Prolog
Today was my 189th "birthday" as they say. Things are so dull as they always are and have been since my induction as the Successor... I thought, maybe since my freedom would be stolen anyhow, I should give a damn about the rules and take a vacation, maybe try to visit the human world; something of that nature. But of course the night I left the manor my hands where still shaking with some sort of indescribable emotion.
That was, though, so very long ago. So my hands are firm, but I'm just as bored with life as I was living in hell. I was so very sick and tired of having people suck up to me and having everything about my fate decided for me. So that night when my hands shook so very violently, I spread my wings and took flight, North, for the world of humans. I was sick and tired of people forgetting how I had gotten my position of next ruler of the underworld; I was the strongest of the all the demonic beings(besides my old man who refuses to die) and I wasn't about to let anyone boss me around. So I took matters into my own hands. Ten years ago, I left without warning, and burned into the wall of my castle, 'gone where it's brighter', and made my way to the newest addition to the 5th realm; Earth or more specifically, the world of the delicacy; humans.
So as you might have guess, what with the living in hell and being 189 years old(even from the tid-bid about humans being a delicacy), you can guess I'm not human. Actually I guess you could say I was something similar at one point, but from all all the turning I've become the true demon of hell. And ideal image, and idol, if you will, of what all residents of the underworld are supposed to be.
Once again, though, that is all behind me.
As I slid my coat up over my dress shirt, I grabbed my cane and tapped at the souls of the shoes. I started for the doorway before my maid stopped me. She ran up and pulled my tie up higher. She flashed me a smile and straighten out my suit.
"Well don't you look all clean and spiffy!" She said, her hands on her hips.
"I'm not in too good of a mood...I don't really feel like talking.." I mutter.
"Well you're always not in a good mood." The way she smiled after that, even brighter than before, ticked me off.
"Smile every once in awhile, this is your engagement party. And on your day of birth, no less." She told me.
"Right, and I'm sure you know what it's like to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, don't you? That feeling of being caged it?" I took one of her black pig-tails and twirled her hair in my fingers.
"Something like that...Being high and middle-class demons we never really had a choice on our future..." She looked away, patting me on the shoulder.
"Alright you're all ready. Go out there are get some girls!"
"Girls are stupid."
"Now, now, stop with the aptitude."
This girl is Rukia Kuchiki, former heiress to the Kuchiki Clan and current head-maid of my estate. She; along with a few other demons, who where especially idiotic and felt in debt to me for paying off whatever debt they had to someone else, followed me. This is how I got my new cleaning crew for my new home.
It has been 10 years since I came to this world; the world of humans. It's not very entertaining. The only good thing about it is the food. Humans scurry around here like nobody's business! Course, when I used my abilities to create this castle on an open field, the villagers suddenly got scared and didn't come up here. I didn't know then, but human don't have powers. So as it turns out my home was suddenly declared "haunted" which brings be to where I am now. It's kinda like being at one of my cottages because nothing happens. I stay at my estate, get called to hell to do some sort of work, come back, and repeat the process. I was hoping coming here would prevent me from being in hell but it seems like I'm still in it! If I had something to do, I wouldn't go to hell, but there's nothing for me to do.
My estate is in the style of the west and is perched high on the top of a hill that was once called "the peek of ages". It was somewhat modeled after my old home, though I made it much smaller, and less flashy. It had the standard 10ft stone wall- 3ft thick with a 20ft iron gate. With help from blueprints of the castles and churches in Britten and France, I built my estate in the modern arch design. The windows where large and the front doors where quite large and made of cherry wood. The inside of the estate was quite "luxurious" as some would say. Marble columns, stairs, and floor. Red drapes for the large windows. Velvet, pillows on the Victorian-style couches. All in all, I could make a living, but if something interesting didn't happen, I didn't intend to stay in the human world for too long. It was too bright here, and the lack of spirit energy in the air makes me feel weak.
I grab my white gloves and slip them on up over my hands, testing their tightness by gripping my hands in fists. I shake my gelled-down hair out to its normal spikiness and shake off the irritating feeling of being choked by a black tie and having to where a top hat; even the feeling off my gloves was somewhat bothering. I suppose I was just looking for any excuse not to go to this party. This is where demons, vampires, soul pipers, whatever demonic monster you can think of that's of the female sex, throws themselves at me.
I hate the look in their eyes as they talk to you, that hopelessness saying they don't want to even be associated with you, but their parents are forcing them to. With any luck one of those girls will be picked to be my fiance and the future queen of hell. Really it's not luck though..It sucks for them, and it always sucks for me. We never get a saying on our on destiny the mediocre and the aristocratic demons have no freedom because in order to keep their position, they have to stay close knit and prevent themselves from being bumped to the low demon society and forced to act like animals, feeding on their own kind to survive. That's why I hated that world, it was pressuring, boring, and everyone lied to you so obviously.
One of the butlers opened the doors and in the pail moonlight I could see the endless trees lined up along the road the went on for another mile before reaching the gate. There was only one moon in this world and it was either small or far off. It also went through "phases" unlike our two moons which where always the same(the two moons in hell reminded me of circles with little circles cut into them, much like the crescent moon on the Earth, just the edges of the crescent wrap around and touch.)
As I walked toward the carriage that took me to the portal to hell, I came across a puddle. My shoe barely touched the water and it rippled slightly. The water in this world was also so..Pure. So much so that I could make out my reflection even when it was tainted with dirt.
My white hair was half back to normal, my spiky hair was both squished down by my top hat, and flattened by the gel, though it still managed peek out underneath the hat and above my ears. My blue/teal eyes reflected the moonlight and glowed. The one bare source of spirit energy in this world came from the moon. And every night my eyes would glow to meet that energy, it was gasping for it, it was as if there was a warning by the brightness of my eyes that said I was weakening, I needed more spirit energy then the light of the moon could offer. The people in the town called me "the ghost of little the baron" apparently people thought I was a baron which is completely demoting. I'm a grand duke. And I'm not little! Ok..I admit it, I'm 4.4 but that's normal for my age in my species of demon! Speaking of which; the species I belong to are the arch ice angels.
The street lights had not been lit yet so the lawn look especially ominous; reminds me of home. I load into the carriage and without a moments hesitation, without the world stopping to give a second to breath perhaps my last breath of "bachlorism", the carriage takes off into the night. Great, just beautiful. Will the world just give me a break?
The stars in the sky blurred together, or maybe that was like the dark matter belt in hell... It was a blob of light, sparkly stuff behind the glinting stars... What was that, what was in this sky? There was a lot that was interesting about this world..But I didn't come here to go to school or to learn, I came here to stay away from hell, yet I'm going back right now, if I just had a reason to revolt, and reason that was so rule-breaking and unacceptable they'd have to let me be until they come up with something to push me back into submission. If only there was a spark that would let me break away.
The red interior of the carriage was just the perfect blood-red to set my own blood boiling. I remembered last night when the chefs served me pure, genuine, human blood. Who knows where they got it, but it made my mouth water thinking about it. The taste was better than anything found in hell. And I suppose it's only natural seeing as the delicacies in another world would be totally different and beyond comparison to that of your world... The soft feel to the fabric made me think of what the maids told me, drinking blood from a cup is nothing like taking it from the animal it came from. And I'm not sure if that was something good or bad...
Then suddenly the carriage came to a halt. I unlatched the door and stepped out, taking my two open fingers and adjusting my hat.
"Driver, is there anything the matter?" I ask.
"There's a little something at the gate." The driver tells me.
I step around the carriage and tilt my head at the sight. This little thing with pudgy little butt with stubby legs and chubby cheeks crawled around on the ground near the gate. It had black toughs of hair in pigtails on its head. It had dark blue eyes and its little hands played with the dirt. A plain which baby shirt and bloomers and bare footed... It was abandoned at my gate..It must've slipped through the gaps in iron gate. It was a tiny thing, looked no older than 5 months, and I could smell it too, even from way back where I was standing, the stench of a human.
I kicked through the front door with my foot again. All my maids, lounging on my couches, and the butlers, leaning so casually over the stair, flirting with other maids, jumped up at the sight of me and lined up in two parallel lines.
"Welcome back young master." They all said.
"You're back early master, may I take your co-" Rukia was the first to look up and she gasped, everyone else, upon looking up, gasped as well.
Hanging on my cane/staff, was the little creature/human from before. Hanging from the bloomers, the little thing was fascinated by how it was hanging in the air, it tried the crawl in place and then it looked up at everyone in the room.
"A-a human! Young master-" Rukia gasped.
Everyone backed away as I instructed, "Bring a blanket and see to it that the child is taken care of."
Rukia motioned for a butler and he went to retrieve the instructed. A young girl pushed through the crowd of maids and began, "I love babies!" And as she reached out from the crowd to touch the baby, I pulled the human away and Rukia swatted her had back.
"My apologizes, young master, this is a newly hired maid fresh from the underworld, she knows nothing of the human world." Rukia bows and then turns around the face the girl, she puts her hands on the girl's shoulders and says, "Look here, Ayame, that baby you where about to touch was a human. We cannot touch humans."
The girl seemed perplexed and Rukia specified, "Have you ever been brought flowers from the human world?" The girl nods, "What happens when we demons touch flowers?"
"The wilt and.." The girl suddenly realizes.
"Do you hear me, everyone?" Rukia begins in her assertive voice. She gazes around at all the maids, "We mustn't touch the baby or our demonic energy will kill it. This is why young master Hitsugaya is carrying it so carefully."
Carefully? I just picked it up with my cane cause I thought it was gross. Why would I want the stench of human on my suit?
"But master Hitsugaya is wearing gloves! Doesn't that stop the flow of his demonic energy to the baby?" The girl, Ayame, asked.
"Master has high demonic energy being a grand Duke, gloves cannot possibly mask his demonic energy, it might masks ours, but not his. Speaking of which, everyone go put on gloves and test to see if they mask your demonic energy by touching a flower!"
Snap, Snap. Rubber gloves slap on and come off. Some maids and butlers killed the flowers even if they had the gloves on, some need two pairs of gloves on top of the other to mask the aura. But all in all, we managed to pull together enough people to care for the child.
Ayame apparently had weak energy because she needed on one pair of gloves, she took the baby off my cane and gently placed it on the blanket set on the rug in the sitting room. I sat far away from the thing as the adoring maids peered over the thing. I put my hand on the arm rest and crossed my legs. Then I sat and watched the children look at the little baby. The baby looked back with wide eyes and then it burst into tears, screaming and wailing. Everyone jumped back in surprise. The shrieking from the little thing annoyed me SO much.
I focused on my demonic energy and tried to steer it to the souls of my feet. Instantly the ground below me cracked under the pressure. I'll fix that later. Now with the gloves on on top of that..I should be able to...I took a flower out of the vase near me and it didn't wilt. Just to be sure I pick up another. Then when I was definitely certain I walked over to the screeching child and grabbed it by the collar of its shirt and lifted it up. The little thing was curled up In a little ball and still crying.
"Oh shut up, you spoiled brat!"
And instantly the little thing was quiet and it looked at me with it's red, puffy eyes. It looked at me for a long time until finally it seemed as though it decided what it though about me. A genuine smile broke across its face. Not one anyone has ever given me. There was no purpose behind it except to express happiness. Not to charm, or infatuate, no secret meaning. Just a bright smile.
"What is this thing, stupid?" I say as the child tries to reach toward me and I pull it back.
It made a cooky, weird laugh and then smiled again. What was this thing?
As the child lay in a little cradle I made with my abilities. As Rukia took the little curtains and pulled then over the little girl.(yeah, we found out it was a girl when we washed it..)
Rukia turned to me afterward and began, "You know we can't keep it, it's against the rules,"
I sigh, "You think I want to keep that head ache? I'll just give it to an orphan-" Then it dawns on me, "Wait, it is against the rules! In that case, Rukia start a live conference with the elders, tell them it's an emergency."
"What are you scheming?" She asks.
"You don't need to know," I say
When Rukia comes with the conference ball she shines the screen on the wall. A lower-level elder is seen on the screen.
"Hitsugaya, something tells me this isn't an emergency."
I laugh, "Not really, but if I didn't say that I wouldn't be able to reach you. I'd have to file an appointment for 10 years in the future. I'm just giving you an update on where I'll be residing from now on."
"Oh brilliant! I knew this adolescent stage wouldn't last long! Are you ready to come back to the underworld?" He says, smirking a bit. Almost saying, I knew this wouldn't last long.
"On the contrary, Mr...Elder number 1," his lip twitched by the nickname I gave him. Must be really rude not to remember the highest demon, an elder's, name. I started again, "This human child here, I will raise. And when its life comes to an end, then I will consider returning to hell."
Calling the underworld "hell" probably ticked him off but he managed to ignore it and focus on the main aspect of the sentence. The grand duke, successor to the demon thrown, raising a child, and a human child no less.
"But that is not permitted, Grand Duke Hitsugaya, you can't-"
"Bye, bye now!" I say, turning the projector off.
Rukia sighs and walks over to me, "You're a little deviant brat."
I don't respond, but I'm smiling because I know I've just outsmarted the elders, they never thought I'd do something like this.
Rukia leans over the cradle and says, "So what are you going to name her?"
"It needs a name?"
Rukia comes up to me and slaps the back of my head, she then bows, "I apologize, but you deserved that."
"What are we going to name it then." I say, rubbing the back of my head.
"Oh and she's not an 'it' she's a her." She says.
"Isn't there a new harvest in the field today? You know, the human food we don't need?" I ask
"Well yeah, why?"
"What's the crop's name?"
"Yeah, the Quince...Why?" Rukia asks.
"Just name her Karin then, isn't that the Japanese symbol for it?"
"You're going to name her something so meaningless?" Rukia asks.
"Oh be quiet, it shows something about the day she was found. What season it was or whatever. Just name her that!" I say.
"Well then fine, It's Karin." Rukia rolls her eyes.
I turn around and walk out the door, right before hand Rukia asks me, "Master Hitsugaya, may I speak bluntly?"
I stop at the doorway and mutter, "what?"
"Please do not take this offensively, but you're still just a child. How do you expect to raise a human properly?"
I laugh, "I don't. This is merely a distraction for the elders so I can have a few decades off of life as a grand duke. I could care less about that little retarded looking creature."
Author's notes:
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Love ya,
~*RukiaRocks*~
