Disc: Inuyasha is not, nor will it ever be mine. Neither is Kuroshitsuji.

Spellchecker is the evil of evils sometimes. Thank you for catching my mistakes. I probably have tons more buried that no one has pointed out. And it doesn't offend me at all if someone points them out.

Long reviews are fun. Especially when they ramble.

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"There are other ways to live, Ciel, besides being the Queen's guard dog. Your mother, my sister, would not want this path for you." Madame Red murmured. "And so, even though the reason that you have returned to this underworld –the revenge of your parent's death –I believe you should leave it."

Ciel sipped from his ever present teacup.

"Why?"

"Revenge will not bring back those who have perished, Ciel. It will not bring happiness to them either."

"I did not return to the way of the Phantomhives because of the previous generation. I did it for myself. In order to bestow the same pain, the same humiliation." Ciel paused and looked down at his ring. He stroked the blue diamond. "What I felt upon those who betrayed us and sullied the Phantomhive name."

"I remember the day you were born. You were so small, so fragile." Madame Red stood and walked around the table. "You brought out my protective instincts. I was unable to have children, and thus, you were my own son. And Illya, Illya became my daughter. I would like to ask you to take lea-."

Ciel stopped her from touching him.

"I'm doing this right now because of my own wishes and choices. I do not regret it. And I will not be indulged out of pity. Not by anyone."

Madame Red closed her eyes.

"I see. Sebastian?" The butler looked up from where he stood and disappeared to retrieve her coat. "Would you abandon this path for Illya, Ciel?"

"Illya understands my need to stay on this path, Madame."

"Of course." She moved to the door. Sebastian reappeared with her coat. He stood behind her and helped her to put it on. "She has always understood you, hasn't she?" She left the room. Ciel frowned at his chess board.

" Well, I'll take it from here Sebastian." Madame Red smiled at him and held her hand to the door.

"Madame?" Sebastian asked.

"Please do not stray from his side. It would not do for him to wander off it and become lost."

"I shall without fail. I intend to protect him to the end." Sebastian knelt in front of her. "As well as Illya; if she'll have me."

Madame Red smiled softly and opened the door.

"I've come to pick you up, Mistress." Grell said. He held an umbrella over his head.

"Thank you." Madame Red walked down the steps and stepped into the carriage. She hesitated and called Sebastian's name.

"Yes Madame?" The butler stood in the rain.

"Protect her Sebastian. As I cannot."

Sebastian stared up at her.

"All will be as you asked."

"That is all." She slipped further into the carriage. "That is all." Grell shut the door.

xxxxxxxxx

Kagome watched Madame Red's carriage disappear into the night.

"She has not ended the game yet?" Midoriko murmured. "Maybe she will come for you."

"If that is what she wishes, it will not end that way."

"But you do not know that for sure." Midoriko sat on the window sill. She played with the sleeves of her top. "Will you let her end this game as she wishes?"

"How do you see it ending?"

"There will be death Ka-Go-Me. I will not tell whose."

"And if I end it?"

"You will suffer. But it will be sweeter for me. I relish the thought of you in agony. I want you to shatter as I did."

"You keep on saying that."

"You will break Guardian. I will make it so. Hush a bye baby on a tree top."

"Shut up."

"When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall." Midoriko smiled brightly and swept Kagome into her arms. "And down will come baby, cradle and all."

"Go away."

"And when it goes crashing, the cradle doth break."

"I doubt the word is doth."

"And ashes and blood are left in its wake."

"You sound more and more like It with every passing day."

"You will not compare me with that Thing! I will not let you."

"Hush a bye baby, on a tree top. When the wind blew, the cradle did rock. When the bow broke, how hard did it fall? And shattered the Jewel, and minds with its fall."

"I'll kill you!" Midoriko lunged at her. Kagome laughed mockingly at the woman, even when her nails dug into her shoulders and blood trickled down her arms.

"And when the mind shattered, and boy did it break. It left me dead in its wake." Midoriko howled in anger and vanished.

Kagome laughed until she cried.

Then she cried for different reasons.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ciel sighed and hugged himself closer.

"He'll come here even if we hang out, won't he?"

"Yes."

"It is true that among the prostitutes killed there were other similarities apart from their organs being removed."

"Yes. Beautiful, shimmering black hair."

"Why did he need to kill them?" Ciel asked, more to himself than to his butler.

"The allure which could be called sinful."

"And also –." Ciel looked over at his butler and sighed.

"That wonderful softness. Oh, that wonderful softness."

"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

"I apologize. I was so taken with its rare beauty. I wanted to see if it was suitable for Miss Illya."

"Sebastian, I don't care if Illya loves cats. There will not be one in the Manor!" A scream rang out suddenly. "There wasn't a way for someone to get through!"

"Let's go!"

The pair ran in the direction the scram came from. Ciel slammed open the door. He froze at the sight that met him.

"My lord!" Sebastian covered Ciel's eyes and grabbed him, leaping away from the door. Ciel trembled in his arms. He felt bile climbing up the back of his throat. "You've splattered blood about in a spectacular way Jack the Ripper. No. Grell Sutcliffe."

Ciel ripped Sebastian's hand away.

"Grell? Sutcliffe?"

"No, this isn't what it seems." Grell stepped forward, blood splattered over his clothes, his face, his hair. "I heard a scream and when I arrived it was already this way."

"You think you can feign innocence looking like that Grell?" Sebastian asked disdainfully. "This is the first time I have met one such as you in the human world. You present the façade of a helpless butler to everyone and you fooled us quite splendidly."

"Splendidly, huh?" Grell chuckled and straightened. He smiled and his teeth changed, becoming sharper, larger. "That's right." He dragged the ribbon out of his hair and discarded it. "I am an actress."

"Actor." Sebastian corrected.

"An accomplished one. An exceptional one" Grell continued on as if he hadn't been interrupted. He pulled a comb from inside his jacket and ran it through his hair. It changed from brown to red. "You aren't normal either are you, Sebastian?" Grell questioned as he stuck false lashes on.

"It's the name I was given by the young master. And it is the name I will keep. For now."

"That's quite the subservient personality." Ciel stayed quiet, staring in horror at the others man transformation. "But I suppose it's quite splendid in a handsome man such as yourself. Well then Sebastian, no, Sebby, I shall introduce myself. I am the Barnett family butler, Grell Sutcliffe." The man brushed a lock of hair over his shoulder. Please treat me kindly." Grell blew a kiss to the frowning demon. Sebastian's skin took on a faint green color. "It's so great to finally meet you like this Sebby. Without a disguise. I was quite surprised when I first met you; I had never seen a demon act as a butler before."

"Surely, that is my line. For someone like you to act as a butler… You are supposed to be a neutral being. A balance between the gods and humans. As far as I know, only one other has been able to do as she pleases without inciting her wrath. You are not she. Why would you, a lowly Reaper, become a butler?"

"Shall we say that I fell in love with a woman?"

"Who?" blurted Ciel.

"You know without asking, don't you?" Ciel gasped when his aunt came into view.

"Madame."

"Ciel. This was beyond what I expected. I had thought Illya would beg you to stay away."

"I would not." The quartet spun to see the girl in question standing further back. "I thought you would have done as I had asked."

"And I could not."

"I see." Kagome looked up, her eyes more silver than grey in the moonlight as tears ran down her cheeks. "I told you I would not let you bring us to ruin." Kagome pulled at her sleeve. She wore an outfit similar to Ciel's but in a dark grey.

"Illya? Why are you here?" Ciel looked between the two. Sebastian positioned himself accordingly. "You could not, you cannot be –."

"You had the perfect alibi Mama. I asked of you to end this."

"She was on the primary suspect list."Ciel murmured.

"You would suspect me? Your aunt? The mother of your fiancée? Did you not trust us?"

"If a person was capable of becoming Jack the Ripper, they do not have my trust, or my love."

Kagome shifted and brought a hand up. The delicate gun gleamed in the light. "Then let it be so." She cocked the gun and smiled grimly. "Mama Red. I asked only this of you."

"And I could not grant it. You must think me a fool."

"I do." White strands of hair glimmered in the lighting. "I asked only this of you, nothing more."

"I could not stop Illya. You do not understand."

"Was I not good enough! I loved you, I love you!" Kagome paused and shook her head. Something warped under the skin below her eye. "I'll end you." Ciel gasped as she lit up, power glowing under her skin. "I'll end you all." The smile that curled her lips was more than insane. Sebastian pulled Ciel behind him and backed away from the glowing girl. He slowly lowered himself to his knees.

"Little miss. Illya. I know you had nothing to do with the actions of the Madame." Grey eyes landed on him and hardened. Sebastian screamed when her arm was suddenly through his stomach and reaching and turning and

Ciel was screaming too and it hurt oh it hurt and hurtnadhurt

Kagome stopped and pulled back her hand, staring at it as if it were something foreign. Madame Red stared at her adoptive daughter in shock. She found herself pinned under the same stare that had most likely frozen Sebastian.

"This is your fault. You and Grell. I asked, I asked, all I asked for wa –." She broke off her sentence. Something stirred the air around her. She blinked slowly and brought her hand up to the light in wonder. "I knew it." She hissed. "We knew it!" Something writhed under the flesh of her hand and vanished. She coughed and spat onto the pavement.

"Illya?" Ciel murmured his hand covering his eye. Whatever she had done, he had felt it, a wrenching pain that had flowed from Sebastian into him.

"Not Illya." The Thing in Illya's body sneered. "Now, I wish to see blood and despair. Paint the world red!"

Grell shuddered. He wondered if he sounded like that when he proposed the same.

"You cannot." Grell raised his arms non-threateningly. "It goes against what you are."

"What am I, you insipid little toe rag?" She smiled at him, dark, seductive, cruel.

"You are a miko. A priestess. One of holy power."

"I am no such thing." She raised a palm to her head and froze. "Am I such a thing?" She murmured. She shook her head. "Mama Red. Please, reconsider."

"It is too late Illya. She cannot."

"Leave. Disappear to some other place." She continued, ignoring Ciel. "You could start over. I could help."

"How could you help me? It is too late. I have no children of my own and these women, they throw them away like garbage. They don't deserve what they were blessed with!"

"You were blessed with her! You stupid thing! You had her. And now she's gone, gone, gone." The Thing in Illya's body hummed. "And now the world comes crashing down, crashing down, crashing down. And screams of blood and pain and hate, rang through the a-ir."

Grell leapt at her suddenly chainsaw in hand.

"Sebastian!" Ciel cried out in distress. The Butler disappeared in the direction Grell and not-Illya had faded away.

"It surprises me still. The level of devotion she has to you." Madame Red murmured. "Even though I was the one who raised her that way, to love you and only you, it surprised me that she would go against me for you."

"Should you be surprised though?" Ciel questioned.

"I should not." Madame Red looked down at him. "But that devotion will not be enough t save you!" Madame Red sauntered towards him. "You and I have become like guard dog and prey, eh Ciel?" The blade in her hand glinted. "But if you are going to hunt me down, there's only one way!" She slashed at him and Ciel hissed as the dagger cut into his arm.

"Why would you-."

"A brat like you could never understand." She grabbed his neck and slammed him into the wall. "A brat like you…" Her fingers tightened around his neck and she raised the knife over her head. "Like you…" An ugly grimace twisted her lips. "You should have never been born!" She yanked him off his feet and prepared to bring the dagger down.

"Master!" Sebastian appeared behind her poised to kill even as she dropped Ciel. She brought her hands to her face. The dagger fell to her feet.

"Sister."

"No Sebastian! Don't kill her!" Sebastian stopped his movement and brought his arm up to cradle his injured shoulder.

"My Sebby, you are so daring." Grell yanked his chainsaw from the wall and batted aside Kagome as she leapt at him. "Even at the cost of your arm, you went to save that kid. Look at yourself in comparison Madame. Hurry up and get rid of him!"

Madame Red sobbed into her palms and shook her head.

"I cannot! My beloved sister, my beloved, their beloved… I can't. I just can't. I can't kill this child." Kagome crouched low, holding her head in her hands. The skin of her wrist rippled and pulled.

"Are you saying this after you've cut up all those women?" Grell bit out. "If you can't get rid of this kid, I'll dispose of you."

"Madame." Ciel murmured, reaching forward.

"But this child is mine!" Madame Red spun to face Grell. He lunged at her, intent on dragging his chainsaw through her chest. A gunshot rang out and he crumpled. Madame Red screamed when the blade ripped through her leg instead.

"Madame Red!" Ciel ran to her and stared in horror at the place where her leg should be. It was gone and a pool of blood was forming quickly.

"I could not kill you Ciel. You are mine. My beloved little one." She smiled up at him and her eyes slid shut.

"Madame!"

Grell chuckled as he slowly pulled himself to his feet.

"I-ll-ya! That wasn't nice of you at all! Now look! Your Mama Red is a crippled bitter woman. She shouldn't live. She's like all the other women. I thought she was different."

"But that was your entire fault, wasn't it Grell." Kagome growled. She was still holding the gun out, one knee planted on the ground for recoil. She pushed herself to her feet. "As long as she lives, everything is fine." The Thing screeched at her, demanding to be back in her body, in her mind. To control her actions once more. Kagome ignored it. She stopped glowing. "I'll kill you." She brought he gun up and shot him again. He dodged it and leapt at her.

"Sebastian! Protect Illya." Sebastian leapt into the fray. The girl danced out of the way of the chainsaw as she spun and ducked around Grell's swipes.

"You little bitch! I'll kill you!" Kagome laughed at Grell's screams and twisted under a kick and hot him again. He crumpled to the ground. The first gun wound was oozing grey light and the second started to do the same.

"What will happen Grell, if I purify you? Will you die?" She giggled. "Grell be nimble, Grell be quick. Grell back off or I'll cut off your…hmmmm. What rhymes with quick?" She raised the gun to shoot him again.

"What is going on here?"

Kagome paused and dropped her hand; the gun vanished under her shirt. She spun to face the owner of the voice and gasped.

"K-Kikyou?" Sebastian looked up from where he was trying to stem the flow of blood from Madame Red's leg. There was a woman standing on top of the building. She wore a simple white dress trimmed in red. He did a double take. The woman looked like a grown version of Illya.

"That is my name. How have you come upon it?" The woman leapt off the building and landed on Grell.

"Kikyou." Kagome giggled insanely. "Kikyou is here." The woman dropped to her knees.

"It cannot be." Kagome ran to her and threw herself into Kikyou's arms. "My dearest!" Kikyou pulled her close and rested her chin on Kagome's head. "How have you come to be here?"

"I do not know. I left through the well and arrived here years ago."

"I see." Kikyou smoothed Kagome's hair and pressed a kiss to her head. "What is happening here?"

"Grell is using Mama Red to kill others before their time, Kikyou. He even threatened to kill her if she didn't kill Ciel."

"I see."

"Do you?" Kagome looked up at Kikyou through watery eyes. "Ciel is mine. I will not allow him to die."

"And the butler?"

"He protects him. It is more than I can do right now."

Kikyou pried the girl from her arms.

"Go, heal your Mama Red. I'll take care of this mess." She pushed her towards the woman who was slowly dying. "Her leg will not be reattached though. That will be her punishment."

"I understand." Kagome skipped over to Madame Red's side and shoved Sebastian away. She placed her hand on the wound and filtered out her power.

"Dispatcher Grell Sutcliffe. You have violated many regulations. First, the elimination of those not on the candidate list." Kikyou read off of a book in her hands. Grell whimpered in fear. "Then the use of a non-sanctioned death scythe. You've also disclosed information of the dead to those living pertaining to the circumstances of the aforementioned departed's deaths." Kikyou grabbed him by his hair and pulled him closer to her face and the book vanished. "You've also threatened dear, dear…."

"Illya Kagome Durless." Kagome called.

"Dear Illya in your endeavors." She stood, pulling the death god by his hair. "I'm sorry this," She shook Grell. "Has caused you so much trouble." She slipped a card out of a hidden pocket in her sleeve and threw it towards Sebastian. "Here is my card." She bowed. "Should you need anything; that is how you can contact me."

"Maybe you should have kept a closer watch on him." Sebastian retorted. "Humans succumb to temptations easily." He smiled at her charmingly. "When they are forced to stand at the precipice of despair, they'll take any route given to them. No matter what web it tangles them in or the kind of person they are."

"And you are right there to take advantage of them, are you not? Is that not what you wish for? Tainted souls fueled by despair." Kikyou tilted her head to the side when his eyes flickered away from her and back. She followed the flicker and paused. "Well, that is interesting. But you know she is not near the edge of despair, do you not?"

"I know this."

"You understand she is harder to taint."

"She is already tainted. It is a path she has already stepped on and will continue to walk." Sebastian smiled softly. "And I will be there for them both."

"I suppose." Kikyou murmured. She sighed and flipped a strand of hair over her shoulder. "Well, lets head back, Grell Sutcliffe."

"Must you go so soon, Kikyou?"

"I must. She will be intrigued by this development."

"She?" Kagome shuddered. "Her?"

"Yes my darling. It was our exchange."

"I see." Kagome sat back on her heels. "Will I see you again?"

"Sooner than you would hope." Kikyou smiled at her softly. "I must go now." She walked away and vanished.

"I am sorry Ciel. It seems he got away." Sebastian said.

"That is fine." Ciel ran his fingers through his aunt's hair. "Take us home."

"Yes, my lord."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kagome sat in the chair by Madame Red's bed flipping idly through a book. She was still dressed in what she had been wearing earlier.

"There it is!" Kagome looked up as the Undertaker melted out of the dark space between the armoire and the window. "Why do you have this book child?"

"I wanted to see."

"And have you?"

"Yes."

The Undertaker pulled the book from her fingers.

"You understand."

"I will not tell Ciel. I may guide him in the right direction, or dissuade him from the wrong ones, but I will not tell. Not until he has found the answer on his own."

The Undertaker nodded.

"That is all I can ask for." Suddenly he grabbed her shirt and lifted her off her feet. "I will kill you if you reveal anything to him."

"I see."

The Undertaker stared at her and chuckled before setting her down into the chair.

"You amuse me little one." He brought his finger to his lips. "I think I'll stay around to watch the show." Kagome shivered as he vanished, still chuckling darkly. "And leave books left to the Death Gods alone." She hugged herself as his last chuckle vanished. She turned back to the bed.

Xxxxxxxxx

"Illya?" Kagome batted at the hand on her shoulder. "Illya?" She drew in a breath and opened her eyes.

"Mama Red."

"I'm sorry Illya."

"You would have killed him."

"I could not."

"But you would have." Kagome sighed and ran her hands through her hair. She paused and shivered when she saw traces of the Undertaker's aura in her hair.

"I beg your forgiveness."

"Why Mama Red? Why betray me as such?"

Madame Red fell silent. She looked out of the window.

"In our years together, I never told you my story, did I dearest?"

"You did not." Kagome said.

"When I was young, the late Earl Phantomhive came to my estate. My father introduced him to my sister and I. As a child, I hated the red hair that my father gave me. 'Your red hair is beautiful Anne. Like the color of liquorice that burns a landscape. Red suits you very well.' The Earl said. And I grew to love the color of my hair. I grew to love red. I…grew, to love him. Later, my sister was elated. 'Anne, I have something wonderful to tell you!' They were to be married. I came to hate the color red once more."

In the hall, Sebastian and Ciel stood outside the door. They both knew it was rude to eavesdrop, but they wanted to hear the story as well.

"But I could never hate him." Madame Red continued. "I married a man I met at a banquet. It was different from what I wanted, but… Even so, this time…. A carriage went out of control and hit us. It drifted away. My husband died immediately. And my child, my womb, they were taken from me to save my life. Everything drifted away. That which I loved, what I was coming to love, it was all dyed. It was all dyed in the color red which I so despised. My sister passed on with her beloved, but my feelings were not buried in the ground with them. 'Children are just a nuisance.' Those whores said. They couldn't entertain men with children underfoot. I lost everything, and they, they who had what would never come into my life, and they would throw it away. I wanted to dye them red with these hands. A red reaper joined me after my first exploit. He was so proud of me, of the color I had splashed on myself, on the woman. After a while, Ciel came back. He brought with him his butler clad in black. I was able to have him back. The child of my sister, of my beloved. I wondered, if Ciel came back, why couldn't he? Why did he choose my sister and not me? I won't let anything be taken away. I won't give anything up!"

Kagome slapped her.

"And me? What of me? You would have made me lose my beloved! Mine! You had no right to him!"

"Illya…. I see that now." Madame Red looked down at her hands. "He is your beloved, much the way Vincent was mine. I will not interfere with the two of you. I think, I think I will go away somewhere."

"Where Mama Red? And how do I know you won't continue these actions there?"

"I will go to America."

"Why there?"

"I can build a house by the sea and spend my time on the simple things."

"Why there?" Kagome pressed.

"Illya. I will give you all my wealth, all my funds, everything if you will help me do one thing."

"What is it?"

"I wish to form an orphanage. I will take those children that are not wanted and raise them as my own."

"You cannot do that without funds."

"I see." Madame Red closed her eyes.

"I will give you that. I will ask Sebastian to put everything together for you. Until then, you will go on a trip. Tour the world. When everything is done, I will send a message to you."

"Thank you, Illya."

"You will not set foot in England again. You will say your farewell to Ciel, to your sister's grave, and you will leave us forever."

"I understand." Madame Red opened her eyes and turned to the girl next to her. "You will be better without me, Illya. Remember that I love you."

"I will not see you again Madame. You have…hurt me. I had asked so little of you and devoted so much of myself to you and you….you still are not pleased with what you have." Kagome stood. "I gave you everything that I was! I was yours, your child!"

"You were never mine Illya. Even when I found you, there was nothing to teach you."

"Is that why?"

"I love you."

"Was I ever enough?"

"I'm sorry Illya."

Kagome nodded jerkily.

"I will send a message to you when what you ask for is complete. And you will never return here."

"I understand Illya. Thank you."

"I love you Mama Red, but I think I hate you more." Kagome ran, slamming open the door and fleeing down the hallway. Madame Red let out a strangled cry behind her.

"You were never enough Ka-Go-Me. Who would want a pitiful thing like you?" Midorkio chuckled.