Hey friends! I know it has been so long—years literally—since I had last updated this fanfiction, and I feel really horrible about it. I don't know if anyone even reads this anymore, but I thought that I would still keep it going (no matter how slow my snail-pace has been) because even though I haven't thought out the entire plot, I definitely had a direction in mind when I first started out, and I had always wanted to challenge myself to stick it to the end!

Since I haven't written this fanfic in a while, my writing is a little rusty, so if you notice any loopholes in the story or anything that doesn't add up, please let me know!


The sun had barely risen over the horizon, but the small little boy running inside of the mansion's immaculate walls was already on the loose. He had somehow gotten it inside of that silly, idiotic head of his that they were playing tag and had made a beeline outside of the bath chambers right as soon as Akane had hoisted him out of the water. She had barely turned her head one second to grab a large towel when he was gone.

What a fast little bugger for a blind kid.

That was the first thought in her head, but then the one immediately following afterwards was:

Fuck, I'm going to die if anything happened to him.

She swiftly ran out in search of the boy, quickly scanning to and fro. Half of her mind was furiously bent on locating him, and the other half was silently conjuring up ghastly images of the boy running into something or tripping and hurting himself. The one image she willed herself to not think about was just how painful it would be if she was torn limb from limb.

Akane saw the boy several feet up ahead. How did he get so far so fast on those skinny legs? She saw that he was still running, and just about pissed herself when he was unaware of the large potted plant straight in his path. That hundred-year-old bonsai was a recent gift, potted in intricately carved amber jade said to have been owned by one of the late emperors. God damn, why did that stupid maid rearrange the hall this morning?

And by stupid maid, she of course was lecturing herself for forgetting that the boy's spatial map of the mansion did not include new additions. Which meant that Akihito, who had by now remembered the placement and architecture of nearly everything in this quarter of the mansion, would not think the new plant was there.

She was going to die because of her own stupidity.

However, the boy didn't crash. Instead, two large arms grabbed the boy by the armpits and hoisted him up onto an immaculately dressed chest.

The boy made a strange keening sound from the back of his throat, like a broken version of a low squeal, and flung small droplets of water onto the pristinely varnished oak floors. Even though she was informed that he was not mute, he did not ever speak having not learned words, and so she was still surprised whenever she heard anything come out of his mouth.

That surprise almost made her forget just who it was before her holding onto the boy.

"Asami-sama," she bowed.

"Akane," he murmured. "It appears that perhaps this position does not suit you."

"N…No, my Lord. I am very pleased with the position you have given me."

He looked at her then in open disdain, eyes traveling down her rumpled and damp maid uniform, flustered cheeks, and wide-panicked eyes. His expression spoke volumes, and if she hadn't been one of his best personal guards, had she simply been a maid, she would have already been on her knees begging for forgiveness like she had seen so many before her in the same situation. She was a second away from being pushed onto her knees by his darkened gaze when he turned away from her to focus instead on the naked, wet boy in his arms.

"Bring me a towel," Asami-sama instructed, pushing wet blonde hair out of the boy's unseeing eyes.

Akane had never moved faster in her life.

By the time the boy was dressed and pampered by the other maids and sitting on her master's lap, Akane's anxiety was through the roof. She had barely been assigned to this boy for three weeks, right after his last caretaker had died from the kidnapping attempts, and already she was making mistakes. She might get reassigned, or worse killed for shaming the title of Asami-sama's personal guards. Her incompetence at this sole task was appalling.

She was about to quiver out one last attempt to save her life—even though he hated it when people gave excuses, but was interrupted before managing a word out.

"You're quite lucky he likes you, you know."

"A…Asami-sama?"

"He's much more playful now in just the short amount of time I have assigned you to him."

Something soared in her at the declaration that the boy had liked her. Be it either that it had just saved her life, or that the boy had somehow strangely enjoyed her company. It was the first time she was not guarding Asami-sama, and was instead assigned to a little boy that needed a bodyguard cum maid cum caretaker cum…playmate?

The past few weeks had definitely been interesting for sure, with the power relations in the clan fluctuating faster than the stock market. This new role had definitely left her frazzled since she couldn't communicate with the little boy. She thought it would have been easy, but then again here she was bowing low to the ground and eating her earlier words, her fate in the balance.

"Thank you, Asami-sama! I promise I will do better!" she exclaimed.

"Don't thank me, Akane. If Akihito did not like you, we wouldn't be here having a conversation."

Her blood ran cold, and she became rooted to the spot. The implications behind his words were palpable: her life was held by the whims of this child, and for now she was safe. But only for now.

In response to her silence, her master continued on. "You're only lucky because I was there earlier to stop Akihito from crashing. Like I said, we wouldn't be having this conversation if it had played out differently."

Today was the day of the succession. Everyone was in a silent frenzy, running around cleaning and putting on the finishing touches and whatnot. The sun had just made it out of the horizon, and having barely escaped Asami-sama's judgment, Akane was already exhausted. She didn't know just how much more of this day she could take.


I know this chapter is really short, but I wanted to update several of my other stories as well since I feel that I've neglected them. So I hope you all make do with this little teaser for now!