Ryoma's main issue was that the shelves were different sizes, so he could only put the largest books on the bottom and not with the rest of their subject. He contemplated how to fix that whilst he sported the books into subjects.

His mind also wandered back to his conversation with Tezuka. It had been so much less awkward than when Tezuka had 'saved' him from the attics, it had even been enjoyable. He was starting to like Tezuka. He was calm and authoritative and was very no nonsense, a nice change to all the worries Ryoma had. He could have had it a lot worse and ended up with Fuji as a mate. Although how careful Tezuka could have ended up in a state of bloodlust was beyond Ryoma, he was very curious about that.

He was now surrounded by piles of books and he decided the best thing to do was group them by size and subject. He'd just finished putting them all back in the shelves when he noticed the shelves of books to his left and realise that the books he'd thought were fiction were actually non-fiction and were in as much of a mess as the shelves he'd just sorted. Further investigation showed that there were shelves upon shelves of books that needed to be sorted. No wonder it had just been left.

He could give up, no one could blame him when faces with this mammoth task. But Fuji's words had stung. Ryoma knew he was useless and had never worked a day in his life, but hearing it from someone else's mouth had hit hard.

So, Ryoma steeled himself and started to pull all the books off the bookshelves.

By the time evening rolled around, he had piles of books all over the library, making the room almost unusable. Momo came to fetch him for dinner and they had to make a path through the books to allow Ryoma out.

"Tezuka let you move books in the library?!" Momo exclaimed when Ryoma explained what he was doing.

"Yeah," Ryoma shrugged.

"Do you want a hand tomorrow?"

"No, I'm fine," Ryoma insisted.

He received many offers of help over the next few days, all of which he turned down. He wanted to do this all by himself. To prove that he could do it.
And then, after three days hard work (much of which was spend undoing what he'd done previously), he slid the last book into place. He stepped back and looked at his work with pride. It wasn't much really, but, for him, it felt like an achievement.

"I can use my library again?"

Ryoma spun around and saw Tezuka standing behind him. He hadn't heard him come in.

"Yeah, your books are all in order now," Ryoma said.

"I will make sure they stay in order," Tezuka told him. "Thank you for doing this."

"I didn't have anything else to do," Ryoma shrugged it off.

He left Tezuka to his books and went back to his room. Karupin wasn't there and was probably exploring the castle, so he sat on the bed and started to read.

Half an hour later there was a knock on the door and Fuji walked in without waiting for an answer.

"You did a good job on the books," Fuji said, Ryoma just started at him, waiting for him to get to the point. "I've found you a job."

"A job?"

"You do work and someone pays you for it," Fuji said and Ryoma glared at him. "It's just waiting tables, but you have to start somewhere, right?"

Ryoma nodded, "where is it?"

"My boyfriend's restaurant," Fuji said, "so you'd better do a good job."

"I will," Ryoma said, he was sure he could learn how to do it quickly.

"Excellent, I'll let him know you want to work for him when I go down later," Fuji said. "I'll take you down to introduce you tomorrow."

"What are we going to do about assassins following me?" Ryoma asked.

Fuji just grinned at him and threw him a bottle of bleach.

Ryoma wasn't sure about his newly bleached hair. It made him look even paler than normal and slightly ill, but if it meant he could work then he didn't mind.
He liked his new boss. Kawamura was kind and patient with him as he learned his duties in the shop. He wondered how he'd ended up with someone like Fuji.

Luckily, his first day at work wasn't all that busy, which helped him get used to everything he had to do. It was the first time in his life that he'd ever washed up and, whilst he couldn't say he enjoyed doing it, the feeling of doing something for himself was great.

However, spending all day on his feet was very tiring and when he got back up to the castle all he wanted to do was sleep and maybe get a foot massage.
Kawamura pointed him in the right direction, but Ryoma felt that he was causing him more work than he'd have if Ryoma wasn't there. Most of the customers were understanding, the small group of regulars at the bar joked about his uselessness, but the ribbing was good natured (it still stung Ryoma, who hadn't realised quite how hard the work would be). Some were much less understanding and Ryoma was yelled at a few times for being slow or stumbling over his own feet. His argumentative side kicked in and a full scale row was only averted by Kawamura quickly stepping in and apologising.

By the evening, Ryoma had managed to get the hang of it all and was determined to be useful the next day.

His second day at work was worse, the restaurant was busy all day and Ryoma was rushing back and forth, having to do several things at once. At times, he felt like a headless chicken, confused and overloaded with so many tasks he needed to do that he had no idea where to start.

He didn't even bother undressing when he got back to the castle, just kicked off his shoes and curled up under the blankets, falling asleep almost instantly.
He was woken up by Karupin leaping onto his face at some ungodly time in the night.

"Go away, Karupin," Ryoma moaned, swatting at his cat and rolling over onto his other side and into a patch of moonlight coming in through the window. He scrunched his face up and opened his eyes blearily, wondering who had opened the curtain. He'd been sure he'd shut the curtains before going to bed.

Or had he just not opened them all day? Either way, he was sure they had been shut before he went to bed.

He was suddenly feeling wide awake, adrenaline spiking in his body.

The window was open as well and, in the corner of the room, there was a shadowy figure.

Right now, he didn't care if it was just a random shadow. He had to get out of the room. Right now.

The figure was much nearer the door than he was though. He'd have to run really fast.

Slowly, he slipped out of bed, keeping his eyes fixed on the shadow, ready to spring into action at the slightest hint of movement.

The shadow rushed towards him and it was only by ducking at just the right time that he avoided getting a knife in his face. Ryoma kicked out at the man, who was now over him, hitting him in the crotch and then ran for it.

He got a couple of paces before he tripped on the hearthrug and flailed his arms for a second, trying to grip hold of something. His hands found the lower jaw of one of the lions carved into the fireplace, halting his fall. Then, the jaw moved. Ryoma was sure he'd broken it, but it only moved a couple of centimetres.

Next to him, he saw a door pop out of the wall.

He'd just found a secret passage way right at the very second he needed it most. He really was the luckiest person in the world.

He scrambled up to his feet and slipped through the doorway, shutting it behind him. He was glad the man hadn't recovered from his kick to the crotch to notice where he'd gone.

The passageway was pitch black and narrow. Ryoma guided himself along the walls with his hands, his footsteps echoing off the cold, uneven stone floor. More than once he tripped on a stone that was sticking up, stubbing his toe and making him swear under his breath. The tunnel seemed to curve and Ryoma hurried along it as fast as he could without tripping. He could see light at the end of it now, a soft warm glow that was coming through something and grew brighter and brighter as he got closer.

There was a tapestry covering the end of the tunnel and Ryoma pushed it aside to find himself standing in another bedroom. Sitting at a desk near the fire and writing was Tezuka. Ryoma had never been more revealed to see anyone before.

"There's someone in my room!" He cried, hurrying over to Tezuka's side, "they tried to kill me."

Tezuka stood up immediately, "are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," Ryoma replied, ignoring the pain in his toe, "I don't know where he is now though, I kicked him in the balls and found this passage."

Tezuka nodded. "Stay here," he commanded and then ducked through the tapestry and into the passageway.

Ryoma suddenly felt very alone. He walked over to Tezuka's bed and sat down on it, wondering if Tezuka ever slept in it. The book had said that vampires didn't have to sleep as long as they drank enough blood. He lay down and could vaguely smell Tezuka's scent on the pillow. Maybe he just sometimes slept in it.

I hope he's okay, Ryoma thought, I hope Karupin's okay. He realised that he'd left his cat in the room with the assassin. Karupin was clever and would, no doubt, be hiding from the assassin, but Ryoma was still worried. They'd been through so much together, he couldn't let Karupin be killed now!

He got up and headed towards the passage way again, slipping under the tapestry and making his way down the corridor and back to his room. He found the wooden door at the other end was open when he reached it and Karupin was sat in the entranceway, looking interestedly at whatever was happening in the room.

Ryoma picked him up and hugged him close before peering around the door.
Tezuka had his attacker pinned up against the wall, his face close to the assassin's neck, his fangs bared.

"Who sent you?" Tezuka practically growled, digging his claw like fingers into the assassin's arm. "Tell me, Sanada. Or do I have to go and rip out Yukimura's throat?"

Ryoma blinked in surprise, Tezuka knew his assassin?

"You know I don't know that," Sanada replied.

"Did you know he's under Royal protection?"

There was an awkward pause.

"I wouldn't be here if I did know that," Sanada said and, to Ryoma's surprise, Tezuka let him go. "You could have publicised it a bit better." Ryoma couldn't believe just how disapproving he sounded, as if it were Tezuka's fault that this had happened.

"Yukimura was informed," Tezuka said, sounding as put out as Ryoma had felt.

"I must have been sent before he got the message," Sanada said, "someone must really want the boy dead."

"They do," Tezuka replied, "and I want to find out who they are."

"If he's under Royal Protection I will made sure no one from my order comes again," Sanada replied, "but from the amount they paid someone else will come after him."

"And we'll protect him," Tezuka said sternly, "you forget, I have an ex-member of your organisation living here."

"I didn't forget," Sanada said. "I shall see myself out."

"Do," Tezuka said rather waspishly. "Use the front door."

Ryoma watched from the shadows as Sanada left, finally getting a good look at the man now he wasn't blocked from view by Tezuka. He was tall and muscular and Ryoma wondered just how he'd managed to escape death this time.

"I thought I told you to wait in my room," Tezuka said and Ryoma jumped slightly.

"I wanted to see if Karupin was safe," Ryoma replied, hugging the cat close to him as if to prove the point.

"You could have been killed," Tezuka said, "you're lucky the people who want you dead paid for the best assassins, most wouldn't have stopped when they found out Atobe had given you protection."

"I'm a very lucky person," Ryoma said, "mostly."

"Just to be safe, you should sleep in my room," Tezuka told him in a tone that left no room for argument. Ryoma shrugged and looked away from him.

"Fine, whatever."

Tezuka looked down at Ryoma's bare feet and then, a split second later, scooped him up in his arms.

"What are you doing?!" Ryoma cried, clinging to Karupin.

"Your feet will be getting cold," Tezuka replied, as he set off down the passageway.

Ryoma huffed, but didn't struggle as Tezuka carried him to bed as he didn't really want to be dropped.

Tezuka laid him gently on his bed and the stepped back, "would you like your pyjamas?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ryoma replied and Tezuka disappeared back to his room. Karupin hopped out of his lap and made himself at home on Tezuka's bed. Ryoma didn't blame him, the bed as a lot comfier than the one he had, he could easily sink into it and fall fast asleep. He looked at the tapestry hiding the passageway and wondered if Tezuka had known about it. He surely did, Tezuka seemed like the type to know every nook and cranny of his castle, so did he deliberately put Ryoma in a room connected to his own? Ryoma knew he wouldn't try anything and, if he had done it, it was all for Ryoma's safety, but it annoyed Ryoma that he hadn't told him before.

Tezuka returned with Ryoma's pyjamas and handed them to him. "I have to make a phone call," he said, "get some rest."

"Okay," Ryoma said. With the adrenalin wearing off he was feeling very drained, snuggling down in Tezuka's comfy bed sounded like heaven on earth right now. He waited till Tezuka left and then got ready for bed, pulling Karupin close as he got under the covers.