"I hate this..." Aiko mumbles to herself. Some of the older guests had become drunk, and all people are annoying when drunk. Then add that some are lechers and it makes for a miserable party for the host. Alex was keeping the peace though, allowing Aiko to relax a little.
"Enjoying your party?" Ciel smirks at Aiko. She glares at him.
"Yes, can't you tell?" Ciel chuckles.
"I do feel bad for you Aiko. This was an irritating request, but I will say that things have gone fairly well so far. And it's not long until the party is over."
"I'll be glad for that." Aiko looks at the dancing people and runs her fingers through her hair. She used to dance when she was younger, she loved it. When she would fence she was grateful for her agility and grace, and even used dance during the fights, just for fun.
"Ciel!" Lizzy runs over. "Ciel! You must dance with me!" She smiles, then looks at Aiko. "Aiko! I love the party!" Aiko smiles back.
"Thank you Lizzy."
"Aiko! You should dance!"
"Wh-what?"
"Yes!" Lizzy smiles. "I remember seeing you before! In a fencing match! You won and it was so fun to watch because you danced all through it!"
"O-oh." Aiko smiles slightly. "I-I couldn't dance, not now."
"You must! Please!"
"I-i don't..."
"Come on!" She grabs Ciel's hand and Aiko's hand and runs over to where the people are dancing. Then she stops and looks around until she spots her target. "Edward!"
"Oh no..." Aiko frowns. Edward looks over and is about to protest to Lizzy holding Ciel's hand when he sees Aiko. He runs over.
"Hello there." He smiles. Aiko smiles shyly at him.
"H-hello..."
"Edward! You must dance with Aiko! She's being stubborn!"
"I'd be happy to." Lizzy lets go of Aiko's hand, then drags Ciel away so the two of them can dance off to the side.
"I-I really shouldn't, i mean..."
"Come now Aiko, relax a bit. I'm not a terrible dancer." Aiko sighs.
"alright, alright..." Edward smiles. He and Aiko start dancing together, and while Edward is completely ecstatic, Aiko is a bit annoyed. She loved dancing, so this was tolerable, but she didn't like Edward. He irritated her. So did his parents. She liked Lizzy, though she could be annoying at times, but then again so could anyone and everyone.
"wow, those two dance well together."
"The young lady won awards for her dancing before."
"She did? I never heard this!"
"Yes. She has such grace when she moves that its only natural she would be a top quality dancer." Alex hears these conversations and is a little surprised. He had never heard about her being a dancer before. He had seen her now and then when she heard music dance a little, but she never had done more than a few steps before realizing what she was doing and stopping herself. When the song ends Aiko curtsies to Edward, and he bows to her.
"That was wonderful!" Edward smiles. "We must dance again."
"Not today." Aiko smiles. "I'm afraid I'm not feeling well."
"Another time then." He takes Aiko's hand and kisses it. She blushes slightly. Edward then happily walks away, going to find his father to tell him what happened. Aiko sighs, grateful to be free of him. She walks away, only to be stopped by the Viscount.
"Aiko! You have such grace! Such elegance! You must be a heavenly creature to dance as you do! It's a true thing of beauty!" He grasps her hands. "You must share this amazing beauty with me! One dance, that's all I ask!"
"I-I..." Aiko smiles nervously. "Uh, I-I s-suppose..."
"Wonderful! The music is just starting!" Aiko is swept away into another dance. Alex leans on a wall, watching, slightly amused.
"She does have an amazing dancing ability." Sebastian stands next to Alex.
"I realize that."
"It makes you wonder where she got such elegance. I saw some family portraits. Her father clearly was too stiff to be much of a dancer, and her mother too weak."
"I'm not sure myself. I wasn't even aware she could dance until today. My mistress doesn't share her happier memories with me. Those are her own to keep and lock away."
"Perhaps you should change that." Alex smirks.
"No, i prefer it this way. The Aiko I know now is the Aiko who's soul I desire. The passion and the anger. That is why I can't help but smile when she tells me that she hates me."
"I see." Sebastian watches Aiko dance for a few moments, then sighs, slightly bored. "Only ten years for you then."
"Yes, ten years." Alex sighs. "However my plan to assure the ultimate taste was ruined, so I must come up with another one." He looks at Sebastian. "But for you, who knows how long until you will get your reward."
"It's but a blink of the eye, my masters life." Sebastian spots Ciel and Lizzy dancing, and smirks. "I can wait that long for what I desire..."
After the party is over Alex gets things quickly cleaned up. Whatever food was left over Mr. Grey had taken as snacks for the road. Aiko sighs, heading upstairs to her room. She falls onto her bed, then shuts her eyes.
"What an irritating party." She mumbles. "Old men picking on women, Edward and the Viscount, and of course Grey eating so much of the food, and then..." She sighs. "It was too tiring."
"Really? I expected a bit more endurance out of you my lady." Aiko frowns and sits up. Alex walks in with some tea. "To help you relax." He sets pours Aiko a cup. She takes a sip of it, then sighs. "I didn't know you were a dancer."
"Yes." Aiko looks at the drink. "When I was young I had a busy schedule some days. I had of course all of my typical studies, but then I had piano, dance, fencing, and a vocal class on top of those. In my free time I played the harp."
"A harp?" Aiko smiles, thinking to when she was little.
"Yes. I loved the harp. The softness of the notes, the quiet, peaceful melody it would bring." She sips the tea. "The harp was my favorite instrument by far, however my father felt the piano was more common and practical. So the harp I taught myself in my free time."
"And the dance? Your family doesn't seem to have any dancers in it except you."
"Yes, well..." Aiko sighs. "I just always loved dancing, and I suppose I'm good at it."
"From what I heard more than good. Where are these trophies?" Aiko blushes slightly.
"That doesn't matter. They're nothing but hunks of metal." She mumbles. He smirks.
"Come now my lady, why are you hiding this from me?"
"Why do you care?" Aiko glares at him. "Its none of your concern!"
"I care because it has to do with you. You are my mistress, and I want to know what I can about you."
"To make me miserable." Aiko growls. "I hate you." He smiles.
"I know." Aiko shakes her head. She finishes the cup, and Alex refills it.
"I'm not going to bring in those parts of my life." Aiko sighs. "They mean nothing at this point."
"If you say so my lady." Alex waits for Aiko to hand him back the cup, then he leaves. She then locks her door and changes out of the dress. She puts on her nightgown, then falls back onto her bed.
"All of those parts of my life are over..." She thinks back to being young, running from lesson to lesson, and somehow exceling at all of them. It baffled her teachers, it baffled her parents, but to her it was just the same thing day in and day out, nothing was strange. The strange had become normal, for her at least. "I have just under ten years of life left..." She sighs. "What i need is a miracle. I need to escape this contract..." Slowly Aiko drifts off to sleep, too tired to do much else.
"So this is the city house?" Alex looks around at the new building he and Aiko had just entered.
"Yes. We'll be here for a little while. Though, many of the nights we'll be out at different parties."
"I brought plenty of dresses for you my lady."
"Alright..." Aiko sighs, then heads upstairs. Alex frowns. He didn't expect the sudden depression from his mistress. He gets the bags unpacked and put away while Aiko lies on her bed. Then he makes tea and comes upstairs.
"My lady..." Aiko opens her eyes and looks at him. She sighs and sits up, accepting the cup of tea. "Is something bothering you?"
"Nothing." She mumbles before taking a sip.
"Clearly something is wrong."
"Don't worry about it."
"Aiko..." Alex lifts her chin so she's looking into his eyes. "Tell me what has put you into such a low mood." Aiko smacks his hand away, growls, then looks down at her tea.
"I said it was nothing, so leave me be." He sighs, deciding it was better not to fight Aiko over this.
"As you wish. I'll be downstairs if you need me." He walks out, and Aiko lies back down on her bed. She shuts her eyes.
"I hate this..." She mumbles. "I don't want to be here. This place..." She can hear screams and see frightened eyes. Aiko opens her own eyes and the images and sounds disappear. "Too much death found its way to this place..."
"So... Frilly..." Aiko cringes as she looks at herself in a mirror.
"You look lovely!" Lizzy giggles. Lizzy had come over as soon as she heard Aiko had come to her townhouse, and was helping Aiko get ready for a party tonight.
"It's... So... Frilly..." Aiko looks at her pink dress Lizzy had bought her.
"You don't like it?" Lizzy frowns. Aiko sighs, then smiles at her.
"Listen, Lizzy, I can't move in this thing. You know I've never cared for pink, or a ton of frills. It's a nice dress, just not for me. It's more something you should wear." Aiko smiles. Lizzy sighs.
"I'm sorry... I just get so caught up in being cute for Ciel..."
"It's fine Lizzy." Aiko takes the dress off and grabs a white one with red roses. She puts that on instead.
"Aiko, you don't use any corset?"
"What? Oh, no..." Aiko shrugs. "I haven't needed one since I've come back."
"Wow. You're so skinny..." Lizzy frowns. "Just like Ciel..."
"What?" Aiko frowns.
"It's just... a lot of things seem to be the same with you and Ciel. You both disappeared, your families killed. You both came back and there was some special new butler... you both don't seem to grow..." Aiko smiles.
"Lizzy, tragedy makes friends." She walks over to the window and opens the curtains, looking outside. "Ciel and I have some things in common, but there is so much difference between us..." She looks back at Lizzy. "You and I have far more in common, you know that? We're friends till the end."
"Of course." Lizzy smiles.
"Come on, we need to fix our hair before Alex takes us to the party."
"Right!" Lizzy grabs a brush. "We should put your hair up in pigtails!" Aiko frowns.
"Uhh... how about we just brush my hair back or something?" Lizzy sighs.
"fine..." The two girls look at the brush, then each other, then laugh...