Chapter Eight
He knows that chakra.
It's hidden, so low that most wouldn't even notice it, and yet it's so familiar that he can't help but feel it brushing and coiling around his own.
Itachi.
His gaze flits over the crowd, searching for that familiar face and for a moment he doesn't see it. Instead, he goes to Beast to help her get her partner to release the idiot that had decided to let a tiger bite him. And yet, as he steps into the light he's distracted once more, the Chakra twining around his own spiking in something like panic and longing. Unbidden he looks back at the crowd and finally, he finds him.
He's tiny, smaller than he'd been in their past life, a single blue eye which is currently in that state of forced impassiveness that actually means he's experiencing extreme emotions. His hair is dark, the color indiscernible in the low lights around them and he can't help but watch as the other all but flees the tent.
Still, he can't help but smile, his heart pounding because he'd hoped that he'd find him. Hoped that his partner had ended up here instead of in the Pure Lands where Kisame couldn't follow. Seeing him there, feeling him, it was more than he'd ever imagined.
Beside him, Beast's began to berate the audience member that had been foolish enough to play with Betty, and he couldn't help but snort as he saw the way the man was ignoring her to stare longingly at the tiger.
"She was just being friendly." The man argued and Beast sneered, dragging him off to see the Doctor. Seeing as he was alone, the rest of the audience having left, he went in the direction Itachi had gone in.
Before he could get anywhere, Joker intercepted him, his lips curled into his normal smile.
"Blue, I would like to speak to you."
Sending a longing glance in the direction of the door, he nodded and followed the trope leader noting that Itachi was probably already gone.
*/*
"Bocchan?"
Ciel gave a soft hum of acknowledgement at his butler's call, staring blankly out the window of his office as his mind drifted.
After leaving the Circus the night before, they'd settled in his townhouse closer to London, arriving to find Lau and his bodyguards already present as well as Soma and Agni. Ciel seemed to be in a mood as the teen had merely greeted them quietly before retiring to his bedroom for the remainder of the evening and even now, he had yet to leave his office since entering just before the rest of the home's occupants awakened.
Sebastian found himself only slightly concerned, and as such he knocked, calling out for the other once more.
"It's open."
Entering the room, he sighed when he saw his master's mind was miles away, his single visible eye clouded with emotions he couldn't decipher. However, just as he opened his mouth to ask, the other was speaking.
"We need to gather more intel on the Circus. So far, we have seen little that connects them to the disappearances."
Forcing aside his concern for a later date, he nodded, a dark smile curling its way onto his lips.
"Actually, master, I may have a solution."
The teen turned a wary glance toward him then narrowed his eye as he realized where the conversation was heading.
"...I'm not wearing a dress."
A memory of the Viscount's ball flashed in his mind and he chuckled. "Luckily, I don't believe it will be necessary."
*/*
Should he be doing this?
He sent a hesitant glance at the imposing door before him, almost able to hear a certain blond teasing him about his nervousness in his head.
He wanted to knock, honestly, he did…
He just couldn't bring himself to do so.
Not when so much had changed.
He'd spent nearly half of his life hating his older brother for the massacre of their clan, chasing more and more power for the vengeance he was so sure he needed.
Then he'd gotten what he wanted.
Itachi was dead, and yet, Tobi (Obito, whoever), had revealed the truth, had turned the hatred he'd spent so long focusing on the older Uchiha on the village his brother had given everything for. A village he, himself, had almost considered returning to (mainly, because he knew that was what he wanted).
He'd raged.
Gods, he'd raged. He'd done horrible things under the Akatsuki's banner in the name of fanning the flames of war higher and he couldn't help but wonder if Itachi would be ashamed if he knew. Especially when there was a small part of him that still didn't regret what he'd done.
When he'd died lying in the arms of his own best friend, he'd hoped he would have a chance to apologize, to explain, to something. He'd hoped to meet his brother, or even their parents, but never had he anticipated that it would happen like this.
He hadn't imagined a new life, in a world less straight-forward than the shinobi world. A new world where his brother, a pacifist at heart, would once more walk in the darkness. And with this new world came another issue.
Itachi's butler.
Lau had warned that the man took any role Itachi asked of him, and he had seen as such first hand during the curry competition, however he also set off every red flag Sasuke had.
There was something in his eyes when he watched Itachi at times, something dark and possessive, longing. It wasn't lust, but there was a hunger to the expression that made his hackles rise.
And he was pretty sure Itachi knew it.
Despite the childish act he wore majority of the time, there were times where he'd see his brother's newest incarnation watch them through eyes that were too old for his young frame. Times where he drifted in silence, glancing at his butler as if he were the answer to life's questions.
All of it had led him to this door.
The door to the office his brother had yet to leave since the early hours of the morning.
He raised his hand to knock, hoping he'd be able to go through with it, only to still as it clicked and swung open.
Sebastian stared back at him, garnet eyes politely curious.
"Mr. Uchiha," He greeted as Itachi came to stand beside him. "I'm afraid we have an appointment to keep."
He scowled then looked over at the young earl, noting the shoddy clothing he wore, his silk eyepatch replaced with a makeshift one.
"Can we talk...later?"
Ita- Ciel nodded, even as his butler raised an eyebrow. "I have an appointment...however I should be available upon my return."
Nodding, he turned, hesitating for a moment. "I- I'm sorry."
Before he could hear his response, he walked away, distantly hearing Sebastian question the Earl.
"An admirer, milord?"
"Hn."
*/*
He notices the man immediately.
He's tall, even taller than his own current form, his figure broader and more muscular than any he'd seen on the humans of this century. Even his skin and hair are unique, both being a startling shade of blue, his beady amber eyes locking on the tiny form of Sebastian's master the moment they arrived.
Objectively speaking, the man looks like a human shark, even more so than the creepy reaper that fancied himself attracted to him.
However, while his appearance was eye catching, it was the way he watched his master, and his master's reaction that kept his focus on them.
The man was watching the earl with a single minded focus throughout their tryouts, raising an eyebrow every once in a while or giving a soft 'huh'. In contrast, Ciel seemed to be actively avoiding so much as looking in the man's direction, cyan gaze skittering over the man whenever it happened to land in his direction.
He'd been prepared to relegate it to a task for a later time...until the knife-throwing audition.
His master, as fond as he was of the human, was not a physically fit child, and he had gone into the auditions knowing he would have to help him (cheat) in order for them to successfully infiltrate the circus' ranks.
When Ciel had thrown the knives at the target, he'd skillfully managed to redirect them with a knife of his own, smirking as all four blades landed near the center of the target.
It was then the man, Blue, they'd been told, made his move.
Swifter than he'd ever seen a human move, he threw a handful of shuriken at Sebastian's master, who turned slightly.
Sebastian moved to help him, only for his eyes to widen when his master gave a tiny, nearly invisible smirk and tossed a single knife into the barrage. Then two more each striking a star and redirecting it, not unlike Sebastian had done moments previous.
Each star hit the target, most directly near the bullseye.
How?
For a moment it was dead silent, then Joker clapped wildly, eyes sparkling.
"Amazing! I just have one more thing and if you can do it, the jobs are yours."
"What?" Ciel snapped, his scowl back in place, as if he hadn't just pulled off such a feat. The ringleader was undeterred.
"You just have to smile."
Sebastian froze.
Smile?
His master?
They were doomed.
In the time that he'd been contracted to the teen, it had been rare to see him smile. In fact, he suspected that if he counted the occasions on one hand, he'd still have fingers left.
The fact that they wanted him to smile at all was amusing, but damning.
Or so he'd thought.
The scowl on Ciel's face deepened, even as Joker playfully teased him. Then his face went blank and his lips twitched.
Was he-
Another twitched, and a flash of fury in that eye.
Truly?
Was he going to-
Oh.
A sweet smile the likes of which he'd never seen crossed his master's lips, his eye curving up and he felt something long dead thump in his chest.
He...wanted to hug him.
Protect him.
The thought disturbed him...especially when he saw that Blue was staring awestruck and Ciel-
Ciel opened his eye and looked back.
*/*
He was actually here.
Had he been anyone else, he'd probably be jumping for joy or something idiotic. As it was, he settled for grinning brightly as he helped settle in the room they were sharing with the other newbie, Suit.
Itachi-san, or Smile, as he'd been named by Joker, had been given a room with Doll, a fact that would've disappointed him if he hadn't seen the furtive glance his partner sent his way.
A look that was one part longing and two parts loving.
A look that said that they would be able to talk soon.
It was almost enough for the grief that had been his companion for so long to waver only slightly.
Mr. Black turned to him, carmine eyes burning into a dark fuschia.
"Blue," He began, his voice full of dark silk and danger. It reminded him of Itachi's voice when they'd met all those years ago. "Stay away from young Smile."
His lips curled into a snarl at the words, twisting his visage into the same beastly nature that had once terrified the minds of Kirigakure.
Suit stiffened, his focus laser sharp on the two of them, while Mr. Black only smiled pleasantly, and turned toward the man, ignoring the blue-skinned man completely.
Kisame hated him.
Glaring and working his hardest to keep his KI from escaping on the clueless human, he turned and went to find Beast, hoping that hanging out with his friend would help calm the rage (and fear) in his heart.
Who was Mr. Black to Itachi-san and why did he think he was allowed to tell Kisame he had to stay away?
*/*
"Sasuke?"
Mikoto called out to her youngest son, watching as he calmly put away the book he'd been reading in the sitting room of the Earl's home. She had been pondering their visit to the circus a few days ago and Itachi's strange reaction to the man that had helped the tiger taming woman.
After speaking with Shisui and Fugaku, both had noted that they had no idea why Itachi had reacted so strongly to him, and even a discreet interrogation of Lau revealed that he wasn't someone associated with the earl (to his knowledge).
"Hai?"
"That man at the circus, who was he?"
Sasuke frowned. "He was Itachi's partner and one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, Hoshigaki Kisame. I haven't really interacted with him. After Itachi's death, I joined their organization, but Kisame hated me for killing Itachi and avoided me."
She nodded, thinking back to the way her son had fled at the mere sight of the man, and wondered if she would need to kill the man.
After all, if he hadn't hurt Itachi, why would the boy run from him?