WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of domestic abuse and non-consensual sexual advances. Please read at your own risk.

Chapter X: Purpose

Golden lights glistened in the branches of the Christmas tree. Set up in the window of the living room in front of the Hyakuya Orphanage, ornaments and candy canes of all colors, shapes, and sizes, all with their own touch of the orphans who lived there, refracted light from the tree. The entire place was adorned with festive decorations. Woven around the main staircase's rails were vines that flickered with red and green lights. Little statues of Mr. and Mrs. Claus and Manger Scenes rested on the surfaces in the other rooms. Arts-and-crafts of snowmen and elves done by the younger kids covered all the walls of the library and cabinets of the kitchen. The house smelling of ginger and cinnamon...

It was the day after Christmas and Yuichiro sat beside the candles emitting the aroma of pine needles in the living room. Usually darkened with its curtains drawn, now the wall-length windows' curtains were pulled back, giving him a full view of the plentiful snowflakes sugaring the already whitened ground. The other orphans were giggling in the other rooms, still fawning over and bragging about their favorite gifts: Akane, the newest album of her favorite boy band; Chihiro, a new set of Copic Markers for drawing manga; Kouta, the latest game to the Pokémon series; Taichi, a whole strove of Nintendo amiibo; Ako, a bonafide antique European tea set made of real, fine china; and Fumie, the completed list of volumes from her current favorite bishounen manga.

Yuu had been giggling happily among them when he realized... he'd never enjoyed the company of the orphans as much as he did this Christmas. When they'd fussed with him to help them bake and frost gingerbread cookies, saying Akane was too strict, or been chasing each other with glue sticks and permanent markers, or accidentally tangled all the Christmas tree lights up again, he'd never seen them as anything more than an annoyance, too focused on trying to get back to his headphones and blare out the horrific beat of the tragedy from his past...

Not before a certain encounter, that is.

In Yuu's arms he held the beat-boxing kit he had seen at the music store that him and Mika visited in October. It had been delivered on his doorstep this morning, over ¥80,000 for the kind of quality in sound and number of layers the model was capable of.

How had Mika gotten it to him? Yuu didn't know. Inside had been a short letter wishing him a Merry Christmas, and that even though Yuu probably didn't have the slightest clue how to use the beat-boxing kit, Mika was sure Yuu would be able to create the kind of music he wanted one day – even if it was shallow and repetitive.

Yuu didn't feel any kind of resentment toward Mika for the snide comments in his letter, only a sickened feeling in his stomach – combined with something else that was weightless and filled him right up – at seeing the gift and the letter inside.

The last time he'd seen Mika... was only a few days ago, and yet it seemed like more than that. Yuu still felt guilty over what happened.

After he'd finished freaking out over cuddling Mika and over Ferid's sudden appearance, before he knew it the tall shadow of the butler loomed over him, though obscured by the crystal glass inlaid in the doorframe. There had been a swift knock and then a deafening silence. Ferid had surely known Yuichiro was right behind the door staring at him, so Yuu felt he had no choice but to open it – besides, he wasn't planning on letting them have Mika anyway. It was inevitable that Mika would have to go home, but Yuu had been hoping to stave them off for a few hours until he could break the news. The butler's knowing smirk became apparent by the opening of the door, on either sides of him two more neatly dressed servants, one slightly hunched over with dark hair and droopy eyes, the other standing tall and purposed, his dyed-purple hair in a very high topknot with bangs squaring his face.

"I assume you're here to get Mika," said Yuu with a half turn toward the stairs. "We got to bed really late and he's still asleep upstairs, so would you mind waiting a few hours?"

Only the second servant made any notion that he'd heard Yuu, looking to Ferid for indication of an order. Ferid merely smiled. "I take it you're Yuichiro?"

Yuu nodded slowly. "Yeah."

It had been then that the top step of the main staircase creaked, and they redirected their attention to Mika who doddered down, still sleepy and slurring his words to ask what was for breakfast, eyes barely open. Upon sensing the mood and seeing the three reasons for Yuu's tenseness standing in the doorway, Mika came to halt on the steps, his bare feet clinging to the slick wood. Cerulean eyes widened slightly, then narrowed until he was glaring at them. Mika's chin lowered.

Ferid forced Yuu to step away from the front door as he invited himself into the entryway of the orphanage with broad, calculated steps. He spread his arms toward Mikaela – the other two servants followed. "Mika, I'm glad to see you're all right!" The door slammed shut behind them, in turn shutting off all the coldness from the outside, leaving only the residue of snow in the genkan in the front. None of the servants took off their boots. "We were all so worried about you, rushing off into the cold like that when there was a snowstorm coming," continued Ferid. "But we were sure you'd come back within an hour, being that you had nowhere to go with no friends and all. I guess we were wrong."

Ferid sent a small smirk Yuichiro's way to which Yuu quickly glanced over at Mika for the correct response. Mika was ignoring them however. He felt ridiculous coming down in Yuu's Yellow Submarine T-shirt and shorts, speaking as he did only when he was alone with Yuu so carelessly, when Ferid and his two best servants Lacus and René were right beside him. That gesture alone could give them reason enough to sever his and Yuu's relationship forever. "How did you find me?"

Ferid stopped at the bottom of the stairs, ruby eyes shifting up to Mikaela. "I remembered you bringing someone to the house whom you called 'Yuu,' so I contacted Hiiragi High and asked for someone in one of your classes with that name. They gave me all the information I wanted about little Amane Yuichiro from the Hyakuya Orphanage once I told them he might be interfering with the health of my charge and heir of the Shindo Corporation, threatened to sue for damage done to you in the time it would take to procure a warrant." He paused. "Well? Are you going to get your things and leave with us, or will we have to make you?"

Yuu was over his fright now and became increasingly angered by how rude and overpowering the butler and servants spoke to Mikaela. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Wasn't Mika supposed to be their master? They treated him as if he was a prisoner. "Hold on," Yuu interjected.

Ferid frowned, those ruby eyes shifting over to Yuu with indifference; this didn't put Yuu off at all to say what he did next. "Mika came here because he couldn't stand being around you guys anymore, and even if I don't know exactly what happened, I've seen enough to understand why. You can wait until he's –"

"No, Yuu. Stop."

Yuichiro was so surprised to have Mika agree with them that he couldn't form any words as Mika disappeared back up the stairs, soon returning in his school uniform, mechanically descending the stairs right into Ferid's grasp, who smirked at Yuu as they walked toward the door.

While Mika slipped on his shoes, wet with melted snow in the genkan, finally Yuu caught his voice and stepped forward. The other two servants contemplated stopping him, but the silver-haired butler held up a hand.

"You can't be serious, Mika?! What are you doing, going back with them so easily?!"

"No, I don't think you understand, Yuu," Mikaela whispered furiously at him. He sounded angry, which shocked Yuu more than anything – Mika had never spoken to him like that before. The look Mika gave him after told Yuu that he didn't actually mean it – at least not in the way Yuu initially thought. "I can't stay here with you any longer," he confessed, his voice dropping hopelessly. "I... I have to go. I'll see you later."

Yuichiro knew Mika didn't actually want to leave. Still, he couldn't allow his servants to abduct him just like that. "Wait, Mika...! Mika!" Now the two servants did bar Yuu from reaching Mikaela at the door; Yuu's strength was no match for their own. They didn't even budge as Yuu pushed between them, shoes planted firmly on the ground.

"C'mon now, you'll see him again, right?" said the purple-haired one as amicably as possible – but Yuichiro still hated him. "At school or something?"

"Yeah, it's not like you'll never see each other again," added the stiffer one, dully.

They kept Yuu from reaching Mikaela all up until they slammed the orphanage's front door shut in Yuu's face, and Yuu, breathing rapidly with both hands pressed against the crystal-frame, watched as they loaded into their black sedan, – Mika first, in the back, then Ferid beside him, then the other two in the front, – and sped off in the direction of the high-end Tokyo residences.

Yuu's forehead had leaned against the door, hands curling into fists, tears of frustration in his eyes. Yuu knew the servants were right, – he would see Mika again at the school, – and yet... there was something else.

Mika had said his parents usually left discipline to their servants, but if the servants were willing to go as far as using physical force to keep Yuu from even touching Mika... what was it to be a Shindo? Ferid had acknowledged that Mika had no friends. He knew very well the kind of people Mika dealt with – hell, Ferid had probably helped design Mikaela's life to be this way in the first place. Yuu didn't want to know the kind of crap they'd put Mika – and his friends – through just for getting close...

Three servants were so excessive, Yuu thought. And Mika left without putting up a fight at all... His citrine eyes drifted from the window and falling snow beyond, to the beat-boxing kit in his hands. And now there was this. The gift. If the servants were that overprotective of Mika, how had Mika been able to buy and send such a hefty gift without them noticing? Would he been badly punished for it if they found out? No, when they found out?

The doorbell rang and Yuu was aware of the kids rushing to the door, their volume growing as he heard greetings of familiar names in the entrance. He pushed himself off the edge of the couch, placing Mika's gift delicately on it.

Donning his blocky, steamed-up glasses from the cold outside was Shiho standing in the kitchen doorway. "Hey, idiot Yuu. I see your bedhead hasn't improved at all since the last time I saw you."

"Hey, idiot Kimizuki. You still look as much like a telephone pole as ever," Yuu remarked slyly back.

"Not surprising when all he eats are veggies," said Mitsuba, standing behind him.

"True, true," cooed Shinoa, popping her head around Mitsuba. "He's always very immaculate when it comes to those types of things."

Shiho's face lit in anger. "H-hey, I do not –!"

"And yet he's always messing things up," sighed Mitsuba, crossing her arms.

"Also true," agreed Shinoa.

"Why, you –!"

"K-Kimizuki, they didn't mean it!" said Yoichi, quickly stepping in between Shiho and the two girls who were sticking their tongues out at him as if to say "there's no way you can deny this one, buddy."

"Like hell they didn't!" Shiho burst, trying to reach around Yoichi. "They aren't sorry at all! I can see it on their smug little faces!"

Yuu laughed loudly at them, and something about the sound made the others freeze. Even on Christmas, they saw, Yuichiro had never looked so thoughtful. "You guys never change," he said, smiling at them.

Shiho and Mitsuba blinked, Yoichi and Shinoa staring.

Breaking their silence, Shinoa spoke first. "We brought you some things. You know, to help you become a pop star or whatever."

Yoichi stepped forward. "Y-yeah, since we know you've been having a hard time with all your nightmares and all... Uhh... Sorry to bring that up, Yuu!"

"It's fine," said Yuu. "Guys, you really didn't have to – I mean, I didn't get you guys anything –!"

"Oh don't be any more of an idiot," said Mitsuba. "We know you don't have the money for that kind of thing."

"Yeah," said Shiho, "if we were expecting anything in return when we bought you something, we wouldn't have become your friend in the first place."

At that, Yuu had no choice but to gladly accept the things they'd gotten him – a set of good recording microphones, a handheld amplifier, recording headphones, even the Garage Band software and a MacBook Pro for using it on. Yuu couldn't believe their kindness, and he thanked them until they got angry and told him to just shut up and take the gifts already.

Afterward, lugging everything upstairs to his bedroom in a glow and dropping it on the floor, Yuu stopped, once again seeing the beat-boxing kit. He was so grateful for his friends... he couldn't help wonder who Mika had at a time like this during the holidays, when family and friends are most important. Was there anyone...?

"Shinoa, I have to talk to you," said Yuu, coming down the stairs to her sitting at the dining room table sipping a juice box and looking upon the Christmas tree in the window.

She didn't look at him, just sipped her juice box slowly and methodically before finally saying, "You know, Yuu... for someone who isn't gay, you are pretty adamant about that pianist of yours." Her magenta eyes flicked over to his with mirth, and Yuu's face became as red as the cranberry-strawberry juice she was sipping.

Yuichiro opened his mouth to snap back at her, but no sound came out. Everyone else was in the kitchen frosting gingerbread cookies as Shiho showed up even Akane in the art of whisking badder, the young kids ooing and ahing. This was between him and Shinoa, no one else. But Mika... needed help. As soon as possible. Mika, who shined so brightly, despite everything he had been through. A light Yuu could never amount to... The vibrance that emanated from the piano every time he played... Yuu must protect that light, whatever the cost.

Shinoa caught a flash of the pain that came over Yuichiro's features and almost reached out to him with sympathy, ask what could have possibly happened when he walked home with Mika the other day. The pain was soon replaced by determination though. "Shinoa, something... something terrible is happening over there, and I don't know what it is. I just have this feeling..."

Shinoa asked, "Is there any way you can contact him?"

"I have his phone number, but even if he replies he'll say he's all right regardless of whether he actually is." Yuu's shoulders sagged. "I just feel so... helpless. I mean, what can I do against a corporation that big with trained servants and all...?"

Shinoa studied Yuu for a moment. "Yuu, let's be real here." She held up a finger. "You can, one, sit here sulking about it, or two," – she put up another finger – "march over there and probably get your ass handed to you. Not to mention end up hurting Mikaela more in the process. I'm not sure there's anything you can do."

Yuu sighed. "I know you're right, but..." Still, I...

"You're worried about him?"

Yuu nodded.

"It's understandable..." She glanced back at the kitchen. "Mitsu's family isn't exactly agreeable either," she said in a low voice. "...And neither is mine. Though, when put next to the Shindos, both are probably quite a lot more freelancing. At least Mitsu and I can get away from them without having to worry about servants threatening others to find us. That's mostly because we're the youngest in the Hiiragi and Sanguu families so no one really cares what we do. It's not like we're going to become the next heir or anything. What exactly happened?"

"The servants came over and demanded that he go back home! Better yet Mika just went with them!" said Yuu exasperatedly, shrugging with voracity. "I just... I don't understand. Maybe there's a lot about the Shindos – and the Hiiragis and the Sanguus – that I don't understand..."

Shinoa registered the sullen mood about Yuu, knowing he wasn't willing to back down, but also knowing he couldn't see an end. Having dealt with a strict rich family firsthand, she knew there wasn't much he could do. "Well, personally I would say if you want to still be friends with Mikaela," she said, "that it will get increasingly difficult as time passes unless you can stand submitting to the servants' time constrictions. You can be sure they'll interfere more the harder you push against them."

Yuu was about to ask for details on what they might do, but Mitsuba interrupted his thoughts by coming in the room with a plate of badly-frosted gingerbread men with gumdrops as jacket buttons and M&Ms as eyes. "Man, Kimizuki sure likes showing off his culinary skills. I was sure the eldest orphan girl was gonna explode at any moment, but she somehow managed to keep it in." She leaned down and gave Shinoa a quick peck on the mouth before offering her a cookie.

Yuichiro's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from the short exchange. He turned swiftly away and crossed his arms. Shinoa and Mitsuba watched him with incredulity and disgust. "Really?" panned Mitsuba monotonously.

"Yuu, you're such a cherry boy," giggled Shinoa. "Can't you handle a little girl love?"

Yuu threw his hands in the air when he answered them, still not turning around. "I-I'm just not used to seeing it is all!"

"Hm... Maybe if we kiss longer and more passionately the message will get through?" suggested Shinoa deviously.

"You're on," muttered Mitsuba. They started making happy chirpy noises to which Yuu spun around, face and ears bright red, only to see the girls were grinning sideways at him, lips touching, but not actually kissing. "Haha, fooled you!" they chanted in unison, pointing at him.

Yuu screamed in anger as he stormed out toward the kitchen. "That's the last time I hang out with you two alone in the same room!" He was doing his best to push another image from his mind.

~Maestro sostituto~

Faces, names, addresses, phone numbers; CEOs of companies, marketers, competition; all were boring and colorless to Mika's cerulean eyes, clouded as each passed through the conversation at the dinner table. He sat between his parents, barely paying any mind to the smoked salmon on the silver-studded plate before him as he gulped it down. They chatted on, only speaking to him when they wanted to inform him about one of their newest business partners in the market, so he didn't look at them, only at Krul, who stood by the door to the kitchen, grinning at him, crimson eyes squinted, hands behind her back.

Though he had escaped the orphans' swords in their little duel less than a week ago, his arms stung with bruises caused by Krul as he ate. Whether his parents knew of the discipline she had carried out on him earlier that day for the cost of the beat-boxing kit he had sent to Yuu, Mika didn't know. Either way they wouldn't care. Actually, it was likely they didn't know; they'd order harsher punishment for spending that amount of money on a friend with no benefit to the company.

When dinner was over, Mika was permitted to his quarters and fled from the dining room with haste. Only to be cornered in the halls before his door by the head butler. In a flash, a hand was around the collar of Mikaela's shirt and his head slammed into the wall without care. Mika grunted in pain at the swift movements, taken completely by surprise. Nothing but hatred lined his crystalline eyes as he glared at Ferid.

"Don't look so angry, Young Master," the butler spat indignantly, lips turning up, containing his true ire. He spoke fast and furiously, his sweet breath further choking Mikaela's senses, Ferid's arm pressing him into the wall blocking off the passage of air to his lungs. "Running away was completely out of line but perhaps understandable with all the stress from missing school – which was your fault in the first place. Perhaps we could have let your absences slide but, this gift you sent without our permission, now that is something Krul should let all of us have a go at you for. Do you know how bad it makes us look when something like that gets by? Do you know whose pay check gets cut when something of that caliber occurs right under our noses? Hm?!" He pounded Mika's head into the wall again so hard that Mika's vision went white for a moment.

It'd been a few years since Ferid had been allowed to discipline him; Krul usually liked doing it herself, so she forbid anyone else from touching Mika. This was most likely against her orders. "Careful, Ferid," Mika croaked. He was losing air – and consciousness – fast. "If Krul finds us like this, you'll be punished more greatly than me."

Ferid pushed him one more time into the wall before letting go. Mika slumped to the ground, coughing and holding his throat. Ferid took a few breaths while facing the opposite direction before circling back to Mikaela, a finger pointed aggressively down at him, this time speaking slower and eloquent as usual. "If your parents were to hear about how you skipped school for a week due to whatever emotional drama you're going through –"

"You'd have hell to pay just as me," Mika finished for him, standing to meet him with defiance. "I know how it works around here, Ferid. You aren't fooling me. I won't do it again, and that's that." Mika turned his back on Ferid to the door to his room, his hand twisting the golden knob when there was a breath on his shoulder. Ferid's gloved fingers slithered through his blond hair and around the base of his neck, gripping firmly – not enough to choke, but tightly enough that Mika was unable to move.

Incidentally, Mikaela began to tremble. This was the feeling that haunted him at night when his butler came to check on his progress with his homework or other corporation-involved activities – the inexplicable, unbound lust within Ferid that terrified him more than anything else. Ferid's voice was a mere whisper, which scared Mika even more, though he did his best not to show it. "I could do it so easily." Shivers wracked Mikaela's body. That was the first time Ferid said it out loud, only reconfirming the fear that more and more made him want to scream. The moment he did, Ferid would leave, make him look as if he concocted the whole idea and get Mika into even more trouble to torment him with later.

"I could make you submit to me, but..." Ferid's voice was shaking, desperate, like a plea. He said no more. They just stood there with Ferid taking in the scent of Mika's hair and the sweat rolling down his back, Mikaela crying out for someone, anyone to walk in on this scene and see and he wasn't making it up, that Ferid really was the creep he'd warned them of since he was a little boy.

No such savior arrived.

Something within Ferid broke, and he burrowed his nose deeper into Mikaela's hair until his lips were brushing Mika's neck. Mika whimpered as the butler's lips parted and his tongue coated warm saliva on the side of his neck. God, he never should have turned his back to Ferid. There would be no trusting Ferid with anything after this. Not ever again.

Ferid's other hand was gripping Mika's wrist now, and his teeth nibbled delicately on Mika's neck, lightly at first, then increasingly rough, sucking hard as he pushed Mika until he was facing Ferid, his back against the door. With Ferid leaning over him like this, Mika's fortitude to not start screaming was fading fast, anticipating what would be next. But Ferid leaned back from the dark bruises he'd left on Mika's porcelain skin and just grinned, taking in the sweet, sweet fear in Mikaela's wide, blue eyes. That was what he was after. He chuckled quietly. "My, my... you would think after all Krul has done to you, this would be nothing." He let go of Mikaela, who did all he could to stay standing as Ferid laughed, traipsing down the hall. "That'll do. Make sure you don't step out of line again, Young Master Mikaela." He stopped, smiled, making Mikaela tense up again. "It would be a shame to see that beautiful look of scared innocence in your eyes destroyed before your first time with your beloved."

Mika was chilled more than ever by the butler's words as he disappeared around the corner, his neck and arms burning where Ferid had touched him. He understood the true intent behind those words.

Ferid knew how much Mika fancied Yuu.

~Lamentoso~

The moon was out and shining milky white rays of light on the intricate designs of carpet in the halls of the Shindo Manor, washing them out. Looking both ways, Mikaela tip-toed out of his room and down the halls, down the stairs, through the study-lounge until he came to the circular piano room, feet barely making a sound. The rest of the mansion was utterly silent.

Mika propped up the top cover to the first notch so only the barest of sound would get through, pulled out the bench and sat on it. Though disconnected from the rest of the mansion so no one would hear him playing even at this silent hour of dawn, he didn't want to push it. Losing this too...

Taking in a deep breath, Mika opened the cover to reveal the treasure chest of ebony and ivory keys underneath. Just the sight of the piano and all its perfection soothed him on nights like these, filling him the calm he knew he needed to play. Thinking a moment while looking out upon the vast gardens out the windows of the circular room, to the white, white snow sparkling with the light from the white, white moon, he closed his eyes and soaked up the silence of the night, before placing his hands on the keys and starting to play.

High notes leapt into lower ones, swirling in a whirlpool of sounds that gave him a feeling of weightlessness as his fingers danced around each other, complimented each other. It was Valse Op. 69 No. 2 by Frédéric François Chopin, a waltz counted in threes, and Mikaela loved the feeling of letting go of everything for a moment, just to feel the lilt and structure of the music, to flow with the wonderful feeling of not having a care in the world, without thinking of anything else, only the melody he created himself. As the music crawled on, Mika came to the next section of notes that bobbed in and out in pitch and volume, indisposed and purposed. His fingers trickled down to their demise, repeating again, and marking the closing of the section.

Sometimes, when he played, he could also be thinking diligently about something else entirely and still hear the music his fingers played. Those moments were rare however, a kind of "zone" for a piano player that seldom occurred. Tonight certainly was not one of those nights. When he came to the next section that required delicacy and gentleness with ardency, Mika's fingers began to slip and he crashed down, his weight coming back to him. All he could remember were Ferid's rough lips and teeth on his neck, Krul's cold stare as she hit him over and over on the arms, or on the legs, leaving marks that would go away with time except in his heart. He recalled his parents' coldness at all this, their chastity when he would go to them, sniffling, as a very, very small child, ordering the servants to take him away and set him right, before he'd learned to hide his emotions and take whatever they dished out... contrasted to Yuu's warm fingers that had held his when he was freezing and alone in the street, found their way to his cheeks and their breaths that were in sync when they stood in the street with the wind whipping around them, foreheads pressed together. Yuu's arms that had held him so tightly and tenderly in the library, as he led Mika out of the cold and into the orphanage, into the warmth of his bed...

Mika banged his hands on the keys, silencing the sound of his own inadequacy with tumultuous noise. "I can't!" he cried despairingly, and tears fell from his eyes as he leaned over the piano and sobbed. "I can't do it anymore!"

He couldn't keep pretending to be all right when he wasn't. He couldn't continue on this way, knowing how it felt to be loved for who you are, not how much money you're worth. He'd been so rooted before, oblivious to the way he truly felt about it all, oblivious to his own suffering.

And now that he knew, what could he do about it? The closer he became to Yuu, the farther his parents and the Shindo servants would pull him away...

He couldn't get closer. If not for his own sake, for Yuu's. Yuichiro didn't love him in that way anyway. It would be stupid to throw away everything and defy parents like the Shindos for someone who didn't see you the same way in return... right?

Mika sat up, wiped his eyes and stared at the piano keys. But the tears still flowed.

He hated it when his parents asked him to play for someone, one of their colleagues or a to-be business partner they were trying to sway, using Mikaela's abilities to convince them. He was just their prize – their trophy to be waved around and courted into being whatever they wanted... When Yuu asked him to play, he was doing it selfishly but at least he admitted so – for a reason like helping him overcome the nightmares of his past, rather than using Mika to impress others.

From the first moment Yuichiro had heard him playing Moonlight Sonata in the music room, Mikaela could tell by the look on his face that Yuu had seen and heard right through Mika's prettied tones, straight to the source. He'd heard Mika's suffering at that moment, his cry for help, and he pursued that cry despite Mika's every attempt to push him away...

Someone actually cared for him, and yet Mikaela couldn't stand it, because it wasn't the type of care he needed. Empathy, although often connected to love, was not the same as love itself.

"My, my... you would think after all Krul has done to you, this would be nothing," mocked Ferid's voice. "Make sure you don't step out of line again, Young Master Mikaela. It would be a shame to see that beautiful look of scared innocence in your eyes destroyed before your first time with your beloved."

He had to protect Yuu from whatever Ferid and Krul were planning. They would not let Mika's defiance go with a simple beating and sensuous desires...

Something more evil would cross Yuu and Mika's path.

~Sonore~

"Jeez, Amane Yuichiro, what's with calling at eleven o'clock at night and during Winter Break? What d'you wa –?"

"Guren!"

Sitting in his apartment with a book and fire before him, legs crossed, the man groaned. Whatever it was, the kid was all pumped up and wouldn't stop calling back until he got the answer he wanted. "What is it, Yuu? Another annoying friend join your little group that you want me to kick out? I'll still never forget when you called me about getting Yoichi off your butt."

A pause. "Actually, I want you to tell me more about the Shindo-Hiiragi dynamic. I mean, I'm not even sure what the Shindo Corporation does, but there seems to be some serious power struggle tension going on somewhere..."

Guren smiled. "Oh, so this is about that kid Mikaela, is it?"

"Sh-shuddup!" Yuu cried embarrassedly. "I'm just interested in it since it keeps popping up, that's all..."

Guren chuckled at him, closing his book and setting it aside on the table to his left. He leaned forward in his seat. "All right, but why didn't you ask those girls, Hiiragi Shinoa and Sanguu Mitsuba about this? I'm sure they could have given you a better account of what's going on inside than I can, being a lowly Ichinose."

Telephone static.

"What? Don't trust them?"

"...No."

"Tired of being teased?"

"A-are you gonna tell me or not?"

"Fine, fine," sighed Guren. "I'll tell you all you need to know, but Yuu, you have to promise me something."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Promise me none of this conversation I will reach the ears of the higher-ups."

"...Sure."

Guren closed his eyes, lips stretching in a grin. Yuu was going to challenge them, wasn't he? "Then first, let me explain how the Hiiragis came to power over Japan's main prefectures..."

If you're having trouble picturing what Ferid, Lacus, and René would look like in anything other than their swirly vampire attire, just so you know I've been imagining them as silver-haired, purple-haired, and long-haired versions of Sebastian Michaelis from Black Butler which is actually fitting delightfully in my mind! (Psst someone draw it...)

I accomplished many things this chapter that I've kinda been meaning to for a while (and yet still not everything), and I hope you'll enjoy this new-ish development in the plot!

Oh! Something I should mention... The lovely lemynguedoodles drew fanart of the first chapter of this fic on Tumblr! Check out their Tumblr you wanna see for yourself!

I hope you liked the chapter! Please don't forget to give your opinion below~