Arrivals and First Impressions

I called out to the driver as he neared the school gates, and within seconds, we were parked just outside of the most prestigious and expensive school this side of the Equator. The driver hopped out before I had the chance, and opened my door before fetching me my bags. The crisp warmth of the morning air was nipping at my face and hands as I climbed out of the black automobile. I still found it odd, having someone arrange everything for me, having someone whose job it was to open my door, make my meals, and pour my tea. I still hadn't quite gotten used to being on the other end of that particular deal.

I picked out a small strawberry lollipop from the hidden stash in my coat pocket, and popped it into my mouth.

"Mr. Xerxes, your bags, Sir." The driver, a small man of fifty-seven, waddled over to hand me my twin suitcases. He all but dragged the poor things on the ground, his arms and back had obviously seen better days.

I mean, they were barely ten kilos each. Honestly.

"Yes, thank you, Mr..." At his name, I could almost remember it. I know it started with an S. Maybe an E...nope. Definitely an S. Hmm...

"Seiko, sir. Imibara Seiko." He smiled a grisly smile, showing aged and decaying, small yellow teeth. I could swear on my hide that I saw something move on one of them. Ick. "Yes, well. Thanks, Mister!" My voice raised half an octave and I plucked the two bags from his shaking grasp.

"Bye-bye!" I waved way too much as he sped away. I couldn't help but giggle to myself as his car disappeared. He was the same Seiko as ever, not that he'd remember me. I pulled the plastic stick out of my mouth, and licked the remnants of hard candy of it until it was clean, then tossed it in the bin by the water fountain in the main courtyard.

Swiping the card I'd acquired in the mail, across the beeping electronic gate-opener thingy-ma-bob, I entered Pandora Academy.

As I approached the office doors, they burst open, and three men, followed by a tiny brunette girl stormed out.

"Vincent, I'd expect this from you, but you, Jack? What kind of example are you trying to set for Oz?" Gilbert tightened his grip on both of their shoulders, and they both whimpered under the wrath of the VP.

"Yo~" I began to call out, only to be cut off by the tiny brunette girl. She, unlike the three others present, I did not know. But obviously she was in league with the two blonds being held captive by Gilbert-san. So, she was alright in my books.

"Gilbert-Sensei! It's not their fault that they misheard their Master's orders. After all, it's not like they stole all the meat in the cafeteria..." Her voice trailed away, and her two hands, which had since been hanging loosely by her side, clenched into fists and shook with fury.

"Don't be angry with us, Alice-chan. We were chased out of there before we could." Vincent whined to her, before looking up at Gilbert. "But I was happy to be chased by you, Gilbert. You can chase me... All. You. Want." He poked at Gilbert's face, once for each work he uttered.

"Oh, give it a break, Vince. He's into my brother, not being yours." Jack said flatly.

"Shut up!" Tears suddenly appeared in Vincent's eyes, in that weird, Tamaki-Suo-like way that they did. "Gilbert-san would never abandon me, his beloved brother, for some brat."

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Gilbert exploded, slamming multiple fists into both of their golden heads. Alice seemed to be confused of whether to save her man-servants from being pummelled, or to curl over and die of laughter and amusement.

"And never, NEVER, speak of Oz in that way, like he is some kind of vermin; do not speak of him so lightly in my presence again. Got it, idiots?" Gilbert whisper-yelled at the two crumpled figures at his feet. He turned to Alice, suddenly realising that she was still there.

"I'll deal with you later, Alice. Do me a favour and discipline these two some more? They did fail you after all." The tiny girl nodded, and standing her boot on Vincent's head, started laughing, shouting at them about being her man-servants and failing her because they were blinded by her awesome light and a thousand other incoherent things I didn't care to listen too. "Gilbert-san! Wait for me!" I called out to him, skipping and running at the same time, trying to catch up to him. He suddenly stopped, and turned, slowly the beginning of a small smile appeared.

"Ah, Break-kun! You're finally here. I swear, if you had waited another week, Lady Sharon would've started sending the students to me, for help. Me! And don't even get me started about the tea-bag incident! I mean, what's the difference between Earl Grey and regular old black?! But honestly, she would've sent them to me!" He came to stand beside me. I sat my suitcases down, and waved my arms up and down along with my words. "Yes, Yes. That would be tragic, truly horrible."

"You couldn't put a bandaid on a paper-cut if you're life depended on it, Sprout-Head!" Emily, the doll perched in my shoulder exclaimed in that rattly, high-pitched voice of hers.

I patted her head with a finger, and hushed her invisible lips. "Quiet, now, Emily. We're at a school. We couldn't have the little girls and boys learning the truth now, could we?"

Gilbert clenched his teeth, and drew in a long breath of nicotine and tobacco out of his half-lit cigarette. "I see you still have Emily. I must say that I didn't miss her remarks way more than I didn't miss yours."

"Wow, the Sprout-Head is a bully as well as stupid!" Emily shook her arms around a little, but I picked her up of her perch on her left shoulder, and plopped her onto my right, and watched her wobble and shift until she was secure and comfortable.. "Now, now. You too will have plenty of time to catch-up on ten years worth of insults later, but for now, I do believe you are meant to be taking us to see Lady Sharon at eight, correct, Gilbert-Sensei?"

"Correct, Break-kun." He glanced at his wrist-watch, and he paled. That means... "Holy cow, We're late! It's already 13 past!" He grabbed a suitcase in one hand, and my wrist in the other, and I barely had time to reach for the other bag before I was being dragged through hallway after hallway.

Finally, we came to a stop, and Gilbert bent at the waist, his hands on his knees, breathing hard. "We're...Hah-here..." He dropped, and clutched his stomach, struggling to breath, probably, or simply in pain. A lot of pain.

Hmm... "You had Oz's cheese bagels for breakfast, didn't you?" I asked, a hand perching itself on my hip.

"Perfection...Ack! Ow!" He yelped and rolled around on the floor, bouncing off each wall, and then rolling back towards the other. This continued until he rolled out of sight.

"Oh, well. I'll just let myself in, then."

I opened the door, and stepped into a beautifully...dull drawing room. I could only imagine what Gilbert had meant earlier by tea-bag incident. If these are her lodgings, then it is not wonder Sharon-sama kicked up a gigantic fuss about the quality of the tea leaves. They probably weren't even imported brands. And if they were, they would have to be one of those shite American under-dog companies.

"What was all the commotion about, boys? Was Break being annoying again, Gilbert-Sensei?" Sharon-sama was sitting on a dark-wood mahogany high-back chair by the window, watching the playground from her place on the third floor. She set down her tea, and stirred in another sugar cube.

"When have I ever been annoying, Ojou-sama?" I asked, pouring more steaming burgundy liquid into her delicate white tea-cup. The design painted along the rims was intertwined forget-me-nots and blue roses. I stuck another lollipop into my mouth; this time grape flavoured, and pulled out a large orange-flavoured lollipop, twelve inches in diameter, with a grand hot pink bow attached to the stick, holding the plastic in place over the hard candy.

"I got you a present!" I waved it in front of her, and she grabbed it, setting it down on the table, a little too hard.

"Ojou-sama? What's the matter?" I asked, my happy mood drifting away. "Sharon-sama, talk to me. Please, what's wrong?" I was growing worried, for her head was hung and her lips were trembling. She still wouldn't talk.

"You...Y-You-You..." Her lips barely moved as she whispered the words, so soft that I only just caught them.

"Me? What did I do, Lady Sharon? Please, what did I do?" I gripped her hand, squeezing it tightly. "Please!"

"You idiot!" She exploded, bringing her giant fan out of nowhere and onto my head. "You left me here, with these people, for ten years! Do you know how this tea tastes? Like dish-water, that's how!" Her hands dropped to her sides, and she wiped away her tears as the fan dropped to the ground beside her.

Knowing what she needed, I raised my arms, ever so slightly, but she noticed, and fell into them, hugging me, clutching at my chest like a drowning child would a life-raft. "It's okay, Ojou-"

"Don't. Please, don't." She tightened her grip, and nestled her head into the crook of my shoulder deeper. "Don't call me 'Lady'. Not right now, please, Brother Xerxes?"

I smiled a smile that I rarely did, a genuine one, and placed my hand on the small of her back, my fingers sliding over silk and lace and embroidery of the dress, and pulled her closer to me. "Of course, Sharon-chan."

"Thank you."

The door opened, and we sprang apart, both turning to see a short boy with a mess of glistening blond hair walk in, humming an unfamiliar, yet beautiful tune. I didn't know him either, well, at least not personally. Oz Bezarius saw the remnants of tears on Sharon-sama's face, and ran to her side. His hands clasping hers, she began to grin and glow as he fussed over her, subtly trying to cheer her up while not-so-subtly trying to find out why she was crying. I watched them as they flirted with words only aristocrats understood the double-meaning of, and as they talked until Sharon's eyes were no longer red and puffy, but big and shining with joy. I always found it odd that that always seemed to happen when Oz was near her. Hmm... Interesting, as I had often made the same observation about Gilbert, that observation re-made present after his little display with Vincent and Jack earlier. Apparently this Oz kid was someone who accidentally made a habit of stealing hearts. No wonder he was Jack Bezarius's little brother, and no wonder Vincent Nightray loathed him so much. The little blond boy had stolen Gilbert from him, and he didn't even know it.

"Oh, Oz-kun. This is Break, my former personal servant turned part-time friend and colleague, though he is still officially meant to be my personal bodyguard and butler, he seems to have forgotten that, and has since been on a university course on medicine and is now a certified doctor and physician. He's also a qualified teacher, vet, carpenter, gourmet chef, and a trained assassin." She finally took a breath, and gulped down the rest of the horrible tea. I chucked in five sugar cubes, and poured her another cup, before wrinkling my nose at the smell of it, and throwing in another five.

"T-Trained Assassin?!" Oz retracted back, his arm and leg reaching new heights off to one side of his head.

I raised an eyebrow, seeing why he was alarmed, and taking un-measureable amusement in that fact alone. "It was a very thorough university that I attended."

"What the hell does being an assassin have to do with medical studies?!" He still hadn't moved his arms and legs, and from the pained look on his face, I don't think he could at that point. I tapped my chin as I thought of a way to explain it to him, not wanting to reveal the real reason that I took... Extra-curricular classes while off campus.

"Let's say that you're studying somewhere, like, the park. And suddenly this guy comes up and tries to kill you, okay?" I began, finishing and starting another sweet, a lime hard candy ball coated in fizzy, sour sherbet. They were pretty good.

"Why would he want to kill you?" Oz asked, finally seeming to be able to move, he crossed his legs, and hugged a cushion, listening intently.

I waved my hand around in the air in his general vicinity, silencing him. "He just does. Anyway, what would you do?"

"Run away?"

"Then you would have to go to all the trouble of doubling back to get your books and stuff, if they're still there, completely at the risk that he might still be in the area, waiting in silence to lull you into a false sense of security. Or, you could quickly and quietly kill him, saving you hours, and what-do-you-know, your graduating a year early, just because you got that little extra study time. You see, now, Oz-kun?"

"Um... Nope!" He scratched the back of his head and smiled a smile that would melt almost anyone's heart. I could see Lady Sharon's and Gilbert's point, and for a split millisecond, I shared it, before it vanished, never having the chance to bloom into something worth noticing.

"Break-kun?" Sharon-sama asked. I noticed that her cup was empty and cold. In my conversation with Oz Bezarius, I had neglected to refill her cup. I truly am a horrible person, how could I forget her? Surely if she were here, Madam Shelly, Lady Sharon's late mother, would make mincemeat out of me.

"Come now, it's not that bad, Break-kun. Just pour another cup and all will be forgiven." Sharon said calmly, three pulsing red ticks appearing around her head. I noticed the tightness of her jaw, the almost non-existent tremble of her closed fist. She was pissed at me.

"Of course, Ojou-sama." I smiled, and quickly poured her another bout of steaming tea into her cup, adding far more sugar than last time.