Mata POT Ryosaku!! Yoroshiku ne!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own no nothing, really!

Chapter 6

She was staring hard at her aunt's pet, and came to her senses when Kurokuro turned his head and looked pointedly at the front door behind him. "Ah! Sorry for keeping you outside, let me open the door for you now," Sakuno was flustered at her poor treatment of her guests.

They made their way into the house, and Sakuno quickly showed her aunt to the guest room where she would sleep. Leaving her aunt to freshen up after her long trip, Sakuno toddled into the kitchen and started boiling a kettle of water for making tea. Kurokuro followed her into the kitchen, a fact she discovered after turning around and almost stepping on the cat.

"Kurokuro-sama! Gomenasai! Eto, was there something you wanted?" Sakuno couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something distinctly awkward with the fact that she was speaking to the cat.

Worse, she was quite sure it understood her words.

Said feline coolly padded to the refrigerator and looked at her expectantly.

"Ano, perhaps you are thirsty?" Green eyes narrow in annoyance, as if to say, "Well, DUH! So do something about it!"

Sakuno was carefully putting a saucer of cold milk down for the black cat when her aunt came into the kitchen, sans crimson headwear.

"Kurokuro! Don't impose on our hostess, you spoilt brat!" Mayu was chastising her pet loudly as soon as she stepped into the narrow kitchen. Said spoilt brat meow once, then turn his attention back to the milk, lapping it up elegantly in the way cats do, as opposed to the noisier way of dogs.

"Ano, it was no trouble, Mayu ba-chan, really!" Sakuno quickly informed her aunt.

"Well, if you say so. Thanks for accommodating him, I just thought he might come in useful on this trip; otherwise I wouldn't have brought him this far from home. Just you make sure you don't end up running in circles around him, he has a bad habit making weak-minded people do things for his enjoyment."

Weak-minded?? Ano ne …Mayu ba-chan…… Eh! Kurokuro-sama is smirking! That look reminds me of Ryoma-kun… …

"Well, don't just stand there, Sakuno, the kettle is boiling, shall we make some tea?" Mayu was helping herself to the contents of the cupboards.

"H-Hai, ba-chan!"

They were sitting down to cups of hot tea at the kitchen table, since Mayu didn't want to move into the living room. The scene was cozy, aunt and niece chatting in the kitchen, with a domesticated feline on the floor lapping up milk from a saucer.

"Now, Sakuno, you must be curious why I suddenly moved in to stay, so let me try to explain. I am here at the request of Sumire Oba-sama, and the reason for her request is you." Mayu settled back comfortably in her chair and took in her niece's reaction to her cryptic speech.

Sakuno was, as expected, confused and worried. Did she do something wrong? But if she did, why did Obaa-chan not scold her for it immediately? Why send for Mayu ba-chan who stayed in Osaka? She couldn't turn up a single reason for being the cause of all these trouble, but she just knew that everything was her fault. Ultimately, everything was her fault.

Sakuno started to apologize profusely," Gomenasai, ba-chan! Gomen, gomen!" Her eyes were starting to water, in regret of whatever wrong she committed.

Mayu sweatdropped. Her niece looked to be ripe fodder for Evil Feline Lord Kurokuro; she suspected the time she spent with Sakuno might have to be extended infinitely if she wanted Sakuno to have a more suitable attitude for her position.

"Ah … no, actually you haven't done anything wrong. It was inherited, you see, so no, you really didn't do anything wrong," Mayu tried to pacify her niece whose tears were threatening to cascade from her lovely brown eyes. "And you can't actually do anything about it either, it just comes to you, or it doesn't. None of it was your fault. All you can do is to understand and be prepared for the change to take place, which I am here to help you with."

Sakuno was getting more confused and more worried. What was ba-chan talking about? Was she feeling alright?

It was so easy to read her niece's mind from her vivid facial expression, Mayu gave an inward sigh as she mentally added a couple more years to the infinite period of time she had to spend on the younger Ryuuzaki. Sakuno might as well write, "I am totally lost in this conversation, and its all my own fault!!" on her forehead.

"Okay, Sakuno-chan, this may take a while, so sit comfortably and I will reintroduce you to the extended version of family history of the Ryuuzakis."