Advent '09 [4/25]
Advent 09
December 4th - 21 days to go
The next morning Kyoko woke bright and early to the sun shining in her bedroom window.
Getting out of bed she stretched, working out all the kinks an 8 hour flight then a two hour bus ride had given her. Her mouth dropped open when she finally took the time to look at her room; it was elegant, pale blue with carved mahogany furniture. It screamed money and Kyoko felt the smallest hint of shame at the way she had just dumped her case in the middle of the floor the night before.
To make up for it, and to appease herself, she made the bed as neatly as possible and got ready.
However, as soon as she saw the en-suite bathroom she lost herself again, spending minutes admiring the sunken marble tub and golden fixtures.
By the time Kyoko had collected herself an hour had passed and she found herself running down to the ground level to try to find the rest of the group. There was a moment of panic when she realised that she didn't actually know her way around the building but the smell of freshly cooked food quickly led her to a large dining room. A massive table stood squarely in the middle of the room, laden with a wide variety of food that made her mouth water.
She felt a little bit embarrassed that everyone else seemed to have already started on their meal so she quickly joined them, filling her plate with some fruit.
After they had eaten their fill, Lory smiled at them.
"So," He started, "welcome to my holiday home. I hope you liked the bedrooms that were picked out for you."
Kyoko nodded, "Thank you for inviting me, Sir." She said, her manners coming to the forefront. She had been trained to be polite in settings like this.
Lory waved off her thanks, "No need to thank me, Kyoko-chan!"
Beside her, Kanae blanched. "Oh, I do not like where this is going..." she murmured under her breath.
"Sir?" Kyoko asked, oblivious to Kanae's mutterings.
"Ren-kun, you've been working too hard. This is a holiday for you. That goes for you as well, Yashiro-san."
Yashiro looked slightly surprised, but nodded gratefully at Lory's words.
"While it is a holiday," Lory continued, "I would be grateful if you could watch over Maria-chan every now and then."
"Of course, Takarada-san." Yashiro said, "It would be my honour."
Lory nodded with a smile before turning to face Kyoko and Kanae. "And you two!"
Kyoko smiled.
"You two will be working here - cleaning and cooking."
The smile dropped from Kyoko's face. "W-what?" She asked.
"It won't be every day. But the temporary staff doesn't come in all the time and as we're staying for the whole month I need someone to take their places when they aren't here.
"Now, Ren, Yashiro, why don't you go and explore? Kyoko and Kanae, you'll find the cleaning supplies in the closet on the left in the third corridor."
-/-
After breakfast had ended, Ren quickly returned to his room and changed into the ski outfit that he had discovered in his closet. He wanted to get on the slopes as quickly as possible without being cornered by Yashiro.
He hadn't missed the glances Yashiro had sent him at breakfast.
Dressed and ready, Ren began sneaking out of the mansion.
He breathed a sigh of relief when the front doors finally came into sight and relaxed, straightening up.
It was to be his biggest mistake.
A hand caught him on the shoulder and spun him into the wall. Surprised, Ren could only blink down at his slightly shorter manager.
His slightly shorter manager who was now pinning him to the wall.
"Yashiro." Ren tried to imbue his voice with disapproval. "Just what do you think you are doing?"
Yashiro glared at him and Ren found himself unable to speak, his heart pounding in his ribcage. "You." He ground out.
Ren's eyes widened.
"And where do you think you're going?" Yashiro asked in a low voice.
"Um...just out!" Ren said nervously, "I wanted to check out the slopes."
"But now's the perfect opportunity!"
Ren paused, "For...what?" he asked hesitantly.
"To get closer to Kyoko, of course!" Yashiro rolled his eyes, like Ren was an idiot for asking.
Ren blanked his face and he tried to push Yashiro away.
Try being the operative word. For being smaller, Yashiro was certainly stronger than he looked.
"Kyoko's going to be in all day." Yashiro said, seemingly oblivious to the way Ren was now struggling to escape. "I don't understand why you're wasting this chance to go skiing."
"There is no chance!"
The venom in Ren's voice mad Yashiro take a step back and drop his hands to his sides. "Of...of course there's a chance, Ren." He said "You just have to take it so you don't lose her."
"Lose her?" Ren tugged his jacket back into place and strode towards the door, Yashiro following behind. "You forget that I never had her in the first place!
How could I possibly lose her?"
"But you could have her." Yashiro said timidly, watching as Ren picked out a pair of Ski's from the storage room to the side of the front door. "I don't understand why you're denying yourself this."
Ren just looked at him, one hand on the door knob, his face unreadable to Yashiro. "It's better this way." He said quietly, before walking out and closing the door behind him, leaving Yashiro standing in the entrance hall alone.
"Oh, Ren." Yashiro whispered, "You'll regret this. I just don't want to see you hurt."
-/-
Kyoko and Kanae were cleaning.
At least, that was they were supposed to be doing. Wiping a cloth across a clean table whilst examining weird objects couldn't really be classified as cleaning.
"What is this supposed to be?" Kanae asked.
Kyoko just shrugged, "A tube?"
"Then what's this part for?" Kanae pointed to one of the odd protruding stubs.
"Maybe...it's to cause maximum damage? When you throw it at someone?"
"Are you saying it's some sort of torture device?"
"Yeah. Or an instrument."
Kanae gave the object in her hand a wary look. "Not much difference, is there?"
Kyoko didn't answer, her attention taken by a large object covered by a grey dust sheet. "I wonder what's under here?"
Kanae looked up, her eyes widening, "Wait!" she called out, "Don't!"
But it was too late. Kyoko whipped away the sheet causing massive billows of dust to settle throughout the whole room.
Kyoko slowly turned to face Kanae who was grinding her teeth together. "Oops?" she offered.
"Great. Now we really do have to clean this room."
Kyoko pouted, "I can't believe that the President only brought us here to work as staff! I thought that we were actually going to get a holiday."
Kanae shrugged and set to work. "To be honest, I'm not that surprised. I always thought there'd be a catch."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You better start cleaning, this room's dirtier now than it was before we came in."
There were a few moments of silence as the two girls set to work before Kyoko spoke up.
"Hey, did you know that the sheet is actually white?"