~A Strange Harem~

In the end, Ciel had to fake a smile to get out of that palace. He was actually very convincing because he was a pretty good actor, although the group wasn't counting it because it absolutely wasn't genuine. "I can't believe you did that!"

This was one of the few times that Lizzie actually felt furious, and she was furious with Ciel. He nodded. "Well, what should I have done? I don't know how to smile or have fun."

"You're not even trying!"

"As I have said before, having fun is not our biggest priority!"

Lizzie had never felt so angry in her life. Ciel was just lucky that he wasn't on the ground, begging for mercy. Alois and Sieglinde were sincerely hoping that she wouldn't explode, both figuratively and literally. "Lizzie, please lower your voice. You'll attract Claude to us." Alois warned.

"I don't care about that right now! I only want Ciel to be happy!"

Sieglinde had to put her hands around Lizzie's mouth to keep her quiet, but she still fought. Ciel sighed. "Look Lizzie, I'm sorry, but I can't-"

"Meow."

Ciel shook his head. "I can't smile even if I wanted to. I don't know-"

"Meooow." Ciel's eye twitched a little.

"I don't know how anymore. I apologize if-"

"Meooooooowww."

Ciel turned around. "WOULD YOU CUT THAT OUT ALREADY!"

The group had finally noticed that they had arrived at their next stop. There was a group of six people. One of them was a man wearing traditional Chinese clothes, who looked like his eyes were closed. Around him, there were five girls in Chinese outfits. One of the girls was sitting with the man, a stoic expression on her face. They all had cat ears and tails. "Weeeell, I see you've finally made it. I thought we would have to wait another year."

Sieglinde took her hands off of Lizzie's mouth, and the group only stared. They could see the way that four of the girls practically wrapped themselves around him. "I suppose that none of you have ever seen cat spirits before." The cat in the middle speculated. "The forest demon loves cats, so he let's us live here whether we give him souls or not."

"Um...right." Ciel tried to move on in the conversation, despite how awkward the display before them was.

"We could hear you all yelling from a good distance away. Not smart since the Spider Demon could hear you. You all should really watch that from now on." Lizzie sighed and shifted her eyes to the ground. If Claude had found them again, she would most definitely be blaming herself. Sure, she was incredibly angry at Ciel, but that was no reason to drag their souls down into the den of a demon.

"Aaaanyway." He looked down at the girl sitting next to him. "Ran Mao, why don't you go and mingle for once."

The girl never changed her expression, but she got up and walked over to the group of trick-or-treaters. She stared at them. "Happy Halloween." She then walked back over and sat next to the man.

"She doesn't say a lot, but she is my little sister, although we're not related biologically."

The four of them decided that it was time for the words. "Trick-or-treat!"

The cat girls suddenly started passing out candy to everyone. "Miau!" The man smiled. "By the way, I'm Lau." Lizzie smiled. "Thank you so much Mr. Lau." And with that, they were off. However, as soon as they left, Lau's eyes opened just a tiny bit. The cat girls, except for Ran Mao, smiled. They all slinked off into the darkness.

Lizzie still would not talk to Ciel no matter how much he tried to get her to do so. She figured that giving him the silent treatment was better than yelling at him and telling Claude of their location. Ciel had eventually given up, and now, all was silent. Well, almost. Sieglinde could sense a presence behind them. "Everyone, stop."

The group complied and turned around. Suddenly, the cat girls from before appeared, using their feet to hang onto the trees. "We have come to mend your broken relationship, Miau." One of them said.

"Yes, we are matchmakers, Miau." Another said.

"I think they mean you two." Alois said, referring to Ciel and Lizzie.

Both Alois and Sieglinde got Ciel and Lizzie to stand together, while the cat girls tried to fix their arguing. The leader of the cat girls, Ran Mao, made her appearance. "We need to fix your relationship before the night ends, Miau."

Lizzie crossed her arms. "I don't want to make up with him."

She then tossed her head to the side. Ciel sighed. "Come on, Lizzie."

The girl wouldn't budge. Lizzie had never been like this towards her cousin before, so Alois and Sieglinde were actually wondering about what was going to happen. "Alright, what is the problem, Miau?"

"Well, you see, we stopped by Soma and Agni's palace and Prince Soma was attempting to make Ciel smile, however, he used a fake smile to get out, and now Lizzie is angry at him, because his smile wasn't genuine." Alois explained.

Elizabeth was too angry to even utter one word. "Alright, let's fix the problem, Miau."

Ciel's eye twitched. "Do you all say that at the end of every sentence?"

One of the cat girls shrugged. "We don't see anything wrong with it, Miau."

Ceil sighed. "It's annoying and I would appreciate if you would stop."

"Look here, this one has anger issues, Miau."

"I do not!"

"Aww, well, maybe that's the reason for this broken relationship, Miau."

"You don't know anything!"

"I wonder if we can fix it up, Miau."

"Knock it off!"

"He looks cute when he's angry, Miau."

"KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!"

Alois covered Ciel's mouth before he could scream anymore. "You are going to get us all killed if you two don't stop fighting. Just put up with it and let your broken relationship get fixed! Got it!" Alois, although he was usually laid back and upbeat, had never been more serious in his life. Ciel had never seen his friend in this state before, so he had no idea what he was capable of like this. He reluctantly sighed and agreed.

Ran Mao approached the two of them and she moved Ciel and Lizzie to where they where facing each other. Sieglinde and Alois wanted to know what she had planned. "Tell each other how you feel. Girl goes first."

Lizzie had to think for a second, so she could chose her words. "Ciel, all I want is for you to smile again. You used to before...Well, you know. But that was a really long time ago. I was sure that you might be back to your old self, but you haven't. You never smile anymore and I am out of ideas on what to do. I'm starting to give up entirely. I was thinking about giving up if this didn't work. I-I just want to help you. You never tell me anything, and I feel useless because of it. I just wish that you would open up to me some more. There are a lot of people around you who would be willing to help you, if you would just ask."

After she was done, Ran Mao turned to Ciel. "Alright, now you."

Ciel turned to Lizzie with the most sincere attitude he could muster. "Lizzie, I do understand that you want me to smile, and I know that you've heard this before, but I just don't know how anymore. However, that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate your efforts. You make everything better just by being here with your upbeat spirit. I don't know how I could live without you. Thank you for everything you do. And I do occasionally have fun every now and then, so you don't have to worry."

He then smiled at her, and she could tell that it was genuine. In that moment, she kind of felt like crying. "Oh Ciel! I'm so sorry!" She yelled as she wrapped her arms around her cousin.

He returned the hug. Alois and Sieglinde wanted to tell them to keep it down, but they just couldn't bring themselves to do it in this moment. "Well, it seems we've fixed the problem, Miau."

"Now these little lovebirds are back on track, Miau."

"We could call this a job well done, Miau."

Ciel was actually getting used to all off the meowing at the end. Ran Mao looked at the both of them and nodded. "Good, you've made up, now be careful."

Lizzie smiled and nodded. "We will. Thank you miss Ran Mao, and thank the rest of you as well."

Ciel smiled a little and the other two in the group were just happy that they had made up in the first place. "Well, now that all that is over with, we can finally move on." Alois said.

"Alright, let's hurry on to our next stop."

After that was over, the cat girls had all returned back to Lau. "So, did you fix their broken relationship?" He asked.

One of them nodded. "Yes, we did, Miau."

"They were so happy, Miau."

"That's good. Did you have fun tonight, Ran Mao?"

The cat girl in question didn't say anything, but she merely nodded. "Now all we have to do is wait till next year."

The cats were all looking at the moon in the sky, and they noticed that it wasn't yet at it's highest point yet. However, it was getting there, slowly but surely. Once it reach the highest point, the blood moon would appear and the Feast of Souls would begin. The demon would become more powerful if he consumed a tortured soul, however, that wasn't the only soul he would be consuming.

All of the tortured souls that had entered his forest, he had saved for an event like this. He would eat them all, and become even more powerful than he already was. As if he wasn't powerful enough already. The demon, however, had a thing for cats. He loved them, and would allow them in his forest no matter what. The cats were, no doubt, some of the luckiest creatures in the entire forest.

They had traveled all the way from China a few years back, a few years meaning 10,000. As to why Lau kept his strange harem around him, he really didn't have an answer. He just really loved having them around. Ran Mao, however, was different from the rest of them. She never talked unless Lau wanted her to, or unless she had something to say, which usually wasn't very often.

Lau opened his eyes a little, which usually meant that something interesting was about to happen. Usually, he had a light, airy tone surrounding him, but he occasionally had to get serious. Ran Mao just sat patiently, as well as the other cat girls, watching the moon. They could see the rabbit, making an elixir of immortality. Or it could have been moon cakes. The legends vary.

Now, all they had to do was wait patiently for the group of trick-or-treaters to reach the end. They could all pass the time somehow. Ran Mao looked down at the ground and noticed some sort of rock. She picked it up and started staring at it. Ran Mao could be incredibly weird sometimes, and Lau and the rest of the cat girl know this. The moon was getting higher and higher, and son, the rabbit would reach the very top.