Imperfections & Flaws

Chapter 8: Not Him Again!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji. Never. And it makes me cry myself to sleep every night…

Thank you to my faithful readers and all of your reviews! You've made this authoress so happy! Like, you don't even know ; w ;. Also, thank you to my amazinglicious beta,Phantom Hitman 1412!

"I do, indeed, know her." Ciel replied, his deep sapphire blue eyes glaring straight at me. "What I didn't know, was that she was going to be the hostess of this party."

"Ohho, did I forget to mention that when we last met? Must have slipped my mind!" I tried to laugh it off, but ended up having both males staring at me as if I belonged in an asylum. Oh, the irony.

"Well, if that's the case, then I believe I must take my leave now. Pardon me, Earl Phantomhive." Druitt then turned to me, his 'charming' smile still trying to woo me over. "I'm sorry; I didn't get your name?" The Viscount asked, with a hint of creepiness lurking in his voice.

"Ophelia. Ophelia Faustus." I replied, as I curtsied to him, even though I didn't want to.

"Ah, what impeccable manners!" He began gushing about ladies and how they were no longer unique, and that one with proper manners and exquisite tastes hardly ever existed anymore.

I put on the best fake smile I could and agreed with him, urging myself to try to not hurt anyone at this party and damage the reputation that I was trying to build up. Bit by bit, my dignity began to shred away the longer I put on this act of mine.

"Well then, I must say, I must bid you all adieu as I have business to attend to." He bowed slightly to Ciel, and then winked at me before heading to the refreshments area. Once his back was turned, I began to pretend as if I were gagging. I looked back up and noticed that the Viscount was trying to charm another girl into following him into the 'secluded place'.

I cringed this time, and was happy I was able to display it publicly. I turned back to Ciel. "Well…I guess I should say thanks. You kind of saved me from almost getting mutilated and whatnot, so I guess we're on good terms." I grinned and elbowed him slightly, which was practically a shove to him seeing as how he lost his footing and stumbled.

"Watch yourself, Faustus!" He warned, his grumpiness coming into play. "That's not how a lady behaves."

"Gah! Lady this, lady that! Maybe I don't want to be a proper lady, Ciel." I pouted, and folded my arms. "I mean, you're lucky you were born a boy! Ladies have to wear this death contraption that's currently constricting my lungs and ability to breathe!" I continued to rant on about the wonders of being a boy and the cons of being a girl before I was interrupted by a familiar voice that sent shivers down my spine.

"Now, that won't do, will it?" A deep, rich voice sounded behind me. I turned my head slightly to see the only person I really didn't want to see. Sebastian. Michaelis.

I displayed my disgust externally, allowing him to bask in my hatefulness. "Yeah, it won't do. But I don't see how it's your business. Now if you excuse me, I have a party I need to help host." I turned my nose and began walking away before I felt a sharp sting on my neck. I turned back around to see Ciel mingling with other nobles and Sebastian smirking, like the devil he is, at me. I glared back and decided to high tail it away from him. Before I got that far, I had bumped into our favorite blue haired, blue eyed boy wonder. It seemed as though fate wouldn't let us separate for even a few minutes.

"Ah, Ciel."

"Ophelia."

A friendly meeting had taken a wrong turn down awkward roads as we both stood there, his eyes locked directly onto my face while I averted my eyes. "So, what brings you here…you know."

His face practically held a 'are you stupid?' look. "Ophelia, I just saw you literally two minutes ago and you're asking this question, why?" He rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if stupidity was an infectious disease.

"Hey! I know that! I just…say the first thing that comes to my mind when I'm nervous. That's all." I rubbed my forearms absent-mindedly. "No need to be mean about it."

"My apologies." His blue eyes shifted over to where it seemed Baron Mardeford and his wife were standing, both laughing their hoarse laughs. He scowled and his right eye seemed to twitch even though it was hidden behind his usual black eye patch.

"Ah, I see you don't like their laughs either." I smiled slightly, trying not to show my irritation with that obese man and his skinny-stick wife. Baron Mardeford was laughing whole heartedly at everything Claude seemed to say while his wife seemed to try to get away from her husband and closer to Claude. He was old beyond his years while she was young and still naïve. Opposites do attract, I suppose.

"I don't. The Baron has been trying to get a cut of my toy company lately, with nothing to offer on his end of the business." His eyes narrowed and his distaste showed greatly. "That man is nothing but trouble."

"I agree. I wonder what he was asking Claude, though. He seemed suspicious of us." I pondered about the old man and the conniving young woman that was his wife.

"Now that I think of it, you only became of nobility lately due to that demon butler of yours. Isn't that right?" His gaze turned to me, which made me slightly nervous.

"Yes, that's right. But please, Ciel, I only want revenge for the innocent souls that suffered along side me." My eyes became pleading. "Just, please, don't do anything to expose me."

He paused for a minute, "Just don't get in my way of my revenge and you'll be fine." He began to walk away, but paused mid-step. "And another advice is to climb higher up the ladder to find more sources. But if you do anything that is involved with the Queen, I'm afraid we won't be able to maintain our 'good terms'." He nodded to me, then walked off back to the party, leaving me standing there with my thoughts. I turned around to head back to the group of chattering nobles, but bumped into something stiff and muscular. I looked up to see that Claude had finished talking to the Mardefords and had been looking for me.

"Did anything happen?" I asked, my curiosity besting me. Just as we were about to walk to the door to go outside, the small private orchestra Claude had hired had begun to play a slow song. I watched as everybody began to grab their partner, or linger along the walls. It was awkward as Claude and I were almost close to the middle of the ball room, and weren't dancing while everybody else began to. Just as I was about to turn back to Claude, I felt him grab my hand with one hand and place his other hand on my waist. My face began to heat up as nobody had ever held me like this, and the fact that I had never learned to dance before. "C-Claude! I don't know how to dance!" I quickly whispered.

"It's fine. Follow my lead. I'll explain what happened as we dance." Slowly but surely, I began to follow his lead and soon enough, we were what you would call 'dancing' save for the occasion where I would accidentally step on his feet which caused him to cringe slightly. "Now, the Mardefords wanted to strike up a business deal with us, but I politely declined."

"Why?" I recalled the Baron wanting to do business with Ciel, too.

"He wanted nothing else but to climb higher to the Queen's graces and make an ally." He responded, then glared slightly as I interrupted him.

"But I thought you wanted us to make allies like him?" I whispered again, confusion written all over my face.

"Allies, yes. But not with his kind. We are to try to find allies that are above us, that can help us gain favor with the Queen." He replied.

"Well, I don't think that'll be a problem. I ran into Ciel earlier and he gave me some advice." Claude's eyes narrowed considerably at the mention of Ciel. "Oh, and please don't ever invite a man named Druitt to our parties. Ever. He harassed me and I could have sworn he wanted to amputate my limbs or something." Claude shot me a look of confusion. "Call it a hunch."

"Was that boy's butler with him?" He asked. Wow, he wasted no time getting straight to the point.

I paused at first, thinking over my words carefully. "Yes, but he didn't do much damage. Just an awkward 'hello' and that was it. Well, I pretty much ran away from him after without saying anything, but that's about it." Claude looked as if he were in deep thought as we moved across the dance floor.

"Ah. I will deal with that some other time then. But other than that, I believe I have made us some allies in the business area and have helped us climb higher on the social ladder. But I do believe this party has come to an end." Claude signalled to the leaving guests with his eyes, and then switched his gaze back to me.

"Can I trust you to escort every last guest out of the manor? I'm tired and today was a bit too much for me." He nodded, and then bowed.

"Yes, my lady." I sighed and rubbed my temples a bit before walking up the steps and having Hannah help me out of my dress. Today was a really long day. It made me just want to climb in my bed and pass out for weeks. A girl like me wasn't just accustomed to this kind of life.

A/N: Okay, so how did you like the party the duo hosted? :0 I really had almost no idea what I was doing the whole time, HEEHEHEH. But yes, I got back into the whole, "ILOVEUCLAUDE" phase again shortly after re-watching the Kuroshitsuji series. Don't blame me; blame Yana Toboso for having a series with SO MANY hot men. As usual, review and whatnot please :3.