As Ciel opened his mouth to yell, the figure clamped a hand over his mouth, preventing a full on yell. However, he could still make noise without an open mouth, and as he continued to struggle, the person gave an exasperated sigh as if annoyed, and removed the hand from his mouth. Gasping for breath, he turned in circles wildly around, bumping into the dark outline of the person.

"Ow!" Came the yell, with a loud thump. Ciel was surprised to hear it sounded like a girl. Suddenly, light flooded from one of the windows of the mansion, and finally the intruder was revealed. Ciel was astonished by what he saw.

It was a small, petite girl sitting on the ground, rubbing her stomach as if it hurt. She had a pretty face, with high cheek bones and small nose, and shockingly carrot colored wavy hair which went to her mid back. She was wearing a simple black dress which spread out around her, rumpled by her fall. What were most startling about her appearance were her eyes. Big, round, startlingly silver eyes with slender vertical pupils like a cat. She looked up at him with a big grin, her eyes staring at him with unnerving curiosity.

"Err, who are you?" Ciel asked, for once taken at surprise and failing his usual serious and uncaring composure.

The girl stood up, brushing her dress off of sticks and debris, and then looked up at him with that sly grin on her face. "I'm Zaida, Zaida Nezumi." She stuck out a hand for him to shake. The hand was tiny, although she looked as if she were thirteen, despite her appearance.

"Zaida Nezumi, why are you in here? I could have you arrested for trespassing. Especially when you're on /my/ property." Ciel warned in a bored voice. He took another look at her. She was still grinning. She seemed friendly enough, though her eyes still made him uneasy. Then again, as if he was one to talk, he's the one who wore an eye patch over his pentagon eye. And now that it was dark, he couldn't just throw her out into the woods. He sighed; since when had this nice attitude come in?

"Oh, well, I was just exploring and got lost. Then I came across your place. It's a beautiful house." Zaida added, looking at the mansion with curiosity, not at all worried about the warning. "By the way, what's your name?" She asked, cocking her head to one side like a dog.

"Ciel Phantomhive." He replied, still considering whether or not to let the girl come inside.

"Ok, Ciel. Well, I should go, I shouldn't be trespassing."

Now she realizes that. Ciel thought sourly yet half amused.

Zaida continued. "Err, do you know the way back to town?" She asked, and in the glow of the light Ciel could see she was blushing with embarrassment.

Yes, it's just down the road… Twenty miles away. Why don't you walk you good for nothing--… A voice in the back of Ciel's mind said, but Ciel ignored it.

"It's far away. Maybe you should just stay here. We have plenty of room." He offered, nodding towards the mansion. They had too /much/ room. "Come on then." He headed toward the backdoor, opened it, and then gestured to Zaida to come in with a flick of his hand. She entered graciously, the outside was turning cold and she didn't have coat or sweater.

As they walked through the drafty back hallways that led to the main warm part of the house, Zaida looked around as if she were in a fascinating museum, and she was the over excited five year old running around every where to get a closer look. Ok, maybe that was an exaggeration, she wasn't running around, she just walked beside him twisting her hands together and looking around with a curious gleam in her eye. As they rounded the corner, they nearly ran into Bard, the chef who burnt nearly everything he touched.

"Ah, Ciel! Sebastian was looking for you and wanted me to tell you dinner is--" He broke off as he caught sight of Zaida, who curtsied and smiled.

"Dinner is ready? Right then, go back to work then, Bard." Ciel said, brushing past Bard waving a lazy hand in the air. "Zaida, come on." He continued down the hall. And with an apologetic face, much to Ciel's annoyance, Zaida curtsied once more to Bard and then ran after Ciel, who had been waiting and watching at the end of yet another hall.

"You don't curtsy to a servant," Ciel stated, annoyance dripping off his words. Did this girl know nothing about anything?

Zaida seemed taken aback. " I thought he was a relative of yours, he spoke so familiarly with you. Not as most servants speak to ones masters." She replied, again cocking her head to one side with confusion on her face. Her face seemed to brighten as she remembered something. "Oh, you said that dinner was ready? I'm so glad, I'm nearly starving." As if on cue, her stomach rumbled and she blushed and mumbled a 'sorry'.

Ciel was somewhat amused, as they finally entered the main halls, which were warm and lit with candles, casting a rosy glow on the wallpaper around them. They walked to the dining room, where Ciel sat down at the head of the table, while Zaida seated herself to his right. Ciel watched as she opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment Sebastian entered the room, holding a large silver platter of food that he gracefully carried in his arms. As he set the food down, he was taken by surprise at Zaida's appearance, and cast a meaningful glance at Ciel, who shrugged.

"And who might you be?" Sebastian asked, bowing to Zaida.

"I'm Zaida Nezumi. I got lost here and Ciel told me I could come can stay the night, since it got dark so quickly." She replied, her cat like eyes bold yet kind.

"Well then, you must be tired, let me show you to your room. I'll bring your dinner up with you. Meylene will show you to your room." Sebastian said, gesturing to Meylene, the clumsy maid with cracked glasses. She stuttered an okay and then took Zaida's hand and dragged her out of the room, all the while Zaida was waving goodnight to Ciel and Sebastian.

Ciel glanced at Sebastian while taking a sip of his tea, as Sebastian watched Zaida close the door and they were alone in the dining room.

"Exactly, what…?" Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow. Ciel snorted.

"Don't be stupid, she just got lost and found her way here. It was already dark by the time she nearly suffocated me, so I suggested to let her stay here. End of story." He said, taking a bite of poached salmon and stuffing it in his mouth.

Sebastian grinned; it was the same sly yet grim smile that he wore sometimes. "Well that all may be very well, you might not want to be distracted by this girl, Zaida. Something has happened that you may want to focus on…"