(Outdated) The King of Elements

Rose's Mansion

"Is everything to your liking, Miss Rosemarie?" the elderly butler asked Rose as she handed her a cup of warm milk.

"Yes, Ms. Francesca. Thank you," Rose answered before taking a sip. Despite living with her wealthy Aunt Clarissa for six years, Rose was still not accustomed to living the well-off life style. While her parents were pretty wealthy themselves, they were opposed to hiring butlers, claiming that they wouldn't allow the rich lifestyle to change who they were. It wasn't until she moved here that she found out why.

"My pleasure," Francesca said with a bow, her short, silvery-blonde hair hanging just midway her ears. "May I ask about your time at the academy?"

"I like it so far. I haven't really had a reason not to. Though, I do wish that I could see my team more often."

"I see. I believe that if you talk with Miss Clarissa about it, she may allow you to visit them."

"I do hope so."

"As do I," Francesca said with a hopeful smile. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, thank you. Goodni-" The bell chiming interrupted Rose midsentence. Alarmed, Francesca turned towards the door. "I wonder who that could be at this time of night," said Rose, feeling drowsy.

"I'm not entirely sure." Francesca's voice was steady, hardened, though she appeared to look troubled. Rose took another sip from the cup of warm milk, hoping that Francesca was worrying for nothing.

Minutes later, there was a rap at the door before a younger maid with short, auburn hair appeared. "Pardon the intrusion, Miss Rosemarie. Ms. Francesca. There is a Keiko Tsusaki here to see you."

Rose almost choked on her milk. "Keiko's here?"

"Yes. Shall I let her in?"

"Oh, yes, please." Francesca gave her a wary look. "Don't worry. She's a member of my team."

At once, the maid bowed before she stood aside. Keiko, panting slightly, looked around the room in amazement. Her plaid pajamas looked as if it was swallowing her whole. Both her hands and feet were covered by her sleeves. "Whoa. This is your room? It's so huge!"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Rose asked.

"How do you afford all of this? And your bed. It looks like a princess's bed. You must be rich to have all of this."

"My aunt is, yes. How did you find where I live?" she asked, sounding partly annoyed.

"Oh, my tummy told me that you were here. Michael calls it an in- intu-" Keiko arched an eyebrow as she looked up at the ceiling in confusion.

"Intuition?"

Keiko snapped her fingers. "Yeah, that was it. Oh yeah. I forgot to give you your sketchbook back." She slid the black sketchbook from under her shirt and held it out to her. "You left it in Mr. Itchy-Nose's class last week. I would've brought it to the school, but I kept forgetting."

"I did?" Rose smoothed out her silk, pearl-white night gown before she stepped off the bed and took the book from her, scanning the front of it. Her sketchbooks were always specially ordered to have her signature at the bottom left corner written in jade-green. Sure enough, her signature was there, shimmering under the light of the room, though she had no idea why she assumed that Keiko would lie about something like this. "Wow. Thank you, Keiko. I've been worried sick about this. There are actually a lot of art pieces in here that I plan on displaying at my aunt's shop." She heaved a sigh of relief.

Keiko gave a toothy grin. "I'm glad that I found it then. Your aunt would probably have a cow if I hadn't found it."

"Indeed, she would have," Rose said with a grin of her own. "I'll have to make it up to you somehow." Keiko's grin suddenly vanished as she gave Rose a puzzled look. "What is it?"

"Don't worry about making it up to me." Her wide grin returned as she said, "It's what friends do."

"Then allow me to do something for you as a friend. You and Michael as well. What do you say?"

"Okay," she said with a smile. "I'll tell Michael about it. Somehow," she added under her breath. "Oh, speaking of, I have to get back home before anyone wakes up. I'll see you at school tomorrow," she concluded with an excited wave.

"Wait, do you need-" Keiko had already disappeared down the hallway before Rose had a chance to finish her sentence.

"That girl," Francesca began, "she's an odd one indeed."

"Very much so," Rose said, smiling. "Very muchso."

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