"He won! The kid won!" A plump old man shouted as a russet-haired young man staggered around the square. He clutched his chest tightly with one hand as spectators gathered around him to congratulate him. "The kid won against the noble!"
"Big brother, that was amazing!" A small girl exclaimed. Her curly russet hair fell to her shoulders and her large blue eyes glittered cheerfully as she yelled out her prideful comments to her older brother. However, she was unable to see past the people as they shouted and smacked her brother on the back in praise. A dull thump reached her ears, as she curiously wondered what made the sound. Something falling to the path? The people began to clear away; scuttling back to their houses or merchant stalls. All that was left was the young man splayed out on the path. "Eh? S-Sou?" She stammered. She cautiously edged towards him. His sapphire blue eyes were wide as they stared up sightlessly in to the sky. The clouds were reflected in the glassy, glazed look as she towered over him. "Brother…?" The light in his eyes was gone. His hand lay limply over his chest; and she removed it to see a scarlet stain on his white shirt. Her eyes widened in horror. "Sou…Sou…! SOU!" She screamed. She shook him roughly, screeching, "Sou! Wake up! You're eyes are open, but why aren't you…seeing me?" Tears dripped down her face and splattered to the ground. "I-It was only a little scuffle…with the noble who was treating us badly…you won, Sou. You won, but why are you dead? You couldn't have been stabbed. He didn't have a weapon! He…lost…against you…Brother."
"Fufufufu. Poor little girl lost her brother? How heartbreaking. Would you like me to bring him back, just for you?" A sweet voice cooed in her ear. Cold fingers traced her jaw as she shakily turned to see glowing green eyes and an eerie smile.
"What do you mean you couldn't collect the soul?" William Spears hissed at him. Gordon Gray calmly took his fury.
"The scheduled death happened, but the corpse and soul weren't there." Gordon answered.
"Don't tell me this is another Bizarre Doll case." He grumbled. "Just what is happening to these souls? This has been the seventh one this month."
"What will we do, William-san?"
"We'll have to send some Shinigami to investigate; like with the Bizarre Dolls."
"Eheh, William-senpai is bullying Gordon-senpai. ~" A sweet, cold voice giggled. A black-haired girl had snuck in to the private meeting and was skipping around the two. "William-senpai is meeean. ~"
"Raven-san!" They both said in unison as she peered at them curiously. William cleared his throat and propped his glasses up a bit. "Raven-san, is there something wrong?"
"What's wrong with Gordon-senpai? Is he in trouble?"
"No, I'm just talking to him about a peculiar case."
"Eh? A mystery? Is it a crime? Is there a murderer? If there is, no doubt that Lucia-chan can solve it!" Raven exclaimed with a laugh.
"Raven-san is in a good mood today." Gordon smiled slightly in relief.
"Yep! 'Coz I forgot about someone today. ~ He couldn't have been that important, 'coz I forgot all about him. He's just somebody that I used to know, right, Gordon-senpai?"
"Anyway, could you be referring to the girl who made a contract with that demon?" William interrupted.
"Yeah! Lucia-chan can solve the mystery! She's the Ice Princess, after all! She'll accept the case! Just make a report, and drop it off at her mansion disguised as a regular human! Simple, right?"
William glanced at Gordon. He shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to get someone else to do the work while we gather the information."
"Depending on a human and her demon, is a mistake. This duty is for Shinigami, not humans!"
"Eheh, William-senpai wants the mystery solved, riiiight? Or could it be…that William-senpai is just refusing to trust Lucia-chan with this because he doesn't trust my judgement…?"
He sighed and tipped his glasses up again. "Very well. Let's make the report for the Ice Princess."
"A report was dropped off for you, Hime-sama." Darius slid the package of papers over to. Lucia placed down her teacup and flipped through the papers.
"This is an odd case." She murmured.
"The one who delivered the report left rather quickly. Will you take the case?" Darius inquired.
"Of course. It's my duty." She scanned through the papers quickly. "Haru Ryuuzaki and Sou Ryuuzaki; abandoned and left to live in the slums of the city. It says that they came to live with their grandparents; but the grandparents also did not want to take care of them; seeing as they were the children of a long-time affair between their eldest daughter and an unknown foreign man. It seems that Sou Ryuuzaki was killed in a fight, but his body vanished from the scene and he was seen walking around the slums; clearly alive."
"Where will you start your investigation, Hime-sama?" Darius asked as he set a plate of finely-decorated cookies beside her teacup.
"Cia-chan has a new investigation? Let me come to help this time!" Felton's voice shattered through the tranquil setting in the mansion as he barged in to the room from the front door.
"Oh, you're back."
"Eh? What's with that harsh tone, Cia-chan?" Felton pouted.
"Don't act like a child. You're older, act like an adult." Lucia said.
"Darius-san, Cia-chan is being mean." He complained.
Darius looked curiously at him, before smiling. "Oh dear. I'm afraid I cannot do much to help you, Lord Felton," He turned to Lucia. "Shall we prepare to investiagate?"
She nodded. "Yes. Let's go to the slums first. Prepare a carriage."
"Yes, Hime-sama."
"Cia-chan, be careful!"
"I will. I'll see you when I return, Felt-kun." She passed by him; patting his head as she walked towards the entrance doors.
The sound of horse hooves echoed emptily through the alleys. Lucia looked out the window to see many people sprawled out against the wall with tattered clothing, grimy skin, bleeding wounds and open sores. Their eyes were glazed over; however they were still alive. It was just that they had lost the will to live, here in the slums. Trash littered the area around the wall where some people slumped against. Some were crying. Some were barely clinging to life.
"So these are the slums…" Lucia murmured.
"That's right. They don't seem to be very welcoming of us, Hime-sama." Darius commented. Lucia followed his gaze out to see the narrowed eyes of scrawny people who trudged down the old brick paths. Some bared their blackened, cracked teeth at the carriage.
"Oh dear. They won't be very helpful in gathering information, will they?" Lucia sighed. "Let's start by looking for Miss Haru. She'll be our first lead to Mister Sou," She looked back out the window. "Sadly, here in the slums, there are no definite houses for the poor. We'll just have to look for her using the picture included." Lucia slipped the picture of the russet-haired girl out from her jacket and examined it. Shoulder-length russet hair, blue eyes. It shouldn't be too difficult to spot; the girl's hair was a bright colour and would stand out in the gray slums. She looked back up and scanned the streets as the carriage rolled by. A streak of copper caught her eye. Her gaze darted after the colour as it vanished in to one of the alleys. "Stop the carriage!"
Darius quickly told the carriage driver to stop. The horses halted; letting out loud whinnies and stamping their hooves against the cracked brick road. Lucia rushed out of the carriage; hearing Darius call out after her, "Hime-sama!" She didn't look back; nor did she notice the dirty looks shot at her from the residents of the area she sprinted past. Her long, dark dress got in the way of her running; luckily she wasn't wearing dresses that dragged along after her on the ground or pointy high-heels; or she would've fallen flat on her face by now. Lucia swung around the corner; which turned out to be a dead end. Damn! Where did Haru go? The sound of scraping caught her attention. She slowly turned to see a mob of skinny people glaring at her. The one at the front held a chunk of jagged stone in his hand as he scraped it down the nearby wall again. "May I help you?" She asked calmly; her hands retreating back within the shield of her cloak.
"You're not welcome 'round these parts of the city." The man snarled. His eyes were bloodshot, cuts and sores decorating most of his exposed flesh.
"I was simply looking for someone." She responded.
"Damn nobles…thinking that they can go struttin' wherever they want…we chased off one of your friends the other day! We thought that'll teach you and your kind that you can't come here!"
"Perhaps you were thinking of someone else. None of my friends had come to this place."
"Shut up!" He spat. "We'll kill any of you corrupted nobles if it means keeping this place as 'ours'!"
"Fufufu," She chuckled. "'Corrupted'? In your eyes, perhaps I am corrupted. I am certainly sinful; for accomplishing tasks where I eradicate problems that trouble this city. It's my job as the Ice Princess, after all. But this is surprising, you all wish to stay in this place where rats and roaches scurry around over the slime that you call food? Where you can easily die from disease, starvation and infection? I suppose eating scraps of dirty food and suffering from malnutrition would be better than succumbing to starvation, correct?"
"We'll do what it takes to keep ourselves alive!" He retorted.
"For what price? Dragging on your lives and feeling more and more pain, as the hatred boils up in your hearts? Seeing the ones you know perish around you because you can't afford any treatment or good food and water?"
"Ugh…" He gritted his yellow-stained teeth as he searched for another comeback.
"Nobles do have it easy. We never had to scrounge around for bits of food to keep us alive, or desperately try to collect rainwater to drink rather than drinking tainted water from sewers. Unwanted children are tossed here, am I correct? It's difficult; I know. The people here have to deal with fighting against disease and infections; and when they're done that battle, they must fight to get food. The nobles who venture to this part aren't trying to invade. Perhaps they wanted to help."
"No good can ever come from rich people like you!" He screeched at her. His eyes bulged and his bony fingers clenched around the rock in his hand. "We protect the abandoned children that are thrown into this place as if they were our own! We could never give them a life that they deserved! They're only kids!"
"You were children as well. Your parents were children. Your parents' parents were children. It's common knowledge that every living person on this planet was once a child. My parents were murdered, and I took the title as the head of my household. I couldn't let the hard work of my predecessors in getting my family as respected as it is go to waste and let the Koori name sink down to the low ranks," She struck him with an icy-gray stare. "I have a job I must finish. Please let me through."
"Don't listen to her!" A girl's voice cried out from in the mob of people. "She's the one…who tortured my brother to death!"
Lucia's eyes bore through the crowd and located a blur of russet. Her gaze narrowed in on a girl with curly shoulder-length russet hair, blue eyes and ragged clothing. "Haru Ryuuzaki." She said coldly.
"That's her! She's the one that took Sou and tortured him!" She wailed. "She cut off his limbs…and gave him a poison that slowly ripped apart his insides…he was…tortured…my poor elder brother…she cannot be forgiven!"
"I did no such thing!" Lucia growled. "Haru Ryuuzaki, please come with me for questioning!"
"So you were the one who killed Sou and drove brave little Haru to tears!" The man roared. "Take her in! Don't let her go near little Haru!"
Two half-starved men staggered towards her; reaching out to her with shrunken hands. She stepped back; glaring icily at them. "Don't touch me."
"You saw, right, Madam Kana?" She saw Haru turn to a taller woman wearing a long dark cloak. The hood draped over her eyes and casted a shadow along her face. An eerie smile lit her face. "That's right, Miss Haru. I saw that girl take your precious Sou away, and I saw her return and dump his body on to the streets of the slums. My good men, please take her away."
"You're lying!" She hissed; as the scrawny fingers curled around her arms and yanked her towards the crowd. The stench of disease and infection wreathed around her as she fought to escape. She opened her mouth to call out for Darius; before the woman known as Kana closed a cold hand over her lips. "Shh, quiet down, Ice Princess." She crooned in her ear as she was taken away.
A/N: I haven't updated in a while, and I apologize. xD I will update sooner than before. I hope you enjoyed. I do not own Kuroshitsuji, I only own my OCs.