A/N: So, Happy Halloween to everyone! I don't celebrate it however, currently, I am in the process of making a 100 Fav/Follower Special to celebrate said event (as well as the title itself) and to thank you guys for all the attention this story has received. I honestly didn't think it could ever reach to this point, but I couldn't have done it without you all, and you have my deepest gratitude.

By the way, for anyone reading the manga still (at least I hope so, lol), the whole Baron thing sleeping with the servant girls honestly surprised me. Did not expect it to be somewhat similar to my lousy mystery arc, lmao. I'm still trying to think of ways to improve it, but it's gonna take some time. Hopefully, I develop some good ideas for it.

Either way, I will be listing everyone's username under the Fav/Follow accordingly in the special to recognize your individual effort in making this possible. Just a little spoiler alert, it's going to be a Time Travel future kind of scenario, like a What if? skit. Hopefully you enjoy it, and if anyone likes to contribute some of their ideas, I'll be making more parts that involve Ciel and Sebastian.

Anyways, all that aside, on to the reviews:

skaterrockgirl: Thank you so much for enjoying it. It's a bit of a slow burn romance thing, but with Rachel's personality/history, it'd be hard to rush things lmao. But thank you for noticing that detail. Hopefully today's chapter doesn't seem too OOC for him. But in relation to Sebastian, I do understand your point, and I do actually agree with you. He does have this disdain for humans but at the same time finds them interesting. Very dualistic if you think about it. I just hope that I do justice in portraying his character when he encounters Rachel. Honestly, there's a lot of possibilities that could happen between now and when the storyline actually begins (the 3 year gap), so stick around for more! Thanks again for reading and taking the time to review. It really makes me happy to see any kind of feedback, especially yours!

Midna the Pokemon: The M rating is a combination of both language, dark themes, and maybe explicit content. I'm still kinda undecided over that, but definitely the first two. We're still somewhat in the introduction phase, but the themes may contain sensitive topics such as rape, abuse, violence, gore, and maybe a few more, but I'll be sure to put a warning at the top of the chapter. Thank you for having me clarify this in case other readers were interested, and I hope you enjoy today's chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji nor will I ever, Everything read not included in the manga are my ideas and characters alone unless mentioned otherwise.

Chapter 20 Rachel's POV (1st)
August 29, 1885 - Saturday
CLANG!

Our swords clashed against each other, Zero and I, as we each tried to gain the upper hand over the other. While Zero allowed me to sharpen my skills, I needed to find a new opponent, someone far more experienced and a bit intimidating.

Bam!

I narrowly sidestepped a punch that ended up landing on an unfortunate tree before flinging my kunai at Zero.

Of course, he dodged then promptly cut the invisible string attached to them.

I sighed. We were too familiar with each other's antics to call this a fight anymore.

"Rachel? You alright? You've been pretty distracted lately."

My brows furrowed. "You could tell?"

He deadpanned, the look on his face saying it was more than obvious. "Besides the fact that you're not properly concentrating on our fight, you're not going all in either."

I blinked before glancing at my sword. "Maybe. Perhaps we should switch it up, use different weapons?"

He tilted his head before shrugging. "I'm down. Five?"

"How about three? I can't stay out too long or else Undertaker might come looking for me."

"Alright, not a problem." He held up his sword again, stance battle-ready. "Shall we begin?"

I nodded, mirroring his stance before we lunged at each other, metal clashing as we once more sparred. Sparks flew at the intensity of our strikes.

When our blades crossed again at a stalemate, I pushed his away before swinging it at his head which he leaned back from. Then his sword attempted to upper-cut me, but I jumped away. We continued our cut-and-chase, me slicing a branch at times to divert before honing in.

Then, to switch things up, I manifested two sai, preparing to lunge at him, but he blocked with his own pair. He parried my own flurry of strikes before going on the offensive, aiming for vital spots which I blocked, then aimed for his arm. Cloth tore, but I smelled no blood. I kicked him back a few feet before morphing the sai into a dagger.

He smirked, knowing this one would be intense and more dangerous. "You sure about this?"

I narrowed my eyes saying nothing. This would be far more close range, one which I felt was long overdue.

He swung at me, the blade slicing through the air, but I stepped back before grabbing his arm and pulling him towards me to throw him off balance. My blade was waiting for him, aimed for his throat, but his free hand stopped it in time. We both struggled to get out of each other's grasp until I brought my knee up to his stomach.

He grunted in pain, but let go, throwing a punch which I blocked with both arms but pushed me back. He ran towards me and flung his dagger which I side stepped, but he used fists now. I ended up having to dodge or block until I could throw my own to throw him off guard before dropping low and kicking his feet, making him fall to the ground.

My knife was at his throat before he could do anything else. "Checkmate."

He laughed breathlessly. "Still the same. Maybe you should get a different opponent. What about that Undertaker guy? You said he was a top-notch reaper back in his day."

I frowned, a bit uncomfortable idea, but I had the same thought. He was intimidating and could easily hold off his own against three people. It would be a learning curve in my case, not that I couldn't handle multiple enemies, but at least the unpredictability would keep me on my toes.

"I'll have to ask him about it."

"But you're not doing this because he needs it. It's because of the rise in demon activity?"

I nodded, unsurprised he'd noticed as well. Especially because of my presence, some demons had come to investigate, but because I've killed one too many, I expected a few powerful ones to pop up eventually.

"Well, in that case, best of luck. I'm sure your boss could easily take care of it."

"True, but he hired me to protect him, so that's what I'll do."

Zero smiled and shrugged, but said nothing more. "Let's start heading back. It's almost daylight and I need some sleep."

I scoffed. "Oh please, a one-nighter won't kill you."

He glared sideways at me. "Maybe not for you, but I require beauty sleep."

He stomped off in his direction towards the bar where he apparently stayed and worked while I hung back before jumping onto a roof and walking toward Undertaker's mortuary.

Today had been incredibly eventful, and I expected no less after what happened at the Phantomhive manor today.

…

Earlier that day…

"Rachel-san! Rachel-san!"

I looked away from the piano to find the twins crowding around the piano bench, one of them holding a book behind their back. I pretended not to notice for their sake.

"Would you mind reading to us?" The braver one, Master Ciel, I presumed, was eagerly leaning towards me as his younger brother hung back, nodding. "Father is busy entertaining guests and Mother is with Aunty Ann and we have no one to play with!"

I drew my eyebrows in confusion. "What about Tanaka?" I nodded in his direction where he stood sentry at the door. Although I would've expected for the butler to shadow the Earl, in this case, Diedrich was enough of a bodyguard, I assumed.

He pouted. "We wanna play with you, though!" He was now tugging on my arm, threatening to spill the contents in my hands which were the sheet music I had been putting away.

"Alright, alright, give me a second." With that, he let go and started cheering, prancing around with his younger brother as I filed away the papers before getting up.

I watched them as they giggled, twirling around with joint hands as they waited for me to finish.

"So? What was it you wanted to play?" I had lowered myself to one knee in order to look them in the eye. They both gathered before me, looking at each other before acting all hush-hush and leaning towards me with a serious face.

Master Ciel held up a finger to his lips, saying, "It's a secret. You can't tell anyone else." His twin vehemently nodded, still attempting to hide the book behind his back.

I sweat dropped before nodding uncertainly. Unless if the book they had in mind for me to read was inappropriate for their age, I didn't see why they had to be so dramatic.

They both paused, assessing my reaction before unleashing a beaming smile. "You're going to read a book for us!"

Bocchan revealed the mysterious item, shyly holding it out towards me to take. I looked at the cover to find it was labeled Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. My eyebrows rose, surprised to find it lasted this long. "You want me to read this?"

They nodded again.

"Alright, do you have a library or a room where it's comfortable for me to read for the both of you?" I got up, inspecting the back to confirm it was the same story I'd read as a child, and sure enough, they were one in the same. I was suddenly startled to find my free hand grabbed by one of the twins before being pulled out the door to whatever direction they were leading me.

"Hurry or else Ciel's going to leave us behind!"

Ah, so it was bocchan. He suddenly stopped and I looked up to find that we were in the library. Tanaka had arrived behind us, and when I looked back at him to see if it was alright, my confirmation came in a small smile and a nod. I guess he trusted me enough to be alone with them.

I shrugged before being pulled again by the younger twin to a couch chair where I joined Master Ciel. There was enough room for them to seat themselves comfortably on either side of me, leaning against me to see the pictures in the book.

The library, or what I've seen of it so far, seemed endless, teaming with endless books. I was sure there was a children's section for them to peruse and a made a note to visit it in case they wanted to do this again.

"Ne ne, you know how to read, right?"

I arched an eyebrow. "You're only asking this now?"

Ciel grinned choosing not to respond but instead wiggled impatiently for me to begin.

"Alright, Black Beauty it is." I cleared my throat before reading aloud.

…

Within seventy-five pages, I could feel the twins starting to slump over me. They were nodding off, sometimes trying to stay awake by sheer will-power, but try as they might, their efforts were vain.

I paused, glancing at both of them, before closing the book, to which both of them cried out in distress. "Wait, you haven't finished yet!"

I snorted. "In this case, I wouldn't have to finish if the both of you ended up falling asleep."

Bocchan tugged on my arm, pleading. "Please, Rachel-san? Will you keep reading? I want to know what happens to Ginger!"

I sighed. "Oh alright, but if I hear even one snore, it's off to bed with the both of you." I kept my voice playful so they knew I was joking, with which their supplied giggling reassured me was the case. My sardonic tone would only end up making it awkward and harder for them to get close to me.

I cracked open the book once more to the page I left my finger on.

…

I felt a hand gently shaking my shoulder and a low, familiar voice saying my name. The voice sing-singed once more and my eyes snapped open, recognizing Undertaker's high-pitched giggling as I jerked awake, only to find the book open on my lap and both twins sleeping on either side of me.

I was frozen for a moment, trying to process the situation before looking at my boss alarmed. "For how long was I asleep?"

Undertaker snickered, hiding a smile behind his sleeve as he ominously replied, "Not for long~"

My brow ticked. "What's that supposed to mean? What are you doing here anyway?" I rubbed my eyes, trying to remove the lethargic haze, but I didn't want to risk waking the twins.

He smirked at me. "Why, to bring you home, of course! Besides, the Earl and I had matters to discuss regarding the possible upcoming case~"

"I see." One of the twins started to stir a bit, and I stopped talking to see if he would wake up, but he resumed dozing away, and I relaxed. Another bout of giggling erupted from the mortician, and I could feel myself getting annoyed. "You know, unless you're here to help me put the twins to bed, you can leave now."

Undertaker chuckled, not even bothering to answer as the sound finally roused the twins from their sleep. From the way we were positioned, Ciel was on my left, leaving bocchan on my right and closest to Undertaker, to which he jumped in surprise after realizing. Of course, said mortician just waved creepily, making the younger twin shy away, burrowing himself deeper into my side.

I glanced at the clock hung on the wall and noted it had only been about an hour. "So, it seems as though my reading skills have lulled you both to sleep. Don't you two have anything else to do? Studies or tutors to meet?"

Master Ciel shook his head matter-of-factly. "Nuh-uh. That's only for the weekdays. You're the only one planned for Saturday!"

"I see." I looked down at the book on my lap. "So I suppose you'd want me to finish reading Black Beauty in that case."

"Yes, please!" They chorused, despite my earlier warning about stopping if they fell asleep.

I hummed out a sigh. "Well, I guess a few more chapters shouldn't hurt."

"Hihi~ My, for a woman of this era, you're quite educated~"

I quirked an eyebrow at Undertaker's direction. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He smiled coyly. "In this day and age, you don't see too many common folks who possess your level of skill in piano playing nor reading."

Ah, that's right. I constantly forgot about the low literacy rate for the common population for those who couldn't afford schooling nor a tutor. Either they were taught by family from knowledge passed down or not at all.

I shrugged. "It's common where I come from that everyone at least possess some skill of reading. It may be because of my love for reading I'm more advanced than my fellow colleagues, but even in my time, it's expected for those in low socioeconomic standing to possess some form of education, no matter how threadbare."

Undertaker tilted his head at that but said nothing more.

With that, I commenced reading.

…

Sometime later, I felt bocchan stir against me before waking up and sitting up. Rubbing his eyes blearily, he took a moment to get his bearings before noticing that I'd stopped reading.

"Oh, did we fall asleep again?"

I hummed. "I did say I'd stop reading if you fell asleep. However, I have bookmarked our place so we can continue reading."

He lit up. "Oh, then why not start now?"

I rose an eyebrow before gesturing to his sleeping counterpart. "What about Master Ciel? Wouldn't that be unfair for him?"

Bocchan blinked before noticing his older brother and wilting. Then he hurriedly got off the couch, excited over something.

"Going somewhere~"

A small yelp erupted as bocchan ran into the Undertaker's legs, and the intimidating height and creepy grin was more than enough to render him completely immobile.

I sighed. "Un, the more you do that, the less favors you're doing for yourself."

He grinned, flexing his hands playfully so his claws seemed like they were going to tickle bocchan although it had the opposite effect. Instead, he dashed out of the room.

I stared dully at the entrance of the room where he left before looking back at Undertaker's pouting face and sarcastically commenting, "Great job."

"Hmph~" He plopped onto the seat next to me, scooting over so he was closer before laying his head on my shoulder and opening his own book.

I twitched, annoyed already at the added weight. "Oy! Get off me!" I tried pushing his head away by shoving him with my shoulder but he only bounced back into place. I sighed. "Un, go find someone else to lean on."

"Hihi! But aren't you my~ apprentice? Shouldn't you be someone for me to rely on?~"

I glared at the top of his head. "Sure, keep telling yourself that. I can only wonder what'll happen to you if I leave." I huffed, opening George Orwell's 1984, a copy from my time that was small enough for me to carry around.

He giggled. "But I thought you wanted to be an apprentice~"

I frowned. "This is only temporary."

Undertaker stilled, and I immediately became wary.

Did he not like that?

"For how long, dear?" He was using his serious voice.

I blinked before staring at my book. "I'm not sure, but as I've said before, I don't belong here. Eventually, I'll have to return to my time."

"You don't have to go, you know?"

Startled, my attention snapped back to him to find a solitary green eye staring back at me with timeless patience. "You could just stay here~"

My brow furrowed. "And what would be in it for me?"

He smiled. "A friend and family to care for you~ From the way you behave, you don't have much of those where you come from."

I scoffed. "You don't know anything." I had to be careful not to curse due to a currently dormant child in the vicinity. Yes, PG-13. I specialize in those.

He smirked at me before the bangs shifted to cover his face again and he was looking at his book. Could he even read at that distance?

"By the byyy~ I'm sure the Earl has told you before, but the special event is arriving this Wednesday evening."

Special event?

Apparently, he could read the question on my face and chuckled before responding with a candid, "You'll seeee~"

"Sure."

Just then, Master Ciel stirred, yawning. "Oh, did we finish the book?"

I deadpanned. "If you count sleeping during reading, then no. But I've bookmarked the page so we could continue where we left off."

"Oh, then why not start now?"

I rose an eyebrow before gesturing to his missing counterpart. "What about bocchan? Wouldn't that be unfair for him?"

He blinked before looking sad. "Where did he go?"

I shrugged. "Probably back to your room? You'll have to ask around. My boss over here scared him away." I nodded to him with a smirk.

"Hey~!" Undertaker pouted in my direction.

I shrugged again. "Warned you." I looked back to find Ciel wearing a long face. "Why the long face?"

He looked at me inquisitively. "What?"

I sighed. "Nevermind. I meant, why do you look so sad."

"Oh, well, I don't like being alone."

"Oh, do you?" I tilted my head, finding the best way to word it. "Well, everyone goes through a brief period of loneliness. I mean, even going to the bathroom, you're going to be alone for just a bit. If it helps, just think of it as waiting. You're lucky you even have a twin brother. Most children in the world have to wait a year or more to have a younger sibling. Some just never do."

I heard a snort from Undertaker over my bathroom analogy, but I was more focused on Ciel who had a contemplative look on his face.

"But of course, you can never really trust someone. As my grandfather says, 'you can't even trust your own shadow.' Your own brother applies, too, you know?"

Ciel glared cutely but defensively at me. "He would never do that! He wouldn't ever betray me! We've always been together."

I smirked sadly at him. "We'll see."

Ciel tilted his head, wondering what that vague response meant. He still did look a little hurt from my blunt comment, however."

I snorted in amusement. "But you're too young for that. All I'm saying is that, even though you may grow up together, you can never truly know a person, no matter how close you are. I've seen even the best of friends turn on each other over things such as money, power, fame… But, so long as you two rely on each other, you shouldn't have anything to worry about."

Inwardly, I deadpanned mentally, finding it to be lame advice. Even if they did rely on each other, it didn't mean it would prevent them from turning on each other. Ciel, however, seemed to think differently given the way he was looking at me as though in a new light.

"Hm. You know, you're really smart, Rachel-san." He tilted his head and smiled at me before actually giving me a hug and then running off to the door. "Ok, I'm going to look for my brother now."

"Sure," I replied quietly, which fell on deaf ears save for Undertaker.

I gave the entry door, the last place I saw him, a strange look before turning back to my book. But I didn't start reading yet.

Rather, my thoughts were so focused on the twins that a poke from the Undertaker startled me. "What?"

"Penny for your thoughts?~" he mused, leaning forward with all the eagerness of a puppy. Sometimes, the switched dynamic in our relationship left me more confused than annoyed that I felt it better to not question it.

I slitted an eye at him before looking down at my book. "The twins are pretty different from each other in some ways."

"Oh? Well now, they're still Phantomhives, so they're all the same to me~ Hihihi!"

I glanced at him unimpressed. "Does only the name matter to you?"

He grinned crookedly at me. "My dear," he crooned, slinging an arm around my shoulders as he did so - which I tried my best to shake off, I assure you - to pull me closer, he continued, "regardless of their minute differences, the blood that runs through their veins has much more significance than a few meager traits."

"I rose an eyebrow. "I disagree. Sometimes the traits themselves determine how well someone can utilize their bloodline, no matter how 'special' it is."

He smirked, enjoying the fact that I blatantly opposed his perspective. It seems that not enough people did that nowadays, which is quite a shame.

"Woof!"

A bark. From a dog. My brows furrowed. Sebastian?

My eyes were directed to the door to find Ciel with bocchan in tow following a black dog into the library.

So I was right.

"Ne ne, Miss Rachel, do you like dogs?" The twins came up to me, climbing onto the couch, but unlike before, they sat on my left side together, leaving Undertaker on my right all alone.

"Mm, you could say that." I watched as the dog approached me, probably gauging my status as friend or foe. To ease him, I held a hand out, palm up for him to sniff before pulling out a dog treat. He kinda just stared at it but sniffed my hand before licking it.

Well, progress at least.

"He likes you!" Ciel grinned at me.

I hummed, still looking at the uneaten treat. "Did either of you want to give this to him?"

They looked at each other before nodding and taking it from my hand. Of course, the elder brother fed it to Sebastian. From what I remember, bocchan wasn't especially fond of Sebastian, especially since he had a thing about the nose-bumping, but that was his problem, I guess.

I looked back at the dog before holding out a hand, slowly approaching its ears to scratch them. Considering there was no move on his part to attack, I considered that a victory.

"Ah, there you two are. I've been looking for you." Earl Phantomhive stood at the doorway, giving us all a bemused look.

I wasn't sure which two he was referring to, so I ignored him in favor of the doggo.

"Father! Come, look! Rachel-san was reading Black Beauty to us! It's such an interesting story!"

"Yeah, I don't like how they treat the horses on the carriage!"

"Father, can we make sure not to hurt them anymore?"

Vincent looked completely overwhelmed with all the information that I had to seal my lips to not let any laugh escape from me. But then, from the corner of my eye, I noticed Undertaker watching me eagerly with a giant grin, as if expecting me to let loose any minute. At that minute, all humor was drained from my being and I was annoyed again.

I stood up to cue my leave.

"Rachel-san?"

I looked down at the twins before looking back at the Earl to explain. "I have another meeting to attend to concerning my associate."

Vincent blinked, not expecting the abrupt topic switch. "Oh, I see. Well, I do appreciate the time you spent entertaining my boys. They do tend to get mischievous when they're bored, after all." He gave me a jovial smile.

"I didn't mind at all. We still do have to finish reading that book after all. Well, until next Saturday, I suppose." A chorus of aww's were all I heard, but they both came towards me, one on each side to say their goodbyes.

"Until next time, Rachel-san!" "Yeah, until next time~"

I spared them a small smile, patting each of their heads before looking back at Undertaker to see if he had anything to say.

"Hihi~ You know where to find me, m'dear~ Tata, for now~" He waved creepily at me, to which I deadpanned at before taking my leave.

I wouldn't need a carriage where I was going.

…
(Present)
Undertaker's shop - 2 a.m.

I looked up at the sign in all its dull, morose glory. That poor thing needed a cleaning if I ever saw one.

I pushed open the door, hearing the bell ring my announcement and found Undertaker at his desk with hands steepled in front of his face, as if waiting for me. "Well?~ How was it?"

I deadpanned, pausing at the door before resuming with doffing my coat. "It's fine. There wasn't as much demon activity here while I was gone, right?"

He smirked. "Nothing of note exceeeeept…~"

I rose an eyebrow at him, taking a seat at my own "desk". He glided to my work area effortlessly, acting as though he had some great big secret to tell me. "What?" I asked impatiently.

His smile widened. "There have been fewer activities here as of late… shouldn't that seem suspicious to you?"

"What? You mean that bigger badder enemies are gonna come knocking on my door? Why do you think I've resumed practicing with Zero?"

He tilted his head as if waiting for me to get to the point.

I glared. "But of course, that means finding a more powerful opponent to practice with."

He nodded vigorously.

"And I'm guessing that means you volunteer."

Another vigorous head bob. I was surprised that his hat hadn't fallen off yet.

I sighed. Great, at least that's one problem solved.

"I'm rather curious, however~" His chin started digging into my shoulder. I was beginning to believe this was his version of begging when he wanted something. Whether this was used only on me or not was too early to tell.

"And that is?"

"The way you looked at the little Phantomhive earlier~… methinks you had a sibling at some point, ne~"

My brows furrowed. "You can say that," I said.

"But you've never talked about her before~"

I gave him a side-glance, wondering what he was up to. "I don't talk about a lot of people, especially if it has nothing to do with you."

He tilted his head innocently as if to ask what he'd been accused of.

I shook my head. "It's nothing to do with you. It's just that what's my business shouldn't bother you."

He smiled patiently. Again, that stupid smile. "You know, it would make me a terrible boss to not care about my apprentice's problems~"

I stared blandly at him. "And it would make me a terrible person for relying on you to solve my problems."

"Hihihi, are you always this disagreeable?"

Honestly, my being difficult was supposed to piss /him/ off, not the other way around. However, it seemed that my stubbornness only amused him. And currently, my stink-eye had no effect on him whatsoever. Just wonderful.

"Hmph, my reasons are my own. I don't need you to dissect them for me."

His nail poked my side, or more like jabbed, making me yelp. I rubbed the sore spot, giving him the what the fuck was that for look. He only smirked. "You can only be resilient for so long, my dear~"

I scoffed. "Try me. No one can break me, not unless I allow it." I jabbed him back in the side with my elbow, making him laugh even more. "Oh, piss off already!"

"You are simply too delightful!" He cackled, hugging me despite me pushing against his chest.

He got quiet again, waiting for me to cool off, most likely, before inquiring about my visit to Madame Red's house.

"Oh, that? Well, all we really did was just braid each other's hair." I paused before cringing at that stupid cliche of girls braiding each other's hairs. Yuck.

"Hmm, that couldn't be all, though~"

I glanced in his direction but not directly at him. "Well, we did discuss about my special case…"

"Oh, and what did she have to say about it?"

I paused. "Well, she thinks that I shouldn't be afraid of acting out my own desires."

He grinned. "And what do you think?"

Was he trying to make me second-guess myself. "Well, until that time comes, I don't really see why I ought to. And if it's not meant to change, wouldn't it be worse if I did."

"Well, you never know, love~ See, life's funny that way. You never know what you get til you try it~"

I looked at him, unsure of how that type of philosophy helped anyone, but I guess its his own way of saying "do it because you want to, not because you have to".

"Well, we'll see." I rested my chin on my hand as he hummed some nondescript tune before I perked. "Ah, by the way, Madame Red wanted me to learn two hairstyles the next time I see her, so I'm gonna have to practice."

He hummed, smiling at me like he knew what I was going to ask. I frowned at the thought, but I decided to ask anyway.

"Would you mind?"

He stopped humming. He stopped doing anything, really, then pretended to think really hard about it. "Hmmmm~ Well, there's no harm in it, I suppose."

"Alright, great. Turn around."

He giggled before sitting so that his back faced me. "What kind of braids have you learned thus far?"

My mind sputtered on that one word he used: thus. "Sheesh, you talk like an old man."

He pouted. "Do not."

"Speak for yourself. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, might as well be a duck." I heard some more giggling at the odd analogy, but I paid it no mind as I gathered his silvery strands to prepare it for braiding.

Honestly, his hair didn't even need combing because of how easy it was to thread through them with my fingers. But the technique was what I needed to learn, so I'll focus on the hair thickness later.

A few minutes later, I was still improving the French braid. Undertaker's input bordered between useful and annoying, a great spectrum to explain our relationship, by the way, but nonetheless, some progress at least was made.

I stepped back to "admire" my handiwork complete with Undertaker's bothersome but effective commentary. My triceps were literally burning, but I had actually managed to finish French twin braids. And of course, Undertaker was a million watt lightbulb.

"I ought to walk around like this more often~"

A snort escaped me before I could stop it. "Uh, how about not?"

He giggled in his throat. "Why not?~"

"Um, because, for one, I worry about your mental sanity. Two, it won't just be me worried about your mental sanity. Plus, it just wouldn't look good on you in terms of reputation."

"As if I care about that~"

"Certainly not," I agreed. Then I looked at the time. "I was supposed to be asleep, and now it's 4 in the morning."

He smirked. "Worry not, for it is a Sunday~ Not much business to be expected, so we can sleep in~"

I looked at him tiredly and then shrugged. "Alright, I'll take your word for it. In that case, ciao."

A hand grabbed my wrist before I even got two feet away from him and pulled me in for a hug.

"Dude, what the heck?"

The chest under my cheek vibrated when he chuckled. "You haven't given me a hug yet~"

I deadpanned, saying nothing. The hugging still felt awkward, but not in a intrusive way. Just odd being touched in general. After a few moments of silence, I cleared my throat and pulled away. "Okay, in that case, I'll go sleep now."

His arms were back in that doggy position (I honestly don't know what to call it, so that's what it'll be from now on, sue me) but he waved. "Hihi, very well dear, sleep well~"

"Sure, you too." I shook my head before going up to my room. I had no idea what to expect from him day to day, but the Evil Noblemen were going to meet this upcoming Wednesday.

Well, I'll just have to take things as they come. No point in rushing.

I looked out the window next to my bed. The moonlight gave decent lighting in the room that I didn't need a candle, thankfully, but that wasn't even the least of my worries.

So long as she didn't get here, that's all I cared about. She shouldn't be able to. She can't.

I shuddered.

10/31/19