"A love returned is only as strong as the one who accepts such a heavy burden"
"How can a love be so strong, Yet so unreturned…" One, holding a vase of water, said to the other
"I'm not sure what to think when watching as this bitter romance ensues… Hanna doesn't approve, obviously, but who is she to say anything about it?" The second, holding a water dish with a rag, said to the third, as straight faced as the first. Before the third, standing as if purely for decoration as he held nothing, opened his mouth to speak, the demon before them eyed them with a disapproving look as he pulled the cuff over his masters small hand. The Blond haired boy grinned smugly as the three stood, appearing to speak but no words drifted from their mouths, at least that he could hear.
As fast as the five buttons fastened, three of them were unhooked by the grinning boy, leaning back with his chin tilted upward as to look over his butler who only glanced up with his eyes instead of cocking his head upward. He sighed, reaching his fingers up to re-button the buttons just as lightly as before.
"Are you angry with me?" Alois questioned with a trill of laughter ringing through his boyish voice.
"No." His butler replied in a soft yet bold tone. The boy's smile turned quickly to an uninterested pout, head turned away and sarcastic eyes staring off the opposite way.
"You make this rather boring, Claude." The boy sighed, unbuttoning both cuffs of his white sleeves. He pushed his arms out in front of the demon, not looking his way. " Button these." he ordered.
The demon complied with the demand.
A small smile flashed its way onto the blond haired boy and he turned back to his butler who had turned to covering his feet with socks.
"Oh Claude, I enjoy our back and fourth, It always seems to make me smile, does it not do the same for you?" The demon did not show any form of change in expression, he only covered the opposite foot with a knee high sock, reaching for the shorts he would wear. He didn't see in any way how anyone could call their troublesome mornings of childish games "Back and forth." He helped his master into the short trousers and buttoned them. Alois looked away from him again
"I forgot you rarely smile around here." He stated, a sigh following as he pushed his foot into one of the thigh-high boots as it found its way further up his leg. He about shivered at the demons touch on his thigh. "I guess it's quite a peculiar thing to forget, seeing as you are close to follow wherever I go." He stared into the distance for a moment, lost in thought. A small chuckle escaped his lips for no real reason, and he pressed his finger to his lip. He stared down at the matted, yet strangely neat, hair his butler wore in such a strange, yet attractive fashion. He dropped his hand to his side, keeping the smirk he most naturally wore.
"There's the look." the third said to the second. Claude paused in tightening the boy's boot for only a moment.
He continued
"Ow, Claude." The boy shouted, pushing the demon back with his boot covered foot roughly, resting it on his chest as he stared down toward him. "Not so rough."
"I'm sorry, I did not mean any harm." He stated truthfully.
"Save the harm for when you eat my soul." He lowered his foot to the floor, lifting his opposite and undressed foot before the demon, and, with a grin, said "For now, be as gentle with me as you can." The Demon stared up for a moment before reaching for the second boot, beckoning for the boy to place his lifted foot inside.
"Was that a comment made as a shot toward his feelings toward Claude, do you suppose?" The first questioned.
"I think it was more a relay to his past, how he was treated before was quite rough. Pain may be a reminder." the third replied.
"I agree with Timber, Cantebury." the second stated. Claude finished tying Alois Trancy's shoes and stood, turning toward the three who stared on, almost blankly.
"You three are dismissed." He stated, his stare cold. Without any hesitation, the three walked toward and out the door. There was silence as Alois was dressed in his green vest, button's untouched by the boy who stared at his butler, in thought. The butler picked up the purple overcoat and fanned it out, looking down to the boy who was now observing his fingernails.
"Those three are quite useless, Couldn't you just kill them if you have such distaste for them?" the boy wondered. Claude did not answer his question, but helped him to his feet, pulling the first sleeve over the white one, skillful enough to not catch the white fabric as to roll it up within the coat. The boy did not approve of the silence, so he went on. "Or maybe, instead, you could take to killing that dreadful maid." he sighed. "She's basically useless, what with loss of her eye." The boy smiled, excitement filling his voice. "What did you think of that, Claude? Did you like the way I punished her?"
"Yes." he stated, also truthfully. He found enjoyment in the boys enthusiasm toward cruelty, noting how he was treated in the past by his "Father." Alois felt a great deal of pride fill his chest as he heard Claude say this. He threw out his arms and, as the demon reached for the green sash that would make the bow around Alois's neck, The laughing boy wrapped his arms around him.
"I am so happy it pleases you!" He yelled out enthusiastically, laughing all the while afterward. He drew back and stared at his, still, straight-faced butler. His enthusiasm turned to a look of light frustration at the lack of emotion in his face. Alois sat back on the bed, now in a begrudging manner, as if he had not just been happy seconds before, staring coldly away from Claude. He felt the sash being tightened into the bow around his neck. The boy reached up and pulled it out of its tidy knot, still not looking toward the butler. There was a pause between them before Claude pulled tight the bow once again.
Alois pulled it out again…
Claude tied it again…
And so this battle between master and butler ensued until the boy turned to the butler, tying the knot with no real expression of anger or frustration. Alois undid it once more, this time more aggressively, throwing the sash to the ground.
"Come and show some anger, you son of a bitch." He spat. "At least it would be some type of rational emotion. I grow tired of your blank facade, I rarely see you grin, or smirk, not like Sebastian did even the first time I met him. It's as if you have no joy in being contracted to me." The boy crossed his arms. "As ludicrous as it sounds at least."
That made the butler crack a small grin.
Alois looked on and smiled again. He felt quite silly for the outburst then, chuckling.
"It is quite funny, isn't it?" he wondered, putting his arms to his side and cocking his head sideways, observing the grin as it lasted.
"More than you know." His butler said, the smile fading. He cleared his throat as he got to knee and finished tying the bow.
Alois Trancy went through his day with pride in his chest. He had made his butler smile when he often did not. It was a rare treasure, the smile of the demon. It made something more than pride swell in his breast. And each time he glanced at Hanna's bandaged eye, this feeling grew, knowing that Claude was pleased with his work.
Claude smiled through the day, out of his master's view of course, thinking of how close to the truth, yet so intensely far away from it, the damned boy really was.
"It still puzzles me, this love unreturned." the first said to his brothers, watching the young Earl glance toward the Demon with a grin, cheek to cheek, covering his face.
Hope You enjoyed :) It's my first Kuroshituji (II, if you wanna get technical) FF.
I got the idea from the first episode, I didn't enjoy how short the dressing scene was, though I understand why that was. I figure it would have happened in a similar way to this.