Chapter 11: Mulier Fastidium

It was a silent trip down to the bathroom and Ciel noted how inconveniently far it was from his room. They had passed by the dining room, the kitchen and the corridor where the eye-trap room was. They went down the small flight of stairs at the end of the corridor and Angela pushed a plate key at a mechanism beside the door of the assumed bathroom. The plate had the word 'REST' engraved on it.

Angela turned and bowed to him. "I will wait here until you finish, young master." She said in her always nonchalant tone. "Take your time."

"Ah, but I'll be alright…" Ciel said in reassurance. "You can go now…"

"Pluto is rampaging in the castle at this time, young master." She cut him off. "I'll be stationed here to keep him away from you while you bathe."

He jolted a bit. "Pluto?!"

"I am capable of handling him, young master. You need not to worry." She said. "My master has instructed me to keep you safe."

"So there really is another master besides me, then?" Ciel thought but dismissed his decision to question her about the matter. "Angela, please be careful." He said to her and proceeded to the bathroom.

Angela stroked the cheek that Ash had mercilessly beaten before. She remembered the hardness of his hand slapping her face but despite that, there was no pain. "I cannot feel pain…" She muttered with a twisted smile.

"This bathroom is communal?" Ciel commented as he first walked in into the bathroom. The first thing he saw was an abandoned pair of toilets and he noted how inconveniently they were placed next to each other and in front of the door. With that aside, the wholeness of the bathroom was quite ancient; most of the tiles on the walls and floor were already chipped off; mirrors were musty and cracked; the stall doors at the east side of the room were mostly dilapidated and its bits of wood were chipping off. But in general, the bathroom was still accommodating and functional; water was available and the lighting of the room was still functional.

He went to the west side of the room a little later. There was a shelf beside the bath tub with bottles of shampoo, bars of soap, brush and scrubbers. On the left of the shelf, a small First-Aid cabinet was hanging on the wall. A small table was under the shelf; it seemed to be a right place to set the towels and the new set of clothes. Oddly enough, there was a hair-dryer placed on that table but there seemed to be no plug in the area to make it function. "Oh well, it's already there."

He approached the bathtub and pushed the pink shower curtains aside. He saw that the tub was filled with water and petals of roses and its gentle scent was filled the air. He couldn't help but smile though a little bit uneasy. "W-well Sebastien, you go first!"

"What?!" The wolf looked at him questioningly.

"Go! Jump in!" Ciel walked aside and gestured to him invitingly. Sebastien ignored and just stared at him. "Don't be upset now. I'll help you bathe."

The wolf just sat there staring at him.

"Sebastien." Ciel put his hands on his hips. "Bath. NOW."

The wolf did not move. Ciel knelt to him; eye-to-eye, he glared at him a bit. "Don't make me do this."

"Hmm… Do what? Let's see that then…" Sebastien stubbornly remained in his place. Unexpectedly, Ciel gathered him up and carried him; though the boy staggered under his weight. "Hey! Put me down!" He struggled by kicking and jolting his paws but he was ungraciously deposited into the tub with half of Ciel in tow; an amount of petals and water splashed into the floor. The wolf surfaced his head and shook his fur to rid of the water. Ciel raised his head from the water and coughed. "We can't make Angela wait out for us for such a long time. Pluto might incapacitate her."

"You worry too much." Sebastien thought glumly. "And besides, why do I need to take a bath?" He sat still and watched.

"Now Sebastien, behave." Ciel brushed away the wet strands of hair away from his face. He rolled up his sleeves and took a bottle of shampoo from the shelf. "I want you to smell good. I don't want to run around with a friend smelling like rotten meat."

"What?!" The wolf gave him a slight glare and a snort. "How dare you say I smell bad?!"

"Well, pardon me." Ciel said as he applied an amount of shampoo on his hands and rubbed it on the wolf's head. "But actually, you really do."

The wolf did not comment anything most of the time. He complied with the boy's will of bathing him. Though he thought about the boy's words of him being a 'friend'. "Me? A friend? Is that even possible?" He thought. "Is it possible that humans and beasts could be friends?"

His thoughts were interrupted when Ciel splashed his face with water. He tried his best to shake away the stinging waterfrom his eyes but it remained stuck there like a stubborn flea. Ciel immediately noticed his irritation and quickly grabbed a towel. "Ah! Sorry!" He dabbed it gently at the corners of his eyes. "Open your eyes a bit and don't move."

Sebastien did as he was told and in a matter of seconds, the stinging feeling was off. The wolf blinked freely and fixed his eyes at the boy. The blue color of the boy's eyes was the one he was completely enchanted with. They were calming to stare at and besides the gentleness and innocence reflected in them, they held a unique kind of beauty he couldn't quite describe or identify at the very least. His eyes alone made his whole being completely beautiful and he felt that it was something very valuable; he couldn't afford to lose them. Nobody would ever take those eyes away from him. He will strike any and every one who would dare take those eyes away.

Ciel pulled the plug at the bottom of the tub and the water drained slowly. He reached up for the shower handle and set the water temperature to warm. The water came like jet-like drops of rain; Sebastien almost closed his eyes in comfort of the warm water splashing his body and Ciel's gentle rubbing all over his body. When the water stopped coming, he shook his fur a bit and he heard the boy laugh. "Good boy, Sebastien!" Ciel said to him. "Good boy!"

…His laughter was like music. It enchanted him; the same way the eyes had.

"Go!" The boy said to him. He jumped out of the tub and shook his fur again. Ciel laughed again. The wolf wagged his tail in delight of hearing that sweet music again.

"Stay still." Ciel rubbed him dry with one of the towels provided on the table. After a few seconds, the wolf looked like a wooly stuffed toy newly dried from the laundry shop; his black fur were all stuck and fluffed out in various directions. Ciel laughed at how silly he looked. "See? You're good as new… like my plush toy." He then hugged him and kissed his nose. "Will you wait for me right here? It's my turn now."

Sebastien was completely stunned by the hug and second kiss. He didn't know what to feel; did he appreciate it or not? He just couldn't decide at what he would really feel. "Why do I like him like this?"

"I won't take too long." Ciel started to unbutton his shirt. "Wait here, okay?" He undressed himself and stepped inside the tub and pulled the shower curtains to block the view. Sebastien sat and guarded the boy with alert senses.

"Am I in love?"

Ash rubbed the sore spot of his body he had landed on. "That demon of a hound…" He muttered in frustration. He was almost close in fulfilling his goal; the Azoth in the boy's body was emanating a strong, desirable scent of roses. The aphrodisiac he had spiked the boy's meal with proved to be an effective catalyst for the Azoth to 'ripen' immediately. But its effects are only temporary; the boy's hormones would be the only thing to develop it permanently, but that process was slow and he hasn't got much time in his race against his rival. He had to use the Azoth from the boy before Alastair could extract it from him. "Damn that maid of his! I'll get the Azoth before that old man does!"

He was somehow thankful for the wolf for stopping him from his uncontrollable desire. "It's not time yet. I must be sure that I have that boy completely under my grasp. Then I could fulfill that prophecy." He thought. "After all, human emotions are so easy to manipulate."

He walked along in the grounds a bit. Sometimes, plotting people like him should have time for leisure to be able to think clearly.

"If that wolf will continue to spoil my plans, I must eliminate him as soon as possible." He contemplated as he watched a murder of crows feed on an animal carcass lying on the ground. "And that wretched Pluto. I have to get him away from him so that he could be safe or else all my plans will go to waste."

He continued to contemplate with the most of his free time. He had to admit that acting and pretending was really tiring; it required most of his intellect to quickly think of a line and act naturally. The boy was thankfully naïve and it made his acting easier to believe in.

"If only I had been careful at that time," He thought bitterly. "Then I wouldn't have lost him to that damned man, Vincent."

Ciel stood under the shower's jet-like drops of water. He stared blankly at the wall as if he was deciding if he should do anything or not. He was contemplating at how things went so fast in his life: Firstly, his parents died; Second, he had inherited the whole castle and all properties of the Phantomhives as the sole heir; Third, a madman is constantly pursuing him in his own castle; Fourth, he has a quite stubborn wolf as a constant companion, and fifth, he was infatuated with a man that looked like his father. He had to admit that somehow, he was attracted to his own father somehow in the same way he was attracted to Ash. But there were differences between the two; Vincent was a quite serious man but he was also quite timid; while Ash was a man who liked tricks and a bit aggressive about things... in his opinion anyway.

His hand wandered to the spot where Ash had first kissed him, then he trailed his fingers down to his neck and then to his lips. His very first kiss came from a mistake; it was lust-driven and not love-driven but somehow, it was his own fault. He had, in a way, tempted the man to do it and he had requested him to kiss him. But if they had known that what they were doing and discerned how wrong it was, surely one of them had the initiative to stop? Well, Ash should've since he was the one most conscious of the situation. Ciel had to admit that his own brain wasn't functioning well to think about anything. The main question is: Why didn't Ash do anything to stop? Also, why did he become sexually active all of a sudden; being all hot and faint? He shook his head; he was only fifteen for god's sake. He was too young to prioritize sensitive things like these.

He turned the shower off and reached for the shampoo bottle. Thankfully, there was a mint scented one; he had used the raspberry scented shampoo on Sebastien and he liked things to be recognizable at first glance; who owns this and that, to avoid confusion. He wasn't acquainted well with scented soap and preferred a plain cake of soap. And besides, he had used the scented soap on Sebastien.

He bathed and scrubbed his body as fast as he could and rinsed. He had spent most of his time musing over some things; he wondered what Angela was doing now.

He heard an alerting bark from Sebastien. He wondered what it meant but for being his companion, he was alerted by something that was a threat of some kind. So he finished draining himself a bit and wrapped the towel around his waist. He was going to push the shower curtains aside when it suddenly moved aside by itself. He almost yelled in shock but it was only Angela who had pushed the curtains aside and covered his mouth by her hand to block his supposed yell.

… And speaking of her hands, her nails were black and blood drenched; her fingers looked as if they were nibbled by something. It was completely inhumane, but oddly enough Angela doesn't seem to be reacting to pain despite the injured area getting wet by drops of water. Ciel was going to comment about her nails but her hand was on his mouth, so…

"Stay quiet, young master." She said in hushed, nonchalant voice. He simply nodded and did what he was requested to. She pushed the curtains back to their original place and stepped inside the tub and forced him into the furthest corner of the area. Sebastien was barking and growling outside. "Why here of all times?"

"PRETTY DOLLY?!!" They heard the searching voice of Pluto loud and clear; he had stepped inside the bathroom and he was searching for Angela. "Where is YOU?!"

Ciel began to panic while Angela seemed apathetic about the situation. He wondered what made her retreat to seek a hiding place. Her fingernails seemed to be a clue but compared to the rest of her uniform and body, there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary.

Sebastien knew his role and led Pluto away from the two. After a few minutes, Ciel felt that it was safe to come out now, but the maid pushed him back into his place when he took a step. "Is there something wrong, Angela?" Ciel asked.

Angela smiled at him and he didn't feel comfortable about it. "My master said he made me, the perfect woman." She spoke. "But I cannot taste, or feel pain, or experience pleasure." She withdrew her hand and gazed at him. He wondered what her words meant. He sighed as he attempted another step forward but, she grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back into his place. Her hands gripped his shoulders so tight that he winced. "A… Angela…!"

She tilted her head as if she was examining him closely. He blushed a light pink upon her almost incessant staring; also, the fact that he was naked, save for the towel around his waist, contributed to his feeling of pain and embarrassment. "Please let go. It… it hurts…"

But she gripped his shoulder harder; the sharp points of her nibbled nails formed bleeding dents on his skin. "The young master is entirely different." She said as she stared more deeply into his eyes. "He can feel, he can taste, he can have pleasure." Her hands lost its hold from his shoulders but she quickly gripped his neck and started to squeeze it hard. "Why are you so different?!" The boy began to panic; he could feel his windpipe being crushed and the painful constriction of his throat. He couldn't breathe and his head pounded painfully like a drum, but his body seemed immobile in fear. She bore a sadistic smile upon seeing the boy's face change in pain. "Is that how you feel pain, Ciel?"

His head hung back in a futile attempt to breathe. His vision was fading; his short gasps were broken attempts of breathing in air. He heard her say his name with disdain. "Why are you so precious?!" She crushed his neck; the sound of his neck breaking was like music to Angela's ears. "Why not me?!" Her face remained nonchalant but her fury, as well as delight, for the boy was in her entire being. "Why does he desire you and not me?!"

Ciel slipped out of consciousness with the horrifying realization that he was dying. The last thing he heard were Sebastien's furious barks and seeing Angela's twisted smile.

"Isn't he beautiful?" An affectionate voice said…

…He opened his eyes a bit…

"Blue?"

…He opened his eyes more…

"No, that sounds like a pet's name. He's no pet."

…He blinked…

"Well, he's got heavenly blue eyes…"

…His eyes focused at the man affectionately watching him from behind the glass. But in all honesty, the man brought him irritation. The man kept on tapping on the glass at random hours and the annoying sound kept him from sleeping.

"Why not 'Ciel'?" The voice said. He chose to sleep for another time, but a tap on the glass distracted him from his sleep again… like almost at all times.

"Hi Ciel!"

A/n: Introduction to Angela's plot so that it will be easier to transition from Pluto-stalker mode to Angela-stalker mode. Gotta go!

Replies:

LovelyWickedDescet – Sebby will turn human someday; just wait for the right time. Ok, another hint for you: What is Viscount Druitt's other name? In the anime, Sebastian mentions his name (in Episode 4 to be specific). I think the circus leader's name is Joker? Am not sure either(^^o). Anyways, have a tart!

Yana5 – Oh no, Ash will keep on trying to do something to poor Ciel and the poor boy is too innocent to know something. But never fear, Sebby will keep him at bay… unfortunately, not always…

Chu chu banato – 'Perverted' is my point indeed! Ok, you could take a break from those tarts now. Hmm… how about some Grasshopper Diet Tea to melt those unnecessary fats down? (:D)

Thank you for ToonyTwilight, Kaneriya, Lunarkitty15, xXWhiteButterflyXx, LovelyWickedDescet and HaloAngsta for alerting. Just in case I missed to thank somebody, thank you for the people who have Alerted the story. Have an alchemic cookie and a cup of tea for all of you! You really make me happy!