I looked at the door for a long while after the maid and the butler had left. I guess I was just trying to sort things out in the jumbled mess of my brain. Finally, I managed to move to the wardrobe on the far wall of the luxurious room. Throwing the doors open, I saw a wide array of reds and blues. Looking through them, I quickly decided that none of them suited my taste. What WAS my taste, though? I hadn't had anything even remotely new in the past five years. I gently closed the mahogany doors and sighed. Suddenly, my curiosity sparked, kindled by who knows what. Looking out the large picture window, I surveyed the perfectly manicured garden in the back of the house. I decided to do some exploring. My way. I brought my foot up with perfect balance and smashed it through the glass, shattering it onto the carpet. I realized that I was two floors up but quickly pushed that out of my mind. I had jumped off of taller. Taking a deep breath of the cool fresh air, I pushed myself off the window ledge and enjoyed the brief feeling of freefalling. Landing softly on the thick grass, I realized yet another thing. I was still in the man's shirt. And it didn't cover much of anything. Ignoring this embarrassing fact, I strolled into the garden. The first thing I noticed was the overpowering smell of roses. There were rosebushes everywhere. Going up to the nearest bush, I began to pick a rose, but pulled back sharply when I felt a little sting on my finger. I looked at it curiously. It had been so long since I had felt anything, let alone pain. As I was caught up inspecting the little drop of blood on my finger, Sebastian came up behind me.

"You seem to have pricked your finger. Let's go take care of that shall we?"

I jumped at the voice behind me then turned around to look at him. I had to look up at him despite my incredibly long legs. "I…. uh….." I stuttered. He just smiled and bowed, showing me the way with an outstretched hand. I reluctantly took the lead and he followed behind me.

"If you will forgive me for being frank," he began,"You seem to have forgotten to get properly dressed this morning. Did none of the dresses in your room suit you?"

My eyes widened in embarrassment, though I knew I shouldn't be embarrassed because I had gone through worse at the mercy of the Kurai. He led me up the stone stairs in through the double doors of the mansion, then once inside, up another set of stairs and down a long hallway. When we neared a certain door, he put a hand gently, almost protectively, on my lower back. I tensed but said nothing not wanting to be rude to my host. Yet. I had this problem with physical contact. I was deathly afraid of it actually. It was what had made my five years worse than they had already been. He didn't remove his hand until we got to my room, where he took long purposeful strides to the wardrobe and started picking through the dresses. Each dress he pulled out, he seemed to reject almost immediately. Finally, after he had pulled out most of the dresses, he got a sudden look on his face that scared the shit out of me. I had seen it before. On the faces of the Kurai. Their masks hid all but their mouths. I shivered unintentionally just before Sebastian turned around with a silvery grey dress in hand. Its sleeves were quarter length and around the waist, it had a corset type thing that laced up. I watched in apparent agony as he pulled out a hoop and a real corset from the wardrobe. Closing my eyes, I walked to him and braced myself to feel his fingers unbuttoning the shirt, but they never came,

"I couldn't help but notice that you don't seem to fancy physical contact. Perhaps you would like to undress yourself?"

I looked at him gratefully then turned to undress. Once the shirt was off, I squeezed my eyes shut again anticipating his touch. Yet again, it never came. He managed to wrap the corset around my waist without so much as a brush against me.

"You may want to hold on to the bedpost. This may be quite uncomfortable."

I hurriedly grabbed the bedpost and held on for dear life as he laced the torturous device up. After I was completely dressed, he said, "Lord Ceil has requested your presence at dinner tonight. I believe he has some questions. Until then, you are free to do what you wish. I will come for you at precisely seven pm. No later no earlier. I would suggest you stay away from the servants and the second floor." Bowing, he left and I was once again alone. I squirmed under the pressure of the corset and remembered why I hated dresses. I decided to go look for a shirt and some trousers because I couldn't stand the dress much longer. Pushing open the door I took a left turn down the hallway and checked into every room before moving on to the Second floor.