Overall rating: M for gore (varying in its graphicness) and sexual situations (not too explicit, but still present)

Pairings: Sebastian/Ciel WILL be the main pairing, just not yet; slight Undertaker/Ciel (they are NOT in a romantic relationship!). More to come.

Warnings: Overall Shounen-ai, shota, yaoi, and blood. Dark themes. The general confusion of the characters, maybe.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Kuroshitsuji and never will.

A/N: I decided to post this one already because I'm curious to what you are going to think of it. Thank you so much for your reviews and favs and alerts, you guys are great! =D

Updates should come every Wednesday from now on.

Chapter 2

In two weeks, Sebastian formed and ended a new contract: She was a young woman who had killed her husband for his money. He'd wanted to laugh when he'd heard, but had restrained himself from doing so. She was the main suspect of the investigation, and they'd found too much proof against her. She'd told him that she didn't want to go to jail. That she wanted a better life somewhere else.

He'd said it wouldn't be a problem.

And it wasn't, really, because she never specified what he could and couldn't do. Also, he'd never told her that he'd get her soul at the end of the contract; the beginning had been its end at the same moment. Sebastian had only waited an additional week to see whether she would ask him what he would get out of the contract.

She never did, so he decided that this was getting boring too quickly.

When he killed her, he was reminded of Ciel again. He'd thought about the (former) Earl the whole time, usually beginning with the same question (why is he still alive?)and trying to figure out how it could have happened that he was still there and in the same body that the demon had left back.

The woman's soul wasn't above mediocre, her vanity and greed being its only spices and weaker than he'd anticipated. During his meal, he concentrated on ripping out every last bit of her essence, comparing this process to what he'd done to Ciel and tried to find the differences.

For one thing, he wasn't loosing himself.

Could it be that he'd made a mistake, that he had missed something because Ciel's soul had driven him into ecstasy? The only thing that could have led to Ciel's survival on his side was a loss of control. He'd already been in slightly delusional states before the boy's soul, but it had never led to such results. It was simply a demonic thing to let yourself go but it never interfered with a demon's plans. Sebastian couldn't be the reason for Ciel's presence in this time. Therefore, this situation probably wasn't even his doing.

Taking the last gulp, he dug his fingers into the skin of her ribcage, tearing it open with a sickening crunch.

For a few seconds, nothing moved except for her head, which lazily rolled to the side.

Quite dead, he noted as he let the corpse fall to the floor and left the room to use her shower.

A certain Earl continued haunting him. He'd never anticipated it, but if he'd known that there would be another meeting between him and Ciel, he would have imagined it differently. The boy had been quite angry, and Sebastian couldn't even understand why. Maybe the boy blamed him for his immortality, but since Sebastian couldn't find a mistake on his side, he shouldn't be accused. It was just that easy.

He washed all the blood off him, catching a glance of himself in the mirror facing the shower. It was the moment he knew he'd given in. Instead of leaving the boy to his dubious experiments, he had to bring light into the matter. Also, the kid was supposed to be dead, and if Sebastian could find a way to do it, he would kill him.

But first, he needed information.

A nice, long conversation with the boy would do.

OOO

The Undertaker watched Ciel watching people from the window of his room. The (eternal) boy felt the other's gaze at the back of his head and finally turned around. "What is it?"

Apparently taking it as an invitation, the man stepped into the room and sat on Ciel's bed. Hair pins kept the silver bangs out of his face. "We don't have to leave yet."

Ciel still had to decide whether having the Undertaker know his way of thought was a good thing or not. Right now, it wasn't. "I'm aware of that."

He didn't mention that the knowledge of Sebastian being in London made him feel anxious. Anxious and angry, to be precise. Back then, he hadn't understood why the demon hadn't consumed all of his soul, waking up in coffins usually took away deeper thoughts than that, but now he knew: He had been reduced to nothing more than some simple snack for the other one. Sebastian had left him to himself, he'd just gone away, and now that he felt hungry he'd come back to finish this.

Ciel didn't know whether he should be glad or very, very enraged. Thus he was both. He wanted to go and he wanted to stay. He wanted to end this life and he suddenly felt he could do more. He'd never visited university, if he was to die before people noticed the stagnancy in his appearance, it would (not) be alright.

Death was suddenly very close and Ciel, who had seen more years than any other human being, welcomed it and pushed it back to the front door at the same time.

"Then you shouldn't entertain the thought." The other male pointed at the digital watch on the nightstand. "You should go to school, instead. I might already have customers at the mortuary."

Upon hearing this, Ciel raised an eyebrow. "Were you waiting for me?"

"I actually overslept, but you could call that waiting, too." The man cackled at his own words before sighing. "That's what happens when you don't sleep in one of your shop's coffins and have no customers to wake you up."

Ciel snorted softly before picking a casual outfit together. When he wanted to leave for the bathroom, though, he was stopped by the Undertaker.

"You're not wearing this."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather have me naked?"

"Maybe", the Undertaker said, grinning widely, "but that is beside the point. You should put on your school uniform. Aren't you writing a test today?"

Ciel stayed silent. They both knew that the boy didn't need school at all. Having learnt enough for a top graduation at university, he was bored to death in secondary school and simply wasting his time.

With a sharp edge to his grin, the Undertaker spoke up again. "Your teacher called. She told me that you're absent most of the time. She suggested a meeting with your parents –"

"Okay, I'm going." Ciel huffed and swapped the outfit in his hands for his grey school uniform. This time, the Undertaker let him pass, cackling madly.

The last time, it had happened three years ago, somewhere in New York, where a teacher had suggested a parent-teacher meeting. The Undertaker had gone as Ciel's father, but he'd had company:

Ciel's over-enthusiastic 'mother' had been played by no one else than Grell Sutcliff.

Suffice to say that Ciel had urged the Undertaker to change states after that embarrassment where he'd resumed going to school regularly.

The boy shuddered at the memory, paused and wondered what he needed to do to persuade the Undertaker into 'home schooling' him. He readied himself for the day (it was almost lunchtime by now) before climbing down the stairs. The eye patch was securely tied around his head, hidden by his hear. Sometimes, children experienced the need to open the knot, which was why Ciel used medical eye patches most of the time. Today, however, he felt like wearing a good, old-fashioned silken one.

On his way out, he grabbed a few of his so-called guardian's biscuits and an apple, biting into it as he left the house. The Undertaker was already waiting for him in his (surprisingly normal) black car, looking faintly amused. Ciel suspected that it had something to do with memories of Grell as his temporary wife.

He wasn't quite right.

Somebody cleared his throat right behind Ciel, making him whirl around to come face to chest with Sebastian himself. Suppressing a startled yelp, the boy jumped backwards and glared at the demon.

"Young master", the other male started, and stopped as Ciel turned and went to climb into the Undertaker's car. He didn't want to see Sebastian. It made him slightly nauseous. He felt a light itch in his right eye and walked faster.

Before he could reach the car, the demon blocked his way. "We need to talk, young master."

Ciel clenched his teeth together. "I don't feel inclined to do so."

At the same time, he did want to talk.

"It's rather important", Sebastian said, then paused as if he was weighing his words. At the end, he settled for a single word: "Please."

The boy pushed the demon aside, knowing that the other decided to let it happen, and climbed into the car. "Come back at five", he said before closing the door.

The Undertaker chuckled as he started the car.

"Care to share your amusement?" Ciel asked dryly.

"I actually find it sad", the Undertaker said with a shrug. "You're torn. It's written all over your face." Stopping at a red traffic light, he turned his head to Ciel. "I kill him if you want me to. My death scythe is waiting for it."

"I know that what I feel is not written all over my face", the boy said defensively, "and don't get into a fight with Sebastian. Yet."

The lights switched to green. His 'guardian' gave a small smile. "You know, we laid out your corpse, him and me." He paused, then let go off the steering wheel to draw quotation marks into the air. "Your 'corpse', that is."

Ciel was too busy freezing into his seat, for it wasn't the best time to not pay attention to London's traffic. Usually, the other didn't do things like that in a car anymore, though it had taken him months to stop doing things other than driving and concentrating on where and how he was driving. He heard a short laugh and saw the Undertaker's hands going back to the wheel in his peripheral vision. Only then did he allow himself to relax. "You never told me that."

"Well, now you know." The older male tapped his long nails against the wheel before he switched on the radio and hummed along with the latest pop song. "He quickly went away after that but he made sure you'd look good at your funeral. Not that I couldn't have done it myself…"

Ciel ignored the last bit. "But he knew I'd wake up again", he muttered to which he saw the Undertaker shrug in response. Maybe Sebastian hadn't expected him to regain consciousness before he'd find himself six feet under. That demon and his twisted sources of entertainment. With a small exhale, he switched to the classical station. One of Bach's concertos filled the car and Ciel lazily looked out the window while the Undertaker changed from humming to whistling along.

Eventually, they arrived at Ciel's school. When the boy wanted to open the door at his side, the Undertaker grabbed his wrist. "You hopefully know what you're doing", he said. "I won't be there when he comes."

Ciel felt his mouth go dry, but managed to look unaffected nevertheless. He guessed his efforts wouldn't make a difference, but then again, they never did with the Undertaker. That man wasn't fooled.

He nodded before he wrenched back his arm and got out of the car.

OOO

Sebastian rang at precisely five pm. Ciel, dressed in casual designer fashion, opened the door, giving him a single dark look before wordlessly letting him come inside. The demon didn't say anything, either. He took off his shoes and neatly placed them somewhere next to the door.

The boy led him into a lavishly decorated living-room. "Tea?" he asked, sounding tense.

Sebastian wondered when the young master had learned to boil water. Maybe living with the Undertaker did that to former nobles. "Only if you have some", he said politely, "I do not wish to be a bother-"

The boy walked out of the room.

Sebastian closed his mouth and instead chose to sit down on the lush couch in the room's centre.

Something was wrong with Ciel. He hadn't expected such unfriendliness from him, but maybe the boy was just upset at meeting him again. He didn't know how such meetings went when one of the two present wasn't supposed to be breathing anymore.

With a cup of tea in each hand, Ciel returned to the room. Sebastian took the one he was offered with a small smile, trying to read the reason for the other's ill humour from his expression, to no avail. "How have you been, young master?"

"Fine", said the boy, sitting down with a posture that was too stiff to be comfortable. Scepticism shone in his eyes. "We've been travelling around a lot since that day."

Sebastian nodded. Somewhere inside his gut, there was a pleasant feeling that could be connected to Ciel's suspicion towards him. "Have you spent all this time with the Undertaker?"

An almost-glare. "Yes, I did."

Sebastian cocked an eyebrow. He had guessed that pleasantries wouldn't bring him anywhere. He decided to skip them. "Not that I'm glad, but let me be frank: How come you're still alive?"

Ciel's expression darkened quickly. "You know why."

The demon blinked. Ciel had said it with so much conviction that he almost felt stupid for not knowing. "I don't. Please enlighten me."

A blue eye searched his face, then Ciel gave a low sigh and lifted his eye patch. When the other eye opened, Sebastian couldn't help the surprise that overwhelmed him.

The mark of their contract was still edged into the boy's orb.

With his gaze fixed on his former master, he rose from his seat and set his cup on the coffee table. He walked over to the other, who stiffened even more and flinched slightly as the demon raised his hand to his cheek. Sebastian frowned at Ciel's reaction but chose to postpone the interrogation by a moment. Instead, he traced his thumb over the skin under Ciel's right eye, intently looking at the mark. Maybe he'd come too close, because the boy shrank back, his gaze full of conflict.

"Why is this still there?" Sebastian asked, slightly pulling back. He didn't take his hand off the other, though, brushing it through Ciel's soft hair.

"I've never fulfilled my part of the contract", Ciel said quietly, looking unhappy.

"You have", Sebastian said. "I took all of your soul. Even though I still sense a piece of it inside you, about which I came to talk to you."

"You left it there, you imbecile", the boy suddenly spat, slapping the demon's hand away. Something almost visibly snapped behind those mismatched eyes. "Don't you dare toy with me. I'm sick of it. Take it. I'm sure it even tastes better than it did back then."

Again, Sebastian felt confusion settling inside him. He started despising that emotion passionately, which didn't add to his good mood. "I don't know what you're talking about. Unless your soul rebuilt itself, you shouldn't be alive. I'm sure I devoured it, every single shred of it."

The boy got up and pushed at him. Sebastian didn't allow himself to be manhandled this time, not moving an inch. "Don't lie to me, Sebastian. You know I hate it. Just take what you came for!"

"I came for answers, and you sure aren't giving them to me", the demon said.

"Because you already know them!" When the boy gripped at his shirt, trying to pull him into his direction (or not), Sebastian closed the distance between the two, enraged and very confused. He brutally pressed the small body against the nearest wall, hoisting him up so that they were on eye-level. He wanted to dig up the boy's ruined soul and leave it somewhere in the back of his mouth, half connected, because this would cause him enough pain to spill everything. If he found out what caused this situation, he would be one step closer to ending it.

Before he could cover the other one's mouth with his own, however, realization hit him:

Ciel belonged to him.

Sebastian wasn't bound to the boy anymore. On the contrary, Ciel still beard the contract that marked him as the demon's property because he still had that shred of his soul to give.

This... was too good to be true.

The demon couldn't suppress a smirk as he let the boy down. "Do you realize that you belong to me? I can take anything from you. Answers... other things..." His hands snaked around Ciel's waist, pulling the small, warm body flush against his, slightly lifting the expensive t-shirt in the process.

With narrowed eyes, the boy tried to push him away, but he was rather caught between the wall and his former butler. His hands gripped at Sebastian's, trying to force them away, which only resulted in them travelling under the thin piece of clothing. The glare that the demon got was nothing less than poisonous. "The only thing that belongs to you is my soul and therefore my life. You may take it, if you wish, for it is your right to do it. Any other thing you might want from me is not yours to claim or take."

Stopping his actions for a moment, Sebastian pondered this. Unfortunately, Ciel was right in what he had said. After all, he wasn't bound to following commands or anything similar; all he had to do was give up his soul.

And oh, Ciel seemed ready to thrust it at anyone right now. Sebastian felt his exhaustion and the weak, little glimmer inside him. He'd anticipated more from that boy, but then again, he could remember how intent Ciel had been to fulfil his part of the contract.

"You'd give up your soul this instant if I wanted it?" he asked, just to hear the answer from the boy himself.

"Yes", Ciel said, as if it was obvious. "But I can see it doesn't matter. Apparently you'd rather push me against walls than take it." He hesitated, his gaze flickering to Sebastian's hands under his shirt. "I'm in a relationship."

Sebastian blinked. "Pardon?"

Ciel blushed a tad, looking furious. "I'm taken, you deaf creature, so take your filthy hands off me. You cannot have me except for my soul." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Get it when you need it. Until then, I don't want to see you again."

That's not how it goes, was what Sebastian wanted to say, slightly surprised at the turn of things. The boy shouldn't refuse him. He should give up, beg for Sebstian to own him so that the demon would fulfill his wish. Instead, he forbade contact and told him that there was someone who already had him. He did everything wrong.

Sebastian was intrigued, wanting to toy with the boy until he broke (and kill the person who had Ciel).

He leaned in, close enough to brush his lips against the boy's cheek who went rigid upon the contact. He moved further to the other one's ear. "Then you might not see me in a long, long time, dear Ciel."

He would try a different approach. If the boy refused him, he would soon willingly give the demon everything he had. If Ciel urged him to take his life, Sebastian would make him cling to it first, only to take it away afterwards. After all, the boy belonged to him, and Sebastian would not only own his soul, but also his body and his mind. Who said he couldn't enjoy the time until he killed Ciel?

The boy stopped breathing, carefully turning his head to the demon. That's not how it goes, was what his look said, shock settling in mismatched eyes. Sebastian, infernally pleased now that he had regained the upper hand, removed his hands from the boy's warm skin (small hands held the demon's as if demanding him to stay but quickly let go), bid his goodbyes and left.

Ciel didn't stop him.

When the demon closed the front door behind him, the Undertaker was approaching the stairs. The former reaper smiled pleasantly – as pleasantly as it went with his usual disturbing grins – and Sebastian noticed his hair pins. So much for the recommendation. "My, my, the demon." The man cocked his head to the side. "I've been carrying around a special coffin the size of a boy for years now. Will it have an inhabitant?"

"He's not dead", Sebastian said, carefully keeping his expression void of any emotion. Could it be that the Undertaker was the one who had claimed Ciel for himself? Sebastian considered the man for a moment, growing angrier with his own affirmation to the internal question. Of course it could be. The two of them had passed one and a half centuries together. Ciel belonged to Sebastian and had been since the moment the contract seal on the demon's hand had vanished; how dare the Undertaker claim him? Sebastian felt like ripping the other man's head off. He had been given what should have been Sebastian's: The boy's mind and body. The demon only had that remaining piece of soul while the Undertaker was in possession of the whole rest of him and would keep it beyond the child's death.

The demon would change this.

"You look slightly ruffled," the Undertaker said with a giggle, forcing the demon out of his thoughts. "What did you do to my ward?"

He looked as if he already knew. Sebastian felt the ugly beast called envy raise its head. "Why don't you ask him," he muttered before descending the stairs.

"Do have a nice day!" the Undertaker called after him, probably waving at his retreating back. "And don't forget, you're always welcome."

Another A/N: Those that think there will be some Undertaker/Ciel romance in here, please remember what I wrote in the warnings.

Please tell me what you think of this =D