NB: Think of this as free fluff for those of you who might have been disappointed by the last chapter.

I'm tempted to warn of OOCness on the part of Sebastian here, but I daresay he's not OOC by the manga's standards. I distinctly remember his inordinate love of cats. Oh, and I don't own Kuroshitsuji.

Hey, pammazola, thanks for being my muse on this. And BskiT, I freaking love you. Seriously.

Alexandra watched Sebastian from the mullioned window of the library. She had hidden herself behind the half-closed shutters, carefully remaining in the shadows so that she could see without being seen. Sebastian was…well, he was adorable. She'd never seen him quite like this. He'd run across a cat on the grounds and was now lovingly crouched over it, practically nursing it by hand with milk from a saucer. A goofy grin was plastered to his face, and she'd have taken a candid photograph if she didn't know that he'd not be caught on film at all. Nevertheless, seeing him so unguarded was the strangest thing she'd encountered since the time he'd decided that the ballroom was better suited to a gauntlet of magical booby traps than it was mosaic floors and fine art. Training, he'd called it. Then she had ordered him to set things right. She smiled fondly at the memory. Honestly, witnessing the more human whims of her demon left her with an inexplicable unease in the pit of her stomach. Her Sebastian was expedient and ruthless, an expert assassin with a cold-blooded mentality to match. But as she watched him through the window, she was once again struck by how unbelievably normal he seemed. She scrubbed her face, as though by doing so she could disillusion herself about the creature outside who was now allowing a stray cat to claw at him mercilessly as he delightedly ran his long fingers through its fur. It's a good thing you're immune to infection, you idiot.

It was then that she'd noticed the striking resemblance between the demon and the feline. Both were raven-haired and had fathoms deep eyes that shone scarlet in the sunlight. Sebastian had always seemed to her to be feliform in nature. He moved with a fluid precision that could seem either dangerous or sexy depending on his mood. Even his voice became a purr in certain situations—situations which typically involved his trying to put Alexandra off her guard. And like the cat outside her window, her demon had the uncanny ability to attract attention like a flame draws a moth. She also suspected that his lacquered fingernails would become claws if he were feeling threatened or particularly frisky.

These observations were cut short by Yuri's approaching footsteps. Sebastian clearly heard them as well, even through all the obstructions. He looked up at the house in the direction of the library, but Alexandra knew that his line of sight was blocked by the shutters so she stayed put. Oh, so you've no compunctions about spying, but you don't like being spied upon? He stalked off, leaving the disgruntled feline in his wake. It looked after him helplessly. Alexandra half expected him to turn back.

"You're always smirking like than when you're up to no good. What have you done?"

She chuckled. Yuri was a remarkable man who always saw too much. Indeed, she'd purchased the cat and let it loose on the grounds, knowing that Sebastian wouldn't be able to resist its charms. Alexandra had grown rather tired of the demon getting the better of her at every turn. Sebastian's supernatural powers likely outstripped her own, and she was sure that he'd be impervious to all of her feminine wiles if she should try to seduce him in the same way that he often tried to seduce her. Not that I have any intention of finishing what I start anyway. As such, she was left with few options in terms of exerting any sort of control over him. She could have ordered him to do whatever she liked, of course, but Alexandra much preferred the challenge of compelling his obeisance without resorting to explicit commands.

"The other day he pushed me against the wall."

Yuri raised a cautionary eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Relax. I'd thrown a cup of tea in his face." She had to restrain herself from laughing hysterically at the mere memory of the flabbergasted look on Sebastian's face when she did that.

"I'd have paid to see that."

"And it would have been worth any price, I assure you. Anyway, shortly after I returned to my bedroom, I started sneezing uncontrollably. When I removed my clothes, I saw cat hair on my sweater. It was all I needed to put two and two together."

"He'd been feeding the stray cats on the property. How interesting." There was a touch of bemusement in her guardian's voice and Alexandra knew that they had both hit upon the same implications.

"Indeed."

"But I thought I'd rounded up all the strays on the grounds and taken them to the shelter."

"I bought one back."

"Why would you do that when you're allergic? Surely, you aren't naïve enough to believe you can bribe him with a pet. He's a demon. He's probably fattening it up so he can eat it."

She laughed at that. Yuri was a remarkable man, yes, but one with a terrible sense of humor. But he'd not seen what she had. No, Sebastian was being affectionate. It was a characteristic she never expected him to possess, and she knew with relative certainty that his affection would only make its appearance on very rare occasions. It was a small, almost insignificant thing. But it was his only tell so far, and she was determined to manipulate it to her advantage.

"Because the next time he puts a toe out of line, I'm going to threaten to take it back to the shelter." She laughed evilly. I wonder if he heard that, she thought. And then she realized that it mattered very little if he heard since he'd so obviously grown attached to the little beast. How's it feel to be in check, Sebastian?

Yuri simply gaped in disbelief. His ward had driven to the city, bought an animal that made her sneezy and stuffy, let it loose on her estate—all of this simply to achieve the tiniest bit of leverage over her contracted demon. Furthermore, she was treating this slight, temporary advantage as some hard-won war victory. He shook his head. This is the most ineffective plan you've ever come up with.

"What?" She looked at him indignantly. "At least I didn't threaten to kill it. Or to eat it."

He merely shrugged. "You know, Sasha, sometimes I feel like the two of you really deserve each other." He walked off, head still shaking in disapproval. "You're both fools," he said once out of earshot.

Alexandra remained happily oblivious. She recommenced gazing out the window, smiling mischievously at her new unwitting ally which was now gamboling amongst the shrubbery. Maybe we do.

'F' is for 'feline' or 'feliform' or 'free fluff'. You decide.