Chapter IX

Dangerous Kitten

I could hear the gentle paces of silk slippers on polished parquet flooring and the faint rustling of cloth when arms were crossed in front of a chest. Reluctantly I lifted me aching head to take a short look at the direction the sounds had come from.

"We've missed your presence at dinner."

A thin black eyebrow was raised in slight expectation when he took a deep breath of smoke from his smouldering pipe into his lungs, shrouding himself in a thick layer of dense, grey haze. The dark shadows of an already risen, pale moon and the dim, orange light of the Chinese lanterns under the arcades were drawing strange patterns onto the man's features. My body shuddered involuntarily – the unsteady light made him appear like a faceless ghost made of nothing but fog and smoke, leaning against one of the massive wooden pillars, eyeing my out of charcoal depths with vicious intentions. My body was stiff and rigid but not only my body, also my mind felt like it had been petrified. After Ran Mao's outburst I had been sitting on exactly the same spot where she had pushed me onto the ground - for heaven knows how long. I had lost completely track of time, all I could say was night had already fallen over the mansion and its inhabitants. My ice cold fingers were clinging around the aching limb, the once warm and sticky blood had long ago become dry and crumbly underneath my fingertips.

"What happened to your arm, Lau?" Yaosheng Du inquired when he crossed the courtyard with only a few long steps and bowed down in front of me to take a closer look at the soiled and torn apart silken robe whose rags were wrapping around the gash. I could feel how the steadily growing lump in my throat was suffocating me – and I simply couldn't stand that sympathetic expression on my benefactors face. The disdainful voice of his daughter was still echoing in my ears and lingering inside my head and he was pitying me?!

"Nothing," I lied hectically and turned away from his interrogating gaze, tried my best to force my numb feet to move under my rigid body in order to stand up. "I tripped and grazed my elbow, that's all," I added in the futile attempt to sound calm and composed but my voice came way too high pitched out of my mouth.

Silence. He didn't say a word, only a short disapproving look, nothing else. A wisp of smoke was blown into my face when he inspected the wound in a little more detail by getting down on his haunches. The warm, sweet smoke together with the searing pain made my head spin.

"Well, well, let's see, let's see…" he mumbled when he tore off the cloth from the wound at one go. Clinging to the very rest of self-control I gritted my teeth and bit back an anguished cry of pain when he started to twist my arm in the elbow joint until it made an audible creaking sound.

"Clumsy boy", he muttered when he finally let go off me and got onto his feet again. I could feel how hot tears were running down my burning cheeks and I frantically hoped he wouldn't see them. A vicious throbbing was creeping through my arm with steadily increasing intensity.

"Stupid, clumsy boy. It's not broken but I fear your joint got a little dislocated," he continued absentmindedly when his fingers were carefully controlling if the embers in his pipe were still glowing.

"It should be good by now," he added when he quickly looked up from his pipe but somehow I doubted his words. All I could feel right now was this searing pain which hadn't been that bad before and it only became worse instead of better.

"Get that wound treated by Xao," Yuesheng ordered in a low voice when he turned onto his heels, heading for the entrance under the arcades. He didn't bother to look back to me when he addressed me once again: "And after that you should get some rest, boy. A twisted arm does not hinder you in your studies of trigonometry tomorrow morning."

A mild snicker was the last I could hear before he shut the door to the lounge behind him and left me in perfect silence of the night.

For heaven's sake Lau, get yourself together! the well-known teasing voice behind my temples already stated scolding me again. Yes, I needed to get rid of that damn apathy.

Stoically ignoring the pulsating pain in my arm and the unpleasant prickling of my gone dead legs I get onto my wobbly feet and crossed the lawn in order to find Xao. I surely might have called for him but I didn't want to ring for his service at this hour, it simply did not seem right. He was probably already in his quarters, waiting for his master to go to bed so he could finish his daily tasks as well. Actually I had no idea where his quarters were located but I clearly remembered how he had disappeared like a shadow through a hole in the wall right next to the great entrance portal when I had come to the mansion for the first time.

The great lantern above my head was softly swaying in the wind when I reached the massive wooden doors which separated the world outside from the little cosmos inside these walls.

Quickly I opened the little door next to the great entrance portal and slid through the narrow opening. The passage was dark and very, very narrow, I could hardly stand upright. Carefully I followed the windings and turning of the tunnel until my movement froze on the spot when I heard something in the darkness. A faint, peculiar sound in irregular intervals. Like metal hitting cobblestone. Listening carefully into the darkness I followed that strange sound which was consistently getting louder the longer I was following the passage to the servant's quarters. It felt like I was following this dark windowless tube for ages until finally a dim light glistened in the distance. Taking a deep breath of fresh air I left the passageway behind and found myself in a part of the mansion I had never been before. I was standing in some kind of little chamber with no other furnishings but a little desk and a chair. The warm, slightly blue light of the gas lamp hanging on the wall right above the desk was flickering in the wind. It surprised me to see that the little chamber was equipped with an access to a very little, very shabby inner yard. Over three ramshackle steps one could reach the restricted area the servants were probably allowed to use during their leisure time. It was a joke in comparison to the great, inner courtyard of the mansion with its neatly trimmed lawn, the pearly white shingles and the sparkling carp pond. It was a wretched, little place surrounded by walls as high as trees… but some dark figure seemed to be perfectly satisfied with it.

Unconsciously I hid myself behind one of the pushed aside, dark-red folding doors, anxiously watching the yard and the swiftly moving shadow. Several times I blinkered until I finally understood what was happening. It looked like someone was training some kind of martial arts - here and there I could see the faint reflection of moonlight on quickly moving metal like a flash in the night since the moon had decided to show its pale face once again. Radiating dim rays through shattered shreds of thick clouds it was illuminating the obscure scene with a sickly bleared light, drawing glistering shadows onto a pale, doll-like face… and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

She was wearing a short-sleeved Tangzhuang while wielding two massive clubs through the air like it was nothing. Open mouthed I simply couldn't do anything else but stare at her, how her two long braids swayed through the midnight air when she turned on the spot, one weapon in each hand. She was obviously furious, judging by the way she was swinging those massive tools over her head again and again. This girl had nothing in common anymore with the well-behaved, beautiful but deadly stoic daughter of a triad leader.

It was more like she had turned into a yellow-eyed alley cat fighting to protect her kitten.

"Ran Mao", my hoarse voice whispered unwittingly but only seconds after my utterance I wanted nothing more but to bit my tongue.

Her movements stopped right this instance, her head snapped into my direction, the golden eyes widened in utter surprise when she slowly lowered the clubs. It heavily reminded me of our first meeting, only with the slight difference that she wasn't wielding deadly weapons at the time. The golden eyes started to look like the eyes of a demon, a vicious fiend.

Without prior warning she let one of her enormous clubs hit the ground with such vigor that the paver under her feet cracked and split into pieces.

"What on earth are you doing here?"

I know, I know, long time no see but at least I am still updating in 2012 ;)

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and fantastic holidays :) Well, and of course I hope you liked the new chapter - going to update sooner from now on - I promise ;))

Lots of greetings, Eisteufel

P.S. Oh well and yes, yeah, yuhuu, Lau has finally appeared in the Kuroshitsuji Manga again... :))