Yeah, I'm attempting to make Ciel less dependent on Sebastian in this story because it'll help him make a choice Sebastian isn't too keen on. And William being William, he won't find out what Grell's up to until he decides to go see for himself later on. And he won't like what he finds (By the way, there is more than just humor/romance in the story).
Disclaimer: Nope, I still own nothing.
Inside the Phantomhive mansion, Ciel had returned without any mishaps, and was currently seated at his desk. He was pouring through letters he had received that day, as well as some of the unofficial information he and Sebastian had gathered. Namely, info from the people on the street going about their business. Not that it had exactly helped with the investigation Ciel had taken on the day before. Dead ends whenever he thought there had been a reliable lead.
Ciel frowned in irritation as he added a few pieces of paper to a growing pile of useless information and rejected invitations. Why wasn't there any concrete evidence? Was there really no new information from today? Ciel was tired, but he was bound and determined to find something before Sebastian returned. He could almost see that condescending smile, which was why Ciel was still awake. Sebastian could carry him to his room if he wanted him to sleep. He was staying here until he found something.
Ciel picked up a piece of paper to look through it for something potentially useful, when a sudden explosion rocked the mansion.
Sha…BOOOM…crackacracka…ssssss…
Ciel dropped the paper in shock. 'W…What was that?' Ciel half-rose, before dropping back down onto his chair with a sigh. 'Sebastian should be back soon…he can deal with whatever that was…' Ciel picked the piece of paper back up. 'It was probably Bard destroying the kitchen in an attempt to try a new way of cooking.' Ciel sighed. 'Again.'
Ciel wondered vaguely how much money had been put into repairing the kitchen. 'Not to mention anything else that goes wrong in the mansion...' Ciel scanned through the first few sentences, before he was once again interrupted.
A single knock sounded on the door.
Ciel recognized it as Sebastian's and spoke, "Come in." Ciel looked up in time to see the demon butler enter the room and bow slightly, "I've prepared a snack. Would you like me to bring it here?"
Ciel noted that Sebastian was alone, "Did you bring Grell with you?"
"Yes. He is in the entrance hall. He won't be going anywhere anytime soon. I'll fetch him in the morning when you want to speak with him."
Sebastian said this in a tone that made Ciel believe that he had restrained Grell in some way. Otherwise, the shinigami would have followed after him. No doubt falling over himself in an attempt to try and get Sebastian to notice him...
"I see…" Ciel stared down at the notes and letters scattered all over the desk and yawned, realizing how tired he was, "It's late, Sebastian. I'll have the snack as a part of my breakfast. I'm going to bed." Ciel yawned again, "Would you be able to gather more information tonight or tomorrow morning, regarding the investigation?"
'Leaving it for tomorrow, again?' Sebastian held in a sigh, bowing once more, "Yes, my lord. I can see to it tonight. You may compare it with what the death god knows tomorrow."
Ciel nodded sleepily, allowing Sebastian to take him to his bedroom and put him to bed.
Sebastian made sure the window was locked, before pulling the drapes closed. He picked up the candelabra and exited the room as soon as he had deduced the Ciel was sleeping. Sebastian headed down the darkened hall, the candle the only source of light. Sebastian smiled to himself and blew out the candles, shrouding the hall in darkness.
It was time to get to work.
121
Grell had thought that he'd get to at least be with Sebastian at the mansion, but when they had reached the mansion, the demon had made sure to prevent that from happening. Grell had tried reasoning with Sebastian against what he was going to do, but of course, Sebastian ignored him and went through with his idea of restraints. The redhead sighed. That had been ten minutes ago...
Grell was dangling unhappily from a rope in the entrance hall, but was secretly glad that he wasn't hanging by his neck. Instead, the rope had been looped around his coat tethered arms, and around his chest, the rope attached to the ceiling. Grell was still trying to figure out how Sebastian had managed that.
Grell tested the rope's strength, before going limp again, wondering just how Sebastian managed to tie the rope so securely, that even he couldn't free himself from it. Grell began to smile and sway to and fro through the air, recalling that Sebastian had mentioned something about being able to tie cherry stalks with his tongue. It made Grell curious as to whether or not Sebastian had been serious when he made that statement. Grell smiled dreamily, "Sebas-chan…where did you go~? Why did you leave me here, all alone and lonely~?"
Something hit Grell directly in the face, followed by a low command of, "Quiet."
Pushing aside the fact that he had been hit in the face, again, Grell caught sight of Sebastian leaving the mansion. Grell wriggled around within the rope he was bound with, and let out a sigh of longing, "Ooh~ Sebas-chan~." Intent on Sebastian as he was, Grell wasn't thinking about what would happen if William found out he was actually in the mansion, when he had been specifically told not to go to the mansion to see 'the demon.'
Finny edged along the walls of the entrance hall, casting nervous glances up at the swaying shinigami talking about Sebastian as he headed to bed. The redhead looked…somewhat familiar. But…why was he here in the mansion anyway? Finny yawned. Well, there was no use worrying about it this late at night. He'd probably find out in the morning. Finny continued on his way to bed, wondering if Bard would be scolded by Sebastian for destroying the kitchen, again.
Tanaka, seated nearby, took a sip of his tea, "Ho, ho, hoh."
121
The next morning…
"Young master, it's time to wake up."
."…zzz…"
Twitch. "Young master…"
Swat. "…mmm..no…"
A sigh. Sebastian stared down at Ciel, who had wrapped himself more securely in the blankets, clearly showing that he had no intention of getting up anytime soon. This wouldn't do.
Drastic measures were called for…
121
Sebastian was puzzled as he headed for the entrance hall. All he had done was unroll the blankets from the boy and drop him onto the floor. Why Ciel had ordered him out of the room was confusing. Ciel was the one who wasn't cooperating.
Sebastian began walking down the stairs of the entrance hall, and paused, one eyebrow twitching. His untimely departure from his master's room was moments ago, letting Ciel deal with breakfast. Well…Ciel had ordered him out of the room to go get Grell…which led to the scene before him.
Grell had somehow managed to get down from where he had been hanging from the ceiling and was currently in the process of chasing Brad, Finny and Meyrin, demanding to be untied. Tanaka was seated in a corner, drinking tea, and being more or less ignored by the others. Grell stopped his pursuit as soon as he spotted Sebastian. The shinigami made an immediate beeline for the understandably unimpressed demon, "Sebas…chan~!"
Sebastian halted Grell's progress by grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, "Behave, or I'll drag you by your hair."
Grell made an unhappy sound at the very thought, but when Sebastian began to head back to Ciel's room, Grell tried to keep up with him. Sebastian managed to drag the death god anyway, which elicited an immediate response, "He…hey! This is not the way you treat someone so delicate, you know!" Grell made a strangled sound when Sebastian shot a narrowed glare over his shoulder.
Sebastian started walking again when he saw the other look away. Sebastian held in a sigh. Really. Why Ciel wanted this here was beyond him. There was no doubt in the demon's mind that Grell knew nothing useful.
Grell fell into a huffy silence, disappointed that Sebastian was now ignoring him. Grell pouted. How dare he ignore him! His face still smarted from the beating the previous night, not to mention being hit in the face by a flying object soon after the beating. Grell frowned suddenly. What would the brat and Sebastian do to him when they found out he knew nothing useful? Grell smirked faintly. Maybe he could investigate with Sebastian…somewhere dark...and all alone… "Ahh! What was that for?" Grell demanded, head stinging from where Sebastian had just hit him. Grell twisted slightly, and found that Sebastian wasn't looking at him. Instead, the demon's eyes were on the door to Ciel's room.
"…You were thinking something disgusting, weren't you?" Sebastian questioned.
Grell grinned cheerfully, managing to twist in Sebastian's grasp and lean against him, winking, "Sebastian~! How did you know I was thinking about you?"
"…" Sebastian said nothing in reply, other than to pull him away, knocking on the door before entering. Sebastian pushed Grell forward, "I've brought the information I've gathered, and this," Sebastian let go of Grell, indicating the annoyed 'this' as the shinigami prevented himself from hitting the ground face first.
Grell pushed himself up as well as he could with his arms pinioned, pouting. Sebastian didn't have to be so rude.
Whether Ciel wanted to bother Sebastian further, or to stop the death god from pouting (which was a disturbing sight, considering what he was capable of) Ciel spoke in a monotone voice, "Sebastian, untie him."
"Yes, my lord," Sebastian responded in an equally monotone voice, after catching a faint trace of amusement in Ciel's voice. Sebastian reluctantly untied Grell, and tugged the other's arms free from the red coat.
Grell adjusted his red coat fussily, before focusing his attention on Sebastian, a glint in his green eyes behind the red rimmed glasses.
Sebastian took an abrupt step back in response, cleanly avoiding a hug from the other. Pretending as though nothing had happened, Sebastian went forward to Ciel's desk, setting down a think stack of papers, saying, "This is what I found based upon what you asked to be investigated." Sebastian sidestepped to the right, as Grell tried to hug him from behind, plowing face first into the desk.
Grell stood up and staggered back, shaking his head as though trying to clear it from its meeting with solid wood, rubbing gingerly at his nose and throwing Sebastian an offended look.
Sebastian's face showed no sympathy for the shinigami.
This, of course, started up an argument, mostly consisting off Grell saying how horrible Sebastian was for avoiding him, and the demon not giving a damn.
Ciel decided not to comment on this spectacle, although his mind was slowly turning over the fact that Sebastian did appear uncomfortable, disturbed and irritated with Grell. Putting this aside for the time being, Ciel spoke to the red head, "Grell, are you investigating the group that is involved in the recent murders, who have ties to the occult?"
Grell turned his attention to Ciel and seemed to consider the boy for a moment before replying, "Yes, William asked me to look into it…" He declined to mention the there were a few souls he had been told to take care of. Grell knew William would be mad at him if he were to mention souls in front of Sebastian. Grell shook his head and instead complained, "He keeps giving me difficult missions…meanie."
Ciel realized then that Grell didn't know anymore than he did, and Ciel wondered if Sebastian already figured it out. With another glance between the demon and the shinigami, an idea was sparked. Holding back a smile, Ciel turned to Sebastian, "Could you go check on the others and make sure no more explosions occur? Oh, and see if the kitchens are still usable, or if we'll need to replace it again. Right now, I'd like to speak to Grell, alone."
This time, Ciel saw what looked like displeasure pass across Sebastian's face as he bowed.
"Yes, I'll attend to it," Sebastian exited the room, shutting the door roughly, right in Grell's face as the shinigami had tried to follow after him.
"Sebas-chan! Why must you keep attacking my lovely face?"
Ciel most defiantly had a plan now, and the red-haired death god was a part of it.
Grell grumbled something to the effect that Sebastian also shouldn't slam doors in a lady's face.
Ciel ignored the feminine reference, and spoke before Grell could say anything more, "Have you found any leads? Or are you only looking for one person as opposed to the group?"
Grell shrugged, turning away from the door and putting a hand on his hip, "I'm looking for a few of them, actually, not that the leads I did find were useful…I'm having a hard time locating them."
Seeing Grell glance over his shoulder at the door, Ciel quickly picked up one of the pieces of paper Sebastian had set down on his desk. Something caught his eye, and Ciel questioned the slowly retreating shinigami without looking up, "Grell..have you already checked out this lead?"
Ciel tensed as Grell was suddenly looming over his shoulder to read the indicated paper. There was a silence as Grell read with a thoughtful expression, before he let out a small sound of surprise, "Ehh?"
"Grell?" Ciel twitched as the shinigami sized the piece of paper out of his hands, staring at it.
The surprise was soon replaced by a small frown as Grell thought about something. Then, he smiled slightly as he spoke, "Sebastian found this, didn't he?"
"Yes, last night I asked him to go gather information…" Ciel responded, waiting patiently as Grell hopped around the room in a fit of rage, waving the sheet of paper aloft.
"Sebas-chan! You went off for this and left me all alone last night? You brute!" Grell made as if to rip the paper, holding it before him as if it were contaminated, "I should tear this up!" Grell suddenly dropped the sheet of paper back onto the desk and sunk to the ground, sighing in a woebegone voice "Ah, why didn't you take me with you? No fair!"
Ciel, unimpressed yet disturbed by this, spoke up, "Seeing as I have work to do, why don't you go check out this lead?"
Grell was back on his feet, huffily placing his hands on his hips and looking away, "Why should I investigate things for brats?"
Ciel scowled at the word 'brats' but the idea he had thought of made him overlook it, for now. "I was going to send Sebastian to check out the lead on his own, so if you're not interested, that's fine…" Ciel leaned back in his chair as Grell had all but thrown himself on the desk, a wide smile on his face again, all the pointed teeth showing.
"Alone. With Sebastian?"
Ciel, unnerved as he was, decided to take advantage of the situation, "Yes, that's what I was saying…" If it meant inconveniencing Sebastian, then he would do whatever he could to accomplish that.
Before Grell could really think of being alone with Sebastian, said demon entered the room again after knocking. Grell threw himself off the desk and at Sebastian enthusiastically, "Sebas-umpf!"
Sebastian had, once again, side stepped Grell, at the same time tripping the shinigami and causing him to fall to the ground. Sebastian approached Ciel's desk and bowed, "Bard destroyed the kitchen (again). I've dealt with it accordingly," Sebastian said with a rather chilling smile.
It took Ciel a lot of willpower not to shiver at the tone, and decided that he did not want to know what Sebastian had done. So, he ignored it, "Sebastian, I want you to go and check the lead you've found. The one about the graveyard. As the group is presumed to be active only at night, you will go tonight."
Sebastian bowed again, "Yes, my lord." That damn smile was still in place…
Ciel's lips curled into an almost smile, "Good, and Grell will be accompanying you. He's offered to help, as his job appears to overlap our investigation." As soon as he finished speaking he thought, 'Take that.'
Sebastian's smile had faltered, and his body had frozen in place as soon as he had stood up from the bow, "What was…that?"
Ciel held back a pleased smile. So, Grell did bother Sebastian enough to through him off his usually calm demeanor. Acting as though what he had said was no big deal, Ciel responded with, "Having a shinigami may prove useful, right?" 'And inconvenience you with an annoyance I don't want to be bothered with.'
Sebastian, on the other hand, did seem to see a problem. Thrown off, Sebastian didn't see Grell sidle up to him and wrap his arms around one of his. Sebastian only noticed Grell clinging to him when the other rested his head against his shoulder, sighing happily.
Sebastian's eyebrow twitched, displeased with this, and turned his eyes to Ciel to gauge his reaction to what Grell was doing.
Ciel was still looking at Sebastian as though he didn't think anything was amiss.
Sebastian, however, did think this display Grell was doing was wrong, and he knew that Ciel had to have realized by now that Grell annoyed him …Sebastian's eyes widened a bit, then narrowed at the innocent looking Ciel. 'Conniving little…' Sebastian calmed himself. Now was not the time. Feeling Grell trying to get closer, Sebastian decided to deal with the shinigami's behavior first, "Let go. Now." The red head didn't, and Sebastian could almost see the teasing little smile the other wore, as he shook his head and snuggled closer.
Ciel decided to take pity on Sebastian…at the moment anyway. "If you could let go of him Grell…it's almost lunchtime." This drew a huff from Grell.
Sebastian believed that Grell was getting ready to complain and put up a fight, telling Ciel not to order him around. Sebastian was understandably surprised when Grell reluctantly let go with a small sound of disappointment.
Grell stood silently for a moment, looking at Sebastian, before eying Ciel, "When are you going to honor that promise you made to me?" He questioned quite suddenly.
There was a stretch of silence.
"Well?" Came Grell's impatient voice.
"Young master?" Sebastian's tone was confused yet suspicious.
Well, that was an interesting bit of information to bring up with Sebastian in the room.
Ciel attempted to gather his thoughts. It was hard to accomplish with two pairs of equally serious eyes staring at him, waiting for him to speak and answer their questions.
121212
Ciel, you're in so much trouble with Sebastian, making deals behind his back. Tsk, I fail on making explosion sounds. Next chapter (up soon, because it connects with this one) will be in the mansion for a bit more, before Ciel decides to go visit Undertaker with Grell (and yes, I'm making Sebastian a sadistic bastard, because eventually this story will be WilliamxGrell).
