ch 12

I barely had time to catch my breath as the limo lurched forward to a stop in front of the familiar iron gates. Wasting no time at all, they opened their doors and slammed them shut with one swift movement. Sometimes I wondered whether or not they had to practice that... Unbuckling myself, I slid out the car and carefully followed behind them, not making a sound as they jovially whispered to themselves about things that I could only imagine. Looking awkwardly to the side, not wanting to seem like a snoop, I was hidden behind HIkaru's shoulders as both twins knocked simultaneously. Not a a second later, the heavy door creaked open, and even though I couldn't exactly see who was behind it, a large smile crept on my face as I recognized the voice that so dully greeted the boys.

They walked through the threshold, and just as Tomoyo was about to shut the door, she yelped in surprise and her eyes widened as if she had just seen a ghost. I smiled, and just as I was about to greet her, she pulled me into the house by my sleeve and covered my mouth with her hand. "Mmm-mm!"

"Shh!" She replied.

She finally let me breath behind one of the giant pillars that adorned the entrance room. "Mayu, what are you doing here?!" She whisper-yelled at me as I bent down catching my breath.

"Nice to see you too.."

"Oh sorry," she said as she pulled me into a warm hug that lasted a few seconds. "Okay, now tell me where the hell you've been and what happened," It had dawned on me that Tomoyo had been left in the dark about all that had happened since the day I left in tears, so I filled her in on the details.

"Alright..", she started carefully, hovering over me like my mother would, "but what does that have to do with ?"

"..What do you mean..?" I whispered back in confusion.

"She's been looking for you Mayu. I don't know the reason, but she's asked the other maids and I to inform you, if we saw you. I was worried."

"What, why?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Why would she need me..? Had she found out about the fight..? I exhaled a breath I didn't realize that I'd been holding in and looked around Tomoyo, toward the hall that led toward the twins' room. They were probably waiting for me..

She shrugged, "I don't know. I'm just a maid!" With a doleful look on her face, she followed my gaze down the hallway. "They're probably waiting for you, Mayu," she sighed, "Don't disappear on me like that again.."

"I promise I won't." I said before giving her a quick hug and scrawling my number on her arm. She wished me luck and watched me until I disappeared down the extensive hall. I looked back at her, but she had already gone back to work. Tomoyo couldn't have been much more than 25 years old, but she sure seemed to have this distinct, almost motherly, attitude. It made me smile, as my shoes clicked down the vacant hallway that I hadn't walked down in what seemed like forever ago. I walked slowly naming each room in my head as I walked by.Supply closet. Bathroom. Guest room #1. Guest room #2.. Finally, I reached the tallest door at the end of the hall. Pure mahogany with a brass doorknob. I grimaced at the memory of polishing them the last time I was here. With a final sigh, I lifted my hand up to knock, but Kaoru beat me to it as he opened the door.

"I was just about to go out and look for you."

"No need.." I said kindly as he stepped aside to let me through. Kaoru reached out for my schoolbag and, slightly surprised at such gentleman-ly acts, I handed it over and said 'thank you' as he dropped it on a chair where both their backpacks were. I turned around to face the other side of the room and was startled to see Hikaru perched (much closer than I expected) on his bed staring at me intently with a strange look on his face. "Um.." I started, but he cut me off with a loud sigh as he fell back on his bed. I turned back toward Kaoru with a questioning look, to which he responded with a modest shrug and a playful grin growing on his lips.

"So, Katayama-chan," Hikaru said from his bed, where he was now sitting upright, "You're going to tutor us." He patted a seat on his bed and Kaoru and I both obliged to his gesture and sat down. So, for about an hour and half, I sat their "tutoring" them, though it's not like they needed much help. In fact, it felt more like we were doing homework together, but I guess I didn't really mind all that much. I did notice, however, that Hikaru was a bit more serious than usual. He only teased me like twice, which must be some sort of record, considering the amount of time we were together. Aside from that, everything went pretty normally. Which is wierd.. I grabbed my bag and quickly left their room. I stopped in the bathroom to get out of the maid outfit that I felt oh so awkward in, and causlly made my way down the corridor and almost to the door, feeling.. resolved? I was still feeling quite a bit dubious from what Hikaru said earlier about being "friends", but the fact that everything else was working out okay made me feel quite peaceful.. That is until I nearly knocked over Mrs. Hitachiin who dropped her papers in surprise.

"Mrs. Hitachiin! I am so sorry," I said immedaitley bending down to gather up her papers.

"Mayumi-chan!" Mrs. Hitachiin said when she realized who it was who bumped into her. She pulled me back up to my feet with wide curious eyes. "Mayumi-chan, I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been, it's been so long!"

"O-oh you know, just around.." I mumbled, scratching the back of my neck uncomfortably. She didn't seem upset at me..

"I was beginning to think that my sons had scared you off.."

"Oh no no..!" I said probably with a little too much enthusiasm.

"I've really needed to talk to you about something important, Mayu-chan.." She said. Uh-oh.. She bent down and started picking up her papers, which most turned out to be photos and notes with loopy handwriting. I followed suit and helped her despite her objections. "You see, I couldn't tell Hikaru or Kaoru that I needed you, because I promised you I wouldn't tell them about it." In that moment, my hands found a picture of me amongst all the other photos. I suddenly remembered in the fog of my memories of the past month or so, helping out Mrs. Hitachiin by modeling for her. But why did she still have this picture of me? I was in this long flowing baby pink gown with my hair tied back into some fancy sort of knot. Underneath it was the picture of me in the first little black dress.. I cringed at the memory. Mrs. Hitachiin put down her pile as soon as she saw the one I was holding. "Yes! this one!" she said taking it from my hands an studying it over with a smile.

"Mrs. Hitachiin, I thought you said you'd throw those out immediately..?" I asked confused.

"But my darling, how could I? Do you understand how stunning you look?"

"Erm, not really.." I said quietly because I knew she wasn't really listening.

"This is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about, Mayu-chan!" She ignored the rest of the papers on the ground and made me stand up. "You did amazing that day modeling for me! I swear, I haven't had such a passionate model in such a long time! You have what all my girls are missing," she said, referring to her current models, "real beauty. In here." She said pointing her finger in the direction oh my heart.

Uhhhhhh no. "Um, Mrs. Hitachiin.." I started saying, but she cut me off.

"You could tell just by looking at these pictures.. You have...enthusiasm, you look happy. You have this glow radiating off you that just completes the dress. Adds life. Even the people at the meeting that day, who saw the pictures, commented on 'my new model'." I was blushing ferociously at her comments, but I didn't really know how to react. I mean the only reason I was so enthusiastic that day was because of her advice. I don't just walk around all day looking like that at all. "Mayumi-chan," she said taking my hands, "you're really good at this. I wanted to ask you if you would do me the great favor of being my full time model?"

So I'm gonna try to do this again.I can't leave you guys hanging.. I'm sorry about not posting, but life is... blah. I wish I could spend more time on here. I promise that there will be an ending to this story. :)

P.S Forget all that bullcrap of ch9 split into parts. I made them all seperate chapters.