Chapter 1 – Misaki's a What?

Misaki sighed as she fastened a couple clips in her hair. Looking in the mirror, she saw a stranger looking back at her. She clenched her fist and looked away.

There's no point in being upset, she thought. This was your choice.

Her internal monologue seeming to have given her some resolve, she stood up from her chair, ignoring the scraping sounds it made on the old hardwood floor. The music from the club seemed to become louder, as if aware of her newfound confidence. She didn't know what was pumping harder, the bass or her heart. As she made her move towards the door, she felt a slender hand touch her shoulder. Turning her head slightly, she saw her manager, Satsuki, giving her a small smile.

"You know," Satsuki said softly. "I know I hired you, but you can always quit if you are having second thoughts."

I am, Misaki thought as she closed her eyes. She knew there was no other choice – she had to do this. It was the only way to provide for her family.

Misaki put on her best smile. "I am thankful for the opportunity to work here, Satsuki-san," she said, bowing her head slightly.

Satsuki removed her hand from Misaki's shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile – the first time was always the hardest. Turning her head back forward, Misaki braced her shoulders and began to walk towards the door that changed her life. The doorknob was cold under her grip as she turned and pushed it open. Music thumped so loud in her ears she could barely hear her own thoughts. As she walked down the pathway and got closer to the back of the stage, her eyes were assaulted with all different types of lights flashing and moving. She gripped the railing as she waited with one foot on the steps for her queue. The beginnings of a familiar beat started playing and she knew it was time.

It's now or never, she thought as she climbed the stairs. She felt herself shift into a different persona. She was no longer Misaki Ayuzawa. She was someone different, someone she was creating right at this moment. She pushed open the curtains with both of her hands, eyes slightly squinting from the sudden bright light, and gave her best seductive smirk. She dropped her long, silk robe onto the stage to reveal a black, lacey bodysuit. Her nipples hardened at the sudden change in temperature, but she ignored how uncomfortable it was being exposed this much as she walked further on stage and gripped the silver pole. Looking into the crowd, she saw many faces right around the stage and throughout the club. Looks like her debut night was going to be a big one.

"Are you ready to have some fun, masters?"

oOo

Swirling her pen around in her hand, Misaki slightly grimaced at her memory of her first shift at Maid Cabaret. She had originally worked as a waitress in high school for a small, local café in high school. It had been a good job back then - it allowed her to help her mother put food on the table and pay the bills. Now that Misaki was in college, the expenses had racked up. Her first semester in college had her drowning in schoolwork and two jobs. She found it increasingly hard to focus on her studies and pay her tuition, her rent, as well as support her mother and sister.

She had stumbled upon Maid Cabaret on accident while trying to find a serving job that was more upscale. Back then, she never thought she would make ends meet by being a stripper. The pay is what appealed to her the most – she made double in one night what she would make in a week with two jobs. She had been nervous at first, having never done anything like this before, especially something that made her feel so… exposed. In time she got used to it, especially with the help of her coworkers. Despite the nature of her job, she felt that she had finally found a group of people she considered her second family.

Maid Cabaret was a different take on a classic strip club and much classier than many of the other local clubs thanks to the strict rules put in place by the manager, Satsuki.

All guests who came into the club must be greeted and referred to as either "Master" or "Madam" the entirety of their visit. The dancers themselves were referred to as maids instead of strippers. There was a strict no touching rule on the main floor, which was enforced by the many bouncers posted around the club keeping watch. There were private rooms upstairs where minimal touching was allowed due to the price increase for a private, more intimate experience with the maids. Working the private rooms were not Misaki's favorite for that reason, but she understood the reason – if you are not going to allow touching on the main floor and want to charge more for a private experience, there needs to be different services and allowances that separates the experience they can get for cheaper downstairs. Despite this, Misaki always felt comfortable knowing one of the bouncers stood outside the door.

The service the maids provided as well slightly differed from other clubs to help them stand out. If the maids were performing on stage, they had the option to choose what they wore, whether it was a body suit, bra and panty set, etc. – except if it was a theme day, then it was restricted to whatever Satsuki had chosen for the night. If not performing on stage and working the floor, they were required to wear a frilly maid apron tied around their waist over their chosen attire… or lack thereof. Their main job on the floor was to greet guests when they entered, serve drinks, food, and perform lap dances for their customers who requested one. Satsuki had said her dream was to merge a café/bar experience with sexy women.

Misaki grinned at the thought… if Satsuki wasn't her manager, she never would've thought a women ten years her senior as innocent as she was owning a place like this. Despite that, Satsuki was very passionate about her business and took care of her maids. Sexual and physical harassment was not tolerated, and she had no problem banning or kicking out customers who violated the rules which was very rare to see in a manager in this line of work. That is one of the many reasons Misaki had stayed employed there for so long – the checks were nice too.

Interrupting her thoughts was a loud slam on the table next to her. Misaki coughed a little as dust from the books that were now in front of her blew in her face.

"What a pain!" Sakura whined as she dropped into the chair next to Misaki. "I am never going to be able to read all this by Monday!"

"Well maybe you should stop attending your boyfriend's sets every weekend," Shizuko grumbled as she took a seat. "All he does is sing cover songs at local bars. Nothing special."

"That's not true! He sings his originals every set!" Sakura was known to get very defensive when it came to her boyfriend Kuga.

"Yeah, towards the end when half the bar has left. If he started with his originals no one would stay," Shizuko scoffed.

"Fuck off, Shizuko," Sakura grumbled, pouting her lip and looking away.

Misaki gave a faint giggle. "When are you guys not at each other's throats?" Misaki asked.

As if reanimated, Sakura's face lit up as she turned towards Misaki and grabbed both of her hands in hers. "Misaki! Misaki! You must come to Kuga's set tonight! It'll be so much fun! I already asked Shizuko but she said no," Sakura said, her face in a pout again after saying the last part.

Misaki pulled her hands out of Sakura's and rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Well I would, but I work every night this weekend… I really can't afford to take off," she added as Sakura now directed her pout towards her.

"You are always working! Let loose and have some fun! You might even find yourself a man," Sakura said winking.

"That's the last thing I need. I have a busy schedule already, no need to add a man into the mix," Misaki stated, already over the conversation.

I see and deal with them enough at work to know I never want to date a man, ever. I hate them, she thought as memories of her customers flooded into her mind and the disgusting things these men would do and say, married or not.

"Not even a quick hookup? A quick fuck could relieve some of your stress," Sakura countered.

Misaki felt her face heat up. Despite being 21 and in her junior year of college, she was still a virgin. Yes, she had gotten close a few times to losing it, but that was years ago when she was still acquainted with her childhood best friend in high school, Hinata. Even that was an amazing feat for her because she has hated men for as long as it's been that her father abandoned them and left them with debt. Ever since, she has wanted nothing to do with men. With her job, she played the part of an obedient maid serving her master for the money, nothing more.

"Leave her alone, Sakura. Can't you see you're irritating her?" Shizuko said.

Suddenly embarrassed by Shizuko's observation, Misaki hastily stood up and grabbed her bag. "It's getting late, I have to go to work," she stated avoiding eye contact with them both.

"Wait!" Sakura called after her. "I wanted to tell you something real quick!"

Misaki turned on her heels to face her pink haired friend. She gave her a look that told her to continue.

"Did you hear we're getting a transfer student? I heard he's from England and super hot!" Sakura said, her hands clasped and stars suddenly appearing in her eyes.

"You're taken," Shizuko said, not looking up from the book she was now engulfed in.

"So?" Sakura said, glaring at Shizuko. "I can look at the menu, just not order," she giggled, looking at Misaki again.

Misaki sighed and smacked her palm against her forehead. Sakura was probably the only person she has met in her life who liked to gossip this much, and that was saying something.

"Why do I care? Hot or not, I don't give a fuck. He'll just be another annoying man." With that, Misaki turned back around and walked out of the library and started her walk to work.

oOo

Misaki entered through the back door of the club where all the employees entered. Since it was Friday night, all the girls were here. She was only close with Satsuki, Honoka, Subura, and Erika. She saw most of them already ready, each of them looking in the mirror at their stations seeing if there is anything they need to touch up.

"Misaki! Thank god you're here," her manager Satsuki gushed, rushing over to her. "Here! Put these on."

Misaki felt something assault the top of her head. Misaki turned and looking in the mirror at her station. A headband… with cat ears. Misaki closed her eyes and grimaced.

"The theme tonight is cat ears! Isn't it too cute?" Satsuki said, giving Misaki a hopeful look.

"Eh.. yeah, it's great," Misaki said, hopefully giving her manager a convincing smile.

That seemed to do the trick as Satsuki continued to gush about how cute she looked and to hurry up and get changed since her first job of the night is to work the floor with Honoka and Subaru. Erika and a few other girls would be taking the first stage shifts.

Misaki signed as she dropped her bag on the floor near her station and opened her armoire of clothes to decide what to wear. Well, "clothes" was a loose term as she was going to be strutting around in her underwear.

Since the only stipulation was that she had to wear the car ears, Misaki had the freedom to choose what she wanted to wear. Since it was the end of the month and a new round of bills were going to hit in a week or so, Misaki wanted to stand out a little more than usual to rack in extra money. She chose a red two piece, going for a bold color to stick out against the dark ambiance of the club. The bra was lacey and unlined, and her panties matched. If one of her customers looked hard enough at her chest, they could probably see her nipples hidden underneath the lace.

Despite some other girls here, Misaki had always gone the more natural route. She didn't like bras with extra padding – this job was already uncomfortable enough – and she wore minimal makeup, not sure if it's because she doesn't like it or because she lacks the skill. She was comfortable with her body, having a respectable B-cup that she didn't feel the need to enhance. That didn't mean she judged the other girls for what they did, she just had a personal preference to not go over the top. She made enough money staying natural that she never had the temptation to change.

Slipping out of her clothes and into the intimates, she added thigh high stockings and heels to her outfit. Once she had her cat ears on, she grabbed her maid apron and tied it around her waist. It did little for modesty as Misaki's whole ass was still exposed in the back, only covering her front area to slightly below her groin.

Sex pays, she thought as she looked at herself one more time in the mirror.

"You are just too sexy!" Squealed Erika, running up and hugging her.

Misaki blushed as she felt Erika's bare breasts against hers. Despite doing this job since she was 18, physical contact still made her embarrassed. Erika was one of the maids with the largest breasts out of all of them, sporting a D-cup that she loved to show off every chance she got and turned eyes in the club. She was more promiscuous than the rest of them, often letting customers play with the shoulder strap of her bra, letting them pull it down a bit to see if they can get a peek at the skin underneath. That's as far as she would let them though before she playfully swatted their hand away and waved her finger at them the way a mother would scold her child, reminding them of the no touching rule and that they can pay for more upstairs. With her being one of the tallest as well with bright red hair, to put it simply, she oozed sex appeal.

That's not to say the rest of the maids weren't sexy as well. All the girls were in shape and radiated sexiness. Subaru gave off the sexy librarian type and Honoka the dominatrix type. Misaki was not sure what type she was, as she has gotten mixed reviews from many of their patrons. It didn't really matter to her though – as long as she was keeping the customers coming back, she was making money.

"T-Thanks," Misaki stuttered, overcoming her blush.

Erika let go and gave her a pout that could rival Sakura's. "I'm so jealous that you, Honoko, and Subaru are working the floor first!"

The ideal order of the shifts for the night was the floor and then the stage. This is due to when they first open, the night is still young and most guests are still sober, so they normally go to tables first and order food and drinks before making their way to the stage. Once their patrons were filled with food and alcohol, then they made their way to the stage and tipped big on the girls performing. Satsuki always rotated each night which one each girl started with each night to make it fair for everyone.

Misaki gave her a small smile. "You don't have to worry," Misaki said. "No matter where you are, you'll always make your money."

Erika winked at her and walked back to her station, dabbing a bit more lip gloss on. Misaki decided to apply some too, just to give her lips that extra pout and sultry look.

"Ready?" Honoka asked and she linked arms with her and Subaru.

Misaki merely nodded, and the three of them walked out of the changing area onto the main floor to unlock the main doors for the night. Misaki walked over to the bar where Satsuki's nephew, who she had also become close with, Aoi, was polishing the glasses before guests came flooding in.

"What'll it be, sweetheart?" Aoi cheekily asked as she leaned against the bar.

"Saki, straight," Misaki answered. Another perk of the job is that the maids are allowed to drink, within reason of course. Many of their customers enjoyed buying them drinks, especially if they can pour them in the maid's mouths.

Aoi smirked. "So it's gonna be that kind of night, huh?" he asked as he slid the shot glass to her.

Misaki didn't answer as she slammed back the shot, the familiar burn reaching her chest.

"Yeah," she replied as she saw the first customers walking in. "I need a little extra courage tonight."

"Good luck!" He called after her as Misaki made her way to the doors.

She took a deep breath and changed into her other persona. Getting into character wasn't hard for her anymore. The nights she worked, she was no longer Misaki Ayuzawa, first in her class a Seika University. Respected, and feared, college student who studied hard and was determined to make her life better. Squaring her shoulders, she stood next to Honoka and Subaru.

With a bow they all chanted, "Welcome back, Masters!"

oOo

A/N: Hi! This is my first Maid-sama fanfic. This is also my first time writing a rated M fanfic. Some characters may be OOC at times, but due to the nature of Misaki's job and the mature vibe of the story, that is to be expected. I am trying my best to keep them all in character, sticking to their core personality traits. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kaichou wa Maid-sama, Fujiwara Hiro does.