Ciel's cough sounded nastier in his feline form than it would have as a human, but it was drowned out by the louder sound of the rain. Water began to seep through the cardboard roof above him, a drop falling on his small grey nose. Ciel began considering dashing back out into the rain to find a better shelter. It would do no good if his present one melted around him and left him soaking wet regardless. He was preparing himself for a cold, wet dash when a shadow blocked out the streetlight. Someone was leaning down to look into the box. Ciel then realized that he had been meowing loudly, and must have attracted attention. Stupid instincts. The face of a man showed at the opening of the box. His face was rather angular and handsome, with a few strands of long black hair overhanging his warm eyes.
Ciel arched his back sharply, the fur spiking along his spine. He retreated to the corner of the box, staring up at the man warningly. He even threw in a brief lash with his paw for good measure; sometimes that worked to ward off the overly-interested humans with big hearts.
The warm eyes widened, the full mouth parted and the man looked at him like he was the very first kitten he had ever seen in his life.
"Lovely blue eyes…soft grey fur…such defiance in the face of adversity…" The man mumbled in a soft tone of fascination.
'Terrific, he's mad.' Ciel thought to himself, growling a little. His tough front was shattered by another harsh cough. Before he could recover from the spasm that shook his tiny body a hand reached out to touch him. He hissed loudly and tried to squirm away, but he was too small and tired to fight for long. He was wrangled into the man's grasp and then lifted up and held close to a warm chest.
"Easy now," The man crooned. "You sound like you're sick. Don't you want to be warm and dry?"
'Oh no of course not!' Ciel thought angrily, hating it sometimes when humans spoke down to him, 'Why would I want to be warm and dry when I could be freezing and wet?!'
"Come on, little thing, let's get you home."
The man held an umbrella in one hand, and as he started walking Ciel had to admit that it felt nice to be completely shielded from the rain, and yet it had been so long since he had let a human touch or hold him that he felt uneasy. The man's gait made him nervous, and he continued to squirm a bit, meowing every few seconds. Finally though, he resigned himself to sitting still in the man's grasp.
"There, now, you see?" The man asked. "I'm not hurting you, am I?" Ciel was still wary, but decided that some food and a place to stay might not be so bad for a while, as long as the man did not discover what he was. The only complication would come with feeding his human body. Ciel decided that he would keep his guard up and worry about that later.
The man must have been a businessman of some sort. He wore an expensive leather coat and Ciel could smell high-end cologne. Something about the scent soothed him, as if it was something he associated with his long-forgotten father. He had to wonder what a man with apparent wealth was doing walking home in the rain instead of driving, or being driven.
After a while he pawed about in the man's arm, finding the warm shelter of his bent elbow. He poked his face into the crevice and stayed like that, hoping that all would be well.
"Hiding, are you?" The man chuckled. "Well, I suppose that is the warmest place. Don't worry, we'll be home soon."
Ciel growled. 'And he's also one of those who speak to animals at length. Lucky me.'
Ciel's hiding place was disturbed a long while later when the man closed his umbrella. He peeked out and saw that the man was opening glass doors that led into an extremely nice lobby. This must be an expensive building of flats. It looked more like a hotel. The first sound he heard was that of a violin being tuned.
"Ah, Sebastian, you left your car at work on a night like this?" A voice called from the other end of the lobby. Ciel caught sight of a man wearing a fedora, sitting in one of the lobby chairs. In his long, almost gangly fingers a gleaming violin was being attended to, every string tested to ensure it was in tune. He looked an odd character with his sweeping silvery bangs, obscuring most of his face. He didn't appear to be old enough to have hair that color naturally. Ciel wondered if he had purposefully dyed it.
"Quite the opposite actually," Responded the man, Sebastian, who was holding Ciel. "I left my car here when I left for work this morning. Thankfully the office has umbrellas."
He shook the umbrella a little, and Ciel squirmed as a few drops flew from it and hit his face.
"Oh, I'm sorry little thing." Sebastian said, rubbing his cheek a bit with a finger.
"And what do you have there?" The fedora man asked, lowering his bow with interest.
"A kitten. Well, an older kitten, but I just found him out in the rain."
The silver-haired man stood up to bend over Ciel and inspect him with his hidden eyes. He cocked his head to the side and gave a strange little giggle, making Ciel's spine arch again.
"I'm sure he'll be a fine cat once he doesn't look like a drowned rat."
'Say that to my human face, you bum!' Ciel thought angrily. Sebastian gave his wet head a little ruffle with his fingers and chuckled.
"Yes, I'm going to clean him up now. Feel free to come visit sometime, if you'd like to see him looking presentable."
"It's a good thing that the building doesn't ban pets. That's all I have to say." The man said, drawing back and dropping into his previous chair as if losing interest.
"Yes, quite." Sebastian stood there for an extra second before walking past the man. "Goodnight, Laurence."
The odd man hummed in response and went back to tuning his violin.
'Obviously the wealthy can afford to be weird.' Ciel grumbled in his head.
Sebastian took an elevator, and Ciel watched the numbers light up all the way to the number six. Then Sebastian got out. He went down a very nice hallway and stopped before door 606.
When he unlocked and entered the flat, Ciel's huge blue kitten eyes widened at the sight. It was a penthouse. The décor was a mix of modern and classic, with extensively tasteful use of black, white, and red.
He only saw the huge main room as a swiftly moving panorama as the man carried him through it to a set of stairs. Wrought iron staircase with thick padding on the steps. No human with this kind of home would risk owning a cat. It made no sense.
"Now, we'll just go in here…" Sebastian continued to murmur to him, softly narrating everything he did. "Just let me get my briefcase put away…I also have to get out of this coat…"
Ciel squirmed as Sebastian shifted his tiny body from the crook of an arm to one of his large hands as he shirked out of the coat. Ciel began to meow loudly again in protest.
"Don't be like that, now." Sebastian said, drawing him close to his chest once he was rid of the coat. "I'm going to take care of you. We'll get you some milk in a moment." The man carried him to an exquisite bathroom, kicking the door shut as he entered.
"There you are, little thing…" He said, placing Ciel on the floor at last.
Ciel stood, unsure of himself as the man carefully stepped over him to get to the sink. After a second or two he began to slink along the wall, eyeing the man. He had taken off his suit jacket and was rolling up his sleeves, letting the water run in the sink and testing it with his hand every few seconds. Ciel had a sinking suspicion he knew why the water was running.
His suspicions were confirmed as Sebastian turned to find him. He had tucked his long black hair behind one ear, showing more of his pale face. He smiled and leaned down to pick Ciel up. Ciel scampered quickly, paws slipping on the black marble floor as he darted beneath the claw-foot bathtub.
'This is how a cat should react. This is how a cat should react. This is how a cat would react.' Ciel kept repeating to himself. He wanted to be clean very badly, but he had to keep up appearances.
"Come now, little thing, you're filthy from being on the streets…" He let the huge hand catch him and neatly lift him out from his hiding place.
Ciel knew he was in a dilemma; in truth he wanted to be clean more than anything else, and yet he could only pass himself off as a real cat by acting like he was being dunked in acid. So as he was lowered into the mini pool of warm water filling the spacious sink, he jerked, yowled, and spat. Sebastian did not appear to mind being splashed, and continued to coo to him while holding him firmly by his scruff.
"There now…the worst is over…it's alright…" Ciel eventually stopped struggling. He was unsure if a real cat would have been won over, but he could not help himself; the water felt so wonderful he couldn't fight it anymore. He was sure to school his cat-expression to look lost and confused, as if he had just tired out.
"That's it." The man said, and began to gently scrub him. Ciel feigned weak attempts at escape every now and again just to keep up his charade, but he felt like he was in heaven. Once Sebastian had fully soaked his fur he poured a small amount of soap onto his back and rubbed it on his whole body.
Ciel had been bathed by humans many times when he was younger, but it had been quite a while. It was a strange and yet pleasant experience. Just the feel of all the filth from the street being scrubbed off him to his skin was enough to make him want to love this human forever. In the back of his mind, however, he knew that his human body was still just as dirty. He let the thought pass as Sebastian ran the faucet over him, rinsing him. He pretended to fight, but the water was turned off by and by. Then he was then lifted out and bundled into a towel.
"That must feel so much better, eh? Even if you really do look like a drowned rat." Sebastian laughed, not seeming to be surprised that Ciel let him dry him without any complaints.
'If this didn't feel so good I'd scratch your face for saying that.' Ciel coughed a few times without warning, and Sebastian clicked his tongue.
"That'll go away after a while, I daresay. Once you've had a warm house, warm food, and warm care to tend to it. I can get some medicine as well."
Ciel's eyelids began to droop a bit as the man's drying turned to more of a massage, rubbing long his back, his cheeks, the crown of his head. His fur began to dry and fluff out ridiculously.
He had been exhausted when Sebastian found him, but now he felt like he could fall asleep on the spot. Despite his view on humans, he knew he owed this one. He began to purr deeply as contentment spread through him.
Unexpectedly, he was lifted up from the towel and Sebastian placed his ear right against Ciel's warm, fluffy side.
"Mmm…you're happy, aren't you, little thing?" Ciel could not stop his purring despite the man's action, and let Sebastian hold him like that and enjoy the sound.
"Well, you'll be happier once you've drunk your milk."
The words made Ciel's ears perk up, and he did not struggle as Sebastian picked him up and carried him back down the spiral staircase. Once more Ciel was dazzled by the amount of open space as they headed to the kitchen. There the man placed him gently on the ground. Ciel watched him with unblinking eyes as he poured milk into a bowl and warmed it in the microwave.
"You know what this is, don't you?" Sebastian asked, smiling down at him as he drew it out and stirred it. As he lowered it to the floor Ciel pranced right up to it and began lapping hungrily. He lost himself. It was so good. His empty stomach sang as it was filled with the warm, creamy substance. He didn't even care that the man stroked his back every now and again as he drank, he just closed his eyes and enjoyed himself, purring as loud as he could.
He tried to ignored the awareness of his human body, which was still hungry, dirty, and unwanted.