PP12: Did you like the last chapter? It was a bit long, but I think that's alright.

I don't own Kuroshitsuji; it belongs to Yana Toboso (I should've put this in at the start of the story, silly me :p)


"H…how?" Ciel stammered, his back now against the wall. Sebastian lifted himself from his bed and faced Ciel; God he looked awful. Firstly he didn't suit the frown he put on, his black raven hair was everywhere, and his eyes looked as red as to when he was drunk. He only wore his white sleeved shirt which was wrinkled and drops of sweat slid from his face.

"How," he remarked with a frustrated tone, "Is the same question I ask myself every single day. How the hell do I manage to put up with a brat like you?"

Ciel continued staring at Sebastian mostly with surprise, but soon his blood began to boil and was replaced with anger. "Excuse me?!" he exclaimed fixing his hands on his hips to display his fury. Sebastian raised his hands in defence.

"Wow, you are just as loud and annoying as the idiot's 'work' in the kitchen," he retorted and placed his hand on his forehead, "Which was really a pain in the bloody neck. Can't I at least rest in peace without you barging in here like an angry troll or something?"

"What?" Ciel gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Did his butler seriously just call him a troll? Sebastian threw his arms in the air and flopped back on his bed.

"There! I said it! Now please go away," he sighed and another explosion sounded from downstairs. Sebastian rose up angrily. "That damned son of a-"

"Alright, that's it," Ciel interrupted, holding back the urge to throw something heavy at Sebastian. "We're going to visit the Undertaker, now get up before I force you off."

Nothing happened. Sebastian only glared at his master and refused to move from his bed. Ciel scowled back at him and huffed. "You leave me no choice," he muttered irritably. Ciel reached his hand to grab Sebastian's and tugged it with all his might. The butler didn't budge, and Ciel felt like he was pulling a statue. Curse his demonic strength! He shouted in his thoughts. He decided to let go when his arm began to hurt and pierced his blue eye straight into Sebastian's sickly crimson ones. He began to feel stupid for attempting such a useless action. Sebastian smirked and folded his arms.

"You were saying?" he snickered.

"Wipe that smile off your face," Ciel snapped as he uncovered his left eye, revealing the glowing contract seal. "Now we are leaving, that's an order."

"Fine," Sebastian grumbled, slipping on his tailcoat using his demonic speed and moving away from his bed. At least their contract was still in place. Ciel followed behind and a whole hive of questions buzzed in his head. Sebastian only groaned in pain; his back felt like a crowbar was jammed into it, and his breath ponged with the smell of alcohol. Ciel led the way through the hall and proceeded down the staircase, constantly checking behind him to see if Sebastian didn't wander off.

"What?" Sebastian barked when Ciel looked at him for the third time. Ciel rolled his eye irritated with his butler's new behaviour. He compared him to an ill-tempered teenager being grounded for a month, and just when he thought things couldn't get worse, the three stooges decided to show up in front of him.

"Oi, where're you two goin'?" Bard asked first with his cigarette dangling from his lips. Out of all the morons he had to face, Ciel particularly didn't want these three to be the ones sticking their noses in. No way was he afraid of them; you'd have to be an even bigger moron to fear these idiots. He quickly thought of an answer (he's Ciel Phantomhive. He can do that sort of thing).

"We have business to attend to," Ciel informed to the three, "Carry out your jobs while we're gone, we'll be back soon."

"Yes sir!" Mey-Rin, Bard and Finny saluted and Ciel almost regretted trusting them to look after the estate without causing it to fall into shambles. But he thought of Sebastian and realised there were bigger things to worry about.

"I honestly don't know why I hired those morons," Sebastian groused as he watched the servants hurrying to their work places, "They're complete idiots. Not to mention worthless amateurs unlike me. I mean really, I can do just about anything and all those three ever do is-"

"It'll be over, it'll be over," Ciel whispered continually, not paying attention to Sebastian's rambling. They reached the door which to Ciel felt like an hour and when it opened the door almost smacked Sebastian in the face. Ciel stopped it just in time; he wouldn't want another little thing to get Sebastian angry. The carriage ride to London was overcome with silence, much to Ciel's relief, but it certainly didn't make anything better with the grimacing look on his butler's face, not to mention he was staring right at Ciel with fuming red eyes. Awkwardly Ciel faced the window and felt that look from Sebastian pang like a bullet through his skull. If looks could kill, Ciel wouldn't have made it out the estate alive. The carriage suddenly pulled to a stop and Sebastian was the first to step outside, before Ciel irritably followed him out and stood with him before the Undertaker's shop.

"That loon?" Sebastian groaned and took a step back. "You're on your own."

"No." Ciel grabbed Sebastian's wrist and dragged him into the shop, angrily swinging the door open and once again that same eerie atmosphere surrounded them inside the empty shop. Ciel's eye cast over the line of coffins and prepared for the shinigami to leap out from one of them with that ludicrous grin, but suddenly he heard the sound of a heavy lid being lifted and he spun around to see Sebastian fitting himself inside a coffin.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ciel asked.

Sebastian lied vertically inside the coffin and closed his eyes. "I'm going to rest here for a while," he said with a tired voice, "So don't disturb me or you might find your head ripped clean off."

Almost as if expected a familiar voice echoed within the shop followed by a mocking chuckle. "Ahh...I see the potion took effect..."

The Undertaker sat on a high shelf dangling his legs from the edge with a biscuit between his teeth, twiddling with a lock of his plaited hair. Startled Ciel noticed him and put his hand on his heart with shock. How does he do that? He wondered as Undertaker jumped down and loomed before the boy, placing his hands firmly on the earl's shoulders. Ciel tried to back away but he found himself staring at the Undertaker's creepy grin. Damn, he couldn't escape that penetrating smile that could surely kill someone within a second. He felt a slight shiver crawling up his back when Undertaker began to stroke his jawline with his sharp black fingernail. That's just one of the many tricks he uses to scare customers, but with Ciel he particularly liked to play with.

"About that," Ciel said attempting not to stare directly at the gaps between the locks of grey hair covering Undertaker's eyes. "Your potion didn't work."

Undertaker loosened his grip and his energetic smile formed into a frown. "How?" he asked, tapping his chin. Ciel furrowed his eyebrows and furiously swang his arm around to display the hung-over Sebastian getting out of the coffin and kicking it with a groan.

"Look at this!" Ciel shouted angrily, "My butler is now worse than before!"

Indeed the earl was right. Sebastian gave the beautifully decorated coffin another kick and ended up dinting it when he did. "Curse these damn coffins," he growled softly. Undertaker took out a biscuit and studied Sebastian giving the coffin another hard kick. He began swearing under his breath which appalled Ciel's ears and soon when Sebastian sharply faced them with a dangerous glare, Ciel looked away and folded his arms uncomfortably. The Undertaker however nodded and gnawed on his biscuit.

"Yes, this appears to be normal," he said with a grin creeping on his face. Hearing this Ciel stared with outrage at the shinigami, clenching his fist irritably.

"Normal?!" Ciel shouted at him. "Are you joking or are you originally a mad man?"

"Oh my…this is peculiar."

The Undertaker glanced at Sebastian who was still chucking a fit and returned his look back at Ciel. "Tell me young Lord, have you ever been taught of hangovers?" he asked with a mischievous smile.

"Hangovers?" Ciel inquired lifting his eye brow.

"These are the certain effects that happen after someone is intoxicated, usually consisting aggravating pain all over the body," Undertaker explained whilst leaning against a vertical coffin. "I suppose when you're young they don't tell you these things, don't they?"

"So you're saying my butler is having a hangover?" Ciel asked him. Undertaker nodded in response. Now everything made sense to Ciel which was a huge relief, but then a sentiment of concern began to clog his throat and he painfully swallowed it down. "How long will that last?"

The Undertaker shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know."

Ciel gnashed his teeth and spat at the shinigami. "What do you mean you don't know?! You're the one who gave me this potion in the first place so you should-"

"For Satan's sake, shut up!" a new voice erupted. Sebastian clamped his hands to his ears and his eyes started throbbing slightly. A dark shadowy aura gathered above him perfectly displaying the rage he showed, and Ciel wasn't prepared when he suddenly charged towards him and grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him off his feet. Ciel squirmed and kicked his feet.

"Let me down!" he demanded and Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"You are a little insolent brat aren't you? You can't even use your manners."

"I said put me down!" Ciel repeated furiously, using most of his energy to stun the demon with his outburst. Undertaker only watched in amusement.

"You want me to put you down?" Sebastian asked raising him higher. "Say 'please'."

"If you don't put me down this instant I will-"

"Ah-ah-ah, no," the demon butler reminded using his free hand to motion the 'no' signal. Irritated Ciel reached to scratch Sebastian's face, but it made him look like a feisty kitten instead. At this moment Undertaker wasn't sure if he could keep in his laughter.

"You know the words, my Lord," Sebastian said and Ciel sighed impatiently; he felt like he was five years old again being asked to say 'please', especially when it came from his butler.

"I'm waiting," Sebastian pressed on. Now he was really getting irritating. Ciel knew he had to humiliate himself in order to finish this.

"Please put me down," Ciel asked finally, giving him his innocent look he practised so well. Sebastian smiled with satisfaction.

"That's better," he rewarded and released the boy, letting him drop and land on his bottom with a hard thud. Ciel got himself up and he heard laughter, that laughter being the Undertaker who cackled wildly and fell on the floor. Ciel glared at him but the Undertaker didn't stop, breathing uncontrollably for air and desperately trying to lift himself up.

"You think this is amusing?" Ciel snapped. More laughter came out which answered his question.

"I've never….oh I never…" Undertaker breathed and his violent laughing subsided to active giggles. Ciel narrowed his eye in frustration and helped the shinigami to his feet. "As always your butler grants me the true gift of laughter," he chuckled, "I'm starting to fond this change for a while."

"Well I don't!" Ciel snarled practically shouting to the top of his lungs. "This is absurd! Couldn't this potion fix this hangover as well?"

"Nothing can!" Undertaker laughed. "It's what must be dealt with."

"So I just have to suffer for who knows how long with this…this madness?!" Ciel shouted, his blood beginning to boil and his fist clenched so tight he felt his fingernails stabbing the palm of his hand. Undertaker stopped laughing and his smile grew wide.

"Well with all due respect," he replied peering closer to his face, "Wasn't it your idea in the first place to order a demon to drink tons of alcohol?"

Something in Ciel's heart shattered, mostly pride, but he didn't show it. He only turned to the door with his head held high when really it felt like a weight was placed on it.

"Sebastian, let's go," he called as he opened the door. With a groan Sebastian followed him out the shop and received a piercing slap on the cheek, and the grimace from Ciel. Just when he was about to yell at him they both heard a familiar feminine voice echoing in the streets. It belonged to a man however and Ciel's stomach twisted when he realised who it was. Dear God no…

"BASSY!"

Grell ran towards Sebastian inviting him into a hug, spreading his arms and gaining speed the closer he got to him. He lunged for the embrace but ended up falling face-first on the pavement when Sebastian got out of the way. He frowned at what he saw next. Walking formally towards him was a shinigami wearing glasses and his brown hair was pushed back, and he wore a stern expression that belonged to no one but William T. Spears. He tipped his glasses and glared at the demon butler.

"I thought I smelt a rat," he groaned.