"Did you collect the needle?" Ragyō calmly asked, knowing that this question was redundant.

"Yes Lady Ragyō." The maid standing, or bowing to be exact, before her said as she presented the item in question to the silver haired hybrid.

"And Ryūko?" Ragyō asked, knowing that this question was one that needed a definite answer to determine if her plans for her lost daughter would still be going as she anticipated.

"I don't believe she noticed when I picked it up." The maid eagerly said, thinking that this would please Ragyō further.

"Marvelous. That will be all." Ragyō cooly said.

The maid, happily, bowed her head once more before exiting Ragyō's room. Leaving the conglomerate all to herself and her thoughts.

'I really must ask dear Nui to be more careful. But that will have to wait until after today's outing with Ryūko...' Ragyō mentally noted, anxious to see how her found daughter will perform on her next test.

Ryūko made her way to her bathroom, looking forward to finally scrub away all the dirt and grime from the day her father died. As well as her old worn clothes.

The first thing she noticed, this being her first good look at the bathroom, was how it was illuminated by a small chandelier with a gold frame. Despite its size, it looked like something most hotels would wish they had in their lobbies. Next Ryūko's eyes were drawn to the floor. The entire floor appeared to be made of a singular cut marble slab, opal-white in color of course, with a wave like pattern stretching across it. The mirror was a typical size but had an expensive looking frame, which had a white-porcelain sink hung below it and had what looked to be jade vines embezzled into its sides. Thankfully for Ryūko, who was once again starting to feel out of place, the toilet looked to be normal. It wasn't made of gold, silver, diamonds, or anything else that seemed ludicrously pricey. This normalcy didn't end there however as she spotted a modest ( or average depending on who you're talking to) looking bathtub over on the right, before noticing a shower on the opposite side. It didn't look too fancy or anything, Ryūko simply wanted to get clean as quickly as possible. So she made her way over towards the shower, feeling more and more out of place with each step as she walked.

"Shall I fetch you a towel or anything for your shower Lady Ryūko?" The maid who had yet to leave asked from her bedroom, unknowingly sending the young girl from one feeling of discomfort to another.

Ryūko felt herself jumbling her words and thoughts as she tried to consider her best answer. "Ugh sure, mam..." Ryūko hastily said, having realized that she wouldn't know where to look for a towel herself.

"Very well. I'll be back with a freshly laundered towel and a change of clothes for you." The maid said with a bow before exiting the room, not that Ryūko was looking anyhow, punctuated by the sound of her closing the door.

'Guess I'll just have to get used to this...' Ryūko thought to herself before turning the shower's shoulder-level faucet, with a small cubby built into the wall just below it.

As the water began to heat up, the punk rock looking girl scanned the room. Doing so to ensure that there wouldn't be anyone around to see her soon to be exposed body. As hard as it might be for anyone to believe; this hot headed girl, who was known through out her old school as the lunatic who'd send entire street gangs to a clinic by herself, was very self conscious about her body -though most would agree that it is quite attractive. After doing a double take, which finally put her mind at ease, Ryūko calmly undressed and stepped inside the long awaited shower.

The warm water felt invigorating against her skin, this was the first time she felt a glimpse of relaxation since her dad died. But as tranquil as it felt to her, Ryūko had to keep this brief. After all, her mother was waiting.

After getting over how nice the water was Ryūko took a bar of soap from the small cubby, also noticing that it housed some shampoo as well as conditioner. The bar had a distinct, aloe, smell to it. But (unlike the other pricy choices) this made no real difference to her, a bar of soap was still just a bar of soap after all. After ten minutes or so her body was now void of all the previous days of filth and she was prepared to use the shampoo she spotted in the cubby. However there was a knock on the door before she could identify the shampoos scent.

"Lady Ryūko, I've brought your' laundry." a voice, sounding like the maid from earlier, said from behind the door. It was just loud enough for Ryūko to hear.

Ryūko, not liking the possibility of her dripping wet body being seen, let out an inaudible 'uh' before quickly brainstorming an idea.

"You think you can just set them on the bed?" The self conscious teenager asked, while successfully keeping her nervousness out of her tone. Save for the jumble that escaped her before she spoke.

"Yes. Of course." Ryūko heard the maid say, followed by the echoing of the door being opened and soon after closed.

Though they were feint, Ryūko could hear the older woman's foot steps. Odd considering the distance between the bed and the shower.

"Lady Ragyō is waiting for you downstairs, whenever you're ready." Ryūko managed to hear.

"Thanks. Can you tell her I'll be right down?" Ryūko asked, at a slightly quickened pace in hope that she could be alone again.

"As you wish." The maid said before Ryūko heard the footsteps once again.

Ryūko waited, uneasily, for the sound of the door opening and closing once more before she continued with her shower. Mentally criticizing herself for making her Mom wait even longer, just because she felt shy when it came to her body. After regaining her peace, Ryūko sampled the shampoos' lavender fragrance and, after lathering it in her hands, began running it through her hair. By this point, while her eyes were closed, Ryūko's entire body felt a sensation similar to that of pins-and-needles. Only it felt good rather than sore and numb. Maybe a bar of soap isn't just a bar of soap after all...

After thoroughly rinsing the shampoo from her hair, Ryūko repeated the process with the also lavender scented conditioner. With that taken care of, the last Matoi turned off the water and, after her body settled down, exited the shower.

After stepping outside the shower, Ryūko noticed that the clothes she left on the floor earlier were nowhere to be found. Undoubtedly the maids doing. Not seeing anything wrong with a maid picking up some dirty clothes, the lost Kiryuin made her way to the bed that held her towel and a change of clothes. Oddly enough she found the clothes, consisting of a soft-pinkish white blouse and a pair of navy colored skinny jeans, lying atop the plain white towel. Both of which were unfolded while the towel beneath them was.

'Not really my style.' Ryūko thought to herself as she took the towel out from the bottom of the pile, though she did think that they looked nice.

After drying herself, Ryūko started looking through her suitcase for something else to wear. But every time she considered a potential outfit, she kept finding her eyes wander towards the unfolded one that was resting on her bed. The more she eyed the clothes, the more her body wanted -neigh craved- feeling the sensation of the wardrobe against her skin. Unable to ignore this feeling any longer; she took a breath, walked back to the clothes resting place and hastily started donning it.

Ragyō patiently sat on a leather couch off to the side in the main foyer. It granted her a clear view of the staircase and her precious daughter as she started to descend them, being escorted by one of the many maids. The sight of Ryūko wearing the outfit she could tell Nui made, and fitted specifically for her, brought a pleased smile to Ragyō's face. Knowing Nui, she figured those clothes were probably just shy of being ten percent life fibers. Likely to prevent a star from forming. Ragyō couldn't help but think of Nui's intentions for this, it was so apparent she wanted to ensure Ryūko's body would remain scar free; despite them both knowing any wounds Ryūko gets would just heal without a trace.

'For Nui to be this restless, Ryūko's body must truly be a thing of beauty. One that I'll need to purify in the springs.' Ragyō thought to herself, while admiring the way Nui's clothes took to her daughters shape.

Author's Notes

I'm not dead and this hasn't been discontinued (or at least not yet). Without going into details, I finished college, started working, got injured, got back to work, and don't have a lot of time to write. About half of this was written before any of that and the other half have been slowly added in during all the time after that.

I'll let you know when I'm decommissioned and choose someone to pick it up from there. I also deleted that first draft since looking back, it was an embarrassment for me.