Chapter 2: Don't Think

There was something distinctly unfamiliar about my surroundings, I could tell without even opening my eyes. The air smelt different, what I was lying on felt different and the sounds I could detect were also different. However, since this could be the afterlife and I wasn't ready to face the fact that I was dead, I didn't open my eyes. Sitting up, I stretched my arms, flinching abruptly when a sharp pain shot through my body, originating from my right shoulder and travelling down and across my back. It was somewhat like the pain I'd felt the last time I'd had a bruise, only a thousand times worse. My palms also stung and so did my knees, for that matter. So, unless the afterlife was a place where you could still suffer from discomforts such as these, then …

I wasn't dead?

Shocked, I almost opened my eyes before my memory reminded me that I'd fallen right onto the road in front of a car that was moving at a very fast speed. Therefore, since miracles had a habit of avoiding me within a hundred mile radius, I had to have been hit. Which meant that I had to be dead. Which meant injuries when you're dead hurt just as much as if you'd still been alive, although I'd always imagined that the process of dying would be considerably more agonising than the pain I was feeling.

What in the world was going on?

'I see you're awake now,'

A rather businesslike voice sliced through my bewilderment and I had to open my eyes, blinking as sudden brightness assaulted me. Somehow, it was a déjà vu experience. Noting the fact that this was the second time I'd passed out in a single day, I came to the conclusion that this was definitely not a good habit to fall into. In any case, I was rather surprised to find myself lying on an expensive looking lounge in a tidy, modern but somewhat monochrome sitting room. Since this was definitely not my idea of the afterlife, I was rather happy as I decided that I really wasn't dead after all. Glancing at my hands, I noticed that they'd been bandaged lightly and there were plasters on my knees where my socks had been torn. Even with all of my current problems, I was glad that things had turned out like this and no worse. However, despite sorting all that out, there were still a lot of unanswered questions in my head.

'Where am I?' my voice sounded normal, that was something at least, 'What happened?' she grimaced, 'And if this is the afterlife, I must lodge a complaint about the décor,'

The man sitting in the armchair across from me gave off a similar air to Hiro, somehow. He had black hair that was slightly on the shorter side, cut in a professional manner, and dark grey eyes. He was also wearing spectacles and that just completed his formal image.

'You were almost hit by the car I was driving,' he adjusted his glasses, 'You're lucky it's a new, expensive vehicle which works exactly as well as promised or else you might have more than a badly bruised shoulder right now. The braking systems in vehicles such as that one are evidently exceptional,' the way he spoke was formal also, exceptionally polite even though he should've been speaking to me more informally – I was only a student after all, 'I don't know if you recall, but you asked not to be taken to a hospital and, after ascertaining that you weren't badly injured, I simply brought you back here to this house. You were still unconscious, after all. So, no, this is not the afterlife,' he paused before continuing, tone revealing nothing of his emotions, 'And my apologies for the décor,'

I paused, looked at my surroundings again and then studied him carefully, 'Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Erm … so you brought me here after … oh yes, that's right; I passed out, I remember that of course,' I shifted into a more offensive position, 'You're not a pervert, are you? I mean, bringing an unconscious high school girl back to your house and such,'

He actually chuckled, and I stopped glaring so intensely although I was still on edge, 'No, no,' he was about to say more but started laughing again, having apparently found what I said highly amusing. After a moment he composed himself, although there was still a hint of a smile hovering on his lips, 'No, sorry for not explaining the situation in more detail. My name is Sasaki Kenichirō. This house isn't mine; I just drive the car, make sure appointments are kept, and ensure my master's safety,'

'Your master?' I stared at him, knowing I must sound ignorant. For some reason I kept getting mental images of Sasaki Kenichirō, this tidy looking person, acting like a loyal puppy. It was strange enough that I chuckled aloud without meaning to, momentarily forgetting the current circumstances.

Kenichirō watched the black haired girl as she took in the information he gave her and then began chuckling to herself. Ignoring the fact that it made her seem slightly unhinged, he noted the uniform that she was wearing. Dark blazer, black skirt, collared white shirt, thick crimson ribbon tie, black school shoes … and although this particular student wore black thigh high socks when he was sure the average requirement was just below the knee … it was undoubtedly the female version of his young master's school uniform. Indeed, seeing as the only differences between the two uniforms were trousers instead of skirts and regular ties instead of the ribbon ones, he couldn't really be wrong. The young master hadn't mentioned anything about it when they were in the car, but then again, he hadn't spoken a word, just nodded when asked if they should take the girl back to the house. Still, just to be absolutely certain …

'What was your name? And what school do you go to?' he realised he hadn't answered her question, but figured he'd get to that later if a certain someone didn't show up and explain things himself.

'Oh, right! I forgot about that, guess that's pretty rude of me. I'm Takahashi Shion and I attend Magnolia Cross Academy,' she winced slightly when naming the school and he wondered why.

In any case, his suspicions had been confirmed and he wondered when she'd ask about whose house they were in. She seemed like an intelligent person – well, she'd have to be to get into that school – and the wariness she'd shown of him had nicely contradicted his initial impression of her when she'd been staggering along the footpath. He could also guess that she was inquisitive, but maybe a little too quick to trust people, although he didn't know if the latter was her normal behaviour or if nearly being hit by a car had rattled her mind a bit and altered her reactions. It was good to know she wasn't a complete airhead though, because he was never quite sure how to deal with situations involving those types of people – or, more like, he got too tired too quickly, and that was just no good at all. Most likely, that sort of behaviour was simply too much of a contrast to what he usually dealt with.

That was the simplest explanation, anyway.

I don't know why the school has that name, it's really beyond me. There's probably a reason; some deep and meaningful story from the past that has enough significance to have caused the school to be named like it was. But still, Magnolia Cross, I have never been able to comprehend it at all. One of the girls in my class said that, in the language of flowers, magnolias symbolises dignity, so I guess that kind of makes sense. However, it's still quite embarrassing for me to say that every time someone asks. If any of my old Junior High friends heard that's where I was going to school, they'd get a great laugh out of it.

This wasn't the time nor place though, to be worrying about such trivial things. I was still in the house of someone I didn't know and most likely the house was located in a place I didn't know as well. Consequently, if this guy or his so-called 'master' did actually turn out to be super scary perverts, then my plan of attack would be to find the kitchen, get a knife, find a phone and then call for help. If that failed, or became an impossible option for some reason, then I'd have to find the door and run away like I was trying to escape from hell. Still, both plans seemed to involve way too much 'finding' and in a house that they knew and I didn't, it was obvious I'd be at a considerable disadvantage. Not to mention I wouldn't really want to brandish a knife against anybody. So … what to do, what to do, what to d-

'She woke up?'

At the sound of the new voice, younger than I'd expected if this was the aforementioned 'master', my train of thought derailed violently and I fixed my stare on the floor next to Kenichirō's polished shoes. So what if I had something that vaguely resembled a plan, this was still such a disagreeable state of affairs.

'Yes, as you can see,' Kenichirō was looking to his right, a place that was currently my blind spot, and his tone seemed to triple in formal-ness, although there was another underlying tone that I couldn't pick, 'You didn't mention that she attends the same school as you do,' I was surprised when he smiled faintly, 'She's not badly hurt, just severe bruising on her right shoulder and some grazes. She doesn't appear to have suffered any trauma to the head either,'

'Good, I suppose,'

I was hyper aware of the otherwise unobtrusive sound of his footsteps, which obviously indicated that he was moving closer, and froze when I saw the tips of his shoes enter my peripheral vision. For some reason, I was incredibly tense even though I couldn't rationally think of a decent explanation why. Or, at least, not an explanation that my conscious mind wanted to hear. For some reason, the part of my brain which constantly rebelled against reason kept ranting on and on about how I seemed to have fallen into one of those shōjo mangas the girls at school talked about. It was a mildly frightening thought.

'What's your name?' I assumed he'd turned to look at me, because his voice sounded more direct.

'Takahashi Shion, Second Year at M-,' I finally looked up … and decided that fate had some deep, poisonous grudge against me and was out to make my life as miserable as possible – and I didn't really want to believe in fate so that just made things immeasurably worse. White hair …

'Oh, you,'

While the atmosphere had been quite normal in the living room while Kenichirō and I were talking, after the sudden appearance of his 'master', things seemed to get progressively colder. However, after my bluntly spoken 'oh you', upon which Kenichirō sent me a deeply taken aback look, the good ol' mercury would've dropped below zero.

Kenichirō seemed to decide that the deadly aura in the room was not good for anyone's health, so he spoke, 'Do you two know each other, by any chance?' he turned to the right, 'Hitsugaya-sama?'

'No …' Hitsugaya spoke after another long pause, voice a few degrees colder than before, and it might have been my imagination, but I was sure he sounded ever so slightly curious.

While I was maintaining a mostly blank façade, internally I was running in circles as I tried to figure out what the hell I should do. Of all the fancy cars that moved around this whole, why did it have to be his car that nearly ran me over? Which meant … this was his house? Somehow it was more 'normal' than I might have imagined, but that wasn't saying much. And- Did he have to keep staring at me like that? I could feel myself being frozen solid by that look.

However, someone used to say to me that for every bad situation, there has to be something good that comes from it. So … all I had to do was find out how to use this predicament to my advantage.

'Sorry, no- I mean, I don't think we've ever met personally, Hitsugaya-senpai,' I bowed on reflex, stressing the much more polite form of address and practically directing my words at Kenichirō because that was a heck of a lot easier, 'Since we go to the same school, I've seen senpai around the place before … but we're in different years and all…'

'Is that so,' the dark haired man nodded, although I could tell he was still confused as to why I'd reacted like I had not so long ago. Thankfully though, he didn't voice that question. Instead, he asked something else, 'Ah, if you don't mind me prying, may I ask why you were so preoccupied that you staggered along the footpath in that fashion and then fell onto the road?'

Since answering that question truthfully could go two ways for me, I had to be careful. But in the end I decided honesty was the best course of action, 'Well, I was distracted because I was tied up in my thoughts. Yesterday I was fired from two of my jobs so my income has been halved and that's greatly troubling for me,' I trailed off and lowered my gaze, letting my fringe shadow my face.

Movement to my left made me twitch slightly, as Hitsugaya Tōshirō sat down, 'You-,'

Why do I feel like this is going to be bad?

'You're that girl who walked into my classroom this morning and passed out,'

I choked out a weak laugh, sweatdropping, 'That's right, er, I didn't know it was your class though,' I was clenching my hands together so tightly that my knuckles had gone white, 'Funny how these things happen,'

'Indeed,' his tone was icy cold, and I wasn't sure his voice was normally like that or if I'd done something at some point in my life to have made him hold a deeply profound grudge against me.

To my horror, Kenichirō stood suddenly and said he'd go and get some refreshments. It was all I could do not to leap from the lounge I was seated on and grab onto his leg to stop him from leaving.

It was actually pretty strange, when I thought about it, that I felt so on edge simply being in the same room as Hitsugaya. I'd met people who had more dangerous presences than him before, but then again, I'd generally been on neutral ground at the time. Right now, I was in his house after nearly being hit by his car and now I was about to be served refreshments by his … wait, what was Kenichirō anyway. I know he'd said he drove the car and managed schedules, but what did you call someone who did that sort of stuff? A manager? And there I was, going and getting side-tracked again.

Looking around the room and glancing out the window, I realised that although this was no mansion or vast traditional residence, it was still a two storey house, probably 2LDK with the addition of bedrooms … and I didn't suppose that Hitsugaya cleaned it himself, or that Kenichirō did, so he must have a housekeeper. Because of his personality, the housekeeper would probably only come once a week, or maybe even a fortnight, and that hypothesis was supported by slight disorder that – if they were worth their salt – a housekeeper wouldn't have allowed. Additionally, from what I could see through the window, there was a decently sized garden around the side of the house and, like the school, this building was probably separated from the road by a driveway of some length. Housekeeper, gardener, someone who came to cook meals … well, he certainly had the money to pay for all these people.

Across the room, nearby a nice looking bookshelf that was packed as full as possible, I could see my reflection in a large mirror. Black hair that would usually fall past my shoulders tied up in a ribbon, fringe that was getting a little bit long and untidy, longer loose strands brushing my cheeks and framing my face … green eyes a splash of colour against pale skin. I really looked like some raggedy kid off the street who'd found a fancy uniform, pulled it on, and then gone to a masquerade ball at one Magnolia Cross Academy without pausing for a single moment to think of the consequences.

So if I'd managed to get to my second year at the Academy, even though I hadn't thought it through … then that meant, just maybe, that if I took a wild gamble now, things could still be okay?

After taking a deep breath and a moment to calm my nerves, I stood up, pleased that I wasn't shaking at all and walked directly over to Hitsugaya, stopping a few paces before him, noting the surprise in his teal coloured eyes. Swallowing my pride, I dropped to my knees and pressed my forehead to the ground – although as I bowed, it struck me that this was both old fashioned and so formal that he might think I was being insulting. But, as I wasn't supposed to be thinking about anything I was currently doing, I ignored that fact for now; setting the whole thing aside to be ashamed about later.

'What are you doing?' I don't know if I imagined it, but I thought he almost stuttered.

That gave me the courage to look up at him as I sat back on my heels, 'Senpai! You have people who come and work here to keep this place orderly, right? You pay them all for what they do, right? But to you, it doesn't matter who the money goes to as long as the work is done properly, right?!' I was vaguely aware that the volume of my voice was rising, and that if I wasn't careful, soon I'd be shouting at him, 'So please hire me! I've done housekeeping and gardening before so I have experience with both of those jobs. Er, but with cooking you might need to keep employing someone until I've practiced a little … I mean, for years my favourite food was instant ramen so … yeah,'

I finished somewhat lamely, thinking that I shouldn't have pointed out my weaker point straight out like that. Since I couldn't continue holding his gaze (because it seriously felt like I was being electrocuted), I stared at my hands, resisting the urge to shuffle back to a safer distance away from him. The fact that he hadn't said anything yet wasn't at all that reassuring but I was prepared to wait, because I honestly had nothing to lose anyway.

What … even if he got me expelled from the Academy for one reason or another, I'd been planning to drop out anyway. If he gave me the jobs though, I'd have an assured income and then I'd still be able to go to school … although the issue with the apartment hadn't been sorted out yet.

I scoffed silently, berating myself for thinking something like 'throw it all to hell, I've got nothing to lose'. In some senses, it was certainly true. But in another, the one I'd put before anything else, it was definitely not true. So I must've been caught up in the flow of things to even consider thinking that.

'Hitsugaya-sama?' Kenichirō had returned with a tray of drinks and he gazed at the white haired teenager, 'It doesn't sound like a bad arrangement,'

I reminded myself to thank the man sometime later, especially if I got the jobs. Clearly he'd been working for Hitsugaya for a long time, because it seemed like his words were being taken into consideration. A kind and decent person, Sasaki Kenichirō was, I'd say.

Hitsugaya looked at Kenichirō and then he glanced down at me, icy teal eyes completely unreadable, and then he shrugged almost imperceptibly, 'Fine, think of this coming fortnight as a probation period,'

I could've cried I was so relieved. The whole matter of finding a place to move my things to seemed vastly inconsequential all of a sudden. This was a large house and no doubt the fee my predecessors had charged had been high considering who they'd been working for. Even if it made no sense at all to me as to why he'd agreed so easily like that, seeing as he didn't know me from a bar of soap and I could've been a suspicious person with evil intent, I was still thankful. Hell, I wondered if they'd run a background check on me. That thought was mildly unpleasant, and it brought me back down to earth, abruptly putting an end to my emotional high.

Hitsugaya stood and walked in the direction of the staircase which he'd come down. Kenichirō seemed to be waiting for something, his expression startlingly devious, and just as his young master was about to place his foot on the first step, he spoke again, this time directing his words at me, 'I suppose you'll be working here every day? This house is large and when I'm not here Hitsugaya-sama is alone, so you can stay in one of the spare rooms upstairs free of charge if you don't have a place of your own. Or, even if you do, surely staying here would be easier? One of the spare bedrooms has its own bathroom so there'll be no problem like that. Ah, until you start making the food, we'll deduct the price of your meals from your pay – you can eat what the master does,' he smiled brightly, 'And, of course, your daily wage will be calculated fairly. Does all that sound alright, Takahashi Shion?'

Risking a glance to the staircase where an increasingly ominous aura was emanating from, I weighed up my options. Either I could just retract everything I'd said, thank them for letting me recover there, leave this place and then hope Hitsugaya wouldn't destroy my school life somehow in revenge for the inconvenience I'd caused … or I could pretend I didn't notice his threatening glare, stay here and work for the good pay, and hope the atmosphere didn't crush me sooner than later. With the whole spare room business, I didn't feel at all uneasy about staying in this house. Maybe I was being too careless or unquestioning, but somehow I just couldn't imagine Hitsugaya trying anything indecent … not in a thousand years, even though I hardly knew him at all. And, of course, having a room; a place to move my belongings to, would mean I didn't need to trouble my former landlord anymore. Not to mention I'd no longer be homeless!

I inhaled very slowly, eyes sliding half shut, and then I looked up at Kenichirō with a grin spreading across my face, 'It sounds great,'

Thanks again! Oh, a quick note: Hitsugaya's personality might seem to have been altered a little, but since quite a lot of this story is told from Shion's perspective, she might see things slightly differently. Also, being an AU setting, adapting his demeanour to fit an older, more serious character was also a bit of a challenge. However, I hope you don't mind too much!
Another thing (which I almost forgot) ... I know that when speaking, 'senpai' is pronounced 'sempai', but in this story I've just used 'senpai', as it's written.