N/A: Alright so... I was reading through this story and I decided I really liked the idea. However, I was completely aghast at my misuse of punctuation and the story's utterly boring plot. So I changed it. Now it's better, and I hope you guys read it. Thank much, I'll be awaiting those lovely responses of yours. :) For sure.

DISCLAIMER: Nope. Don't own anything except my... nope, don't own that either. This story is loosely based off of the story of Cupid and Psyche, which is in turn loosely related to the movie The Polar Bear King. And no, I don't own those either.

Entre Nous

Chapter One: Once Upon a Fairytale

"Thus in my grief I lamented. Then I turn'd from the window,
turn'd to the stair, and the open door, and the empty street,
crying aloud in my grief, for there was none to chide me,
none to mock my weakness, none to behold my tears."

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, "The Desolate City"

Once upon a time, there lived a girl. A girl, as it was, and the town in which she lived. But to her especially, it seemed she was alone. Kaoru Kamiya lived with her father (who happened to lord over the town in which she lived but did not feel at home), The Lady Kamiya, and two very opposite sisters. They were a close-knit bunch despite their daily trials and tribulations, and to everyone else they even appeared… happy.

However, like any other fairytale, there was trouble brewing in their happy little nameless land. But unlike any other fairytale, this one doesn't necessarily have a happily ever after…

"And who are you to deny me what I desire?" She hissed in an eerily wicked voice. He responded with utter indifference, "What you desire, my lady, has no effect on me whatsoever. Now if you please, you're hand is on my very important document. Get off." He waited with cool nonchalance that contradicted his manifestly heated gaze.

She whipped her hand away and clutched it to her chest, pantomiming the effect of her fingers upon a suddenly scorching surface. Her eyes burned sharp holes in his invisible armer; her black gaze boring into his thickly concealed soul. Her gaze softened at whatever she had seen, and she drew her hand to lightly stroke the sleeve of his shirt.

"It doesn't have to be this way, it didn't use to be this way." Her voice raised an octave as he jerked his arm from under her cold fingers. He responded with such iciness that she physically cringed. "It is this way, so just leave me the hell alone." He stood, his slight frame suddenly appearing much larger and more intimidating than his short stature should allow, and he pointed a finger to the door, "Now get out. I can't put up with this any more. My Kingdom has higher priority than the appeasement of some obsessed witch."

She scowled, a wicked chuckling snarl escaping her deceptively sweet lips, "Witch, you call me?" Her hands raised and she clenched them until blood drew from under her fingernails. "I'll show you a witch, Kenshin. I'll show you a damn Witch!" The air in the stony room became charged, and he could feel the electricity nipping at his exposed skin. She let out a tortured howl as he simultaneously felt a horrible pain shock through his body. No, it was much more than a shock. He could feel it there, the sharpness settling somewhere deep in his chest, until all he could hear, feel, or sense was this awful pain.

"You see, Kenshin? What you've made me do? Shall I help you then… shall I tell you how to get rid of that pain?" Her crooning only increased his torture. He tried to say something, anything, but all that came forth was a guttural yell. Through blurred eyes he watched her smirk with contemptible pleasure. She placed her frigid hands upon his now overly sensitive skin saying, "My dearest… You will feel this horror, a spiked chain around your heart, until you find a woman to quell it. But Kenshin… she has to love you. And we both know what happens to those you love…" She withdrew her touch, stepping back and taking in his hunched figure.

"But you will be experiencing some changes, and I do hope you'll try to embrace them… because if you do not get a woman to satisfy this, well, we'll call it a curse… within one half-year, you'll be stuck forever. And I do mean forever." She lifted her massive dark sleeve to cover her lower face, "Oh, and a little bonus… if you don't accomplish this task within the allotted period, you'll be forced to grant me my wish. Yes, you know what that is…" And with a shrieking laugh she was spirited away in a hazy black smoke, a loud crackling signaling her mysterious departure.

"Oh Kaoru, Dearest, come help me a moment, would you?" She cringed at the deceptively pleasant ring in her eldest sister's request. Standing up from the rich earth and dusting her muddy hands on an already atrocious apron, Kaoru made her way sluggishly to her sister's side.

"What is it Megumi? Is there something else I can do for you other than your laundry, your lunch, and the other menial tasks you've already called on me for?" She ground her teeth together while Megumi did one of her wicked giggles into her upraised palm. Kaoru loathed Megumi enough without her laziness and moodiness brought on by her pregnancy. She was just glad it would be over in another month.

"Dear, I wonder if you could go fetch me some dairy cheese. Yes, and pickles. Oh, I do crave pickles! Be a darling, now would you?" She hung her head. One more month. If the baby didn't come, she'd grab it by the feet and yank him out. She sighed, "Megumi, isn't there anything in the house you could eat? It really is a long way into town…" Megumi cut her off with a fiery glare, and she quickly exited the room while simultaneously grabbing a cloak off a hook by the door.

She stopped quickly by the well and rinsed her hands, then untied her apron and hung it by the garden door. She thought with mild resentment about her brother-in-law who had remained mysteriously absent for most of Megumi's very long pregnancy. Stupid, stupid Sano… stupid man. Her thoughts sobered quickly, however. A familiar heaviness settled in her bosom as she pondered her sister's relationship and the child she was soon to hold. Even her younger sister, Misao, had found a suitor. While she would never understand the attraction between her obnoxiously endearing sister and the cold, dark man that was Aoshi, she was not beyond envying their bond. Would she be alone forever? The silence that was her only answer was answer enough. Yes, she would.

He kept his head down, his fiery red bangs covering the intense emotions flitting across his face. Ever since… Dammit, there it was again! It was getting so much harder to repress this beast dwelling inside him. He passed over a clear puddle on the cobblestone street and drew back in anger. The man staring back was vicious, a bloodlust that was indeed ruling his thoughts marring his features and giving him a look of insanity.

It had already been two months. He had expected her to come back, or at least for this wretched curse to subside. But no, it only grew as the days passed, a thirst for violence foremost on every thought. He had finally come to a decision after the incident with the maid. She had come so close… and he couldn't hold it in. She was there, and then she was dead. She had only been a child, not more than fifteen. He had tried to cast away the fowl blade that had aided this manslaughter, but his advisors would not relent. He was indeed a sought after man. If he let his guard down in this kind of situation, he would no doubt he killed.

So he took off, leaving without a word to anyone, and only his sword at his waist and a dark cloak over his shoulders. It had been days since he had last eaten, but he couldn't help feeling as if he deserved to starve. She was only a child…

He heard a guttural noise like a growl escape his mouth. It had not been the last incident, either. Everywhere he went he left a trail of blood. He hoped he would soon die after the many days without sustenance. He couldn't bring himself to suicide, it seemed to simple, too cowardly, and he couldn't leave his people in the hands of that witch. He had to break it. He had to break this curse.

"Miss Kaoru, what a pleasure! What can I do for you?" Kaoru smiled ruefully. There were many things she needed, but what she craved most could not be bought from a street vendor. She lifted her purse off her waist and pointed to several products. He smiled, "For the Lady Megumi, yes?" She nodded with a polite smile and laughed genuinely when the friendly old man gave her an extra bundle of sleep-inducing herbs. He smiled kindly, "A safe way to give your family some peace." She thanked him, paid him with her collection of coins, and took off down the cobblestone alleyway. There was one more place she wanted to stop…

"There you are, I thought you'd gone and left me for another book seller." A plump little woman with graying hair and laugh lines engraved on her rosy cheeks exclaimed as she hustled over to her favorite customer. Kaoru laughed, giving the woman one of her eager smiled that she reserved for her favorite pastime – reading. While her mother praised her for her angelic voice, her one true escape was in her books. She pulled a few from their dusty shelves and skimmed the contents, before confidently thumping them onto the counter and dropping her money purse beside them. The woman laughed gaily and calculated their price.

"You know, I don't know what I'll do when you get married and leave us. I'll likely go out of business without my primary customer." Kaoru laughed, albeit sadly, and responded, "I don't think you need to worry about that. It's likely I'll never leave." She exited the store and turned onto another alleyway, confident that it would lead her home faster. She was also afraid to meet anyone else on the streets, because of the dark thoughts that had once more begun to consume her. Alone.

She was unaware of the melancholy melody that she now hummed in her sweet voice. She was also unaware of the presence waiting for her down the alleyway amongst the shadows.