TOCINO ARC – Chapter 4: AN END

"You've done it now, my dear," Tocino said as two sickles connected by a chain at the ends of their handles appeared in his hands.

The young man lunged forward, but Miel easily dodged the rather weak attack.

They ended up swapping positions, with Miel standing where Tocino originally stood, and Tocino where Miel stood before.

"Let me introduce you to my dear dear Death Scythe~" Tocino smirked, lifting up the sickle on his left and kissing it on its blade. He licked the dried blood on the sharp ends off—probably the blood of the humans Miel saw earlier. "This item was personally—"

Miel stopped listening to the raven-haired Shinigami and focused on her own thoughts.

'Gah, Sebastian and Ciel must've noticed that I'm gone by now… I need to finish this quickly.'

Miel lunged towards him, but Tocino dodged her attack. Then he noticed a smile playing on the girl's lips. He was caught off guard when a carnation rose wrapped its vines around him, making him unable to move and convert oxygen to carbon dioxide, and caused him to drop his oh-so-precious sickles.

"Ones does not simply go against someone like me," Miel smirked.

"We… We'll s-see ab—out… tha—at…," Tocino managed to say.

He made his sickle cut the vines by kicking it in the air and catching it with his right hand, then throwing it up and catching it with his left so it'd cut through the verdant trap in one chop. Once he was free, he straightened himself.

They were ready to charge at each other again when they felt something odd. It was another ominous presence, obviously not the same one as before.

"Who's there?!" Tocino exclaimed, turning around, looking for who was there. He seriously didn't want to get disturbed in some fight.

"Waka—" (I don't kn—)

Miel cut herself off and broke into a cold sweat.

'Th-that presence… It can't be right,' the young girl thought to herself.

"Hey! We have a battle going on here! Focus, ya little bitch!" Tocino yelled at the Bara Tenshi.

Just as they were about to lunge forward at each other, they suddenly froze.

Miel's eyes widened as she turned around.

"Oya, oya~ What do we have here?" a voice said.

It was Sebastian. And in his arms was Ciel. He set his Master down and dusted his tailcoat.

"Awh~ Why'd ya put him down?~" a different person screamed from the distance.

Tocino whipped around to see someone he knew.

"Ah, you're finally here." He directed his statement towards the girl who just stepped out of the shadows.

There stood an average-heighted young woman with messy, brown hair almost reaching her back, with a pale complexion, and a pair of, again, yellow-green irises.

She had on a red tank top paired with a denim skirt that was held up by a belt with two deerskin bags and a deadly looking, black whip. One bag held darts with their feathers sticking out, and the other bag held bullets, apparently, and a pistol. She wore a pair of black, combat boots and fishnet stockings stopping just above the knee.

Tch. "Another one," Miel scoffed, crossing her arms.

"I was lucky that Suit-san came around. His presence is stronger than mine, so I was able to hide my own, and none of you knew I was coming," the girl pointed out, placing her hands on her hips. "I was actually supposed to shoot that angel while she was distracted, but Suit-san just had to come in with his own little Pico-chan~" While saying that, the girl pointed to Miel, then faced Sebastian and Ciel after.

"Pi-Pico? My name is Ciel Phantomhive!" the young Earl stuttered, unsure. He didn't know who this "Pico" was or what it meant, and it someone angered him. And he resisted the urge to slap her then and there.

"And you, Tocino." The young woman turned and glared at her friend. "Couldn't you have done a better job? She doesn't even have a scratch!" She was now furious. [Take note: She referred to Tocino with his last name. Meh.]

"Oi, oi Tapa… It's not my fault that you got lured out 'accidentally'." The young man averted his eyes. He had made the word 'accidentally' bleed with sarcasm. [Take note: Tocino referred to Tapa with her last name. Meh.]

"Tocino? Tapa?" Sebastian wondered out loud, placing a hand under his chin, lost in thought.

"Eh? Nani?" the two said in unison.

"Aren't those…Filipino dishes?" He said that rather rudely and very blunt, so it slightly offended them. …Slightly.

"Now that you mention it…," Miel said, squinting.

"Ah, he actually noticed something as trivial as that," Tocino mumbled, slightly put off.

"Hazukashi!" (How embarrassing!) Tapa exlciamed.

Sebastian smirked. "As the butler of the Phantomhive Household, if I didn't even know that small piece of information, what would I ever be able to do?" He faced Ciel. "Your orders, Master?"

"End this at once. We can't risk the event and all the lives there," the young Earl instructed. "And Miel, get back here this instant. How would I ever be able to explain why you are all bruised and have so many scratches?"

Miel frowned at her brother. "I want to fight. I can manage this, Onii-chan. Get Sebastian to help if you want to, but I am going to fight."

"Are?~ We're starting? Sorry to inform you, but I don't want to be scolded by William-san so I'll be attacking first. Ikou, Alex," (Are?~ = Eh?~ ; Ikou = Let's go) Tocino said, his voice sounding slightly off.

"Un!" Tapa loaded her pistol and began shooting rapidly.

Miel instantly raised her hand in front of her face and made many rose petals appear, blocking every single bullet that came out of the gun. She then positioned both hands in front of her and the vines crisscrossing her arms extended forward and grabbed the two Shinigami by their ankles.

"Rian, do something!" Tapa yelled, trying to break free from the vines.

Tocino crossed his arms and simply said, "I blame you. And what happened to 'I'll be able to shoot this girl'? Hm?"

The vines pulled them closer to Miel while squeesing their legs tightly, stopping their blood circulation, thus turning their legs paler than usual.

"Crap." Tapa tried to reach for the bags attached to her velt.

Tocino gave out a deep sigh and mumbled, "We're gonna hear a lecture for sure! And if Ana-san is with him like always, our ears will melt quicker than usual!" He grabbed his Death Scythe and cut the vines that were wrapped around their legs.

Ciel grew impatient and gave out a small grunt before yelling, "Miel! We need to return right now!"

The young girl ignored her brother and glared at Tocino and Tapa. "Give up already."

"I can't believe you didn't do anything to save ourselves from Pico's sister!" Tapa complained, hitting Tocino's head with her fist.

"Oh, come on! If you're so great, then you could have just saved yourself!" Tocino yelled back.

There was a flash of crimson hair and the sound of a whirring chainsaw, that cut the vines, dropping Tocino and Tapa on the ground with a loud thud.. Once the two stood up, another Shinigami, namely Grell Sutcliff, came flying down from nowhere, aiming at the duo's heads.

Of course, the two just had to step aside, making the red-head miss.

Tocino yawned as he crossed his arms turning his head to Tapa waiting for her to say something to their senior.

"We know all your tricks. And it's actually William's thing to step on heads…" Tapa said, tabbing the toes of her boots on the soil.

"…Actually it's 'Step on Grell's Head'," Tocino interjected, nonchalantly killing the ants that crawled near his feet.

Miel grunted and reverted back to her ordinary form as Sebastian stepped forward and asked Grell, "Excuse me, Grell-san? Do these two belong to you?"

Grell blushed and said, "Yes, yes they are!~ They're my best friends, Alex and Rian~"

Tsk. "Since when? We don't even talk much." Tocino was now somehow annoyed.

"Anyways, we're wayyyyy behind schedule now. Tocino, let's work together for the moment," Tapa said.

Tocino nodded then faced Miel. "Thanks for the fight! It only lasted a few chapters, though, unlike in Naruto. I lost, but our battle doesn't end here! Ja ne!" (Bye!)

After having said that, he joined the other two Shinigami waiting for him in the distance.

The three walked deeper into the woods so as to continue with what work they had to do next.

Sebastian, Ciel, and Miel stood there for a moment before returning back to the venue.

What they didn't know, however, was that pair of dark, amethyst eyes watching the trio leave the woods and back to the wedding reception.

+—CHAPTER END—+