Vietvn: Okayy! Third chapter to this OVA? X) Sorry if there's any OOC moments, gahh D: Charles need more manga appearance to understand him more =.= Again, sorry for any grammatical errors but please enjoy! And don't forget to R&R!


Part 3: One of Those Days

A growl emitted from the white haired Earl as he briskly made his way through the streets of London which was accompanied by a scowl to add onto the growing signs of frustrations. He didn't know how long he had been out, though he could only guess by the setting sun which was now threatening to dip below the horizon and plunge the world into darkness. He had been wandering the streets almost aimlessly; asking random shop keepers or pedestrians about the recent kidnappings of young women for majority of his day. Quite frankly he wouldn't have cared that he was assigned to do such a tedious job otherwise if only the fact that no matter how many people he'd stopped to ask, none of them had any valuable information or leads. To add onto that, he was growing tired of repeating himself and keeping on the 'professional' facade of having to ask people politely if they knew anything about the kidnappings or if they had witnessed any of them at all.

Stupid woman! Why did she had to go and get herself kidnapped? And by someone whose not easily traced either! Make me go out of my way to find her! I swear when I see her I'll-! Charles stopped his mental rantings when he accidentally knocked shoulders into someone. Feeling rather moody, Charles' scowl only deepened, turning on his heels as he was ready to give a good earful at the idiot who wasn't watching where he was going.

"I apologize for that sir!" came a quick reply from a male voice. Charles mouth, which had been ready to yell, shut almost instantaneously by the fast reply. He took in the appearance of the owner of the voice; male, mid-thirties, brown hair, brown eyes, a bit lanky, seemed almost skittish (or maybe it's because he recognized Charles' uniform), adorned what looked like a brown apron with pockets containing tools of sorts over cotton pants and a long shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows (all of which looked worn) and looked to be in the middle of taking out the trash.

"Hmph, you should watch where you're going next time..." Charles scoffed after giving his offender a once-over, then proceeded to brush invisible dirt off of the shoulder of his uniform (wearing white can be such a pain sometimes...).

"So sorry sir." The man repeated again, bowing his head a bit. Charles' storm grey eyes seemed to further unnerve the man as he refused to meet eyes with him. Who wouldn't be when said eyes seemed to be made to bore straight into your soul and was still fixated on you with such an intense stare. The expressionless face the Earl was wearing didn't help lessen the tension that was slowly building up around them.

After what felt like an eternity, Charles finally spoke languidly. "As you probably know, I'm Her royal Majesty's private officer. As of now, by order of Her Majesty, I'm investigating the events of recent kidnappings of women off the streets. I'm sure you've heard of it?"

"Why yes of course, it's circulating around the streets quite rapidly but it's almost doubted as a rumor because there were no eye witnesses of such event as of yet..." The man commented, seeming to relax a bit but hands still clutching onto the black garbage bag he was in the midst of throwing out.

"So I'm assuming you have no clues as to whom this kidnapper may be or know of certain areas where they usually strike?"

"No sir. From what I hear though, these disappearances usually happen at hours where there aren't many people around on the streets."

"Tch..." Charles started to grind his teeth out of frustration once again; he's heard that from probably twenty million different people already. "Be sure to report anything suspicious to the authority. We don't want any more kidnappings to occur; it saddens Her Majesty." He finally snapped.

"Yes, will do."

The queen's officer gave the man one last hard stare before blinking and turning away; continuing his journey down the streets of London once more. This time, people did well to avoid the white haired Earl; having a sense that he was in a foul mood (probably due to an ominous aura radiating from his person). Once at a good distance however, the Earl stopped and glanced over his shoulder, peering back the way he came from. The man he had spoken to earlier had just stepped back into the shop where he supposedly worked. Charles' eyes trailed up to the long sign that hung just above the shop window.

Hmph...He felt his lips tug into a frown, who seriously considers stuffing animals as a job? That's just plain creepy...

He started to walk again with eyes glaring at the sky. The natural light of the sun was starting to fail him but it was soon replaced by the oil street lamps that were now beginning to light up. Still, that didn't necessarily 'lighten' up his mood. Charles hated the fact that he was still going around empty handed with this case and that a certain someone's life was entirely dependent on whether or not Charles would be fast enough to figure this one out; and it just so happens that everything seemed to be working against him right now out of all times. God, what sort of sin did he commit to receive such punishment? Well...He guessed he could name a few...

A gust of wind suddenly swept past him, causing the ends of his coat to ruffle and leaving a dull cold feeling on his fingertips despite the black gloves that covered them. He shivered a bit from the feeling and as he finally glanced forward from out of his reverie, he noticed a small child standing about five feet away in the middle of his path, staring at him with seemingly large, soulless, dark obsidian eyes. Charles froze, a bit irked at the sudden appearance. If it was any other child, he would've continued walking but this...

His steel orbs did a once-over on the child; female, straight, shoulder length black hair with a set of too-straight-to-be-real bangs hanging over her forehead, looked to be about 8 years old, skin almost too pale to be alive, and was wearing a white Lolita styled dress that stopped just above her ankles, revealing equally white socks but highly contrasting black Mary Jane shoes. Overall, she looks like a porcelain doll behind those store windows (would probably be mistaken as one too if she was placed there; when was she ever going to blink?)

A little uneasy, Charles' eyes slid to the side, checking to see if this girl was just staring at something that was behind him. Seeing as there was barely anyone on the streets anymore at such a dark hour, he -almost dreadingly- concluded that the girl's attention was indeed, directed at him. Even so despite the weirdness of the situation, the Earl dared to start a staring competition with the strange child.

Are kids these days so scary looking? Why is she just staring at-...Oh! She blinked; finally...Wait...Why is she smiling at me like that...? Charles raised an eyebrow; an incredulous expression took over his face. A little more than unnerved now, he watched almost warily as the child continued to smile at him. It wasn't those angelic little smiles that you would see on children most of the time; no, it almost seemed devious.

A scowl quickly replaced any signs of wariness on the Earl's face however. "What are you smiling at brat?" He muttered disapprovingly. Shaking his head, he mentally kicked himself for wasting time on something like this. As he made a move to take a step forward, a rustle of something metallic caught his ears. Grey eyes immediately drew to the source and then soon after, widened in disbelief.

Dangling in the little girl's hands was Charles' pocket watch; the silver trinket gleaming almost teasingly against the street lamps. The white haired Earl could almost feel his left eye twitch a bit; he was never really fond of children...

Withdrawing his rapier, he pointed the tip of it in the direction of the small girl who surprisingly, didn't seem affected by it at all.

"Since harming children isn't my hobby, I'll give you a warning to give back my watch and be on your way in one piece...I have no time to play games with you." He said sternly. Though he may seem barbaric to anyone who was witnessing this -raising a weapon to a child- but really, if he was in better moods then he would've compromised with the little brat with candy or something...

Instead of whimpering in fear and being obedient to the older male, the little girl blinked her large doe-like eyes at him, giggled and then took off running down the street. Charles' eyes nearly doubled in size and his jaw almost dropped; the nerve that this girl had...

Without a second thought, he bolted after the girl; her white attire wasn't that hard to lose no matter how far away she was. Kids these days are the WORSE! What are their parents teaching them?

The chase eventually led him to a secluded street, seemingly an older part of London that was forgotten. There were very few signs of any inhabitants as the streets looked desolate and dark. Only a few street lamps were placed in the area but in very odd numbers; some not even lit.

"Damn it..." Charles hissed through clenched teeth. He lost sight of the little brat that stole his pocket watch and was now lost in what looked like a set out of a horror movie. Alone...Great...just GREAT. Well...as long as there aren't any ghosts...

"Grey."

Clang!

"Bloody Hell Phipps you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

His partner sighed as both men withdrew their weapons back to their respective holsters. Charles Grey cleared his throat awkwardly, still trying to get rid of the jittery feeling from that little scare. Once he was calm enough, he turned to his partner once again.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was sent out to investigate this area of London, Her Majesty plans to renew it if I deem it salvageable." Phipps then started to leisurely walk through the darkened streets as if he was just taking a stroll through the park.

Charles Grey looked at Phipps as if he just grew another head before catching up to his partner and fell into steps with him. "Haven't you heard about Yuuka getting kidnapped?" The white haired Earl asked, wondering why the hell the queen would send him out alone to handle such a tedious and frustrating case when his partner Phipps gets to the easier one of just investigating living conditions. Now that he thought about it, it was odd enough that the queen also didn't send the two out on the same mission like she always did.

"I have, but the queen didn't think you'll need any help with that case." Phipps replied nonchalantly though he didn't miss the first name basis Charles had used to address the missing Japanese. He too had thought it was weird that the queen didn't order him to work with his counter part but now that he thought about it, maybe the queen was on to something...Oh well, it's what the queen wished so it's best to let it be.

"What about you? Shouldn't you be investigating?"

"I was until some kid pick pocketed me and stole my watch. Despite that, no one seems to know anything about this kidnapper which annoys the crap out of me!" Charles said exasperatedly, just looking about ready to pull his hair out.

"You mean that kid?" Phipps asked, gesturing ahead of them. True to his words, the doll-like girl was peering out from behind one of the stone posts that stood on one side at the entrance trail leading up to a rather big, but old Victorian house. Upon being spotted, she took off running again, this time towards the looming building. Charles cursed his luck once again as he took this time to reflect on the day's events; Yuuka, a person whom he is having an intimate affair with, is kidnapped by some smart ass, leaves-no-clues-behind lunatic which therefore, leaves him -Charles Earl Grey- running around in circles because no one seems to know anything about said kidnapper. After finding no leads whatsoever, Charles Earl Grey encounters a creepy looking, little girl who just had to steal his pocket watch which then leads to him chasing said girl blindly down the streets of London to end up here, of all places, a desolate ghost town, meeting his partner along the way who is now suggesting to him that he should go into a building that is not structurally sound to retrieve what was rightfully his...

He might as well retire now and start writing his own novel...

"Well?" Phipps pried, "Aren't you gonna get that watch back? You told me one time that it was your grandfather's..."

Breathing out deeply (and in hopes of calming down his blood pressure from rising any more), Charles gave the taller man a pointed look.

"Since this is your area of investigation, why don't you lead the way?"

"Are you just saying that because you're afraid some ghost is gonna pop out any minute?"

"N-No! Who said they existed anyways? I only believe in things that I can cut with my sword..."

Another sigh escaped Phipps' lips as he began to make his way into the house, pushing aside the rusty black iron gates and trekking up the cobbled path. Charles followed behind in tow, trying to keep his eyes fixed on the house in front of him but couldn't thanks to his other senses suddenly being heightened.

Now he didn't know whether he wanted to kill the kidnapper first or kill the very person he's supposed to rescue at the moment...or even go as far as to consider causing a little bit of harm on the little girl that stole his pocket watch.

Ah...today was definitely not his day...