An Unlikely Pair [Private]

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna smiled at him, realizing it was almost always a pleasure to be in his company, and kissed him back slightly. She was really starting to adore this man, and wished that their families could understand better. She listened to his words, and had a hard time keeping a straight face at his last comment, but she just laughed instead. "It would be nice. Perhaps someday we can have one of our own." She was careful not too elude to the fact that this beautiful garden, would in fact be theirs someday, well that was if the king was series about making them inherit the kingdom. Again she wondered if the two of them could handle it, and knew that they may not have a choice. Needing a change in topic, Arianna asked, "Are things going better with your family today? I haven't seen my father yet."

Arianna could tell as soon as she asked the question, that things were not going well. She looked at him, and noticed he had unconciously tensed up at her question. She sighed and wrapped her arms around him. "That bad, huh?" she gave him a awkward smile, placing her head on his shoulder. "They need time. We certainly did, and we have gotten to know each other. Your family doesn't know me, and my father doesn't know you. Problem is, because of our last names, they don't want to get to know us. We can only let time do the rest." Arianna squeezed him tightly, wanting to show him her support.

She now understood why the king had decided to end the feud, but she couldn't very well tell either of the families. She couldn't even tell Kais. Even if she could, she wondered how many of them would even believe her. She also wondered how long the king had to live, and whether Jonathan's family would come after them again. It seemed like they had figured out the king's plan, even though the king claimed to have told no one but Arianna. Arianna wondered who the inside man was, and would have to be careful around the servants. She just hoped that whoever it was didn't decide to try to free Jonathan. Granted Jonathan wasn't in any shape to move at the time, his best bet was staying in prison.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais smiled to her and took her hand in his as they sat there. "I promise you if we don't have one I will build us one. No matter how long it takes." He wanted nothing more than to make her happy, and seeing her in his presence after having even spent only a few number of hours away from her, made him only like her that much more.

He thought about breakfast with his family and in all honesty had difficulty figuring out whether or not it was a good thing or not. "Well everyone is fine I guess, It is still hard but nothing negative occured. Byron is gone, back at home so that is a good thing. I don't want him here anyway." Despite his rest, he still did not want to see his brother. He held her close to him as she hugged him though. "Amazing the power a name holds does it not?" He said kissing her forehead.

He thought of the King for a moment and smirked. "Would be easier if one of us was heir to the throne. Then our parents despite our names would not deny the opportunity." He laughed slightly and taking her hand again to lead her out of the garden. "I am assuming we shall have dinner with your father?" He asked kindly, wanting to switch the subject away from his family.

He wondered how the interaction with her father would be. Since the had last departed things had come to a solid conclusion it seemed between the two of them. Her father understood there was nothing in the world that could pry Kais away from Arianna, not even him. And it seemed that because of this her father may come to respect him at some point. Kais could only hope that would happen for Arianna's sake.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna was a bit sad that Byron had left. She hoped in time that he would come to accept her. Arianna was still a bit worried about Kais' father as well, but at least he wasn't openly fighting the plan. She nearly choked on his heir to the throne comment. So close to the truth yet she couldn't tell him. He was making it difficult for her to keep a straight face. So she laughed instead. "Yes, I doubt they would object too much if we were inheriting a kingdom. But honestly, I would rather that not happen and they accepted us for who we truly are. That would be nice. Besides, could you and I handle the responsibility of being the heir to the throne with no proper training. We'd get thrown into and expected to be able to do everything." Arianna thought about it a bit and realized that it was true and that perhaps she should ask the king to find ways to train Kais, despite him not knowing that he will be inheriting the kingdom, as he jokes about it.

She thought about dinner with her father and nodded to Kais. It would be a good idea for her father to get to know Kais better, but she wondered how it would go. Her father had accepted the fact that she was going to marrying Kais no matter what, and so he was being civil because he didn't want to lose her. But she was pretty sure that he was still against the idea as a whole. She sighed. It was going to be a long week. "Yes, it will be good to join him as I have pretty much ignored him. Though perhaps before the wedding, we can try a dinner with the king and both families. Though I wonder how that won't end in bloodshed. But they need to come to terms with it sometime."

A servant came out and told Arianna that the King had ordered her dress sent up to her room and that it was time to make sure it fit. Arianna nodded, and turned to Kais. "I guess I am going to need your sisters and mother. Would you mind sending them to my room." With that, she stood then leaned down to kiss his lips, smiling. He wasn't allowed to join because he wasn't allowed to see the wedding dress before the wedding. She left him, and headed back upstairs to see her dress.  

[kaissaj777]

He was completely oblivious to the fact that she seemed to be hiding something. Kais was not exactly very observant at the current moment. He was simply just happy to be with her again, for she seemed to be the only person that around him for the most part avoid any kind of confrontation. He was glad she laughed at the idea though of them inheriting the kingdom, he was slightly concerned she would take it too seriously, he was finding himself more and more concerned with what she thought considering what happened last night between the two of them.

"Maybe we should tape shut the mouths of our fathers. I think the women should be civil for the most part, who knows maybe you should tape my mouth shut as well for good measure." He laughed a bit at the prospect of him attempting to tape his fathers mouth shut. He would probably never make it to the wedding were he to actually attempt such a task on his father. As strong as Kais thought he was, his father could still overpower him easily.

He felt himself frown as she suggested leaving him, though he realized he was suppose to tell her to meet his sisters anyway to work on her dress. He returned the kiss but did not smile as she went to leave. "Come find me when you done." He said as she walked away. He then proceeded to head back to his own room, where he looked to prepare to go to the training grounds to work on his swordplay.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna laughed at his taping the mouth shut idea then sighed as she left him. He was too attached to her lately. He never wanted to leave her side and was too overprotective. She wondered if Jonathan did more harm to Kais in his actions against her, than he did to Arianna herself. She didn't realize until now, that she missed having some alone time. Well, it was something they would have to work on. She got to her room, and was surprised to find Kais' sisters already waiting in her room. She wondered how long they had been waiting for her. She smiled at them and they of course immediately started talking. It was hard to get used to all the constant chatter, but Arianna found she didin't mind it, as it meant she didn't have to say as much. The main thing on thier minds though was seeing her wedding dress.

The servants were about to bring the dress out when Kais' mother also joined them. She smiled at Marina, genuinely liking the lady, who kept wanting to mother her. Arianna wondered if this was what it was like to have a mother. The servants brought out the dress and Leigh and Kaylee gasped in pleasure. Arianna's eyes widened. The dress was beautiful. The King had really outdone himself. Leigh and Kaylee were both squealing and telling her to try it on. The servants handed the dress to Marina, and with her and her daughters help, Arianna got the beautiful dress on. Arianna turned around so everyone could see her and they all bacame silent. Arianna started to worry that it was a bad thing.

"She looks like a princess," Kaylee whispered and Leigh and Marina nodded in agreement. Arianna turned to look at the dress in the middle and realized that they were right, she really did look like a princess. She wondered if that had been the King's intention, but didn't really care. She was going to look beautiful on her wedding day. "Kais isn't going to know what hit him," Leigh said and everyone laughed, including Arianna. Kais would definately be drooling over this, Arianna thought, and it made her smile.  

[kaissaj777]

He picked up his leather outfit he typically used for training, his family had brought it with them when they arrived. He had been very unproductive in this department since he arrived, mostly because after the kings punishment hit his back he had a difficult time moving for a while. Though he was not a hundred percent healthy in his back, he felt he needed to do something, other wise he would fall into weakness, which he did not want.

Putting on the training suit he felt the leather tighten against his back and he twitched a slight bit at the short burst of pain. He soon found himself adapt though as he grabbed his wooden sword and walked out to the sparring ring. He was surprised when he got there to see his father in a suit as well, washing his hands in a water basin.

Auroc Avalon turned to his son, and look of intensity on his face. "Father...what are you doing here?" Auroc walked over to his and stood with his wooden sword tucked under his arm. "I am here to get my son back." His father said in his deep powerful voice. "Since you have gotten here you have gone soft. You are too attached to Arianna and it is about time we do something about it." Auroc said.

Kais was slightly angered by his fathers comments but frankly Kais began to realize he was right. Since they had grown closer, Kais was finding himself progressively less productive. He had mostly contributed it to his injury, but maybe it was more than that. "Let us spar." His father said to him as he turned around and pulled his sparring weapon out.

Kais tried to keep up with his father, but found himself techincally lacking due to his absence from the training ground. He had not fought his father in a long time, and he was beginning to remember why. Each blow from his father would likely leave a welt and bruise on his body. Kais though was able to land a few of his own that he hoped would lead to the same result. He did though find himself having a lot of fun. Soon though, his father hit his back.

He yelled in pain as he dropped his sword and fell to the ground, gripping the dirt in circle as hard as he could as he stinging sensation stayed longer than it should have one his back. "Up." His father said to him, acting as if he did not care Kais was in pain. Kais felt his anger rise and he jumped up and began swinging at his father with greater speed and strength. However his father was equally as angry now it seemed when he hit him, and soon they found themsleves pulled away by the training ground guards.

"I think that will be all for the two of you." The King said walking toward them. "Kais you should take a bath, your back may be acting up. Auroc I think your wife is done with miss Arianna, so she will likely be looking for you." Kais looked at the king for a moment. Despite having been hit in the head a few times, and he could feel some blood falling from hsi forehead, Kais did not feel he was dazed in any way. The King looked sick today, paler than he normally was, and Kais found himself curious as he walked away. He was not the Kings biggest fan, but he hoped he was ok, for if he was not then chaos would likely ensue.

Getting up to his room he got into the pre-prepared bath and soaked in it for quite a while, recouping from his training session with his father. Despite how he angry they had gotten during the fighting, Kais think his fathers plan worked out, Kais felt rejuvenated, and back to his former self, if only slightly.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with the women of Kais' family and was a bit sad to see them leave, but knew she would see them again. But she needed to prepare for dinner with her father, and that was going to be interesting. She knew that he had only accepted Kais because he would have lost her. She wanted him to accept Kais for who he really was and not because he had no choice. Arianna wondered how she was going to convince her father that Kais was a really great guy. She wanted her father to see what she saw in Kais, and wondered if that would be impossible or not. She knew the men in Kais' family either hadn't accepted her at all or only did so out of necessitie. She sighed, it was going to be an interesting next few months.

Arianna finished what she was doing and decided to go find Kais. As she was walking in the hall, a servant grabbed her attention, telling her that the King wanted to let her know that the wedding would be on Tuesday. Arianna blinked, it was only a few days away. Tonight was Sunday, and that was dinner with her father and then tomorrow was Monday. That meant that by tomorrow, they would be having a large family meal with both families and the king. Arianna groaned. The king just loved making things difficult for them. Now in even more hurry to talk to Kais, she quickly went to his room and knocked. There was no answer and Arianna wondered what to do.

A servant came out of the room and saw Arianna. Motioning Arianna to Kais' waiting room, she was told to wait a few minutes for Kais to get dressed and then he would see her. Arianna blushed, but thanked the servant, and sat quietly looking around Kais' room. The last time she had been here, she hadn't really looked around too much. Remembering the last time, she blushed again, as it was the first time she had kissed Kais, and that was when he had still hated her as well. They had come a great distance from only a week ago. So much had changed and happened.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais slowly got out of the water in the bathtub, reluctantly deciding he needed to leave the soothing and healing warmth that the bath-water provided. However soon he would need to meet with Arianna to have dinner with her father, as well as ask her how things had gone with his family. He could only hope that his family was not creating any problems.

Drying himself off and putting on some pants, keeping himself shirtless so his scars could air-dry themselves he walked out of the room and walked toward his bedroom. He walked out to see Arianna already in the room and he smiled, walking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek, letting go them to go and find himself a propers shirt to put on when his back dried.

"How should I dress for dinner with your father?" He asked, wondering if she noticed the new scars on him from the sparring he had with his father. He did not know how he looked, but it was getting to a point where he believed he was probably constantly looking beat up to her, since she had first met him he was not his whole self for a very long period of time, always getting himself into a bit of trouble.

He turned around and placed his shoe on the side of the bed, tying it up a bit before switching feet. "How was all that busy stuff with my mother and sister? Hope they were not too much of a pain, my sisters don't understand the meaning of silence." He laughed a bit tossing his wet towel to a servant who was waiting to go and wash it.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna smiled as he kissed her cheek but it didn't take her long to notice the fresh wounds that would scar later and wondered who he had gotten into a fight with this time. But she decided to answer his questions first before getting into what happened to him ... again. She thought for a moment before answering, "I guess dress how you would normally dress for a family dinner with your family. I'm not really picky or formal for the most part, and it is just a casual family dinner... Well casual might not be the right word at the moment, but it's just family so you don't have to dress up too much. My dad isn't going to be impressed by fancy clothes. Remember, we were on a horse farm. Lots of manual labor and getting dirty. We don't have much time for fancy except when we see the king."

Arianna smiled as she thought of Kais' mother and his sisters. They had been great towards her and were doing as much as they could to make her feel welcomed into the family. "As for women in your family. They are very good people. You must care for them quite a bit. They did everything they could for me, and made me feel welcomed. It was the first time I ever felt like I had siblings or a mother, so it was really nice, and the talking didn't bother me. Made up for my quietness. But they are really good. I like them a lot and I hope I get the chance to spend more time with them." It was something Arianna honestly felt, and she wanted Kais to know that she really did like the women in his family.

But now it was time to find out what happened to him, as he seemed to have an eventful afternoon without her. "So you want to tell me who you fought with?" she asked in a very serious tone. She didn't like the idea of him picking fights, and wanted him to stay strong and healthy. She had a sneaky suspicion that he had fought with his father, which meant that she was of course still not accepted, but she knew that would happen, and she needed to accept the fate that the men in his family may hate her for the rest of their lives. She could only hope they really got to know her and understand her, as she would hate for tension to remain between Kais and his father and brother.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais smiled as he put on a long sleeved grey shirt with three buttons just below the neckline. It was nice a loose against his back so he elected to no wear a vest with it, looking to just seem like he was coming inside from a days work in the quarry. He felt himself relaxed quite a bit, in fact the whole spar with his father left him feeling much more calm because he had released all his steam. He apparently had a ton of mushed up feelings he had need to release, and now apparently he was in a much cheerier mood. "Good because I would like to be comfortable tonight, back has been bothering me a slight bit." He said as a side note. "I don't think we have need to be fancy in front of the King. Not like he deserves it." Kais found that after the King broke up he and his fathers fight, his old hatred for the man rose again.

He smiled to her as he could imagine his sisters babbling away at Arianna, and his mother rushing around probably yelling at servants to be more accurate when putting together the outfit for her future daughter-in-law. "Good, I know you may have a negative view on our personalities because of my temper, but the women in my family are the ones who keep us in line." A prime example was the sparring match between he and his father. If his mother had been there, it would have gone a lot differently.

He did not want Arianna though to think he fought with his father in more than just the practice ring. "I just was practicing my swordplay with my father, that is all." He wondered if that was the first time he had lied to Arianna, he said it calmly, back turned to her as he spoke. "I was sloppy in my defense and he got me with a fist." He turned and smiled to her, walking over to her as he tucked in his shirt. "Relax it is no big deal."  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna sighed. "I am sure the king has his reasons. And in the end, it hasn't turned out too bad for us. I mean, we get along pretty well. We just need to convince our families that we aren't the enemy." She was careful not to say too much, and hated keeping a secret from Kais. But she made a promise and had to do so for his safety as well. If he knew the king's reasons, she wondered if Kais would still be so angry at the king. She doubted it, but couldn't be quite sure as the men in Kais' family could hold quite the grudge. "Let's leave bygones be bygones with the king and move on. I think that is the best solution."

Arianna smiled at his comment about the women in his family, and noted, "I guess that makes me in charge of you then." she laughed but her smile disappeared when he mentioned that he had been sparring with his father. She didn't like it, and knew that it was because of her that he had those new bruises. Her eyes saddened, but she didn't press the matter, as he obviously didn't want her to know the truth. "You should be more careful until your back heals. You could reopen the wounds and make things worse," was all she said on the matter. She couldn't say more, as she knew his father and his opinions were important to Kais.

So Arianna decided it was best to change topics now, and grabbed his hand, giving him one of her stunning smiles. "By the way, the king says the wedding is on Tuesday. Meaning dinner with my father tonight, and then a big family dinner with both sides and the king tomorrow night. The wedding is the next day. I hope your ready, and your father may want to send for your brother as the king wants both sides of the family fully present. I'm a little worried, but orders are orders and I really do want everyone to get along." Her smile slipped away, as she wondered if it was possible for both families to get along.  

[kaissaj777]

He did not know why she seemed to insist upon continuing to defend the King and the mans actions. Though Kais realized that it was a worthless fight to try and convince her otherwise. In his mind though the only good things to come out of the Kings ideas were made by himself and Arianna. He was more though angry at this point that he had interrupted the venting point between himself and his father. His father though did probably get his point across, for Kais was growing slightly closer to the person he was before they arrived. "I agree we need to convince our families that we are not the enemy. That is why we convince them the king is the enemy."

He sat down on the couch and looked up at her. He smiled at the her comment about being in charge and then chuckled a bit. "You clearly don't know what your getting yourself into do you? I can be quite a handful, you have not even seen the half of it." He joked Stretching his arm across the top of the couch. He shrugged off her comment though about his back, he felt it was not important. "My back is fine. A true man fights through the pain, let it heal with time. I wear my scars proudly." He said puffing out his chest a bit as he spoke, stubbornness sinking in, and smile turning to a serious expression.

When she took his hand he pulled her down to sit down next to him on the couch. The fact that they were to be married very soon was quite an exciting prospect. They should in fact have been married already at this current moment, though he kidnapping had obviously pushed that back more than he intended. "Good, I think it is about time we tied the knot." He said with a smile, kissing the tiny hand he held in his. But soon his expression was back to serious "I think my brother should stay were he is, he had no place here." He turned away and looked out the window to his left, sun beginning to peak toward late afternoon. "Whether they get along or not is pointless, as long as nobody causes a scene."  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna sighed. "Kais, I don't want to convince them that the King is the enemy. I think he probably has good reasons for doing what he is doing." She chooses her words carefully, to avoid Kais getting suspicious. She really hated keeping such a secret from him and she needed to talk to the King about this. Kais, at least, should know about this. But at the same time, she understood the King wanting to make sure that Kais was fit to rule, which is why he wanted to see how Kais ruled over the land and it's people that they would be given as a wedding present first. She wondered if the King would live long enough to make a valid decision, and hoped so. Once knews of Kais becoming the next king became public, he could be in mortal danger from those who wanted the throne for themselves. "Besides, without him, you wouldn't get me."

Her eyes narrowed at his stubborness about his back, but she wisely let it drop. It wasn't a life threatening injury, and so it was no priority. She looked at her arm, and realized that her wounds had healed. And because of the excellent medicine the doctor had given her, and the fact that she hadn't kept reopening her wound like Kais had, her cuts had only left behind faded scars, barely noticible. They barely marred her beauty, and she wondered how she had gotten so lucky in that department as she had expected big ugly scars on her arm. She shook her head and smiled at his comment about being a handful. "Yes, perhaps, but I'm quite stubborn and have the advantage."

She was startled when he puller her down next too him, but she couldn't help but smile. He was excited for their marriage, as was she, and she couldn't wait to see his eyes widen when he saw how beautiful she looked in her wedding dress. But her smile disappeared as he mentioned his brother. She wanted them to forgive each other and for Byron to be Kais' best man. But she didn't know how to do that when Byron clearly hated her. "I would like to see your brother there ... I won't push you on the best man part, but ... could you at least invite him to the wedding. When you two forgive each other, you will both regret it if he does not attend. Please? For me?" she pleaded to him with her eyes.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais shrugged and sighed a bit, realizing that his point was not getting across to her. "Arianna, don't you realize that if we make him the enemy, our families may look past the family names and accept us while hating him!" He knew the King was only doing what he though was right. "I am not complaining about getting you, but he is a King, he should expect this, sometimes he has to be willing to take on some difficult accusations, for the betterment of his people. I am sure he would understand it." Said Kais trying to plead his case to her.

He laughed a bit about her saying she had an advantage. "If you think your more stubborn than me my dear than you have something else coming to you." he teased lightly with a smile. "And what advantage do you have? Personally I think we are evenly matched, though I definitely win in the stubbornness department." He kissed her cheek sweetly and chuckled a bit, turning his head to look out the window.

He tensed though a bit during the discussion about his brother, it was not necessarily something that he enjoyed going over. He was furious with his brother, but in many ways she was right. He had always looked up to his brother as a role model, and whenever his father had been difficult, Byron had been there for him as a friend, and Kais was always there for him as well. His betrayal in this was so heartbreaking to Kais though, he was having a hard time forgiving his brother, and therefore had a hard time wanting him to be there.

"I don't know Arianna....." He said trying to mask the disappointment in his voice. He tried to changed the subject slightly though. "Maybe I should ask your father to be my best man, maybe then he would appreciate me more perhaps? Though I fear what my family would do if I did so....though I could always ask the King to make it that way so I won't be blamed. "  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Kais was really starting to piss Arianna off and she sighed once more. "Look, I refuse to blame the king. It's dishonest and I won't be placed at that level. We are going to have to agree to disagree on the matter, but I will be completely miserable if you decide to make an enemy out of him. Remember, what you do will now affect me, for good and for bad. Besides, Kais, if you were king, would you want people blaming you for things that you think are right or beyond your control. It worked out in the end and I am sure the king has enough to worry about. Besides, he is gifting you a large sum of land for marrying me. As a woman, I don't get anything, as everything is in the husband's name. Remember what I said about women losing their freedom when they get married?" Arianna tried to forget about that, but it still bothered her a bit.

Arianna rolled her eyes, having to agree that they were probably the close in stubborness, she was just smarted about knowing when to back down. It didn't seem like Kais had quite mastered that skill and Arianna thought that perhaps she should talk to his mother about this. Besides, she wanted to know more about Kais, and who better to ask then the woman who raised him, "As for stubborness, I may agree we are on even ground, but you won't win. Because even if you do win, in the end, winning will make you miserable. That is my advantage. Ever hear the saying if the woman of the house isn't happy, then no one is happy?" she grinned at him mischievesly. "I win." she giggles and sticked her tongue out at him.

She noticed he tensed when she mentioned his brother and sighed. This wasn't going to be easy no matter what he chose. "Please consider inviting him, and you can always ask the king to be your best man. Beats starting a fight with either of out families. But speaking of families, we are suppose to be in the family dining room eating with my father. Come now, or we really will be late. No sense in making him mad right from the beginning. We will just tell him I had wardrobe issues and took a while." Arianna grinned again with the shared secret, stood and grabbed his hand, dragging him out of the room and towards the dining room where her father waited.