Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of the characters (sighs)

A/N: Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews! The real story is all starting right nowso I hope that you enjoy this next chapter of 'Runaway Stars'!

Chapter 4:

His hair and sweat glimmered in the alluring moonlight as he finally came to a halt. Kenshin had been riding on his horse at a fast paced gallop for the last two hours after he had escaped from the castle. He was filled with adrenaline and his heart was pumping intensely.

"I finally did it!" he said out loud. He was entirely pleased with himself.

He was at least twenty miles from the Azuna fortress and it would take the guards a long time to figure out what had happened to him.

Kenshin had dressed up as a servant in order to get out of the quarters. Unfortunately for him, he was the only man in the castle with long red hair so he had to dress up as a female.

He always knew that he was attractive, but he didn't know that he would have guys hitting on him while he was trying to escape. He was partly pleased and partly insulted. It raised his ego because he was now assured that he looked gorgeous in every circumstance. But the fact that they even thought that he was a pretty girl in the first place could crush a man's self-image. He knew he was a little short and didn't have the bulging muscles his father had, but please! How dare they think that of the prince!

He had rightfully socked those men and ran to the stable where he had gotten his favorite horse, Suoh. Suoh had never let him down before and he trusted him with his life.

Kenshin yanked off the dress and bonnet he was wearing, while riding the horse at top speed. That takes skill! He had been burning up because he had had his rough male training clothes under the dress.

But now life was perfect and he couldn't wait to go to a small village and maybe get a job as a sword instructor. Of course he wouldn't teach the Hiten Mitsurugi style, because that would be too obvious. After all, only royals knew it. Hiko had taught him other various techniques so he could easily pick up on a new one and eventually teach it. But Kenshin wouldn't dare be as harsh on his students as Hiko was on him. That's just cruel and unusual torture!

He looked ahead and saw a river sparkling in the lunar light. He and his steady companion walked over to the water and drank from it leisurely while savoring the breathtaking scenery and allowing the liquid to slowly drip down their parched throats.

Kaoru looked around the room as chaos started to erupt. People were shouting and cursing while the security tried to calm them down.

"Why can't you find the prince, you incompetent imbeciles!" called a lady from the neighboring land of Marito to the guards.

"Yeah!" agreed the other people in the room.

Drinks were being dropped and shattered. Some of the women looked ill and most of the men were getting even angrier at the situation because they were filled with alcohol.

Kaoru felt like she was about to faint. What in the world was going on? She was supposed to leave this dreadful place, not him! This prince was ruining her perfectly designedplan! She franticly looked around the room to get some kind of clue as to what was happening. She saw the confusion in the room and suddenly struck an idea! This was the perfect time to escape!

She pushed passed the plump Lord Hirimaki and dodged the maids who were trying to revive the passed out Lady Souma. She ran as fast as her evil foot-murdering shoes would allow. She had to think quickly because if the prince was kidnapped then there would be guards lining the castle walls in a number of minutes.

She was almost to the back door when she was suddenly filled with dread. There was Katsu, standing right in front of her.

"If I may ask you, what are you doing, Miss Kaoru?"

"Forgive me for this Katsu," she whispered with her head bowed. She then decked him in the stomach and watched him pass out and fall to the ground. Her eyes looked franticly for a place to put him. She saw Sayo's room and shoved him in there. She was about to leave when she saw the mirror.

'Damn it! I forgot to get changed!' she was still in the elegant dress and when public found out that the princess had run away, she could easily be spotted with this dress. She saw Sayo's closet and pulled out all of the clothes in there until she found the perfect shabby dress. Meanwhile, Katsu was getting Sayo's underclothes tossed on his passed-out face.

Kaoru put on the new dress and took off her fancy dress and shoes. She wanted to keep her tiara and jewelry for memory and if it came to it…Money.

She sprinted to the stable and found a horse in the back that looked nice enough. Luckily she had trained bareback for a few months and so she was completely comfortable. She then galloped into the distance and followed the road away from the castle.

It had been a few hours since the prince had been discovered missing and everyone was frantic. Some guards had looked for a ransom note, while others were off on horses looking around the main roads. But now they had discovered something else disturbing. The princess was missing too…

Tae was sobbing and was being comforted by some of the other maids. Kaoru had been like a little sister to her and she only wished that people could find her and get her back unharmed.

Meanwhile, Katsu had woken up in a room he had never been in before. All he knew was that it was a girl's room because he woke up to a really loud shriek.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM, YOU PERFERT?"

"What? Ow! Ow! Ow!" This insane woman was hitting him on the head with something really hard.

"Do you expect me to believe that you just happened to be lying there in my underwear, lecher!"

"Your what?"

"Don't expect me to believe that they just happened to be on your face, deranged moron!" the girl had shoulder-length brunette wavy hair and was panting and ready to hit him again.

"Listen, I don't even know how I got in here!" he yelled in his defense. Then he noticed that he was covered in women's underclothes and he blushed heavily and tore it away from himself.

"Oh sure!" she replied with a fierce tone.

"The last thing I remember was…" he saw Kaoru's dress on the floor and gasped. "Oh shit." Katsu got a look of extreme horror on his face.

"That doesn't sound too good." Sayo backed off a little.

"The princess… Have you had word on the princess!" Katsu grabbed her shoulders and shook her franticly.

"You mean Lady Kaoru?" she replied flinching at his strong grasp.

"Yes!"

"That's the whole reason I came in here. The prince and princess have been discovered missing. I was going in here to change clothes and search for them."

"Oh no." he let go of her shoulders and she quickly started to massage them.

"What?"

"I know what happened; at least with the princess."

"What does that have to do with coming in here and going through my underclothes?" she growled.

"I was at the front entrance and Kaoru was running toward me and I asked her where she was going. She whispered something I couldn't make out, then she punched me and I think I blacked out. She probably then took me to your room to hide me and to look for clothes." Katsu was pacing and running his fingers through his shoulder-length black hair.

"Why does she want clothes? She has enough clothes," Sayo was getting nervous.

"I think she ran away and wanted to blend in."

Sayo gasped and stayed in shock for an instant. "…but why?" She eventually whispered.

"I don't know!"

"How do you know the princess anyway?" Sayo was getting very curious.

"I'm one of the king's most trusted guards. I was also one of Kaoru's childhood friends." Katsu sighed, put his hands on his face and sat down onto her bed.

In order to break the awkward silence Sayo apologized, "I'm sorry for accusing you of being a pervert."

"It's okay. I'm just not used to waking up to people beating my brains out right when I wake up."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Anyway, I should go out and search for her," Katsu stood up to leave the room.

"If you ask me, I thinkshe's a spoiled brat who doesn't deserve to be found. I mean, when I first met her she completely avoided dinner and wasn't the least bit polite to the king."

"Don't insult her!" he growled back at her. "It's hard being in her position. Try being shipped off like some mindless doll to a man, who for all you know, is ugly and balding! Not only that, but her mother died in the midst of it! Her mother was the only other human being who totally understood her!" Katsu was nowshouting and had an extremely pissed off look in his eyes and was only a few inches away from Sayo.

"I-I didn't know," Sayo muttered and backed off as she looked at the floor and fiddled with her figures as a deep blush seeped over her face.

Katsu sighed, "I think it's my turn to apologize Miss…"

"Sayo."

"Yes, Miss Sayo," Katsu laughed uncomfortably "Please forgive this unruly lashing out and for being such a perverted jerk." He added in a sarcastic tone.

Sayo giggled andchucked a pillow at him.

They both walked out of the room with smiles on their faces as they started to realize a sudden friendship had bloomed.

After his thirst was quenched, Kenshin got up and was about to get on Suoh, when he heard an earth-shattering scream in the darkness.

A/N: Ooh! Cliffhanger!

So what did you think? Kenshin and Kaoru have both finally runaway and I got to develop Sayo and Katsu's characters. I know Sayo is slightly OOC from what she's like in the series, but I needed someone who was fiery like Kaoru. I always felt sorry for her in the series and since I'm a huge Sano/Megumi fan I never liked Sano/Sayo that much. Then I thought 'Hey! Katsu is Sano's friend so why not get those two together!'

I'm sorry that there haven't been any K/K moments yet, but they will come!

I'm still going for a goal of twenty reviews, so please leave me one!

-rm/bo