The next time I saw him, things weren't as sparkling.

My mother had plopped me in front of the tv in the living room and ordered me not to bother her. She had brought another strange man around and I had to keep quiet about it.

"Senri."

I snapped back to reality.

"Momma and her friend are going out for the rest of the day, the baby sitter will be here in an hour. Be good, and stay out of her way." She told me as they left together.

Two hours went by and there was no one. I was really hoping there would be someone this time. It was lonely in the suite and there was nothing around to eat.

And just like that, my prayers were answered.

The lock jingled, and through the door came in Ichiru. I stared at him wide-eyed, observing the bags of groceries in his hands, and how he wore his sunglasses indoors.

"Oh!" He spoke suddenly.

"I'm sorry Sen-tan, I should've knocked before barging in." he chuckled.

Again with that nickname. It's so weird.

"But I'm pretty sure you must be starving by now, so why don't we make lunch together?"

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out.

"Ah."

I guess what I said made him sad.

"Your father seemed worried when the baby sitter told him she quit last week. So I told him I could just take care of you until he finds someone new."

I was so happy. I didn't really understand why, but I was.

"I didn't know what you liked, so I just bought a bunch of things hehe. I could make curry, omelet rice, tempura… " He trailed off as he sifted through the bags.

"Can we have omelet rice if that's okay?" I stuttered out. I knew Ichiru seemed nice, but so did the people mother and father brought over, and he soon learned that they were all but nice.

"Of course, Sen-tan! Do you want to help me out? It'll be fun if we work together."

My eyes sparkled at the gesture. It was rare that I got to spend time with anyone and basically starved for attention. But that kind of behavior was frowned upon. Mother said independent children are much better.

"If you don't want to, that's –"

"No!" I cut him off. "Could we really..?"

"Yes! Let's wash up."

We washed up and began. He taught me how to cut the vegetables and I watched him use it to fry with the rice. When we moved onto the eggs, he worked like magic and made a picture perfect omelet rice. He had me try to flip one and it came out terrible. We laughed together. He gave me the nice one he made and it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. I was so happy.

It was time to wash up and I helped him with the dishes. When he mention prepping dinner together, I could hardly contain myself. Just the thought of spending more time with him made me ecstatic.

"Your dad will be home tonight, so let's put the curry ingredients in the pot and hang out until he gets home." He informed me.

I looked at him peculiarly.

"How would you know that?" I inquired.

"Oh. Well I am just a temporary babysitter. And he's your dad. That's why he'd come home."

Ichiru started acting weird. He was nice but it looked like he really didn't know my father. He would go weeks without coming home because of 'work.' He wouldn't come home just because he was my dad. Neither would mother. I didn't like it, but that's how things were.

He dropped a mushroom and I went to grab it to help out, but he reached for it, too. Our heads bopped together and it hurt my forehead a bit, but I was worried I made him bite his tongue.

"Ichiru are you…" I started as I lifted my head"...okay?"

His sunglasses fell off his face and revealed to me his black eye. I stared at him, shocked at the sight, even more so at the thought that someone would go out of their way to hurt Ichiru, who I believed was a princess in his past life.

I was shocked.

"Ah, I look horrible, Sen-tan. I'm sorry about this."

He looked away, ashamed at his appearance.

I got angry, irrationally so. Who would hurt him? Why the need to? How dare they? But the childish me couldn't put it into words.

"Why did this happen? I don't like who did that to you"

"Sen-tan is such a sweetheart. Well, sometimes when people don't like something, they hurt them to try to make it stop. They don't like using words if since they think pain is faster."

"…That's dumb."

He gave me a small laugh.

"It is, isn't it?"

We spent the next few hours watching movies with each other and enjoying the company. Father came home, just like he said. It was the first time in a while that it felt like a warm home and that was thanks to Ichiru.

Ah, this person truly is the loveliest.