An Unusual Meeting, An Unlikely Romance

Chapter 8: Karis is Back?

Job Paths:
Lu: Noblesse
Ciel: Royal Guard
Aisha: Dimension Witch

((Ciel's POV))

Lu and I walked back to the house, after she practically pried me away from the phorus on the pretext of breakfast. I sighed and followed her back to the house. Upon arrive, we both had a slight fright as there was smoke coming from the kitchen. I ran ahead of Lu and ran into the house. Aisha soon left the kitchen, waving the smoke away while coughing. I quickly grabbed her and ran outside, putting her down on the grass before running back inside. I looked in the kitchen and saw no flames but turned the oven off so there was less of a chance of any. I coughed and opened the windows to air out the room.

"Jesus Christ Aisha." I coughed and walked out of the house. I found the two girls outside talking and, surprisingly giggling. I cleared my throat slightly and the two turned towards me. I looked between the two of them and, for a split second, I swore I saw an emotion in Lu's eyes that I had never seen..... I disregarded it for the time being and turned towards Aisha. After I asked Aisha a question, I noticed a slight shift in the power I held due to my contract with Lu. When I next looked, Lu was gone.....

((Lu's POV))

As soon as Ciel was distracted, I used on of the skills Aisha had taught me and teleported to the forest. I felt like I wanted to cry my eyes out. Aisha had found someone she loved, but... Aisha loved Ciel. I mean, I should be happy for her. She is my best friend, after all.... But it just wasn't fair! Why did it have to be Ciel?

Rather than standing still, I started running in the direction of Ciel's clearing with the phorus. It was a dumb move, but I needed something to hug.... Eventually, I slowed to a walk and caught my breath. A few of the phorus ran to me, but, they were scared. I frowned a picked them up and hugged them, walking towards the clearing slowly and carefully. As I got closer, I started to hear voices.

"I'm assuming you found Luciela?"

"Yes. I have Lady Karis. Her contract, whom I believe she may have feelings for, comes to this clearing on a daily basis. I haven't ever seen Luciela here though."

"Well, we wanted Luciela.... But I have an idea. He comes back tomorrow morning?"

"Yes. That is correct.... Lady Karis? What are you thinking?

"I'm thinking that we offer her a ransom."

After hearing that, I started to freak out slightly. Surprisingly, the phorus I was holding had stayed quiet the entire time. As soon as both of the other demons left I moved to the clearing and sat down. A few more of the phorus came bounding up to me. I grabbed a hold of as many as I could and then stood up.

"Ready?" I asked softly. Without waiting for response, I teleported back to Ciel and Aisha, who were still talking.

"Lu! Where did you even run o- are those phorus?" Ciel started chastising me before he cut himself off at the sight of the furry little creatures. I dismissed it and looked at Aisha, somewhat sadly.

"Aisha, don't hate me for this, but Ciel, from this day forward, you can't leave my side. I'll explain later. Everyone needs to get inside now." I commanded before walking into the house myself. They followed suit and both crosse their arms as I put the phorus down to explore the house. I took a deep breath and sat down in a near by chair.

"Ciel... Somehow, Karis is back. I overheard her and Natiran speaking earlier. Turns out, Natiran has been spying on us, so she knows your morning routine. You can't go back to the phoru clearing, hence why I brought some back. Karis said they needed me, but since I'm always with either you or Aisha, they can't exactly get me too easily, but you, on the other hand, are alone every morning." Aisha's nearly hateful glare softened as I explained my actions and Ciel still looked a bit confused.

"So, you're protecting Ciel, as well as yourself." Aisha said slowly. I nodded in response. Ciel looked confused as ever.

"Why would they want me? I mean, they've been after you for as long as I can remember, but what use would I be to them?"

"Ransom. They know that you're important to both me and Aisha, so they would use that against us." I sighed. I looked up at Aisha, who seemed a bit flustered that Ciel was important to her as well as me. Hopefully, that didn't tip Ciel off about either of our feelings.

((Ciel's POV))

Important to them? She must have meant as a friend and a servant. Although, I wasn't treated like a servant by Lu, at least, not for quite some time. At first I was, but, one day, something changed. I shrugged it off and focused on Lu's other words.

"Ransom. As in 'you give me what I want and no one gets hurt' type of ransom."

"Yeah, or, in this case, it would be 'give us Luciela or the butler dies'." Lu said, mocking Karis. I crossed my arms and looked at her. In all technicality, I was, in fact, her butler, but I didn't like that term. I preferred a guard, and since Lu was almost back to power, I suppose I would have almost been a royal guard. Almost, but not quite yet.

"Yeah, I suppose so. You made a wise choice. Can I revise that request though? How about when ever we have to go out of the house, no one wanders off by their selves? I don't think they would break into the house." I suggested. Lu and Aisha exchanged glances before nodding in agreement.