I am back! Thank you guys for all the follows and favs! Please don't forget to review as well; Feedback keeps me going.

How am I doing so far? I really REALLY enjoy writing Sebastian's character, but I hope that it isn't too OOC of him. Anyways, enjoy Chapter 9!

Morning came sooner than I had expected, but I didn't dare complain. I had already overslept that morning and had to be directed out of bed by Sebastian. Which was embarrassing in itself.

I felt an array of emotions that morning as Sebastian gave me drills about shooting guns. I tried my best to act like a clueless, helpless woman. Dropping the gun countless times and asking where the trigger was to the point even I was annoyed with myself. I didn't want to arise suspicions. Noblewomen weren't supposed to be sharp shooters. Just dainty and polite and completely feminine. It's what I had always done, and what I had tried to be for Charles despite his insistence on my liberation.

Feeling the gun in my hand brought back more memories. What it felt like to shoot. Charles had taught me to shoot trees. Then after that, we tried moving targets. I disliked the way it felt when I saw a deer fall completely helpless beneath the bullet. But it was apparently all necessary. Just in case something..no..someone came after me.

Anyways, In addition to the helpless, clutzy act I was putting on, I was trying to think of anything that would distract me from the general discomfort I felt around Sebastian. The embarrassment. The fear. I found myself focusing on Charles, comparing him and Sebastian put me at ease, somehow. Their..similarities. In height. In speech. In elegance and in class. But the one thing that distinguished the two, I felt, was Charles's love of adventure. Sebastian seemed content to run a is what I had deduced from him at least. He and I were similar in that way. The way that we faithfully took care of those we care about to our fullest extent. Except of course, I don't know that I would have the capacity to kill.

And with that the thought returned to me. Ones of which I had been running from and trying to avoid in spite of our shooting activities that morning. I turned last night's events over and over in my head, remembering clearly the way that man last night had collapsed on to me. He'd twitched. Struggled. I watched a human being die before my eyes. And God, the way the knife looked when it had been lodged inside his skull. Blood simply streamed down his hair and neck. Not to mention, after all was said and done, Sebastian had taken the knife from his head. I watched secretly as the he'd dislodged it, and how he had pulled out a handkerchief to clean it of its blood. Casually. So casually as if he were shining another piece of cutlery in the cupboard.

Nevertheless, I had to keep on with this act. This "job" I had now, that was really more of a way to appease me it seemed. After speaking with Sebastian early this morning, he had explained this job thing was the only way Ciel would figure that I would stay. I had already tried running away, and my constant suggestions that I didn't belong here prompted him to create a position for me. Based off of Sebastian's suggestion I heard. Besides, he needn't anyone aware of the metal bending butler, their strong as an ox gardener, or the way Ciel had crossdressed. I was told to consider it a nicety between two friends this time. I couldn't complain too much, I guess. I was left alive, wasn't I?

"This is our new pastry chef," Sebastian announced, waving a hand to me. He had called a meeting in the kitchen, and the others were gathered around, looking upon me in awe. Which actually felt quite awkward. I found myself looking anywhere but at them.

"Ah no way! Midori, you're going to be my little kitchen aid?" Bard exclaimed, blue eyes sparkling with excitement. "Not that I need one anyways. I'm a pro-chef."

"Are you now?" I teased, laughing a bit.

I had not expected such an enthusiastic reaction. And I realized this small taunt of mine had made him embarrassed, a blush rising to his cheeks.

"Welcome aboard!" The gardener had spoke. "I don't know if I mentioned it already, but I'm Finny!" He shook my hand avidly, clasping my hand with both his.

Maylene stepped forward, a wide smile on her face.

"I can't believe you're working here now! What a crazy turn of events!" She laughed, shaking my hand once Finny had taken a step back.

"Considering her background, please don't consider it unusual if she is asked to accompany the Young Master on trips every now and again," Sebastian spoke. I assumed he would atone that statement with a further explanation, but the servants seemed content to accept that.

"Please make her feel welcome here. There is much for me to do today, so I must be leaving now. Everyone, please do your work diligently!"

They all shouted a hearty "Yes Sir" in unison. Sebastian bowed before making a hasty exit, leaving the five of us in the kitchen to idle about.

"Ah, everyone!" Finny shouted from the other side of the kitchen. When had he been able to make it over there? He stood in front of a calendar, pointing frantically at today's date.

"I hope you guys didn't forget. Today is Ciel's thirteenth birthday! The Marchioness Middleford will be stopping by today too."

They all squeaked in surprise, scrambling to their feet at the sound of this.

"The Marchioness Middleford?" I murmured to myself. The name sounded familiar. Had I made her acquaintance once before at a party? Briefly. Maybe? Yeah. She had a young daughter, and an excitable husband...No way. The Marchioness? If I was thinking of the right person, she was a lady who exhibited ultimate elegance, class and etiquette. I tensed. The sight of someone as seemingly disgraceful as me would be the end of my days.

"Ah! I can't be seen by her! She will most definitely recognize me. I can't sully the Phantomhive name with my presence." I started to pace for a second, hands entangled in my hair.

"I should hide. Pull my hair up maybe? Borrow some of those glasses Maylene wears...That would be a good disguise…" I mumbled to myself frantically. Between curses and muttering.

"Ah calm down Midori!" Bard spoke, his hands resting on my shoulders. He gave me a squeeze as if to draw my attention towards him.

"I'm sure our Master knows of the implications of hiring you. If you weren't a good fit, he would not have offered to help you, right?" Bard laughed.

"I..suppose not.." I muttered shyly.

"Midori, you know her?" Maylene asked, stepping forward excitedly.

"Ah..I've met her once or twice before. She is quite the character," I spoke, a short humorless laughing following my statement.

"You guyssss!" Finny whined, "We have to get going! There's no time to waste!"

He stuck his hand out in front to him, his palm facing the ground.

"Let's agree to give it our all today, everyone!" He exclaimed. I joined in with them, yelling out with the others. And then everyone was off, scrambling to their posts. Bard and I remained in the kitchen of course.

"Well we should at least make a cake today!" Bard suggested, walking forward to the pantries.

"A cake? What about lunch? Tea?"

"No, a cake is the most important!."

"I suppose I can start on one..." I murmured, stepping forward towards Bard. "Then it's decided. I, as the Phantomhive pastry-chef will prepare the cake! So long as you prepare lunch, that is."

"Fine. But only because I know you're the designated cake person."

Immediately, I started the preparations, first by tying my hair back and pulling it up and away from my face. I pulled out mixing bowls and various ingredients for the cake. Who knew when they'd want to serve dessert? So I moved with haste, knowing how to make a few different types of cakes off the top of my head; there was no need for a recipe. Quickly, I decided that I would make a cake that I thought was somewhat of a personal specialty. I remembered Charles enjoyed it very much the few times I had slinked off to the kitchen to bake.

I couldn't tell how much time passed, but it was enough for me to get caught up in my work. With eggs cracked, butter melted, and sugar and flour thrown in, I had left the cake batter in the oven to bake now and turned to see what Bard was occupying himself with. Only to see the man was holding some extreme contraption that was emitting flames.

"B-Bard!" I exclaimed, clutching my chest. My eyes were glued to the weapon in his hand."Please, put that down this instant! You're going to cause a fire!"

"I know what I'm doing! Lunch will be soon, and I need this to warm quicker than it's taking!"

I was too late. By the time I had rushed over to snatch the wicked thing from Bard, something was blowing up. Hot heat rushed to my face, singing my hair. I erupted into a coughing fit, only barely able to see the things around me with the thick dark smoke shrouding around me.

"B-Bard," I sputtered through my hacking.

"Hell. I should've listened to you all along," Bard managed to choke out.

I rose to my feet, feeling around for a window until my fingers slowly slid to cold glass. I made haste when I realized it couldn't be anything but a window, sliding it open and thrusting my head out in the crisp fresh air.

My vision came back, tears streaming from irritated red eyes.

"Bard," I started. "Please never use a flamethrower around gasoline."

He was silent at first. Then erupted into something of a sheepish laughter.

"Of course, Midori." His footsteps drew closer to me, until I felt him weave his way beside me in the window, his face brushing mine as he joined me.

"This is the best way to cool off at a time like this," Bard laughed, running his fingers through his fire-singed blonde hair.

"We should clean this place up immediately," I spoke. "I'll prepare something, as long as you take care of the cake. Please, if you could take it out of the oven in a few minutes and let it cool on the window sill, I can frost it later."

"Sure thing, Midori. Then what do you want me to do?"

I was shocked he was taking orders from me. And also surprised that I was giving them, as timid as I usually was.

"Ah..Well. If you could help me clean that would be great," I spoke with a nervous laugh. Wringing my hands, I approached the sink, finding a bowl to prepare some dish water in. There was a lot to clean. Entirely too much! But the sooner I started, the sooner I would be finished right? And the less likely Sebastian would know about this mishap. So I got to scrubbing off the soot of the counters and stove top, eventually finding myself scrubbing it off the floor as well. I wasn't even halfway finished when I heard a loud thump outside the kitchen and a female screaming.

"Ah!" I gasped. I was naturally concerned. I recognized the voice to be Maylene's immediately.

"Bard, can you do a little cleaning here while I go check on Maylene? Please don't forget to take out the cake in the oven!" I said this as I ran off, dashing down the hall to check on Maylene

She was frantically trying to decorate it seemed,but incidentally she'd made a mess of the dining hall as well. A broken dish set was scattered around her.

"Ah! What happened!" I exclaimed, looking around frantically at the mess she was knelt down around. "Do you need help?" I asked, kneeling down to the frantic, close to tears maid.

"P-Please! Midori, would you be so kind?" She whined, grabbing a tight hold of my sleeve.

"Of course," I replied. "Please, if you could go help Bard clean up the kitchen...Can you manage that?" I asked sheepishly. I didn't want to sound as if I was ordering them around, but it was starting to feel as if they needed direction. And I wasn't wrong. It seemed as if I was endlessly cleaning up behind them the rest of that day. I started to clean up the mess of dishes, shoeing Maylene away constantly whenever the woman would waltz over and try to help me with the decor. It seemed every time she set out to to help me, something else was breaking. As was Bard. Simply washing away today's mess in the kitchen became a hassle, as he was dropping water on the kitchen's floor, the floors slick as the two bumbled around in the kitchen. But I suppose I could not complain too much. I was quick at working, at least in comparison to the two of them. And after all, I liked to keep busy. They kept me that way.

I wondered where Sebastian could be, as he had yet to come and investigate. Though, I suppose that was a good thing, as Ciel and the Marchioness wouldn't be too far behind if I met up with him. I was not fond of the thought of seeing her.

After a while longer of cleaning up all of their messes, I was finally able to get back to the kitchen where I frosted the cake with my last ounce of energy. Bard had faithfully taken it out of the oven for me as I had asked of him. It was the only thing that wasn't sopping wet in the kitchen I noticed.

I had barely a chance to myself whilst I was in the midst of that cleaning spree. My knees were weak, and my back hunched over the cake as I set away to frosting. The kitchen floors were slick. Because of this, I could hear the squeaking of Maylene and Bard's shoes on the ground as they approached me at the counter, my back turned to the two.

"Midori, are you okay?" Maylene squeaked.

"You look real tired…" Bard spoke. "Maybe you should let us take care of the rest."

"I'm fine," I spoke. "Please take this cake out to them. I do believe I heard voices outside just a little while earlier."

Bard blinked in surprise, staring down at the cake with a look of amazement.

With beautiful decor, an unbroken set of dishes, and a dinner and dessert to return to, I do believe I did my job quite well today, even if it took every ounce of my energy. Despite the other servants' protests, I let them present the cake and decor I had continually fixed for them today.

"It was all your ideas. I wasn't even aware today was the master's birthday until you mentioned it," I spoke. "So please, enjoy yourselves. I will continue to clean back here. After all, I'm not very keen of meeting with the Marchioness." I laughed sheepishly.

"Midori, if there's any way we can repay you…" Bard started to say, but I rose a hand to wave him off.

"Go enjoy yourselves. I will be fine. I need to get to drying this floor now! I wouldn't want any of you guys to slip."

I rushed them out of the kitchen, cake in tow. More so to get the two of them out of the way. I needed to finish this "work" they had created for me. With the kitchen quiet now, I set away to working for a bit, finding a mop to absorb the excess water on the floor.

After a bit of watching the mop swish side to side, I realized that I truly felt weak and sick to my stomach. Had I even eaten anything myself today? I couldn't even remember. Perhaps I had taste tested things here and there, but never completely indulged. Even still, I continued to clean and prepare the kitchen. I could feel my vision going in and out, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Before I could catch myself, I started to fall backwards to the floor until suddenly, I felt two arms around me.

"My, my Miss Haruka. Aren't we hard at work?" I heard. The familiar voice of the butler. "You've completely over extended yourself."

Even through my exhaustion, I tensed at the sound of him; the feel of his arms around me.

"Ah…" I moaned, "There was just so much that went wrong today," I managed to utter.

"Is that so?" I felt Sebastian scoop me up into his arms, an arm hooked around my legs, the other supporting my back. "You did an excellent job cleaning up their messes today."

I gasped, staring down at the distance between myself and the ground.

"S-Sebastian," I sputtered, "What are you doing?"

My head pounded with each word I spoke. My stomach knotted and growled.

"You've nearly fainted, Miss Haruka. It's my responsibility to make sure each of the Phantomhive staff is in a healthy condition," I averted my eyes, cringing inwardly at his words while outwardly blushing. "You're very ill this evening, are you not? I did not mean to work you so hard on your first day here."

He was moving now, shouldering the kitchen door open and waltzing down the hallway.

"I suppose I should have considered the other servants you would be working with today when I instructed you this morning," He spoke. There was a pause before he spoke again. "Those gun drills were a bit of breeze for you, weren't they?"

Even through my exhaustion, I tensed at the sound of this. Sebastian clicked his tongue, sighing exasperatedly.

"Miss Haruka, you are not not a very good actress."

I was silent for a moment before speaking, unsure of how to defend myself. And also unsure of where this man was taking me.

"I'm not lying about anything," I spoke. Instantly, I regretted the statement. Was that the best I could come up with? Charles should've taught me how to be a better liar too.

We had ascended stairs, and gone down another hallway. It was familiar. But I was in such a daze I could barely focus on location. Just the sound of compromising words. Another door was shouldered open. A bedroom. ...A bedroom?! I looked frantically between the bed Sebastian was quickly approaching and the butler.

"Oh?" Sebastian laid me gently down on a bed, pushing away my hair that clung to my face. Now that I was laying down, I felt a little less ill. My eyes were able to focus, and I was able to see the butler that hovered above my face, breath tickling my skin as he pushed strands of hair away from my face.

I could feel myself starting to panic now. What was he intending to do? Especially at this moment, when I could barely stand on my two feet. No, no no. He was going to do anything perverse was he? No. NO. Not Sebastian. How could I assume such a thing? I must've looked panicked and afraid, because I saw this look in Sebastian's eyes. Playfulness. Dishonesty. Flirty.

"I'm sure you do not," He spoke. "But you must admit, that was quite a truth you left out," He chuckled. "But I suppose that is my miscalculation. I should have further investigated you."

I felt a pillow at my legs now.

"Please excuse me. I'm going to loosen your clothing," Sebastian spoke. His hands were quickly undoing the strings tying my corset up. I was able to breathe a bit better at this, feeling waves of relief.

"Midori Haruka," he crowed. It was the first time I had heard him say my full name. "I hear you were a farmhand from America, were you not?" I heard pouring of liquid and sat up curiously. A small teacup was pushed my way by Sebastian.

"There's a large gap of time missing between the ages of thirteen and nineteen."

"I'm..nineteen now," I uttered, reluctantly taking the teacup. Where was he going with this? Was he intending to extract information from me?

"Why the tea? I just need a few moments to recollect myself is all, Mister Sebastian."

"Ah. The tea will revitalize you. It's not good to sleep after nearly fainting. I'm sure your fainting has something to do with your diet today."

I was silent, looking at my distorted reflection in the tea.

"So," He spoke. "Just what happened during that time? How was it that you, a young woman from America, met Master Whiston and ended up here in England?"

Ah. He had revisited the other topic. Between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, I knew exactly where I had been. But Sebastian wasn't my employer; so why did he need to know? Prying, yet again for information about me when he and Ciel had not revealed much about themselves..Why, it felt sort of hypocritical. I was uncomfortable with the question, so I did something..well. Quite childish. At first I was silent, watching him as I sipped the tea. He looked at me expectantly, awaiting an answer. Once I realized this, I purposefully sipped the hot tea quickly, burning my tongue and mouth.

"AH! It's so hot!"I exclaimed, fanning my mouth. It was a rotten plan. I had genuinely burned my tongue on that blasted tea, but it was better than divulging details.

Sebastian at first, was quick to berate me.

"Ah, Miss Haruka, you shouldn't drink it so fast!" He had said. He started to help me, grabbing a napkin and softly wiping away the tea that was streaming down my chin. However, I then watched him slowly realize what was happening here. And he smiled so...patiently.

"Where are my manners?" He chuckled to himself. "I'll leave you to yourself to recover, Miss Haruka. A little breathing space might be nice, I suppose." The butler spoke. His hand never left my face, sliding down to cup my chin.

Suddenly, his face drew slightly closer to mine, the most wicked smirk I had ever seen etched into his features. I could feel a pink flush rising to my cheeks as he drew closer and closer until there really was not much space between the two of our faces.

"We can continue our conversation sooner or later. I am a patient man." The words came slowly and with a certain confidence. Red wild eyes bore into mine, so excited and completely unhinged. His gaze was prolonged, and I found myself trying to look anywhere else but look at this man, this oh so scary, flirty man. He knew just how to make me crumble, and I loathed myself for feeling like a bug because of him.

He straightened again, dismissing himself. He said a few other words, but I was so taken aback by what had just happened, adrenaline pumping through my body as my heart tried to beat out of my chest. Sebastian was really flirting with me, and I didn't know what to do about it at all.