It is a butler's duty to go through the daily routine as normal, even if things are everything except for normal. Sadly unlike the butler his master could not stay with such a routine; when Sebastian entered the younger man's bed chamber he was surprised to see him standing before his full length mirror nearly completely dressed. He sat the tray of tea down on the bedside stand, he stood and watched his master; the blue eyed man made a point to bluntly ignore him even though it was quite obvious that he had noticed the butler's presence.
"Young master, do you not think it is easier for me to dress you?"
Ciel stopped on the last button of his vest, his body tensed.
"I've been doing this for about a year now, I believe I have it under control."
"I swear if you keep doing things for yourself you'll give me no purpose as a butler, at least you're better at it than you were when you were younger." He said smiling a bit.
Once more his master ignored him, he never turned to face him he just continued to stare at his own reflection; it was almost as if the demon's presence caused him pain.
"As far as I'm concerned you have very little purpose in the first place." his voice was bitter, cold
The comment hurt slightly, the hate emanating off of the young man was even more painful. Oh if only he could get him to see, get him to understand why he had to leave. There really was no way to explain, no way without upsetting the blue haired man even further. It was so difficult to explain something so simple to a human that could be quite stubborn and not totally fond of emotions such as love.
"Does that mean you wish for me to quit, my lord?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
Ciel sighed heavily, he turned to face the black haired man; Sebastian noticed for the second time that his master placed his hand over his side absentmindedly rubbing at it as if to ease the pain. Just how badly had he been injured?
"I assumed you had quit when you vanished and did not come when I ordered you, that is against contract isn't it?"
"Yes, but I have returned to you; the decision is all yours my young master."
The younger man laughed and shook his head, the sound of his laughter was something slightly disturbing and it always had been; such a cruel mentally deranged sound it could be.
"Of course I do not wish to break our deal, even if you are nothing more than a mangy animal. You still need to feed do you not? You've worked so hard to feast upon my soul and I don't wish to take that honor away from you even if you are far from worthy. I must admit it's a bit selfish that I still want to keep our contract going, you owe me death, a painful one at that. I refuse to die by any hand that is not yours."
The words took him by surprise, he was pleased to see his master had not changed; if anything he seemed crueler, more hell bent on self destruction. Perhaps his leave of absence had caused things in the manor to change, to become more interesting. True it bothered him to have his master be so cold towards him, to dismiss him so constantly, but he couldn't help but wonder just how much sweeter he would taste now when the time finally came.
"Yes my Lord"
Ciel studied him for a second or two before turning and leaving the room making sure to avoid the demon at all cost.
Sebastian stalled in the room for a moment; he knew better than to follow behind the younger man, in past times he would follow him closely almost like a red eyed shadow. Now though he did not feel worthy enough to follow the younger man so closely; he could only ponder on how long it would be until he could be in Ciel's good graces again. Hell it was possible this game of avoidance and anger could keep up all the way to the day of the young master's death; that was a day Sebastian was in no true hurry to reach. At this point he felt like it would never come; Ciel was always seeking revenge or justice upon some demented old soul, he would never be satisfied and both demon as well as master knew this all too well. He would serve as loyally as he possibly could, even if in the current situation he was barely serving at all; it was odd and slightly depressing how much the demon had missed being needed and demeaned by the younger man. In Hell Sebastian would never endure such treatment, he was near the top of hierarchy; how little the human knew of him, of just how powerful he was in his own realm. Would his master respect him if he knew just how powerful and terrifying the demon truly was or would he merely shrug it off and go about as normal?
He decided he'd given the blue haired man enough time, he left the room closing the door behind him.
Today would be a difficult day; Bard would surely still be angry with him which gave the butler a bit of enjoyment, Finny and Mei-Rin would surely follow him around pestering him about where he had gone and why he would leave so suddenly and for so long. His master would surely ignore him and continue to insult him until the day was done; strangely enough he enjoyed this, he deserved to be hated and to be treated cruelly by those around him mainly his young master. It was difficult to say if it had been the worst or best decision in his time as a butler to leave; in a day or two he'd surely have his answer.