** Author's Note: I'm so so sorry for taking so long to update! Please don't kill me! To make up for my awful months-long hiatus, I have given you a longer-than-usual, awkwardly adorable chapter! Please please let me know what you think about it by reviewing! ^_^ I really love reading all the comments and knowing that people are actually enjoying my story! Thanks again for being so awesome! Oh, and by the way, if any of you like Death Note, I've just started a new L romance if you wanna check it out!
Okay, I'll stop talking so you can read! Thanks againnnnnnn! **
As the door shut behind the nobleman and his butler, Undertaker turned toward Haven with his head tilted slightly to the right.
"The young Earl seems to have taken a likin' to ya, dearie," he informed her. "I haven't seen 'im touch a person before, I havent."
"Why would he like... me?" Haven asked quietly, really more to herself than anyone else, but Undertaker cackled a laugh anyway.
"Why would he like ya!" Undertaker guffawed, doubling over as if her question had been so hilarious that it had knocked the wind from his chest. "Have ya looked in the mirror, lady?! I certainly don't know who wouldn't take a likin' to ya! O' course, the Earl would notice straight away, he would!"
Undertaker continued to laugh loudly, holding his sides as if he'd gotten a stitch from exertion.
Was... Was he saying that Ciel Phantomhive was only being polite to her because he thought she was pretty?
But... Haven had seen herself in the mirror, and she wasn't pretty at all. In fact, every time she'd seen herself in the mirror, she'd been unsightly. Her hair was always tangled or damp, she was always covered in dirt or blood, her clothes usually ripped and torn.
When Undertaker finally spotted the confused expression on her face, his laughter stopped and he straightened back up to normal.
"Nevermind, love," he gasped, still trying to catch his breath from his fit of laughter. "The Phantomhive boy just might be sympathisin' with ya, he might. From what I've been told o' him, he's had quite the hard path in life."
That sparked Haven's interest. She glanced over curiously at the Undertaker, crossing her arms in thought.
"What happened to him?" Haven inquired.
"Someone set fire to his estate when he was just a tot, they did, and the fire killed his parents," Undertaker explained. "Whoever destroyed his estate also stole 'im away. I heard terrible things happened to 'im... And then, he came back with his butler years later. Now he's intent on findin' who killed his family and stakin' his revenge."
Undertaker told the story with a hand to his chin, and Haven's arms broke out with goosebumps as she listened.
"That's horrible," Haven replied, shivering a bit. "I hope he finds whoever killed his parents. Maybe then he can finally live his life in peace."
Undertaker's grin suddenly dropped from his face, almost comically, and he stared at her from behind his hair for a long moment.
"Maybe you're right, dearie," Undertaker finally said, his voice flatter than usual.
"Why is Ciel and Sebastian searching for the murderer for this case now, anyway?" Haven inquired. "What do they have anything to do with it?"
"Ciel Phantomhive works for the Queen," Undertaker answered, something in his voice hinting that he didn't much like the Queen. "She sends 'im letters, she does, and he does what she asks 'im to."
"Oh," Haven said, wondering how Ciel got any sleep at night with so many issues running through his life. "Poor Ciel."
Undertaker's grin reappeared at that, and he chuckled a bit, with a hand to his chin.
"How interestin'," he almost hummed, his voice a bit higher than usual.
He was quiet for a while, then suddenly started walking towards the door he'd shown Haven that led to the stairs.
"I've got things to be attendin' to, dearie," he told her, his voice returning to normal as he reached for the door. "I ask ya to stay inside while I'm not around. Wouldn't want another repeat of yesterday, now, would we, love?"
"Er... No, definitely not," Haven replied. "I won't go outside... And I won't answer the door unless I get you first."
"Well, that sounds like a plan, it does. Thank ya, lady," Undertaker continued speaking as he opened the door and started to walk into the tiny hall that contained the stairs. "Get some rest, now. I know ya must be exhausted from answerin' all those questions. I'll be back down later to check up on ya."
He disappeared and shut the door behind him, leaving Haven alone by herself.
Well... His exit had seemed a bit hasty.
Was he still trying to hide something even though Haven had insisted that she wanted to know all the details?
Obviously, he hadn't told her the entire story earlier, and Haven wanted to continue questioning him...
But he'd dashed from the room so quickly that she hadn't even gotten the chance to bring up the subject again.
With a sigh, Haven sat back down onto the coffin to think.
Maybe if she put her mind to work hard enough, the pieces of the puzzle would all click together and Haven would be able to see the complete picture displayed once it was finished.
...
Undertaker stayed gone for quite a long time.
A suspiciously long time, Haven thought.
He was gone so long that she went from being suspicious of him to being worried about him.
What if he'd gone up onto the roof and slipped off because of the slope?
Pushing her irrational fears aside, she concluded that if he'd slipped off, she would've probably heard a thump outside.
But everything had been abnormally silent so she went back to her pondering.
It was quiet in the room as she sat, chin propped in her hand, thinking.
Slam!
The door to her left suddenly slammed open and Undertaker came out, causing Haven to jump in her seat.
"Did I give ya a scare, love?" Undertaker laughed, as if her fear was humorous somehow.
She lay a hand over her heart to help catch her breath.
"Yes," she admitted. "It was so quiet in here when you slammed the door open."
This seemed to make Undertaker laugh even harder, and he bent forward, hands on his knees, his hat falling off onto the floor.
Well... At least he seemed to be in a good mood. Maybe Haven would be able to get some answers out of him while he was off guard.
She suddenly opened her mouth to ask him about the murderer, but the next words out of her mouth startled herself.
"Undertaker, what do your eyes look like?" Haven inquired.
Wh... What?! Why did she ask such an unimportant question when there were so many unanswered ones making her lose sleep at night?
But... In all honesty... Haven was curious about his eyes.
Undertaker stopped laughing so suddenly that Haven was almost afraid that he was angry at her for asking.
Then, he cocked his head at her as if surprised, himself, that she'd asked such a random question.
"They're just normal eyes, like anyone else's, they are," Undertaker replied almost suspiciously.
"Then why do you keep them hidden?" Haven continued asking, narrowing her eyes at him to let him know that she didn't buy his story.
"Hidden? Is that what ya think? They're not hidden at all," Undertaker replied, slowly starting to back out of the room.
"Wait! Don't leave again!" Haven called to stop him and he actually stopped retreating, much to her relief.
"Why the sudden curiosity, dearie?" Undertaker asked, knowing that he was at least a safe distance away in case she tried to run over and push the hair away from his face.
"Oh... I don't know," Haven replied, seeming to deflate a bit. "I guess I've always been curious, but I wasn't sure how to ask."
"Well. My eyes are just yer average eyes, lady, don't think twice about them," Undertaker rattled off.
Haven guessed she wasn't going to be allowed to actually see his eyes, then.
She figured if she'd already inquired thus far, she might as well venture and ask anyway.
"Can I see them, then?" Haven asked him. "I mean... If they're just average eyes, then it's not a problem. Right?"
Undertaker actually gulped.
Was he really that worried? Why did he suddenly seem so tense?
"Eh, well. Ya see... I'd rather ya didn't," Undertaker replied, suspiciously.
"Alright," Haven relented. "I understand. You don't have to show me."
Undertaker visibly relaxed, his rigid shoulders slumping a bit like usual. He bent over and reached for his hat, which was still on the ground from his earlier laughing fit.
"Thank ya for understandin', dearie," he said, actually sounding relieved. Haven had never heard him sound so relieved since she'd met him... But it really made her curiosity about his eyes grow. Why did he make them seem like such a big deal?
He reached back up and plopped the hat back onto his head, his grin returning again.
"Ya've been asking a lot o' questions o' late," Undertaker told her, hesitantly approaching her as if frightened she would do something.
"Well, I'm curious, of course," Haven rolled her eyes humorously at his hesitancy to come near her. "Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you or anything."
"If I thought you were goin' to attack me, I wouldn't be afraid, I wouldn't," Undertaker replied with a grin.
Haven didn't fully understand what he meant, but she felt her cheeks burn anyway.
Undertaker laughed at her expression, which was somewhere in-between humiliated and confused, and leaned over so his face was in front of hers.
Why he always insisted on being so close to her, Haven didn't understand. She thought he might've been using it as a tactic to make her stop her questioning... And if that was the case, it had worked in every occasion.
If he startled her, she stopped talking. That was just the way it was.
Undertaker put his finger under her chin to lift her face towards his again.
"You don't have to do this every time you want me to stop talking," Haven told him quietly, fearing if she talked any louder, it would be as if she were screaming because of their close proximity.
Undertaker's smile widened a bit.
"Is that what ya think, now?" Undertaker replied, tracing her jaw with his fingernail, making her skin tingle along the path he'd created. "Maybe I do it 'cause it's fun, hm?" he added, his nail stopping at her chin and slowly tracing down her neck. Goosebumps rose up along her arms, and she wasn't sure why.
Her throat suddenly felt as if it was blocked off, but she still tried to speak.
"Don't make fun of me," Haven said, trying to sound demanding, but her voice was weak.
Undertaker chuckled again, his breath blowing against her cheek.
Haven didn't know what to do.
She suddenly had the overpowering urge to lean forward and press her lips against his, but she knew that that was ridiculous.
Undertaker didn't actually like her... He was simply messing with her- making fun of her.
"Why ever would ya think I'm makin' fun o' ya?" Undertaker asked, his voice sounding genuinely confused, although also still sounding amused.
"I..." Haven couldn't find words in her brain that made sense when she put them together. She'd thought that he'd been making fun of her, but now he'd changed her mind with only one sentence.
With her thoughts still scrambled, she went with what her instinct told her to do.
She leaned forward, slightly tilting her face in his direction. Haven watched as Undertaker hesitantly made to lean in as well, and the space between them rapidly decreased.
She could feel the warmth of his breath against her lips, and his finger still lightly traced her jawline.
But just as their lips were about to touch, Undertaker suddenly pulled away so quickly that he lost his footing and fell onto the floor in a sitting position.
Haven looked down at him, startled, and she expected him to laugh, but he didn't move a muscle.
"Are- are you alright?!" Haven gasped, realising that her breathing was quite uneven.
Undertaker stayed frozen in that position for a moment, then he quickly dashed up onto his feet, once again grabbing his hat off the floor and setting it back on to his head.
"I just realised- I've to be somewhere, dearie-" Undertaker suddenly started talking in a frantic voice. "Stay in the house- don't go anywhere- I need to- go walk, I do-"
He ran out the front door before Haven even had the chance to ask where he was going in such a hurry.