AN/ Hallo again! I am alive~ I assure you! I know I haven't been writing much at all lately, but I have been rather distracted by the glorious FF that is "Commands & Caresses" by Maverrat! It has really made me want to try and write something of some serious length, but I always struggle to get passed a few chapters! Anyway, if you haven't read it, I really recommend that you do, it is UTxGrell (Ahh~ My glorious OTP) and...Well, I don't want to spoil it for you!
Anyway (again) I do not own any of the characters presented in this, no matter how I'd like to! Kudos to the glorious Yana Toboso for dreaming up these beauties!
P.S. Please don't be put off, but this could be in the crossover section, but as the second anime is not listed and the links are tiny tiny, I have decided to put it here.
I won't even tell you the second anime until the end, as it would give away the ending!
So don't worry, you won't be seeing some random characters you have never heard of, just Kuro' dudes in here! ^_^

It wasn't very often that William T Spears himself went out on dispatch duty, but this had been a very special case. The highest, strictest confidentiality had been placed on it, to the point where even William didn't know all the details of the case. Not that it mattered, he was professional and efficient. He did not poke his nose where it didn't belong. Unlike some…

He had only just made it back to his pristine office a few moments ago, after hand delivering the documents of the case himself to those of higher authority. He had had enough time, however to get himself sat down, settled and ready to begin the slight pile up of paperwork that had built up during his few days away when-

"Willu~!"
The indubitable, intolerable, unquestionable screech that was Grell Sutcliff's voice broke through the peaceful and productive silence of William's office. Accompanied by the blur of red that was the hyperactive shinigami as he darted across the room to engulf William in a vice like hug (of death?), it was a package guaranteed to annoy.
"Get off of me, Sutcliff." William growled, his body as stiff as a board as his subordinate snuggled into his neck, practically purring like an oversized crimson cat.

"Bu-But Willu!" Grell whined, his voice sending jolts of irritation through William's tired mind.

"You have been away for days! I haven't seen you~! Where did you go! No-one would tell me…" Letting the excruciating blabber of the incompetent shinigami fade into the background, William curtly pushed Grell away and stood from his chair, pacing towards the window.

"William! Are you even listening to me?" A particularly sharp cry made William physically flinch, as the red reaper pounded his gloved fists on the oak desk before him.
Sighing, exhausted and fatigued from his previous string of late nights, William thought it best to give Grell what he wanted and send him away.

"What do you want, Sutcliff? Have you just come to try and get some new office gossip from me or do you genuinely need my help?"

"I don't need your help, William… I just want to know where you have BEEN these last few days! We really needed you! I mean, not the office… but me and Ronnie! There was this one guy, right? The really ugly one with the funny little piercing-"

"I was on Dispatch duty."

Grell looked at William sharply, his flood of useless, babbled information halted and his face contorted with confusion.

"Dispatch duty? Why? Me and Ronald were pretty much free last week… why did they send you? You're a supervisor… not a field worker."

"It was… a special case. Of high confidentiality, and there is no way that you or Ronald would have kept your mouths shut."

Grell looked a little like a fish, his mouth gaping open and mouthing the words "special case" over and over a few times, racking his brains and trying to figure out just what the hell William meant.

"Special case~?" He finally gave up and decided to pry a little further into his Supervisors business.
"What does that mean?"

Sighing and resisting the temptation to 'face-plant' the window in front of him, William pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a stress induced headache coming on.

"If I tell you, will you leave me in peace?"

"Promise~!" Grell crossed his heart elaborately, blowing his superior a kiss before making himself comfy in William's chair, like a child readying themselves to listen to a fairytale.

"Occasionally, a case occurs which is so important or so strange or –sometimes- so suspicious that it needs to be handled with strict confidentiality. Normal field workers like yourself cannot be trusted with the information regarding the souls involved, even to the point where you cannot be trusted with the reaping of them. When such a case like this arises, someone of a higher rank is sent to carry out the task. It doesn't happen that often, as to be honest, there aren't many people that reapers COULD tell. I mean, speaking to a mortal about anything to do with Shinigami is a gross violation of the rules. But in cases such as the one I was handling last week, the information is too sensitive for most shinigami ears. We can't have you field workers running around with that kind of thing in your inferior brains, who knows who you'll blab to."
Finishing with a slight smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, William adjusted his glasses and gestured to the door.

"Huh…? So… you never said! WHERE were you?"

"Tut tut, Sutcliff. Don't you try breaking our deal now. I told you what a special case entailed, so now you must leave me in peace." William spoke the last four words with such force that the red reaper sprang to his feet with a squeal and dashed towards the door, grabbing hold of the doorframe to steady himself as he passed.

"Toodle oo, Willu darling~! Nice to see you're baacckkkk~~" His last few words decreasing in volume as he sped down the hallway, his crimson hair flapping wildly behind his back, Grell disappeared. Finally.

Resisting the urge to slam the door shut, William made his way back over to the desk, dusting his leather chair over before he sat himself down. Letting his emerald eyes slide closed for a single blissful moment, William tried to relax his tight, knotted shoulders. Having such imbecilic co-workers was as taxing on the body as it was the mind.
So it was to great irritation that William heard the footsteps outside his door.

Gritting his teeth together, his eyebrow twitching as he held himself from yelling at the door, William clenched his hands into fists.

"Grell…? I thought I told you to leave me in peace?"

…no answer.

Raising the previously twitching eyebrow quizzically, William rose from his desk and called towards the door once more.

"Come in, then."

…no answer.

Rolling his head around his shoulders, William stifled a moan. A prank caller who didn't even knock? What on earth had he ever done to deserve such colleges?
Far to worn out to be in any state to tolerate this kind of insolence, William walked from his desk and towards the door, treading carefully and silently, his perfectly polished shoes making no sound on the carpet.
Pressing his lean, handsome face against the door, and grasping the doorknob so hard that his knuckles went white, William hushed his breath and listened.

A gentle, almost inaudible sound crept around the door. So quiet that William almost jumped when he realised he wasn't imagining it.
The sound of steady, deep and rhythmic breathing.

It sounded so close. As if the unknown person on the other side of the door had their faced pressed up against it like William did, so close.

Staring in front of him, William tightened his grip on the doorknob and readied himself to give the lecture of a lifetime.
Wrenching the door open in one swift, fluid motion, William whirled round to face… an empty hallway.

The milky moon light poured through the corridor window that was planted in the wall a few doors down from William's office, the curtains fluttering gently as the newly disturbed air rushed over them. But otherwise it was still and silent.

Peering down the long hallway, William could see no-one. But he had been so sure… so sure that he had heard that breathing.

"You really ARE tired." William said to himself aloud, turning back into his office, his emerald eyes flicking around the room in confusion.
Hell, he had had far too many late nights, he deserved some sleep.
After gathering the few belongings that he kept on his person at all times (his deathscythe, a black note book and his briefcase), William left his office and locked it securely, before making his way to his private quarters.

The shinigami quarters where not far from William's office, just a short walk down the moonlit hallway and a few flights of stairs. At this time of night, most Shinigami workers were either on dispatch duty, tucked up in their private quarters or fruitlessly trying to finish late paperwork in their offices. So, the hallway was quiet, as was the stair well.

"Why the hell do they leave these windows open…?"
William hissed as he walked up the first few steps of the stairwell, the icy cold draughts from the open windows brushing the back of his neck and making his hair stand on end.

"With the amount we spend on heating this pla-"
William stopped mid stride, mid thought and mid sentence as he felt the cold, night air being replaced by a warm, tickling breath on the back of his neck. Whirling around, his deathscythe in front of him, William was panting and covered in a cold sweat.
But there was no-one there.
His eyes wide and his hair sticking to his now moistened skin, William called down the stairwell, his voice cracking.

"Hello?"

Nothing.

"For goodness sakes…"

Clutching his deathscythe a little more desperately than he usually would, William increased his pace and half ran up the stairs, taking the last few in one single stride.
Counting the steps from the stairwell to his private quarters as he half bolted down the empty corridor, William cursed himself for getting so worked up.
"You're being an idiot, William. Pull yourself together."
But even so, he fumbled with his keys at his door, wanting to get inside in the warm as soon as possible.
Slamming the door behind him, William let a few pants escape his mouth, before wiping his brow and setting down his briefcase.

"I just need… a good night's sleep." He muttered, pulling his shirt over his head before he had even reached his bedroom, forsaking his usual night shower in favour of a slightly earlier night.

"A good night's sleep…" He agreed with himself, but he couldn't help but feel a little reluctant to switch off the light…