• I stood at the entrance with several other people including Yoji. It’s been almost two weeks since I realized that I love the Young Sir, now he was going off on a trip. He had only two bags, one for himself and one for Ai. Young Sir was taking Ai with him. I was mad that he was. I did not tell him all that she had done to me since she broke down at the garden.
    Ai had put shards of broken glass in my shoes and torn up my favorite dress. She scared away any cat that was near me and she would call me terrible names. The only person who really did notice her behavior was Yoji, and he had tried to help me. He was calm her down and clean up after her. He never said anything to me, but he would look at me funny.
    So we all stood there saying are goodbyes. Young Sir said his goodbyes individually. He would kiss the girl’s hands and shake the men’s. When he stopped at Yoji, the crowed became quiet, watching. I looked around confused.
    Yoji glared at Young Sir with his cold blue eyes, unlike Young Sir’s warm honey eyes. Young Sir said something I couldn’t hear. Yoji’s eyes grew wide. He glanced at Ai then me and looked back at Young Sir with bewilderment.
    The Young Sir started to talk again and I strained to hear; only catching fragments. “…sorry Yoji…love you…son…Ritsuka.” He stopped talking and looked at Yoji kindly, putting his hand on Yoji’s shoulder. Yoji looked as if he was about to cry, but he was holding it together. Then he suddenly reached out to the Young Sir and wrapped his arms around him in a hug.
    People started to whisper. They were just as shocked as I was. I had thought that Yoji hated the Young Sir. But what did he say to Yoji to make him do that? I was itching to ask the Young Sir about it, but I couldn’t in front of all these people.
    Young Sir stepped in front of me smiling like always, “Ritsuka, you know that I am leaving for a month,” he said slowly. I nodded, staying quiet. “And I can not take you with me.” I clenched my fists, jealous of Ai whom did get to go with the Young Sir. “So I am leaving you with Yoji. He is to look after you while I am away.”
    Surprised, I looked to where Yoji was, but he had already gone. “I’ll miss you when I’m gone, but when I return, we shall spend all the time we want together, just you and me.” He smiled down at me as tears brimmed my eyes. I could not speak, or I would start to cry.
    Young Sir kneeled down and patted my head. “Be safe while I’m gone, okay?” I bit my lip and nodded. He had saved my life, I was eternally grateful. I also loved him. Now he would be leaving me for a whole month. Who knows how long next time?
    “I know this is hard for you, my Little Kitten, but your heart is strong.” A sad looked crossed his face and he hugged me gently. I hugged him back with all my might. I didn’t want him to go, but Ai laid her hand on Young Sirs shoulder, “we have to go, the carriage is here…”
    Young Sir stood up nodding. Ai held his arm as they walked. I now hated Ai. She got the Young Sir all to herself. I was both sad and angry. With tears now streaming down my face, I ran to my room, slamming the door and jumping on my bed, letting it all out.
    That day, I had skipped lunch and dinner. I slept most of that next day and refused to eat breakfast. The next day, my window had been opened and I could hear the birds chirping happily. I hated those birds. No one left and made you stay behind when you were a bird. My dress for the day lay untouched on my dresser. I was still wearing my white night slip. The same one I had worn that night I slept in the Young Sirs’ bed.
    I heard someone knock at the door, but I didn’t move. I lay there still, practically comatose, unable to do a thing. My heart was crushed. This was a serious matter to a nine year old. Then I herd the door being opened. Someone came in, but still I hadn’t moved. The person walked over to my bed and stood next to it.
    “You can’t stay like that for a whole month…” said a young mail voice. A few moments passed with the person standing there. “Why are you acting like this? You’ve only know that man for a month. This is just ridiculous.”
    The person grabbed me by my arms and lifted me out of the bed. “Geez! You don’t weigh a thing!” he said sounding surprised. He set me on my feet and let go. I fell to the floor and just sat there. “What the hell Ritsuka!” he shouted angry. Sitting up, I looked to see who it was. But of course, it was Yoji. He looked as angry as he sounded.
    Yoji grumbled to himself, something about how stupid the Young Sir was. “How would your ‘Young Sir’ feel about you moping around?” he said looking at me. He folded him arms and shook his head, as if he was disappointed. “He asked me to look after you and promised mw something in return. So I intend to do so.”
    I blinked up at him then stood up. My legs were a little shaky. “That’s better…” Yoji said grabbing my wrist. He walked me over to the bathroom and grabbed my dress. He shoved me in, throwing my clothes at me. “Now change.” He said and slammed the door.
    A few moments later, I came out wearing a dark red and black silk laces dress. Black knee high socks came up just a little past me knee and a red chocker laced around my neck. Yoji blushed and looked a way. “b*****d knew my favorite color was red…” he whispered, probity to himself. He turned back to me, but not looking me in the eyes. “Okay then…let’s go eat.” This time, he held my hand.
    I watched are joined hands all the way to the dinning hall. Yoji’s hands were warm and soft. Sort of like a girls. He sat me down at my chair and a servant set a plate of ham, eggs, and honey bread in front of me. “Now eat.” Commanded Yoji.
    At first, I just stared at my food. Then slowly, I started to eat. Yoji stared at me intensely. Though, it felt more like a glare. Time passed like that for a while; I ate slowly and he glared.
    “Glaring is impolite” I finally said flatly. He twitch slightly, “if I look a way you will stop eating.” If Young Sir was here, he would have said something nice to make me eat, like, “Little Kittens need to eat for energy” in that cool way he does. I set my fork down. “I’m done.” I said coldly.
    Yoji looked at my plate confused. “You only at half of it...” He shook his head. I looked down at my plate as well. Technically, it was more like a forth. I had only eaten the ham and bread. I shrugged, “I’m small, my stomach can’t hold that much” he grunted, “You need to eat, or else you wont grow” he said grabbing the fork and stuck in the a piece of egg, putting it into my mouth. I chewed staring blankly at him. I would refuse to be nice to him only because he disliked the Young Sir.
    Then suddenly, Yoji’s stomach growled. He looked embarrassed. The corner of my mouth twitched wanting to smile. “You need to eat too brat” I said coldly. “Shut up! Don’t call me a brat!” Yoji was either annoyed with me or angry with me, I think it was both. “You’re short too, you should eat.” I continued.
    I decided that he was angry, because he stood up and started to walk away. “Fine, if you’re going to act like this, then I will not deal with it.” He was at the door when he stopped. Yoji grumbled and turned around with an annoyed look. “But I did make a promise…” It looked as if he was thinking very hard. It must have come to him as his face seemed to light up and he ran back over to me, pushing the plate aside. “All right then, let’s go to the garden!” Surprised, Yoji grabbed my hand and hr dragged me off to wards the garden.
    “Okay, if you are going to act all snooty with me you better be ready to handle my punishment.” Yoji smiled smugly to himself. I was a little nervous; I wondered what he was going to make me do. “I can’t make you do anything too hard, so this is the best thing I can come up with.” Yoji reached down and picked up a little gardening shovel that was sitting next to his foot. He threw it over to me, and I caught it midair. “Now Miss Kitten, go and weed the flowers.”
    If this was all Yoji could think of for me to do, then I think I would be fine. I walked unfazed into the garden a little ways and dropped down to me knees to work. Yoji laughed behind me. “I knew you couldn’t handle it.” He said. Angry, I grabbed a few weeds and threw them at him hitting him in the chest. Yoji stared at me in surprise.
    “Just because the Young Sir likes me more then you, does not mean I had a good past” I said gripping the shovels handle. I had lived on the streets for almost two years and watched my parents be killed right before my eyes. No one even showed me kindness. Everyone avoided me and thought that I was cured my Morpheus or fallowed by the Nightmare Demon.
    I still had nightmares about my parents’ death. That vampire would grab them and split them open splattering blood every where. The walls, the floors, my face. The only person to show me kindness after all of that was the Young Sir. He brought me to his house, cleaned me up and fed me. He let me stay in his bed when I needed to. How could Yoji even know me?
    “I’m sure your past was just terrible Kitten. Cleaning the house and eating dinner with your loving parents. Just terrible!” Yoji said throwing his hands in the air. I stood up abruptly and threw the shovel at Yoji. He dogged it, shovel landing on a sleeping white cat. It leapt up and ran off meowing.
    “If that really was my past, I would take it!” I screamed and ran off crying. How could Yoji even say that? He had no idea what I have gone through. It made me angry just thinking about it. I wanted to see the Young Sir, but I didn’t want him to see me crying. I wished he was here. I whipped at my eye, trying to stop crying.
    Running into the entrance of the mansion, I bumped into someone, knocking onto the floor. I looked up to see a young looking man. He had a gentle face with cool blue eyes, noting like Yoji’s. He had silver white hair that fell into his eyes lazily. I remember seeing him around.
    “Oh, Lady Ritsuka. I was just looking for you” he said helping me up. I quickly whipped away any tears still lingering. His smile seemed sincere, but I could feel something strange about him. Some thing that made me want to turn away from him. “Would you mind coming with me? He held out his hand in a friendly gesture.
    “To where?” I asked slowly. He took his hand back when I didn’t take it. He was still smiling as if my coldness didn’t bother him. “To the kitchen, where else?”
    …
    Where else? He could have taken me too many places; the garden, the dinning room. Of cores that would have been up to myself if I chose to go. “What are we doing here?” I asked in an icy tone. I really didn’t talk much too any one except to Young Sir and Yoji. But now that I thought about it, I hadn’t really been nice to anyone in the mansion. They all have been so kind to me. They all had accepted me with out question.
    “What are we doing here?” the silver haired boy said taking a ladle in hand. He suddenly brought it down onto his hand hard making a loud smack. I jumped surprised. “We are going to cook lunch of cores!” he said cheerfully. I stared at him blankly. I glanced around. Well this is a kitchen I suppose. “All right, let’s wash are hands and get started.”
    Moments later, we had both washed are hands and tied on aprons. My hair was tied back into a knot in the back to keep it from getting in the way. He was looking through the pantries and freezer for stuff to cook. “What are we going to make?” I asked looking at foods and setting them out. Annoyed, I felt ignored. “I said, what ar-“
    “My name is Sora and if you want to talk to me, you shall address me as so.” He said turned away from me. I was surprised at his tone. It was not as kind as before, almost a little dark. “Okay…” I said slowly, “Sora, what are we going to cook?” I asked, being more cautious now.
    Sora turned around holding a meat cleaver in his hand, smiling. I laughed nervously. “Yes Ritsuka, we are going to make beef stew.” With out another word, Sora started to chop up vegetables. I stood there in awe watching Sora. I was amazed at how fast he was cutting. I was a little scared of him at the moment. Afraid to say a word, I stood unmoving.
    Sora stopped mid carrot and turned to looked at me. “You need something to do, don’t you?” he set the knife down smiling, “all right then…” Sora walked over to a stool and picked it up and set it in front if the cutting board. “I’ll show you how to properly chop vegetables.” Uncertain of what to do, I stepped onto the stool.
    Sora pressed himself ageist my back setting the knife into my hand. He moved my hand in slow easy slices cutting the carrot into small round slices. “See how it’s done?” he asked genially. I could feel his warm breath across the back of my neck. Blushing, I nodded. “All right, let’s try cutting faster.”
    We went from cutting various vegetables to meats. Sora took out a large copper pot and set it on the stove and started the water to boil. Sora let me throw the contents in and stir. Just a little past lunch time, we had everything made. We had even made honey bread and mashed potatoes. It seemed more like a dinner rather then a lunch.
    Everyone was called to eat. I got to sit at the head of the table. This was the first time everyone has eaten together. I was happy to see them all smiling. Even Yoji.
    The servants were all talking happily amongst themselves. Some even tried to take up a conversation with me. I was really just happy seeing everyone else enjoy themselves. I smiled warmly. Maybe this month without the Young Sir wouldn’t be so terrible