Whoohoo! The start of a new fic! Kieran is the star, he's an OC...he has...issues. And lots of them...just like EVERYONE ELSE IN THE SERIES! Lolz...Anyway, Black Butler was something I watched and fell in love with instantly, so I thought 'why not make an OC for it'. I hope you guys enjoy.
Legal blabbity-blah: I don't own Black Butler. I only own the OC's and the fic itself. This site is the only one with permission to post this. If you see it anywhere else, please let me know. If you'd like to use the fic, an excerpt, or any of my OC's, message me for permission please!
"And you're absolutely sure this is what you want?"
"Yes," the boy replied, "beyond all shadow of a doubt."
"And you are aware what this deal entails?" The ravens eyed the boy hungrily.
"Very."
"Then what will be the terms of our contract?"
"Hold it!" The boy and the ravens turned to face their new guests, a pair of wolves with eyes that glowed crimson.
"Leave here you mutts," one of the ravens shouted and spread his wings wide, "this boy is ours!"
"We got here first," the other chimed in, "so he is rightfully ours to have!"
"Well," the first wolf replied, matching crimson eyes with the ravens, "why don't you try to stop us?"
"Yes," the second agreed, "see if you can stop us from taking him."
"Enough!" All four demons turned to face the boy with genuine surprise that a human would dare talk to them like that. "You don't have to fight over me. In fact, I could use all of your services. How about this: all four of you will help me to protect him until the day I die...or until the demon Sebastian Michaelis lies dead at my feet! In exchange, you can split my soul into quarters, and each of you can have a piece. Do we have an accord?" The four demons glanced at each other for a moment.
"Agreed."
Before the boy could react, both the ravens and wolves rushed at him. The ravens embedded their talons in his forearms and the wolves sunk their fangs into his calves. The boy flinched slightly, but didn't move an inch. His blood began seeping from the wounds, and soon formed two sets of matching seals; his contract with the demons had been sealed.
"Master Kieran? Master Kieran, are you alright?"
Kieran jolted awake in a cold sweat. He shivered once and sat up, blinking his eyes a few times to clear the sleep from his eyes. He glanced over at the person who was standing at his bedside.
"Tanaka?"
"Ah, I see you're awake. Are you doing alright, Master Kieran."
"Yeah, yeah," Kieran said, "why?"
"You were moaning in your sleep."
"Oh. Don't worry, it was nothing."
Kieran turned his left arm so he could look at the underside of his forearm. There sat one of the four Faustian seals, clearly displayed on his skin. Tanaka caught the boy's glance.
"Were you dreaming about that again?" Concern was written on the old butler's face.
"Yeah." Kieran looked back up at Tanaka. "I keep thinking that this whole thing is a dream, that I'll just wake up and things will go back to the way they used to be." He gave an unenthusiastic chuckle. "But I guess it's not. I'll just have to continue on."
"I am here to support you," Tanaka said after a moment, "as I promised your father." Kieran nodded and stretched his arms. "Anyhow, I brought your breakfast up." Tanaka gestured to a small table on the other side of the room. "As you like, it's a simple meal of bacon, eggs, and toast with jam."
"What time is it?" Tanaka answered the boy with a quick '12:30.' Man, I really slept in. Kieran thought as he stretched his back.
"Thank you, Tanaka," Kieran smiled, "for everything." Tanaka bowed and exited.
Kieran yawned and stood, stretching his arms above his head as he rose. He walked over to the table and picked up a piece of toast from the tray Tanaka had left, then headed over to the double-doors leading to the balcony. He stepped out into the cool morning air and took a bite of his toast as he stared out at the countryside. Huginn, Muninn, come. He thought the words and, just moments later, two jet-black ravens landed on the balcony's railing and stared at the boy.
"What do you want?" The first, Huginn, said with obvious distaste.
"How does the mansion look? Any early morning visitors come to call?"
"None." The second raven, Muninn, answered.
"Well then," Kieran said as he leaned against the railing, "what about him?"
"Do you even have to ask?" Muninn sounded impatient. "Doting over the boy as usual."
Kieran scoffed. Who does he think he's fooling?
"Very well," Kieran said, "keep watching the mansion and let me know if we get any "visitors."
"Is that an order?" Huginn made no attempt to hide the sarcasm in his voice.
"As a matter of fact," Kieran replied, "it is."
The birds glared at him before taking off. Huginn and Muninn were demons, down to the rotten core. They cared little about Kieran or his feelings or motives. His soul was the only thing they cared about. The pair had a deep hatred for humans, and the only reason the hadn't killed him yet was because of their Faustian contract.
Kieran finished his toast and walked back inside. He scratched his bare chest as he moved to the closet and drawers and pulled out a set of clothes to wear. He tossed them onto his bed and pulled off the loose pants he wore to sleep in before examining himself in the room's full length mirror. Clad in only his boxers, most of Kieran's athletic body and musculature was visible. All in all, he looked like a very healthy sixteen year old. The only things that were out of place on his body were the two pairs of Faustian seals on the underside of his forearms and the inside of his ankles. He stared at them for a moment before dressing himself. He pulled on a pair of socks, then his boots, making sure they covered the two seals on his ankles. As he tied the laces on his boots, he heard a knock on the door. Shit! He thought frantically, I can't let anyone see the seals!
He quickly crossed the room and grabbed the roll of bandages he used to hid the seals on his arms and wrapped a length of it around his left arm, from elbow to wrist. He quickly cut the bandage with his teeth and began wrapping it around the other arm. Just as he got the bandage to the seal, the door opened. Whoever it was had gotten tired of waiting for a response.
"Kieran?" Ciel pushed the door open.
"Hm? Oh, hey Ciel." He turned as he wrapped the bandage around the seal and continued down to his wrist. "What's up, little bro?"
"I just wanted to let you know that I have a guest coming over later." Ciel eyed Kieran's half-bandaged arm suspiciously for a moment.
"Okay," Kieran replied, "what does that have to do with me? You think he'll try to kill you."
"No," Ciel said, "but he may be bringing other guests with him. Sebastian will be busy serving my guest and I, and I was hoping you could show his partners a good time."
"Heh," Kieran flashed Ciel a grin, "sure, I'd love to."
Ciel grinned back and retreated back into the hallway as Kieran finished wrapping the bandages around his arm. There's got to be a better way to hide these things. Kieran gave an exasperated sigh and ran a hand through his brunette locks as he walked over and took a seat at the small table so he could finish his breakfast.
"How long are you two going to keep hiding?" He turned his head toward the balcony as he munched on a strip of bacon. "I know you're out there."
"Heh heh. There's no fooling you, is there?" Freki, the first wolf demon laughed as he trotted into the room.
"Your skills have certainly gotten a lot better since we first formed our contract." Geri, the other wolf demon, followed his brother and sat near the table. Kieran tossed each of them a strip of bacon before quickly finishing the rest of the tray.
"You're certainly eating fast," Freki said, "anything important going on?"
"We have guests to entertain this evening," Kieran replied as he put on his trench coat and grabbed the breakfast tray, "at Ciel's request." The wolves grinned and followed him out of the room.
Freki and Geri were oddities among demons. They cared for Kieran past the point of just wanting to eat his soul. Sometimes, they even lost their desire to eat his soul and cared solely for his well being and that of the people he cared about. Sometimes Kieran wondered if they actually were demons, but the Faustian seals on his ankles quickly reminded him they were.
He took the tray with him and carried it down to the kitchen, the two wolves following him like shadows. Upon arriving in the kitchen, he washed off the plates and left them sitting in the sink. He was just beginning to wonder where Bard was when the man walked through the door, his arms full of dynamite. Before Kieran could say anything, Bard had lit the fuse on one of the sticks and tossed it onto some food that was waiting to be cooked nearby. This food just also happened to be sitting close to the rest of the explosives as well. As the fuse got shorter, Kieran whipped out one of the pistols hanging from his belt and quickly aimed and fired a shot, knocking the fuse clear off of the dynamite. The small bit of rope and wax harmlessly turned to ash on the floor.
"Hey," Bard complained, "what'd you do th—"
He was interrupted by Kieran smacking him over the head with the butt of the pistol.
"In what cook book," Kieran said, "does it say 'use dynamite?'"
"I thought it would speed things up."
"Yeah, and blow us all up." Kieran rubbed his temples. "Just stay here and don't touch anything. Sebastian will probably be down here in a second."
Bard gulped as Kieran left the kitchen and headed to the main foyer. Hm, our guests should be arriving any minute, he thought as he checked his watch, I'd better head outside. He opened the front door and stepped into the cool evening air. Almost on cue, their guest's coach came up the driveway. As it made its way toward the doors, several men dashed between the yard's bushes, all armed with various guns, and Sebastian walked up next to Kieran.
"I trust you'll be taking care of them." He said to the boy.
"Yeah," Kieran replied without looking up at him, "that's the plan. I guess Ciel's got some kind of plan to get you to kill the big guy, right?"
"I am merely going to show him the best of Phantomhive hospitality."
The coach pulled up in front of the pair and Sebastian let its owner out. As the man walked by Kieran, the boy bowed.
"Greetings, sir." He did his best to sound polite. "I'm Kieran, the Earl's bodyguard and these are the house's guard dogs, Freki and Geri. I hope you enjoy your stay here." Jackass was Kieran's only thought when the man simply nodded. After the coach pulled away and Sebastian had shown the man into the mansion, Kieran turned out toward the yard.
"Sniff them out." At his command, Freki and Geri began roaming the yard, slyly sniffing around the yard to try locating the men hiding in the bushes. Kieran mentally ordered Huginn and Muninn to do the same and soon he knew their locations.
"Gentlemen," Kieran announced, "allow me to welcome you to Phantomhive Manor. The Earl is busy handling business with your boss, so I'm to entertain you here in the yard. Please pardon the inconvenience."
The men all began to wonder what the boy's problem was, and if he had seen them. After a few whispers, one of them raised his gun and took aim a Kieran. He pulled the trigger and the bullet flew towards the boy. As it approached, Kieran drew a wakizashi blade from the inside of his trench coat and cut the bullet out of the air. In one fluid motion, he drew one of the pistols from his belt and fired several shots. He hit the bush where the bullet aimed at him had come from, and it shook and made a thumping sound as blood began to leak from it. That's when all the men began to fire. Kieran holstered the pistol and pulled out a second wakizashi. He began twirling the blades around, blocking any bullets he couldn't dodge. He quickly took cover behind one of the yard decorations.
"Freki and Geri! Huginn and Muninn! This is an order: kill them all!" Freki and Geri nodded and dashed out from behind their cover, aiming straight for the gunmen. Finally, Huginn thought-spoke to Kieran, it's about time you gave us something fun to do.
The ravens did a quick turn around before diving towards the gunmen. As the dove, what appeared to be black flames engulfed them for a moment. When they emerged, they had grown ten times larger and now had solid, red eyes. They swooped down on the men, pinning them to the ground with their talons and tearing them apart with their beaks. The men who weren't busy being maimed turned to shoot at the now-giant birds. Freki and Geri used the men's distraction to charge them at inhuman speeds, using their teeth to tear at the gunmen's flesh.
Only one more! Kieran leaped out from behind his cover and charged the last gunman, who was busy shooting at the four demons. As the boy approached, the man noticed him and turned the gun to aim a shot, but Kieran was quicker. He closed the distance between himself and the gunman and shoved his hand into the man's gut. Normally, this wouldn't have been a killing blow, but Kieran had a secret weapon. As he had draw within reaching distance of the man, Kieran had flicked a katar ((OOC: for those of you who don't know, a katar is an Indian punching dagger. Look it up on google or wikipedia for an idea of what one looks like)) from his sleeve. That katar now sat embedded in the gunman's stomach.
The man made a gurgling sound as his body fell onto the ground. Kieran pulled his katar from the man's corpse and wiped it on the grass before examining it. Ciel had had a set—the other was stored up his other sleeve—specially made, ordered, and imported from India several months ago and given them to Kieran as a gift. They were made to be thinner, longer, and lighter than a standard katar so that Kieran could hide them in the sleeves of his trench coat. It was one of the best things Ciel had ever given him.
He stored the katar back in its proper place before turning and walking back towards the mansion's front doors. He ordered Huginn and Muninn, now back to their original size, back onto their sentry duty and Freki and Geri walked in his footsteps. As he entered the mansion, Finny and Mey-Rin came running up.
"What's going on?" Finny frantically asked Kieran.
"It sounded like there was a gunfight outside, yes." Mey-Rin said, equally frantic.
"Calm down," he told them, "I simply had some guests to entertain. Would you two mind finding Bard and cleaning up after them?" The two nodded and ran off to find Bard as Kieran headed upstairs to see if Ciel and Sebastian had finished with the men's boss.
…...
Later that night, Kieran sat with Tanaka, Finny, Bard, and Mey-Rin in a small downstairs room that served as a kind of staff room. Tanaka poured them all cups of tea as Freki and Geri sat lazily in the corner.
"So," Bard asked the boy, "how'd your 'entertaining' go?"
"Without a hitch." Kieran grinned. "You'd think that people would start sending better assassins just based off of Sebastian's reputation alone."
"But why did Ciel have you go outside?" Finny asked with a confused look on his face. "I thought that was what Sebastian hired us for."
"That's right," Mey-Rin pointed out as she adjusted her glasses, "you are his brother, yes? Doesn't that mean you'd be next to be Earl if Ciel should die."
"Oh, that's right," Kieran replied, "my arrival here was before your times, present company excluded, Tanaka." The old butler nodded. "I suppose you three want to know my history, right?"
"YES!" The three servants exclaimed and leaned over the table so far that they were nearly on top of it.
"Alright, alright," Kieran laughed, "calm down. Well, let me start by saying that I'm not related to the Phantomhives by blood. I was adopted."
Cliffhanger-ish. Kieran's backstory to be revealed in the next chapter: "His Guardian, Reminiscing." Please post a review; constructive criticism welcomed, but no flaming please. I'll update this soon, promise!
La lune du sang-a.k.a. La Volpe