Kuroshitsuji © Yana Toboso
OCs © reaper-of-lost-souls
A/N: Well here's another chapter! I'm in a good mood today so I figured I'd review something and post it. May review the next chapter and post it later, but we'll see *so happy for no reason whatsoever*. Plus hey I want to get this story going. I'm at least 10 chapters behind… again… so I need to catch up *mentally slaps self* as always ENJOY! =D
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Jericho sighed, running a hand through his hair as he began walking through the shinigami building. He was tired, his trip to the Americas being less than thrilling. He could feel Sophie's presence growing stronger, so he turned the corner and took a side route through the building. He stopped and stood there, watching as two little angels kissed each other and the girl giggled happily. Wait. That looks like Sophie. She looked, happy? Without him?
"Thank you," the boy smiled, letting go of her hands as he took several steps backward, "I'll stay with you alright? A-and I won't bring up your past again."
"That's all I ask," the girl grinned back, "but I'd like to keep you by my side. Is that alright? A-as my guardian angel I mean –"
"I'd love~ to stay as your guardian," he grinned, "little Sophi-a…" The boy looked over, the girl turning and suddenly noticed Jericho. Jericho could only stand there, looking at the two angels as they stared back at him. A flood of panic washed over Sophie, wondering if he had seen more then he should have. "Well anyways I'm going to go," Harry said as a light showed up behind him, "goodbye."
"B-bye," Sophie waved, walking over to Jericho with haste as she felt a twinge of guilt in the pit of her stomach. "Wait Jericho this isn't what it looks like –"
"W-what is going on?" he asked. "Y-you're small and why are you… seeing other men?"
"Why no I'm not," she told him honestly, "he was a dear friend, but why are you accusing me of wrong doing? It was only a simple kiss –"
"Why?" he glared.
"H-he was the little boy that I… I had loved and had died," Sophie sighed, "but that's all over now. He only wanted closure and I gave it to him –"
"And your sense of closure is a kiss?" Jericho sneered.
"Now wait a minute!" Sophie huffed, "Why are you snapping at me! You left without telling me –"
"There was urgent business back in America –"
"But yet you couldn't at least give me a note or something?" she sneered back.
"Hey I'm not the one who wouldn't let anyone get into their office!" Jericho yelled. "… Look let's not talk about it anymore. I'd like to talk to you later –"
"Forget it," Sophie huffed.
"Excuse~ me?" Jericho narrowed his eyes.
"Forget it," she repeated herself as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll come to you if I feel like it. I'm not obligated to come to your beckoning call every single minute of every day. Plus look at me! I can't work! I'm not even in a god-damn body! So cut the crap Jericho! There's things I have to do –"
"Like kiss other men?" Jericho huffed.
"Don't patronize me!" she growled at him, her face beginning to turn red. "I don't do it all the time! Unlike you~. Let me guess, you slept with someone again didn't you? Perhaps Kristina or Joan? Or maybe you went back to Stephanie again so you can fuck her up like you did the last time."
"… I-I did not –"
"See you hesitated," she huffed, "so you're lying. You're worse about it then I am with my drinking and drug problems. Plus I can tell that you're lying to me. Your eyes give it away –"
"So what?" Jericho raised his voice. "It's not as if I like being stuck babysitting you every second of my life. You know how hard it is to keep you under control –"
"Oh and why do you have to do that?" Sophie sneered. "You know what, leave me alone. I need to go out again."
"W-wait now –"
"Shut up Jericho!" she yelled. "You know what, maybe they're all right. It's a bad idea to stay with you. You give me nothing but problems." Sophie turned for the door and canceled any sound she heard from him as he called out to her, opening the front door and slamming it behind her. She yelled as she walked, walking around with frustration in her eyes and punching several trees down in blind anger. She sighed, groaning as she pressed her hands into her face and slid down the trunk of the tree, pulling her knees up into her chest as she looked at the ground. Sophie grumbled. Now it was her fault their relationship was going down the drain. Could she just find someone to be around and have a relationship with? "Haden…" she frowned as she pressed her head into her knees. It had been so~ long, and yet she thought she was over him. Why was her heart aching when he kissed her? "Shit," she snarled. Sophie knew exactly why.
"Saw you get into a spat with Chuckles over there," came a voice walking towards her, Sophie looking up at glaring at the being as he loomed over her.
"What Robert?" she growled at him.
"Just thought I'd show up and see how you're doing," he shrugged, "and I see you're… what an angel? How disgusting."
Sophie sighed as she shook her head and looked to the ground. "Of course you would think that," she pouted, "of course… Is there something you'd like to say?" she huffed at him.
"They're right you know," he chuckled as he leaned against the trunk of the tree, "about the whole red string and all that. You know perfectly well that he's not the man for you, woman."
"So?" Sophie shrugged.
"Why bother –"
"I don't know!" she huffed. "I just… I like him alright and I don't want to be with some guy who thinks only about himself. I want to actually be loved, but not by someone who's dead or dying or can't be with me anymore. It's getting on my nerves! Haden just had to show up again! UGH! I don't care what you beings think! I just want to be human! –"
"Oh I remember that feeling," he sighed, "of trying to go back, be human, but sadly that's not how it works. You stay this way till something kills you, and you~ should know that better than anyone else."
"Yeah I know," she shook her head, "I know what you mean… but still. If you know me so well then you know how I feel about all this. That's why you were living on the outskirts right? Get away from all this… these beings walking around trying to mix their bloodline with yours. Isn't that right, Boss?"
"Of course," he grinned, "but why come back?"
"It's not the fame or glory," Sophie sighed, "but the companionship. Just… to lose everything because the council doesn't want me around. My home… my life. You know how I felt back in America. It just wasn't a place I wanted to stay. I don't care if the sun barely shines here… it's my home."
"Perhaps you should keep dirt in your shoes like I do," Robert chuckled, "it takes away from that homesick feeling."
"Heh," Sophie chuckled lightly back, "Oh~ I'll have to try that some time." She looked up, watching as he shifted his body off of the trunk of the tree and started to walk away. "By the way," she decided to ask, "why are you here anyways?"
"I know about the vampire problem," he told her, "and I care for the Engjëlls just as much as you."
"I figured," she shrugged, "but still, why are you here? It can't be just that."
"Fine," he sighed as he crouched down to her level and looked her in the eyes. Sophie looked at him suspiciously, noticing the wide grin growing on his face. "I have to go back to my home to prepare for a… seasonal~ celebration I have to do every century," he explained.
Sophie shook her head. "Don't stall. Please tell me what you're trying to say – UMPH!" her eyes widened as he suddenly grabbed the sides of her face, pulling her in a passionate kiss. She sat there stunned; petrified as she felt his sharp white canine teeth grace to bottom of her lips as he pulled away.
"My god," he chuckled as his bright red eyes shined into her frightened crystal blue eyes. "I can see why that Undertaker likes to keep you around. Just by a simple kiss… wow…" Sophie glared, pressing her hands against his chest in an attempt to push him away. "I know full well the men that are right for you," he chuckled lightly, "and I've bet you've seen the list: insignificant little boys who want to play grownup, men ten times your age and… and none of them called Jericho Shezmu."
"Your point?" she pouted.
He grinned, running a gentle finger over her cheek. "I have a proposition for you."
"That is~? –"
"You need to be married once before you're ever going to be taken seriously around here," he told her, "and all you need in that one. Look at the Obki sisters. Both widowed, but yet one is the head of a division and in charge of many souls and the other is looking into… other~ affairs." Robert grinned before he chuckled lightly, "I know I'm not the first being to ask. You know what I'm going to say. Just hear this: every hundred years I consummate my marriage to another. The woman I had taken previously is allowed to turn back into the being she once was, if she wishes. That is the price. Those are my terms. Become my spouse and after a century you can be free to do as you wish, be as powerful and intimidating as you already are and perhaps even more."
"You're asking me to become your wife?" Sophie snuffed, "and how you'd do that? Biting my neck and drinking my blood I'm guessing. Well I'll tell you this: Hell. N –"
"Before you say no take a look at your options," he shrugged as he stood up. "Anyways I must get going."
"Y-you're leaving already?" she pouted.
"Of course," he grinned, "I already told you why. I'll see you at the parties. I assume~ you'll be going?"
"Kicking and screaming probably," she sighed as she stood up and brushed the leaves from her back.
"Then you can tell me your decision there," he chuckled, turning away and walking back to the shinigami realm. Sophie shook her head and sighed, running a hand through her hair as she thought to herself.
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"Hey dad," Sophie sighed as she walked into the mortuary as the sun began to go down, "how many guests came in today?"
"About six," Undertaker answered as he giggled into his sleeve and began to set his tools away, "but sadly only one was decapitated."
"Too bad," she chuckled as she closed the door behind her. "Sorry if I haven't been around –"
"I understand you've had a lot on your mind," he told her, "but now that you're here come sit! I saw what you've done with Alistair."
"Oh he's still coming by?" she smiled as she sat down on a closed coffin and watched as the man casually put his tools away. "You know I didn't even know if it would work," Sophie chuckled, "but I suppose it did."
"I see you're not in your body?" he questioned her. "What happened so far?"
"Well let's see…" Sophie poked her chin. "Tried a spell from a book and hoped Alistair would live, and when that happened my soul was separated from my body because of the energy I used. So that other soul is controlling my body, but all it's doing is lazily walking around in the woods and watching the sky. Then I find these passages under the shinigami realm, which apparently I've been to before, and before I know it I was transported to the angelic realm. Then I find out that Haden is actually Harold and Marc, you know that guy I knew when I was a human, is an angel too. So there you go! Then I'm transported back here, Haden kisses me one last time, and Jericho shows up after being gone and didn't even tell me and we got into a fight and –"
"ah~ah~AH," he stopped her as he placed a finger against her lips. "Now, now, don't get hysterical."
Sophie sighed, shaking her head as she leaned forward for a hug. "Yeah well… I-I'm just tired okay? A lot is on my mind I suppose and I want to get back in my body already and get back to reaping people! –" She paused as he giggled, wrapping his arms around her waist and picking her off of the coffin.
"You're so little," Undertaker continued to giggle. "My~… I wonder if this is what your soul really looks like. I wonder why…"
"Talking to yourself?" Sophie rolled her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head onto his shoulder. She sighed happily, the smell of mahogany and decay filling her nose as she sniffed in his scent. Gliding past the candles and blowing them out, the Undertaker walked down the hallway and into the living room, setting the little girl down on the couch as he went over to a large wooden coffin and opened it. "W-why are we –"
"I figured you'd like to sleep in here," he chuckled, "since the last time we could was when you were eleven. Well? You said you were tired right~?" Sophie smiled, dropping her black cloak on the couch as she walked over to the older man and grasped his hand. He smiled down at her and squeezed back, taking off his hat and robe before climbing into the coffin with Sophie trailing behind him. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close, the little girl sighing contently as her head was pressed firmly into his chest. Sophie smiled and giggled lightly to herself, sighing again as he slowly ran his long black nails through her auburn hair.
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Sophie hummed as she washed the dishes, hearing the door open in the main room as another customer walked in. "Hello Mr. Undertaker," came a strong male voice, the little girl raising her head as he heard him speak, "I was wondering if you were done with the coffin."
"Awe~ Robert Maximilian," she heard the Undertaker answer, Sophie setting the pot she had in her hand in the sink and sneaked down the hallway to the curtain. "It's right over there," he pointed to a large black coffin lying in the corner, "though if you hadn't insisted~ on keeping this mangled coffin, I would have made a new~ one for you."
"I've had it for so long I couldn't possibly~ part with it," he chuckled. "Anyways thank you Mr. Undertaker," Robert bowed as he looked up with an equal grimacing grin, "Now there was always~ something I wanted to ask you."
"Yess~ Mr. Maximilian," Undertaker snickered at him.
"Yes well," Robert shook his head before looking at him with a red tint in his eyes. "I wanted to ask you something about your daugh –"
"If it concerns Miss Serbus than ask her yourself," Undertaker told him, his tone of voice less cherry than normal. "Sophia is the one who decides who she'll be with, not me. I'm merely a… benefactor –"
"That may be true," Robert interrupted him, "but you are one of the only ones who can convince her to marry. You know how this world works. Men are seen as the enemy and women are seen as an opportunity. Nothing more and nothing less, and the same is true with the Serbus woman over there."
"… I know perfectly well," Undertaker answered, "but you must not know Sophia as much as you think if you assume you'd have to go through me to get to her. She's your~ enemy then your opportunity~ and the sooner you recognize that the better you and your species will be. I know full well you were her superior in the Americas, demon~, and whatever she may have told you, I can be very cross if you're trying to take advantage of her. Understood?"
"Understood," Robert narrowed his eyes, "but its vampire Mr. Undertaker, not demon, and I don't quite care for your tone –"
"Then get used to it," Undertaker stared back at him behind a wide victorious smile, "because if you're going to threaten me or my little maiden you'll be wiped from this earth –"
"You know I'd rather not have two men fighting over me," Sophie said confidently as she pushed back the curtain and walked into the room glaring up at Robert. "Opportunity~? That's how you've seen me? All this time and trust and you still think of me as a child you can use, huh."
"… But it's true –"
"Screw that!" Sophie yelled. "You don't take me seriously because I'm a woman! That's it, isn't it? I was right. Jericho may be weak compared to the rest of you and has flaws, but I don't care. You know me Boss. I can fend for myself. Perhaps we got into a fight and yes maybe we break up, but I'll still find a man, even if it's not Jericho, who sees me as me, not because I can bring him power. I will wait for centuries and longer until that happens, and trust me Robert when I say this, even if I never marry I will never see myself as a price to be won. I am not. I am your enemy. I am your foe. I only give you sympathy because you were my boss and mentor. If you don't want to be a comrade then fine, but as my father had done then I'll start destroying your species till they are nothing but ash. I'm sick of you nobles thinking that the highest bidder gets the price. That's not how it works. I choose the price and if you all disagree then so be it. You'll be my enemy. Now leave Maximilian and take that coffin with you, or else I'll vaporize you where you stand."
"Heh," Robert chuckled as a grin showed up on his face, "I see that's your answer… You can't blame me for trying and your right that I want to be your comrade. You're a different sort of woman Sophia, I'll give you that."
"Fine," Sophie huffed as she grabbed the black cowboy hat that was handing on the coat rack, "but… if you think that a simple marriage will solve your problems then think again. You have to gain my trust… but so far you're starting to break that small thread of trust we've made and I'll be honest, you're pissing me off." Then she threw the hat at him, the man catching it in his hand before it hit him in the face. "Leave me alone on this stupid matter. I will not marry you. Find someone else for your consummation, and once you're done with that maybe we'll talk. Now go."
"… I see…" Robert nodded as he looked back at the hat and chuckled slightly. "You know, Miss Serbus, I found this off of a dead man. Funny how that works right?" He smiled, walking over to her and placing the hat back on her head, "I'm sorry if I insulted you. I really am. Please take back the hat as a sign of my loyalty and our alliance. I promise on my bloodline that I won't ask for your hand anymore."
"… Fine," Sophie huffed again as she grabbed the hat and fixed it on her head, "but still I want you to go. You have to find someone correct?"
"Yes Serbus," he grinned as he grabbed his coffin and began to pull it out the door with one hand. "Perhaps you are not a price, but you are a merciful foe. I am sorry for my insolence Sophia, Undertaker, I'll take my leave. See you at the festivities."
"Bye Boss," she waved to him slightly, watching as the man left the door and didn't move for the door till he had gone. Sophie grumbled under her breath as she took the hat off of her head and put it on the rack, sighing as she watched him leave and shook her head. "Sorry about that," she huffed as she saw him set the coffin in a carriage and set off down the street, "but I wouldn't think he'd do something as stupid as that. Annoying mosquito." Sophie looked over at the Undertaker, watching as he turned and silently went back to work. "P-please don't tell me there were more times this has happened?"
"Several times my little maiden," he answered her as he picked up a pallet of color and a brush, "but nothing I can't handle. Go right ahead and go back to sleep. I'll be done in another hour."
"O-okay," she sighed as she walked back over to the curtain before looking into the room. "Ummm… t-then thank you for defending me," she smiled at him, her grin growing wider as he looked over at her, "and I should have known you would defend me… b-but still. Thank you, for everything Undertaker." Sophie closed the curtain behind her and walked down the hallway, leaving the half finished dishes in the sink as she walked into the bedroom and slowly sat upon the bed.
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By the time the Undertaker was done with his work he wandered down the hallway into the bedroom, noticing that Sophie was still sitting on the edge of the bed staring down at the floor. He chuckled as he slipped off his hat, setting them to the side as he moseyed to her side and sat next to her on the bed. "Now~ –"
"I was wondering about something," Sophie interrupted him before he could continue, shifting away from his touch as she sighed and looked up and over at him. "So all this time, when I've been in America, there's been men knocking on my door asking for my hand?"
"Women too," he grinned before he sighed and ran a hand through his long silver hair. "If you're wondering what I tell them is what I told Maximilian, it's your choice not mine. I don't like getting involved in those affairs. Very troublesome."
"… Heh eh," she chuckled lightly before shifting over to him and grabbing the man in a tight hug. "You don't know how much that means to me for you to say that," Sophie giggled, burying her head into his chest and pushing herself onto his lap.
"You must have had a lot of exciting adventures to be saying that," he grinned. Undertaker smirked as she clung to his coat, refusing to let him go. "Here now," he said in a softer voice, "let's go to sleep." Sophie groaned as she was set down on the pillow, the older man pulling up the blankets and wrapping her around them. "Better?"
"Better," Sophie sighed. "Sorry about this –"
"It's your home anyways," he chuckled lightly. "I'm only keeping everything up and running."
"Yes, I can see that by how there's cobwebs all over the place," she pouted. The two of them laughed before they sighed at the same time, the Undertaker slipping under the blankets and pulling her close to his chest. "… You know what I always wish for?"
"What?" he yawned politely in his sleeve.
"That for once in my life I could just unwind and not have to worry about anything… like before father died." Undertaker paused, brushing a comforting hand over her hair and pulling her close to his chest.
"Don't worry," he chuckled as he brushed through her hair, "you'll get to do that soon… I bet you."
"Bet me?" Sophie looked up at him and smirked. "How much?"
"Well~… how about this?" he leaned his face into hers and cooed. "You give me that perfume you got from Jericho if I'm right."
"And if I'm~ right?" Sophie huffed.
"What would you like?" he grinned.
"Ummmm…" she thought, "H-how about I think about it?" She grinned back at him, running a hand through his bangs so she could see into his eyes. "Now you're right… we should sleep. Good night."
"Good night~" he answered, causing Sophie to giggle before she sighed and closed her eyes, cuddling up close to him as they heard an owl hoot outside the window in the cemetery.
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A/N: Heh. Figured you guys would like that first part. Just saying (since I don't really like Jericho in the first place and have no real ideas for him anyways. Might as well cut him out for a while (but sadly he'll come back X3)). And now what do you think? My goodness Sophie has a lot of soul-searching doesn't she? Doesn't seem to care much about a spouse though. I wonder if that'll be better for her in the long run (and remember the Victorian Age is a completely different age then the 21st century. Just realize that =3) And now I think I'll take a nap or write. Whatever. SEE YOU LATER!
Robert – Germanic – bright fame