Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Captive Complications ❯ Parle Vu la Truth? ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer:

Don't own it.

Warnings:

(1) There will be no lemon. Rating will stay at PG-13. (2) Having studied only Spanish and Japanese, my French in the chapter title is downright rotten. In this instance, I'd rather not be corrected, as I won't be using it ever again. ^_^ (3) And, since I warned people over in DM, but not here: I write s-l-o-w-l-y. Not sure when the next part will be out, but I will finish eventually.

Author's Notes:

(The fourth chapter of Dark Masquerade is about 50% done. It, too, will be coming slowly. Hopefully within the next month. ^^;;; The boys aren't behaving.)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, poked, and prodded. ^_^ This chappie's for you! Enjoy!

4. Parle Vu la Truth?

The brunet didn't waste any time while Yamato lay stunned on the ground. Though his hands were bound securely behind his back, he straddled the prone King and began to pound Yamato with the one part of his anatomy he could control: his shoulder.

Yamato, for his part, could have escaped easily from Taichi's movements once the blonde had caught his breath, but he chose not to. The pounding, with all of Taichi's rocking back and forth, was much more pleasurable to the lower half of his body than it was uncomfortable to his upper half. Yamato began to arch his hips for more of that delicious contact. Taichi, whether or not he noticed the added effect of his actions, continued at a determined pace.

Involved with each other as they were, neither noticed that they had an audience until a cough sounded -- loudly.

Taichi looked up in mid-whomp and saw Sir Koushiro. The man's face was bright red and his eyes were opened wide in shock. Next to him stood an odd youth with delicate features garbed in a green cloak. The tips of his ears, nearly lost in the wild tangle of his hair, were pointed. A nymph. A smirking nymph who was also looking like he was privy to a private joke. Taichi shoved against the King once more for good measure, then let his arms relax and he rested himself on the yielding softness beneath him. Now comfortable, he turned his head and prepared himself for a period of extended glaring.

As time ticked on and still no words had been spoken, Koushiro's eyes and the nymph's smirk grew wider.

"Do you have a problem?" he ground out. He'd never seen a man's face that exact shade of red before.

The knight gulped. "Uh... um, Your Highness... wha-what are you d-doing?" he stammered, forgetting entirely why he was here.

King Yamato squirmed beneath the Prince's weight and Taichi gave him another shove before glaring at the two men he supposed were here to 'rescue' him. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm bludgeoning him to unconsciousness with my shoulder!"

The nymph opened his mouth to comment that it looked like Taichi was energetically pressing himself against the blonde beneath him and quickly drawing away in an imitation of sex, but he was cut off by another of Taichi's glares and a sharp elbow from Koushiro.

"Whoever you are, don't answer that," the Prince ordered. "Especially if you're going to say what I think you're going to say."

The nymph shrugged amicably and politely offered to help Taichi to his feet. Taichi glared at him again, snapping his teeth at the fingers when they got too close. He took a long disgruntled look at Koushiro's extended arm, then huffed and got to his feet under his own power... a process that took several minutes and much cursing.

"Let's go," he said, pretending to ignore the smile on the face of the blond he had been trying to beat into submission. But as he began walking away, a firm tug at the hem of his dress threatened to either trip him or tear the fabric loose. Not liking either situation, he turned and set his glare on the one person who actually deserved it.

King Yamato stood up and dusted himself off, wincing only slightly when the muscles in his chest protested the movement. "I'm afraid that's not an option," he said, shaking his head. "I set out to kidnap Hikari with a reason. The fact that I have to deal with you instead, changes little."

Taichi cocked his head to the side. "There's three of us and one of you."

"And I have but to utter one word and my guards will come and restrain you all," Yamato said evenly, not bothering not mention that he could just as easily order the guards to do something less pleasant than binding them with strong rope.

Brown eyes clashed with blue, neither man speaking.

Koushiro cleared his throat and both warring gazes fell upon him. "I have been authorized by King Yagami to negotiate for the return of his heir." Now that the Prince was no longer on top of King Yamato, Koushiro was able to think properly, or so the knight hoped. "To be blunt, King Yamato, you obviously expect to gain something. Let's behave like civilized adults and state plainly what it is that we're after. Problems are always easier to solve when people are direct about what they want."

Reluctantly, the King nodded. "I was told by --" Yamato saw the wisdom in the knight's words, but speaking the plain truth was just too embarrassing. "I was told that if I could make the forest called 'Lover's Glen' part of my lands, I would... prosper." By finding his true love. He was crazy for believing the old fortune teller, but the old man had been so accurate in predicting the loves of first the villagers and then the courtiers that he dared not dismiss the bearded man's foreseeing.

Koushiro was about to reply that one forest out of many seemed a welcome and opportune trade, for the forest in question lay just inside the border. It was just a matter of redrawing the line on the maps. King Yamato was equally loved as King Yagami and he doubted the inhabitants of the area would protest. But before he could accept the trade, the Prince growled.

"You're never going to get it. My mother, not to mention my father, is very fond of that place. They vacation in the neighboring town frequently." Prince Taichi was in no mood to cater to his kidnapper's wishes. He couldn't stop the thought that the King was cute when he was pissed from flashing through his mind. He diverted his mind away from the other's blue flashing eyes by working on his special frown/glare combination.

Koushiro looked helplessly between the two angry men. Focusing on the Prince, since he knew him best, he said, "Please try to be reasonable, Your Highness. Your father does not want to go to war."

Irritated by Taichi's outright refusal, King Yamato scoffed, "Only an idiot would tell a hulking oaf wearing a pink ballgown to be reasonable."

"Hey!" Taichi and Koushiro snapped in unison. Then the knight's eyes tracked over his Prince's attire.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"Yes, I'd be delighted to know the reason, or lack-thereof, behind that stunning ensemble," the King chipped in cuttingly.

Taichi found himself sputtering. He didn't want to admit that he had followed an anonymous note that had said that the curse he had been under since birth could be broken if he put on a dress and waited in his sister's bedroom. He also fervently prayed that no one would think to ask where he had gotten the dress. Both men were waiting for an answer. He gnashed his teeth angrily, unable to find an explanation that was anything less than ridiculously silly. And the damn bastards just smirked at his silence.

The only person he wasn't furious with was the nymph... who should have been smirking too. But the creature, face drawn and deathly pale, made a pained moan and collapsed.

Koushiro knelt beside his companion, feeling for a pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found one. A shaky hand reached up to grab at the fabric of his shirt.

"I've been away too long," the nymph said in a pained whisper. "I thought I could --" His eyes rolled back and he tried to regain focus. "You must take me to my home in Lover's Glen, or you won't be enjoying my pretty face for much longer. Your questions..." The strained grin faded and he made the effort to look at each of them in turn, "... all of them, will be answered there. Take me... HOME..."

Eyes closing, the nymph went limp and, no matter what they did, could not be roused.

Yamato, having the authority of Kingship, was the one to say it: "Well, now what?" By rights, he should have demanded action rather than soliciting suggestions, but he had his own reasons for agreeing to help the nymph and he preferred to keep them hidden for the time being.

Taichi was in a foul enough mood to not care about the loss of a wood nymph, but he was alert enough to notice the hint of worry in the knight's eyes and the subtle caress given to the unnaturally white cheek. Glad that the man had finally stopped pining constantly over his sister and himself, he gave King Yamato a harsh look. "We take him."

Koushiro nodded his agreement and his eyes fell to Yamato. If the King decided to lock them up, the nymph would die. Koushiro didn't want that to happen and the strength of the feeling surprised him. He opened his mouth to demand the King's cooperation, prepared to site the knowledge that could be gained from the fabled creature, but his Prince beat him to it.

"Yamato? We'll go together. I don't want a war and I suspect neither do you, but I vow to return with you if an agreement cannot be reached at the Glen."

The King's heart sped up. The glint in the brown eyes was honesty... and that meant that he had a chance. But to leave the palace? Surely, it would be quicker to move with just the four of them. More men would slow them down. It was irresponsible, but for what was foreseen and promised to him, he would gladly take the chance. "I have questions I want answered," he said slowly, knowing that a wrong answer on his part might provoke violence. Taichi seemed to be just as concerned about the nymph as he was his love-struck knight. "We will take him. Together." The knight's face brightened and he turned to his Prince joyfully. Taichi favored him with a small smile.

There was a sweeter side to the Prince mixed in with the tart. Perhaps Yamato would find his true love in the forest of Lover's Glen after all.

But already, Taichi was moving away and Yamato took the opportunity to admire the view. "And maybe I'll take you, too," he murmured under his breath.

TBC...