Hi!

It is finally spring and there's tons of nice stuff to buy! I'm completely almost out of cash which is really sad… but oh well! It's life, isn't it?


"Stop being so persistent! Give up already!" Mimi shouted. She was running outside the main house around the servants' quarter. (Miyako is quite rich. She owns a big territory for her business. She's also VERY successful in her business.)

"Shut up!" Yamato was starting to loose his cool face. He was sweating and looked tired. Never in his life, had he ever run like that. Mimi was also loosing stamina. She found the backdoor and ran out. She closed the door and locked it from outside.

"Open up, you cheater!"

"Sayonara!"

"You bitch! Wait till I get my hand on you!"

"Hmm... I thought you said that a while ago. I seem to be just fine!" Mimi ran off. She wanted to go back to Hikari's house but got lost on her way. Without realizing it, she found herself back to the prostitution house at the main door.

"Mimi! I have been searching for you everywhere!" Hikari said. She ran out of the main door to hug onto Mimi.

"What's written up there?" Mimi asked as she pointed at the roof.

"Red Garden. It's the name of this house. Anyway! I was so worried!"

"Sorry, I..." Before Mimi could continue, she was cut off by Yamato's appearance with Ken.

"Ah!" Yamato let out of his mouth while pointing his finger toward Mimi.

"Run!" Mimi grabbed Hikari's hand and started to run. They ended up stopping at the end of a mountain.

"Mimi... I can't take it anymore." Hikari collapsed down onto her knees from the tiredness.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what might happen to me if I got caught!" Mimi tried to explain and leaned against a small tree.

"Boss! Look what I found! Two young girls!" An ugly guy stood out of a bush. Another guy appeared who looked scarier. He was soon followed by a gang of ugly men.

"Young ladies, wanna play with us?" The boss said.

"Go away. Looking at your face makes wanna puke!" Mimi shouted at the man.

"Oh! I remember you!" One of the followers said. Hikari tried to hide her face. "Daisuke-san, she's the girl that you tried to woo at the Red Garden before yesterday."

The short haired man stared at Hikari for a few seconds. "Oh yea... You're also the one who slapped me. Whatever. I'm going to make you mine no matter what. I think I fell for you... so I asked my men to do some research on you, little missy. Hikari... what a pretty name huh?"

Bang!

Mimi threw a big piece of branch on Daisuke's face. She grabbed Hikari once again and they ran off. This time, they ended up back into the city in a deserted alley.

"Let's go back home." Mimi said.

"Yes..." Hikari looked really exhausted from all the running they did. Once they arrived near the house, Hikari pulled Mimi behind a street stand.

"What's wrong?" Mimi asked. Hikari pointed toward her house. A few men were wandering around the wooden house.

"We can't stay here."

"Where can we go?" Mimi asked nervously.

"I don't know... All I know is that if they continue to stay here like that, we'll only have to wait until my brother comes back."

"And... when is your brother coming back?"

"I don't know. A woman paid him to escort her to her hometown as a bodyguard. He should be back pretty soon."

"Why don't we ask Miyako to let us live in Red Garden for a little while?"

"We can't do that. If he found my house, he wills most likely send people at Red Garden too."

"Ah...! Does that mean we'll sleep in the streets? No way that I'll let that happen! What should we do?" Mimi asked desperately.

"Well... we might as well find ourselves another job temporary with a dormitory that we can sleep in."

"Yea! Let's go find a job!" The girls quickly head to the message board where messages were found.

Maids Wanted

We need in two or three maids who will serve princess Sora Takenouchi for a few days while the princess' maid left to go back to her hometown. We will provide you a room with the three meals of a day. The maids mustn't be older than twenty five years old nor be married. No experience required.

Mimi and Hikari snatched the paper off the board and head to the Takenouchi residence. Both of the girls bowed down in front of the sad looking lady who accepted them right away.

"My lady, why do you look so sad?" Mimi asked. She was very curious why a rich girl like her who can have everything would be sad.

"Yea. If you tell us, maybe we can help you."

"Were you forced to marry a man that you don't like!"

"No. I'm engaged to a man that I really love." Sora sighed and looked even sadder.

"Then... why are you sad? You should consider yourself lucky compared to those who can't be with the one they truly love." Hikari said harshly.

"I love him but it's a one side love."

"I see..." Mimi only thought of Sora's feeling and ignored the other person's feeling. For the rest of the day, Hikari and Mimi didn't do anything much. They stayed hours and hours keeping Sora company. All she did was stared outside of the window and played her flute.


"Yamato, you shall go visit princess Sora after tomorrow. You should quit giving the cold shoulder to the fair lady. Takeru, you shall accompany your brother as well." A brown haired man said while sitting down on a cushion.

"Father, I don't want to marry such a boring woman. All she knows to do is staring at people and play her flute." Yamato complained.

"Why do I have to go too! I have nothing to do there. You wouldn't want me to disturb my brother and future sister in law's sweet time." Takeru said. Yamato kicked his bother on the leg. Takeru bit his lower lip from the pain.

"I don't want any complains. I just sent Ken out on a mission and I don't know when he will be back. I need someone to keep an eye on my rebellious son." Both Yamato and Takeru bowed down to their father and left the room. As soon as they closed back the door, Yamato jumped on Takeru's back while strangling his neck.

"Damn you! You good-for-nothing brother!" Takeru tried to struggle from his brother's grip. "You should have said something to help me!" Takeru flipped Yamato over his body and Yamato fell once again on the floor. Takeru regained his breath.

"Did you try to kill me! I can't help you with those things. Just go visit her and find another girl to convince dad that you'll marry her instead. But, I doubt that he'll listen to you since he's convinced that Sora has the best family background to match with our family."

"Everything you said didn't help at all. I don't want to marry any girl. I just want to stay free and single." Yamato explained.

"What ever. I'm not going with you. I'm going to walk around until you're done with her." Takeru left his brother alone who was about to destroy the wall with his katana.


The next morning in the Takenouchi residence, Hikari woke Mimi up to prepare breakfast for Sora. She also took the chance to teach Mimi how to use the old times' kitchen. Mimi, who was really clumsy, turned her face dirty with smoke. Every time she would try to use the bamboo stick to heat the stove, she would cough very badly. After spending a very long time in the kitchen, the breakfast was finally prepared after Mimi burnt the food three times.

Sora ate her breakfast graciously. She seemed to be well mannered in everything she does. After her meal, Sora took out a long music instrument that had thirteen strings attached from an end to the other.

"Cool! That's a Koto right! I saw this many times on TV! Not many girls in my time know how to play this anymore! I can play piano… I wonder if it works kind of like the same thing"

"What? Are you trying to confuse me?" Sora asked. "Why don't I understand anything that you just said?"

"Mimi!" Hikari called.

"Oops! Sorry! I didn't mean to confuse any of you. You don't need to understand what I'm trying to say. Oh I never even touched a Koto before. Can I try?"

"Go a head." Sora stood up and let Mimi kneed in front of the instrument. Mimi felt nervous. She didn't even know how to put her fingers. As she was trying to make a sound by slightly pulling one of the strings, she cut her finger. Little drops of blood dropped onto the Koto.

"Ah! I'm so sorry! I'm going to clean it up!" Mimi quickly stood up as Hikari rushed toward Mimi. She grabbed Mimi's finger and covered it with a small piece of tissue that she ripped off her dress.

"Hikari! You're dress!"

"It doesn't matter. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No. It's just a small cut." Both of the girls giggled.

Sora stood there ignored by the two girls. She never experienced what it was like to have a friend and to care for each other. She didn't even understand why her heart ached and she felt a little jealous. She knew there was something both Mimi and Hikari have but not her. Just the thought of them having something that she doesn't made her even more pissed. She never knew that such feeling existed. Sora quickly left the room and hid herself in another room nearby.


The end for this chapter! Weehee!