Sorry for not updating in the past few days. Since winter break ended, my updates are probably going to slow down. just keep a look out for new chapters. I'll update when I can. But for now, enjoy chapter 9!


Chapter 9

The next morning, Ciel was woken up by Sebastian. The demon's voice hadn't deepened in the slightest, dashing the earl's hopes that yesterday had only been a dream. Sebastian was still in the form of a small twelve year old boy and Ciel was still in the form of a twenty year old man.

He was happy to see that Sebastian could perform his morning routine, at least. Sebastian must have told Tanaka it'd drive him mad, otherwise. He had been dismissed from cooking, cleaning, and some of the gardening. He couldn't man a carriage or tend to the horses, which pretty much left him in charge of just weeding, accounting in his office, handling mail, and performing Ciel's morning routine.

Sebastian dressed Ciel, efficiently buttoning his shirt and overcoat and securing a tie around his neck. He poured the earl a cup of Earl Grey tea and handed the cup to him.

"You must be adjusting." Ciel commented, "You seem a little less awkward when you're pouring tea."

Sebastian just shrugged, "I've been practicing."

Ciel chuckled, "What's on my schedule today?"

"Nina Hopkins is coming over at nine to tailor a few tailcoats and pants for me, and at noon Lady Elizabeth is coming over…"

Ciel's head shot up, "Lizzy? Damn, how the hell will I be able to explain this to her? And if Aunt Francis is with her, I'll never hear the end of it!"

The earl set his cup of tea down and paced the room.

"Can you tell her to come another day; that I'm busy right now?"

Sebastian could only shake his head, "For all I know she could be on her way right now."

Ciel shook his head, imagining how all of this would play out trying to explain the situation to Elizabeth. He briefly hoped she had aged overnight, as well. But the odds of that happening were slim.

"Anything else?"

"If Nina leaves early enough," Sebastian continued, "we can make it to Undertaker's and back before noon. If not, we'll have to wait until Lady Elizabeth leaves."

Nodding, Ciel sat back down on his bed and continued sipping his tea.

Sure enough, at nine o'clock, there was a knock at the door… the front door, anyways, since Nina Hopkins never bothered using the back door as Sebastian always insisted merchants did.

Mey-Rin was the one to dash to the door and welcome the young merchant, only to be trapped in the woman's grip in a vicious hug.

"Oh, Mey-Rin, it's so good to see you!" she beamed, "Looking just as darling as ever in that lovely maid's outfit!"

Mey-Rin just blushed; completely flustered by the sudden commotion.

Nina took a quiet step back from the maid and looked around her.

"So, where's Mr. Stiff?" she asked bluntly, "I was told he could use a few new tailcoats."

Mey-Rin twiddled her fingers, "He and Master Ciel are in the drawing room waiting, Miss. Hopkins."

"Good, then take me to them so we can get this over and done with."

Doing as she was told, Mey-Rin led Nina up the stairs and down the hallway towards the drawing room. She stopped at the door, opened it, and allowed Nina to walk inside. She was not five steps into the room before she paused, taking in the sight of Ciel and Sebastian playing chess.

"Well, I think I've finally got you, Master." Sebastian said, moving a knight, "Check."

Ciel only smirked as his bishop moved and took out that knight, "Wrong again, Sebastian. Check mate."

Sebastian only laughed, clearly not at all upset at his defeat, "I guess you still remain the best chess player London's ever seen, sir."

"Well, naturally. Just because I look older doesn't mean my gaming skills have gotten worse. What? Where you testing me, or something?"

Sebastian smirked, "Maybe. Or maybe it was just my skills that have gotten worse."

Nina cleared her throat, gain the attention of the earl and his butler.

"I was told Mr. Stiff needed me to make him a few extra tailcoats." She spoke up. Wearily, she pointed a finger at Sebastian, "That couldn't be him, could it?"

Sebastian stood from the chair he was in and approached Nina, "It's a pleasure to see you again, Miss Hopkins."

"My, my… what happened to you? What happened to earl Phantomhive?"

Ciel Shrugged, "We're still working on figuring that out. until then, Sebastian's been borrowing my clothes since yesterday just to keep his appearance up. It'd be better if he were to have clothes of his own until this mess is straightened out."

Nina nodded, "A-alright, then let's get started, shall we?"

For a while, Sebastian was standing in place, allowing Nina to take his measurements. He constantly found himself stifling irritated groans as she kept commenting on how much shorter he had gotten, how much skinnier his limbs were and how much thinner his waist had gotten; simply stating the fact that he was smaller than some of Ciel's previous measurements.

"Alright," Nina said as she finished recording Sebastian's measurements, "What kind of style were you looking for?"

"Just a simple black tailcoat will work fine." Sebastian said quickly, "A couple of vests and dress shirts to go along with them, too."

"Well, you're no less dull and boring than you were before, Mr. Stiff, despite the fact you look adorable as a twelve year old."

Nina escorted Sebastian and Ciel into the hallway, telling them she would bring them back up when it was time for fitting.

Meanwhile, Ciel and Sebastian decided to kill time out in the garden. Ciel admired the beauty of the white roses that grew, while Sebastian simply enjoyed the fresh air and the little black kitten that wandered around outside.

The two of them managed to find a clearing and they lay back in the grass to watch the clouds roll by. They didn't say much to one another, and only watched things that grabbed their attention. Ciel found it rather fun to watch the blue jay build its nest up in a nearby tree, while Sebastian's attention had been taken by a Blue Morpho butterfly; their color reminding him of his master's eyes.

Ciel's attention was drawn away from the blue jays as he heard the sound of laughter. As he turned to look, he saw Sebastian rolling in the grass as the butterfly fluttered to and fro. It seemed to him that the colorful insect was trying desperately to get at the young butler's face.

Originally, Ciel would have snapped at Sebastian; telling him to get a grip and behave more properly. But as he watched Sebastian roll and laugh, he realized something he had never seen from him before. Sebastian was happy. And this wasn't the clever smirk he carried to show his smugness, Sebastian was enjoying himself; he was having fun. Seeing a softer more childlike nature in his stiff, dull butler softened Ciel and he smiled as he watched Sebastian lay back in the grass and let the Blue Morpho land on the tip of his pixy-like nose. The butterfly's wings opened and closed, opened and closed; blue to brown, blue to brown.

Ciel Chuckled as his gaze shifted to the blue sky, watching puffy white clouds drift away into the distant skies.