T.Anjel: Sorry for the delay…hehe. Also! I forgot to write this in the other chapter, but someone…I forgot (gomen!) offered to be a pre-reader. Unfortunetely, he/she did not leave an e-mail address. So if you're reading this, or anyone else who wants to pre-read this fic, leave me an e-mail onegai!

Standard disclaimers apply.


To Love the Hated- chapter 3

"I hope you don't mind if I leave the table first, Ou-sama," Kaoru drawled out to the other end of the table after finishing her lunch. She stood up, not waiting for his reply. Her leg wasn't much of a burden to walk with anymore. It felt quite fine to be exact. She strode out of the dining room, feeling that she needed silence and peace by herself. She had enough chaos for one day.

Kaoru peeked into every room along the hallway to find a suitable room to relax in. She came upon the library, which was at the back of the palace. She shut the heavy oak doors behind her and looked around the huge library. The place was filled wall-to-wall with colorful books.

I wonder if anyone read all these books, Kaoru thought, running her fingers through a shelf of worn-out, hard covered books. Here we go! Kaoru picked out a plain, thick, orange book and took a seat in a lounging area of the library. She picked a comfortable couch right by the large window that overlooked the fields where the horses roamed free and some of the garden beside it.

Kaoru snuggled into the couch and began reading. She peeked outside and saw the familiar rooster guard from the other day hitting on the woman who sat next to her during meals. Kaoru let out a laugh. He was chasing around bushes, and by his motions, he was trying to act fluid and flawless. Good luck to him on that.

Kaoru sunk herself lower into the soft couch and sighed as the silence wrapped comfortably around her. It was so peaceful, ne?

And all good things must come to an end, mustn't it?

From the corner of her eye, Kaoru noticed a certain redhead seating himself across from her on a similar armchair. He had a book of his own, and began reading, acting as if she wasn't in the room.

If he doesn't talk to me, I don't plan on talking to him, Kaoru thought, eyeing her book.

Kaoru finished up six pages of her book and noticed that there was actually a comfortable stillness in the air. And what exactly did that mean? She asked herself. She wasn't feeling a bit nervous around the man.

Maybe he's not that bad of a guy as you assume him to be, a tiny voice in her said.

Eh? Where did you come from? Kaoru asked the voice.

Call me your conscience, it replied. But Kaoru! Why don't you set down your stereotypical barriers for the man! He doesn't seem that bad.

Urusai! Kaoru said, pounding the voice in her head.

"Ano…Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked nervously. She had been reading her book peacefully for a while, and a vein in her forehead began to pulse feverishly for no particular reason. What was she mad at?

"Eh?" Kaoru said, looking from her book and from her inner havoc. "I'm fine, Ouji-sama!" She assured with a sarcastic flap of her hand. "But aren't you supposed to having one of those chats that the Ou-sama was talking about this morning?" Kaoru asked with curiosity. Fine! I'll see if his nice act is fake or not. Just for a few days! Then I'll go back to being a rampaging Kaoru.

Agreed, the voice said and popped into nothingness.

Eh? Kenshin was in a slight state confusion. She wasn't glaring or spatting out curses at him. She was actually looking at him in a normal fashion. "I am," he replied to Kaoru's previous question. "I'm having one right now with you," he completed.

"Reading?" Kaoru inquired.

"If that's what you prefer," Kenshin said with a smile and resumed his reading.

Kaoru peered over the edge of her book. "Eh? I wouldn't have guessed that you were into romance novels."

Kenshin grinned sheepishly. "I don't find them all that bad."

Kaoru couldn't help smiling back.

"Would you like some tea, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked with renewed confidence.

"I'd like that."

Mou! Who would have known that the prince wasn't that bad of a person? It still doesn't mean I'm going open up to him, Kaoru thought.

Why not? The voice returned to argue with Kaoru's thoughts.

Because even if he's a nice prince, he's still a prince! Kaoru thought haughtily.

Ey, put your past grudges down, Kaoru! The voice pipped. He wasn't the one that…

"I know he's not," Kaoru mumbled aloud.

"Whose not what?" Kenshin asked.

"Eh?" Kaoru said, looking up from her ponderings once again. "Nothing! Nothing!"

Kenshin had already ordered tea from a wandering servant and immediately, two steaming cups of bitter tea was placed on a small coffee table between them.

"I was wondering, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said, taking up his cup. "What grudge were you holding against me?"

"Grudge?" Kaoru asked. "Oh! Back there in the kitchen and such? It was nothing," Kaoru lied. Kenshin saw right through it, but urged her to continue. "I was just feeling slightly annoyed." Kaoru gave a weak excuse for a smile.

"Annoyed about what?"

"Me being here," Kaoru answered honestly, sipping her hot tea slowly as not to burn her tongue. It was at least half of the truth, ne?

"What's so bad about being here?" Kenshin asked, setting his book down on the floor.

Kaoru gave a shrug. "I guess," she began, staring at the cup of tea in her hands. "I guess it makes me feel trapped. And it…" Kaoru shrugged again. "I don't know how to put it."

Kenshin nodded his head. "I get a feeling I know what you mean."

"Do you kick any of the women out anytime?" Kaoru asked with suddenly livened eyes.

"Oro? You want to get kicked out?" Kenshin asked.

"Of course!" Kaoru replied with defiance.

"Eto…Shishou said we disqualify three women every two months," Kenshin said, thinking back to when his teacher was discussing the affair with him.

"Honto?" Kaoru asked with even more brightened eyes. "Could you maybe just disqualify me in two months time? It is your decision to make, ne?"

"Aa," Kenshin said, replying the latter question. "But I don't think I would be disqualifying you, Kaoru-dono."

"Why not?" Kaoru huffed. She slipped a lollipop out from her pocket and she grabbed it, swaying it in front of Kenshin's amused eyes. "I'll give you a lollipop if you do! I know you want this lollipop. Yes you do!"

"I'll see about it when the time comes, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said.

Kaoru leaned back against the back of her couch and crossed her arms. "Hmm? If that's the way you want it, fine." She reverted her eyes from the prince back outside where Sanosuke continued to provoke the woman who called herself Megumi.

"You're keeping her here for the whole year, aren't you, Ouji-sama?" Kaoru asked softly, watching the two people quarrel with each other.

"What makes you say that?" Kenshin asked, staring out the window as well.

Kaoru leaned her chin on her hand with a warm smile on her face. "I don't know. I just get the feeling that you would keep her here for Sanosuke's poor sake. You two seemed to be good friends, am I right?" Kaoru asked, turning her hazy gaze from the window to the ouji.

"You are, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin replied and looked straight back at her.

"Thought so," Kaoru said with a satisfied 'hmph'. "Ah! Ouji-sama! Wha…What are you doing?"

Kenshin was kneeling in front of Kaoru and gently touching her leg.

"OUJI NO HENTAI!!!" Kaoru yelled, punching the poor prince square in the jaw. "MOU!!" Kaoru shrieked and stomped out of the library with a trail of dark smoke trailing after her.

Kenshin was rammed into a shelf of books, and they poured all over him like rain. "I'm not a hentai," Kenshin grumbled to no one in particular, popping his head out of the pile of books he was buried in. "I just wanted to see how her leg was…. maybe it was a bit forward for me to do such a thing."

Kaoru on the other hand, was stomping down the hallway with such an enraged look upon her delicate face. "No more acting nice to the prince," Kaoru agreed to herself with a huff and approached a new set of doors at the end of another hallway she walked into. "What's in here?" Kaoru murmured to herself before peering inside. "Sugoi!"

It was a great ballroom with a ceiling taking up two floors. The walls were decorated with mellow paintings and arcs of gold up on top.

Kaoru took one step inside and the sound resounded against the walls in repeating echoes.

"Ah! Kaoru-san!"

Kaoru turned around to see Misao at the door; mop in hand. "You're cleaning this place, Misao-chan?" Kaoru asked.

Misao nodded. "It's my last chore for the day," she informed. "And after this, I can go see my Aoshi-sama." Her eyes sparkled for a moment's time at the prospect of visiting her lover.

"Aoshi…Aoshi," Kaoru mumbled, scratching her chin. "Ah! Isn't he that stiff, tall guard that says 'aa…' all the time?"

Misao sweatdropped. "Eto…I suppose…"

Kaoru nudged Misao in the rib with her elbow. "I had no idea you were after those kind of men, Misao-chan!"

Misao blushed. "Kaoru-san! I have to work now. Please excuse me."

Kaoru moved out of the way so Misao could drag in her mop and bucket of water. "Why do you have to clean this room, Misao-chan?" Kaoru asked. "I bet they barely use this place."

"Ah…I don't think I should be the one to tell you, but they're planning to have a ball in a few weeks," Misao said, walking over to a corner to begin her cleaning.

Kaoru didn't feel like she had the energy to complain about that event and offered her help to Misao.

"I doubt you're here to clean the castle, Kaoru-san," Misao commented on Kaoru's offer.

"Maa maa! If someone complains about me cleaning, I'll see right to it that you have nothing to do with the complaint," Kaoru assured. "And besides! We could get the work done twice as fast and you could see your dear Aoshi-sama quicker."

Misao gnawed her lower lip. Leave it up to her new friend to bribe her into allowing herself to clean a humungous ballroom. "Take this," she said, thrusting her mop into Kaoru's hands. "I'll go get another one." And she took off to get another mop.

Kaoru smiled in a satisfied way and began scrubbing the dusty floor sparkling clean. I can't spend my whole day ruining everything and sitting now can I? She asked herself.

"Catch, Kaoru-san," Misao said and threw a ball of cloth towards Kaoru. She caught it and saw that it was an apron. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Misao. "For the mood," Misao said with a smirk and began mopping up the opposite corner, a hundred feet away from Kaoru's.

Both women worked in silence, needing all their energy to clean the wide surface area. Both of them turned their heads as the click of the door echoed around them. It was none other than Kaoru's beloved Ou-sama.

He noticed her quickly. "And now you're cleaning, Kamiya," he said.

"You're quite observant, Ou-sama," Kaoru drawled, ignoring Misao's questioning stare as the two exchanged sarcastic remarks.

"Make sure you don't trip and fall, woman," he said. "You don't want to break a leg on the first day, now would you?"

Kaoru twitched. "Of course not," she replied. "I try to leave the best impression I can give."

"It's not much you're giving." Before Kaoru could spit out another one of her mocking comments, Hiko continued. "Makimachi. After you clean up this room, I want a word with you in my office."

"Hai, Ou-sama," Misao answered with a low bow.

"I'll see you at dinner, Kamiya," he said before making his usual dramatic exit.

"What does he want to talk to you about?" Kaoru asked, resuming her mopping as if nothing happened.

"Usually about the events and such, but do you usually talk to the Ou-sama like that?" Misao asked.

"I can't talk respectfully to him," Kaoru said with a smile. "It wouldn't be fun that way if I did."

~*~*~*~*~*~

T.anjel: Was that a short chapter or was that a short chapter? Really sorry if it is, but my head is in a summer vacation haze right now. I promise you the next chapter will be much more longer and interesting… I guess a little teaser for it would be the title of the chapter: The Dojo…
Till then..Ja! And leave reviews onegai! I'd love you if you do!