Pierre sat while having a glass of red wine with his cat sitting near his lap. He rubbed her head as she looked up at him. Pierre gave a light smile to her, took a sip and placed the cup on the table in front of him as his servant appeared.

"The Princess had refused your offer once again sire. Is there anything I can do about it?"

"No," he said closing his eyes, "send for Ichigo. That's all."

His servant bowed his head and left the room.

Pierre spoke softly, "what am I going to do with her Cinnamon? She's just as stubborn as Chocolat."

Cinnamon gave a light meow and curled back up.

He sighed, "I was afraid you would do that."

The door opened as Ichigo came in, "you wanted to see me?"

"Yes," he said moving his hand to the seat next to his, "sit."

She bowed her head and sat down without making a single sound with her heel.

"Can you convince Zakuro to stay with us?"

Ichigo shook her head, "it's for her to decide. Besides, I think she likes living by herself where she can act more human. It's only natural for her since she holds so much power."

Pierre rubbed his bangs, "as much as she wants to be normal she can't. The noir heart I gave to her allows her to control that power …"

Ichigo watched as he put both hands over his face and leaned over, "sir?"

"… as long as she keeps her noir heart inside next to her own heart she can control it ….. I should have known. You can leave anytime you wish."

Ichigo stood up and walked out of the room closing the door behind her. She turned around and saw some of the remaining ogres vanish into the darkness as she walked away and up the stairs to her room.

"Zakuro-san is so gifted and yet so cursed at the same time. No wonder mama and papa wanted me to be her best friend and look after her."

Blanca pointed out, "your mother and her mother and everyone else before them were best friends … it's only right for you two as well."

She sighed as she closed the door to her room.

Blanca got down and ate a cracker that was sitting in a small bowl for her while Ichigo walked out onto her balcony and stared up at the sky.

"Mama … papa …"

Zakuro took a sip of her tea as she watched Duke engulf his dinner.

"Why do you eat so much Duke?"

He paused as he swallowed, "you're more tone down than your mother … but you have just a bad a temper."

Zakuro put down her cup and rubbed the top of his head with her finger, "weirdo."

She stopped, stood up and walked over to her window to stare out into the sky.

She took hold of her pendant while a few strands of her hair blew in the light breeze.

"Why am I the princess of the ogres and the witches?"

Duke coughed from hearing that, "why … why do you ask?"

There was a knock at her door. Zakuro turned around and walked across her apartment to open the door to find Haruhi standing there.

"Haruhi? Why are you here?"

"Why are you my next door neighbor?"

Zakuro leaned out a bit and saw that the door to the left of hers (from the inside) was opened just a bit.

"Oh … is that ok with you? I mean, you can come over anytime you want if that's the case."

Haruhi nodded her head then handed her a small purple bag with a pink ribbon tied at the top, "this is for you."

Zakuro took it and opened it in front of her.

"Un … ari- … arigato."

Haruhi rubbed the back of her head, "father wanted me to greet our new neighbor … saying it's more lady-like."

Zakuro looked up at her then turned sideways, "you a lady? Doubt it … you can come in if you want. I'm just finishing up my leftovers from the other night."

She looked around as she took a few steps in, "you cook?"

Zakuro placed the small bag on the table next to Duke as she pulled her hair back, "nothing else to do for the time being. With my assignment and all … I don't really have much of a choice."

She watched Duke jump into the bag and pop his head out with a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth, turned towards Haruhi, and gave a light smirk.

Haruhi picked up a picture of Zakuro as a little girl; "your mother?"

Zakuro walked over and saw the picture.

"Yeah … with her best friend Vanilla, her daughter Ichigo, and the rest of the family … it's been a while since I've looked at that."

Haruhi looked up at her, "does Ichigo-san have this same picture?"

Zakuro shook her head, "I don't think so. I think she has one of our two families … where we're with both of our parents."

Haruhi looked back at the picture then placed it back on the desk next to the phone, "Tamaki-sempai said that your father is his new teacher for a while. Why don't you live with him Zakuro-sempai?"

She ran her red hair through her fingers while looking away, "mama isn't dead yet … but he refuses to stay by her side. That's why I'm here and he's there. Besides, I don't want to be reminded as to why I hate him so much."

Haruhi looked down for a bit then walked over and hugged Zakuro as it caught her off guard.

Zakuro's arms were up and away from Haruhi with a semi shocked face, "wha- … what are you doing?"

Haruhi's face went exactly an inch above her chest since she was an inch shorter than Tamaki, whom was very much close together in height.

"Gomen Zakuro-sempai. When Tamaki-sempai said that you were hurting just as much as everyone else I didn't think much about it until now."

Zakuro's face calmed down while her arms went down a little to her sides, "o … ok. Could you at least get your face away from my chest?"

Haruhi pulled her head away, made her face turn a light pink, then took a huge step back, "gomen!"

Zakuro watched as she walked like a robot all the way to the door and gave out a light laugh.

"You're funny Haruhi."

Ichigo stared at her picture of her and Zakuro when they were little.

Blanca looked over at it as Ichigo whispered to her, "I don't even remember why we were laughing. Ever since Chocolat-sama got sick Zakuro hasn't really laughed since."

Blanca jumped down, "you two differ. Vanilla-sama was a princess back then and ever since she gave Chocolat the crown, Vanilla-sama has been an open and loving person. All you need to do is gain more hearts than her and win back the crown. Chu, chu!"

Ichigo put it back down, "even if I do that Blanca, how's that going to help her? Zakuro is the princess of both the witches and the ogres. So even if I get the crown to Le Royalme she's still going to have the crown to the ogres."

Blanca rubbed her paws, "then have Pierre-san give you crown."

Ichigo banged her fist on the table then yelled at Blanca, "it doesn't work like that! You useless little thing! Get out of my sight!"

Blanca ran off as Ichigo calmed down a bit. She closed her eyes for a second then looked up to see her face in the mirror.

"Zakuro … gomen."

Outside her room Pierre stood with his arms folded over his chest and his back against the wall. With his hair over his eyes he got up and walked away.

Inside his room Pierre laid down on his bed, moved one of his arms over his eyes, and thought about what happened in the past to make his own daughter hate him to the point where she wanted nothing to do with the ogres.

"We can't pick and choose who we are Zakuro," he thought as he drifted off into sleep, "but you are who you are right?"

"Because we are who we are," she thought to herself as she put Duke in bed, "no matter what we are, we are."

Zakuro pulled her hair into braids as she turned off her lights and went to bed.

"Mama … I want to be with you again."