Ch1 That Shinigami, Trouble.
A/N This is a story I had in my mind for a long time. I tried to post my story online last year but since nobody would even read or give one review for a few weeks I gave up, but now its back. I hope to get review and it becomes successful in getting readers.
Within the Shinigami London Dispatch Society, everything and everyone were orderly, punctual, and very much efficient.
Shinigamis were one of the most important deities that helped keep the balance of life and death and always saw there was order of the two.
London Dispatch was the tip of the top and was even listed in the DailyWord magazine of the supernatural realm as being one of the most organized and proficient dispatches with good reputation.
Everything should have been as it always did, where reapers did their job effectively from paperwork to collecting souls, and different reapers from different managements did the job on time, or at least did their best in doing so. They were either cold hard workers or friendly drinkers and partiers.
Normal was the bottom line, but it wasn't. That was before everything went wrong and everyone and everything turned upside down.
It was not until an employee killed his co-worker over a paperwork that was turned in late.
Not to mention the riot that started over a bar fight that left many injured and suspended.
Two shinigami officers were accused of rape and assault.
Some just plainly lost their mind.
And half the division fell ill, vomiting, spitting blood, seizures, fever, along with a myriad of conditions to an unnamed epidemic that wrought their bodies to the core with many infliction. There were some who were lucky enough to not have gotten sick.
Chaos took over the society ripping it from its everyday routines, encouraging violence and aggression and all the raw emotion that many shinigamis kept at bay to not distract them from working. Self control plummeted and some only held onto what was left of it by a thread, along with their health and sanity.
What once was an orderly and civil place turned into a powder keg of untold proportions where everyone walked on eggshells, broke their trusts, and turned against each other. Nothing would ever be the same again, and nobody would ever forget that one hellish month without being scarred forever.
What they didn't know and never will, was underneath the surface that triggered all these bad happenings had an accomplice among them. The hatred that was boiling within that quiet little thing was stirred incurring the wrath that was unleashed upon them and all the culprit's targeted victims.
Sophie Lockhart sat at her desks typing with expertise speed on the typewriter. All her fingers attacked the keyboard with flawlessness and finished her tenth soul report under fifteen minutes. Her typist skills rivaled that of expert secretaries that she was recognized as being very gifted, although the recognition never really made her feel comfortable.
She adjusted her blue framed rectangle glasses on her nose and did her best to shrink behind her desk with her long cinnamon red bangs covering her yellow green eyes as adults passed by giving small glances at the tiny worker, she hung her head even lower letting her red ribbon on the left side of her head slump on her short hair that curled at the end.
Sophie was a tiny worker alright, but only because she was only about ten or eleven years old when she became a shinigami, and definitely the youngest out of all them. The age group ranged from teens to adults.
Peering behind her curtain of hair she caught some workers whispering to each other and staring her, which made her shrink even more.
"That kid is so odd! I can't believe they let a kid that young graduate. " she heard one say.
"I know, I heard about what she did with the chair back in the academy." said another.
"there must be something wrong with her."
Sophie sighed, she was a prodigy, but no matter how smart or gifted she was, her social standing was a different story, to simply put it, she was a terribly odd child.
She was extremely introverted, refusing any social interaction with others, avoiding being touched or talked to unless necessary, her demeanor was that of stone, and most of all she was quiet. Just too quiet that it bothered everyone and her superiors to no end, wondering if she had a mental problem. Hardworking and obedient as she was, a shinigami must also learn to deal with social contact, and many did their best to crack her hard shell but to no avail, leaving her to be her strange self, but always kept her under careful scrutiny.
Quietly absorbed in her papers, Sophie read silently but could still hear the voices of others clearly as a cat.
"Wow ten papers, even I couldn't do that under a few minutes." A blonde woman commented.
"She's still just so weird, I heard she cried alot in the Academy." said a man in a blue tie.
"Kids like her are not meant for shinigami work."
She pretended not to even see or hear them and let it go past her shoulder. Adults are dumb people anyway, they are always so judgmental.
After they left, she felt relieved she did not have to hear their chatter anymore, but to her dismay another adult came forth and approached her desk.
A rugged looking shinigami officer with reddish auburn hair tall and lean in his physique, had a bit of a muscular build in his chest, which reminded her of Eric Slingby. She caught him giving her a wink and blowing a kiss at her way.
"Why hello there little cutie." he roughly greeted.
She shudders in fear and clenches her fists, she's heard of cradle robbers and that she should always be wary of older men being too affectionate with her.
"Well aren't you a busy little girl. Why aren't you looking at me when I'm talking to you? Shy?" his voice dripped with flirtation.
"You sure are pretty too, too pretty to be sitting at the desk all day. Sweet girls like you should get out more."
He leans in closer to her that she could smell his foul breath and stares at her some more. Heat of disgust began to rise from her stomach as the man continues to stare at her for seconds that seemed like an eternity, his eyes bore into her as he scanned her little figure.
She gripped her papers in her hand and shrank back as hard as she could.
"Come on kid I'll treat you out or maybe to my place. There are plenty of treats at my home."
Go away. GO AWAY! she screamed in her head, the sensation of little prickling needles rose from her back as she waited for him to go, she took hold of her death scythe scissors for safety. What was wrong with this man? His hands came to rest upon her shoulders giving them a small grip, she shudders at his touch as his hand moved to her neck fondling her hair.
"You're like a little lady."
Her heart began to race with trepidation, something in her memory was winding through her mind.
Hands. They were coming for her, disgusting evil hands.
"Sophie!" Ronald's voice rang out, the sound of his voice startled the man prompting him to let go of her as the blonde boy bubbly appeared.
"Ronnie?" she whispers in her tiny voice, she hands the papers over to him at once to show her completed work. He blinks at her surprised at the work done in her hand.
"That fast? It takes me hours to finish just one report! Well what else could you expect from the Academy's youngest prodigy, eh?" he ruffles her hair and fixes the loose bow.
"I'm making pasta tonight, old man Sutcliff said he's going to help me, I promise I won't burn dinner like last time!" he said.
Sophie just smiled with a half vacant look on her face just to show it was okay. When she first entered the society, Ronald held her by the hand like a parent bringing their child to their first day of school, she had a dirty dress and messy long hair, and looked all skin and bones like one of the unfortunate kids from the east end of London. It was he who got her cleaned up and fed her till their was meat in her, with Grell Sutcliff's help of course. Ronald was pinned to her to be also like a mentor, but he didn't complain.
"Hey Mr. Edward!" Ronald greeted his senior.
"Hello there Ron." he beams a smile at him and Sophie threw Edward a diirty look.
"I was just admiring Sophie's paperwork here and it is quite impeccable. I couldn't write my first report without having a hundred flaws in it!"
"Well I can't say I did either." Ronald adds. Sophie just shrank in her seat even more glaring at Edward.
You're sick! She said in her mind.
"Sophie, don't look so grumpy like that, that's bad attitude in front of an adult." Ronald reminded her.
She didn't listen and just kept looking angrily at Edward and cringed as he put a hand on her shoulder again.
"Don't mind Sophie, she's just a bit tired from all her paperwork." he gave her a smile that she knew was so fake.
"But a lady..." he traces a finger to her jawline and holds her face up to him.
"Must always learn to smile in front of others."
That was it, something in her snapped. Instinctively with a loud animal sound, she viciously sank her teeth hard into his hand till she felt something crack. Edward howled in pain as Ronald and other people passing through gasped in shock.
"Get her off me!" he screamed but she did not let go as she tried to tear the hand wildly like a well cooked steak in a dog's jaws.
Ronald grabbed her and slapped her on the head, "Sophie, stop! Let go of him now!" he tugged her head as hard as he could and then obediently, she let go and spat a piece of leather glove huffing madly with sharp eyes.
"Why would you do that?" Ronald asked her in disbelief at his own ward, he never thought that she was capable of such a thing. For a moment her face was veiled with rage, but it quickly returned to it's normal stoic disposition.
"What's going on here?" an authoritative voice called out from behind the crowd of onlookers who murmured among themselves. Nervously they parted to reveal their supervisor, William T. Spears who looked at the commotion in utter displeasure.
"Knox, what happened?" he boomed.
Shamefully, Ronald glanced towards Sophie then at Edward who held his injured hand in pain, being Sophie's mentor and caretaker he was also held reliable for her actions, and this incident certainly is going to cost him more than just overtime.
"I...um...there was nothing really, just an accident." he told him. William frowned wryly.
"That girl just bit me!" Edward shouted.
"I saw her too! That child attacked him." one lady yelled and pointed at her.
"Yeah, she's an animal, get her under control or something!" said one man. The rest of the crowd joined in yelling at Spears to do something with other insults hurled at Sophie.
The seriousness in his expression proved fatal to Ronald. William raised the tone of his voice so everyone heard, "Ronald Knox, Sophie Lockhart. To my office, NOW!"
The whole room was replaced with hushed whispers as many workers glowered and shook their heads at them. A few girls that Ronald tried to ask out turned up their noses and left in contempt. This made him groan at the sight of them, which brought his esteem down to negative 5, where else would he look for new dates?
"See? that girl is trouble with a capital T." said one of the women from before.
Embarrassingly, he guided Sophie along as she trudged with her eyes still burning behind her lens, even though all she did was keep a stone facade.
At the office, they sat down with William at his desk burrowing daggers into both of them. Most of all, he kept watching Sophie as if she was about to pull a knife out. Ronald fidgeted nervously on spot and Sophie sat unnervingly still.
Sophie, even if her exterior was dead calm, fumed madly inside. She clenched her jaw tightly wanting to wrap her hands around her office scissors. She hated William, she hated being inside his office, for it was cold and threatening. To her, it matched his personality, he was always mean and intimidating and many times had yelled at her on how to do this and that and for not being "respectful" to adults. She just hated adults and how they treated her as if she was an alien among them, he would never understand.
"Mr. Spears, I can explain." Ronald began.
"No, Knox, you're not at fault here." William said coldly, "Sophie, you bit someone's hand."
"B-but sir!" Ronald rose to her defense, "She did not like being touched is all, she-"
"Silence Knox!" William snapped muting his employee and then came back to Sophie, "Why did you bite his hand?" The question made Sophie scoff in her mind.
I don't like that guy, putting his hands on me that's why! I've seen him putting his hands on all the ladies in the department. I should have chomped both off!
"I don't like...it" she muttered quietly.
"I can't hear you, speak louder." William ordered firmly.
"Sophie!" Ronald chided, but she remained unfazed. Looking past her long bangs at her superior, his grim and black appearance caused a shiver to crawl in he skin, he looked like something from her nightmare.
"I didn't like him touching me." she said loudly this time, trying to contain her swelling anger.
"He was just being friendly, Mr. Edward is a respectable worker here. You should apologize."
Far too friendly with plenty of women during break, its sick. She thought, "I don't like being touched," she said again tensely.
William sighed doing his best to not scold, "being uncomfortable does not give you the right to do that." he lectured, "I know you've had 'problems' before, but shinigami must learn to be self controlled at all time, calm, of good judgement..." as he droned on, Sophie zoned out mid way. "and most of all, respectful to other people. Do I make myself clear?"
Grudgingly, she replied softly, "yes sir,"
Pushing back his chair William rose to his feet and leaned towards Sophie darkly, " I have my eye on you remember that. So you better be careful if you want to continue reaping souls and if you are going to prove yourself mature to even handle this sort of job."
The girl only gazed back blankly at his harshness silently making the supervisor grunt with annoyance at her demeanor. Before being dismissed, Ronald took her to the door scowling at her brashness.
Thank god, they were being let off easy, but before Sophie made it out the door, her final thoughts were: Go to hell Spears.
Reluctantly,she was lead back to Edward who looked back disgusted. "Mr. Edward, Sophie has something to say." Ronald told him. Sophie kept a tight lip, but he gave her a bump in the arm and a serious face. She gave a 'hmph' as few people stopped to watch.
"I'm...s-sorry." she said with her teeth slightly gritted, "sorry for biting you, sir, I should have never done that." she apologized as a good girl should.
Edward softened his face a little, with half awkward smile he gently patted her on the head, "Aw, that's alright kiddo, I guess I did too much, strong chompers you got yes you do. I' promise I'll be careful next time."
Shut up. Sophie wanted to say. "Well I guess that's been fixed." Ronald then pinched Sophie's cheek hard it made her wince. "Don't ever do something like that or I'll ground you next time." he scolded. "Yes Ronnie." was all she said.
Deep down, Sophie's anger boiled inside of her. i don't want to be grounded for just defending myself. Adults, they're so stupid! They can do whatever they want to kids and make excuses for them.
From behind, she could have sworn Edward hiss under his breath, "stupid little brat, I'll have you killed."
As the citizens of London slept throughout the night, two people cloaked in black dragged a bundle from across a field and hauled it over a wagon, a leg popped out from the cloth as it was dropped. One of them grumbled, "be careful, you don't want to wake him."
"Pardon that my lady, I'll be sure to be careful." the other assured. He took a machete and placed it in his bag, "lets keep this away from him, he's bound to get dangerous with it," he said as he hitched up the horse and rode into the night.