Snippet #1741341

The door creaked quietly as Raku slipped into the room, bare-foot and silent in his movements. He could see her there in the dim light, curled up on her bed with her back turned to the door. Saigome Aimee. Hime-sama. The girl who had become, in a single night, the hope of this family, and the dream of Raku's life. He had seen the Master bring her in the night before, and marveled all at once at her incredible beauty and undeniable sadness. The girl had looked like the world was falling down around her.

Raku recognized that feeling, understood it. He had felt it before.

Shaking his head rapidly, he turned his mind from those thoughts. It would do him no good to relive the pain of that night now. If he thought about it, the knife would split his side again, and he would frighten Aimee with his screaming. He couldn't have that, when the Master had so kindly asked him to protect her.
He knelt beside her bed, watching her for a moment. And then he spoke, calling her attention to him for the first time.

"Hime-sama," he whispered to her, bowing her head slightly to her. "You can not hide in here forever."








(Hime-sama means princess, if you didn't know...)