PART 4

NIGHT NOTE: I just want to say about before that I have nothing against Yuki! He’s my favorite member of Malice Mizer after I just read some interviews and realized how sweet he is! So please do not be upset with me about his character!

Kaoru gawked at the size of the greenhouse. It was larger than the house he had grown up in!

It was a connection to the mansion off the right side and it was very warm inside. At the door Hakuei removed his coat and motioned for Kaoru to do the same. "In here I have to do weeding."

"Everyday?" Kaoru asked. It seemed a bit excessive to him, who had a garden growing up since it was their only way to get any vegetables. They had only weeded once a week.

"I do it everyday because if I wait then I will have to do a lot. This way it takes me only a few minutes a day. The truth is there’s a lot less chores to do in the winter. Come help me over here."

Hakuei was kneeling down in the dirt in the section of carrots pulling tiny weeds from the ground.

Kaoru could practically count the ribs on the thin back through the white shirt. He bit his lip at Hakuei had done earlier.

Hakuei turned his head. "Are you feeling okay?"

Kaoru jumped. "Nani? Hai, Genki." Though he really didn’t. His head was spinning and his stomach kept churning, he felt like he was going to vomit at any moment. "I’m okay."

"Then come help me."

Kaoru nodded and knelt down beside him, "Why don’t you hire someone to do this?"

Hakuei looked at him. "Why hire someone to do something I can do myself?"

Kaoru smiled. "That’s nice, but I’m glad not everyone’s like you."

"Why?"

"Well, then who would hire people like me?" He smiled warmly, earning one in return.

Kaoru was pulling the weeds quickly from the ground, almost twice as fast as Hakuei and by time Hakuei finished his row of carrots Kaoru had finished two.

"You’re fast. You’ve done this before as a job?"

Kaoru nodded, keeping his eyes down. "I was a gardener alone in a garden much larger than this one. I had specific times I had to finish so I learned to be fast…" His voice was quieter as he reached the end.

"What happened if you didn’t?" Hakuei asked, looking up.

Now Kaoru looked up. "What do you mean?"

"What would happen if you didn’t finish by the specific time?"

Kaoru didn’t say anything for a moment, he looked as if he didn’t hear the question except at the same he looked very uncomfortable. "Nothing happened." He answered quietly.

Hakuei stared at him for a moment. Kaoru could feel it and shifted uncomfortably. "Stop looking at me." He thought as he gulped.

Hakuei wasn’t giving up. He had seen the bruises on his back and chest when he had to undress him from his wet clothes the night before. "You were beaten? …Is that why you ran out into the storm?"

Kaoru’s eyes widened for a moment and his glance shot up, he looked a little scared. Then he shook his head quickly and his face went blank. "I told you, nothing happened. What do you care anyway?" He shot back, but he didn’t know why.

His answer was a hard stare. "Because I know how a lot of rich people are. They don’t care about their…" He paused for a moment looking up at Kaoru’s face. Had he been? Was he a run away? "slaves." He finished. "Were you a slave?" He asked quickly. There was a big punishment for housing runaway slaves.

Kaoru bit his lip, his eyes starting to feel watery. Without an answer he got up and ran out of the garden, squishing a few plants in his haste.

"Wait!" Hakuei quickly stood up and followed him out.

He wasn’t in the front hall Hakuei noticed as he looked around, but he knew exactly where he was going; to the laundry to find his own clothes.

He found Kaoru shifting quickly through the clothes ready to go in the pressing machine. A maid was against the far wall and when she saw Hakuei come she ran to him.

"He just ran in here!"

Hakuei nodded. "I know, go away for a minute, okay?"

The maid couldn’t have been more eager and ran from the room, it was that same frightened maid that had seen naked that morning. Why did Kaoru scare all the maids?

"Kaoru, stop!" Hakuei grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the clothes. Kaoru jerked and fought until Hakuei finally told him his clothes weren’t even in there.

"The maids had to throw them out, they were in too bad of a condition." He cupped the side of his face, still holding it firm after Kaoru tried to pull away. "You were a slave, but I’m not going to turn you in."

Kaoru froze, his breath catching in his throat and his eyes darted to Hakuei’s face. "Why would you do that?"

He smiled bitterly. "Would you prefer to be a slave?"

Kaoru smiled. It was the first time Hakuei had seen him smile big like that and he thought he was simply beautiful.

Hakuei touched his hair. "Don’t worry. You are a good man, I would never turn you in, and if you want you can stay here. You can have any job you want, even gardener. Even if I don’t really need it." He said with a smile.

Without warning Kaoru made a desperate sound and pounced on Hakuei. Hakuei gasped and as his mouth was open Kaoru thrust his tongue in. He wrapped his slick tongue around Hakuei’s and drew it into his mouth, sucking on it strongly. Hakuei moaned quickly and stopped struggling, instead pressed his body back onto Kaoru’s. It had been much too long since he had been kissed!

Damn, not now! Kaoru pulled back quickly and turned his head as he burst into coughing. It lasted until he stomach ached. Hakuei rubbed his back lovingly.

"Are you okay?"

Kaoru nodded.

"Good." Hakuei held his hands together shyly and looked down at the floor. "Then would you kiss me again?" His cry of surprise of how quick Kaoru was muffled as Kaoru held the back of his auburn head and smooshed their lips together.

Kozi was kneeling stiffly by the mostly-frozen, gurgling stream as he splashed the frigid water over himself to get rid of the crap all over himself. When he was finally done he walked slowly back to his horse, shivering and wishing he had a warm house to be in right then.

As if his prayers were answered two minutes of riding his horse led him to a small cottage in a clearing on the woods. It was very English styled with a stream of smoke coming out of the brick chimney.

"Thank God." Kozi mumbled and rode quickly to the house.

Warmth almost radiated off the house and his raised his hand to knock. He heard nothing for a moment and knocked again. He heard shuffling coming from inside then a thump, a cat wailed as if it had been tripped over and he could hear it running past the door.

The door was opened just a crack and someone looked out of him through the darkness of the cabin. "What do you want?"

Kozi squinted, wishing he could see the man. He had a nice voice, almost like a deep-voiced woman. "I would just like a place to sleep for the night, and dry off. It’s very cold out here and I can’t dry properly."

There was a long silence as he felt himself studied but kept still. Then the door closed and he heard a lock being undone. The door was thrust open and a shorter man stood there staring at him. He was wearing a long, thick white dress with his nails painted dark blue. His hair was long and a darker blue than his nail polish. It was parted to his left with three silver streaks. His was almost evil looking with his very thick, dark eye shadow and dark lipstick.

His hard eyes scanned Kozi’s body, and spotted the bow and arrow. "Leave those outside." He said as he turned around and walked back into his house. "And hurry, it’s cold outside. You can put your horse in the barn outback."

After Kozi tied his horse into the tiny barn in back with the two other horses he removed the saddle. He placed the bow and arrow beside the horse and was about to take the hidden knife out of his boot but decided against it. The man was waiting for him at the back door when he went back to the cabin.

At that back door as soon as Kozi entered a tabby cat raised his fur and hissed at him.

"Have a seat, Kozi." The man said as he motioned to a kneeling mat beside the fire.

Kozi was shocked. "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

He didn’t answer the first question. "My name is Nao." He seemed to have been in the middle of mixing something when Kozi had shown up, by only the light of the fire.

Kozi found it very strange but in the center of the room was a large, blood red sheet casually thrown on the hard floor that he had been sitting on. A red, sun umbrella of the same color was open behind where he sat and a black tray was in the center. Kozi decided it better to mind his own business.

"Thank you for letting me stay the night."

Nao didn’t answer but looked up. Kozi was playing absently with the grouse feather, pulling it gently through his fingers and staring at the striped pattern. "That’s a nice feather. The person you took it from must be important to you."

Kozi shot his glance up. "How would you know I got it from someone? What if I’m just a hunter?" He said it too quickly and felt foolish. It felt a bit ironic to now be calling himself a hunter when before he was denying that very thing. What could he tell him, ‘Oh yes, I’m an assassin and I stole this feather from an annoying, though beautiful, forest spirit. How did you guess?’

Nao smiled at him humorously. "Don’t embarrass yourself with an excuse." He was still looking at the feather. "May I see it?"

Kozi hesitated, not wanting to hand him the feather but reluctantly handed it to him.

Nao held it and closed his eyes. "You took this from Taizo!?" His eyes snapped open and he suddenly laughed heartily. "That must have been quite a struggle."

So, that’s his name…" Kozi thought when he pictured the pretty blonde in his head. Kozi studied Nao for a moment, of course he knew so much. He must be a gypsy.

"Yea, it was." Kozi said as he felt a piece of his hair sticking together from some mulch that hadn’t come out. He remembered the brilliant smiles that Taizo had given him and smiled wistfully. He wondered where Taizo was, probably harassing another hunter. Kozi would make sure he took the same path to get home.