The Kikimora

"I am sorry... I would do anything you asked, but I humbly request that you do not ask me any questions pertaining to that memory." Marian's voice didn't falter, in fact, it sounded more serene and resolved.

"Yea... Sure. Even you need to keep some secrets. There's no person in the world that doesn't have one they can't tell anyone." I was actually happy that Marian showed some signs of individuality. "Now, let's go to our last stop."

"Eh? There is more that we need?" Marian already had all the supplies she needed for living at the mansion, but there was one more thing I wanted to get.

Not allowing Marian to argue, I ushered her into the car and drove to a building I noticed while we were originally heading to the grocery store. We arrived at a small shop known as Animal's and Antiques, apparently it was an antique shop that had a few animals running around. As with the majority of our time in the car, Marian gripped on to the car's handholds as if the car was going to fly off the road any second.

I came here for the sole purpose of buying Marian a present. While I had only known her for a short time, it felt like she had been there with me in the past. It was a strange feeling that I couldn't shake free of. Still, there was no doubt that I would be with Marian for a while, and I wanted to thank her ahead of time for being my maid... Especially considering how far she went with her devotion to the job.

The shop was located in a fairly large strip mall, so there were quite a few cars, but a parking spot was easily found in the back of the lot. As we entered the store, I noticed Marian acting a bit strange, though it would seem normal to anyone but me. She glanced upwards, as if staring at the clouds with x-ray vision through the ceiling.

(Well, she has a tendency to do weird things. Let's buy her a decent present... Ah, this is good.) After a single solid minute, I already knew what to buy her. I brought the item in question as Marian browsed the store and bought my gift.

Right outside the store when we left, I presented it to Marian. She was wordless, clueless as to my intentions. She probably thought that a maid doesn't deserve any gifts from her master. "Here, Marian, this is for you, it's a gift."

"...Ah, but, Mas-, I mean, Dean... I do not deserve a gift from you." I was right on the ticket.

"Don't say that, think of it as thanks for being my maid in the first place and in the future. Besides, you seem to like your hairband, so I bought you one I thought would look just as good on you." I smiled sincerely and handed her my present, a light blue and white hairband made of soft fabric the refracted considerable light.

Marian's eyes changed from black to a warm beige.

"I see. I have no reason to reject, so I will graciously accept." Marian took the hairband from my hand and reach around her back. With flexible arms, she tied it around the hair, keeping it bound together. That band, coupled with the black and white one on the top of her head, added a sort of reserved flair that only Marian could pull off in my opinion.

"Hm, I guess it's time to go home then."

"Of course, Dean."

-

Max watched the young man and women from atop a roof from the strip mall. It seemed that his suspicion regarding the man was correct ever since he originally questioned him in the donut shop. While there was certainly no way that a person without magic would be able to hear the conversation between him, Jorgen, and Lu, it could be possible that a person's power would rub off on a normal human. At least that was what Max had felt. So he tracked the young man as soon as he left the donut shop.

He heard everything that the young man spoke with his girlfriend, although now it seemed like the girl was actually his maid. What a strange relationship between the two, is it some sort of fetish?

Max dispelled the bothersome thoughts in his head and focused on the tracking spell he placed on the man and woman. He would follow them to their place of residence and question them more thoroughly there, maybe even find the deciding clue on where Teagans hid his artifacts.

As Max peered over the rooftop ledge at the couple, he saw the girl turn her head. She looked straight at him. Max recoiled behind the ledge and said, "What the... Did she see me? I can't even sense any power within her, there's no way." Max looked back over the ledge only to find the girl opening the door to a car.

The girl narrowed her eyes as she looked straight at Max and swept her arm across the air.

"She just erased my tracking... Who is she? She is no regular girl. I will end up needed Jorgen and Lu when dealing with her."

-

"Now, Master, is there anything in particular you would like to eat for dinner?" Marian asked me curtly as I browsed my laptop.

I was really looking forward to more of her delicious cooking, and because of that, I honestly had no idea what I wanted to eat specifically. "Just give me your best, I bet anything you make would be delicious."

"Of course, Master. I will make it right away."

Right when Marian left the 1st floor living room from which I was in, I began my internet search. This shopping trip really brought a lot of questions to my mind. What is a Kiki-kuku? What is this Boneyard they were talking about? What was my grandfather involved in? Thankfully gramps installed a pretty good internet connection to the mansion despite the remoteness of the place.

The first thing I looked up was the Kiki-kaku, though I had to put in Kikimora instead. Apparently they were house spirits from that went about looking for husbands and make their home life miserable... Well, If Marian really is a Mora-Kiki, then she must be the rebel of the family. These spirits did the housework for a home and took care of it, though many ended up making their husband's life miserable. This would explain why Marian wanted to be my maid so much, but I couldn't ever fathom wanting to make my life miserable.

Next on my list was this scary Boneyard group. I found little to no information on it. Most links brought me to various fictional things named after the word, heck there was even a brewery named after it. However, after much searching, I found one reference from history that explained the Boneyard as a secret society for those practicing forbidden magic. There was even a source that linked them to underground criminal societies. Not much completed on this front...

Now about my grandfather. Probably the most mysterious entity at this point would be my Grandpa Buck. He was really an enigma. My grandfather was some sort of Indiana Jones who dealt in magical artifacts. It was pretty cool thinking about it, but I didn't like that fact that his past was now putting us in danger. I suppose he did the right thing in hiding, but did he have to swindle money off of this dangerous Boneyard group as well? When I checked the internet, I found absolutely nothing about my grandfather except the mention of his death. He was literally a digital ghost. That shouldn't be rightly possible in this modern age.

"Gramps, you were pretty amazing, weren't you? I wish I knew more about you." I no longer teared up when thinking about my dead grandfather, but it still made me slightly sad. I wasn't sure whether to think decently or badly of my grandfather at this point. He was a great grandparent and all, but he really has put his family in danger. Probably the best way to break away from the underworld would have been to follow through with that one deal, but he would've been backstabbed if what that Max character was saying is true. "Ahhhh, I don't know anything about life anymore... It's gotten so jumbled lately."

"Master, life in general is not something that people need to make sense of. Trying to make sense of the past wastes the time you put towards the future. Dinner is ready. Would you like to eat it here or in the dining room?" Marian spoke like a sage wise beyond her years, yet acted like a simple maid.

Marian's eyes changed from black to brown.

Let's put aside useless thoughts and eat some food, that's all my mind told me. "Right here is fine I guess... What'd you make?"

Marian calmly walked over with dignified steps and placed a tray of steaming food on the table in front of me. "Steak wrapped in bacon with a side of buttered mashed potatoes."

I love mashed potatoes, and steak wrapped bacon just sounds to appetizing not to try out. I wolfed down the food, barely stopping for air. "Amazing, of course. I'm really lucky to be able to monopolize your food."

"Your praise is too much. I am simply doing my job." Marian closed her eyes and smiled while holding the tray against her chest.

Out of the corner of my eye, I admired Marian in her maid outfit with her Kiki-kiki features out. Of course she was pretty, how couldn't she? Of course I was attracted to her, but it was still complicated, especially considering how she wasn't even a human. Can spirits like her even act or be like a human? However I thought about it, I was going to be living with Marian for a good while.

-

That night, I managed to find time to study. I was going through two classes involving Human Anatomy & Physiology with the other class being a basic math class. Math, not being my strong suit, was the only subject in which I needed to start from the high school level up compared to my other subjects. I'd like to say I only made flimsy mistakes such as accidentally writing the wrong number in my answer, but sadly it was purely because of my failure to process complicated problems. Well, I wasn't planning on entering a career which focused on math anyways, but I still needed to pass a certain level for some classes.

Frequently, while I studied or found myself concentrating very intensely, I chewed on a chopstick or toothpick. Though often enough I bit through the thin wood and bit my tongue very painfully. This just happened, and I was rolling on the floor in anguish.

Not even a thousand paper cuts or a million stubbed toes could compare to the pain of me biting my tongue... Well, actually both of those things would be worse, but it still hurt like a bitch.

"Ahhhhh, shit! Fuck! Christ! God fucking damn it! Holy crack pots!" I yelled out various profanities in acknowledgement of my pain, which resulted in Marian opening the door in worry.

"Master! Are you alright? I heard your cries of pain." Gravely concerned, Marian rushed into the room and lifted up half of my body. My head was being cradled between her arms and her breasts, so naturally I felt the pleasant soft feeling on the side of my head and the pain vanished.

It was somewhat weird that the pain vanished immediately, but either way, I was in much better situation now.

"Uh, thanks, I'm not all the hurt actually, not anymore."

"I am glad, Master. I do not wish you to be in pain. If something troubles you, please do not hesitate to ask." Marian hugged my body close to hers, pushing me even further into her considerable bust in which I found the most comfortable place in the world.

"Well, unless you know your math subjects, I doubt you can help me right now." As awesome as Marian is at most tasks, I doubt a Kiki-Kick which had supposedly lived inside a mirror for many years would know modern mathematics. There's no way this maid can be that omnipotent.

Marian's eyes changed from black to violet.

"Would you like to learn about quadratics, statistics, geometrical formulas, or something else?"

I take that back.

...

A long two hours later and my round of studying was finished, much to my delight.

"Marian, is there anything you can't do?" My question was more out of scrutiny than praise.

"Of course there is, or rather, there is something I do not believe I will ever be able to do."

Oh? "And what might that be?"

"I do not believe I will be able to learn how to operate your motorized contraption." Marian said with a serious voice and nodded her head a couple times.

"Haha!" I laughed in conjunction with what I assumed was Marian making a joke.

Marian smiled in return and faced me. We were sitting in two chairs adjacent to each other so she could help me study. No matter how many times I saw her face, I couldn't help but believe that no one else could match her looks.

"Marian?"

"Yes, Master?"

"Have we ever met before?"

The question soaking into her skin and she closed her eyes calmly and slowly. Her lips curved into a curious smile that was beyond me. "Yes." And she said nothing more.

"That's really vague..." While she technically answered my question, it didn't actually answer anything for me. However, I don't think she would intentionally answer me that cryptically without due cause. "You're pretty amazing, you know?"

"M-Master?" Perhaps unsuspecting my sudden praise, Marian's stuttered.

"I know that you always say that you've always wanted to be my maid and do everything you've done so far. And you do that when we only just met two days ago. I honestly can't believe that anyone, or anything in your case, would want to do that all of a sudden. Really, the only answer is that we have met once ore more than once before. Even then, the fact that you have stuck with your resolve to, well, be my maid all this time is amazing. I don't even know how long ago we've met, much less remember. It could be two weeks, it could be two years, and it could even be when I was just a kid who wasn't even in school." I was running on fumes of what to say, I wondered if politicians who hadn't prepared a speech felt like I was at this moment. "You're a Kiki-... A Kikimora, something I didn't even know existed. You're beautiful, smart, versatile, kind, caring, and practically every positive adjective I can think of. Even then, you can cook, clean, fix things, and even do math. You're really, really, really amazing. I just don't feel worthy enough for you."

Marian, with a tranquil expression, listened to everything I said. Right about when I finished, she took both of my hands and held them together with hers. Then she looked straight at my eyes and twisted her expression into something stern. "Master, while I am capable of many things, and however I may feel about you, it does not mean you are not worthy enough. Because of what you have done for me in the past, it is I who feels unworthy. You may have forgotten me in the past, but I will remember our time then and how much I treasure it. From within my lonely vessel, I trained and practiced in all the ways I could repay you by myself. Even if you do not wish my presence, I will assist you from the darkness in any way I can silently. You were my only light then, and so I am to, no... I want to support you in any way possible. All I ask is that you use me when you have needs." Marian moved her head over to me. Her furry ears twitched and leaned forward. Once she noticed me moving closer with my own head, she pursed her lips and kissed me.

Marian's eyes changed from black to pink.

"I love you more than anything in this wide universe."

-

I was lying in bed, mulling over Marian's words. The undoubtedly beautiful maid who was not human said things that sent my mind in turmoil.

In my life, I've had a total of two girlfriends. Even then, I can't even consider one an actual girlfriend. I lost my virginity in a drunken stupor while underage and swore never to drink again (haven't yet since I'm still underage). The total number of women I've been with totals three, not including Marian.

The total number of times someone has told me that they love me and vice versa equals zero.

'I love you more than anything in this wide universe'

I rubbed my fingers together as if a quarter was within my grasp. (First things first... Do I love Marian? I'm not sure yet. She says that we have met before, but I still can't remember a thing. Do I care about Marian? Of course I do... And I really do like her. It doesn't matter if she is a Kiki-molasses.)

I thought about Marian constantly, not resting my mind a second. I didn't even notice her enter the room quietly. I heard a small clatter and turned around to see the woman who was causing me so much confusion, though I was actually somewhat happy to see her again. Marian was carrying a small tray holding a pot of steaming tea.

Marian's eyes changed from black to a decent teal.

Marian was much more stable than me, was it because of her personality or her being a Kiki-ikik? I had no idea and didn't really care. Anyways, Marian showed no hint of serious emotion on her face. She only expressed a serene peace. "Master, would you like some tea?"

"What kind?" I was too tired to say much at the moment.

"Lemon zinger, I think it would give you enough energy to think more clearly." Marian placed the tray on the bedside table and poured a small cup of tea out for me. I took one sip and felt a warm feeling take over. Marian began speaking right after. "I am gravely sorry for my earlier words, I have caused you much emotional trouble and I apologize, I will also accept any punishment."

I finished the rest of my cup of tea, mulling over what to say. After I placed the cup back on the tray, I asked, "Marian, come here please."

Marian didn't say anything. She simply followed my order as her master.

I breathed out in anticipation and calmly pulled Marian's head over to mine and returned the kiss she gave me before. Marian, though initially surprised, allowed herself to be guided by my whims. She escorted my tongue into her mouth and lavished attention on it with her lips.

Immediately breaking the kiss, I stared straight into her dark eyes that were reminiscent of a black hole. "Hrm, Marian, please remove your clothing."

Marian's eyes changed from black to yellow.

"Of course, Master." Smiling happily at my order, she stood up and swiftly removed every bit of fabric on her body. She took off her maid outfit, leaving behind her sheer bra, panties, and stockings. After halting for only a few seconds for me to let my eyes wander. She then took off each of those items, revealing her slender, yet curvaceous in all the right places body. All she had left were the two hairbands holding her hair in place. Reaching both arms behind her head, she unraveled both bands in one lithe motion. Her ebony hair spread like eagle wings before collecting itself around her head.

"I'll say it as many times as needed, you're really beautiful, you know that?" Marian blushed, but she didn't avert her eyes. "Can you help me out of my clothes now? While doing so, do your best to get me as aroused as possible."

Marian flashed a lascivious smile. "I would be glad to." Marian swaggered over to me and slowly stretched out a hand. From her hand, she reached out with her pointer finger and drew an invisible line down the center of my chest. I was wearing a buttoned shirt, but I noticed that the buttons were being undone by an invisible force.

Marian moved in as soon as all the buttons were undone and pushed aside my shirt until I was free of it. She showered a rain of dainty pecks from her lovely lips onto my chest. In reaction to the soothing contact, I breathed just a little bit harder. She wrapped her arms around my waist and hips and latched on to the center with her hand, rubbing my zone through the denim. She squeezed my body tightly to hers, pressing her voluptuous chest into my waist. She danced her fingers around before pulling down my zippers and removing my jeans along with my underwear.

By now, the both of us were completely naked. I pulled Marian's head up to mine and once again kissed her. She reacted just as before, allowing relinquishing her body to my whims.

Curious as to how she would react, I moved my hand down to her swishing tail. Apparently she couldn't keep it under control and moved via her subconscious emotions and desires. "I wonder how you feel from your tail."