A Catty Mystery

Everything was peaceful in Phantomhive manor. Well, as peaceful as it could get, considering the inept servants who worked there were currently not under the head butler's supervision. Sebastian had a day off today, and had not been seen since that morning.

Maylene, the only maid working at the manor, was carrying an armful of freshly laundered sheets to the young master Ciel's room. As a Phantomhive maid, she had to be able to provide fresh, clean sheets for her young master to sleep in. So she had been told by Sebastian any of the numerous times she has been lectured when she usually messed up the laundry.

Shifting her hold slightly, Maylene continued to walk carefully down the hall, making sure she didn't trip over anything. She was taking a shortcut through the servant's quarters, where she thought she was safe from any sudden floor hazards. After all, she had traveled down these corridors so often as a servant herself that she now knew practically every potential trip-up point to look out for. As long as her shoelaces didn't become untied, she should have been able to make it safely to the young master's room.

It was as she was nearing Sebastian's room then she heard it.

"Mreo~w."

Maylene stopped, listening for any more of the sound. After a while, when she didn't hear anything, Maylene shook her head to herself. Wondering what it could have been, she took a step forward –

"Mreo~~w."

Stopping once again, Maylene looked to see which direction the sound had come from. Her eyes rested in the direction of Sebastian's room, which she had just passed. After she had stood there for a few seconds, she heard a familiar voice chuckling to itself.

Sebastian?, the maid wondered. Of course, the usually hard-at-work butler was enjoying his day off. There was no reason to be suspicious, but….

Maylene put the sheets down on a small dressing table in the hall and went back to listen outside of Sebastian's door. Any reason for the love of her life to be laughing was definitely worth looking into.

"Well well," Maylene heard Sebastian say, "aren't you beautiful, my little kitten?"

W-what! Maylene thought. D-d-does he have c-company?

Maylene heard Sebastian laugh again. "My my, kitten, you're an impatient one, aren't you? Well, alright then. Come over here…"

W-what are they doing in th-there! Maylene was starting to panic. So far, it had sounded like he was talking to a girl…Perhaps it's his lover?

This thought preoccupied Maylene, making her heart drop to her stomach and distracting her from the purring on the other side of the door. No longer listening to the one-sided conversation taking place in Sebastian's room, Maylene was gathering her resolve. She had decided to interrupt Sebastian's day off.

I have to know who that other person is, Maylene thought. She took a deep breath. Okay…one…two…three!

"E-excuse me, Mr. Sebastian!" Maylene called out. She opened the door and saw something quite…unexpected. Maylene stared in shock for a while, not quite believing her own eyes.

"It's a…cat."

Inside his room, Sebastian was sitting on the bed, petting a jet black cat with amber eyes. But even though the cat was distracting, Sebastian's appearance was even more so. He wasn't wearing his tailcoat, his vest was unbuttoned and hanging on his shoulders, and the first few buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned so that you could see his collarbone.

O-o-oh m-my –! Maylene thought, flustered and embarrassed beyond belief. S-Sebastian is-…he's –!

Not being able to handle the situation any longer (even though in reality it had only been a few seconds), Maylene's scarlet face was splashed with crimson in a color scheme that would have made Grell envious with its different hues. Quickly losing consciousness, Maylene's sight blurred, going into a familiar blackness…

…In other words, she had a nosebleed and fainted.

Sebastian simply kept petting his most precious cat, wondering why Maylene had come into his room. Well, in any case, she had passed out on the floor, for some reason…

He sighed to himself. "Really," he muttered, "this maid is truly a strange one. Though really," he said, looking down at himself, "I suppose my appearance is partly to blame…"

Sebastian turned to the cat. "Wait for me here, my little kitten." He got up and straightened up his appearance, then knelt down and shook Maylene.

"Maylene? Miss Maylene? Are you awake?" Sebastian attempted to shake her awake, but to no avail. Maylene was still deluded. From the looks of it, he thought, she won't wake up for quite some time…

With this thought, Sebastian quickly picked up Maylene and carried her out of the room. Outside the door, he noticed the slightly-less clean sheets that were set on the dressing table in the hall.

"Really," Sebastian partially mumbled to himself, "just what were you doing?"

Sebastian carried the maid to her room, which made an interesting task when there was no one to open the door except himself. He laid her on the bed, putting her glasses on the dresser next to it. He thought about unlacing her shoes, but if she were to wake up and somehow deduce that he had done so, she might also figure out that he would have seen under her skirt…which could end badly. Instead, he positioned her so that her shoes wouldn't dirty the blanket and left it at that.

With Maylene taken care of, Sebastian closed her door and went back to the pile of sheets. When looking at them, he recognized them as the ones for the young master's bed.

"It would seem that I will have to work, even on my day off," said Sebastian. Going to his room to fetch his tailcoat, he saw the cat looking curiously up at him.

"Mew?" The cat asked, looking (in Sebastian's eyes) adorably cute.

Sebastian bent down to scratch it behind the ears. "I'm sorry, my little kitten, but I have to go for a while. Wait until I get back."

Closing the door, Sebastian turned his attention to the sheets. They weren't spotless, but it would have been a waste of time to wash them again. So he simply picked up the sheets and was on his way to the young master's room.

~X~~~0~~~X~

Hello there, my dear readers! Let me just say...thank you for all of your support, even if you don't know who the heck I am and this is the first time you have read one of my stories. I love you newbies just as much as the stalkers that have tracked my work since I first started posting. In any case, I hope you enjoyed the story!

This is actually an omake from another story that I wrote called "A Demon's Heart". I would appreciate it if you read that one too...or favorited me...or my stories...or sent me cookies...or plot bunnies...I'm not picky, really.

Read and Review! =)