Kasumi awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside her window. She sat up slowly and looked at her surroundings. She was definitely no longer in the palace. 'Oh yes,' she thought, 'I am in Manwein's dwelling.'

She sat there and stretched out her limbs before remembering her great need for a bath.     'Is Manwein awake?' she wondered. 'Probably not, I look for the bath myself.'

She got up and quickly brushed out her long brown hair. Back at the palace they found her hair slightly unusual, it wasn't dark brown and it wasn't blonde- brown, it was just brown. After untangling her hair Kasumi quietly crept out on to the hallway and looked around at the many doors.

'Well it's not the last door on the right, that's Manwein's room. Maybe it's the one across from his,' she thought as she walked slowly to the last door to the left. She slowly opened the door, she was right, it was the bath. She looked around then quickly stepped in.

*meanwhile*

Manwein woke up and turned over trying to recall what had happened the day before. He had gone out hunting and met a runaway elf. Kasumi, she had said her name was, she had muttered something about a palace. But she said she wasn't royalty. She looked it though, she was beautiful.

He would make her his. He was startled from his thoughts, when he saw a shadow walk pass his doorway.

'She is awake already?' he wondered. He listened as she quietly opened the door to the bath. 'She does not know where the soaps are,' he thought, 'I must hurry and tell her before she undresses.' Manwein hoped strongly that he would not walk in on her, so as to embarrass her, but yet he also hoped for the opposite…

Kasumi looked at the round bath which was finely carved from a solid piece of wood and ran her hands along the engravings. She took a towel from the closet and set it by her change of clean clothes. She dropped her dirty tunic and leggings on the ground, then remembered, 'Soap.'

As if to answer her question Manwein knocked quietly on her door.

"Wait!" she said as she hurriedly picked up her towel and wrapped it about her body. "Come in!"

Manwein stepped in slowly not sure of what he was about to see. "Lady, the soaps are in," Manwein lifted his eyes to look at the elf in front of him. She was certainly beautiful on the outside, but to see the fairest maiden he had ever laid his eyes on wrapped in a towel was a new to him, and he enjoyed very much, though he tried hard not to show it.  

Kasumi frowned, annoyed with the fact that staring was one of the reasons she left the palace.

"Soap please, Manwein," she said breaking his thoughts.

"Oh, yes, of course," he said embarrassed turning to the closet to get soap off the high shelf. 'I wonder which one she would like best,' he thought debating over what soap scent to give her, 'Probably lavender, yes lavender would suit her well.' He grabbed the bottle of lavender soap and turned to hand it to Kasumi. "Here you go," Manwein stuttered, carefully handing the bottle over to Kasumi.

Kasumi took the soap and looked up at Manwein, "Thank you."

Manwein just stood there staring at her.

"Thank you, Manwein." She frowned as Manwein stood there still staring. Kasumi annoyed, cleared her throat and Manwein snapped back to reality.

"Oh yes, you're welcome," he managed to stutter as he made his way out the door.

When he finally left and shut the door Kasumi sighed and rolled her eyes. She dropped the towel and put the soap next to the bath.

*later*

Kasumi stepped out of the bathroom and shut the door. It felt so good to once again be clean.

She stepped quickly to her room and went in. She was surprised at how dark it was then realized it was because the curtains were still closed. Kasumi opened the curtains and let the light poor in. She turned to her bed and was surprised when a note lay on her pillow, she picked it up and silently read it.

Dear Kasumi,

I am sorry for the incident earlier. I am off hunting and will be gone for a few hours, you can go out or explore the willow a bit. If you get hungry there is bread and honey on the table. I will see you shortly.

-Manwien

'So,' she thought to herself, 'I have the first few hours of the day all to myself. What do I want to do my first day free of the palace?' Kasumi smiled. "See if Legolas is out hunting," she said aloud and laughed.

It had been only a day and a half but already Kasumi missed him so much. She grabbed her pack and left the house. Once outside she reminded herself, 'Remember, I am really Cutheniel, not Kasumi. Kasumi is fake, don't be surprised when he doesn't call me by my secret name.' She smiled at the thought of seeing her love once again and set off into the woods.

Bow in hands, she trotted under the trees quietly singing tunes she made on-the- spot. Suddenly she heard louder singing coming toward her, so she jumped into the nearest tree. She quietly peered down and watched the elf walk under her very tree. She watched intently as he turned his head, it was Legolas. Cutheniel could not suppress her squeal of joy. Startled, Legolas looked up and was surprised to see his friend.

"Cutheniel!" Legolas shouted in surprise. Cutheniel jumped gracefully out of the tree to greet him.

"Sorry, I meant to not let you see me till my return to the palace but I missed you so much. That shows how strong I am, by cracking on the second day of my 'disappearance'," Cutheniel smiled at him, then with out controlling herself she stepped forward and embraced him.

"Sorry," she said stepping back embarrassedly.

"It's okay I missed you too," Legolas said stepping to her side, closing the large, uncomfortable gap in between them.

Cutheniel turned to face him, "So how did they react when they found that I was gone?"

"They went insane!" he said chuckling, "Maids here and there screaming your name, guards running around outside, my father ordering everyone to look in the most unlikely places for you, and me trying to act like I didn't know what happened to you either."

Cutheniel laughed, "I didn't know it would work that well, but did anyone suspect that I had run away?"

"Only Maliana and I, we tried so hard to like confused as well, but everyone was too frantic looking for you to see that we knew what had happened."

They walked silently for some minutes before Cutheniel said, "What did you really come here for? Because I know you're not out hunting for you don't have your bow."

Legolas sighed and turned to her, "My father is sending me to fight the orcs, for their number is growing rapidly once again in the northern region of the Misty Mountains."

"Once again I envy your position, dear Legolas," Cutheniel said turning to face him. "You go on so many adventures. I am constantly stuck up in the palace, or at least I was."

"But I will be gone longer than the usual trips we take to fight the orcs. Much longer."

"Why?" Cutheniel asked worriedly, "What more do you have to do?"

"My father is going to Imladris and he wants me to go with him," Legolas stopped walking for a moment to look at Cutheniel, then once again resumed to what he was saying. "He says he has to take a break from ruling the kingdom, and then he had a long speech to give to me about how I should start training to be a king and how I should begin looking for a wife." From the corner of his eye he glanced at Cutheniel who was watching her feet.

"How did it feel?" he asked her suddenly.

"How did what feel?" she replied confused.

"Always telling me how to impress a girl and listening to me rave about some fair maiden I had met at dinner or someplace else..........when you..........I don't know how to put this.....um......"

"When I loved you," Cutheniel said finishing his sentence.

"Yes," he said nodding, "That's it."

"Well, it was hard," she said and looked at Legolas as he chuckled, "But you were my friend, and I didn't want you to find out that I.......you know....," Legolas nodded in acknowledgement. "So I had to answer you're questions and listen to your stories, or you would have suspected something."

"Oh," Legolas said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you didn't know," Cutheniel said smiling.

"But I do now and when you come back I'll make it up to you," he said putting his arm over her shoulder.  "Well, aren't you supposed to ask how I felt?" he asked her.

She looked up at him surprised. "Fine then, how did you feel?"

Legolas sighed. "I felt horrible. Trying not to think about you, trying not to show feelings for you, and trying to be interested in other girls, because your act was so good. I had myself convinced that you and I would never be more than friends. Shows how wrong I am, huh?"

Cutheniel sighed, it was good to be with him again. Suddenly Legolas looked up at the sun.


"Oh no," he said lifting his arm off of her. "I must go now, I have to get back to the castle soon, and we have walked far."

Cutheniel looked up at the sky, it was about mid-afternoon. "I should leave too, it's mid-afternoon and I have to retrace my steps back to my camp."

Legolas embraced her and kissed her on the lips for what seemed like a very long time.

"That's for all the hard times I gave you. I hope it will do for now," he said as he withdrew.

"It will," Cutheniel said smiling at the sweet tingling of her lips. She watched sadly as her lover ran into the shadows of the forest, wondering when she would see him again.

Then Cutheniel remembered that she must be heading back as well. "I hope Manwein's not back yet," she whispered to herself. With that she rushed of into the forest to retrace the steps she had taken from the willow.

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Good so far? Review please!!!!!! And more suggestions and comments too please. If you have any questions, suggestions, and/or comments email me at Chichikat90@aol.com.

Dear Space Llama... thank you for your suggestion I'll keep out the ( ) messages. I will also email you the answer to your question. Thanks everyone once again!!!!! P. S. There will be more danger in store for Cutheniel/Kasumi later so I might raise the rating to PG13.