As soon as the Emperor left, Aiko slipped out of her daze. Her hands were trembling, and she realized she hadn't been breathing for a while, quickly exhaling. Aiko frowned, bringing her eyebrows together. "What was that?"She mumbled to herself.

Aiko shook her head and yawned, the night of uncomfortable sleep finally catching up to her. Aiko sighed, knowing she hadn't slept much or well. She just wanted to lay down and fall asleep, but she would get punished if found. Aiko turned around, deciding to look at the garden to not start snoring there and then. An abrupt pain in her neck stopped her. She winced, her hand going to her neck and massaging it."I really need to sleep," She thought, her eyes closing briefly. Aiko looked around, sighing sadly. Would it be so bad to fall asleep in a small corner? Only for a few minutes, she promised, hopeful the God of Sleep would wake her in time.

She made sure the Emperor was taking his back, hearing the water slosh around in the tub. Aiko grabbed a small, round pillow slipping it underneath her head, and leaning against the foot of the bed. Her vision darkened and blurred as she fell into a deep sleep, her soft snores filling the room.

Aiko slept far more than she had wanted, regaining consciousness briefly, when she felt someone picking her up. Aiko got comfortable in the person's arms, falling asleep just as quickly as he had woken up.

•

•

•

The Emperor sighed as he placed her on the couch in his study, shaking his head. He glared at her, quietly. "Doesn't she know it is not good to sleep on the floor?" he thought. The Emperor sighed once more, noticing her relaxed and peaceful expression. The frowns of anger didn't mar her face as she slept.

The Emperor wondered why he had moved her himself instead of asking a servant to move her to her own room. He quickly answered his own question: he was possessive of this maid. Even though she was angering him beyond his tolerance, he didn't want another male to touch her.

The Emperor knelt down next to her, moving a strand of hair out of her face. "Who are you, exactly?" The Emperor mumbled, noticing the faint red handprint from before.

A small coil of guilt started to burn in his chest, before he quickly stomped on it, standing up quickly, glaring at Aiko. To punish her for making her feel guilty, he didn't cover her, stomping back to his bed.

Just before he could slip under the covers, a heartbreaking sob shattered the silence of the room.

The Emperor turned around and saw Aiko crying in her sleep. She started mumbling. "Mum...why did you leave me! Chiho's mean, Siho only follows....Miho treats me...dog."

The Emperor raised an eyebrow, intrigued by this avalanche of names. Curiosity started simmering in his mind. Slowly, the Emperor slipped out of his bed, walking to the screen doors. He opened only one, glancing back at Aiko to make sure she was asleep. Placing two fingers to his lips he whistled, pausing three times.

A shadow dressed in black dropped down in front of him. His personal spies. He could see the silhouettes of the others crouched on the walls of the garden.

"Satori, find anything you can about this new maid, Aiko. Eriko must know more than me; go ask her where she is from. As soon as you do, find anything you can about her family, parents, wealth and social class. Report back to me as soon as you discover anything." He murmured. Satori nodded, bowing down before he jumped back up on the walls, agile as the wind.

The Emperor closed the screen doors and headed to bed.

He was about to fall asleep, when he huffed, standing up and covering Aiko, glancing at her one last time before he closed his eyes.

(

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"The Water Phoenix."