Hello again! Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews, I loved them all so much! This chapter is in Kaoru's POV and the story will finally start rolling after it's done.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin and I probably never will (sighs)

Please enjoy this new chapter of 'Runaway Stars!'

Chapter 3:

"I've thought about it," Kaoru replied after several moments of consideration. "I want to have a new garden made for everyone in the castle to enjoy. I mean, of course the late queen's garden will still be carefully taken care of, but I think that there should be one made for everyone to take pleasure in."

She smiled at the person who was redesigning the castle as he walked off to tell the workers of her plans. Even if she wasn't going to be there, she wanted to be able to spread a little joy around the palace.

In a few hours she would dress up in her lavender dress and go to the ball in which her plan would go forward. Kaoru didn't know if it was the beautiful day or the security of her plan that made her feel confident, but right then she felt as if she could take over the world.

One thing she was looking forward to even more than carrying out the plan was to see the prince's face who she was supposed to be marrying. It was strange because whenever the prince's name was mentioned, she never seemed to have been paying attention. They rarely called him by it too. It was always 'The Royal Prince'. She thought it started with a 'K' or something, but she wasn't sure. So tonight she would dance with this prince, ask his name, and then she would run away. It was a perfect plan really.

"Miss Kamiya, lunch is ready," Sayo called from across the yard.

Kaoru wanted to laugh, every other worker would be scared to death of just calling out her name and not bowing, but Sayo was different and reminded her of herself. It was too bad that she wouldn't be around long enough to get to know her.

"I'll come, don't worry. Is the prince going to be there?"

"I'm afraid not. His training often goes long into the afternoon."

"Oh," Kaoru replied gloomily. That morning she had gotten up earlier then the majority of the people in the castle. She wanted to explore the castle as much as possible.

At that point she had looked in every room of the fortress, which was not an easy task to accomplish; every room except for one that is. She had walked up to the room and tried to open it, but the door was locked. She was starting to get curious and asked one of the maids why it was looked. The maid replied that she had never seen the door unlocked since her had come to work at the palace. She said that there was some legend about how it was to be opened when the country was in grave danger and only these certain people could open it but that was all she knew.

Kaoru's mind fluttered back to the moments at hand. She had decided that she was going to have one dance with this nameless prince and claim that she was feeling woozy and wanted to get some fresh air and if he followed her she would insist that he get her some water. When he left she would get herself lost in the crowd and go back to the sleeping quarters. Then she would go into Tae's room and change into one of Tae's riding dresses. Then she would go out the back entrance. The back entrance was only known to royalty for if they were late to a party or wanted to take a walk, so there won't be that many guards. For the guards that were there she would take her wooden sword and knock them out. It would take hours for anyone to realize that the princess was gone because of the amount of people at the party.

She sniggered to herself, thinking of how perfect her plan was. She arrived at the dining room only to have the smile taken off her face. There were the two people she hated more than anyone at the moment, Hiko and her dad's financial dealer, Shishio.

"My lady, what a pleasant surprise," Shishio said trying to sound reverent as he stood up and bowed.

Kaoru had disliked him since she was around six when he broke her favorite toy in front of her eyes. He always looked like he was keeping some secret from everyone else too. Kaoru had seen him whispering to a maid a few days ago. When he noticed she was there he stopped talking. Before she could run he walked up to her and looked directly into her eyes. In a sinister voice he told her that princesses shouldn't eavesdrop and he calmly walked away. Not only was he creepy, but he looked horrible too. He had been burned in a fire from head to toe and was always wrapped in bandages. He also had the most sinister eyes she had ever seen. They were these evil brown eyes that always held a mocking look in them. Personally she would rather spend a whole month with Hiko then five minutes with that freak.

"Hello, Mr. Shishio. Beautiful day isn't it," Kaoru gestured to the windows.

Kaoru sat down and picked up a piece of meat and started to gnaw on it; she didn't really care if she impressed these people or not.

"I see she has as much manners as a common mutt," Hiko laughed at her.

She just glared at him and then kept on eating.

"Now I'm sure my idiot apprentice will love her!" Hiko guffawed as he turned to his own plate of food.

Shishio didn't seem to like Hiko also much because he gave a disgusted look at both of them. Kaoru wondered why. Shishio never disliked anyone that made her this miserable before.

"I am going to have a talk with my idiot apprentice today. I'm going to tell him that he should stop training and get to know you better. The last girl he went out with was so polite and courteous that I'm sure that you will be well… a surprise, to say the most!"

Kaoru's face turned red with extreme anger and was about to smack him when she heard Tae call," Sweetie!"

"More like Spicy," Hiko muttered under his breath.

That was all Kaoru could take and she kicked him in the shins under the table. He hollered in pain and Kaoru smirked at her ability to hurt him and catch him by surprise.

Tae came into the room to see Hiko clutching his lower leg, Kaoru grinning triumphantly, and Shishio shaking his head wondering what honor made these people royalty. Tae just decided to dismiss it.

"It's time to get ready for the ball!"

"We have six more hours!"

"But we have to give your hair a good scrub, take care of your nails, put on all the makeup and practice your entrance! Darling, we don't have enough time!"

Kaoru groaned, got out of her chair, and grudgingly followed Tae. She followed her out of the castle and down to the lake near in the castle grounds. There she stripped all of her clothes off and climbed in. It was summer, but the water was freezing. She forced herself to go under the water and came back up again. Tae had left her by then and was talking to one of the maids about getting a clean robe to bring down. Kaoru swam to the other side of the lake and she thought she saw a flash of red in the trees. She shook her head and started to clean out her hair. When it was finally as clean as possible, she swam back to Tae where there was a soft robe waiting for her. She pulled it on and walked back to the palace.

When she arrived to her room everything was laid out. Tae took her robe off of her and started to dry Kaoru's hair with a soft towel. Then she combed through the black hair and let it flow down her back. All the while Kaoru was struggling to put on her underwear; and with all the yanking in her hair, it was proving to be quite difficult. Then one of the maids grabbed the violet dress and started to pull it over her head. There was another maid who was trying to put on her shoes and another one waiting to put the crown and jewels on.

When all the hassle was over, they pushed her in a chair and started to put on all of the makeup. Some of the maids were working on her eyes, while others were working on her cheeks and still others were working on her lips.

After it was all over and Kaoru was able to breathe, for a little while. They then dragged her down to the huge ballroom where the people who organized the ball stood. They then had her walk up and down the stairs and each time they where yelling things like, 'Keep your head up,' or 'Give a smile, but make sure it's not too big.'

In the end Kaoru felt like she wanted to collapse and strangle anyone who dared to give her advice on edict.

All of the sudden a young man with a huge smile entered the room. He was around her age, but his expression seemed to belong to a young boy as opposed to a young man.

"Hello Your Highness. How are you enjoying your stay in the wonderful land of Azuna?" Soujiro said in a conversational tone.

"Wonderfully, Mr. Soujiro. But it is really starting to be a hassle walking down these dreadful stairs all day," Kaoru feigned a dainty look as she told a blatant lie through her teeth. If Soujiro was someone she knew she would be yelling about how she hated this whole damn ball and how these shoes were about as comfortable as rusty nails.

"Well I have to go get in touch with your father's financial advisor, Mr. Shishio. It you would just be so kind as to tell me where he is I would be extremely obliged."

Kaoru gave him a strange look. Why did he want to know were that cold hearted man was? But she replied anyway, "I believe he's in his room at the moment."

"Thank you. I am truly indebted to you, Miss Kamiya," he took her hand and lightly kissed it before he charmingly left the room.

Kaoru didn't know whether to blush or just stare at him. She could never quite figure that boy out. He acted so naively, but he had a sense of living a hundred years.

She then left the ball room and left to go back to her room. In two hours, it would be time for the ball to start.

When the guests had arrived she was supposed to make her entrance. After her entrance, the prince was supposed to make his, but when it was time to practice, people said that the prince was no where to be found.

'If he's anything like his father he was probably flirting with some servant girl in the back room,' Kaoru thought bitterly as she heard Hiko yell that if anyone talked as she made her entrance, they would be sentenced to a night in the prisons.

"Introducing Lady Kaoru Kamiya, the future queen of Azuna!" the announcer shouted after he blew a horn, across the now surprisingly quiet room.

Kaoru stepped out and waved as she glided down the stairs. She could hear whispers about how pretty the new queen looked and she started to walk with more pride. Unfortunately, that wasn't a very smart move and she tripped on her dress and went flying down the stairs. When she had landed at the end she now heard whispers about how the new queen was probably going to ruin the land instead of help it. That made Kaoru's face turn more crimson than it had ever been in her life. It was partly from embarrassment and partly from anger.

She straitened out her skirt and turned her attention to the where she had made her entrance and secretly started to hope that the prince would make some kind of mistake like her. But when she looked at the announcer's face she noticed that it had gone pale.

He glanced around nervously and started to look panicky. Kaoru was noticing that she was not the only one who was becoming aware of the strange situation. The same people who were whispering about her were starting to murmur to each other about how odd this was.

Unexpectedly Soujiro came up to the announcer and said something in an undertone to him. Then the announcer shouted loud enough for everyone in the room to hear:

"What do you mean the prince is gone?"

See I told you that itwas going to get better! The next chapter is the first one where there isn't really a one person POV chapter. Kenshin and Kaoru will both have there sections of the chapter and there also will be something else... which I'm not telling.

I also have to ask a favor of you guys really quickly, I have a goal of 20 reviews before the next chapter and it would be great if I could get there so please consider reviewing (you don't have to of course, but...).

Thank you for reading!

-rm/bo