First chapter: The Reunion

"Hey, Karou look at this!" said a gentle little red head with soft purple eyes as he showed a little girl a cute pink shell. "Wow, it's so beautiful!" said the girl excitedly. At this the boy just smiled widely at her, but then suddenly he started to fade away. Suddenly the two were separated. Pleasant images slowly faded away as bloody ones took their place. "No!" Kaoru woke up screaming.

The Raven-haired girl now in her late teens sat up in her bed wearily. "I haven't had that dream in ages..." Kaoru said to herself. "That boy in my dreams was a dear friend of mine, but when the war started we were separated, and I never saw him again." She thought to herself. " I don't even remember his name..." she sighed as she got up to get herself a glass of water to calm her nerves. "I wonder why I had that dream all of a sudden... I wonder if this has anything to do with father..." she thought to herself as she looked out her bedroom window forlornly.

Suddenly she heard loud noises coming from outside and stole a fleeting glance of a galloping horse, immediately without hesitation she ran and nearly tripped down the stairs just to see what the commotion was about. She rushed to find merely a disgruntled horse with no sign of her father. "Mitsurugi-! Where's father!" The horse merely gave her a few indefinite neighs as to his whereabouts, and as if she understood what he was saying nodded and without a second thought she jumped on the horse. "Please take me to him." She whispered in his ear, and the horse rushed off.

After a while they arrived at a castle. "Is this where he is?" she asked the horse in a rather timid voice as she scaled the great height of the castle with her eyes. It nodded, but as soon as the door swung open, the horse ran away. Kaoru had no time to waste; she had to find her father fast. "Hello, anyone there?" she asked the darkness, with no desire for any real reply. Little did she know that from the moment she had entered the castle she had been being watched. "Hey, Lord Aoshi could she be the one?" a sugar container asked the saltshaker. "It depends on Himura."

"Wait a minute, this wasn't here earlier...oh, well..." she said after taking the same left turn for the second time and finding an odd candle stick, anything was better than groping blindly through the darkness. "Odd, I wonder how this got here without me seeing it earlier?" but she had know time to contemplate further, her father came first. After finding that candle it didn't take long for Kaoru to find the dungeon in which her father was kept, actually it was as if she was led towards it.

As she walked through the dark passages of cold empty cells she soon found her father. "Father, who did this to you?" Kaoru said in an urgent voice. He slowly raised his head miserably. It took him a while to realize that she was really there, but as soon as he registered this fact he started to whisper almost as urgently but as quietly as he could, "K-Kaoru? - No go away, before the beast comes back!" Kaoru was taken back at this but quickly she rebutted, "I can't leave without you, you're all I-."

Suddenly a beast with amber eyes came in seemingly staggering as he neared them. "I'm sorry, but I can't permit you to take my prisoner." The beast said in a gruff voice. Without even thinking Kaoru screamed, "What has my father done to deserve this!" "He has trespassed on my home and tried stealing my flowers in the garden." The beast said almost too calmly yet mockingly at the same time. "That's all!" Kaoru screamed enraged that her father was being so ill treated for such a small offense. "Well, if you want me to set him free then you'll have to stay in his place, but not in the dungeons of course, in a room of your own."

Her father turned completely white at the beast's offer, for he knew that Kaoru was so riled up that she would agree to anything, and even if she wasn't, she was too impulsive to ever think any of her actions through. "No, Kaoru don't-." "Alright!" Kaoru said disregarding her father's plea. "It's settled then."

All of a sudden her father's cell grew legs and carried him out of the castle and back to the village. With his promise kept he then turned promptly towards Kaoru, "Now, as for you, your name is Kaoru correct?" "Yes, it is why?" now with her father gone her voice gave off a distinct quiver. "You don't have to look so afraid, my dear, it's not like I'm going to eat you." The beast chuckled. "Hey, who said I was afraid!" Kaoru countered. "Heh, just make sure you don't get lost, Sano show her around."

And with that he left. At this Kaoru looked around nervously scared to see what new monster might appear. "Huh, Sano...but there's no one-." She said after looking around for a few minutes. "Down here missy." Said a curiously close voice. Kaoru looked down to find that the candlestick she was holding was talking to her. "Well, are you just gonna stare or what?" said the candlestick rudely. She then screamed and threw the candle to the ground. "Hey, there missy no need to be violent, and just when I thought we were getting pretty close too." it said as it got up and dusted itself off.

"What gave you that idea!" she said as the thing started to eye her up weirdly. "Well, with what the way you were holding me and all." It said arrogantly. "Idiot" was all that entered Kaoru's mind as he said this. "So, I guess I should give you the tour, huh." It said as it started to walk towards her. "What?" she said backing away from it slowly. "Didn't you hear him, I'm Sano. Oh, and I know he didn't give you his name so you can call him Kenshin." It said almost laughing at how silly she was acting. "Kenshin... that… For some reason that name...sounds so familiar..." she said almost in a daze from hearing that name. "Huh, what was that missy?" the candle said as it started to lead the way through the labyrinth of passages. "Oh, nothing, so what are you gonna show me."

"And that's pretty much the whole castle; it's not as big as it looks." Sano said in a matter of fact tone. "Hey, wait a second, we never went over there." Kaoru pointed out. "Oh, the west corridor, no one's allowed there missy, so stay clear of that area." Sano said almost gravely. "Why? Is there-." She tried to ask, but he cut her off. "Just don't missy, anyways its dinner time so you better get to the dining room." he said in an extremely serious matter." Well, I am hungry..." she said rubbing her stomach feeling her stomach react to hearing the word dinner. In fact she had nothing to eat that whole day, it was a wonder she last a whole days tour around a strange place without collapsing.

Finally they had reached the dining room, and when she saw how much food was on the table, she could hardly wait to start, but as soon as Kenshin entered the room she suddenly wasn't that hungry. When he noticed this he said, "Oh, don't mind me eat as much as you want, I assure you, Tae's home cooked meals are the best." "Oh, it's not that Kenshin, it's just that I guess I just don't know where to start." Kaoru said in a surprisingly small voice. "Hmm, I don't recall giving you my name." he said in a happily curious voice. "Oh, Sano told me." She said inn a little louder voice. "Well, if I may be so bold I'd suggest the curry. It's a little spicy, but it really is quite delicious." He said kindly. "He's not that bad of a guy..." she found herself thinking as began to describe some of the other foods on the table.

Towards the end of the meal he asked her a few odd questions. "Kaoru, how do you like it here?" "I think it's wonderful that you live in an enchanted castle!" she said cheerfully. "Hmmm, enchanted you say, most wouldn't say that...Kaoru, Do you like me?" he asked awkwardly. "Well, you seem like such a kind person so far, why?" Then with the next question he really struggled with and hesitated for a moment but he eventually said, "Kaoru, will you marry me?" This really surprised her; she never expected to be asked this by him. "Well, I-." "It's alright just answer I won't get mad." "Well, right now...no... I'm sorry..." she added quickly as she saw how her answer had made him sad. "No, no need to apologize, well good night." He said sadly and went to bed.

When Kaoru was fast asleep in her own bed she found that she was having dreams of her old friend again. Only older, and he was in the castle's garden. "Nice to see you again Kaoru, it's been a while." he said as he kissed her hand. Kaoru blushed at this, but only said, "I'm sorry, but I don't remember your name." when she said this he felt hurt. "Truly, you are too cruel to me sometimes, you know..." he said sadly. "Are you kept prisoner here too?" she said trying to change the subject. "I guess, in some way you could say that." He said sadly "Why?" she asked, but at this moment he started to fade away again. "The past, please remember... don't be fooled... I really do still love you Kaoru... don't you still love me?" he gasped in pain as he tried to get in some last few words. "No, please don't go, I love you too, don't be fooled by what? Please!"

To be continued...maybe...

I know it's short, but if I get enough reviews I might actually continue this story.