Kaoru slipped away in the peachy glow of the morning sunrise. He left while Haruhi was still sleeping to fully ensure that she would not follow him and get any crazy ideas about leaving Nekozawa. He'd seen his blonde friend on the rampage before, and it was not pretty. Besides, Haruhi seemed to be doing okay here.

He laughed at her as she slept under the covers. She was still wearing her slip and Nekozawa's cloak from the day before and her hair was a mess. Still, the time he spent with her wasn't quite as unpleasant as he feared it would be. He didn't get the information he was vying for, but he still learned a good lot about her: she was a good cook, for example; and she was an eager learner; not to mention she wasn't that hard on the eyes, either.

He eyed her as he quietly packed up his bag and drew on his shoes and cloak. Coming to a decision he scribbled a note and left it on her nightstand along with a little trinket he extracted from his pocket. He had meant for the pin to be a souvenir for the Prince, but Prince Tamaki already had enough junk lying around his chambers – Éclair being a part of that. Kaoru shook his head at the thought of that infuriating woman and he tiptoed quietly out of the room. He grabbed some food from the kitchen and picked his staff up at the door. Breathing in a breath of moist morning air the white wizard began his journey back to the castle grounds.

He made a few stops along his way to pocket various plant life for both his practice and the Royal Healer. The Healer was a rather cunning individual that thrived on all affairs within the castle. While medicine was his specialty he was also a savvy businessman and made sure that the prince got everything he wished. The prince had a habit of involving himself in everyone else's affairs and trying to fix their problems. Prince Tamaki would be a great king when his time came; his subjects would be happy and as long as the healer, Kyoya – who was so much more than a healer - , stayed on as his advisor the kingdom would be very prosperous, indeed.

Kaoru's mind drifted to some of the other castle's occupants as he traveled: Lord Haninozuka and his bodyguard, Morinozuka, in particular. He didn't spend enough time with them, as the little Lord often put it, so perhaps that's why the white wizard found his thoughts wandering around those two. Lord Haninozuka, or "Hunni," was capable of taking care of himself physically, so Mori's presence was mostly for companionship. Hunni had the mentality of a seven-year old and would live off of sweets in a heartbeat, but even he knows a warrior needs a healthy diet. Hunni was in charge of military training. The kingdom of Ouran had the finest troops in all the lands thanks to that little blonde-haired man. Hunni is very self-conscious about his age and his outward appearance and throttles anyone who even remotely teases him without a second thought. Mori is a different matter. He's the strong and silent type; perfectly vigilant. Kaoru doesn't know too much about the sword bearing man, but he knew enough to stay on his toes around him.

Unfortunately Kaoru began thinking about his brother next. He shivered.

'Ah, well. I'll deal with him when I get there.'

Half an hour had passed before Kaoru reached his silver gray steed he had left behind the night before. The old horse carried him through all of his journeys, and it was the only animal he knew of that wasn't susceptible to the mad aura around Nekozawa's estate. Kaoru wanted a good walk and opted to leave Speardove beside his favorite brook.

He patted Speardove on the nose and heaved himself atop the steed. From there they rode until a little after noon where they stopped in one of Kaoru's favorite villages for some food and rest. Upon entering the town he fed his horse and tied him up at the watering trough, and Kaoru entered the lively pub that was across the street.

"Kaoru-san!" greeted a giggling barmaid above the racket, "It's a bit early for you to be stopping by, isn't it?" Kaoru whipped around the girl and drew her into his chest while he nuzzled into her neck.

"Oh, Miki, I'm a rather unpredictable individual. You should know that by now?"

Miki blushed. "Hardly," she said while she drew away from him, "You're as predictable as you'll ever be. I suppose you happen to have some time for a quick romp in the hay?"

"Meet you upstairs in fifteen minutes?" he winked.

"We'll see," she smiled slyly. Miki then left to attend to the other customers.

At her departure, Kaoru made himself comfortable at a nearby table until someone came to take his order. It wasn't long before someone tapped his shoulder, and that someone happened to be one of the maids who ran the inn above the pub.

"Sir Hikaru, I thought you said you'd wait at the bar. Well, in any case I have finished preparing your room so you may take a nap, now, if you like." The maid stood back prepared to lead the red-haired man to his temporary dwelling.

'Oh, shit,' thought Kaoru. He immediately began panicking and haphazardly groped for his belongings. He had almost made it two steps away from the table before he was stopped in his tracks by a menacing aura.

Hikaru was glaring at him from behind.

"Hello, brother…so nice of you to…drop by."

"Heh heh, well Hikaru, you know how it is! Busy, busy, busy! I should probably get going now; lots to do!"

"Not so fast. Why don't we head upstairs and have a little chat."

"Oh, um, well, if you insist."

"Oh…I do."

Kaoru sighed, "I was afraid you would." He reluctantly followed Hikaru up the polished wooden stairs and into his room. From there Kaoru assumed the position of sitting on the bed and waiting for his brother's latest lecture.

"You went there, again, didn't you?" inquired Hikaru. It was a rhetorical question. "A life full of loss and misery is all that awaits you if you keep hanging around that black cat. You know how the rest of us feel about him."

"Is the Prince here?" Kaoru quickly asked.

"No, actually. And you can thank the goddesses for that one. Lord Tamaki may seem dapper and sincere, but you and I both know how ferocious he can be."

"So, what brings you here, Hikaru? You know where I was…" Kaoru trailed off.

"For your information I was called out early this morning and stopped by to rest before returning to the castle. Luckily I'm here to escort you, now. People are starting to get suspicious, you know."

Kaoru flopped back on Hikaru's bed. "Wow, that Kyoya is really becoming a pain in both our sides."

"Heh, don't let him hear you say that, or the next time one of us is sick he'll slip us a mild poison in place of the antidote."

"Yeah, that does sound like him."

Hikaru rolled Kaoru over on the floor and settled into the bed he paid for. Kaoru landed on his face with a smack and groaned.

"Now," continued Hikaru, "and I know I'm going to regret asking this, but what went on over at…his place?"

"Oh! Well, we had a duel and…and I won, of course," Kaoru hurriedly explained.

"If you hadn't spent the night I would believe you. Now, what really went down?"

"Well, he's got a pretty little thing living with him now. Her name's Haruhi, but she was too busy calling out my name to much of say anything else."

Hikaru laughed and rolled over so that he had his back facing Kaoru. "Yeah, right," he said. And he drifted off to sleep. Kaoru walked across the room to sit down in the room's plush armchair and pulled out a book to read. Now that his brother had him in his clutches there was no way he was going to risk sneaking off.