(Part 5)

"It is rather hot in here, Kyrano." Keyron commented as he tossed the ingredients into the pot, stirring them up expertly with skilled hands that were almost equal to Kyrano's quick and efficient movements. "You should take your gloves off and roll up your sleeves, or you'll dehydrate."

"Thank you for your concern, Butler Keyron." Kyrano answered formally, ever the perfect Butler in Black to be courteous and polite in all situations. "But I will be fine. What I do suggest, on the other hand, is that you might want to add another pinch of sugar into that mix. Also, do coat that meat in another layer of flour for extra texture."

"Will do." Keyron smiled, nodding at the advice given. Like anywhere else, Kyrano was performing his best once more in all areas as a butler. In cleaning, in cooking meals for their master and mistresses, in helping with homework and tending to every need without even being asked of him; Kyrano was once more perfecting all of it with the grace and genteel of the Butler in Black.

The previous rumour about the Butler in Black losing his composure at the 'love affair of his mistress with his brother' had completely died down now that Kyrano was in his top form once more, performing his daily duties with even more grace and efficiency than ever before.

Without giving so much a second blink, Kyrano grabbed the bottle of wine that had been sitting by his side, dousing the steak that had been sizzling on the pan. A column of fire briefly flared up from the pan, but Kyrano had no reaction at all as he continued flipping the meat expertly, giving it a few more tosses before lifting it off the fire. The plating was done perfectly, mimicking a world-class restaurant's food, and the plate was quickly covered and transferred to a waiting tray, joining the side dishes and drinks as the main course for lunch.

"You're doing perfect as always again." Keyron once more made casual conversation as they cleaned up their work station side by side, the other butlers still in the midst of cooking. Like Kyrano, Keyron had been brought up as a butler since young, and thus they were the two most efficient butler amongst those of the entire class –finishing the job of preparing lunch early.

"But of course. To serve a lady like Miss Louise, perfection is expected of her butler." Kyrano answered in a matter-of-fact tone, no pride or arrogance in his tone at all. It was just a simple statement, as simple as commenting on the weather.

"Are you sure you don't want to change your gloves?" Keyron asked uncertainly when he spied his brother –the only man in the entire kitchen who hadn't rolled up his sleeves nor removed his gloves –with a rather unsightly stain on his gloves.

"I will do it before we leave to attend the ladies." Kyrano answered in the same deferential tone which was, in all honesty, beginning to piss Keyron off. Was this the way that the perfect butler dealt with everyone around him? This polite, courteous way of addressing everyone –butler and lady alike –was rather disturbing to Keyron.

"Look," Keyron could not help but blurt, stopping Kyrano with a hand on his sleeved forearm, but earning a strange wince instead before Kyrano shook the hand off quickly, turning around to face his brother, "I don't know what's wrong, but I'm your brother, aren't I? If you have any problems you can't tell Miss Louise, you can tell me."

"Thank you once again for your utmost concern, Butler Keyron." The irritating tone had not changed one bit at all, even as Keyron frowned outright at his brother. "But I am fine. Rather, I would prefer if you did not discuss about family matters while we are on duty. If you have nothing more, then please excuse me."

The formality at which Keyron was addressed by his own brother made Keyron feel extremely weird. He wasn't sure which side of Kyrano that he was more confused by and concerned with –the mistake-addled Kyrano who showed his self-disappointment easily on his face, or the perfect Butler in Black Kyrano who showed absolutely no soul inside his body, treating everyone with the same courteous polite mask without letting anyone get beneath his surface.

Keyron wasn't sure if this 'perfect' Kyrano was the same that had been around in the Academy even before Brandon transferred in, but what he saw was definitely what he didn't like. Like his master had always repeated and reiterated about Kyrano and Louise, he knew that both the lady and her butler had multi-personalities –Kyrano much more than his mistress.

But this was totally different. This Kyrano was acting as if his multiple personalities were all scheming and hiding behind the emotionless mask. This mask wasn't even a personality at all; it was just a shell of a human that walked, talked, and did tasks that was asked of him.

Keyron decided that the analogy of a robot was utterly apt at describing his brother now. A robot that was polite, deferential and irritatingly, annoyingly, gratingly formal. It had come to a point that Keyron almost could not accept, but yet it was still nothing that he could do about. There was still something wrong with Kyrano –except that now he wasn't sure at all what could be wrong because the man was being completely, utterly perfect.

"What; you're going to catch your brother's temporary disease?" Brandon's question made Keyron suddenly aware that he had been thinking too hard, and had been ignoring the reality.

"I'm sorry?" Keyron asked, blinking to see his master almost halfway through the meal. How had he transported himself from the kitchen to the dining hall, to preside over his master's meal without really putting his mind to it? It was truly muscle memory at work here, but Brandon definitely knew when he was far away from reality.

"If you're going to be so deep in thought that you make mistakes again, I'm going to fire you and get myself a better butler." Brandon threatened lightly, but Keyron only smiled and rolled his eyes. It was his master's way of showing concern, after all. The light threats between them were all friendly. None of the words meant a real thing at all.

"As if the Main House can ever find someone who tolerates your quirks, Brandon." Keyron answered in his usual mischievousness, and though there was no more of such playful speech passed between them as Brandon focused on clearing his plate, he was glad that Keyron was still very much the same person.

Brandon Greaves had, after all, watched as Kyrano make a million mistakes, bringing up rumours and concerned 'counselling' by teachers. The young man had been very close to having his service to Louise Crawford temporarily suspended with his poor performance, but it was definitely a cause of relief when Kyrano eventually picked himself up again, shooting back to a whole new level of perfection in serving his mistress.

Back when Brandon had first met Kyrano, he had been rather surprised at the level of difference in skills between Kyrano and Keyron. Yes, while Keyron was still considered an above-par butler in terms of skills, Kyrano was obviously the better-trained of the brothers. Kyrano was, after all, a butler with the golden coat of arms from the Imperial Butler Academy, and it was obvious that the young man needed to have to skills to show it.

Still, Brandon had been mildly surprised at how someone who looked so much like his own butler could perform his duties so perfectly without stumbling. Now, as Brandon looked at the spectre that was supposed to be the perfect butler, he was wordless. Kyrano's perfection had somehow reached a whole new height. It was as if Kyrano now read his mistress's thoughts, already there to serve to her every need without a single direction given at all. Kyrano was already there even before Louise made a move to get out of her seat, already offering her a cup of tea even before the woman vocalised for help, already beginning to clean up her tables when she hadn't even shown inclinations of leaving soon.

"I honestly don't know what's wrong with him." Keyron lowered his voice slightly to strike a new conversation with his master.

Brandon smiled despite himself. Kyrano could read his mistress's mind, but it didn't mean that the younger twin was lacking out in that area. Keyron must definitely be reading his mind, or how else would his butler know who to talk about at this very moment?

"You have done your best, Keyron. Now, it's just time for Louise and Kyrano to sort things out on their own." Brandon answered. It was he, after all, who had convinced Keyron to go talk to Louise, for Keyron to understand more about the family who had supposedly abandoned him, and the family whom Keyron had believed that he wanted to abandon. Knowing that their family troubles was the cause of the frustration displayed in both brothers, Brandon had pushed for Keyron to solve the problem while Louise had appeared to be trying to help the situation through Keyron as well.

There was definitely some sort of restriction between Louise and her butler in the way that she could not simply approach him to encourage him to solve the Reyes family problem. The simple fact that Louise had to work to solve the problem through Keyron had given Brandon much evidence for his suspicion. Louise was simply too comfortable, yet too uncomfortable around her grown-up butler.

"Now that I have somehow come to accept this family, I truly do not desire to declare myself a brother to someone as..." Keyron seemed to trail off, trying his best to find the best phrase to describe his conflicted emotions.

"Kyrano didn't have it easy just because he was recognised as the twin to belong to the Reyes family, Keyron. In fact, you had it much easier because we accepted and loved you like one of our own. It is the way our family goes. You were friend and brother to me even before you were butler. But it isn't the same way with Kyrano. Kyrano's journey to the man he is now is very much more troubled than yours." Brandon seemed to understand the feelings that Keyron could not vocalize clearly, betraying an air of seriousness between their easy-going friendship.

"He was brought into the Crawford House at the young age of 5. He was trained to be a butler for the next 6 years, living under harsh conditions. He was tested and tried over and over again, his loyalty and allegiance tested through all sorts of examinations. He was doubted over and over again, pushed around and manipulated till his emotions broke. When the both of you were 12, there was an attack on the Crawford House. An assassin tried to kill Louise Crawford, and Kyrano saved his mistress, losing his eye. But the same was not extended for his father. Kyrone passed away, and from that moment onwards, Kyrano had no family in the Crawford House," Brandon explained quietly, not wanting the man in question to hear them discussing about his past in public.

"Oh." The short word spoke of the realization that seemed to strike Keyron only at that moment. To be rather honest, Keyron had not really done much in-depth research about his own brother –at least not enough to know the circumstances of Kyrano's servitude to the Crawford House. Keyron had always known that he was rather fortunate to be accepted as a butler by the Greaves House, which treated him like their own son, their family. He knew that out in other families, butlers were not treated the same way as he was.

But he had never really imagined what it must have been like for a 5 year old Kyrano to suddenly join the cold corporate world on his own. It must have been so much worse for the 12 year old when their father died.

"Your brother is emotionally complex. I had heard that he was already skilled at hiding his emotions since young, and that must have grown over the years. Growing up in the Crawford family isn't healthy for young minds, and Kyrano is the perfect example of that. He is sane; but your brother doesn't have an anchor. Once he reaches his breaking point, he creates another layer to hide under. Over and over, he creates layer after layer, until the real man can't be seen anymore." Brandon analysed carefully. He didn't fancy himself much as a psychologist, but he had consulted a well-known psychologist about Kyrano's situation before. Even though he had not been able to bring the man himself to the psychologist, the words of advice given to Brandon had been golden in aiding his understanding of Kyrano.

"So he's like an onion?" Keyron asked, not really sure how the analogy had come about suddenly. "We just have to peel him back layer by layer until we reach the real Kyrano?"

"No, Kyrano's different." Brandon answered, watching as the perfect Butler in Black step forth with the utter politeness in his face, the efficiency in his movement as he cleaned up the cutleries that his mistress had left. "Kyrano's layers can't be peeled. We can only stop him from creating more and hope that eventually, the real man can be courageous enough to come back to the surface."

"But how long are we going to wait?" Keyron asked absently, watching Kyrano as well as the perfect butler walked towards the kitchen to deposit the dirty utensils. There was a sudden scrape of chairs, and a flurry of noises of cluttering utensils. The silverware that had been balanced on Kyrano's plate clattered noisily on the floor as all eyes in the dining hall turned to the noise.

Kyrano stood with his arm upraised, holding on to the dirty plate that was now splashed with a generous amount of steaming soup. On Kyrano's coat was also a good portion of the spilt soup, but what was most crucial was the fact that the Butler in Black had managed to save Miss Jayce from a dangerous accident of spilling boiling soup by Jayce's butler Paul.

"M-Miss Jayce! I am so sorry! Are you fine?" Paul recovered from his shock fast enough to answer to the needs of his shell-shocked mistress who seemed to be rather unscathed.

"Pardon my insolence, Miss Jayce, Butler Paul." Kyrano withdrew from his protective stance over the woman, wiped the excess soup delicately from his sleeves, and picked up the fallen utensils as if nothing had happened.

"Wait! The soup was boiling hot. Please remove your coat and gloves before they burn your skin." Paul advised, but Kyrano simply shook his head.

"It will be fine. I will change once I am done with my jobs. Thank you for your concern, Butler Paul, but it would be best if you watched your steps more carefully in the future. We do not desire a repeat of today's accident." Kyrano answered mildly, then turned once more towards the kitchen as if nothing had happened at all.

"No way..." Keyron could not help but mumble beneath his breath as he watched the strong retreating back of his brother. "There's no way that the soup couldn't have burnt him."

"That's what I meant. Kyrano has hidden himself so much that he can't show pain without thinking it as crippling weakness anymore. He has reached the point where human pain isn't going to just show on his face anymore." Brandon answered seriously, polishing the last of his meal before resting his utensils down with a clink. "Now clean this up, Keyron, and go to the kitchen help Kyrano tend to his burns."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Kyrano found himself alone in the butler's changing room, glad that the door could be locked, for he didn't want anyone to see his marks. After making sure that no one was around, Kyrano had locked the door quickly before rushing over to the lockers, finally allowing his composure of slip as instantaneously as his coat came off.

Kyrano breathed a sigh of relief when his skin only seemed to be slightly red, no welts running across pale white skin. The heat of the boiling soup had yet gotten to his skin, and he was briefly thankful for the strong material of his butler's coat. His gloves had gotten some of the soup as well, but it was nothing that couldn't be washed off.

Removing his dress shirt as well just to make sure that none of the soup stayed on him, Kyrano stood before his locker, picking out yet another shirt, coat and pair of gloves. Ever since he began solving his own problems, it had brought around another set of inconveniences. Now that he could no longer remove his gloves or roll up his sleeves in public, it meant that his sweat would easily soak into his clothes, thus requiring that he brought extra clothes to change in the middle of the day after preparation of his mistress's lunch.

A little worried, Kyrano checked his forearms again, making sure that the marks could not be shown by any accidental situation of his sleeves jogging up his arms. Neat, straight columns of red lined Kyrano's white skin, and he lightly trailed his finger over the newer ones, still feeling a little pain from those. The older marks had already grown scabs, but Kyrano was sure that they would mark. But it would make no difference, because Kyrano's next cuts would be over those that had already recently healed.

Just to make sure that he could carry on for the day, however, Kyrano reached further into his locker and grabbed a pair of blood-replenishing pills. It would be rather horrifying if any of the other butlers knew that Kyrano was suffering constantly from the lack of blood nowadays by finding out his pills. He was, after all, expected to maintain his image and reputation as the best butler the whole academy had, the best Butler in Black for his Rose.

He was caught in the act of replacing the tablet box back to its hidden position far inside the locker when polite knocks on the door came. Kyrano looked over his shoulder through the frosted glass of the window on the door to find the silhouette of a man standing.

"Are you okay, Kyrano?" The muffled voice came from the other side of the door, but Kyrano recognised his brother's voice. He had to admit; his brother seemed to be trying to approach him more often nowadays, putting on a rather friendly front with him even while they were on duty. What could have possibly transpired this streak of friendliness and concern? Kyrano was almost 100% sure that it had something to do with his mistress's frequent talks with his brother.

"I am fine, Butler Keyron." He answered formally once more, pulling his dress shirt on quickly just in case Keyron somehow managed to open the door. "Thank you very much for your concern."

"I'm here more as your brother than a fellow butler, Kyrano." Keyron answered, sounding a little put out and rather pissed off. "Please don't take that tone with me."

"Either way, I thank you for your concern. I was not badly burnt, so please return to being your master's butler. I would hate for a man of the Reyes blood to be accused of negligence of his duty." Kyrano answered in a matter-of-fact tone. He could not deal with Keyron for now. It was his time of duty now, and Kyrano as a butler could not afford the emotions to talk to Keyron. He knew that it was a lousy excuse to escape talking to his brother who now obviously shared a secret with his mistress, but Kyrano could not face up to either of the two individuals to talk about his feelings at the moment.

Perhaps in the future he could, but not right now. Kyrano was still in the middle of solving his own problem, and he needed to wait until his reliance on this treatment receded. Kyrano decided that he would only deal with his feelings about his brother and his mistress's shared secret only after he stopped entering the bathroom at night with a penknife during his mistress's sleep.

"This is partly my duty as well. Brandon sent me here to tend your wounds." Keyron insisted, definitely adamant about getting through to his brother. This might be a rare chance that the two of them could talk to each other one-on-one in private.

"I am honoured to have his concern, but please do report to Mr Brandon that I am perfectly fine. There is no wound to tend to." Kyrano slipped and buttoned his coat and gloves in the usual movements, straightening his appearance easily. Retrieving his coat of arms from the dirtied coat to the new one, Kyrano walked back to unlock the door for his brother while he pinned his badge carefully on the lapel over his breast.

Keyron's worried black eyes roamed him up and down, looking for telltale signs of injury, but the man was perfect. Still, his master's words to him still rang in his ears as he realized that he now saw clearly what Brandon saw.

Kyrano wore an obvious mask –a mask of perfection to deceive the untrained eye. Yet, somehow, even though Keyron was now trained to see this mask, Keyron could not peek through the surface. The younger twin could recognise a mask over his brother, but he could not –for the life of him –see what the real thing beneath the mask was.

"As you can see, I am in one perfect piece." Kyrano answered, stepping out of the changing room. "Let us return to our master and mistress, Butler Keyron, before they get impatient at our delay."

"Wait, Kyrano." Keyron's voice stopped his elder brother in midstride towards the hallway back to the dining hall. "I need to talk to you."

"I believe that I have made myself clear, have I not? I do not appreciate discussion about our family while we are on duty. In us runs the Reyes blood, and a Reyes butler must value his duty to his master and mistress above all personal ideas." Kyrano interrupted, not even giving his brother a single chance. He might have sounded a little petty and overly strict, but that was what Kyrano had decided, and he wasn't about to let his brother spoil his careful planning.

First, Kyrano needed to get his emotions back into balance. His self-designed treatment was working in helping him keep his stability emotionally. No emotions while on duty, and all suppressed emotions released at night. It was helping him find stability, but Kyrano needed a little more peace in his heart before he heard his brother out.

"Listen to me. I don't want you running away from me again." The aggressive tone gave away the frustration of the younger twin as Keyron stepped forth to grab the arms of his brother. Kyrano jolted a little at the sudden contact, unable to stop his flinch before he wrenched his arms out of his brother's grip, spinning around.

"There is nothing to talk about." Kyrano tried to cover up his flinch with a haughty tone, but Keyron's face betrayed an expression of utter concern.

"You still hurt, don't you? You're lying about the burns. Come on, let me see your arm. You need to go to the infirmary to have it tended if it's a bad burn." Keyron cared no more about the stiff butler notions of his brother as he reached forwards to take his brother's forearms again. Kyrano, instead, stepped backwards further away from his brother.

"I said; I'm fine. There wasn't any major burns." Kyrano said with a frown that he could not help. His brother was being pushy –totally not like a butler at all.

"Look, if you're going to let yourself get hurt, it's fine with me. But you're going to affect Miss Louise if you continue with burns on your arms." Keyron answered impatiently, stepping forth to close the distance that Kyrano had created.

"I will still carry out my duties perfectly. Do not bother me anymore." Kyrano stepped back once more, creating a sort of tango between the two of them as Keyron stepped forth again.

"Don't be stupid. You are still human and all humans will be affected by burns." Keyron chided, taking another step in their tango.

"I will be able to do my duties well. Get off my case."

"Not unless you show me your burns."

"There were no burns!"

"Then why did you flinch?"

"I was just shocked at your sudden audacity; that's all."

"It's more than that. Let me see your arms."

"I don't have to." Kyrano finally gave up retreating, catching his brother's hand in its venture to reach for him. "Know your position in this academy, Butler Keyron. I do not appreciate your audacity, though I thank you and your master for your concern. But I have had enough of the two of you for the moment, and your presence now is more than I can take. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to tend to my mistress."

With those cold words uttered, Kyrano let the hand of his shocked twin fall, turned around and walked away. Keyron was too shocked to realize that Kyrano had his hands fisted tightly; his nails digging into palms.

Kyrano knew that he shouldn't have blurted those words out, but it was only his brother and his mistress who could pummel their paths through his walls of defence. He needed to steer clear of them while on duty, to reduce the chance of him showing his weak self. He needed stronger walls and he knew the best way to build them.

Tonight, he needed to cut deeper.