Note

: English is not my first language. Apologies in advance or the typos and grammatical errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji and its characters.

o-o-o

Harriet Jones didn't know how it started nor what had gotten into her that time she made a bet with that sorry excuse of a shinigami, Ronald Knox.

Perhaps it was the boredom that came with being a female shinigami—not being allowed to go to the mortal realm and reap souls—or maybe it was the reaper alcohol.

It was obviously the latter as the memory of that night was a bit too blurry for her taste.

Flashback:

There was a year-end party for the grim reapers. Although most of the ones getting promoted were male shinigamis, the population comprises more of the female ones since death cannot be delayed and the male shinigamis are gone reaping souls.

It was exactly how she, a junior of the management department found herself in the corner of a majestic room filled with her fellow shinigamis.

Harriet lets out another sigh before sipping one of the more toxic drinks available.

A party for their kind is rare so when it come reapers enjoy it to the fullest.

Only two hours had passed in their realm, but it felt like a lifetime. Harriet was slowly losing her touch. The drink was addicting and she couldn't stop.

The female shinigami was about to take another sip when a hand snatched her glass away,

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" The girl groggily snapped.

A familiar male shinigami appeared beside her and snatched her glass away. Harriet took a step back and glared at the new arrival,

"Oh it's you."

"You're drunk." the male stated all too obviously.

She frowned, "I am not."

"You are." Ronald replied quickly, smirking at his long-time friend.

"I think I know what I feel way more than you, now give it back!"

Ronald only snickered at his long-time friend and fellow shinigami before gulping down the rest or her drink. This did not amused the girl at all.

"Do you know what I went through for them to give me a drink?! They won't let me since it's for the male shinigamis. Ugh how annoying."

Seriously, the Reapers' society is worse than the one in the mortal realm and that's saying a lot for someone who killed herself because of society.

The blonde-haired shinigami laughed at his friend's antics before taking a seat next to her. Harriet followed mindlessly and took the empty seat next to him.

"So how's work?" Ronald pulls out a bottle seemingly out of nowhere and started drinking from it.

"The usual. Boring as hell."

"Boring as heaven, is what you mean."

Harriet glared at the man, "no. I'm pretty sure the demons are having more fun in those fire pits compared to me."

The two talked mostly about the interesting things that happened to them the past week though it was mostly Ronald who was happily chatting since she had nothing interesting to really tell other than that time when she saw her William getting strangled by a red-haired male.

It was a revolting sight, let me tell you that. But it did made her feel better after being cooped up in her office for a long time.

"—then Sutcliff-senpai literally ran to Sebas-chan and clung to him like a koala!" The boy held his stomach as he laughed.

After he finally calmed down, the two shared a drink and fell back into a comfortable silence, everything was at peace until the giant golden double-door burst open, that is.

A male shinigami wearing a red dress appeared and made a giant entrance for him—err, herself.

Harriet caught sight of the male reapers at the corner of her eyes, all looking ready to bat out from the room literally done with the red head's shit.

She adjusted her glasses and found herself gasping in shock.

"Hey that's the senior I was talking about! He was the one that almost raped William!"

Ronald broke down in laughter, almost spilling his drink. "That's Sutcliff-senpai, the one I was talking to you about too."

Harriet's face scrunched up. She knew that name though never actually knowing what the infamous Grell Sutcliff look like but she heard mostly positive reviews about him being one of the most skilled shinigamis of her time.

Now almost all her respect for the reaper was gone.

"Are you sure he was the same Grell that got higher test scores than William during their academy days?" she inquired reluctanly, her eyes never leaving the red-head currently pole dancing.

Ronald nodded, before turning his gaze at her, "Yeah why, got a crush on 'im?"

It took awhile before her friend's words sunk in and she found herself laughing at his dumb ass.

"Why would I like him—err, her?"

Ronald shrugged, finishing the last bits of his drink. "Hey tell you what, why not make a bet with me?"

His yellowish-green ringed eyes gleamed and Harriet knew he was up to no-good again. Without missing a bit, she drank the last bits of her drink as well before sighing. "Whatever it is, count me out."

"Hey c'mon, it'll be fun. Promise!"

The girl turned to look at Ronald who was grinning at her sheepishly. The boy then came closer and whispered something to her ear.

Harriet had known him since their academy days. They were seatmates and lived in the same building before they graduated from training.

Ronald, pretty much how he is now, was a playboy.

He would change girlfriends faster than he'd change his clothes, surprisingly, he never once hit on her. She was thankful for that of course but found out later that he had admired and respected her enough to know she was not someone to play with. That was the start of their long, genuine and solid friendship.

But there are countless if times she would find herself questioning her tastes in friends. Much like right now,

"You're asking me what?!"

"Hey! You can't back out now! You said yes and that sealed the deal!"

"The fuck you mean I said yeah? You're asking me to turn that—" she signalled at Grell who was now doing waltz "—into a man, HOW?"

Harriet was in disbelief. Sure the deal can be quite tempting—Ronald said he'll do her job for a full week with all the repurcussions, and maybe even let her reap souls—but it was simply impossible.

"Yep and if I win you're gonna tell Will-senpai you used to have a crush on him. Hey, you should be grateful ya' know, I feel like you're getting all the benefits here. Meh, I'm such a great friend anyways." Ronald shrugged and the girl almost wacked the empty bottle on his head.

"You do know female reapers aren't allowed to go to the mortal world, right? or did your brain finally gave up on you?"

Ronald pouted, "I told you it'll be fun. And IF the seniors found out—hey hey stop pinching me!—I'll budge you out."

Harriet huffed knowing how stubborn her friend is when it comes to these things.

"Alright, what's the catch?"

Ronald's eyes widened. He was about to tell an alibi but the unamused look his friend was giving made him shut his mouth quickly.

"W-Well, there's this girl in your departme—"

Harriet grunted, "then make it two weeks."

For a moment, Ronald didn't seem to catch what she was trying to say.

"Two weeks into my job if I even managed to spark the slightest manliness left of Sutcliff-san. If there is even any."

Her friend visibly brightened and Harriet immediately regretted her words. She just had to give in didn't she?

"Alrighty! Let's set the timer for one month, got it?"

"You know this is impossible on my part, right?"

The man laughed in response. "Hey, just like our probably dead ancestors used to say: never say never."