A/N: Here we are, another update! Thank you very much for all the reviews, alerts, and favorites! I really appreciate them! :D

Enjoy the chappie~!

Disclaimer: I do not own Black Butler in any way, shape, or form. I do, however, own Sophie and her family members.

Just as Sophie had assumed, Sebastian had not been happy once he found out the Bard had ruined the meat, Finnian had killed everything in the backyard, and that Mey-Rin had broken the tea set they were going to use. The only thing that had managed to remain untouched were the plates that the young witch had saved from Bard's flamethrower, and Sebastian, even though he was smiling, was far from happy. Sophie, as naïve as she could be, could tell there was a hint of danger in the air as he questioned everyone on what had happened, and everyone else knew it, too. Bard, Finni, and Mey-Rin were all apologizing profusely while Sebastian tried to think of how to solve their predicament.

The brunette actually felt bad for the demon. Everyone seemed to rely on the poor butler so heavily; it had to be rather burdensome at times. She could see why they did so, though. Sebastian was probably the most capable out of everyone in the manor, and so far had proved to be a rather good butler… No matter how inappropriate he could be sometimes.

Just as everyone had expected, though, Sebastian pulled through, shortly coming up with a plan on how to fix everything before the guest arrived. The butler began ordering everyone around, trying to get everything ready as quickly as possible. When it came down to what Sophie's task was, it was rather simple. All she had to do was set the table up once Sebastian had finished preparing the backyard, and until then, the young witch was to simply rest. Sophie didn't mind this too much, but she would have rather been doing something to help Sebastian rather than just sit around for a while.

While Sophie waited in her room, she decided to try using her magic again. The blue-eyed woman would try something easy and small first so that if the spell did go wrong, it would have a less disastrous outcome… I hope.

The witch had brought a cup of water with her to her room and planned to freeze it. It was an easy enough spell, especially with such a small amount of water. Muttering a few words, she concentrated on what she wanted to happen, being very precise in the way she pronounced her words. If she said anything in the wrong way, she could end up changing what the spell was supposed to do.

She watched in disappointment as her water, instead of freezing up, began to boil and steam. After opening her window, Sophie tossed the water outside and laid the cup down on top of the desk in her room. She sighed, upset with herself and with her magic. Why was it doing this? She had never had any problems with her magic before, other than the times when she was sick, and even then it wasn't this bad. When she was sick there was always a possibility that the spell would work. Now she felt like she had no chance of having any control over her magic. Sophie glanced at the cup, and then dropped her head again. At least it didn't blow up.

There was a knock at her door that caused the young woman to freeze. "Sophie? Sebastian is done with the backyard, yes he is, and needs you to set up the table now."

"Ah, yes! I'll be right out."

Setting the table was probably the easiest thing in the world for Sophie to do. She was done within five minutes; it was only the young master and his guest dining, after all. With the time she had left to spare, her blue orbs gazed around at the backyard, scrutinizing every detail. Sebastian had done a bang up job. He had constructed a traditional Japanese rock garden and had planted numerous irises. Sophie found it rather simple and pretty.

It took her a second to realize that the irises shouldn't be in bloom. Sophie remembered Sebastian telling Finnian to purchase iris seeds, not the flowers themselves, so how were they already in bloom? She wasn't sure about reapers, but she was sure Sebastian could pull off such a thing if he was a demon, or even if he was a wizard-

Her eyes widened in realization. I never even considered the option of him being a wizard. He if was a strong enough wizard, he could easily hide his presence from me.

Then she shook the thoughts away once again. Finnian had probably just gotten the flowers because he realized seeds would do no good when their guest was arriving that day. Sebastian had probably been mistaken when he told Finnian to get seeds instead of flowers. She was only over thinking everything again.

Then again, Sebastian wasn't one for making mistakes, was he?

"Sophie,"

"GAAH!" Sophie's hands flew up to clutch at her racing heart.

Hearing an amused chuckle, she whipped around to find Sebastian wearing his usual mirth-filled smile and tried her hardest not to glare at the laughing butler. Is he trying to kill me?

"Yes, Sebastian?"

"The guest has just arrived. You need to come to greet him."

"Of course," She smiled brightly, effectively covering up her annoyance at the demon… In her eyes, at least.

Sebastian wondered if he had been some ordinary human if he would fall for her façade. He had to admit that Sophie had a wonderful talent for covering up her feelings, which, no doubt, meant she was an amazing liar as well. This thought made him wonder if the back story she had told him when she first arrived was completely true; did she have something to hide? So far he hadn't been able to dig up anything about her other than her parents died in a fire when she was ten. Did she really have no other family besides her grandfather?

"Welcome, Sir Clause!"

Everyone stood in two rows, Tanaka heading the row that consisted of Sophie and Mey-Rin. Across from them stood Sebastian, Finnian, and Bardroy, and every servant bowed respectfully before Sir Clause, wanting to make the best impression possible and make sure he felt welcome. The older man gazed around in wonder at the manor, commenting on how beautiful it was now and greeting Sebastian once he had spotted the butler. After allowing Finni to take his jacket and hat, Sebastian showed him to the courtyard that had been cleverly made into something attractive. The beauty seemed to please the Italian man even more than the state of the manor had as he said a few words in Italian to describe it.

Sophie smiled, happy to see everything was running smoothly so far. Sir Clause adored the Japanese concept that Sebastian had managed to conjure up. She silently stood off to the side in case she should be called for, letting her own thoughts wander as Ciel and Clause began to talk of things that didn't much interest her. The maid finally began to pay attention after Sebastian began explaining what donburi was, and even then she soon lost her focus. A headache was slowly beginning to make its way through her skull, clouding her mind and making it hard for her to think. No, not now. We have a guest…

The pain was getting worse, and just at that moment, Sebastian spoke about the wine, giving her the queue to pour Sir Clause a glass of said wine. Putting on a polite smile to mask the throbbing pain in her cranium, she carefully picked up the bottle and walked over to where the Italian man sat, slightly swaying because of her headache. The pain had become so immense by the time she had reached Clause's seat, that her vision was doubled, which only made her task all the more difficult. She hesitantly reached out for the wine glass, lightly grasping it in her hand after missing first, and tilted the wine bottle.

None of this went unnoticed by the demon. He immediately noticed how out of it Sophie seemed and how she seemed to be in some sort of pain by the way her brow slightly furrowed when Ciel and Clause weren't looking. Her disorientation made him nervous. Honestly, he did worry for her well-being, but he was mostly concerned about making it through the evening without a mishap, so when she began to pour the wine, he made sure he prepared himself for whatever happened.

Sophie nearly breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she hadn't missed the glass. Thank goodness. Placing the glass back on the table in front of Sir Clause, she slightly bowed her head out of respect, giving another polite smile, and went back to her previous spot on Ciel's right. The brunette resisted the urge to curl up in a ball and cry; the pain had become excruciating at this point, and she encouraged time to speed up and let her get to bed more quickly. The young witch made sure no one was able to tell she was in pain, though, because the last thing Sophie wanted was to draw the attention to her. A pretty smile remained on youthful her face the whole time.

"Oh, Miss, would you mind filling my glass once more?"

"Of course, Sir Clause." Another deceiving smile. Why not try to reveal your true feelings for once? This could go sour, Sophie…

Sebastian almost stepped in to take care of the task himself, but Sophie, for a second, had managed to convince even Sebastian that she was perfectly fine. Only when the woman reached for the glass and missed a few times before grasping it did he realize she was still the same as before, if not worse. The butler concentrated on Sophie's hands, willing them not to mess up and miss the glass while pouring. All the servants and even Ciel who had also noticed Sophie's odd behavior were holding their breath as she went to pour the wine. The only one that was completely oblivious was Sir Clause himself who was speaking happily with Ciel.

Please land in the cup. Please land in the cup!

It didn't land in the cup.

Everyone froze, beginning to freak out. All that hard work, wasted! All over some spilled wine! Sophie quickly fixed the bottle so that the wine filled the glass and just stood there after it had finished. She had no idea what to do; what could she do? If her magic had been functioning correctly she simply could have muttered a quick reversal spell or something like that to fix the mistake she made, but her magic was still being a pain in the neck and didn't want to work for her. She felt useless, helpless, in the situation she had caused, and the witch felt absolutely horrible. Everything was ruined because of her.

Or so she thought until Sebastian, being the amazing butler that he was, pulled the table cloth right off the table without doing anymore than slightly moving the objects present on the table. Not missing a beat, Sophie placed the full wine glass back in front of Clause and swayed back to where she was previously positioned once more. The headache had been bad before, but now it was downright unbearable.

"Huh? Where'd the table cloth go?"

This man's boisterous voice certainly wasn't helping, either.

"Sophie, why don't you go ahead and retire for today? I can handle it from here."

Sophie nodded, not trusting herself to speak when she was in so much pain, and gave a quick smile in appreciation before beginning to walk away. Sebastian grabbed her wrist before she got too far, though, and continued. "We will speak about what happened later."

And then he released her, allowing her to hurry to her room where she collapsed almost immediately the moment she entered. The pain these headaches were causing was becoming worse each time she had one. Just what is causing this to happen to me? It has to be linked to my magic somehow; it only began after my magic started acting weirdly.

However, those were the last of her comprehensible thoughts before the pain became too much for her as she lay curled in a ball on the floor beside her bed. The brunette didn't even register a certain butler knocking on her door several times, and then entering her room when she failed to answer him. She vaguely registered being picked up and placed on the bed and something cool and damp being placed on her forehead, but nothing else really got through to her. The pain blocked nearly everything else out.

When he had entered her room, Sebastian had to admit he found himself a little worried over the young maid. She usually seemed so lively and perfectly healthy that the sudden change in her was a bit of a shock. Now the witch looked so fragile, so vulnerable… So weak.

The state she is in doesn't suit her at all. Sebastian thought with disdain as he placed a cloth in cool water, squeezed the excess water out, and placed it back on Sophie's forehead. Tears wouldn't stop flowing down her pale cheeks, and the demon found himself pulling out a handkerchief to wipe them away the best he paused for a moment, realizing he himself had started to form a bit of fondness for the woman, otherwise he wouldn't be acting so kindly towards her. He then dismissed the thought, deciding it was only the amusement that she brought him that was fueling him to be so kind to her. After all, she was the first of the servants that only amused him and didn't annoy him, though the spilling of the wine had irked him. She also hadn't been here very long, so Sophie still had time to do something to irritate, but for the meantime, she was in good standing. Let us hope it remains that way.

Cerulean pools began to slowly make themselves visible, causing Sebastian to smile slightly. As they adjusted to the light in the room, they searched around in confusion before settling on Sebastian and widening slightly in surprise.

"Wha? Sebastian, what're you-"

And then her cheeks were tinted a light pink as she seemed to either recall or realize something, which only made the butler smile wider in amusement. Her face was adorable when she was embarrassed; it almost reminded him of a kitten. Perhaps that was why he had already become so fond of Sophie.

"Sophie," Sebastian's face became serious, no trace of mirth present any longer. 'Would you like to explain what is going on? It seems you were in such pain that you collapsed before you even reached the bed. You have everyone worried."

"Well, I…" Sophie hesitated, glancing up and catching his gaze, rubies meeting sapphires. Sebastian could tell she was contemplating telling him the truth or feeding him a lie, and though her stubborn and secretive ways were only an annoyance right now, he was rather happy to see her acting in her usual manner.

Now this state suits her much better.

IMPORTANT! Right now I'm following the manga, but I may take certain things from the anime and follow them (like the arc with Pluto). What would you guys perfer, though?

I really hope you enoyed this chapter! Please remember to review so I know how I did. :) Ja ne~!

~1000WTBS