Author's Note: I was so happy to see more reviews. This could be the first time I get over a hundred on the tenth chappie… -_- I just want a lot of reviews! Too late to say 'Merry Christmas'… HAPPY EARLY NEW YEAR!!! I know my parents are going to throw another party… -_- It will be all adults, AGAIN! LOL! It doesn't matter… *sigh* Happy days! ^_^

Summary: Kenshin is a lonely prince who has been kidnapped… Kaoru is a thief that saves his life, is a relationship between royalty and criminals possible? Can Kaoru be what Kenshin was waiting for…?

Disclaimer: I only own the plot… -_-

A Thief's Dream

Chapter Three: The Bet

Hush your crying,

It'll be alright.

Just take my hand,

Hold it tight.

I will protect you,

From all around you.

I will be here,

Don't you cry.

-Phil Collins (??)

Kaoru smirked as she put the finishing touches to her masterpiece. She sneaked out of the prince's room and stationed herself outside of his room.

Kenshin stopped in front of his room and froze when he saw Kaoru's mischievous grin.

"What did you do?" Kaoru just shook her head.

"I don't know what you mean." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Princes these days! No respect!"

Kenshin just shook his head and tried to hide his grin. She was just so… weird. She did things that amused him and at other times annoyed him. He wanted many times to just strangle her, but sometimes he just wanted to laugh and smile with her.

He pulled off his tunic. (a/n: *drools and falls over*)

And climbed into his bed. The mattress was so soft and he immediately snuggled deeper into the mattress. It was so comfortable, then suddenly his bare flesh rubbed against something very sticky. Kenshin ignored it and pulled his covers over his head. Suddenly he felt something move next to him… Kenshin opened his eyes and sat up. Something landed on his lap he looked down at it and saw an earthworm. He balanced himself with one hand on the mattress and picked the offending earthworm up.

Suddenly something crawled over his hand and wiggled a little. Kenshin looked down at his hand and his eyes widened.

All over his hand and his mattress were hundreds of slimy bugs.

"HOLY SHIT! DAMNIT!" He bolted out of his bed wearing only his legging. On his bare chest were sticky earthworms that were able to latch onto his skin. He looked down at his body and felt disgusted. There were leaches on his arms and he immediately pulled them off, wincing when they snapped off.

Kaoru leaned closer to the door when she heard Kenshin cursing loudly. She grinned to herself and bit her finger to keep her from laughing out loud.

"You, servant! Is my son in his quarters?" Kaoru nodded, trying desperately to hide her growing smile. She bowed her head in defeat and tried to conceal her laughter. She shook harder as she laughed silently.

"Are you cold, Lady?"

"Yes… yes, very cold!"

She giggled slightly, but covered it with a cough.

"Lady, I think you might be coming down with a cold. Maybe you should dismiss to the servants dormitory."

"Yes sir."

Hiko nodded and went on his way. He walked past Kenshin's room and frowned.

"Kami-sama! This is shit!"

Kenshin looked down at the insect infested mattress and slowly, very slowly counted to ten.

One… Two… Three… Aw SHIT! He couldn't take this anymore. This stupid! Kenshin ran out his bedroom door, unaware of what he was wearing… or, what he was not wearing.

Kaoru hugged herself. The stupid prince deserved it! Suddenly, the door slammed open and caused Kaoru to jump. She looked into the open door and saw Kenshin standing there in nothing, but his legging… and that didn't hide much… in fact, it was really tight that she could see his leg muscles through the thin material. Kaoru blushed as her gaze lowered from his bare chest to something lower… She immediately slapped her hands over her eyes and hurriedly muttered all the curse words she knew.

"Damn, shit, fuck, hell…"

Kenshin looked down at the young beauty with wide eyes. He has never seen a woman with such a bad mouth. She cursed a lot for a young maiden and for some reason; he just wanted to know what made this woman tick. He wanted to know why she was the way she was. She intrigued him, and at the same time scared him.

He wanted to know why she was a thief and what pushed her to crime. Kenshin looked down and immediately knew why she was embarrassed. His hands flew to his midsection to cover his… ahem. He looked around and saw that there was no one around except him and Kaoru. He glared down at her with his amber eyes. She looked up at him and matched his glare with one of her own.

Each person's eyes narrowing into a dangerous slit, prompting the other to look away. Kaoru wasn't planning on backing out, neither was Kenshin. They just looked at stared at each other with venomous snarls. Kenshin's eyes flashed dangerously and the only thought that crossed his mind was, 'must strangle.'

Kaoru's eyes twinkled mischievously and the only thought that crossed her mind was, 'must strangle.'

Yes, the lovely couple was thinking the same thing. They both despised each other a lot, but you know what they say: The more you hate someone, the more you love them.

"Why don't you two just kiss already?" Kenshin was the first to break contact. He looked to the side and saw Yahiko standing there beaming at him. Kaoru grinned at her small victory and followed Kenshin's gaze.

Yahiko looked Kaoru up and down.

"Yahiko, are finished in the stables?"

"Yes, Prince Kenshin." Kenshin smiled and nodded.

Kaoru looked at the little boy and smiled.

"Aw! He's so cute! Yahiko-chan!" She put a hand on his head and smiled down at him. Yahiko just shook her hand off his head and glared at her.

"Don't call me that!" Then he turned his gaze to Kenshin, "Why are you here with this busu?"

Suddenly, Yahiko fell over with a large bump on his head. Kaoru slapped her hands together and smiled in satisfactory.

"That's what you get for calling me 'busu,' Yahiko-chan." Yahiko got to his feet and dusted himself off. He ground his teeth together, trying to control his temper.

"Don't call me that, BUSU!" Kaoru grabbed a wooden sword from the display rack. Yahiko looked at the sword and wondered if she would be able to wield it… then his mind wandered to the pain to come if she could. She raised it over her head and Yahiko took that as a sign to run.

Kenshin watched the two with growing amusement. They looked like battling siblings and he thought that this could be the beginning of an interesting trip to Princess Megumi's in Izu (a/n: I'm just making up names for the countries… -_-). Kaoru successfully executed an attack and had Yahiko on the ground with little bumps and bruises all over his body. Kaoru smiled in accomplishment.

Kenshin laughed and Kaoru glared at him.

"What are you laughing about?!" She picked up the wooden sword and approached him murderously. Before Kenshin could do anything he laying dizzily on the floor.

"Oro…?" Kaoru looked down at him. She could have sworn that his eyes flashed lavender when he said 'oro.'

******Few Hours Later******


Kaoru angrily stared at the wall of the dungeon. Why did he have to put her here? It was just a silly joke! It's not like anyone got hurt… She pounded her fist into the dirt and wondered if she would get breakfast in the morning. She better, cause if she didn't… let's just say something unpleasant would take place, like the murder of the prince…

Kenshin shifted in the bed, worried that another worm will crawl on him. Since the incident, Kenshin got servants to clean every nook and cranny of his quarters. He looked around the room and sighed when everything looked normal. He was hoping that nothing would appear out of the blue… he was hoping that no bugs would be in his bed or snakes in his closet. He better keep that thought to himself, wouldn't want Kaoru to get any ideas.

Most of all, Kenshin couldn't go to sleep because he was thinking of Kaoru… alone in that cold dungeon. Without a blanket or a pillow, all she had was a little cot in the corner of the cell. It must be unpleasant to sleep behind bars where everyone can see you.

Kenshin smirked. "She deserved it."

And with that he close his eyes to await the next day.

As the sun rose, Kaoru woke up in a soft bed. She stretched and pulled the comforter off… Comforter…? Kaoru sat up in the bed and saw that she was in a wonderfully decorated room. Her eyes widened when she saw Kenshin sleeping in a chair next to her bed. She looked down at her body and saw that she was wearing a different tunic and legging. Her eyes flipped back to Kenshin and then she fisted her hands.

"Oro?!"

For the second time in two days, Kenshin fell to the floor with lumps on his head and Kaoru standing tall with her hands fisted in aggravation.

"Hentai! How could you do this?!" She put her arms over her chest.

"I didn't do anything, you worthless servant!" Kenshin replied while getting up.

"Then how did I get into these clothes?!" She looked ready to hit Kenshin again.

The Prince held his hand up and Kaoru stopped. "I had a woman servant change your clothes."

"Oh…" Kaoru let her hands fall to her side.

"I thought you seemed uncomfortable in the dungeon, so I brought you here since there was no room in the servants' dormitory."

"Oh…"

Kenshin looked up at her from the floor and saw that she was turning red with embarrassment.

"Sorry about that… I'm sorry about the punch…"

Kenshin got up and dusted off his worn tunic.

"It's okay, just clean up my quarters and arrange my clothing for the trip, and when your finished with that, I would like for you to clean up the stables."

Kaoru stared at Kenshin with incredulity. Didn't he feel like this was too much on the day before their trip?

Kaoru glared at him and started to fix the bed.

Kaoru sighed in accomplishment. She finally finished the tasks that Kenshin had given her. She was about to retire to the servants' dormitory when Kenshin stopped her.

"I told you, there is no more room in the servants' dormitory. You will be sleeping in one of the guest rooms. Kaoru nodded and followed Kenshin down some halls.

******The next day******

"Good day, milady."

Kaoru took a good look around. There wasn't any carriages to bear them to Izu. How were they going to get to Princess Megumi without a carriage?

"Milord, where is our transportation?"

"The prince has already sent the carriages off. His majesty doesn't like to travel in carriages. Two horses have been saddled up for you."

Kenshin entered the scene and smiled at Kaoru.

"Does my lady know how to ride?" He grinned mockingly at Kaoru. She sized him up.

"Of coarse I can. I bet that I can outride his majesty." Kaoru looked at him with a glint in her eyes.

Kenshin pulled on his riding gloves. "Is that a challenge?"

Kaoru cocked her eyebrow, "Is his majesty willing to accept?"

"Yes and the reward is a kiss."

"That isn't fair!"

"Yes it is. If I win, I get a kiss from you. If you win, you can either claim your prize or not." Kenshin laughed at Kaoru's incredulous expression.

"We ride out at sunset and the first to reach Yokohama wins."

TO BE CONTINUED…

I didn't really know what to put in this chapter so I thought about the bet! LOL! I hope it was okay and that you all liked it! Please remember to review… it would make me very happy to see a new review!

Dreams are the children of our souls.

I'm working on the next chapter!

Don't worry about me giving up on this story! I will never give up on this story! And right now my grandmother is screaming at me and all I want is silence. God she's always talking about how I should act like other people! She just wants me to be like a stupid nobody who doesn't do anything, but what other people wants them to do. I hate this… oh well!

LOL! Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!