"So what are you and Kanda going to be doing tonight?" Lenalee asked. She was sitting on Abby's bed watching Abby pace around the room nervously.

"I'm not entirely sure. He didn't tell me what we were doing," Abby explained she had not stopped pacing. She was wearing one of the maid dresses that had been in her wardrobe. It fit nicely and the dark color mad her pale skin pop. Lenalee cocked her head to the side and watched as Abby continued to pace.

"You know I find it kind of funny," Lenalee said. Abby paused and turned to the young woman, "You are willing to go against the king and to get yourself locked in a tower but just the thought of a date with Kanda will make you turn into a nervous mess."

"Do I really look that much like a mess to you?" Abby asked turning from Lenalee and instead looking at herself in the mirror. She smoothed down a couple of flyaway pieces of hair and turned back to Lenalee and smoothing her dress down nervously, "I know this maid outfit doesn't fit right but it is currently all I have."

Lenalee tried to hide a smile. The way Abby was getting so flustered made her happy. She knew that Abby cared at least somewhat for Kanda. "Don't worry I'm sure Kanda will not mind. You look great."

Abby didn't look convinced but gave a resigned sigh and sat down on the bed next to Lenalee, "Thank you so much Lenalee for being her for me. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"You would have been late for your date with Kanda," Lenalee said listening to the bell in the town square not to far away toll the hour. She got up and pulled Abby to her feet. Giving the nervous girl a reassuring smile she pushed Abby toward the door.

"Well have a good night. I want to know how it goes tomorrow," Lenalee said with a smile as Abby waved goodbye and headed toward Kanda's room. She pulled the small map that Kanda had made for her from the pocket of her apron and glanced at it every few corridors to make sure she was still going in the right direction. It wasn't long before she found herself standing outside a room with a door that looked just like all of the other doors in the castle. Looking back down at the map she checked all of the turns she had made in the hallways to see that she had indeed made it to the correct door. With each passing step Abby could feel herself becoming more nervous. In her mind she cursed Kanda for being the only person she knew who could make her this nervous.

Carefully she knocked on the worn dark wood and waited for the person on the other side to open the door. When the door slowly slid open Kanda stood in the opening looking at her. She have him a nervous smile as Kanda stared at her.

"Hello," Abby finally said when Kanda didn't seem to be registering she was there. He blinked and seemed to bring himself back from a far away place. He quickly moved aside and gestured for her to come into the room. She eased by him and into his spacious room. She glanced around at the room that she had slept in before. At the time she had been so focused on getting out of the room and away from Kanda that she did not think to really look at her surroundings. Now that she had the chance to really look around she saw that it was a large room. She knew the room was on the first floor without looking out of the window because she remembered her room was on the second floor and she had gone down a flight of steps on her way to his room. It was cozy with a lot of wood accents just like her own. The only difference was the dark blue accents that dotted the room. The bedspread and curtains were both blue as well as some of the paintings that dotted the walls of his room. Though the room was rather large it looked as if it was not lived in. The paintings that were on the walls didn't seem to really fit Kanda. They were paintings of flowers and one of the mountains to the north and west. Abby felt that Kanda would be more into sea scapes or simple images. The images on the wall were very vibrant and colorful. It contrasted greatly with her thoughts on Kanda's character. This only made her more nervous. It seemed she did not know the stoic man she was to marry nearly as well as she thought she had.

"My godfather was the one that painted these," Kanda said coming up behind her and motioning to the paintings. "The old man may be annoying but he is a very good artist."

"You mean Teidoll right," Abby asked the more questions she asked the less nervous she felt. When Kanda nodded his head she thought of another question, "How is he still alive if he is a member of the original rebel army?" She didn't feel right calling them the royal court because it seemed like the court was more of a prison than a high social circle.

"He was one of the members who chose not to have children of his own and instead chose to raise the children than were orphaned from the curse," Kanda explained. They lapsed into a contemplative silence after that. Each was study one of the paintings on the wall but neither were really thinking of the paintings.

"I'm sorry for what you have been through," Abby said after a second. She had never realized before what it would have meant for someone to be a member of the court. They would have to live as prisoner inside the walls of the castle for the majority of the time. They would never have the freedom that their people enjoy on a daily basis. They also had the weight of knowing that if they didn't procreate then eventually there would be no leaders for the people but at the same time if they did they would die and they would cause the deaths of all of their future generations. It was painful to realized and the only thing she could think to say was sorry. At any moment she could walk away and would never have to live with the curse that plagued these people and would, if she chose to stay, plague her as well.

"We grew up knowing what the end would be like. It isn't that big of a deal," Kanda said with a shrug. He didn't look at her or show any other sign of acknowledging the fact that she had brought up the subject.

"These paintings really are beautiful," Abby said after another pause her nervousness was starting to resurface when they were quiet, "They look real, like I could jump into the painting and I would be transported into a beautiful garden."

"Would you enjoy that?" Kanda asked.

Abby looked away from the painting she was studying to give him a quizzical look, "Jumping into a painting or being in a garden?"

Kanda gave her a knowing smile, "Both."

His response made Abby question his sanity but before she could answer Kanda lightly pulled her hand and they walked to the wall opposite the door she had come in. Here there was a giant curtain which Kanda pulled back showing beautiful ornate double doors that opened up into a large garden. The frame of the doors looked like a giant picture frame making the garden on the other side look like a live painting as the light breeze blowing over the wall caused the leaves of the plants dance lightly in the moonlight.

Kanda quickly opened the doors and made his way into the moonlit garden on the other side. Abby quickly followed him.

"What is this place?" Abby asked amazed.

"This is my mother's garden," Kanda explained. Abby's head whipped around to look at Kanda as she remembered the head nurse telling her about Kanda's mother. She was not around for much of his life.

"It's beautiful," Abby said lamely. She didn't know if she should have said she was sorry that his mother was dead but she felt as if he would not appreciate it.

"She loved roses," Kanda explained when Abby caressed a rose that had grown up the wall closest to her. Abby didn't know what to say to him. She wasn't entirely sure why he had brought her to the garden.

After another moment of awkward silence Abby finally had to ask, "Why did you bring me here?"

Kanda looked at her blankly for a moment before responding, "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know. Are you trying to be nice to me because you realized we will have to go through with the wedding?"

Kanda shook his head, "No, I felt like I owed it to you to let you see a little bit of my family," After a pause he said in a much quieter voice, "And I wanted my mother to see the woman that I would be marrying. I feel like this garden is a living and breathing version of her. She was always kind to everyone from what I have heard and the few memories that I have of her are of her smiling in this garden. I guess I just thought that if I brought you here my mother would be able to meet you."

Abby's eyes softened as she looked around the garden again. The more she looked at it the more she realized that though it was over grown it definitely did not seem to have been left to die. It was as if someone was coming in to the garden and taking care of it. Allowing it to grow in whatever direction it chose. It seemed that Kanda was regularly coming into the garden and taking care of it but not trimming it so that it would continue to grow.

Looking back at Kanda Abby realized that he had much more of a heart than she originally thought. The fact that he came into the garden and that he kept and even hung the paintings of flowers that his adoptive father gave him was enough to show Abby that he did indeed care about others and wasn't a stuck up jerk like everyone thought he was. He actually cared for her.

The more she thought about it she realized that he also cared about the people of the kingdom. He paid attention in the meetings and was even willing to marry her, someone he didn't know, in order to restore peace to the kingdom.

"What are you looking at?" Kanda suddenly asked bringing Abby out of her thoughts. She blinked up at him. At some point while she was thinking he had come to stand right in front of her and she had not realized she was now staring directly into his eyes. She blinked back a blush as a smirk started to form on his lips.

"Jerk," Abby muttered lightly smacking him so he would move away from her. Unfortunately he had different plans and instead moved is face closer to hers. Taking a step back Abby attempted to put some space between herself and him. That just seemed to goad Kanda on because instead of getting the hint and taking a step back he chased her taking another step toward her.

Abby epped and scurried a few steps further back when she saw Kanda's predatory gaze. He was watching her like a hawk waiting for her to make her next move.

"Stop it," Abby said feeling very frustrated that Kanda wouldn't leave her alone.

"Stop what exactly," Kanda asked lifting an eyebrow but he did not follow her when she took another step back.

"Stalking me," Abby replied. She watched him wearily as he stood staring at her with a smirk.

"It isn't stalking it is called getting close," Kanda corrected.

Abby rolled her eyes, "Why do you want to be that close to me?"

"Because we are supposed to be spending this time understanding each other and I feel like your reactions are the most interesting," Kanda said.

Abby blushed deeper but didn't know what to say to him. She just stared at him as he came closer to her again. She leaned back and found that she was against the wall. She had nowhere to go. She was trapped between the wall and Kanda now and it didn't seem like Kanda was going to give her the option to leave.

"Kanda what are you doing?" Abby asked in a shaky voice looking up at Kanda who towered over her.

"Getting close to you," Kanda said with a smirk watching as Abby's cheeks got redder.

"I don't think you need to be this close to me. I'm pretty sure you could do that from the other side of the garden."

Kanda chuckled under his breath, "Yes but then I can't do this to you," Kanda said before dipping his head down until he was eye level with her. Abby held her breath watching as Kanda moved closer to her. She felt the hard surface of the stone wall behind her as she pressed herself even further back into its rough surface. Abby closed her eyes as Kanda moved within an inch of her face and waited for him to kiss her. She stood there staring into the darkness of here eyelids for what felt like forever and eventually got curious as to why he hadn't done anything to her. Slowly she opened one eye to see what was going. The sight that greeted her made her furious. After she had closed her eyes Kanda had apparently left her cowering against the wall and instead had decided to take a seat on the other side of the garden under a large cherry tree that had someone found enough room to grow. When she told him to go to the other side of the garden she did not mean for him to just leave her.

Stalking over to him she stood with her hands on her hips glaring down at the man who seemed perfectly content to now ignore her. She stood there glaring down at him him as a slight summer breeze blew over the stone wall and through the garden. Abby watched as Kanda's hair swayed around his shoulders. He had let his hair down for the night and it waved around his torso like waves.

Abby stood there waiting for Kanda to say something and when he didn't she moved just a little closer to him. She waited again to see if he would say something but again he just sat there as if he was meditating.

"Hey," Abby called jabbing his leg with the toe of her boot. When he didn't move she tapped him again with her shoe.

Finally she was starting to get more annoyed with the fact that he wasn't paying attention to her and she went to actually kick his leg. Just as she was about to make contact with his shin his hand suddenly shot out and clamped down on her boot. She stumbled a little when her foot was suddenly stopped but her body wanted to continue going forward.

"Why are you kicking me?" Kanda asked now glaring up at her.

"Why?" Abby asked him outraged, "You trapped me against the wall and then suddenly you are ignoring me. I'm kind of pissed that you would do that! You know what, I was wrong, I thought you had a heart but now I take it back."

Kanda just smirked up at her from his spot under the tree. Abby glared angrily back at him attempting to shake his hand off of her foot. When he didn't she thrashed harder and sent herself sprawling on the ground in front of him.

"Be careful you might hurt yourself," Kanda admonished. Abby just glared harder at him as she sat up brushing the top of her maids outfit off.

"You didn't have to trip me," Abby grumbled still sitting on the ground.

"You were acting like a pest. You know not everything revolves around you," Kanda stated closing his eyes again and relaxing into a meditative seated position.

Abby grumbled glaring at him, 'he is the one that invited me to his room tonight. I don't understand why he is ignoring me now' she thought. She watched him for a few more moments just watching how the light breeze rustled his hair and the way the shade of the cherry tree blocked the moonlight from reaching his skin and making him seem to glow in the darkness. After a moment of watching him sit motionless Abby got bored and with a huff let herself fall backwards onto the grassy patch that she had fallen on to. From here she could see the leaves of the large cherry tree dancing in the breeze and beyond that the cloudless night sky. Even with the light of the rest of the castle blocking out a lot of the beautiful night sky she could still see the brighter stars as they twinkled in the sky.

Abby started humming a song that she remembered from her childhood. In her head a beautiful womanly voice sung the song to her but she could not remember the words to it anymore. Instead she hummed the tune. The song made her feel happy and loved and was the only thing that gave her comfort when she was younger and the adults said mean things about her. Her own grandparents seemed to not really care if she lived or died.

"What are you humming?" Kanda asked. Abby broke the song looking up at Kanda who though still seated under the tree now had his eyes open and looked at her intrigued.

"It was an old song my mother once taught me. I can't remember the words to it anymore but it always makes me happy," Abby said with a smile. Kanda frowned at the girl who was still laying on her back looking at him upside down.

"Can you teach it to me?" He asked.

Abby turned onto her stomach and cocked her head to the side staring at him, "If you want. It is a silly song and like I said I can't remember the words to it anymore."

"I would still like to learn it. Just teach me how to hum it," Kanda said standing up and taking the two steps it took to get beside her. Sitting down he waited for her to sit up so that she could properly hum the song. After teaching Kanda the song they talked about her family and her life in the village. They spent the rest of the night humming the song and talking about the garden. Unknown to them Lavi and Lenalee had found a very comfy room on the third floor of the castle with a perfect view of an overgrown garden and two young people who were slowly falling in love.


Hi,

So I know my story is really messed up and at this point I am just trying to finish it. I thought this chapter would be cute because it shows a little more about Kanda and Abby and at least Kanda's past. I was going to put more information on Abby in here but I think I will save it for the next chapter. I hope you guys like it. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks!