Black Butler: Book of Roses

~Prologue~

Ciel sat in the study with a bored expression on his face. Being a demon was dull. Nothing would change. Sebastian would serve him for all eternity, but already he was bored.

Sebastian entered the study with a grim expression on his face. "Nothing worth your time has appeared in the local news today, my lord," he informed, bowing before him. "There are no mysterious disappearances, no murders and no suspicious events. Should I have Bardroy prepare you a meal? A feast, perhaps?"

"No," Ciel answered sharply. "That's exactly what you did last week every single day."

Sebastian's red eyes narrowed subtly as he gazed glumly at his master. "Would you prefer it if I changed your schedule?" he asked. "It has been quite a while since you had your meetings and lessons."

Ciel held his hand to his head, frustrated. "Sebastian," he began. "Is this what it is like to be a demon? Does life honestly become so dull and repetitive?"

The demon butler gave him an odd look. "Not quite, my lord," he responded. "I have lived for thousands of years and I have not been bored once. Patience is something demons are born with, you see, so we find pleasure in watching the world slowly change."

"You were born a demon," Ciel pointed out. "Am I not still human at heart? Unlike you I do not have the patience to sit and watch the world change at the turn of every century."

"You will adapt to the changes, my lord," Sebastian assured. "While it is uncommon for a human to become a demon, the human-born demons do still grow used to their bodies."

"Hmph," Ciel huffed. "You know that, do you?"

"Yes," Sebastian confirmed rather sternly. "I have known many demons who once lived human lives. In fact, I myself have had the pleasure of turning a human into a demon."

Ciel raised a brow. "You have?" he asked monotonously. Sebastian nodded his head once.

"Another human soul which I patiently waited for," he described, discreetly digging at the fact that Ciel wasn't the first soul to be promised to him before being ruined by demonic conversion. "The event is quite recent to me; it all occurred around five hundred years ago."

Ciel leaned back in his chair, intrigued. "Why don't you tell me about this demon?" he requested. Sebastian frowned.

"Come, my lord, if I chose to tell you such a story, we would surely be here all day," he warned. Ciel only smirked slightly.

"I don't see how that is a problem," he responded. "If I'm going to become a demon with patience, I would like to put myself to the test by enduring one of your stories."

Sebastian frowned a little, but then closed his eyes and smiled almost evilly to himself. "I suppose the story could be considered interesting," he mused. "Very well, young master. But, if I may ask you, why is it that you are so interested to hear about this demon?"

"Is it not obvious?" Ciel scoffed. "I want to know how another human lived as a demon. And I want to see if I can gain any personal knowledge about you; perhaps some of the details from this story can be used to hurt you."

Ciel was a cruel child who had always found it fun to mock Sebastian, but now as a demon he had become much worse. Sebastian frowned at his smirking young master before letting out a sigh, approaching the earl's desk and removing a black rose from the vase. He blew on it as if blowing out a candle, and the petals turned bright red.

"You cannot find red roses in my realm," the butler informed. "Only black."

"Get on with it, Sebastian," Ciel grunted impatiently. Sebastian smirked a little.

"You lack patience, young master," he teased. Ciel scowled at him, his one visible eye glowing red.

"Do not test me, Sebastian," he threatened. Sebastian did not feel intimidated whatsoever.

"I have lived for thousands of years," he repeated, placing the new red rose back in the vase of black roses. "Not once have I felt threatened by a demon. Nothing has been able to threaten me."

"Perhaps I'll be the first to make you feel fear," Ciel said. Sebastian kept his smirk on his face.

"I doubt that very much, my lord," he responded. "Now then, what wold you like to know about this demon?"

"Everything," Ciel demanded. "Who were they? How long did they live for? What were they like? How were they reborn as a demon?"

Sebastian chuckled softly. "I never thought I'd have to repeat these events to anybody," he thought out loud. "But then again, I suppose I didn't expect to be trapped in servitude for eternity." The butler approached the large window and gaze out of it thoughtfully, his hands behind his back and his smug smirk still on his face. But suddenly his smirk faded.

"Years ago I served a couple living in a foreign land," he began. "They were both Japanese. In Medieval England anyone could be accused of witchcraft, and so they were executed. I could not feast upon their souls, so they promised a third soul to me: their newborn daughter. However, I could only devour her soul during her time of death. My duty was to protect her until that day came, so I took the form of an orphaned teenage boy who had been cared for by my former masters, Daisuke and Sayaka. I would tell their daughter that I had been adopted by her parents before her birth, convincing her that we were siblings without relation. For fourteen years I starved myself until I could satisfy my hunger with that girl's soul, but on the day of her death, circumstances had changed."

Ciel looked even more intrigued. "I wonder why," he mused. Sebastian turned to face him, hands now at his side.

"I will tell you now, my lord," he announced. "Although to make the story convenient, I shall use names you are familiar with."

"So you will refer to yourself as Sebastian even if you went by a different name?" Ciel queried.

"Yes," Sebastian answered. "And Claude Faustus will be referred to as Claude Faustus."

"Claude?" Ciel reacted, perking up a little. "Why is he relevant?"

Sebastian felt like he had the upper hand now. "You will find out," he told him, holding a finger to his own lips as he smiled smugly. "I'd rather not spoil the story, young master."

Ciel slumped back into his chair and sighed irritably. "Very well, then at least tell me the name of the human child so that the story doesn't start off sounding poetic or mysterious," he ordered.

"Of course, my lord," Sebastian replied, his smile seeming cheerful for a moment, most likely appearing like that in order to infuriate the young earl. "Her name was Batora Jigoku."

~End of Prologue~