"Aw, look at Rika! She's trying to roll over!" The familiar cooing of the emerald eyed gardener broke me away from my frustrating workout. For days, I had been trying get my body to roll over without success. With a defeated huff, I allowed myself to flop back into my back and stare back up at the three pairs of ogling eyes towering above my crib.
"The little lady's been at it everyday," the blonde cook mused, a puff of smoke escaping his lips as they settled into an approving grin.
"She is just as hardworking as her father, yes!" blurted the excited maid, furiously nodding her pink head as she leaned in closer towards me. A pout tugged at my lips at the mention of the dark butler. After taking me in, I found myself awkwardly being cared for by Sebastian. The young master, who I learned was known as Ciel Phantomhive, had me pose as the daughter of a long distant relationship. After my supposed mother died due to a illness, Sebastian begged Ciel to allow me to live with him in the Phantomhive manor. Which brings me to now. While this isn't my first time seeing the theatrical servants, this is the first time they've approached me without Sebastian nearby. "But she really doesn't look anything like Mr. Sebastian, does she."
"Didn't he say that she has a similar condition to albinism?" Finny and Mey-RIn tilted their heads in confusion, their gaze settling on Bard to urge him to continue explaining. "Well, basically something happened when she was born so that the color of her hair and eyes are off. I 'eard that people with albinism normally have white hair and red eyes though."
Letting out a synchronized, "Ohh," the other two servants nodded understandingly. Turning their gazes back to me, they seemed to take in my features once again.
"I know I'm cute but could you not stare at me like that?" I snorted, small babbling noises taking the place of my intended words. A light pink dust painted over the three servants cheeks.
"Even so, she's so cute!" Finny gushed, scooping me into his arms. A surprised gasp escaped me as I tightened my chubby hands around his gardening gloves as tightly as I physically could. "Damn baby muscles." A small flashback of him running into a tree in an attempt to catch a butterfly ran through my mind, the color draining from my face faster than the tree had fallen to it's demise.
"Oh, I heard that babies like to be thrown in their air, I did!" I let out a horrified squeak at Mey-Rin's suggestion.
"Now, wait a minute! What about Finny's monstrous streng-" Bard's hearty laugh cut me off, as nodded at me strongly. Hope sparked in my eyes to see someone understood my fears.
"Looks like the little lady can't wait!" And then my hope died.
Urged on by the others, Finny slightly lowered. Taking the few seconds I had, I squeezed my eyes shut and sucked in a breath. With that, I was launched into the sky, my tiny body rapidly getting closer to the impending ceiling. Spurred on by my stubbornness, I bit my lip to hold back from crying out for help. Just as I mentally steeled myself for a painful landing on the ceiling, black flashed across my eyes as a pair of familiar arms carefully wrapped around me. Peaking an eye open, I could see the weary amber eyes I had grown to seek for protection. Seemingly without effort, the butler held me in one arm as we floated to the ceiling and used the other to lightly push us back down where the other servants flustered over my safety.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry Rika! I didn't mean to throw you so high!" Finny started to bawled as his eyes roamed over my tiny body in Sebastian's arms to look for any signs of injury. Calming down from the whole ordeal, I felt a pang of pity strum at my chest as his tearful apologies spilled from his mouth. Perhaps it was because I had never had a more sincere apology in my past life. Reaching out, I softly patted his cheeks in reassurance.
"I'm fine, Finny. If you cry like that, I can't tell which one of us is the baby." The young gardener froze for a moment at my action before heavier tears fell from his eyes and he placed his gloved hand over my tinny one. "Sheesh, what a crybaby."
Our touching moment was broke by Sebastian's stern voice. "Now then, will one of you tell me why I came in to see Rika being thrown up to her death?" His usual pleasant tone was laced with annoyance, a combination I only heard when he spoke to the trio of idiots, as I've dubbed them. The servants stuttered amongst themselves to explain, their hesitation only bringing out more miasma from the awaiting butler.
"Hey, don't be so hard on them. I didn't get hurt in the end and they obviously didn't mean it, Sebastian." I tried to cover for the three, only ending up with incoherent babbles. Sebastian didn't look my way, his glare hardening with each second passing. I sighed, deciding to take a different approach. Taking my hand away from Finny, I tugged on Sebastian's raven hair, finally earning his attention. Summoning my love for felines, I threw up hands up and let out my most endearing giggle. I did my best to wrap my hands around the dark butler's neck, only able to encircle part of it before snuggling my face into the crook of his neck. "Come on, look at how adorable I'm acting. Lighten up."
A sense of relief flooded my tense muscles as the dark aura pouring from Sebastian faded away. He pulled me away from his neck, meeting his amber eyes with mine. We silently studied each other, annoyance coaxing my lips into a pout as I found his expression unreadable. Our staring contest broke as Sebastian started chuckling, his gloved hand covering his lips. Confusion overtook my expression but I remained silent to see his next reaction.
"It seems Rika is helping you three out today. I'll let you off this once." A collection of sighs erupted from the servants as they all silently thanked me with quiet nods and smiles. "However, you will all have extra work to do for dawdling out here instead of doing your job." Grimaces contorted their faces of relief as they muttered out their reluctant agreements. Seemingly satisfied, Sebastian left with me in his arms.
Taking advantage of being an unquestionable baby, I stared at Sebastian with calculating eyes. It didn't take a genius to see that he wasn't normal, eyes flashing magenta and inhuman abilities aiding in his job as a butler for the Phantomhive household. His exchange between himself and the young master also bothered me. Ciel was already questionable with his serious demeanor ruining his childish appearance and his devotion to his family's duty only bringing further suspicion to me. While the other servants admired the "utter and complete trust" they had in each other, I couldn't agree with them. Sebastian and Ciel seemed to have complete faith in each other's personal motives rather than the person. There wasn't blind trust between them but the confidence that each other's selfish desires would keep each other just where they wanted.
The sound of knocking broke me out of my reverie. Sebastian had stopped before a door, me in one arm as the other was brought up to knock on the elegant wood. "Young master, I have brought Rika as you instructed." A muffled grunt sounded out from behind the door, prompting Sebastian to bring me inside the room. Sitting behind a desk buried under papers was Ciel, boredom conquering his slouched position in the large armchair. His blue eye glued onto me as I stared back, another contest starting up.
"Have you noticed her exhibit any other unusual traits other than her appearance?" Ciel asked, keeping his gaze on me.
"I have noticed that she's unusually much calmer than most infants when it comes to danger. Like when you pointed your gun at her, she was extremely calm dealing with the three stooges, even when Finny used his strength to throw her in the air." The young earl stayed silent, his express turning lost in thought as Sebastian continued in analysis of me. "She also seems to be quite the seductress," he chuckled. His knowing eyes gazed at mine for a second before returning to young Ciel.
"Hey! I wouldn't call that seducing! More like … taking advantage of my natural given charms!" My defensive huffs babbled out as the innocent coos of a child, earning a curious glance from the young master.
"I see. Keep your eye on her, I don't like her eyes." Ciel turned to stare back into my orbs, his one eye blazing with distrust. "Not at all."
An argument bubbled in my throat but boiled away as a familiar glimmer of emotion sparked in his dull, blue eye. Excitement. Drowning in the cold ocean of blue, I saw a hint of giddiness that I had seen long ago.
"What are you drawing?" The young boy turned to me as I broke the suffocating silence, winter winds accompanying my innocent question.
"I'm drawing the wold that's purified from God's grasp."
I could feel an icy grip of fear wrap around my chest, squeezing the breath from lungs as it freezes my heart. Desperate for the comfort of warmth, I buried my face into the closet source of warmth: Sebastain's chest. Peering curiously at me, a troubled frown tugged his lips down. Almost hesitantly, he stuck a gloved figure near me. Ignoring amused chuckle that threatened to rumble in my chest at his unexpected hesitance, I acknowledged onto his small effort to comfort me and slid my small hands around his finger.
Glancing up in thanks, my jaw dropped at the confused butler's speechless face. Eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement, he stared at me with conflicted eyes.
"It seems that even I cannot completely understand a strange infant such as yourself, Risa."
