Black Butler: Demons in our Hearts

Chapter 7: Rainy Day

The sun beat down unmercifully on Kat and Vinny as they worked in the garden, plucking the weeds and laying out the fresh mulch, at least through the holes in the blanket of clouds that covered the sky.

Pluto was off to one side, in human shape at the moment, and fast asleep under the eaves of one of the windows.

"Kat?"

"Hmm?" She pulled a particularly tenacious thistle from amongst the roses.

"Where’d you get that outfit? I thought you were wearing Meyrin’s spare uniform."

Kat leaned back to rest on her knees, and watched Vinny’s face for a moment but he wisely looked the other way. And after the fiasco with the dress it was very prudent on his part. A girl doesn’t want false compliments, and every boy should know that.

But, she looked down at her attire, this was a major change. Sebastian had given this to her just last night, after they finished the dishes. The top was constituted of a white shirt made of wool that opened at the base of throat. The pants were made of a heavier material, that Sebastian assured her could take the stress she put them through.

"Now, this is just your everyday clothes, when you serve at supper you will have to wear a dress."

Those had been his exact words, and even though she didn’t care for dresses, as long as she didn’t have to where them all the time she felt she could bear it. "Sebastian gave them to me last night, it’s my new uniform."

A fat drop of rain hit the tip of her nose. She looked up at the sky and realized that while she had been daydreaming the sky had darkened and the patches where the sun had shown through had disappeared. Another drop fell and soon the sky let loose with the rain it held back the entire morning.

"Let’s get inside!" Vinny yelled, trying to pull her to her feet.

"It’s alright; I’m going to finish this quick, you go on inside, okay?" Not giving him a chance to argue she pushed him towards the door, "It should only take me a few minutes." She opened the door with her free hand and pushed him inside; there was no use in the both of them getting soaked to the bone.

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Sebastian entered the kitchen, a boom of thunder seeming to shake the entire house as he entered. Baldroy and Meyrin were sitting at the counter, hot cups of tea in their hands, Vinny sat off to one side, wrapped in a blanket.

"What is going on here, don’t you lot have work to do?"

"Of course we do, but it’s all outside, and in case you haven’t noticed its storming out there now. We nearly got drenched making it from the clothesline to here!" Baldroy replied indignantly, Meyrin and Vinny nodded distractedly.

Useless, utterly useless, it’s just a little bit of rain,

another boom of thunder, this time accompanied by a streak of lightning that lit up the house. It’s not as if it would kill them to be outside. But then again, humans do get sick easily in such conditions.

Not wanting to argue Sebastian went about preparing the Master’s afternoon snack, only belatedly coming to the realization that their number was minus one.

"Where is Kat?"

Vinny sneezed, "She’s outside, I told her to come in but she wouldn’t she said she’d be right in when she was finished. We were only supposed to weed the garden and put down mulch where it was thinning so she should be in soon."

Hmm, not likely.

If they went by what Vinny said she would already be in, but Sebastian had given her an extra task to complete in the garden, one that Vinny did not have the grace of hand to complete. He glanced out the window, should I bring her in, I wonder? The rain stuck to the glass in clear streams that distorted the world on the outside.

Thunder boomed again, would it be taking advantage of her to leave her out there like this? More importantly why did he care?

Just forget it, when she wants to come in she will come in. Besides it shouldn’t take her that long to plant the master’s new rose bushes.

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Kat cursed under her breath as the base of the bush slipped her grip again, laying her hand open with the sharp thorns. Stubbornly she wiped the blood on her hand and ignored the sting and thunder that made her ears throb. Forcing the root ball of the plant into the hole she’d just dug. Quickly, before it fell over she packed the earth from the hole around the base.

There, now just one more.

She shivered as a light breeze pushed the rain into her eyes, and immediately chastised herself. She had been out in weather much worse than this!

Not without a coat,

it was annoying how the voice of reason interrupted at the most inopportune times. But she was almost done in any case. She dug the final hole, making sure of course that it was in line with the others, Pluto helped, his big paws making quick work of things.

"Thank you." She patted the top of his absently, he whined and nudged her towards the door, she patted him again. "I will here in a moment."

Using a knife she brought from the kitchen she cut open the fabric around the root ball and settled it in the freshly dug earth.

After the rose bush stood in line with its brethren with a crown of dirt surrounding its base she trudged tiredly towards the kitchen door. She reached for the doorknob and caught sight of her hands. Good god, look at the dirt. She looked down at her knees, and realized she was covered in filth from head to toe. Wonderful, now I’m going to be tracking mud through the house. What was that? She leaned closer to the door, the voices of the other servants drifted out to her ears.

"If you would all please leave, I would like to finish mopping the kitchen." It was Sebastian, "Once the rain stops I expect you to finish your work outside. Am I clear? And the first one who tracks mud over these floors will be very unhappy, to say the least."

Kat looked down at her own mud encrusted boots, there was no way she was getting in the house right now it seemed. I could go to the stable; at least I’d be out of the rain. So she about faced and headed towards the stable.

She settled herself in a pile of straw towards the back of the stable, only to move again when Pluto curled up behind her, his thick bushy tail falling over her like a blanket. Blinking tiredly she fell back against him, "Thanks Pluto."

Pluto sighed and settled his head down next to her when he felt her relax into sleep, the rain and thunder covering and filling the world outside.