Chapter 6: Chikako

Kyoya looked around: a big garden with a big black fence around it. Kyoya opened the gate and entered. It was a big alley where two guards were sitting in snow. He observed two big fountains on the right and left side of the alley. The guards looked malicious to Kyoya, who answered them by throwing back the same malicious glance and continued his way on the alley. It was long and Kyoya walked until he saw a big house. It was like a palace, it had about 10 or 11 floors.

Kyoya saw the old woman that Madoka told him about. She was staring with indifference at him. Kyoya just showed her the card that Madoka gave him and the woman let him enter that house.

It was a large drawing-room. It was so large that it looked to be empty at the first impression. Kyoya observed that are some stairs in the left and the right part of the room. The floor was covered by golden grit stone; the ceiling and the walls, too. There wasn't any furniture. On the right side was a small door. The room was like the hall of an imperial palace; everything was elegant and colored in red and golden, including the stairs, which had a red carpet on them and were large.

Kyoya saw a young woman descending the stairs. She wasn't really young. Kyoya gave her about 35 years. She was dressed in a nice red short skirt and a green T-shirt. Her hair was straight and of a kind of black with a lot of red locks of hair. Kyoya recognized some people waiting in the corner of the room, next to that small door so he quickly walked towards them and waited, too.

That woman walked towards them grinning with a youthful attitude. "Oh, thanks God you are here! (She noticed Kyoya was there) Oh, you are three now? I think Eiko forgot to tell me about this. She's old... very old... (To Kyoya) Anyway, what's your name?" Kyoya faked a smile and answered. The people in front of Kyoya turned and looked shocked.

"Oh, nice to meet you. My name is Chikako. I'm a princess and this is my palace, where I'm living with my husband and with my children. (Showing him the people in front of him) They are Hikaru and Hyoma, who are here for the same reason as you. Oh, by the way, come on, you have to meet my children."

They went on the first floor. There was a long hall, with ten doors on the left side. Chikako opened the first door. The room was big and dirty, with black walls, ceiling, furniture and floor. A blonde boy was thrown on the bed, staring at the ceiling with his headphones on his ears. He didn't notice anything and continued to stare at the ceiling with a nervous and bored expression. Chikako closed the door.

"He's my son, Nori. He's 9 and I adopted him when he was 2. He is pesimist and gloomy and he loves darkness and black color. Nori is always sitting in his room, with no light, with his headphones on his ears, listening to rock or metal music." Then they walked to the next door, which Chikako opened.

This time the room was colored in bright colors. The walls were yellow with red swirls and the ceiling was pink. On the floor they observed a red carpet. In the room was a nice girl with blue hair tied in two ponytails. She was playing with some dolls on the carpet, next to her bed and her TV. Her mother closed the door.

"She's my daughter, Mizuki. She is optimist, not like Nori. She loves the sun and the bright colors and she's very cheerful. Mizuki is always playing and she's very good and quiet. She's 6 and I adopted her when she was 1."

In the next room were two children: a girl and a boy. The girl had green eyes and purple hair while the boy had the opposite, green hair and purple eyes. The room was big, with two beds; actually, there was two of everything: two carpets, two TVs, two windows etc; everything was colored in contrasts.

"Oh, they are twins: Masami is the girl and Masumi is the boy. They are both 7 and cannot live one without each other and they are opposites: he's very nice and warm while she's cold and mean. I adopted them when they were born. Their mother had a complication when she gave birth to them, and she died. They don't have a natural father, they are children made in flowers, their mother was 19 and their father was probably a simple stranger."

The next room wasn't special: white walls, white ceiling and parquet. It was a tall boy, but it didn't seem to be Japanese, because of his eyes and his hair. He looked to be Chinese. He was sad, crying on his bed, but Chikako didn't matter.

"He's Kang; he's born in Manchuria but he grew in Sweden since he was 4. Now he's 12. I don't know why he's crying, I don't know his past very well, and I just adopted him because I took pity on him. Kang is always sad, I don't know why. I tried to talk with him about that, but he's avoiding this type of conversation. Well, this is ironic 'cause actually his name means 'happy'."

The next room was filled with simplicity: simple colors, simple furniture, and a simple girl was standing and looking on the window, and smiled when she saw her mother. She had brown hair tied in a loop and blue eyes. She said 'hi' to Chikako and continued looking on the window.

"This is my natural daughter, Satsuki. She's 14." Kyoya raised an eyebrow at this. "She's very simple, trouble-free. We often call her 'Mi' because it is a simple name, like her personality. She doesn't need expansive things and she's just smiling... always. Satsuki is quiet and she thinks she doesn't need a boyfriend to feel complete. Moreover, she hates boys; she thinks they are stupid. And here's where we stop. The next room is a bathroom, and the others are store rooms, living rooms or study rooms. Ok, let's go on the next floor."

The next floor also had ten rooms; Chikako opened the second room, revealing a big room with blue walls. Everything was colored in blue and white, including the bed, carpet and furniture. In the corner of the room was sitting a nice girl with pink hair, which was writing something, leant against the corner. Her gaze didn't move, but she seemed to notice her mother opened her door.

"Her name is Izumi and she's also adopted. She's 11 and she's a loner: she loves reading and writing stories, especially romance, fantasy and sci-fi genres. She's intelligent and she is very mature. She is very cold and she hates when someone is hugging or touching her. She often hates people; she says people are boring and irritating her. Izumi is quiet but strong. And she has Apeirophobia and Arythmophobia, she is afraid of infinity and of not having rhythm. She also has Bufonophobia, she's afraid at hell of toads. People say she's strange because she has thee phobias and she's a loner and she likes things which kids and teens usually hate or dislike. Oh, yeah, she hates bugs. She's not afraid of them, but she hates them."

They walked towards the next door and Kyoya ran out of patience. Well, patience isn't his quality. 'How many children does this woman have? Seriously... 7 kids and seems we will meet more? I'd lose my mind with 7 kids, even as a father. No, I'd lose my mind with 1 kid... I hate kids.' thought Kyoya.

The next room was locked and you could hear loud music hitting you when trying to open it.

"Keichiro, get out now! And stop with that annoying music! Oh, sorry, I don't think you will meet my son very soon. He's my first natural child and he's very annoying. He's 16, and the oldest child, but he said he don't wanna take care of his brothers and sisters, because he says he hates them." Kyoya smirked. 'I think I like this guy.'

"Well, Sayuri and Itsuki are at the park, they are playing. But they know about you, I think they know you, Hikaru, so there isn't any problem."

They went on the next floor, which was different. There was a big dinning-room, no halls, no nothing, just a small door in the right part. There was a big, long table with many chairs. The furniture was white, with a lot of expansive statues made by silver or gold. On the floor there was a red carpet.

"Here's our dinning-room. We are dinning here at 7 o'clock every afternoon, no exceptions. Oh, and your rooms are on the next floor. In the other floors are rooms which we rarely use. The kitchen is downstairs. There we are just cooking the food. Well, it's late. I think my husband is in the drawing-room. We have to go. Bye."

They went downstairs, where, it was right, Chikako's husband was waiting. It was a tall man with a warm expression and eyes. He smiled as his and his wife's gazes met. They had a long kiss (Well, this made Kyoya, Hikaru and Hyoma sweat drop cause... man, it was... If you'd say exaggerate it wasn't enough) "Ok, kids... Bye. We are coming in March or April. I hope everything will be fine. I trust you. The other women were running, falling in love with the guards, drinking all my beer, wanting a lot of money, they were eavesdropping when important people were coming here, and, moreover, they were jealousy of my status. So teens are ten times better." said Chikako and put on her fur coat while her husband put on his overcoat; both were hung in the hanger next to the big door. Then they both left, and the silence embraced the palace, letting that teens confused in the middle of the drawing-room.

"And... now what? We are here with 8 children for 3 months? No, with 10 children? Oh My God... When I accepted this I didn't thought I will..." moaned Hyoma, looking worried. Hikaru didn't observe him and pulled Kyoya's to the kitchen, where she closed the door and had a discussion with him.

The kitchen wasn't really big.

"What the heck are you doing here?" asked Hikaru on a reproving voice. Kyoya took a deep breath.

"Actually... maybe you cannot believe, but I'm here for a dare..." said Kyoya, looking bored to her. Hikaru seemed to be surprised, but she didn't ask anything. "Look, Hikaru... I didn't know it's about 10 children... Now I'm trying to survive... So you can be supportive! For me, ok?"

"Ok, so these are our rooms?" asked Hikaru, looking around with indifference, with an unsatisfied expression. She opened the door of a room and threw her bag on the bed. She sighed and looked around. A normal room. Nothing more. "What a misery."

"Oh, yeah, you're right. And when you think what a room that girl had." said Hyoma as he opened the door of the next room. Well, Kyoya just took his room without any comments. He tried to rest, but he didn't know... what some big surprises he will endure... and he cannot faint... Hikaru entered his room slamming the door.

"C'mon... we are busy. We have kids... we have to introduce ourselves and wait for Itsuki and Sayuri. Lunch is in three hours. I know it's weird... but you can be supportive for me, ok?" Kyoya sighed and followed Hikaru. They introduced their selves, and everyone had a friendly attitude with them, excepting Keichiro, who was just like Kyoya.

Afterwards, Hyoma had to go to get something from the store room while Kyoya and Hikaru were thinking how they can cook a lunch for ten people... They were making suggestion, sitting in the kitchen, looking puzzled everywhere. An old but strong voice spoken suddenly:

"May I help you? I see you have some trouble... Chikako was a 'genius' to employee some teens!"