You can't hold the key to everything.

After what felt like years, they finally arrived at a new dock. Natsuhi went to grab her suitcase, but stopped when she saw Eva picking it up. She thought maybe she'd mistaken it for hers. Great. Now Eva was going to get upset at her for pointing out a mistake,

"Um, Eva-san. That's my suit-" she stopped when she saw Eva turning to pick up her own as well.

"Yeah. And?"

"...uh...why are you-"

"Carrying it for you? Don't worry about it." She snapped, walking off the boat, "It's quite heavy. You'd just slow us down."

Natsuhi wasn't sure whether to be thankful or feel offended. Her suitcase wasn't that heavy... And even so, shouldn't Rudolf have been the one to carry two? Speaking of Rudolf, his voice called out from behind her,

"Don't mind her. Think of it as her way of being considerate." He picked up his own suitcase then rubbed the back of his head, recalling his sister's insult at the end, "Er...in an inconsiderate way...Ehehe..." He stopped to hold out his hand like before. She considered pretending not to see his kind gesture and start to walk off the boat, but so far on this trip he had been a lot friendlier than his sister. Natsuhi appreciated that he was being so kind. She hoped she wasn't falling into any type of trap of his... Like before, she took his hand, and he led her off the boat, bidding farewell to the driver. They continued to where Eva was, waiting for their taxi.

"About time you two got off the boat." She still seemed like she was in a bit of a sour mood, but when she looked to Natsuhi, her expression turned into that of a smug one, "See, Natsuhi-neesan? If I had let you carry your suitcase, you'd still be up there." Natushi said nothing, but she seemed to glare a bit and her face had a red tinge to it. Whether from embarrassment or anger, Eva didn't know, nor did she really care. She just relished in the fact that she could bring that expression to her face and often. Her eyes caught sight of said woman's hand in Rudolf's hand,

"Hey, Rudolf?" she said, fake sweetness in her voice. Rudolf and Natsuhi both knew she was about to yell about something. Rudolf was used to it though, while Natsuhi was still learning how to deal with her sister-in-law,

"Yeah? What is it?" Rudolf said, nonchalantly.

"Might I ask why you're holding Natsuhi-neesan's hand? I understand helping her off the boat so she wouldn't fall, but you don't need to still be holding it, right?"

Natsuhi felt her face heat up. She had completely forgotten that her hand was still in his. Before she could pull away, Rudolf laughed again,

"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you, Aneki," He brought Natsuhi's hand to his lips and lightly kissed it. This did nothing to help the color in her face return to normal, and she felt herself stiffen yet again that day, "We've decided to elope~ Thanks for coming along for the ride. Now if you would kindly leave us you bank information-" His hand released hers as he felt his ear harshly being pulled up and down, "Owowow! Alright alright! It was just a joke!"

"And yet no one's laughing." Eva gave one final tug before letting his poor ear go. His hand went up to massage it, as he glared at the culprit. She ignored him and turned to the other woman in the group, smiling sickly sweet,

"Natsuhi-nessan, if this guy tries anything else, don't be afraid to hit him, alright?" Rudolf looked at her with an expression of fake offense as if to say, 'this guy? ' Natsuhi, however, just sighed. Wasn't it supposed to be Eva's job to protect her from his advances? That was what Krauss had said. Well, she supposed she had a couple of times, though not enough to really reassure her.

"Well, ...it's not really my place to hit him." She muttered quietly to herself. It was a subtle challenge, calling Eva out, but neither of them seemed to catch it. Instead, Rudolf chuckled,

"How kind. You should be more like that, Aneki."

Eva scoffed at her brother's comment, "You mean let men think they can do whatever they want while women remain silent and let them? Dream on. You sound like Nii-san."

"That's not what I meant," Rudolf held his hands up in defense, ready to duck at any moment. She had a suitcase she could swing now, after all. Two, in fact. "I was just saying you should be a bit more lenient before resorting to violence is all."

"I'll never hesitate to knock you out if I feel you deserve it." Eva turned her attention to Natsuhi again, "Natsuhi-neesan, learn to stand up for yourself, alright? It's just Rudolf after all." She snickered before Rudolf cut in,

"Then that means you can also hit Aneki if you want, Natsuhi-neesan~"

He ducked just in time as his sister's foot swung directly for his head. He quickly put some distance between them, noticing their taxi had arrived.

"You keep saying that 'next time you won't miss' but look at me now."

Natsuhi grinned ever so slightly at the scene in front of her. However, she felt a headache coming on and she had a feeling it wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

0000000

The ride in the taxi had been silent until Eva and Rudolf started arguing over something yet again. Natsuhi, who was sitting by a window so Eva could sit in the middle to prevent Rudolf from trying anything, rested her forehead against it. She hoped the coolness from it would help relieve her headache, but the bickering of the two next to her made sure that her headache was there to keep her company.

She glanced apologetically at the driver. She wondered how many passengers like this he had to deal with on a regular basis. She closed her eyes thinking about how she still had to deal with those two passengers for the rest of the night. And even after that she wouldn't be free since they'd need to take the trip back to Rokkenjima in the morning. She sighed. Why had she agreed to this again?

When they finally arrived at the hotel and checked in, Natsuhi had learned for the first time that she would be sharing a room with Eva. That did not sit well with her at all.

"Wait...We're not all getting our own rooms?"

"Well, I get my own room if that counts for anything." Rudolf stated, knowing full well that it didn't.

"It would be a waste of money for all three of us to have our own rooms, so rather than three, we're only rooming in two." Eva explained, turning to walk to their rooms. As Natushi begin to follow, it was clear how uncomfortable she was with the arrangements,

"But, Eva-san. I don't-" she stopped dead in her tracks as Eva turned around sharply and looked her directly in the eye,

"Are you paying?"

"What?"

"Are you paying for the rooms?" Eva repeated with more detail. Natsuhi then understood what Eva was getting at. 'You're not paying so don't complain. Can't you tell how nice of a hotel this is? It's not exactly cheap.' Even so, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was not going to turn out well.

"Ah...well, no. It's just that..." Her voice faded out. With Eva? She was sure that would be better than rooming with Rudolf, but would it really? Either way, she was bound to be harassed in some fashion.

"Come ON," her thoughts were interrupted by said person who was now directly in front on her. Natsuhi flinched at the sudden closeness and quickly took a step backwards. Eva's smirk didn't go unnoticed, "It's nothing to be so nervous about, is it? It's not like I'm Rudolf, right?"

"Ouch, Aneki. That really hurt." Rudolf feigned offense.

"You'll live." Eva began walking again. The other two followed, Natsuhi remaining silent. Yes. It was something to be nervous about. At the mansion, at the end of the day, she could just go in her room, lock the door, and forget about everyone else around her.

Now she wasn't going to be able to block all that out while she slept. Was she even going to be able to sleep? Somehow, she doubted it. If Eva didn't keep her up with snide remarks or whatever, her nerves certainly would. She felt someone tap on her shoulder and turned to see Rudolf. He motioned for her to come closer so he could whisper something to her. Though hesitant, she decided to give in to his wishes and leaned over as they continued to walk,

"Nee, Natsuhi-neesan. Aneki's sure to bite, but not in any fun way. So if you decide you'd rather not be with her tonight, you're always welcome to come over to my room. That is if you don't mind noise. Unless you want to join in on making it, of course~"

Registering the meaning behind his words, Natsuhi's face turned bright red. What did he think he was asking?! Had he no shame?! They had both stopped in the halls, Natsuhi due to utter shock, Rudolf due to wanting to see her reaction.

When she realized they weren't following her anymore, Eva turned around. She looked annoyed until she saw how red Natsuhi's face was,

"...Natsuhi-nesean, are you okay? Your face looks really flushed." She asked, slight confusion in her voice. Upon being asked that, Natsuhi visibly stiffened again and turned slightly with her hand held up to hide her face. Eva raised her eyebrows before looking to see her brother trying to suppress a grin. Immediately connecting the dots, she smiled, an ominous aura around her, and walked towards them,

"Well, I don't know exactly what you two were talking about while I was only feet away," she looked to Rudolf, "but I'm sure that you'd much rather spend that energy on something more productive and helpful." She pushed her own suitcase onto Rudolf, Natsuhi's still in her hand,

"Carry this." She ordered. Not waiting for him to give any words of refusal, she grabbed the wrist of the hand Natsuhi had been using to hide her face and began dragging her far ahead of the third member of the group. Despite all her previous thoughts on the matter, Natsuhi decided, at least for that very moment, that rooming with Eva would, most definitely, be better than rooming with Rudolf.

She just let herself be guided to their room, Rudolf following close behind. Eva, more or less, tossed her in and walked in after her. Rudolf seemed to try and enter as well, trying to smooth things over, but was met with the door slamming in his face. Though, a few seconds later, it opened back up long enough for Eva to grab her suitcase from him just to slam the door in his face again.

Rudolf slouched and rubbed the back of his head, "Alright then... I'll just go to my room then..."

"Alright, Natsuhi-nessan. Which bed do you want?" Eva gestured towards the two options. Natsuhi, having regained her composure, meekly pointed and murmured, "That one." Eva wasted no time in placing Natushi's suitcase by her bed then walking over to her own to do the same.

She seemed agitated. Natsuhi knew it had to do with Rudolf, but figured it was best to not ask about it. She sighed yet again and walked over to her bed. That was when something dawned on her. She looked around, trying to find something before giving up and just asking about it,

"Eva-san."

"Yeah?" Eva responded without turning to face her.

"...Aren't there supposed to be two keys to a room?"

"Yeah."

Okay, the short responses were starting to get on her nerves a bit. The whole trip so far had been horrible. They were the ones who invited her. Couldn't Eva at least try to be a bit nicer?

"...So where's mine?"

"You don't get one."

"...…...I'm sorry?"

"No, no. I'm sorry that you apparently didn't hear me." Eva turned around and took a couple steps forward so as to make sure her words were understood that time, "I SAID, you don't get one."

Natsuhi was taken aback. Why couldn't at least one thing on this trip be simple? Her headache was growing worse by the second, and because of that she didn't bother to hold back the aggravation in her voice,

"And why not?"

"Because," Eva smirked, "We don't want you trying to run away from us and coming here, right? It would be quite troublesome to have to drag you back out."

Natsuhi's eyebrows furrowed and she finally started to snap,

"If I decide I want to come back here, I should be able to whenever I want, not when you two see fit!"

"Ohh, so you can stand up for yourself. How scary!" Eva giggled.

Natsuhi was fuming. She wasn't being taken seriously, and her head was killing her. Not wanting to be steered away from the main topic, she simply held out her hand and demanded Eva to give her a key.

"Aww, that is so cute~" Eva laughed, sarcasm evident, "You want a key so bad? Okay." She reached into her pocket to pull them out. She let them dangle in the other woman's sight before returning them to where they just were, "You'll just have to come take one."

Natsuhi couldn't believe! Of all the things to argue over! She knew she needed to calm down, though. Getting flustered was exactly what Eva wanted. She took a deep breath and relaxed,

"...I'm not fighting you for a key."

"Oh? Could've fooled me. You've been fighting me for one these past few minutes. Just not physically. Though if you do decide to engage in a physical fight with me, let's make sure Rudolf and Nii-san don't find out, okay?~" she held a finger up to her lips to symbolize that they should keep it a secret.

'That's it!' Natsuhi turned to walk to the phone. She couldn't even stand the thought of being with either of those people anymore. She picked up the phone and begin to dial a number.

"Ah. Who are you calling so suddenly?" Eva went to stand by her. Why couldn't they just leave her alone for a few minutes?

"Krau- ...my husband." She still wasn't used to calling him that, "...He said to call when we got to the hotel." She kept it short and to the point. She didn't give any hint as to why she was actually calling the mansion, so as to not give them any room to sabotage her chances to going back.

"Oh yeah. He did say to call him, didn't he?" Eva gave no sign of leaving her alone to the phone. Instead, she sat on the bed, ready to listen to every word on the one side of the conversation.

Natsuhi tightened her grip on the phone. Why couldn't she just- Someone answered. It was Genji,

"Ah, Genji-san. It's Natsuhi. Could you please put Kr- my husband on the phone?" She heard Eva giggle but just ignored it. A few moments later, Krauss' voice was on the other side of the line.

"Ah, yes. It's me, Natsuhi."

"Oh, Natsuhi. So have you all made it to the hotel then?" He sounded tired. Kinzo must have really been working him...Not a good sign.

"Yes. We arrived not too long ago." How was she going to ask him to come get her without making it too obvious?

"That's good. How are they treating you?"

'Horribly.' That's what she wanted to say, but she had a feeling she shouldn't. Instead, she opted for a generic, "Alright." She was hoping he would be the one to ask her if she wanted him to come get her so she'd only have to answer with a, "yes, please." However, he didn't even hint at it.

So it was up to her to subtly get the point across. Eva just had to be right there, didn't she?

"Um, by the way...Remember what we talked about? ...I would appreciate it very much if you did that-" she stopped as she heard yelling in the background. It sounded like Kinzo's voice, and he sounded furious and very demanding.

"Ahh, yes Father! Right away! Sorry, Natsuhi. I need to go. I'll call later."

"W-wait! Remember what you-" the line went out.

She removed the phone from her ear and stared at it. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear she felt a single tear trickle down her face. She should've known something like this would happen. Dejected, she hung the phone up and prepared herself for the words that were sure to come.

"So, how was Nii-san?" Eva asked, sickly sweet. Natsuhi looked at her. Now she had to mentally prepare herself all over again to spend more time than she wanted with the two. Her only escape route for the time being had been lost. She took a breath,

"...He's fine. Busy helping Father..." Again, she wanted to keep things short. Make sure there was no chance for Eva to start a conversation she didn't want to have.

Whether Eva had been planning on saying something or not, she wasn't able to because there was a knock on the door. What a blessing...Rudolf's voice called out from the other side,

"Oi, are you two done yet? Let's get out of here and go somewhere fun already."

...in disguise. What a blessing in disguise Rudolf was at that very moment. For, at least then, he was only the lesser of two evils.

And Natsuhi certainly can't hold the key to their room. Because that would be too FAIR. Just got into the family and the ranking system is already showing. How disgraceful.