So . . . what was the day again? Was it Tuesday . . . ? Yeah, that’s what it was, it was a Tuesday morning. Just another Tuesday, that was what it was. Just another day. It was going to be rather hot out, it was so early and already the air was warm, the sun was beating down upon the Earth with no mercy—there weren’t even any clouds in the sky, so high above the world, there was just an endless blue expanse. But then, this was what an early summer was all about, wasn’t it? Heat, and bright sunshine beating down on the world, making the air thick, and heavy with moisture. . . . Such things were trademarks of an early summer, you could be right into the middle of spring like this, and be dealing with temperatures high into the 90’s with heavy humidity.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t expect it to be hot anyway, she had checked the weather before she’d went to bed last night. Even still, just feeling it for herself, that was an entirely different experience as thinking you knew what to expect. It was probably only about 7AM, and already she was up and in the kitchen, sitting on the counter while looking out the East-facing window. She had watched the sunrise today, she had woken up so early as to witness that. Even still, with as early as she had woken up, she hadn’t bothered with changing into whatever clothing she would bother with today, no, she was still in her pajamas—a black tank top and a pair of grey sweatpants. But, she liked the mornings like this, they were . . . peaceful. Serenity wasn’t exactly going to be the easiest thing to come by soon enough, with the Manor’s new tenants moving in one-by-one. While the whole house had yet to be occupied, all the rooms had been rented out, and officially signed over to someone.

Sure, she didn’t mind the idea of living with a lot of people, but there was the fact that she still did enjoy her solitude and peace at times, such as this. Well, it isn’t like things could possibly be too much different from before. Aunt Alessa always makes enough noise to make anyone think there’s a small party going on here in the house if they didn’t know any better. Then there’s the fact that she’s only doing God knows what up there some nights. . . . a sigh escaped the girl’s lips before she cracked a weary smile, Okay, so maybe it doesn’t take a god to know what that woman is doing up there, considering the amount of times random men have gone tromping down the stairs some of these mornings. It’s not too hard to figure out.

Her aunt was indeed an . . . interesting woman. Certainly was not one who cared to keep a man around for more than a few days—if that most of the time. But, such ways were what had gotten her labeled a blacksheep with the family.

Amaryllis could only find herself sighing with that smile on her face as she thought about how her aunt acted, the woman was twenty-seven and she acted like a hormone driven teenager half the time it seemed. Though it’d been a year, Amaryllis was still finding herself adapting to the woman’s ways and trying to retain it as her newfound normalcy. Of course, what she defined as normalcy was going to be changing rather soon, what with those new people moving into the Manor. . . .

Already, a few of the tenants had already moved themselves in over the course of the last days, while a couple of others had yet to arrive. To those who had already taken up residence in their rooms, Amaryllis did not yet know much about them, only what she had overheard from her aunt’s loud mouth. Alessa was not a lady who understand the concept of having an ‘indoor voice’ very well it seemed. . . . It also didn’t help that she was half-drunk every time she was working things out regarding her new tenants, although, Alessa tended to always be a little bit buzzed since she nearly every drink she ingested had some amount of alcohol in it.

I really hope that these people moving in here realize what their landlady is like, and can cope with it. After all, they did sign a lease—there is no getting out of this now. Thinking this, it caused her to laugh a bit to herself. Things were undoubtedly going to get rather interesting soon, weren’t they? In a way, she actually looked forward to it, with so many new people moving in, there was a chance that the lot of them were bound to be interesting people. Who knew what fun was to be had yet? In a way, that sounded rather nice after the last year of it being just her and her aunt. Amaryllis shut her eyes and turned her head down as she maintained a small smile upon her face. The last year had been . . . kind of lonely, after her parents had sent her here for getting expelled after fighting to defend that girl. Yes, she had managed to muddle through it, but even still. . . . In a way, she was really happy to know that she wasn’t going to be alone anymore, and that she might have a chance to actually interact with people beyond her bottle fairy auntie Alessa.

Still holding that same expression over her young face, Amaryllis half-opened her honey colored eyes and looked down to the hand she had in her lap as she fiddled about with a plain metal ring she had placed on her index finger. The reality of all this was that she was indeed happy about not having to be with just her aunt, but she was also apprehensive about it. So many new people at one time. Even as she was, it could be a bit overwhelming, but it would be all right . . . that was what she felt. It would be all right. It would, right . . . ?

Just at that, the redhead’s eyes went wide and her head shot up and she shook it back and forth as she nervously laughed at herself. “What am I getting so worked up over? Yes, this might be a bit hard since I’ll be living with these people, but I know I’m capable of finding the good things about them, no matter who they are or what they are like.” If anything, that was the truth. People never angered her, just disappointed . . . and even in those moments, she could still see the positive traits in a person, hence the disappointment.

With that, Amaryllis clapped her hands together and smiled to herself again, “Well then, I think that’s enough dilly-dallying and brooding on my part for the rest of the week—it’s time to get moving~” Setting her hands down at her sides, the girl quickly turned herself and hopped off the counter, making a small thud when she landed on the floor. Even if it was sort of early, she’d already been up for over an hour, so, it was definitely time she got around to doing something more than just staring out the window like a forlorn soul. Breakfast . . . yeah, I think I’ll make myself breakfast—that sounds pretty good.

And so, she began humming to herself as she went about raiding the fridge, cabinets, and pantry for the things she needed to cook, not realizing that her voice had started to slip from her lips, leaving the notion of humming behind as she had begun to instead sing. ”Well, ‘love’ is what we give, and ‘love’ is what we get, so I would have to say, we’re quite a happy set. Our intuitions off, we love each other still. ‘Ego,’ or else, ‘we go?’ Let’s be sure to make this clear. . . .”

By the time she had already had cracked her eggs, and had begun frying them up, she was too lost in her own little world to even know that she might’ve begun to rouse those few people who had already moved into the Manor from their sleep with her voice. ”I’m doing this all for you, ‘I’m doing this all for me?’ Dare say that about our love, and mister, I’ll have to do away with you. . . .”

The sleep medication had worn off a few minutes ago. Louvel Regis rolled over on his stark white bedspread, flipping onto his stomach and consequently making his grey sweatpants hike up. The nineteen year old groaned, and eyed the room with bleary eyes. The young man liked his room a lot. It was spacious, and relatively lacking in the 'creative' department, but it was moderately isolated and had plenty of windows to allow the blessed sunlight in. The said sunlight, however, was shining on Louvel's sleepy eyes, further pushing him to wake up. Finally, the mentally unbalanced boy swung his torso upright, and staggered a few feet forward, narrowly dodged one of the many moving-in boxes that cluttered his living space. Louvel growled, eyeing the offending cube suspiciously. Obviously, it had done that on purpose. His bare foot connected with the cardboard side, sending the mostly empty box skidding across the hardwood floor to the other side of the attic space. That ought to teach the evil thing a lesson. Barely conscious of the fact that he was tugging on a pale long-sleeved shirt. The thing was a tad bit too large on Louvel, with the sleeves easily reaching his knuckles and the neckline slipping over one shoulder. The color of the shirt was unusual for Louvel, and it made his grey skin tone all the more pronounced. The room-rentee's ebony hair stuck up from all angles, falling in his face in the perfect image of a 'bed head'. When Louvel finally managed to get himself to the nearby attic bathroom, the only thing he did to correct his rather mussed appearance was run a hand through his black headward tangle, transforming the mess into a narrowly acceptable state, and quickly brush his teeth.

All of these things were normal for a guy Louvel's age, but that 'normalcy' stopped the moment Louvel pushed open the mirror-covered medicine cabinet and hauled out a plastic container. After all, how usual is it for a nineteen year old boy to take psychiatric medication for his multiple metal issues? Louvel's pale hand expertly shook a single pill into his palm, swiftly swallowed the thing, and followed up with a waiting glass of water. The whole act took place with the well-oiled efficiency of a machine. During Louvel's last one-over he noted the lines under and around his eyes had gotten darker. Strange. He had been sleeping surprisingly well last night, after he had dragged his stuff upstairs during the later hours of yesterday. But the insomniac shrugged, and shuffled himself downstairs with the easy quiet of those who went barefoot. But the nineteen year old payed little attention the the floor beneath his, stumbling on the stairs multiple times but not paying much attention to his stumbling state. His meds numbed his senses down, and made Louvel rather floppy for a while after taking them. But no matter, for the young man was following his nose for what hopefully was breakfast.

It was only when the room-rentee was nearly upon the breakfast area did he hear a strangely sad tune echoing through the the first floor. Mildly curious and having decided he liked the sound, Louvel half stepped into the entrance to the eating area, cocking his head slightly to the left. He dark eyes found a girl with flaming hair, about his age, and frying some eggs over the stove. Louvel frowned. He wasn't very adept in communicating with other young people (especially girls), but he was a social guy and, well, pretty impulsive. So, on a whim, the nineteen year old padded over to the food area, just wandering around in the backround while the girl continued singing in a rather sweet tone, oblivious to his presence. Not that Louvel really cared, as he was hunting for some cheerios at the moment. He didn't really know if she was frying up enough grub for others, so he didn't want to wait for food and and up not receiving any. Plus, he didn't really want to interrupt the music drifting through the area. It was nice, in a soothing way, and the young woman was quickly gaining Louvel's respect and approval as a result.

Vendettus sat in the driver side of his modified black 1999 Lamborghini Diablo GT. The Diablo GT was a highly exclussive and limited racing designed Lamborghini, only 84 were ever made and only 80 were sold. Vendettus owned one of the four never sold. The original design of the Diablo GT cut down on many cosmetic and auxiliary features in order to save on weight. Vendettus has fixed this. While it made it heavier, thus slightly slower, he had modified the car to have the luxury and comfort of a high end sports car but still have the raw power of a race car. Due to how rare the car was, the modifications had to be specially designed and built. However, Vendettus was never one to pay for anything. He was given everything, handed to him on silver platters, mainly because he forced them too. Using his Godly abilities, Vendettus could manipulate the hearts, minds and souls of more than 90% of the world, and did so whenever suited his fancy.

War was a main stream commodity of almost the whole globe, so much that Vendettus didn't need to do much more than give a simple nudge in the direction he wanted a conflict to form. The world was ignorant and violent. Sin prospered and in many cultures was a way of life. Like the United States of America. This had to be Vendettus' favorite country. Their decadent and violent ways towards other countries could only be matched by their decadent and violent ways towards each other. This was a country founded by suffering, colonized by domination, and united by war. It was a beautiful and chaotic contradiction of a country, and it was the perfect place for Vendettus to exist. 

War had become so common and simple that Vendettus lost a great deal of interest in the idea of war between militias. So Vendettus sought to bring sin and misery where ever he would visit. Lust, greed, laziness, spread through the country like a wild fire. Even this grew tiring. There was an emptiness in Vendettus' immortal life and these pathetic rainy-day sinners were just not enough to fill the void.

Vendettus revved the 12 cylinder V engine powerfully, the sound echoed for miles along the stretch a long winding road that wrapped around a huge nearby hill, with cliffs and sharp turns. He sat at the top of the hill at the end of the road that stopped at a small abandoned shrine. Vendettus exhaled slowly and deeply, and with a quick pull shifted into first gear, peeling out rapidly. 

In nearly four seconds, Vendettus was already flying down the road at 60 mph. He shifted to second gear and stomped his foot into the gas. He instantly shifted into third gear and was soaring down the road at 100 mph, picking up more and more speed. At fourth gear, he was hitting nearly 200 mph. He flowed down the road so quickly he seemed like a shadow running across the ground, just too fast to keep up with. He threw it into fifth and broke 200 mph, but he seemed to drive the road fluently as if he was riding slowly down the hill. Suddenly, Vendettus slammed on the brakes and skidded a fifty foot long set of tire skid marks at the bottom of the hill. 

Vendettus sighed out happily in content, this rush was one of the few that he shared with humans. His car was beautiful, powerful and so fast and the feeling of pushing it to its limits was almost as satisfying as sex. And he needed something as satisfying as sex to prepare him for what he was going to do next, return to the Blachett Manor. 

The sun was rising by the time he got back to the manor. He had moved in last night, in the cover of darkness. To be perfectly honest, he wasn't looking forward to living in this set up, but this was the only way he could keep these mortals miserable like they deserved to be. The only person he had interacted with so far was the land lady, Alessa. Thankfully, she wasn't one of the mortals he had cursed. Using his charm and amazing good looks he managed to talk her into not only letting him stay in the manor, but take the entire basement, rent free. He didn't even have to sleep with her yet, her being drunk made him even more charming. 

He parked his Lamborghini in the garage and got out, taking his shirt off from the soft sweat he had formed from the adrenaline from the drive. He walked into the house, wiping he sweat from his face with his shirt. His well toned body glistened from sweat, looking as if his body was perfectly chiseled out of soft tan marble and then washed in the rain. 

He walked out of the garage, walking silently past Amaryllis' room and into the breakfast area, right by the people forming in the kitchen, a sickly looking boy and a cute but tomboyish girl. He didn't stay long, he walked slowly for the basement, he wanted to get down to his room to work out and train for a little while, but as he walked by he gave a seductive smile and a playful wink at the girl before heading for the stairs.

Arteryu “Arty” Suzuki walked to the house two suit cases in her hand and a straw hat with a long blue ribbon on her head. Her light blue sandaled feet hardly made a sound. A light breeze blew across her path causing her opal black hair to whip across her face and covered her odd eyes, they were a deep sapphire blue, but they had flecks of emerald in them that seemed to shine brighter when the sun hit them. She put a hand on her hat to keep it on as she squinted her eyes to keep the dust out.

She looked around the unfamiliar city scape a light frown on her lightly pink lips. She wanted to ask someone where this “Blanchett Manor” was located, but was too scared to do so. She finally found it and raised her hand as she quietly knocked on the door and waited patiently. She hoped she would get along with everyone here. She also hoped they had a library and garden here. As she waited she sang a song softly,

“ Someday I want to run away
To the world of midnight
Where the darkness fill the air
Where it's icy cold

Where nobody has a name
Where living is not a game
There, I can hide my broken heart
Dying to survive

There, no one can see me cry
The tears of my lonely soul
I'll find peace of mind
In the dark and cold world of midnight”

She liked the song, though the anime it came from was very violent and graphic… in fact she could only watch one episode of it a day, though she has gotten better at that… “Maybe there will be people my age here! I hope I can make some friends…” she thought to herself.

Akio was in his room, sleeping as usual as his alarm clock goes off. He moaned and groaned, pulling the covers over his head as the sound was now irritating him. A soft sigh escapes from his lips as removes the covers from over his head, eyes glancing over at the clock. With the raise of a hand, he shuts the alarm off. He rises up in his bed, taking his index finger and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he fully throws the cover off of him. Akio then swings his legs over the bed, so that his feet can land firmly on the ground as he uses his palms to push himself up from the bed, walking over to his window, opening the curtains to bring life into his room. He then walks back over to the bed, making it up as when he done with that, he then goes into the bathroom, to do his morning routine which was brushing his teeth, showering then brushing his hair the way he wanted it. After all that was done, he returns to his bedroom, walking over to his closet as he opens it up, figuring out what to wear. He rummages through his closet and dressers, shrugging his shoulders as he was just going to put on something.

After changing into his clothing, with was a buttoned up shirt, with the top two buttons undone and a pair of blue jeans, he then walks out of his room, sniffing the air as he smelled eggs. He was making his way to the kitchen until he heard a knock come over the door. "I'll get it!" He would yell as he walks over to the door, opening it up with the twist of a knob as he sees a female behind it. "Hi, welcome to the Blanchett Manor. Please come in." He would move aside for the female to walk inside, closing the door behind her as he then walks to stand beside her with his arms folded over his chest. "So what brings you here?" He would ask while walking towards the kitchen, hoping the female knows to follow him.

While she was continuing to mind herself, and the eggs she was frying up, Amaryllis’ voice wound up fading away and drifting back into a mellow hum, although she had ceased singing the lyrics, the song’s melody could still clearly be heard through her humming. The redhead had lost herself in her own little world for the time being, unaware that she was no longer alone in the Manor’s kitchen, that was something she was going to find herself getting used to soon enough, the fact that people could just randomly pop on into any room but her own whenever they wanted at any point in time. I wonder if I should just be making food for myself . . . it might seem kind of rude considering that there are others living in the house now. . . . she thought to herself as she made quick work of flipping one of the eggs in the skillet. Perhaps that was rude. . . .

As she continued on humming the song she’d been singing, something caught her attention, just a passing blur. The suddenness of this caused the girl to visibly tense up, her head shot up and she ceased her humming as she blinked, bringing her honey-colored eyes to look at a guy who was sickly in appearance—possessing ashen skin, with dark marks under his eyes that almost reminded her of bruises. It took a second for Amaryllis’ brain to register whom he was. Louvel, right . . . how could I have forgotten him? she asked herself, sighing and shaking her head as she wearily smiled to herself. Perhaps her brain wasn’t entirely with her yet, given the time and the fact that she had put herself into a daze while looking out the window for well over an hour.

Well, regardless of the reason who Louvel was had slipped from her mind, the point was that she was able to at least recall it now. Given her aunt’s loudmouthed self, Amaryllis had . . . overheard things about Louvel before he’d taken up residence in the Manor, things she had a damn good feeling she wasn’t suppose to hear. Of course, she didn’t know all the details about him, but she’d heard enough to know that he’d just moved into the Manor right out of a clinic of some sort, some sort of asylum by the sounds of it. What she overheard from her aunt Alessa’s loud manner of speaking on the phone, it was information she really shouldn’t have known, but she knew it, and she couldn’t up and forget it. Really though, whatever he’d been through before moving into the Manor didn’t at all matter to her, as far as she was concerned he was another tenant, and she had yet to know anything about him personally.

By looking at him as he was now, it sort of looked like he was stalking about the kitchen looking for something to eat . . . as most people did in the mornings. As she realized this, Amaryllis looked back down to the eggs she had been frying for herself, and smiled to herself in a silly manner. Yep, I guess my own breakfast will have to wait. she thought to herself as she turned the burner off, the eggs finished cooking, I’d feel bad if I went and ate something decent this morning when someone else was stuck with just cereal.

Without saying anything yet, the redhead went ahead and scooped the eggs out of the skillet with the spatula and set them on a plate she’d gotten out before she’d started cooking. I guess I’m going to be the one stuck with plain old cereal, these were the last two eggs in the fridge. It was right as she was doing this, and thinking a bit to herself that someone new decided to walk themselves right through the kitchen. Hearing the sound of the door to the garage opening and closing caught Amaryllis’ attention, making her look up from her business as a man she hadn’t seen before saw fit to parade himself right through the kitchen without wearing a shirt. . . . Amaryllis just blinked and stared at him with a questioning expression, of course she figured it was one of the Manor’s new tenants, but did he really have to go and walk into the house without wearing a shirt?

After he gave a rather lascivious smile to her, along with a wink, the expression on the redhead’s face wound up changing to a rather bland one, and she continued to look at the new housemate as he disappeared down the stairs to the basement. She stood there for a moment, completely silent, spatula still in hand, pointed upward. The teenager just blinked before she finally broke the quiet in the kitchen with a rather unintelligent sounding, “Huh,” at a moment’s notice, she craned her head back around and looked at Louvel before offering an awkward smile to him and speaking, “Well . . . um, I guess that was certainly one way to leave a memorable first impression?” she laughed that out a bit nervously.

“Ehhh. . . I hope that he doesn’t make a habit of walking around the house without a shirt on, I don’t really care for seeing that sort of thing. Also, seriously, what was with that smile he tried to give me? I mean . . . ick, he’s got to be in his twenties or something; and I’m only seventeen. . . .” Amaryllis prattled on before stopping herself, blinking while her honey eyes went a bit wide, “And I’m chattering away like a monkey, ah, sorry about that.” She apologized sheepishly, smiling. “Anyway, you’re Louvel, right? I don’t think we’ve actually had the chance to talk or anything, but I’m Amaryllis, the landlady’s niece.” With that she stopped before continuing, “And if I’m correct, I imagine that you’re looking around for something to eat, right?”

With that, the girl put the spatula she’d been holding down, and scooted the plate with the eggs on it across the counter, in Louvel’s direction, “I was making them for myself, but . . . you go ahead instead, besides I think my body could use a break from eggs, I’ve probably eaten them twice this week already.” Making no complaints, she quickly moved the frying pan and spatula into the sink while she herself went ahead and did what she presumed Louvel had been before her—looking for cereal to eat.

Arty smiled as the man opened the door for her, “Thanks.” She told him as she gently stepped inside. “Um I was told I was going to be living here… Oh I forgot to introduce myself didn’t I? I am Arteryu Suzuki. Arty for short.” She told him as she followed him to the kitchen still carrying her two cases. “Is the landlady here? Or is there a place I should put my bags?” she asked him as she smelled the food, which made her stomach growl a bit. With a faint blush she apologized to him, “S-sorry…”

She quickly changed the subject, “So are you the only one here?” she asked as she saw how huge the kitchen was. It was like something out of a movie to her. “wow! His whole place is huge!” she thought to herself as her mouth opened slightly in amazement. She faintly could hear oher voices in the house, but couldn’t make out the words.

Akio stopped and turned heel as the women introduced herself, smiling he raised his hand. "Nice to meet you Arty. I'm Akio." He keeps his hand there until she shakes it. If she does shake his hand, he'll take her bags and strap them across his back. Hearing her stomach growl made him laugh a little as he turned to face her again. "Hungry I see. Let's get you settled in then feed you eh?" With that said, he'll take her bags upstairs and show her the available room left on the second floor. "No I'm not alone, there are more people here. You'll meet them later though." He says while finally reaching her room, opening the door as he steps aside, letting her walk in first then he would follow behind her asking where would she like her bags. Once she'd answer that, he look around and smile, placing his hands in his pocket as he stood there leaned up against the door frame. "Nice room huh?"

Vendettus went down the stairs to the basement area. He yawned and stretched his arms as he reached the final step. He hadn't slept the night before, he moved his things in and then went for a drive to unwind. He rolled his shoulders as he made his way to the middle of the recreation room. Aside from the large bedroom he had in the adjacent room, Vendettus had 'taken over' the recreation area as well.

He had an "All-in-One" automated weight lifting machine, it had different levels of resistance to simulate more weight added without the need of bulky weights and tedious time spent changing them. He could simply set the resistance level to whatever he wanted and the machine made it seem as if he was lifting the actual weights. He also had a few sparring dummies, some punching bags, practice weaponry from all over the world, a closet of weighted clothing, as well as a myriad of equipment to play sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer, etc. etc., and a matted area for stretching, yoga and wrestling.

Being tired from lack of sleep, Vendettus decided only to a light work out. Vendettus took two steps forward, leaning down towards the floor, going down onto his hands and then lifted himself up. In a hand stand position he began to do inverted pushups. Once he reached 5, he pushed up onto his finger tips and continued. His sweat gently ran down his muscular body, wicking into the creases of his muscles pushing out from his skin, making him gleam like an oiled model.

((Warning: This post would be mostly about her family and her entrance to the Blanchett Manor. XD I apologize in advance for the wrong grammars, inconsistency and all related stuffs. ))




With her face reddened in extreme shame, Aina stared at the curving road from the window of the tinted car. She resisted the urge to look exasperatedly at her brothers and instead focused on the view outside the limousine.

She never expected things to end up like this. The moment that her beloved father and more than slightly devious brothers agreed to let her leave the private lands of the Ederra family mansion earlier than what is scheduled, she should have known they had something up their sleeves. Axel, her oldest brother had albeit a little reluctantly gave in under one simple condition. What condition? She really didn't know at first. Only after she had impulsively agreed, and then learned later on that she certainly regretted ever saying yes.

She tightly clutched her purse (the only thing they let her carry) that was situated on her lap to her chest and smiled wearily when she unintentionally caught her father's gaze.

"I am sorry if this was rather lacking, Ai", her father's baritone voice was as warm and soothing as it always have been. He looked at her and gestured to the inside of the limo, questioningly. Aina had always loved hearing her father's voice. Even as a child she had been greatly fascinated and excited upon the times she would hear him talk to her about anything under the sun or sing lullabies when it was her bedtime. Even now, hearing his voice had eased the weariness and shame she's feeling with having a full entourage as she settle to her new temporary home.

What happened this morning was nothing like she had envisioned about her parting from the “Mansion of Arts”. It was truly embarrassing and she can't do anything about it. When her brothers had told her about the condition for their sudden change of heart (with regards to her leaving the mansion), she had been shell-shocked. Holding the deal high above their heads, Axel and Argylle recalled her promise and had insistently forced her to ride the limo and be accompanied by a group of no less than ten bodyguards as they travel towards Blanchett Manor.

It would totally be awkward and uncomfortable once they approach the manor; that was her line of thinking, as she surreptitiously studied her brothers. Finding the backyard parked with a handful of black cars would without doubt surprise anyone involved. She just hoped that most of occupants of the place are either still asleep or travelling, else she won’t be ever to live this one down.

No matter how many times she had begged and reasoned with her siblings just to forget the agreement all over, they hadn’t budged. Instead of permitting her to leave the mansion less flashily like she wanted, they had been adamant for her security . Because of that and even after a lot of puppy eyes, in the end they won over the somewhat futile argument. So here she was waiting for her apparent doom.

She could clearly remember last night where her brother had been disappointed just because of the fact that they couldn't use the white limousine. It was at the cleaners and with heavy disappointment, Axel informed that they would unfortunately need to use the black one. What was the difference between the black and white car, really? Even after living with them for so long, she still can’t properly comprehend her brothers' twisted logic. Being wealthy had made them live rather luxuriously and lavishly. Her brothers had never failed to enjoy existing pleasures that are always associated with the rich. Limos? The high-end technologies, sports cars, gadgets and anything there are possible? Almost everything that is wanted by the people; her brothers would always have those at their arsenal. They had tried to instill this same kind of thinking to her but Aina had always been a simple girl. She lived as comfortably as she could, only buying things that she needed and not caring much more about things other than those which are related to arts and interests.

Axel and Argylle were not snobs though. They were the kindest and sweetest persons that she the most pleasure of knowing. Both of them are also the craziest bunch there ever are. Axel was the cheerful and lively one. He always had a smile on his face and both ears ready to listen. Whenever Aina would feel lonely (which is a rare occurrence, seeing that she would at all times try to think of the happy thoughts before anything else), he would be there willing and wholeheartedly listening. Despite acting rather childish compared to his age, Axel was and currently is the one that mainly manages most of their family businesses next to their father. He had a brilliant and innovative mind that had done well for the prospering of their company's sales. Argylle on the other hand is her much quieter brother. While he knew how to crack odd jokes here and there, Argy would usually be found smiling silently as Axy made a fool of himself. He was a prodigy, gaining a doctorate degree from such a young age and many hospitals wanted his service in their establishment. Her brothers are total opposites, strange and unique in their own ways and she loved them both equally.

They were a happy bunch and Aina greatly treasured this small family of hers.

Deciding to leave home had been a tough decision. However happy and excited she may seem (she will meet new people!), there is a part of her that is unwilling to leave the comfort of her family's protection and venture into grounds unknown. All of her life, she had been pampered and this would be the first time that she will not have the immediately guidance of her brothers and her father.

Her father, Alastair: the man who was literally the most important for Aina. She loved her brother equally but like them, they all treasured their father more. He had been their rock, a source of wisdom and anchor ever since their mother unfortunately died. He had always been there. He was every inch enthusiastic and devoted to help them on every step of the way. Small things like his sweet gestures such as this had always made Aina love him a little more.

The black-haired teenager took her father's hand in her own and lightly shook her head. She was still winded with their surprise. It was so unexpectedly and yet so much like them to treat her like this. She had known full well that they neither meant her harm nor shame when they executed this. They were only concerned about her safety (which is usual honestly) and because of that had undergone lengths to show it the best way that they could. Abandoning all the shame and negative thoughts off her mind, she beamed at them.

Her eyes twinkled in merriment and appreciation; she turned to her brothers and father. “Thank you for this, Axy and Argy!” Her smile widened when she faced her father, “Thank you dad! I really appreciate this!” She felt the car slowing down and was shocked when she noticed that they had apparently reached the grounds of her new home. Gulping just a little to show the odd nervousness creeping in her being, she eyed Axel and waited for the opening of the door.

“Don’t worry sis, we are just a phone call away!” He cheerily declared; winking as he lightly nudged her and patted her head before he alighted. Almost immediately, she calmed down and accepting Argy’s outstretched hand, she stepped out of the car.

“I’ll be talking to Ms. Alessa before we leave, Ai.” Alastair stated with his eyes focused on the magnificent stature of Blanchett Manor. Some of her things were already brought here beforehand courtesy of her brother’s doing. And though she was not able to get her favorite room of the house which was the attic, she was definitely excited to see her new room along with the other tenants who are currently there. She had heard that her room was next to the stairs leading to the attic and was adjacent to the landlady’s quarters. The black-haired girl just hoped that she would never disturb the landlady in the near future or so, especially with the nearness of room and all.

Curiously studying the whole grounds with an eager eye, she grinned elatedly. She didn’t know if the people here would like her but she dared hope she would meet new friends. Those that she had commonly met were her father’s and brothers’ acquaintances and most of them were too mature for her. They had shared no common grounds and all they wanted to talk was either about their bazillion businesses or recent discoveries about medicines.
Though she acknowledged and was even grateful about such things, still Aina would rather meet someone who will be able to share her passion for arts among other topics there are.

Flanked by her family and her bodyguards, she watched with amusement as one of the men in black approached the door and loudly knocked. What would the other occupants say if they saw the imposing crowd waiting outside? It would no doubt be a hilarious scene and for that she waited in anticipation.

Arty quickly followed him not asking for help with her bags as he led her to her room. She almost slipped on the stairway but quickly got her balance back as she held onto her hat. “I should take it off… I am indoors after all” she thought to herself as she again sung one of her favorite songs softly.
“Someday I want to run away
To the world of midnight
Where the darkness fill the air
Where it's icy cold

Where nobody has a name
Where living is not a game
There, I can hide my broken heart
Dying to survive

There, no one can see me cry
The tears of my lonely soul
I'll find peace of mind
In the dark and cold world of midnight”

When they got to her room she put her bags down and gasped, it was huge! Much bigger than she had expected. She went over to the window and saw she had a balcony. A balcony! Just like she had always wanted! “Oh! A garden as well! This is perfect!” she exclaimed happily letting out a soft giggle as she spun around in happiness… and then she remembered she wasn’t the only one in the room and blushed fiercely. “S-sorry… I got over excited…”

Hakuchō sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Despite having the need to go back to sleep, the boy stood up, battling the overpowering heat surging through his room. He walked over to the window quietly, opening it and peering out. Nothing.

How had he woken up? Well, it was almost the time he usually woke up, but seriously, he always woke up at eight. Always. He felt he'd been woken up by someone's singing of some sort, but gave the thought up and sighed, stepping to his closet. Haku stared at the choices of clothing he'd brought with him. It was quite hot that day, so maybe wearing his usual jacket was a ridiculously stupid idea. Yes, yes it is. he told himself calmly, picking out black trousers, a white shirt and a grey waistcoat.

Haku sighed, his hand finding his phone and seeing the seven messages there. They were all from his mother. The most recent one said 'I hope you've settled in already.'. Haku replied with a quick 'I have.' and placed the phone down onto his bed. The boy sat on his bed in exasperation.

Within a few seconds, he received a text back. He sighed, a small, almost invisible smile on his face. 'Really? Oh, I'm glad. Your father says hello, I think. Would you like to visit him on Saturday with me?'. Haku set the phone down. He might as well answer later. If he texted back now, he'd just be replied to in a matter of minutes.

The boy paused, opened the door, closed it, and then reopened it and entered the bathroom. Already, one of his odd quirks was showing. He sighed, getting in the shower.

He'd arrived a few days earlier, his beauty of a mother accompanying him. She'd offered to carry some of his things, but the boy had refused to let her carry everything and had walked in rather nonchalantly, like the boxes reaching over his head in his arms weren't dealing him any trouble. He'd informed the landlady in the morning of his arrival later on, so he took his things to his room and settled down. Soon enough, he said goodbye to his mother and, rather uncharacteristically, hugged her like a small child despite being taller than the woman herself. As she left, he kissed her hand and she waved, even when he'd returned to his room. Hakuchō sighed as he exited the shower, the thought of his mother leaving stuck in his mind. It didn't matter anyway. He'd see her when he went to visit his father, Shiro.

He'd been his since Saturday. What day was it now? Haku changed into his clothes lazily, picking up his phone and pressing the centre button to see the time and date flash on the screen. Ah. So it is Tuesday today? he thought, now buttoning his shirt up all the way and then slipping his waistcoat on. Haku's long hair sat on his left shoulder, looking newly washed. It lay there, peacefully untouched. The loop which was usually in his hair was absent for the day and not hairbands were in his hair at all. Since it was morning and he wasn't going anywhere, Haku didn't feel the need to put his hair up.

Just then, the boy heard quite a commotion downstairs. Or rather, outside. He walked over to his window slowly, seeing a girl, two boys and a man. He raised an eyebrow, but saw they were all carrying boxes. Plus, they were surrounded by bodyguards. The girl must come from a well-off family or something.

Haku heard the door being knocked loudly, even from upstairs so he grabbed his phone and stuffed it in his pocket before going downstairs. Just before he headed down the staircase, he said "Miss Alessa, I'll open the door. I think it's a new tenant.". To be honest, he just said this in case she was awake. There was a high chance she wasn't, being the time it was, but Amaryllis, her niece, was already up and about (and singing).

The door was soon in front of him, and he opened the door, closed it, and then opened it fully. This weird habit showed, but Haku acted as though it were completely normal, even though the bodyguards stared at him a bit oddly. "New tenant." he half-mumbled, mostly to himself, and took his hand out of his trouser pockets, folding them elegantly over his chest. Like a swan, he stood with his body weight leaning to one side. "Will Miss be needing help moving in, or will you all be coming inside? If so, please, do not wake Miss Alessa." he said simply, opening the door fully for the bodyguards to stalk in.

Haku's eyes looked from bodyguard to bodyguard, before his eyes lay on the tallest man. He looked at him for a second, before his eyes glided to the two boys. Although anyone would be fazed by this party on the doorstep, Haku kept completely composed as his rose red eyes glided over to the girl in the centre of all this commotion. Secretly, he guessed that this girl was the one moving in. Considering the snippets of conversation he'd heard earlier, she was the one moving in for sure. Unless one of the boys was called 'Ai'. Hakuchō kinda wished he hadn't left his window open. Then, he wouldn't have had to listen to their conversation. Not that he was tied to his room and forced to listen, but for someone with such observational skills, it was kinda hard not to.

However, when the boy's eyes met her, he felt a slight, if very small, pang of recognition. As usual, he let absolutely nothing show on his face.

"98... 99...100." With strong push off from his finger tips, Vendettus flipped into the air and landed on his feet. The physical discipline of keeping his body straight and inverted on his finger tips was not new to Vendettus. Every day he would hone his body, physically and mentally, training in the unique ways of the mortals, passed down to them by the myriads of half-god offspring he had through out history. Bodhidharma, the father of Shaolin Kung fu; Yim Wing-chun, mother of Wing Chun; Alexander the Great, king of Pankration; Johannes Liechtenauer, German master of the rapier; Imre 'Imi' Lichtenfeld, creator of Krav Maga; and so on and so on. Other of his demi-god children were masters of deceit or invention like spymaster Francis Walsimgham and chief of engineers for the Manhattan Project Eugene Reybold. He had so many off spring through out history, all who made their contributions to war, either in defense, attack or for pacifistic intentions.

Vendettus never truly needed to workout or exercise, he was a god, perfect as he saw fit and could change his appearance as all gods could. His true form, his demonic god form, was the epitome of perfection to him. The masterful blend of the flawless forms of man and beast. His human form looked to be hand carved for Vendettus' view of mortal perfection, the greatest mixture of the most attractive features through out history. Vendettus did not need to do anything to keep his handsomeness and physical charm, he exercised and trained solely to seek something that he had lost long ago, the will to continue.

With a twist of his head to the right, his neck made a series of pops like bubble wrap. Another twist of his head to the right, and his neck sounded like a string of firecrackers. He looked toward the south wall, where he had installed a wall length mirror, and stared at himself. A rage started to bubble up inside him slowly, making everything around him begin to shake. He then closed his eyes, took a deep breathe and exhaled slowly, trying to calm his mind.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps broke him from his focus. Footsteps of what seemed like dozens of men, marching into the house, each bigger than the last, pounded through the ceiling of recreation area, each step dropping Vendettus deeper and deeper into a rage, until finally:

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!!" Vendettus roared so loudly and violently the walls of recreation room shook. "I AM TRYING TO F**KING CONCENTRATE!!!!!!"

Vendettus began to see red until suddenly, for what felt like no reason at all, his rage eased and then ceased. Vendettus panted weakly, looking upto the ceiling. "Something is different..." Vendettus said to himself, sensing a shift in the mortal plane. He could not understand or recognize it, so he simly dismissed it for the powers at work in this house. "It's ... nothing..."

Vendettus slowly began to unclench his fists which he had clenched so hard his palms bled from his nails. He sighed out slowly, gritting his teeth as he forced the wounds to heal. "I need a shower..."

And with that, Vendettus stripped the rest of the way down, kicking his sweaty clothes towards the closet of the recreation room and walked into his bathroom where he let the cold water of the shower run down his body and clear his mind.

Hearing the knock on the front door got her. It had been so very loud that it made her jump, and promptly cringe as a result. Was such a knock truly necessary . . . ? In a way, it was sort of obnoxious sounding, wasn’t it? Also, the Manor did have a doorbell to ring, so the knock wasn’t actually needed to get anyone’s attention. Completely fazed by the loud sound from the front door, Amaryllis regained her sense of self in a rather weird way, she was half hunched over, holding a bowl in one hand and a box of Cocoa Puffs in the other, her whole body tense while she more than likely had the oddest of expressions upon her face. At least she had managed to keep herself from falling over, or from dropping something. . . . That in itself was certainly a relief. Yet still, the teenager stood herself back upright and turned her head in the direction of the Manor’s front, the way to the large home’s entrance, simply blinking a few times with her eyes wide.

While she knew there were a few more tenants to arrive soon, she was definitely not expecting to hear such loud booms from simple rapping on a door. Although she did not know for certain the name of the new male tenant who had saw fit to parade through the kitchen without wearing his shirt, Amaryllis did know that four of the seven new tenants renting rooms in the Manor were male, counting the one who’d given her a lascivious smile and a wink before, that made four. The other three had already moved into the Manor before, Louvel, Akio, and Hakuchō. So, didn’t that mean the last of the new arrivals were to be female . . . ?

When it dawned on her that she was thinking about such a simple matter far too much, Amaryllis suddenly just shook her head, a simple knock didn’t matter so much, it was what it was. The person behind it was what mattered first and foremost. I’d better go and actually greet this person instead of standing around the kitchen like a bump on a log, looking flabbergasted she told herself, setting the bowl and cereal box she’d been holding onto to down onto the nearby counter before she turned on her heel to actually head into the Manor’s foyer. However, before the redhead could actually take a step forward, the sound of footsteps gliding down the staircase in the front room caught her attention . . . and she realized quite well that her little slip from reality had cost her, someone else was getting to the door before her to greet this new guest.

. . . .I really need to work on that one, don’t I? Amaryllis laughed to herself, and gave an abashed smile to no one in particular—not even Louvel who was still in the same room as she. Yeah, that was definitely something she needed to work on. Shaking her head back and forth, the girl simply meant to return to her business, pouring her cereal and actually eating her breakfast. But, it seemed that was not what fate had in store for her that morning, because, along with the sound of many people marching into the Manor, someone up and decided to scream at the top of his lungs, violently so, it was enough to cause Amaryllis to cringe up for a second time in under two minutes—the feeling it induced within her was not a pleasant one, it left her shaking a bit, her heart leapt into her throat even.

Quietly, she backed away from the counter, and the open box of cereal and turned herself to look in the direction of the stairs which led down into the basement. Her honey colored eyes wide, she stared at it in silence for a moment, body feeling a touch bit numb. It was that guy who’d walked through before, the one who’d sort of icked her out a bit with what seemed like him trying to flirt with her. Should . . . I go to check on him or something? she asked herself, tilting her head to the side questioningly. A part of her was saying to remain where she was, that she didn’t want to be near that man for an unknown reason, but the rawest part of herself was saying to go and to just see, as it always did when it came to people. Concern, she always had concern for everyone, even against what were probably her better senses too. Why do I even ask myself? I should know by now that the answer is always to look in on someone and see how they are.

Shaking her head at herself, Amaryllis walked toward where the stairs to the basement were, peeking in on the manor’s foyer to see what looked like bodyguards standing there. The sight baffled her, and in the end, she just looked away, decided it might be best for her just to ignore it, and leave the questions for later. It would be best for her to simply focus on what she was intending to carry on with in the first place rather than wonder on something new. So, keeping herself quiet, the redhead began to take tentative steps down the stairs and into the basement to make sure all was okay with the guy who sort of gave her the creeps.

. . . .the only thing though, was that Amaryllis wasn’t being the most careful of people in her descent and when she was about halfway down those stairs, she overstepped one of them and wound up falling to gravity’s clutches, going headfirst down the remaining steps with a yelp and a loud thud, nearly sliding into the wall.

Vendettus let the cold water run down his naked body, talking to himself to calm down, "Calm... Calm.... Calm..." He felt the demonic sort of emotions flood his senses. He forced himself to breathe slowly as the water hit his hot flesh. He didn't want his rage to overwhelm him, not again, not so soon. He made deep inhales and deeper exhales. He didn't even know why he was so angry... It was like he felt an anger that he hadn't felt in such a long time he forgot everything but how furious he was. However the cold water was helping, it felt like cool raindrops hitting his nude skin and it made his rage subside. He didn't like himself when he was angry, but then again did he really like himself at all?

He stepped out of the shower, shaking the cold water from his hair like a wet dog, but with one flip his hair settled back into a rather attractive style, one that most would spend hours working on. He exhaled slowly, passing the mirror in his bathroom without looking at it, not wanting to see himself right now, regardless of how the water glistened off his perfect body, he didn't feel like looking at his amazing body and basking in his ego, at least not right now.

He walked out of the bathroom and into the recreation area, he perfected to air dry to towel drying. He began to streched his arms, as his stomach growled. While he was a god, he did not need to worry in the concerns of mortality, but something about being in his human form made him crave to satisfy mortal urges such as hunger and sleep. He headed for the stairs, uncaring of the fact he was still naked and purposely oblivious to how it might discomfort others that he was nude. He opened the door to the stairwell heading to the first floor and the kitchen. But suddenly there was a loud tumble as Amaryllis fell down the stairs, right at him.

His fast reflexes kicked in and with lightning like speed flew up the stairs and caught Amaryllis in mid fall. "Are you okay?" He asked tenderly looking into her eyes with gentle concern, holding her up in his strong muscular arms against his naked body.

Akio stood against the door frame of Arty's room, smiling as she examined it, finally taking off her hat. He folds his arms over his chest, watching her with a smile placed upon his face. "It indeed is a nice room." He thought to himself while his ears twitched, hearing the tune that she began to sing. Akio pushed himself off of the door frame, walking further into her room, looking at her as she turned around with a gasp. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." He says while looking into her eyes. "I love that song by the way." While walking closer to her, he reaches his hand out towards her, hoping that she'll grab it as he waits for her reaction. "Let's go get breakfast." He says while nodding his head in the direction towards the outside of her door.

"Will Miss be needing help moving in, or will you all be coming inside? If so, please, do not wake Miss Alessa."

Staring silently as their bodyguards one by one slowly started entering the manor with the rest of her things upon Axel's nod, she studied the boy in front of them. Of all the people who would open the door this morning, why did it have to be a boy? She wryly thought, feeling a mix of amusement and hesitation with the particular scene.

She knew how protective her brothers get and because of this she hoped that they would not read the situation differently. As far as she knew she had thoroughly explained her would-be situation inside the manor. It wasn't like her to sugarcoat things and fully aware of how defensive Axel gets whenever she's within five feet radius of another boy - a stranger to be exact, she had told them about things as honestly as she could. (This meant everything actually)
She told them that though Blanchett Manor is owned by a young woman, it was also opened for people of the opposite gender. She didn't have the exact numbers of the other occupants, but she had heard that there was a considerable number of male and female staying at the place. She explained all of this from the very start in order to avoid the intermittent investigation that her brothers would surely do once they had heard her utter the words: "temporarily leaving home to have a change of pace". She knew that it wasn't unusual for Argylle to hire a private investigator and all that CIA stuff. Her brothers greatly prided on having a lot more connection than a high-ranking government official have. They usually do things in an impeccable and meticulous manner. They sometimes (OK, that was too much downplaying) – they more often than not, get ridiculous with the way they handle a situation, especially when it comes to her.

A perfect example of this was the incident on her last school. She had been intentionally badly hurt and shouted at by one of the instructors teaching math. She wasn't able to answer the question, and in her fury, the said teacher threw the eraser on her. Even though she tried hard not to tell this to them, not wanting things to get bigger than it was supposed to be, this information had unfortunately reached her brothers’ ears. Their retaliation had been abrupt and straightforward. Axel and Argylle immediately placed the teacher on probation (and eventual permanent ban) right after garnering enough evidence to rebuke the said person’s license. Due to the never-ending connections associated with their family name, Axel had successfully “fired” the teacher along with the other three more recently discovered corrupted and terror-like instructors of the Academy. After that they did a thorough background check of every nook and cranny of the school personnel, from the top-level management up to the janitorial staff. Such action scared both the students and the school administrative and ever since then, nobody dared to cross paths with Aina. It was also because of that, why the naturally blue-haired girl had a hard time to find friends both at school and at home.

Ever since that particular incident their protectiveness level increased two-folds, up to the point that it had been undeniably suffocating.

It was only when her father stepped in and took control of things that she got some freedom of sorts. He was the only reason that Argy and Axy stopped with their pushiness. He urged them to let her learn about both the pleasing and bitter things there are, instead of encasing her in a glass walled life. He told them that the best educator would be both practice and experience, and Ai would definitely never grow up if they continue their over protectiveness. She was thankful that after that they had learned to loosen their hold on her and made her experience different aspects of life –both good and bad.

Now faced with this scenario, she wondered. She didn’t know if there were already other female tenants, aside from the landlady and her niece living in this place. Surely Axel, the more protective one would take note of this small detail with careful deliberation. And it would be, even for an optimist like her, be a disastrous scenario if her father would join in her brothers’ “Protect Aina to the very core propaganda”. She had enough of those to last several lifetimes and she really rather felt as if there is something she needed to do at this place. However, she won’t be able to do that if her they wouldn’t let her go.

Sighing yet truly warmed with the idea of having such loving family, she boldly met the boy’s red eyes and smiled.

He was taller, taller than her brothers if she’s not mistaken, she noted curiously staring at him. He was also handsome. With his long white-hair freely let out, adding to that cold and mysterious allure he had in his aura, he looked striking.

“Are you related to Ms. Alessa Beaulieu?” Her father’s authoritative voice suddenly spoke causing Aina to turn to him abruptly. Hearing the bland tone in his inquiry, she readied herself to whatever reaction he will have. She noticed Axel and Argylle, while looking shocked themselves, standing straight at the corner just waiting patiently. She knew that only one word from her dad and they would drag her out of Blanchett Manor without further ado, no matter how much she argued with them.

Deafening silence followed that simple statement and Aina can clearly feel the tension in the air.

Panicking at levels she didn’t know was possible enough for her, she did the only thing she can do. She started walking towards the white-haired boy and she reached a hand out. She stopped in front of him and raised herself in tip toes, unintentionally blurting out something so random compared to their current situation as she seemingly reached out for his hair. “I like the color of your hair… it’s so unique.” She beamed at him almost touching his hair, when she retracted her hand ‘til the last minutes, changing her mind.

Awkward silence followed and even the bodyguards felt the uncomfortable atmosphere between them.

Argylle, as if sensing some impending danger or something near, immediately went towards her and lightly carried her by the waist some distance away from the boy. It was not a moment later when the ground seemed to forcibly shake, surprising each one of them. Fear and confusion evident in their faces, they craned their heads to look for the direction of the disturbance,. Their eyes meeting each other several times, they once again got bewildered, when a weird giggling sound was heard from the direction of their father.

Slowly tilting her head in confusion, Aina found him, covering his mouth with his hand. His face slightly hidden and his head slightly bowed; the black-haired girl couldn’t be mistaken with the sounds coming out of his mouth. Understanding what had made her father entertained, she too laughed lightly along with him.

“I-I’m so sorry!” Alastair started saying, still trying to compose himself. He wiped his face and eyed the white-haired boy in front.
“Ai, I hope that you will have fun here, my little butterfly,” he walked towards her, arms spread out as he waited for his daughter’s embrace. She then stepped away from her brother’s grasp and hugged the older man. “Just contact us for any problem you may have, m’kay?” Alastair asked lovingly, tightening the hug.
“Axel and Argylle, I’m going to allow Aina to temporarily stay here so I hope you do the same for her.” He said smilingly as he turned at the two, an edge of warning evident in his voice. He then set his green eyes to the seemingly detached boy who had opened the door for them, “I won’t be forcing my way in just to talk to Ms. Alessa today but I do hope that you’d let my little butterfly get settled in just fine,” he surreptitiously raised an eyebrow in inquiry with a hint of challenge in his stance. “I am Alastair Ederra. These are my children, Axel – the one on the right, Argylle, and Aina. She will be living here at Blanchett Manor. We will be taking our leave now.”

“Are you related to Ms. Alessa Beaulieu?” said the man and Haku looked up, first meeting the girl's eyes before looking at her father. He shook his head, before reaching out and pulling his hair behind his ear. His eyes studied the man in front of him. Yep, he definitely looked like their father, or at least a relative like an uncle or something. Haku found himself mulling over every possible relative who could look like their father but be even hardly related. He even went through second cousins and so on. Hakuchō didn't even notice how awkward the situation was at that exact moment. The silence hung in the air like humidity, and even the bodyguards looked tense. Haku, however, just looked away to his right.

Haku looked back to the family; the girl was now closer than before and maybe a tiny bit too close for comfort. His eyes flicked to her, seeing her hand reach out to his hair and he sighed. Although he didn't understand why, people always found his hair mysterious and often so intriguing they had to touch it.

But, however, most of those people got jealous or annoyed and decided to bully him for it or something ridiculous. “I like the color of your hair… it’s so unique.” the girl said, beaming at him happily as her hand almost touched his hair. Now, if someone didn't know Haku well, like this girl, then they'd probably think he was completely emotionless about this whole situation and was just taking it very well. However, that was not the case.

In his eyes, there was a slight flicker of surprise. Most people don't like the colour of my hair... he thought, looking at the girl with a slight, confused frown. One of the brothers quickly sped towards the girl and grabbed her away, carrying her awkwardly by the waist. Hakuchō raised his eyebrow slightly, looking at him. The ground seemed to shake, but even as everyone around him looked oddly startled, Haku couldn't help but smirk. It wasn't a mean or spiteful smirk. It was, rather, a fun and quirky smirk. Fact: this is very rare and has never been photographed.

“I-I’m so sorry!” Haku's eyes easily met the male-family-member-an-possible-father-person's eyes. “Ai, I hope that you will have fun here, my little butterfly,” The girl had walked towards her father's lovingly open arms and embraced the older man. “Just contact us for any problem you may have, m’kay?”

“Axel and Argylle, I’m going to allow Aina to temporarily stay here so I hope you do the same for her.” The man smiled, and Haku looked up. It wasn't at the ceiling, but rather at the sky. I can feel you watching me you know, mother? What do you want me to do? Join in the hug. . .? “I won’t be forcing my way in just to talk to Ms. Alessa today but I do hope that you’d let my little butterfly get settled in just fine,” the man raised his eyebrow, and Hakucho did the same, crossing his arms. “I am Alastair Ederra. These are my children, Axel – the one on the right, Argylle, and Aina. She will be living here at Blanchett Manor. We will be taking our leave now.”

"I'm Hakuchō Hikōno. It's nice to meet you, sir." he said, before turning his attention to Aina. It seemed she was the one who would be moving into the manor with them. "I will do my best to make sure Miss Aina enjoys her time here and settles in rapidly." he said, his nonchalant voice now laced with honesty.

"Well then, Miss Aina. Would you like to tour the manor with me?" he said, holding out a hand to the girl in front of him. He truly looked like a gentleman. Then, the near-impossible happened: Hakuchō smiled and it was genuine too. Like his mother often said, he really had the smile of an angel. In an instant, the awkward, tense and odd air vanished as his blood-red eyes twinkled. This Aina girl really made him really curious. He felt as if they'd met.

Her eyes had shined with mirth and gratefulness the moment that her father said the final verdict. Considering that he had been rather quiet when she had propositioned this to them few months ago, it was really enlightening to hear him backing her up. In fact it was Argylle who had been particularly hard to convince, it took several bribes and promises before he gave his permission. And even after that, Argy wasn’t wholly supportive of the idea. Now that her father agreed, she knew that it wouldn’t be that hard for them to let her go.

Smiling widely, she looked at her brothers as Alastair introduced them one by one to the white-haired boy. When she heard about them, leaving immediately soon after, she turned inquisitively. She thought they would stay for few hours at the manor. The two-hour long travel wasn’t that easy and she figured it would be better for them to take some rest first.

Dressed in casual jeans and polo-shirts of differing colors and styles, she was certain that her brothers and father wasn’t going to be at work or any appointment early that morning. Argy had mentioned a week before about visiting an orphanage where he, along with his assistant planned to do a volunteer checkup for all the children. It was something that he did during every other Tuesday but he had made arrangements to clear his schedule just to be able to come with her today. Axel and her father on the other hand weren’t due at work until the afternoon. They had finished their meetings several days prior to fully ensure that they would be with her once she leaves the Mansion of Arts.

Amusingly shaking her head at her father’s strangeness, she broke the embrace and stared at the boy in front. I'm Hakucho Hikono. It's nice to meet you, sir. I will do my best to make sure Miss Aina enjoys her time here and settles in rapidly."

“Haku… cho?” She was about to blurt out as the white-haired boy introduced himself but thankfully she was able to stop just in time to hear his next words. Mutely listening to him, she noted the sincerity in his voice and figured that though he sounded distant before, Hakucho is a nice person.

"Well then, Miss Aina. Would you like to tour the manor with me?"

She waited until he finished speaking before she responded, wanting to ask the question that had been nagging her ever since she heard his name. She was however momentarily surprised when he offered a hand out to her. With the shock still evidently seen in her eyes, she unconsciously took it and then instinctively beamed at him once she had recovered, “Doesn’t your name mean white butterfly…?”

The question died in her throat when she noticed his expression: His lips curving into an undeniable carefree smile and his red-colored eyes twinkling, she couldn’t help but gaze at him. She felt the faint reddening of her cheeks before she had the sense to duck her head and looked down, hiding her face from other’s view. Though she had not met many boys near her age, as an artist, Aina knew how to appreciate the beauty of things and human being themselves.

‘He looks better with a smile’… she later thought, secretly eyeing him. Unaware that she is still holding his hand, she just shook her head and stared directly at him. “It was nice to meet you, Hakucho-san,” she replied happily, opting to use a Japanese honorific in his name. Her voice was actually more composed compared to the nervousness she felt inside. She didn’t know what kind of impression she have given him, but she really hope that she didn’t scared him off. After all what she did was really cringe worthy enough: First she had approached him impolitely even going as far as touching his hair without his consent and now, she had been caught staring at him like an utter fan girl. She hoped he wasn’t offended or irked by her actions.

He was the first person she met here and she had truly been fervently hoping to gain new friends on her stay at the manor. It had been awhile since she bumped across someone of her age and it would have been nice if they will become friends. “I will take your offer!” She added cheerfully deciding to cast away undesirable thoughts off her mind. It wasn’t like her to think negatively and she intended to keep it that way. Though the grave nervousness coupled with the recently popping insecurities plaguing her mind, it was a little hard to maintain the same line of that thinking.

“Um before that, please excuse me for a moment”, she sheepishly added, temporarily separating her hand away from his. “Dad, why don’t you stay for a while?” She asked looking back at her father, the concern visibly etched in her features.

Alastair shook his head, a smile resting in his lips and answered, “We will be just fine Ai. It’ll be better for us to travel early in order to avoid the traffic.” He crossed the short distance between them before hugging her goodbye. “Always take care, my bliss.” He softly murmured, his hands lightly patting her head. “I’m going to miss you dearly.”

She nodded, stating a muffled, “I will too” back as she tightened her hold on him. They stayed like this, lost in the accompanying sadness at the idea of Aina leaving home—even if it was only temporary.

Few minutes had passed when Alastair slightly let go and flippantly whispered to her, “I think your brothers are dying to say their good byes, Ai.” He gestured towards them who were looking every inch torn between being depressed and yet also faintly annoyed for some reason she can’t understand. Alastair kissed her on the forehead and she in turn, kissed him on his cheeks. She nodded, hugging him one more time before she broke the embrace to walk to her brothers.

She went towards Argylle first, suppressing the urge to cry as she embraced him too. He returned it, murmuring warnings and some reminders all the while. “Remember to check your phone and email daily, ok? If you won’t call before eleven, I will surely pull some strings among my colleagues at the police.” She had laughingly let go, nodding agreeably as she absorbed all his words, kissing his cheeks afterwards.

“I will, ‘nii-chan!”

“Also, it would greatly please Ax and I if you will distance yourself a little from boys like him”, he nodded towards Hakucho, “we don’t want to share you yet”. Hearing the unusual advice coming from him (a womanizer really!), with his eyes dead serious and voice sounding so much experienced, Aina chuckled in response. “I’m serious ok?”

Then it was Axel’s turn and she had been startled when the said brother abruptly locked her in an embrace. “Aina, are you really sure about this?” He asked lowly, whispering on her ear, as he lightly squeezed her. It was during this that she couldn’t stop the tears flowing from her eyes. Her brother’s usual chirpy voice was a little broken and she knew how significantly, this leaving would take a toll on him… on her family. This separation was no joke for such a closely knit family like theirs. Seeing that she lived all her life being pampered by their guidance and love, she pondered on what will happen for her now. She then thought of all the reasons she had on why she should continue this, and she was reminded. She needed this. She needed this independence and freedom in order to grow further. If she would only continually cling to her family, she wouldn’t be able to change into a better person. She took a deep breath before replying: “I am.”

Axel just shook his head, before he faced her and smiled wryly, “Take care, sis. Just always remember we will be waiting for you.“ She too, kissed him on his cheeks, before stepping away and wiping the tears off her eyes.

When they were done, Alastair then held out his hands towards Hakucho and stated, “It was a pleasure meeting you, Hakucho.” Nodding towards the rest, he signaled the others to get ready and not long after, their bodyguards slowly started to leave. Once they got his response and after a little bit more of hugging and reminders, they too left towards the limousine, waving goodbye.

((Whew, they finally left. ~ XD Sorry for the boring read, but I think they needed that. >.< …and, also the standard warnings about my not so much understandable grammar still apply as they usually should. XD))

Arty smiled and took his hand. “Thanks. I would probably get lost if I tried to go by myself.” She told him with a smile as she brushed some of her black hair behind her ear so it wouldn’t obscure her vision. The light hit her eyes causing a weird thing to happen, the fleck of emerald green in her eyes seemed to shine brighter. She of course did not know his, and squinted a bit, “Oh you do? I wish I could say I thought it up myself, but it is from an anime I saw…” she admitted with a smile.

Embarrassment, that was the most blatant way to describe how she felt. Although, given how it was that she was feeling, that word might’ve been one too weak for her. . . . Given the situation, the need for a stronger word was probably pretty much understandable—now had she just been allowed to fall and land on her own, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, she could have easily laughed it off, and dealt with whatever aftereffects would have plagued her. Bruises, a sprain . . . anything really, she could have just sucked it up and not really cared about it, it just would have been something that happened to her, But, of course, it couldn’t be that simple, could it? Things just had to, to go and happen the way they did. Whoever was writing out her Fate as it happened, they must have really drawn some sick amusement from seeing her embarrassed whenever possible. . . .

She’d taken to just about going down the stairs to the basement headfirst, only to be caught before gravity would do any real damage to her, physically anyway. Emotionally speaking, she was going to be out of it for a while. Amaryllis realized her fall had been halted by someone—the new tenant she’d originally intended to check on before. He asked her if she were okay, but it didn’t take the redheaded teenager to realize that something was not right about the whole situation. She didn’t even answer him before she quickly scrambled out of his grasp, little more than a squeak coming from her throat, though even that was silenced when she slammed both of her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming in utter shock and mortification.

The girl fell backward when she did this, managing to slam her back up against one of the stairs above her hard enough for a loud thud to resound in the staiwell. Quickly enough, she slammed her eyes shut, keeping that way as she felt her face going beet red underneath her hands, her mouth still covered. Amaryllis wasn’t the easiest girl to rattle, but it had been managed, undoubtedly.

Keeping her eyes shut, the girl’s hands moved from her mouth for a moment as she forced herself to speak . . . though it was more like a scream. “I-I’m sorry!” that was all she could get out in her current state before she made herself hurry back up the stairs. She could only apologize to him—should she have even been the one apologizing anyway . . . ?

As the girl tried to ascend the steps with her eyes still shut, she managed to nearly slip a few times, almost tripping in her haste. The redhead could well feel her shins hitting the edges of the steps, but she paid little heed to that as she made it back to the first floor, her face still completely and utterly red from the whole incident. A bit of an embarrassed whine came from her throat as she ran right through the breakfast area, through the mudroom and into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Amaryllis didn’t care if anyone saw her like that, Louvel or any of the Manor’s other tenants, it didn’t matter to her in the least right now. Her hands had found their way back over her mouth again once she’d made it into her room.

Still completely mortified by what had just happened, Amaryllis simply stood where she had stopped after she’d shut her bedroom door behind her for a moment, still, red-faced, embarrassed, with her eyes clenched shut. After a moment, she tilted backward, hitting her door with a bang, and slid down to her floor while sitting against it. It was there she sat, slouched over with her legs stretched out in front of her, her hand still up over the lower half of her face. Her head was drawn down; as it was then that the girl remembered a vital fact . . . she needed to breathe if she wanted to remain conscious. Upon realizing that she her breath had been hitched since she became actively aware of what was going on in the stairwell, Amaryllis quickly took her hands away from her mouth and gasped for air, coughing as she did so.

Against the door, the girl sat there for a moment, panting in desperate need of oxygen. A part of her had gone completely numb to the world when that had happened, and she didn’t know it until the effect had begun to wear off. Her ears had begun to ring, and her heart had probably leapt right into her throat. Still breathing sort of quickly, Amaryllis slowly turned her head upward, finally having opened her honey colored eyes, which had become glassy almost. Her cheeks were still flushed while she simply stared up at the white ceiling of her room; clearly, she was in a daze.

As her hands fell to her sides, hitting the floor, she kind of began to feel numb again. For the love of God . . . why did that have to happen? was her first coherent thought after that. I was just trying to do the right thing and make sure that everything was all right and—and as it goes, I wind up being mortified because he went an-and. . . . A whine came from Amaryllis’ throat, unable to finish that thought. She cringed up in embarrassment again. I’m going to wind up hating my life soon, aren’t I? she whimpered, letting herself slide down to the left. Simply enough, the girl just let herself lie there on her floor, pulling her legs up against her chest, she held them against her tightly. Amaryllis sighed to herself while she just lay there, urging her heart to calm down, to cease beating so harshly. This simply sucked.

Yet, even though she was indeed very much mortified and embarrassed from what had happened, a part of Amaryllis’ mind continued to properly work, against all odds. And, it made her realize a very important something. The tenant she’d intended to check on, he’d . . . moved too fast to catch her when she fell. Wait . . . he just, she thought, blinking as she thought on that for a second. I was already halfway down the stairs when I started to fall, and he hadn’t even opened the door by then, so . . . how did he just pop up those steps so far, so quickly? Okay so . . . something wasn’t right, obviously it was not. She was sure that she wasn’t wrong about that, even if she had been in the midst of going down the steps like that, her memory was still pretty sharp—she tended to remember most things as clear as day. And, she was sure that he had moved unnaturally fast. Still . . . there was a chance she was wrong about that, plus, did she really even want to think about all of that when it was tied into what was probably the most embarrassing thing that had happened to her in her life? “No . . . no I don’t think I want to bring that up right now.” She murmured to herself, tucking her head down against her knees before she continued and ended it with a simple, “. . . .why the hell was he naked?”

Vendettus stood where he was as the red-haired girl he had seen earlier in the kitchen screamed and scrambled up the stairs like a blind deer in roller skates. Her pure panic, her pure confusion, her pure embarrassment, all of the emotions all at once, it was delicious. Vendettus was once the God of Empathy, so he always had a deep connection with emotions, so much so it was simple enough to manipulate them with his powers. So this little mortal's overwhelming emotional display was both hilarious and pitiful. He chuckled lightly the moment she slammed the door.

"Maybe this will be more fun than I thought." He said to himself. Chuckling harder, he walked back down the stairs, the whole experience had made him forget his hunger. He was more than satisfied by the taste of her emotion. He returned to his room and decided to finally sleep, after his long night. Staying up late was never abnormal for him, he was a natural night owl, he loved the sinful and decadent emotions and behaviors that went hand in hand with the night light. Being a god he did not need sleep, but to maintain his human form he did at least need to let it rest, or his godly power would tear through the mortal shell. He could reform the shell but it was a tedious and inconvenient process that could give away his identity as a god.

Vendettus lied down in is bed, arms folded across his chest, his posture stiff, it was if he was lying in a coffin. He remained perfectly still, lying ontop of the covers, closed his eyes and stopped breathing, slowly drifting into a form of statis. Still butt naked.

Hakuchō looked at her. He guessed what her question would be, since many people asked, or misspelled his name. Hakuchō did mean white butterfly. His mother, however, probably hasn't considered the fact that his name did mean this... Haku looked up, before looking at the girl. I'll tell her later. As he turned to look at the girl, he saw she was already looking at him. Maybe looking was a bit of an understatement. She was literally staring at him. However, Haku didn't realise this, and even if he had, he would have taken it normally and paid not attention to it, since he stared at people often.

“It was nice to meet you, Hakucho-san,” she said happily and Haku nodded his head a single time. “I will take your offer! ...Um before that, please excuse me for a moment” she said, and Hakuchō nodded as she went off to talk to her family. He would have said something, but he really felt like he had already talked enough today, even though it was barely morning. Despite having talked a minimal amount, he usually talked a lot less than this unless he was talking to his parents. When things got like this and he felt he'd used his voice too much for one day, he usually got out a notebook and wrote on that. However, he felt that would be a bit rude to a new tenant. He looked at the girl, before he jumped when the phone in his pocket rang out loudly, a cute ringtone which his mother set.

"Excuse me." he said, before turning his back to the family and answering the call. "Mother?" Haku had a sigh saved up which he didn't let out.

She bombarded him with a series of questions, her worried tone evident even through the phone. "Why didn't you answer my text message? Have you been practicing the violin lately? Have you been nice to the other tenants? You should visit your dad tomorrow, you know?" she said, her voice rushed. Haku raised an eyebrow though she obviously couldn't see and burst out laughing, his face lit up.

"I didn't have time; the doorbell rang. I practice the violin when the all other tenants are awake. I hope I've been nice. I'll visit Father if I have the time. I have to go, Mother." The white-haired boy sighed deeply, and his mother's voice was meek.

She sighed too. "Can't you just call me Mum? Just once?"

"It's impolite." Hakuchō said, frowning as if what he just said should have been obvious, before closing his phone when he heard the dial tone.

Haku looked up as he heard the baritone voice of Alastair again. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Hakucho.” he said, holding out his hands. A wave of confusion came over Haku's face as he wondered what he should so. He awkwardly shook Alastair's hands, tilting his head sideways. He didn't even respond to Aina's father as her brothers gave the girl some last warnings and they left in their limousine. Haku looked as they sped off, before turning to Aina.

"You'll probably want to see your room first." Haku said, before remembering the thing he'd wanted to clear up earlier. "It's... written with the kanji for 'swan'." he paused, looking at her. "My name, that is. If I were to be called Hakuchō with the kanji for white butterfly, I'd probably be called Shiroichō. My mother doesn't have much experience with Japanese, and my father just agrees with everything she says." The boy sighed, remembering his phone call. I can't call her that. She my mother. he thought, his expression suddenly becoming very nonchalant and stoic. Again.

"Well then, Aina-pyon... Wait, -pyon isn't the right ending. Aina...kun?" Hakuchō rattled his brain. What did Father say for these situations? Oh, but of course. "Aina-san." he said with a contented look in his eyes. "Well then, Aina-san, I'd better give you the tour."

"You'll probably want to see your room first."

She nodded when she heard Hakucho speak later on after watching the limo speeding off the grounds of Blanchett Manor. She knew that her father and brothers would be just fine. Though it was saddening to not have the chance to see them daily (there's no one that would always tease her and make her laugh), she was grateful that there were the existence of cell phones and modern technology. She could surely contact them every time she wanted and for that she was looking forward to talking with them again. Wiping the tears away from her eyes, she inwardly cheered herself up. She'd think of this as a picnic and at the same time, training exercise.

One of the minor reasons why she had left home was because she had heard from her classmates on how pampered and high and mighty she was. They were supposed to be her friends, and more often than not, she usually seeks their company. But imagine her surprise when she discovered them talking loudly behind her back about wholly dependent she is to other people. It had hurt, learning that the people you thought was your friends had actually felt that you were clingy and restrictive. She didn't became angry with them but instead, from then on, she resolved that she would do the best she could to prove to them and to herself that she would be able to do better. It would do her no good if she'd just settle on being depressed and angry after all.

Her eyes still watery but with a smile in her face, she turned to him and waited patiently for his next words. She was actually pretty much excited for her new room even though she had an idea with regards to its structure and design. Axel had made sure to get her give her the best accommodations in the manor as well as they could and for that she could only assume that her room would have a definite resemblance to the one at the Ederra Mansion.

"It's... written with the kanji for 'swan'."

Hakucho then continued and she was lost for a moment on what he was speaking about. 'Kanji?' She inquired in contemplation. Her room would be written in kanji? But she wasn't Japanese and though she greatly appreciates its culture, it was such a shame that she wasn't well versed with their language. She was about to open her mouth, to inform him that it wouldn't be good for her to have that in her room since she can't read Kanji or even Hiragana very well, when he spoke, immediately clearing off things.

"My name, that is. If I were to be called Hakuchō with the kanji for white butterfly, I'd probably be called Shiroichō. My mother doesn't have much experience with Japanese, and my father just agrees with everything she says."

'Ah.' She smiled amusingly with her running thoughts and nodding once to show him she understood. ‘His name was perfect for him’, Ai thought inwardly. Sneaking a glance towards him, she noted the handsome face in front of her. She wondered still appreciating his beauty, what he would look like as a girl. If he was a girl, he’d truly be beautiful. She was actually quite used to pretty looking boys but there is something with him that strikes her differently. Like a butterfly, there is certain elegance in his stature that can make a person do a double take while looking at him. With the artistic gears in her head turning on, she stared at Hakucho. ‘If only I can ask him to become my model! He’ll be wonderful!’ She excitedly pondered, her eyes twinkling as she thought of him in different poses. It was then because of her musings that she was surprised when he spoke again.

"Well then, Aina-pyon... Wait, -pyon isn't the right ending. Aina...kun? Aina-san. Well then, Aina-san, I'd better give you the tour."

“You can call me Aina-pyon! I like Aina-pyon”, she blurted unexpectedly, a beaming smile present in her expression. Upon fully processing her statement, her eyes widened and she covered a hand on her mouth as she gave him a sheepish look. “I’m sorry! It’s just that…” she said trailing off, unable to continue as she judged his reaction. She was friendly that was for sure, but she didn't want to suffocate everyone else with her enthusiasm. She really couldn't help but mess up when it regards to him, huh? She was feeling the awkwardness envelop them and she hoped that he wouldn’t get irritated with her. He was really interesting and she wanted to know him better.

He was like a sister that she didn’t have. Not that she will tell him that, it might be offending for him… but with actions and his good-looking face, it was hard not to think of that way. “Um just forget what I said. I just like what it sounded and I thought that,” she started unusually shyly and then gestured towards the door, randomly commenting, “I am looking forward into seeing my room!”


((Hey, Annaky if you want to, you can control Aina for the tour~))

((Oh, okay~~~~! I'll keep her quiet so I don't make her say anything out of character!! You could always add in what she said in your post?))

Hakuchō raised his eyes to look at the girl, looking away from the wall to his left. “You can call me Aina-pyon! I like Aina-pyon.” She blurted hurriedly, a smile on her face. Haku looked at her, his nonchalant expression still present, but there was a small hint of amusement in his eyes. He looked at her as she apologised, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

He linked his arm around hers (Not in a 'best friend' way, but more in a gentlemanly way) and strode up the stairs casually. He took the stairs on the right since his room was there so it was habit, even though it had only been a few days since he's arrived. A more accurate term would be that he found it logical. He pointed to his room.

"Well then, Aina-pyon. That is my room. If you wish to enter, please knock." he said simply, before crossing the corridor and letting go of Aina's arm. He opened the door for her, showing her inside. "This is your room, I believe. You are opposite me, apparently." he said, showing her politely.

Haku closed her bedroom door, before indicating the attic stairs and turning around fully to face the girl. "Those are the stairs leading up towards the attic. I believe someone is supposed to be inhabiting the attic room, so I won't show you up there yet." He then spun around elegantly again, his hand held out towards the door in between Aina's room and his own. "Miss Alessa inhabits that room. She's the landlady, as I'm sure you know. Those two rooms belong to other tenants."

The white-haired boy took the girl's arm again, leading her down the stairs. He walked into the dining room, then into the breakfast area. "You can eat here." he said, rather obviously, but instead of finding the fault in his captain-obvious statement, he just carried on hardly noticing. "Miss Amaryllis' room is there. Miss Amaryllis? We have a new tenant." Hakuchō said it through the door, as he overheard her speaking to someone (or herself, whichever). He then led Aina into the family room. "I guess. . . You can sit down here." he shrugged, his facial expression not changing. He did glance sideways at Aina, who'd been kind of silent throughout the whole tour.

"The porch is over there, and the sunroom is there." he said, indicating the two at the right moments. He passed another one of the rooms, before stepping into the living room. As he turned to check on Aina, he walked into the grand observatory.

He sighed peacefully. "This is probably my favourite room." Haku said airily. He gazed around the room, his red eyes seemingly searching for something, before frowning slightly. "I need to visit my d-... father later. Well, I won't be here in the evening, but I'm sure you can make acquaintances with the other tenants." he frowned slightly, his eyes flickering a look at Aina. "Well, I do not know where you wish to go, but if it pleases you, I will happily accompany you." Hakuchō then proceeded to wrap a finger around a lock of his hair before tying it up, leaving the bangs at the front loose and letting the low ponytail rest on his left shoulder. "I must say, Aina-pyon, that you are quite the opposite of me in terms of appearance. You hair is black, your eyes are blue. . . You're female. Oh, and by the way; please call me Haku and not Hakuchō."