Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji.

Chapter Six

"Ah, good afternoon, Tessa," Finny cried upon seeing me passing in the corridor.

I looked up startled and forced a smile onto my face. I'd been out of it all morning, not aware that the hours ticked by like seconds to me. Ever since that black out last night my thoughts had been full of the vivid images of that girl's death, possibly my death. Why did I have this heavy feeling that I was missing something? That there was another piece to this puzzle that just wasn't there.

I frowned and looked out the window to my left, my thoughts beyond dwelling in the bright sunny day it was outside. A lovely day that my mind just couldn't comprehend amongst the dark thoughts.

"It's a beautiful day outside, isn't it?" Finny asked, coming to stand besides me.

I blinked slowly and turned my back to the window, with a sigh.

"Yes, it's rather nice," I stated, unable to help the dry tone in my voice.

Finny looked at me in surprise, "Is everything alright, Tessa?"

I shook my head and plastered a flash smile onto my face, "Everything is fine. Just a little moody."

He nodded, his face pinched with concern. Finny was too caring for his own good sometimes, a well as too curious. But you couldn't hate him for it. He was a rather sweet boy with a bright outlook that could make most people smile.

"I should go find, Sebastian for my chores for the day," I stated dully, walking away from Finny without another word.

Somewhere deep inside me I felt bad for being so removed from him, but I was too plagued with other thoughts to pay too much attention to this sinking feeling. I just couldn't get my mind off of those dreams. Which was illogical on my part, seeing as they were just fragments of my imagination and things that my mind threw together in an attempt to deal with the events of the pervious hours. I logically shouldn't have been dwelling on thoughts of demons, reapers, and whatever else my mind deemed worthy to conjure up. If I continued on this path, who knows I might end up with dreams about the vampires and the living dead next.

I sighed, it was slightly logical that I was thinking of such things though. It was, after all, human nature to be curious; even if the source of my curiosity was dreams.

Shaking my head, I cleared my mind. I needed to be grounded now. Silly thoughts were not going to get me anywhere in my work. I needed to find Sebastian, who was proving to be very unclear at what he wanted me to do, as well a illusive when sought out.

I let out a irritated sigh and happened to look up to realize where I was. The large corridor outside of Ciel's study in all it solemn nature, which for once seemed to suit my mood perfectly. Sebastian did certainly seem to be to closest of the servants to the master of the house, maybe he would be in there. It would make sense. He usually was the one to be called when the young earl wanted something, not any of the others. So perhaps, Ciel had fetched him for something and as he usually dwelled inside his study it would make sense.

I stepped closer to the door, careful to be as silent as possible just in case I was wrong. I wouldn't want to interrupt something. Ciel might be kind at times, but he proved to be quite cross when provoked. I'd witnessed as much with the way he acted to Dupont last night. Something about the way he had become so cold so suddenly still haunted me. Let alone the face I saw on Sebastian...that would forever remain burned into the back of my mind.

I gently touched the door, taken aback when I found it moved inwards a few centimeters at my soft touch. It'd been left open a crack by whoever had either just walked in or out. My heart dropped slightly as I stepped back, Ciel probably wasn't inside which meant that neither was Sebastian. Either that or there was a business guest and even in that case Sebastian wouldn't be in there either. It looked as if I had more searching to do.

I moved to leave, when hushed voices from within the room caught my attention. Pausing, I stood a moment in silence and listened quietly where I stood.

"Tch', what a stupid notion," grumbled the higher pitched voice of the two.

"On the contrary, I believe the notion to be rather...accurate," the second added in a velvety voice that I instantly recognized.

Inching forward to the crack, I peeked inside. At first my eyes could only see the far right wall, but as I positioned myself better I caught a glimpse of desk and two forms. The smaller of the two was seated in the leather chair behind the desk, while the larger form leaned over the expanse of the large desk, looking as if he was...

I blushed the brightest red I ever had and jumped back, clamping a hand over my mouth to muffle my cry of surprise as it sunk in on what I just witnessed and who I witnessed doing it. Ciel and Sebastian...no it wasn't possibly. A simply ridiculous notion.

But while I could argue all I wanted with logic, I could not fight with the very different story my eyes had told me. Try as I might, I believed I just witnessed a sin worse then society could dream up to gossip.

I mean a fling between a maid and a master was one thing, even a young heiress and a male servant, but a master and his butler?

I moved away from the door and stared blankly down the hallway, in a shock. I couldn't believe it. It was impossible. A servant and a master just don't do such things. It wasn't proper, let alone acceptable.

"Tessa?"

I leapt at the sound of my name coming out in that velvety voice of his. Oh no, did he notice? Did he see me looking through the doorway?

"Y-y-yes?" I stuttered in my embarrassed state and turned to look at him, but that was a mistake.

As soon as my eyes locked with his I saw the very thing I was trying to elude. Sebastian leaning over the earl's desk, his white gloved hand caressing the young boy's pale cheek which was slightly pink with a light flush. Ciel, his sapphire eye closed with a look of semi-contentment on his face as he inclined his head into the other's touch. Sebastian leaning towards the other in an intimate manner that was clearly not meant for the eyes of a third party.

I felt a new wave of heat set into my cheeks, making them burn brighter. If my stuttering hadn't made him suspicious then my blush certainly would.

Sebastian frowned and looked at me in confusion, "Is something the matter?"

"No," I quipped, too quickly to ever be believed.

His face confirmed it too, he placed a hand under his chin and frowned down at me, "Something seems to be bothering you. Is it the events of last night? Because I can assure you that Dupont has been dealt with as his actions called for."

I nodded, he could go on believing that and I was willing to take any excuse over what I actually was fretting over. Sebastian seemed to be a nice person on the outside, but after seeing him last night, I was afraid of what he might do to me if I voiced what I believed I saw. With him, I had a feeling anything was possible.

Sebastian didn't seem to consider me truthful though, and rightfully so. His eye narrowed in on my face, probably registering my sweating brow and the guilty gleam set in my eyes. I swallowed hard as he continued to examine my state with critical eyes.

Finally, when I began to believe I couldn't handle it anymore, he backed off and I released the lungful of air I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"I believe you have work to attend to, Tessa," Sebastian sighed, moving the glove hand on his chin to press it against his forehead.

I blinked and gasped, remembering what I had originally come looking for him for, "Ah yes, about that...Sebastian, you never specified what my chores are on the regular schedule. Am I to assume that my chores are the same as Mey-Rin's?

"I suppose I did never tell you, please forgive my forgetfulness," he apologized.

I waved it off, "Don't bother, you were busy with other things and needn't be bothered by assigning me tasks."

He sighed and looked at me carefully, "I'm the Phantomhive's butler and as such I should be able to do my work as well as watching over the other staff."

The corners of my lips turned down in a slight frown, "That doesn't seem completely fair, Sebastian. No one can do everything and even you have limits to what you can do."

Sebastian grinned, one that sent chills down my spine, "And why would I have limits? I am, after all, one hell of a butler."

"Because even you are human," I scoffed, feeling less certain of that fact then I was willing to even admit to myself.

Sebastian shook his head in mild amusement, "You have much to relearn."

I frowned in confusion at his words, but Sebastian didn't waste a moment before turning and walking down the hall, leaving me to catch up. I set my pace to match his fast one, barely just jogging to keep up with him.

"So what are my tasks on a regular basis?" I asked, huffing as I tried to keep up.

Sebastian grinned, but kept walking at the same speed, "They are practically the same as Mey-Rin's, but of course you'll be doing less of the hard work. We need to keep those hands soft in order to impress the guest."

I nodded, "So things like polishing and dusting?"

He nodded, "Along with preparing the mansion for guest, as well as keeping it appealing for the master."

I nodded again, "Thank you, I shall get to that then."

I turned to leave, when I heard Sebastian clear his throat. Slowly I turned back around to face him, a mixture of worry and confusion playing on my face.

"Yes, Sebastian?"

"I'd like for you not to mention to the other staff about what happened to our guest last night," he stated firmly, his eyes flashing threateningly. "As far as they are concerned the Duke left early this morning so that he could attend a very important business matter."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," I said calmly. I wasn't going to question why he wasn't willing to have the others know, mostly for two reasons. One, I was slightly afraid of him and two, I didn't want them knowing.

Pride ruled over my decision.

"Be sure that you do," he added.

"The polishing is one of the better chores in the mansion," Mey-Rin admitted to me.

I looked over to her from my seat on the staircase pausing in my work of polishing the wood railing, "Is it now? What else is there that he makes you do, Mey-Rin?"

She straightened up from her hunched over form as she worked to mop the marble flooring of the entrance hall. Pushing her glasses up she sighed.

"One year Sebastian assigned me the task of clearing out the basement. The place is a mess, it hasn't been touched since the fire."

I frowned, quickly looking down as I began to scrub at the etching in the wood again, "The fire?"

"Yes, the original mansion burnt to the ground in a terrible fire," Mey-Rin explained in a solemn tone. "The master's parents perished in the flames and the earl lost his eye."

I froze, "That's...terrible."

"Yes, it is. Our poor master had to grow up at such a young age."

"No, not because of that," I mumbled softly to myself. "To lose everything that's important to you, all at once...it's unthinkable."

Suddenly I remembered the gentleman's words to me about how Ciel had experienced more than what most adult men had. I never had expected the truth of those words to be so gruesome. Poor boy, learning of such pains at such a young age. I could never know what that felt like, but just imagining it was difficult.

"They say that he disappeared for a while before resurfacing again," Mey-Rin said softly. "But he hadn't been along when he came back, with him was Sebastian. No one knows what happened during that time or where Sebastian came from and how he was employed by our master. It's all a mystery."

I frowned and opened my mouth to interject my opinion, but before I was could manage to get very far I was interrupted by her squealing.

"But it all a certainly exciting mystery isn't it? I mean the dark butler coming from out of nowhere and who no one knows nothing about," Mey-Rin cried, clasping her hands together and dropping the bucket in her hand as she did so. The thing fell to the floor with a loud clattering noise and spilled it's contents all over the floor, causing Mey-Rin to release a rather alarmed cry which was followed by her shrieking and struggling to fix her mess but only succeeding in making it worse.

I smiled softly and shook my head from side to side slowly. Klutzy Mey-Rin, such things were entirely like her. Knowing I'd lost her attention completely, I turned back to my work and moved up a few steps to begin polishing the next section of the banister chuckling to myself at the irony of my new life.