Hello! So this is going to be my new story. It is more adventurous and dramatic than Memories Are Inside Our Hearts, and it'll take place during medieval times. It will be 100% Takumi, though. I am trying something new so let's see how it goes. Feel free to make any reviews you want because I love reading and responding to them :)

Also, I'm sorry if this chapter seems a bit long. It's the prologue for you all to understand many key things that will happen throughout the story, but I promise it will be worth it. And if you read my other story, you'll know my stories always get more and more exciting ;)

I might also note that I may not be updating as much as I used to, but I will do my best to do it at least three times a week.

Hope you enjoy this new story and let me know what you think! :D

Forbidden Infatuation

Chapter 1: Prologue – A Tale of Two Cities

NORMAL POV:

The kingdom of Erelaria had once been a place where people lived in peace. No one had any reasons to fight among each other, for they everyone had what they needed. The kingdom did not know of things like hunger, poverty or even illnesses. The king at the time was known as King Gaku. He ruled the land along the side of his wife, Queen Namie, who was known to be the most beautiful woman in the entire kingdom, and she was always very kind to all of her subjects. Everyone loved her. One person might have loved her too much.

King Gaku's younger brother, Prince Nao, became obsessed with the queen. He followed her everywhere as he tried his best to conquer her kind heart, but his love was unreturned. Queen Namie's heart had always belonged to King Gaku. Ever since they were children, they had become the best of friends and did everything together. Because Gaku would take over the throne and would be in need of a queen, Gaku's father had arranged Namie to become his wife. She was the duchess's daughter, so she was perfectly suitable for the title. Nao's jealousy towards his brother only grew. He had resented that Gaku had been chosen to become king in the first place, but now he was taking the love of his life away from him as well.

One night, Nao lost it. He could not bear it anymore. Queen Namie received a letter from "Gaku", telling her to meet her in the courtyard. She found it rather odd that her husband would send her a letter instead of telling her to her face. But despite her original suspicions, she decided to go. She put on her scarlet red dress that she wore on their very first date, to surprise him. The surprise, however, was on her. When she got to the courtyard, Nao was waiting for her; hidden in the shadows of one of the trees. Nao tried confessing his love once and for all to Namie, and asked her to run away with him. She tried reasoning with him by telling Nao that her heart belonged to Gaku, and that it was wrong of him to do this to his own brother. When listening to those words, Nao lost all of his senses. He took her by the wrist and forced himself on her. He pinned her against the floor and took out a dagger. He swore that if he couldn't have her, then no one else ever would. Queen Namie screamed and guards starting running to her aid, but they were too late. Nao plunged his dagger, deep into her heart and pulled it out. A lifeless Namie lay there, with blood covering her body.

When the guards finally arrived, they saw Nao holding the Queen's heart in his hands and Namie dead on the floor. After a few seconds of initial shock, Gaku came from behind the guards to find such a shocking scenario. King Gaku got down to his knees and cried his heart out. To this, Nao smirked and laughed uncontrollably. He finally got his revenge on his brother for taking everything from him. It was time he paid. King Gaku ordered his guards into banishing Nao from his kingdom and that he was never to return to Erelaria. Nao smiled and agreed, but not before swearing that some day he would create his own army, his own kingdom and that he would return and Erelaria would perish under Gaku's own eyes.

Years passed, and Nao became the ruler of Lamia – a beautiful land across the vast sea of Erelaria. It was a very wide sea, but you could see the two territories from afar. The two kingdoms entered an endless battle that has lasted for the past 150 years. The attacks were constant and people always had to be on the look out for people from the other sides. They were not allowed to talk to each other. Children were trained from their vary early years into hating their enemy and for the men to become great soldiers.

Today, Lamia was governed by King Tadao. He was once a good man and wanted for Lamia and Erelaria to become one. But when his wife Misty had passed away in a boating accident 12 years ago, his heart turned to stone. He believed that Erelaria was to blame, since it was their boat that had crashed into his wife's boat. Within Tadao's grief, he lost sight of his goals and decided to destroy Erelaria.

On the other side of the sea, Erelaria was ruled by King Yutaka. He was a very old, intelligent man who had impressive combat skills for his age. He and Tadao were close to coming to a peaceful agreement, but then Queen Misty's accident happened. He was told that the fishermen from Erelaria meant no harm, but had had technical problems with their steering wheel and could not prevent crashing their much larger boat into the Queen's small one. He tried reasoning with Tadao but he couldn't do it. He had to prepare himself for any surprise attacks from Lamia. Yutaka had two sons. Twins, to be exact. They both had raven hair and sapphire eyes. Kouji, the eldest by two minutes, had longer hair that was always tied back into a ponytail. Kouichi, on the other hand, had shorter hair that flew freely. Both children had excellent soldier skills. Kouji was better with swords and physical fighting. Kouichi was better with tactics. Nevertheless, these skills were almost equal.

ERELARIA: 12 years ago.

One day, when the twins were about eight-years-old, they were heading to school with their father where they were being taught how to be warriors. On their way there, however, they saw a man from a booth yelling at a small boy about their same age. The boy was struggling to free himself from the vender's grip, but it was useless. The vender took the boy's wrist and placed against the table. Then, he took a knife and raised his arm while the boy's eyes widened in shock.

"HEY!" cried Kouji, jumping off the carriage and running towards the auburn haired boy.

"Kouji!" cried King Yutaka, after his son.

The vender and the boy both turned to see Kouji running towards them. The vender's eyes widened in shock and he dropped the knife and let go of the boy immediately.

"Prince Kouji!" said the vender, bowing in front of him.

"What do you think you're doing to this boy?" asked Kouji, as Kouichi and his father started getting off the carriage.

"I-I… I was about to… um… Well, you see your highness… he was about to steal from me! I caught him trying to sneak out with a couple of apples!"

"That's not true!" said the boy, stepping in. "I promise I wasn't stealing. I was going to ask my mom and dad if we could have some because we haven't eaten in days. I grabbed a couple and was going to show them but he thought I was stealing. I swear, I wasn't."

"You insolent, little – "

"Enough!" said Yutaka as he approached the vender, the boy and Kouji, followed by Kouichi.

"Your majesty!" bowed the vender. "It's a privilege to be honored with your presence."

The king nodded and turned to the boy. "Where are your parents, kid?"

"They're over there," he said, pointing at a store. "They're inside seeing if they can find a job."

"All right, let's go see them", answered the king. Kouji and Kouichi patted on the boy's shoulder and smiled. The vender looked over to his young son in the corner, who had been watching the entire thing, and sighed. He then ordered his employee to take over while he followed the king into the store.

Once inside, they saw a couple talking to the man in the counter with a younger boy.

"Mom, dad!" said the boy. The couple in the counter turned around and saw their son running towards them.

His mom was about to smile, when she noticed the group that was standing behind her son. "Is everything all right?"

"King Yutaka", said the man as he bowed in front of his ruler.

The king had a puzzled look on his face. He thought very carefully because this man seemed very familiar.

"Hiroaki?" the king asked. "Hiroaki Kanbara?"

Hiroaki smiled and nodded. "You haven't forgotten me, I see?"

The king and Hiroaki exchanged laughs and hugged each other.

"Oh, it's good to see you old friend", said the king,

"Likewise, your majesty."

"To what do I owe the pleasure of such a visit?"

Hiroaki's face cringed. "We moved here a few days ago. There was a fire over at Teatram, where my family and me lived. Some invaders took control over the city and we had to flee. I tried seeing you as soon as I got here, but your subjects seemed to say that you were too busy."

The king frowned and put his hand on Hiroaki's shoulder. "I am truly sorry for the events that have occurred in your life. You are more than welcome here and I will make sure you and your family are attended as needed. You saved my life on countless occasions when you worked as a knight under my army. We were sad to let you go, but I know that raising a family would be hard with a job like that."

"I appreciate it, your majesty."

"No need to thank me. You were my most loyal warrior, and I owe you for that."

"Daddy, does that mean we're going to be living here?" asked the youngest boy, as he tugged on his father's shirt.

The king laughed and smiled. "So these are you children?"

Hiroaki nodded. "Yes, this is my youngest son, Shinya. And this is my wife, Yuriko."

The short brown-haired woman approached the king and bowed. "It's an honor, your highness."

"The pleasure is all mine, Lady Yuriko", answered the king.

"And this is my oldest son, Takuya", said Hiroaki.

Takuya had auburn hair and chocolate eyes like the rest of his family. He gave the king a half smile and bowed his head.

"Yes, we've met", answered the king with a smile.

"Oh, that's right", said Hiroaki. "How did you meet?"

"He stole my apples!" said the vender. "And then the princes came to see what the commotion was all about."

Yuriko gasped. "Takuya!"

"No!" cried Takuya. "Mother, I swear. I didn't intend to rob them. I wanted to come and ask you if we could have some."

"You're lying!"

"I'm not!"

"Enough!" said the king. He then turned to the vender. "It seems as if it was an honest mistake, sir. Let's just forget the entire thing and move on from here."

"But, your majesty – "

"Are you questioning my authority?" asked King Yutaka, incredulously.

The vender sighed. "No. Of course not, your highness."

The king nodded. "Good. Now, Hiroaki", he said turning to the man with the dark auburn hair, "I would like to have a word with you about a possible job opening I have in my army. You see…"

The king, Hiroaki, Yuriko, Shinya and the vender made their way out of the store. Takuya, Kouji and Kouichi were left behind.

"Thank you for saving me back there," said Takuya, facing Kouji. "I could've lost my arm."

Kouji smiled. "No problem. I didn't think it was right. I'm Kouji by the way."

"Takuya."

"And I'm Kouichi", said the short-haired boy. "Nice meeting you."

"Likewise", smiled Takuya. "So… do you guys like to play 'villains vs. heroes'?"

ERELARIA: 8 years ago.

Four years had passed since Takuya and his family moved back to Erelaria. Hiroaki Kanbara was now head of the King's army and his most trusted advisor. Takuya had become best friends with Kouji and Kouichi, and he was arranged to attend the same school than the King's children. He learned everything about Lamia and how they were the enemy, and trained to become a skillful swordsman. In fact, he was the best swordfighter of his age any of his trainers had ever seen during all their years of teaching.

"He has the heart of a lion", said on of the trainers to the other one, as they watched the twelve-year-old auburn haired boy fight against one of the boys, who was about three years older than him. "He's brave and precise. Some day, he'll be just like his father. Maybe even better."

"Finish him off Takuya!" cried Kouji from the stands, cheering on his best friend.

"You will never win this battle, kid", said the boy facing Takuya. His name was Hiraki Yamamoto. He was three years older than Takuya. His hair was black and he had piercing brown eyes. "Just give up!"

Takuya grinned, and with a swing of his wooden sword, he managed to take out of his opponent's hand. Hiraki's eyes widened and Takuya took the chance to finish him, leaving him on the ground.

"Yeah!" cried Kouji and Kouichi.

Takuya smiled and lent a hand to help Hiraki. "Good match."

Hiraki shoved Takuya's arm to the side and pushed him to the ground, before storming out. "Whatever", he mumbled.

Kouji and Kouichi came running towards Takuya.

"You ok?" asked Kouichi, helping his friend up.

"I'm fine. He's just a bad loser."

"I'll say", chuckled Kouji. "Well, with a swordsman like you, I don't think those stupid Lamians will come coming after Erelaria."

Takuya laughed. "It's going to be a very long time until I even become a warrior. I'm only twelve."

"But you will be when I'm king" said Kouji, with a grin. "We'll be like our fathers."

"What about me?" asked Kouichi. "Just because I'm not the future king, doesn't mean I'm not important!"

"Don't worry, Takuya can protect you too. But I will come first."

"Shut up."

Kouji laughed and turned to face Takuya. He was staring to the horizon where Lamia could be seen from afar.

"Takuya? Is everything ok?"

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, I was just wondering about Lamia. Why is it that we hate them so much?"

Kouji snorted. "Well, because they're evil! They attack Erelaria all the time."

"Yeah, but why? This war has been going on for 150 years. They probably don't even know what they're fighting about anymore."

Kouji and Kouichi exchanged glances.

"I guess you're right", said Kouichi. "It's not like we haven't tried peace before, but it is a complicated situation."

"True," agreed Takuya. "I just hope the war ends sometime."

That night, there was a banquet for everyone in the Erelarian army. They were celebrating their most recent victory against the Lamians in the outskirts of town. Hiroaki Kanbara led Erelaria into victory, and so he was being honored by the king and the rest of his troops. Hiroaki, Yuriko, Shinya and Takuya were sitting in the table, next to the King, Kouji and Kouichi.

"May I have your attention, please?" said the King, as he stood. Everyone went silent and turned to their ruler.

"First of all, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your bravery today in the battle against Lamia. We deserved the great victory that we received!"

"YEAH!" cried the men in unison, clapping their hands and whistling.

"But this victory wouldn't have been possible, if it weren't for the leadership skills of Captain Kanbara!"

The men's cheers grew louder as Hiroaki Kanbara smiled and stood next to the king.

"I will be forever grateful to you, Hiroaki, for all your years of service and loyalty. I can only hope that your young boys grow up to be as great as you."

Hiroaki smiled and bowed. "Thank you, your majesty. I will always serve you as best as I can manage, until my last breathe."

The king smiled and turned towards the men. "Let's all raise a glass, in honor of Captain Kanbara – "

A loud thump interrupted the king's speech. The door bust open and several Lamian soldiers came in rushing towards the room, holding swords.

"Oh my God!" cried Yuriko.

"Yuriko!" yelled Hiroaki. "Get the children and the king out of here! Hide!"

"But – "

"NOW!"

Yuriko's tears began to fall as he took Shinya's and Takuya's hands.

"NO!" cried Takuya. "Father!"

His mother pulled him away before anything happened and she, Shinya, Kouji, Kouichi and the King started running away. They encountered another room and entered it. As they made their way across the room, they searched for a hiding place.

"Over here!" cried Kouji, pulling open a secret passage.

"Let's move!" said Takuya.

They made their way inside one by one, until they were all inside the room. Before Kouji could close the door, Shinya started running away.

"SHINYA!" cried Yuriko, getting out of the hiding place to help her son.

"I forgot my wooden sword!" cried the little seven-year-old boy. "Daddy gave it to me!"

"Shinya, come back here!" cried Yuriko.

Before Shinya could return, two Lamian men entered the room and saw the little boy in front of them. One of them lifted his sword and dug it into Shinya's chest.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" cried Yuriko, falling to her all her fours. Tears were running down her cheeks, uncontrollably. "SHINYAAAAA!"

The men took a look at the woman in front of them and ran towards her.

"MOM!" cried Takuya, who was now sobbing uncontrollably. His own brother had been murdered in front of his own eyes.

Yuriko ran towards them but then changed her path and headed towards the emergency sealing button that would close the entrance of their hiding place, and would not be able to open it unless it was from the inside. She reached the button before the soldiers got to her and turned to give Takuya one last smile.

"I love you, Takuya!"

With that, she pressed the button and the door was immediately closed. The clash of swords and Yuriko's screams could be heard from the other side of the wall.

"MOOOOOOOOM!" cried Takuya, as the king took a hold of him and embraced him. Takuya was shaking and he couldn't stop tears from coming out his eyes. That would be the last time he would ever see his mother and brother ever again.

Time passed, and everything was silent. The king, Kouji, Kouichi and Takuya waited for about 5 hours before leaving their hiding place.

Once outside, they saw the lifeless bodies of Shinya and Yuriko in front of them. Takuya started crying again as he threw himself into his family's bodies. The king came over and patted him on the shoulder.

"I am sorry for your loss, son", he said. "Your mother was an incredibly brave woman in sacrificing herself like that for her children. But we need to find your father and see what's happening. Let's go."

Takuya nodded and silently followed the king. Kouji and Kouichi patted Takuya on the back but couldn't find the right words to say.

When they made their way outside, there were hundreds of lifeless bodies in the floor. Plenty of them were from Erelaria but most of them were Lamians.

"Where do you suppose my father is?" asked Takuya.

"I am not sure, son."

"Your majesty!" cried a young soldier, rushing towards the king. "Your majesty, thank goodness you're all right! We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"I'm all right Shia. What happened?"

"The Lamians, sir. The ambushed the castle and killed many of our men. We manage to kill most of them as well but some escaped."

"And, where's Captain Kanbara?"

Shia lowered his head. "He's… He's over there." He pointed to a group of soldiers surrounding a man in the floor.

"FATHER!" cried Takuya, recognizing him from where they were. He rushed over to his father's side and saw that Hiroaki was covered in blood and barely breathing. Tears began to shed down his eyes again.

"Ta… * cough *… Takuya?"

"Father! Than God you're all right."

Hiroaki smiled weakly. "I am glad you're all right. Where are your mother and Shinya?"

Takuya shut his eyes and shook his head, more tears coming out of his eyes, as he hugged his father. "They… they're dead."

Hiroaki took a deep breath and shed a tear. He then turned towards his son and caressed his hair. "You need to listen to me, Takuya. You're going to be all right. You are one of the bravest young men I've ever known and some day you will make a magnificent warrior. Promise me, you will never stop believing in yourself. Promise me, you will always listen to what your heart says."

"Father…"

"Promise me!"

Takuya paused but then nodded. "I promise."

Hiroaki smiled and turned to the king. "Please, take care of my son. You and the princes are all he has now."

The king nodded. "I will raise him as one of my own. Your son will always be proud to call you his father."

Hiroaki gave a weak smile and then turned to Takuya, who was looking at him incredulously. "I love you, Takuya. Me, your mom and Shinya will always love you and will always be looking out for you from heaven."

Takuya's voice cracked. "I love you too, dad."

Hiroaki gave him one last smile as he let out his last breathe, with the ghost of his last smile still etched upon his face.

Takuya crumbled inside. He cried for what seemed hours on top of his father's body. Kouji and Kouichi also began to tear up. The king swallowed hard with the image of his old friend like that.

Finally, after a long time of silence, Takuya stood up and wiped away his tears. He turned to the King and faced him.

"Your majesty," he began, "I will never let my father's death be in vain. I will like to ask if you could arrange with the school to double my training. I will train every hour of every day until I become the great warrior that my father once was. I will honor him and destroy any Lamian that stands in my way. I will kill them all if I have to. I swear, no Lamian will live as long as I'm around. That's a promise."

I know. Poor Takuya and his family. Don't kill me. I promise, the story is going to pick up more and more. Zoe's making her appearance in the next episode so FOLLOW/FAVE to know what will happen between these two.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Digimon.

Takuya: You killed my whole family? Wow, you're cold.

me: I'm sorry. But I have my reasons.

Takuya: *sigh*... still. You're evil.

me: -.- ... don't tempt me into killing you too.

Takuya: O.o ... You look pretty today ^_^

me: That's more like it :) Until next time guys! :)