I Who Have Nothing

Chapter 1

"Set fire to the broken pieces; start anew."
-Lauren DeStefano

Maya and Aria had made a pact long ago, and they had sworn never to break it as long as they both lived. Maya certainly wasn't going to back out of that promise now, not for anything. Aria was her best friend, and that was all that mattered. The pact stated that wherever one went, the other went as well. They had each other through thick and thin, even when no one else cared whether they lived or died. So now, if Aria wanted to move to Japan to try and start a new life, Maya would go with her.

It's not like she was leaving much behind, anyway. No parents, no living relatives to speak of, a job that barely paid the rent—she was a typical high school dropout in every sense of the word. All she had to her name was some clothes, her guitar, and the locket around her neck that was apparently left by her mother when she was abandoned. She shared a tiny apartment with Aria, waited tables at the same restaurant, and they tried to scrape by as best they could. It was on a whim that Aria came up with the brilliant idea of leaving the States and starting anew.

If it got Aria out of her current situation, then Maya was all for it. She had no idea what they would do when they arrived in Japan, but it was the way they were. Things happened quickly, sometimes faster than she could blink, but they always managed to survive somehow.

She was counting on that now.

...

Kyoya was certainly not happy. After one of the longest school days of his life, he had come home to find out that one of their best maids had just quit and left without a trace, and was the maid that was charged with the duties of tending to Kyoya's needs. Without her, his meals and other requirements would suffer.

No, Kyoya was certainly not happy at all.

He hoped with all his might that a replacement would be found, and soon. He didn't care what sort of lowly commoner was hired, as long as they were competent and didn't bother him when he didn't want to be bothered. Of course, he knew that he wouldn't be particularly fond of this person. Indeed, he would most likely go out of his way to make them feel inferior, as aristocracy so often did with those they employed. In his current state of mind, however, he would hire a raving lunatic so long as they could make him some eggs.

Anyone would do, really.