Secretary

First File: First Impression

"I am in charge of overseeing interns and newcomers."

She didn't smile; her lips formed a thin hard line as she adjusted her rimless glasses. She bowed, "My name is Kagome Higurashi, the Secretary of London Division of Grim Reaper Dispatch Society, and I am your instructor until your final exam."

The cluster of young men, all adorning black suits, squirmed under her harsh stare.

The woman then flipped open the white folder in her hand, "I will call the attendance. Take notes that I have a zero policy for late attendance and absences."

A whisper of a paper glided under her fingers, "If you failed to be on time," she gestured to a clock, a long hand reaching slowly for the big 12, "or chose to neglect your education, I will, depending on circumstances, either fail you or mark you."

Kagome glared, her voice sharp as she leaned forward, "I do not tolerant excuses. Am I understood?"

The men stiffened, "Yes, madam!"

Among them was William T. Spears, who swallowed thickly, glad that he barely managed to keep his voice even and his expression plain.

Kagome nodded before she then began calling names, a pen scribbled on the list in the folder when she received verbal confirmations. Fewer had there been a lack of an answer to her calls. She shook her head at each person gone.

"William T. Spears?" It was his turn.

William stiffened at his name, almost swooning at the strict woman's use of it. She was about to call for him once more, when William finally managed to bark out a 'here'.

She dipped her head into a small nod of approval, scratching something within the paper before moving on, "Grell Sutcliff?"

Receiving no answer, Kagome's lips thinned even more than before as she then repeated, "Grell Sutcliff?"

Just as the she was about to mark out the name, a thin scream and a pair of stampeding feet erupted from the hallway outside. She paused, turning her head toward the door to her right. The interns standing before her did the same. The door suddenly slammed open, a redhead male strolled in and flipped his short hair, as if he hadn't been screaming and running a few seconds prior.

"'Sup?" He grinned, his teeth shark-like.

All of this occurred, just as the long hand of the clock ticked on the 12.

There were minute twitches at the corner of the woman's lips, missed by all but the attentive William. But they vanished as Kagome gripped her pen a little tighter, "Grell Sutcliff, I presumed?"

Grell saluted, winking flirtatiously, "Yup, that's me!"

Obnoxious sparkles shined around his attempted seductive pose.

The woman frowned, narrowing her blue-ringed eyes at the man in front of her, "As you were not, technically, late, I will not mark you nor ask for your reasons…However, I will have to mark you for not behaving accordingly to the rules."

"What?!" Grell yelped in disbelief.

The interns blinked, also wondering if they too missed a certain rule somewhere.

"Not presenting yourself professionally. The behavior Mr. Sutcliff just exhibited is a perfect example of how to not to act toward your instructor or superior." The secretary rose a brow, pointing the end of her pen toward the group, "I am assuming you all understood?"

All of the interns (excluding the disgruntled Grell) answered with an obedient, "Yes, madam."

"Good. Now, Mr. Sutcliff, please take your place among the group, if you will may." Kagome shooed the grumbling feminine male, "That's the last of attendance."

She closed the folder before cradling it under her arm. She looked straight at her current students, "Now, I will reintroduce myself."

A subtle glare was sent towards a whistling Grell, "My name is Kagome Higurashi, and I am the current Secretary of the London Division." Kagome briefly glanced at the clock, "I transferred from Central Japan Division a century ago, to provide further assistance in organizations here. I am A-rank Reaper," she fished out a badge from her jacket, and displayed it as a proof, "but I opted for a role much less active due to personal reasons. That is all I will say about myself."

William gulped, an A Ranked Reaper!? That's the second highest ranking available to Reapers!

The rest of the interns murmured among themselves, impressed at the woman's rank.

Kagome tucked the badge back into her jacket, "Before I take you lots on the tour, do you have any question of me or your internship?"

A tiny fellow shakily raised his hand, "Um, I do…"

He trailed off, and only continued as the woman gave him a tip of her head as permission for him to announce his question, "How come your eyes are different from rest of us?"

She fixed her glasses again, her amusement at his question obvious, "A very good question! However, I am afraid I do not have a concrete answer for you, only theories."

A few wilted at this, but she continued, "And I will share these theories with you."

Those few, including William, perked up.

"It would do well for you to know that I am not the only one who has a differing eye color to other reapers…There happened to be a handful of those, who share a similar mutation such as I do." Her lips curled up at the corners, "Perhaps some of you shall encounter them one day…Do feel free to ask them about their mutation–chances are, they will have differing theories from my own."

Kagome sighed, "Now, I have two possible ideas as to why this has occurred."

She held up a finger, "First, do any of you know what a miko, or priestess, is?"

An intern piped up, "A follower of a god?"

"Close, but not completely correct." Kagome hummed, "You all are familiar with demons, correct? Both western and eastern?"

"Yes." They chorused, few had their expressions twisted into that of disgust.

Grell was picking inside his ear, not at all interested in the discussion.

She flipped through the papers within the folder, "Good. In the past few centuries, there were very few forms of protections against demons, especially in first world countries. It was said that, out of pity, the gods gifted their most devoted followers holy powers in order to protect their people from unleashed demons. This gift was much more potent in the East."

Kagome placed her hand against her chest, "I happened to be one of those humans gifted with power, I was a miko."

The corners of her lips twitched, as she saw the awe on the students' faces.

"One of my theories is that the power I originally received from the gods may have clashed with those I received upon becoming a Reaper. I believe this would apply to those who already possessed some other form of energy in their previous lives…So, in short, the mutation could very well be the result of conflicting energies."

As an afterthought, she added, "Of course I've never felt any conflictions between my powers so it could very well be completely cosmetic as far as I know."

William brooded over this new information. Miko? It was very impressive.

Kagome tapped a finger on the folder, "The second theory is much simpler than the first; it is simply a genetic mutation quite like red hair." Grell perked up at this, "They are rare in Reapers, but they do occur. Those are my theories pertaining to my eye color."

She took another glance to the clock, "Any other questions before we proceed on the tour?"

Another hand rose; this time it was Grell.

Kagome's voice cooled a notch, "Yes, Mr. Sutcliff?"

He shrugged his shoulders at her obvious disdain, "Sooo, if you're a secretary, then why are you our instructor? Wasn't it Edward something the other on the syllabus?"

Her lips twitched at the blatant show of disrespect, but she said nothing of it as she nodded, "Very observative of you…however, it seems that you failed to check your email regarding the Mr. Dyer situation."

Kagome watched as a handful of the men reddened out of embarrassment as she pushed up her glasses, "Those who did not look over their email, I will update you. Mr. Dyer has unfortunately caught a bug, which has forced him into his bed for an indefinite period of time…as a last minute decision since we did not have allotted of time to find someone much more suitable, I volunteered to avoid unnecessary paperwork."

Deadpanned stares from the interns pushed her to continue, "While I may not be completely qualified to teach, we were already understaffed on instructors. Regardless, the higher ups believed me to be suitable and permitted me to take over until the final exam."

"Yikes! What of your other duties?" A youth chewed his lips, curious.

William wondered the same.

Kagome smirked, "Worry not. I am rather quite good at multitasking."

With one last glance at the time, she clicked her heels, "We should now proceed onto the tour… Save your questions for another time." The door was pulled open, "Now, please do follow me."

Everything began to drone out for William T. Spears, as he kept his eyes on the impressive woman and his ears open for her even voice.

Beta'd by: DeathNoteMaker

Story Idea by: ChocolateBunnyChan

A/N: Happy birthday to me! My gift to you, my readers~

The idea was pitched by ChocolateBunnyChan and she wanted me to write it since she didn't have time to write nowadays. In most parts though, you can say we're a bit of co-authors, only she suggest ideas and scenes and I write them.

I will say, though, this is a short story, probably 10 chapters at most. And the updates will likely be super slow.

Anyway, I always did like William, so I wanted to try my hand writing KagomexWilliam. Most awkward couple, ever. Also, this is partially inspired by a Kuroshitsuji ova, The Tales of Will the Grim Reaper. It helped me to get a bit better understanding of how the reapers operated and so on.

Much kudos to DeathNoteMaker for her editing ability! So much yellow highlights, omg. xX

EDIT: Minor changes made on 6.28.14, at 5:38 PM, EST.