Disclaimer: I don't own any of Kuroshitsuji's characters or stuff like that.
Father's orders are very simple, Anastasi is quite aware of that. Find the damn demon. Whatever he means by that. When she questioned his command, he just told her to find anything unusual. They're very simple, yes, but also quite vague, and that infuriates Anastasi. What exactly is she looking for? When she asked her father this as well, he said a demon. Really. After that, she also wondered about his mental well being. It's not like he's not been cryptic like this before.
Anastasi honestly thinks that her father might be slightly crazy, claiming that when he used to work in a black market, they eventually got their hands on this arrogant, whiny boy years ago, and that there was a demon, from what he planned to do with his friends but ended up sick that day, and according to him, his friends brutally slaughtered, with this man picking through their remains, and that man ended up as their butler.
Anastasi thumbs through the files on the desk on the third floor. Just ideas and brainstorms over marketing products. She scowls, nothing useful or 'unusual'. Really, she doesn't know why she agreed with her father to do this. Oh, right, because he's her father. At that thought, her scowl deepens across her porcelain visage.
In complete honesty, she questioned her father's sanity long ago, to the year he came home, bloodied and bruised, with another, taller, graceful man practically carrying him home. They already had a butler at that time, but without even reconsidering, her father fired him, sending him home crying, and replaced it with the willowy man. And whenever Anastasi questioned where he came from, his background, or whoever he worked for, her father always claimed that he never asked. Lie. Her father would never be that reckless with hiring people for such positions, especially as he's in charge of one of the biggest companies.
"Why, I wonder how'd you get up here?" A husky, low octave tone causes Anastasi to whip around, brandishing a knife. It's the butler. He doesn't seem surprised by the sudden appearance of her knife, he just grins back. Getting caught shuffling through the files of his master will ruin her father's reputation if word gets out, and the consequence from that will be directed onto her. And that she was going to assault a very important person's butler with a knife, she's pretty sure it's not even sharp. Oh yeah, the knife point is dull.
"Oh, look, a young girl armed with a butter knife." Anastasi flushes at his observation. A butter knife is easier to hide within the ruffles of her dress, as it doesn't have a sharp blade to cut through her layer dress. To be fair, she didn't think that anyone would notice her stealing a butter knife from the dining table. "Now, Lady Anastasi. I wonder how my master will respond to this?" Anastasi's arm trembles, causing the knife she thrust out at the end of her hand to quiver. If she does try and attack, which would be a completely idiotic move on her part, her aim would be wry and the damage she'd try and cause would be minor, as her arm is feeling quite weak and numb from fear, she wouldn't have the strength to attack on anyways. If he tells Ciel...
"Well, scurry along, as long as he never asks, I'll never tell," Anastasi stares at him, her jaw unhinged. "May I also have young Master's eating utensil back as well?" The butler smiles as he stretches out his gloved hand.
"T-Thank you for not telling, and I'm sorry for taking the knife, and I'm very sorry for being up here, I just got bored," Anastasi stammers as she places the silverware into the palm of the butler, and his fist closes around the handle before dropping it into the pocket of his suit. Then she dies a little inside, all the relief of not getting in trouble vanishing as she identifies her mistake, perhaps she shouldn't have said that last part of her being bored, after all, wouldn't that be considered offensive as it makes her seem that she finds the host's mansion lacking activities and fun?
"Ah, well, boredom is what leads you to trouble, Lady Anastasi," the butler that Anastasi recalls introducing himself as Sebastian inclines his head. "Now, please leave the master's study." Anastasi, glad for his kindness, staggers out the room. Then, something that irritated her during their conversation reveals the source of its annoyance. 'Boredom is what leads you to trouble,' is that a common phrase among butlers? Because that's what father's butler, Michael, would say.
"I guess I won't tell Master William. But Master Ciel must hear of this later on," Sebastian murmurs as he straighten the files littered across young Master's mahogany desk. That's right, he also has to replace the silverware that Lady Anastasi stolen. What a troublesome girl.
The moment the father and daughter stepped out of his building, Ciel is able to vent out his bottled up irritation and annoyance at the shut door, screaming his frustration at the ivory-painted door. "Young Master," Ciel waits for his string of vulgar and colorful language to finish until he addresses who he guesses is his butler, judging by the voice used to say his title his staff uses.
"What?" Ciel whips around, his eyes, including the one obscured underneath his eyepatch, narrowed at his smiling, unfazed butler. "That scoundrel! Bastard!" Ciel bristles, his shoulders arching upwards.
"You know, I think this is the first time I ever met someone who was able to get such a reaction from you, even I don't think I ever got such a response from you." Sebastian grins, blinking, innocently. Ciel's ready to command for his butler to die, if such thing was actually possible.
Ciel loudly scoffs. "There was Grell." Sebastian continues without pausing after allowing Ciel to talk.
"But Young Master, earlier, I found Lady Anastasi in your study. She's also quite an amateur with knives, by the way she held such a beautiful object," Sebastian pulls an entity from the pocket sewn to the front of his suit, and it flashes underneath the light beamed from the chandelier above them. Ciel raises an eyebrow a the butter knife he recovered. Is this where Sebastian keeps his knives? Does he just go around walking with one in his pocket all day? "Such a calm reaction from the young Master?" Sebastian voices out his own question.
"Well, I expected that you humiliated her and sent her off worried," Ciel responds. Sebastian's smile falters, and suddenly, Ciel's nonchalant attitude is engulfed by suspicion from the lack of answer from his butler. "You did, didn't you?" Ciel asks skeptically, his faded anger starting to stir.
"You know, Young Master, I am surprised that you held a grudge against Master William because of his insufferable terms and arrogance that you usually have as well-" Ciel emits a snarl at that. "But not against his young daughter for being up in your office." Sebastian finishes. Ciel's jaw pops forward, indicating his botheration.
"Sebastian did you or did you not punish Lady Anastasi?" Ciel articulates every word to signal his rapidly decreasing patience from Sebastian's obvious stalling.
"Of course not." Ciel however, doesn't react angrily to that. Rather, the intuition that Ciel continues to cling onto expands. "It would be rude to hit a guest, especially a lady, for that matter," Sebastian explains himself. His words, rather than deflating Ciel's suspicion, it causes it to rise. What's Sebastian getting at?
Ciel stares at his butler, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion. "Sebastian, you hit Soma before, and he was a guest, and he was a royal for that matter." Sebastian continues to smile. "Why didn't you punish her? You are brutal whenever it comes to you having to serve someone their consequence." Ciel begins to rant either out of disbelief or confusion, he doesn't know. "Like with Lady Sulliven, she eavesdropped on us and you clearly enjoyed showing her up. And you were frustrated over the way she ate things, because it wasn't appropriate the way she did. Of course I agreed with you on that, but you just let Lady Anastasi go? You didn't even try to embarrass her once?" Ciel stares, dumbfounded at his butler. This is a whole new personality. From what Ciel knows, Sebastian never withheld himself from dishing out punishments faster than Bart can actually break dishes and shatter his plates.
"I didn't want it to seem as though Young Master is a rude and cruel on, even though that might be the truth." Then, to Sebastian's surprise, Ciel walks up to him.
"Bend down." Ciel commands. Sebastian blinks, and Ciel is inwardly satisfied at startling his butler. Sebastian slowly bows downwards, and then, Ciel places the back of his hand against his translucent forehead. "So. You're not sick." Ciel removes his hand, and gestures for his butler to stand back upright, leaving Sebastian slightly confused from his previous action. "And for a moment I thought maybe you were under the weather or was sick. I guess it's to be expected that you're healthy, as I doubt demons can be sick now that I think about it," Ciel stares back up at Sebastian. "Is there an actual, logical reason why you didn't decide to at least give her a talking to?" Ciel demands.
Sebastian pockets the knife that Ciel forgotten that he still has in his gloved hand. "Well, I actually didn't scorn Lady Anastasi for her behavior," Sebastian starts out slowly. Ciel tilts his head, implying for him to continue. "And of course there's a reason. But I wonder, why are you so curious on this subject?"
"To see my emotionless butler to treat a guest kindly will of course intrigue me." Ciel explains. "It's quite interesting, and why are you not directly answering my questions? All your responses are very vague," Ciel observes.
Sebastian just continues to smirk. "Are you saying that you're too oblivious to figure out the conclusion?" Ciel glares at Sebastian, which he guesses isn't very intimidating, as he's quite ah...short compared to the elegant, willowy butler.
The beautiful vase adorned with roses sprouting out of it captures Ciel's attention. His gaze continues to stray over to the masterpiece. He feels it'd be even prettier if he cracked it over his butler's head. "Damn demon!" Ciel swats the back of his hand against Sebastian's shin, figuring that the moment for physically abusing his butler would be over if he tried to retrieve the vase, so he settles with just cracking the back of his knuckles against him.
"Such a shame you're too short to actually smack me on the cheek."
"Sebastian!" Ciel hisses, ignoring Sebastian's verbal jab. "Are you saying that you're not going to tell me unless if I order you to?" Sebastian's unresponsive, grinning, stupid face answers Ciel's question without him ever uttering an actual verbal response. "Actually, you know what, I'm not even mad." Again, Ciel's lips twitches into a smirk as satisfaction appears once more from Sebastian's shocked expression. "After all, it's none of my business, maybe you're just being the kind butler you are. Besides, I imagine at least your appearance gave her quite a scared and she probably won't come up here again." Ciel shrugs, glad to get the last sentence.
"So you're stating that I'm kind?" Oh. Damn. He didn't get the last sentence.
Ciel eyes the vase once more.
"Michael." Anastasi calls for her father's personal butler. Yes, technically, he's off-limits to the rest of the family and is supposed to serve her father only because of his position, but the rest of the family continues to call him over for their problems. "There was this other butler at the Phantomhive estate." She continues as Michael enters her room, his gentle footsteps muffled by the carpet underneath alerting her of his presence. She sets down her two flashy knitting needles. "And the weird thing is, he kind of looks like you. Even has a very similar voice, but he seems nicer, because he let me go when I uh..." Anastasi realizes that she just cornered herself into having to tell her butler what she done, or something equally humiliating so that it propels her point of the butler's kindness. "Something bad," Anastasi fidgets sheepishly, and she glares at the smirk that stretches across her butler's face. "And he even said something that you always say," Anastasi adds.
Michael seems to ponder over his response, before replying. "And why does that bother you?" He questions. Anastasi flops on her bed.
"I'm just curious," She grumbles defensively. "I mean, it's just...a really weird coincidence. Like, he's really tall like you, and really skinny. But he's pale as well. You're just tan. His hair was black," she recalls his dark, ebony bangs that caste shadows across his equally dark eyes. "But other than that, you guys could pass off as siblings with a different mother. You guys kind of sound alike as well," Anastasi adds. "I mean, it's really weird." She waits for Michael to say something in return, but he doesn't. Anastasi tears her eyes from her ceiling, and sits up, ready to continue her conversation with Michael, only to have her mouth remain hanging open. Michael is nowhere in her room. He must've left hearing a command from her father, after all, he has more control over the butler than she has. However, he could've said something, instead of leaving her deadpanned and dumbfounded like an idiot. She purses her lips from irritation.
The demon waits for Master William to say something. He inwardly sighs. Why bother to call him over if he's just going to drink a glass of wine and ignore him for minutes? Finally, Master William sets down the glass drained of the wine, revealing his graying mustache to be stained a dark orchid. Michael refrains himself from just leaving the room at this minute. "Okay, after I met you, just poking through bodies, and you offered me a deal, I have a question, why me?"
"Your soul just seems delicious, especially because of your status."
"And...you're sure that it's a demon that killed the remaining number of my fellow friends from the black market?" The demon mutely nods. While he doesn't care about his masters other than their souls, he honestly prefers Ciel over this arrogant man. While Ciel is also foolishly blind of how high he holds him as well, at least he can continue to mock him of his physical height. "Do you think that the demon is somehow connected with Ciel?" Master William finally blurts out.
"Perhaps" The butler says.
"Was it a demon who killed them?" There are times when this particular demon regrets vowing to never lie.
"Yes."
"Ciel has to know something about this demon. Anastasi told me she found nothing out of the ordinary-" The demon refrains himself from smirking. "Tell me, do you have information about whether or not Ciel has anything to do with the demon?"
Again, there are moments when he seriously wonders if the oath against lying is worth it. "Yes, I do." He honestly prefers to keep his two masters apart, too troublesome if they both have the knowledge that they share a butler. Master William gestures for him to continue. "Ciel...and this demon do have a contract together." Finally, he decides to ask a question of his own. "Forgive me for asking, but what do you gain from knowing this demon, and why does it matter so much?"
"Phantomhive's company is the only other company that I have competition against, after all, somehow, probably with the help of his demon, they're good enough to earn the Queen's Seal. The thing is, eliminating Ciel, is actually for revenge. Getting rid of his company is just a bonus." Now, this dark creature is interested in whatever this man has to say. "One of the people the demon killed, one of his kidnappers, is actually my wife. I'm guessing that Ciel ordered his demon to kill them. He murdered my wife!" He slams his fist onto his desk, and the glass wineglass teeters on its base. How rash. It's more justice, the demon thinks, for Ciel's kidnappers to die. The demon does recall murdering a female with a masquerade mask. It was the only female kidnapper, he's quite sure he knows which victim of his he murdered is Master William's wife.
"Why did you not order me to kill him before?"
"I wasn't sure of it, and I only figured this out last week, remember?" The demon remembers. What a slow human, after being his butler for three years, he has yet to consider Ciel, one of his kidnapped children, the only one to survive, to actually be connected. Master William is clearly not one of those intelligent humans. "And besides, I want to make sure Ciel knows why he's killed, because then it's just a regular murder, isn't it? He'll never know why he died. He's going to die so then my dear wife could be avenged." Yes, the dear wife that happens to also to love snatching little children away and selling them on the black market, the demon thinks sadistically.
"So, tell me, the demon is definitely with Ciel?" Master William snaps. The demon nods. He'd love to lie, if he hadn't vowed to never lie. "Are you sure that Ciel killed my wife?"
"Well, it's more of the demon that did so."
"Yes, but don't you realize how there're so little people that act as a staff that helps out in such a big building? A demon would explain how the building is completely repaired after me and John set it on fire." Oh, so maybe he isn't as slow as the demon suspected. "We attack them at midnight?"
"Forgive me, but is that not a little rash?" The demon clears his throat. Now, if Ciel was to recognize him, or call for him, things will definitely get nasty. The demon is now frowning upon this plan. "After all, if Ciel does have a demon it'll be quite hard to actually reach his room," The demon points out. Then, he stiffens. Reaching the demon's ears, are the very familiar cries for him. 'Dammit where is that demon?' Oh, it seems that Ciel wants his warm milk with honey. The demon waits for Master William to finish.
"No, no, not at all, I trust that you'll do better. Now, go along, I'll call you when we leave." The moment the demon leaves the room, he leaps out the doors that he thrust open.
Ciel scoffs, staring at the unbuttoned pajamas he slipped on. Of course he isn't going to button them up, that's his butler's job. Sebastian's either always on time, or just seconds late.
"Where were you?" Ciel hisses as the door to his room nearly flies off their hinges as the demon bursts in.
"Oh, just handing things," Sebastian smiles. Ciel glowers at him. He continues to smile as he bends down to button up the silk clothes.
"So...Finny?" Ciel concludes. Sebastian doesn't answer, as he tugs the hem of his shirt, to straighten out any wrinkles, even though he's about to be placed in bed. "If it was Bard, I would've smelled smoke. Oh, was it Mey-Rin?" Ciel continues to ask, despite the drowsiness settling in.
"Go to sleep, Young Master." The lights dim, before darkness engulfs him, leaving the little boy falling into unconsciousness underneath his rumpled bed sheets.
Yeah this one is kind of short. Oh well! So, I have no idea how to continue this story. The first chapter I was like, okay, this should be okay, but right now, I'm just like, how do I propel this story forward?