A/N: Wow! This story is actually coming to the end. Only two more chapters left after this one and it will be over! I definitely have had a great time writing it, especially while I have so much free time over the holidays. Anyway, I feel like I haven't really been writing enough with Angelina in the last few chapters so there will me more of that in this chapter. I'm not sure if I'm even writing Madame Red all that well, but I'm trying my best, anyway. I'm hoping this will be more of a longer chapter, and there will be romance in this one, also!
Let me know what you think of my character Kuro! Your response helps tremendously!
Again, like I always say, I've tried my best to correct all the spelling and grammar mistakes in this chapter, and I truly do understand how annoying it is to some people to see a simple error in the writing, so just know that with the recourses I have, that being the spelling and grammar check on Microsoft Word, I have to the best of my ability corrected the errors I saw.
Now, in this chapter, the pronouns I use for Grell are sort of confusing. I think of Grell as a transwoman, with she/her pronouns, but since she is under cover as Angelina's butler, and presenting herself as a man at the moment, I will be referring to her with he/his pronouns. Later in the chapter when her hair returns to its crimson shade instead of the brown she uses for her disguise, I will return to calling her female pronouns, and it will happen quite suddenly so this is a before-hand notice before you become hopelessly befuddled. I have this idea that shinigami can transform their appearance to whatever suits them, and at any time, so that explains my thinking somewhat in the last chapter, when she was transforming her appearance back to her normal shinigami form. If you have any questions, please ask!
Enjoy the chapter!
Grell kept his distance from everyone in the house. He didn't talk to anyone, didn't even look at anyone. Kuro had tried to engage him in conversation, but how could he trust her? She was probably working with her father to frame him and his mistress. Sir Reginald and his daughter were in town all morning and would probably still be there into the afternoon, shopping for a dress for Kuro, since they were holding a party for her birthday the next day. Angelina and her butler were alone in the manor. After the Madame dismissed him for the morning, he stayed in his room. Grell could tell that Angelina had been worried about him, the way he was carelessly keeping up the clumsy butler act and acting more like a muted, sarcastic version of the shinigami's normal self.
She opened the door to his bedroom after a while, finding him sitting by the window, in a daze. Light from the open door lit up the dark room, illuminating their figures.
"Grell?" Madame Red whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder.
The butler looked up at her with sad eyes, biting his lip like he was about to cry. Her spirits crumpled at the sight.
"What's wrong with you? You're not like this…" She said softly, pressing the back of her hand to his forehead, concern shining in her eyes.
Grell didn't feel the urge to tell her that when he was alone in his apartment, he was usually like this. "I'm never like any of this. It's all an act, Angie, and you know that well." Grell swatted her hand away, but it wasn't harsh.
"Then drop the act and tell me what the matter is. You don't have to pretend around me." Angelina scowled, kneeling down next to her butler so she was eye level with him.
"I don't even know who I am without it anymore." He breathed, turning away from his mistress. He looked at his hands, as if he felt ashamed of what he confessed.
"You're Grell Sutcliffe. You're the flamboyant, crimson grim reaper I fell in love with." Madame Red gently turned his head so that he faced her again.
"No, I'm not. I'm not flamboyant, and I don't deserve to wear red, and I don't deserve to be a beautiful woman like you." Grell interlocked his fingers to try to stop his hands from shaking.
"There really is something wrong with you. You aren't running a fever…" Her voice trailed off when she saw Grell's bottom lip tremble, and noticed his struggle to keep back tears. His eyes were dark and gloomy, like his mood. She placed her hands over his. "Come on, Grell… Why are you saying this?"
"Because it's true." The butler's hands stopped shaking now, almost in the way you stop trembling when your fear suddenly grows to true terror.
"No it's not," She whispered the words into his coat, nestling her forehead into his shoulder. Angelina inhaled his scent, something like musty jasmine that she couldn't match to anything other than Grell Sutcliffe.
"You couldn't possibly know anything. Nobody knows a thing of me. We both lead separate lives away from everything else, and we both know it." Grell couldn't bring himself to shrug her off his shoulder.
The Madame didn't talk any longer. She found nothing in her heart to say. For the rest of the afternoon they sat in silence with each other, with heavy hearts and cluttered thoughts. Oh, how cruel the world was.
The next day was busy, and Grell didn't find time to be clumsy with anything he did, especially when there was nobody to act for. He ran around town with errands, and Angelina bumbled around the manor, ordering Grell how to set things up for Kuro's birthday party, and how to do this and where to put that. Angelina was putting on a face today, one that only ever showed at social events like parties. As far as Grell knew, all that ever happened at parties were boring noblewomen and their rich escorts wore fine clothing and discussed unimportant matters over expensive champagne, topics that they probably didn't even hold their interest in the first place. Grell couldn't understand what made Madame Red so excited over parties, but if it made her happy, he was going to do it correctly. That evening, when the guests began to arrive, the butler remembered to take their coats and hats and to lead them into the salon where the event was planned on being held. Once in a while he slipped or tripped over a lady's skirts, just to look up and see Angelina smile shyly into her champagne glass and pretend not to notice her flighty butler being so gawky.
"It looks like you've returned to your normal self again, Mister Grell!" Kuro exclaimed, turning the man around to face her.
The young woman did look beautiful for her party. She wore a sleeveless dress with long, full skirts that fell down to the floor. The dress was all black, alike the one she wore when she arrived at the manor, with lace trim and a big bow in the back of her waist. She wore a black cape with the outfit that flowed to the ground, with a long train behind her. She wore her hair down, and the raven locks framed her face. Kuro had the ever-present black lace fan, of course, that she held over half of her face. She didn't even have it open when she was with Grell, and he couldn't figure out if it was because she wanted to seem mysterious to her peers or if she was conscious about her looks.
Grell snapped out of his daze. "Oh, please forgive me, my lady!" He begged, quite pitifully. "I was sick, you see, and didn't feel well!"
"I know how illnesses work." Kuro winked. "Active student of primitive medicine, remember?"
A little blonde ball of bouncing pink and white lace, ribbon and chiffon bounded up to Kuro.
"Miss Kuro, I'm guessing you must be the birthday girl!" Squealed a terrifyingly familiar voice. "Wow, you're eighteen! You're dress is adorable, but it could use some brighter colors. Perhaps if the skirts were a nice, dusty pink with white polka-dots and light pink trim! Or, maybe if the corset had been laced up with a cute pink ribbon! Or..."
Grell stared in utter horror as Elizabeth, the annoying niece of the Madame, pulled Kuro's attention towards her. She talked without even taking a breath in between her sentences. The butler found it as an opportunity to sneak away from the conversation and tend to the arriving guests, abandoning Kuro to try and make sense of anything the energetic girl was saying.
After an hour or so, Grell found himself trying to catch a breath outside. He was sick and tired of stuffy rich men shoving their heavy fur coats on him as if he was a coat rack. After trying to regain his eyesight after being in what seemed like eternal darkness from a coat on his head, he noticed a figure moving about in the garden. Grell decided he would investigate who this person thought they were, walking around in the flowers he deliberately cared for all evening the previous day for Kuro's birthday. When he approached the person, he noticed it was in fact Kuro. She sat on the bench and fanned herself, quietly staring at the party going on inside the house.
"My lady, what are you doing out here? You should be inside, celebrating your birthday with the rest of the guests." Grell said, sitting down next to her.
"It's a lovely evening, and I think I might stay out here. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I'd rather be with the flowers then those people. I understand they came for my birthday, but I can't stand the way they feel as if I owe them something for coming. I'd rather have no guests then to have guests that feel as if they are high and mighty for celebrating my birthday with me." Kuro said, looking over at the butler.
He nodded, and stared at the ground, trying to concentrate on the flowers other than Kuro's lovely face.
"How do you feel about Father marrying Miss Angelina?" She suddenly asked, ceasing her fanning to look him in the eyes.
Grell's eyes shot back up to her's, realizing he'd been daydreaming. "W-well, am I allowed to have an opinion?"
"You can with me. I don't care if you're a butler, you're still better company then those noblemen." Kuro wrinkled up her nose in disgust, before once again fanning herself.
"Well, I suppose it really isn't my choice whether they are married or not, even if your father has his nose in the air most of the time." Grell thought about what he was saying much too late to stop himself from actually saying it. He clamped his hands over his mouth in panic.
Kuro laughed. "You're right."
Grell relaxed when he heard her agree. They conversed until Kuro was pulled back into the party by Elizabeth, who begged her to open the present she had bought her first. The butler sighed and watched her go, before trailing into the manor after them. Kuro faked a smile throughout all the presents and cake, and told the guests empty thank-yous before they all left. As soon as the guest's attention was focused on getting out the door, she fled up the stair to her room before she was bombarded with farewells. Grell rushed around to return the guest's coats before slinking back to his own bedroom, knowing that Angelina would get all the guests out of the house without his assistance.
When all was quiet, and the butler could no longer hear footsteps or voices, he crept out of his room to look upon the salon without all the people. Grell always did this after parties, just to give himself piece of mind that it truly was only Angelina and himself in the manor again. Only, this time it wasn't just them this time, it was this detective from the Guard and his daughter. The butler tiptoed down the halls, closing curtains and tidying up the rooms as he went. When he got back into the foyer, he peered into the salon. His eyes fell upon a scene playing out passed the salon, right outside Angelina's bedroom. Sir Reginald had the Madame backed up to the wall, with his lips on her's.
Once again, the anger and disappointment Grell had felt over Angelina's deceit grew in his chest again, demanding to be let out, like a caged animal. Although Grell was well aware that Madame Red and her fiancé were intimate, actually seeing them together tore apart something in his heart. He sunk to the ground as he watched them move into Angelina's bedroom, closing the door behind them. Just this morning he convinced himself in believing that he was making amends with his mistress. He thought of the way Angelina had destroyed every moment they shared together now, and instead of becoming upset about it, Grell had a new idea. What if he just betrayed Angelina like she betrayed him? He thought of how willing Kuro was to speak her mind with Grell, and how comfortable she seemed around him.
'I've been informed that she is quite unstable, and seems to depend on romantic partners to give her adoration.'
That's what Angelina had said. It was a perfect plan. It couldn't go wrong. Grell snuck into the salon and quietly ascended the steps to the loft, where he gently knocked on Kuro's bedroom door. He heard her footsteps on the floor, and his heart raced with anticipation until she opened the door. In the seconds up to when she opened the door, Grell began to doubt himself. What if this plan never worked? He debated just walking away and putting an end it when Kuro swung open the door.
"Oh! Mister Grell, what a pleasant sur-"
The butler stopped her mid-sentence by swallowing her words in a kiss, placing his hands on her waist as she took a step back. To be honest, he never intended to make an approach like this, but he couldn't turn back the events, especially when she was kissing him back. Kuro pulled him inside the room without breaking the kiss, and backed him up to the wall as he shut the door. When he felt his back hit the wall, she pulled away, smiling up at him.
"What was that, Mister Grell?" She breathed, moving her hands up to place them on his cheeks.
"I can't exactly know for sure. Something compelled me to do it." He blushed, looking down at Kuro.
"Well then is it okay with you if something compels me to do this?" Kuro cocked her head as she unbuttoned his coat one by one, sliding it off his shoulders and letting it fall to the floor.
She kissed him again and moved him away from the wall. Grell quite literally stood there and allowed her pull the ribbon from around his neck and unbutton his shirt, not quite knowing what else to do. But as she pulled away from the kiss and trailed her lips along his jawbone and down his neck, and pulled the ribbon from his hair, he felt his normal personality show through the petty butler performance. Kuro ran her fingers through Grell's hair, turning the shade from dull brown to fiery crimson. The shinigami felt her usual appearance return as her hair cascaded down her back, and her teeth gained back it's shark-like point.
Kuro grinned at the sight, stepping back a moment to watch it happen, overcome with confusion and awe.
"Oh, yes. Kuro, dear, there are so many things you don't know about me. Perhaps this will be interesting, for both you and I." The reaper mused.
"It is quite interesting." Kuro said softly, wondering aloud at the spectacular appearance change.
"Well, the night is short." Grell shrugged, pulling Kuro back towards her and tangling her fingers in the girl's long, raven hair.
A/N: Whoo, well that got a little too steamy a little too fast for me. If you care to read it, the rest of the night shared by Grell and Kuro will be posted separately as a one-shot, probably tomorrow if I do get around to it. Remember to follow me for notifications when I update my stories if you are interested in reading the one-shot.
On an entirely different note, I just noticed that I end chapters with something close to a cliffhanger, cutting it off right where it gets good. I'll try to find out a more interesting and appealing way to end my writing.
And to all my readers in the USA, happy Thanksgiving! c:
Make sure to review and tell me how you like this chapter, or the story as a whole so far and follow this story to get updates on when I post new chapters. Thank you for reading!
Notice; this chapter was probably up for five minutes before I took it down again because I forgot to correct the entire ending of mistakes. :P Silly me!
