"Do you have your toothbrush? Your comb?" Oto-san asked. "Do you need an extra blanket?"
"I have everything I need, Oto-san." I answered, it was already the nth time that he asked me similar questions. "What about your pyjamas? Slippers?"
Arata stood at the door with my luggage in his hands. "Let's go, Haruhi-sama." He said.
I said my father goodbye, who had a worried look on his face, and followed Arata. A car was waiting for us as we left the apartment.
"Are you nervous?" Arata asked me.
"A little." I replied honestly.
He smiled at me. "Don't worry" he said. "They'll protect you like a princess." He joked.
I chuckled. "I rather have them not." I stepped in the car and Arata greeted the driver.
The man bowed his head to me. "Nice to meet ya, Ohime-chan." He greeted me. "I'm Tezuka Taiga."
I nodded. "Pleasure to meet you, Tezuka-san."
He grinned. "The pleasure is all mine."
Arata rolled his eyes. "Start the car already, Taiga." He said.
They must be close since he used his first name. "Yes, sir!" Taiga said mockingly and started the car.
He brought us to some place at the edge of the city. The streets were surrounded by several large buildings and though we were at the city's edge, it didn't seem as poor as I had thought it would be.
After half an hour Tezuka-san stopped the car in front of a building, less high than the surrounding ones but still large enough to amaze me. Arata and I stepped out the car and Tezuka-san drove a little further, apparently there was a parking lot nearby. A little nervous I entered the building with Arata at my side.
I would finally meet the people who had been supporting me in secret. In the hall, behind a desk, sat a middle aged woman, who was typing something. Arata greeted her too and when he introduced me, the woman quickly stood up and bowed deep.
"It's an honor to meet you, your majesty." She said solemn.
"N-nice to meet you." I stuttered, a bit overwhelmed.
I saw Arata bring his hand to his mouth to hide a smile. After Tezuka-san and the receptionist, a lot of other people followed, every one greeted me in an exaggerated respectful way, I hadn't been treated like this since my escape from the palace.
I started to doubt the intentions I was brought here with when we came to the head office. A middle aged man was sitting behind a desk but when he saw me, he jumped up and bowed deep, deeper than anyone had today.
"This is Tanabe-san." Arata introduced his superior. "But everyone calls him "Commander".
The commander's ears turned pink. "Don't call me that Arata-kun, you make it sound like we're in the army or something."
"More like a rebellion group." Arata grinned and I finally understood why I had been thinking he was acting differently today. It was because he was home.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Haruhi Fujioka. Thank you for sending Arata to my aide." I thanked him.
"To receive such words from you, you're making me blush, princess!" the man joked, but he really was blushing. "I assume you've seen the broadcast, sir." Arata said, turning serious.
Tanabe-san nodded with a serious face too. "It's becoming a problem." He answered. "For your security we will teach you some self-defense, Haruhi-sama but I beg of you, don't repeat previous actions as taking care of it yourself. Arata is trained as your bodyguard so if anything happens again, you should ask for his help." The man said, almost lecturing me. It's not that I don't want to tell Arata about it, after what happened at Akito's party, I felt insure whether to trust him or not.
I'm lucky he hasn't found out about the incident with Aunt Aneko and Kyo-niichan.
"Haruhi-sama, I'll send someone to show you around." Tanabe-san said. "Could you wait outside? I want to speak to Arata-kun, do you mind?"
I shook my head but I thought it was being a bit strange to send me away. I left the room but the promised person wasn't here yet, so, I'm not proud of it but I just thought it was suspicious, I started to eavesdrop. At first the voices were difficult to hear from behind the door but I started to understand what was being said after a while.
"Why did you bring her here, Arata?" Tanabe-san asked softly.
"I'm sorry but it was necessary, I noticed she was starting to doubt my loyalty." He answered.
"So you brought her here?" Tanabe-san scolded him. "There are way too many risks."
"She was doubting me! It would be bad if she doesn't trust me."
"Even so, Arata, what were you thinking!? Her highness told us to get rid of it and you are being all friendly with her?" Tanabe-san almost yelled. Get rid… of me? What the heck do they mean?
"That's the point isn't it? She needs to get attached to me, that way it will be easier." Arata replied. "Aneko-sama is –"
I couldn't hear the rest of his sentence because I was surprised by approaching footsteps. The receptionist from earlier came to show me around. Disappointed and a little bit scared I had to leave the office. What the hell is going on?
The following two days were filled with falling, bruises and late nights. I had been given the instructor that had personally trained Arata and though everyone treated me with the utmost respect because of my birth, my teacher couldn't mind less. Merciless he drilled me two days long, that I immediately fell asleep the moment my head touched my pillow. I thought I could have interrogated further after what I heard at the office but I didn't see Arata once this weekend.
The other people present here didn't let go off information and I was afraid to push further since I thought they might get suspicious. I also tried to interrogate my teacher about Arata but apparently they didn't get along very well though Arata seemed to get along with everyone else.
When I asked my teacher about it during a break in my teaching, he looked at me with cold eyes and said ominous. "He's a traitor of his own beliefs."
I had frowned after hearing that but they didn't really help me with my investigation. My teacher and Arata didn't like each other after all, the man could just have been saying some nonsense but when the weekend ended and Taiga drove me and Arata back home, a small voice in my head warned me to be more careful than usual.
I wanted to update earlier, but I went to Disneyland Paris in the weekend, Monday it was my birthday, I forced myself to make my homework on Tuesday and today I had an appointed with a friend but since HikaKaoLover10 requested an update I quickly finished this chapter to update it today, it's a bit boring (I'm sorry!) so I'll update at the end of the week again, the next chapter will be more fun ^_^ Thanks again for the heartwarming reviews :)