"Well…" the older servant woman rubbed her time weathered face as if she were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Please!" Michiko bowed deeper. "I am a hard worker and I promise to fulfill all the duties given to me! Please!"

The head servant sighed, "It's not that I doubt your abilities it's just… we gave away that position this morning and we don't have any other job for you."

The young girl's eyes widened slightly at the ground beneath her but tried to keep her self calm until she left this place. Slowly, she was able to speak without sounding upset, "I understand, thank you for your time." She righted her body smoothly and kept herself composed until she reached the door.

"Wait!" The woman called after her. Michiko paused and turned to look back at her. It took the older woman some time to hobble over so Michiko went back so she wouldn't have to walk so far. Smiling, trying to catch her breath and trying to speak all at the same time seemed slightly difficult for her but she pulled it off somehow, "I see I didn't make a bad judgment. Alright, come with me." She beckoned her with a finger that meant: follow me.

Michiko silently, but wonderingly, followed. She was led through several hallways and past a few courtyards but her mind kept thinking, This is where Houju lives. Wow, it's so beautiful but… so empty… somehow. It's like no one lives here and it's just a show house. Then she remembered all those times he had worked late in the office and realized that he hardly could call this a home. He was never here anyway. Yet, she could picture him gliding down the hallway so quietly and so gracefully that it resembled a swan taking off in flight. That thought make her smile inside.

"Wait here," the woman stopped suddenly and opened the door on her left. She purposely left the door cracked when she disappeared into the room but Michiko pretended not to notice. She put her back to the wall and exhaled lightly. Perhaps Haku would be alright after all. Maybe she would get this job. Maybe… maybe… no, she couldn't think like that. Wishing never solved anything; all she had to do was concentrate on impressing who ever the head servant brought her to and secure this position.

Then a thought occurred to her, who was she to be speaking to anyway? She had been talking to the head servant earlier and Houju was sure to be working in his office… Who else was left? She cocked her head to the crack in the door but she only caught a few phrases and they were all from the elderly woman.

"…Found a suitable…"

"….is a young woman…"

"…Yes sir, I… …just take a look… …promise…"

The door swung open then and nearly made Michiko jump into the air. The old woman poked her head out and smiled wearily, "Come in dear, don't be shy- come in!"

She clutched her hands together in front of her and hurried inside before they decided not to give her the position at all. She squeezed her eyes shut for half a second to rid her thoughts of her brother, her fiancé and her father then opened them to find Chamberlain Kou sitting in front of her.

Desperately she tried to keep her face from revealing her surprise but it proved to be an extremely hard task. From the stunned silence that was coming from him, and the fact that he froze in his chair, meant that he was equally shocked at her presence. For the first time in her life, she wished that she too had a mask that could hide her face like it was doing for the man opposite of her.

Over and over in her head the words swirled: What's he doing here?! He's always at his office! He rarely ever goes home so why is he here in the middle of the day?!!

Kijin still hadn't moved and neither had she but they both had realized that the head servant had excused herself some time ago. Clearing his throat and readjusting his body in the stiff, hard backed chair, she realized that she was supposed to introduce herself.

Bowing, she repeated her name to him. "I am Zhao Michiko, sir. I have come to ask you for a position as a servant in your household."

"Do you understand the responsibility, the qualifications and all the work this job is asking for?" he spoke to her as if they had never met each other before. Of course, that was what the situation called for and he had to be professional but for some reason, the formality hurt her chest. Why was her chest hurting from formality? It's not as if people hadn't addressed her this way before. What was the problem?

"…" the image of her little brother dying in the streets flashed through her brain. "I promise that I will work hard! I will continue to forge ahead until all strength has fled from my bones!" Sudden resolution shone in her eyes and they met Kijin's inside the darkness of his mask.

He was rendered speechless for a few moments, greatly astonished by the calm force she was radiating out in beams. When he had collected himself once more he inhaled and asked the question that had been burning in his mind the moment she had asked for the job. "Why are you no longer working in the government building?"

Her face fell a quarter but she kept herself together. "Due to… certain circumstances… my family thought it best that I do not work alone in the dark in an empty building." This last part was not a complete lie; after all, her father had gone into a rage when she did not come home that one night when she had fainted from exhaustion. He certainly didn't want her to be anymore shrouded places that could potentially break off her's and Jun's engagement.

He set down the brush he was holding in his hand and said, "Alright, you have the job but I am only giving it to you because Hoshiko-san recommended you. She has the best ability in reading people and I trust her completely." The head servant appeared behind Michiko as if on cue. He transferred his invisible gaze from the girl to the older woman. "Hoshiko-san, please prepare a bedroom for her, she'll start tomorrow."

"Bedroom?" Michiko's eyebrows creased.

"Did you not know what work you were asking for?" Houju inquired a bit strongly.

She hesitated, "…No."

"Excuse her please, sir, it was my fault. I never told her what I brought her here for," the elderly woman tried to intervene.

He didn't pay her any mind though. Instead he became more intent on his new servant. "You didn't know what I would have you do and yet you promised me that you would do it until all the strength fled from your bones?"

"Yes…"

He stood up now. "Do you realize how dangerous that is? Because of that, you could have been hurt or worse." He swiftly stepped around her to get to the door but whispered over his shoulder, "Don't be so self-sacrificing."

The oxygen halted in her lungs and he left the room. Hoshiko let her breath out slowly, "I'm sorry. You nearly lost this job because of me. I should have told you before- while we were walking- so that would have gone better."

"I am just relieved that I was accepted so please don't hold yourself to blame," she managed to respond after some time.

The head servant's winkles became more prominent when she smiled. "Now then, I suppose you will want to know what you will have to do around here."

Michiko returned the smile, "Yes, very much."

"You will be Chamberlain Kou's secretary except that is a loose version of the term. You will keep track of things for him, offer advice when he asks for it, trail behind him to make sure all of the loose ends are taken care of, you will be his other pair of eyes when his own are in another place, you will find out information for him, keep his secrets and such. But, with these responsibilities, you will become the most trusted person to him."

"Most… trusted… person?" she repeated. "This seems to be more of a man's role than a woman's, at least, in the eyes of society."

"True, it does, but perhaps that is because only men have been in these places? Think of Official Kou Shuurei, her place as governor is more of a man's place is it not? But I will not lie to you; it would be wiser if a man took this position because of several reasons. For the first and foremost reason- people will speculate your relationship with the chamberlain which causes problems for the both of you. It could ruin his reputation and yours. The second reason is because people will treat you badly and think that you, as a woman, aren't fit for such a task. The third is that, since you carry all of his secrets you will be a target for his enemies. They will capture you and torture until you tell them everything. Then, after you finally break down and reveal his secrets, they will kill you."

"I…" she closed her eyes. "…will be strong and attempt to ease Chamberlain Kou's burden."

Hoshiko's excessive skin sagged in relief a bit, "I knew I had made the right choice with you. I could feel it, right in here." She pointed to her heart with a shaking, cracked, large finger.

Michiko covered the woman's hand with her own. "I am glad."

She led the younger girl out of the room and shortly down the hall, "Because you are now the most trusted in the household, you will have to live here encase the chamberlain should need you during the night. Not only that, but you will have long working hours and you will often be up most of the night working on a project or trying to solve a problem…"

The new servant let her mind slip away just this once and thought, I'm to be 'The Most Trusted' but… in truth I am betraying him. She didn't know what Jun wanted the information for but she wasn't ignorant nor in the habit of lying to herself to believe that he had sent her here because he was simply bored. The information was something he would no doubt use to all of his advantages.

---

The chamberlain sneezed, but not for the reason that someone was talking about him behind his back (which everyone did all the time). He had a cold but that didn't stop him from working on all the documents that needed to be read and stamped and edited. The only reason he was home today because Hoshiko managed to bend his will by telling him that he would get his helpers ill. Then no one would be in his office for several weeks. Of course, that didn't stop him from bringing his work home.

"Zhao Michiko…" he whispered. He could just imagine how Reishin would react with this knowledge and he was sure that he would hear from his friend within the next twenty-four hours.

Things were definitely changing and Houju drank some of Hoshiko's homemade medicine after saying "Zhao Michiko" again.