APH - That Little Maid ch. 8

  Sakura was worried. Elizaveta wasn't home yet. She was walking in circles while biting her thumb.

  She was so worried that she bit far too hard till blood drew out and spilled on her white night gown. "Elizaveta-san…." She said.

  Heracles and Basche from the room next door were having a simple conversation until a sound interrupted them.

  It was Elizaveta, she had returned home; and surprisingly not drunk. She was just too depressed and she began to throw a fit. She was crying to hard till her eyes were beet red and her dress was wet with tears.

  Sakura and Annabella were too shocked to see their friend in such a way and they began to comfort her.

She was crying too hard and Annabella was the only person who could understand her.


  Arthur then came to see what the commotion was. They didn't dare say a thing so they had to lie.

  Luckily, Basche was smart enough to come up with a reasonable lie. He said that Elizaveta was depressed of her ex-husband's upcoming wedding. Arthur nodded as if he understood, patted Elizaveta on the back and promised her the best of wishes.

  The next morning, after a heavenly night's sleep, they were all in the kitchen and both Sakura and Annabella forced Basche and Heracles to do something that might cheer Elizaveta. Well, Annabella did most of the forcing and Sakura did the reasoning.

  Heracles didn't mind, as usual while Basche was a bit irritated but for the sake of a friend, he did it anyway.

  Elizaveta stopped crying. But that didn't mean she stopped being sad. Her expression was terrible; her eyes red and worn out from crying, her lips were quivering and she had a bit of trouble when it came to breathing.

  Even after a straight 8 hours long sleep she still looked awful.

  "That…idiot...." she kept mumbling. "Eli-dear.... You look worn out and hungry, you should go eat something." Bella sighed, stroking Elizaveta's chin.

  "She's sad..... Does she want a cat?" Heracles asked. Sakura giggled at this. "No, Heracles-san, she doesn't want a cat."

  "But, cats make me happy. So… what if I gave her a cat? Will that make her happy?" he asked again. Sakura blushed at his blunt cuteness and smiled.

  Elizaveta who was witnessing both of their actions made a slight remark: "You both…. Do you happen to be.....? Perhaps by any chance.... maybe, lovers?"

  The both of them blushed, but in a different rate. Heracles only had a slightly pinkish tint to his cheeks whilst Sakura was beet red to her ears!

  "Aa-ah Elizaveta-san! D-don't state such t-things!" Sakura said, covering her face. Heracles noticed this.

"Are you… perhaps feeling unwell?" Heracles asked, removing her hands away from her face and drawing his face closer to hers.

Sakura was so shy and embarrassed; she actually FAINTED!
Elizaveta now had her mood back on. She laughed at this then helped to calm Sakura down.

"So you happen to be the one that has finally captured Sakura's heart? Well, nice to meet you, I'm Elizaveta Herdevary of Hungary. Though I used to be Mrs. Edelstein, but that's in the past now! We shall become good friends, no?" Elizaveta said, her confidence now booming up.

Annabella had a marvelous idea. She pointed a finger towards the Grecian and said:

  "You have made Elizaveta happy again and Sakura fainted. Therefore I shall give you a prize! I am Annabella Von Haghen, from Belgium by the way.... Though, I used to live in Netherlands with my brother, I am pleased to meet such a person with an amusing aura about!"

   Amused, he chuckled, "Pleased to meet you too and what kind of prize do you wish to offer?"

  It was that smile that made the three of the girls' heart beat faster and squeal inside.

  "Y-you are given the prize to.... cook us a nice meal!" Annabella laughed.

  "Ehh... what kind of low prize is that?" Elizaveta laughed.

  "Sure. I'll do it." The Grecian said without argument. "Eh, Basche? Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" Annabella said, nudging Basche's arm.

  "Alright, I'll do it. Geez. I am Basche Zwingli, the cook of the Kirkland Manor, from Switzerland and it's a pleasure to meet you." Basche said.

  "What about you… aren't you going to introduce yourself to us, newbie?" Annabella asked.

  "Well, I thought Sakura had talked about me to you all." Heracles put it bluntly. "My dear fellow, Sakura is like a precious but hard and well-disciplined almond." Elizaveta said.

  "I like almonds. What's wrong with that?" Heracles asked.

  "It means that she's one tough nut to crack. So come on, tell us about yourself." Annabella laughed.

  "Hm.... I am Heracles. Heracles Karpusi. Judging from my name, you may probably know that it is Greek origin. Then therefore I am from Greece. I had various occupations before; a philosopher, an archeologist and perhaps a history teacher. But none of them suit my taste. I achieved higher dreams." He introduced himself in such a way that made others look up to him and took an immediate liking.

  "And what high dream is that, my dear Heracles?" Elizaveta chuckled, already finding him charming. He flashed a serene smile and said something unpredictably weird.

  "I dream to be a cat one day." He said. The three of them, excluding Sakura who was still unconscious looked at him in disbelief.

  Both Elizaveta and Annabella laughed and Basche mumbled to himself, "Arthur really likes to employ such a strange variety of people."

  "I shall get started. I shall require a few ingredients. Where is the pantry?" Heracles said, and Basche helped to lead the way. While that was happening, Sakura regained her consciousness.

  Heracles may be a newbie but that didn't drop down their expectations on him, as handsome as he was, he was an amazing cook.

  The kitchen that used to smell like good old English cuisine was replaced by a new smell of heavenly fresh Mediterranean cuisine scent with various spices used, freshly made buns baked just right out from the oven.

  Elizaveta sniffed in the fresh new scent. "Reminds me of home..."she said dreamily.

  Heracles then began to make something Annabella and Basche possibly couldn't resist; chocolates.

  Annabella did the same. "This scent makes me want to back to Belgium and cook waffles for brother. I also miss my sweet Belgian chocolates."

  After that, the scent of butter and cream filled the air. Heracles was making a fresh batter of fresh cream.

  And surprisingly this time, it was Basche who repeated their actions. He sighed then said "I wish Lillie would behave well while I'm gone. And I miss eating fondue with the family."

  "Aww!!! That's cute, Basche! I never knew that you had a little sister!" Annabella said.

  "Well, the problem is that you never asked." Basche said. The both of them were always like that. Small arguments that didn't really mean a thing and both of their love towards chocolates made them form a 'special bond' which is closer than the rest of the servants.

  They both seemed as if they were lovers. But the main problem was; they weren't.

  Finally, Heracles's special dish was served. "It's a *profiterole." Heracles said, placing it on the table.

  Sakura, Elizaveta, Annabella and even Basche looked at the delicious looking treat which was served right in front of them in awe. It was a plate full of small sized buns, with cream filling and rich chocolate sauce topped on it. To finish the beautiful look, Heracles added powdered sugar and slices of strawberries to decorate it.

Heracles took the first bun, the very top which had a giant strawberry on it and gave it to Elizaveta. "Eat, it will make you fill better." He smiled.

  Elizaveta's heart beat faster. She smiled and took the first bite. The others looked at her for response. At first, her expression was blank, then after the estimated time of 3 seconds, Elizaveta began to squeal in happiness.

  "*Ó, az én Uram kedvéért..... This is by far, the most heavenly thing I have ever tasted before." She said, actual tears of happiness flowing at the corner of her eyes.

  Annabella and Basche began to fight for a bun. Sakura just looked at them in an amused expression. Heracles took another bun, and handed it to her. "Here, try one. I hope it pleases you because my mother taught me how to make this. It was one of her specialties." He said, smiling.

  Blushing, Sakura took it and tried a bite. Surely, she was by now used to English food and other European cuisine, but this was surely a new addition to her taste buds to familiarize with.

  "*Ko.... oiishisou desu." She mumbled in Japanese. "Hn?" Heracles asked, confused.

  "It's the most delicious thing I have ever eaten, apart from Yao-nii's cooking." She smiled gratefully. His heart pounded at this sight.

  "Hey.... you, have some bits of cream on your face." Heracles said. "Eh? Wh-where!?" she asked, trying to find it by stroking parts of her face.

  "*Eínai edó̱" he said in his beautiful mother tongue, moving his face closer to hers and pointed to where the cream was, which was near the corners of her lips; with his tongue.


   Sakura couldn't control it, her heartbeat was pounding so faster than usual it can be heard and then her face began to blush redder than usual, her eyes grew wide then something happened, she had a nosebleed then fainted. It was actually happiness, but she wasn't sure of the way she tried to interpret it, so she fainted.

  They actually had to fan her to cool her down.

  "Eh.... Heracles, you are quite the person to have Sakura acting in such a way! But you have to stop torturing Sakura indirectly or else we'll throw you down the old well just by the town's outskirts." Elizaveta laughed.

  "Eh? Torture?" Heracles said, confused.

  "Yes, but apart from the torture, you're giving us pleasure by making Sakura act cuter than usual. So.... we're quite even." Annabella said.

  "Please do your best to work here and please.... don't try to kill Sakura. Or else I'll have to dig out under the bed to search for my prized and beloved beauty."

  "EH? Are your guns really that important?" Annabella asked, a little jealousy was hinted in her tone.

  "Well, my deceased grandfather gave to my father to inherit, and my father gave me to inherit it so yes, it is important. " Basche said, actually showing a little pout and blushing. He then whispered to her only," But not as important as our friendship."

  Annabella giggled at this. It was confession time at the garden.

She dragged his hand and out to the back door, flashing Elizaveta a knowing look and went out. The Hungarian understood this and smiled.

  "It won't hurt for a little peek wouldn't it?" she whispered to Heracles. Sakura again, regained consciousness and asked where Anna and Basche were.

"Let's see, shall we?" Elizaveta giggled.

  They were both out in the yard, which was near to the garden and it was a beautiful day, perfect for a confession.

  The location was also perfect, for it gave Elizaveta, Sakura and Heracles a good spot to watch.

  Annabella did the first move. She was confident at first but then she got incredibly shy, like Sakura. Since the trio's location was a bit far, they couldn't quite hear what Annabella said.

  But there's a particular saying which goes, 'actions speaks louder than words.'

  Annabella said, or more like yelled loud enough for them to hear, "HEY BASCHE! YOU SECRETLY LIKE ME, DON'T YOU??"

  Basche was surprised at this and blushed. Then it was the part for Annabella to get all shy and flustered.

  "You like me more tha-than a f-friend, ri-right?? I-I... I want to know, I-I 'm curious, you see." She said.

  Basche looked confused at first then he finally got it. He looked away to hide his embarrassed face. He then looked at Annabella in the eye and slowly nodded.

  Annabella was surprised and to his shock, cried. He tried to comfort her but didn't know what to do. So all he did was pat her head.

  She smiled at this, even with the tears still hanging. And the next real-live scene that happened right before the trio's eyes were that Annabella regained her confident boldness and cheery self again, kissed Basche on the lips.

  It worked out for the both of them, as Basche actually wrapped his arms around her waist.

  It certainly did work out for them indeed.