dreamgirl: I really wanted to update soon, and this practically wrote itself, so it's not as long as the last chapter, it's basically just a go-in-betweener, really. Anyway...

disclaimer: I have explained this many, if not thousands, of times...I DON'T OWN KUROSHITSUJI!!!

author's note: Imagine Arthur's face like (spoilers!!!!) the character's face in Higurashi when they go AWOL or like Light's crazy face as he loses it in the last episode. Just so you know.

ENJOY!!!!

Chapter 10

"Today may be yer first day, but that don' mean ya have off, got it? I'll start you off as a janitor boy. Then we'll see if you can work well", said an old, almost toothless, woman to a handsome Sebastian.

She thrusted a broom, bucket, and mop at the demon and walked away. Sebastian just stared at the nurse as she walked away. The Phantomhive butler knew this would be a piece of cake since he basically did everything anyway. Still, the demon sighed and marched up the stairs and began to broom the hallways to work his way down.

As he swept, he passed his own room and a couple of others. Ironically, the halls were as silent as a morgue, so Sebastian figured his room was the only one occupied. Then, he heard the crack of a door opening. Sebastian paused and turned his head towards where the noise came from. To the demon's surprise, a young girl, probably a few years older than the young master, popped her head out of the door opening. The girl seemed to see if anyone was watching her. The girl's hair seemed a bit dirty and her eyes were sunken in. When the girl caught sight of Sebastian, her eyes seemed fearful and made a move to close the door. Sebastian made no motion to stop the door from closing, he just stared. The demon cocked his head and grinned…

Ciel backed away from the figure with the big eyes and twisted smile.

The figure seemed to be a boy around his age, "Will you be my friend?"

Ciel was now backed against the wall; his hand shaking so much the candle was tempted to fall. The boy, apparently named Arthur, came closer. Ciel looked down at Arthur as he crouched but felt a sense of pride as he looked upon the other boy. But all that pride quickly vanished as Arthur stretched to his full height and looked down at Ciel. The ten-year-old was proven wrong; Arthur was at least fourteen of fifteen.

Arthur leaned in closer and Ciel suddenly felt something poke his throat.

He saw Arthur's constricted pupils within his widened eyes and freakish smile, all proof of his insanity, "You will be my friend…right?"

Ciel gulped and squeezed his eyes in pain as Arthur pressured the blade further into the earl's neck.

Ciel hesitated before answering, "…Sure".

Arthur's serious face lightened up and his smile stayed in tact, "Great!"

Arthur backed off and went back to his crouching position and continued talking, "So, wha's yer name?"

Ciel relaxed a bit as Arthur back off, "V-Vincent".

Arthur nodded, "I had a cat named Vincent once. He's dead now, though".

The blue-eyed boy stared at the boy in front of him. Arthur's hair was a rusty orange, almost like a copper color. Ciel didn't know whether it was his natural hair color or the lack of personal hygiene that made Arthur's hair that color.

Arthur kept babbling on about random stuff like peanut butter and clowns and Ciel just tuned him out.

"I like you", brought Ciel back out of his thoughts.

"Excuse me?"

Arthur crawled around the cell, "You don' talk as much as the ot'ers".

The Phantomhive earl stared at the redhead, "Others?"

Arthur turned around to face Ciel, "Uh huh, ot'ers".

The older boy raised a hand and pointed to his ear, "They talk to me all the time. They don' shu' up. So, yer be'er 'cause you ain't annoyin', ya know?"

Ciel raised his eyebrows, "Really?"

Arthur smiled happily.

The heir to the Phantomhive estate grinned, "I think I'm starting to like you too, Arthur. Now, tell me more about the others".

Sebastian adjusted his clothes, slipped off his white gloves and replaced them with a new pair.

"Thank you, you have been very helpful", the demon bowed and left the room. He made his way to his room to grab the mop and bucket to continue his cleaning duties.

At that moment, giant thuds came from the staircase, "Wha' in God's name was that noise!?"

Sebastian put up an innocent front, "What noise, miss?"

The nurse stared at him, "Who're you? Wha's yer name, boy?"

Sebastian stopped mopping, "I am the new janitor; my name is Samuel".

The nurse relaxed a little, "Were you the one makin' all that racket?"

Sebastian shook his head, "I didn't hear any noise, miss. I've been cleaning the whole day; there has been no racket".

The nurse just stared at Sebastian and walked away mumbling things about how working in a nuthouse is making her crazy.

Once out of sight, Sebastian sighed and finished up for the day. The demon went to his quarters, lay in bed and went to sleep. True, demons didn't need to sleep, it was merely a luxury. Plus, after all of the day's events, after having to use his body twice in one day, Sebastian felt he needed a break and should rest a while.

Though, the information he gathered seemed very interesting...

dreamgirl: IMPORTANT!!!! Now, I will be gladly accepting any guesses, theories as to who and what the others are, who put them there, and how this whole arc's gonna end. Why? Because I'd like to see what you guys think. And if anyone gets it right, you can do the disclaimer, get a cookie from yours truly, or I can create you as a character in one of the arcs. So, PLEASE you can include them in your reviews!!!

author's note: I told my friend Michael about this chapter and about Sebastian's *cough* "information gathering" and he said, "Wow, he's got a HELL of a lot of endurance. If you know what I mean". I started cracking up so much!!! Yeah, this was really just a little known fact I guess.