Chapter 1: That Butler and Maid, So Skillful

Not far from London, behind dark trees and mist, there lies a large manor. The owner, the distinguished current head of Phantomhive Household, Ciel Phantomhive awakes to morning tea.

"Young Master, It is time for you to wake up now." A soft voice rang out in the large bedroom. The young lord wiggles and stirs in his silk covered quilt, hearing the sound of tea being poured into a porcelain cup.

"Today's breakfast is poached salmon and mint salad has also been prepared," continued the voice, "Side dishes of toast, scones and campagne has been baked. Which one would you like?"

"…The scone…" the earl's small voice replied. "That aroma… is it Ceylon tea?" The maid clad in black nodded in response, adding that the royal Doulton dishes were being used. The two carried on with their conversation as the head maid fixed his clothing.

Later on that morning.

A sound of a gong bounced off the walls as all the servants of the Phantomhive household and their young master watched as the head butler, Sebastian, battle with a person who seemed to be a Martial Artist. And although Sebastian stayed calm and poised the other man was doing all he could to catch Sebastian off guard.

"Take this secret technique!" he exclaimed angrily and got into position, "Flower Bird Wind Moon all kinds of Flower Profusion Fist!" He ran at Sebastian at top speed not sparing a second to notice that Sebastian was already prepared.

The Head maid, Maya, watched in boredom as the other man was hit by Sebastian so quickly that humans would probably have not seen it happen. The Martial Artist kneeled on the ground, spitting out blood and yelling something at Sebastian that she could care less about. All she heard was,

"What in the world are you?" and Sebastian replying with a,

"I'm the butler of the house of Phantomhive. What would you do if you couldn't use that technique?" the red eyed demon responded smugly and clapped his hands to get rid of the invisible dirt on his crisp white gloves. Maya rolled her eyes, watching as the other servants went all sparkly eyed from Sebastian's triumphant grin towards them. Ciel made a 'Tch' sound in annoyance because he had made a bet with the male demon to see if he could get out of doing the day's review and tomorrow's pre-lesson. But of course, he had lost.

"That was amazing, Sebastian!" cheered the blond haired, greened eyed gardener also know as Finnian, or Finny.

"You struck like water, Sebastian." said the purplish- red headed maid, Maylene, as she cupped her cheeks and blushed softly.

"This house's butler is amazing." the chef of the manor smiled, and this tall blond male was known as Bardroy or Bard if you will.

Ciel leaned his head to the side, resting it upon his fist whilst his elbow was perched on the small round table in front of him.

"I had hoped to see you on your knees today, but it was all just a disappointment." the earl sighed, looking as bored as his head maid who was standing beside him with her gloved hands behind her back.

"That is too bad." Sebastian grinned, his eyes closed. He looked towards the maid standing beside the elderly house steward who seemed to be in a daze of some sort. Sebastian had noticed that Maya was looking elsewhere, not paying any attention to the fact that he had won like the other servants. His eyes narrowed but that vanished the moment his young master offered him a beverage and congratulated him. He drank the contents in the glass cup in one gulp then set it down and turned to the servants.

"By the way, what are all of you doing here?" this made the others freeze in the cheering. Maya prepared for interrogation and sighed.

"Oh, leave them be, Sebastian. It's a nice day and the Young Master has not commented on their work. Let them have some freedom." she said, trying to reason with the now stoic butler. The other servants grinned happily at Maya but their smiles dropped at Sebastian's next words.

"Well then, tell me Miss Wakefield. Who is going to do all the house work around here? It is not my responsibility to do the cooking," this made Bard rub his neck sheepishly, "or the cleaning," Maylene blushed and stuttered, "nor the gardening." Finny straightened up in surprise. Sebastian looked back at the others, beginning to question them again and making them run off. Maya shook her head, then turned her attention to the young master when he spoke.

"Speaking of work, Sebastian." said butler walked around the chair that the young earl was seated in and pulled out the chair for him to stand, "I got a call from him in Italy."

"From Sir Clause?" Maya asked curiously. Ciel looked towards her, nodding and grabbing his walking stick from Sebastian's hands.

A few hours later, Maya was wondering the halls with a broom in one hand, and wiping away dirt on surfaces with the rag in her other. After that she had nothing else to do but to help Sebastian prepare for Sir Clause's visit, however Sebastian had forbidden her to help, the reason was unknown to her. So, she had decided to watch him instead. She watched as he polished the silverware and replace the tablecloth on all the tables. She then moved on to watching him trim the roses and pull out all the porch weeds. She then noticed that he was moving on to the menu for the evening. To say that Maya stares were unnerving Sebastian was an understatement. He didn't know why she was watching him so closely and yet he enjoyed the attention, though her gaze was more of a glare than anything.

Maya was watching his movements very carefully, seeing if he would make any mistakes along the way. She didn't understand why she couldn't help, she was as skillful as he was and yet he would not let her touch even a small rose petal. A sudden bell ring interrupted her thoughts, which signalled that the young master needed one of them to see him. Maya stood up straight, preparing to walk out of the kitchen.

"I'll go see what the young master wants." she said.

"At such a busy time, what could he possibly want?" Sebastian murmured to himself, following her out of the kitchen. As they walked away, the two demons did not noticed the sneaky three servants (and Tanaka) hide behind the door frame with glints in their eyes.

Maya and Sebastian stepped into Ciel's study, seeing him sit in his overly large chair with some documents on his desk.

"Did you need something, sir?" Maya asked, noticing that he was rubbing at his Seal ring unconsciously. She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm hungry, I want something sweet, like parfait." the young boy requested. Both of the demons in front of him placed on a blank expression, used to their master's demands of sweet things.

"We can't do that, young master. If you eat that, there will be dinner left over." Sebastian said calmly.

"It's fine, so make some." Ciel demanded again.

"No." Maya said bluntly, then dragged Sebastian out by his sleeve before Ciel could say anything more. When they had gotten back to the kitchen everything had been destroyed. The meat was black as coal and even harder, black smoke came off the meat that Sebastian had prepared earlier and a chibi Tanaka appeared there, drinking his tea contently. Sudden realization struck Maya and she ran towards the main dining room, finding that most of the porcelain plates and cups were smashed. A popped vein appeared on the side of her head, and her left eyebrow twitched as she saw Maylene drop another plate.

Meanwhile, Sebastian made his way into the garden also finding that the plants and trees were nothing more than black sticks and the soil dry and cracked. Still in all this, chibi Tanaka remained calm and sipped his tea.

Sebastian made his way to the dining room, seeing Maya and Maylene. Maya's left eyebrow still twitched and Maylene was cowering with the frightened chef and gardener.

"How in the world…" Maya began.

"did this happen?" Sebastian finished. Both of them then smiled pleasantly but their combined murderous intents were clearly shown. The three clumsy servants had tears spurting out of their eyes and they clutched at each other from fright of the head butler and maid.

The three began explaining each of their incidents, some tears still leaking from their eyes. Maya sighed, knowing that Sebastian would probably fix it in some way.

"I will go take some tea to the young master and to make sure that he does not notice that everything is destroyed. I expect that you will be dealing with this, Sebastian?" she said beginning to prepare the tea. The crying servants whimpered at the mention of their master finding out that they had made mistakes again. Sebastian nodded in confirmation.

After all the commotion of the preparations, Clause had finally arrived, greeting Ciel with a warm (one-sided) hug and giving his coat to Finny.

"We've been waiting for you, Sir Clause." Greeted Sebastian, bowing beside Maya, who curtsied.

"Sebastian, Maya! It's been awhile. It appears there are more faces in this house, too?" he asked warmly, placing his hat on Finny's head. Sebastian escorted Sir Clause to the courtyard with Ciel and Maya walking behind. As the guest sat down with Ciel to discuss business, Maya had wondered off to the kitchen after serving the tea in one of Tanaka's special tea cups, which made her question whether or not Sebastian was still sane. Though she had to admit that making the meeting Japanese themed was quite impressive considering the ruined meat, garden and plates and cups.

"I'm impressed. I had thought that you would be on your knees today too. But I suppose it is no use in even thinking that you could not do this much." she teased, leaning on the door frame and watched as he prepared the meal. Sebastian smirked at her over his shoulder, his hands still working to put the ingredients in a patterned bowl.

"Why, Thank you, Miss Maya. I appreciate the compliment." he said smoothly. Looking behind him, Maya had noticed a dish that she had not seen for quite some time, Beef Donburi, a Japanese dish. She hadn't visited Japan for more than a hundred years, so she was not quite up to date.

"Beef Donburi? How unusual, I had thought that you would make something more exquisite." she commented, walking towards the side dishes and loading them onto a tray. When Sebastian came out with the dishes the two aristocrats were speechless, their blank faces causing the word 'DON?' to appear behind them in big white letters.

"Is this the evening's meal?" Clause asked, pointing at the dish.

"Yes." Sebastian had his eyes closed and a grin on his lips.

"Surely, in quadrillion meals…" Clause trailed off.

"Sir Clause, you have no knowledge of this…?" Sebastian asked, sparkles beginning to surround him as Clause stuttered.

"We have the labourers from ancient Japan to thank for Donburi, a feast that serves many purposes. The contributor to society who finished his task has put his feelings of thanks and gratitude into this food…" Sebastian ranted, a shadow casting over his eyes as the background changed to a splashing sea and Japanese mountains.

"THAT IS DONBURI!" he exclaimed, whilst Clause stood there still unsure of what to do and Ciel stood in the background. Maya rolled her eyes again, she had expected for Sebastian to be like this.

After being speechless for quite some time Clause then began to laugh haughtily and complimented Sebastian on his intelligence.

Intelligence? Maya thought, he probably just memorized those facts from the books I gave him to study two years ago.

Two years had already gone passed since Maya had been reunited with her young master again and she had always remembered every second of it.

Two years Prior

Maya sat crossed legged inside the dark empty space of the Phantomhive Seal Ring. It had been a few months now since the manor had been burnt down. She didn't see who the person was that set fire to the mansion but she had almost found out before her previous master had been killed. Yes, she believed that he was murdered and had not just died in the flames. But just as she was about to be trapped back into the ring, she had reached her young master Ciel first. Maya had tried to reach out for him but her body began to vanish and sink back into the Seal Ring so she had no time to save her young master. The invisible chains around her left wrist burned and tugged painfully and even as a demon she could not fight them.

Maya knew that Ciel had seen her vanish, she knew that he had called out to her many times and yet she could not hear a thing.

Suddenly, she felt the ring being placed on a finger (how she knew this, she will never know), a small dainty finger that was attached to a hand she remembered holding many times in the past. Before Maya knew what had happened, her black flames engulfed her and transported her out of the ring. She couldn't see much through the flames, she could only make out two silhouettes that stood in front of her. Maya hovered above the ground for a few seconds, then she felt her heeled boots touch the ground.

She blinked once, twice and a third time. Her vision blurred but she could make out who was walking towards her. That small, fragile looking body that she used to hug warmly. Those big blues eyes that she would see filled with laughter and happiness. However this boy did not have the same image of the young master she had stored in her mind. His eyes were lifeless, a frown on his pink lips and he seemed to be harbouring a lot of injuries.

"Young Master?" she exclaimed, not taking any notice of the stunned butler in black standing behind Ciel. Once Ciel saw that she had recognised him, he ran. He ran towards her open arms, awaiting for that warmth he was so used to when he had been his old self. Maya kneeled down on her knees when Ciel quickened his steps towards her, sadness and joy appearing in his uncovered eye. She waited for him to reach her, when he did, she felt those frail little arms wrap around her neck. Although it was definitely unusual for a demon to feel such strong feelings, she was relieved. It may have been that she was growing attached to humans or it may have been the fact that her human soul was still lurking somewhere inside her, she was still very glad that Ciel was alright.

She grabbed his small face carefully in her hands, making sure that she did not touch the bandages covering his right eye. She knew full well what was behind the bandages, she had noticed the tall man behind Ciel. She had noticed everything the moment her feet touched the carpeted ground. On a last minute thought, she slid her fore finger and middle finger under the bandages and pushed them aside. Ciel had tried to struggle, but her warm firm hand had kept him in place.

"I had hoped that this would not happen." she muttered to herself, then looked over Ciel's head to bear her sharp teeth at the raven haired man who stood very rigid. She growled lowly when he smirked at her. Feeling a cold small hand fall on top of her own, she looked back down at Ciel.

"It's alright, Maya. I know what I am doing." he said to her with a small glint in his visible eye.

"I sure hope so, young master. I suppose you know the circumstances of making a contract with a demon don't you?" she asked sceptically, getting up from her position. Ciel looked up at her with blank eyes, trying to not give anything away.

"I do. Once I succeed in my goal, then I will allow Sebastian to take my soul." he said this quickly, making Maya raise an eyebrow. Sebastian? Is that what her young master had named the male demon? Maya laughed internally, remembering the deceased dog that her young master had been so fond of.

"By any chance, young master, did you name it after Sebastian, your pet dog?" Maya asked, giggling slightly at Sebastian's narrowed eyes when he had noticed that she had referred to him as 'it'. Ciel spared a small smile at his maid.

"As a matter of fact, yes." he confirmed making her laughter increase. It took her a few minutes to calm down and a few seconds for Sebastian to try to restrain himself from ripping the young woman into miniature pieces. Although he could not deny that she was a very attractive young demon, she made him annoyed beyond all other things.

"So, I believe that you are responsible for the repairs on the manor?" Maya addressed the black butler, wiping away a stray tear of laughter. She walked around the room, seeing that they were in Vincent's, soon to be, Ciel's study.

"Yes. It did not take me long to repair it, however there were some things that I could not repair. Such as the paintings and some portraits." he replied in a smooth deep voice that would appeal to any woman who listened to the tune, but Maya was not fazed by it's seductive quality. Maya looked back down at Ciel and her smile dropped, seeing him frown was a rare occasion in the past but she suspected that she would see him frown more often in the future. She kneeled down again, holding both his small hands in hers.

"Sir, I think it is time you took a bath," she teased him with soft eyes, "once you're done, I will prepare your bed." Ciel nodded, not meeting her eyes.

"I will ready the bath, young master." Sebastian informed the young lord, getting a nod in response.

"You may want to get cleaned up yourself, Maya." Ciel said, walking over to the door then spared another glance at his young maid. Maya looked down and realised that her maids dress was burnt at the edges from the manor fire a few months back and her white gloves were no longer white.

"I suppose I should." she smiled at him then followed him out the door with Sebastian walking behind. Maya separated from her young master, walking the route to her personal chambers.

Only 30 minutes had passed and before she knew it she heard her young master scream.

"IT'S TOO HOT!" Maya was startled. She wrenched her door open, appearing out with her dress clean and neat, her new white gloves covered her black nails and her leather strap that represented the bond between her body and the Seal ring. To a normal human being it did not hold any great significance, so Maya did not try to hide it. She ran at an impossible speed towards the sound of Ciel's yell and forcefully pushed Ciel's bedroom door open but found that he was not there. She then pushed open the bathroom door and sure enough he was there, glaring up at Sebastian in the bathtub.

"You can't just pour all the boiling water in at once! Check the temperature!" he yelled at the confused Sebastian. Maya brought her fist to her mouth, holding in the laughter that bubbled up in her throat. She took in the scene that was in front of her in amusement, and leaned against the door frame. Sebastian had the sleeves of his white button up shirt rolled up to his elbows and he was looking into a wooden bucket in thought, whilst Ciel's skin was turning a slight pink from the possibly scalding water.

"I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time." Sebastian said, then looked down at the bucket again, "So this is too hot…"

"You must always check the temperature, Sebastian," Maya said, using his name for the first time, "The young master has very sensitive skin, anything could damage his skin." Sebastian raised his eyebrows at her, then looked back at his master, who was turning red and tried to hide behind the edge of the tube, unwilling for Maya to see his naked form.

"Well then, I'll wash your body." Sebastian said cheerfully, quickly scrubbing Ciel's back, not paying any mind to what Maya had said previously, making her scowl.

"THAT HURTS!" Ciel screamed in agony. "That's it, don't touch me! I'M GETTING OUT!"

"What are you saying? Their still dirty." Sebastian said, glancing once at Maya, "I can't risk having you die suddenly because your wounds suppurate."

Ciel glared heatedly up at Sebastian, making a 'Tsk' sound. All of a sudden, Ciel had splashed the water surrounding him at Sebastian, promptly wetting the butler's once dry shirt and hair.

"GET OUT!"

"…Yes, sir." Sebastian obeyed, walking towards the exit and passing Maya without a glance back. "That brat…" Maya heard him mutter through the door. She growled lowly, then turned her attention to her still furious young master. Ciel had his head down, glaring at his wet hands and feet.

"I will fetch you a towel, young master." She said, turning to walk out then stopped in her tracks when she heard him speak.

"Do you…." he began, making Maya raise her eyebrows in question, "Do you think they would have been proud?" She was surprised by the sudden question and his abrupt change in emotion, but her young master was always so unpredictable. Maya smiled softly at him, knowing well that Vincent and Rachel loved him very much and yet she felt that they wouldn't have been very happy to find out that their only son had made a contract with a demon, who she sensed was quite powerful, to even her level.

"Honestly, sir?" she asked, and he hesitantly nodded, "I do not know. No one will know what the deceased are thinking. Not even demons nor the gods." She smiled again, leaving the room when she did not get a reply.

"Wait, Maya!" Ciel croaked, quickly trying to get out of the tub to reach her, but had ended up slipping and falling out. Not a moment later, both of the demons were by his side; Sebastian lifting him up by the arms and Maya checking the wound on his forehead.

"What happened!"

"I just tripped when I was trying to get out." he said, gripping Sebastian's shirt for balance and winced when his bruised forehead was brushed by Maya's gloved fingers.

"…."

"You must be tired, after all that what happened today… I'll wash your body." Sebastian said, still dripping wet from before.

"I said you don't have to. Maya can help me from here." Ciel said stubbornly, snatching his arm back forcefully.

"It is not acceptable for you to be seen by another woman, even if she is your maid. You're being a little too stubborn." he had said half of this to Maya, who stood stunned by his sudden change in mood. Sebastian had now grabbed onto the sides of Ciel's face with one large hand, making Ciel look at him in the eyes.

"Humans are weak animals that can die easily just by bacteria entering their bodies from even the smallest of wounds," Sebastian sneered, slightly bearing his sharp canine teeth, "You're a child that can not even heal his own injuries properly, don't make me waste-"

"That's enough!" Maya said, deadly yet calmly at the now angry male demon. She had now stood up straight, her face blank of all emotion and yet her eyes had made Sebastian feel as if he should be the one cowering back. Although he did not show this, he made sure that his pride was no longer going to be wounded again.

"It has been a hard day, for probably both of you." Maya assumed, looking away towards the candle that stood near by and saw that it was flickering. She had been trying to keep her frustrated feeling hidden, this was not the kind of reunion she had wanted when she had seen Ciel again.

"It is time for you both to realise that not everything is going to go your way from now on. Not everything can be controlled, but when you take your time to make an effort, then it will soon get easier. Sebastian, it is improper for a butler to be addressing their master in such a fierce way; you have to learn that you have to uphold the utmost respect towards the young master, no matter the circumstances." she lectured, glancing at the two males, "Young master Ciel, you should also know that by giving respect you will earn the respect back. This is something that I should not be teaching you; it is important that the two of you know that you can no longer act so stubborn towards each other." Maya walked away from the room, leaving the moment she knew that the message had sunk into their minds.

Later that evening, Maya did not come out of her room, knowing that Sebastian would probably take care of the young master. She was of course wrong to think this way, she had been taught to always keep an eye on her master and to always stand by his side no matter what her opinions were, but it seemed to become hard for her. She had known that Ciel would be different from her former masters, not only because of his age, also by the way he viewed the world and his determination to doom his soul for revenge. To her, Ciel had the most delicious of all souls, filled with despair, hate, pride, anger, yet still pure in some ways, maybe that was why it had been so unbearable for her to be around him any longer.

Speaking of souls, she had not fed for months, though she could hold in her hunger for a few more weeks, just so that she could help Ciel settle back into his life again, it would be hard.

When the time came to Ciel's bedtime, she heard the last candle being blown out and tapping footsteps make a route towards the room next to hers. It was Sebastian, she had to get used to the fact that the demon was here to stay. There was silence in the corridor now, but she knew that he was still out there, perhaps debating whether or not to knock on her door. At last, Maya heard his bedroom door being opened and shut. She let out a sigh, scooped up the many books on her desk, then stood. She balanced ten culture books in her left hand and some studying material of all subjects in the right. When she walked up to the door, she threw the books in her left hand up in the air so that it would stack up on top of the other books in her right, then turned the door knob to walk out. She balanced the highly stacked books in her right hand, using the other to knock on Sebastian's door.

When Sebastian had opened the door, he was not at all surprised to see Maya there. But what he had not expect was the books in her right hand. He tilted his head in confusion.

"May I come in?" Maya asked. He nodded without saying a word, stepping aside to let her pass. Maya placed the heavy books on his desk with a thud then turned to him.

"I have brought you some books to study. There are some things that a proper butler should know. And I'm assuming that you are not very familiar with human culture. If you are going to be serving the young master, then you should know that you have to behave in a way so that others can not question whether you are human or not. " she stated glaring at him slightly whilst saying her last sentence. Sebastian smirked, moving closer to the books.

"I thank you, Miss Wakefield." he said, bowing lowly to show his respect.

"How do you know my name? I have not mentioned my surname." she replied, waving dismissively at his bow.

"Do not think that I have not heard of you, Miss Maya." Sebastian said to here, walking slowly so that he was now stalking towards her. "I've heard your story." Maya narrowed her eyes, knowing that every demon already knew her 'tragic' story. It was to be expected.

"I am absolutely fascinated…. by you." he breathed close to her ear, now walking in circles around her. "How you control those ebony coloured flames of yours is just so intriguing. No fire demon in demon history has ever had black flames and in spite of that, you seem to be the first one." Sebastian chuckled darkly behind her, his cold breath blowing lightly onto her neck. Maya didn't react, all she could do was stand very still.

"And if that wasn't enough, your flames are able to even kill your own kind. Not many things can kill a demon. So how is it that you have required this 'gift' of yours?" he spoke slowly, almost like he was studying her. Maya didn't blink nor did she move when he pushed aside her short hair to expose her pale neck. Sebastian breathed in deeply, keeping her scent stored in his mind.

"Tell me, Sebastian. What benefit do you get from sniffing me?" she asked straightforwardly.

I have haven't decided on a pairing, but it will definitely NOT be a Sebastian and an OC… I think I've had enough of those to last me a life time…. I'm not sure, would you guys mind if I ask for your help about the pairings? I'm not sure how popular this story will be and I don't want it to just be categorised as just a supernatural and humour story….

Well, if I get reviews, could you be so kind as to suggest a character that Maya could possibly fall in love with? XD Thank you!

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter!