T.Anjel: An uneventful chapter, but it was needed. What can I say? Thanks as always to everyone who reviewed! You guys always make my day. And thanks to XenoMark and Kasumi for editing. Enjoy this the best you can.

To Love the Hated - Chapter 8

"Dismissed?" Hiko inquired to clarify Kaoru's request.

"Hai, Ou-sama," Kaoru replied, nodding her head for emphasize.

The king took a long chug of sake before giving any comment. "And why, may I ask, do you suddenly want to leave, Kamiya?" He asked.

"I can only tolerate so much of ignorance and stupidity in this place," Kaoru answered. "My patience with this whole royal place grows thin."

Hiko nodded partially believing in what Kaoru was saying. "If I said you weren't to be dismissed, you would leave anyway, would you not?"

Kaoru grinded her teeth with irritation at Hiko's frustrating questions. "Probably," she replied simply with a forced, sarcastic smile.

Hiko shrugged. "Just asking," he said, and took another swing at his sake jug. "Here comes my baka deshi."

As if on cue, the door opened and Kenshin walked into the musty room. "Is something the matter, Shishou? Kaoru-dono?"

"Why don't you tell him, Kamiya?" Hiko asked, leaning back in his western chair.

Kaoru turned around to partially face Kenshin. "I am requesting to be dismissed, Ouji-sama."

"Dismissed?" Kenshin asked in surprise. "Is something the matter?"

"I've never wanted to stay here in the first place," Kaoru said, avoiding Kenshin's confused eyes.

"We all knew that," Hiko said with a scoff.

Kaoru shot him a glare and returned her attention to Kenshin. "Even if you deny my request, I'll just have to run off. It's as simple as that."

Kenshin stood, thinking silently for a second before nodding hesitantly. "Yes, you may leave, Kaoru-dono," he said.

For some strange reason, Kaoru didn't feel satisfied with that answer. She suddenly felt rejected. Ignoring the tugging at her heart, Kaoru gave a weak smile. "Thank you," she said. She bowed to Hiko and then to Kenshin.

Kenshin bowed back. "I'll have a carriage for you ready outside," he said quietly, heading out before her.

Kaoru nodded in thanks. "I'll miss you," she said to Hiko before exiting and being followed out by Kenshin.

Hiko smirked. "So will I, Kamiya," he mumbled before finishing off his large sake jar.

Kaoru quickly stopped by her room to bid Misao a quick farewell. She had been the closest and most dependable friend Kaoru had in the palace. She asked Misao to say good-bye to Yahiko, Genzai-sensei, Tae, and the cooks for her. Misao agreed in her own oceans of tears, which were uselessly dabbed at her handkerchief.

Kaoru headed out through the great hall, quickly saying "bye" to Sanosuke and told the stoic guard, whom she rightfully assumed to be Aoshi, to take care of Misao. She found the same carriage that she and Kenshin rode in earlier that day waiting for her. A servant opened the door for her, and Kaoru climbed in. Inside was the core of the apple she ate earlier that day. Feeling guilty for littering the clean carriage, Kaoru took the core into her hands.

The leftover apple was making Kaoru feel depressed. It was the last moment she shared with Kenshin. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she was going to miss the redheaded man. "Maybe I'll see him sometime," Kaoru thought. "Nowhere in the near future, I doubt."

Kaoru rambled carelessly to herself for the suddenly long ride back to the town. She stared out the window as the castle she took refuge in for the past two months were fading behind the horizon.

"Arigato," Kaoru mumbled as she was helped out of the carriage. She gave a deep bow before sauntering into her beloved town.

The dirt grinded under her worn shoes and the night air gently nipped at her clothes and skin. The tugging at her heart, which Kaoru tried to ignore earlier that night, grew stronger, making her chest feel heavy with an invisible burden. "Why does it feel so wrong?" Kaoru mumbled aloud as she finally reached her destination.

She stared up at the heavy wooden doors, and they didn't seem as warm and welcoming as she expected them to be. She shoved open one of the doors in frustration and banged it shut. "Tadaima," she said to herself before scanning the two-month deserted facility. "Mou! It's so quiet!" Kaoru complained to herself as she stomped up the wooden platform and slid the shoji of her room open.

Kaoru couldn't help smile at the extremely clean room she possessed. "Yutaro overdid himself," Kaoru thought before laying out her futon in the middle of the floor. She was too tired to start up a bath, and with a quick motion, changed into her sleeping yakuta. After tying her hair into a loose braid, Kaoru tucked herself into bed, hoping her days would finally return to normal as if she had never been scouted away into the palace and met Kenshin.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Interesting answer, baka deshi," Hiko said, watching Kenshin's figure enter his room for the second time that night.

Kenshin shrugged. "If Kaoru-dono was not happy staying here, she shouldn't be forced to give up her freedom for something as petty as finding me a wife."

"Che," Hiko responded, testing his limits with sake once again. "Then who do you expect to wed when this whole charade is over?" Hiko questioned, desperately praying to himself that the reply wouldn't be Mei. "It won't be a petty ordeal if your wife would soon end up to be the new queen."

Kenshin gave another shrug as his answer before exiting from Hiko Seijuro's sight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Breakfast the next morning was not the same in either the castle or the Kamiya dojo.

There was a hushed sort of silence lingering in the air as Kenshin silently ate his food and brushed Mei away from hanging all over him. Hiko didn't have anyone worthy of his standards to argue with, and the other women were only too aware of the single absence, which made them so much at ease.

Kaoru woke up late with the sun seeping through the paper door and blinding her eyes. She made herself a small breakfast and tried not to compare it to the foods she had back at the castle. Kaoru took a quick bath and changed to her gi and hakama, ready to start her day fresh. She hoped her star students, Yutaro and Shinji had taken good care of her classes for the time she was gone. Even if they were young, they were fast learners and were quickly on top of the league.

"Kaoru-san?" A voice called from the entrance of the dojo.

Kaoru smiled at Yutaro who was obviously surprised by Kaoru's sudden reappearance. "I'm back, Yutaro," she said. "How have the classes been?"

"They've been little devils if you want to know the truth," Yutaro said with a grin, closing the dojo doors behind him. "But they listened to Shinji and me for the majority of the time."

Kaoru nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you," she said.

"What was it like in the palace?" Yutaro asked in fascination.

"Way more boring than here," Kaoru said.

Yutaro pouted. "Yeah right," he shot back.

"Honestly!" Kaoru said, ruffling Yutaro's hair. "Now get ready for class. I've still got to warm up."

The first class Kaoru taught that day was one of a higher level that Yutaro and Shinji themselves attended. Kaoru felt immediately at ease with the familiar students as they greeted her with smiles, exclamations and complaints about how Yutaro and Shinji couldn't teach if their lives depended on it.

The class ended before Kaoru knew it, and she found herself slumped against a wall of the dojo, suddenly feeling empty without the presences of others. She didn't have another class that day for another couple of hours, and decided to stop by Reiko's for a little while. She was a childhood friend of Kaoru's. She, Kaoru and Sayo were the closest any three girls could get.

At arrival to Reiko's family-owned flower shop, Kaoru noticed Reiko's older brother, Jun, replaced Reiko's usual spot behind the counter. "Konnichiwa, Jun-san," Kaoru greeted with a bow. He bowed back in his usual stiff manner. Kaoru used to have a crush on the older man when she was younger, only to find later to find that she was just kidding herself to think she could ever win the heart of her friend's brother. "Is Reiko not here?" Kaoru asked.

"She fell ill last night," Jun answered in a monotone. "If you're going to stop by her house, do me a favor and drop this off there." He handed to Kaoru a small box of tealeaves. "It's to help break her fever."

Kaoru nodded, pocketing the box in her sleeve and bowed a farewell. She headed down the bustling dirt road to a small, secluded part of town where Reiko's house was located. Kaoru knocked on Reiko's wood door and a flushed looking Reiko opened it.

"Reiko!" Kaoru exclaimed, putting the small box down on a kitchen table and quickly ushering Reiko to her room. "You look terrible!"

"Thanks," Reiko said, automatically falling into the ruffled futon. "I feel like crap."

Kaoru felt Reiko's forehead to find it to be steaming hot. She rushed to get a bowl of water and a small towel. She soaked it and gently laid the cool cloth to Reiko's head.

"Thanks," Reiko said, closing her eyes a cool sensation washed over her for a few seconds before being overwhelmed with heat again. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I just wanted to see how my favorite florist was feeling," Kaoru said, refreshing the cloth with water.

"I've been better, but it's nothing I can't handle," Reiko said. "I thought you were still back at the palace."

"I got out last night," Kaoru informed her.

"Honto? If you got out last night, how come Sayo told me you stopped by her bakery in the afternoon?" Reiko asked to clarify the matter.

"It was just a small outing with Ouji-sama," Kaoru replied simply.

"Nani?" Reiko yelled, bolting upright in her futon. She was quickly plagued by a piercing headache. "You're so lucky, Kaoru!"

Kaoru just shook her head at her friend's envious gaze.

"I heard he's a pretty good-looking guy!" Reiko said with a devilish smirk. "You two must've been really close to hang around the town like that."

Kaoru felt blood rush into her face. "It's not like that at all!" She cried.

"You're blushing," Reiko teased.

"I'm not!"

"Mmmhmm."

"Really!"

"But Kaoru," Reiko said, dropping her teasing tone.

"Nani?" Kaoru asked with a pout.

"Why did you leave?" Reiko asked.

"Leave?" Kaoru asked. "Who said I left?"

Reiko shrugged. "I just have a pretty good gut feeling that it wasn't a dismissal that brought you out of the palace."

"It's not that I had to go out, it's that I had to come back in here! Back to the dojo!" Kaoru said, completely forgetting that Reiko was a very keen observer when it came to reading someone's face. It was nearly impossible to get a simple, white lie past her.

"Whatever you say, Kaoru," Reiko said. "You couldn't possibly have tried to run away? Perhaps?"

"What makes you say that?" Kaoru asked incredulously.

"I've practiced years in reading emotions on people's faces, Kaoru. You know that," Reiko said. "Especially since I have one of the most impassive brothers in the world."

"You don't have to remind me," Kaoru grumbled.

"So I'm right!" Reiko said. "You are running away from something! Or is it someone?"

"It's nothing!" Kaoru whined, wanting to drop the subject badly.

"Why run away, Kaoru?" Reiko asked. "Why not take the chance?"

"Because there are certain people whom I will refuse to allow to.to.be able to take a special role in my life!" Kaoru stuttered, trying to find the right words to put her frustrating sentence with.

"And why is that?" Reiko asked.

"You know why. You know all too well why," Kaoru mumbled. "I tried to let the matter go, and I eventually did! But it still bothers me, you know? It's still in the back of my head, warning me." Kaoru paused. "I know it was all back in the past, years ago, but it's not as if I could actually just.just.forget!"

Reiko nodded and paused before saying, "Don't you have a class to get back to?" She and Kaoru both knew they were touching upon a subject a little sensitive for Kaoru's taste.

"Yeah," Kaoru mumbled and quickly rewashed the towel before leaving. "Ja ne, Reiko."

"Ja."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Kenshin!" Mei whined, latching herself onto his arm. "Pay attention to me!"

"Look, Mei-dono," Kenshin said, prying her claws from him. "I have to give Yahiko his kendo lesson at the moment. Will you please stop following me?"

Mei looked taken aback. "Kenshin!" She said.

"I'll talk to you later, ne?" Kenshin said, jogging over to where the dojo was. The castle has seemed to lose its spark once Kaoru left. It was strange how everything looked normal, but it still felt forced and tense. It wasn't as if Kaoru interacted with all the women either and affected them in some emotional way. Kenshin had to admit that he missed her daily arguments with Shishou in the mornings and her strong spirit and determination. He missed her all right.

"You're late Kenshin!" Yahiko scolded as Kenshin trudged down the steps to the dojo.

"Gomen, Yahiko," Kenshin apologized. "I was delayed."

"By Mei, I'd bet," Yahiko scowled.

"Ah," Kenshin replied. "But enough of that."

"I haven't seen busu around. Have you?" Yahiko asked. Kenshin sighed. Yahiko obviously hadn't heard.

"She's been dismissed, Yahiko," Kenshin said, loathing the words that came out of his mouth.

"Naze?" Yahiko asked, finding the news to be slightly depressing.

"Why?" Kenshin repeated. "Because she wanted it."

"I don't believe it!" Yahiko said, looking frustrated. "She seemed to like it here enough!"

Kenshin shrugged. "I don't think she did. She had a dojo to run as well back home."

"Kaoru could fight?" Yahiko asked, not too surprised at the news. "I'd really like to see that," he said thoughtfully.

"So why don't you?" Kenshin asked.

"I would!" Yahiko said. "I want to too! Studying other techniques is good for my skills, ne?"

Kenshin nodded.

"Come with me Kenshin!" Yahiko demanded. "I have no idea where her dojo is and I want to challenge busu."

Kenshin nodded again. "I think I will."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ T.Anjel: Awww! K+K are separated, but it's only for the moment, folks! And I hope everyone can hate Mei even more. She's going to become a total nuisance for the next chapters. As if she isn't already. ^^. Until next time! Ja!