Chapter 4 - Another Encounter

Amy sat in her room, still writing something in a notebook. She didn't tell Raphael what she was writing. It was something of a more... personal nature. After finishing the third chapter of her story, she closed it and hid it away. Luckily right before her father entered the room.

"Amy," he started, looking into her bright blood eyes. "I'm going out. Don't open the door to anyone, alright?" Amy nodded, pulling out her drawing pad. "Got it." With that, Raphael walked out of her room and headed for the front door.

Now that she was alone for a few hours give or take, Amy set aside the drawing pad, the inspiration suddenly lost, and crawled up to the window, watching her beloved father walk away from the mansion. "Hmm..." she sighs, petting one of her new cats that was lying beside her.

She thought she heard someone downstairs. Given the fact that cats were sometimes a little noisy if they were messing with something, Amy walked out to investigate. When she arrived in the living room, she realized Kora was outside basking in the sun. If Seraph was up in the bedroom, then who...?

Another quiet shuffle alerted her to another presence in the mansion. Amy knew that someone else had broken into the mansion. *Who would dare to think of coming here?* she mentally growled, finding her blade and furtively approaching the study she believed the source was hiding.

A woman in pink long-sleeved kimono, her black hair done up with some sort of hairpiece, wielding an oilpaper umbrella was silently closing the window she came through, looking left and right for any signs of life. She may have believed that no one was here, but the geisha still kept her guard up all the same. Amy crept over to the desk, crawling underneath of it in hopes of avoiding the mysterious woman's eyes.

She waited patiently, listening for her to be doing something that required her attention. Her patience was rewarded with the soft sound of rustling paper. Glancing at her back, Amy could only wonder what this woman was searching for. She was careful to stand, aware to watch her step as she approached the geisha. She made a mental note to clean up this room after she dealt with the woman that was currently here uninvited.

What she expected was to catch her off guard. What she didn't expect was a short sword held to her pale throat. The agility this woman possessed surprised her as she felt the cold steel press against her neck. "I don't think so, child," the woman whispered darkly. "I won't be here long. Just give me a few moments time and I'll be gone."

Amy held her breath, trying to remain calm as the geisha adjusted her blade. "Who are you?" she dared to ask. "What could you possibly want from here?"

"Just something about Raphael," she answered, disregarding Amy's first inquiry. "Once I find what I'm looking for, I will leave. And you won't tell him I was here." Playful as her tone was, the threat was heavily implied.

"If he does find out that you were here," she sighed, watching as the woman's brown eyes narrowed in slight displeasure. "He'll hunt you down and kill you." The geisha smirked, failing to take the teenager's words seriously. "Oh? Is that so?" she mused, removing the blade from Amy. "It seems you know Raphael more than anyone else. Who are you? His daughter?"

She held her tongue, refusing to assist this woman in by any means, instead choosing to stare coldly into her brown eyes. The black-haired woman laughed at Amy's stubbornness, finding the blood red eyes staring her down amusing, and decided to make this a guessing game. "Well, you're a little young to be his lover," she commented casually, although her words unintentionally struck the young teen deeply.

Amy had long since fallen for the man she calls her father. She wants to tell him, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. In fact, she was writing a story involving her and Raphael. She was also reading one of her father's books so she could improve her writing. Once Amy felt that it was ready, she will let him read it. Until then, she's more than happy to do something small every so often to make him happy.

"Why the sudden interest in me?" she began her lie. "I'm no one important to Raphael." It isn't often she used his name in conversation. Amy could count on one hand the number of times she had. But if it means getting this dreadful whore out of here, she was more than willing to use whatever methods she must. "Is that so?" the geisha laughed. "Tell me then, child. Why are you here if you are nothing to him?"

This was one of the times when Amy wished her father would sudden burst through the door in rage, to cast away whoever dared to approach her.

"I'm... a housemaid," she continued her deceit. "He saved me from certain death three years ago. I am forever in his debt." The black-haired woman sheathed her short sword in her oilpaper umbrella. She merely looked at Amy, curious as to the event that tied the girl's fate to Raphael.

"Well," she mused. "That explains the fierce loyalty you hold for him." She turns back to the desk, picking up a notebook in Raphael's handwriting. "I believe this is what I'm looking for." With that, the nameless woman secreted the leather book in the sleeve of her pink kimono and returned to the window in which she entered the mansion.

Looking back, she warned, "Tell no one of my presence here today," and climbed out of the window. With the appearance of the mystery woman still fresh in her mind, Amy dashed upstairs in search of her drawing pad. That worthless whore said she couldn't tell him. She wasn't specific on how not to pass on the information!

When Raphael returned home two hours later, something didn't seem right. Usually Amy was sitting in either her room or the library when he walked through the door. He called out to her, hoping she would come down. "Amy?"

Raphael was tempted to go upstairs to fetch her himself, but he noticed that she had left one of her drawings lying about. When he looked upon it, however, he recognized the woman depicted as one of the women who sought him only for his beauty and power. The woman known as Setsuka. How Amy knew of her when he himself never mentioned Setsuka began worry him.

"Amy?" he called again, waiting for some sort of response. "Where are you, little one?" The blonde man closed his brown eyes, using his heightened senses to discover what had occurred in his absence. After a moment or two, he blindly walks towards the study, two distinct scents that are not his own present. After being with Amy for so long, he recognized her scent immediately, but the other, a sickly sweet smell of cherry blossoms, alerted Raphael that another had entered the household.

With the trail leading to the window, it seemed safe to assume that the second party was here uninvited. He opened his eyes, which have turned blood red, referred to Amy's drawing again. Inscribed beside the woman on the picture was a small note from Amy asking who Setsuka was and why she wanted to know more about him. His own blood boiled at the thought that Setsuka had entered his home and possibly threatened his beloved daughter Amy.

"Father?" Amy said quietly, her father almost missing the child's voice. "There you are, Amy," he sighed, relieved that the geisha hadn't kidnapped her for her own desires. "You had me worried when I called you earlier." Amy cast her eyes to the ground, a small bow in her spine. "I'm sorry," she apologized, confusing Raphael. "I should have gotten rid of her. Instead, I allowed her to leave unscathed."

Her father's eyes returned to brown as he knelt down to look at her. "You are not at fault, little one," he smiled, perhaps a way of forgiveness. "She should never have come here to begin with."

Amy looked up at Raphael, asking, "Who is she, father?" Raphael pushed himself off of the ground, his brown eyes darkening considerably at the mere mention of that despicable woman. "Her name is Setsuka," he sighed. "She is a woman of speed and strength, willing to kill all those who stand in her way." Raphael refocused his attention towards Amy. "What did she want from you?"

"All she wanted," Amy began to answer, "was anything about you. She didn't want me to tell you she was here." Raphael smirked, grateful that his little girl was quite creative in her methods. "As far as she needs to be concerned, father," Raphael looked at her, listening to her words. "I'm a simple housemaid who owes you my life for saving me three years ago."

Curious as to why she invented that story, Raphael wondered if Setsuka had attempted to gain any information from Amy. "Did she take anything?" he inquired, turning to search his desk. "I think she found a leather book," Amy recalled. "I'm not sure if it was of any importance."

The man vaguely recalled the journal he kept. It bears no significance for it only contains his list of relatives of which he had cut all ties with. Even now, Raphael was unsure why he kept it. "She won't gain anything from that old thing!" he laughed. "I have been meaning to get rid of it!" Amy was glad that Raphael was not too worried about the stolen object. The redhead embraced her father, receiving one back, before turning and running back upstairs to work on her story.

Raphael decided that he has had enough for the moment, retreating to his library. However, when he looked upon the bookshelf, the book that he believed Amy had been reading was missing from the shelf. Raphael wondered briefly as to what his daughter was up to. She has been acting a little strange lately.

"What could she possibly be doing?" he mused, thinking it might be best to get something to eat first. He could figure out what Amy was up to after he was finished dealing with the problem of Setsuka coming into his home without his consent.

~A/N: A little longer than the usual chapters. I would imagine that this is not really making any sense to you guys. Then again, this is a first for me. So, Please Review! I need to know how I'm doing with this! X3