Four – Decorate

Linea wait only fifteen minutes before two soft knocks sounded at the door. Before she could open her mouth in response, the door opened and a small girl came walking in, her head bent in reverence. Shutting the door behind herself, the girl lifted her head and Linea saw she was not a girl, but a young woman about her age.

The girl wore a very simple yukata with no decoration on it. Her light brown hair was pulled neatly back and held together in a very simple bun, no accents there either. She was small in stature, but the biggest attribute of her was her big gray eyes.

The same color eyes as that creeper Taro. Dude, could they be sibs?

"My name is Yuni, Linea-sama. I am to be your lady-in-waiting as well as your personal servant."

She's so cute! She reminds me of my mother a—

Wait…

"Did you just call me 'Linea-sama?' No, no way. I am not royalty—"

"You are a guest of Kanahan-sama's. Be you a peasant or princess, I am to use this honorific."

Linea was a little confused. "Okay, Yuni-san. Please listen to me—"

"There is no time, Linea-sama. Supper will be shortly and I am to prepare you quickly."

The girl took Linea's hand and pulled her from her setting on the bed. Once on her feet, Linea was dragged to a stool near an open window and sat heavily upon it. Yuni began taking a comb to Linea's flat curls and ignored an occasional wince from the foreign girl. Then, with swift hands, Linea's hair was pulled up into a fancy bun with strands hanging beside her face.

If only I had a mirror.

"Hey, just to let you know, 'Linea' is my formal name. Please call me 'Lin.'"

"Yes, Lin-sama," the girl said, bowing slightly.

Linea clenched her jaw in impatience. Seriously? I'm starting to hate that pompous—

"It is time to remove your clothes. You will be wearing kimono instead of your own garments. Please rise and follow me."

As Linea followed Yuni, all she could ask was, "Have you got a mirror?"

The girl stopped for a moment and bowed her head. "Please excuse me," she whispered, and left Linea where they stopped. This allowed Linea to see the place where she was staying.

From what she could tell, there were two rooms to the one she stayed in. She was now in the second corridor after going through a small sliding door in the wall. While the one side looked to be for sleeping, the other side was for dressing and preparing. The side she was in, the one with a screen for changing and a small chest for clothing, seemed bare and lonesome.

Before Linea knew it, the young woman returned with a small hand mirror. She bowed and handed the mirror to Linea, who took it and thanked the girl. Holding it up to look at herself, Linea noticed how nice she looked with her hair done up.

"Wow," she muttered under her breath.

"Thank you, Lin-sama, very much. As more kimono will be made for you later, you will have to borrow from Rima-sama, Kanahan-sama's sister. She was around your size."

It took Linea a moment to process what the girl said. "Was? Did she get married and have a kid?"

The girl Yuni was silent as she went to the chest and opened the lid. From where she stood, Linea saw a brightly patterned silk object folded neatly with a dark brown shape beside it. Yuni picked up the silk object and unfolded it to reveal it was a kimono. She held it up for Linea to see and the breath escaped her lungs.

The kimono was a very soft pink with an array of darker flowers in clusters all around. The sleeves were long and would reach to her wrists without being too much of an inconvenience. Linea took it from the girl and felt the silk, cool beneath her fingers, and outlined some of the flowers as Yuni pulled out a white bit of fabric very similar to the shape that Linea held.

There's my underwear.

Yuni pulled a few more things out and closed the chest. She then set everything down and lightly took the garment from Linea, who was then pointed in the direction behind the screen.

"Wait back there a moment please while I take care of one last thing. I will be with you shortly, Lin-sama."

Linea did as she was told and went behind the screen. She did not wait very long for Yuni to come with the white fabric, kimono and a small stool that Yuni balanced everything on and she turned to Linea and began to untie the Converse All Stars on her feet.

Hands flew in front of Yuni's vision. "No! Please don't do that. I can undress myself. Just say the word and I can get you working in no time. I'm a big girl."

Yuni looked up at Linea in confusion. But—"

"Off."

"Yes, Lin-sama." Yuni backed off as Linea pulled her feet from her shoes and began undressing.

Left only in her underwear, Linea motioned to Yuni to take over from there. The girl draped the white fabric on Linea and followed that with the pink kimono. When Linea thought she would have to help with the dressing, Yuni surprised her with getting the obi in place and tying it with swift grace. Before Linea knew it, she was dressed and ready to walk out the door.

"Hey, Yuni?"

"Please use 'san' after my name, Lin-sama. Is there anything you need or I have forgotten?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I was just wondering about something I was told. Taro-kun said something about two people helping me. Was he mistaken?"

"No, Lin-sama. First off, you will refer to him as Hanagashi-kun, for it is proper here. Second, he was not mistaken. There were to be two attending to you for the duration of your stay, but no one volunteered.

"See, this used to be Rima-sama's chamber. As it is so, no one considered themselves brave enough to follow the order of the advisor and enter this room."

Linea was silent a moment, thoughts whizzing through her mind. "She must have been well-loved before she left."

Yuni bowed her head and led Linea from behind the screen. As Linea had only seen kimono and never wore one, she was very careful with her walking as to not do damage to the spectacular piece of art around her figure. Yuni opened the door that led to the hall to the court when she turned around and saw Linea very far behind.

"I'm sorry, Yuni-san," Linea said as she noticed the girl gazing at her.

"Your steps are too meek, Lin-sama. Do not be afraid to walk normally. You will not hurt the silk."

Taking larger steps, Linea made it to Yuni in no time. She smiled meekly and followed Yuni as they left the chamber and began down the hall.

The two girls passed through the main hall that led into the court and started down the way Linea had come when she was following Taro. When they reached the cross-way for the first hall Linea traveled, she thought they were going down that one as well. When Yuni kept going forward, a slight sense of curiosity perked inside Linea.

A new wing, eh? I am never suggesting to Mom and Dad that we stay inside a castle…or ever leave the house for vacation.

At the end of the hall was a door. The very intricate screening was what caught Linea's attention. She saw that it was in kanji and when she roughly translated it, it seemed to read 'Honor til Death.'

Or maybe it says 'cheese and crackers.' I suck at kanji. If it was hiragana…

Her thoughts trailed as Yuni slid the door open and Linea saw the stairs that only rose about five or so feet from their ground.

Great. Stairs. Now I'm gonna step on a hem and rip this all up. And it's not even mine! Seriously, Jebus?

Yuni lifted the hem of her yukata and Linea saw that it only took a little lift from the ground to make it easy to climb stairs. Following suit, Linea was able to keep close behind the girl who decorated a mere stranger into something appealingly acceptable. Now on the final step, Linea took her eyes from the stairs and looked about on the second story.

Two doors, both on opposite sides of the small space, were either guess to Linea as to what door will be the one they pass through. Yuni led Linea to the one on their right and tapped very softly on the door. It slid open and a young girl also in yukata poked her head out. Seeing who it was, the girl mumbled that 'Kanahan-sama will be finished momentarily' and to accept any apology for the delay.

Yuni nodded and the girl pulled her head back inside the room. As soon as the door closed, Yuni turned to Linea.

"May I trust you with something, Lin-sama?"

Linea's eyes opened in surprise. Sudden change much?

"Yes, Yuni-san. I'm a good secret-keeper."

The girl hesitated at first. "It is not a 'secret' as you call it. I, as well as the entire populace, ask that you wear this with honor."

She opened her hand and revealed a silk flower that was pieced together with pink silk and ivory beads. Linea was stunned at the craftsmanship and beauty of it.

"It's a kanza—"

Yuni reached up and placed it perfectly in Linea's hair. As there was no mirror around, Linea could not see what it looked like.

"This was Rima-sama's favorite pair. Please take very good care of it."

Linea nodded once. "I will. Thank you, Yuni-san."

At that moment the door slid open again and Taro stepped form the room. He slid the door shut behind him and could not take his eyes off Linea. Her eyes narrowed and she clenched her jaw to prevent herself form saying anything rash.

Taro looked then at Yuni and waved her away with his hand. "Your work is complete foe now. Away with you."

Yuni bowed her head and scuttled away down the steps and through the door. This left Linea and Taro alone outside of Kanahan's chamber. Linea was not in a good mood now that she was alone with him.

He makes me want to punch a baby.

"Very good choice in wear, Linea-sama. Bold move, wearing Rima-sama's favorite pair—"

"I had no choice in what I wore. Get this plaguing idea out of your mind that this is going to work out. I am going home soon, whether or not you like it, and until that happens, I wish to be left alone. I have a boyfriend back home who I dearly care for—"

"Please save your air, Linea-sama. You will either go home when Kanahan-sama is done with you, or when you are possibly executed for some petty crime. Until then, Linea-sama," he reached up and took a strand of her hair between his fingers, "you will be in the running for Lady of this land and allow all of us to have what we want."

Linea slapped his hand away and glared at the man. The red veil of anger twinkled her vision as she raised her clenched fist to strike his face. He stopped it with a quick grasp of her wrist, his nails digging into her skin.

"Hanagashi-kun!"

Linea's vision instantly cleared as she saw the screen to Kanahan's chamber wide open and the Lord staring dazed and startles at the scene.

Tato instantly released her. Bowing to Kanahan, Taro turned around and went on his way. Kanahan's maids followed suit, leaving the Lord and the foreign girl where they stood.

Kanahan extended his hand. "Please join me, my guest."

~~Well, figured I should update this. Actually, someone wanted me to update, so thank you so much for sticking with me. Does Kanahan remind anyone else of Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club? If yes, then basically picture him as this character. Practically copy-paste and you have our lovely Kanahan-sama Other than that, I'm out. Its late when I'm writing this and I'm tiiiiirrred. Thanks again and I'll get to this more often!