Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any of the characters. Kuroshitsuji is the intellectual property of Toboso Yana.
Thanks Hikari-Hikaru-Hikari for beta-ing this fic!
– D e m o n ' s _ H e a r t –
You are much mistaken if you expect to influence me by such a paltry attack as this.
"Sebastian, would you be so kind as to add some more coke to the fireplace?" the woman sitting in the velvet armchair asked. The skirt of her satin gown shifted slightly as she straightened to look up at the boy sitting across her on the other side of the tea table. "After all, being the butler of the young earl, you must be aware that cold air often triggers asthma attacks." The woman said matter-of-factly, shuffling the cards in her hands. She smiled as she realized her hand looked quite promising.
The butler bowed silently and followed the instruction. 'What could young master possibly be thinking now,' he wondered. The way Ciel was sitting his chair with his left arm supporting his head told Sebastian that his master was quite annoyed at their guest, and quite frankly, he could already sense that slight anger through the bond of their contract.
He stole a glance at his young master, expecting the boy to retaliate by saying something to the woman, but those thin lips weren't even slightly upturned, his visible blue orb only remained calmly on the cards in his hands. The mask was perfect — a calm sea before a disastrous storm. The demon mused over the idea of teasing his young master with his smart-mouthed comments, but of course the current situation required him to keep his mouth shut, therefore he resolved to save it for later for when they were alone.
"Madame," the boy finally cleared his throat, "Thank you for your kindness; my butler can be quite inconsiderate at times." Although his back was facing his master, Sebastian could sense the smirk on his master's face. What could he mean by that? Inconsiderate? Where was this coming from?
While it's true that sometimes he could be unaware of his human needs, he always placed the safety of his young master above all else. Never had he once put the boy's life in danger just for his own amusement... well, that'd be a lie. But nevertheless, Ciel Phantomhive was alive and well at this moment, wasn't he? All thanks to his resourceful butler for rescuing him all those times.
"If you think so yourself, you should hire another that is capable of ensuring your needs and comforts." the woman exclaimed halfheartedly, looking up at the earl for any hints of triumph.
"Yes," the boy said deliberately, still keeping his poker face. "But I am afraid I am already used to him. If I rid of him and get someone else to do the job it will take me some time to get used to that new person."
"That is what you think," the woman declared with much self-importance. "But I am sure you won't miss the incompetence of such a careless servant."
The earl chuckled a little and replied, "Madame Devoureaux, please do give my butler some credit."
"Earl, I would say the same; please do admit you've grown attached to your servant." the woman replied pointedly.
"Yes, quite attached..." Ciel finally admitted distantly.
The demon found himself desperately searching his master's expression, but only returned his gaze to the floor lest the annoying guest start to criticize again. 'How bothersome!'the demon thought. 'Why is it that I'm always wondering what that child is thinking? Surely he is nothing but a tasty meal to me...' Sebastian scolded himself again and again as he pushed the trolley to the kitchen, wishing that he could stop thinking of the matter altogether.
It was then that the careless maid popped out from the corner and called for help —.
"Mr. Sebastian! This is bad!" Mey-Rin said, her voice almost cracked in her panic.
"Don't go around shouting in the middle of the hallways! Now, what is the matter?"
"Finny caught a high fever," the maid said, lowering her volume.
"We have some medicine in the cabinet. Have you tried it already?"
"Yes, but it only got worse when he woke up," Mey-Rin said worriedly.
Sebastian gave a frustrated groan and started walking to the servants' quarter without another word, only leaving the maid feeling more distressed at the situation.
'Humans... they are far too fragile.'
"Ho ho ho..." The house's steward sat in one corner of the room, taking a sip of his usual green tea.
"Sebastian, thank God you are here! We have no idea what to do, but we knew you were busy serving the guest, so we-"
'Humans... they are always so clueless.'
Sebastian took the thermometer out of Finny's mouth, checking the temperature. It read thirty-nine. The butler glanced at the medicine bottles that were standing on the night table. They were the right ones to give...
"You don't think he's got the flu?" Bard suggested worriedly.
'They are always so frightened.'
"If he does, it's better if we all just leave him be." the demon said coldly, and the maid started to sob in the doorway, rubbing her eyes with her apron.
"How- but- Sebastian! We can't do that!" Bard shouted angrily, staring at the butler's cool expression with disbelief.
"I don't want to infect anyone..." Finny's feeble voice managed to make itself heard over the commotion in the room. "Especially the young master..."
Sebastian stood up and walked toward the door, but was stopped when the chef grabbed his arm violently.
"How can you just walk away like this?" he questioned, his hand shaking though his grip was strong.
'Always desperate...'
"I am going to a make phone call to the apothecary." The grip on his arm loosened, and everyone in the room, barring the always composed Tanaka, sighed with relief. "Now please take care of Finnian for a little while longer, I must assist our guest and the young master for now."
After collecting the necessary materials for the evening tea, Sebastian walked back up stairs to the drawing room where he'd left his young master and the irritating guest, all the while thinking to himself what a long night this would be.
The moment Sebastian entered the parlor, Madame Devoureaux started to ramble on about his incompetency again. She seemed to think that since she was more experienced in housekeeping, she ought to give her younger companion here an idea or two about it. Ciel pretended to listen wholeheartedly, but Sebastian could see the little smirk that was lurking around the corners of those seemingly sweet lips which only spit poison.
Sebastian felt slightly annoyed at the guest and extremely irritated at his young master — though he wanted nothing more than to snap that old hag's neck and be done with her, his young master's indifference towards him was causing a dull pain in that particular spot in his chest again, which was proving to be a nuisance on a whole new level.
When it was time for Madame Devoureaux to leave Sebastian made sure there was no delay and called for the coachmen twenty minutes early, paying for them to wait with his own allowance. He stood at the doorstep behind his master (as Madame Devoureaux refused his assistance in entering the coach), feeling relieved that she would probably never come back to visit, since her business with the Lord Phantomhive over the estate at Derbyshire was entirely settled.
Ciel sighed with exhaustion as the noise of the carriage faded away. Sebastian looked at his young master, suddenly feeling quite content despite his own exhaustion.
"You are tired young master." The demon couldn't help but smile.
"Of course I am, that old hag and her snarky little comments."
"But they were mostly directed at me."
"Yes, but youare my butler." Ciel turned around and stepped back into the mansion as Sebastian held the door open. "I am going to bed early, Sebastian."
The demon bowed deeply, laying a hand over his chest. "Yes, my lord."
As Sebastian walked down to the servants' quarters, he saw the apothecary that was just about to close through the back door. He bowed slightly and turned away again, seeming to be in a hurry to get home since it was already quite dark outside. Sebastian walked into the room that Finny and Bard shared, stopping as he saw the other servants were sitting around the lad, looking quite relieved.
"Mr. William said that Finny ain't got the flu." Bard reported.
"That's a relief," Sebastian muttered. "What are the instructions that Mr. William left behind?"
"He has to take this medicine every four hours." Mey-Rin held up the brown bottle. "We will make sure of that!"
"Ho ho ho..."
Finny looked up at his fellow servants, a warm smile plastered across his face. "Thank you everyone... I'm really touched!"
As the three of them and Tanaka remained in the room to have their cheesy, bubbly, heartwarming moment, Sebastian went to fetch a few blankets and returned to the room, putting them on a drawer nearby.
"The reason you caught a cold must be because of your lack of warmth, so I brought these here for you if you need them."
"Thank you, Mr. Sebastian!"
"Get well soon, there's a lot of work to be done around the house." Sebastian smiled his devious smile, closing the door behind him gently.
'Now, there's only young master left to be taken care of,' the demon thought, walking up to the study where his master awaits.
A/N: Seems like Sebby is falling in love bit by bit =D
If you are curious, the quote at the beginning of this fic is by Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, my favorite female character from all of literature probably!
Thank you for your support for the first chapter. This originally started off as it's own one-shot, but I changed some things and made it into the second chapter for Demon's Heart. Please tell me what you think of this chapter. I am still rather hesitant to write a third...