"Thee shall never achieve a righteous path to the Heaven and shall remain in Hell for all eternity should thee agree. Thy soul shall be mine and before long thee shall become a part of this one, never to be separated. Is that thy final answer?" A veil of cloudy darkness settled, quietening the howling of his terrible prisoners.
He whimpered, his head pounded with an indescribable pain. The anger he felt consumed him, consumed his soul. "Yes! I demand it! I desire it! I need it! Revenge is my life now!" He pressed his worn face between a gap of the bars of his jail. His decision firm, he shrieked, "Free me, and I will become your master in life, and meal in death!"
The she-demon's laughter turned crueler then.
"As you wish!"
He startled awake, his eyes wide and he thought he could taste his heart on his tongue. He could see nothing, not at first. It was all white and blurry, and his right eye was screaming. A wince fled, when the joints in his small body locked in protest at the slightest movement. Flipping over onto his belly he choked on air at the aches that struck at his every pathetic muscle, "Nuugh!" Trembles vibrated his fingers and he stared at them with a morbid interest. He didn't miss the bruises and peeling scabs on his hands.
Finally did then everything came into focus and he saw a soft cloud of fabric in his grip. "A bed." He murmured, relieved. He stopped fighting his body and fell into a boneless slump. A pillow spread out from underneath the weight of his head.
Of course he'd be in bed—he woke up half expecting cold metal on his back and teeth of shackle into his ankle. Squeezing his eyes and registering the stab in his right eye he hissed, "That wasn't a dream." Ciel whimpered and glued his eyes shut.
He had to be deaf to the familiar sounds of heels, when bright lights spilled throughout his room, "Good morning, milord." His lady butler greeted, cordially.
Ciel groaned, misted with discomfort at his eyes aching from brightness, "Kagome, was that necessary?" He didn't like how dimmed things seemed to be in his marked eye—it was disorienting and frankly, it made him ill to tolerate for long.
"I was intending to let you sleep in an hour longer," Kagome remarked, her heels told Ciel that she was right by his side, "but you've already awake. There'd be little point in letting you be idling."
Grimacing at her logic Ciel grunted and struggled to flip to face Kagome—something that she noted, "Fine. You're here. What are we to do today?"
The edges of her red lips turned, and she palmed his shoulders to help him up, "First, you'd need a hot bath." Ciel gritted his teeth, "I haven't properly sooth the sore muscles the night previous, because of how exhausted you were. It'd do neither of us good if you were to drown in the tub." Kagome teased—though Ciel knew better.
"Fine." Ciel then hissed when he shifted to get on his feet—but he was stopped, "What!?"
Kagome kept him down on the bed and shook her head, "You need to not strain yourself further, milord. Not today." She eyed him, "You do remember that it is now my duty to attend to your health, correct?"
"It'll be fine! Wh—hey!" Ciel squawked when he found himself cradled in her arms, "Put me do—!"
"Milord," Kagome interrupted with an aggravated sigh, "please do not test me. I am taking responsibilities for your welfare. Please do tolerate my cares as best as you can," she eyed him and he didn't miss a slight red tint in her ocean-blue eyes. It was a warning.
Ciel clamped down the urge to curse her out, and crossed his arms, "Fine!" He tried to ignore the softness compressing against his head and shoulder, his face burning.
"Very good." Kagome's laugh rumbled her chest, as clicks of her heels sounded their destination toward a nearby washroom, "Now then, afterward, we can then set upon repairing your manor to suit your tastes. It would be a tad unseemly for a lord to take residence in such an unassuming home." Her smile dropped at the bland state of an unkept township home they took to dwell.
Ciel huffed, offended at her comment on one of many estates the Phantomhive owned, "We can always return to the inn."
"And risk early exposal of your still living state?" Kagome questioned, as a door opened at her command. Warm, heavy air hit Ciel's skin with a blast, before he could make a retort.
His jaw dropped, at the sight before his very eyes, "What is this?"
He remembered that it was quite white, from floor to ceiling. It was also bland but was functional. Now, somehow, his lady butler changed the entire appearance of it. The floor was now dark fine wood, with the wall softer shade of similar color. There were tea candles in each corner, flickering flames, floating in a clear glass container of water. There were plants decorated in such ways that it was relaxing to look at.
Even the bathtub had been changed. The old piece had been replaced with one that was lower set and a faucet made of silver and curved in an elegant arc to pour directly over the drain. The rim was also rounded to create a more comfortable space for a person's arms to rest.
Kagome closed to the tub and perched him on the rim, already tugging on his sorry looking clothes he'd insisted on wearing yesterday, "An proper earl deserve nothing less than the best, no? Your muscles had atrophied, and the best way to start the treatment is to relax the strains you've been putting on yourself."
Ciel jerked back his sleeves, his face redder than a tomato, "Do you really intended to wash me!?"
"…Milord, I've bathed you yesterday, from filth." Kagome said, unimpressed by the sudden bout of modesty.
Stiffening Ciel slacked, "I…don't…" He could barely remember yesterday.
Retreating from her master Kagome shook her head, "I will not do what they had done to you. I will promise you that." There was the slightest twinge of disgust, "Not even one such as I would go to such lows."
He blinked, wide-eyed, at her, "No, no, I…" Ciel closed his eyes, "Yes, you're right. My apologies."
Kagome's laugh came quick, sarcastic, "I am a woman—and thoroughly am one."
Thrusting his arms back into her hands, Ciel kept his expression neutral. She was right—there had been no women who laid a finger on him, "Forgive me. I was foolish not to trust you. You are my faithful butler, after all, who will do me no harm."
"And I never will, on purpose." Kagome was deft, and next thing Ciel knew, he lacked a shirt, "Now then, do let me to take care of you." She was on a knee next and tugged on his trousers, "Rest of your clothing articles, if you please."
He should be red and be smoking with embarrassment, but he wasn't.
Kagome never leered at him in the same way those monsters did. Ciel hadn't realized he wore tensions in his shoulders until they fell and soreness thundered throughout his system. He winced. Water ripples distracted him and saw Kagome testing it, her hand bare of the glove, "The water will be hot, so if it's too hot that you are not able to adapt to it, please do tell me and I will regulate it." She instructed him to step into the tub and took ahold of his elbows to help him in.
He tore away from the sight of her black nails, and shuddered at the temperature. He forced himself to ignore his frail body's complaints at the heat and pursed his lips. He never did well with hot water, but for his health, he had to tolerate the water.
Before long every ache in his bones vanished—they seemed to disappear within a matter of seconds. Ciel thumped his head again the high arch of porcelain, "Oh."
"Feeling better?" Kagome's eyes glittered with delight, as she sat before his side with her legs tucked underneath her body, sans her black jacket, "Take a moment to relax, and then I will work on your muscles."
Ciel twisted his nose, "In water?"
"Milord," she flashed him an amused look, "don't you fret."
Taking a moment to gaze upon the woman he broke into a nod, "I trust you." It was foolish to trust a demon, he knew. At her gesture, he shifted from the porcelain.
"For today, let's focus on healing." Kagome started, pouring scented water on his discolored back, "If you were to be an earl, it would be unseemly for anyone to see you at your weakest. I'll take care the rest, for now."
"Thank you." Ciel meant it, sincerely.
She chuckled instead.
Words: 1510
A/N: FYI, Kagome operates quite differently from Sebastian, although whether if that's a good thing is up to your interpretation. Just remember that Kagome is a demon, and not a good kind (if there even is any).
Fun fact: Youkai is an umbrella term for any supernatural beings ranging from ghosts, gods, demons, to even superpowered humans (folk heroes). Thus why I don't like to use it much in my works, because it'd be inaccurate to apply that term to characters like Sebastian and Claude unless you're intending to group them with characters like Sesshoumaru (Inugami: dog spirit), Shippou (kitsune: fox spirit), and even the Undertaker (Shinigami: death god).
Youkai is much too broad for me to use and it's also a Japanese term (which I feel weird using in my English-written works), so I avoid using it if I can.
That's all from my big mouth. Thanks so much for reading and please review!
