the rights of the land over to someone with empathy and competence. Now get out of my sight, you heartless bastard." Tai was glaring death at the cowering Eckrin and his voice was like ice.
Eckrin wanted to say "Yes, sir," but only managed a feeble squeek and scurried out of the room.
Tai turned to the guards. "Release those two," he said and gestured toward the two stunned prisoners. "And return their possessions to them."
The guards did as they were told and faced a still stern-faced Tai. "I will not fault you for Eckrin's stupidity," he told them. "Dismissed."
The guards hurried off breathing sighs of relief. They soon rounded a corner and disappeared from view and Tai's icy glare.
There was a long silence before Lady Kamiya spoke up. "Son?"
Tai took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. "I'm alright."
Matt clapped loudly. "Bravo, Tai," he shouted. "Stunning performance!"
Davis joined Matt in giving Tai a standing ovation as Takeru and Hikari just sat still as statues staring at Tai in disbelief. None of them had seen that side to him before.
Sora walked up to Tai and placed a hand on his forehead. He let his fingers hover only millimeters above the red hand mark on her face almost guiltily. "Thank you," the amazon told him, "for defending those two and me." She stood on tip-toes and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, which sent a jolt through Tai's body.
Lady Kamiya went from stunned silence to absolute euphoria at the sight before her. She rushed up to her son and Sora and hugged both of them. "Oh that is so sweet," she shrilled. "When are you two getting married? I had no idea you had gotten along so well so quickly! Oh this is wonderful!"
"Mother," protested Tai, blushing furiously along with Sora. "We're not getting married." 'Why was I reluctant to say that? Could it be possible,' he thought. "It was just a kiss on the cheek." 'Just? Then why did it feel so... good,' he silently wondered.
Augumon was still at the digimon table sitting next to Biyomon and laughing hysterically. "I knew it! I knew it," he shouted between gasps for air.
"What's so funny," Gabumon asked, his voice dripping with curiosity.
Augumon explained the early morning events, except about Tai's teasing him about Biyomon, and soon had the whole table of digimon roaring with laughter.
TK recovered from his shock and went over to the two new guests. "I'm sorry about that. We've been looking for a reason to get rid of Eckrin for a while."
"It's alright," said the blue-haired healer. "Um... could you help us with these chains?"
"Certainly." Takeru picked up the keys Eckrin dropped during his beating and unlocked the manacles. "There. Again, I apologize for this inconvenience. I am Lord Takeru Ishida. And you two?"
"My name is Jyou Kido, some just call me Joe," said the blue-haired boy. "I was telling the truth when I said I was a healer. I'm a professional surgeon and well trained in poison antidotes."
The brown-haired boy bowed deeply. "I am Iori Hida, also known as Cody." He had an odd whispery tone to his voice, as if he was trying not to be heard. "I was only passing through these lands when that Eckrin arrested me for carrying my sword."
TK sighed. "For a third time, I am truly sorry. We should have just kicked Eckrin from the land a long time ago."
Joe raised a tentative hand. "Could you do us a favor? We both have digivices and digimon, but they were confiscated when we were arrested. Could you please return them to us?"
Izzy was at their side in a flash. "Digivices, you say? And bonded digimon?"
Joe had a samll sweatdrop. "Uh...yes."
Yolei put a hand on Izzy's shoulder and dragged him back to the table. "Finish your food and give those two some time to get over their ordeal before we drown them in questions."
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Out in the palace gardens, Tai was helping Sora with her melee skills. He was teaching her how to use an axe since it could also be thrown, a style she was already skilled with. "Widen your stance," he corrected her. Tai stood behind her and took her hand holding the weapon in his. "Now, up. Down. Up. Down," he said, guiding her through the motions. "One. Fluid. Stroke." He stepped away and looked into her eyes.
Sora, trying to hide her fluttering heartbeat simply stated "This could cleave a man's skull."
Tai took the axe from her hand and hurled it off in one direction where it embedded itself in a wooden bench. "Like a pudding," he smirked. He could feel his heart begin to slowly melt as the amazon smiled back at him.
Sora felt that each day, each moment, she was growing closer to Taichi. Remembering how he had defended her this morning, her heart skipped several beats.
Meanwhile, up on one of several balconies that over-looked the gardens, Takeru and Hikari watched the two of them. TK had a very amused smirk on his lips, while Kari was wearing a dreamy expression over her face. "Aren't they just so lovely together," she asked.
"Yes," the blonde-haired lord said, taking his betrothed's hand. "But not as much so as us."
Kari felt her cheeks redden. For the past several months, the sorceress noticed, TK was always acting very chivalrous and sometimes romantic. She turned to face him with an emberassed grin.
"Lord Takeru! Where is that boy!" A female servant could be heard shouting and storming around. She obviously was in a rather disgruntled mood.
"I guess I have to go," TK said reluctantly. He let go of Kari's hand and gave her a kiss on her forehead before turning and walking in the direction the bellowing came from.
Kari stood still. That kiss had sent a surge through her body greater than any lightning bolt. The sorceress just stood there, savoring the moment. She could have stood there all day if Davis hadn't picked that time to show up.
He smiled and walked over to her, trying to look charismatic, though unsuccessfully. "Hello there, Kari," he said leaning on the railing.
"Mm-hmm." Lady Hikari just continued staring off into space with her face red.
Daisuke's smile vanished. He snapped his fingers in front of the girl's face, but she didn't even blink.
"Hello?" The young squire was beginning to get a little worried now.
"Yes TK," she said dreamily.
Davis immediately scowled. "It's me! Davis! Your brother's squire?!"
Kari came out of her trance though still blushing. "Oh, I'm sorry." Her voice was still distant. She touched the spot where her betrothed had kissed her and giggled.
Davis sweatdropped as he stared at her. "Are you sick, or something?"
The sorceress just let out a lovestrrck sigh. "TK kissed me," she said, once again oblivious to reality.
"What?!" Daisuke was now seeing red. "That does it," he shouted indignantly. "Where did he go, its time we settled this!"
Tai and Sora looked up to where Davis was shouting. "Oh fantastic," Taichi groaned. "I know that tone of voice. He's about to do something emberrassing and stupid." Tai sighed then looked up at Sora. "Well he needs to learn the hard way. Want to go watch?"
"Sure," Sora shrugged.
Tai offered his arm and was surprised when the girl accepted it. The brown-haired knight looked up seeing his sister come out of her euphoric trance as Davis stormed off. "I'm guessing he's after TK. Kari only gets that look for one person."
The two of them walked arm-in-arm back into the palace. As Cray walked by, Tai asked where Lord Takeru was and the butler informed him that Lord and Lady Ishida had called for him to meet them in the atrium. (AN: Yes, I know the atrium is Roman, but I thought it would be cool to mix a few existing world cultures in this story. Don't like it? Bite me) "This should be interesting," Tai frowned.
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Tai and Sora entered the atrium as Lord and Lady Ishida were nervously trying to give their youngest son 'The Talk' and so far had only managed to stammer out a few incomplete sentences. Sora went into a fit of giggling, though tried to hide it so she didn't interrupt them. TK was looking rather confused by his parents' incoherent babbling and wondered just what had them so unnerved.
Davis burst into the room, positively fuming. "There you are," he yelled at Takeru.
"Oh, hello Daisuke," TK said, relieved at a distraction from his parents. At this point, Kari ran in out of breath from trying to keep up with Davis. The blonde boy smiled and enthusiastically greeted Hikari. "Hello Hikari. What are you two doing here?"
Davis caught his breath and stood up straight. "I challenge yout to a duel for Lady Hikari!" His voice was dripping with anger, and his eyes almost seemed to glow red.
There was a silence in the air for a few moments. You could hear a pin drop in the stillness. Then, everyone except Davis burst out into hysterical laughter. Tai was leaning against the wall with one hand on his forehead and the other on his stomach while Sora put her arms around his neck and leaned against him to keep from falling over. Lord and Lady Ishida were holding onto each other with tears of laughter going down their faces. TK was staggering, unable to keep his footing steady, while Kari was on her knees, slapping one hand on the floor. Tai opened his eyes and saw Davis visibly shaking with rage. He stopped laughing immediately. "Wait a second he's serious." Abruptly, the laughter ceased as quickly as it came. There was silence once again, though this time it was a very tense stillness. No one even breathed for a few seconds.
Finally, TK scowled. "Daisuke Motomiya, I am not going to fight you," TK said. His composure remained totally unfazed, but his voice was dead serious. "I will not fight you for two reasons. First of all, because this is incredibly stupid. Lady Hikari is not some prize to be won. Second, you know I will win." There was no boasting behind the blonde lord's words. He spoke almost tonelessly, though his blue eyes were warning the brash Daisuke to back down.
Davis growled. "You'll fight me or I'll just kill you where you stand!"
"Davis!" Tai stormed over to his squire and slapped him smartly across the face (AN: There seems to be a lot of that in this chapter.). "Have I taught you nothing?!" Tai was now fuming. "A knight never murders in cold blood! He fights the wicked and those who threaten his kingdom and people!" Taichi balled his hands into fists until his knuckles were white.
"Tai," TK spoke up. All heads in the room turned to the young lord. "With your permission, I think I will fight and defeat Davis and teach him that violence isn't always the answer to a problem. It will also show him that there is always someone better."
Taichi stood still for a moment, considering the situation. "So be it. In one hour, you two will face each other in the courtyard. There is to be no killing!" Tai added a strict tone to his voice to make sure the last sentence was made clear.
Both boys nodded and glared at each other. This was guaranteed to be most interesting, as Tai had thought.
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One hour later, half the castle arrived in the courtyard to witness the duel. When Kari had heard her brother declare they would fight, she felt her stomach turn a few flips. Her mother assured her that Takeru was an experienced fighter and could win this duel.
The consolation didn't ease the tension, though. As Cray drew the circle the combatants would enter in chalk, the anxiety in the air became almost tangible. Joe stood just outside the circle with Gomamon, ready to treat any wounds Takeru or Daisuke had once the duel was over. Kari stood next to them, nervously wringing her hands. Her brother had made it clear there was to be no killings, but this was a situation where so much could go wrong.
Tai looked down at his little sister. He too wished this didn't have to happen. Takeru was already beginning to feel like family to him and he already had begun treating the young lord as a baby brother instead of a friend. But Davis was the same. The brash squire looked up to Taichi like a father figure and the knight was beginning to grow into the role. Sora stood next to him, holding his hand with anxiety in her eyes. Tai squeezed her hand, seeking comfort as footsteps broke the silence. Matt stood on the opposite side of the circle from Kari and the others with his parents. They were all on the verge of tears. This wasn't like any fight they had been in before. This was a duel for a pointless cause made in malice. If something went wrong and either TK or Davis was killed, there would be no honor or glory in their demise, only grief. It was a grim situation indeed.
TK entered the courtyard first. He wore his usual leather cap with neckguard along with the same green doublet, trousers, and boots he always wore, but now he put on a flexible studded leather breastplate and strapped a leather pauldron to his left shoulder. His green cape flowed behind him as he walked, but he quickly unfastened the brooch and let it fall to the ground before he stepped in the circle and drew his swords. Even though there was a slim chance of Davis using real strategy when he fought, there was no sense in taking unnecessary risks and giving his opponent a leverage point.
Davis strode in stone-faced carrying a greatsword with him and wearing a steel breastplate strapped to his torso.
"Alright," shouted Tai when the two had entered the circle. "You two shall fight until I command you to stop. You shall not fight to kill your opponent. If one of you is rendered unable to fight or leaves the circle, you will lose the duel." Tai made gestures as he spoke to emphasize his points. Though he spoke calmly, the brown-haired lord was tempted to call off the duel right there. "These are highly unusual methods, but we don't want to lose anyone today. Understood?"
TK and Davis nodded, though they're eyes never strayed from each other.
Taichi sighed, realizing neither one was going to back down. "Good," he said flatly. There was nothing good about any of this. "Begin!"
Daisuke immediately rushed forward, bearing his sword above his head. A loud battle-cry erupted from his throat as he swung down.
TK nimbly jumped aside and kicked Davis in the hollow of his knee, sending him flat on his back. The blonde lord scowled. If he hadn't dodged, he probably would have been killed. Takeru was right, Davis wasn't thinking before acting. This made it so much more dangerous.
Davis recovered by rolling backwards and brought his sword up. The brash squire sneered. "You're going to pay for that TC."
"My name is Takeru," the blonde boy shot back. He threw a round kick at Davis and hit him in the side. TK took his window of oppurtunity and came in, batting his opponent's greatsword away with his longsword and putting his shortsword to Davis' throat. "You lose."
Davis scowled. "Not yet," he growled and brought his knee up hard into TK's groin, knocking the wind out of his adversary and sending him staggering backwards in pain.
As TK recoiled trying to catch his second wind, Kari was beside herself. She could plainly see that Davis was capable of killing her betrothed and fear and anxiety overtook the sorceress. Meanwhile, Tai was shaking with anger. Davis was blatantly going against everything Tai had taught him. His squire was too caught up in himself and his jealousy to care about anything else. Taichi wanted badly to stop this, but none of the circumstances were right to do so.
Daisuke charged Takeru and slammed his shoulder against him, sending the boy on his back. "You said something about you winning," Davis said arrogantly.
To everyone's surprise, TK stood up and got into a defensive stance, gritting his teeth against the dull ache in his groin. "I'm just getting started." The young lord came in with a diagnol cut upward which Davis blocked. TK then quickly swung his other arm down and bludgeoned Daisuke over the head with the pommel of his shortsword.
The brown-haired squire staggered backward. His head was reeling and he was seeing double.
TK jumped and pulled a flying round kick, striking Davis upside the head once again. He landed and swung both blades at his opponent's greatsword. The clash of metal on metal rang out through the courtyard and the two-handed blade hit the flagstone ground then slid out of the ring stopping at the feet of Lord Yamato, who until now, couldn't bear to watch the abuse his little brother was taking. Everyone gasped as they saw Daisuke laying on the ground with a trickle of blood running down his chin from his lip and his nose bleeding with TK sanding over him stone-faced with his longsword pointed inches from the fallen squire's forehead. "I'm going to let you up," the blonde lord said. There was no emotion behind his speech, it was delivered in a cold monotone that could send chills up your spine. "If you insist, I will give you your sword and we can continue this fracas to its final stupidity. Or," at this point TK lifted his sword away and moved away from Davis, "you can come to your senses. Which is it going to be?"
Davis stared at TK for a moment then finally sighed in defeat and humiliation. "You win," he said, almost inaudibly.
"The duel has ended," Tai shouted as he walked into the circle. "Lord Takeru is the victor!"
There was no cheering. Instead, there was murmuring among the servants and they moved aside to clear a path as the defeated Daisuke walked off without a word.
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The next day during training, Taichi was still upset with his squire. He frowned as he lazily blocked each of Davis' attacks. The wooden swords clashed together loudly, echoing throughout the old ruins still stained with blood from the battle the other day. "Come on," Taichi ordered crossly. "Stop trying to hit me and hit me." The brown-haired knight was not holding back and without knowing it, began fighting offensively, pushing Davis back.
The brash young boy was hard-pressed to keep up with his master. Soon, Tai had knocked the practice sword from his hand and pinned him to a wall with the edge of his own weapon against the boy's throat.
"I'm still very disappointed in you," Tai growled. "Practice is over for today. I want you to reread the knight's code. Tomorrow, I will test you on how much you know about courage, valor, and honor." At this point Taichi narrowed his eyes. "If I am not satisfied, the lessons will be repeated again and again without leave until you get it right. Understood?"
Davis simply nodded. He hadn't spoken to anyone, even Veemon since the duel. He knew why his master was angry with him. The boy was wracked with guilt and shame. He no longer felt he could look Takeru or Hikari in the eye again.
The ride home was made in silence. Daisuke went to his quarters and laid upon the bed, staring towards the ceiling for hours.
"Davis?" Veemon shook his friend's shoulder. The draconic digimon had been worried about Daisuke. The boy's silence had been very unsettling.
"Why do these things always happen to me," the brown-haired squire asked softly.
"What?"
"Why do I always get humiliated in front of everyone? What did I do to deserve this?" Davis' voice was flat and monotone. He didn't have his usual spirit and manic energy.
"What do you mean? Just because you lost a duel..." Veemon was cut off by his counterpart.
"Exactly. I lost. I made a fool of myself in starting that fight." Davis sighed sadly. "Kari probably hates me now."
The little digimon patted his friend's arm reassuringly. "It's not the end of the world. So Tai's a little mad. You know he takes a while to let things drop. And Kari and TK told me they've forgiven you." That was all Veemon needed to say.
The brown-haired squire turned over to face his bonded companion. "Really?" Relief started to spread across his face when Veemon nodded yes. Davis sat up and smirked. "I guess I have been over-reacting a lot these days."
"Yeah," Veemon assured him. "Things aren't as bad as you think. Try to be more positive."
Davis nodded. "Thank you. I needed that."
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In the courtyard, Cody was showing Tai his fighting abilities. For someone so young, the boy handled his wakizashi with great skill.
"Very nice," Taichi said, deeply impressed. "Where did you learn to fight like that? You're a natural."
Iori looked down sadly. "My mentor taught me much before he died. There was a plague back in my homelands. My family and teacher didn't make it."
"Oh." Tai put a comforting hand on the young warrior's shoulder. "I'm sorry." The brown-haired knight didn't know what else to say. He had never suffered such a loss, thus he couldn't say he fully understood what Cody must be feeling.
The young orphan was silent, but looked up to Taichi. His green eyes showed he was thankful for the sympathy of another.
At this time, Armadillomon walked into the courtyard. "Hey, Cody," the digimon called.
"Yes?"
"That scholar boy, Izzy, wants to talk with us. He said we wanted to ask some questions about me and how you got your digivice. You know, questions like that."
"Alright." Iori turned and bowed to Tai. "I'll talk with you later Lord Kamiya."
Tai smiled and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You can call me Tai. All my friends do, and I feel I can trust you as a friend." Taichi really did trust this boy. He was always very honest and straightforward.
Cody smiled. "Thank you." With that, he turned and left with Armadillomon who headed for the castle's library where Izzy would be waiting.
