(Part 6)

"Won't you look at this?" Kyra expressed with excitement as she picked up one of the photographs laid out on the bed. "Don't you think Big Brother looks so handsome here?"

Louise chuckled a little at Kyra's proud boast about her 'big brother' when the man himself was off to the side of the room, cleaning up Louise's study table and righting things together. Kyra had come over after Louise had finished her homework, and brought with her a stack of photographs that had been developed from the day that they went to the amusement park.

"Yes, he sure does." Louise answered the young girl kindly, smiling a little when Kyrano –obviously having heard the conversation –paused a little in her words, then rushed to resume as if he had been oblivious to the comments made.

"You and I looked so pretty that day, Miss Louise." Kyra picked up another photograph from the spread on the bed. Kyra had climbed onto the bed after being invited there while they waited for Kyrano to finish cleaning up the area so that Miss Louise could go to sleep, taking the chance to admire the photographs.

"This one is very nice as well." Louise admitted as she picked up a photo of the 5 of them posing happily in front of the Ferris wheel. In this photo, even Kyrano had a little smile drawn on his face –as juxtaposed to his brother's big grin –and yet it made him look so much happier than his own brother.

"Then you keep it, Miss Louise!" Kyra grinned wide, but turned abruptly to the side to cough politely.

It had been happening for quite some time now, and Kyrano was beginning to get a little worried at his sister's state of health. Kyra had been coughing since she came to St. Clair, but had always made excuses about it, reassuring them all that she was fine. But it was slowly becoming sure that she wasn't fine, because her coughing was becoming increasingly hackled, and it seemed to take a lot out of her.

"Kyra, are you okay? You've been coughing a lot lately." Louise seemed to share the same worry as him, and Kyrano's heart warmed a little to know that even his mistress cared so much about his sister.

"I'm fine, Miss Louise!" Kyra replied, but it was apparent that she wasn't fine, because the next comment from Kyrano's mistress made him stop his work.

"There is blood on your lips, Kyra." Louise's voice held a frown.

"Oh!" Kyra's exclamation of surprise was paired with her hastily wiping the blood off her lips with the back of her hand as she climbed off the bed quickly. "I'm so sorry for the sore sight of me like this, Miss Louise. I'll just go and wash it up."

Kyrano could not manage to get a closer look before his sister ran towards the bathroom, closing the door quickly behind her, and soon the sound of running water came. Kyrano wordlessly exchanged a look of worry with his mistress, but none of them said a single word. The decision was made between them silently and instanteously –that Kyrano would bring Kyra to see the school's doctor the first thing tomorrow morning. Kyrano nodded in acknowledgement at the silent order given to him, turning back to complete his task.

It was obvious that Kyra didn't want to talk about it, because when his sister came back into the room, she lapsed immediately back to fawning over the photographs, admiring each and every one with laughs and excited comments as if she were back in the amusement park itself.

Louise found that she was almost sorry that her bedtime had come when Kyrano finally approached them with the instructions for Kyra to keep the photos and get off the bed. Obediently, the little girl did as she was told, as Kyrano passed his mistress her usual cup of warm milk wordlessly. Back to the routine, Louise drank it quickly, returned the empty cup and laid down eve as Kyrano pulled the covers over her.

"Good night, Miss Louise." Kyrano bade in his usual routine, but this time was different because the bright voice belonging to his young sister echoed his words as well.

Louise smiled. "Good night, Kyrano. Good night, Kyra."

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Miss Kyra, will you come over here so that I might help you change out of your clothes?" Kyrano offered, trying his best not to smile at his sister's furious blush. Kyra had followed him around as he did his nightly duties, talking about everything and nothing at once. It had been a pleasant change –a welcome change, actually- that Kyrano enjoyed as he went about on his jobs, half-heartedly doing them all while he hung on to every of his sister's words as she gossiped, talked, and offered her opinion.

Afterwards, he had insisted that Kyra needed to go to sleep earlier, in which the little girl had bulked, and then refused to listen until Kyrano decided to treat his sister like his pseudo-mistress, which turned out to entertain Kyra enough to follow the act along.

"Yes, Kyrano." His little sister replied with a haughty tone, though a grin still hung crazily on her lips. "But you must do it perfectly, or I will have you replaced."

"Miss Louise would not say that." Kyrano reminded as his little sister did her best to practice her dignified walk over to his side, but Kyra simply shrugged.

"I can't be Miss Louise. I am Miss Kyra." She declared happily even as Kyra raised her arms, letting her brother lift her up from her underarms until she sat on the side of the sink, Kyrano unbuttoning her frilly blouse.

"Yes, Miss Kyra, I apologise." Kyrano said condescendingly. "I will serve you with my heart, Miss Kyra."

"You shouldn't, Kyrano." Kyra was definitely too much into this pretense-play, because she looked at him seriously, calling him by his name even though little Kyra always called him 'Big Brother'. "You cannot serve me with your heart, because it is already taken by Miss Louise."

Kyrano paused for the slightest moment, but focused narrowly on the buttons on his sister's blouse.

"Big Brother, you can't hide it from me." Kyra finally let the pretense fall, frowning at him.

"Let's not talk about it, Kyra."

"Second Brother told me about it; the scars on your hand."

Kyrano stilled, then gave up trying to unbutton his sister's blouse, pressing his palm flatly on the sides of the sink instead as he leaned forwards with a sigh, resting his forehead lightly on his sister's in a sudden movement.

"Keyron shouldn't have told you everything, but at the same time, it saves me from having to explain it to you." Kyrano said heavily, loking deep into his sister's eyes, and seeing the innocent curiosity there. "I will only admit it to you and Keyron, because you are family, Kyra. Yes, I am in love with Miss Louise."

"I knew it, Big Brother." Kyra declared, but Kyrano received no happiness from his sister's bservation.

"Reality it painful, Kyra." He answered, briefly closing his eyes. "No butler can hope to love his mistress without something bad happening to them. It is worse when I know that Miss Louise returns my feelings."

"You love her, and she loves you!" Kyra exclaimed with surprise. "Isn't that good, Big Brother?"

Kyrano wished that he could have such an innocent heart. To be rather honest, he didn't think that he had such an innocent heart in the first place. Perhaps there had been a time where he was ever so naïve in his world view, but it had definitely changed when he was brought to the Crawfords.

"A love between a butler and his mistress can never come to light, Kyra. If anyone else knew about this, I would immediately be thrown out of the Crawfords Household, humiliated and bringing shame to the family. It will not only be me suffering, but also you, Mother and Keyron. Most importantly, Miss Louise would be viewed with contempt, and I cannot let that happen to my mistress, and also the woman I love."

"Isn't there a way to solve this?" Kyra finally seemed to understand, though puppy eyes seemed disappointed.

"There is." Kyrano answered as he slowly removed his hands from the sink and pulled his arms around his sister instead, pulling her close. It was times like these that Kyrano was utterly glad to have his little sister, his tiny pillar of strength being there. Kyra's school fees might be a burden on him financially, but Kyrano wanted nothing but the best for the angel of the house. "I am leaving Miss Louise after she marries Mr Brandon."

"What?" Kyra's shock was so easily seen, but Kyrano refused to let his sister see his conflicted expression anymore as he hugged her, resting his chin lightly on her tiny shoulder. "How can you leave Miss Louise?"

"Keyron will still be serving the both of them. I made Miss Louise promise that Keyron would be made their Head Butler after they married. This way, there will still be a man of the Reyes family serving the Crawfords without me. I will find other employment, and stay away from Miss Louise."

"But..."

"Kyra, you must understand that your Big Brother loves Miss Louise so much that he cannot bear for anything to happen to her. He cannot watch her fall further in love with him, because she can only married Mr Brandon. But at the same time, he cannot watch her spend her life with Mr Brandon and make a family. I must leave for both our sakes, Kyra. The only thing we can do now is the make memories that we can remember each other by when we are far apart, separated at different ends of the world."

His sister must have matured greatly since the last time he saw her, because the protests that he had been expecting from Kyra's lips did not come. Instead, his sister fell silent into her pondering thoughts as Kyrano took the silent comfort of his sister's embrace. Kyra's arms and body were so small, and yet it held such a precious little heart and soul.

"I think I understand a little of what you are saying, Big Brother." Kyra finally said after a long period of silence, in which Kyrano spent resuming his duty of unbutton his sister's blouse and helping her into her cute pyjamas. "It's going to be hard, but I really hope that you can love Miss Louise well now while you can. You must be happy while you can."

"I will." Kyrano smiled gently at his sister, almost unbelieving of the level of maturity the ten year old was displaying. It was obvious that she was rather disappointed that he could not pursue his true love –that she had looked forward to him and his mistress getting together in a storybook romantic relationship. But it was impossible in reality, and Kyra had accepted that rather quickly. "Come now, you should get to bed soon. It's getting late."

"Tuck me in, Big Brother?" Kyra asked, grabbing a handful of his coat and tugging with insistence.

Kyrano did not have the heart to say no, even though he was rather tired for the day, and was looking forward to taking a quick shower before turning in as well. Kyrano followed his sister quietly to his room, where Kyra obediently climbed onto his bed, waiting for her brother to pull the covers over her.

"Promise me that you will be happy, Big Brother. That's all I want for you." Kyra still looked unsure, and Kyrano did his best to smile at his sister reassuringly, hooking his sister's pinky finger tightly.

"I promise, Kyra. Now go to sleep."

"Also promise me that you will make Miss Louise happy while you can. Become the best butler in the world."

"Of course I will." Kyrano assured once more. "I love both you and Miss Louise, and so I will do everything I can to make sure that you two are both safe and sound."

"Okay." Kyra finally let her pinky slip from his, snuggling quickly under the covers. "Good night, Big Brother.

"Good night, Kyra."

The reply Kyrano got from his sister was her snuggled further under the covers, hugging the soft toy that he had given her from that day at the amusement park tightly as she quickly drifted off to sleep. Shaking his head slightly at how exhausted his little sister must be, and how she must have forced herself to keep away to follow him around, Kyrano silently turned off the lights to his room, and proceeded to wash up quietly.

The process was spent with him repeating the words exchanged between he and his sister, as well as the conversation between he and his brother. Thoughts followed him even as he changed and silently went back to his room, finding his sister not even stirring the slightest bit when he climbed into bed beside her.

With a sigh, Kyrano laid down, and closed his eyes.

Thinking too much was not the way to go.

He just needed to be happy for now. It was, after all, the last few days that he would get to spend with his sister before she left.