Hajime

"Deal."

"Hadrian I'm going to get more servants for the Phantomhive manor," Sebastian said as he strolled into the kitchen where the green eyed male was cleaning up dinner. It had been six months since the younger demon had arrived, making that a whole year since he had made the contract, give or take a few days.

Sebastian had to admit having Hadrian around the manor made things a lot easier and slightly more interesting with a companion he could talk to. Sebastian himself wasn't able to pull off demonic acts for anything without a direct order but Ciel couldn't stop the smaller demon from doing it. Of course it didn't happen very often as he'd requested for the other to be discreet but Ciel had still found out and chucked a vase across the room. Hadrian, of course, only angered the child more by using his supernatural speed to stop the precious antique from shattering against the wall.

And then there was that strange first meeting between the two which still weighed heavily on his mind. He abhorred having a lack of knowledge.

Sebastian still couldn't figure out why Ciel hadn't protested more to Hadrian's stay or why the boy had actually stopped his oncoming tantrum at the sight of the demon's hand. Neither one of them would say a thing about it.

Sebastian led Hadrian inside the entry hall and quietly closed the doors behind them. He was quite surprised when he found Ciel standing at the top of the stairs in his pajamas. The boy's shoulder were shaking and his face was flushed an ugly red. Glancing over at Harry, Sebastian saw that instead of the blank features he was used to the small demon was, quite obviously, trying to hold in laughter.

"Where were you, you stupid demon!? I've been looking everywhere," Ciel shouted.

Immediately Hadrian stepped out of the shadows into the dimly lit foyer. The amusement was gone replaced with simmering anger that the child would be unlikely to detect as unused to subtlety as he was. Immediately Ciel straightened up and tried to adopt a blank mask.

"He was going out to get me you little brat." Ciel looked stunned before his hands started twitching as if he were going to throw something. "I made a deal with Sebastian here and no, it is not a contract that will impede your own. I agreed to help him serve in the Phantomhive Manor in exchange for…well I'm not going to tell you : I am a demon here only for Sebastian, not a spoilt little brat. I am not afraid to show when I am displeased in any way. My patience only stretches so far…"

He'd thought humans couldn't turn purple. It was quite amusing to see. Right when the master of his contract was about to scream Harry held up a hand and to Sebastian's surprise, Ciel froze. There was no demonic energy so that meant that the child had actually stopped at the sight of Hadrian's raised hand. How curious.

Ciel followed the path of Hadrian's hand as it slowly descended to his midsection where it was then blocked from sight by a perfectly executed bow. Ciel's jaw clenched but he said nothing, only stood there for a moment. Then he turned to Sebastian and gave a look that plainly said they were going to talk about this later before the boy turned up the stairs and padded back to his room.

Harry finished putting the last pot away and gave Sebastian his full attention. "Stop calling me that name… And just why would you do that?"

"Well, they will be more protectors of the manor than they will be servants. Young master has ordered defenders for the manor. He doesn't want to leave Tanaka all alone when he takes both of us out."

Tanaka. He had been the Phantomhive Manor's old head butler and had given the head butler's crest Sebastian for him to wear. The old man had taken quite a liking to Harry and the small demon still couldn't figure out why. What was there to like? He was antisocial, sarcastic, and had a mean streak a mile wide when he wanted. The only person he was slightly different around was Sebastian and that was because he'd known him so long. But still the old man insisted the two (well they did now, it had taken the old man around three months to convince him to attend the first session) have at least thirty minutes a day where they would sit down, have tea, sometimes talk, and just relax.

Well Harry did like that the old man was persistent. And he might sort of like him just a little. No! No he did not! Bad thoughts Harry…

Harry turned his attention back onto Sebastian and asked how long he was going to be gone.

"A month at most. I do have to look all over the world to find people suitable to work for the young master after all."

Harry sighed. "Ciel does know that I'll be the one attending him while you're gone, right?"

"Yes and he has agreed to it," Sebastian replied with a smirk pulling at the corner of his lip.

"Bloody fantastic," Harry mumbled under his breath knowing that he would be heard anyway. "When will you be leaving then?"

"I have already put the young master to bed, so I will be leaving right now."

"I just have one request before you go," Sebastian turned back, curious. "Stop by Japan and bring me back all the different types of candy you can find," Harry said, his sweets addiction making itself known.

Sebastian sighed. "If you weren't a demon I'd say you would die due to sugar consumption."

Harry watched as he left and then huffed when he knew the older demon wouldn't be able to hear him. Ciel had always been trying to get Harry alone after he had shown him the brand on his hand. Sebastian had explained a few things about Ciel before they had reached the manor, so Harry figured that would shut him up. The kid was way too curious for his own good… Now he was going to have to deal with that pestering annoyance until the demonic butler returned. Ah, the wonderful situations he got himself into when he didn't actually think…

The next day Harry went to go wake up the little lord and get him dressed. It was really stupid that the kid couldn't even dress himself but whatever floats your boat, right? The session went quickly and Harry left the boy to make his own way down to the already prepared breakfast. He had decided that he was going to avoid the little lord as much as possible by actually cleaning the mansion by hand with no shortcuts. It wasn't that he had anything against deep cleaning, in fact doing it every once in a while was calming, it just took forever which definitely worked in his favor today.

Hours later, Harry had successfully avoided the child most of the day but he knew it wasn't going to last for much longer. Sebastian was the boy's tutor and it was Sunday, so that meant that tomorrow Harry was going to have to keep up Ciel's education. The bell for Ciel's study rang and he sighed before making his way through the manor.

When he entered the study Ciel immediately sent a barrage of questions his way. Harry, not wanting to commit murder, used a tendril of magic to seal his voice.

"Look little lord, I've already warned you multiple times that I'm not a collared demon and you're really getting on my nerves right now. But I can understand your curiosity and it was my own fault for showing you. So let's make a deal." Harry's fake smile turned predatory. "For every lesson you complete perfectly while Sebastian is away, I will answer two of your questions but you must speak of it to no one. Understand?"

The still magically silenced child nodded. Then Harry returned the gesture and slowly sauntered toward the boy who pushed himself back into the chair that was much too large for him. Harry let one of his black nails elongate into a talon as he grasped the boy's palm.

Ciel tried to yank it away but the demon's grip was too strong so he braced himself for anything, heart pounding loudly in his chest. A small slice on his thumb was his reward. Harry laughed mockingly at the terror the other was displaying.

"That wasn't so bad now was it, Little Lord? We're just exchanging a drop of blood to seal the deal," Harry explained jeeringly.

He nicked his thumb with his fang and then pressed it against the small cut. There was a flash of light signifying the sealing of the deal and Harry released his grip and silencing spell. He bowed mockingly and bid farewell to the still shivering shell shocked Earl of Phantomhive.

Harry figured Sebastian wouldn't be too happy that he had made a deal with his contract but it wasn't going to affect the older demon's meal so he didn't particularly care. He had all this extra work now so it could be considered a small form of payback. Now Harry needed to prepare lesson plans for the rest of the week and keep the manor clean while getting breakfast, supper, and dinner ready. He knew he couldn't ask Tanaka to help yet because the old man was still recovering. He'd probably be out of commission for years to come.

The next day Harry woke Ciel, sent him to breakfast, and then gave him his work for the day. The green eyed demon took amusement from the sheer effort the other was putting into his studies. The child was truly a very curious little creature. It took two hours for Ciel to complete the workload and Harry checked his answers. There was one mistake and he gleefully marked it and set it back on the boy's desk. Violin lessons were next followed by an entire routine that would have sent his head spinning if he'd been human. Still the boy was entirely focused, his tongue poking out slightly with his effort. Commendable and slightly entertaining.

Harry kept everything running smoothly in the Phantomhive manor for the next two weeks.

They dragged on monotonously before there was one study session where Ciel did perfectly in his performance. Harry tried over and over to find a mistake but he couldn't. The Little Lord had a perfectly smug expression that was ticking him off but there was nothing he could do, so he told the boy to ask his questions.

"How did you get that brand mark on your hand? And tell the whole story not just that they burned it onto your skin or something."

Harry's eyes narrowed. Well Sebastian did say the child was smart and had quite the strategic mind. But a deal was a deal so Harry answered with the truth.

"When I was only eighteen years old there was a group of men that found out I was," he paused his jaw clenching. He shouldn't care about this anymore but, "half demon. They used a magical brand and burned it into my hand to force me into servitude. I suffered for close to three centuries before I broke free and slaughtered every last wizard, witch, and magical child that I could find."

Ciel looked shocked for a moment before he reigned in his emotions and tried to put on a blank mask. It looked like he was having trouble figuring out what to ask next. He cleared his throat before shakily asking, "You said you were half demon? Elaborate on that."

"My mother was special and she found a way to have a child without consuming the father's soul. So the only half human, half demon in history was born."

Ciel looked as if he were going to ask something else but Harry waggled his finger and said, "Ah Ah. Only two questions remember? Now time for your violin lessons. Pay attention this is a new note sequence Sebastian wanted you to learn."

And so two more days passed but Ciel wasn't able to ask any more questions because Sebastian came home with two new servants. Harry gratefully left everything back in the hands of red eyed demon. He had been here far too long and he needed a break. He was also ravenous having gone a while without food and dealing with a curious child was grueling.

In his vacation time Harry wandered around France eating his Japanese candy. He loved sweets considering he was never able to have any as a child but unfortunately they just didn't satisfy him all the way. He had to have souls now; it was the negative side effect of coming back to his mother's original dimension. Sure Harry could go centuries without souls just like any other demon but he didn't like too. He never liked to starve himself. It brought back too many bad memories.

So Harry let himself go. He enjoyed every moment of his freedom and he feasted upon every soul he could make a contract with in his limited time. A few exorcists tried to hunt him and he made a game of chasing them like mice before he killed them. Other than holy water, nothing they used could harm him and there had yet to be a verse found in the bible that could send him back to Hell, thankfully.

It came to an end much too fast. Two weeks had passed and he had told Sebastian that he would be coming back. With how much fun he'd been having he almost wanted to stay out an extra day or two but he had obligations. Oh woe that he actually liked Sebastian from time to time. So Harry set off for the Phantomhive manor in England.

He reached the building around midnight and silently let himself in through the back door. As he went to pass through the kitchens as a shortcut, a very large gun pressed itself into his lower back. It was quite the impressive display from a human almost catching him off guard.

Turning too quickly for the human eye to see, he knocked the gun from the man's hands and pinned him against the wall. His hair was dirty blonde, cut short, he had muddied blue eyes, and he was wearing a cook's outfit with a toothpick between his teeth. Harry glanced at the gun and found, instead, a flamethrower. Impressive. Just what kind of guardians had Sebastian cobbled together?

He looked back at the older human and growled, "I mean no harm. I was just on my way to the servants' quarters to go to sleep. Just because I've been gone for a few weeks does not give you the right to attack another servant of the Phantomhive manor."

The man stopped struggling and stared for a minute, seemingly taking in Harry's shaggy black hair, glowing green eyes, and the Phantomhive crest on the side of his jacket pocket.

"You must be Hadrian then!"

Harry's grip tightened for a moment as he gritted his teeth at the sound of his full name. But then he released the new… cook, by the looks of him, letting him drop to the floor, and spat out, "It's Harry! I hate it when people call me Hadrian."

Grumbling about Sebastian and his stupid annoying tendencies, Harry turned and set off towards the servants' quarters again to actually sleep for the first time since he left the manor.

It was the next day that he was introduced to the other servants. He met Mey-Rin, the new maid; and Baldroy, the new cook. Harry sent a curt nod to Baldroy to acknowledge last night before he introduced himself as the servant that 'just did anything that needed doing'. They got quite the kick out of that.

After another week of working with the new servants he found they were completely useless around the household. As Sebastian was usually busy with Ciel and cleaning up what the other servants messed up, it was left to Harry to teach them how to work around the manor. Mey-Rin would have been just fine if it wasn't for those glasses but she refused to take them off because they came from the young master. Harry just grumbled about Ciel making his servants incompetent and just gave her a list of chores that a maid usually took care of.

Baldroy, on the other hand, was a lost cause. It was so ingrained in his psyche that you had to be able to cook food fast to eat that he always messed up meals by trying to cook it with his flamethrower; sometimes even explosives. Harry tried to show him that with some food, slow was the best way to go but he just couldn't get through to the man. So Harry or Sebastian usually made meals after Baldroy had blown up the kitchen.

Harry grew accustomed to cleaning up messes that the new servants made. Actually he was positive that he cleaned up more now that they were around than he did before they had come.

Around eight months later Ciel and Sebastian came back from a mission with a third servant in tow. Keeping in mind how inadequate the other two were he had very low expectations for the new kid but he'd give him the benefit of the doubt. As he'd stayed home to try and beat some skills into the other two he was also put in charge of their newest gardener.

Finnian, who liked to be called Finny, had no idea about what to do when gardening. He only wanted to be outside because he had been trapped and experimented on. Harry could sympathize; his time in the ministry's control had been hellish at best. The Unspeakables had been happy to have a new toy to study… So Harry spent the most time with Finny. The boy was childish but it was more of the 'happy about making new discoveries' type than the 'temper tantrum' type like Ciel could be. So Harry had no problem with Finny, he had even gone out and bought a new straw gardener's hat for the boy so he could cover the experiment number on his neck.

Though, he did warn the boy that he was, under no circumstance, to touch Harry's special garden. Wouldn't want him to get eaten by plants after all or, worst case scenario, end up killing all his extremely rare and precious children that he was able to bring along with him on his journeys. Not that Finny knew any of that or could even find the garden easily seeing as Harry had cloaked it and no matter his super strength the boy was still human.

But this was his life. It wasn't a bad life, truly. He was happier now than he had been in… a very long time. That was what worried him.

AN: Ah Chapter 2 complete. It took me a few reedits to get it here and I'm still not happy with it. I hope ya'll enjoy it at least.

A big giant thank you to everyone who reviewed! I hope you'll leave another message again ;)