A/N: I'm writing this when I should be doing my mountain load of homework (sadistic teachers TT^TT) but, it can't be helped I suppose~ I have the attention span of a squirrel when it comes to homework XD Anyway, enough of my ranting~ Half of this chapter is told in the perspective of everyone's favourite demon butler~ So yeah, enjoy!
~~~Sebastian's POV~~~
I felt relief when I heard the Young Master's demanding call for my presence. Obviously, anyone would feel relief if they were given an excuse to escape this death trap of a kitchen. Now, even as he thought that, that useless excuse for a chef, Bard, was looking for an appropriate way to play with his flamethrower while under the deluded impression that he was actually cooking. And scolding him would only invoke one of his long, tiresome rants. Honestly, humans can be so tiring.
Fleeing the mess in the kitchen, I threw an order for a clean up to the hiding staff before continuing up to the Young Master's study. Preparing myself for a brief knock before letting myself in, my sensitive nose took in a different scent on the other side of the door. The scent of blood and soil mixed in with sweat. Forgive me if it sounded disgusting phrased in that manner. As I pushed the elegant dark mahogany wood door open, my peripheral vision took in the scene in front of me. My Young Master, sitting behind his desk, looking as annoyed and tiny as ever glaring at me while impatiently tapping his fingers against the desk's teak wood surface. Not the source of the scent. Instead, there was another figure in the room.
A girl of about eighteen years of age was standing near to the doorway. Preferring maybe not to sit, most likely due to her soiled clothes. She was small without being short and quite reasonably well proportioned. Her blindingly orange hair came down in waves around her shoulders. She was wearing a wide brimmed sunhat adorned with a classic black and white bow, despite being indoors. Her hat was pulled low over her face, casting most of her facial features in its shadow. Her seemingly black eyes (colour quite indiscernible from the shadow) were kept carefully apathetic as she surveyed me. Her full lips were pulled down very slightly, as if in calculating distaste. Her soft billowing blue sundress ended just after her knees, revealing the lower part of her legs and her red ballet-flats. Her sundress was ripped slightly in places and splattered with blood and soil. Fascinatingly enough, not once since I stepped in did she look away from my face.
"You're late Sebastian. Come quicker when I call next time." Young Master said irritatibly.
"My apologies Master," I murmured sinking into a low bow before the brat- I mean young boy.
With a slight "harrumph", the Young Master turned away from me to look at the girl. I looked from the master to the girl and back to him. Raising a white gloved hand to hide my mouth, I started to snicker.
"Well well well, cheating on Miss Elizabeth already are we?" The look on Young Master's face was priceless. His cheeks gleamed red from embarrassment as he rounded on me with a snarl.
"O-Of course not! How dare you suggest that! I'd never… I am a respectable gentleman Sebastian!" The red faced Young Master declared, his fist coming down on the tabletop.
"Oh, are you implying something about my inability to seduce you?" the orange haired girl piqued up, making the boy turn, if possible, even redder.
"Wha- No I'm not…Wait… THAT IS NOT THE POINT HERE! SEBASTIAN!"
"Yes of course bocchan," I said, bowing slightly again, my amusement holding my smirk in place. This girl had promise in tormenting my Master.
"Ahem, back to business. You are to work as a maid here for now. As I've said before, I don't let people stay for free. Sebastian will assure you of your safety while you reside here. " I turned my head slightly to look at the girl. She was certainly no noble, that was obvious. As I watched her, she tore her eyes almost unwillingly from my face to answer the Young Master.
"Yes… My little Lord Phantomhive," the girl said, the corners of her mouth pulling up into a smirk at her words.
"Sebastian. For the sake of my game, you will keep this girl safe. That is an order." Game? What kind of game now? Keeping to the aesthetics of an elegant butler, I bowed in response although my burning eyes betrayed my raging curiosity.
"Are you sure you don't want to know…?" the girl asked the Young Master, letting her question trail off.
"It holds no concern of mine. As long as I get to play with them a bit, I don't really care. Now for starters, why don't you take off that infernal hat? You've been wearing it this entire time."
In response, the girl casted me a slightly terrified look and pulled the hat further down instead.
"I-I can't…"
"Don't be ridiculous, you can't do your duties as a maid with it on. Sebastian, take it off her." At my Master's words that gave no care to the whims of the girl, I walked over to her.
"Noo… Argh," the girl whimpered clutching on to the hat, as if for dear life. For a small female, she seemed to posses an amazing amount of strength. As I tugged and she pulled, it took slightly longer than usual to remove the offending piece of headwear. At its removal, the girl immediately squeezed her eyes shut as if afraid of the light. Not noticing her discomfort, the Young master carried on with his next order.
"Sebastian, carry out the usual preparations for a new addition to the staff. Assign her a room and introduce her to the others. Now hurry, I want chocolate gateau for dessert."
At the indication that she had to move, the girl's shoulders slumped and she unwillingly peeled her eyes open. She raised a hand, to block her eyes from my view, but I already saw. Green and yellow eyes, glowing unlike any normal human's. My own eyes widened. A shinigami here? Is playing maid and butler a new hobby for them? And the Master even asked me to protect her?
"You're… A shinigami?" I questioned, looking at the girl.
"What?" Came the Young Master's sharp, shocked voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why didn't you ask?" The girl snapped back, a slight twinge of helplessness in her voice.
~~~~Reisen's POV~~~~
Everyone, that being the butler Sebastian and Ciel, turned to stare at me, eyes bulging out of their sockets. As if neither of them had never seen a shinigami before. In my tired, bloodsplatered state, I was certainly not in the mood to deal with situations like this. Personally, I would much rather retire to the bed he promised and deal with this whole thing in the morning. Come to think of it, I think I left my book at that café just now…
Watching both of their shocked faces, I snapped. "Should you really be looking at me like that? I wouldn't have thought that the oh-so-knowledgeable boy and his freaky demon butler would have this kind of reaction. Ironic isn't it?"
Seeming to snap out of their frozen state, the demon butler himself answered my words. "Of course we would be shocked. No one would have expected a death god to appear in such a dirty, unkempt state on their doorstep." He said smoothly, eyes narrowing slightly at me.
As I opened my mouth to retort, the supposed Earl cut me off. "I had actually expected you to be an overly knowledgeable human that needed silencing. After all, why would a death god run from another of your own kind?"
"Because another death god wanted to kill me?"
"Can't you defend yourself?"
"Oh, another one is chasing after her?" Sebastian inquired.
"I'm retired… So I don't have sufficient means to protect myself at the moment. But that doesn't mean I can't take you on demon! So don't try," I said defensively glaring at Sebastian.
"Oh? Take me where exactly?"
Ignoring his butler's comment, Ciel spoke to me again. "Aren't you too young to retire?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? Isn't it my choice? Besides should YOU really be asking that? What are you, ten?"
"THIRTEEN!"
"If I may be so bold to ask, why exactly are you being chased?"
"That blonde reaper with the lawnmower we met on the Campaina was chasing her when Tanaka and I found her,"
In response, Sebastian raised his delicately shaped eyebrow. Thinking about it, that eyebrow is so perfect I bet he spends hours plucking it to achieve that shape.
"Hmm… So I suppose your game involves tormenting him by keeping her within the safety of these walls, guarded by me?"
"It's a win-win situation for her isn't it? I get to enjoy this game in my spare time, gain a new worker, and she stays safe. I can't wait to see his face when he tries to chase her here."
At that, the butler returned his cold, burgundy gaze to me. "Then, would you mind sharing why that certain shinigami is so, forgive the pun, hell bent on attaining you?"
"I tried to fight him when he wanted to claim the soul of my dying mother… Of course, all of that was in vain since she got her soul stolen in the end anyway… Murder… Cold blooded murder," My voice was low and cracked in odd places. I shuddered from the reel of memories in my mind, the brief explanation dragging out the gory scene from before. Now, I could only stand there shaking from the memory, with no Ronald to take my mind off of it.
"Your…mother was murdered? Do shinigami even have mothers?" The Earl asked, his voice different from before, more subdued.
"I think of her as my mother, the woman who took me in. Killed by a demon when I was just meters away! How… Now her souls gone… Never able to reach heaven," I broke off as a few tears rolled down my cheeks. However, I wasn't in the mood for a real crying spree at the moment. I would save that for later, when I'm in bed.
"….Where's the body now?"
"Still… At the house I suppose…"
After exchanging a short glance full of meaning with his butler, Ciel turned back to me, "We'll go with you tomorrow to collect the body and bury it. It would be only appropriate, since she's important to you," Ciel said, his voice filled with, for some reason, empathy.
"Now, come along then little shinigami. Let's go get you dressed and washed up. You'll scare the other servants, looking like that." As I followed the strange demon butler out of the room (he seemed happy enough that he finally understood the situation… Although I can't be sure since his expression never changes…), I turned to give Ciel Phantomhive one last look and watched his small frame, shoulders slumped as if heavily burdened, until the mahogany doors closed and blocked him from my view.
Oh yeah, for those interested in how Reisen looks like, I tried my hand at some anime style drawing~ Please search for Reisen Howell on deviant art (I have no idea why I can't post the link here... .)
