Greetings, friends! This fanfic was entirely based off of Studio Ghibli's 'Howl's Moving Castle'. You don't have to really know the plotline before reading this, but if you want to watch the anime, I'm sure it's on YouTube somewhere. While the first couple chapters will be almost exactly like the anime, the plot will get more Black Butler-ish the further we go into the story.
"My, my, my, Ciel, you really are positively hopeless." Said a man with gun-metal black hair and blood red eyes. "If you can't accept your own fiancé, I can't imagine how you'll ever find love to be married to."
"It's not that, Sebastian. I simply do not wish to be married, at least not right now. You know I'm not that attractive." Replied Ciel, a rather handsome young man with navy blue hair and sapphire eyes. One of them shown a brilliant violet.
"Hm, whatever you say, Ciel." Sebastian said, smirking. "I think I'll be taking my leave right about now. Don't forget to lock up like you did last time." The man finished, getting up and leaving the Hat Shop to Ciel.
Ciel rolled his eyes and yelled, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out!"
An hour or so later, Ciel had decided to meet his sister, Elizabeth, at her pastry bakery, leaving his parents' Hat Shop. He was about halfway there when he ran into a man with shiny silver hair and soft indigo eyes.
"Well well well," He said to Ciel, moving his arm over to block Ciel's path. "Whaddo we have here? Why what a sweet, cute, little boy I seem to have stumbled apon." With his free arm, he grabbed Ciel by the chin and squeezed his cheeks. "Yes, it does seem like I've caught myself a fresh one."
Ciel shuddered. "Let me go! I was just going to meet my sis-"
"My Ashe, you've certainly gotten adventerous. And to think you were going to take my big brother from me." Came a voice from behind Ciel. It was high-pitched, and almost feminine.
"I'm terribly sorry, but Ciel and I simply must get going."
And with that, whoever was behind Ciel grabbed him by the shoulders and leaper straight up, high into the air. Much to Ciel's shock and surprise, they didn't come back down. Ciel looked to his left and realized the own of the voice was a blonde, sapphire-eyed, little boy, perhaps a preteen, far younger than Ciel. He had on short, skimpy, shorts, a clean light-green top, thigh-high socks and long boots. To compliment all that, he was sprinkled with lavish jewelry.
"Just straighten your legs," He said, "and start walking."
Ciel did as he was told and just like that, he was literally walking on air. He looked to the young boy beside him and saw that he was smiling sweetly at Ciel.
"See? You're a natural!" He told Ciel happily.
In a dream-like sequence, they floated across the air all the way to Ciel's destination, the bakery where his sister worked.
He placed Ciel gently down on the bakery balcony, then said, "That's my Ciel." and then jumped off, into the crowd of people below.
Ciel gasped and ran to the edge of the balcony, eyes searching for the boy below, however he was nowhere to be found. He sat down on the balcony floor, wondering if everything that happened just then was real.
"Cieeeeeeeeeeel!"
"Huh? Elizabeth?" Ciel turned his head to the source of the voice. His sister then jumped on top of him and asked, "Is it true that you just flew down to this balcony?!"
Ciel looked at his sister vacantly. "So it wasn't a dream."
After telling Elizabeth of everything that had just happened, his blonde little sister had hooked her mind around the theory that the young boy who had glided Ciel through the air was a wizard.
"Ciel," She pleaded, "You've got to be more careful from now on!"
"Please," Ciel retorted. "He only seemed like someone who wanted to help."
"He was probably trying to steal your heart!" Elizabeth yelled back. "If that wizard were Alois, he would've eaten it."
"Alois only falls in love with women."
"It doesn't matter what gender you are! You have to be weary! Even the Crimson Witch is back on the prowl..."
She looked to her younger brother for a response, but realized he looked as though he was starring into space. "Ciel! Are you even listening?"
"...Huh?" Ciel asked, turning back to his sister, who grumbled, frustrated, in response.
"Be sure to be more careful next time!" Elizabeth yelled at Ciel, who walked away from the bakery and his sister.
"Bye Elizabeth." Ciel said back quietly, not caring if his sister heard him or not.
He walked through the dark, quiet streets, and eventually arrived back at his parents' Hat Shop. He opened the door and wandered right in; it taking a moment before he remembered to lock the door.
He was arranging a stack of gaudy womens' hats when he heard a bell ring. The bell that only rang when the door opened.
Ciel turned around, surprised, to see a woman dressed completely from head-to-toe in bright blood red. "Excuse me Madame," He told the woman. "But I'm afraid we're closed now." I know I locked that door. How did she-
"Goodness, what tacky hats." The woman said harshly. Ciel stiffened. "But even when I look around, you're by far the tackiest thing here. Who's ever heard of a man running a hat shop?" The woman finished with billowing laughter.
"I'm afraid, Madame, you're going to have to leave now."
The woman tilted up her head, revealing her ruby red eye. "So you're standing up to the Crimson Witch. How bold."
The Crimson Witch! Ciel thought, a surge of panic coursing through his veins in one violent flash.
Suddenly the witch came at him, and panic was no longer the only thing Ciel felt running through his body.
"The best part about that curse is you can't tell anyone about it!" The Crimson Witch said last, leaving.
After Ciel had stopped panicking, he looked around, and noticed he was much... closer... to the ground before. He looked at his hands, which were unusually small, and walked over to a mirror to see if anything else had... changed.
And it had. The person standing in the mirror before him was no young man- it was a little boy.
*Please Review