Hello all~ I'm gonna try to get back into updating this more often again XD Thanks to everyone who's reviewed thus far, and a special thanks to KuroTenshiAkuma, who gave me a very detailed and helpful review last chapter! :)

"Um… Okay." I smiled and my face looked like it did when I was sick again.

"Ah yes, that reminds me," he said, gesturing for the servants with him to leave. "I thought of one last job for you to try."

Oh god, here we go again. I hoped that my job would be as fun as the others, but I also hoped that I would be competent enough to actually do it. "What is it this time? Gardening?"

"No, you're going to help the gatekeepers."

"Those weird twins?"

"Yes. Dee and Dum slack off more than they actually work, so we need someone else to work watch the gates."

"Sounds fun, I guess."

I followed him out to the entrance of the Hatter Mansion, where I was surprised to see that the twins were actually doing their jobs for once. "Hey guys," I greeted, yawning as the warm sunlight hit my face.

"Brother, it's the lady~!"

"I'm better than that. I'm not just THE lady, I'm…. Toki? I guess?"

"Miss Toki will be working with you two, and I expect that you will be respectful to her?" Blood said, raising an eyebrow and giving them a glare that said "hint hint, my cane is a machine gun".

"Okay boss~!"

Dee walked over to me and grabbed my arm enthusiastically, dragging me to the front of the gate. He said some stuff I didn't care about, told me not to let anyone through, mentioned Ace and the word idiot (which were synonymous, so I don't know why he had to say both), gave me a hat that looked like theirs only black, gave me the rest of their uniform in black and grey, and handed me a giant axe. Which, by the way, I DID care about. A lot. I loved it like a brother, only not really (as my friend would always say. I quote her a lot, huh? She's a fun person though).

"You understand?"

"Uh… Sure. I hit people that try to come through the gate without invitation with the axe, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well then! This sounds fun. I'm gonna be like your older brother. I guess."

"Elder Brother~!" Dum hugged me and Blood glared at him (jealous~).

"You will not refer to her as your brother."

"Elder Sister-Brother!"

"Thanks Blood. Now I don't even get a specific gender. But I do feel kind of special; I mean, I'm an elder sister AND brother~! Thanks guys~." They smiled, happy that I approved of my new name.

And so I became known as the twins' "elder-sister-brother". In case you're wondering, I did good with the whole "gatekeeping" thing. In fact, I was better than my mentors, who about halfway through went to go do something else.

Blood came back to check on me after a few hours, once it had changed to evening and back to noon. I was leaning against the gate all cool-like, holding my uberly awesome axe-that-was-not-so-much-like-a-brother on my shoulder. I must say I probably looked pretty amazing.

"So, do you think you can handle keeping this job?" he asked, as though the answer would be no. Pfft, he didn't know me at all- there was no work involved and I got to carry an axe that was bigger than me.

"Yes I do. It's actually quite fun." He smiled, which of course made me smile because who wouldn't if a hot mafia boss with the world's best hat who happened to live on Jupiter smiled at them.

"That's wonderful news. I'm afraid I have quite a bit of work to be doing, so I'll be on my way."

I stared at him for a minute. "So... is the deal still on for tonight...?" I asked quietly, immediately regretting it deep down inside because it sounded kind of weird when spoken.

"Unless you've made other plans."

He walked off, and I remembered that he had awesome coattails. Not that that was relevant, but hey, why not point it out? I really want you to feel like you're part of the story.

So, Blood and his coattails left me at the gate, and impatiently I waited until the twins came back. "Hey look, elder-sister-brother hasn't ditched yet!"

"Why not~? Did the boss yell at you?"

"No, the boss only gets mad at little slackers like you two," I said, narrowing my eyes and smiling at them. "So I'm just going to tell him that you weren't here and I'll be the only one getting paid."

They both looked kind of sad that I had already turned on them. I suppose most people didn't dare to threaten two psychopathic children with giant axes, but I was a psychopathic teenager with an axe just as gigantic, so why not?

"You're mean, elder-sister-brother~!"

I smiled. "You two are so gullible. Like I would actually care to remember to tell Blood that you two weren't here the whole time? Pfft~."

They seemed unimpressed. I think I stopped making sense after the first bit there, but oh well. It could be worse; I could be counting poles on the gate (there are 57, by the way. According to um…. A very reliable source. Yeah, that's it…).

Then came the half-dreaded, half-joyously awaited nighttime. "Well guys… I'm off." I walked away, leaving the twins and (sadly) my axe behind.

I poked my head in Blood's room, kind of hoping just a bit that he wasn't there. "Toki, please come in."

He was at his desk with his hat taken off and his hair all messed-up like (it was so cute~!) and I smiled, sitting down on one of the amazing red couches.

"Thank you for joining me tonight. Would you care for some tea?"

"Not particularly, thanks."

He nodded and sat down beside me. "…." I said, for the first time in the history of my life.

He then proceeded to kiss me, which I was horribly confused by. At the same time, I was thinking something along the lines of "awesome~!"

AN/ Durr hurr ;; Suckish ending is suckish, but oh well XD I'll try to write the next bit a bit faster. This one turned out kind of pointless ^^' I set it down for too long and couldn't get back into it. It's not my fault I got sick…. ;;