The night that followed was arguably the longest of William's life. He had thought the same of many nights before – the nights he spent studying for his final exams, the times he had collections at 5 in the morning, and every time he had the same shift as Grell Sutcliffe – but nothing quite made a night drag on quite like searching the streets for a demon who was nowhere to be found. He returned late, frustrated and painfully unsuccessful.

The moment he got home, William put away his scissors and changed into his pajamas. As exhausted as he was, he still made sure to check on his pigeons and the crow before turning in. He was a little worried about the injured bird, and made sure that he was well fed and comfortable so he would heal up quickly. The wing looked much better today and it was actually a little suspicious. He had dealt with wing injuries in the past, and they never improved over the course of a day. Maybe he had misjudged the severity; he was rather distracted the day before. He decided that he would check it more thoroughly in the morning when he could focus on it better, and finally went to bed.

The moment that the reaper fell asleep, the crow stirred and peered out over the top of his box. He thought the man would never come back; it had actually begun to make him nervous. He hopped out of the box and over to the edge of the bed, where he once again transformed into his demon form and stood over the bed. He smirked as he watched the shinigami sleep. It was quite funny; he had always believed William to be a very intelligent being, but evidently he had misjudged.

He leaves himself so exposed. He's positively helpless.

This moment was very exciting, but he couldn't allow himself to get caught up in it. He still had a lot of work to do. After all, he had shattered his arm to get in here; he might as well make it worth his while. He had never put in this much effort for anyone or anything before in his life, so it was mysterious to him that he would bother now. Perhaps a series of tests would shed some light on his sudden fascination with the reaper.

The demon sat on the edge of the bed and watched the man sleep, thinking over what it was he might want with him. He did smell nice, and would likely have a delicious soul. He couldn't tell much from his scent about his past, or any current turmoil. There was little about William that he could take from the scent that he couldn't learn from observation alone, and he seemed to be a rather plain person on the surface. There was nothing there to whet his appetite, and he was far too full from the souls he had stolen to even think of food now. So it couldn't have been hunger.

Perhaps he wanted to kill him? It was a tempting idea, killing the reaper in his own bed. He ran his hand over William's neck, scraping ever so slightly at the flesh before he slowly began to press against his throat. He could kill him right now if he chose to, and he took a moment to wonder what it might be like to hear William's dying screams. They could be lovely, but imagining them was less than satisfying. No, no he didn't want that. The very thought of it put a pit in his stomach.

Curiously, the creature crawled closer and carefully mounted the defenseless reaper, straddling his hips and bracing himself against his chest. Well, this was nice; he rather liked this position. It was possible that his interest in William could be sexual. He was an attractive man, even more so without those glasses, when his hair was rumpled against his pillow. He had admittedly glanced over when he had changed clothing that day, and he was not unhappy with what he saw. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that he had targeted someone solely on that reason. But he had felt pure, unbridled lust before; this was not it.

Disappointed, the demon quietly rolled off him and landed lightly on the mattress beside him. He curled up close and pressed his face against the back of his neck, taking in his wonderful scent. That was one thing that he found to be consistently appealing.

For now, he decided he would sleep. It was quite late, so late that it was bordering on early. When he glanced at the clock, he frowned. William would have to be awake in mere hours, which was not acceptable. He wanted more time for his experimentation. Reaching over, he shut off William's alarm clock and snuggled back up. He didn't want his time to be interrupted by William's job.

Pressing his body against the other's, he began to slowly drift off. Of course, he was careful. He didn't allow himself to fall asleep fully. Before doing so, he turned back into a crow so that he wouldn't be so conspicuous. If he were to be caught, it would undoubtedly foil his well thought out plans, which could not happen. Now in the form of a crow, the demon allowed himself the luxury of sleep. He felt he deserved a rest; after all, he had a lot of work to do in the morning.

XXXXX

That following morning, William awoke to an abrasive noise, a ringing so loud that his initial reaction was to burrow deeper into his pillows until the ruckus stopped. It only took him two or three rings to snap to the conclusion that it was actually his phone, and another one to connect that he should answer it. He threw off his covers (startling a certain bird as he did) and managed to pick up the receiver before the final ring.

"Hello? Yes, it's… what time?!"

It was nearly noon, and he had been sleeping this whole time. Why had he not woken up? More importantly, why had they waited so long to alert him of his lateness? Well, clearly it had been their responsibility to call him sooner, but he was the one at fault in the end for not waking up on time. And how was this going to play into his already less than satisfactory job performance this past month? He went through all the possibilities as he dressed and got out the door as soon as possible, beyond worried about the future of his career. He was so worried in fact that he had forgotten to hang up the phone, or even properly finish the conversation before leaving.

Admittedly, propriety was not his first concern this morning (afternoon, he reminded himself).

Meanwhile, the shaken and deeply displeased crow shook himself off and found his way out of the blanket mess that was William's bed. He figured this would be much easier a task if he returned to his natural form, which he did, and effortlessly found his way out. Still on the floor, he looked around the room, and chuckled to himself as he noticed how uncharacteristically messy it was. Given, the extent of the disarray was a sock drawer remaining slightly open, and discarded pajamas on the end of the bed. He still felt that he had accomplished something significant, having thrown off William's day. He seemed like a hard man to mess up.

The demon proceeded to stretch, much like a cat, and yawned. His broken arm was still tender, but nearly usable after a 24 hour period of rest. It wouldn't be too long before he was completely healed. Since he was alone now, he figured that it would be alright to jump back onto William's bed and curl up in the slight indent that the reaper had left. He smiled, happy to find that his warmth and scent still clung to the sheets. Closing his eyes, he debated going back to sleep for a moment but that was no good. He had so much to explore.

Once he was able to drag himself back out of bed, the first thing he looked through was William's clothes. As expected, they were dry cleaned and well pressed. He had a strange urge to maybe try them on, just to see how they felt against his skin. But no, that would be impolite. Disrespectful, even. He settled on, instead, swiping a tie from his closet and using it as a sort of scarf (it would be years before he would learn how to properly wear this type of garment; for now he found it to just be an amusing looking thing).

Hearing a soft coo from across the room, the demon couldn't hold back a smile. He skipped over to the pigeons' cage and threw off the cover. The birds twittered and flapped their wings at the demon's intrusion, but that didn't stop him from petting the closest of William's messengers on the stomach. He had always liked the feeling of feathers.

"Would you mind answering some questions for me about your master?" he asked the birds. The pigeon cooed at him and looked at him with its beady little eyes. It seemed these pigeons were loyal to William and would not answer. "Quite useless, aren't you?" he muttered, tossing the cover back over the cage. Well, that led to absolutely nothing. "Pigeons. Tch." He scoffed, turning on his heel.

Well, no matter. He didn't need any birds to tell him what he could find out on his own. William had a rather small apartment, but there was much to learn from it, and he had hours to do so. Days, weeks, longer if his plan went well. Which it would. He was not the type of demon who made mistakes.

XXXXX

William got to work in just under ten minutes, electing to sprint there instead of taking his usual public transport route. He was flustered and disheveled, something which attracted the attention of everyone in the office. But what did he care, today at least, what any of them whispered as he walked by? He doubted he would see any of them again. If this must be his last impression on them… well, that was out of his hands for once.

He knew where to report without being told: floor 17, to the director's office. It took more than a few minutes for him to work up the nerve to knock on the door. It opened so immediately that William jumped back, a bit shaken. The director's expression showed a profound sense of disappointment, but William couldn't allow himself to break eye contact with the elder reaper for even a second. When the director returned to his desk, William followed behind silently and sat down, awaiting his punishment.

The two reapers sat in a heavy silence as the director reviewed William's file. He read through the various papers a few times, marking them up and copying down the information for his official records. William couldn't see the benefit of his being here for this spectacle. It was very clear that he was going to face some brand of consequences, and found it unprofessional that his director couldn't have gone through this information before he arrived. After quite a while, the director closed the file and sighed.

"Since you are a manager, I know that you are familiar with the handbook, but in case you have forgotten, here is a review of your transgressions and their consequences, your hearing notice, suspension slip and notice of reassignment" he said, handing William a pile of documents.

William looked through the papers and slowly began to process the information he had just been given by his boss. "… how is this possible?" he muttered to himself.

"You know the policy, William. You have …"

"If I am suspended, why am I being reassigned?" he interrupted.

"You know that we are understaffed, so you are only suspended from your position as supervisor. You will be returning to your former post until your case is reviewed by the board and a decision is made. We will bring in a replacement manager from another branch during your suspension."

"… understood, sir" William said quietly. He was in disbelief, even as he read the papers over again.

"Unless there is anything that needs to be brought to my attention, you are dismissed" muttered the director as he thumbed through the next file on his desk.

"Yes, sir"

William left the office in a daze, clutching the papers tightly in his hand. He knew he would have to bring it to the front desk to be processed, but he took his time getting down there. It seemed much less important now that everything get done right away. Every so often, he would stop to look over his papers to ensure that this was actually happening and much to his dismay, it still was, every time. And every time, it became less and less of a potent reality. By the time he reached the front door, he was almost numb to it.

Suspension. It had always been such an awful word in his mind, an end-all to all he had ever worked for. It was temporary though, right? Yes, it was temporary. It had to be temporary. They wouldn't, they couldn't send him back to the lower ranks. Not in their right minds. He'd put far too much into his work for them to do that, right? Right.

This could be considered another day off, couldn't it? That's what he was always hoping for while being constantly overworked, might as well take advantage of what he had. Maybe get out of the house for a while. Just for a few hours. Temporarily.

With his papers tightly in his fist, William wandered aimlessly around the city. Around familiar blocks, down streets he never knew were there, around a small park a few times, and to a mostly empty café, where he bought and didn't drink an overpriced coffee. Day off. Exactly what he always wanted. To stare at a single brick accent wall for a few hours (it added 'ambiance' to the place, or something) while a teenage barista gave him increasingly concerned looks from across the room.

Eventually, William snapped himself out of his daze. The sun had begun to set, or at least lower, and he decided that was a good cue to leave. He tossed out the cup of cold coffee and left without a word to the employee (who seemed genuinely shocked that he had moved at all). Maybe it was time to go back home.

No, it was definitely time to go back home.

Just as before, William's course was fairly slow, full of unnecessary detours and circles around meaningless landmarks. It wasn't until it started actually getting dark that he returned to his apartment. He still couldn't trust the city at night.

As usual, he took the stairs up to his apartment, locked the door and made his way to his bedroom, dropping the papers he forgot he was holding onto his desk as he passed by. Everything was exactly as he left it this morning: slightly off. Sock drawer open, pajamas on the bed, shower still on…

No, no, no, that wasn't right.

Instantly on guard, William practically dove for his scissors and approached the bathroom door. He didn't leave the shower on, he hadn't even had time to shower this morning. What kind of person would sneak into his apartment just to…

Oh, Grell Sutcliffe was definitely fired.

He rammed his shoulder into the door, only to discover that it was unlocked, and was just barely able to catch himself on the edge of the sink. His subordinate must have heard the noise, since he heard the familiar squeak of the shower nozzle being turned off and the curtain being moved aside.

William chose to keep his eyes straight ahead on the door as to avoid going blind.

"Sutcliffe, I do not know how you got in here, but rest assured I will not…"

"You let me in." answered a much smoother, but just as familiar voice.

The demon took the following moment of confusion to snag the reaper's weapon.

"This is dangerous to have in here, William" he sighed, spinning the scissors around his finger for a moment before lodging the blades firmly into the granite countertop. "It's slippery."

"How are you in here?!" William grabbed the creature's throat. "And why?!"

"As I said, you let me in." he chuckled. "You were quite nice about it too. You carried me in and set me up a box, don't you remember? I would have been perfectly happy with the couch, but I suppose a box is the next best option."

"A box?! What are you talking abou-…" William squeezed tighter as the realization set in. "The crow. You are the crow" he gritted.

"My, you are getting clever. Though, I can't give you too much credit. You still seem to think I need to breathe."

William only pressed harder against his throat, hoping to disprove the demon's statement, but he could clearly feel the vibrations of laughter against his palm. Hoping to cause at least some damage, he shoved the demon into the wall, pushing his arm against his chest while maintaining his grip on his neck.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Well, I was cleaning myself, but you chose to interrupt. Of all people, you should understand the importance of personal hygiene."

"Why are you in my house?!" he snapped, pushing the demon higher up the wall so his feet dangled just barely an inch above the ground.

"If this is how you treat your guests…"

"You're not a guest! You deceived me into letting you in, and by all rights I should kill you"

"That seems a bit harsh. Perhaps this is the reason you still live alone? All I've ever done is express a mild interest in you, and now you threaten to kill me. You invited me in, I have every right to be here."

"Stop saying that! I did not invite you."

"Now William." The demon said in a near whisper. "Am I to believe that a well-educated young reaper such as yourself, for all your shameless racism toward my kind, doesn't even know how to protect yourself against us?"

With a swift kick, William hit the floor so hard his vision went grey. When his vision returned, the demon was standing over him (thankfully he had taken William's moment of disorientation to put on a towel), surrounded by the slightest hint of shadow.

"Do you not know the most common manner in which humans become 'possessed' by demons?" he sighed, met with silence. He really thought reapers were better than this. "Many of them just carry us in, the poor idiots. They play around with their little game boards, or their 'ancient artifacts', and they bring us right into their homes."

"I don't see the relevance of this information." William grumbled, a blatant lie. "

"Don't you? You carried me in, William. You invited me. Strictly speaking, it isn't the most 'legal' way of going about things but as I said, I have developed a mild interest in you."

"Then you intend to possess me?" William scoffed.

"Oh no, that would be rude. I simply attached myself to a few of your items, I didn't think they would mind. I can tell you which ones if you would like, for the price of a contract."

"Never."

"Then I suppose I will just have to stay here." The demon muttered, clearly getting bored with the conversation, and exited to the bedroom.

William was on his feet in seconds, attempting to pry his scissors out of the stone counter, but to no avail. Though he was clearly a lesser demon, the creature had enough strength to make them impossible to remove. Even so, William gave one final attempt, wanting nothing more than to rid that demon of whatever 'soul' it might have. It was a losing battle.

William gritted his teeth and let the handle go. He would deal with the scythe later. Now, he needed to focus on getting rid of that demon. There was no way he was letting that creature take over his home.

This would be temporary.

XXXXX

Wait wait wait… did I just update a story?

I did!

I bet you have all sorts of comments after that… year and a half hiatus.

So feel free to review.

And please don't beat me with a stick.