Sebastian Michaelis stood outside on a balcony, appreciating his surroundings and taking a deep breath of much needed fresh air. The scent of hundreds of different sweaty bodies was too much for the demon's sensitive nose to bear -it also was one of those days when he was forced to stay at his institution of employment much longer than he would have liked to.

The sunset that evening was quite a sight, though. The nearby mountains were stained red by the scarlet clouds slowly moving in and the sun burnt a flaring gold in its descent.

"Well, at least this looks better then hell."

"Mr Michaelis! I don't pay you to stand outside and mumble to yourself. Get back in here and finish grading those exams."

Sebastian grinned. "Yes, ma'am" came his response, as he turned around to face the owner of the scolding voice. Well-built and fairly pretty, Sandra Sutcliffe certainly didn't look her age of fifty-seven. Her once blonde hair was now almost entirely grey and pulled back into a strict bun that directly contrasted with her gentle face.

Sebastian chuckled to himself and wondered for what must have been the millionth time how a lovely woman like this could have borne such a misfit of a son. Greil Sutcliffe was nothing more than a teenage delinquent, a troublemaker getting into fights every day and causing countless messes for Sebastian and his fellow staff to clean up. They, however, were useless at it and the job always ended up being done solely by him.

"How is the younger Sutcliffe?" This question caused the matriarch to join him at leaning on the railing and pull out a cigarette from some mysterious place, and a lighter with it. She lit it up, took a long pull and offered it to him.

"Want some?"

"No, thank you. My doctor advised me against it."

"Alright, then. You know, for a boy practically just out of university, you're awful boring," She frowned, took another long puff and continued while Sebastian inwardly laughed at the irony of her statement, "My boy's been behaving even worse lately. I think it has something to do with his father's death's anniversary coming up. Not that I should even be calling it an anniversary."

"When is it?"

"14th of June."

"Ah. Good luck."

"Thank you, Mr Mic- hey! You've side tracked me from scolding you!" She shook her fist in mock anger.

Sebastian smiled, "Indeed I have, as the art of side tracking people is of course one of my many skills. However, you answered my question, thus you are partly to blame."

"But I'm still the principal, you lowly lecturer," she said half-seriously, "Now get inside and work, lazy bastard!"

"Right away, my lady."

She sighed, "You and your strange mannerisms."


Heartwire Mansion. And this was supposed to be a school? Victoria Martinson shook her head and zipped up her last bag.

"Vicky! Are you done yet?" Her mother shouted from the other side of the tiny house.

"Yes, mom. Almost," she corrected, spotting a whole collection of pills she had forgotten to pack.

"You should've packed last night."

"I know, sorry."

"It's ok. We just need to leave in five minutes."

Oh dear. "Ok, I'll be done!"

"Remember to pee. The trip is 5 hours, and we don't have time to stop!"

"Ok mom, I will." And with that, she shoved the last of the pills into one of the overly full suitcases and closed it securely.

After a trip to the bathroom, Victoria grabbed 3 bags and made her way to her mother's car, parked in the steep, uphill driveway. She bid farewell to her three cats, making sure to get three months' worth of snuggle in, and called, "I'm done!"

"Ok!"

Five minutes later, her mother came bearing a steaming cup of coffee and her last suitcase. "And this coffee?"

"You won't be drinking my coffee for a long time, love. You need a farewell gift." Completely against her will, Victoria began tearing up and held the cup tightly against herself. "I'm going to miss you, mom. You and your coffee."

"I'll miss you too, you little idiot. Nobody knows why you had to choose a school so terribly far away."

"Me neither, hey. Really." The more she thought about it, the more she regretted her decision. At Heartwire Mansion, a private boarding school with nothing but positive reviews, she may get high quality education, but she wouldn't have those she held dearest- her mother and her cats.

Which, for lack of a better term, really sucked.

But something inside Victoria had pushed her to apply and then miraculously get accepted the next day. Which in itself was pretty strange, considering it was the middle of a school term. Her actions made absolutely no sense, to her nor anybody else.

"Vicky- you can't chicken out now. It was your choice- and it's a scholarship," her mother said, sensing the doubt in her daughter's voice, "You need to spread your wings. I know I can't keep you here forever."

"But what if I want to stay forever…"

"You can always come back. But just give it a chance, ok? If you hate it, I'll come and fetch you."

She hugged her mom, missing her already. "Deal."


Sandra Sutcliffe lounged comfortably on a large black armchair in her office, third cigarette of the day in hand, reviewing again the application of the newest student, due to arrive any minute now.

Victoria Alexandra Martinson

Birth date: 10 May 1995 (A/N making her 18)

Sport: None.

Offenses at previous school: Six latecomings.

Allergies: None.

She stopped reading and looked at the attached photograph, showing a pale woman on the brink of adulthood with long, light brown hair and a side swept fringe. Her eyes were brown and her mouth upturned in a slight smile.

Her grades were impeccable, except for French- a second language that was not taught at Heartwire, where they taught Japanese.

Ms Sutcliffe was not entirely sure why the board accepted someone in the middle of the school term- and on a scholarship. She suspected, though, that it had to do with a star student recently dropping out, leaving a glaringly open space in the student council. Perhaps the board planned to pressurise her into joining the student council and carrying out their sneaky plans-

Her suspicious train of thought was rudely interrupted by a loud BLEEP from the intercom.

"Ms Sutcliffe?"

"Yes, Paula?"

"The new student is here."

"Send her up."

BLEEP.

"Rude woman, doesn't even bother to reply," Sandra mumbled, dumping the cigarette in the ashtray and hiding it in the cupboard. She followed this by a generous dousing of air freshener, 'Open Windows', and a few spritzes of mouth spray. When she judged the room to be suitably scented, she sat behind her imposing (or so she'd like to think) oak desk and waited for the new girl to arrive.


The anxiety she always felt before proceeding into unknown situations subsided a little bit as Victoria inhaled the familiar scent of freshly mown grass surrounding her current position-just inside the entrance gate.

Heartwire Mansion consisted of three buildings- there was one large building in the middle of the grounds that housed all staff offices and classrooms, surrounded by leisure lawn and the dreaded sports field. Then, behind that one, another, smaller building which her map (conveniently mailed to her) told her was the boarding students' accommodation and where she'd be staying. To the far left of the school grounds and secured by a fence was the staff accommodation. Heartwire was, after all, located far away from pretty much everything and thus had to provide accommodation at exorbitant fees.

The source of the comforting smell of cut grass seemed to come from a boy pushing a lawnmower. From her distance, he looked to be teenaged, quite short and wearing a straw hat. In the pauses he used to adjust the position of the machine, she could hear him humming a cheerful tune she couldn't place. At this peaceful scene she smiled and regained a smidgeon of hope for her coming stay.

To her embarrassment, the boy caught her staring and started waving enthusiastically. She returned his wave with a smaller one, miming 'need to go inside' and walked very fast towards the grand glass door that was decorated with intricate designs apparently made of metal. To her shock, they opened automatically.

The receptionist was seated to the right of the entrance, behind a beautiful antique wooden desk that contrasted with the modernity of the entrance door. She was looking down, with a face that screamed boredom while her fingers twirled in the black hair she wore long and loose. On the sound of Victoria's approach, she looked up and her bored expression changed to a business-like mask of friendly professionalism.

"How may I help you?" she enquired, fake smile and all.

"I'm the new student, Victoria Martinson? Here is the letter of acceptance I received." She handed her a single page with the school's emblem upon it.

The secretary examined it and accepted its authenticity, tapped a bit on her keyboard and then pressed a button on a mysterious object that had many buttons. After speaking to the object, that Victoria finally figured out was an intercom, she said, "The principal is waiting for you. Go up those stairs, turn left and go in the first door you see." She pointed, "Oh, and leave your things there. Come fetch them once you're done visiting."

Victoria complied, putting her bags down and starting up the stairs. Time to start this 'visit'.

Ms Sutcliffe was trying to look imposing when the girl knocked on her door. "Come in," she commanded.

"Thank you, ma'am," Somebody somewhere had once told her that the key to making a good impression on someone came from addressing them with respect- all the time.

"Sit, sit," she gestured towards two open seats in front of the desk.

"Now, since you've already been accepted and everything, this is more of an orientation session. I'll be assigning a member of staff as your mentor and a student as your guide," she laughed, "You'll be needing one, even I still get lost sometimes around here."

Shit, and I suck at directions.

"Thank you, I have a feeling I'll be sorely needing a guide."

"Not good with direction are you?"

"Quite- I can't even give someone directions to my own house and Geography and I have never been good friends."

She laughed again, and Victoria decided that she liked this woman- the first female principal she had encountered.

"That's funnier than it should be. My boyfriend's weird sense of humour must be rubbing off on me."

Ok, that was a bit strange. Boyfriend? She would've expected the woman to be married.

"I know what you're thinking- old woman, no husband."

"No, no I don't think you're ol-"

She waved her off, "Anyway, my husband died five years ago. I still miss him deeply and my son does too, but I'm one of those ridiculously lucky people that have more than one person in the world that is exactly right for them," she frowned, "Although, even to me, he is a bit odd. Anyway! Why are we even having this discussion?"

"My lack of direction sense?"

"Ah yes. But, to move past that, I need to introduce you to your mentor- who will be there to solve a legitimate problem if it arises, introduce you to your specific teachers and act as a mediator between yourself and the rest of staff." When Victoria nodded, she pressed a button on a machine identical to her secretary's and said, "Paula, track down and send Mr Michaelis up, please."


Hello there! I have been absent from for quite a while.. I haven't updated my other stories (I'm really sorry!) for what feels like forever because I lost the plot (literally) but-! updates for both Sakura's New Year and Day Class night are being typed and will be uploaded soon. Back to this story- I recently finished watching Kuroshitsuji and it was so excellent and Sebastian so wonderful that I promptly had a dream that inspired this fanfiction. This time, I have an actual, entire, plot in my head so updates should come faster. I know the title/name of the school is a bit weird, but it came to me in a dream :P

This chapter seems a bit slow to me but please review and tell me what you think! Would be much appreciated :D

Oh, and who can guess who the lawn mowing boy and the principal's boyfriend are?