Ciel awoke a little earlier than usual.

He sat up and looked at his clock. It was only an hour until Sebastian would come and wake him in the most unfeeling manner the demon butler could possibly muster. Ciel let out a sigh. He couldn't lie in bed for a whole hour. He hadn't the patience and wasn't in the mood to be reawakened by the cold-hearted bastard Sebastian was posing as.

Instead, the young one quietly scrambled out of bed and went to the bathroom to run himself a hot bath. He let his nightshirt puddle at his feet before climbing into the hot water. After getting used to the pain, Ciel relaxed into the heat and allowed the steam to fog his already hazy mind.

He gave himself five minutes to relax before sitting up and scrubbing himself clean.

At seven o'clock exactly, Sebastian let himself into the little lord's room only to find the room absent of the master, his bed neatly made. On the end of his bed, the young master had laid his clothes out ready to be worn for the day.

Sebastian frowned.

When had the young master learnt to get himself ready?

Speaking of, where was the once-earl?

As if to answer his question, a small splash came from the bathroom and was soon followed by the small pit-pat of small of wet feet. Just a moment later, Ciel emerged from the bathroom, roughly drying his hair with a towel.

He paused when he saw Sebastian.

"I took longer than I thought." was the only comment the young one gave before dumping the towel he was using for his hair on to a nearby chair. He then let drop the towel covering his body and Sebastian saw his master, as he had numerous times before, completely naked.

This time was different, though.

Sebastian studied the young master's body as the demonling dressed, determined to find a flaw but, annoyingly, he found none. Not so much as an inch of the young one's soft creamy, pale skin was blemished in any way apart from an ugly brand that was there through no fault of the young master's. The boy was small and slender with a strangely feminine figure, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and had the most striking set of mismatched eyes. If Sebastian's feelings towards the child were anything less than cold and indifferent, Ciel's body would be nothing short of perfection.

But he did feel coldly and indifferently towards the young lord, he had done since the young one had become his eternal curse, since the child had been transformed into a demon. They were now stuck with each other forever and, if it wasn't going to be pleasant for Sebastian, by God, Sebastian would make sure it wasn't pleasant for the young master.

At least, that's what Sebastian liked to think. He knew, in his heart of hearts, that he would never be able to hurt the young master and not just because of the stupid contract either.

Picking up his eye patch, Ciel looked up at Sebastian once he had dressed. "Could you help me with this?" he asked then lowered his gaze from Sebastian's frosty ruby red eyes. "Please." the young one added.

Sebastian took the eye patch and Ciel cautiously turned around so that the elder demon could tie the patch. He didn't say a word when he was done; he just stepped back and waited for the master to realize he was done. Seconds later the young one turned around. "Thank you." he said softly and Sebastian momentarily wondered if his kind really could become ill; Ciel wasn't acting like his usual self.

The young one never said 'please'.

The young one never said 'thank you'.

And the young one was most certainly not usually so cautious.

Then Sebastian's eyes met Ciel's uncovered one and the brief glint of desperation, pain and sorrow he saw in his master's eye was enough to make Sebastian feel like some one had just thrown a bucket of ice water in his face. It was enough to strike a place deep in the elder demon's heart.

"We should leave as soon as possible, my Lord." Sebastian said keeping his voice even.

The young one let out a sigh. "I suppose you're right, Sebastian." he said picking up the full suitcase he had left at the bottom of his bed. When he was human, he wouldn't have been able to lift the damn thing. There was one upside to being a demon, at least but that one was not enough to make either one of the males happy about the current situation.

Half an hour later found the two climbing into the waiting carriage.

"Where to this time, my Lord?" Sebastian asked.

"I don't care." the boy said coolly. "Wherever you want."

Sebastian frowned. "Wherever?"

"Yes." there was silence. "Do you want me to make that an order?"

"No, there's no need," Sebastian replied dispassionately before looking up at the driver. "Take us to the outskirts of town."

The driver nodded and closed the carriage door.

"Where are we going?" the younger of the two asked the elder.

"Home."

Sebastian's home, Ciel found out many hours later, wasn't exactly a mansion but it was still pretty big. It was predictably gothic and daunting which made it feel bigger than it actually was. There were no cobwebs on the ceiling or hiding in corners like the young lord thought there would be but pretty much everything else met Ciel's expectation. There were a lot of reds and blacks scattered around the place, mainly black. If inspected closely enough, however, some silver could be spotted.

Ciel found himself smiling ever so slightly in amusement. "Of course." he muttered to himself. "What other decoration would a demon have?"

Sebastian narrowed his eyes slightly. "Shall I show you to a room, Master?"

Ciel swallowed. "Could I . . . I. . ." he stopped and looked down at his feet.

"Could you what?"

"I . . . it's nothing." the young one said.

Sebastian folded his arms and glared. "What do you want?"

Ciel winced at Sebastian's tone. "I was wondering if I could, maybe, have a room close to yours." he muttered, his cheeks flushing red.

"Why?" Sebastian enquired, raising an eyebrow. Ciel started twiddling his thumbs. "You're . . . scared?"

The demonling opened his mouth before closing it again and just nodded. "Funny, really." he said softly.

This just baffled the elder demon further. "What is, my Lord?"

A pained smile tugged at the corner of the young one's small mouth, a smile that didn't reach the boy's eyes. "I feel safest with the one that hates me most." he mused.

There was a long frosty silence between the two in which they both stood quietly, waiting for the other to speak. Neither one did so the silence continued until, finally, Sebastian let out a sigh and took Ciel's suitcase. "Come on." he said to the little Lord.

Ciel followed. "Who lives with you?" he asked the elder demon curiously.

"No one." Sebastian answered curtly.

"But you must have family?"

The elder looked at the younger. "Why the sudden curiosity, my Lord?"

The young one looked away. "No reason." he mumbled.

Sebastian halted and opened a bedroom door. "The one next to this is mine." he said, his eyes narrowing at his master who wasn't looking at him. "It's not the grandest, however. If you would prefer. . ."

"No." Ciel interrupted. "It will do just fine." he glanced up at the elder and instantly wished he hadn't. His butler didn't look angry but he didn't look . . . Anything. His face was completely emotionless, his eyes, those raging ruby red eyes were empty and cold.

"Is there anything else, my lord?" Sebastian asked impersonally.

"No," Ciel answered. "There's nothing."

"Then I'll retire, if you don't mind."

The young one peered up at the elder, frowning. "Why on earth would I mind?"

Sebastian chose to ignore that and just left the young lord to get himself settled and ready for bed.