Chapter 2

"If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to come find me."

I nodded and waited until Sebastian had closed the door behind him before letting out a tired sigh. While Sebastian made tea for Ciel, he decided to put me in a bath before bandaging me up. While I was grateful he had given me a place to stay, but at the same time, I would have rather held off until later. A bath wasn't going to do anything to help me wake up. I hadn't felt fully reassured that nothing was going to happen to me while I was here. I didn't want to waste time playing house here when I wasn't even supposed to be here. I could unintentionally change something and completely throw off the course of history. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt. Why did this have to happen to me?

I shivered in the humid air as I undid the buttons on my shirt. My clothes fell in a crumpled heap near the tub, then I slipped into the borderline scalding water. New found scrapes flared up in pain, while the stiffness in my neck from sleeping hunched over in the carriage faded. This is just for tonight, tomorrow I can start trying to figure out how to get home.

The water around my arm turned pink as I tried cleaning off some of the dried blood. By time I was finished cleaning the dirt from my skin, the water had cooled. A small whirlpool formed over the drain when I pulled the rubber stopper from its place, and carefully climbed out of the tub. Water dripped onto the tiled floor as I quickly dried off, and started to redress myself.

Sebastian knocked on the door as I picked up the shirt I had been loaned, carrying a small first aid kit. "How was your bath?"

"Fine, thank you."

He smiled and closed the door back before crossing to me. He gently turned my arm over in his gloved hand to take a better look at my now bleeding scrape. Sebastian hummed to himself before placing the first aid kit on the floor and looking through its contents. He balanced on the balls of his feet and pulled out a brown glass bottle, and a cotton ball. "You're wound doesn't seem too serious."

I nodded and sat on the floor in front of him, keeping my eyes trained on the floor. There was something about his red-tinted eyes that put me at an unease. He just watched me a little too intently. I didn't know if it was because he hadn't decided if I was a threat yet, or he was trying to figure me out. I can't remember the last time someone paid so much attention to me...I don't like it. "Can you please stop staring at me?"

"Pardon?" Sebastian's eyes darted up to meet mine for a fleeting moment, before he reached into the box next to him and pulled out a roll of gauze.

"Stop staring, I'm not some kind of freak or something. This is normal where I come from." The tip of my tail twitched in frustration when he chuckled. "It's not funny!"

Heat rose to my face when he gently stroked one of my ears. Excitement sparkled from the depths of his eyes as he explained, "you have misinterpreted my intentions. I just have yet to see a creature so magnificent in this world. Who knew humans would evolve to have cat-like qualities."

"Uh, um that's..." I stammered uselessly for a few moments, struggling to come up with the right words. Was he for real? I had gotten nothing but strange looks from just about everyone on the street earlier. None of them seemed too inclined to take an interest in me. He didn't seem to think to badly of me, but this was just weird. "Don't you know it's rude to touch people without asking? I'm not you're pet."

Sebastian pulled his hand away, still beaming, "forgive me." He firmly wrapped the gauze around my arm, and secured it. "Is there anywhere else you would like me to take a look at?"

"No, thank you." I quickly pulled the shirt on and stood. Ciel's clothes were a little big on me, but I didn't know if it was because that was the style or they were the wrong size.

Sebastian slid the bottle back into the metal case, and stood. "The Young Master is taking tea in the drawing room. I'll clean up here, while you go join him. It's just down the hall and to the left." I nodded, grateful he hadn't left me to find it on my own, and followed his instructions. The hallway wasn't as warm as the bathroom, and I shivered in the cold air before making my way down the hall. I took a left as Sebastian had instructed and hesitated outside an open door. Aside from the rustling of paper, I couldn't hear anything else coming from the room. Ciel was obviously still waiting for me, but I didn't want to interrupt whatever he was doing. I am living in his house, the least I can do is show up when he asks for me.

Taking a deep breath, I rounded the corner and stepped into the large sitting room. Ciel didn't look up from the papers he was going over when I sat down across from him, so I waited for him to finish whatever he was doing. My eyes wandered around the room, not resting on any one thing for too long. The green walls matched the upholstered arm chairs near the fireplace. Bookcases lines the walls, but they seemed more for decoration than reading. I never really understood the point of that. Everyone knows you aren't reading the books, why bother keeping them? "What year did you say you were from?"

It took me a few moments to realize Ciel was talking to me. Aside from a slight adjustment in his posture, he hadn't given me any signals that he was now paying attention to me. "2015."

"How did you manage to get yourself brought back here?"

My ears flattened against the top of my head, and I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt. If I had known, I would have already done whatever I needed to to get myself home. "I don't know myself. I was in my room, trying to sleep and then I was here."

Ciel didn't seem impressed with my spotty memory and huffed. "What do you make of this, Sebastian?"

Sebastian entered with a silver tray. Two cups, a tea pot, and a slice of strawberry cake were balanced upon the thin metal. While offering his two cents, he poured tea for both Ciel and I. "While I have met some who are wise beyond there years, I have yet to come across someone who actually been transported across time. That would require some powerful magic I'm afraid, and the results aren't nearly what you'd want them to be. Time travel is quite troublesome."

"Can't you just send him back and be done with it?"

"I personally can't. Such things were never sparked my interest. But, like I said, there's no way to be certain of where we send him."

Ciel pointedly stabbed his cake, demanding to know, "Then what am I supposed to do with him? He can't possibly stay here."

"It never hurts to have another pair of capable hands around the house."

Sebastian smirked at his master, while the young boy glared at him. I sat there forgotten, unsure of what had happened. If it was actually possible to time travel at this point in time, wouldn't the future be completely different from what it was? And magic? Such things weren't real. These two are living in a fantasy land. I picked up the cup before me and took a hesitant sip of my tea. Sebastian and Ciel bickered for a few more moments before Sebastian suggested, "for now I need to start dinner, Ritsuka can come help me while you finish your work."

Ciel pouted, but waved Sebastian away as if he was nothing more than an annoying fly. "Do what you much, but you aren't keeping any more strays Sebastian, I'm allergic to cats."

I returned the small cup to it's saucer and stood. I didn't want to linger, when it was obvious Ciel wasn't keeping me here because he wanted to, or if he did, he wasn't going to let me out anytime soon. Sebastian paused in the doorway and waited for me to catch up before leading the way through the labyrinth of dimly lit corridors. "I'm not really much of a cook."

"I'm sure you'll be more of a help than our chef." Irritation crept into his voice at the mention of their chef. But come to think of it, why was he the one doing all the cooking when they had a chef. What was the point in keeping someone around who couldn't do their job? Did Ciel just take pity on them? There had to be more to it than that.

I nodded reluctantly and followed behind him. A blond man was standing over one of the cast iron stoves when Sebastian and I entered. He muttered to himself while tinkering with something. A pot of something threatened to boil over while Sebastian hovered over him. He turned off the burner before glaring down at him. "What are you doing?"

The man started, and ended up smacking his head on the inside of the stove. "Don't sneak up on a guy like that." He rubbed the back of his head as he straightened. "I'm cleaning the stove, what's it look like I'm doing?"

He dropped a blackened rag on the counter next to the stove, then his blue eyes darted towards me. They widened slightly, and he moved his unlit cigarette to the other side of his mouth. "Who's the kid?"

I looked to Sebastian to come up with an answer. He would have been better for coming up with a plausible reason for my being here than I would. "He's going to be staying with us for a while." He hesitantly opened the lid of the pot. Then replaced it. "Once you've finished with the stove, mash these. Make sure you don't use too much milk."

"I'm not an idiot, y'know. I can at least mash some measly potatoes." Sebastian called me over to the pantry, and handed me a bundle of carrots and various other vegetables. With some luck, I managed to carry them all over to the sink, and started to wash them off while Sebastian pulled the knives out of a drawer and pulled out a cutting board.

Sebastian sighed when one of the bells on the wall started to ring, and instructed me on what to do before leaving me alone with the chef. He scraped away at the stoves burnt innards, while I carefully sliced up the celery. I didn't know what Sebastian was going to make with them, but I was happy to be of some use to him. "Say kid, what's your name?"

He tossed the rag aside again and came to stand next to me. He a piece of the carrot Sebastian had cut before he left and studied me. His eyes lingered on my rigid tail and pricked ears for a moment, but when he realized I was watching him, he tore his eyes away. "Ritsuka."

"Bardroy," he playfully ruffled my hair then leaned against the counter, "Bard for short." I nodded slightly, paying more attention to not cutting myself with the knife than his attempts to make small talk. Bard watched me for several more moments before sighing, "No, no your doing it all wrong." I flinched when he tried taking the knife from me, but let him to as he wanted, taking a step back to watch. He was the chef. He lined up several of the stalks, cut of the bottom and the leafy tops before explaining, "It'll take forever if you do it that way." I let him take over, less confident with my knife work than he was.

He nudged the chopped celery into a pile at the end of the cutting board. "Don't let Sebastian work you too hard, okay?"

"I don't mind, I wouldn't do something I didn't want to." Bard sighed and handed the knife back to me so I could cut up the carrots. I knew he meant well, but I didn't need him looking after me. Who knew, by this time tomorrow, I could already be back in my own house.

A frustrated sigh escaped me as I turned over in my oversized bed for what felt like the hundredth time this night. Rain continued to pelt against the window, a poor distraction from the unbearable silence. Flashes of lightning would briefly illuminate the large room, followed by a clap of thunder before the pattering of rain claimed the empty air once again. Even after everything I could get to sleep. Earlier I was afraid of falling asleep in the bath and now when I was finally able to rest, I couldn't. This room was too big, and it felt like everyone was so far away. I didn't like it.

After a few moments of laying there and staring up at the ceiling, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, and hesitantly padded over to door. I rested my hand on the doorknob for a few seconds, then resolved to open the door, and made my way down the stairs to Sebastian's room. I didn't know if he would be up, or if he was even there, but at least it gave me something to do besides lay there and listen to the rain. Sleeping with Seimei always made me feel better, so maybe it'd work with Sebastian.

It was surprisingly easy to make my way to the back of the house in the dark. Everything was pretty much a square when it came down to it, there were just a lot of extra diversion here and there that led pretty much nowhere. A crack of light shone from underneath Sebastian's door as I stood in the hallway. At least he's still awake. I raise my hand to knock, but something must have already alerted him to my presence there because he announced, "It's open."

My heart pounded in my chest as I opened the door and stepped into Sebastian's brightly lit room. He was sitting at the wooden desk, flipping through a worn book, not seeming to be reading any of it. Somehow the sparsely furnished room suited him. The curtains fluttered in the draft coming from the open window, but none of the rushing water outside drifted past the wooden threshold. This side of the house must be sheltered from the wind. Now that I wasn't alone, the storm didn't even seem half bad. It wasn't anything I hadn't been through back home. "I thought it was you, make yourself at home."

I lingered in the doorway for a few more moments. He hadn't looked up, but he didn't seem bothered by my presence there. Eventually I resolved to venture into the room, closing the door behind me. Sebastian closed the book and cast it aside, "I believe this belongs to you." he grabbed a scrap of paper off the desk and offered it to me. Upon closed inspection, I found it was a picture of my brother. Where did he manage to find this? I didn't think I had one with me… "It was in your pocket."

I nodded slightly, gazing at the wrinkled piece of paper. I took this, on his first day of high school. "He means a lot to you," Sebastian observed.

I nodded again, "It's my brother. He's always looked out for me. I don't know what I'd do without him."

"I guess you'll find out now, I know you couldn't have come down here just to make small talk with me."

"No, um..." A soft mew cut me off, and Sebastian inched his chair away from the desk. The black cat that had been sitting on his lap yawned and stretched. It's fur was still damp from the rain outside, but it seemed happy enough sitting there. Sebastian picked the small animal up and rested his forehead against it's smaller one. He cooed over the temporarily compliant animal until it swatted him on the nose. Sebastian didn't seem to mind, and set it on the desk, where it sniffed the book, then sneezed. "You have a cat?"

"In a sense, the young master is allergic so she's not allowed in the house, but I couldn't just leave her outside in this dreadful weather." His eyes followed me as I moved to sit on the edge of the bed and he waited for me to answer his question.

"I couldn't really sleep so I thought…."

"You could stay in here?" I nodded and stared at the stone floor. "Very well. Make yourself comfortable, I'll only be a moment."

Sebastian tucked away the books stacked on his desk while I made myself comfortable, eventually settling so my back was pressed against the wall. It's no good if I become dependent on him. What will I do when he's gone?

The light blinked out as I burrowed beneath the blankets and Sebastian joined me. He lightly ran his fingers through my hair as I lay there, only stopping when I turned onto my stomach. "Do you wish me to stop?"

"No, it's okay, I don't mind." I was thankful for when Sebastian's cat came to fill the space between us, otherwise I might have been tempted to curl up against his chest. For the first time in days, I was finally able to drift off for more than a few moments, and fell into a deep, uninterrupted, sleep.