Hello everyone, happy May! A few author's notes before you get to chapter four, there aren't that many ladies in Rurouni Kenshin, so I used what was available. Kaoru is going to meet her ladies-in-waiting in this chapter, and one of them is Yumi. Not evil, follower of Shishio Yumi, but Yumi as she might have been if Shishio were not a factor. Also, a Yari is a straight-headed spear. The three legendary knights sworn in by her grandfather are Aritomo, Okubo, and Katsu, Saito was sworn in by her father. And in this chapter we also learn a bit more about The Black Dragons. As always, standard disclaimer applies, enjoy!

Mia21

The following morning, Rose attended her first breakfast with the royal family. A servant had to escort her to the salon where her parents were, but Rose threw open the doors herself with good cheer.

The salon was beautiful, and not too ornate. The walls were painted a shade of off-white, the room decorated with comfortable-looking furniture adorned with mint green pillows. The far wall was painted with a fresco of knights battling a Manticore.

Rose smiled and plopped down in a chair. "Good morning!"

Her mother gracefully set down her teacup and smiled back. "Good morning Kaoru."

Her father also grinned at her. "It seems you were quite the success last night! I credit your dancing skills."

"I would think my popularity would be caused more by sheer curiosity." Rose said dryly.

Her father shook his head. "Deny all you like. I predict you will be the treasure of the courts." Just then he glanced out the windows and stood. "Well, I'm off. I'm holding inspections with the guard today. Be good." He then kissed the top of Rose's head and hugged Queen Ryoko before taking his leave.

The queen leaned back in her chair and took another sip of her tea. "Today you are to meet with your ladies-in-waiting."

"What will they do?" Rose asked, curious.

"It is my hope that they will help ease your transition into your new life and provide insight and useful advice." The Queen said.

"If they could guide me through the castle, I would be much obliged." Rose said.

The Queen added a sugar cube to her tea. "They will also serve as your companions and will attend your lessons with you."

"Lessons?" Rose asked.

"Dancing and music." Her mother told her.

Rose was not surprised in the least. She had in fact thought last night that, after her lack of dance skills were put on display, she might end up with a dance teacher, though if music meant attempting to teach her an instrument, Rose thought it would be quite useless. She certainly was not gifted with skills even resembling the ability to play anything, as she had quickly found out the year she'd badly wanted to learn to play the piano.

"You will also learn the proper conduct benefitting a princess: conversation and grace." Her mother said.

Rose sighed. She was a princess and her parents' main concern was that she needed to have pretty manners? Rose suspected that, though royalty ran the country, they had a starkly different set of worries than the rest of the populace. "I see."

Her mother smiled gratefully, probably glad that she did not display any open signs of rebellion.

'This is why I didn't want to be a princess,' Rose thought. 'Though I know I will quickly grow to love my parents, I can't say that I care to have my personal freedoms tossed out the window.'

Rose winced when she broke another string on the harp she was supposed to be playing. Her tutor, an older gentleman with short brownish-gray hair and clear, friendly, brown eyes, winced as well.

"Perhaps we'd better leave it here today, Your Highness?" He asked.

With a sigh of relief, Rose nodded. "Yes."

"Oh, but Your Highness you were doing so well!" Lady Tokio protested.

Rose eyed her, trying to gage if she was sincere. The set of her chin said she was being genuine and Rose grimaced, "Apparently, you and I have a very different opinion of 'well', Tokio. I think it would be a kindness to our ears, as well as the tutor's, if I never picked up the harp again."

"Perhaps you could take up singing." Lady Tae suggested.

Rose frowned and shook her head. "Oh no. Trust me, you do not want me singing. I'm quite wretched at it."

All four of the ladies nodded, luckily not asking her to prove it.

"Next, I believe, we are to attend lessons of decorum in the gardens. Let us be off!" Lady Yumi asserted.

"We should take Her Highness through Heiki Hall, I think she would quite enjoy it." Tae said, as the fourth lady-in-waiting, Misao, tapped her lower lip, "It is rather impressive…and the music tutor did release us early."

Tokio fixed her skirts. "Yes, let us visit it! I rather think Her Highness would like to see the portrait hanging there."

"Very well, this way." Yumi led the way, exiting the gold-leafed music room.

"I beg your pardon, but what is Heiki Hall?" Rose asked.

"It's a back hall of the palace. It is technically set aside for the exclusive use of the Black Dragons, but decades back they made it into a sort of trophy room." Tae explained.

"It's a favorite place for young, eligible ladies to visit," Yumi giggled. "Because you stand the greatest chance of seeing a Black Dragon there if you cannot visit the training grounds."

Together, all five young ladies followed a turn in the hallway. "It's rife with the history of the Dragons." Misao told her. Rose inspected the suits of armor that lined the hallway, vaguely wondering who kept them so shiny. "In what way?" she wondered.

Misao only smiled. "You'll see."

After a few more turns and two staircases, Yumi pushed open a large wooden door which bore the crest of the Black Dragons in its panels. Tokio poked her head in and mewled in disappointment, "It's just us, though I suppose that makes sense. The Dragons are usually training at this time."

"It's still worth visiting," Tae insisted. "Come in!"

Rose, feeling as if she were trespassing, slipped into the chamber after her ladies-in-waiting.

Heiki Hall was a work of wonder and beauty. The vaulted ceiling was painted with star motifs, giant windows let in thick sunbeams, and a huge fireplace dominated the far end of the room. Rose, who had been expecting a sort of haven for the male gender, was surprised at its beauty and comfort.

Two sets of rectangular tables were strewn with maps and models, and a number of bookcases stood near the entrance. But the focus of the room seemed to be the line of weapons fastened to the wall and a giant portrait of a woman.

Tae glided across the room, stopping just before the portrait. "Come, Your Highness. You'll want to see her."

Rose dutifully followed, stopping before the portrait as well. The woman in it was gorgeous. Not breathtaking, but there was an unusual elegance to the set of her shoulders and the curl of her smile. Her hair was a shade or two lighter than Rose's own raven-colored hair, though it looked even more thick and luxurious. What was most surprising, though, was that her laughing eyes were the same shade of blue-purple as Rose's own.

"Who is she?" Rose asked.

"The founder of the Black Dragons and your ancestor: the Queen of Hearts." Tae smiled, her eyes crinkling in delight.

Rose gazed up at the woman in the portrait with newfound curiosity as Misao said, "Perhaps our country's most popular leader, the Queen of Hearts was crowned ruler of Miyoshi and created the Black Dragons when she wasn't much older than you. She purged the courts of corruption and created a golden age for Miyoshi. She was astoundingly clever. And you, Your Highness, are of her bloodline."

Rose laughed. "I hope you do not have increased expectations because of that. But what are the weapons?" Rose asked, turning to stare at them taking up the opposite wall.

"These are some of the weapons forged for the original Black Dragons. There are four more besides what you see here that have been granted to knights by your family."

Rose nodded, remembering lessons about the weapons. The term legendary knight was given to knights who had been granted a weapon that had first belonged to one of the original knights. Legendary weapons were more powerful than anything that had been created since. It was believed that some of them were powerful enough to shake the ground apart.

Rose walked over and inspected the closest weapon, a Yari. "Three of the current legendary knights were sworn in before my grandfather, King Hiroshi, stepped down, right?"

"Yes. And the fourth by your father," Misao said. "We haven't had more than six legendary knights in over two generations. Most royals don't want to risk the backlash if they choose incorrectly."

Rose winced, knowing that part of the tradeoff for having such powerful weapons was that they were…particular. If a royal presented one to a knight, not only did the royal have to be of the Kamiya line they had to make sure it was the right weapon for the right knight. If they were not a proper match, both the ruler and the knight would be badly injured during the incomplete transfer, possibly even killed.

Inspecting the row of weapons, Rose could tell they were beautifully and expertly made. She also knew that in order for a royal to grant a knight one of the weapons, they had to learn its name first. She now wondered how that was done. Her attention was suddenly drawn to one of the last weapons on the wall, a Katana. She had just enough time to admire its white-gold hilt and beautiful blade that had runes etched into it, when a strange feeling overwhelmed her. It felt like someone had placed their hands on her shoulders. Rose tried to turn her gaze away from the sword, and couldn't. Something whispered in the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite hear it.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Misao asked, snapping Rose out of whatever had been wrong.

"Yes, very." Rose agreed.

"Come ladies, let us head to the gardens or else we'll be late." Yumi said, beginning to lead the way out of Heiki Hall.

"You need to sit up straight and not slouch." The elegance tutor said, an elderly woman with gray hair and a constant frown. Rose eyed her icily, making sure to not frown or lower her chin as she had been told not to.

"You will not utter a word! A princess is demure and soft spoken, not a wild hoyden as you have proven to be!" Her teacher continued as Rose curled her hands into fists and tried not to lash out as her temper said she should. For two weeks now she had borne the horrid woman's criticism, and her patience was nearly at an end. Behind her, Tae, Yumi, and Tokio murmured, their voices holding a note of worry.

"You should strive to be like your mother and cast aside your brooding, spiteful tendencies. They will not serve you someday when you begin looking for a husband."

"I believe of foremost concern to me is what will serve me as a future monarch." Rose asserted.

The woman shook her head. "No, Your Highness. What is of greatest importance is that you do not bring shame upon your family."

Rose could feel her last little bit of control snap and she stood. "And that is enough." She declared.

"You claim to have the finesse and sweetness of temperament your parents' desire?" The woman demanded.

"No, but I do not see how I can learn polish from a woman who has the personality of a troll!" Rose barked.

At that Misao laughed outright, and Tae chuckled.

"You would make me the villain when I am only trying to teach you what you lack!?"

"Maybe you are, but if this sort of nitpicking and insult are what is fashionable, I'm afraid I will have to prepare myself to be out of vogue. I will have nothing more to do with this!"

The tutor stood gaping for a moment before sauntering across the salon and picking up her shawl.

"We shall see who has the last word about this, Your Highness." She growled before sailing from the room with a disdainful sniff.

"Good riddance." Misao said.

"Yes, she was rather rude." Tokio added.

Rose's anger drained from her and she collapsed back down on the settee with a groan. "What will my parents say?"

"Worry not," Yumi said, patting her shoulder. "If need be we can testify that she was positively…"

"Vile?" Tae offered.

"Indeed!" Yumi declared.

Rose looked around at them for a moment. "Thank you all. Whatever happens, I can't regret giving that troll a stern what-for. We still have table instruction, don't we?

"We do, Your Highness." Tokio confirmed.

Rose sighed. "Might as well get it over with. Shall we be off?"

"If it pleases you, Your Highness." Tae responded.

"It doesn't, but I'm not sure I have a choice. Off we go!"

That evening, Rose sat alone at the supper table, the first to arrive. She ran her finger around the rim of her delicate teacup, smiling at the beautiful hand-painted flowers that decorated it. When she heard the tread of heavy footsteps outside the door, she rolled her shoulders back and lifted her chin. Her father flung the doors open, his eyebrows low over his eyes. "Kaoru, you dismissed your tutor." He growled.

"I did." She acknowledged.

Queen Ryoko glided into the dining hall behind him, taking her own seat at the table as Rose's father continued scowling at her. "You have dire need of the lessons she was to provide."

Rose raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Elegance? Oh yes, I shall simply perish without it."

From across the table, her mother said, "You must learn these things Kaoru."

"But I am learning!" Rose sputtered. "I've gritted my teeth and attended every lesson you've set for me!"

"But you have not improved." Koshijiro grunted.

"Exactly how am I supposed to improve?" Rose asked her father, not liking the implications of this conversation.

"Though we are very glad to have you home, you must cease acting as you do." Her father told her.

'They want me to change who I am, and they think that's an improvement?' Rose wondered, shifting in her chair.

"What your father means is that he wants you to act more genteel in public," Queen Ryoko interjected. "You are clever and funny, but royalty must present itself differently."

"Her conduct is not only a public problem," Her father continued. "If she continues to act this way, our choice of marriage partners will grow smaller."

Shocked, Rose asked, "Don't I have a say in who I will marry?"

"Sadly, no. We must put the needs of the country before our own, and you need a man who will become a great king to cover for your fractured childhood."

"What?"

"What your father means is that a few have recently voiced concerns over whether you will be able to properly rule as queen given that you weren't raised in the palace, and not even as a royal. Therefore, your husband will have to be someone the courts trust to run the country with you."

Rose sat staring between her parents for a moment and saw the truth of their words: she wasn't going to rule. They didn't think they could trust her. After knowing her for less than two weeks, they had already decided she wasn't fit to be queen.

The realization was almost worse than learning she was Princess Kaoru. She hadn't wanted to be a princess, but she had accepted it. In return, they were rejecting her and intended to make her serve as little more than a spaceholder.

"No."

"No?" Her mother asked.

"I will attend your useless lessons and let you try to change me as I am clearly unfit to be your princess. But I have big say in whom I will spend the rest of my life with." Rose stood and stepped away from the table and breakable objects. "You can try and throw marriage candidates at me until you exhaust all resources. You can force me into an engagement and trumpet it across the entire country. But the fact is, when the curse hits, if I don't love your precious choice for my husband, I won't wake up! And how will that make you look?"

The curse had been Rose's biggest worry since she'd learned her identity, but now it seemed it may become her saving grace. Both of her parents looked at her with surprise and sorrow, as if the reminder of the curse and her outburst had been the worst thing she'd done so far.

Rose seized her opportunity, storming from the room. "Excuse me, but I have lost my appetite."

No one said anything as she took her leave. Quick steps put the stifling air of the palace behind her. It was hard to breathe as she walked towards a side door, her rage swiftly turning to sorrow. Tears blurred her vision as she stumbled out into the garden and staggered to a bench. Her chest heaved with effort as she tried to choke down her sobs.

It seemed like everyone was forever rejecting her. She had thought it wonderful to finally have parents and though she knew they loved her, she was just beginning to understand that they didn't love her enough to let her be who she was.

She heard footsteps crunching through the grass. When they stopped near her, Rose rubbed her eyes and glanced up. Kenshin, his brows pinched painfully with worry, stood before her. He hesitated for a moment before sitting next to her on the garden bench.

Rose leaned over, letting her head rest on his shoulder. When he tucked his arm around her, her control crumbled and she sobbed into his neck.

Eventually her tears subsided, leaving her with aching eyes and a fierce headache. "My parents don't like me." She spoke abruptly, her voice hoarse and brittle.

Kenshin brushed her shoulder with his thumb. "They love you."

"Yes, but they aren't satisfied with who I am. They don't like me. They aren't even willing to wait to see if I'll earn their trust. What do I do?" The last part she whispered, too hurt to do more. Kenshin said nothing for a moment, then he sighed, "I think King Koshijiro and Queen Ryoko are scared. They cannot do anything more to hold back your curse, so they seize what little they can control and make assumptions because they are too frightened to think of what could happen to you."

"You're probably right, but selfishly I want to be told they're horrible to reject me."

"You don't really," Kenshin said, brushing her shoulder again with his thumb. "You love them. That's why their words hurt."

Rose nodded miserably.

"Don't change Rose." Kenshin said, suddenly intense.

Rose pulled back so she could look up at him. He stared across the garden at the cherry blossom tree. "You're an amazing woman, and one day you'll make the perfect queen, even if it's not what they think you should be." He met her gaze for several long moments before looking away again.

"Kenshin…" She whispered, so many questions burning at the back of her throat. There were so many things she wanted to ask him, things she couldn't put into words.

He glanced at her and she opened her mouth, then froze in horror. Her curse. For the first time since learning she was Princess Kaoru, the magnitude of the curse finally hit her. It was no longer if the curse struck her, it was when she pricked her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. She would sleep until she was awoken by a kiss from her true love, or in other words, she would sleep until Kenshin kissed her.

'Either I'm going to sleep forever or my parents will die with disappointment. Possibly both.' Though Kenshin was a man of honor, she doubted a Black Dragon was what either of her parents had in mind.

Kenshin furrowed his brow and worry crept into his lavender eyes. "Is something wrong, Your Highness?"

Rose almost winced at the title. 'Oh yes. I'm going to be stuck sleeping forever.' Kenshin was noble and forthright. If he felt anything for her, there would be signs. Since she walked a lonely road with no markers at all, she had to conclude that her childhood friend only felt friendship for her.

'But I'll still have to explain it to him, unless I really do want to sleep forever. Won't that be fun?'

She sighed. "It's nothing."

There was no way she was going to talk to him about it tonight. She needed to prepare for that conversation. She'd have to talk to her ladies-in-waiting, trusting that they would know how to present the idea without drawing his disdain. She stretched, rising. "I need to go apologize to my parents, I rather spitefully reminded them of the curse and they didn't take it well."

"You're their only child." Kenshin said gently.

Rose smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Kenshin, for finding me and letting me cry."

He bowed slightly. "I am honored I could aid you."

Rose watched him for a moment longer. 'Yep, he's a heartache I'll have to deal with later.' She turned, beginning to walk away, forcing herself not to look back as she headed inside.

'Steady.' Kenshin thought as he watched her walk away. His body rebelled and he stood, then turned on his heel to not be tempted to follow her.

He knew she was still upset, could see it in the tilt of her chin and the set of her lips. But there was nothing he could do. While Black Dragons were esteemed, they weren't royalty and he knew her family well enough to know that they would not be impressed if he were to try and explain how exquisite and strong Rose was.

'They'll learn for themselves, but it is Rose who will pay for their temporary ignorance.'

Kenshin then frowned at his disloyal thought, realizing that his affection for her was growing out of hand. But then, it had never really been under his control from the start. Kenshin sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and beginning the long walk back to the training grounds. He had to have better self-control. It would do Rose no good to have him wandering about like a lovesick sop.

It was late, the sun had set and training had finished hours ago. He took a deep breath, knowing that this was where he could help Rose. Though she may not know it, she had everything: his heart, his sword, and his shield. He would stand between her and whatever darkness wished to do her harm.

Make sure and leave a review to let me know what you thought, please!

Mia21