As soon as the man was no longer conscious, the butler rushed forward, removing both his jacket and shirt as fast as he could without tearing them. It would have been pointless to tear the fine clothes, even if he was about to use them to stop the man from bleeding to death. He assessed the prone form in front of him as soon as he dropped to his knees, trying to work out which wounds were the most serious.

What he noticed first was that the left arm was broken and the right dislocated, meaning he would have to be mindful of both. It also appeared that either his legs or his knees were broken. Many of the bleeding wounds that littered his entire body had only punctured the skin and were of no serious concern. There was however a deep breath that he assumed was on his front because he couldn't see it. It was also likely that he had several cracked or broken ribs to add to the mix.

Satisfied with his assessment, he secured several sturdy branches, the straightest ones he could find on short notice, into the left sleeve of his jacket and carefully slid Kakashi's broken arm into it, tying the limb into place when he was done. He then tore the stitching out of the shoulder before tearing the rest of the jacket into long, wide strips that he used to bandage as many of the wounds as possible, as well as securing the dislocated arm to his chest without putting too much pressure on the ribs.

Sebastian then tore several strips of fabric from the bottom of his shirt to tire off the rest of the wounds and pulled the remainder of his shirt back over his shoulders. He sighed in disappointment when he discovered that his shirt reached only to the base of his ribs. It was beside the point however as he could not hear the man's breathing beginning to become increasingly laboured and his heart rate was slowing down.

"Damn," he hissed, carefully lifting Kakashi into his arms and cradling him in his arms as gently, and as securely as he could. One he was sure that he had a firm hold on the unconscious man he took off, running as fast as his demonic abilities allowed him.

Luckily for him it took him mere seconds to reach the manor and as he reached the door to the servants' quarters he slowed to a speed that humans were capable of. Sebastian kicked the door open and rushed inside, heading straight towards his sparse, barely used room. It was fortunate that he had to pass the doors that led to the other servant's rooms, as he would need their assistance.

"Bardroy! Finnian! Tanaka! Wake up this instant!" he yelled through the wood, kicking the bottom of the door as he did. "I need your help!"

There was the hurried scuffling of feet behind the door and seconds later the incompetent cook was there, standing straight backed with a serious look on his face. Behind him Finnian was blearily getting to his feet as he wiped sleep from his eyes and Tanaka was standing at the foot of his bed, ready to act.

"What do you want at this time of – bloody hell! What happened to him?" Bardroy said, noticing the bleeding man in the butler's arms.

"I don't know, but I need your help now or he'll die!" Sebastian said quickly. "Finnian, I need you fill the largest pot in the kitchen with water and boil it before bringing it to my quarters. Tanaka, please wake Mey-Rin and tell her I need a strong needle and thread, as well as small towels, clean bed linens and bandages. Bardroy-."

"I know what to do. I've seen stuff like this before. I know how to stitch a man back up," Bardroy said grimly, jaw clenched tightly.

"Thank you, now please hurry!" Sebastian and Bardroy hurried off to the butler's room while the other two men hurried off to fulfil their designated tasks. Bardroy ran in front of him to open the door to the room and strip the top sheets and blanket off the bed. The moment Sebastian laid Kakashi down on the bed the cook had started tearing the sheet into strips.

The two men worked in perfect synchronisation with each other, Sebastian removing the blood soaked remains of his uniform and tossing them onto the floor. He then covered the open wounds with the strips that Bardroy handed him before moving onto the next injury. When clothing got in the way they carefully pulled it away, leaving the injured man lying on the mattress in only his underwear. By the time they were done, there was a pile of bloody rags on the floor next to Sebastian's feet, and Kakashi almost looked like a mummy. There was barely an inch of skin on him that wasn't covered in bandages.

At some point Tanaka had come in, a large stack of sheets and towels in his arms, topped with a bowl filled with bandages and a needle and thread. He knew to stay back until they were done, and so the moment they were done he stepped forward and put them on the bedside table. Then he and Bardroy left the room, hurrying off – Sebastian supposed – to the kitchen.

Once he was alone, he covered his face with his hands and sighed loudly. While he had hoped somewhat – back in the deep recesses of his mind – that he would meet the white haired man again, it never crossed his mind that they would reunite under the circumstances that they did. It wasn't what he had hoped for at all (not that he had been hoping). He would have preferred that they met under calm, controlled conditions. Not finding the man bleeding to death in the woods.

Taking a deep breath to regain his composure, he straightened his back and strode over to his wardrobe. He pulled open the door and stripped out of the remains of the shirt he was currently wearing. Once it had joined the ruined pile of clothes on the floor he pulled out one of his old, already stained shirts so that he didn't have to ruin another with blood stains.

He was just buttoning his collar when Bardory came back in, followed closely by Finnian who was carrying a large pot of steaming water. Tanaka put one of the towels he had carried in earlier on the floor and Finnian put the pot down on it, a small amount of water splashing over the sides as he did. After that he ran back out of the room, looking a little pale.

"Tanaka, can you have Finnian boil more water," Sebastian said, not looking at him as he pushed up his sleeves and stepped towards the bed.

"Yes sir," Tanaka bowed slightly and walked quickly out of the room.

"Bardory, sterilise a needle and be ready to start stitching the moment I have cleaned the area," he said calmly, looking up to see Bardroy nod and start trying thread off into the needle he was using. He then dropped it in the pot of water, holding onto the string so that he didn't lose it in the water. Bardroy moved to the side of the bed and nodded again.

Sebastian then placed a roll of bandage next to Kakashi's torso and dipped one of the towels into the boiling water. After wringing excess water out of the cloth, he pulled the make-shift sheet bandages away from the largest wound in Kakashi's abdomen. He then cleaned the drying blood away before Bardroy swooped in and started stitching the gash shut.

Closing and cleaning the wounds was a long, arduous task that took several hours and two new pots of boiling water. By the time they were done, the sun was close to rising over the horizon and everyone, excluding Sebastian, was desperate for sleep. He allowed them to retreat to their room to get a few hours sleep after they had carefully lifted Kakashi off the bed so that they could change the sheet under him. They then put him back on the bed and carefully remade the bed around him.

Once the room only had two occupants again, he built a fire in his rarely used fireplace, making sure that it would burn hot for a long time without needing to be seen to. He knew that Kakashi probably had pneumonia, so it was vital that he kept warm. If he didn't then his situation would definitely get worse, and he might not recover. As it was now, he wasn't sure when the ninja woke up, or what condition he would be in when he did.

Satisfied with the fire he had built he stripped out of his dirty shirt and peeled his blood soaked gloves off his hands. He threw the clothes onto the floor to join the pile that he had moved onto a towel. By now the sun was rising, and he didn't have much time until his Young Master would be wanting his tea. Not wanting to waste any time, he wrapped the dirty clothes in the towel and hurried out of the room to dump them in the laundry, before hurrying back to get dressed properly.

Satisfied with the way everything was currently playing out, he hurried into the kitchen to prepare his Master's tea.


"I heard some commotion last night Sebastian," Ciel said coolly, sipping nonchalantly at his tea. Sebastian was surprised by the statement, but schooled his features perfectly so that nothing showed in his face.

"Is that so?" Sebastian said calmly, standing at attention behind the boy like any good butler should.

"Yes. I would like to know what it was about." There was no question involved, so Sebastian had no choice but to answer in full honesty.

"Last night I came across…a friend of mine who was in a bad situation. I brought him back to the manor and had the other servants help me ensure his survival," he said evenly.

Ciel snorted at his words. "You? A friend? That's laughable. What really happened?"

That annoyed Sebastian. How dare that stupid human accuse him of lying? "Young Master, you know that I don't tell lies. I found someone I know in the woods outside the manor in a dire state. I brought him back to my quarters and had the other servants help me save his life. That is all, I swear my Young Lord," he said with a slight bow.

The boy was quiet for a few moments, taking another sip of his tea before setting the cup down on the saucer with a small clink. "Very well. Move him into one of the guest rooms and see to it that he has all the things necessary to ensure his health."

"Yes Young Master," Sebastian bowed again, hiding his smile behind the hair that fell across his face.


The room was hot. That was the first thing that registered in his mind. The second was that he was sweating because of that heat. The third was that every part of his body hurt in some way or another. Fourth, his body felt stiff and unused, almost as if he had overworked every muscle for days in a row. Fifth he was itchy. Terribly, terribly itchy. It felt like ants were crawling over his skin, or hundreds of mosquitoes were biting him at the same time. Either way it was unpleasant.

He couldn't gage anything about his surroundings without getting up and looking around. But he didn't feel like doing that. Even though it felt like he had been sleeping for a month, he was exhausted and didn't want to open his eyes or sit up for move at all. Although it would probably be a good idea if he did. You know, just in case he had been captured by the enemy and they were just waiting for him to wake up so they could begin to torture him to their hearts content. That wouldn't be fun. If that was the case, then he should probably get up and see if he could work out how to escape.

This internal debate lasted for a few minutes before his instinct won out, telling him that he needed to at least open his eyes and see where he was. So, despite the fact that he really didn't want to, Kakashi forced his eyes open and found himself squinting at a high, ornate ceiling in a room that he had absolutely not recognition of. He tried to look around, but the light movement made his head hurt and a twinge of pain shoot through his neck.

Furrowing his brow at the pain, he then noticed that most of his face was covered in bandages. That was odd. If he had been captured then why would his enemies bother to bandage his injuries? Unless he hadn't been captured but instead had been found by a farmer and his wife and they had taken pity on him and decided the help him out. That would be nice. Unlikely, but nice.

He heard a door open somewhere on the other side of the room and instinctively moved his head in that direction, groaning when pain shot through his spine. What he saw though, made him forget the pain as anger boiled inside him. Why was he here? Was it him who had treated his wounds? If so, he was beginning to wonder if he wanted to be taken care of by him.

"Ah, it seems you're finally awake. That's good to see," Sebastian said courteously, a pleasant smile crossing his features.

"Why are you here?" he hissed through clenched teeth.

"If it weren't for me, then you would have bled out in the woods over a week ago," the man in black said, dropping his polite airs as the door closed behind him.

"Yeah, well I would have preferred that to seeing your face again," Kakashi said, rolling his head so he was looking away, despite how much the movement hurt.

"So you wish you were dead? You would really prefer that over being in my company?" the butler asked smoothly. "How sad."

"Shut up!" Kakashi roared, shooting up into a sitting position so that he could glare at the other man. "I almost died after the last time I met you! Not only that but I gave you my trust and you destroyed it! Why the hell would I ever want to see you again?!" he reached around behind him and grabbed one of the pillows he had been using and tossed it across the room as hard as he could. He was only mildly satisfied when Sebastian had to raise a hand to deflect the object. "Get out! I don't want to see you!"

Sebastian frowned at him, but did as he asked and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him with a soft click. The moment he was out of sight, Kakashi flopped onto his side, curling up in a ball as pain flowed through his body, both emotional and physical. He didn't want to see Sebastian again. Ever. Now he just had to convince himself of that.