The fieldwork was going very well. The younger girl was able to fully immerse herself in her work. Though some may have argued she focused too much, almost ignoring her needs to eat or rest, Sona was there to remind her. She felt fulfilled, not pushing herself, but excited to show off everything she could do. No matter what, she wanted to make the project a success. If not to prove she could do the job to Kazuya, then to prove to herself that she was still just as intelligent as she always was.

In the end, she felt confident about the instructions and suggestions she had given to the architects and believed she made a good impression on them as well. Even though she ended up finishing a little later than she thought, she nonetheless left very satisfied. Too excited about how the project would end up coming out, she was unable to sleep on the plane, returning back to the Akahito's main mansion fairly late at night.

Regardless, there were countless people there to welcome her back, taking her luggage for her and guiding her to her bedroom. To no surprise to anyone, Haru was waiting there, arms crossed over his chest and a sour look on his face. She sighed as she saw him but ended up welcoming him inside her room to appease him slightly. Although, she couldn't quite tell how he felt about it since he hid his expressions shortly afterward.

"How long were you waiting?" she asked, sitting down on the couch, "I didn't think you would have the patience."

"I'm not a child. I can wait."

"You could have fooled me. I thought you would rip me limb from limb when I stepped into the house."

Though the younger girl was largely joking, the brunette gave a guilty expression. It implied that he was thinking about doing something akin to that, but she never really thought he would. Truth be told, it was likely he was thinking about punishing her in some way, in a way she probably wouldn't like, hence the shame he felt. It was unpleasant to think he would do such a thing, and even more so to imagine the things he had done before, but she supposed, in some way, she was grateful.

Moving a little closer to him, she pet his head, watching as he glowed a soft red. He really liked physical touch, making it a useful asset to the younger girl, especially for bargaining. And though, at the moment, she wasn't trying to get anything out of him, it was still nice to see he wasn't immune to it yet. He soon after leaned into her shoulder, giving a heavy huff. Whether it was directed at himself or her, she had no idea, and she wasn't given much time to debate it, since he had held up a box, snapping her out of her thoughts.

It was poorly wrapped, parts of the paper ripped, showing the gift through the supposed barrier. The ribbon on top was entirely too loosely tied, and many parts of it looked like it had gone through the woodchipper. However, it made her smile. Haru had clearly tried to do it himself, something that he would usually outsource to his servants. He was oddly proud of it, looking up "slyly" every now and again to gleam her thoughts on it before looking away as quickly as possible.

"What's this for?" she questioned gently, not wanting him to feel as though she were rejecting it.

"I wanted to congratulate you."

"Yeah? How come?"

"Père said you were working hard."

The (h/c) haired girl was speechless. Though he didn't say it directly, it was his way of making a peace offering. He realized that working was important to her and that she genuinely enjoyed doing something on her own. And even though he didn't like her going away or directing her attention to anything other than himself, he was giving her some leeway because he wanted her to be happy. She was proud.

Accepting the gift, she began to open it carefully, watching as he kept his eyes on it. He even tensed up a bit, probably worried that she wouldn't like it. There was no way she was going to dislike it, however. The motivation behind giving her the gift was more than enough. Still, as she began to open it up, she opened the box to reveal a brand new laptop, one made by his company.

Although she wasn't in need of a new one, it was probably his way of making another compromise. Even if she would be away from him, at the very least, she would be using something he made with his own hands to do her work. Though the same could be said of Sona, Haru felt the android was much more human than a computer. He didn't like calling androids as if they were objects, making the laptop a good solution for feeling connected with her.

"It's custom-made," he mumbled, assessing her reaction with great confusion, "I spent the weekend building it just for you. There's a special note-taking icon here and, here, there's a little compartment for earphones. They're already connected to the computer, so you just need to press them against the back of your ear and it'll work using vibration."

"That's right. I remember you talking about those. You designed earring versions, right? That work with magnets?"

"They'd already be expensive as it is, so I don't really want to sell them wholesale."

"I'd like some."

Haru's eyes glimmered. He grabbed a stylus and began scribbling on his wrist tablet, excited to show her what ideas he could come up with. Her taking an interest in his technology was the greatest affection she could show him. The brunette was always quick to leap and create something if she asked. Even if it took him days, he'd lock himself in his workshop until he came across a genius discovery. She remembered when he had shown her his first working android blueprints, a look of unparalleled pride in his eyes.

"Something simple though, okay?" she insisted, chuckling awkwardly when thinking of all the things he would do to make the earrings priceless, "I don't want a crown or anything."

The brunette nodded, seemingly understanding her instructions. At the same time, he swiped right on the screen, sending the plans directly to his workshop. The two then spent the next hour discussing the things the other missed. Haru talked about how Bastien toppled over an entire bowl of flour onto his nanny and (Y/n) talked all about how the trip had gone. And even though the brunette wasn't all that interested in business, he did listen. In the end, he had fallen asleep from sheer boredom, and out of appreciation for his efforts, she let him sleep there.

As she lay down on her bed, pulling the covers up over her, she let out a yawn. Her weekend had been exhausting, but rewarding. Haru had come to terms with her independence and she had accomplished something on her own for the first time in a long, long while. She smiled, then frowned as she remembered where it all began.

. . .

After stepping into a house full of the corpses of her adoptive family, she unintentionally led two others to their deaths. One was killed on impact via a sniper rifle. The other took a bullet to a crucial artery before a chandelier crashed down on him. Even as she ran and tried to escape, the brunette caught up to her. He gripped tightly onto her and told her about his plans to make her the mother of his children. As she refused, she was met with a lungful of chemicals, her body reacting poorly to it. When she had woken up, she was locked in a room, Haru cuddling her.

"You bastard!" she shouted, jolting him out of his nap.

He rubbed his eyes and tilted his head, not understanding her displeasure. The male had simply taken her to his home, where she was safe, warm, and protected. It wasn't all of a sudden either. After all, he had been telling her of his want to move in together. As such, her reaction made him frown, the male waiting for her to tell him she was joking and go back to cuddling him. Haru blushed. He liked cuddling.

"Give me the key!"

"Why? You don't need it."

"I said 'give me the key'! Right now!"

His frown deepened a bit. She was being difficult, something that he didn't like very much. The male also disliked being ordered around, not that he had much experience in ever receiving such treatment. At least, he hadn't experienced it much when it wasn't behind his back. Looking over to the door, he shrugged, watching as the girl's breathing began to get faster. She gripped at her chest and stepped forward aggressively, once again demanding he give her the key to the door, so she could escape.

"There is no key," he simply commented, holding his arms up for a hug, only to be slapped by her.

"How do you open it, Haru?!"

"I like it when you say my name. Can you say it again?"

"Open the fucking door!"

As he opened his mouth to refute her unfounded want to leave, he tensed up. She kneeled on the ground, unable to support herself, the girl clawing at her chest as she took in dense breaths. At once, he sprang to her side, shivering in fear. He didn't want to lose her. She wasn't sick, was she? After all of that effort, he didn't want to have to put her out of her misery. It would be the last thing he would want.

"The door," she cried, her body convulsing like she was having a seizure, "The door, please."

The male rushed to unlock the steel door, watching as she collapsed outside of the room, taking deeper breaths. Still in pain and shaking from head to toe, she squeezed her eyes shut, thinking it was a cruel joke. In his concern, the brunette placed his hand on her head, a bit relieved to see she didn't have a fever. At the same time, he didn't know what to do. He wanted to take her back inside, but as she made fervent eye contact with him, he felt like he shouldn't have.

"You can't die," he informed her, furrowing his brows in anger, "I didn't say you could."

Though she took a bit longer to recover, when she felt well enough, she weakly stood up, using Haru as a support. He was extremely confused and anxious when she began wandering around the mansion. When she caught a glimpse of the outdoors, she walked a little faster with him, falling back into the grass and recovering a bit more. At the same time, as she lay there, the brunette began flittering around her, picking up pieces of grass and shooing off insects. After a while, he also started trying to stand in between her and the sun, rocking back and forth on his heels worriedly.

"I'm fine now," the girl finally mumbled, letting her body go as limp as possible on the comfortable lawn, "Haru."

"Babies now?"

"No."

Taken aback at her sudden rejection, he narrowed his eyes at her. It wasn't that he was particularly mad - disappointed maybe - but he was avidly confused. He had believed she wanted to be loved, just as he did. As such, the next steps would include marriage and children, but he didn't really care in what order they came in. Based on his lifelong observation of his parents, he just knew that was how love worked.

"Haru," she repeated, firmer this time.

"Babies...later?" he questioned, averting his eyes out of fear of being wrong.

She remained silent, for a reason only she knew. Covering her eyes with her arm, she let out a sigh Haru recognized as anger. Panicking, he racked his brain for why she felt that way. He didn't want her to dislike him, after all. In the end, the only thing he could come up with was something that would have bothered him a lot as well. Grumbling, he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Was it because I killed your friends?"

"They weren't my friends. They were my family."

"No," the male growled, refusing to acknowledge her lack of understanding about the subject, "A family is bound by blood. My mother is my mother because she gave birth to me. My father is my father because he helped make me. My brother is my brother because he was born to my mother, too. They didn't birth you and they didn't help make you, so they are not your family."

"Family isn't just about blood, Haru."

The brunette scrunched his nose. That wasn't true. It wasn't. All his life, he had only known one kind of family and that was his. A mother and father were in love and brothers helped each other. Just because Bastien liked his nanny a whole lot didn't mean she was his mother. She didn't give birth to him. So he just couldn't understand why she insisted on calling the family her family when they were clearly not.

"And it's not about them anyway. Or, I guess it doesn't have to be."

"So you're not mad? But you look mad. I think you're mad."

"Yes, I'm mad," she sighed, trying to be patient with him, "You locked me in a room with no windows and no escape. I don't like it. It makes me..."

"Mad?"

"Sure, Haru. You have to promise not to do it again because it will make me mad, and I won't want to see you."

The male frowned again, kicking at the grass. It wasn't like he wanted to make her upset. Rather, he was only trying to protect her, as he had always done. Another lesson he had learned from his family: women were weak and prone to illness. He had only tried to protect her from getting like his mother, but she was resisting it. Again, he found himself bewildered, particularly at her seemingly contradictive words.

"But you have to be in that room. If you're not, you'll try to escape. And if you escape, you'll get hurt, or sick, or die."

"What if I promise?"

"That's not enough. You could lie."

The (h/c) haired girl went silent for a moment again before she chuckled weakly. She sat up with a strict posture before grabbing onto the male's wrist and pulling him down to the ground. He sucked in his breath with nervousness, not knowing what would happen next. However, as she locked her arms around his neck, hanging her arms off his shoulders, he smiled. She must have realized he was right, and in her happiness, maybe she wanted to make babies with him after all. He smiled wide.

"You want me to be with you, right?"

"Forever."

"And I want you not to lock me up. So, how can we both be happy?" A pause. "Let's make a contract."

The brunette tilted his head, wondering what she meant. Of course, he knew what a contract was, but he didn't see how one was going to solve their disagreement. Nonetheless, he went along with it, hoping to get something good out of the deal. As they sat down together, she began to scribble furiously on a few pieces of paper. Haru got bored almost instantly, but, fortunately, because she was so preoccupied with writing, she didn't shove him off when he laid his head on her lap. He was much more patient after that.

When she had finished, she immediately presented him with the documents, the brunette staring at the page for a solid minute before he threw the pages. Angrily, he was kicked off her lap, the male near whimpering. He realized he had made her mad as he gazed at her angry expression coupled with the way she picked up the papers. At the time, he didn't realize the documents were important to her. He frowned.

"I'm...sorry," he ended up saying, extending his hands out for the papers again, "I'll read them."

Somewhat surprised at his apology, the (h/c) haired girl looked down at the pages before sighing and handing them to him. She sat next to him, going over the different stipulations in the contract. And though, at times, he argued that he should have just hired a lawyer to do the work for him, she refused it. It had to be between the two of them, though because of the way she phrased it, the male took it as marriage papers. At least, he did until he understood the full scope of what she wanted.

"You'll stay here even if I don't lock the doors?" he hummed, excited at the thought, "And you'll spend time with me? And I can protect you?"

"Yes, but you have to recognize me as a person separate from you."

"I do. You're not attached to me."

"I mean that I can leave the house without you, or work on my own."

"But - "

"I won't leave forever. Just for a day or two, and if it's more, I'll let you know. If it makes you feel better, you can track me."

"What do I get out of this? I could just keep you here anyway."

"Maybe, but I won't be happy, and I definitely won't stay healthy that way," A flinch. "Plus, I'll like you a lot more and will want to spend time with you."

Haru took some time to consider the proposition. Of course, if possible, he wanted her to be happy, but it was important that she be with him. He didn't want her running away and he definitely didn't want her to get hurt. Under her conditions, she would be happier, yes, but she would also let him protect her. He could give her the proper conditions to thrive, and in doing so, she might come to love him the way he loved her. The male couldn't deny that it would be nice for her to love him back.

"Okay," he nodded, leaning against her shoulder with a sigh.

"But, Haru, if you break any of these rules, I won't renew the contract with you every month."

"So, if I don't follow them, you can leave?"

"Well, yes. But if you do follow them, I won't."

"Promise?"

"That's what the contract is for. Though, I want to stress these two things. First, if you let any physical harm happen to me, including major wounds, kidnapping, or sexual assault, the contract can be terminated immediately. Also, if you put any technology on me or monitor me with something, you must get my permission first. If you don't, I can terminate the contract a month early."

"Then, I want to add something," the brunette contemplated, "I want a baby."

"Childbirth is painful, so, if you want one, I can terminate the contract immediately after it's born."

"Oh," A pause. "Then..."

Haru bit down on his lip. He was not open to the idea of never having children. It was all he had ever wanted; a happy family. That being said, he did realize that she was in that family, and if he had gone and forced her entry into it, she would have left one way or another. Though it irritated him, he was not in control of her actions nor her feelings. So he figured he could change her mind, even with the contract. He just had to be on his best behavior.

"Then I want you to take care of Bastien! Like he's ours."

"Well, I don't mind that. I love Bastien, too. Anything else?"

"I don't think so," the male mumbled, "So, this is it? You won't run away? And you'll be happier?"

The girl nodded with a smile. She supposed she would be about as happy as she could be, granted she was given the protection she stressed. Either way, the brunette was satisfied, too. Though he was prohibited to have a child with her until further notice, he was sure he could change her mind. Then he could have his own happy family and be able to live out the life he'd wanted since childhood. That was the start of their arrangement, and it would continue to go on for two years. Then things changed.