Chapter One: Baby Shinigami

William was mulling over his paperwork as usual. There seemed to be a bit of high energy about the department today but he couldn't really pinpoint why that was, nor did he care.

"Wiiiill~ I finished my paperwork, darling!" Grell burst in without knocking….as she usually does.

"You know, there is such a thing as…hold on. You're finished?" he blinked accepting his work making sure to go over the tiniest detail for mistakes. "You've been rather quick all day. I do hope in your haste you made no mistakes on these…"

"Of course not! I have a manicure appointment at 4 pm, still need to visit the hairdresser for a small trim, and I need to get to Macy's before it closes! I must have their new–"

"Alright, alright I get it!" William cut the flamboyant reaper's sentence shooing her; a hint of mild humor shadowed his voice. "Go on then, you're free to leave,"

"Yay! Thank you!" she quipped cheerfully and bounded out his office door. As soon as she was gone a smile played on the uptight reaper's face.

Stop making me fall for you, damn redhead… his expression grew softer the more deep he got into thinking about her. It took a while, but Grell's girlish whims were becoming more cuter as the days passed and she was finally starting to grow on this work-stressed reaper.

After a brief moment more, he sighed and filed Grell's completed paperwork away. "Back to work,"

"Hey Boss!" Ronald came in without knocking. Causing said boss to jump in his seat. One of the reasons why he'd LIKE people to knock before entering. It's not so startling…

"You know Ronald, there's a mannerism called 'knocking'. You should try it,"

"Ahh sorry, Mr. Spears for barging in like that but," Ronald came in. His voice seemed rather troubled and just didn't seem like himself when stating his business. "We have a new reaper,"

"A new reaper?" William thought he heard wrong. Could they finally catch a bit of a break from being so short handed? It was good news to him! To be honest, it had been a while since he trained new recruits. Lately, there weren't enough numbers of them to hold a full class so he would train them one by one. "Well don't just stand there, bring them in!"

"Er…she's…already in here, sir…" Ronald said looking behind him for the person they were talking about. "C'mon, don't be shy. He won't bite I promise,"

William was perplexed that Ronald's gaze was fixed downward. As if looking at something that wasn't even as tall as his desk. The supervisor had to stand to see that his subordinate was talking to a little girl who couldn't have been more than six years old gripping onto his pants in shyness. The mood in the room started to grow rather tense as a slew of questions rose in him.

"A…a child?!" William whispered in complete and utter surprise. There was no mistaking it, the small child's eyes were that of a reapers and to top it off, a small pair of training glasses adorned her face. They seemed too big for her, however. To become a reaper…that means she…but she's so young!

Another astonishing factor he found as he looked over her, she had bandages around her neck about the same place where her black hooded cloak with kitty ears was tied like shoe laces. Her dress that was just barely peeking from underneath was white with red trim and decorated with strawberries bunched up like flower bouquets. Her clothing said she was a child of upper middle class if not aristocratic. Even down to her pastel pink opaque tights and bright red patent leather shoes. To be honest, it looked like Grell had dressed her. But the superior caught sight of the red reaper peeking in his door holding a look of complete surprise. As with some other reapers standing far behind her.

"Uh…sir? Here's her cinematic record…" he handed him his report book. A very thin file compared to the usual books that contained files for new reapers. Of course this child has barely begun to have a memory for herself.

William shook out of his dumbfounded stupor. "Ronald, you worked this case?"

"Yes sir," his mood was somber. Reapers dealt in all sorts of deaths including deaths of children, but to bear witness to a child doing that to themselves, then have to bring them in after being sentenced to a grueling life as a grim reaper… Even the greatest and most experienced of reapers would have a hard time with this. William included. This was their punishment. "She…crawled into a coffin to do it. Though the motive is still unclear to me," Ronald added.

William sighed a little. "Grell, if you're going to come in, please do so you can shut my door. I'm starting to get annoyed at the growing attention," he looked to the redhead that was standing stock still at the entrance to his office.

The expression on her face was no different than Ronald's. Grell did as told and wordlessly shut her supervisor's door, coming closer to where they all were standing. The little one turned to see who was coming in and really couldn't help but stare at her. Grell just gave a small smile in return. "Um..h-hello!" she greeted the small one. Grell never lied when she said 'Children weren't her thing'; she was becoming rather nervous and self-conscious as to why the little girl was tilting her head in wonder just staring at the red reaper.

"Now then…" He understood what Ronald would be going through though he hasn't really had to take on a case like this himself. For a rookie to have to handle it however, just seemed too cruel. "Why don't you go take a break? I'll have to get started…" he offered as his only way for the rookie reaper to cope.

"I'm fine, sir. I'm just a little tired hearing her being sentenced in the courts. I'd rather help iron this out right now," Ronald said. In the court, he had to hold her up over the stand so the judge could see her and tell her properly that she's sentenced to become a grim reaper. "Oh, you should know she can't talk. I think it has something to do with how she took her life," he made a motion to his neck with his finger. "I tried talking to her earlier and she wants to speak, but no voice comes out," he could feel the grip she had on his pants release and looked down. Seems she found better shelter under Grell's big red coat.

Grell sort of twitched feeling the young one hug her leg. Not that she disliked it, she just wasn't used to children. "Oh my…taken a liking to me have you?" she smiled down at the little one despite her nervousness. There was an air of kinship about the little one that she started to feel. She couldn't exactly tell why though. But it did make her a little less nervous than she already was.

"That might be because you resemble her mother. This is Eleanor Trendal. Daughter to Caroline and Augustine Trendal, owners of Trendal Trading Co." William said as he read the file containing her information. "Or she was. Her parents were slaughtered just a couple of months ago. Mrs. Trendal had a man that was obsessed with her and he took it out on both her and her husband. He couldn't bring himself to kill the child, so the coward leaves her to discover their bodies the next morning," he told them recalling the incident. "I was the one working that case,"

Grell had a hand on her heart. Almost like she wanted to cry. Looking down at the little one she could feel her heart go to pieces. Eleanor's parents must've loved and spoiled her rotten and Grell could tell the little one loved her parents all the same. Then to see them like that. Even Grell would've 'become a reaper' at that age. Poor thing even had it torment her for a couple of months before she finally did it… she gave the small little reaper a gentle rub on her hooded head feeling the empathy rush into her. At this point, all her plans were going to wait until tomorrow. Even though she wasn't directly involved in her case, she felt a need to help with Eleanor in any way she could.

A sudden ring from William's office phone startled all of them from their thoughts. Will picked up the phone and started talking to what sounded like one of the higher ups. Both Grell and Ronald looked around awkwardly as he spoke on the phone. From the sounds of the conversation, it was about Eleanor's case. Grell saw Will take a heavy sigh that couldn't be heard.

Will bid the one on the other end a good day and hung up the phone. Immediately afterwards pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well that was about how to go about training Eleanor,"

"Wait…you're still going to train her?" Grell asked. The question was certainly what Ronald had in mind of asking too, but he wasn't as straight forward with his boss like Grell was.

"That's my job as manager, Grell." he answered trying to figure things out. "Though, it's not so much training her as it is raising her…since she obviously can't live on her own,"

"Can they really do that to you though, sir?" Ronald asked. Of course he wouldn't feel comfortable with suddenly being ordered by his boss to take care of a child. Perhaps management shouldn't be something he should aim for.

"They're higher ups, Ronald. They can do anything. And they probably chose me because I have experience with having a child," he said with a small pang in his chest. They're really trying to make this reaper business more agonizing for me aren't they? he could feel his teeth grit.

"You do?!" Grell asked immediately. Though this question went unanswered as William came around his desk and knelt down at to the little one still hugging Grell's leg. Eleanor shied and tried to hide behind Grell more as he drew close.

"Don't worry, dear. Ronald's right, I don't bite," he made the softest expression that both Grell and Ronald have never seen him make. "Those higher ups were probably really harsh in speaking to you, huh?"

Eleanor let her defenses down a bit at William's soft comforting voice. She nodded her head as a yes in response to his question. She then made a really sad face because it did sound like everyone had been doing nothing but reprimanding her over what she thought was playing with a knife.

"Well. What you did wasn't really the right thing to do…but it doesn't mean you can't fix it. Right?" he asked the mute little girl who looked at him with hopeful eyes just then. "You see. All of us are here because we did something wrong like that. And we're working to fix our mistake," William continued trying to ease the scared little one's mind. "What you did was no different that what some of us had done…And we're gonna help you fix it, okay?"

Grell's heart warmed seeing the display happening right at her feet. She never saw William talk so calm and gentle. And she never thought she'd like it! The red reaper ALWAYS admired Will's cold demeanor, but now that she's seen him so soft and kind, she wasn't so sure anymore. Her hands clasped in front of her chest as she watched. Heart soaring.

What happened next was even more surprising. William held out both his hands to Eleanor. To which she greatly accepted and wrapped her little arms around him to lift her up. William could feel the exhausted sigh leave her little body as she felt real warm human contact for the first time in quite a long while. "Poor thing, you're probably really tired from being in those cold courtrooms all day," and being around rather cold people, I'm sure he mused as he held her little form to his body, patting her back softly. The painful pang in his heart grew as doing these actions were bringing forth some rather bittersweet memories.