Something very odd was going on with the rate at which Kakashi was healing from his injuries. It was in no way fast enough to match the speed with which Tsunade could heal him, but it was considerably faster than healing normally. Especially considering his chakra was still recovering at a slow, arduous rate. The speed that his body should be healing at.
Needless to say, he was very suspicious.
While he was happy to be able to walk on his own already, he shouldn't be able to. Sure, he might be able to support his weight and walk really, really slowly, he was able to comfortably jog around his room with only a slight amount of pain. Not only that, but he could feel that his broken arm had pretty much fixed itself. He was certain that the injury was now no worse than a slight fracture or even just a nasty sprain.
The deep gashes in his abdomen no longer ached when the stitches pulled, but the stitches were becoming an annoyance. So were the bandages. At the rate he was recovering, he probably didn't need most of them anymore. Hopefully he could also ditch the plaster cast on his arm. Once he had tried using his fork to scratch an itch inside the annoying thing, but Sebastian had come back before he could and put a stop to it.
And on the subject of the butler, the dark haired man was also becoming bolder in his actions. Sure, he hadn't gone any further than kissing, but he was doing it more frequently and whenever he was helping the ninja outside of his room. It was annoying, but he couldn't honestly admit that he totally hated it. Not that he would ever say that out loud.
He was now usually out of his room for meals with the master of the household, Ciel Phantomhive. Something that he would admit though, was that the child was an absolute brat. He was reminded of the arrogance that Sasuke had shown, being one of the great Uchiha, and sometimes was as emotionless as Sai. The only thing that really seemed to interest him was information about Kakashi.
Not wanting to reveal the secrets of his village, the jonin tended to gloss over most of the information about his past and where he was from. He was pretty sure that Ciel knew he wasn't telling him everything, but didn't press the fact. What he was learning seemed to be interesting enough. Kakashi told him that he was a ninja and that he was one of the best in his village, and that he frequently left his village to visit and assist other ones and the people in them.
He didn't mention his comrades, his suffering and heartbreak, or his past relationship with Sebastian.
They would talk through their meals, and then Ciel would leave to attend to whatever business he did and left Sebastian to clean up. During that time, because Kakashi wasn't fast enough to run away yet, Sebastian would molest his face for a few minutes and then walk off with a smirk on his face. Kakashi would then hobble off back to his room and try to distract himself with one of the books Bardroy had brought in for him. For the most part it worked, expect when Sebastian escorted him back to his room and kissed him for a while longer.
Today Kakashi was sitting under the large windows in his room, reading about the detective Sherlock Holmes, when there was a quiet knock at the door. Rolling his eyes he slid a bookmark in between the pages to mark where he was up to and placed the closed book on his lap.
"Come in," he said loudly, leaning his head against the high backed chair.
"How has your morning been?" Ciel asked with an obviously practiced pleasant tone to it. He walked confidently into the room, Sebastian standing like a shadow behind him.
"Fine thanks. I'm enjoying reading from your collection of books," Kakashi said, indicating the book in his lap.
"I'm glad that your enjoy it. I don't often have time to just settle down and read," Ciel said, almost sadly. There were a few moments of awkward silence before the boy continued. "I have been summoned to London, and I request that you accompany me. You see, I'm sure that if I left you alone with my incompetent staff they would probably end up killing you somehow."
Kakashi through about it for a few moments, staring thoughtfully out the window. "I suppose. Although I might slow you down a bit," he said, pointing at his legs.
"That will not be an issue. I had Sebastian order a cane for you," he waved his hand slightly and the butler stepped forward, holding out an elegant wooden cane with a polished metal handle and foot.
"Huh. I guess you really want me to come, don't you?" Kakashi said sarcastically. When he got nothing but a cold glare in return, he sighed and held out his hand for the cane. "I suppose there wouldn't be any harm in getting out of the house for a while."
"Very good. I'll have Sebastian help you get some things together. We will be departing a little after noon, and shall have a light lunch on the terrace before we leave."
"Okay then. I'll see you in a few hours I suppose…" Kakashi said absently, trailing off slightly when Ciel turned on his heel and marched out of the room. "Little brat."
"I would appreciate it if you would not insult my Master when in my presence," Sebastian said mockingly, a false smile plastered across his face.
"Whatever," Kakashi muttered, turning away to stare out of the window. He felt Sebastian lean his cane against the chair and soon heard him moving around the room, gathering clothes from the wardrobe and laying them out on the bed. He left the room for a few minutes and when he returned he was carrying a small trunk to pack the clothes into. Once that was done, he left the room again, probably to do the same thing for the young brat.
After a few minutes of staring out the window, Kakashi picked up his book again, but couldn't focus on reading. As much as he didn't want to, he couldn't stop thinking about the trip to London. He had never heard of the place before, but it must be important if an Earl was summoned to go there. Perhaps it would be an interesting learning experience. And he was also interested to see what kind of country he was in. Everything he had seen so far was completely different from everything he was used to, and he wanted to know if there were any similarities to his homeland.
Realising that he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his book anymore, he left it on the side table next to the chair and looked down at his newly acquired cane. He had to admit, it was a fine piece of workmanship. There were no bends or imperfections in the wood, and the silver handle was embellished with an ornate design. He slowly got to his feet, using the cane to support his weight. The handle fit comfortably in the palm of his hand, and when he took a few tentative steps, he was able to walk easily, trusting that the cane could easily support his weight.
Kakashi strolled around his room for a while after that, getting used to using the cane to support his weight. At first he felt completely off balance, but once he got used to it, he figured out how he could use the cane to his advantage if he got into a fight. Not that he actually planned on getting into any fights for a while yet.
Time seemed to pass for too quickly for the ninja however, as before he knew it, Sebastian was back at his door, informing him that lunch was ready and that he would be moving his trunk to the carriage. Before they left the room, Kakashi slid his shoes on, grumbling under his breath at the ridiculousness of the design. They left the room at the same time, Sebastian carrying the trunk while Kakashi carried his book in his free hand. When they reached the top of the stairs, Kakashi realised that this would be the first time he had left the floor he was staying on.
He glanced around the spacious open hall as he cautiously made his way down the stairs, the book tucked under his arm so that he could lean on the banister. There was a large chandelier hanging above an elegantly tiled floor. There were several doors leading off on either side of the room, and directly opposite the stairs was a large set of double doors that he assumed lead outside. On either side of the doors were tall pane windows, framed by polished wooden frames.
The spectacular grandeur of the room impressed the jonin, and he paused once he was at the bottom of the staircase to admire it for a while longer. An elderly man strode into the room, followed by Bardroy and a young boy wearing a checked shirt and a straw hat. Sebastian handed the trunk to them, said a few quiet words to the group before turning sharply on his heel and heading back towards Kakashi.
"If you'll follow me, we'll be going to the terrace to join Lord Phantomhive for lunch," the butler said politely, giving Kakashi a small smile. He walked at a casual pace so that Kakashi could keep up with him.
The terrace, as it turned out, overlooked the vast expanses of the garden that eventually became forest that bled into the distance. So he had turned up in this world somewhere out there. Kakashi made a mental note to investigate the area where Sebastian had found him once he was fit enough.
Ciel was sipping tea from an elegant teacup, sitting in the sun at a table that had been set up on the edge of the terrace, close to a small set of stairs that lead down into the garden. As he hobbled towards the table, he noticed a small pond at the end of a white gravel path. The path branched off in several places, vanishing between neatly trimmed hedges that surrounded small gardens. The gardens seemed to mirror each other, and were perfectly symmetrical with the ones on the other side of the path.
He was pulled from his musings when he heard a chair scrape. Looking over at the source of the sound, he saw that Sebastian had pulled a chair out for him, indicating that he should sit. Kakashi did so, only then noticing the spread of small sandwiches and cakes that had been laid out in the middle of the table. Sebastian moved to his side, and poured him a cup of tea, offering him milk and sugar. Kakashi declined, not knowing what type of tea he was drinking and wanting to taste it without changing the flavour.
What surprised him though, was that the tea was one he was familiar with. He would have to inquire was to where Sebastian acquired the green tea. There may be some way for him to work out how to get back home if he looked into it. Shelving that thought, he placed his book on the table, grabbed one of the sandwiches and started eating.
About thirty minutes later, once full of sandwiches, tea and cake, they were all seated in the carriage on plush leather covered seats. The older man –Tanaka – was driving the carriage, Kakashi and Ciel were sitting next to each other and Sebastian was sitting opposite them. All three of them were now dressed in dark coats, and both Ciel and Sebastian were wearing (in Kakashi's opinion anyway) ridiculous looking tall hats. When he was offered one, he politely refused. It was bad enough that he was wearing the strange clothes of this world, he wasn't going to wear the stupid hat too.
Sebastian had told him that the trip would take several hours, and because the ride was too bumpy for him to read, the jonin decided instead to sleep. It wasn't terribly difficult for him – years of training and going on missions had allowed him to condition himself with the ability to sleep pretty much anywhere. A bumpy carriage ride was no exception.
He woke the moment they stopped moving, although from what he could tell, they weren't at their destination yet. When they started moving again, he assumed he had been correct, because they stopped several more times before they finally pulled up in front of a large white building.
Sebastian got out of the carriage first, helping Ciel get out first before doing the same with Kakashi. He handed the butler his cane, and then, leaning heavily on Sebastian's offered arm, climbed out after him. His feet hit the cobblestone ground heavily, and if he hadn't already been leaning on Sebastian for support he probably would have fallen.
Heartily embarrassed, he mumbled a quick thank you before hobbling off after Ciel. He caught up with the boy at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the door, and wasn't terribly surprised that Sebastian was right behind him. The butler walked purposefully past the two of them and opened the door with a slight bow, just in time for Ciel to march inside. He waited patiently for Kakashi to cross the threshold, before hurrying back to the carriage to collect their luggage.
Kakashi sighed, wanting more than anything to be able to sit in the sun somewhere with his favourite orange book. Instead, he was in a city that was blanketed in smog, and he had yet to find a book that was even slightly raunchy. Glancing around the foyer of the building, he realised that Ciel was no longer in sight. Not knowing what else to do, he decided to go exploring.
There was a staircase off to the side, and being slightly disabled as he was, decided to look around on the ground floor. There was a large room with several comfortable looking sofas, a large until fireplace, a wall lines with bookcases and a grand display cabinet showing off delicate looking pieces of porcelain and bone china. There were half a dozen photos on the mantel above the fireplace, one depicting a man and a woman with a small, smiling boy between them. Kakashi assumed that they were Ciel's parents, although he had yet to see or hear of them.
Shrugging the thought off, he continued through the house, finding the large kitchen. Brass pots and pans lined the shelves on one wall. The wall opposite had large pane windows that looked over a small garden. There was a large pantry that currently only stocked the bare minimum, and all of that was there wasn't perishable. It would seem that there weren't people living here all the time.
With further exploration, Kakashi found another two sitting rooms, a ground floor guest room, a dinning room, a library (which he intended to study in further detail later) and what he assumed were servants' quarters. These rooms weren't furnished nearly as elaborately as the other rooms he had come across, and were painted white like the kitchen. Three of the rooms contained a single bed, dresser and wardrobe, while the fourth room had two of each. One of the single bed rooms was slightly better off than the other three, with a larger bed and a footlocker at the end of it.
Something told him that this was Sebastian's room, mainly because of how pristine everything was, almost as if they had been rarely used, if at all. He was somewhat wary of this room, almost as if there was some muted warning going off in the back of his mind. The fact that this was probably Sebastian's room intrigued him, but he felt that snooping around in it would get him in trouble.
Trusting his gut, he backed out of the room and closed the door quietly behind him.
Realising that he had now discovered everything the ground floor had to offer, he slowly hobbled back to the room he walked into off the street. Sebastian was standing at the bottom of the stairs, a neutral expression on his face. He was holding a silver tray in his hand, an envelope sitting on top.
"There you are," he said calmly, his voice betraying nothing. "I request that you join me and my Young Master, as we are about to have a light supper before he must retire for the evening."
"Yeah, I suppose," Kakashi said in an off-handed voice. "What's in the letter?"
Sebastian was quite for a moment, his eyes darting to the letter for a moment before returning the calculating gaze back to the jonin. "It is for my Master. It is from the Queen."
There was something in the butler's tone that told Kakashi not to question further, at least until the Earl had seen the letter for himself. With a small nod, Kakashi started up the stairs, holding onto the banister with the hand that wasn't clutching onto his cane tightly. Sebastian followed only one step behind him, prepared to assist him if necessary.
They made it to the top of the stairs without a problem, and Sebastian quickened his pace briefly so that he could walk in front of the ninja. He pointed out the room that Kakashi would be staying in as they passed it, and Kakashi wondered why he had been put on this floor instead of the ground floor. With his injuries it would have made much more sense.
He didn't have a chance to voice his opinion, because seconds later they stopped in front of a closed door. Sebastian knocked twice, waited a few moments before Ciel called out that they could come in. The butler opened the door, stepped to the side to allow Kakashi to enter, and closed the door again. He then cross the room silently, coming to a stop slightly behind his young master and carefully placed the letter on the desk in front of him.
The boy looked down at it lazily, studying it for a few seconds before picking it up to open it. Kakashi limped across the room to stand in front of the desk, opposite the boy. Ciel glanced up at him and nodded at the chair beside him, indicating for him to sit. As he did so the boy picked up a silver letter opener that looked suspiciously like a dagger and sliced open the top of the envelope.
Kakashi sat in awkward silence, feeling completely out of place as Ciel read the letter, a frown creasing his brow. Sebastian stood stoically behind him, the tray now tucked under his arm. After Ciel had read through the letter twice, he sighed and put it on the desk in front of him.
"It would seem that the Queen has need of my assistance. Several people from noble houses have gone missing, and while the nobles themselves are fine, those that are missing have knowledge that some people do not want to get out in the open.
"Sebastian, compile a list of those that are missing. Find out what you can about them. See if they are connected to each other in any way, and if there is anywhere that they may have gone into hiding. Do that as soon as possible, then give me everything you find."
"Yes, my Young Lord," Sebastian said, bowing to his master.
"And as for you," Ciel rounded on Kakashi, who schooled his features perfectly to hide the shock he felt at suddenly being confronted. "If you have recovered sufficiently by the time Sebastian is done with this task, I request that you assist him in finding these people. From what you have told me of yourself, your skills will be of great use to me."
Kakashi considered what the boy was saying. While he had no allegiance with the boy or anyone in this world, he was being taken care of without giving anything in return. This could be his chance to show both his gratitude and make sure he stayed in shape while he was here.
"Sure, I'll help out if I'm capable of doing so," he said mildly with a shrug.
"Excellent. Now, we shall be having supper in the dining room. I will meet you there shortly. Sebastian, get everything ready," Ciel said, standing up from his chair to stand in front of the window, a clear indication that the conversation was over.
"It will be done, Young Master," Sebastian said with a bow. Just as Kakashi was beginning to stand from his chair, the butler was at his side, offering his hand to help him. The ninja grudgingly took it and was practically pull out of the chair.
Grumbling silently he regained his balance with the cane before following the butler out of the room again and back into the corridor. This time he didn't wait for Sebastian, choosing instead to continue towards the stairs. He had barely reached the top of the stairs though before the butler was at his arm, ready to provide support or catch him if need be. That annoyed Kakashi to no extent, and he blatantly ignored the dark haired man all the way down the stairs, refusing to acknowledge him, even when they reached the tiled floor.
"Are you sulking again?" Sebastian asked, the humour in his voice obvious.
"Shut up," Kakashi growled, and he heard Sebastian snigger. He was about to yell at him, but there was a knock at the door.
"Who on earth could that be?" the butler said quietly, striding past Kakashi towards the hardwood door. He grasped the door handle with a gloved hand and pulled the door open. At the last second before the door opened fully, Sebastian jumped out of the way just in to avoid something large, red and human shaped fly towards him. The person sailed through the air for a second before they crashed into the floor, wailing.
"Bassy! Why did you do that? You were supposed to catch me!"
"But I have no desire to do so," Sebastian sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"Why not? Dear Bassy, we are meant to be!"
"What the hell is going on here?" Kakashi muttered. Unfortunately, a read head snapped towards him, and he was able to take in the figure of the floor more completely. They were wearing a red coat, red high heeled shoes, red glasses and had long crimson hair. Their eyes were ringed in green and yellow, and while most people would find this odd, strange eyes were no issue in his home world. His left eye was proof of that.
"Bassy who is that?" the person said, climbing to their feet.
"He is a guest of the household, much unlike you," Sebastian said. He was very obviously struggling to keep up the niceties around this person.
"Hmm," the person in red slowly walked towards him, studying him through the red glasses. Kakashi frowned, not liking being to focus of this person. Something about them was just off, and it wasn't just the fact that he couldn't tell if they were a man or woman. He was leaning further towards man, but something about them just screamed feminine. The person in red stopped in front of him, taking in his clothes and the cane. When the person finally looked at his face, the green and yellow eyes widened and there was a loud squeal.
"What a beautiful eye you have! So red! So perfect!" the person cried out happily, launching themselves at him.
Not knowing what to do, he relied on what his gut was telling him to do. So when the person was about to land on him, he spun on his heel, dropping the cane, and slamming his right elbow and left fist into the person's gut. Time seemed to slow for a few seconds, then the person was on the floor several feet away from him, clutching their abdomen and whining loudly.
"That is Grell. He is…an acutance of ours." Sebastian seemed to struggle with the words, almost as if he was trying to be polite about something he hated. Which probably wasn't far from the truth.
"Sebastian, get him out," Ciel said coolly from the stairs. Kakashi hadn't even heard him approach.
"Right away sir," Sebastian said, smiling happily as he picked Grell up by the hair and threw him out of the still open door. He then locked the door before Grell could try and get back inside. "We tend to ignore him," he said to Kakashi, who was still slightly shocked about what had just happened.
"You have some skill for someone who is injured," Ciel said to the ninja as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "I look forward to working with you."