Ciel awoke with the oddest feeling in his gut.

It was as if his whole body was warning him that something was amiss.

The young demon sat up to look around his bedroom. Nothing was out of place; their clothing was still on the floor, the door was still shut and Sebastian was still fast asleep beside him. The mansion was quiet. Too quiet.

The young one glanced at his clock. It wasn't even four in the morning yet. What in hell had caused him to awaken at this ungodly hour? What was it that felt so wrong about the morning? What was wrong?

The young king slid out of bed and slipped into the bathroom for a quick shower. Once clean, Ciel returned to the bedroom and pulled on some fresh underwear from the draws and hauled on an old pair of faded blue jeans.

The young one looked at Sebastian's sleeping figure. Ciel remembered the first time he had sex and figured Sebastian would be exhausted. It was best to let the old demon sleep.

"Ciel?"

Or not.

Ciel crawled back onto the bed and lay beside his lover. His husband.

"Go back to sleep." Ciel said stroking the elder's face.

Sebastian moved and, suddenly, his mouth was claming the younger's with a soft, sweet passion. "You go back to sleep." Sebastian said pulling Ciel closer. The young one tried not to laugh as the elder's odd behaviour that came from Sebastian being so drowsy. The younger allowed the older demon to rest his head on the young one's naked chest.

Ciel stared up, frowning slightly, at the ceiling while playing with strands of the elder demon's hair. The odd feeling was still in his gut but not as strongly as before. After everything, Ciel couldn't dismiss it as nothing but nor could he do much about it anyway. Besides, if anything did happen, the young Phoenix was more than capable of taking care of himself. As was the demon that had fallen back asleep.

Ciel smiled as his husband's arms unconsciously tightened around the younger's middle. There must be something about being taken that made one feel awfully vulnerable, judging on the fact Sebastian was doing the snuggling and not the other way around.

Careful not to awake the elder, Ciel pulled the duvet over them and went back to sleep.

Sebastian re-awoke with his head still resting on Ciel's chest.

So this was how Ciel felt every morning; warm, fuzzy and a little sore.

It was odd, feeling so vulnerable but, surprisingly, the elder demon quite liked it. He liked the fact he had given Ciel part of him he had never given anyone before. He liked the warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest. And he liked snuggling. It was like their rolls had been temporarily switched.

The elder cautiously slid out of bed and snuck to the bathroom to shower. As soon as he was unsoiled in both his and Ciel's juices, he dried and dressed himself before returning to the bedroom.

While Sebastian had been in the shower, Ciel had awoken only to find himself in blank rang of a demon with a gun. "G'morning to you too." Ciel said politely.

"You shouldn't have the power you do, you little brat." the intruder hissed pointing the gun at Ciel's forehead for a quick, messy death.

"You realize guns are useless on our kind, yes?" Ciel asked sitting up with a smirk.

The stranger smirked right back. "No, but a bullet forged in the fires of Hell will kill."

Ciel's eyes widened as he remembered his lessons on demonhood.

Then the young one relaxed; it wasn't a bad way to die. He was happily married to the demon he loved, he had everything he could ever want and he still looked eighteen. All in all, he'd be perfectly ok with dying at that moment.

Trust Sebastian to emerge from the bathroom and throw himself in front of the speeding bullet as it raced towards Ciel's forehead.

Mortally wounded, Sebastian sank to the floor.

Time seemed to slow down as Ciel realized what had happened, what was going on. What Sebastian had done. "No." Ciel whispered. "No."

His eyes shifted into their true demonic shade of red as he looked up at the demon who had taken the shot. Without a word, an enraged Ciel burst into flame and attacked the assassin the only way he could. By burning, punching and tearing until blood flowed and the stranger was dead. Or close to death.

Ciel quickly rushed to Sebastian's side. "Oh, hell. Oh, hell." Ciel said grabbing the sheet off the bed, pressing it to the wound. "It's going to be alright."

"Ciel . . ."

"You'll be ok, you'll see . . ."

"Ciel. . ."

"Everything's going to be . . . To be . . . B-be al-alright."

"Ciel." Sebastian whispered, his strength was fading and he knew he didn't have much time left. Already Ciel's face was slipping away and black was taking his vision and there was something he needed to remind his Love.

"What?" the boy was crying, shaking uncontrollably.

Sebastian reached up to stroke Ciel's cheek, with a tender smile on his lips. "I love you." he breathed.

"As I love you." Ciel said with a watery smile but, to his dismay, Sebastian's eyes flickered shut and his hand slid from Ciel's cheek as the elder demon slipped away into a back void of darkness.

"No, Sebastian. . ." Ciel sobbed holding the man he loved close. "Please don't. You promised. You vowed. You swore. Always." the young one cried. "Y-you c-can't leave me. You p-promised."

Silence.

That was the only thing that answered his desperate cries as he held his dying soul mate in his arms.

Ah! Please don't kill me.

Not just yet.

Read on and, if you're not happy, you can kill me then.

xxx