Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a maid. Well, I say maid. More like a prisoner in their own home. Every day is the same for this young maid.
"Wash my clothes!" Yells a girl as ugly as a pig's hind quarters.
"Clean the floor!" Yells another, equally repulsive girl.
The two of them treat this maid with lack of love and care sisters usually give to their siblings. Yes, that's right. This poor little maid has the privilege (*cough*cough*) of being related to these hags in frocks.
Their fat lips coloured to match the pink only Barbie could dream of. Their hair fake and huge tower over them, like somebody glued the Tokyo tower to their heads for a prank – and a good one if it had been – decorated by ornamental, more like plastic, dangles and jingles to make them stand out (as if they don't already).
Every day, these two beautifully hideous girls jump into a horse and carriage – nearly snapping it in two as well as the horse's backs – and merrily go into town, wanting to meet that special someone.
That someone isn't just anyone, bear in mind, he is the prince of princes, the bravest of the brave. His name? Prince Sheriku.
His tanned body and his foreign accent make all the women swoon at his very name being mentioned in the street. He is the Prince charming all girls want.
That includes the ugly sisters. Their sibling however, well don't expect too much, doesn't find anything about the Prince 'charming' or 'seductive' but that's probably because, the maid is Katsumi Hirose, a boy.
Yes, a boy. Expecting a little Miss Cinderella? Well, you're in the wrong story, so get lost!
This young man has the everyday duties of cleaning and washing and scrubbing and… well, you get the idea. He is ill treated by both his older sisters and his father. Yes, his father is a businessman.
He treats his clients like they are his family. He treats his family, as if they were rats (But to be honest, two of them do closely resemble rats so I see where he comes from).
But no matter how ill treated the maid boy is, he never speaks up nor does he rebel. It's just his nature to abide by the rules. That is, until he meets one of his father's colleagues, eye-to-eye…
One day, when the young maid boy was scrubbing the floor with an old brush, there was a knock at the door. Being the 'servant' of the house, he stopped his duties in order to see who was at the door. It was a young, handsome looking man wearing a shirt and tie.
Knowing it would be impolite to keep him waiting there, the boy opened the door and invited him in. "I'm terribly sorry." He bowed to the man in apology. "My father is at a meeting just now and isn't home…" He spoke clearly yet quietly.
The man looks at the boy and smiles. "Is that so…" His smile transforms into a frown but his eyes fixate onto the boy. "Do not worry about it, I shall return later." His voice was mesmerising and captivating.
He walks past the boy who remained bowing and brushes his arm across his shoulder. "When will he be back?" He asked.
The boy raised his head, feeling a little uneasy. "He never tells me. He just returns when he returns. Sometimes he is gone for the whole day." He answered.
"I see." The man's voice turns seductive and a little menacing. "You poor thing, being left here alone. With no one who cares for you." The man digs into his pocket and takes out a small card. He throws it to the floor beside the boy. "Here, if you feel like wanting some company, then give me a call." He answered with a sly undertone, before leaving the boy alone in the house, watching the card as if waiting for it to sprout legs and run down a rabbit hole.
Katsumi picked it up to have a closer look at it. "Yoshitaka Mimuro…" He spoke the name to himself. He flipped the card to see a phone number and address. "pfeh. Why would I want his company?" the maid boy began to speak to himself. "He was obviously looking down on me. He knew his position was greater than mine. I hate people like that the most…" He continued to mutter to himself as he resumed his cleaning duties.
The night was long and hard for the maid boy. His father returned stoned and drunk, stumbling and falling all over the clean floors, knocking over vases and plates then blaming it on the maid boy.
"It's your fault! Your fault it broke like that!" He hit an empty beer bottle against a wooden counter, smashing the end into small fragments and creating a frighteningly lethal weapon. "People like you should never exist in this world!" He yells, slurring his words into a clump of utter rubbish before lunging towards the maid boy with the broken bottle.
Doing the obvious thing, the Katsumi ran. He stumbled and tripped, more than his drunken father, to the front door. He skidded and slid on the newly polished floor that he worked so hard on whilst his father was out wasting himself at a stripper's club and downing litres of alcohol at a time.
The maid boy scrambled to open the door and opened it with but seconds to spare as the glass bottle scrapes against his cheek. He didn't stop to check the damage or to see if his father was running after him, he just ran for his life.
His nights have all been similar to this, but never as violent. Usually it's just verbal abuse he puts up with. This time had gone too far.
The problem then, was that the boy had nowhere to go. He never left the house, always forced to be the maid and put up with all kinds of abuse from his family. He had nobody who cared for him. Nowhere to feel safe.
A tear of self-pity trickled down his cheek, running over the wound. "What should I do?" He managed to release the words between his heavy breathing.
Just then, his eyes became smoky and his body became oddly weak. His heart felt like it was in his throat as he tried to continue running, trying to get a fair distance between him and his father.
In the distance, he could see lights and balloons escaping into the sky. A festival? No. It was the invitation to the ball. Instead of sending out separate cards, the Prince held a street party where those who attended the parade could attend the party.
Although Katsumi hated the Prince and his lifestyle, he had no choice but to head to where he had the slight chance of finding a safe place to hide from his father; in a large crowd.
He ran there as fast as he could, his heart nearly leaping out his mouth. His apron trailed and tripped him on the cold stone below him. His hands scraped at the gravel, tearing ribbons of skin. The boy lay there to catch the breath he never had and to gather his bearings. His hands red and stinging clenched as he struggled to his feet.
He was so ill treated at home, he was barely given a decent meal. The parade in the distance was full of cheers and laughter as the boy lay there, lonely and fearful. It was as if the world was laughing at him.
A shadow covered the boy's body. "If you don't want to get crushed, I suggest you move out the way, miss." A familiar voice spoke to the boy.
He turned to see a tall man, strongly built, towering over him with a slightly soft expression. The boy tried to swallow his heart back down but it blocked his voice from reaching the man.
"You're a boy?" The man asked shocked as he stared at the maid boy, tattered and bruised. Katsumi could do nothing but nod.
As his head shifted, Katsumi's eyes blurred and his strength finally failed. He collapsed in the middle of the gravel road with a tall, mysterious man standing above him…
