A/N: Okay. Again I feel like it took me too long to get this up but my beta reassures me that I am making good time. I hope you like it as I no longer think that it sucks. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Maybe I don't own Kuroshitsuji or Kuroshitsuji II but I do own Ciel... (Lawyers walk in) I meant my Ciel plushie! (Holds up said plush) So get out of here!

Dreams: Ciel

Dreams are just your mind's way of taking everything that has happened in your day and processing it.

Logically, Ciel knows this.

So at first he tries to push the dreams off on history class and the fact that Sebastian teaches history. This only works until the dreams remain set on Victorian England when they are learning about the American Revolution in class.

Ciel is then forced to admit that the dreams he used to have when he was a child might not just be a coincidence after all.

He desperately wants to say this is Sebastian's fault for telling him that he was an earl in a past life and that Sebastian himself was his butler.

Among other things. The look in those red eyes had said at the same time.

But he doesn't want these dreams to be real. Ciel doesn't like the idea that he had no choice in meeting Sebastian, that everything that has happened to him is part of some sort of pre-arranged fate. It would make the good things less valuable.

And the bad things even worse.

Ciel does not believe in fate or any prearranged destiny. He believes in individual will and choosing your own life. This means that he is very skeptical about the possibility of reincarnation.

But Ciel is skeptical about a lot of things. He learned early on that having hopes and dreams and always looking on the bright side is a very good way to get hurt. So he doesn't.

At least his dreams don't challenge that.

One night, Ciel dreams about how he died.

He doesn't remember much about that night, only waking up in the middle of the night to stumble into his bathroom and dry heave over his toilet. He comes close to hyperventilating or at least something similar.

He can't remember the dream itself, but he is absolutely certain that he died. The remainder of the night is spent sitting in bed with his cell phone in his hands, debating whether or not he should call Sebastian.

That night, Ciel permits himself a small shred of optimism. He has Sebastian. Sebastian who loves him and has told him so, on occasion. Sebastian who isn't bound by any invisible fate and chose to seek Ciel out through his own force of will.

Looking back on it, that event may very well be part of why he got sick in the first place.

Ciel paged through his book with a look of disinterest on his face. He was sitting in a comfortable chair in the office room of Sebastian's quite large apartment while said teacher was grading papers.

He had just recently recovered from his bout with the flu and Sebastian would rather the boy stay indoors for a few days to prevent catching it again. Ciel had no complaints with that line of thought.

Impossibly blue eyes stared at the page unfocused. He had been looking at the same page for the last several minutes but he wasn't really reading it anymore. He was thinking. Sebastian had refused to answer Ciel's question about how he had died and he wanted to know why.

If, for the moment, Ciel assumed that his dreams were accurate and that the things he saw in them had actually happened, it was impossible for him to have died from anything but natural causes. He had made a contract with Sebastian, so he would be protected until it was completed. But the price for the contract was my soul. If we had completed the contract, I wouldn't be here right now. Which means...

Ciel closed his book firmly and set it down.

Sebastian glanced up at Ciel when he heard the book shut. He knew that Ciel hadn't been reading it for at least the last ten minutes, but what had prompted him to make Sebastian aware of that? "Have you found that book boring?"

The boy ignored the question. "Did we break it?"

A brief silence reigned over the room. "Break what?"

"The contract."

Sebastian's pen slipped from his fingers and landed soundlessly on the stack of papers. A slow, carefully-constructed smile overtook his features. "I don't recall telling you about that." Maybe it would have been best to outright deny the existence of the contract, but he had promised Ciel that he would never lie to him.

Ciel glanced at him sourly. "I don't have to depend on you to tell me everything." It sounded more like a child's pride than it did cold, hard fact but that was beside the point. "Answer me, Sebastian: Did we break the contract? Is that why I died?"

This again? The dark-haired demon stood up. He looked at Ciel critically, scrutinizing the way the boy sat, the paleness of his skin, the look in his eyes. Something is wrong. He carefully walked over to the young Phantomhive and reached out a hand to brush the hair back from his face.

Ciel flinched at the contact but didn't slap Sebastian's hand away, instead letting the demon run his fingers through the strands of blue hair. The boy then closed his eyes for a moment, taking advantage of the soothing effect of the gesture.

"Answer me." He insisted.

Sebastian didn't answer; he simply continued with his gestures.

This time Ciel did force the hand away. "Sebastian!" he snapped.

Sebastian sighed and looked at Ciel calmly. "I can't tell you." He said in an even voice. "As you are right now, you can't handle that sort of information. Correct me if I am wrong, but you almost remembered what happened."

Ciel sat still and silent. He wanted to deny it, but staring into Sebastian's eyes made that utterly impossible.

"You got sick shortly after that, didn't you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" The blue haired boy more so demanded than asked. Sebastian wasn't giving him a straight answer and it was beginning to annoy him.

"I'm saying that as you are now, it could kill you."

The air in the room seemed to freeze, and for a moment, Ciel forgot how to work his lungs from shock. His voice didn't come out very well, even when he could speak again. "What?"

Sebastian reached out to touch Ciel's face again, in hopes of calming the boy slightly. "A soul's past life is a very delicate matter. There are a great deal of things that are safe to talk about. Death, typically, is not one of them. If it triggered the reliving of your death you could very well die and I am not about to take such a risk." Leaning forward, he swiftly brushed his lips over Ciel's before pulling back the slightest distance.

"You will have to forgive me, but I refuse to let go of something so precious."

Ciel could feel his face heat up from embarrassment at Sebastian's choice of actions and words. The boy shut his eyes and turned his head away indignantly. "I'm ordering you not to hide details like that from me anymore." The words were out of Ciel's mouth before it occurred to him what he was saying.

Feeling his blush darken, he cracked his eyes open the slightest bit to steal a glance at Sebastian.

The demon had a mildly stunned expression on his face that gradually morphed into a half-smirking smile. "Yes, my Lord."

End

A/N: Okay, that's all for now. The next will be another one suggested by Hilaire. Arigatou Hilaire. And arigatou minna for taking the time to read this update. (Bows) I hope it meets your expectations.