Chapter 01

Hunting

"Hey, Ciel! How do I look?"

"You're fine, Lizzie…"

"Eh~? But you didn't even look!"

Ciel Phantomhive sighed and looked up from the newspaper in his hands. Standing before him was his ever-so-cheerful fiancée, giving an elegant twirl that had her golden curls bouncing about her shoulders. Like himself, Elizabeth wore a dark blue leather coat, cream trousers, and black knee-high boots. While her coat was trimmed with fur around the collar, Ciel's coat remained otherwise simple.

"It suits you very well, Lizzie," he assured her for what seemed to be the umpteenth time.

"Really?!" Lizzie's green eyes gleamed as she turned towards the butler standing on her right. "Do I really look cute in this, Sebastian?"

"But of course, Lady Elizabeth," Sebastian answered, his voice soft and kind. He poured tea and offered them to the two young nobles. "Would you have some Darjeeling tea as you wait for Miss Stanmore?"

Elizabeth took the seat and stole a glance at her fiancé. As usual, Ciel was in his pensive mood again−staring out the window, but his eyes were blank. It worried her that he should be looking so distracted despite the very promising weather. She opened her mouth to speak, to say something to keep his attention from whatever was distracting him, but nothing came to mind.

Suddenly, the gardener and housemaid came bursting through the doorway.

"She's here, she's here!" Finnian announced excitedly.

"Miss Stanmore has arrived," Mey-Rin added.

"Ah, perfect!" Elizabeth jumped up from her seat and grabbed Ciel's hand. "Come on, let's go! We cannot keep her waiting like this!" But she was already running out, followed by the two servants, while Sebastian only snickered at her never-ending energy.

Ciel rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Tell me again why she's even here in the first place. I thought Aunt Francis only needed to do something."

"Indeed, Young Master." Sebastian escorted his master as they went out of the dining hall and traversed the hallway leading to the mansion's foyer. "The Marquis and Marchioness Midford have state business with their colleagues in Kent, while Master Edward remains in Weston College. They are entrusting the Lady Elizabeth to us only for a few short days."

"At this rate, she would tear the whole manor apart for her entertainment," Ciel grumbled.

Upon reaching the foyer, Elizabeth had already thrown her arms around the newcomer. She kissed the woman's cheek before stepping away and giving another twirl, to show off her outfit. "Well, Miss Stanmore, what do you think?"

"You look very lovely, Lady Elizabeth." Then she looked up and saw both master and servant atop the stairs, making their way down to them. She offered a little respectful bow to the earl and a nod to his butler. "You are looking rather well, Earl Phantomhive. Matching suits, I see," she noted, teasing.

"Nina's doing," Ciel huffed, looking away, "and Lizzie's idea."

"I knew from the start the two of you would make an amazing couple."

"Really?!" Lizzie's eyes sparkled once more, as she clapped her hands and sighed dreamily. Then she snatched Ciel for a tight embrace and smiled. Despite the earl's flustered complaints, she was undeterred.

Sebastian smothered his laugh, before turning to the guest. "Miss Stanmore, I have finished the preparations for today's quiz. Shall we head over to the stables and begin at once?"

"Oh, that's right." She turned to the young nobles and said, "It is about time we start, Earl Phantomhive. Are you ready?"

Ciel smirked, the confidence evident in his face. "Bring it on. Let me show you what I have." He pulled Lizzie along towards the stables, with Sebastian and their guest following behind them.

"You must know that the young master has been looking forward about this ever since last week," Sebastian said in a whisper, as if confiding secrets. "You alone make him very competitive, Miss Stanmore."

She smiled at that. "I am glad to hear. His competitiveness alone makes him very different from my other students. I shall see what he wants to show me today." Then she paused as they were approaching the stables, and tugged at the butler's sleeve. "Oh, and one more thing, Mister Butler−it's Cara."

He tilted his head to the side, then smiled. "Forgive me, but since you are the master's teacher, I cannot call you by your first name. You may, however, call me by my name every time you wish."

She shrugged, defeated. "Very well."

The forest behind the Phantomhive Manor stretched as far as the eyes could see. An old forest that had surrounded the manor for generations, it smelled of damp earth and pines. There were tree trunks that were huddled against each other, some overgrown trees pulled out of its roots, while dense trees with twisted branches and grey-green leaves made a shadowy canopy for a few meters. The road wound up ahead, disappeared after several steps, then reappeared again on the other side of the forest. Somewhere up ahead, a stream made relaxing flowing noises.

Sebastian was the first to stop. They were in a small clearing in the middle of the forest, too far away from the mansion now. He assisted Elizabeth first, and then his master, on climbing down the large stallion.

Cara smiled at the sight before her. "You overdid yourself, Mister Butler."

"Not at all," Sebastian answered, very humble. "I wish to see my young master excel in his studies, and to make a good show for his teacher and fiancée."

Ciel rolled his eye and fetched his rifle. He glared at the five targets lined up on the other side of the clearing, each bearing the striking colors of white, black, blue, and red. His marksmanship, as he never failed to boast, had become better since the last time he saw his teacher. Better to boast again this time, just in case.

"So, how are we going to do this?" He shot his teacher a challenging gaze and a little smirk.

"Quite simple, really. You must hit all the targets at the center. Misses would not be tolerated. Only then could you proceed with the next part," Cara explained with hands on her hips. Her own rifle was slung across her back. She wore a red coat and white trousers, with the same knee-high boots as Ciel and Lizzie. Her hair, thick and black as ink, was pulled up into a high ponytail.

"Seems a little easy, wouldn't you agree?" Ciel goaded on.

Cara stared at the five targets ahead, then down at the thirteen-year-old earl. He was oozing with confidence, something that she admired in him. "I suppose you're right," she said at length. "Either way, you have thirty seconds to hit all your targets."

"Wait, thirty−?"

"Twenty-eight more if you keep slacking, Earl Phantomhive."

"Go, Ciel! You can do it!" Lizzie cheered at the top of her lungs.

With gritted teeth, Ciel dropped to one knee, aimed his rifle at the westernmost target, and fired. Bullseye. He swiveled to his right, aimed again, and fired. Bullseye. Behind him, Lizzie continued shouting and Sebastian remained watching, his ruby eyes following the movements of his master as Ciel continuously fired rounds until there was one target left. Then, without hesitation, he fired his final shot and hit the central mark. Birds shot out of the trees and took into the skies.

"Wonderful," Cara beamed at him. "And only twenty-five seconds elapsed. A new record for you."

"Right," Ciel panted as he stood up. He swept his sleeve across his forehead and tossed the rifle to his butler. After catching his breath, he looked at his teacher. "What next?"

"Does hunting sound good to you?" she asked.

"I never back out on challenges, you know." Ciel climbed back on his horse with Lizzie embracing him from behind. "You lead the way, Miss Stanmore."

"If you insist." Cara jumped back to her horse and went in front, leading them further into the forest.

Lightning-scarred trees flanked the road, along with thick and verdant vegetation and wildflowers. Every once in a while, Elizabeth would squeal for sheer joy of seeing a pair of bunnies, a doe with its calf, and a train of squirrels passing by. They stopped beside the stream marred with mossy rocks.

"We could start here," Ciel declared, swerving his horse to the right. He looked over his shoulder and whispered to his fiancée. "You have to get down for now, Lizzie. I cannot lose any challenge at all."

"I understand." Lizzie smiled and nodded, as Sebastian lifted her off her seat and settled her to the ground. "Would you be careful for me, Ciel?"

"You know I would," he promised. "And I would be back soon." He then glanced up at his teacher. "How long do I have to do this?"

Cara simply stared at him and Lizzie. "You do make quite a cute couple," she teased, making the young earl blush furiously.

"You're not listening at all!" Ciel shouted, still flustered. "How long is the time limit?!"

"Well, since you are so fixated for a competition−" She cast a sidelong glance towards the other side of the stream, where the forest seemed denser and quieter−"an hour would do perhaps."

"An hour?!" Ciel complained. "You do know that hunting takes about at least three hours to find good game and make the chase, right?"

She blinked, trying to seem innocent. "Oh, does that mean you quit, Earl Phantomhive?"

"Quitting is never in my vocabulary!" Then Ciel was off towards the northern end of the stream, before disappearing.

"Then I shall be heading this way," Cara said, pointing across the stream. She caught Sebastian's amused stare and smiled back, quite cheerful. Her horse bolted forward, powerfully fighting off the current of the stream, and then emerged on the opposite shore. In a short while, she disappeared between the columns of trees.

Exactly an hour later, Ciel returned to show off his proud work: six pheasants, two foxes, and one buck with antlers so long it seemed to protrude in every directions. Lizzie was upon him at once, rubbing her cheek against his and complimenting him for a job well done. After shrugging her off and fixing his dark blue coat and hat, Ciel searched around the stream for any signs of his teacher.

"Where's Miss Stanmore?"

"She's just about−Oh! Here she comes!" Lizzie exclaimed.

Cara crossed the stream and smiled down on all of them. "Oh, have I been out for so long?"

Yet Ciel was unconvinced. He observed her and the horse, but found nothing else with them. "Where's your hunt?"

"Hm? Oh, I was not hunting at all, Earl Phantomhive," Cara said, still all smiles. She turned to Sebastian and shared a quick knowing glance with him. "But you still did very well today, Earl. Such good improvement from last week. You have graduated from target shooting to actual shooting."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ciel inquired.

"It means you did very well today, Earl Phantomhive."

Sebastian stepped forward and bowed. "It grows late, Young Master. It is time for you and the Lady Elizabeth to return to the manor. It would take quite some time to get back, seeing as we have travelled further this time." His voice then dropped into a low whisper. "And it seems we have guests."

Ciel caught the implication, nodding. "I see. I can find our way back to the manor. You and Miss Stanmore clean up here."

"Are you sure, my lord?"

"Of course." Ciel slung his rifle across his back and smirked. "I did a job well done today, didn't I? That means I could still do well for the rest of the day. Come, Lizzie, let's head back."

The butler helped the two nobles settle on their horse, and watched as they headed towards the previous trail. He did not to strain his eyes to know that despite his master's own frail physicality, he performed quite well in his lessons for the day. His master might be small and thin, but his competitiveness and pride always overruled his bad physical state.

"Clean up, huh?" Cara mused, still atop her bay horse. "Is that a Phantomhive term that means something?"

"I believe so." Sebastian chuckled, tearing his gaze off the road. Instead, he cracked his knuckles, smoothed down his black coat, and checked at his pocket watch. They had enough time to spare for cleaning up the mess out here. He turned back to his companion. "Shall we, Miss Stanmore?"

"Yes, but gently, Mister Butler."

Exchanging smiles, the two raced across the stream in perfect rhythm: Cara on her horse, Sebastian on his feet. Upon entering the forest, they dispersed, with the young woman taking the right and the butler taking the left.

Cara reared her large horse towards a thick bush; and suddenly, a man emerged from underneath, screaming as the horse drove its heavy and powerful hooves down to his skull. There was a panicked scream and a wet squelch of blood, and then Cara ran her hand soothingly against the horse's mane to calm him down.

On the other side, Sebastian engaged five trespassers in combat: he evaded their guns and delivered a roundhouse kick to the nearest man, while still dodging the upcoming bullets. He jumped to one of the branches, took out knives and forks from his pocket, and sent them flying to his enemies. When he landed on the ground, still with catlike elegance, the trespassers were all dead.

"Oh well," he mused, fixing his raven hair. "You could have at least sent a letter that you're all visiting. I might have prepared some good tea for you, gentlemen." Then he heard sudden gunshots. "So it would appear Miss Stanmore might be having a difficulty?"

"Bastard−" Another enemy burst from the column of trees and fired relentlessly at him.

"How rude," Sebastian mumbled, springing into the air and twisting the newcomer's neck. "To delay me while I am planning to help a damsel in distress." He chuckled at his own joke and dashed to find his companion.

Cara was still on her horse, adamant on simply riding her enemies down. She charged toward one of the enemies, but he pulled out a revolver and fired at the horse's chest. It collapsed to the ground, taking Cara with him, surrounding them in a cloud of dust.

As the enemy was coughing and rubbing at his eyes, Cara snatched the revolver from his hands and tackled him to the ground. She pinned him there with her foot pressed against his throat, while her purple eyes−wide with curiosity−were examining the revolver.

"This is a new model, is it not?" she observed, turning the weapon over and over. "Made from America more like it. The Americans do have a way for out-manufacturing us when it comes to firearms."

"W-Wench!" the man underneath her screamed. His hands tried to pry her boot off his throat, but she pressed even harder, choking him instead. "You… You…"

"Don't worry. I would give it back." She checked the barrel as three more appeared from the bushes and aimed their revolvers at her.

The enemies fired and she ducked out of the way, grabbed her captive by his collar, and stood up again, using him as a shield against the onslaught of his comrades. She marched towards the three, her human shield in place, while her left hand shot out and gunned the three down where they stood. The sounds of shots echoed throughout the whole forest.

Someone crept behind her and pulled out a pocketknife. He surged forward, aiming for her nape.

Cara heard it slicing through the air and responded accordingly: she dropped to the floor, placed both hands flat against the earth, and drove all her power to an upward kick. Her heel caught the assailant's chin and she whirled on the floor, her other leg darting out to rob her assailant of his balance. The man fell next to her, still stunned from the first kick. Before he knew it, Cara was on top of him. She took his knife and drove it deep into his neck.

Feeling someone else's presence, she twisted and saw Sebastian's cheery smile. "You're finished?"

"I am," he said, approaching her. His ruby eyes assessed the entire scene. Four men riddled with bullets, one with a knife sticking from his neck. "You work neatly, Miss Stanmore. No traces of blood. As expected of the young master's hunting teacher."

"It's nothing so extravagant." She stood up, dusted her white trousers off, and glanced at the horse. "Tell Earl Phantomhive I did not mean to have one of his horses dead. Perhaps he could simply deduce it from this month's salary−"

"There would be no need for that," he assured, winking. "The young master certainly would not mind in the slightest. Now, should we head back to the manor as well? It is almost time for late afternoon tea. As per the young master's request, I prepared your favorite strawberry and cream shortcake, along with Earl Grey tea."

Her stomach grumbled at once. Then her cheeks turned scarlet. "O-Oh, no! It's not what it looks like! I mean−"

Sebastian tried to hide his smile behind his glove. "I suppose that means we should hurry back. You would not mind if I carry you back to the mansion, to make things faster?"

Cara shook her head, quite embarrassed now. "Not at all, Mister Butler…"

"In that case," he said as swooped down and carried her in his arms, "there's no time to waste, Miss Stanmore."

The two Secretarial Officers put down their binoculars, as one of them broke from the line to return to the massive horse-drawn carriage. They retained out of sight−not too far to lose sight of their subjects, yet not too close to attract attention. Once the guns started firing, one of them grinned and prowled closer, his eyes fixed upon the young woman with a revolver.

"We should be entering through the front door," Charles Phipps reminded his partner, who was still so excited at the thought of a fight that he remained grinning like an idiot. He sighed and snatched the binocular from his hands. "Grey, are you even listening?"

"I was listening!" Charles Grey snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. The wind picked up, blowing his silver-white hair about his shoulders. "How should we do it this time?"

"See? You weren't listening at all."

"Wha−? I was!"

"We enter through the front door," Phipps repeated. "Like gentlemen−unless we want the butler and the young lady thinking we are among the enemies. We cannot risk another fight, like every other times we have been here."

Grey smirked, stroking his chin. "You see, I was thinking−"

"That's bad for your health, Charles."

"Listen for a moment, would you?!"

Phipps stared at his partner and saw the quiver of his lips as Grey frowned. "I know what you're thinking already. You want to engage the young lady into a fight. And here's what I am thinking: no."

Grey whined. "Just a little bit?"

"No means no. Now let's go, or I would leave you here behind." Phipps jumped to the coachman's seat and looked around the dense forest. The wind howled, the skies blotting out the sun, turning the forest darker and quieter. Hands tight around the leather reins, he observed every movement of the trees. His attention perked, like a cat perking at every suspicious movement, with his grey eyes narrowing ominously.

"W-What is it, Charles?" Grey stammered, afraid to look over his shoulder in fear of seeing something he did not want to see. Shaky hands strayed to where his sword was.

Phipps shot his partner a cold, nonchalant look. "I think I saw a ghost," he said and quickly snapped at the reins, dashing across the forest.

Grey shrieked girlishly and ran after the carriage. "W-W-Wait, C-Charles! Don't leave me here~!"

Author's Notes: Guess who's back! Here I return after a six-month writer's block. It feels really awesome to be out of that block and be active once more in this wonderful site! But of course I have to write something for the Kuroshitsuji fandom to celebrate, so I decided to write another Charles Grey story because—I'll be honest here—I adore this silver-haired bastard more than any other character. As much as I love seeing Grey and Phipps appear in the manga, they don't show often enough.

As someone might have noticed, I have another Grey/OC story that is in hiatus: To Live a Marionette Life. Sadly, the hard drive that contained all finished chapters for that story was corrupted. I was unable to recover all the finished chapters for all my stories. With that said, all my previous unfinished stories prior to this one might be discontinued (until I get out of my depression corner and rewrite everything).

For now, I do hope you enjoy this product of mine. I certainly enjoyed writing this, so I hope you enjoy it as well. Cheers to everyone who reads this first chapter and please do tell me what you think! I would love to know everyone's opinions.

P.S. Also, 2CT is real. Shall we (2CT supporters) party now? XD

P.P.S. Thank you again for reading!