Hello, minna-san!

Why have I taken so long to write this chapter? I realized that the plot that I had in mind would break the "rules" of a fairy tale... So, I had to think a lot, before deciding to stick with the original plot. Anyway, for those of you who "study" fairy tales, be warned that I'm mixing everything up. And now I'm doing it on purpose.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin... Life just isn't fair.

For Jo-chan

~~ Kaoru's Fairy Tale ~~

1. Waking up

'Ouch... Damn headache... It feels like I had too much to drink, but I don't remember ever enjoying sake this much. Maybe it's something that I ate... Maybe Kenshin put something in my food to try to seduce me... Yeah, right... Dream on, girl.'

"It seems that she is coming to."

'Who said that? That voice sounds familiar...'

"We should lie her on her bed." Said another voice.

'Bed? Wow! Someone is lifting me! Look where you are putting your hands, you pervert!'

"What happened to her?" The first voice asked.

'This futon is soft... Is this what they call bed?' Kaoru opened her eyes slowly.

"She is awake."

"Genzai-sensei? Hiko-san?" Kaoru stared at the too men.

"Kaoru-chan, daijoubu?" Hiko asked.

Kaoru raised an eyebrow. Since when Hiko called her Kaoru-chan? 'This must be a dream... This must be a dream...' Kaoru's eyes scanned her surroundings. It seemed that he was in some kind of stone building. And that room was very richly decorated. It seemed fit for a princess. 'Yup! This is a dream.' Kaoru pinched her arm.

"Itai! I'm not dreaming!"

"Feh... She was never a smart one..." Hiko said with a wicked smile. "It seems that she is fine, Genzai-sensei."

"How do you feel, Kaoru-hime?" Genzai-sensei asked.

'Hime?? As in princess? Oh, my... What happened? I was in my bedroom... Getting ready for bed then... I started reading that book... Maybe I fell asleep. This can't be real.'

"Your highness?" Genzai-sensei insisted.

"Who are you talking to?" Kaoru asked, puzzled. He was addressing to her as if she was a princess, and she knew she wasn't one. 'Did he get crazy or something? Maybe he's become senile... Poor good doctor...'

"Kaoru-chan? Are you sure you are feeling well?" Hiko raised an eyebrow. "I think she has hit her head, good doctor. Do you think you can fix her until tomorrow?"

"I do not need fixing!" Kaoru objected. "What the hell is going on?"

Doctor Genzai moved closer and started examining her skull.

"If she hit her head, maybe she has amnesia."

"I don't have amnesia!" Kaoru yelled.

"Fine!" Hiko replied, calmly. "Then you know who you are."

"Kamiya Kaoru."

"And who I am."

"You are Seijurou Hiko."

"And where are you?"

"I don't have a clue."

"Genzai-sensei, fix her until tomorrow. There is a prince coming from a faraway kingdom and I can't present him a damaged good." Hiko said, moving to leave the room. "She always had a thick head, I don't think she has hit her head hard enough to make permanent damage."

"Mou!" Was all Kaoru could reply.

Genzai-sensei looked at her worriedly.

"What the hell is happening?!" Kaoru sighed in defeat.

"Your maid found you unconscious in your room. She called for Hiko-sama and me. Can't you remember anything, Kaoru-hime?"

"Please stop calling me that, Genzai-sensei. I'm no princess. What is this place?"

"Well... This is your home land, your highness. The kingdom of Hiten Mitsurugi, ruled by the almighty king Seijurou Hiko the 13th."

Kaoru felt like borrowing Kenshin's trademark 'oro' at that moment. It had to be a dream... She was probably dreaming... 'It's too weird to be a dream! The book! That freaking book! It made this! It'll have to unmake it!'

Kaoru got up from the bed, almost falling in the process. She didn't know that thing was so far away from the ground. She started searching for the book, but it was nowhere to be found. Genzai-sensei kept looking at her with a concerned expression on his face. It seemed that his dear hime-sama had completely lost her mind. Maybe it was a concussion. He had heard of things like this... The person hitting her head and completely forgetting who she was... Maybe she was just disorientated and it would come back to her soon. Or so he hoped, because Hiko-sama had a prince coming to woo her.

"Are you looking for something, Kaoru-hime?" Genzai-sensei asked.

"Have you seen a book?"

"Perhaps you should try the castle's library."

Duh! That was pretty obvious... The best place to look for a book was surely the library.

"Please, take me there." Kaoru requested.

Genzai-sensei leaded her out of the room. 'Kami-sama! This is amazing! I'm inside a castle! A real castle! Just like in a fairy tale. And they think I'm a princess... Maybe it isn't so bad after all! I wish Kenshin was here... I have to make everything go back to what it was, so that I can see Kenshin again.' Kaoru sighed. She never thought she could be happy in a second and miserable in the next.

Maybe going back and seeing Kenshin wasn't such a good idea after all. He always treated her as if she was a child. That would probably never change. Nevertheless, she missed him. Her heart sank.

Genzai-sensei opened a large door by the end of the corridor and Kaoru walked in what was a huge library.

"Great... How am I supposed to find a book in the middle of so many books?" Kaoru dropped to her knees. 'I wish this was just a weird dream...'

"Are you feeling well, your highness?"

Kaoru shook her head.

"What are you feeling?"

"Emptiness... I can't go home."

"You are home, your highness. Your father wouldn't like to hear that?"

"My... Father?"

"Hiko-sama."

"HIKO-SAMA IS MY FATHER?" Kaoru felt like fainting. No way that man with an over sized ego could be her father. 'Well... Maybe in this twisted world, he is... If Hiko-san is a king, maybe Kenshin is a prince. I'm a princess... We could live happily ever after. But what if he not even exists in this world? What can I do right now? If that book is in this library, it would take me forever to find it. What can I do? Maybe I could just play along and pretend to be a princess for the time being.'

"Genzai-sensei... I'm confused. I think I hit my head." Kaoru said, placing a hand on her forehead and pretending to be disorientated. "Perhaps you could tell me a bit about myself... Maybe I can remember more things if you do..."

***

Hiko went to the throne room. His daughter's current condition was preoccupying. He only hoped that she wouldn't chase away the suitor he had found her. He took a deep breath before thinking about something that required his immediate attention. Now, where was it? He was sure he had left it there... There it was, right next to his throne, at an arms length, his precious, precious, sake jar. What made his sake jar so special was the fact that a witch had put a spell on it, so it would never run dry.

"My beautiful!" Hiko said, taking the sake jar. "Never hide yourself from me!"

He poured some sake on a cup, before calling his guards.

"Bring here my baka deshi!" Hiko commanded.

In a few minutes a red haired man entered the throne room and bowed before the king.

"Did you call, shishou?"

"That's not how I taught you!"

"Not again... "Kenshin grunted.

"I'm not hearing you!"

"Fine... Did you send for me, 'almighty and powerful king Hiko, king of Japan and emperor of the world'?" His baka deshi asked, with a displeased look on his face.

"You forgot the genius part again, baka deshi."

"Geez... And you wonder why..." Kenshin muttered.

"Did you say anything?"

"N-no!"

"Good. I have a task for you, baka deshi. You must take my precious sake jar to the cave of the dragon... You know, where we keep the rest of the royal treasure."

"Not again, shishou!"

"What did you say?"

"The dragon burnt my hair last time! And as soon as I got back from the cave, you made me go there again and bring back your sake jar. To tell you the truth, I thank Kami that dragons can't speak, because when I looked at it, I was sure it would laugh on my face. Besides, you never thank me for risking my neck!"

"What did I do to get such a stupid and ungrateful pupil?" Hiko raised his hands to the sky.

"Oro..." Kenshin sighed. "Okay, I'll go..."

"That's my baka deshi."

***

'Let me remember what I know so far... My name is still Kamiya Kaoru. Everybody else I know also have the same name as before I opened that book. Doctor Genzai doesn't seem to know Kenshin, Yahiko or Sanosuke.'

"Is your dress tight enough, your highness?" Misao asked.

'Oh, yes... Misao is my maid. This is so weird! She looks so different from the energetic ninja I used to know. I can't believe this.'

Kaoru moved to the mirror.

"N-no way I'm going to wear this!" Kaoru stuttered. Sure, it was a beautiful dress, but the neckline was too low, almost exposing her errm... Attributes to the world.

"But your highness... It looks wonderful on you. It's your favorite dress!"

'Damn. They will make me wear this? I'm blushing already... I can't believe it. Well... If at least Kenshin could see me like this, he might think I'm not such a little girl, as he thinks.'

"Why do I have to wear this?" Kaoru whined.

"His majesty, the almighty and handsome king Hiko Seijurou the 13th called for you. It seems that your suitor has arrived."

"Suitor?" Kaoru's face turned pale.

"Yes. King Hiko wants you to join them for dinner."

"Who is he? Have you seen him?" Kaoru asked, curiously. It could be Kenshin.

"He's quite handsome and he has a wonderful smile. He smiles a lot, actually."

'Handsome? It could be Kenshin. And Kenshin is always smiling a goofy smile. I'm going to marry Kenshin!' Kaoru mentally sang. 'Maybe being trapped in this place won't be so bad after all!'

"Misao-chan? Can you please take me... erm... Where do we eat here?"

"You mean the dinning room?"

"Yeah! That's it!"

"Please follow me, your highness."

They went out the corridor, took the stairs down. They turned left, then right, until Kaoru was completely dizzy and lost. She'd never be able to find her way in that huge castle. Misao stopped and pointed a guarded door to her.

"It's in there, your highness."

Kaoru stood for a minute, catching up her breath. She felt quite nervous to meet her 'suitor', but she was sure it was Kenshin. The old man that had given her the book had said it would help her with Kenshin. So, it had to be him.

She got closer to the door and the two guards opened the door for her. The first thing she saw was Hiko talking to a man. It wasn't Kenshin.

"Kaoru, I'm most pleased to present you prince Seta Soujirou." Hiko said, as the young man bowed to her.

Kaoru fainted.

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TBC... (that is, if I get enough reviews. So, please review)
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For those of you who are wondering... No, this won't turn out to be a crossover. Two people told me that it sounded like "The Neverending Story". I never watched that movie, so don't worry about it (and you wonder: what kind of childhood this author had?).

For the person that said that it reminded him of Fushigi Yuugi, I know Fushigi Yuugi, but when we came up with the plot, I didn't remember it (I only had one manga by then). What happened then was: Bao wanted to torture Kaoru for a change (she was just finishing "Truth to be Told") and Firuze and I suggested her a lot of things that had been made already. So, we finally thought about Kaoru being trapped in a book. I must admit the my first idea sucked big time (thanks to Firuze for suggesting something else). I thought Kaoru should be trapped inside a book about pirates. (Duh! That was silly!)

By the way, I updated my other fic "To Love you Again". Please check it ou. ^_~