A/N: Well, here we go, slowly reaching for the ending. I have to say, this chapter was one that was a lot of fun to write. Not sure why, though.
hiallofyou: thanks, I appreciate that.
RandomNumbers523156: Indeed, things will get complicated real quickly.
Chapter 10
"Four out of ten."
Kukyo paused, looking questioningly at Remilia, who had just put down the tea he served her. "Pardon, Mistress Scarlet?"
Remilia put the tea down with a disapproving look on her face. "This tea. It's lukewarm. You took too long to make it. On top of that, you added too much sugar into it." she said, listing off her complaints with it. "The presentation left much to be desired as well."
"Is that so, Mistress Scarlet?" Kukyo said, trying to hide the weariness in his voice. "I'm very sorry, I'll do better next time."
Remilia shook her head somewhat sadly. "Shame. Sakuya said you've made quite some progress as a butler here, so I took it upon myself to see how you've progressed, but it seems she hadn't taught you the proper way to make a cup of tea yet."
Kukyo looked down, biting his lip. In truth, Sakuya had started to teach him that very thing a week ago. However, his mind had been so muddled recently he couldn't concentrate or even remember much of Sakuya's instructions.
It had been a week since Patchouli showed him the book, the one his mentor had written that he had never known about. Since then, he had kept away from the library. He had hoped that some time away would help him sort things out, and so he had tried to preoccupy himself by diving into his duties. Instead, he found himself growing steadily and steadily more unsure by the day. It was like there was this small persistent voice in his head, one which kept on throwing more doubts about his mentor to his mind.
"Something on your mind, Boy?" Remilia asked him as he realized he had been looking down too long. He immediately looked back up and put up a polite smile.
"Nothing, Mistress Scarlet," he answered. "Will that be all?"
Remilia looked at his face for a long minute before giving a short laugh and waving him away. "No, no that's all," she said. He bowed and moved to leave the dining room. Just as he was about to step out of the door, though, Remilia called to him. "Oh, and Boy?"
He looked back at her, expecting another request. Instead, she gave him an amused expression.
"You need to work more on your fake smile," she said.
Kukyo was stunned. He stayed there, expecting Remilia to say more, but she simply leaned back in her chair, as if indicating to him that she had said all that she would. After waiting another moment, he bowed again and left the room.
He stood in the middle of nowhere. All around him was vast, impenetrable mist, so thick that he couldn't see but a foot in front of himself. He started to walk in one direction, confused, for this was the first time he could remember something similar happening in his dream; in fact, this was the first time he was aware of it being a dream. Most of the time, he only experienced flashbacks, memories of the past. He kept walking for what seemed like forever, but no matter how long he walked, no matter which direction he travelled, the mist persisted, obscuring his way.
"...Liar..."
He stopped in his tracks. The voice, though soft, cut through the air, and it seemed to have come from directly below him. He crouched down, touching the surface that he stood on. It was smooth, black surface, with no imperfections such that he could clearly see his reflection on the ground. He reached out to touch the surface with his hand, only to be surprised when it rippled like water, disturbing the smooth surface. In the shockwaves, he thought he could see his mentor's face, with that smile she always had, her mouth half-open, as if in the middle of saying something, undoubtedly another confident assurance to him, perhaps even one of her playful jabs at his inexperience.
After displaying that image, the surface settled again to his reflection, but the expression on his face seemed to be accusing, almost angry.
"She was lying, you know," his reflection suddenly said in that soft voice, causing him to gasp and jump back up. He heard his reflection chuckle and continue. "How could she not have been? After all, she's been keeping her entire past from you. What else?"
"No," he said, trying to clamp his ears. But the voice, soft as it was, continued to resound in his head, whispering to him.
"She was never there for you; she was there for herself," it said.
"No, that's not true!" he exclaimed, his expression turning to horror as he started to slowly sink through the surface. Just before he was completely submerged, he again saw the reflection of his head, sneering in such a way that he could barely recognize it.
Kukyo sat up on his bed again, panting. Even though he was awake now, the voice still echoed in his head. He continued to sit there for a good few minutes, trying to calm himself down, before remembering vaguely that he still had the morning's duties to take care of. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself out of the bed, and out of the room.
As he made his way to start his morning duties, Sakuya appeared in front of him suddenly in the middle of the hallway. "G-good morning, Miss Izayoi," he greeted her, "I was just on my way to my duties, and -"
Sakuya never gave him the chance to finish, for the next moment, she teleported him to the kitchen, sitting on a chair.
"What?" Kukyo said, confused. His confusion grew even greater when Sakuya gave him a cup filled with tea.
"Drink that," she said with a stern tone. A little suspicious, he took a sip. It was her regular tea, and despite himself he sighed contently as its warmth spread throughout his body.
"Thanks," he said, giving her back the cup.
Sakuya took it, her expression still the same. She pointed behind him. "There's some breakfast over there. Make sure you eat some before you start your work this time."
Kukyo blinked a few times, perplexed, before he realized that he must have started to eat irregularly because of all that was on his mind.
"And another thing, Mr. Sainan," Sakuya continued, "I may not know about your exact situation, but regardless, doing nothing about your problems is not a solution."
Kukyo looked at her, speechless, before sighing and chuckling. It looked like Remilia was correct; he really did need to work on his fake smile. Or maybe things were just too much for him to simply keep it to himself anymore.
Just as Sakuya turned to leave, he made up his mind, "Miss Izayoi?"
"Yes?"
He paused for another moment before speaking again. "Say... you've discovered something about Mistress Scarlet, another side of her that you never knew, something that made you question her. What would you do?"
Sakuya scoffed. "Well, Mr. Sainan, given the time I've served under her, it's hardly likely that I'll find some side of her I'm not already acquainted with," she said. "And even if I did, that wouldn't change what I do know about her. In fact, I might actually welcome it, as I would then know more about the Mistress."
Kukyo blinked, before laughing. When Sakuya raised an eyebrow, confused by his outburst, he simply said, "Thank you, Miss Izayoi, that - that helped. A lot."
"If you say so," Sakuya said, "Well then, don't forget to clean up after you've eaten, and don't take too long either."
"Don't worry, I won't," Kukyo assured, now back to his usual tone. With that, Sakuya disappeared, leaving him to sigh and rub the back of his head. "Gods, I was an idiot," he remarked. How could he have let something like that discourage him so much? So what if his mentor was the Illusionist of Dreams? That doesn't change the eight years they had spent together. She could have had numerous reasons why she kept that to herself; why did he let the worst come to his mind?
Chuckling again, he got up, searching for the breakfast Sakuya had told him about. He ate it quickly and again gave a contented sigh when he finished, letting himself appreciate the fact that it was the first breakfast he had eaten in a long time.
"Hello, Miss Knowledge. It's been a while."
Patchouli looked up from her book to see Kukyo, waving in a friendly manner at her. "Indeed it has. I had thought you'd lost interest in coming here anymore since you've found what you came for."
It took Kukyo a second to realize she had meant the book his mentor had wrote. "Well, no, I was just making things too complicated for myself." he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I really don't know what came over me, to be honest."
Patchouli considered what he had said for a moment. "Mr. Sainan, has change occurred to the seals on your gloves?"
Kukyo raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean? I don't-" he started to say, bringing his hands up to his face. He stopped however, when he noticed the change. There were several runes missing now, and what was left seemed to be riddled with small holes "What the - what's going on? How did this happen?"
Patchouli bit her lip. "Just as I feared. Follow me, Mr. Sainan," she said, rising from her desk and going towards the center of the library.
Kukyo followed her, confused. "What is it, Miss Knowledge?"
She looked back at him, a worried expression on her face. "I think I figured out what exactly is sealed inside you, and if I'm right, we don't have a moment to lose.