The crisp autumn air felt rather cooler for that time of year, and was oh so fragrant, carrying the scent of fallen leaves and a hint of woodsmoke from the many fireplaces at St. Lucia Academy already burning. Shibata Rihito took a deep breath pulling in as much of the perfumed air as he could, held it for a few seconds before releasing it in a low steady breath. That felt good.
His slow ambling steps were taking him through the woods and eventually leading back to the Ombura dorm where he lived with Mei-sama, but he was in no hurry. Mei-sama was in her room studying and told him to go for a walk as his constant presence was distracting her, so here he was taking this opportunity to enjoy nature in all her resplendent glory. His thoughts, however, were less sanguine.
Something was wrong with Mei-sama but he couldn't clearly put his finger on it. Rihito was Mei-sama's butler. She was supposed to depend on him for just about everything and anything she needed, whenever she needed it, so why did if feel like she was pulling away from him? Why was she practically ignoring him? For the last two days Mei had barely spoken to him. She spent much of her time in her room, pouring over her school books and, while he was happy that she was taking her education so seriously, he felt like she was doing it more to distance herself from him rather than for any educational value. When he tried to engage her in conversation, she was seemed distracted and did not wish to talk, when he tried to catch her eye, she seemed to look away. Was this normal schoolgirl behaviour? Was something stressing her out and making her pull back into herself? Was it something he had done?
Enough! Rihito straightened his shoulders and glared back at Ombura dorm with a determined scowl on his face. No way was he going to let her back away from him. Whatever was troubling his Mei-sama, he would get to the bottom of it and fix it today. His ambling shuffle changed to a quick resolute step as he made his way back to her.
Mei's POV
Mei puffed in annoyance as she forced herself to focus and began reading at the top of the page, for what felt like the hundredth time, but in reality was only the fourth. She made it to the second paragraph before the image of Rihito in Lucia-sama's arms imposed itself on the page in front of her. Slamming the book closed with a huff Mei abruptly pushed back her chair and stalked over to the other side of the room to pour herself a glass of water, hoping the cool liquid would help to cool down her brain, but her thoughts kept circling back to that torturous image and that white devil, Shinobu's words. They were the perfect pair, meant for each other from the very beginning and would still be together if not for you. Lucia-sama loves him more than her own life and Rihito needs her too. You are the thing keeping them apart.
As much as she didn't want to, even she had to admit they were perfect together. Her golden beauty the perfect foil to his dark angel. They made sense. This thought caused an uncomfortable tightening in her chest and she could feel the tears forming in the back of her eyes. She blinked hard, making sure they did not fall. No. It had to be wrong. There was no way that Rihito would be here with her if he were that much in love with Lucia-sama. He would have walked away from being a butler before he would allow her grandfather to separate them if that were truly the case. Mei could easily imagine why Lucia-sama would be obsessed with him, but she had some doubts about his feelings for her. But then again, they looked like a couple in love when she saw them in the greenhouse.
Oh, what should she do? Should she believe Shinobu? Should she ask Rihito? Were her doubts about him objective or were they based on the desire of her own heart? Should she just leave it alone and see what happened? No, she could not do that. What if Rihito walked in one day and told her he was going back to Lucia-sama; that she was the person he wanted, and Mei would never be good enough to replace her. Could she handle that? The tightness in Mei's chest got stronger.
At that moment, the door to her room burst open and Rihito appeared before her. She was immediately struck by his beauty, overwhelmed for the moment she could do no more than stare and take in the perfection of his angled features, his alluring bowlike lips, his smouldering dark eyes with those incredible lashes, and the full head of shaggy black hair that begged for fingers to run through it. His body, tall and muscular with slim hips and long legs seemed to pulse in front of her bedazzled eyes causing her heartbeat to quicken and flutter in her chest. Mei had to blink her way back to reality as she heard the hard edge in his voice when he said, "Mei-sama, we have to talk."
He had a determined gleam in his eyes, but the rest of his face was unreadable. With a sinking feeling in her gut, Mei just knew he was here to tell her that he was leaving her for Lucia-sama and she decided right then that she would not fall apart. She would not put up a fuss, or cry and make it hard for him, she would show her respect for Rihito by behaving like the lady he believed her to be.
"So." She stated in a calm voice that did not betray her true feelings. "You've made your decision then? Will I be getting a new butler now, or will I be on my own?"
Rihito's POV
Whatever he had been expecting, that was not it! What on earth was she talking about? Rihito opened his mouth to ask her just that when Tami-sama came barging into the room at full speed, directly into Rihito, almost knocking him over. "Oh, here you both are" she cried breathlessly, "I've been looking for you for simply ages! We've been called for an urgent assembly in the main parlour. Hurry up now – we can't be late." Tami grabbed Mei by the hand and dragged her out of the room leaving a surprised and confused Rihito in her wake.
The girls ran all the way to main building with Rihito just behind them, but once they entered the building, they all slowed down to a sedate walk, more befitting their environment. They were the last ones to arrive in the main parlour and stood off to the side, watching the other young ladies and their butlers chatting and giggling, waiting to find out what was going on.
During their run, Rihito had been mulling over Mei's words and concluded that Mei thought he was leaving her, though he could not fathom any reason why she would be under that impression. Unobtrusively he put his hands on Mei's waist and pulled her into him, her back grazing his chest as he bent down and whispered in her ear. "We will finish our conversation later Mei-sama. I think there has been a misunderstanding." She turned to look at him, but then her attention was once again brought forward when the parlour door opened and Lucia-sama entered, being pushed by non other than the White Devil himself.
The young ladies all swarmed around Lucia, welcoming her and complimenting her on her how well she looked, while the object of their accolades simply smiled and nodded her golden head in acknowledgement. A moment later Shinobu cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and let the room know that Lucia-sama had an important announcement to make.
"Ladies and Butlers I am very pleased to announce that we will be holding a special Halloween ball in two weeks time. It will be special because, for that evening and that evening alone, the rules regarding ladies cavorting with their butlers will be set aside and the butlers will be the ladies dates for the evening." An excited buzz immediately followed the surprising announcement. Ladies were already thinking ahead to what they might wear to look good for their dates as they cast shyly delighted gazes towards the men. Rihito felt a sudden foreboding, not trusting anything that made Lucia and Shinobu this happy. He pulled Mei in closer until she was fully pressed up against his back. Shinobu allowed the happy murmuring to continue for a moment before clearing his throat again, indicating Lucia-sama still had more to say.
"The ball will not be only for fun. We have also decided to make this a test not only of the ladies dancing abilities, but also their grace under pressure dealing with a new and unforeseen circumstance." Lucia ignored the suddenly worried murmurs coming from the group in front of her and settled her gaze directly on Mei as she continued. "Starting tomorrow morning for the next two weeks, until the end of the ball, all the butlers will be re-assigned to different random ladies to see how well they deal with the pressure that comes with sudden change."
Outraged gasps and cries broke forth from the assembled group as they made their displeasure known. "How can this be?" "I don't want to!" "You can't do this!" "What will I do without my beloved Daimon?" The butlers although equally outraged, made their displeasure known by the cold, stony glares they leveled at the pair up front. Rihito's grip on Mei's waist only tightened. He had an idea of what would happen now and could see no way to stop it.
Mei's POV
Mei's heart skipped a beat or two when Lucia and Shinobu first entered and her eyes met his for a split second. He looked away, but Mei's eyes stayed on him as she took in his disgustingly good looks and lithe body, much as she had done with Rihito a little while ago. Oh dear. What was going on with her? Why was she reacting to him as well? These thoughts swirling around in her head kept her brain busy enough to miss the first part of Lucia's announcement. However, when she heard the words 'butlers will be re-assigned' she knew that Lucia and Rihito would somehow end up together. The plan was so obvious it was ridiculous, she thought angrily. Wait did that mean she would end up with Shinobu? The possibility once again made her heart flutter.
Lucia waived her hand and two a year student appeared carrying a large glass bowl containing folded slips of paper. "To make sure the new partners are chosen in a fair and random way, all the butlers' names are written on the papers in the bowl." Fair and random my ass, thought Mei. "Each lady will step forward and choose a slip of paper and the name you choose will be your new butler for the next two weeks. If you choose the name of your current butler, you have to put it back and choose again. Alright, who would like to go first?"
No one seemed to be anxious to go up and pick a name and Mei watched Lucia's face begin to turn an angry red, but then Tami, of all people, made her way slowly to the bowl. "There's a brave girl Tami, go ahead." Lucia smiled at her, her calm demeanour restored. Tami reached into the jar and pulled out a slip of paper. Slowly she opened it and read the name to herself before looking up at the assembled group and saying "Kiba".
"Well, well, that will be an interesting pairing." She said with a smirk. "Thank you Tami for your bravery and as a reward and a personal favour to me, I would ask you to draw a second name for my partner." There were many 'ooohs' and aaahhhs' from the audience as Tami reached in again and this time swirled her hand around in the slips making sure they were all mixed up. She withdrew her hand and opened up the folded sheet and gasped as she read out the name "Rihito". Shocked murmurs were heard all around the room. Mei stiffened up and stepped away from him, turning to look at Rihito, suspicion clouding her eyes.
Rihito's POV
Rihito saw the look in Mei's eyes and was confused. She looked at him as though it was his idea to pair up with Lucia-sama, who was looking at him with hearts plainly visible in her eyes. He knew this would happen as soon as Lucia mentioned re-assigning butlers, but did Mei think that he was happy about this, that he wanted this? What the hell! Didn't she know how he felt about her? He wanted to Mei aside and tell her that this was not his idea and he only wanted to be with her, but there was nothing he could do about it right now so he kept his mouth shut and waited to see who would be paired with Mei.
General POV
Lucia-sama seemed to have lost interest in the game after that and didn't bother to pay attention to anything but Rihito so Shinobu was forced to take responsibility and began calling up the ladies one at a time. It was soon evident that there were not enough butlers to go around and one young lady would have to go without. The final pairing was Izumi and Nezu leaving Mei all alone.
"Why Mei-sama, it looks like you'll have to do without," smirked Lucia, not bothering to cover her glee over her rivals unfortunate situation. "That shouldn't be too hard for you, I mean you are a commoner after all!" The youngest of the ladies, Miruku Mamahara stepped forward, "You can share Aoyama with me Mei." She offered shyly.
"That won't be necessary" Shinobu stepped in to Lucia's and Rihito's obvious surprise. "As Lucia-sama has a more than capable butler in Rihoto-san, I would be superfluous. Therefore I pledge myself to be Mei-sama's partner." That Shinobu used the word 'partner' instead of butler did not escape Rihito and he narrowed his eyes that the White Devil, thinking hard about what this could mean. Mei could only look at him in trepidation before turning her beseeching gaze to Rihito, but he was not looking at Mei, he was looking at Lucia and seeing that, her shoulder's drooped in acceptance. Without another word, Mei turned and headed back to her room at the Ombura dorm.
Rihito saw her leave and began to follow her out when he felt Lucia's hand on his sleeve. "Where are you going Rihito?" she asked.
"Forgive me, but you did say that the swap begins tomorrow morning. That means I am still Mei-sama's butler today and she needs me." He pulled his arm away from Lucia and went after Mei.
"Just you wait until tomorrow, my beloved. You'll be mine again and I'm never letting you go, ever!" she whispered in a low voice, then turned her menacing glare to Shinobu. She didn't like the idea of sharing anything with Mei and Shinobu belonged to her just as much as Rihito did. She would definitely have words with him about this; he must be up to something she thought as she watched him approach her with his creepy smiling face.