The Pact

[Rhan Komo]

. . . About Two Years Ago. . .

Rhan moved forward, his hands resting on his biceps as mused and glanced around. Another sigh escaped from the lips of his partner standing next to him, his eyes turned to face his white hair partner looking board. Idly they were standing next to one another, their ship docked and both were currently standing still just observing surrounding area . Offering a small nod Rhan began to walk forward, gesturing towards the exit for Rippana. His mask concealed much of his emotions and Rippana could only but guess on what the boy was thinking.

It felt almost as if Rhan had met her yesterday on that day at the Casino. She grimaced at the memory as she quickly followed her new partner and instructor. They were here for a job after all and Rippana shook her thoughts of the past away. Her fingers fidgeted around her waist as she continued to smooth out her black skirt, Rhan himself looked completely comfortable in his butler attire, black coat along with his white button shirt, even his mask added a bit of charm to the young man.

“How hard can being a maid be?” She muttered to herself as she walked alongside him.

“You’d be surprised at the level of difficulty our job can present us with, but it is our duty while employed to overcome any obstacle,” Rhan spoke, after hearing her quiet mutterings.

Rippana in turn rolled her eyes, he may had been right on several points but it hardly made this job any less obnoxious at times. “I guess, and also I’m cooking again am I?” She asked, her voice sounded a tad like a whine.

Rhan turned his head to look at her, he sighed and shook his head, “I’ll handle the cooking,” He assured her, which despite heavy effort from Rhan, he was perplexed of how Rippana could practically make anything she cooked inedible. Rippana only nodded furiously at his declaration.

“How did you ever learn to cook so well Rhan?” Rippana asked, they continued to walk past the Star Port, the meeting point was only a few blocks away, it wasn't worth the trouble to call a cab.

“I already explained my time at several restaurants back on my home planet, several chefs took a liking to me and would often show me how they would cook and prepare their signature plates and such,” Rhan said, his fingers trailing on his chin as paused a moment to think further back a few years. “But I guess what really helped me was my constant practice during my first Butler job, I had excellent testing subjects,” He mused out loud a bit.

“Huh, uh,” Rippana mustered out, wondering if Rhan had ever been not good at cooking before and suddenly felt sorry for his test subjects.

“Enough talk of my past though, we’ve arrived at the meeting point,” Rhan explained.

Rhan walked forward, each step graceful as he moved into the building where their new employer had said he wished to meet them. Rippana’s hands gripped her belt, the hilt of her sword wrapped by her fingers, a sense of calm enveloped her as she followed Rhan into the building.

 

[Rhan Komo]

Rippana frowned deeply, her fingers tugging at the frilly decorations of her skirt and moved along to her shirt. She knew the importance of being uniformed and dressed properly but still she could make do without the needless decorations. She heard a soft sigh escape from her partner's lips next to her, Rhan appeared to had rolled his eyes as he glanced over at her.

"Stop playing with your clothing, the Master's daughter will be walking down soon and it would do us no good if she see's one of her new servants easily distracted by fancy clothing," Rhan said calmly, his mask expertly hiding any and all emotion and even his tone of voice was cool.

Rippana stuck her tongue out at him, "Bite me," She retorted as she huffed once and forced her hands to remain still at her side. This maid outfit is so frilly she complained in thought.

"She's here," Rhan responded, his voice hinting nothing but calmness.

Rhan visibly stiffened, if that was even possible as his posture was already perfect, as a young girl appeared and descended the stairs. Appearing no older than ten years of age her red dress with gold frills made her seem like some cute doll that Rippana would often see inside toy stores she would pass by to go to school.

She smiled as she walked to the two servants, "I am Angel Paris, Lady of the House," She greeted. Her eyes wide open taking in her new maid and butler.

"I am Rhan Komo, your new Head Butler and caretaker, and this is," Rhan said with a bow as he gestured for Rippana to introduce herself.

"I am Rippana Naito, your new Maid," Rippana greet with a soft smile as she bowed.

"Lord Paris informed us that we are to escort you to your first meeting with Lady Bayfish," Rhan informed his new charge.

Angel made a face as she pouted, "I do not wish to go," She said, "The day is sunny and pleasant, why spend it inside some stuffy room," She complained.

"Mi'lady, my job as your Head Butler and Caretaker is to assure your duty as daughter of Lord Paris to attend your meetings and appointments, as well as following your father's orders," Rhan explained to her, "So we need to leave soon to reach Lady Bayfish at the allotted time," Rhan added.

"But you're my servants, shouldn't I be able to do what I want and order you not to take me?" She asked, her hand placed on small hip.

Rippana could not but help choke a giggle as her hand clasped her mouth to contain her laughter. It was fun to see Rhan struggle with someone nearly half his age, honestly they could had been brother and sisters if this was a different world. She stepped forward and crouched down to lower herself closer to the eye level of Angel.

"Now now Mi'lady, once you quickly conclude your business with the boring Lady Bayfish we can play right afterwards outside for as long as you want," Rippana promised with a winning smile as she stretched out her hand for a sign of trust.

"Okay, fine," She sighed as she accepted the handshake and followed Rhan and Rippana to the aircar awaiting for them outside the manor.

--

“Your lunch is ready Mi’lady,” Rhan said as he placed her food tray in front of her as she quickly began to munch down.

If Rhan could manage a sigh he would so at the moment as he found today almost unbearable with this child. Almost, because he was certain Rippana was making it her personal mission to assure the child’s well being. Rippana couldn’t know that Rhan was nearing his limit as he appeared passive and calm as ever, even when he talked he had a nonchalant tone of voice.

"But I want to keep playing with my kite," Angel complained as she still held onto her kite's string.

"Don't worry I'll hold i-" But before Rhan could reach out the girl's fingers slipped and the wind took her kite.

"Oh no!" Angel cried as her eyes watered up.

Rippana quickly jumped forward, her legs sprung forward and dashed ahead, the kite was slowly rising but Rippana knew she still had one more chance. She jumped up high, her fingers out stretched and curled around the delicate string. Rippana landed solidly on the ground, her eyes brimming with smugness as she returned back to the other two, Angel gaping in pure astonishment of her maid's speed while Rhan had a single eyebrow raised.

"Eat your lunch mi'lady, and once then I'll allow you to have your kite back," Rippana ordered her young charge.

 

[Rhan Komo]

Expect the unexpected, a rather ridiculous motto for Rippana, regardless her partner Rhan constantly drives this statement into her head. Either way. her sigh escaping her pouted lips did not come from the reason stated above, rather it was from the boredom of watching Rhan cook their meals. His fingers gripped the blade expertly, each chop quick and precise, the vegetables were sliced and Rhan quickly dropped them into his pots already heating up over the fire.

“How are those wounds?” Rhan asked quietly as he began to add the seasonings.

“Hmph,” was all Rippana could muster, her pride bleeding and beyond repair at the moment.

“Keep in mind, you don’t know if this will taste good or not,” Rhan declared, his eyes narrowing at Rippana.

Almost instantly her eyes widen and as she gritted her teeth she spoke, “The ribs aren’t cracked but I believe it’s called a stressed fracture, a bit bruised but I guess I’ll live,” Rippana explained.

“Remember-” Rhan started but quickly got cut off by Rippana.

“I know, I know, expect the unexpected, sheesh,” Rippana griped as she tapped the table with her fingers, drumming away.

“You need to adjust your stance to defend powerful blows, if your block is not ready than you are bound to take damage,” Rhan explained thoughtfully. His face inching closer to his soup as he took a small wif of the smell, a single finger slowly moving down his mask to allow his nose to take in the smell unfiltered.

Rippana leaned closer to possible get a glimpse of Rhan’s possible unmasked face but was sadly disappointed to find the dark cloth once more covering the majority of his face. His hands reached for the bowls and poured two servings. He walked over and handed Rippana’s bowl to her. Her eyebrow raised as she then hoped to finally see him unmasked, as surely he won’t just eat alone.

“I must ask though, where did you learn your swordsmanship?” Rhan asked, his now gloved fingers gently running along the edge of his bowl.
. . . . .

“Chin up, separate your legs a tad bit more, your body must not be easily moved,” Her instructions whipped out, the instructor looked upon Rippana with a steely gaze.

Rippana gulped quickly, she could literally feel her instructor’s eyes drilling a hole through her skull as she continued to keep her pose. Perhaps another few more minutes, she began to feel the burning feeling from her muscles, her training saber was of course heavier but the real issue was the length of time of which her instructor had force her to hold her pose.

A slap and then a clap of wood smacking against wood echoed in the training room. Rippana groaned, her unmarked hand rubbing her now very red wrist, slowly picking herself up she flinched as she made contact with her instructor. The woman might not be taller than Rippana but her sheer aura and persona filled the room with authority that Rippana felt as if she was being looked down upon.

“Again,” She said angrily.

Rippana could only but nod as she picked up her training saber and held her pose once more. A few seconds later her instructor standing in front of her now. Her pose in a ready stance, her single hand holding the training rapier and without any warning her instructor lunged at Rippana. With a quick flick of her wrist she managed to redirect the attack to pass overhead of her, it allowed Rippana the needed time to disengage as she dashed to the side, her saber in a ready defense position.

Her instructor moved with lightning speed, this time her attack hit home, the blow knocking Rippana back, her feet struggling to find her balance as gravity tugged harder and harder to force her to fall. She kicked up to give herself more momentum, as if she was back in her gymnastic class and refocused her core and body to find her balance as she tried again to get her defensive stance ready.

Her instructor did not give any more moments to think as another attack, two now quickly struck as Rippana weakly tried to block one of the attacks but it fell flat and late. Rippana could barely track her instructor’s attacks and when the third came it drove home and knocked Rippana back unto her backside. She groaned in pain as she rubbed the more than likely bruised spots on her body. Her midsection only protested more as her fingers gingerly slid over the growing bruise.

“Your eyes can at least keep up with my movements but your body cannot, yet that is,” Her instructor commentated, “Go home, your training for today is done,” and with nothing more she walked away and picked up her own bag leaving Rippana to her own thoughts.

She started to stand up but quickly fell down to her knees, warm drops of water cascaded from her eyes and ran down to her cheeks before dripping down to the floor. Rippana blinked and blinked but neither tears or her quivers ceased for several moments. It wasn’t until her body refused to spare anymore tears did she finally stood back up on her feet. Her bag hanging loosely off of her left shoulder as she walked out of the training room doors.

. . . .

“You stopped crying, but didn’t want to stop,” Rhan said, not a question as much more than an observation from her partner.

Rippana raised a single eyebrow, her annoyance creeping on back onto her expression, “I stopped because I couldn’t cry anymore, so I stood up, I moved on, I stood up,” She repeated hastily.

“No, you simply tired from crying and just walked along, you never wanted to move on with your mistakes,” Rhan said, his voice strangely growing softer with each word.

“Why you!” She growled as she stood up, her hand clenching around the hilt of her rapier, readying to pull it out on her partner to scare him. "How would you know of how I felt back then?" She asked.

“You were more scared of failing again than you were of standing up against your pain,” Rhan continued as he mused on Rippana’s short story of her past.

She growled and stabbed forward at Rhan’s neck, her anger blinding her for a moment. She could not see Rhan’s reflexes not only dodge her attack with just a simple tilt of his head but Rhan also grabbed her blade. His hand yanked it back and caught Rippana off guard as she was pulled extremely close to Rhan, their faces but only a few inches apart. But even with this distance she could barely make out the soft words coming from his masked mouth. “No, you’re only playing human,” Rhan finally explained, “You might had only been playing human,” He muttered as he released his hold on her blade and stood up and left the kitchen.

Rippana simply stood there, unsure of what to make from her partner’s words and actions. She sighed deeply as she sat back down on her chair, her hand using the spoon to play around with the contents in her soup. “The soup is good, really good I guess,” Rippana said, a small smile crawling near the edges of her lips. Tugging ever so slightly before she made a crestfallen face as she had a sudden revelation.

----

Rhan moved away from the kitchen, his footsteps silent, it wasn't until another moment did he hear a yell, “You making me clean up AGAIN!” before than a crash followed. If anyone was paying any close attention, the mask hugging his face shifted ever so slightly as if his lips began the motion of smiling.

 

[Rhan Komo]

“Force it through and keep up,” Rhan spoke, his free left hand pointing at the short staff currently blocking Rippana’s side kick. His eyes gave a lazy look at Rippana as she continued to glare at him.

Her kick pressed before snapping back, quickly she lashed out another kick but did not pause but quickly snapped back to deliver her right jab with her left cross. Rhan back stepped as he slashed downward with his pole to block the next kick, his free arm lashed out slap away both the jab and then the cross, his pole slicing low to trip Rippana. Her legs did not react quickly and she felt her feet give away under her as she fell backwards. Her butt slamming into the grassy fields as Rhan’s pole was squarely facing in front of her eyes as he loomed over her. His white hair fluttering slowly as the wind picked up ever so slightly. Rippana’s own hair moved with a bit more energy as she rubbed her own head. Frustration once more clouded her mind as she grudgingly accepted Rhan’s hand to help her up.

Not long since their last job with the young Angel were they back into their usual training schedule. She missed her last charger, their employer essentially had them as babysitters which was alright in her books but she sensed some annoyance from her partner Rhan as he simply seemed a tad too quick to enter their to ship to leave the planet. Of course she could never really prove such things and even when directly asking Rhan would always give the same boring and repetitive answer.

“Why do you insist on you having the weapon and me not having one? I mean shouldn’t you practice unarmed combat as much me?” Rippana asked as she rubbed her sore arms.

Wack

“Ow, ow, ow, ow,” Rippana cried as she crouched down and rubbed the back of her head.

Rhan’s eyes remained impassive as ever as he twirled his pole with his hands, not at all sorry for smacking her in the back of the head. “Because I don’t need it, but you do,” Rhan explained. “And good habits from now leads to better difference,”

Rippana rolled her eyes as she stood back up and caught up with Rhan as they returned back to their temporary home. Her eyes quickly targeted the refreshers and her feet moved just as fast towards there. Rippana embracing the waters as it cascaded down over her body, allowing herself to relax. embracing today’s small joys. A soft smile tugging at her lips. Her thought came as she realized that Rhan would be preparing supper once more, perhaps she could endure their unfair combat lessons for that sake.

--

“Have you ever thought of expanding?” Rippana asked, sitting across from Rhan as they prepared themselves for their next job, reading up on their employer.

“Nate Huyman, Jane Huyman, Kel’van Huyman,” Rhan responded as he looked up to face Rippana.

“Huh?” Her voiced gave a rather ungraceful sound as a question.

“The three younger relatives that will be staying in the household during our employment, ages 17, 19 and 15 respectively,” Rhan explained as he pushed his datapad for Rippana to also read and review.

“So like I asked, are you planning on expanding?” She asked once more as she skimmed through the information.

“We’ll see,” Rhan responded evenly, Rippana only offered a lazy glance in his direction as she herself sighed.

“Cool, teenagers, like ourselves,” Rippana “Shouldn’t be difficult,” She hoped as started to gather her things. Traveling light had its perks, and of course Rhan heavily insisted of always packing light.

“Nothing like ourselves,” Rhan corrected, his bags already inside their ship, his hands resting on either arms, crossed over his chest as he waits for Rippana.

 

[Rhan Komo]

The casino stood in front of both Rhan and Rippana,both of them flanking their employers. Their own party moved slowly but perhaps it was due to their employers gaping at anything and everything that sparkled their way. Rhan and Rippana simply made wary glances between one another as they carefully maneuvered themselves through the throng of people entering into the establishment. Rhan wearing his very bland, but at least suitable Butler uniform and this time without anything loose wrapped around his neck. Fingers ghostly around the edges of his mask as he lazily slipped between a small group of people in his way.

Rippana only patted down her much longer skirt and blouse, not entirely matching her older uniform but Rhan insisted on such apparel. She sighed but guessed it mattered to him that she hid her weapons a bit more subtlly. The four of them had made their way into the main gambling hall of the casino, their young charges had their mouth open wide as they greedily took it all in with a large stare.

“Oye, oye, oye! Let’s get started eh?”

“Yes lets!”

Both of their young charges zoomed towards the first sabaac table their eyes saw, Rippana and Rhan followed a tad slower behind them as they simply glanced around as they began their game. The crowds of people simply offered some distraction for Rippana, flippantly ignoring much of her current surrounding and opting to try and observe things she could not just quite see clearly enough. Her fingers idly drumming on her side, she turned her head to spy on her partner. His eyes constantly moving and glancing at each and new movements anywhere near his employer, as he maintained such a rigid stance.

Their young employers seemed to have tasted their victory at sabaac and requested to continue and move forward. Rippana rolled her eyes, she knew nearing the end of the night Rhan and herself would need to assure they had enough credits to make it back to the hotel room, least their employers burn everything in one night. Though she wondered what Rhan would think of their actions in the casino, she guessed not much at the same time she wondered if it was negative. As it stood she would need to file that question for later, as once more they continued to move along the casino to see more and more of the place.

---

As the night drew long and longer even, their employers grew rather a tad more desperate to win back their losses. Slowly the losses had been stacking after game they played, for a few rounds they would win but then would lose most of it later. Rippana had been vaguely paying attention to the bets placed but she knew they had reached near a point of very low credits. She knew she had little knowledge of what to do, but it was still her job to help her employers during their times of distress.

“Uh,’ Rippana began but she meant Rhan’s eyes and simply nodded once, his gaze silencing her words.

Her fingers dug past certain folds of her clothing and grasped the hilts lightly of her knives as offered another nod. Rhan had seen something and now it was far past the troubles of credit, Rippana slowly made her glances around herself, she saw a few suspicious beings but in a casino it would had been more a surprise if she couldn’t find anybody looking suspicious if not downright vicious. Rhan moved closer to Nate and Kel’van, each looked somewhat distraught from losing but whatever Rhan told them they each nodded with wide eyes and began to move back towards the entrance. Rhan motioned for Rippana to follow, he allowed his employers to move ahead of him as he moved closer to Rippana.

“Once they enter their taxi we will stay behind and look around,” Rhan explained.

Rippana nodded, her fingers now gently touching the hilts as she watched her employers walk outside of the casino, and enter their taxi speeder. Rhan gave them some parting wards, she guessed that they will see them in a few minutes. Rhan turned and nodded and both them returned back into the casino.

Rippana took off towards her left as she saw Rhan walk alongside her, their eyes constantly searching. She still had little clue as to what made Rhan address their employers and told them to leave the casino. “Bad people,” Rhan muttered, as if reading her mind. Rippana raised a single eyebrow in response but she knew she wouldn’t get any further information than that from her partner.

The two continued to walk back to where Rhan had first sensed something was off, they continued to walk into a hallway before Rhan gestured for them to stop as he walked in front of a door that was around the corner of the hallway. The door opened, “Down here, quiet steps, ready yourself, multiple enemies and our objective are two people who will appear to be prisoners,” Rhan explained quickly and without waiting for a response he descended downwards.

Rippana drew breath as she nodded to noone, she followed Rhan down the stairs as she pulled two knives from the folds of her clothing. Her eyes tracked Rhan and perhaps another a few moments of walking quiet descending she tensed as she saw Rhan jumped forward and dashed straight into the back of a black suited man and knocking the man out could with a quick chop behind the neck. Rippana’s eyes scanned around them, she counted three on each side and two more direction in front of them, but those two appeared different from the other six, most notable they each wore a bright red tie each looked worse for wear.

The other six darkly dressed males gave a surprise look as Rhan had quickly dispatched one of their own a single strike. Rhan wasted no time as two small poles extended downwards from his forearms and into his hands. Rippana saw two of those closest to them began to reach for their blaster and she quickly shot each blade at their hands, her legs launched her towards her right as her foot smashed into the man’s stomach, her right hand uppercutted the man’s dipped head. Her eyes focused to the man next to her as he started to throw a punch as he tried to also grab for his own blaster.

Her fingers delicately grabbed another blade from inside her clothing but instead of launching it at the man directly in front of her she ducked backwards and aimed for the other man already aiming at her from the other side of the room. Her blade sunk in between the man’s knuckles as he cried and howled in pain. Her legs kicked up to deflect the next swing from the man already attacking her, her body jumped backwards again to gain more distance. The man looked angry and swung forward once more as he brought his blaster to aim as well, Rippana launched herself sideways but a black pole smashed down upon the crown of the man’s head and the last men standing where herself and Rhan.

Rippana sighed as she collected her knives and noted at each man were knocked out, even the one that had her blade wrenched inside his hand. Rhan must had knocked each and everyone out She mused as she walked towards Rhan who was standing in front of the woman and man.

They looked uneasy and distrust were in their eyes as they slowly stood up, their hands now free of their restraints they offered raised eyebrows and questioning gazes. “I would say thank you, thank you, but I would also like to know why you helped us,” The man asked. The Female also nodded, her long red hair matched the fire in her eyes, while her brother had shorter blonde hair but had a sense of calm and aloofness.

“Well Charles and Rebecca, I would like to interest you in a job, a job I believe would be a considerable upgrade from any of your past jobs,” Rhan explained, his eyes wider as spoke calmly to them.

“We’re listening,” The female named Rebecca said, looking a tad surprised that Rhan knew their names.

“Meet Rippana, and let us leave this casino to talk more of your new job and job description . . . .”