dreamgirl: Am I nice or what? Two days later, as I promised, I have brought you the next installment of story.

disclaimer: Okay, one more time. Together now. I. DON'T. OWN.

ENJOY!!!!!

Chapter 12

When Ciel was pulled out of his thoughts, he realized that his butler's arms were around his petite body.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Sebastian had a surprised look on his face, "I was just…I saw that the young master was feeling a bit sorrowful, so I thought…"

The ten-year-old slapped the demon's hands away and put on a stern face, "I don't keep you around to think. I keep you around for the sole reason to have revenge for my parents' death, got it?"

Sebastian stepped away and bowed, "Yes, my apologies, my lord".

Truth be told, Sebastian was completely miffed at his master's pompous attitude. But it was honesty that sprouted from the young boy; so he said nothing. He was a demon, after all; he didn't need to fake sympathy of any kind. Yes, that was it. Sebastian was just doing his duty as a butler and faking concern.

"Well then, young master, we have a busy schedule today. As you well know, it is the fourteenth of October and in a few weeks, it will be All Hallows' Eve and Lady Elizabeth has sent notice that she will be visiting that evening and expects a party", Sebastian said as his master sat down in the chair.

Ciel nearly fell off his chair, "What? She doesn't have the right to tell me what to do! Refuse her, at once".

"Yes, well, that is out of my abilities, my lord. Her Majesty, the Queen, has also sent notice that she would like you to hold a gala on that same evening for she has some grand news to speak to you of".

"Bollocks", the blue-eyed boy sighed, "Fine, do as you wish. I give you permission to plan this so-called 'party' and invite whoever seems essential as a pawn of mine".

Sebastian bowed once again and turned on his heel to leave when his young master began to sneeze.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes, my lord?"

The young earl gave the demon a hateful look, "Have you been outside?"

The demon seemed a bit confused, "Well yes, I have, my lord. What is the matter?"

Ciel began to have an uncontrollable sneezing fit, "Did you inte—achoo!—ract with any animals?"

"Why, yes, a small black cat in the—"

The Phantomhive lord slammed his hand on the desk, "You IDIOT!! I'm allergic to cats, you know!"

Sebastian responded after his master's sneezing calmed down a bit, "I had no idea, my lord".

"Well now you do. From now on, I forbid you to even go near a cat!"

"But cat's are so gentle, sloth-like in their mannerisms and are just luxurious creatures. They do things when they want and however they want; most of the time I cannot even imagine what they are thinking", the demon cooed.

Ciel gave his butler a you-are-such-a-freak kind of look, "Fine, then don't ever come NEAR me if you've been around a cat, you hear?"

Sebastian nodded and exited the room.

This was going to be a long day…

And right to his word, seventeen days passed within a blink of an eye. It was the evening of All Hallows' Eve and the manor was filled with a wide variety of colors such as: orange, brown, white and black. Even the outfit Sebastian had picked out for Ciel was a brown jacket with an orange vest, a white shirt underneath with a black bowknot around the collar and matching brown trousers.

"You're looking quite lively today, my lord".

Ciel's eye twitched at the sarcasm, "If you know what's good for you, you'll bite you're tongue, servant".

How Ciel knew Sebastian hated being called that was out of his knowledge, but the demon just brushed it off and changed the subject.

"The guests will be arriving soon, and Lady Elizabeth is already waiting in the foyer", Sebastian recited.

"Yes, I see. Do you think there will be a lot of guests this evening?" the young boy asked.

His butler nodded, "A bit, yes".

Ciel grinned but said nothing.

'If there are many people, the chances of Lizzie asking me to dance slim. Yes, between so many people we will barely even see each other'.

As if she read his thoughts, Lizzie appeared out of no-fucking-where and wrapped her arms around her cousin's neck.

"CIIIIIEEEELLLL!!!! I've missed you soooooo much! I'm so happy you invited me to the party", the blonde said.

"More like you threatened me to", Ciel mumbled against his cousin's arm.

Lizzie tilted her head, "What was that?"

Ciel quickly shook his head, "N-nothing…nothing at all".

The Phantomhive lord tried his best to pry the blonde's arms from his body. Ciel's eyes fell upon the demon standing not too far away.

Sebastian chuckled and debated whether he should walk away or not.

He chose otherwise, "I am sorry, Lady Elizabeth, but the young master has to prepare to greet the incoming guests. You can dance with him later, okay?"

At the sound of 'dance', Ciel's eyebrow twitched and his hand balled up into a fist.

'I'm going to kill this bastard!'

Lizzie was glad to hear the lies the demon fed her, but now she was expecting Ciel to waltz with her.

Sebastian smiled happily and dragged Ciel into the ballroom, where some of the guests have gathered just recently.

"…Cats".

The butler blinked a few times, "Excuse me, can you repeat that?"

Ciel glared up at his servant, "I forbid you to play with the cats outside until I say so, that's an order".

Sebastian refrained from choking his master, "Understood".

Now it was Sebastian's turn to curse in his head, 'Damn'.

Ciel grinned, "The gala is about to start…shall we?"

Honestly, Ciel detested gatherings. He just wasn't used to being around so many people. As a child, well a younger child, he often had asthma attacks, so he never really was at any of the parties his parents often threw. Okay, so maybe that was just an excuse for his anti-social tendencies. But hey, it worked.

Ciel managed to avoid conversations with people who gave him weird looks, especially the older men. The young boy just got chills down his spine every time he passed by them.

"Good evening, my cute little boy", came a voice behind Ciel.

The Phantomhive earl quickly turned around and saw the Queen standing there with her two bodyguards, "Y-Your Majesty!"

The blue-eyed boy immediately kneeled down and bowed his head, "How long have you been waiting? I am sorry; please excuse my rudeness".

Queen Victoria smiled humbly and touched his head, "Raise you head, child, it is okay. As a matter of fact, I just arrived".

Ciel did as he was told; "I hear you requested I hold his gala in commemoration of something grand you have to speak to me about, Your Majesty".

"Well, can we move to a place more…secluded?"

Ciel nodded, "Yes, of course".

The ten-year-old directed the Queen towards the hallway and they walked to a nearby guestroom; bodyguards waiting on the other side of the door.

Once inside, the Queen spoke aloud, "First of all, I must congratulate you on your first assignment. You did well. Pity the suspect had to take his own life".

Ciel thanked her and avoided her eyes for a second.

"Although you are free to do whatever it is you like, you must understand that come the circumstances, if need be, I will take authority over your dealings as a noble".

Ciel gulped but remained eye contact, "Yes, I understand".

The boy kneeled once again, "I would never, I swear on my parents' grave, ever betray you, my Queen. Not as long as I am Ciel Phantomhive, the head of the Phantomhive estate".

The Queen smiled, "Good to hear. Now, concerning that grand news. I am aware that your father handled a business".

Ciel didn't really know where this was going.

"How would you like to govern your own company, as well?"

Ciel's eyes widened, "R-really?"

Her Majesty nodded, "I will approve of anything you wish to establish as your own".

The young boy was too ecstatic for words, "Uh…I-I…I would be glad to start up a company like my late father had".

"Excellent. You can think over the details and let me know later on. I will have a factory ready for you once you are set on what type of business you want it to be".

The Queen was about to walk out when Ciel spoke up, "A-actually, I already know what kind of company I want".

Her Majesty's ears were perked up, "Oh, and what would that be?"

"A toy factory. A company that builds toys for children of all ages".

"And what would you call this 'company'? It is supposed to bring fun to the Phantomhive name".

Ciel thought for a moment, 'Fun? Phantomhive? Ha! That almost like saying demons are harmless; but what would be a good name?'

The young earl repeated the words 'fun' and 'Phantomhive' so much that he started to combine the two to say:

"Funtom!" Ciel shouted out of nowhere.

The Queen quirked an eyebrow, "Funtom?"

Ciel nodded, "Yes, I would like my company's name to be Funtom Industries".

The older woman smiled, "Brilliant idea, my boy. I shall get you started at once. Now, why don't you announce it to your guests?"

The boy's smile quickly dropped, 'Me? Go up in front of people to talk? That's preposterous!'

But it was the Queen's command, and so he obeyed.

The two exited the room and walked back to the ballroom.

Ciel searched around the room for Sebastian and once he did, he asked for the butler to gather everyone's attention.

After the crowd quieted down, the boy began his string of lies, "First, I'd like to thank all you wonderful chaps for attending my gala and how glad I am to be here. Second, I would like to make an announcement".

Ciel gulped down his pride, as his lessons have shown him to, and put on a façade, "I know I have yet to grow-up a bit, but I have been given the privilege to start up my own company. I am glad to announce that I will soon start up my business called 'Funtom Industries'. Funtom's goal is to create toys for the poor and wealthy alike".

Ciel paused a moment to hear the crowd's reaction. For a moment, they were all silent. Then came the laughter and rude comments.

"A toy company? How ridiculous!" said one guest.

"Of course, it's to be expected from a child!" replied another.

The Phantiomhive lord knew this was a bad idea; he felt his asthma acting up.

Then there came a hand on his should and a warm whisper in his ear, "Remember what I taught you. Pride, one of the sins. Use your pride and don't let them walk all over it. Show them you will have the last laugh".

He refused to admit it, but Sebastian was right. Ciel needed to buck up and start showing what he learned.

"Are you sure you should be talking, Lord Richardson. Last I heard, your company was stolen by another and now you're on the verge of bankruptcy", Ciel spat back with an evil smile.

The commenter suddenly shut up and felt the intimating aura coming from the young child.

Ciel continued, "And you, Sir Walters. I am aware that your wife has left you and your company cannot strive without a lady's touch. You are the last person to criticize who does what. What a better person to build children's toys then a child himself, right?"

The crowd was silent once again.

"In the next few months, Funtom will be starting its first distribution. I hope we can all work together and accept each other's inequalities. Even if we may be rivals, right Duke Galer?"

The man in question suddenly didn't know what to do and just nodded in agreement.

"Great, so I hope you all enjoy the rest of the party and have a happy All Hallows' Eve", Ciel finished with an innocent smile.

As soon as he walked away, the Queen approached him, "I expect nothing less from my loyal dog".

Ciel bowed his head, "Of course. If you will please excuse me, I must retire for the evening".

Ciel said his goodbyes and walked to his room, butler in tow.

"That was some speech you gave, my lord".

The boy just sighed, "Well, with assholes like those, you just have fight fire with fire, I guess".

Sebastian nodded as he drew the water into the bathtub and undressed his master.

Once undressed, Ciel stretched out his limbs for his butler to scrub.

Sebastian began at once, and scrubbed his master's body thoroughly.

The demon stared at his master's back and noticed the scar of being a slave. He knew it was there; he just never really paid any mind to it. He pressed a finger to it.

Ciel nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Does it hurt?" Sebastian asked the question with a double meaning.

"Sometimes", Ciel answered fully knowing what his butler referred to.

And then Sebastian began to smile, "You have changed, young master".

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Ciel stuttered.

"Normally, you would have slapped my hand away and told me to shut up because it was not my place to ask such questions".

Ciel pouted his lip, "Yeah, well, I'm used to you scrubbing my body so it's not like I care anymore. As for the question, I suppose if we are going to be spending time together solving cases and searching for my parents' murderer, then I shouldn't be so reserved".

Sebastian slid his hand to a certain place, "That's nice to hear".

The young earl jumped, "Ah! What are you doing? Get your hand off that! You pervert!"

Sebastian laughed but complied.

After a few moments, Ciel finally said, "You know what I just realized?"

"What is it?"

"I still got to avoid dancing with Lizzie!" Ciel smirked.

Sebastian shook his head; "You shouldn't be thinking of that as a good thing, my lord. She is your fiancee".

"Yeah, yeah, whatever".

The demon settled his master into the water and finished bathing him.

His master really had changed within just a short period of time.

dreamgirl: I just couldn't resist writing about Halloween. Even though nothing festive-like really happened, I just thought it'd be cool to show how Funtom started and when Ciel's fear of dancing (or sudden start of avoiding) began as well. The next chapter will also be on my view on how a certain thing was created, or began. I hope you've enjoyed the story this far and PLEASE REVIEW!!!!