DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hellsing or anything Hellsing related.

A/N: YAY! Another chapter is up already! I'm writing to you now from my work, very, veyr bored. Thank gods for free internet here :P

I had a lot of fun with this chapter, actually I've had a lot of fun with this whole fic so far (that is the point i guess!) and I'm really looking forward to the next few chapters, which will be up shortly as well.

I wrote this up rather quickly so if there are any spelling mistakes PLEASE feel free to let me know, otherwise I wont notice! :P

Enjoy!

On Her Majesty's Orders

Chapter 4

Two Weeks Later…

"You lied to me!" He barked.

"No." She deadpanned.

"You said we had a mission!"

"And you do, Alucard. I won't have you walking around Kumaju Island looking like that all of the time. Honestly what's so frightening about a little shopping?"

"Have you seen the kind of crap people wear these days?! How can people degrade themselves so much as to wear a thing called a 'beanie'!"

Seras was standing there in her usual amazement at Integra, the woman who could control her master with such commanding words. She sat coolly at her desk, her elbows resting on the wooden surface, supporting her arms, her hands and fingers intertwined save for two which held her usual cigar.

Alucard was growling like a wounded beast across from her, standing, appearing a little taller than usual Seras thought, with his arms crossed, a furrowed brow clung to the orange slits of his glaring eyes. Although they were not directed at her Seras still felt intimidated, she wished he wouldn't glower so much; when he wasn't mad, relaxed, those deed red eyes were beautiful. Seras felt a warmth growing in her chest, but quickly supressed it.

"You're afraid I'll embarrass you?" Alucard taunted, with a sneer.

"No I'm afraid you'll scare the living daylights out of anybody you cross paths with." Integra responded, Seras could tell her patience was starting to dissipate. "Now I order you to go out with Seras and find some appropriate clothes."

Seras winced a little as she saw her masters sneer slowly twitch to a frown, however it then quickly shifted to a toothy grin as an idea had obviously germinated in his mind. Somehow a sixth sense told Seras that this idea somehow involved her, joy.

"As you wish, my Master."

Alucard bowed low, long strands of his ebony hair drooped over his pale face, before turning and walking towards the door. "Come police girl."

She followed, without hesitation, pausing at the door and glancing a yearning look back to her other master who noticed immediately.

"Don't worry Seras, when you return in the morning we shall still have our tutoring session." Integra then dropped her gaze and set herself to some sort of paperwork that obviously seemed urgent. Seras smiled, and was then through the office doors jogging after her master.

An hour later Seras and Alucard were in one of London's larger shopping centres, having been dropped off by one of Sir Integra's cars five minutes prior, they had been instructed to phone ahead before leaving when they were done.

It was a friday night, the shops were busy and Seras relished in the rare sensation of being in a normal, human environment for once. She was walking through the bustling centre, casting her eyes at the occasional shop window that caught her gaze, but mainly it was just the environment that brought her enjoyment. She cast a glance over her shoulder to her master, who was walking behind her for once, to see the two red orbs staring back at her, unamused.

"I thought we came here to shop?"

"We are."

"I don't see us buying anything."

"That's because we're browsing."

"Browsing for what?" He snarled, making her flinch. "We came here for clothes but you've been looking in every shop window we've passed, regardless of what the place sold."

"Fine! You pick a shop." She hissed, feeling a rare sense of annoyance at her master that faded instantly under his gaze. He said nothing, but instead peered over her shoulder and walked past her, shifting between the stream of people uneasily until he came up to the large glass pane of a clothing shop. Seras tip-toed up to her master, unable to tell if he was angry.

"Will this place do?" He asked, odd that he would want her opinion. Then again Alucard probably wasn't the type to frequent clothes stores.

Seras looked at the clothing that adorned the mannequins in the window, it was a shop that specialised in clothing suited more to the summer seasons; Alucard obviously chose it for that reason, knowing that their holiday destination would have a hot climate. The clothes didn't look bad at all and Seras could see herself comfortably wearing several of the ensembles. Yes, this shop would be a good place to start.

"Let's take a look." She smiled up at him, hopeful, and was astonished to see his lips curled into a tiny smile. Maybe this won't be so bad after all?

Seras walked into the store with her master and immediately set herself to work; if they were going to shop then they'll damn well do it properly! The shop was far larger than she thought, it looked deceptively small from outside but upon entry it was clear that the shop was very long. It was definitely a shop that specialised in summer wear; the place had been decorated to look like some sort of tropical beach house. The shelving was made out of halved bamboo, there were wicker baskets which contained some of the smaller items and accessories the store sold, and there were fake palm trees scattered all over the place.

As she milled around the shop Seras was pleased to see that most of the clothing sold here was good in taste and design, most places sold clothes that were so skimpy she may as well have been naked! But not here, sure there were still some very revealing outfits, but there were also an equal number of more conservative items too. This was good; Seras wasn't going to be about in the open sun, but rather walking around the island resort at night and despite the warm climate she still wanted some clothing which would offer her some protection from the cool night breeze; not that it mattered, being dead and all, master would probably tell her she's being stupid.

Wait, master? Where is he?

Seras looked around frantically, realising she'd left Alucard, unsupervised, in a shop, with people in it. "Master?!" She called out, a little panicked.

"Keep your voice down police girl, I'm over here." Relief, he was still here.

Seras followed his voice over to a little corner near the back of the shop, it was the men's section; obviously the smallest section in the whole shop, typical. To her surprise Alucard had found some clothes that had obviously interested him, he was currently holding up a dark blue t-shirt, and behind him on a bench was a small pile of clothes.

"Find something you like master?" She asked with a smile, happy that he was actually engaging in this; though she had a small feeling that he was only doing it for her sake, which made her blush quickly before she chased it away.

"I can't honestly say that I like them, but Integra had a point. If we're to keep a low profile on this Island it probably would help if we fit in with our surroundings." He gave the shirt a final inspection before tossing it over his head, the blue shirt landing on the pile with the others. Seras was curious at what her master was looking at, so she walked over to the unorganised pile of fabrics and started sifting through as her master found another shirt to look at. She was pleasantly surprised at what she found.

In the five or so minutes that Seras had been looking around the shop Alucard must have picked out no less than ten items! Seras went through the pile, first there was the blue t-shirt that her master was just inspecting, it was simple and plain but very soft so maybe a good shirt for sleeping in. Then there was another shirt, it was black with long sleeves, then there were a few more like that all in dark colours naturally. Alucard had also picked out some trousers, all of them black of course, they were made from a thin material, and there was also a pair of black jeans too. Seras smiled at that, she could easily picture master in a pair of black jeans, wearing a black t-shirt, grumpily skulking about the island as everyone else enjoyed themselves. With a small chuckle she kept sifting through the clothes.

What's this? Her eyes widened as she picked up some smaller pieces of fabric from the heap. Boxers, that was a little surprising, then again everyone has to wear underwear, even the mighty Alucard. He'd picked out three identical pairs, all black with a bit of white trimming, they looked like they'd be quite skin tight, bringing up an image of Alucard wearing them which Seras very quickly supressed. She hastily put them down into the pile and went through the rest of the items which consisted of some more plain shirts and trousers, and then she was done. All in all Alucard had picked out seventeen items so far, which was very impressive; then again he was probably just grabbing them out for the sake of it.

"Are you planning to buy all of these?" She asked him curiously.

"Of course not, I'm not buying any of them. Why would I?" He frowned at her, obviously a little confused at her question.

"Well normally you have to buy clothes in order to wear them. Unless you'd like to stoop to shop-lifting?" To Seras the thought of Alucard smuggling jeans and t-shirts out under his shirt was quite amusing, but she didn't think him to be the thieving type. Alucard was too proud, heck, too noble for that, in his own weird way.

"Police girl, I don't need to buy them at all; you forget that I can form clothes out of thin air." Of course! Why didn't she think of that, Seras's head dropped a little when Alucard spoke, her stupidity must have been obvious, honestly why did he even keep her around?

"All I need to do is have a clear picture of the clothes in my mind. By going through these clothes I have been cataloguing them for later use, I might not use all of them but at least I'll have a selection. People might look on me oddly if I walked around in the same clothes, every day, for eight weeks." Alucard did had a point there, they were going to be on Kumaju island for eight weeks; the more clothes the better.

"What about you police girl?" He asked flatly, "I've selected all of these clothes but I've failed to notice you carrying any for yourself, is it that hard for you to select some simple garments?"

"Oh… well… I've…" She felt her words failing for some reason, fearing that whatever she said wouldn't be enough, she sighed; either way it won't be enough, she knew that. Looking to Alucard she could see those emotionless red eyes staring, waiting for an answer. Might as well be honest, he could always tell a lie. "Oh to hell with it, I haven't really looked yet, ok? It's easy for you to pick out ten thousand things in ten minutes, but I'm not like you!" She instantly knew those words had come out way too defensive for her own liking, but it was done, and now she simply waited for the usual ridicule.

"Would you like some assistance?"

What?

"What?" She asked, and Alucard instantly frowned. "I mean… sorry master… I wasn't expecting you to ask me that."

"What were you expecting?" He asked.

"Well, to be honest I was expecting you to make fun of me or something. That's what you usually do, make fun of little, stupid Seras." Again, she kicked herself for her wording, gods she was all over the place tonight!

"I'm not going to make fun of you for that." He said flatly, although Seras could detect amusement in his voice. "You may often be a source of entertainment for me but even I understand what it means to take a woman shopping. I am well prepared for the hours upon hours that you inevitably plan to spend dragging me from shop to shop."

"Really?" She asked timidly, not knowing if he was just toying with her or actually being serious.

"Really" He smiled at her, genuinely it seemed. Seras felt another tickle of warmth in her chest. "Now, where do you want to start?"

Alucard was pleased.

Shopping with the police girl had not been the boring, aggravating and time consuming endeavour that he'd feared it would be. In fact it was quite the opposite.

Seras had, surprisingly, quickly picked out two summer dresses from the first shop they had visited; one was a long and ruffled design with floral patterning, which looked acceptable. The second dress Alucard liked considerably more; it was shorter that the other one, coming down to just above the knees, and it was black with intricate red patterning woven into the bottom edges and seams. Seras happily purchased them after having him inspect the items, which was a little odd, perhaps she valued a male opinion, even if it was from a centuries old monster?

For the next hour or so they simply wandered through the shopping centre, which was fine by him. At first Alucard had hated how busy the place was, but after a while he had adjusted and was now far more curious than annoyed. Police girl had happily explained to him how it was now common for people to group shops together in places like this, they went by different names depending on what part of the world you were in, shopping arcades, shopping centres, shopping malls, it was all the same though. Alucard found their design quite ingenius, people were able to happily shop to their hearts content in a warm and safe environment, not exposed to the elements, no cold rain, no buckets of excrement being tossed onto the streets. Things were definitely different in the 21st century.

The thing that truly captivated Alucard was the sheer variety of shops, not just how many. There were the clothes shops like the first one they had visited, there were 'odd shops' which were indeed odd, there were 'supermarkets' which had enough food for a small village, there were 'hairdressers', and then there were 'electrical entertainment' shops which sold televisions, sound systems and video games; they had greatly intrigued him. Alucard spent a good twenty minutes fumbling around with this thing called a 'controller' trying to get this brightly coloured racing car to go around a race track on a game. He'd found it surprisingly addictive and was quite disappointed when police girl dragged him away to look at the other shops. He would have to come back and get one of those.

After some more time had passed the police girl had successfully purchased some more clothes. She had bought some 'tank tops', which were oddly bright in colour but looked comfortable to wear. Then she'd acquired some pleasant looking cropped trousers, they were black which Alucard liked, and they complimented her legs too. Police girl then brought some very nice things called 'mini skirts', Alucard had no objections to her buying those, they were black and red, barely covering any of her legs at all. Alucard definitely liked them, and encouraged her to buy more of them.

He was trying his best to sound pleasant and not intimidating. At some point during the trip Alucard had realised that Seras was very severe on herself, during their shopping she'd let down her guard a little and he had very, very carefully crept into her mind. He was used to doing it and often did so without her noticing but he was still surprised to detect such high levels of anxiety inside his little fledglings mind.

Alucard shocked himself when he'd felt a little pang of guilt towards the woman, he hadn't intended to make her that afraid of him; he just didn't want to get too attached to her like he had to people in the past. Perhaps she was being so harsh on herself because that is how he had behaved towards her? More guilt, if only a little.

"Master?" He broke from his thoughts, a little startled but he didn't let it show. He looked to his left to see Seras tugging at his long red coat. "Master are you ok?" She asked, looking at him with a slight air of concern.

"I'm fine" He replied, "I was just… processing my thoughts, that is all police girl. What is it?"

"I think I've found a shop that you would like." She smiled up at him, obviously confident in her find. He would be the judge of that.

"Oh, I see? Where is this shop?" He asked, half sarcastically, half teasing.

"Over here master!" She called, walking ahead of him, Alucard followed.

After a few minutes they had arrived to a section of the shopping centre that Alucard hadn't paid much attention to yet. Seras was standing in front of a small shop which had darkened windows.

"Come inside and have a look!" She beamed, "I guarantee you'll like what you see!" She hopped inside the shop, Alucard smiled at her enthusiasm. It astonished him how much happier she'd instantly become once he'd shifted his temperament to a less grumpy disposition. He was a little concerned that he affected her so profoundly, but it was probably because he was her sire, he had made her. That was it, surely. Bringing himself back from the internal debate Alucard quickly followed his little fledling into the shop. He was pleasantly surprised.

Black, there was black everywhere, beautiful, dark, it was glorious! Everywhere Alucard turned he saw black, or at least dark shades of grey or red. The shop was quite dark, save for a few small lights hanging from the ceiling; all four of its walls were completely hidden by rows upon rows of black clothing. In the centre of the shop was a rectangular glass counter with the two attendants standing within it, their appearance was a little odd. One, a woman, had half of her hair shaved off; the other half was short and dyed a bright green colour. The other, a younger man, had long black hair with dyed red tips. They were both dressed in the attire that they sold from the shop and they both had many, many piercings which fascinated Alucard.
"Well? Take a look around." The police girl had walked up to him and given the older vampire a light prod. He gave a slight start, not noticing Seras approach, but then nodded and started to explore this interesting place.

He moved around the shop, taking in everything. Oh the police girl had been right, he loved this place! These clothes were far more to his liking than the other shops they'd been to so far. He'd especially liked the collection of long jackets against the back wall, although they were nothing compared to his own brilliant red trench coat Alucard still appreciated them; perhaps he should try wearing one of them on the island instead of his normal coat? It couldn't hurt. Alucard began sifting through what must've been over a hundred jackets, many of the designs appealed to him which greatly increased the difficulty of selecting a singular jacket; maybe he should select a few?

A few minutes later he held a small collection of jackets over his arm, looking for Seras; he thought she'd might appreciate being of some use in this endeavour.

"Police girl, I may need your assistance." The blonde immediately perked up from looking down at some nice platform shoes, turning to face him with an eager glint in her eyes.

"You're a bit more knowledgeable when it comes to modern clothing. I'm trying to find a jacket that won't draw too much attention, my own is excellent but I do find it to be a bit…"

"Noticable?" She finished for him.

"Quite" He agreed. "Now, have a look at these, I feel your opinion will be most useful."

Internally, he felt a twang of affection for the blonde when her face lit up at his statement. She immediately took the jackets from his grasp and started assessing them. Almost immediately one was cast aside, ah yes, it was the one with the spiked shoulders, Alucard admitted that it had been a long-shot from the outset however comfy it actually was. Another one was then rejected; Seras felt that it was too short, indeed the black leather jacket barely made it to his knees. Two more went, one was too heavy for hot weather and one lacked external pockets, something Alucard had not noticed before and mentally chastised himself for being careless in details.

Eventually Alucard was pleased to see Seras take a keen interest to one of the two last jackets she was inspecting. It was black, with nice long sleeves which had slightly exaggerated cuffs, the shoulders were slightly padded on the inside, the back of the coat trailed down to the floor but the front was more open and allowed freedom of movement. Chiefly among the traits though was the fact that it was made from fabric, not leather, which would not suite a hot climate. Seras knew this already but she had pointed out the fact he would look odd walking around in thirty degree weather in a heavy leather coat; no the fabric one was far better, and so it was selected.

"Good! I'll take that and buy it with the others." Seras beamed.

"There's no point buying it police girl." Alucard stated quietly as to not let the shop attendants here, should they think him suspicious.

"Nonsense master!" She interjected. "I've had so much fun tonight; let me get it for you, as a gift… even though it's actually being bought with Sir Integra's money." She chuckled awkwardly. Alucard could tell by the ways those blue eyes looked at him that he'd better accept the gift, lest he really upset her. With a sigh he agreed.

"Alright, you may buy it. This time."

"Master, thank you!"

Alucard smiled at her when she turned away and hopped over to the service counter, he suspected that this trip away would result in her causing him to smile a great deal more.

Amazingly, the thought didn't revolt him like he expected. Curious.

Seras was busy purchasing the items they'd selected, Alucard's new jacket and some shoes that Seras had selected too' he would have to take a look at them later. Whilst she did that Alucard was sifting through the other rows of clothing, when something caught his eye. A very pretty something, an idea sparked in his mind. Carefully he peeked over the racks to see police girl walking back over to him, their purchases in neat little black bags. Not wanting to alert her to his discovery, Alucard quickly walked up to her and tried to get her away from the general area.

"Police girl"

"You know you can try calling me Seras?" She asked with a happy smile, obviously hoping that he would use her name for once.

"… Seras, I'd like to spend some time looking around here some more. There are some boots that have caught my eye that I may like to imitate later. Seeing as we are due to leave in an hour I suggest that you finish buying what you need to while I look here."

Blushing a little, although Alucard thought she hadn't noticed it herself, Seras happily agreed to his suggestion. Alucard offered to carry the other bags for her, which Seras obliged, so that she could finish her other purchases.

"Ok master, I'm off to go check out some swimwear! Give me a call when you're done here." With that she was skipping out the door quite merrily, much to Alucard's relief.

With Seras gone, Alucard quickly returned to the aisle of clothing which had captured his attention before. He started sifting through the dark items of clothing, an almost childish grin across his face. Eventually he found something that he deemed suitable, but still wanted a second opinion. He walked up to the counter where the two attendants were standing.

"Do you think the woman, who was in here just before, will like this?" He asked, giving them both quite a start, obviously he'd been a bit quieter than he thought. After a moment the two had composed themselves well enough though and cast their gaze to the item Alucard was holding up.

"You mean the blonde?" The young man asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Correct" Alucard responded neutrally.

"I think she'll love it." Came the response from the woman with the green hair, the young man nodded.

"Excellent." Alucard grinned. "I'll take it and this one too." He held up another item. The two attendants grinned almost as much as he did.

If police girl was going to give him a gift, Alucard was not about to be outdone at that.

With the items purchased Alucard left the shop, proud at his achievements, and retrieved his smartphone to give Seras a call. The night was growing old now, and if they didn't leave soon there would be little time to organise everything at home before the dawn.

A/N: Well I hoped you liked it, and I hope there weren't many errors in there! Let me know what you think, all input is appreciated! :D Next chapter will be up soon too so R&R!