Chapter 5: Get Ready

You truly outdo most any girl alive with your stern beauty.

Integral's icy eyes shoot open, pupils refracting faster than the darkness that hits them. A small bead of sweet trickles down her cheek and she subconsciously whips it away with the back of her hand. That sentence still flashes through her mind, as if she were reading that letter all over again.

One leg, exposed, smooth, and pale, slips from the sheets of the bed. During sleep was the only time, just about, that Integral actually dressed as a woman might. The nightgown was like a large shirt. It hung to her frame loosely and stopped shy of her knees. Her arms reach above her head, yawn caressing her lips.

"Time to get ready," she told herself softly.

"Ready for who, my master?"

Anxiously, Integral whips around to the darkness where the voice emerged. She gave a hoarse cry and attempted to cover herself. "Alucard!" she yelled, angry. "Remove yourself from my room!"

"But master, I have my eyes closed." He stepped from the shadows, eyes indeed closed.

"That's not good enough, Alucard! You could have been looking before! Don't you ever sneak into my room like that again! Do you understand?! Get out, Alucard! Now!"

With a wide grin Alucard vanishes from the room, cackle residing afterwards.

Integral was steaming, hands balled into small fists at her sides, a big flush across her face. Damn him, she thought. He should not have done that. She would make sure to give him a good tongue lashing when she was in her office, clothed.

Briskly walking to the closet, Integral throws the doors open, sifting through multiple, formal suits. Finally, after a good look she pulls out one and proceeds to dress.

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"I know, my master.."

"Do you understand, Alucard?!"

Seras, eyes sympathetic, looks away from Alucard and Integral. She felt as if she were the one Integral was yelling at. Her master actually told her why he was in Integral's room. Seeing if she would admit to meeting this mysterious admirer.

"Yes, my master, I do." Alucard's tone was also cold, firm.

"You could of at least had the decency to send Seras!"

Alucard's ruby eyes fall on the girl by his side. I will not send the Police Girl to do my job, he tells himself. It's my job to protect you, master, at all cost.

Seras could feel Alucard's eyes, but she wouldn't look at him. She was afraid to find hidden hurt emotions there, although it was unlikely.

"I'm sorry, master," was all he responded with.

"You better be," mumbles Integral, sliding some papers out of the way. She was wondering if she should actually go alone to meet this mysterious man, or should she ask Alucard to follow her from a distance..

Integral focuses back on the room, to which the space beside Seras was vacant. "What the.. Where is Alucard?!"

Seras looks almost as surprised as Integral. "He.. just vanished," she whispers, looking behind her at the door, as if he had exited by that means.

"Damn it," curses Integral. "Go and find him, Seras."

She nods, although she had no way of tracking her master and his whereabouts. She hurries out the door, pupils wide, a vortex of blackness.

"Damn.." whispers Integral again.

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"Ah, ah, ah.." Léon's hand grasps Jeremy's coat, bunching it, and pulling him backward. "Where are you going?"

"Eh.. out for a walk, master." Jeremy's eyes looked haunted. He tried to void it of any emotion, but Léon knew better. Jeremy was up to something.

"I will not ask you again. Where are you going?"

"I told you, master. Out for a small walk. Why? Is there harm in that."

Léon grunts. "Maybe."

"..Master, please be serious. Are you ill?"

"Shut up, Jeremy. You're testing my patience." Léon narrows his eyes, letting go, slowly, of Jeremy's coat.

Jeremy shrugs, shifting his coat back neatly into place. "Master, please. It's just a small walk. I will be back in thirty minutes, I promise."

"Good, you better be."

Jeremy nods slowly and dissolves beyond view.

"Follow him."

"To where?"

"Wherever he goes, understand? Don't let him know you're there, if that's possible."

"Yes, sir."

"Go."