chapter 3 will you come with me

The carriage finally came to a stop at a faded yellow brick building and one by one we filed out of the small cabin. A crooked purple sign reading 'Undertaker' in white letters hung above the wooden door followed by a small skull. My stomach was still in knots from the painfully long carriage ride and the only way Sebastian had eventually coaxed me into agreeing to accompany him and Ciel on their trip into town was promising me they knew someone who would be able to help. However, I didn't think death was a side effect for motion sickness, and I had no intentions of dying today or any time soon. Not while I was here at least, so far away from everyone I knew. I should have known better than to trust him.

Sebastian glanced back at me as I hesitated near the carriage. Getting back in the rickety vessel was more tempting than following them inside. There was something off putting about a mortician being so close to the harbor, let alone one who operated out of such a rundown building. Nothing about this screamed 'safe and wholesome'. I wasn't about to let myself get caught in the middle of something that would draw any more attention to myself. Sebastian firmly placed one of his gloved hands on my shoulders and forcefully guided me forward, "not everything is what it seems."

I fought against the urge to roll my eyes and stepped just out of his reach. How was someone who embalmed corpses for a living going to possibly understand how to send me through time? From how agitated Ciel was, which was ever more than what I had grown to expect from him, I didn't think he knew how this was going to play out either. Or he had a particular dislike for his informant.

Dust motes tickled my nose as I slowly followed them inside. The still air was filled with the scent of chemicals and death. My ears flattened against my head as I followed them further inside, until the door could be closed, taking with it the inviting sunshine and leaving me in the gloom that surrounded this bizarre mortuary. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the new found darkness. I scanned over the numerous jars that lined the shelves, all containing organs and other things cut from some poor soul's body only to float around in a green preserving liquid. As far as I could tell, there wasn't anyone else in here aside from us, leading me to believe we were on some wild goose chase. "So where is this 'Undertaker'?"

Sebastian's eye lingered on something behind me for a few moments, before he pointedly looked away with a sigh. The faint sound of rustling fabric and wood scraping against wood caught my attention, but before I could turn, something sharp ran down the lengths of my spine to the tip of my tail. Acting upon instinct, I wrapped my tail around myself and whipped around, "Don't touch me!"

The man standing behind me seemed offended at such a reasonable request and stared at me for a few moments. He giggled when I inched closer to Sebastian and flattened my ears against my head. His waist-length silver hair covered most of his face and a pair of black boots peeked out from underneath the robes he wore. The silence drew on as he moved in for a closer inspection. I pressed my back against Sebastian's chest as he ran one of his long, black nails against one of my ears. A wide grin spread across his face as he cooed, "you brought me a little kitten this time." I kept my eyes on him as he moved around the room, fiddling with this and that until he came for a stop in front of me again. For the time being I let him brush aside some of my hair to get a better look at my ears before adding, "I'm afraid removing them is outside my area of expertise, if that's what you brought him for. After all, this isn't your home, is it?"

I was sure how much I was supposed to trust him, even if Ciel did, this man didn't know me. I lowered my gaze to the floor and remained silent. Ciel could do all the talking. "I'm not here to play games. Can you send him back or not?"

The Undertaker thoughtfully tapped his chin with one of his nails and circled around Sebastian and me. Without giving any indication of his answer, the strange man led us over to the three coffins arranged in a semicircle at the head of the room. I sat next to Ciel and tucked my tail underneath me in case our host decided to get grabby again. He set a battered metal kettle on a hot plate before enthusiastically stating, "I have no idea!" I should have known better… what if I can't ever get back? "I can stop by the library and see what comes up, but there are no guarantees."

"If it's as simple as that, why can't we do it ourselves? What should we look for?"

Ciel glared at me as if I had asked a question with an obvious answer, while Sebastian hid behind a coy smirk and left the Undertaker to fill in the blanks. What could a library in this time have that we didn't back home besides lots of long winded books that didn't survive through time? I didn't even think alchemy would have worked. Chemists bonded different elements every day but we didn't have the capability to time travel.

The Undertaker ruffled my hair and grinned down at me, thinking of me as nothing more than a child. "It's no place for a child, you're much better off going home with the little earl." He paused to study Ciel for a moment before asking, "Unless he wishes to explain all of this to you."

"That won't be necessary. Do what you must. I'll be back in a week." He stood abruptly and forced the Undertaker back a step. Anything I tried to ask was ignored, and I was left to follow Ciel and Sebastian back outside to the waiting carriage. I hate this.

I sighed softly and glanced across the room to where Ciel and Lau were talking. He had gone through this several times now, but Lau asked the most pointless questions their conversation was dragged off course several times. Lau remained blissfully ignorant of Ciel's growing frustration while I waited for a reason to leave.

Things had been going on like this for days and I was expected to sit quietly in the corner until someone decided to talk to me… or treat me like I was some pet. How long did he expect me to sit there and listen to Ciel talk about me as if he knew everything about me? Sometimes he almost had me convinced, then I reminded myself I had only been here for a brief and frustratingly uneventful week. At first I thought I would have never gotten used to living here, but now…

I closed my eyes for a few moments, then slid out of the chair I had momentarily settled myself in. Neither Ciel nor Lau paid me any mind as I crossed in-between them and headed for the ajar door. When I pulled it open, I nearly collided with Sebastian, who had come to collect the tray from afternoon tea. He caught my wrist as I tried to slip by him, only to wrench myself free. "Don't touch me."

He stepped after me and closed the door back. "Forgive me. Is something troubling you?"

"Nothing, I'm just sick of everybody putting their hands on me." He started to follow me down the hall. "Leave me alone." I expected him to go back to Ciel, after all he was waiting for him, but instead Sebastian continued to follow me as I made my way down the hall and descended the stairs. Why is he doing this? I don't need him to make me feel better.

He didn't say anything as I stepped outside, just followed behind me without saying anything. "What are you doing?"

"I thought it was obvious."

Sighing, I turned to face him. His calm expression didn't reveal any of his true intentions, leaving me even more confused than I already was. I didn't want him standing there and watching me while I tried to sort through everything, I couldn't do anything with someone watching me, and it was stressful. "Well it's not. I don't need a babysitter either. I can sit outside on my own without getting into trouble."

"I don't doubt that, you do seem very capable."

"That doesn't explain why you followed me out here."

I eased myself onto the ground beneath the large tree in the center of the yard. Sebastian paused a moment, before crouching in front of me. "You don't really want to be alone, do you?"

"You're no better than Ciel, don't just assume things because you want them to be true."

Despite having told him just minutes ago not to touch me so freely, he rested his hand on top of my head, and gently ran his thumb across one of my ears. "I haven't assumed anything. After all, you haven't tried to get me to leave."

While he may have been somewhat right, I didn't want to give him an excuse to stay. Who was I to go around giving him orders? I wasn't going to order him to do something just because I was in a bad mood. "I thought Ciel was looking for you."

He didn't say anything and continued to run his fingers through my hair. "Not right this moment." I closed my eyes for a few moments as he rubbed one of my ears, then quickly straightened and cleared my throat. "He might pop a blood vessel if you keep him waiting too long."

Sebastian nodded and reluctantly stood, making his way across the lawn. It wasn't until he was finally out of sight when I breathed a sigh of relief and rested my back against the trees trunk. Why does he keep doing that? I don't want to get close to him, I'm going home.

I pulled my head out from under Lau's hand for what felt like the hundredth time in the past hour. I couldn't tell if it was because he was stubborn or he forgot I didn't like it. His brain was like a sieve, no matter how much you poured into it, after time passed it would all be gone again and you'd have to fill it back up. I didn't know what to make of his 'sister' though. She hadn't said two words to me, but she watched everything with a predatory sharpness, like she was making up for everything Lau failed to notice.

Why Ciel had left with him, of all people, was beyond me. I was well past the age of being able to stay home by myself for a few hours, and it wasn't exactly like I was going to be alone. Bard and the others were there. The five of them couldn't have been that incapable of taking care of themselves. It was bad enough they made me get in the carriage again, but they wouldn't even tell me where they were going or what they were doing. If Ciel had come to town on business, odds were he wouldn't have dragged me along, so it must have had to do with the Undertaker's trip to the 'library'. But, if I wasn't even going to be there, then what was the point in bringing me here in the first place? I've never felt so clueless in my life. "What's wrong little one, cat got your tongue?"

I ignored his play on words and flattened my ears against my head. There wasn't anything to say to him. I might as well have just called him my babysitter. "Why does Ciel hang out with an opium dealer?"

"My my, curiosity did kill the cat." He paused and smiled down at me before explaining, "I don't think Ciel is very fond of me, but I can be quite useful to him when I want to be."

"Ciel doesn't like anyone, I wouldn't take it personally." I tilted my head back and rested it against the couch cushion, studying the ornate pattern on ceiling. All the smoke was starting to make me light headed, if I trusted Lau I might have been tempted to take a nap as well. Ciel better be back soon, I don't want to fall asleep here.

Lau rested his hand on my head again, and I inched away from him with a defeated sigh. A man in a top hat entered, and dragged Lau's attention away from me. When he left with the man and his sister without a word, I rose from the floor and sprawled out across the couch. For a few, brief moments, I was granted peace, and lay there with my eyes closed.

I could feel eyes on me as I started to drift off, but chalked it up to a contact high and my pent up anxiety. When the idle twitching of my tail was brought to a stop by wandering hands, I groggily opened my eyes, expecting to see Lau there, only it wasn't. Scrambling into a sitting position, I pressed my back against the back of the couch and tucked my tail behind me. The man ran one of his fingers down the length of my spine and smirked, mischief twinkling in his bloodshot eyes. "Aren't you a cute one?"

His friend nodded in agreement, and took a place on the couch to my left, draping his arm over my shoulder a little too casually. With no place to go that didn't involve tearing myself away from them, I hugged my knees to my chest and didn't say anything. There's even people like that here.

"Don't be shy."

The one on the floor gazed up at me, while his friend started running his fingers through my hair. "We aren't going to bite." People like this piss me off.

"Don't touch me."

Their eyes widened, and his hand faltered, before coming to a stop on the top of my head near one of my ears. "Why not, we're all friends here?" The one of the floor reached up to caress my neck, a lustful smirk crossing his features. "We'll make you feel good, won't we?" His friend nodded and buried his face in my hair, and hummed contently to himself.

A wave of nausea washed over me as I scrambled to my feet. "People like you should go die!"

The one on the couch remained in a daze and stared at me, unblinking, for a few moments. His friend on the floor frowned and glared at me, making a grab for my arm, but I stepped out of his reach. "Kids like you should respect your elders."

"Being an adult means nothing if you're a terrible person. Adults should set an example, not make fools of themselves."

He rose to unsteady feet, and stood over me, swaying as if he couldn't quite find his center of gravity. The man staggered forward a few steps until I was in arms reach, then made a grab for one of my shoulders. I sidestepped his arm and waited for him to advance again. His companion remained on the couch unmoved, and seemed to have a better grasp on the situation than he did. "Leave the kid alone there'll be others besides…" He trailed off and glanced behind him, distracted by some figment of his temporarily distorted imagination.

"As if, someone's gotta teach him a lesson!" With that he lunged for me again. I ducked under him, and used my shoulder to topple him to the ground. If he had been any more sober it wouldn't have worked as well as I planned. Before he could recover himself, I made my way to the door and slipped outside into the cool afternoon. I pressed my back against the heavy wood and sucked in the clean air. With each passing breath my head grew clearer, until the fog had lifted and I was able to think clearly once again. My shaky nerves eventually stabilized, and for a brief moment I contemplated going back inside. I shook my head and closed my eyes for a few moments.There's no way I'm going back in there.

I peeled myself away from the door and glanced around at the people on the street. Aside from a few sideways glances, and curious whispering, there wasn't anything I saw that seemed out of the ordinary. Back to square one, I picked a direction at random and started walking. Having grown to expect them, they constant staring and snippets of conversation deeming him a 'freak' and 'odd little creature', hadn't bothered him as much as they may have several days ago.

I shivered when a gust of wind picked up and tucked my hands into my pockets. I stared at the uneven ground as I walked, avoiding puddles of brackish water and potholes as I went. A few carriages rattled by, but other than that the streets were relatively quiet. Maybe the natives knew something I didn't, but the pale blue sky overhead didn't seem to hold the promise of rain.

A nagging in the back of my mind kept telling me to go back, it was the sensible thing to do, but I also wondered what the point of it would be. Ciel didn't have any idea on how to send me home. The only reason he probably wanted to keep me with him in the first place was to protect his reputation. At least, Sebastian seemed convinced so. He may not have said it directly, but he always seemed to most off put about Ciel talking about me as if I was nothing more than a problem to him; despite my insisting it didn't bother me. Compared what mom always did to me, Ciel's treatment was less than mild.

The streets eventually opened up, until I found myself wandering through an extensive park. There were several people walking arm in arm with one another, of a few groups of people strolling along without a care in the world. For a moment, I could find comfort in my surroundings. Being around so many living, and growing things always put my mind at ease. When I had free time after school I often went to the park after stopping off in the library. There was a clearing amongst the trees that almost nobody knew about. It was a safe haven where I could get away from everything.

After examining a sturdy looking oak, I glanced around to make sure nobody was watching, then scrambled up the thick trunk to a low hanging branch. I clambered up until a clump of leafy branches kept me hidden from the ground and balanced myself in the crook of a tree branch. The sounds of the city faded into the background when I closed my eyes. The earthy smell of the bark was enough to lull me into a light doze, however every so often I'd steal a glance around to make sure I hadn't been spotted. Nobody seemed to be looking to the trees much anyway, so eventually I let the creeping darkness consume me.

Rustling leaves broke through my pleasant dream and I could feel eyes on me as I lay there. Startled back into the present, my eyes flew open and I gripped the branch for balance to find Sebastian perched no less than an arm's reach away. "There you are." I took a few deep breaths to calm my shaky nerves and gradually loosened my grip on the thick branch. I glanced down at the ground, then back to him, wondering how he had managed to get all the way up here without my noticing. "You really shouldn't sleep in a place like this, it's not wise."

Having not intended to sleep for so long, I stole a glance at the darkening sky. Streaks of pink and orange clawed their way across the horizon, and I could spot a few twinkling stars through the leafy canopy. Of course he wasn't going to let me go so easily, that would be too simple. Still caught up on his sudden, and unannounced presence, I asked, "How did you get up here?"

"The same way you did, how else?" He tilted his head to the side in a questioning manner, and studied me for a few moments, then continued with his lecture. "While I am glad you have not come under any harm in my absence, you should really be more careful. I don't know what it's like in your time, but it's very dangerous for someone your age to be out alone. You never know-

"Spare me. I've heard enough about 'stranger danger' from my teachers in school to last a lifetime. I know how to take care of myself, I'm not stupid enough to go with somebody just because they offer me candy, or whatever it is if they offer her. I'm not a little kid."

Sebastian chuckled and shifted his weight before standing. He hardly wobbled as the branch bended beneath his weight, but the thin chunk of wood didn't come close to breaking. "Nevertheless, what brings you out here? I didn't think I'd have to worry about you running off on your own."

I shrugged and turned so I was facing him, struggling to make out his face in the early twilight. "I needed some fresh air, so I took a walk and ended up here. I hadn't intended on going so far, but I didn't want to get even more lost so I stayed here."

"In a tree."

I nodded firmly, hoping he wouldn't press the subject. He'd only worry if I told him the real reason I left. If I wanted to prove I could take care of myself, I didn't want him thinking I had been assaulted. Sebastian didn't sound convinced, but he quickly change the subject. "Try to be more careful in the future, you must be especially careful in your travels. Let's get going, shall we?"

I reached for him as he stepped off the branch, and stared at the ground, he peered back up at me and waited for me to follow. "You shouldn't jump from so high."

He brushed some dirt off his pants as if injuring himself was the least of his worries. "What kind of butler would I be if I couldn't do such things?"

I sighed and pressed my back against the trunk of the tree. Even thought he had come all this way out here to find me, I still wasn't convinced I belonged with him. In my eagerness to get home I hadn't really looked at the big picture. A young boy with a vast enterprise was the last person who would be able to help me. While he had the resources to do whatever he wished, he didn't have the brains to figure this out on his own. A scientist would be much better suited for this task, and this was an era of invention. That's stupid. How are you going to find someone who is suited to the task and believes you? "Is something wrong?"

"I don't think I can."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's just… I don't belong."

"Of course you don't. You aren't accustomed to how things work here. Even if you have been placed in your own country during the same time, the only thing you'd have in common with everyone there is your background, and what you may have picked up in a history book. I'd be more concerned if you did fit in."

"Yes, but I just don't understand why Ciel is doing this. I don't understand anything."

Sebastian frowned and checked his pocket watch. "It's not my place to tell you what to do. If you really wish to be left to your own devices then I can simply tell the young master I failed to locate you." He gazed up at me, and in the dim light I could have sworn his eyes were a strange pink color. "Which will it be, Ritsuka? Stay here or come with me?"