Title: Not Boring
Summary: His job was to fend off her boredom. Her concern was none of his business.
The house was huge, no bigger than that, but was there a word bigger than huge? Ah… Gigantic! That's the word: gigantic. It had to be at the very least three floors and by the looks of it, there were approximately ten windows per floor at this side of the house that he could see.
Kujo gulped, the gentle breeze fluttering his coal-black hair around his shoulders, the sheer intensity of the looming mansion too much for him to take. He was sure he'd seen Japanese houses just as big as that, but never with more than one floor. There were guards watching him as he stared at the beautiful building, their black and white uniform so different from the yukatas he'd seen samurai soldiers wear during their time under supervision. Tipping his head in a nervous greeting, Kujo made his way towards the lavishly large de Blois house's front doors.
This was it.
O.O.O
Was it him or was his collar trying to strangle him to death? Kujo tried his very best to resist the urge to loosen his collar just a bit to avoid the choking feeling he had.
The reason for this choking feeling was sitting down on a polished mahogany chair with plush velvet cushions, a dainty smile on her face. Her golden hair was raised in a high ponytail, long tendrils adorning the sides of her face, dark viridian eyes gleaming with a vague emotion.
"Kujo Kazuya, my name is Cordelia Garro de Blois. Welcome to Saubreme." Her voice was heavy, yet light with a faint French accent that made Kujo's heart beat faster at the smoothness and tranquility it brought him.
It took him a minute or two to realize that Cordelia was waiting for him to speak. "Um... Thank you."
He expected a harsh comment on how childish he seemed, but instead, Cordelia chuckled and stood up, her cream colored Victorian dress flowing after her as she trooped towards a set of doors at one side of the room.
"Come Kujo," She waved a hand towards him in a gesture to emphasize her words. "I have lots to show you. You could easily get lost in a house like this."
O.O.O
Kujo walked beside Cordelia and realized that the woman had to be no taller than him. She looked like a few years older than him though, with jade-green eyes so ever serious and a coy look on her face that hid mysterious feelings.
"This is the dorm quarters, which you will be sharing with another person." Cordelia held a finely polished knob and turned it, opening the door. She stepped back a bit so he could see his new living quarters for the next few years, if he decided to work here.
Kujo glanced at the spacious room and nearly choked on air. The bed was twin sized, bigger than he expected. The room had two sides, one was already claimed and the other was plain, plain enough for him to decorate himself. The raven-haired boy plopped his suitcase on the bed and looked around the room again. On his side of the room was the aforementioned bed. Then there was a night desk, a lamp, a closet and a drawer.
"There aren't any desks here because you and Avril will be studying in the hall." Cordelia's motherly voice broke through his gawking and Kujo couldn't help but recall the word 'studying' as seconds ticked by.
"I'm sorry, but did you just say that I will be studying while under your care?" he blurted out, facing Cordelia with wide eyes.
The woman with shining blonde hair blinked in genuine surprise as well before nodding her head. "You didn't think we'd let you waste all this time, did you? You'll be monitoring Victorique's actions from time to time while she studies. Might as well give you an education, no?"
O.O.O
"And this is the kitchen." Cordelia's lips turned into a gracious smile, which was in greeting to the people already present and sitting around the stone counter.
"Good morning, mistress!" A blonde girl, that didn't look too French, waved at Cordelia and gestured to her plate filled with food. "Sophie's making a big breakfast today! Come and eat!"
"Of course, thank you, Avril." Cordelia walked into the kitchen and Kujo followed. "Before that though, Cecile, can you go and fetch Victorique as well as Grevil?"
"Right away, mistress." Cecile was a woman with glasses and curly locks. She waved at Kujo before slipping past the doors Cordelia and he went through.
"Kujo, go ahead and take a seat." Cordelia shuffled into the kitchen and went to assist the cook, who was a woman that seemed to be in her late twenties. The blonde woman began stirring eggs in bowls and flipping bacon onto its other side. Kujo could only stare.
"Oi! Kujo-kun, was it? Um, my name's Avril Bradley!" Kujo stumbled forward when someone, most likely Avril, tugged on his arm and made him fall into an open chair.
"Uh, nice to meet you, Avril. My name is Kujo Kazuya." Avril's eyes shined the minute he opened his mouth to speak.
"Amazing! I knew it. You aren't really a French man, are you?" Kujo blinked. Wasn't his dark-colored hair and brown-colored eyes enough proof?
"Mhm... I'm from Japan." Avril looked completely astounded, as if she'd never seen a foreigner before. Kujo decided to just smile and see where this went.
"Well, Kujo-san, this is breakfast." As a different voice said this, a plate heaping of bacon, eggs, jam and bread was set in front of him. Kujo looked up to see the cook smiling cheekily at him while setting down plates filled with food for everyone. "My name's Sophie. Dig in."
"Ah, thank you." Kujo followed Avril's example and raised a fork to eat, just as everyone seemed to settle down at the counter table. Beside him was Avril, on his other side was an empty chair, but a plate was readied in front of it. Across from him sat Cordelia, beside her was Sophie, then a chair that was probably Cecile's. Another empty chair sat beside Cordelia, that is, it was empty, until someone claimed it and sat down.
"Hmm... Who is this young lad? Why is his hair so long?" Kujo nearly dropped his fork. The man was probably twenty years old or less, his green eyes remarkably shining with a smug look of joy.
"Come now, Grevil." Cordelia flicked her ponytail over her shoulder, before taking a forkful of her eggs. "There is food on the table. Eat and we'll converse later."
Kujo smiled. He was starting to like Cordelia; she seemed very nice. So Grevil, the new comer, was most likely the de Blois's family heir. The de Blois family was amazing! All members he'd met so far had distinguishable emerald-green eyes, but why was there an empty chair?
"Where's Victorique?" Cordelia seemed to have picked up on his thoughts and was gazing at the empty chair with worry.
"Victorique said something about eating knowledge not food... So I left..." Cecile – Kujo hadn't noticed when she'd come back – lowered her fork but didn't seem afraid of Cordelia lashing out because she hadn't accomplished the task assigned for her.
"I see..." Cordelia stared at the untouched plate before sighing and standing up. She reached across the table and grabbed hold of the plate and her own before smiling. "Excuse me, will you?"
"Sure, mistress!" Avril, Sophie and Cecile nodded their heads whilst Grevil stood beside Cordelia and held his own plate as well as a tray of cups.
"Please, enjoy your breakfast." Cordelia turned to look at Kujo. "We shall continue the tour later; perhaps Avril can help you find your way back to your quarters so you can unpack."
"Sure, I can!" Avril cheered, nodding her head. Kujo didn't have enough time to answer and just watched as the two de Blois family members sweep out of the kitchen and into the halls.
O.O.O
"So... What do you think?" Avril was sitting down on a bench, overlooking the de Blois garden. "It isn't really big. If it was, Cordelia-san would have given us separate rooms. There are the dorm quarters, mistress's room, Victorique's room, Grevil's room, Cecile and Sophie's room... Er, what else?"
Kujo half-listened half-tuned Avril out because he'd heard all this from her not even half an hour ago. She'd been going non-stop about the rooms and where they were. He was sure that he'd never get lost after he'd be allowed to venture the de Blois mansion all by himself. He knew where the six bathrooms were and where he could go into the kitchen and leave to his dorm room. He knew where the library and stables were; he knew everything, as far as location went.
"We're allowed to ride the horses too," Avril mumbled happily, swinging her legs to and fro. She had an incredulously joy-filled aura around her and Kujo could guess why. "It feels so unreal here. Cordelia-san treats us like her own children, even though she does have Victorique and Grevil to look after. You'll be very happy here, Kujo-kun."
"I suppose," Kujo mumbled, unsure of how to answer. He took a seat beside Avril and relished in the silence that came. This silence went on for a while until the sound of horses broke it.
"Ah, what time is it?" Kujo didn't get to answer Avril because a white mare, or so he thought, appeared out of the shrubbery and into the garden.
"What's this? Young lad who resembles a baby squirrel and young maiden who resembles a baby chick are out on a date?" Grevil's blonde hair was let out and flying around his shoulders as the wind blew by.
"No we are not and it'd be easier to call us Kujo and Avril." Kujo wondered why Avril was talking to Grevil so comfortably. Wasn't she afraid of losing her job and getting kicked out into the streets?
"Anyways," Grevil coughed and decided to ignore Avril, working on taming his mare. "Cordelia wants baby squirrel in the library. His very first task: see to it that all books are there."
Kujo nodded. It was just a family library; there couldn't possibly be more than fifty books or so.
O.O.O
"H-How many are there?" Kujo tried his best to control the shaking of his voice as he stared at shelves of books. There were two floors in all, a spiral staircase leading to the second. There were built-in bookcases that were filled with books of many varieties and subjects.
Kujo had to resist grabbing one and reading it; he decided to do his job and make sure all books were there. He ventured into one side before steadily moving, making sure no space was left in between books and that there was no empty book shelf.
He was about to declare a job well done and was glad since it seemed like dinner time, until he spotted one shelf with an empty space. Kujo stared the entire bookcase up and down, his eyebrows pulling together.
"I could have sworn you were complete." He turned to his left, then right before noticing it. Well, 'it' was more like a 'her.' Had she been here this whole time he'd been counting under his breath?
"Um, excuse me!" The girl didn't move and he couldn't exactly see her face. She was sitting down on a cushion chair, blonde hair spilled around the arms and base. The book she was holding was large enough to hide her face. Her clothes were of a violet and white color and he could see the makings of a white-colored ribbon in her hair. Kujo didn't know what to say to the girl in violet.
"Cordelia-san?" True, the girl may have looked like Cordelia, but when Cordelia's eyes shone with a coy look, these set of emerald orbs glowed with a striking resilience. Kujo gulped and hesitated on moving. This girl... was she real?
AN: Undoubtedly, this will be a multi-chap. I hope you guys are looking forward to it :D