Chapter 8: Square 1.5

Misaki was pulled through a side door in the castle gardens by Usui. It was a small passageway that led up to the main parts of the castle, but already, it was showing signs of wealth and royalty. The passages had midnight blue carpeting, and they were dimly lit with small, delicate lamps. Paintings of past kings and queens adorned the hall. Misaki stared as she ran along, trying to keep up with Usui. She squeezed his hand as hard as she could, but the alien just squeezed harder as well. Usui turned his head towards her and gave a winning smirk, which caused Misaki to blush again. If she could only control her emotions. . . . .

"Hey, alien, where're we going?" she asked while they ran.

"To my room."

"WHAT! I'm not going into a man's room!"

Usui chuckled. "I didn't know you would think that way, Misa-chan."

"You cold-blooded pervert!" she yelled.

"I thought you were the one that wanted to do things in my room," Usui said slyly.

"I didn't!" Misaki looked away and squeezed his hand as hard as she could, trying to make him feel pain.

"Well, well, I didn't know you enjoyed me holding your hand so much."

"I-I didn't!" Misaki stuttered. She always hated it when he touched her. That area would tingle and that tingly feeling would spread around her whole body, making her feel warm and light-headed. And she hated to admit it, but it made her feel happy.

Usui just smirked at her. They continued walking through the hallways as the rooms got more and more magnificent and the ceilings got higher and higher. There were crystal chandeliers hung up and the velvet curtains with gold threads draped around the large windows.

Usui stopped at a magnificent door. It was white with engravings of swirls and flowery designs all over it. The door knobs were even made out of heavy, shiny gold. Misaki stood outside admiring the door. She couldn't believe she just walked into the castle, somewhere she could never imagine herself to be. Usui pushed the door open as she gaped at the detailed designs.

"Hey, you gonna stand there all day? There's more inside," Usui teased her. Misaki snapped out of her daze and followed him in.

Misaki's POV:

The first thing that hit was the size. I could fit seven of my rooms in there! The huge bed was king-sized, oh wait, he was going to be the king when he grew up anyway. It had a royal blue-royal, seriously? How come everything here had some reference to royalty? There was a high canopy hanging over the bed, with silk curtains covering it. The whole room was simple, but spacious, with an air of power and magnificence.

"So. . . Do you use all this space?" I asked him.

"Nope." Usui replied, popping the 'p'. "I don't use this room actually. This is just the smallest spare room, you know, if the other one is getting remodeled or something."

"WHAT? So your other rooms are bigger than this?" I said dumbly.

"Yeah, of course. Don't worry though, I'm sure we can use my big room if we don't have enough room when we sleep in bed together and do things with eachother-"

"SHUT UP!" Who would do that with an alien? Do aliens even have those organs? Ah, what am I thinking? His stupid pervertedness is affecting me.

"Okay, okay. I'll call the maids in here to get you ready." On his cue, two girls walked in and bowed. The first had light brown hair in two high pigtails. Her eyes were a brownish color and she seemed very excited, while the other had glasses and short blackish green hair.

The first girl said excitedly, "Hello! I'm Sakura and that's Shizuko! We're here to help you prepare for the ball tonight!" Before I had any chance to react, they had already pulled me into the huge bathroom that was connected to Usui's massive bedroom.

The bathroom was as well furnished as the room. The bathtub was built into the floor and you needed to take three steps to get into it. There were rows and rows of shampoos and soaps to use. Next to the bathtub, a massage cot was placed. Layers of fluffy, crisp white towels sat on the cot. Right when you walked in, there was a huge countertop with four different sinks, each faucet made out of silver. Who needed four sinks at once? This place was crazy.

Sakura went behind me and started undoing my dress quickly, while the other maid Shizuko turned on the water to the bathtub. A soft, cold hand touched my lower back.

"STOP! I-I can do these things myself, alright?" I asked, trying to cover up my bare body parts.

"Are you sure?" Sakura said. "We are here to assist you."

Assistance? Which royal ass needs assistant with taking off their underwear? Isn't it embarrassing to allow someone to see you naked? "Y-yeah, I'll be fine."

"Okay. We'll just show you where everything is, alright?" the more serious maid said. She showed me how to work the complicated faucet and which shampoos to use. Geez, who cares? They all smell good anyway.

After thirty minutes of pampering and educating me on the different scents of flowers from soaps, they finally allowed me to take my bath in peace. The two girls dumped in the fancy shampoos and flower petals once the tub was filled. By the end of it, the whole room smelled like a perfume shop. I relaxed in the warm water and sighed. What was I doing here again? Oh right, to accompany the alien to the ball. It was a bit strange sitting in the castle by myself inside a bath tub. I wondered what would happen tonight. If he needed a partner so desperately, why didn't he just ask any of the other ladies? I'm sure they would've all complied without a complaint or struggle.

A knock was heard and a muffled voice asked, "Are you finished yet?"

"What? Yeah, I'm done," I said. The door abruptly opened and someone stepped in. It was a bit foggy due to the steam from the water, so I couldn't really tell who it was. I stood up and reached up for a towel.

Before I got it, someone said, "Hey, I brought you a change of clothes."

Wait. I know that voice. I know that voice! It's- "USUI! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" I hurriedly wrapped the towel around myself and picked up the nearest shampoo bottle. What the hell was he doing in here?! "Why didn't you call the maid in instead?! Don't come in here when I'm not wearing anything!" Not minding the freezing, wet marble floor, I stepped out the tub and chucked the bottle at his head as hard as I could.

But that alien caught the bottle of soap and tossed in onto the floor. What the hell is he doing, coming in like that! I stepped forward in anger, but my foot suddenly landed in a wet puddle, and I felt myself slipping on the marble floor. Luckily, the alien was one step ahead of me again. He wrapped his strong arms around me and we both landed on our bottoms on the floor.

Wait. I wasn't wearing anything! Usui was hugging me from behind and I was naked!

"Hey, Misaki, are you alright?" he asked.

I replied, "Y-yeah, I'm okay."

"Can you stand up?" Usui put his hand on my waist and helped me up. He then led me to the clothes on the countertop, and released his arms. Suddenly, the towel fell onto the floor. Crap! He's going to see me naked! Sneaking a look at his face, I saw that his eyes were tightly closed, not peeking a bit. Relief and respect towards him flooded through me as I realized this. He was a gentleman after all.

But I wasn't going to let him know what I thought, of course. "Don't you open your eyes, you perverted alien, or else you'll meet hell," I warned him.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered.

I slipped on the fancy dress and delicate heels. It was a long ballroom gown with a sweetheart neckline that ended at my feet. Dazzling silver beaded accents were sprinkled down into the luxuriously layered tulle skirt. The color was a soft blue and looked as if it was a waterfall. I slipped on the one-inch heels (yeah, I'm really bad at wearing heels), also a soft blue to match the skirt. Though the dress was beautiful, I felt awkward and strange in it. Walking up to Usui, I told him, "You can open your eyes now."

Usui looked up at me and started staring. I shifted uncomfortable and avoided eye contact with him, but he didn't say anything for a long time. What's with him now? "Well?" I questioned. "Say something. I don't care if you call me ugly, I know it looks weird on me right? I knew it, I shouldn't have agreed to come with you in the first place, now you'll be embarrassed to take me, but-"

"You look beautiful."

"What?" I said, taken aback by the statement, since rarely does anyone call me beautiful.

"You look amazing; it fits you perfectly."

"Okay, I get it. You seriously think so?" I laughed. Somehow, his compliments always sounded so real.

"Of course you do. You always do. Right now, you look like a princess from a fairytale," Usui smiled.

"Shut up," I mumbled, a bit red from all those praises.

Sakura and Shizuko walked in after awhile. "We're ready to do your hair, Misaki-san." They pulled me into another dressing room. Straightening all the knots with a fancy comb, Sakura pulled out a drawer full of hair ornaments. Shizuko expertly curled my hair into gentle waves and parted it to one side of my shoulder, while picking out shiny clips and flowers to clip into my hair. Finally, when they finished my hair, a puff of face powder was applied, and they sent me out to meet Usui.

Usui was wearing a silky white dress shirt with silver cuff links, which were engraved with the royal crest. A Pegasus stood on each side of a silver shield, with their wings outstretched and heads facing the shield, and a crown sat on top of it. The shield had four quarters, one representing our country, Evallonia, and three other countries that were under Evalloniia: Lillitania, Aracacia, and Domatris. His coat was a rich blue, slightly darker than mine. It was composed of some special material that felt even smoother than silk. Though he looked so fancy and cute in that outfit, he seemed really annoyed for some reason. Maybe he was bothered by the fact that they had to smooth his hair back instead of letting his hair hang in front of his eyes.

"You look even better than before, Misaki," Usui said. "It's so much prettier than how you normally look."

"Are you saying that I wasn't pretty without this junk on?! You know, your personality counts more than your looks!" I shot back at him.

Usui smirked. "No, no, I'm quite sure that your personality is wonderful, especially when you're angry and shouting with your demonic aura. It just turns me on, Misa-chan," he said silkily, his voice lowering down and his head tilting towards mine. I could feel his warm breath and smell his cologne.

"Come on, whatever." I grabbed his hand, swiftly pulling him along to where I thought the ballroom was. But the alien just stood there smiling, holding my hand tightly.

"You really enjoy holding my hand, do you?"

"N-no, I don't! FINE, I DO, OKAY? Is there a problem with that?" I yelled, flustered over my odd attachment to him.

"Of course not, it makes me feel like the happiest man on Earth."

"Then let's go." I stepped forward but he still refused to budge. "What now?"

"The room's that way, Misa-chan," he called to me, his finger pointing the other direction.

"You should have told me that earlier!"

"You weren't listening."

"Fine, have it your way!"

"Well, if we went your way, we would never have come to the ballroom."

"I'm going to ignore you tonight!" I felt like we were back to Square 1 again. But we have moved along a little, haven't we? What do you call that? Square 1.5? Maybe things will change soon. Right?


I am so sorry over not updating for so long. I was doing so much random stuff- half the time I don't even know what I'm doing, kay? I'm a pretty strange person. Wasting time is just tooooooooo easy for me. I'm so easily carried away. Yeah, I know, I really need to focus. But thanks to you guys for reading the story! I know this chapter was just soooooo cheesy, but please bear with it, I'll try to pick things up soon!

Thanks again!

Bye-Beee~
*Belphegor from Reborn (I know he's creepy, but somehow, I just find him extremely funny and cute! I know, I'm strange.)