Haru hurriedly got to her feet and burst straight through the locked door of her bedroom. She dashed down the stairs and out the front door. Canterbury, who was sweeping nearby, jumped in shock and looked at her. She glanced back at him; her eyes were no longer a beautiful blue, but a cruel red.

"Sorry that I can't stick around and chat, but I have a demon to kill," she growled with a sadistic smile. She was interrupted when a long, sharp lance broke through the window and stabbed through her stomach. She blinked in shock. "Huh? How did that get there?"

Ominous Wolf

An ominous figure, much like a shadow, darted into the clearing and loomed a few feet away from her. She coughed up blood and yanked the lance out of her stomach, transforming into a large black wolf. She growled at the demonic entity.

"Akita," she snarled. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"What business do you have here?" Claude demanded, running out to the front lawn as well as the other demons. Whoever this was, was a great threat; they could tell.

"Come, Haruka," the shadow growled. "You know what you have isn't fair, now I want it back!"

Haru snapped, lunging at the shadow. The shadow dodged, shooting ink-like bullets at her, at the others, and at the mansion. It caused some damage, but the spirit was spent, and retreated once its warning was delivered. Haru growled after it with little attempt to chase after the fleeing being.

"So this is your fault?" Claude demanded. "If you are the one endangering my master, then leave this place and never return."

"No!" Hannah jumped in. "Haru has done nothing to this demon. If anything, we should be helping her."

"This is not business of your place, Hannah Annafellows," Claude argued.

"What if we have something to say about it?" Canterbury whispered to the other two. They shrugged.

"Do you think we should ignore Claude and speak so she can hear?" Timber suggested.

"The master did say we never talked to her," Thompson agreed. "He seemed to be complaining about it, so that should make him feel better."

The three brothers knew, of course this isn't what Alois had intended, however they were clever demons and could manipulate the truth as they pleased. Timber was the first to speak up.

"Miss Haru, we…."

"There you are, young mistress!" a voice called. Sebastian suddenly appeared in between her and the other demons. Claude frowned.

"I knew you'd come for her, Sebastian Michaelis," Claude growled.

"Mistress," Sebastian whispered. "You have to tell me, did you happen to make a contract with any of these demons or their master Alois Trancy?"

"No," Haru replied earnestly.

"We don't want anything to do with her anymore," Claude spoke for the feuding group. "And if you were in your right mind, you wouldn't have anything to do with her either."

"Why not?" Sebastian inquired. "What's got you all so frightened about it?"

"That dog is in bad terms with Akita."

Sebastian's eyes widened. No wonder he'd thought he'd heard that name before when he and Ciel went to do that job at the fort. He now recognized his mistake. It would have been better for him to just let Haru be and kill the woman. Sebastian's eyes narrowed again and he composed himself.

"How despicable," he muttered. He turned to leave. "Haru, come along. We're going home."

Haru stole one last glance at the triplets—were they really going to abandon her like this?—before following Sebastian obediently.

Intermission

Once at home, Haru went straight to bed, exhausted from her scuffle with Akita's shadow, and Sebastian reported to Ciel.

"A demon?" Ciel questioned, surprised.

"Yes," Sebastian nodded. "It seems there is only one person who can tell us about Haru's past, because I doubt she will tell us herself."

"And who might that be?"

"You've got to be kidding!" Ciel complained. The two of them were now standing outside of Undertaker's shop. "Why him?"

"It seems he has a connection with Haru," Sebastian replied. "He'll tell us anything as long as we make him laugh."

"Go ahead," Ciel sighed. Looks like this was the only way to get information. Sebastian was in there for only a few moments before deafening laughter echoed through the street and the sign collapsed from over the doorway. Ciel entered then to see Undertaker on the ground in a fit of giggles.

"That was great, and sure, I'll tell you anything you want to know," he composed himself and sat down on one of the two coffins set up in the center of the room. He served some tea and the interrogation began.

"Tell us everything you know about Haru," Ciel commanded. Undertaker laughed.

"Haruka, the blue-eyed black wolf, quite strange it is," he began. "I've known her for a long time now. She was hand-chosen by the Shinigami to act as a dog of death for them. She would kill whoever they told her to, demons and humans alike. She got to devour more souls than any demon; they were practically handed to her every night for dinner. This made a certain demoness angry.

"Lady Akita, demon of debauchery. She wouldn't truly earn souls by making a contract with a human and fulfilling her half of the deal; she would simply steal all she could. Evidently, she has become more powerful than any other demon in the world; she rules over the others, you could say. The Reaper Society has kept a good eye on her for a while now, but when we sent our best dog out, Haru's soul was taken as well.

"Instead of killing her like all the other victims, we let her live. She may look young to you, but Haru's body was preserved when her soul was taken. She's actually hundreds of years old. If her soul is regained, she would probably resume the hunt for Akita, but it's probably not best to get involved with her. I've had to make more than enough coffins for those who died at her hands."

"You just let her go?" Ciel asked. "There was no deal? No contract?"

"You've been spending too much time with demons," he laughed. "We owed her this much for all the demons she had killed already. She's more than a pawn or a loyal dog to us; she's a wolf, and the society is her home. Even with your help, there are things you can't recover on your own, things that aren't here for her like Home, and things she hasn't yet discovered like Love."

"What do you suggest we do?" Ciel asked.

"Well, I would say butt out, but…"

"That's not good enough!" Ciel snapped. "Haru isn't a pawn to you and she isn't a pawn to me. She's her own queen; she can do anything she wants. But it's as if she graces the world just by being here. She's not just a dealer of death, but an angel of death. She deserves better than to be left alone to strive for herself!"

"Then you and your enemies help her out!"

There was a moment of silence as Ciel thought about this. He would have to cooperate with Alois and his demons, but they were all beneath this and doing it for a better cause. It didn't matter about their childish scuffle; not now. This was about Haru.

"This is for Haru," he thought to himself as he dropped his tea and turned to run out the door.