AN: Wow. So many reviews! O.o; Thank you so very much!

To: Half-breed-demon-fox, Wheee! (haha :D), Person, Prohibited, Angel of lonelyness, Ruronichik13, Erica6060, Bradybunch4529, GranolaBar, Cherryblossom, Triste1, Jing-Jing, Fantasy Angel Victoria, Gaby hyatt, and Prince Aoshi. This chapter is dedicated to you.

Triste1: Thanks for pointing it out to me, I really appreciate it! Though I know I pictured Kaoru as a… dumb kid when she was ten…… But… Yeah. So despite of myself, I changed her age to eight. :x.


Chapter 2

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"W-When are you coming back?" she asked him shyly.

"About three months or so. Though I have a hint that you're worried about me, Kao." He grinned.

"Well.. Y-yes.." She looked down at her shoes, face flushing with great embarrassment.

Before she could look up, she felt him leaning towards her, kissing her forehead gently. She replied by wrapping her arms around his waist with her head buried in his chest. He, in return, accepted the embrace and simply hugged her back.

"I love you Kao." He whispered silently, but loud enough for her to hear. A few moments went by as none spoke.

"Just.. Make sure you return safely. Promise me?" She broke the embrace, and smiled brightly at him.

Running his fingers through her hair one last time, he looked at her in the eyes.

"Promise. …You take care now." And with that, he left.

That was the last time she shared a memory with him, three years ago. Her fiancée, the one who never did return.


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Over the past three years, she heard about him from almost every person around her. He was, made legendary after all. Known for his swift killings and movements, fast god-like speed, and his cool amber eyes that could pierce through your very soul.

But she never did see him. Not even his shadow, for the past three years. And that frustrated her. She loved him, deep down she knew. So why didn't he return as he promised?

She was clueless on why he did not visit her, or why he never wrote, or why .. Everything just seemed to have died. Was it because she never told him that she loved him too? Or maybe he decided that she was too boring for him?

She was confused, mind filled with questions that were not answered.

She was angry that he would rather run off, slaughter people and build a name for himself that people would to fear; than to even drop by and say, "hello!". Wasn't she important to him?

Often times she thought of visiting him, instead of him coming to her. But in the end, it never did work out. She would either be too afraid of what was waiting for her there, or.. Well… She would just decide not to go. And so, it dragged on for three long years.

What made it more frustrating was when her father was murdered brutally; the captain reported to her that the killer was him.

What was she to do?

Deny it, of course. It was a mistake, she repeatedly told herself. But as time fades, she couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, the killer is indeed him.

Two days ago the captain returned, with the same report. But now according to his spies, plus new evidence, they are more confident with a hidden conclusion that the murderer is Battousai.

She had no idea what to do. She was just so tired, tired of defending her fiancée who unofficially left her, tired of feeling depressed and mope about her father's death.

She felt pathetic.

She wanted to get back on track, with her life. But she found it so difficult. There was this pain that was twisting inside, filling her with tremendous grief.

Papa...

Ever since she was born, her father was her closest friend and companion. She admitted, she was way too dependant on him. Every time something would to go wrong, he would be the one to fix it. Every time she were to cry, he would be the one ready with a hanky.

Ever since he died, there had been sleepless nights, and now insomnia was just all too familiar with her.

She was stuck, she knew. But she couldn't seem to get over father's death. She loved him so much.

I feel so pathetic, her mind repeated.


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"Come in." She responded tiredly to the knockings on her door.

The door opened, and Sayo appeared, holding a tray filled with food. Using her legs, she closed the door by pushing it softly.

"Hungry?"

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"No."

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"At least eat a little b-"

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"No."

"Oh come on, Your majesty. You need to eat. It's been days since you refused to eat."

"Well, my dearest servant, I'm not hungry." She replied stubbornly.

"Eat."

"No."

"Eat."

"No."

"Fine."

Inwardly the princess gave herself a small triumphant smile.

"Seeing that you want all this food to go to waste so badly... You know, the one that I spent all my effort in preparing?"

All she received was a murderous glare (Which was easily ignored) in response.

"I think I'll eat it instead. You don't mind, do you, Your majesty?" Sayo asked, a hint of humor in her eyes, as she sat on the floor.

"Go ahead, my dearest servant." She replied, while trying (but failed) to keep a straight face. Hopping off her comfy chair, she joined her friend on the floor. She stared at the food her dearest servant was consuming. After a while, she felt a teeny wee bit hungry.

It took only a matter of seconds when her majesty was seen eating hungrily with her dearest servant.


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"I don't want to be crowned queen. Not now."

"But your highness, you need to be crowned now. It's been two and a half weeks since your father had passed away! This land needs a replacement for the late king, and you're his only descendent of royal blood." Iiezuwashi stated, emphasizing any words necessary.

"But I'm not fit to be a ruler, royal blood or not. I have no idea about politics, or how to rule this land! I was never taught how to, since my husband-to-be has always been assumed to take over." she argued.

"And where's your husband-to-be then? You would need to get married as soon as possible, as preparations for the ceremony takes a long time. We need to plan this quickly, because we need to rush and complete the procedures as soon as possible."

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There was an awkward silence.

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"I-I can't." She said suddenly, with mild hesitation.

"Can't what, Princess?"

"I cannot get married." She answered, more firmly this time.

"Princess, you need to get married, weather you like it or not. This marriage would be very important to us as the people of this land!"

"How am I supposed to get married if there is no groom?" She asked, clearly annoyed. There was an edge to the tone of her voice.

She just did not like discussing about her fiancée with the chief advisor. In fact, she did not like discussing about him to anyone, Sayo excluded. It was obvious that they did not know much about him, and she would like to keep it that way.

"What.. What do you mean?" he asked.

She did not say anything for a certain amount of time, but he did not dare ask again. Finally, as she lifted her head and stared at Iiezuwashi with burning eyes, she answered simply-

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"He left me."


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"Why is it that your chocolate cake tastes better than mine?" a very annoyed thirteen-year old princess whined.

"I don't know. Perhaps I have the gift in baking chocolate cake, and you don't?" came the reply of a grinning prince.

Amusement was dancing on the surface of his eyes.

It was in the middle of the night, and both of them could not sleep. It didn't take them long to decide to sneak into the kitchen and do something drastic. Which was, of course, encouraging our darling princess to bake a cake.

Sitting in front of them now, were two freshly baked-from-the-oven chocolate cakes. One looked like a piece of heaven, and the other……… looked like it wanted to kill itself.

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Because according to papa, girls are much more of a better cook than boys." She said proudly.

"But… You're a tom-boy." He muffled a giggle.

It took a few seconds for his comment to process in her brain. And when it did, she all but glared and flung chocolate icing to his hair with her spatula.

Seeing that she declared some kind of an unspoken war, he took some flour into his hands and threw it in her face.

He waited in response as she spitted out some flour that entered her mouth. When she was done, she glared at him with all she could muster in a glare.

He began laughing at how fast her pretty face which was covered with flour twitched.

She then took the advantage of his distraction to smear more chocolate icing on his face with her bare hands. He stopped laughing, as he tried to slap her hand away. She was giggling hysterically now, as he pouted, face covered with chocolate.

"It's not funny."

"Yes it is."

Not satisfied, he held her head with both his hands and rubbed his face onto hers, with the intention of transferring the over-loaded chocolate to her face.

Soon both of their faces were covered with chocolate icing mixed with flour.

"Mou!" she shrieked girlishly.

He stuck out his tongue, and was about to say something when he heard footsteps approaching.

"Quick! Someone's coming!" he whispered as he pulled her hand, after each had grabbed their cake. He dragged her out the backdoor, and blew out the candles which had previously lighted the kitchen.

As soon as they dashed outside, they heard the main door to the kitchen being swung open. Light was suddenly apparent, and it didn't take long to hear the cook screaming—

"MY KITCHEN!!!!! ……Princess, are you here?! I'm sure this must have been your doing!!"

Her eyes widened, as blood rushed to her face in a blink of an eye. He instead, burst out laughing. She was about to go back into the kitchen and give the cook a piece of her mind, when he stopped her. He shook his head.

"But he had the nerve to insult me!"

"You're not thinking about confronting him looking like that, now do you?"

She looked down, and mumbled something(s) with a scrunched up face.

Finally, with a surrendering tone, she gave in. "All right."

He smiled, as they sat down on the grass and ate their cake before the guards hunted them down.

"Don't worry bout your baking skills Kao. As least I'm gifted, and I'll bake for you whenever you want me to in your bakery shop."


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Kaoru smiled at that memory. An hour later, the guards found them as they expected, and the next morning she received a half an hour lecture from her father, which was also expected. But she did not regret sneaking into that kitchen, not one bit. She had so much fun, that particular night.

'So why did he leave me?'

She felt a little twinge of guilt for lying to Iiezuwashi. But it's not exactly a lie either.

'He did…… in a way, he did leave me.'

She sighed as she leaned herself against the glass window, face staring blankly into the raining sky. It was very dark, as the sun was covered by so many clouds. One would have mistaken it to be late evening, when it was only mid-afternoon.

'What am I going to do?'

She did not desire to sit on the throne all day long filled with meetings with other high ranked people, discussing about politics, something she has no idea about.

'I hate this.'

And yet it seemed that she had no choice.

But… Maybe, it would work out after all. If she were to be queen, she might handle her tasks well enough to progress her father's land. She might even conquer some lands, like Queen Elizabeth; someone she read about in a book. And make her father proud.

'Yeah right. I'd probably sign some stupid agreement with a king from another country agreeing to give up the kingdom, and I wouldn't even realize it.'

She closed her eyes, and tried to meditate from the stress she was feeling. Suddenly feeling sleepy, she decided to sleep and deal with the problems when she woke up. Slowly, she moved towards her bed and plopped herself under covers.


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About three hours or so passed, when she stirred a little. But… Something felt… weird. Something felt different. And in a twisted sort of way, she was enjoying it.

Then it hit her.

Someone was touching her face.

She wanted to open her eyes to see who it was, but her eyes were too heavy to cooperate with her brain. She shifted her head slightly, and heard a soft chuckle. A sweet chuckle that was irritatingly familiar.

'What in the world?..'

But she could not open her eyes, as hard as she tried. As sleep took over her again, a single thought rang in her head.

'I'm going to drown whoever that invaded my privacy.'


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AN: Um, I know that was kinda short, But... Ya. It took me quite long to think up with that, and I know there are some scenes where... it's stupid and not-down-to-earth (if you spotted it :x). There are also parts where there are grammatical errors, but I just can't seem to find the more suitable word (though I know there is).

I think I need a Beta reader.

Anyway, Review please! :D