A/N: Wow. I'm glad people like this story; it really gave me encouragement to write more. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciated them!
Vamina12: Thank you, I am glad you liked it. :)
DestinyIntertwined: Thank you so much for the review!
Emerald31: Glad you like it, and yes, I do agree with you, I think Sora and Kairi are better than Riku and Sora because for one, I really can't stand yaoi. (No offence to people who do like it.)
Carbuncle021: I'm glad you liked it! Thanks!
Risako: Thank you for your review. Yes, the horse Kairi's family owns is named Gloomy, it was random name that popped out of my mind. :D And for the old English part, I was trying to make it seem more realistic that this all takes place in the medieval time period, but I will take your advice and lessen it. I will also watch out for the adjectives and other words. Thanks so much for your review!
Moon: Thanks.
Thes razr blade kisses: Thanks for the review!
Rikka: Glad you liked it! Thanks!
Sorkairi4eva: Thanks. :D
Lyssa: Hehe, thanks for your review.
Xarli: I'm glad you do, thank you for your review!
Suma Susaki: Thank you and I agree, stories with prince and princesses are interesting to read. :)
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Chapter Two: The Meeting
Kairi's POV
My eyes slowly opened to face a room of darkness. I was lying in bed with many sheets of blankets on top of me. Every part of my body ached, especially my sides, where that Riku guy kicked me hard. I sat up and tried to get out of the bed, but when I tried to move, everywhere hurt. After several unsuccessful attempts I decided to give up and lay back down.
I started to close my eyes when the door opened, radiance from the sun bursting into the room. I groaned.
"Get up." I turned towards the voice, it was that prince again, the same one that had carried me and stopped the others from hitting me.
I sat up slowly and leaned my back onto the wood that supported the bed.
"The doctor has checked for major injuries, from what I've heard, you're fine, but just a few bruises here and there, you've been bandaged already." He paused then started speaking again. "Here, drink this." He slowly brought a bowl of medicine from a tray one of the servants were holding and brought it up to my face. "It'll help you get better sooner."
I obeyed and drank the brownish substance. It tasted bitter and disgusting.
"I…" I began, my voice was hoarse. He looked up.
"Yes?"
"Why are you doing this? Why are you caring for me when I've tried to save a prisoner from being executed?" He sat the empty bowl back on the tray and looked around, trying to get the right words to say.
"What's your name?"
"Kairi."
"Look Kairi, I didn't want to see you being beat up by those guards, let alone die. When you tried to save the prisoner, I realized that you had a point; you've also shown me courage. To tell you the truth, you're the first person to ever save a prisoner from being executed."
I wasn't surprised; no one was brave enough to do what I did. I played around with the blankets, trying to look for the right words to say.
"When can I leave?" His eyes immediately widened to show shock.
"You can't." His voice was icy and bitter, just like that medicine I drank not long ago.
I looked at him with saddened eyes.
"I'm sorry Kairi, you can't. Not after what you've done. Not after your attempt to save a prisoner." My heart sank after that.
"Why? He's my father! I have to return to my family!" I practically yelled.
"And you think you can just walk away from what you've done? Sure it might not seem like a big deal to you, but what about the palace huh? We've never experienced something like this before! You think we can just ignore all this and pretend it was all a big joke? Forget it Kairi, it doesn't work that way!" He returned the same anger I felt.
"It was your entire fault for capturing my father in the first place! Screw your laws! It only has advantages to high-ranked people!" Tears rolled down my eyes as I began to get out of bed, ignoring the pain. Sora quickly grabbed my wrists and pulled me back.
"Look, I wasn't the one that made up these rules." His voice was calmer now. "I'm sorry."
I looked away. He sighed.
"Kairi." He held my hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze. "You have to stay here and work as a servant from now on, that's your punishment. I know it might seem awkward, but trust me; the punishment could get far worse, like execution." I winced at the word execution. He seemed to notice and gave me a pat.
Working as a servant? It made me feel low, but then again, it WAS better than execution. I sighed; I was already starting to hate this place.
"When do I start?" My voice was as solid as stone.
"Tomorrow, this will be your room from now on. The servant clothes are in the wardrobe, but right now I have to take you to meet my father and mother, the king and queen." I gulped, king and queen?
He gave me a smile and helped me out of bed.
His body gave me the support I needed as I walked out of the bedroom. I was greeted by sunshine and some of the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen in my life. I passed the garden and the fountain in the middle caught my attention, it was beautiful, with sparkling water flowing down endlessly. Petals from a nearby cherry blossom tree also flowed in the water of the fountain. I found myself staring dreamily but felt a tug motioning me to walk on.
x
We entered a huge room decorated with gold wallpaper and marble flooring. This was a peasant's dream room. I looked around the room and immediately realized everyone's gaze on me.
"So…this is the troublemaker." The queen mocked, her nose high up in the air.
I didn't say anything.
"What's your name girl?"
"Kairi," my words came out barely above a whisper.
"Speak up girl, we don't have all day!" The king snapped. I winced at his harshness.
"It's Kairi." I said, more loudly this time, only to receive a disgusted look from the king and queen. I looked down at my feet.
"Who gave you this disgusting name? Sounds like you just fell into a mud pool!" The queen said loudly. Laughter soon filled the room. I took a brief glimpse at Sora. He wasn't laughing.
Inside, I was full of anger. Just because these people were considered nobles, didn't mean they had to insult me this way. Their laughter repeated again and again in my ears, I felt like crying, having never been so insulted before, but I kept my cool.
The noise died down after a few minutes, and the king began talking.
"Are you ashamed of yourself?"
No, in fact I was glad for what I did.
I never said it out loud because I knew the consequences.
"Yes."
"You better be." The queen pointed a finger at me.
"Well then, you should be thanking Prince Sora, if it wasn't for him, you'd be executed by now. But for now, your punishment is that you will be a serving as a servant for as long as you are here. If you try anything suspicious, there will be serious penalty. You will be handed a list of chores you will have to do daily, if you are caught slacking, there will be punishment."
A man dressed in silk robes walked up to me and handed me a neatly written schedule as I accepted politely.
"You are dismissed; your chores will start tomorrow at 6 a.m. sharp, there will also be punishment if you are late."
I nodded silently and began heading out the door.
"Kairi!" It was Sora's voice; I turned around but only to be insulted again by someone in the distance.
"Why do you even bother being nice to her? Look at her, so bloody and dirty, just like a pig in a stinky barn."
I turned around and ran back towards my small room. I slammed the door shut and looked at my clothes. It was true; it was covered with dried blood from my attempt to save my father and my hair had little pieces of dirt stuck in it. I must've looked horrible.
Without thinking about my appearance, I stumbled towards my bed and collapsed onto the mattress and cried myself to sleep. Was this how life had to be for the rest of my life?
x
My eyes opened as I found myself staring up at the ceiling. I touched my cheeks, only to find traces of dried tear stains.
The bell rung five times which meant it was five already.
I sighed and got up, finding that it was easier to move around than yesterday, the medicine had really helped. I walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out the servant clothes. It was a plain pink dress decorated with simple wavy lines around the waist. There were also light pink ribbons to tie my hair with. I quickly got changed and headed out into the early morning.
My first chore was watering the plants, it seemed simple enough. I looked around and saw some other servants also doing the same chore. They each had a bucket in hand. One of them caught me staring and snapped at me.
"What are you staring at!"
I quickly turned my head and muttered a 'sorry.'
"Eww! Don't talk to her! Look at her, so dirty, if you talk to her you'll catch her disease!" Another said. Tears from the day before began coming down again, couldn't they just leave me alone?
"God look at her, what a cry baby!" I tried to ignore their comments and picked up a bucket, filled it with water and started to water the plants. I couldn't concentrate, my mind just kept referring back to their rude comments.
"Hey dirty girl! Come over here!" I pretended not to hear and continued what I was doing.
"Is she deaf or something?"
"Probably, maybe the dirt had gone into her ears so she can't hear us!" Laughter, followed by more.
The laughter stopped after a while and I felt presences hovering over me. It was probably those servant girls.
I decided to ignore them.
Suddenly I felt as if I was drowning. The girls had poured water all over me. I immediately stopped what I was doing and turned around, furious.
"What was that for!"
"Well, look at the bright side, at least you're clean now!" I was fuming and covered with more dirt, they had put dirt in the water!
"It was dirt water!"
"Hey, look, we were just trying to help you get cleaned alright?" The girl who poured the water on me said, the bucket still in her hand. The others giggled, but soon turned into laughter.
I wiped my tears with the back of my hands, which were still dirty. I wanted to run away, but there was nowhere to go.
"You are SUCH a crybaby!"
"You are so right, she doesn't know anything but to cry." They laughed harder.
"That's quite enough." The voice caused us to all turn to the speaker. "Ringo, Akari, Amano, Mika, you know better than to slack off. Now go do your chores." The girls obeyed and went back to what they were doing before, leaving me soaking wet. The woman turned to me. "You must be Kairi." I nodded and looked down at my feet. "Well then, let's get you cleaned."
"But…my chore…"
She gave me a warm smile.
"It's okay; you can't work like that anyways." She motioned me to follow her, leaving the other girls widening their eyes in shock.
x
I follow the woman closely behind as she led me. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. Her hair was as smooth as silk and curled up at the end, some accessories held up her brown hair. She had the softest skin I had ever seen. Briefly speaking, she was perfect compared to me.
"Here we are."
We stopped in front of a large room. She opened the door and led me in, there was a bathtub and an old woman was sitting beside it.
"This is Ayana." The woman said, directing the woman beside the bathtub. I politely bowed.
"Come," the old woman said and gave me a smile. I walked towards her. She motioned me to get into the bathtub so I took off my clothing and jumped in. She began washing my hair and scrubbing the dirt off my skin.
"I-I don't deserve this…" I began. It felt really weird; one moment I was being treated like dirt and now someone is cleaning me?
"Hush child, you were brave." The other beautiful woman sat down next to the older woman. "Oh and before I forget…this is Yuna."
"If those girls or anyone else harms you, just tell me." Yuna said and gave me a smile.
"B-but I don't get it, do I have to be a servant for the rest of my life?"
"For the mean time, yes." Yuna said and gave me a saddened look.
"You have to understand, what you did is not something you can get away with easily," Ayana explained as she dried me and put my clothes back on.
"For now, you must be careful of what you do because people around you will watch you closely. If you are not careful you will earn a bad reputation." Yuna said and led me outside to the garden where I was to resume to my chore. I waved good-bye to the old woman back inside the bathroom and followed Yuna.
As I returned to my spot, I saw the other girls giving me death glares.
This was where my new life began, I thought, as a servant.
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I'm sorry if this chapter seemed boring to you, but this is like an introduction to Kairi's new life in the castle. I SWEAR there will be Sorkairi as the story develops, her feelings for him will grow slowly…after all, this IS a Sorkairi story. ;)
For now please look forward to the upcoming chapters, and thanks soooo much to those people who reviewed. I greatly appreciate it!
Anyways, please R & R!