"Sebastian..." the boy almost whispered, his eyes now feeling heavy with sleep. "can you lay with me every night?" the smaller nuzzled in a little more and a small hand found the demons wounded shoulder. It was healing sure enough but it was still bleeding lightly, an attack from the bear being infested with poisons to stop healing.

"Of course." He replied, his voice a soft tone. He cradled the Earl in his arms as he adjusted, and carefully moved all of the plates from the bed to the nearby night stand. "I would like that."

"your usually healed by now..." the smaller commented, still rubbing the wounded arm.

"I don't normally wrestle demon bears." He pointed out, with a soft laugh. ".. I will be alright, and will not slack in my duties, young one."

The boy only frowned. "so it does hurt?" he asked.

"Only a mere bit. It is nothing I cannot handle, Bocchan." He replied. "Do not fret."

"I don't want you working until the bleeding stops..." the smaller rubbed his eyes slowly.

"But.. young Master, that could be a while. I must remain here doing my duties as normal."

"I have other servants..." the boy snorted lightly, "bard and Mayrin can handle it.

Sebastian blinked, trying to picture the manor with just those two running the place. Lots of broken dishes and fires. "I.. do not think so, young Master."

"and why not?" his voice took on an almost teasing tone. "it was you that found them."

"Ah.. well.. it's just.." he frowned, trying to reason. "Their minds may be else where.. what with all the recent events.. mishaps will be likely and often i'm sure."

The little earl nodded and sighed, "then I suppose you will have to work like it or not..."

"I have no complaints about working, M'Lord." He said, combing his fingers through his hair. "I will work until you are pleased."

"I would be more pleased if we could spend time together."

"I- really?" He asked, his fingers ceasing their gently combing.

The boy nodded, " but that seems impossible as it is now..."

"It is not impossible, Bocchan." He said, coddling him in close. "We are spending time together now, are we not? We have several hours til evening, and then the entire night as well. Tomorrow I will ensure the manor is in top shape, and then we will have time again. I always have time for you."

The smaller sighed and huffed out a small and almost undetectable yawn. Just staying awake was exhausting for him.

Sebastian took the initiative and found a new book for the two to read, some sort of popular human fantasy novel. He fluffed up the pillows and blankets around the Earl and himself, and got comfortable again. "Here, rest and listen to a story hm?"

The little earl blinked his two differently colored eyes tiredly and relaxed slowly into the older raven.

Sebastian kept a protective arm around the noble's frame, and started reading the novel aloud, his voice soft. He imagined to any other humans these tales would seem too fantastical, and improbable, but a lot of the things humans thought weren't real, were, and the young raven knew that. He knew, however, despite that, Ciel was still a young child, and maybe that part of him was still easily submerged in fantasy stories.

The boy listened intently for awhile then spent a little longer with his mind only half on the book. It wasent long before he completely dozed off, twitching lightly as he dreamt.

When he felt the Earl fall asleep, the demon closed the book, marking where they were for later reading, and put it away. He drew the boy against his chest, and made sure he was comfortable and warm, and then resumed his favorite hobby of running his fingers through his hair. If the boy had another nightmare, he would be right there to help.

Ciel didn't have an exciting dream, he wasent sure he dreamt at all, but he was in a lot of pain and begun to gast and whine softly each breath. His ribs where well and truely broken and one of them was even jabbing into a lung.

Noticing this, Sebastian sat up and checked the boy. He was still warm, still breathing and his heart was still beating, but he could see he was in a lot of pain. "Bocchan?" He mumbled, knowing he had to wake the boy to find out what was hurting him. "Bocchan wake up."

The young earl opened his eyes slowly and immediately masked his pain, making it harder still to tell where he was hurting to how badly. "what?" he huffed, unimpressed at being woken.

The demon gave a huff himself, and closed his eyes, a pain starting in his head. "I saw you were in pain.. you must tell me where it is you hurt, so we can deal with what is happening."

"my chest..." the boy answered honestly. "when I breath there is a sharp stab,ing pain."

Sebastian nodded and slowly removed the Earl's shirt. "Your side has swollen.. a rib or two is most certainly broken. They could be pushing on your lungs or heart even.. Try not to move, Bocchan, I fear it could puncture, and if so, you will likely die."

"I am beguining to dislike bears..." the blue eyed boy huffed.

"They are very nasty, aren't they?" He muttered, brushing his fingers along his cheek. "I have an idea that may very well help you heal faster."

"alright then, what is it?" the boy asked, sounding skeptical.

"There is.. a gentle, smaller.. much smaller.. dose of demon medication I can give you, to heal you.. it's a very small dose.. but it might just work." He said quietly, adding, "We give it to sick demon babies.. it works well for their small bodies."

The boy immediately shoved the demon hard, "I will not be treated like a baby!" he yelled, angrily.

The raven stumbled, and his head spun slightly. He hissed under his breath. "I.. did not mean it in an offensive way, Master. Merely that it may be helpful to you, due to your small stature, and it would not be too much, so it would not likely poison you."

The boy quirked an eyebrow at the demon. "are you alright Sebastian?" his anger ebbed away as quick as it had come.

"I am." He replied cooly, furrowing his brows together. "Would you be interested in trying a small bit of medication? Just as a trial to see if it can aid you?"

"only if you fix your shoulder, I can tell something is wrong."

Sebastian let out a gentle sigh and examined his shoulder with a wince. "It appears to be infected.. the healing process has slowed, perhaps stopped.. it will take a while for me to fix my shoulder. I cannot abandon my services to do this." he muttered. "I will return with medicine, my Lord."

"this is an order you are to take care of that shoulder before you do anything else, is that clear?"

Sebastian frowned, pouting almost like a child would when being scolded. He bowed respectfully as he always did when he was ordered. "Yes, my Lord." he mumbled, nodding. "I will return shortly. Try and get some more sleep in my absence."

The boy leaned back and nuzzled into the pillows, picturing Sebastian's nice warm body in their place.

Sebastian left the manor as swiftly as was possible. He, of course, got the medicine for Ciel when he went to gather the medicines for himself to heal as well. He was still following orders, right? The demon took several disgusting viles of medicine, and even sewed his own shoulder closed to stop the bleeding. There would be days of that to look forward to. He grimaced, and headed back to the manor, but not before he paid another trip to the reaper. He did have his end of the bargain to keep, and so he'd brought with him sketches. The demon was almost too honest for his own good.

Ciel slept, and whimpered painfully, then slowly rolled over. He was in pain, to much to sleep. The idea Sebastian would give him baby medication angered him, he was not a baby!

Once he'd given the reaper what he wanted, Sebastian returned to the mansion. He immediately went upstairs, and settled on the side of the bed. "I have returned, Bocchan."

The boy pouted and folded his arms, looking even more childish. He didn't want to be coddled... Yet at the same time he did.

"How do you feel?" He asked, passing his hand through his hair and even kissing his forehead lightly. "I have brought you medicine."

The smaller tried to sit up and gasped heavily as a rib pushed into his lung. He fell back then, unable to quite move without hurting.

"Don't move, Bocchan!" Sebastian only partially yelled, placing a hand on the boy's chest to keep him down. "You will hurt yourself worse.. here.. take this medicine, and we will hope for the best."

The boy drank what was only a few drops but it made his insides burn red hot everywhere on the way down.

"Oh.. it will burn by the way." Sebastian said, giving the boy a bit of a late warning. "Only for about 30 seconds though. Then it should taper off, and you should feel the effects of it healing you. Since it is a small and weak dose, it might take a few, thus, you won't heal fully until possibly tomorrow.. as long as you don't react badly to it. But this is our gentlest medicine. And so it is our only shot." He paused, knowing it was a hit to the Earl's pride. "However, as our bond grows, so will you, and you will be able to take stronger medicines and tonics before you know it."

The boys eyes snapped up to the demon , glaring at his butler for failing to warn him sooner. Slowly the feeling died down but left a heat right through him and it seeped outwards from the inside of his stomach all the way to his skin.

Sebastian gave a gentle laugh at the glare he received. He placed his palm to his forehead, and then cheek, checking his temperature. "You're warming up quite well, this is very good.. the medicine will heal simpler injuries easily, bruises, small cuts.. then as it builds in your system, and has time to work, it will go for things like broken or sprained bones, internal injuries.. it appears you react well to it. You would have shown signs of poison by now if it were otherwise. Like you had done with the demonic alcohol, you reacted to that within minutes. Very good Bocchan, we seemed to have found something at last."

The earl shook his head slowly. It did make him feel odd, though that was only the way the medicine worked it still seemed oddly uncomfortable and wrong. "what is it made from?"

"Do you really want to know?" The demon asked, raising a brow at him as he coddled him against his side a little.

"that is entirely dependent on the answe now isn't it?" the boy coughed, trying to clear away the uncomfortable heat.

"It is. and it is a rather unpleasant answer. I don't think it would be something you would like to know.. and it is information you don't necessarily need." He said. "Unless you plan on trying to make your own demonic medicines someday?"

Once more the earl scoffed, "don't be ridiculous, I want to know why my guts feel like they are on fire."

"Very well." He sighed, shaking his head. "It is made with the ashes of a burnt demon heart, tears and blood of a raging demonic creature, and bile of several things." He explained. "Curiosity killed the cat by the way."

The boy had to restrain himself from poking out his tongue in disgust. "and you feed this to children!"

"Very powerful stuff, the innards of demons." He chuckled. "Demons can drink most things as if it were tea.. This though.." He grimaced at the viles in his pocket. "Is not quite so appetizing." He huffed. "Even we have our disliking for medicine."

The little earl reached into the demons pocket and took the vial, examining it closely. It was bright blue and almost seemed to glow.

"Do not.. drink that." Sebastian warned, even though he was sure his young Master would not be so careless. "It would kill you."

"what is this?" the boy asked hesentently, it looked very different to the stuff he was forced to drink. It didn't glow the way. This one did... Just holding it felt earry.

"It is a mixture.. of human souls.. pure.. human souls.. and their blood. They are crushed and pounded into liquid, almost dust, and mixed with other things." Sebastian told him, frowning. "To make it stronger, the herbalists from my realm will sometimes add the tears a human usually gives during death."

The boy dropped the little vial back into Sebastian's hand. Was this to be what happened to him? Was he to wind up in some vial waiting the demon to slurp him up?

"If it comforts you any, it tastes horrible." Sebastian said as he put the vial back into his pocket. "Would you like to talk or continue reading?"

The boy shook his head slowly. Now all his insides where burning he wasent sure what he wanted, though oddly enough the pain itself was dulled already.

"Alright.. Then if it is alright with you, I will go and clean myself." He muttered, brow raised. "Unless you need something?"

The earl shook his head slowly but pointed to his own bathroom. "I don't want you going far, encase you have poisoned me."

The demon gave a nod. "as you wish. oh, do not panic over the heat it will course through you, that means it's working normally. you should only be concerned if you feel like getting sick, pain, numbness, or you feel as though you will pass out. And naturally, if you feel cold again as you have recently. The heat is good." He told him, so he would know what to panic about and what not. He turned then and disappeared into the Earl's bathroom, and the sound of the shower running came quickly after.

The earl wasted no time pulling himself to his feet. He had yet to see his butler completely bare as he was simply to sick to look at much of anything during their intercourse. Slowly he limped to the bathroom door and peeked inside.

The elder raven stood nude under the shower head, his usually well kept hair soaked thoroughly and sticking to his skin, which was a sort of creamy shade, and gleaming as water ran down his limbs. His shoulder was the only marr on his skin, a deep red where he had been bitten. He was tall and lean, with a slender build, that didn't make him look as strong as he was. As he stood there, the butler called out, assuming Ciel was still in bed. "Bocchan, I should remind you to not move so much even with the medicine. You do not need to cause more damage."

The boy blinked a few times. Oh, yes right... Moving was probably a bad idea... Like it or not however he was now frozen in place staring at the demon under the water.

With suds in his hair, the demon turned round, but he had his red eyes closed, shielding them from the pouring water over his head, that soon covered his body in the soapy run off from his head. He drew the hand with the contract against the back of it over his chest and down his stomach.. and then he opened his eyes and froze, blinking one eye at a time to spare them from suds and water until his other hand came up to rub them clear. "Bocchan..? Is.. there something you needed?"

"errr?" the boy turned bright red, more at being caught then from what he was doing in the first place. What could he say? He was just looking? He wanted to see the demon naked? He wanted to compair body's?

Sebastian blinked at his Master, as the water continued to soak his skin and give it a glossy look, all the suds washing away at his feet now that they were free from his hair, which was plastered to his face and neck now. "You've gone red in the face.. do you feel alright? Is there something I can do for you?"

"I feel fine!" the boy insisted stubbornly. "I wanted to see what the one who was so keen to get me into bed looks like that's all!." he was clearly trying to turn things around so as not to embarrass himself.