• Chapter 4
    Stepping out of the limo I walk forward to gawk at the mansion. I have to tilt my head backwards just to get a full view of it. The mansion stands seven stories above the ground and is as wide as half a football field. It looks like a huge Japanese castle with the Pagoda style, stacking all the stories on top balconies and green rooftops and then a huge pointed rooftop. Zaiharan does the same thing as me, but he whistles loudly causing Lucy turn to look at him. Zaiharan blushes and immediately plays the innocence card thinking that Lucy thought he was wolf whistling at her, though I know she knows that he didn’t. I didn’t want to say anything though; this moment was just too funny for me.
    “Alright, if you guys could grab your bags from the trunks, we can get the rooms set up.” Lucy calls out to us from the front of a limo. I sigh and then turn to walk back to the trunk of the limo, waiting to hear the ‘pop’ sound of the trunk opening. As soon as I hear it, I lift the trunk up swiftly and start grabbing out every bag I could. Placing the on the ground next to me, I clear out the trunk and then slam it loudly.
    “Thank you for grabbing out everyone’s, you didn’t have to.” Martha tells me with a huge smile on her face. This is one smiley girl…but at least she has a nice one. Smiling back at her, I then throw my brother’s duffle bag at him and after that, pick up mine. Lucy signals us to follow up the stairs and my little group does, but not the others for out of the corner of my eye I can see the chauffer having to grab out an array of purple bags. Jeez, are all those Kendal’s?
    “Amos…I’ll send some men to help Kendal with those, alright? If you can just leave them on the side and Kendal, grab all that you can.” Lucy informs them and gets an exasperated groan from Kendal.
    “Are you serious Mrs. Lucy? My bags are so heavy and they make my arms hurt!” Kendal complains, her lip coming out in a pout.
    “Yes you have too Kendal, the people here are not here to baby you and make sure your mouth is wiped, they are here to help you. In turn, you must do you part by helping them also.” Lucy replies, turning her back to Kendal.
    “But they’re servants; they’re supposed to cater to your every need…no matter what. You aren’t supposed to help them either…that’s what they’re for. They are no more than a common possession that we rich people have.” Kendal remarks loudly, causing Lucy to stand rooted to the spot. She then turns around, a look of death and anger disfigures her face.
    “These are people…not servants…Kendal. Since you seem to think of them that way, you get to carry all your bags in. No one help her, let her do it herself!” Lucy exclaims and then walks through the doorway without another word. I glance at Kendal and see her mouth open and she looks from the empty doorway to Joshua. He then throws his bag over his shoulder and walks away with Grime following close on his heel. Kendal after that lets out an exasperated scream and I quickly turn and trail the others into the house, not wanting Kendal to vent her anger on me. I had thought the inside would have had tile flooring and concrete walls, instead tatami mats cover the floor and the walls are paper Mache with elaborate paintings of people doing everyday activities. I begin to step onto the tatami mats when I notice that everyone’s’ shoes lined up on the side. Quickly slipping my own shoes off, I then place my feet on the somewhat bumpy tatami mats. Looking everywhere with my eyes, I try to find where everyone had gone. As soon as I take a step forward, Martha pokes her head out from behind a paper Mache door.
    “Myeisha hurry, Mrs. Lucy is telling us the room assignments. Just leave your bag next to the door.” She informs me and I trot forward quickly. Placing my bag by the door like she said, I then walk through the doorway as Mrs. Lucy is saying,
    “Alright, Hans…you are being paired up with…Zaiharan and…Abacus” Zaiharan and Hans exclaim joyfully and I look at Abacus who caught my eyes as I walked in. “Good luck,” I mouth to him and he rolls his eyes at me. Rolling my eyes, I wait for the next roommate assignments.
    “Alright, all the girls will go into one big room, and the last two boys will share one.” Mrs. Lucy finishes, peering down at a paper in her hand to make sure of her announcement. My heart stops for a few seconds…Kendal? Ah crud, this is going to be a hard vacation. Glancing at Martha, she gives me the thumbs up and I smile at her. She then sighs as a grumbling sound comes from outside. After that, Lucy signals two men who had been hiding in the back to come forward.
    “Could you two please show them to their rooms please?” They nod their head and then put their full attention onto us.
    “Hi, my name is Wataru and this is my brother, Itsuma.” Wataru says, bowing with his arm diagonally across his chest. Itsuma does the same as soon as they rise back to standing position, Zaiharan’s and my feet snap quickly together. We cross our arms diagonally across our chests and bow lower than they did, or at least tried to. Wataru smiles and pushes a strand of fire red hair out of his face to get a better look of us. After that, Itsuma steps forward, his blue traditional kimono swaying from side to side like a cats’ tail.
    “Boys…if you will follow me, I will take you to your rooms.” He informs them and then walks out of the room with a procession following him. Wataru shakes his head, still smiling as he walks towards Martha and me.
    “Are you the only girls?” He asks; an eyebrow rose in question.
    “I wish…” I mutter quietly, or at least I thought I did.
    “So there is one more?” He inquires and my face skips red and becomes a deeper shade of crimson. At one glance at me, he begins laughing. I laugh a little with him, still completely embarrassed that he heard me. Martha doesn’t seem to care about what I had said because she laughs alongside Wataru. After that Wataru points to his ears,
    “I have trained my ears to catch even the most obscure whisper.” I stare at him in amazement and he then sweeps his hand towards the doorway. “Shall we?” Martha and I nod, following him out the door.
    “This is just great…ah! How could Mrs. Lucy does this to me?” Kendal yells in anger, kicking one of her bags over. Wataru leans over to me as we walk past the ranting freak of nature.
    “Is she okay?” He asks and I shake my head.
    “She needs to go into a mental house…but the reason why she is acting like that is because Mrs. Lucy told her that she had to carry her own bags in without help after she…said something really bad about...” I start but then stop, trying to think of a way to say servants in a kind way.
    “This girl didn’t say servants...did she?” He asks, a frown appearing on his white face. I nod my head averting my eyes away from Kendal. Wataru sighs for a moment and then a smile returns to his face. Wow…that was a quick change in attitude.
    “This mansion is so beautiful,” Martha comments as we walk up two flights of tatami mat covered stairs. Wataru practically beams with pride,
    “Thank you miss, this mansion has been in Lord Capricorn’s family for decades. Historians even say that this house could have been used as the Emperor’s get away house, or at least someone of high importance.” I admire all the paintings and then ask,

    “Do the paintings symbolize anything?” Wataru shakes his head and I shrug my shoulders.
    “What are your names?” He asks out of the blue. Martha is the first to answer and I follow after her. “Whoa…you’re an Akura child? Jeez, and you…Martha…I knew your parents since I was a child.”
    “Wait, aren’t you thirty years old or something like that?” Martha asks slowly but innocently. He laughs loudly, his voice booming through the hallways. Again with the laughing...hello…my quota for laughing was filled a long time ago.
    “No, I am actually only twenty-one years old, but nice guess. At least you didn’t say forty-years old like the last person I met.” He tells her and I snicker inside. Well…he does look a little old for twenty-one, but I surely wouldn’t have guessed forty…maybe 50…if I was being mean. Wataru stops suddenly and I have to jam my feet in the floor to keep from bumping into him. He points to a closed Mache door and then opens it.
    “This is your guys’ room,” He announces. Martha and I walk in, glancing at every detail. The room is practically the size of two master bedrooms with even a bathroom blocked off by a bamboo door. I thought that they were going to be futons to sleep on, but instead there are three queen sized beds at all corners of the room with a set of drawers and a desk right beside them. All the beds had different sheets on them. One had cherry blossoms rippling all over it, another had a dragon whose head came out at your feet like its protecting you, and the last had kanji written all over it.
    “Wow, this is amazing,” I comment and Martha nods in agreement.
    “Which bed do you want?” She then asks. I look from the beds back to her.
    “Um…which one do you want? Please go first,” I say. Martha opens her mouth to argue, but then closes it when she realizes I am trying to deduct one bed and then choose out of the last two. Martha immediately skips forward to the one with the cherry blossoms on it.
    “This one, if you don’t mind.” She replies and I shake my head no.
    “No, that’s perfectly fine; I really like the dragon one.” I tell her and then gently plop my suitcase right on top of it. Wataru steps further into the room,
    “Do you guys want some help?”
    “No thank you,” Martha and I chorus. After that, he bows respectfully and walks out of the room after I bowed back to him.
    “Why do you do that?” Martha inquires, watching me as I begin putting my clothes away.
    “My parents taught me that if someone bows to me whether I am by myself or in a group of people, it is respect to bow back.” I answer while folding my clothes. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see her practicing the bow. I am about halfway through with my unpacking when a huge thump causes me to jump, my heart beating like a mouse.
    “This room is tiny! My room is three times this size!” Kendal complains, not even caring to take a long look of the room.
    “Oh great, here comes Miss Grumble,” I mutter softly to Martha who stands beside me to get out of the path of Kendal. She giggles causing Kendal to turn and glare at us.
    “Oh heck no…I am not sleeping in this bed. The sheets are so disgusting…kanji? People give me a break.” She exclaims, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, Martha and I ignore her by keeping our backs to her. After that, I then begin to stuff my clothes into the drawers, categorizing everything into; pants, shirts, underwear items, and others. Martha leaves my side and goes to finish unpacking her own clothes. She goes around Kendal who still stands in the middle of the room, an aurora of a snobby brat drenching her. Finally after a few minutes, Kendal gives in and begins to unpack her five bags. I change into pants and a cute tee and as soon as Martha finished unpacking, she and I scoot on out of the room.
    “What do you want to do?” She asks me as we walk down the stairs to the lobby.
    “Um…how about we go find Wataru and see if he can give us a tour of the place?” I suggest and the look on her chestnut colored face tells me that it’s a great idea. Martha leads me to the room that Lucy had us gatherer in to see if he is in there. No luck.
    “Where do you think he could be?” She asks, a frown creeping onto her face like a shadow onto a plain. I shrug my shoulders and then turn on my heel. My head collides with someone’s chest and I then quickly back away, almost tripping on my own feet.
    “Whoa there,” Wataru says as he grabs my wrist. I bite my lip and smile a bit.
    “Clumsy me,” I comment and then smack myself mentally. Jeez…tripping on your own feet, how clumsy and damsel in distress can you get? Martha side steps me and stands directly in front of Wataru.
    “Wataru, we were wondering if you can give us a tour of the mansion and maybe some of the area around it.”
    “I would be honored, I will make sure to show you all the recreational rooms and outdoor activity areas here in Hakoga Paravel.” He informs us and with that, the tour is started. Wataru takes us all around the mansion, pointing out to us that there are several libraries, game rooms, and even silent rooms. Silent rooms are rooms filled with just couches and dull lights in which you can rest in and not be disturbed because in the room all noise is shut out. You could try talking to your friend or listening to your music on your iPod and still there would be no sound at all. The concept of how they accomplished that befuddles me and I did ask Wataru if he could clarify that, but he said its classified information.
    “Okay…so that’s everything inside…if you would please put your shoes on, I will show you the outside.” Wataru tells us as he guides us to the front of the mansion. I quickly slip on my shoes with ease and then I see him giving me an odd look.
    “Is there something wrong?” I ask, standing up as Martha just finishes tying her first shoe lace.
    “You aren’t going to walk around the area in those high heels are you?” He asks pointing to them.
    “Yeah...,” I say and after staring at his face for a minute I then sigh. “I’ll go put on some sneakers.” Slipping off my heels I then walk upstairs to my room to find Kendal sitting in front of the bathroom mirror with a green lotion around her face. She shrieks as I walk in,
    “Have you ever heard of knocking?”
    “Yeah, but have you ever heard of a shared room?” I inquire as I place my shoes under my bed and pull out my black and white DC sneakers. Kendal huffs and shuts the bathroom door so hard that I thought it would break. Quickly as I came, I left and went back downstairs to where Wataru and Martha wait for me. Putting on my shoes, Martha then holds out a hand and I grab it.
    “Are you ready to go?” She asks and I nod my head. He holds the door open for us and then closes it quietly. Wataru shows us all the way around, pointing out a fun little garden with a sweet fountain you can play in, vast fields to walk in, and even a stable like the one at Capricorn’s house. As we walk through the stables I see many stalls empty while others had different varieties of horses from a Shetland to a Lipizzaner.
    “Do you ever ride Wataru?” I ask while patting the head of the little Shetland called Fairy. He nods his head and turns his back to me.
    “I ride her,” Turning so I can see where he’s pointing I see a black horse with a long mane and muscles the size of hulk’s.
    “Whoa,” I exclaim and pull my hand away from Fairy. “What type of horse is she?” Wataru leans over the stall and buries his head into the mane. After that; the horse places her head onto his back, playfully grabs his shirt, and begins to pull it up. I immediately start laughing hard as Wataru struggles to get the horse to put his shirt down. Martha chortles loudly as soon as she came over to see the commotion. Finally he is able to struggle his way out of his shirt.
    “Hey….come on Kadaj, give me the shirt back.” Wataru says trying to grab the shirt, but she tosses her head back, keeping the shirt out of reach. Finally, he tricks the horse by faking right and grabbing left, the shirt sleeve now in his hand. After a few tugs, the horse lets go of the shirt and Wataru holds his shirt wide out. Right smack dab in the middle of the cloth, is a huge wet mark the size of a basketball.
    “Wow, Kadaj likes to drool.” I comment and Martha’s eyes widen in excitement.
    “The horse is named Kadaj? Like the character from Final Fantasy Advent child right?” She exclaims and Wataru nods.
    “She got her name from when she used to hang out with her brothers. Even though the youngest of the three, she was the dominant one like Kadaj is with his brothers Loz and Yazoo.” The look on Martha’s face was for any scrapbook, she practically beams with ecstasy. Another Final Fantasy 7 fan and now let’s see where this relationship will fly to…most likely really far. I turn to go back to the Shetland and continue petting its head, itching to ask can I go riding. After a while, Wataru calls out my name and I turn to look at him.
    “Do you ride? Because if you do…I am can take you guys riding before dinner is served.” My heart soars and I nod my head energetically. A smile appears on his face and he goes into the tack room to grab some stuff. Looking around, I then see Capricorn appear in the doorway. I stagger backwards a little completely surprised.
    “When you said ‘soon after’, I didn’t know you meant like really ‘soon after’ we arrived.” I tell him as he walks towards me.
    “Well, the things I had to arrange seemed to have gone quicker than I imagined.” Capricorn informs me and after that points behind him. Glancing around him, I see Scotia being led in by a floating rope.
    “Scotia…n…no way,” I stutter and before I know it, my feet take control of themselves and walk towards her. Scotia whinnies and nudges me in the stomach when I stop in front of her. Holding out my hand, the rope drops itself and after that wraps itself around my wrist.
    “After I saw how she behaved around you, I wanted to bring her here not as a boarder, but as a gift and resident.” Capricorn says and I stare at him, a puzzled look on my face. It then changes to a look of joy and ecstatic.
    “This is almost ironic, Wataru just asked me if I wanted to go riding and then you show up with Scotia. This is just too good, thank you so very much.” I say to him and he comes up and hugs me, despite the rope on my arm.
    “Alright, I don’t mean to interrupt this cute meeting, but Myeisha would you mind bringing the horse over here please, the tack is getting really heavy.” I hear Wataru call out from behind me. Spinning on my heel slowly as not to hurt Scotia, I then guide her to where Wataru stands. After that, Wataru begins to tack her up with everything from a bridle to the blanket under the saddle. Finally after all is finished, I grab a helmet that had been hanging on a hook and place it on my head.
    “Do you want some help?” Wataru asks and I nod,
    “Yes please, if you wouldn’t mind.” I take a hold on the horn on the saddle and then place one foot in Wataru’s intertwined hands and the other in a stirrup. After that, I step up and he hoists my other foot up and then I swing it over the horse and position it into the other stirrup. To make sure that they fit, I sit up in the stirrups and then sit back down, stretching out my legs as far as they can.
    “Are they a good length or do you need me to shorten them?” Wataru inquires and I shake my head no with a smile.
    “But thanks for telling me to switch shoes.” I tell him and he grins. Martha appears at the door and holds it open for me as I turn Scotia to walk.
    “Have fun,” She tells me.
    “You aren’t coming?” I ask, stopping Scotia right in front of her. Martha shakes her head no,
    “I don’t do well on horseback. I’d rather keep my footing on the ground where I am safe.” I laugh a little and then nudge Scotia to go on. As soon as we are a couple of meters away from the barn, I nudge Scotia into a trot. Trotting her around the field, always in view of the house, I then urge her into a canter. To feel the wind in my hair and to be bouncing up and down just caused me bliss. I slow her down to a trot and then back to a walk a few times; trying to make sure I didn’t tire her out. An hour or so passes before I jump off her back and hand lead her to the barn where Wataru waits patiently for me.
    “How was that?” He asks as he ties Scotia’s reins to a post.
    “It was awesome…I haven’t been riding like that in ages. It felt so good!” I exclaim while taking the saddle and blanket off. “Oh yeah, have you been standing there ever since I got into the field?”
    “No, I have been grooming Kadaj and Fairy, but I did check from time to time to make sure you were still on the horse.” Wataru replies and I chuckle a bit. After that, he takes all the tack away from my arms and passes me some grooming tools. I sponge her down and then brush her coat to a gleam. Grabbing the end of the halter that Wataru had put on after taking away the reins, I lead Scotia into an empty stall with a plaque that had her name written in blood red letters on it. I then undo the halter and she immediately goes for the whole barrel of ice cold water. Closing the stall door, I then walk with Wataru back to the house.
    “I am glad you had fun,” He tells me and I smile back at him.
    “I would give you a ‘thank you’ hug, but I am all sweaty and know that sweat wouldn’t go well with your nice outfit.” Wataru chuckles and pats me on the shoulder. He walks down one hallway and I begin walking up the stairs towards the bedroom. Opening the door, I am begging in my heart that Mrs. Snob isn’t there. Thankfully she isn’t and I sigh happily. Grabbing out some extra clothes, I then go to the bathroom and take a nice cool shower. After changing into the clothes, I walk back downstairs to the library. So many books! I feel like I am in Beast’s castle right now, in Bell’s shoes looking up at all the levels of books all around me. I immediately walk up to one section of books labeled fiction. Hands grazing the bindings of the books I then hear someone chuckle.