"Sebastian, did you get that information out of Grell?" Ciel inquired the next morning when he was finished eating breakfast.
Sebastian's eye hardened; the young master would not be pleased.
"No Young Master, regrettably I was not able to obtain the information you requested of me."
Ciel's blue eye flicked up at Sebastian and his eyebrows knitted together in irritation. He closed his eye and knotted his hands together in front of him.
"Why not?" Ciel demanded, "Were you that incompetent or God forbid, was the red reaper that much smarter than you?"
Sebastian's eyebrow twitched as he put on his best smile and replied, "No Young Master. I am terribly sorry for my minor faux pas. Please forgive me."
"Alright, very well," Ciel said opening his one blue eye.
"Shall I try again today Young Master?"
"No, Lady Elizabeth is coming over soon so I can take her out shopping. I need you with me in case the kidnapper tries to go after her."
"Is that an order Master?"
"No!" Ciel shot, "it is my duty to protect Lady Elizabeth."
Sebastian smirked, "Of course Young Master."
Soon after that, Ciel, Sebastian, Lady Elizabeth, and her maid Paula walked around the streets of London, traveling to different stores and boutiques. Ciel Phantomhive was engaged in a rather on sided conversation with his betrothed, muttering a "yes of course" or "indeed" every so often. Sebastian found himself rather bored on occasions like these. Humans had such mundane forms of entertainment.
While they walked, Sebastian's thoughts drifted to a certain red headed Shinigami. To think, he had closed the door and left Sebastian high and dry. None of Sebastian's usual tricks seemed to be able to engage the red reaper. Grell had seemed so… uninterested in him. But why? Usually the red head was throwing himself at Sebastian; blathering on about how he wanted to have his babies. Grell never refused his company. Something about the way Grell refused him ignited a fire within Sebastian.
Due to the red head's defiance, Sebastian had been forced to fail a command given by his master. Sebastian did not like failure. But however much it displeased him, Grell had invoked a rather predatory sense within Sebastian. Normally the red was so- to be frank easy. This was the first time Grell had refused Sebastian's request, and it made the butler look like a fool. But Sebastian wouldn't be bested so easily. Grell was the only person who could give his master the answers needed to solve this case, and Sebastian would not fail his master.
"And the girl at the party had the most beautiful dress Ciel! A pink one with yellow bows! I want one just like it," Elizabeth said.
"Yes of course," Ciel replied, sounding rather bored. His eyes wandered to a rooftop in the distance. There he noticed a familiar person, and he caught Sebastian's eye. Sebastian looked and Ciel and Ciel nodded, giving the wordless command.
"Excuse me Lady Elizabeth, I have a task I must complete," Sebastian said bowing.
"Oh, okay Sebastian. Anyways Ciel like I was saying…"
"And like I was saying William-Senpai, last night the butler demon came up to me and asked me where Grell-Senpai lived!" Ronald Knox said as William T. Spears finished collecting the soul.
Will's ears perked up at Ronald's words, "What did you say to it Ronald?"
"Well," Ronald began twiddling his thumbs, "I mean you see I was rather in a hurry, so…"
William turned around and glared at the young reaper, waiting for him to continue.
"Well I kind of gave him Grell-Senpai's address."
"Ronald, not only did you let a filthy demon wander around our realm without trying to restrain him or calling for backup, you gave him Sutcliff's address?" Will demanded.
"Erhm, well when you put it that way," he said nervously scratching the back of his neck.
Will was about to hit Ronald when he felt a familiar demonic presence growing near. Without turning around, William grabbed his death scythe and extended it, narrowly missing Sebastian Michaelis's face.
"Good day to you gentlemen," Sebastian grinned, weaving out of the way.
William eyes hardened as he retracted the death scythe and turned around to face the demon. Ronald mimicked, and summoned his lawn mower death scythe, preparing to back up his boss.
"What do you want filthy vermin?" he spat.
"Well now, that's not very polite. And I know how very much you like your professional aura," Sebastian mocked.
Will gripped his scythe and shot daggers at Sebastian. Speak of the devil and he shall appear Will mused.
"Why are you bothering us again?" Ronald demanded revving up the lawn mower.
"Now, now. No need to be rude, I did keep my word to you yesterday. Grell Sutcliff was unharmed right?" Sebastian said, "I was just hoping he might be with you. I didn't get to finish speaking to him yesterday."
'Yesterday? Was this demon the one on the phone with Grell Sutcliff at work yesterday?' Will wondered, 'Was it possible that the demon was seeing his subordinate? Is that why he visited Grell yesterday? If so, what angle was the demon playing?
An unknown emotion bubbled within Will and the familiar pain that plagued his chest when Grell was on the phone yesterday came again. Will did not know why the red reaper would bother to entertain the demon. The demon was vile and revolting, not worthy of the company of a Death God. Will was surprised that Grell's little crush on the demon had not passed yet. Grell's heart was a fickle one, the only crush he had that lasted the tell of time was his crush on Will. Thinking of this made Will smile smugly.
"Leave demon, or you will force my hand," Will threatened.
"Mr. Spears, there's no need to be nasty. Just tell me where I can find the red reaper. Again, I give my word that he shall not be harmed," Sebastian said.
"You do not need to concern yourself with reapers demon, your place is among hell spawn, where you belong," Will stated calmly as he swung his death scythe at Sebastian.
His scythe struck Sebastian in the arm, drawing a small amount of blood. Sebastian was not amused. He just needed to know where the red Shinigami was. He was not foolish enough to take on two Death Gods alone. When Will struck again Sebastian jumped up and kicked the scythe up, almost knocking it out of Will's hand.
"I don't want to fight, I just want to know where Grell is," Sebastian said.
If the two reapers did not tell Sebastian where he could find Grell, Sebastian would be lost. He couldn't risk trying to enter the Shinigami realm again. And it wasn't like he could wait around the manner for Grell. Once again, the red head failed to show up at the Phantomhive Manor to hide in the garden and watch Sebastian. Grell was the only one who could possibly know the identity of the murdered, because he was the one who reaped the souls. If he couldn't get Grell to give him answers, Sebastian didn't know how he could help his master solve the case before another murder took place.
"Again, you do not need to concern yourself about Sutcliff's whereabouts," Will said, just as stoic as ever.
"Come now, you couldn't possibly be jealous, could you," Sebastian said, feigning shock as he dodged a flying attack by Ronald's lawn mower.
Will's yellow-green as darkened. The demon was attempting to distract by trying to evoke anger out of him. But if Will knew what the demon was playing at, why was he falling for his tricks? Will tried to push the anger threatening to boil over him down. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Sebastian tossed a silver knife into Ronald's lawn mower. Ronald jumped to an adjacent rooftop and attempted to pull the knife out.
"Come on! I just changed the oil on this thing. Uh, a little help senpai?" Ronald called.
Will jumped to the rooftop spun his tree cutter scythe, deflecting the silverware Sebastian had thrown at Ronald. He lurched forward and slashed at Sebastian. Will drove Sebastian backward, and he was getting dangerously close to the edge of the roof. Will had Sebastian dancing left to right as Will slashed, dodging the attacks. It was a dangerous dance, one wrong move could prove fatal, giving the latter the upper hand. This Shinigami was powerful, Sebastian had to admit. Where Grell attacked wild and random, this reaper was cold and calculating; much like Sebastian himself. He had to admit, they were almost evenly matched.
When they reached the edge of the rooftop, Sebastian met the death scythe with three knives he clutched between his fingers. William pushed down, trying to drive Sebastian off the edge while Sebastian pushed up, trying to knock Will back a few paces. It was a rather precarious scene. A powerful demon and a powerful Grim Reaper, fighting on top of a rooftop in London. And over what really? Were these two men really fighting over Grell Sutcliff? It sounded ridiculous.
Sebastian eyes glowed red and Will's face hardened as the struggle continued. But when the pair spotted a familiar blur of red in the streets below, the two met eyes, and simultaneously dropped their weapons. Their eyes met once more in a mutual glare before racing off the streets below, heading straight toward the redhead.
The redhead had a split second to realize what was happening before a strong gust of air blew past him, blowing his crimson red locks all around him. Sebastian and Will were running toward him, and he gave a girlish squeal before running into an alleyway; stopping when he was backed into a corner. Was it really that hard for a girl to have a clam day? He clutched the shopping bags in his hand and a small frown graced his red lips. Grell propped his hands on his hips and stomped his foot. He glared at the two men standing in front of him.
"Enough! Both of you! While I admire two beautiful men fighting over me, can't a lady get a simple day to herself? Really," Grell pouted.
Both Sebastian and Will murmured, "We were not fighting over you!"
"I was just trying to stop the demon from attacking you," Will muttered at the same time Sebastian said, "I was just trying to have a word with you."
"I don't know this is about," Grell sighed checking his watch, "but I simply must be going. I will speak to you both about these pressing matters tomorrow. Bassy, I will stop by the manor tomorrow, and Willy, I will stop by the office tomorrow. Happy?"
"Fine Sutcliff," Will said angrily, pushing his glasses up with his scythe.
"Of course," Sebastian said bowing, his eyebrow twitching.
Grell let out an irritated huff as he began walking away, "Like I said before gentlemen, I am a very busy woman, while I would normally love to stay and watch two knights in shining armor fight over their crimson princess; but I have other things to attend to."
As the portal to the reaper realm opened Grell flipped his crimson locks over his shoulder and blew a kiss at the men standing angrily before him.
"Ta ta my loves," Grell said as he stepped through the portal.
After Grell left, the two men faced each other still glaring. Will straightened out his tie. Sebastian dusted off his suit. With a curt nod the two began walking in separate directions. But now before Ronald Knox came blundering through on his lawn mower.
"What did I miss?"
Early the next morning, two figures ran merrily in the backyard of Grell's house in the Shinigami realm. The sun was just beginning to rise, and the sky was painted a light blue, the blonde's favorite color. The red head and the blonde laughed carelessly as they the red picked up the small blonde and spun the latter around in circles. The blonde ran to the tire swing on the tree branch down by the river and squealed with excitement.
"Push me!" the blonde cried.
"Of course darling," the red head answered, a gentle smile gracing his lips.
The red head pushed the blonde lightly on the tire swing and smiled as the blonde soared. Grell Sutcliff had not laughed so genuinely in a very long time. Never in his life before had he ever felt so…complete. When the blonde was done swinging Grell plucked up the blonde and swung the latter in circles once more.
"Promise that we'll always be together?" the blonde asked hugging Grell tightly.
"Of course darling, I promise," Grell replied his grip on the blonde tightening.
And for the first time, Grell Sutcliff made a promise he was going to keep, no matter what.
"I love you Anna," Grell said placing a light kiss on the blonde's cheek.
"I love you too, Daddy."