dreamgirl: Oh wow, it's been almost a month since my last update. I feel ashamed. Though not so much since I had lots to do and now I am almost free from the prison society likes to call "school". I just have two more exams and a math regents to get over and I am totally and completely free!

P.S. This chapter is basically what happens for the first half of episode 11 and I have changed around things to make it fit my story.

disclaimer: Yana Toboso owns Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji. Don't like the lack of yaoi? Take it up with her since I own NOTHING.

Chapter 24

Everything was a mess. Ciel couldn't exactly act normally around Sebastian, though he tried his best. The pre-teen just always acted melancholic and in deep thought. Until one day, Sebastian was fed up with the emo act his master was giving him and decided to throw in a surprise lesson for him.

"Young master?"

"What is it, Sebastian?" Ciel replied without meeting his butler's eyes.

"I do believe it is time to have your lessons. They have been postponed for far too long." Sebastian said as he cleaned up the young lord's plate from the dinner table.

Ciel wiped his mouth with the napkin, "What are you talking about?"

The demon paused, "Surely the young master hasn't forgotten what he requested of me?" A silence fell between them. "You have only learned six of the seven deadly sins, my lord."

"Which one am I missing?"

"Of course that would be invidia." Sebastian said with a hint of demon temptation on his tongue.

"Envy," Ciel translated, "I see."

"Yes, envy is said to be one of the insatiable desires and one of the deadliest. Of course having to be closely related to wrath and sometimes even greed."

The twelve-year-old seemed highly disinterested by this point. "I will say this once, and only once. I will never be envious of anyone or anything. Everyone is below me, I am the greatest there is."

"I also recall vanagloria being another sin."

"I do not think I am a narcissist, but rather heavily proud of myself." The young boy simply put.

"Whatever the young master wishes to call it," The demon-butler teased, "But you will have to learn how to sin correctly if you want to surpass any human alive and to be equal to a demon such as I." His red eyes gleamed in excitement, "That shouldn't be hard for you, my lord. Anything is possible for a Phantomhive, is it not?"

The blue-eyed boy glared at his butler, "What have I said about throwing my words back at me?"

"I do not recall such a thing, young master."

"Bollocks."

"Anyway, it seems you are not ready to go a step further." The ebony-haired man provoked.

"I am not a simple-minded child, Sebastian. I do know where you are going with this and how much you are questioning my pride. I will let you know that I won't be fooled by your little act of provocation." The demon sighed, "Now that we are over that, what have you gathered from the recent case Her Majesty assigned to me?"

'Good, the young master seems to be in a better mood now.' Sebastian thought. 'I won't have to worry about a tasteless sorrowful soul.'

"Yes, well, from the information I was given, it seems that young girls have gone missing about the same time a mysterious toy shop opened."

"What exactly does this shop have to do with the victims?" The boy questioned.

"Not much, apparently. None of the girls were found to have had gone there previously, so…" Sebastian decided to change the subject, "Tomorrow is the young master's birthday."

"W-what the bloody hell does that have to do with the case?" Ciel stuttered.

"Absolutely nothing, my lord. I was merely stating a fact."

"Well, d-don't. It's nothing to celebrate anyway."

A shadow appeared over Sebastian's face, "Are you still so weak, my lord?"

The young Phantomhive earl's mouth was agape, "Of course not, what kind of balls do you have that you would ask me such a thing?"

Sebastian opened his mouth to say something when the phone rang. He ran to go answer it. When he did, he covered the mouthpiece and looked at Ciel. "Young master, it appears to be something urgent."

"Who is it?"

"It is your aunt."

Ciel rolled his eyes, "What does she want?"

A few moments of silence passed until the butler said, "Lady Elizabeth appears to be missing."

dreamgirl: Please don't kill me! This is basically only a go-in-betweener since all of the drama starts in the next chapter. I know you're probably wondering "Why not make in just one big chapter?" The answer to that is simple...because I'm a difficult person and really, I just like cliff-hangers. ^_^ (although you all know where this is going. Except, you don't know what I'm really going to do. *insert evil laugh here*)