Juliet shrieked with laughter as Dom tickled her. The four-year-old girl was on the floor, laughing wildly and begging her older brother for mercy. "Dom, no! Please!"

The teenaged boy grinned wickedly at Juliet. Apparently he had no intention of stopping. Juliet, seeing an escape, pulled fiercely on his leg. Dom fell clumsily, and Juliet began exacting her revenge. "Got you now, big brother!" she giggled as she pummeled his stomach with her fist.

Domovoi Butler moaned in mock pain, his face twisted in an expression of horror while his eyes danced about in amusement at his baby sister's antics.

Juliet, seeing his reaction, laughed wildly and punched him harder. Dom fell over and collapsed on the floor, exhausted. He smiled at her. "No more," he breathed. "I'm too tired."

Juliet pouted and tugged on his short hair. "Come on, Dom, let's play!"

Dom groaned and Juliet plopped down on the floor next to him. "You're no fun," she said, poking him with her finger.

Dom looked at her seriously for a moment, and then suddenly lunged, making Juliet screech with laughter again.

"Come on, you think you're tough?" The bully cornered the boy, leering menacingly. Six-year-old Juliet watched from behind the monkey bars, her pigtails swinging casually upside down, the bright blue ribbon bows tied neatly.

The boy was on the floor, whimpering. His schoolbooks had toppled to the ground, and the bully kicked a paperback viciously.

Juliet let go of the bars, flipping over and landing smartly on her feet. She marched over to the scene, where a small crowd had gathered. "Leave him alone," she said angrily. Juliet brought her firsts to her face and punched the air threateningly at the bully.

The bully laughed at her. "Leave him alone," he mocked. His friends laughed supportively. Their laughter rang in her ears. Juliet's eyes face grew hot. "You're just a girl," he said. "Go play with your dolls. You can't fight."

"I can too," said Juliet stubbornly. "You're just being mean. Stop picking on him."

"What are you going to do about it?" he taunted. The other boys in the circle laughed. Each laugh was dissonantly painful and found its way into every corner of the little pigtailed girl with her fists held protectively to her face. The small boy on the floor had stopped crying and was only looking up doubtfully at her.

Juliet swung hard at the bully. She stumbled into open air, and the laughter rang again. The faces of the crowd blurred. She couldn't see. There were angry tears in her eyes. Juliet bit her lip. I am not going to cry. I am not going to cry. She screamed, wailing her balled up fists to protect herself, to protect the smaller one next to her, yet there was no way out, no way through the diminishing circle of taunting and laughing boys.

Juliet couldn't breathe, there were tears running down her face and clogging up her nose. She was being shoved into someone and she tried to push back, but someone else pushed her. She fell onto the ground. One of her pigtails was yanked hard, and a throbbing agony pulsed on the side of her head. The blue bow fell apart and was stepped on. Someone else pushed her and her knee grazed against the ground. It stung, and Juliet couldn't see anything through the tears but blood and the blue ribbon trodden and limp on the ground.

She was sobbing now, on the floor, and couldn't hear anything but the laughter of the boys. You're just a girl. You can't fight. Their voices rang cruelly in her ears, and a convulsion of shame coiled in her stomach. Juliet cried and yanked the other ribbon from her hair, shaking out the pretty neat braids 'any girl would be proud of' that the maid carefully braided this morning. She threw it on the floor next to the other one, rubbing it with her shoe.

The voices had diminished, and the crowd of boys had disappeared, but the taunts of the bully still stung. You can't fight. You can't fight. Strong arms were wrapped around her, and Dom's voice spoke soothingly.

"It's okay, Juliet. They can't hurt you anymore."

Juliet fell into her brother's arms, sobbing until she ran out of tears. Her cheeks were sticky and wet, and her hair was tangled and dirty. She sniffed and looked into his face. "Dom," she whimpered, "They said I can't fight because I'm a girl."

He looked at her with all the wisdom a big brother could offer. "Of course you can," Dom said, wiping her tears with the back of his hand. "You just need to learn."

"Teach me," Juliet pleaded. "I want to fight like you."

Dom looked at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. "Why did you throw all your ribbons on the ground?" he asked. "I thought you liked them."

Juliet sniffed miserably and tried to wipe her face. It still felt sticky after Dom had wiped it. "I don't want to be pretty anymore. I don't want to be a girl. I want to fight and to help people."

"Do you really mean that?" he said. Juliet crawled into his lap and he patted her consolingly.

She thought about it. "If it means that I will be able to fight, then yes."

"You can still be a girl and fight," said Dom. "Here." He picked up the blue ribbons from the floor and shook the dust out. They were still dirty, but had a resigned look to them. Underneath the stains it was still stubbornly blue. The buoyant cerulean color of the ribbon cheered her somewhat and Dom clumsily tried to tie her hair back into pigtails. His fingers raked comfortably into her hair as he tied the blue ribbons into lopsided bows.

"Everything's okay, see?" Dom smiled at her, and Juliet smiled back. And it was okay, because her big brother said so. And he knew everything.

"You know I love you, sis," Dom said.

Juliet sighed. Damn. He was so overprotective. She could take care of herself. But she smiled. He was her big brother after all. "You're so emotional for a bodyguard."