Disclaimer: I do not own Hana-Kimi or the plot from Hana Kimi.

A/N: Made some minor revisions in Ch 4, and 7 (I made some revision to ch 9 also b/c I felt that I wasn't descriptive enough) if anyone wants to check out those chapters. I would also like to give special thanks to my friend Rose for reading my fic and giving me comments too! Okay, onto the fic.

Chapter 10 – It's Finally Here! Cooking Competition Here We Come!

Servants around the castle swarmed in and out of the courtyard like busy bees, carrying out tables, chairs, and other useful necessities for the cooking competition. In the hallways and front gates, young maids could be seen running around frantically like little ants with tape and banners in hand. Our brown haired heroine, Mizuki – at the moment – is occupied with arranging big yellow daisies.

"That's the last one!" Mizuki fastened the last pink ribbon and admired her hours worth of handy work.

Maybe she should consider making flower arrangement a new hobby. She'll have to contact Princess Julia later about importing some flower seeds into her castle garden.

The princess in disguise wiped off the sweat off her eyebrow. The scorching hot sun, although awfully warm and comforting, made Mizuki's cheeks red, as if she were blushing madly with embarrassment. Fanning herself helplessly in an attempt to cool herself down, Mizuki looked around for the pitcher filled with ice, cold water.

When Mizuki was about to give up after searching endlessly for the nonexistent water – they ran out unfortunately, and no one bothered to refill the pitcher – Shuuichi came to her rescue.

"Hey Mizuki!" he greeted brightly in his Kansai dialect and gave her a wave. Upon seeing Mizuki, he could already feeling his heart going thump thump thump.

'Maybe I should go to Dr. Umeda for a check up. I am not gay! But Mizuki looks kind of cute like that. Sitting in the sun, spreading his legs out like that.'

"Aren't you getting hot wearing such a dark colored hoodie and shorts on a sunny day?" the head chef asked her after finishing moving the chairs and tables. Sitting down beside the thirsty girl, he started talking about the cooking competition in general, how he's excited for it.

Mizuki noticed he wasn't wearing his normal chef attire with the tall French looking hat. Or maybe it was Italian? Instead, he had on a simple white t-shirt and black shorts. The white bandana replaced the chef hat.

"Oh yeah!" he snapped his hands.

Mizuki squeaked. That sudden action got her attention.

"Huh?" said Mizuki.

"Wait here," he told her, leaving his cold iced raspberry tea beside her.

"Um," she motioned the drink. He looked back. "Is it alright if I take a sip?"

"Why not? Go ahead." Strengthening out his clothes, he went to the other side of the courtyard and got out a pretty package of boxed clothing. The creamy white wrapping, she noticed, read 2009 Cooking Competition clothes (Prince Izumi & Mizuki).

Mizuki almost spilled the rest of the tea. Wiping the corner of her mouth with her free hand, Mizuki asked, "Why me also?" She had hoped that she wouldn't have to partake in it, but guess she was wrong.

"Well, you are his assistant after all. It's sad. I wanted you to be my assistant!" Shuuichi patted her on the head. "It's such a shame really," he continued.

Mizuki pulled his hand off her head and laughed nervously.

"Oh yeah, aren't you in the competition too?"

"Yep! I'll see you and the prince on the field."

"What are you wearing?" she asked, curious.

"That," he motioned his own package, which was smaller than the one for the prince, "is a secret."

"Awww," Mizuki pouted.

"Good luck tracking down the prince."

"Isn't he in his quarters?" Mizuki scratched her head. Why would it be hard to find the prince?

"Well, if I were the prince, I wouldn't want to be caught dead in those clothes too. Hurts my pride you know?" he said as they walked back towards Izumi's quarter.

"But aren't you doing so anyways?"

Shuuichi stopped to think and responded, "Yeah, but I'm just a cook. He, on the other hand, is the prince."

'It's something I don't understand' Mizuki thought. 'Men and their pride.'

"Should I take that for you?" Shuuichi pointed to the nearly finished iced tea in her hands. The few ice cubes jingled in the water.

"Oh yeah," she handed it to him. "Thanks!"

"It's no problem. I want a sip anyways."

'Indirect kissing, here we come' he thought and was about to drink when one of his fellow waiters swiped the drink from his hand and drank it.

"What's with the dark atmosphere?" the clueless waiter wondered.

The source of the dark atmosphere – Shuuichi had a grim look graced over his features.

'My indirect kiss…No!!!! I almost had it. That damn waiter had to take away my kiss…'

"Nakatsu. Nakatsu?" Mizuki tried getting his attention without any avail for several moments. Sighing, she picked up the package and tried to find Prince Izumi, leaving the chef in his little world. By the time Shuuichi got to reality, Mizuki was already long gone.

'Okay' Mizuki said to herself, looking at the grandfather clock chiming in Prince Izumi's bedroom.

She wasn't sure if she is allowed to enter his chamber, but hey, it is an emergency right? She only had 2 hours before the competition anyways. Speaking of which, maybe she should change into the clothes before finding Prince Izumi. Opening the beautiful wrapping surrounding the box, Mizuki took out the clothing labeled "Mizuki". Inside the bag, there was a long blond wig, a black hair band, white apron, and knee length light blue dress. There was even a pair of white heels that fit her. How they knew her shoe size, she didn't know and didn't hope to know. Making sure there was no one looking at her, she quickly changed into her costume. As she looked at herself in Prince Izumi's full body length mirror, she couldn't help but wonder if she would be exposed as a girl since she is wearing girl clothing. Normally, this would be considered cross-dressing, but for Mizuki, it's actually a girl cross-dressing as a guy that is cross-dressing as a girl. So confusing indeed. It was quick, but having 20/20 vision, Mizuki saw it; she saw Izumi's blur in the royal garden. Quickly, Mizuki ran out to catch the runaway prince.

"Stop!" Mizuki called, panting from trying to catch the prince. They had been at this for at least 45 minutes.

"No," he stated bluntly.

"But you promised to enter the competition!" she reminded him. "Or are you going back on your word?"

He started to slow down, but did not stop nonetheless. Mizuki decided to continue.

"Do you not wish to prove yourself to my brother?"

"……"

"Fine!" Mizuki said, getting very agitated with him.

"Do whatever you want. I don't care anymore!" she dropped his package and left angrily.

Seems like he had no choice now. This had better be worth it. He looked at his watch. He had some time before the competition. Opening the bag, he found a light orange floral Chinese dress that stopped an inch above his knees. There was also a long black wig and 2 chopsticks. Izumi sweat dropped. This might take a while, for he didn't know how to put his hair up with chopsticks. He glared at the black heels that also came with the costume. 'No way in hell am I wearing that.' Or so he thought. The power of love, or according to Izumi, mere attraction due to similarity to his fiancé, is apparently very strong.

~Sometime right before the competition~

"Oii. Mizuki. Where's the prince?" Shuuichi asked, seeing that it was almost time to start, but there's no sign of Izumi.

"I'm here!" Izumi called out. The audience and competitors young and old alike turned and looked at their prince in drag. Gasps and fainting sounds were heard.

His black wig was pulled into an elegant bun adored by 2 rose patterned chopsticks. There was some loose lock of hair that fell down near his chin, giving him a childish girl look, but was nonetheless very elegant like. Maybe Mizuki didn't have to worry about being found out as a girl after all, for Prince Izumi, who is 100% male to her knowledge, looked even more beautiful than a girl. His beauty is really out of the world. She'll have to take a snapshot of his girl side before he disappears and changes back. Hopefully there will be photographers in this event.

"Okay, now that every competitor is here, let's begin!" one of the judges blew a whistle.

"Let's see how that little twerp does," Mizuki's brother muttered in his seat.

"If he doesn't win, I'm taking my little sister back."

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please comment and review! I look forward to it! ^.^ Oh yeah, and if you guys are wondering why you never seem to see Izumi's father, King Sano is dealing with foreign affair elsewhere, so Izumi is pretty much taking care of things in Osaka Kingdom in stead of his father.