Work

Himiko never questioned going to work with her brother. There really was no reason for her to: she'd been accompanying him for as long as she could remember in some form or another, and having no frame of comparison meant that she didn't know that things were done any other way. About all she knew was that when she went out at night with her brother it was "work", and that she wasn't supposed to talk about "work" with other people. Although later in life Himiko would realize that at that young an age she had been more of a hindrance to her older brother than a help, at that point in her life all she knew was that she worked, and work was fun.

It was very late on a pleasantly warm spring night when Yamato went out on a job, once again bringing his little sister with him. He'd slunk into a house, telling the little girl to stay behind the hedges. And thus, the boring part of the job began. Himiko sat down alone behind the shrubbery, idly pulling up handfuls of grass and letting it fall back to the earth like natural confetti as she waited for the fun part to begin.

After what seemed like an eternity to Himiko, she finally voices. She looked up, but couldn't quite see what was above the square bush, but she tensed anyway. Her brother had warned her of what would happen if someone found her and caught her: she'd be taken away from him. And that was the last thing in the world she wanted.

"I think I see something," a man's voice said. Suddenly, a light flashed into her eyes, causing her to shrink out of it's glare. It moved aside, and Himiko looked up to see the face of a man that seemed quite old to her, although he was probably only middle-aged. "Hey, come and see this..."

A chubbier man appeared over the bush, analyzing Himiko under the beam of his partner's flashlight. "A kid? The boss has us searching every inch of this place just because some kid snuck onto his lawn?"

"She looks kinda young to be out here all by herself," the first man said, as if she were an inanimate object. "Do you think someone's looking for her?"

"Why don't you ask her?" the second man asked. He leaned forward a little to put his face closer to the little girl's. "Hello there. Can you talk?"

Himiko didn't know what to do. Her brother had expressly forbid her from talking to anyone while she was working, and yet these men would probably hurt her if she didn't answer. Instead of responding verbally, she nodded, cowering further in her place.

"What are you doing here?" the first man asked as gently as possible. He waited a few moments, and when he received no answer, he tried again. "Did get lost? Is someone looking for you?"

Himiko could smell a trace of something in the air. She yawned, but continued to look up at the men. They both also yawned, but found themselves unable to stay awake and fell over, fast asleep.

"Yeah, I am," Yamato said, putting the perfume he was holding away. He had a bulky-looking bag on his back that he hadn't gone in with. "Ready to go?"

Himiko nodded, then yawned again. Yamato looked behind him, then reached into his belt and pulled out another bottle of perfume. "Here, smell this."

Himiko obeyed, inhaling the pleasant scent deeply. Her eyes opened wide and she stood up, brushing the grass off of her clothes. Yamato put the perfume away and lifted her up. "There, you feeling all better?"

"Uh huh!" Himiko said cheerfully.

"All right. Here we go..."

Yamato put Himiko on his shoulders, and she leaned forward and clasped her hands over his forehead. He broke into a dead run, slipping into the woods and running as fast as he could, making sure Himiko wasn't slipping. This was the fun part of working: seeing her brother use his perfumes, and then running away with him.

They got to his car, and he fastened Himiko into the passenger seat before diving into the driver's side of the convertible. Work was also the only time that he took his car out, which just added to the excitement.

Peeling out into the night, Himiko finally allowed herself to giggle and throw her hands in the air as if she were on some sort of thrill-ride. If this was what work was always like, she couldn't wait to be able to do all of it herself.