Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.
Author's Note: Ha! I bet you expected the chapter title to begin with an R, but as I said before that was actually unintentional so you should have seen this coming. So not much actually happened in this episode of Kuroshitsuji so most of this chapter is just stuff I had already planned to use in making a filler chapter later, but it is important to the story line so by filler I don't mean like an OVA. Sorry if characters are OOC. Just so you know most of the interaction between Sebastian and Ivy happen at night or early in the morning because from what I know there are very few other times when he is not with Ciel or fixing other servants mistakes. Comment, rate, and enjoy the story.
After waking Ciel up and giving him his breakfast Sebastian left to wake Ivy up. He had given her more than an hour to sleep in assuming that she would not want to wake up at nine as she usually did. He arrived at her room and chose to knock before going in just in case she had woken up at some point. Getting no response he opened the door and went inside only to find exactly what he was expecting. She was still curled up on her bed fast asleep.
He attempted to wake her by opening the curtains, but she just groaned and turned to face away from the light. That told him that she wasn't in a deep sleep, but also wouldn't be easy to wake. He thought for a few seconds about different ways he could attempt to wake her. Deciding on a method he walked over to the side of the bed that she was now facing and crouched down and leaned forward so that his face was level with hers. He reached out and lightly grabbed her shoulder and began trying to shake her awake. She just squirmed away from his touch and chose to ignore his presence. Already having assumed that would be her response he then leaned forward so that his face was at most two inches away from hers. "I'll give you until I count to five to get up. If you don't then I'll be forced to use a different method to wake you."
He's too close. She attempted to move away from him but he had put his hand on her side keeping her from moving. I really don't want to know what he's about to do, but I'm too tired to get up. I wonder if he'll consider it enough if I just open my eyes. Probably not, but I guess it's worth a shot.
"Two." She had missed him say one while she was contemplating what to do. That's what she chose to assume anyway. It seemed just as likely to her that he had chosen to skip it.
"Three." Opening her eyes she realized exactly how close he had gotten and once again tried to move back until she was stopped by the hand on her side. Mustering all the strength she could in her half asleep state she tried to push his arm away. All she got in return for her efforts was a smirk.
"Opening your eyes isn't enough. I will only move my hand if you start trying to get up." She responded by staring at him for a few seconds before continuing to try to get out of his grasp. It didn't hurt or even feel slightly uncomfortable to her, but she didn't like how close he was. He responded by shrugging to show her that he had given her a chance before leaning slightly closer. "Four." He was so close she felt she needed a barrier. For lack of any other options she grabbed a pillow and put it over her face.
"You're a horrible person." She mumbled it into her pillow and if he was sure that if he was human he may not even have heard it much less understood it. He hadn't expected her to do such a thing, but it only caused his smirk to widen. He had made the right choice when deciding between tactics. Just by invading her space he was able to make her uncomfortable enough to start waking up. There were definitely faster ways to get her up, but this was the most entertaining out of all of them.
"How unfair." Grabbing the pillow with the hand that wasn't holding her in place he easily removed it from her tired grasp. "Five." Without giving her any time to react he leaned forward until his lips touched her cheek within a centimeter of her mouth. He stayed in that position for a few more seconds before moving away. She responded by reaching up and rubbing her cheek until it turned red in an attempt to wipe it away. Chuckling lightly to himself he leaned forward and did it again. Once again she reached up and rubbed it off. Wanting to see how many times she would have the same reaction he leaned forward once again and repeated the action.
"Why do you keep doing that?" She practically whined as she rubbed her cheek again.
"I warned you that I'd do something if you refused to get up by the time I counted to five. Are you going to get up now or would you prefer I do it again?" There was amusement in his voice and she was slightly annoyed when she realized that he got his way regardless of what she did; though she assumed he would prefer she chose the second option.
"You never said that you'd do it three times in a row." She was stalling to avoid having to decide whether staying in bed was worth the constant intrusion of her space that he was threatening her with.
"I had only planned on doing it once, but I enjoyed you reaction. Now I need an answer. Will you get up or do I get to do it again?" As he spoke he leaned forward just in case she assumed he was joking.
"Fine I'll get up. Now will you move your hand?" He released her and stood up long enough for her to sit up on the bed before sitting on the bed effectively blocking her from laying back down. Slowly she turned until her legs were over the edge of the bed and her feet were touching the floor. Now that she was moving Sebastian could tell that she looked almost as tired as she had the day before. He waited until she stood up and grabbed a change of clothes before leaving.
As he stood next to his master Sebastian began to think about the events of the night. More specifically Ivy's nightmare, or more her lack of one. He had spent the first night with her too doing almost exactly the same thing yet she had still had one then. She wasn't one to lie so he knew that she must have actually been having them. Then he remembered another thing that had happened on the first day. "She can be quiet the light sleeper when she wants to be." He didn't realize that he had said it out loud until Ciel looked at him.
"What?"
"Nothing of importance." By the sound of Ciels voice it was obvious he hadn't heard what his butler said. He just shrugged it off and continued eating. Sebastian was careful not to let himself accidentally speak again. She didn't have the dream because she wasn't in a deep enough sleep. She most likely waited until three to fall completely asleep. That is assuming she ever actually did. Well at least that explains why she was so tired and determined to stay asleep. As he was thinking about this he missed just about everything the other four servants were talking about. He knew that it started with Finny and Meyrin yelling something about not being able to find Angela, but that was the last thing he had bothered to listen to.
"Come on Sebastian, lets go help him."
"Well uh." He wasn't entirely sure who they were helping or with what and couldn't think of a response.
Ivy had been walking past the room when she saw Finnian run out and then Meyrin, Bard, and Tanaka shortly after. Having nothing better to do she followed quietly behind them. As they made it farther away from the village the fog became extremely thick and she was glad she had practiced finding and recognizing shapes in it on the way there a few days before. She stood in the background as the servants ran into a giant dog and tried to fight it. From her place a short distance away she saw Sebastian and Ciel appear.
When Sebastian began training it using a rapidly switching reward and punishment technique she walked up to stand with the rest of the group. She watched all of their faces switch between confused to amazed and back to confused until she heard a loud crash and everyone began walking up to a giant hole in the ground wondering if he was okay. Everyone except for her ran away from the hole as they noticed water rising out of it. She just took a few steps back and didn't even flinch when the hot water began raining down on her. "Ivy! What're you doin'? Get away from it before the water burns you." She turned and walked in the direction that she heard Bard's voice in. She was already surrounded by steam making it difficult to see.
"Too late." Was all she said as she walked up to the crowd of people. She looked up and joined them in watching Sebastian's grand entrance from the top of the water. Angela showed up and requested that Sebastian take Pluto with him. Ivy couldn't resist her chance to get back at the demon for that morning. She leaned over to whisper in Ciel's ear. "You should make him accept the deal. It would be a good way to mess with him." She was sure Sebastian heard her because he glared slightly in her direction. When Ciel actually took her advice and made him accept his glare became stronger, but not toward her. He had turned his attention to his master and she wasn't sure how she should feel about the fact that he was more angry at Ciel for going with the idea than he was at her for offering it.
Soon they were back at the Phantomhive Manor and Ivy grabbed her things and went straight to her room locking the door behind her. Within minutes she had changed clothes, moved to the bed, and crawled under the covers. She had no intentions of getting a full night worth of deep sleep, but instead planned to do as she had the night before and just rest until after three and then fall asleep completely. Just as she got comfortable she heard a small knocking and then the click of the lock turning. Why does he have to have keys to every room in the house. That seems like something only the maid would be given.
Hearing footsteps moving closer to her she just scooted farther away from the side of the bed he was on. Shortly after she had started living there she had moved her bed to the corner of the room so that only the bottom and side closest to the door were accessible. Now she was against the wall so that he wouldn't be able to reach her easily. Just to be safe she faced the wall and pulled the covers over her head."Go away."
"How unkind. I only came in to see if you need anything to help you sleep better considering you only got any good sleep after about three last night." He saw her begin to figet under the covers for a few seconds while trying to decide what to say.
"No I don't need anything. Go away."
"I will think about leaving if you take the covers off of your head and come back over here. The young master is already in bed so I have until morning before I have to leave."
"Then stay. It doesn't matter I'm still not going over there." She even tried to move farther away as she spoke.
"At least move the cover away then. I promise I won't do anything this time. If you move the cover on your own that is. If I end up being the one to move it I won't promise anything." As he spoke he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"No. I don't believe you."
"I see. Well I did give you a chance." He grabbed the top of the covers and gently pulled them down so that they only reached her shoulders. He was slightly upset to see that as he did this she curled up even more and turned so he couldn't see her face. He knew her well enough to be sure that no matter what he said right now she wouldn't listen to him. So instead of speaking he decided to force her to pay attention. He moved the covers completely away from her and leaned over to pick her up.
Before she even realized what was happening he had already moved her from her spot on the bed into his lap with his arms around her waist so that she couldn't escape. That didn't stop her from trying of course. She fought against his grip for what felt like forever but in reality was probably only a few minutes before she gave up and leaned back from lack of energy. When he was sure she was done he began to speak to her.
"Do you remember what we used to do when you couldn't sleep?" She gave him a confused look.
"You took me to the garden after everyone fell asleep and let me do whatever I wanted until either I tired myself out or someone in the house woke up. Why?" He was smiling as if having a good memory before suddenly releasing her waist and picking her up.
"Because the last person in the house other than you just fell asleep." He walked out the door without allowing her to change clothes or even put on socks or shoes. It was intentional though. If he had allowed her time to do either then she would want him to put her down so she could walk around by herself for awhile and he didn't want that to happen. She was already tired so there was no need. He was doing this for the purpose of seeing her reactions to him bringing up the past. He had something he wanted to ask her about and if she wanted nothing to do with past events then he would have to put off asking it until later.
They made it out to the garden and he got a part of the reaction that he wanted. It was cold outside so the first thing she did was lean against him for warmth and he tightened his grip around her to bring her even closer than she already was. He waited to see if she would do anything. Getting no response he assumed it was alright and continued walking into the garden with her. At first the two talked about the different types of plants that were there. After a while she got tired of responding and he just carried her through the garden in silence.
Soon he felt her head hit his chest and he looked down to see she was asleep. Deciding that it would be a good time to walk back to the Manor he turned around. When they were back in her room he wanted to be sure that she was actually sleeping soundly rather than ready to wake up at any second. He lightly touched her cheek in the same place he had kissed it that morning and left his hand there for a few seconds before moving it away. When she gave no reaction to his touch he smiled slightly before walking over to the bed to set her down. He put her down, but when he tried to stand up straight he realized that she had grabbed onto his tail coat before she fell asleep and now continued to hold onto it. He could have easily pulled her hands away but chose instead to sit down and pull her onto his lap. She would let go at three anyway so he saw no need to make her do so now.
As he sat there waiting for her to wake up he began tracing out his pentagram on her back; right where he knew it was. She had asked for that location specifically because she thought it would be easy for her to hide. It seemed to him that she was correct about that. Unfortunately the entire thing wasn't there yet. She was still not entirely his yet. At the rate things were going she never would be and that was the biggest annoyance he had to deal with right now. He suddenly remembered his question for her but didn't want to wake her up. I suppose I will just have to wait. He wrapped his arms around her and without even realizing it he began running his fingers through her hair as he waited for her to wake up.
