Hope everyone enjoyed chapter one, now on to chapter two! Please read and review and let me know what you think!

Mia21

Kaoru's first evening in the palace, after crying bitter tears and assuring herself she had only done what she had to to save her father, a knock on her door got her attention.

"Come in." She called, and the door was opened by a servant, an older, motherly, woman with curly gray hair and friendly green eyes.

"Hello dear. I'm Teruko, the maid assigned to you." The woman told her as she entered the room. When she was close enough to get a good look at Kaoru's face, she gasped. "Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.

Kaoru nodded. "Mmm-hmm."

"If you say so, but we, all the servants and I, have already heard about what you did to save your father and we want you to feel at home here. Should you ever need anything, you only have to ask."

Taking that moment to make its presence known, Kaoru put a hand on her stomach.

"I actually am hungry."

Smiling, Teruko told her, "I can fix that, it's almost dinner time. Follow me."

Bringing her to what Kaoru assumed was a private dining area as it was smaller and less ornate than the rest of the palace she had seen so far, but still held a long table with a chair at either end. Taking the seat Teruko showed her to, when she left Kaoru alone Kaoru frowned across the table at the other empty chair. A side door then opened, admitting Prince Kenshin who carried an armload of papers. He didn't notice her until he had placed his pile of papers beside his spot at the table. Glancing across the table, he froze when he saw her.

"How did you get in here?" He asked rather crossly.

"Um, Teruko brought me in to get some dinner." Kaoru nervously told him.

"Hmm, why am I not surprised." Prince Kenshin muttered, finally sitting down.

A moment after he was seated, servants entered with the first course, a green salad with cheese. As hungry as she was, Kaoru quickly devoured the salad and cheese, then watched Prince Kenshin across the table as he ate and shuffled through papers at the same time. When he had finished his salad and cheese, servants again entered, picking up the empty plates and placing the second course in front of them, poached salmon with Mousseline sauce. After trying it, Kaoru found it was delicious and again ate all of it. When she finished, her attention was again caught by the Prince, who continued eating while flipping through papers, stopping to write notes on some.

When the third course was brought out, chicken Lyonnaise, and placed in front of them, Kaoru glanced up long enough to see the smiles and glances the servants shot between herself and the Prince. Realizing what they wanted, Kaoru took a deep breath, and a sip of her wine, before asking,

"Can I ask what it is you're looking at?"

Glancing up to stare at her across the table, Prince Kenshin sighed. "I don't know why you think you need to know."

Seeing the servant who had come in to refill their wine glasses nod towards the Prince again, Kaoru frowned. "I'm just trying to make conversation."

Prince Kenshin nodded. "You are here to do a job because you cannot repay the crown, not make conversation."

"I'm sorry. I suppose I didn't realize you did any work yourself. Not that you shouldn't, I just…" Kaoru trailed off, embarrassed, only to hear the Prince was chuckling.

"Surprised I actually do something besides be a recluse?" He asked once he had finished his chuckle.

"No, of course not, I…I just hadn't thought the royal family needed to do any work."

"My family has things they need done, and I am the Crown Prince. It is an honor my father trusts me to complete his work." The Prince told her as the servants brought out dessert, banana pudding with vanilla Ice cream.

"Of course." Kaoru answered sheepishly, wishing to be done with this particular argument.

That night, Kaoru lay in bed thinking about the Prince. About how nasty he had been at dinner over her question, making fun of her and explaining things as if she were stupid. Kaoru sighed, at first planning on avoiding him at all costs in the future before changing her mind and wondering perhaps if he needed a friend. After all, it couldn't be easy being cursed as he was. Nodding her head resolutely, she realized that that was it, if she saw him again she would make it a point to be nice to him, no matter what he did or said.

So, unsurprisingly, the cursed prince is kind of a jerk. But if you were cursed and spent most of your time alone because people freaked at the way you looked, you might be a jerk too. He'll get better, don't worry! Read and review please, thanks!

Mia21