I should not be doing this, but I've hit a brick wall and this fic will hopefully let me work through it.

That said, this is a crossover happening primarily in the Black Butler world. But Kaze, why don't you post it over there then? Because frankly I don't want to deal with the fandom over there at the time. They don't seem to appreciate crossovers very much anyway. Besides, though this is happening in the Black-Butler timeframe, it is still being held to the standards of the Blue Exorcist universe, because frankly no one knows what the theological heirarchy of Black Butler is, and also because Rin is the main character here. ("Main" in my sense of "main").

NOW, to set you up for the cannon reference, because I just can't bring myself to do complete AU's, and some of my readers will not inference it, due to my style: This is taking place as a Cannon Divergence from ch. 99-1. Meaning, Rin has transformed and is his white-haired self; this fic begins two years post that, in which Rin was given a...special training regiment, to prepare for Lucifer. (Who is a pretty big part of the story).

As for the Kuro-verse, this takes place as Cannon Divergence around chapter 135 or so. Ciel is still looking for the Blue Cult killers, but Bravat has vanished and (Our) Ciel still has no idea his brother is involved beyond an inkling.

The rest will write itself into explanation.

WARNING: This is rated M mostly because of one vaguely smexy scene, though also because Black Butler is just a dark, dark series and that is very evident here. That said, if you don't like angst, then tread no farther; if you historically don't like my depictions of demon nature, then for god's sake, don't read it! Go find someone else to cobbswaggle.

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"There's no mercy for the weak of heart,

they'll be trampled down and torn apart.

And as ruthless as it all may seem,

well, the wild cares not

for the weaker beings."

~ Son of the Wolf, Shawn James and the Shapeshifers.

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Out there in London, you were lucky if you survived.

Forget about living. There was no living in the city – the only people who bothered to stay were those who were good at scraping by, and those to poor to do anything otherwise.

It was one of the main reasons Ciel avoided going into town whenever he could. He could only stomach the place for so long, in more ways than one. Looking to his left, he was unsurprised when the stench filling his nose was identified as a run-over pile of manure.

"God, I hate the city."

"You and I both, young Master." Sebastian quipped, his nose turning up ever so slightly in obvious distaste. His observant gaze didn't dwell upon what lied beneath him though – no, never a thought for that – but rather scanned the mingling crowd around him, made up mostly of wives and daughters, seeing as they were in the center of the textiles district.

"How do you do it?" Ciel asked suddenly, a bout of curiosity a welcome distraction from the busy fare of the streets before them.

"Do what, young master?"

"Cope with all of the smells. I mean, demons have superior senses of smell, don't they? So how do you stay so underwhelmed by all of it?" Ciel had an intuitive idea of why, but his mind couldn't quite give shape to the thought.

" Well, I suppose it is the same way that you might focus on just one voice in a crowd, or focus your eyes on one area when there is motion all about you. My mind can process quite a lot of information at once, but even I have to filter out some useless things."

"Or else you'd go mad." Ciel remarked with a smirk. "I wonder if anyone has ever been comitted for that? Being unable to weed out stimulus sounds like a nightmare befitting of such a place." Sebastian's chuckle drew his gaze up to the butler's face, the subtle pull of his lips into something which could be interpreted as a smirk betraying his amusement.

"Your mind never ceases to intrigue me, young master. I had nearly the same thought."

"So you're telling me I think like a demon? Hah!" Ciel threw a humorless smile towards his servant. "though I suppose you have said that before, no?"

"Quite correct, young master. And it still manages to surprise me every time."

"Then I think you are too arrogant, to underestimate us humans as much as you do." Ciel said, looking ahead of him with what Sebastian would have guessed was a stern gaze. "You seem surprised by us far too often."

"Perhaps." Was all the butler could offer.

They continued on through the crowded streets, coming upon one Congregation Church of London, the only one that bothered to exist in the Rochester area for all the textile factories and apartments. It stood out in such a neighborhood, in no small part because it was boxed in on both sides by tall buildings and had deep alleyways on either side of it, and an all too ironic reputation for being the hangout place of the Rochester Workhouse lot – a raunchy bunch if the seedy smell wafting from the first alleyway was any indication.

As they passed the front of the old church, Ciel could only give it a glance. The place was hardly the most beautiful, though while it was certainly no St. Paul Cathedral, it did have the sort of charm that old, dilapidated things often did.

Ciel, not paying any attention as they approached the wayside alleyway, and Sebastian being heartily distracted by something unknown, both of them startled when, of all things, a body came barrelling into the both of them, followed by a hefty shout.

"What the – ?!" Ciel staggered on his feet, trying desperately not to fall into the slick muck that painted the pavement. As he took register of his assailant, he couldn't help but interpret that the – man? – was trying to do the same, with little luck as his feet slid under him erratically. It wasn't until he stopped trying not to trip over himself that Ciel registered the shock of the white-silver hair, and more prominently, that it belonged on the head of a boy.

More shouting drew Ciel to look behind him, seeing an old drunkard shaking his fist at the boy frantically, his ruddy face livid to have been imposed on, apparently.

"Who the devil are you?" Ciel demanded, earning the boy's frantic, confused and way too-blue eyes.

"Nani?" The boy said, looking in one part confused, in another quite frightened. He took a second to compose himself warily, before freezing altogether. The abrupt absence of movement left Ciel confused, until he heard it. Looking over at his butler, he was bewildered, and in no small way alarmed, to find Sebastian's pupils narrowed to fine elipses, though moreso because of the low, awful growl that rumbled from his chest like a creeping roll of thunder.

Sharing the boy's prior confusion and alarm, Ciel looked to their assailant, seeing him in a state of apparent confliction, if his face was to tell anything, though he raised his hands in a non-threatening gesture. He met Sebastian's gaze, however, and Ciel could tell that he was trying, non verbally, to communicate something. It was then that he noticed the boy's eyes, took a long look at them. Much to his shock, they beheld the same eliptical pupil he had seen in Sebastian's eye so many times.

'Is he...human?' Ciel thought. ' he can't be – I mean, I know Sebastian is, but...?'

" Oi, ochitsukimashou, ne?" The boy relented nervously. Ciel didn't understand a word of whatever language he was speaking, but looking to Sebastian's face confirmed that his butler did. Whatever he had said was enough to ease the demon's shoulders back down, his face uncomfortable but not quite as affronted.

"What did he say? And what language is that?" tensions out of the way, Ciel was brimming with questions, though he couldn't say they were all pure curiosity. Sebastian held up a hand to halt his mouth, presumably, making Ciel frown.

They exchanged words which sounded anything but like a formal greeting, though once more Ciel didn't understand a thing, except when the blue eyed, silver haired boy turned to him and uttered a word – Gomenasai – with an apologetic expression.

"He doesn't speak English, I'm afraid." Sebastian stated matter-of-factly, clearly still unsettled by their assailant's presence. Ciel grew confident in his curiosity, observing the boy as he shrank beneath Sebastian's warning gaze.

"Is he human?"

Sebastian turned an eye to him, the hardness of his iris betraying how much he didn't want to answer that question.

"No."

"Then what is he? He's not a reaper, that's for sure. But I'm not convinced he's a demon, either." Just then, the boy, seeming to recognize something in what Ciel said, made an erratic gesture to indicate such. He then, seeming excited by something, beckoned for the two of them to follow him back to the alleyway.

"Sorry, but we haven't the time." Sebastian said groutly, and began to walk off as if to leave the strange foreigner behind him. Ciel had a feeling that said foreigner wasn't going to let him – and he was proven right, as the boy rushed in front of the demon, making a gesture as to halt him. He said something else in his own tongue, which to Ciel sounded oriental in origin. After some back-and-forth, the boy then made a pleading gesture, his tone bordering on frantic.

"What's up with him? Does he need help?" Ciel asked, mostly to himself.

Then, he caught it – a word he recognized, one that most certainly didn't belong to his own language. Or rather, it was a name, a very well-known one at that :

Mephisto.

Ciel's mind began to turn like the gears of a clock. He knew the name, obviously, having heard it in stories growing up, as well as being in possession of the very German manuscript which contained the name, translated into English obviously. Faust was, after all, a very famous play, though Ciel couldn't say he had seen it performed anywhere recently.

A sudden rigidity to his butler's frame, and an otherwise worried look on the face of the boy drew Ciel up to them, cautious but curious as to what triggered the change.

'He recognized the name, too?' Ciel's mind was doing backflips like an imbalanced coin. 'Does that mean...he exists? That the infamous Devil is actually a demon?' Ciel felt a bizarre urge to grin at the thought, but kept himself composed for the time.

A jerk of his arm had Ciel being practically thrown into the alleyway, safely out of both sight and earshot of the people who, curious themselves, began to lean their way to investigate.

"Don't mention that name in public." Sebastian warned, in English this time. He then went on to translate, presumably, since the only response he got was a bewildered stare.

"What did he want to bring us back here for to begin with?" Ciel asked Sebastian, who gave him a rather frightening look as if to tell him – nay, to threaten him to shut up and keep his head low.

And it pissed him off.

"Don't cop an attitude with me, servant," Ciel started, "you will ask him as I tell you to. I would do it myself, obviously, but you're the one who speaks his language, not me." Sebastian had a retort on his tongue, but let it die the moment that the stranger, sensing perhaps that they were arguing, waved his hands to garner their attention, before making a calm down gesture. He then indicated to the crowd outside, following with a motion for quietness.

"He's right." Ciel said, giving Sebastian one final look, daring him to continue with his foul mood. It continued anyway, though he regained his composure. Looking to the stranger, he asked him a question, and it took Ciel longer than he'd of liked to realize his butler was doing as asked.

" He doesn't speak a lot of english," Sebastian said, voice...uncertain. It was a sharp enough difference to draw Ciel's gaze to his face, determining his butler confused, presumably by whatever information the stranger gave him. "But he recognized that you were asking if he was a demon or not. He indicated for us to follow in order to..." Sebastian spared the boy a wary look. "...show you."

Ciel quirked a brow at this, looking to the boy, who if Ciel were being honest looked to be about Edward's age. Of course, if he was a demon, then he could be any age, theoretically, but Ciel needed to be sure. He had never met another demon besides Sebastian, after all. He could only guess this was because of Sebastian's possessive tendencies, though he wasn't honestly sure, now that he thought about it.

The boy then did something mildly lewd, reaching for his backside. It was then that Ciel saw fit to be distracted by his attire, which was an all-black, almost military-styled black coat with lots of pockets and heavy, combat-like boots. Completely unsure what to make of that assessment, he looked back up towards the boy's face, and found, to his complete astonishment, a long, fluffy white-haired tail, tipped in thicker fur much like a lions – if this lion was having a very bad hair day, that is.

"What – ?" The pieces reluctantly clicked together in Ciel's head. He missed the snippet of words that the boy said to Sebastian, but he picked up on the confessional tone, and Sebastian's classically sardonic laughter.

"You are but a baby." Sebastian bore his teeth in an eerie grin, alarming Ciel somewhat, who felt like he ought to be the foreigner in the situation.

'Well, they're both demons, so I suppose I am the outsider here.' Sebastian chuckled again, throwing his head back in an effort to stifle his laughter. "You really are helpless, aren't you?"

Ciel could tell that. though he probably hadn't understood the words being said, that the boy definitely understood the condescending tone, and was less than pleased about it. That said, Ciel didn't think that the boy had picked up from the butler-demon the same thing that he did – for Ciel had known Sebastian long enough to notice the slight jilt in his tone, a subtle undercurrent of, distrust, maybe? Wariness? Whatever it was, it was subtle enough that for a moment Ciel almost thought he hadn't heard it – until he considered the name he heard earlier. 'Does he make Sebastian uneasy?' Ciel thought, observing the two as they conversed a bit more, but not really paying much attention to what they said – not with their mouths, anyway. ' Does it have to do with how he reacted earlier to the name? Mephisto?' Ciel watched Sebastian's posture, noticing that, rather than keep up with the cocksure attitude, that Sebastian seemed strangely withdrawn, keeping all parts of himself well out of the other demon's personal space. ' I mean, I suppose that could just be because he doesn't know this demon; I would be wary too, if I were them.' But Ciel couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the way they were interacting; as if both too careful, in Sebastian's case, and too casual, too comfortable, if he could call the foreigner such for all the grief he was in. From what observation that Ciel could understand, there was a clear form of hierarchy or some such structure being displayed between them, though who outranked who in this instance, he couldn't ascertain.

After some back-and-forth, Sebastian turned back to his master, an uncharacteristically confused, yet carefully composed look about him. Clearly, he got something out of the foreigner which had either left him dumbstruck or deeply unsettled – Ciel couldn't decide which. "So? What is the situation?" Ciel asked a bit reluctantly, gathering a hunch.

"It would appear our foreign friend, whose name is Rin, by the by," Sebastian began, leading into his words with an edge that Ciel quirked a brow at. However, by the time he'd formed the expression on his face, it had smoothed out and left the demon composed and calm as ever. 'What was that about?'

"...has nowhere to go."

"Huh?" Ciel's mind came back to him then, like a lifted viel.

"My my, Young master, were you listening to me at all?"

"Shut it. I was distracted by the..." Ciel peered around Sebastian's tall body. "...tail."

"Yes, about that," Sebastian looked back on the boy, who had a strange, black-ish box in his hand. A cigarette case? But the cover was obviously glass, and glass would make the thing too hot... "He has apparently been...well, for the sake of brevity, he was in a sense pranked into coming here." Sebastian explained, curiously keeping his eyes on the boy, Rin, rather than himself.

"A prank?"

"Yes, of kinds. Well, demon kinds." Sebastian clarified, finally turning to look at his master. " Alas, he doesn't speak english hardly at all, and for the time being has no place to –"

"No."

"Hm?"

"I said, no." Ciel huffed. "I am not taking in another street dog without a home. Especially not a demon one." Ciel stated crossly, unsurprised that his hunch was correct. " I know nothing of the boy, you presumably don't know anything either –"

"I know it would be unwise to leave him here."

Ciel blinked hawkishly at Sebastian's insistance. Something definitely wasn't right about all this, and it seemed as if Sebastian knew more than he let on.

"And why is that?"

"Because he is one of a kind. In fact, I would wager he is the only one of his kind." Sebastian explained in a hushed tone. "He would be in mortal danger if he was left out here, in a foreign country where he can't effectively communicate with the people, and morso, can't conceal his demon power the way I can." He looked to Rin as if inviting Ciel to assess, and in all likelihood, agree. "He is young. Pathetically so." Ciel frowned at Sebastian's none-too-thrilled tone, tired of getting mixed signals from the demon. Was he anticipatory? Cautious?

That's when it dawned on him.

Sebastian was being anxious. It was an uncommon emotion for the butler to express, so Ciel had initially missed it.

"I assume you mean that he can't hide his tail and whatnot," Ciel looked the boy over again, taking note for the first time that his ears were at dog-like points. "Using magic?"

"Correct." Sebastian nodded. Ciel did the same.

He looked over the boy again, mulling over the choices at hand. When Sebastian went to affirm a response from him, Ciel merely raised a hand to halt it. He needed to think. This boy – and Sebastian's affirmation of such – was still a demon. Sebastian said he was the only, and perhaps last, of his kind; what did he mean by that? What, more so, was he supposed to make of it? Rare type specimens often left very little information to go on, and though Sebastian seemed to know something, Ciel was positive he didn't know nearly enough; or else he wouldn't share it with his master.

Assessing what he did know took a bit of a mental exercise, if for no other reason than because the only real example of a demon that Ciel had to compare with was Sebastian. And this boy, Rin, didn't seem anything like him at all – quite the opposite if he was being honest with himself. Of course, Ciel couldn't understand him, so it was entirely possible he was misjudging the boy, but he couldn't honestly say that he got a 'bad' vibe off of him, even if all of his previous assessments – his strange clothing, for one thing, and Sebastian's odd behavior another – would point to his instincts telling him wrong.

"Can you handle him?"

"Excuse me?"

"If he gets out of hand or otherwise can't be trusted, can you handle him?" Ciel asked pointedly, refusing to break eye contact with the demon. He was hiding something, and Ciel would eventually work out what it was, or else he would just have to order it out of his butler.

The carefully blank stare that he got in response didn't help dispel his suspicions at all; in fact, it only made him that much more wary of Sebastian's response. "I could, within reason, see him out of the manor, yes." Ciel didn't like the latent hesitancy in that reply, but chose to ignore it for now. He could get all that he wanted out of Sebastian later.

"Good. Then.." Ciel sighed, mentally preparing. "I suppose we ought to take him home. Where is he from, anyway?"

"Japan. Tanaka will be able to communicate with him as well, so there's not as much need for concern there." Noting Sebastian's marked improvement in mood, Ciel felt a clench in the pit of his stomach.

"Then invite him along, I haven't got all day."

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Well, one chapter done.

I actually have a plot outline this time, so hopefully this can continue. I can never guarantee fast updates, but I do try.

Also, as much as I normally appreciate fandom assistance, I will not be making any requested additions to this series. THAT INCLUDES SEB/CIEL PAIRINGS. That's a whole other horror fic that I'm in no state to write at the time. There will be some light heat overall, but no real pairings on the Black Butler side. There's just too much to unpack there right now. Sorry.

If you like this, or any of my other stuff, I have a Tumblr now: PhilosophicalParadox is my username there. Feel free to fav this fic if you like it; if not, that's okay. Not everyone likes the same tea. :)