I'm In Love With the Man Downstairs,
Chapter 5: Sunset
By Darknightdestiny


Kira stepped out of the passageway, into the bright room, a contrast from her previous surroundings. She turned around and closed the basement off; she didn't want the man to be upset for leaving it open, seeing as she'd found it closed, and she also didn't want to leave any traces of it. If she was the only one to have found it so far, then she wanted to keep it to herself for a while. Feeling a bit silly for wanting to keep the caretaker's quarters a secret, she wandered out into the hallway...

And was met with a shout coming from the other end of the corridor.

"Kira!" Carter came running down the hallway. "Kira, where did you go? There are others looking for you; I was so worried! What have you been doing all this time?"

"I...was looking around the house."

"You've been missing all morning!"

"...Strange that you did not run into me," she mused aloud, choosing to ignore his point. She would imply that she would have been easy to find, had he only put a bit more effort into his search.

Carter shot her a skeptical look, but kept on. "Father will want to hear that you are all right. We've been searching for you for a while. I..."

Carter trailed off upon seeing his father come marching down the hall towards them, an angry look on his face. "Kira!" he shouted, "Where have you been?!"

"...I was just looking around..."

"Nevermind that! Do you know how worried we were?! You are always going off on your own. We don't even know all there is to know about this place!"

"I'm sorry, Father."

"Kira...go back to your room and wait there. You have lessons with Madame Kroisse in one hour."

Kira watched her father go with resentment in her heart. It wasn't like she had been dragged from her previous surroundings; she'd emerged from the basement all on her own. Yet, she'd been dragged from her feeling of escape that she'd managed to hold onto even after leaving the place. And now she was to be stuck with that horrible woman for who knew how long.



It had been hours since Kira had gone to her bedroom. In those hours, Kira had not seen her teacher once. She'd waited, but she'd not ventured outside of her room just yet. Her father had always kept a tight schedule when it came to her lessons, and she had thought her teacher would show up when he said she would. However, this had not happened, and she began to wonder what had caused her to not come. She thought about leaving the room to find out what had happened; she certainly wasn't in any hurry to begin her lessons, but she did want to be finished when the caretaker came down, so that she could see him again. There was something very strange about that man, something secret, though she didn't know what she was looking for, and she intended to find out just what it was that made him seem so mysterious to her.

Finally Kira had made her decision. She was tired of pointless pacing, tired of her bed, as comfortable as it had been, and tired of finding patterns on the ceiling to amuse herself. She'd taken to staring at the portrait of the man on the wall, which still held her fascination, but she still couldn't figure out what made it so interesting to her, and looking at something for hours, even something as interesting as that, was easily tiring after so long.

Kira walked over to the door and opened it slowly, peering outside. The hall was deserted, but she heard voices coming from downstairs. Throwing her first decision back into question, she wondered if she had the right to go downstairs and find out what was going on. She knew that she did have the right, of course, but she feared her father's reprimands. Boredome was getting the best of her, and she didn't want to be doing her lessons way into the night. The sooner she got it over with, the better.



Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Kira noticed creases of worry on the faces of the people in the room. Her mother was sitting on a sofa in the corner, watching her father pace around the room as he mumbled to himself. Carter sat in a chair, and a few of the staff members were present, though standing. They too watched the display with unwavering eyes. Kira walked over to the doorway, and ventured to speak.

...Father?

Mr. Winchester turned to look at his daughter. "What are you doing down here?"

"I was just-"

"Nevermind," he cut her off. "It's best that you remain where I can see you either way."

She thought about asking what had happened to make her father say something like that, since he usually preferred her to be off somewhere, making good use of her time. Instead she decided to wait for him to explain this change of mind himself. Not wanting to cut him off, she listened patiently.

"I don't understand how this could have happened," her father continued.

"Do you think," Carter queried, "that what that man said this morning could be true?"

"Nonsense!" cried their father. "Such things are for children!"

What things? Kira wanted to know what they were talking about, but she didn't want to get in the way. She would ask Carter about it later.

"I just don't understand," her father continued, "why she would just leave like that. We pay her well enough."

"Maybe she heard the stories, and decided to leave because of them?" suggested Carter. Peter just laughed.

"That woman had a good head on her shoulders! She would not be taken in by such juvenile pranks!"

Carter mentally sighed and slouched in his chair, leaning his head slightly back. He was a bit disturbed by the stories, though if he made that clear to his father, he was sure to hear that his sister had been getting to him. As these thoughts passed through his head, he caught Kira's eye. She mouthed to him the question, "Who?" to which he mouthed back, "Miss Kroisse". Kira's expression took on that of surprise, even though she knew she hadn't come to their lesson that day. She wouldn't have expected her teacher to miss it without giving some sort of notice.

"So then," Carter turned back to the rest of the room, "gone without a trace? Just like that?"

"...I just don't understand why," mused Peter.

Kira tried not to be over-excited that her teacher was gone, if only for the fact that she thought there was something a bit creepy about their new home. She had hated her lessons, but she never wished harm to come to the old hag. Even though the woman was terrible, cruel, snooty and arrogant, controlling...

"How does everyone like their new home?" a soft voice spread throughout the room.

Kira turned her head sharply to the left in surprise. Leaning casually against the banister was Mr. Valentine, his arms folded against his chest and a hint of a smile gracing the corner of his mouth. His eyes were scanning the faces in the room, and they finally landed on her, and his hint of a smile turned into a smug grin.

"And how was your day, Miss Kira?"

"Kira, do you know this man?" Carter questioned.

"Just who are you?!" demanded Peter, his voice teaming with frustration. Vincent just smirked at Mr. Winchester's open display of agitation and calmly walked to the center of the orange tinted room, the sun just falling behind the mountain peaks. He stopped in front of Peter and held his hand out to him in a gesture of respect and goodwill.

"My name," he spoke, "is Vincent Valentine. I am the caretaker of this mansion." He looked directly into Peter's eyes as he spoke, and kept his calm appearance to counter Peter's own discontent towards his new surroundings.

Kira watched with uncertainty, waiting for her father's pending reaction. Peter was staring blankly at the serene intruder, a thin man who stood a good two inches above him. Their eyes were both situated on each other's though each wore separate expressions; it looked as if they were having a staring contest of sorts. Then, out of nowhere, Peter broke his gaze and looked down at a spot on the floor beside Mr. Valentine. Kira thought she saw her father shudder.

"Oh," Peter said. "Alright..."

"You sound unsure of yourself," said Vincent.

"No..." mumbled Peter. "I was just...just thinking..."

Kira looked to her father and Vincent, then back at Carter, who was watching the two with a perplexed look. Kira thought her father was acting a bit looney, though she wasn't going to say anything about it. His voice had fallen to a softer tone, and he sounded as if he was merely thinking aloud, as someone would in a dream.

"Father? Are you all right?" Carter called across the room.

"Hmm?" asked Peter. "Oh! That's right..."

"Is there something I can do for you?" asked Vincent, his head tilted in question and his eyebrows up, but not the slightest sign of worry on his face.

"No...I remember now. That woman..."

Vincent's eyebrows lifted a bit further, telling Mr. Winchester to continue.

Carter decided to intervene. "Kira's teacher. Have you met her?" Vincent frowned a bit, signifying that he hadn't talked with her yet. "She disappeared earlier today. We haven't found any trace of her still, and it's already nightfall."

"Perhaps she is somewhere in the house?" Vincent seemed thoughtful.

"We've already searched high and low."

Vincent straightened up. "Well then. It seems there is nothing to be done for the moment." Kira watched him slip back into a strangely comforting state, though not comforting at all in this specific case; he seemed to make light of the situation. "You should continue on with your lives for now. There is no sense in tiring yourselves with unrest, when you have already done everything you can."

Kira's mother surprised everyone when she spoke up. "This is a serious situation, Mr. Valentine."

He turned and nodded his head to her. "Quite undoubtedly."

Her mother kept her gaze on his form, expecting more to come from him, but that was all.

"And that is it?" asked Carter. "We just...forget about her, leave her be?"

"What else would you do?"

Carter stopped, unsure of how to answer that. They had already done everything that they could, searched all throughout the house, and in the fields. The entire vicinity had been checked, and she was nowhere to be found.

Vincent gave the group one last look and turned to go. "I am sorry for your loss," he said as he walked towards the staircase. Kira watched the last lights of the day color his shadowed figure as he walked through the beams cast through the windows. As he reached the steps, Peter regained his composure and called after him.

"Valentine." Vincent turned his head slightly to meet the voice. "Have you been up in the mountains today?"

Vincent turned completely to face him. "No sir, I have not. Why do you ask?"

"Your hands are like ice."

Vincent tilted his head again and looked down at his left hand, which hung loosely by his side. He frowned slightly again before looking back up to Mr. Winchester. One corner of his mouth tilted upwards.

"I hadn't noticed."

Kira watched Vincent leave the room, and the rest of the occupants milled about awkwardly, having no idea what they should be doing. Glancing up the stairway again, she saw the caretaker ascending at an even pace. She took one more look around the room and saw that each individual clearly had all the time in the world, but had somehow found themselves too busy to bother checking on her. She decided she would follow Mr. Valentine.

After all, he had said he had many things yet to show her.


(A/N): Hmmm...wonder what happened to her?

Anyways...thanks for keeping up with my fic. There's been a lot going on in my life...moving, term paper, getting a job, becoming independent...yada yada yada. I'm sticking with this though. I wouldn't give it up, I love this stuff. So ah...yeah. Send me a review? I like hearing from you all. It's a major motivation factor. Plus, it lets me know what you guys like and what you don't.

See you next time!