Thorns

Summary: AU. Sebastian, an aristocrat of the Michaelis family, one day came across a small, frail boy allowing himself to die on the middle of a pathway. Taking him in, he learns about the boys true past and his life-threatening illness.

Rated: T+

Chapter Five

"Checkmate." Sebastian frowned. Surely he could not already be in checkmate? His queen had not been spared, both his knights were out an apart from a few measly pawns, he only had a bishop and of course, his king. Examining the board, he quickly learned that, yes, he had officially lost and yes, he was beaten by a child five years younger than him.

"You win again, Ciel." he congratulated the boy, watching him curl up in his blankets and shivering. A week had passed since the cooler incident, and Ciel was really ill. Perhaps he should call a doctor? He showed all the symptoms of having influenza, but the other things were strange. Ciel was no longer eating, and he got heart-burn every night. He wanted to vomit even though he his stomach was empty.

He started coughing, his one showing eye clenching shut as he flopped back, gasping for air as Sebastian kneeled in front of him, trying to comfort the boy in some shape or form. He could sense something flickering inside him, but he point-blank ignored it. He'd be damned if he let the demon control him-!

"S-Sebastian..." coughed Ciel, causing the older male to pat his back gently. "Y-You're going to make yourself ill if you suppress i-it..."

"I believe it is you who is ill." countered Sebastian, blinking in confusion when Ciel grabbed his hand, coughing lightly.

"Make a contract with me." said Ciel abruptly, causing Sebastian an raise an eyebrow in confusion. A contract of what? Last time he made any form of contract was when he agreed to give 10% charity donation each month to the London hospital through the high profits he made in his toy manufacturing company.

"How do you mean?" asked Sebastian calmly, stroking the boys cheek as he bit his lip, fighting the urge to bite him and suck out his soul. Ciel leaned back, shivering and coughing as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"I want to make a seal contract..." said Ciel, letting out a small gasp of discomfort. "Basically, it means that you can go to your original form-"

Sebastian hissed. What the hell was Ciel thinking? Why would he want to turn into a demon? The very idea was horrific!

"-and stay in your original form-"

Explain why he would want to stay in a form like that?

"-but as a demon, you can change your form, so you can make yourself look human and-"

Wouldn't it be easier if he just stayed human? Seriously, why allow his demon self to go on a rampage when he could just keep the shell of a human?

"-by doing this your body will be instantly calmed by me feeding you a part of my soul when your hungry, but not enough for it to be damaged for a long period of time." Sebastian looked shocked. So basically, Ciel wanted him to allow this demon to take over, make a contract with it, allow the 'demon' to have his personality but have it's special abilities and in turn he wouldn't feel the urge to attack anyone? It made a lot of sense, but what was the catch?

"For this contract to work, I just need you to promise that you'll always be by my side. Not as a slave or anything, just be there."

Sebastian nodded unconsciously, feeling the white glove being pulled off his hand as he looked up at Ciel to question what he was doing; he let out a loud hiss as something burn on the top of his hand and then blacked out.

Ciel focused on what he was doing, but he felt scared. In order to complete the contract, he had to meet with Sebastian's 'true' form. The very thought scared him. He watched the dull red eyes glow bright and then gulped, slipping his fingers under his eye patch and letting it glow it's strange purple before he cried out, feeling a firm grip grabbing his face and picking him up, throwing him to the floor.

"A child such as you wants to make a contract with me?" it snarled, leaving Ciel on the floor to cough and splutter. "You do have a tasty soul, but why should I make a contract with a mere human?"

"It's either that, or you'll die since Sebastian won't give into his hunger urge." snapped Ciel, both eyes opening and glaring at the... the thing that wasn't even Sebastian. The creature seemed outraged. He only had two choices. Die a painful death, or allow this Sebastian to be the one in control. If he let Sebastian be in control, then he would never have control again unless Sebastian gave it up.

A hard decision, a very hard one. Snarling loudly, strong hand swiped down and grabbed Ciel by his wrists, slamming the boy into a nearby wall and taking delight in the cries of agony it caused. The boy was ill, really ill; the demon could pick that up really easily. If he just sucked the boys' soul out now, he'd die right after it, so only one decision could be made.

Dropping the boy and letting him collapse on the floor, he let out a screeching howl.

"If you dare make me regret this decision, I'll kill you!" it screamed, before vanishing and letting Sebastian fall onto the ground, eyes closed and his fists clenching. Ciel forced himself to crawl over and grabbed Sebastian's hand, looking at the small star formation that had just been burned there. He let out a sly smirk as he fell over onto of Sebastian's chest, closing his eyes and gasping for air.

When Ciel passed out, Sebastian woke up, sitting up abruptly, causing Ciel to fall onto his knee as he wiped at the sweat that had formed on his head. His vision and hearing felt too sharp, it was making him feel dizzy.

Sitting for a few moments, his eyesight adjusted, and as he looked down, he panicked lightly to see Ciel lying limply on his knee, dark blue hair hiding his face and his lips slightly parted, breathing shallowly. Lifting Ciel up and cradling him in his arms, he rose to his feet and exited the room, fully intending to nurse the boy back to health as he ignored the burning pain in his hand, worry getting the better of him.

Little did he know that Finian soon stepped put from behind the curtain, his expression shocked and his eyes watering as he bowed his head.

"Master Ciel... Be careful..."

"I do not need to be treated like royalty!" Ciel bellowed, but Sebastian paid no heed. He continued to button his shirt as the boy coughed into his hands, crinkling his nose in disgust.

"Besides, I do not see the point in me going to the hospital to be checked over!" he continued, rubbing his cold nose. "It is simply a bad case of flu. I do not need to go see them!"

"If you make any more noise, Maylene will come in here and hit you with a broom." said Sebastian, moving his fingers nimbly against him, his eyes twitching lightly in irritation. It was going to take some time to get used to this.

Now starting to button up the coat and securing the stockings, Sebastian kneeled down and started on the shoes. Ciel seemed irritated beyond belief, but he might just be annoyed since he was lacking energy at the moment.

Ciel glanced up and stayed still as a cap was placed on his head and a scarf wound round his neck, shivering lightly as the small movement brushed over his sensitive skin. He knew he was ill, but he didn't like admitting it to the whole world!

I blinked when he felt his glowing eye being covered by the silk eye patch Sebastian had bought him, his other eye darting about before resting as it looked into bright red orbs. They were very cat like, the pupil narrow as the red shimmered lightly. He looked near enough the same; minus the fact his teeth were a little sharper and his eyes brighter. The rest of him retained its normal form.

"I swear, if this trip is pointless, I will strangle you until you turn blue!" Sebastian chuckled, moving blue hair away from the boys face.

"I assure you, it will not be pointless. When we return, we shall get some hot milk and honey."

"He has influenza." a doctor confirmed, causing Ciel to roll his eyes. He already knew this information, could he go now? "But we can't figure out why he had all these other symptoms."

"I'm just frail." said Ciel, clicking his tongue as his eyebrow twitched. "Can I go now-?"
"Is there any medical record for a child called 'Ciel Phantomhive' in this hospital?" asked Sebastian, causing Ciel to splutter. He just gave his real name away!

"Ciel Phantomhive? We do have a medical record for him, but that's confidential information belonging to the Phantomhive's. Only a Phantomhive can access that information."

"Well, Ciel is the last survivor of that family." continued Sebastian, ignoring Ciel's outraged splutters. "Is there any proof needed to show that he is a Phantomhive?"

"The Phantomhive ring?" Ciel shook his head, the doctor furrowed his brow. "The Phantomhive sealing contract?"

Ciel grew rigid when Sebastian walked behind him and undid the eye patch. He kept his eye clenched shut, shaking his head in denial. Sebastian sighed.

"He does have it, he's just being stubborn." commented Sebastian, poking the boys ribs lightly, causing him to squirm. "Isn't that right, Ciel…?"

Ciel frowned before closing his other eye, taking a deep breath before opening his seal one. It glowed lightly, examining the doctor before him.

"I believe that's enough verification." said the doctor, bowing slightly. "I'll go check the records right now Ciel Phantomhive was here often as a child."

He walked off, and then the arguing began.

"You had no right to ask about that!"

"It's all for good reason though."

"It's my health, not yours!"

"I think I agreed to look after you."

"I never wanted you to agree to it!

"Be quiet. I'm only concerned." finished Sebastian, covering Ciel's lips with his finger, his red eyes glinting slightly. "We'll find out what's wrong, and then we'll go home."

Moments later, the doctor came back through, his eyebrows furrowed as he flicked through pieces of paper.

"It says here that Ciel Phantomhive has a life-threatening illness." he said, causing Ciel's cheeks to pale. "According to this, his stomach is a little deformed and can often turn on itself, the acids inside burning a hole through his stomach layer. If it got to such a bad extreme, then it would enter his bloodstream and kill him in a slow, painful death."

"So some form of stomach disease?" said Sebastian bluntly, catching Ciel as he collapsed backwards. The doctor nodded.

"It's all I can really say. If he's not careful, it'll kill him."

Red eyes glinted and Ciel's mismatched ones closed. He felt oddly numb after finding all that information out and Sebastian was worried. There wasn't really much he could do about it.

All he could to was make sure Ciel's body had enough nutrition, warmth and guarantee he wouldn't get stressed to the point where his stomach flipped.

There really wasn't anything else that could be done.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter ^^ Leave a review? Thank you ^^

~Sky~