Author's Notes: Yay! My first story! I'm so excited! Hope you like it!
"This is boring!" whined Alice as she flopped backwards onto her bed. She waved her hands in the air trying to find some source of entertainment out of nothing at all.
"It's so boring here, Elise!" Alice whined again this time to her sister who was reading a book in the darkest corner of the room. "Why won't Auntie's butler play with us Elise? He's so boring!"
"Isn't it obvious? Cesare hates us. He thinks we are flea-bitten orphans come to destroy his well built household," replied Elise who slowly looked up from her book to see her sister rolling around on her bed seemingly bored out of her mind. She shook her head at the idiocy of her energetic sister. "Besides, Lady Raimu hired that new butler yesterday to keep us - more importantly you - entertained. Although it seems to me that he is obviously not doing his job…"
Alice rolled over to face her sister and stuck her tongue out in defiance. She then proceeded to pout. Her white tail flicked from right to left as she glared at her sister, demanding attention from the silent cat-eared girl.
Elise simply rolled her eyes and flipped the page of her book with one of the black claws on her right hand.
"No matter how long you glare at me I won't become your source of entertainment," the dark clothed girl announced.
With a loud, obnoxious sigh, Alice rolled off her bed and crawled over to the window that look out over the gardens outside the mansion. She traced the pathway with one finger on the glass. First past the black and white roses, continuing toward the daffodils, and on toward the azaleas. She stopped tracing once her finger arrived at the elaborate water fountain in the center of the garden.
There was someone in the middle of the garden.
Alice blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The man was still there. He was tall and wore a hat and leather jacket and held a cane. In his right hand was light pink rose, Alice's favorite flower in the whole garden.
The man looked up to the window through which the white cat-eared girl was peering. He seemed to be looking right at her as if he could see her from where he stood in the garden. After a minute of staring at each other, the man waved at Alice and she promptly waved back with a hint of a smile played on her face.
Elise had looked up from her book at this moment and gazed at her questioningly.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Alice quickly cut her eyes from the strange man's gaze and turned sharply to face her sister.
"Oh, nothing," she quickly answered. "I'm going to go out to the garden."
Elise watched calmly as Alice scrambled to her feet and ran out the door to their bed room. The black clothed girl shook her head and returned her attention to the book in her hands.
"I never could understand how she thinks," Elise mumbled to herself.
Alice's mind was racing as she ran through the halls of Lady Raimu Miruku's mansion. Who was this strange man in the middle of Auntie's garden? Was he a spy? A hired assassin? Or maybe a suitor of some sort?
With her mind preoccupied with the identity of the stranger in the garden, Alice did not see that one of the long floor carpets had been partially rolled up, so her foot caught on the carpet and she was sharply torn from her thoughts.
An unintentional, high-pitched 'mew!' escaped from her mouth as she fell. Before her face hit the floor though, Alice threw out her arms to catch herself, landing on her hands and knees.
Without another sound, she jumped up and continued downstairs.
She cringed as she heard Cesare Fujimoto's voice say, "You two better not be causing any trouble for Lady Miruku with your insufferably high-pitched squeaks!"
She would have to apologize to Elise later for giving Auntie's butler a reason to yell at her.
With silent steps Alice made her way outside and into the flower garden maze. She took the same route she had traced with her finger on the window not five minutes earlier.
First she passed the white and black roses, then the daffodils with their bright yellow petals, and made her way to the azaleas which were colorful shades of pink and purple. Butterflies danced between the flowers and the hedges, collecting nectar and carrying pollen from flower to flower. A soft breeze tugged at Alice's lacy skirt and short hair. As she came closer to the fountain, she took slow, deliberate steps, suddenly nervous about meeting this stranger who had seemed so friendly from her window.
She rounded the corner and came face to face with the tall man who had the hat, leather jacket, cane, and light pink rose. Alice swallowed slightly and tried to smile. The man returned her uncertain smile with a big, friendly grin.
"Hello there, young lady," he began. "What's your name?"
"Uh, my name?" Alice replied uncertainly. "My name is Alice. … Who are you?"
Her voice was quiet. Not quite a whisper but very close to one.
The stranger answered without hesitation, "I am Xavier Randolf. It's nice to finally meet you Alice. I am the new butler your Aunt hired. And you may find that we have a lot more in common than you may think."
Alice gazed at him questionably. Xavier just smiled as he had before.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Xavier exclaimed breaking the silence. "I have a little something for you."
From inside his jacket pocket, the butler produced a light purple ribbon. He handed the ribbon to Alice who gazed at it happily.
"Thank you!" she squeaked, and promptly tackle hugged Xavier, who almost fell into the fountain.
He laughed slightly and a bit awkwardly then said, "Lady Raimu said that you liked ribbons, and I guess she was correct, based on your reaction and the pink ribbon on your tail."
Alice squeezed her new butler once more before unwrapping her arms, stepping back, and grinning widely at him.
"Thank you again Mr. Xavier!" she exclaimed before skipping off back to the house to show her sister her new ribbon.
"Heh heh. You're very welcome, Alice," he replied mostly to himself. "Man, will I have my hands full..."
Xavier slowly made his way back to the house behind Alice, taking as much time as possible before returning to entertain the two girls.
"Hey Elise! Guess what?" Alice called as she opened the door to the room in which her sister was still reading.
Elise winced at the loudness of her sister's voice and grudgingly looked up at her energetic sister.
"What is it, Alice?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Alice didn't seem to notice this tone because she continued just as cheerful as before.
"I met our new butler!" she exclaimed. "His name is Xavier and he's really nice! And he gave me this ribbon!"
She shoved her new purple ribbon in Elise's face as she told her sister about Xavier.
"You know Elise," Alice chattered to her sister, "I really like our new butler. I bet he won't ever let us be bored!" For a moment she remained quiet as she thought of the possibilities of the games she could play with Xavier, and the slight chance that he may let her give him a makeover. "You know, sis? I wonder if I asked him he would carry me up and down the stairs…"
"The way you ask for things I bet he would even let you give him a homemade tattoo," Elise replied almost sarcastically.
Alice's sweet smile turned into an evil, plotting grin. She had lots of plans for the next week. Lots of plans…
Author's Notes: Well it's all down for now! Please review!