It was a lively party, though one with a practiced eye might have called it 'unnaturally so'. Normally, the galas Ciel Phantomhive attended were sedate and dignified affairs. The only time the aristocracy showed this level of enthusiasm, in Ciel's experience at least, was when they were currying favor with someone of higher rank or when they were enjoying some piece of novelty. After half a minute of searching, the young Lord believed he had located the source of all the excitement: a group of young men, most of whom appeared to be foreigners.
There were seven of them in total. Their leader seemed to be a French nobleman with blond hair and a melodic laugh, who was flirting with anything that moved. With him were six others: a pair of twins, who were charming the local ladies by playing a guessing game as to which twin was which; a boy who appeared to be the youngest of the seven, hanging off the arm of the tallest member of the group—the small blond was doing all the talking, and his companion was silent; finally, the remaining two were both wearing glasses, and were speaking cordially with the host of the party. One was brown-haired and guileless. The other had black-hair and was undeniably sinister.
Curious about them, Ciel made his way casually over to where his butler, Sebastian Michaels, was blending in with the host's servants. "Sebastian," he said, "Do you know who those people are?"
"Ah," said the unflappable butler, "they're a group of young men whose angelic faces have earned them the nickname, 'The Heavenly Hosts'. Or alternatively, 'The Seraphic Seven'. Be wary of the dark one wearing spectacles; he is not human."
This piqued Ciel's curiosity.
Is he a demon, then?"
Shockingly, Sebastian's smile took on a slightly fixed quality.
"Not—technically."
"...?"
Ciel was about to inquire further, when he was suddenly assaulted (via hug) by someone who, wonder of wonders, was actually shorter than he was.
"Hi! I'm Hani! What's your name?"
It was the shortest blond of the so-called 'seraphic seven'.
"Ciel Phantomhive," answered Ciel Phantomhive, unsure what such a young child was doing in a group of playboys.
"Nice to meet you, Ciel-chan." 'Hani' smiled like the sun shone through his teeth. "Would you like some cake?" he asked his new friend.
"...no thank you," Ciel shook his head. He didn't want to be rude, but he wanted to keep some distance between himself and these people until he learned more of them.
"Hani-sempai?" asked a brown-haired boy with spectacles, also one of the 'seven', who had apparently followed his friend. A dark-haired giant strode along in the shorter boy's wake. He still didn't seem inclined to speak.
"Who's this?" asked the brown-haired boy.
"This is Ciel-chan, Haru-chan," the small boy's face showed confusion. "He doesn't want cake." Hani said this in a hushed voice, as though confiding something embarrassing.
The taller one remained silent. The other, however, merely laughed at Hani and ruffled his hair affectionately.
"Not everyone loves sweets as much as you do, sempai. Come on, I'll bet Mori-sempai will eat cake with you."
The tall boy nodded.
All confusion was gone and hyper-happy-Hani was back.
"Come on then, Takashi!" Hani lead 'Mori-sempai' by the hand away over to the buffet table.
Once they were gone, the glasses-wearing pretty-boy gave a small apologetic bow and a charming smile to Ciel Phantomhive and, surprisingly, Sebastian as well. "Sorry about that," he said, "He's two years older than I, and yet, still such a handful. I'm Fujioka Haruhi."
"Charmed," remarked Sebastian. "Do you often cross-dress, Ms. Fujioka?" the butler asked Haruhi.
"You can tell?" Haruhi didn't seem displeased. Quite the opposite, in fact, she appeared flattered. "I'm always telling them I look nothing like a man—I only blend in so well because they're all ridiculously effeminate."
"Wait..." said Ciel, rather too loudly, "you... you're a woman?"
This drew quite a few stares to their conversation.
Immediately the two red-haired twins were on either side of Haruhi, leaning on her shoulders. "Why, Haruhi, you're looking particularly manly, today, if I may say so," said one of them.
"Want to go arm wrestle? I'm going to beat you this time!" said the other.
The gawkers lost interest at this and found other diversions. The twins sighed in relief.
Not everyone was so easily appeased, however.
"How dare you insult Haruhi by insinuating that he's a girl!" said the golden-haired flirt, also of the seven: a youth, who, himself, looked manly enough put the 'e' in blonde.
"But..." Ciel was seriously affronted at the nerve of his challenger, though he did have the common sense to speak more quietly than before. "...it wasn't an insult. She herself admitted to it!"
"You must have misunderstood." The blond was adamant.
"I'm sure I didn't. Did I, Miss?" Ciel asked Haruhi.
Fujioka opened her mouth to agree that Ciel hadn't; however, she was interrupted.
"Haruhi was just joking! My daughter has such a sense of humor!" The French noble was trying to be flippant.
"...'daughter'?" asked Ciel, raising an eyebrow.
Tamaki covered his mouth with his hands.
"Nice going, boss." muttered one of the twins. Said 'boss' had retreated to a corner of the room and was hunched over in the fetal position.
There was a sigh, and the black-haired adolescent that Sebastian had called 'non-human' was suddenly next to them. "Perhaps we should move this conversation somewhere more private?" he asked, in an icy voice.
"OK," said the twins, completely unaffected by their companion's harsh tone. One of the two retrieved the blond from his corner; the other fetched Hani and Mori from the food table.
Two minutes later, the nine of them had found a secluded room.
First, the non-human turned to the cross-dresser. "Haruhi, for failing to conceal your gender, I'm adding ten percent to your debt."
Haruhi's eyes went wide in horror. She slammed a fist against the wall, muttering "Damn rich bastard." Then, she sighed. "Fine, sempai. Is that all? I'm going to go see if they have fancy tuna."
The non-human nodded. "You may go, Haruhi."
And then there were eight.
The bespectacled youth then turned to Ciel and Sebastian. "Lord Phantomhive," he said, "I would ask you to keep Haruhi's gender a secret. Surely your servant has told you that incurring my displeasure would be... unfortunate?"
"I know you're not human," said Ciel. "But what business do you have with that girl?"
"Haruhi owes me no small debt," he said, "She can most easily repay it by acting as a member of my entourage. As of now, it is possible for her to pay off what she owes me in a matter of mere years. If her identity were to be revealed, however... she would no longer have such a lucrative way in which to make money and might have to resort to... less than honorable practices, if you catch my meaning. Surely, you don't want that?" He asked, with an apologetic shrug.
"Just who are you?" demanded Ciel, annoyed and more than a little angry.
"Kyoya Ohtori, at your service." The non-human gave them a charming smile.
"Hey, Kyo-chan," said Hani suddenly. "How does Ciel-chan know so much?"
"This is Ciel Phantomhive," said Ohtori, ignoring the conversation he'd been having with Ciel and turning to speak with his companions. He consulted his small, black notebook before reading off, "Lord of the Phantomhive estate, parents murdered at a young age, and holder of a contract with a demon, who currently sports the guise of one 'Sebastian Michaels'."
"The butler's a demon?" asked the twins in unison.
"Demon butler!" shrieked the blond. "What did you say to my daughter?"
"Boss, they barely even spoke for thirty seconds—" the twins continued in their stereo-speech.
The loud one whirled around to yell at the red-heads. "Shut up, Devil Twins! I already know you're seeking to corrupt my precious Haruhi's innocence!" He looked about ready to descend into his mind-theatre of doom, when a voice behind him spoke.
"Tamaki-sempai, do you always have to be so loud?"
All eyes turned to Haruhi Fujioka, who had returned with a plate of food, and was leaning against the wall near Ciel and Sebastian.
"Haruhi!" he burst into tears of happiness. "I knew you would come back!"
"Haru-chan, be careful. The butler's a demon..." warned Hani.
She shrugged. "I've seen worse," Haruhi said, ignoring the shrieks of protest from the blond and the twins, turning to Ciel. "Anyway, Phantomhive-sama, I can see you're bothered by my debt, so I'm going to say this right here and now: don't worry about me. I knew what I was getting into when I formed a contract with Kyoya-sempai."
Ciel seemed to search her eyes for a moment, before nodding as he decided to believe her.
"So," he asked curiously, trying to make conversation, "Why did you form a contract?"
Haruhi grinned. "Intelligence," she said. "Not that I was exactly short of it before the deal. Know what my debt is for?"
"..." Ciel did not.
"It's the payment for the deal, so I don't have to give up all of my soul: only a quarter. If less than a third is taken it's possible to survive, sometimes even to heal. Though, I must say, you're certainly getting your money's worth from your contract. For what do you need a butler of such high caliber?"
"...revenge," said Ciel, shortly.
"Ah," she smiled sadly. "Well, your life is your own, and I won't inquire into your business. Though, now I don't think I'll ever be able to shake mental comparisons between yourself and The Count of Monte Cristo..."
Ciel frowned as he took in the other occupants of the room. "Why are those five here, anyway? They seem to be perfectly aware of all that's going on."
"If you must know," said Haruhi, "we're all in the same boat: Hani and Mori are in debt from their contract to become the best Judo and Kendo masters on Earth; Hikaru and Kaoru," she nodded at the twins, "asked to be filthy-stinking rich; and Tamaki-semapi..."
"Good looks?" Ciel took a stab at it.
"However did you guess?" Haruhi laughed and shook her head. Then, she frowned. "He also seems to think Kyoya-sempai is his best friend," she mentioned.
"Does Mr. Tamaki know his 'friend' is not human?" asked Ciel.
"Sometimes, I wonder," confided Haruhi.
"I must admit," said Sebastian, "I'm impressed. Never have I seen an individual hold so many contracts simultaneously. Even if you are getting less than favorable terms for them."
"My dear Mr. Michaels," said Ohtori, "Have you never considered the law of supply and demand? If you charge less, more will buy. It's simply good business. From my 'less than favorable' contracts, I have acquired the equivalent of one and a half human souls, as well as several years of indentured servitude from half a dozen of the, now, most talented and influential people in France, Japan, or any other country. Whereas, you, for your old-fashioned deal, must put in nearly a lifetime of servitude in exchange for a single human soul." Then, he gave a friendly smile to his fellow supernatural creature that, somehow, was anything but amiable.
"Sebastian," asked Ciel, frowning, "I thought you said this man wasn't a demon."
"Mon ami n'est pas un démon—il est un ange!" Tamaki was spouting something in French, and the others ignored him.
"Of course Kyo-chan's not," said Hani. Then his face turned thoughtful. "Though, if he were, he'd probably be less scary..." he murmured.
Ciel suddenly found both the twins leaning on his shoulders, grinning conspiratorially at him.
"The thing about Kyoya..." said the one on his left.
"...is that he doesn't get caught," finished the one on the right.
Annoyed, Ciel shook them off and hid behind his butler.
"Everyone thinks he's a good person," the two of them finished.
"But—" Ciel frowned.
"Everyone," they assured him.
"Michaels-san spoke correctly," Haruhi told Ciel. "Kyoya isn't a demon... at least, not by name," she muttered that last bit.
"What was that, Haruhi?" asked the non-demon.
"Nothing, Shadow King," replied the brunette.
"So," said Ciel, trying to steer the conversation into saner waters, "will your group be staying in England long?"
"Staying?" asked Hani, "Yep! We're moving here! Found a mansion and everything. We'll make sure to visit you lots, 'kay?"
Ciel kept his expression fixed. "Oh," he said, "that sounds... wonderful," he said, silently resolving not to tell them where he lived, hoping that it would at least delay the inevitable.
AN: First off, I know little of Black Butler, save that it's similar to Faust, and, from what I can tell, the story itself seems to have a black-and-gray morality scale (with Ciel and Sebastian decidedly on the 'gray' end of the spectrum). Ouran has a similar, if less extreme feel to it (when the protagonists are nearly all arrogant rich kids better suited to being antagonists, you know something's wrong), so I thought they might go well together.
This fic focuses on the Ouran side of things. Black Butler was simply the first anime to come to mind that would work for what I wanted to do with the Ouran characters. To avoid mutating the unfamiliar canon too badly, I used the Kuroshitsuji characters as the straight men (though, in anime that's always a relative term).
If anyone feels like adopting this one, feel free to do so and no need to ask. I don't have anywhere near the canon-knowledge needed to do a full version of this story justice. If someone feels like making a longer rewrite (or even just something with a similar concept), my blessings to you. For me, though, this is a one-shot.