A/N: Just wanted to let you guys know - if anyone cares, I really get inspired when you all review. Otherwise I sit there wondering if anyone really enjoys my writing, or if I should just take a break. Lol. So yeah, I appreciate it tons. I really do apologize for my infrequent updates. I hate when other authors do it, so I shouldn't do it either.

Anyway, school is ending for summer and I'm thankful. This means more sleep for me & more updates for you wonderful folks. That goes for more than one of my stories.

Rima, as a very sheltered and teen princess, was very unsettled by what she saw on the streets. At first it wasn't so bad. Just villagers everywhere screaming their banter trying to get people to buy from them. Then, as she got into deeper roots of the town, she discovered smoke filled bars and shady-looking commonfolk. She had very uncleverly not grabbed any sort of map. But it probably wouldn't assist much, as she had no idea where Nagihiko was hiding out. As she wandered farther into town, Rima noticed men and some women smoking out of handmade pipes. At one point, the blonde witnessed a man and a woman basically ontop of one another, thrusting themselves against a stone wall for balance. Rima decided at that point to alter directions.

After walking and walking to no particular destination, she had to stop. It was tiring. She didn't know this town. She didn't know anybody. The curly-haired princess wondered why she had begun this possibly hopeless journey. Then she remembered.

It was for Nagihiko. That raven-haired, jester boy. The one close with the rude servants. The one who worked loyally for the castle till now. The one who had serviced her like it was never inconvenient. The one who never had anything negative to say. The one who cared about her.

Rima was sure if the situation were flipped, Nagihiko would sweep the streets searching for her.

The next thing she figured she should do is ask around. People around town were familiar with Nagihiko, weren't they? Rima had to breathe through her mouth to force her feet to go through the foul smelling ramen shop. The same woman was running the place. Tamara? Wasn't that what Nagihiko had called her?

"Excuse me," Rima said as she hopped up on a stool at the counter. The place was pretty much empty, except for a few average villagers.

The woman looked at Rima with slightly widened eyes. "Yes?"

"Have you seen a boy around here by the name of Nagihiko Fujisaki?"

Tamara leaned closer. "Why, he was in here just a few weeks back. Aren't you the little girl that was tagging along with him?"

Rima hated this woman's tone. And just about everything about her posture. If this woman knew who Rima was, she would check her attitude. She would speak to her with much more respect.

"Yes, but have you heard anything from him since?" The blonde forced her tone to be steady.

"Not at all," Tamara answered, not knowing Rima came from a line of authority. "May I ask who you are?"

Rima squinted, sensing the sarcasm and ignorance. Somehow this peasant could sense they were from different dimensions. Of course she could not tell this woman who she really was. But she could sum it up. Rima swiveled the stool to face the exit. "A friend."

Without bidding a thank you, she walked quite quickly out and onto the paved streets. Rima wished these people came with a manual. There was no way to read them. There was absolutely no way to get along with them unless you could somehow relate to their ways. As she was pondering this, she nearly yelped when a homely-looking woman grabbed her arm.

"Oh, sweetheart, dear, are you lost?" She had gray hair and such a hunched back that she was almost on Rima's level.

Rima pulled away, having never been touched by such an older woman. "N-No ma'am. I'm not lost." She backed up and bumped into a cart.

"Shouldn't you be with your daddy?" The woman reached for her hand, and Rima dodged her grip.

"I'm just looking for someone is all!" Rima raised her voice, not taking into account her rudeness.

"Here here, we'll find your house," The elderly woman started leading Rima by the back down the street. "You are surely lost, dear."

For the third time, the unknown princess jerked away from this lady. "I'm really not lost! I know just where I'm going!" Rima grabbed the hem of her skirt and took off down the street. Not being able to stop in time, she crashed into a number of people. She didn't have time to say sorry, just to get back up and continue running. By the time she reached a secluded part of town, Rima had gathered many scraped knees and dirty hands. She couldn't help but be scared.

Looking around, there was nobody. It was getting dark and people were going to get to sleep in beds, and she was technically homeless. She had left her comfort of a castle to sleep on the unsafe streets. She remembered all the cruel things Nagihiko had told her about the streets. But why had they just come to mind?

Rima finally broke down and bawled. Nobody in this town liked or wanted to help her. It was big and lonely. But after thinking, how different was it from home? The defenseless princess that barely anyone liked was scared.

-x-

Nagihiko Fujisaki rolled over in the lumpy bed of the inn's small room he was renting. No interior decorator had stepped foot in this room, but it was simple and fine enough. Kind of like his life. Plain and dull.

The ex-jester was indulged in a very deep depression. His whole life felt like a downward spiral. He thought once he got out of the castle, his future would just fall out of the sky and land in his lap.

The teen slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose. He had done absolutely nothing since coming there. Just lie in bed and stare endlessly at the ugly beige wall. Nagihiko had already been there three days; he hated to say he missed castle life. He missed all his ex co-workers, if you wanted to call them. Mari, Derrick, Nate, even the gossiping maids. He even missed the sourest King and Queen.

But most of all, he missed Rima Mashiro.

She was always there to brighten his day, as he was hers. Her missing felt like a huge void that could not be replaced by anything. But being at that inn gave him an ample of time to think about what he had done. And there were two things that stuck out: That Nagihiko was completely out of his mind bored and depressed, and that their food tasted like shit.

Nagihiko fell back onto the bed, silently wondering if the princess missed him. Surely it would be better for her in the longrun. She could focus more on her studies and less on worrying about getting severely hurt on the streets.

Nagihiko Fujisaki would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous of the perfect princess. She had everything handed to her, something he would never have. He didn't have caring parents like she did; his parents didn't even care enough to write him.

The long-haired ex-worker could describe himself, as the others liked to say, 'made to be independent'.

Again he tossed and turned, knowing there was no possible way to be comfortable. He was unsatisfied. Unsatisfied with everything in his miserable life. And he had abandoned the one person who brought him joy. But he would sacrifice himself over the princess anyday, and if this was what was best for her, then he would do it. He would take to it like an order from the princess herself.

-x-

Rima Mashiro was struggling with a downpour of heavy, neverending emotions. The most current being anger. She was furious with him. How could he just leave? Not think of her or anything, just go and not look back?

Pacing back and forth in the alleyway was not an effective way to pass time. Time seemed to move slower. Rima contemplated what she would do if she were face to face with Nagihiko. She would want to pound his face with something. What he did was selfish and nearly unforgivable. If he hadn't been so kind to her, curse his kindness, then she would have never came out looking for him.

Where could he have gone? Rima wondered if it was something she had said to him to make him want to disappear. She scoured her thoughts and could think of nothing. Nothing the princess had said was ever meant to be misinterpreted, but it always seemed to happen regardless.

Rima was still fuming. If she saw him, she would promptly deliver the hardest slap she could to his selfish, unsuspecting person.

Unfortunately, her fire soon lost all fuel and it was back to despair. All she could do was wait and hope maybe he would find her or, the more realistic scenario, wait until morning and then begin the search all over again. It was going to be a journey all right, but she was determined to find her ex-jester and demand to know his reason for leaving. And leaving her, right when she needed a friend most.

Eventually lulled to sleep in the alley, waking up was not a pleasant surprise for the blonde. Memories from where she was and how she got there came flooding back and it made her head swim. It felt like no sleep had entered her system.

It was past dawn, but the street was yet to fill itself in. Maybe with less people, it would be easier to search.

Rima stumbled a bit as she walked. She was losing energy quickly. She hadn't eaten anything in hours. Food was unimportant right now. But after a while of walking, she made herself stop to eat.

Pulling an apple from her backpack, the princess leaned against a gritty wall. It was getting hot. She felt sleepy and hopeless.

Suddenly, there was a tug at her bag. Some creepy guy was trying to rob her! Rima screamed and pulled it closer to her. He easily overpowered her and jerked the bag, tearing some skin from her fingers. She cursed silently as blood drew, and the man took off.

"No!" She screamed again, standing and trying to chase him. But after running for less than a few blocks, Rima knew he was long gone and she was no match.

All her tears seemed to be long gone also, so she just sat and moped. Now there was nothing that could be taken from her. Things just got worse and worse.

The blonde curled up in a ball next to the wall and eventually slept from exhaustion.

-x-

Again, waking up was not a pleasant surprise for the shaken princess. Rima was not where she had fallen asleep at. It looked as if she was in a secluded part of the forest somewhere.

Once she realized what might happen, she let out a piercing scream which immediately followed a prompt smack to the face.

"Don't. Open. Your Mouth. Again." A terrifying male's voice hissed at her. Rima couldn't get a good look at his face because of the shadows. But he wasn't alone. She began trembling with fear.

"Oh, princess, so.. Disappointed to see you again." Rima didn't know who was speaking at first. But as he got closer to her, she realized immediately.

It was that filthy, poor worker Derrick - the one she had fired from the castle only weeks ago.

Rima could only wonder how he had so many acquaintances outside the castle. He obviously knew people, people that were willing to kidnap an innocent princess to please him.

"Found you on the streets, curled up and hopefully dead," Derrick laughed joyously only to have a disappointed look cloud his features. "But you weren't."

"You're sick!" Rima shouted, squirming with the tight ties not even straining as she pulled against them. They constricted her legs and hands, leaving her pretty defenseless.

Derrick and his friends just watched her suffer; he was finally getting the satisfaction of her being the one miserable for once. After all those times of her being on his ass, it was the other way around. "What brings you to the big harsh reality princess? Get lost?"

The blonde glared at him with such fury it made her shake. "I'm looking for Nagihiko! You think I'd come to town for the heck of it? No way! You go ahead and die out here for all I care!"

The unemployed teen shrugged. "I would wish worse on you, bitch. I could kill you right now if I wanted." He could call her whatever he wanted. He wished all the maids could hear him now. "But, now that the cat's out of the bag, I suppose I could tell you what really happened."

Rima silenced herself quickly. "What do you mean?"

Cutting straight to the point, Derrick toyed with a knife in front of her delicate face. "I did help Nagihiko escape, and you know what? I don't regret it. Because he was miserable."

She knew he had something to do with it. "What do you mean miserable?"

Derrick smiled with fake empathy. "You were such a burden on him, oh annoying princess. He said to me, 'Derrick, help me escape this hellhole so I can live my life,'." He shook his head.

"You were just too much for him to handle," He continued. "Nagihiko couldn't just worry about his own life, he had to look after you constantly. Because all your mommy and daddy want you to be is a nice queen so they won't have to worry about you any more."

Rima shook her head as well. Could words so harsh truly have come from Nagihiko Fujisaki's mouth? She wouldn't believe it.

"Nagihiko was sick of you, just like everybody else in that wretched kingdom. He hates you, just like me," Derrick turned away from her. "Can't blame him, though. He made it longer than I thought he would. Putting up with you must have been a drag."

One of Derrick's friends looked worried. "Alright, man, we've tortured her enough, let's just let her go."

He surprisingly didn't argue. "I suggest you return home, princess," Derrick ran his knife through her ropes, cutting her skin slightly. "before something worse happens."

Rima ran when she got the chance. She didn't look back and she didn't care any more. If Nagihiko was so tired of her, he could have quit long ago or asked for a different position. He didn't have to open up to her. He didn't have to live such a lie and pretend to like her.

The blonde tried following the direction toward home, but it seemed everything she passed was unfamiliar. She couldn't even think straight. Nagihiko thought her to be a burden all this time?

Letting out a sob, Rima's pace slowed and she reached into her skirt pocket. There was only enough money to rent a room for a night or two. She took a shaky breath and walked inside.

She gloomily walked past the innkeeper after she received the keys. She knew what they were thinking. Isn't she too young to be by herself?

Rima brushed tears from her eyes and let herself in, eager to let the power of sleep overcome her.

A/N: I have a feeling this story is coming to an end very soon. Review for me, darlin'. :D