I'm sorry! I just had to add in the wacky servants like in the anime. :P

Helpers

Hotaru slid open the paper crane door and shut it behind him as he entered his bedroom, their bedroom. As expected, no matter how late at night it was, as long as Hotaru himself wasn't there Shiori wouldn't fall asleep. They slept in the same room, together in one futon because they didn't want anyone to know anything about them. They were married afterall, even if it was a contract marriage. Shiori kept a pillow between them whenever they slept, there would be no physical contact at all. It was one of the rules in their contract.

Sometimes Hotaru wished there would be no such rule.

Shiori quickly straightened up and sat up on the fotun, searching Hotaru's face and body for any signs of injury or bruises. "Where were you? You were gone for five hours – you didn't tell me where you were heading," the blue-haired girl blinked at the demon, waiting for his reaction.

Even if she clamed that the old, innocent Shiori had died long ago, there were still some fragments of the old Shiori left in her. Hotaru smiled. "Forgive me for making you worry, Shiori. I had to do something important."

"Making me worry? Please, don't make me laugh. I was just uncomfortable with that if you were away someone would take the chance to ambush me, or something. Stop trying to flatter yourself – I'm only following our contract," Shiori made a face at the dark-haired man and quickly sunk back in the flattened bed, facing away from Hotaru so her slightly reddened face would be hidden from him eyes. Completely forgetting about asking what the important was because she was embarassed.

Hotaru laughed and made his way to the futon he shared with the girl. "Of course, sorry for being assumptions."

He saw right through her.

The truth was she did worry for him, he was the only thing she had left – if he disappeared now then that would be mean everything was over for her, for her purpose. Throughout the time she had spent with him she had always felt herself getting drawn into him. Like a dark spell cast over her, she always felt like some force inside of her was trying to pull her involuntarily closer to him and she just couldn't resist it no matter how she did. Lust was sprouting inside of her and slowly taking over from inside as days went by, her desires craving for his touch increasing as they did.

No, stop it. He was a demon, that's how he lured humans in, didn't he? It was known for demons to seduce humans and impregnate women for their own pleasure. She had to control herself no matter how hard it was. She wasn't going to let him have his way with her. She had always made it clear – their marriage was nothing than a contract between a human and a demon.

"Have pleasant dreams, Shiori."

Shiori didn't say anything and shut her eyes closed.

---

"So, the reason you were absent for five hours yesterday was because you fired all the people working in this household, except for Fujioka, of course, and you went to look for new recruitment? For people who we could trust?" Shiori archd her eyebrow, repeating every word that her husband has said to her.

"Yes," the demon answered with a smile.

The young woman stood infront of all the new faces with her arms crossed and narrowed gaze, everyone had lined up neatly in a small line to greet their new mistress. It felt good to have such authority, she never dealt with any of the people in her household before. Back then, it ws her father's job to boss people and to give them orders.

The first in line was Fujioka, the old watchman that was with them for so many years – Shiori trusted him with her life, and Hotaru knew that. There was no way she would ever get rid of him, Hotaru didn't have a problem with the old man staying back either. Next in line was a young man named Arashi who always carried a scowl on his face – he was assigned to be the gardener.

Besides the new gardener was a man in a bizarre, cloaked outfit named Yasu – he was to be the chef. Oh god, that made Shiori nervous. How can she trust him to make their meals if they can't even see his face? What if someone else sneaked in the mansion wearing his clothes and poisoned the food when no one was looking or something.

Lastly, were two young girls, younger than Shiori – the twins, Sho and Cho, who were going to be the only maids of this huge mansion from now on. That was going to be difficult. Both of them had vibrant ginger-colored hair and matching light brown eyes. One of the twins' hair was long, it reached her waist and was tied in two long loose pigtails – she was known as Sho. The other twin's face was slightly tubby and her hair reached up till her chin. She was called Cho.

Cho looked frightened, like a little lost puppy, and was clinging on to her older sister's arm. They were cute, Shiori thought briefly.

Shiori sighed. They were quite a bunch, weren't they? The noblewoman decided to pass through all of them, one-by-one, and repeat what she was told about them. "So, you said, you went to the mountainous area in the northern region of Japan and helped Arashi escape the holy temple, because he didn't want to continue his high-priest training. You guys ran in with priests from the temple who wouldn't allow Arashi to leave and tried to attempted to imprison you both."

The brick-haired person grunted and folded his arms as his mistress pointed him out and walked past him.

"After that, you went to a theater, far away in the east, where they performed magic and dramas. You retrieved Yasu, the illusionist, because he was bored of his life and no one cared if he stayed or left?" the cloaked man didn't react and stood still like a machine like he always did, staring down at the floor.

Shiori moved on to the twins. "But you didn't stop there, you also went to a circus, fought with the people there because the twins wanted to escape that place? There was bloodshed. Why was there a big fight over you two, anyway?" Shiori turned to the two girls who were no older than fifteen - sixteen year olds.

"Because, um, we can do acrobatics, gymnastics, aerial acts, and um, contortion," Cho murmured, poking her head from behind her older sister's shoulder.

"I see, so your talent was so important to them that they didn't want you two to leave," Shiori beamed at them and turned back to Hotaru who was standing behind her the entire time with an amused look in his rose-colored eyes. "And you did all of this in five hours? Because we needed helpers around the house? – How in the world did you manage to do that? You never cease to amaze me," Shiori shook her head.

Hotaru nodded. "I am your husband afterall, am I not? We will have no trouble leaving the house whenever we want to now. I assure you, they have my trust. They can keep the Akiyama estate safe when we are not present."

Just then a short, plum woman entered the dining room where everyone was gathered. She had dark curly hair that looked like a big pile of yarn on her round head. The woman had eyes that seemed like they were always closed, two small slits. There were crumbs and food particles all over her mouth. She also had painted lips and powdered skin – so much so that kids would actually think of her as the snow demon, only the snow demon was suppose to be extraordinarily beautiful.

She was definitely extraordinary, but..

The woman seemed to be eating something. Shiori narrowed her eyes, that woman was eating their food.

Shiori turned to Hotaru. "Who is this?"

Hotaru cleared his throat, not sure how to explain the woman the scenario. "That is Sho and Cho's mother."

Shiori immediately turned to the twins and they nodded in union, confirming what the demon had said. Shiori blinked. Her daughters didn't look anything like her, thank god for that.

"Okay, what is she doing here?" Shiori asked again, rephrasing her first question.

Hotaru glanced at the woman who seemed to be munching on something and waving at Shiori at the same time."I tried to ask her to leave, she wouldn't.. she says the twins only stay if she does."

Shiori arched an eyebrow and walked over to the waving woman. "Then she has to work to live here, right? What's your name, miss?"

The woman grinned, displaying all the food that was stuck between her teeth. "Satomi."

Shiori tried to remain calm. "How – Do you have any skills or strengths? Anything you're good at?"

"My beauty," the middle-aged woman answered patting her afro and then tried making a sorrowful face to emotionally blackmail the girl. "Besides that, I gave you my twins to work in this house! Aren't you people satisfied with that! – oh my God, such greedy people. You're doing this because you're rich, right? I'm just a poor woman who needs shelter, makeup, nice clothes, and lots of food. Do you want to kick me out? Do you? How do you think I, a mother, would feel after being separated from her children? "

Shiori blinked. "Okay, I – "

" – Oh, I know! I'm really good at talking. I volunteer myself to be the head-adviser of these young people – I couldn't really care less of that old man standing over there. Don't worry, miss, I'll whip them into shape," the woman winked at Shiori and the young girl could feel something crawling down her spine. She couldn't get angry with her, if she did the twins would be taken away. Hotaru worked hard to get them here.

"Fine, whatever. Just stop talking."

Fujioka made a disgusted face at the woman for insulting him. Now satisfied, the woman started dancing her way to her daughters to rejoice in getting a job with them in the same workplace, but slipped in the process and fell on the hard floor.

The turquoise-haired girl burst out laughing at the sight, startling everyone who was in the room. Especially Hotaru, this was the first time he had actually saw her laugh. After all this time, she finally laughed. She looked like a little child when she laughed, innocent and devious at the same time. Hotaru smirked.

The leader of the Akiyama clan quickly clasped her mouth with both her hands to compose herself. It was then that everyone else except for Satomi howled with laughter. The tiny woman screamed in agony, kicking her stubby legs up in the air. Yasu, Arashi, and Fujioka (who had to be forced) all went to rescue her and pull her up since she was too heavy for just one person. The twins sighed.

"H-how embarrassing, Sho!"

"I know, Cho."

"I'm sorry – I, I – didn't mean to – ahem, well, anyway," the girl cleared her throat and turned to the non-human before exiting the room. "You did a very good job, Hotaru. I'm pleased. Doing all of this.. I'm really surprised. Maybe you should try being a butler someday, you'll do just fine," Shiori chuckled. Hotaru was content that he had made Shiori happy. The look in her eyes now was precious to him.

Hotaru smiled, "maybe I will."

---