Chapter 10:

The following day, the Urashima siblings decided to take a break from their usual managerial duties and instead have a picnic at the scenic overlook located in the foothills just north of the Hinata Inn. It was a secluded little clearing surrounded by trees and a grassy area which eventually sloped down to a view of the Inn. The only way to reach the overlook was to take a little known path that twisted around some dense foliage and had tall plants on each side. And although the inn was visible from the overlook, the park itself was very hard to see from the Hinata Terrace.

While they walked, Keitaro asked if his sister knew why the girls were so "festive" the previous night. Kanako recounted the events after breakfast and at the Hinata café up to when she and Kaolla hatched their hasty plan of deception. While she was giving her detailed account, Keitaro somehow managed to snag her hand and showed no intention of letting it go. The Goth girl barely managed to hide her delight at her brother's forwardness in such a normal everyday situation.

"So that's what they were celebrating?" Laughed Keitaro.

"Yes, apparently my inability to seduce you is reason to rejoice," nodded Kanako.

"I see. I'm surprised you did not take it upon yourself to burst their bubble."

"No, it suited our purposes to keep the girls ignorant."

"You know I wouldn't have cared what they thought, Kanako." The landlord said, squeezing her hand for emphasis.

"I realize that, big brother, but we felt that you would appreciate not having to deal with irrational tenants after a long day of running errands all over Tokyo." The Urashima girl said warmly.

"Well, I do appreciate it. It really was a long day. I'll have to find Kaolla and thank her."

"Why not do that right now?" Kanako said, as they reached the clearing. Seeing her brother's curious look, she tilted her head toward a blanket that lay beneath a shady tree. Upon the blanket sat a very excited dark skinned girl waving frantically at them.

"How did she…?" Keitaro started to ask. He was flabbergasted. They had just decided to take the day off this morning. How in the world did the princess know they were going to be here?

Kanako smiled and shook her head. "Kaolla is nothing short of resourceful. My plan was to convince you to let her join us in your room tonight to have a private chat. However, I now realize that this place offers more privacy. I guess she was a step ahead of me."

"Did you know she was going to be here?" The young man asked as the pair walked toward the waving princess.

"I had a hunch she would be. She was peeking at us while we were packing our picnic lunch. I wouldn't be surprised if she ran over here once she figured out what we planned on doing."

"Hmm…I suppose you're right." Chuckled Keitaro, it was something Kaolla was prone to do after all. Oddly, he didn't really mind that she was here despite the unusual circumstances. He did, however, find it curious that neither did Kanako.

"Hiya Keitaro! Hiya sister!" The princess greeted, making room for them on the blanket.

The landlord blinked at the two girls who appeared to be in a brief staring match. Kanako just looked intently at the princess, who just smiled happily right back.

"Sister?" Asked Keitaro carefully as he sat down. Kanako just shook her head and sighed.

"Yes, it was Haruka's idea. She felt that it would be in our best interest to get to know little miss genius here better." Kanako replied, gesturing to the cheerful girl. "She even said, and I *quote*, that it would be best if I treated her like a sister."

"Why do I get the feeling we're being set up?" said Keitaro to nobody in particular. Kanako just shrugged.

"I thought that too. But I couldn't detect any maliciousness from Haruka. And it wasn't as if she was trying hiding something either. Outside of some secret involving Kaolla, she was pretty open about how she felt about her. I believe she is honestly trying to get us together for our benefit." The Goth girl stated.

"It isn't like you two don't have your own secrets…sister." The princess said, nonchalantly.

"Our secrets involve our families and goes back for several generations," replied Kanako defensively.

"I'm gonna guess about nine generations, right?" Asked Kaolla as she leaned forward expectantly.

"Yes…nine generations…exactly." The Goth girl answered carefully. 'Oh my god! What does this girl know?' she thought.

"Yay, I was right!" Koalla cheered. Kanako frowned at the girl's excitement, while Keitaro just sat on the blanket confused.

"Umm…excuse me…right about what, exactly?" He finally asked.

Kaolla just giggled excitedly at Keitaro as she undid her pony tails. After a brief glance at Kanako, she looked around trying to see if anyone else was watching them. Wondering what was going on, the landlord turned to ask Kanako only to discover her looking around as well. Satisfied that they were unobserved, Kaolla dug into her hair a bit...finally pulling out a thin lock of braided hair…capped at the end with a sequence of colored beads.

"Hey, Kanako wears a braid like that!" said a surprised Keitaro.

Indeed, the young man was quite familiar with the braid. When the Urashima siblings were rebuilding their physical relationship, Kanako felt that Keitaro behaved too "gentlemanly" with her. He explained that he didn't want to try to initiate intimacy when she wasn't in the mood. Kanako lovingly explained that there would rarely be a time that she didn't want him, but her brother had a hard time believing it so instead he would hold back until she practically crawled on top of him.

In order to help Keitaro be more assertive, she turned to an old practice from her past. During her training, she was taught to wear a braid that ended in decorative beads. With her renewed relationship with her brother, she started wearing it again. This time, she even began to call it her "fuck me" braid. Kanako explained that she would wear it only on days she wanted Keitaro to use her. Unconditionally. So if he ever saw her wearing the braid, he had the "green light" to do whatever he wanted. Any fantasy at all, no permission or explanations necessary. All he had to do was take her and do as he pleased. Eventually he started taking the liberties offered to him, even taking Kanako by surprise a few times. So naturally, Kanako decided to always wear the braid.

Keitaro broke out of his daze and said, "So you're…"

"Yep, just like Kanako!" replied the excited princess.

"This had better not be a prank, Su…" threatened Kanako.

The dark skinned girl's mood immediately fell and she quickly backed up in fright. "It's not! Really! I swear!" She explained.

"But how? You're a princess! How is that possible?" The Goth girl retorted.

"It is…" replied Kaolla urgently, "…it's…it's why I left Molmol…"

"What the hell are you…" Kanako started only to stop when she felt Keitaro's hand on her shoulder.

"Kanako, stop…" he said.

"But she's…" The Urashima girl replied angrily.

"I said STOP!" Keitaro repeated, looking at Kanako intently

Kanako just stared back. Biting back her words, she tried her best to calm down. Eventually she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Training took over, and once again she was quietly kneeling on the blanket with her hands on her lap, awaiting instructions.

"Wow, I woulda never…" Kaolla began to say, only to stop when Keitaro shot her the same look. Unable to help herself, she suddenly felt compelled to assume the same position Kanako did. Sure enough, she eventually found herself kneeling on the blanket just like her fellow…sister.

After a few moments, Keitaro ran his fingers through his hair to recompose himself and then spoke. "Okay, obviously Haruka and Granny Hina knew a lot more than they let on. So let's do this calmly. All right?"

"Yes, sir." Both girls replied in unison, much to their collective surprise.

"Kaolla, you're a trained slave girl like Kanako?" Keitaro asked.

"Yeah. 'Cept I think she's got a year on me though…" The princess replied, keeping her head downturned. Kanako's eyes widened at the confirmation.

"A year?" The young man queried.

"Yes, the black beads usually indicate length of training. Kaolla's braid has two beads, mine has three." Kanako answered.

"Is this what you've been trying to confirm all along, Kaolla?" The young man asked.

The princess nodded and said, "Yeah…I mean…I could tell Kanako had a lot of serious training. Wasn't hard to spot once I figured how she was different toward you than with everyone else. She must've gotten combat as her extra craft too. She's tough like Motoko, but she doesn't fight like her at all."

"What does that mean?" Asked the confused landlord.

"She is referring to training outside of serving." Answered Kanako. "The standard program was two years. Three year programs provided additional training other than pleasure. It varied depending on the client's need or the request of the actual student. Most of the time, it was cooking, dance, or another language. In my case, I was trained in a very specialized form of unarmed combat. So I was educated not only to serve, but to fight effectively without weapons to protect my Master. However, she has misinterpreted the meaning of my beads."

"Huh? It's the same pattern…" Kaolla boggled.

"Yes, but my beads are black and red marbled." Kanako replied, exposing her braid further in the sunlight.

"You're Lifetrained!" The princess gasped.

Kanako nodded. "Yes, I was in the program much longer than three years. In fact, I was one of the very few raised by the Academy to be a slave. They trained me from a very young age to both please and protect." The Goth girl said quietly.

"And you're an awesome fighter too, Kanako! She won't admit it but even Motoko is scared of you. You musta been really special!" added an awed Kaolla Su.

"I had to be. The family had…plans. There were arrangements made long ago which the Urashima's were trying to honor. So they decided to find a girl who could meet the requirement and adopt her into the family in order to circumvent various legal and ethical issues. That girl was me." Kanako stated, suddenly awash with feelings drug up by old painful memories.

"Ummm…is that how you met Keitaro?" The princess asked, wondering if she was overstepping her boundaries.

"Yes, I grew up with him. While he was being raised as the Urashima heir, I was being raised as a concubine to be sold. I suppose it made for an interesting upbringing. He was very kind to me, and I gravitated toward him because of that. In the end, my mind chose him to be the person I was learning these special skills for. So when we played 'house', it was probably a lot different than how other kids played." The Goth girl replied, causing both she and Keitaro to blush slightly.

Keitaro smiled encouragingly at his sister and contributed, "After a while, I began to see the differences between how Kanako acted, and how the other girls in the family did. As we both matured, I began to understand the aspects of her training and discovered the reason behind her unique behavior. I didn't like it, and let my family know. Since I was so young, they hardly listened to me. So I fought with them until I reached my majority, and then they HAD to listen to me. Luckily, I managed to get help from Granny Hina. They weren't about to go against both the family head AND the heir."

Kaolla Su stared at Keitaro in amazement. He fought his own incredibly powerful family to save his adopted sister? Yet again, here was another amazing facet to this man that she had not suspected.

"If things had gone according to plan, I would have been sold to one of the extremely wealthy lords that currently rule Hong Kong." Kanako said with a hitch in her voice. Kaolla turned back to the Goth girl in surprise.

"You know Granny and I weren't going to let that happen, Kanako." Keitaro said soothingly.

"I had hoped not. I was both surprised and relieved to find out I was…re-assigned." She said softly.

"Well, they weren't going to go against the Urashima heir. It would have destroyed the family." Keitaro chuckled. "Besides, you will always be my little sister. I don't care what their reasoning was for adopting you. One way or another, I was going to get you out of there. I made a promise, remember?"

Kanako fought her tears, remembering how her brother fought to save her from the lifelong role she was being trained from birth to perform.

"Wow…it all makes sense…" Kaolla said, looking at the two siblings in awe. "I mean…Keitaro's *the* heir…Kanako's supposed to be 'lifetrained'…but she's here with you…ohmigod…I can't believe it…"

"This needs to remain a secret between us…SISTER" Kanako said, emphasizing the last point, as she looked up at the blabbering Molmolian.

"No, no…I swear, I won't tell. This is just amazing. I thought you were cool before…but this is way more awesome than I thought…" replied Kaolla excitedly.

"It's very important to me that you keep this secret as well, Kaolla." Keitaro told the princess, driving his intent home with his serious gaze. This calmed the girl down significantly.

"Okay…okay…sorry…sheesh…gag order acknowledged, sir…" Kaolla said meekly, turning her gaze back down. Despite the seriousness of the subject, the Urashima siblings couldn't help but smile at the princess. Still, there was a question that nagged them and it needed to be answered.

"Kaolla, how is it that a member of Molmolian nobility…a princess of all things…gets trained to be a slave girl?" Keitaro asked.

Kanako looked up at the dark skinned girl, the question having been burning in her brain since this conversation started.

'All righty. In for a penny, in for a pound…' The princess thought.