[Arashi] [Sakumiya] Her Silver Lining
Apr. 7th, 2014 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
radhajDisclaimer: Those people are not mine. Damn.
Warnings: Transgender character. Sexy stuffs later on. Nothing super kinky this time. Maybe
Summary: The job might not be the most prestigious and by far not something she had envisioned herself doing to support herself at this point of her life. But perhaps this whole thing was exactly what she needed to finally feel confident in who she was.
Note:Okay, I am sorry, but this fic deserves a big note from me in the beginning. You are free to skip it of, course, but then don't get mad at me later for things that I will already explain here. I just really feel this needs to be explained and underlined.
THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION.
Please keep that in mind the entire time while reading it. I wrote this to get rid of a plot bunny and to delve into a topic that intrigued me and which I wanted to challenge as a writer, but, despite that, it is still only fiction and thus it is not completely realistic. Certain things I've tweaked on purpose to suit my plot (such as certain Japanese laws and the limits of medical intervention – hey this is fiction and I am God in its universe), other things don't reflect the reality because of my admitted ignorance to them. As someone who has not been personally involved with the issues in question, I no doubt lack knowledge about certain things and am bound to make mistakes although I did attempt to inform myself as well as I could.
I do not mean to offend anyone with this work of fiction or make light of real struggles that some people have to confront every day. I think of myself as a passable writer generally, but I can't claim to be able to convey emotional turmoil that people who actually go through this experience feel. If some of these people happen to read this, please kindly keep in mind that there will likely be many unrealistic parts in this and if you think you will be bothered by it, consider stopping before you start reading. I truly do not wish to cause anyone any bad feelings with this story that is only meant for entertainment.
Similarly, people that don't know about these things personally should take everything written inside with a grain of salt. This is not meant to be educational and as I've already mentioned, some facts are intentionally twisted to suit my idea of the universe that I wished to create for my fictional story. If you are interested about trans-sexuality, transitioning or any similar topics, please do your own research and don't consider this fic as part of it.
Prologue
She squinted at the mirror, turning her head to one side, and then to the other, inspecting her face from every angle. With her hair pulled back into the braid that her new job demanded she keep it in, the shape of her face was too exposed for her peace of mind, making her feel a little insecure. She took a deep breath. She was fretting for no reason, surely. It was just... an instinct. Keep as much hidden as possible and then maybe, just maybe you'll be able to go through an entire day without seeing that spark of suspicion light up in someone's eyes for once. Maybe.
A small sigh escaped her lips and then she redirected her attention lower. Well at least this definitely helped. Full lips curling into a cheeky smile, her hands slid down her body, her immaculately manicured fingers running down over her snugly-fit uniform, straightening out the lacy material wherever it was crooked and taking specific care to adjust her boobs. Not very comfortable, but she was quite a bit more busty than the average Japanese woman so it was no surprise that the pre-made uniform was squeezing her chest a bit more than was strictly necessary. She would have to ask if it was okay for her to take it home and adjust a seam or two...
She chose to reserve her judgement of what kind of people still demanded their maids to wear French maid outfits in this day and age (not the absurdly sexualized Halloween costume version, of course, but it was still a bit eyebrow-raising) as it suited her just fine. The knee-length skirt of the black dress, the white stockings and lacy decorations worked perfectly in distracting people from things she didn't want noticed and underlining the things that she was proud of. Perhaps this whole thing was exactly what she needed to finally feel confident in who she was. The job might not be the most prestigious and by far not something she had envisioned herself doing to support her studies at Keio, but it might actually turn out for the better.
“Shouko-kun, if you are ready now?”
The gentle and grandfatherly voice of the house steward woke her from her musings and she suddenly realized she might have taken a bit too long to dress. Throwing one last look over her figure in the full-length mirror before her to make sure everything was in place, she turned and quickly stepped towards the door, opening it to see the elderly man who had been waiting behind it so he could give her a tour on her orientation day and explain her duties.
“Yes, Fujita-san,” she answered, smiling timidly and bowing slightly to the man that was nice and understanding enough to overlook everything and her direct superior, “I'm sorry I took so long.”
“It is all good, it's not like this old man has anywhere to hurry to,” the elderly servant joked back at her good-naturedly and she felt warmth flooding over her heart. It was thanks to this kind man that she was at all hired in this household, because certainly, had the new maid been hired by the Masters of the place directly, she wouldn't have even been considered. The strictly conservative views of the Ninomiya family were well known in Japan by anyone who at all followed the political scene, after all. But Fujita-san hadn't cared about anything other than her willingness to do any work assigned to her when he was inspecting her application and now here she was, being led by him away from the servants' quarters to the second floor of the big mansion. She could only hope that whatever contact she would have with the actual members of the family would be minimal.
“You will mostly be responsible for the second floor of the west wing. There you can find the guest rooms that are used by most of the mansion's visitors as well as the chambers of the young Master. Your duties will be to keep these rooms clean, prepare the guest rooms when the Masters are expecting visitors, take care of the laundry and help out anyone residing here with what they need,” the steward was saying as he slowly climbed the grand stairs to the second floor of the house and she followed, politely, half a step behind him, “Sometimes, on the more busy evenings, you might be asked to help out with easy tasks in the kitchen, but nothing complicated. In general, you shouldn't find the job too exhausting. Although we get visitors often, they all stay a day or two at the most. And the young Master is... well, he doesn't really like relying on the servants too much, so he shouldn't turn out too demanding either. In fact, because of his rather distanced relationship with the family, he prefers spending most of his time not home so you might not even meet him often. And even when he is at home, he is usually too preoccupied with his passions to pay attention to anyone.”
Shouko had immediately felt relief at hearing that the one member of the family that she was, apparently, supposed to actually serve personally usually didn't interact with the people of the household much. But the elderly man's following sentence distracted her right away again with its wording.
“His... passions?” She asked, wincing when her voice cracked a little in the middle of a word, but Fujita-san didn't even blink.
“Oh yes. Passions. The young Master gets truly passionate about the few things that he actually cares about,” he spoke, sounding as fond as only an old servant of the family that had obviously watched the boy grow up could, “Mostly it is video games though,” the man then added with a lovingly exasperated chuckle, “And music. Young Kazunari has always loved music.”
As the steward added that last piece of information, they were finally walking down the wide corridor to the part of the house that Shouko was apparently supposed to be responsible for from now and so she could actually hear it then: the soft, mostly muffled sound of a lyrical melody played on a piano that was slowly getting more audible as they progressed down the hallway.
“The young Master is at home today, however,” the elderly servant answered the unasked question with a smile, “Which is perfect as I should introduce you,” he explained as he stopped in front of a huge double-door behind which the music was flowing from.
It was not really a surprise to Shouko who knew this was coming from the moment she heard the music and realised that the son of the family that she was to serve was at home. Still, fortunately, Fujita-san understandingly gave her a few moments to get ready and Shouko did her usual check-up, from bottom upwards. Her shoes were well fastened (her usual flats as it was never high-heels for her – she was too tall as it was) so she wasn't going to trip over them (a far too common an occurrence for her clumsy self), her stockings perfectly pulled up and held up by her garter-belts and she hadn't torn anything, yet. Her frilly skirt was straightened out as much as possible and her uniform was impeccably settled over her curvy figure. It was as good as it would ever get and she nodded, prompting the elderly man to knock. The beautiful music suddenly stopped.
“Yes, come in, what is it?”
The young and slightly nasal voice sounded a bit irritated and Shouko felt uncomfortable immediately, feeling very unwelcome and like she was intruding. But the steward took a second to flash her a smile, as if to tell her that this was how it usually went.
“Please excuse us,” Fujita-san intoned habitually as he opened the door and entered the huge room behind them, leading Shouko inside it.
It was a music room, with a fashionable pianoforte as its centrepiece, some furniture to accommodate any listeners, and a few more other instruments tidily scattered along the walls including a drum-set, a bass guitar and a few other guitars. Shouko felt her fingertips tingling as she realized what a masterpiece of craftsmanship was the pianoforte in front of her, but she elegantly clasped her hands behind her as she approached the man sitting behind the instrument.
He was no less of a masterpiece, she realized, her heart giving a lurch as she stood just a step behind the family servant showing her around. The man was gorgeous, sitting behind the forte-piano and giving off a perfect image of aristocracy. He belonged there, his fingers barely touching the ivory keys of the instrument now, resting on them, his handsome face half-turned towards them with his eyebrow slightly raised, as if questioning their very presence in his sanctuary. Shouko fidgeted a little, but her guide was not at all affected.
“Young Master, I wish to introduce our new maid, Sakurai Shouko,” Fujita-san spoke calmly, gesturing at her, “She will be working here from today onwards.”
Shouko tensed up and bowed her head deeply.
“Please treat me kindly,” she spoke in her soft voice, hoping she sounded right because first impressions were always the most important. When she straightened her lithe form back again she was confronted by the young man now looking straight at her, his eyebrow raised. Her heart sank in trepidation, but his expressions didn't seem too vicious so she held her breath, hoping.
“What happened to old lady Katano?” the young Master asked though, for now ignoring her, obviously addressing the steward so she kept quiet, vaguely recognizing the surname of her predecessor whom she was supposed to be replacing.
“She retired, young Sir,” the older man explained calmly, “She wished to spend some more time with her grandchildren at her old age.”
“Hm, is that so,” the young man frowned, suddenly seeming troubled, and looked down at the keyboard, stroking his fingertips along the keys absent-mindedly without making a sound, “I heard nothing about that.”
For once, it was the old steward that seemed taken aback and out of words, but after a short moment of confusion he recovered again.
“If young Master so wishes, I could inform Kagano-san she is welcome to visit?” he offered tentatively and the son of the Ninomiya family nodded, brightening up again a little.
“That would be acceptable,” he informed seriously, closing the subject, before turning to face Shouko again and she found herself straightening up immediately again under his judging gaze.
“So you're the replacement then,” he spoke, unhiddenly looking her down from head to toe and standing up, stepping closer to her, “A student?” he guessed quickly and she nodded.
“Social Sciences, Sir,” she answered quickly, “Keio university,” she revealed, knowing that the prestige of her schooling was crucial for her getting the job, feeling her heart fluttering in her chest more than it had during the actual job interview. The young man in front of her let out a whistle.
“I know my folks have always had a thing for hiring “properly educated” servants, but this is getting ridiculous,” he let out, astounded, “But then again, I'm not complaining. You're truly a pretty one, aren't you?” he asked and Shouko immediately flushed incredibly hard at the unexpected praise, looking down at the floor, not knowing how to answer. But then there were short, stubby fingers (how did he manage to play the piano that well with those?) at her chin, making her look up again at the man's handsome face and the smug smile curling on his lips, “Especially when you blush like this,” he whispered, his voice silky and Shouko found herself heating up even more. Seriously, a playboy? It was just her luck that her first real employer would be someone as flirty as this guy, but at least he didn't suspect her secret. Or... did he? She still couldn't shake away the sight of his initially raised eyebrow that had made her think she hadn't passed. Shouko shifted her weight from one foot to another, still not knowing how to answer.
“Young Master!” Fujita-san interrupted chidingly then and the man immediately reacted, withdrawing his hand and taking a step back.
“Ah yes, we can't have a sexual harassment lawsuit,” he commented lightly, not looking bothered by the idea at all despite his words, “At least not so soon,” he added, winking at Shouko and making her blush more as he sat back down in front of the piano, “Well then, I'll look forward to seeing you around, Shouko-chan,” he said with a cheeky smile as he started pressing keys aimlessly and yet no less harmonically, “Maybe I'll finally have a reason to hang around in the big house more now that you're here.”
Great, just great, she thought while, after bowing and excusing themselves, she and Fujita-san stepped out to continue their tour. Apparently, after seeing her, this Ninomiya Kazunari guy actually did plan to stay at home more often, which far from suited her well. Especially since she didn't even know if he had guessed yet, so she didn't know if she was supposed to stay as careful as possible or if it didn't matter because he already knew and, apparently, unlike his family, didn't care.
But well, at least, she thought as she shyly glanced back at the double door with a timid smile when the pretty melody started playing again, he was very nice to look at. And interesting. And quite nice, really, despite his rather blunt comments. Yes, maybe... maybe it won't be too terrible even if she did end up meeting Ninomiya Kazunari more often than she had hoped.
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