The Servant Girl
Chapter one
My name is Ogino Chihiro. I was a servant girl in the Empire called Spiritino, ruled by the cold, ruthless, and vicious Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi.
This is the story of how I fell in love with him.
This is the story of how he fell in love with me.
—
"I'm very sorry. I will take full responsibility for this distressing matter. Please let me take care of-" She was cut off with a hard slap to her fair face. Her head snapped to the right, but she dare not wince at the stinging pain blossoming on her cheek. Instead, she instantly turned back to face her master. "I'm very sorry," she began, repeating the sentence. "I will ta-"
"Could you, like, shut the hell up? For once?" The woman screeched. "Just shut up. I don't want to listen to your whining. You're 18 years old already," she snarled. "Just don't spill on me again. This is the first time you've done it so I don't expect to have another occurrence like this."
The girl blinked her almond colored eyes and frowned. Was she supposed to reply? She was told to be quiet. She decided to stay quiet.
She was slapped again.
"Are you gonna answer me? Or what?" The woman frowned and tapped her chin with a long, slender finger. "Oh, wait, you're too dumb for that, aren't you?" The woman cackled at her poor excuse for a joke. "Now get out of my sight," she barked.
The girl bowed, low and respectfully. "Thank you for your punishment. I will remember it for next time and I will not make the same mistake again," she murmured.
The woman cackled. "If you can remember anything, with that brain the size of a walnut."
The girl stood and walked out of the room.
She wound her way around the large building, finally reaching the cramped servants quarters.
"What the hell happened, Sen?!" Rin screeched. "Why do you look like a tomato?!"
"Eheheh…" Sen scratched her burning cheek. "I got slapped by Lady Wheu," she replied sheepishly, letting her professional attitude drop. "It was my fault though, don't go getting yourself slapped too."
Once, Rin had gotten so angry that she stood up to Lady Wheu. It was pretty cool, until Rin found herself inside a pit with no food and just enough water to survive for 3 days. Sen definitely didn't want to repeat that event.
Rin sighed, scratching her head. Her short black hair was beginning to grow out and it almost touched the tops of her ears.
"You should cut your hair again," Sen said, trying change the subject. "Or else you will actually get slapped."
Rin grunted, pulling at her hair. "This stupid rule. I wish I could grow out my hair," she said wistfully. "Your hair would be real nice if you grew it out, Sen."
Sen self-consciously ran a finger through her short brown hair, only about an inch long from her scalp. "I'm not really that willing to try…"
The servants at the Kimiga Castle were forced to keep their hair short, and some rumours circulated that that rule was forced upon the servant girls because Lady Wheu didn't want any other woman, especially a servant girl, to have hair more beautiful then hers.
Lady Wheu was incredibly… narcissistic.
"Anyway," Rin began. "About that Spawn of Satan-"
"Please don't stand up for me again," Sen interrupted. "I really don't want anything to happen to you…"
Rin rolled her eyes. "Ugh, whatever. It wasn't that bad in the pit," she replied. "It was actually better being in the pit then it was being around Wheu," she whispered, winking. She took one of their spare rags and doused it in cold water.
Sen giggled. "Okay, sure it was," she replied.
Rin pressed the wet rag to Sen's face. "By the way," she murmured, "Did you hear the news?"
"Hm? What news?"
Rin scowled. "King Haku's passing through town!"
Sen's mouth dropped. "Seriously?" She groaned.
Rin rolled her eyes. "I can't wait!" She said, sarcasm dripping off her voice. "Apparently he's gonna be staying here too. Can you imagine the work we're gonna have to do in the next two weeks?" Rin shook her head.
Sen sighed. Most of the other girls loved King Haku. He was said to be really attractive. All of the servant girls, on the other hand, all despised him with a passion. Why? He was the one that made the rules. He was the one that took their fathers and brothers away from them to serve in the war, and that forced them to fend for their families. Most were dead. The one's who got their loved ones back were lucky. For the other girls? There were only two choices then; work as a servant or work in the brothel.
God knows nobody wanted to work in the brothel.
And so, they were forced to work as servants. They were treated more like slaves, but hey. It put food on the table for their families. Not that they were even able to contact them.
"Whatever, what's done is done. There's nothing we can do about it." Sen turned to the dirty sleeping mat on the floor. "Let's get some rest, okay Rin? You know, while we still can."
Rin rolled her eyes. "Why're you so chill about this?" She grumbled, turning to her own worn sleeping mat. "Honestly. Everyone else is threatening to murder this bastard and you're just like, 'What's done is done.' Then again," she mused, "you're like that about everything." She squeezed between a couple of other girls. "Anyway, goodnight sis."
Sen smiled. "Night."
—
King Haku scowled, snapping his fingers.
A book levitated, and then exploded into confetti.
Haku shrugged. "Never liked that book, anyway."
There was a flinch. And then a slow, pained exhale. "T-That was mine, Master Haku."
Haku turned in surprise to face the tall, wiry old man. His advisor. His limbs were so skinny that he may as well be a spider.
"So? I didn't like it anyway, Kamaji. I was practicing," he said as-a-matter-of-factly.
Kamaji frowned. "That's not how you practice your powers! Yeesh, sometimes you can be so childish," he grumbled.
Haku rolled his eyes, getting up and stalking out of the room.
Kamaji grumbled, looking around the room at the mess. He called for a maid. "You there! Clean up this mess!" He shouted to the maid dressed in black. Kamaji liked to call them sootballs, because of their charcoal black uniforms. He pretended to be cold towards them, but would often slip a small candy into their pockets.
The maid bowed and began sweeping up the mess.
Kamaji ventured into the throne room. "Master Haku, you need to prepare yourself for your meeting with Lady Wheu of Kimiga Castle," he grumbled. Kamaji seemed to be the only one that could tolerate Haku and keep him under control.
Haku turned and gave him his coldest glare, but the nimble man stayed unfazed. "What if I don't want to go?" Haku spat.
"Too bad. You're going," Kamaji said dismissively. "Lady Wheu is excellent at weaponry. You need her if you want to conquer the Jin State."
"Fine," Haku snapped. "I'll go. But I can't guarantee that I'm going to choose her to help me or not."
Haku got up and began to walk out the large door.
"And Master Haku," Kamaji said after him. "No magic."
Haku scowled. "I know, I know."
— Two weeks later, Kimiga —
"Kamaji."
"Yes, Master Haku?"
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Haku asked, peering out the window.
"Yes, Master Haku."
"It's disgusting."
"Oh, don't worry. This is just the bad area of town."
"...Ah."
Twenty minutes later, Haku was striding into the stone castle, along with Kamaji behind him.
Rin had the great honour of taking King Haku's bags to his room and Sen had an even greater honour of escorting him to his room. Rin scowled as she gathered up his few possessions. Surprisingly, he wasn't dressed with great extravagance, and he had brought few belongings. "At least he isn't narcassistic like Little Miss Ego here," she whispered to Sen as she left the hallway. She winked. "Good luck," she mouthed.
'Just my luck that I happen to be a good worker,' Sen thought bitterly. 'Just my luck.'
"Hello, your highness," Lady Wheu gushed, obviously awed at his handsome face. His features were and defined and his hair was shiny and thick. Lady Wheu almost seemed jealous. "It's such an hono-"
"The ground is not properly swept. The plants need watering. Your ventilation system must be updated. I expect my room to be cleaner then this, at the very least?" Haku inturrupted. "And also, your servants need to be wearing more then rags," Haku muttered, eyeing the girl standing quite a ways away. The girl would have maybe been pretty in an average kind of way, if her clothes didn't look like a potato sack. As soon as he tried to make eye contact with her, her eyes flickered down to the ground, although her face remained neutral.
Lady Wheu stiffened, obviously surprised at his blunt display of brutal 'honesty', as Haku liked to call it. "Oh. Well, I assure you that she's the best worker we have, and will be accompanying you throughout this trip. If you need anything, be sure to call her."
Sen almost moved. 'Wha- she didn't tell me about this!' Sen thought angrily.
"I'm very sorry, Lady Wheu. Please excuse Haku for his uncouth behaivour," Kamaji said, folding his long arms behind his back and discreetly giving Haku a hard pinch. Haku coughed. "If you'll excuse us, we would like to rest after out trip. Please show us to our rooms."
"Oh, right. Sen!" Lady Wheu called sharply. "Escort them to their rooms. Wait outside their doors for the rest of the day and make sure their stay here is the best."
Sen nodded, letting bitter thoughts override her brain.
—
Haku noticed the sour look on the girl - Sen's - face. She escorted them to their rooms wordlessly.
"These are your rooms. Please feel free to call me when you need something." She gestured to two rooms across the hall from each other. Then, she stood and stared at the wall.
'Just my luck,' Haku thought as he entered his room.
And then he tripped.
He tripped.
At least it was a somewhat graceful trip, but nonetheless landing face first.
Immedietly, he felt a pair on tiny but surprisingly strong hands grasp his shoulders and pull him upward. It was a strange sensation; he felt like he just floated upright.
It was the servant girl. Her face was red and her lips were set in a straight line. "I'm very sorry!" She said monotonously. "Somebody must have placed your bags right at the entrance of the door. I'm very sorry. I will unpack your bags for you while you… recover." She quickly turned away, grabbing all of his possessions.
Haku remained impassive, but somewhat embarrassed.
He could have sworn he heard a small giggle.
A/N:
Surprise!
New story. I just randomly got this idea and decided to try it out; what do you think? This is just a little something I whipped up between study breaks. Sorry about it's short length, it's hard to write something long during the exams. T.T
I'm probably not going to continue this story unless you guys want me to.
So, please! Drop a line and tell me how I did.
Also, if you want to, check out my other story. Reviews are greatly appreciated! :3
- Jo