Hey everyone! I got 44 followers! How did that happen? I know it may sound like 44 is not that much, but it's more than I ever thought I would get! I'M SO HAPPYYYYYYY!

But I still don't Kuroshitsuji. But I do own Clarissa and all of her weirdness.

Enjoy chapter twenty-one!

XxX

Chapter 21

'Can I ask you something, Sebastian?' Ciel asked as he entered his office, knowing he still had some paperwork to do.

'Of course, my Lord,' he answered.

Ciel knew that that would be his answer and because of that, he almost rolled his eye. But he didn't. 'Can you please stop acting so foolish? Even I know that there's something wrong with you, whether my theory is correct or not, I believe that I do not like this change.'

Sebastian didn't react. Maybe he wasn't sure how to.

Ciel sat in front of his desk and put the walking stick next to him. He picked up the paper of this morning and looked at the article on the front page again. As he did that, he said: 'I do not get much about love and everything that comes with it, but if you feel unsure about it, I think a simple touch should make it clear whether you feel attraction towards the girl or not.' He frowned. 'But if there's something going on that I should worry about, I ask you to tell me now. Because I don't like surprises. Especially if my loyal servant can prevent them.'

Sebastian didn't react for a long time. Then he said: 'Yes, my Lord.' Then his eyes fell on something small but relevant. 'Young Master, could I maybe have that newspaper for a moment?' he asked.

Ciel looked surprised, human news was usually something Sebastian couldn't care less about. 'That's fine, I guess,' he said, handing his butler the paper.

Sebastian turned he page as he frowned, looking at the picture of a young man with ginger hair and blue eyes. The man had a blue tattoo under the right corner of his right eye.

Ciel didn't like the look on Sebastian's face. 'What is it?' he said.

Sebastian knew that he'd have to answer that question, so he handed his master the paper on this right page. 'Drossel Keinz has escaped from the asylum. And I'm quite certain that this man is a childhood friend of Clarissa's.'

Ciel looked at the article for a while. 'So he may become a threat. Not that it matters, this man doesn't look like something you cannot handle. Not that anything looks like that, but… Wait, how do you know about Clarissa's childhood friends?'

Sebastian smiled. 'Humans talk a lot more than other creatures do,' was the only answer Ciel got.

Ciel sighed, closing his eyes for a second before opening them again. 'Go and check on Clarissa, see if she's okay and then return to my room,' he then said.

Sebastian bowed. 'Yes, my Lord.'

XxX

I went to sleep before Ciel was home. I'd planned to wait for him, but when he didn't come, I decided that, because tomorrow was a school day, it was best to go to sleep.

But in my sleep, nightmares haunted me. Drossel with purple eyes, singing loud in my ears as he pushed me against the wall, ready to go anything to break me. Pictures of the doll in my room, haunting me as I slept. But the worst one was the third nightmare.

Sebastian stood there, in some sort of ruin, holding a unmoving Ciel in his arms. As he looked up at me, his eyes glowed, looking like glowing red cat-eyes. This time I saw that he wasn't wearing his gloves for a change, he had long pale hands with long, dark nails. Everything about the picture screamed 'demon!'. But that wasn't why I was scared, why I felt trapped in a nightmare that seemed all too true. Because Ciel wasn't moving.

And that was Sebastian's fault.

The moment I started to scream was the moment someone pulled me up and started to shake me around. 'Clarissa!' a voice that I really did not want to hear right now said. 'Come on, wake up,' Sebastian said, now sounding like a nanny.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was sitting straight up in bed, but not because I was holding myself straight, but because Sebastian had me in his arms.

Something I really didn't want right now. I pulled free and he let me, not trying to stop me as I pulled away from him and shove to the other side of the bed, as far away from his as I could. 'What are you doing in my room?' I asked, certain that I'd locked the door before I went to sleep, too scared that someone might retrieve his doll at night.

Sebastian sighed. 'Are you really asking a demon how he entered a room? Do you really think walls stop me?'

I didn't answer, because, somehow, I knew that it didn't. Then I realized that it was Monday night and I looked at the clock. 'Oh, shit! It's one in the morning.' I moaned. 'And I have school today too. This will be the worst!'

Sebastian pulled up an eyebrow. 'School? What are you talking about? It's Christmas break, Clarissa. Even you should know that.'

I frowned. 'Christmas break? Since when?' He was right, even I should know that. So why didn't I?

He chuckled. 'My oh my, it seems like you're still half asleep. How amusing.' His eyes glowed. 'And how human.' Then he got a look in his eyes that I didn't trust and didn't like. And he just stared at me like that.

'Stop doing that,' I said, hearing that my voice indeed sounded like I was still half-asleep.

Sebastian tilted his head. 'Stop doing what?'

I pulled up my legs and wrapped my arms around them, trying to hide my face while also looking at him. 'That brainwash thing you're trying to do to me. I know that you like to mess with people, but I'm not up for it.'

Then a sincere look appeared on his face. 'I'm not doing anything to you,' he said and his words sounded like the truth.

And that was exactly the reason why I didn't believe them. 'Sure you are. You know what you do. You've said so yourself, that you were an amazing seducer. I know it and I'm sure there are a lot other females who know it. And even men, I'd say,' I said and the face he pulled, as if he thought about something disgusting, was a face that I didn't get. But that didn't stop me. 'You confuse me to get what you want and guess what, Sebastian? I'm done with it. Leave me alone or treat me normally, because I'm pretty sure that you're not messing around with Mei-Rin when you're not serving your master or messing with me.'

Sebastian frowned and I saw in his eyes that he knew what I was talking about. 'But I didn't kiss you,' he said.

'That- That doesn't have anything to do with it!' I mumbled, suddenly angry. I wanted to talk about how he was messing with me. Not how I kissed him in a whim. 'And it was only a second, get over yourself.'

Sebastian shook his head. 'That doesn't seem fair, right? If I have to get over myself, shouldn't you? I've behaved myself rather professionally these last days.'

I didn't say anything. Not because I didn't want to, but because I didn't know what I could say. I was pretty certain that whatever I said, Sebastian knew a way to respond to it.

Then he said something and he sounded like he really didn't want to ask the question, but he didn't sound nervous or unsure. He asked the question as if he asked me what time it was. Only that wasn't the question he asked. 'Do you feel any sort of affection towards me?'

I pulled up an eyebrow. 'Doesn't any female? I believe we've had this conversation before.'

'No,' he said, shaking his head slowly. 'I do believe we've never talked about this before. You like my looks, so you felt like kissing me?' This question again was asked way too casual, as if we weren't talking about something really embarrassing.

'Of course not,' I grumbled. 'I'm not that shallow.'

'No?' he asked. 'Are you sure?'

'Yes,' I said, because I had asked myself the same question. 'I'm quite sure.'

He shook his head again, this time I wasn't sure why. 'Then I would like to know what you were thinking back then.'

I sighed, really didn't want to admit it. 'Well, it's complicated. Mostly because I wasn't thinking, actually…' I scratched the back of my head. 'But, well… I just kind of thought that I wanted to know about your history and about your way of thinking, what demons are like, how they see the human world, though from what I've got from you it seems like you do not like it very much.'

'That sounds like interest,' Sebastian said. 'Not affection.'

Wow. Déjà vu. Have I had this conversation before? 'That may be true,' I admitted and it really felt like I'd heard this before. 'But who says that interest can't grow into something else?' Oh gosh, why did I say that?

Sebastian frowned his eyebrows, as if he hadn't thought of that before. He was silent for a whole while, then he opened his mouth. 'I do believe I need to test something,' he said, sounding determined but also a bit startled.

'Sorry?' That didn't sound fun.

As Sebastian's hand came closer, I shoved even farther away from him. 'What you do think you're doing?' I asked.

'I'm trying to touch you, but you seem unwilling,' he said, as of that surprised him. Had he even listened to everything I'd just said?

'And what are you going to do If you touch me?' I asked, pulling a face that just screamed 'I do not trust you!'.

'I'll pull way and leave the room so you can sleep,' he said, sounding earnest.

I pressed my lips together, but shoved closer to him, making sure that I kept a close distance though. I wasn't sure why he suddenly wanted to touch me and what kind of 'test' that would be, but as long as it was short and he would leave me alone after, I thought it was okay.

He reached out with his right hand, then frowned and pulled it back. He stared at his gloved hand and just as I wanted to ask what was wrong, he removed the glove with his mouth (why not just with his other hand, I don't know) and reached out again.

His hand was just as I'd imagined in my dreams. Pale and with long, sharp, black nails. I wasn't sure how my mind managed to get the image right.

His fingertips touched the right side of my forehead and then, really slowly, travelled down to my cheek. The fingers remained there and I had to keep myself from shivering under his touch. Then his finger started moving again, down to my neck, where the fingertips stopped on my collar-bone. All this happened with Sebastian having a calculating expression on his face, as if he was doing math in his head.

'What?' I asked as he kept looking at me like that. I wasn't sure what his test was supposed to reveal, so I wasn't sure if this was it or not.

Then he pulled his hand back and put his glove back on before I even had the change to blink. But before I could ask anything else, he was gone.

XxX

When I woke up the next morning, I was pretty sure that I'd been dreaming all the events of last night. It seemed the only logical option to me.

But then who put my alarm clock off?

Okay, so maybe I had forgotten to put it on, that could be it, but that wouldn't explain why there was a note on my alarm clock that said: 'It's Christmas break.' It clearly was Sebastian's handwriting, though I was not sure how I knew that.

I took all the time of the world to get ready. It was 11 am and I had nowhere to go. Maybe I did have to go and pick up all my stuff that was still in Madame Red's house. Though I was happy to find that Sebastian actually had gotten me some clothes from her house, so that I didn't have to wear the same clothes another day.

Then, suddenly, my phone rang, making me rush from the bathroom to my room in only half of my clothes on. My pants and underwear were on, but I still had my hoodie in my hands. I picked up, seeing that it was again an unknown number. 'Yes?'

'Yes?' Ciel said, 'that's not a proper way to answer your phone. You should at least say your name.'

I sighed. 'Hello, this is Clarissa speaking. Can I help you?' I said, sounding more like secretary than any secretary I'd ever met or seen in movies.

Now Ciel was the one to sigh. 'Yes. Get ready, we'll leave in 30 minutes. Make sure you're eaten something by then. We're not stopping for lunch.'

'Um,' I said. 'Where are we going?'

'We're going to grab your belongings and to a Christmas fair.' Ciel didn't really sound happy about either of those things.

But if it was the Christmas fair that was always on the frozen Thames, then I was excited. I never got to go there, but I always heard about it. 'Oh. Okay. I'll be in the kitchen in five, is there breakfast?'

'I'll let Sebastian make something for you. But please, behave yourself today. I'm not in for your weirdness today,' he indeed sounded like he wasn't. Not that he ever was, but I decided not to say that.

'Geez, Ciel,' I said, 'I can make a sandwich myself, you know.'

'Well, maybe I just don't trust you in my kitchen without an adult watching over you,' he reacted.

'Ouch,' I said, but he had already hung up.

I pulled on the hoodie, checked if my hair was covering my scar and then hurried outside, hoping I was in the kitchen before Sebastian was.

Which of course wasn't the case. He was already making… pancakes?

I moaned. 'Please, Sebastian, just give me cereal or something. I'm going to get really fat if you keep on baking sweets for me.'

Sebastian turned around and smiled a polite smile. 'I'm very sorry, miss Lane, but we do not have any cereal. And it would be a shame if these pancakes go to waste.'

'I'm pretty sure Baldroy would love to have them,' I said, trying to behave as though I had never kissed him or dreamed of him.

'I'm pretty sure you would love to have them as well,' he said, shoving the plate with pancakes towards me. 'The Nutella stands on the table,' he then said right before I could ask.

A smile appeared on my face. Why was I worried? I should have known that Sebastian would treat me befittingly. After all, he was one hell of a butler.

XxX

'I see. The 'Frost fair' is a fitting name indeed,' Sebastian said as we walked down, on the lake, entering the market full of shops and games.

'I heard that this is the biggest Frost Fair yet!' I said excited, loving the fair before I even entered the fair. I had forgotten all my worries as soon as I saw the large fair. 'They have been doing this for hundreds of years, but previous years it wasn't save enough, so the scale wasn't that impressive, but now they decided to go all out! Did you know that this year, the Frost Fair has been existing for 200 years? Doesn't that sound really really old?'

Sebastian pressed his lips together and Ciel observed me with boredom. 'You really love this stuff, don't you?' he asked.

'Yes!' I said happily. 'Though I don't like the fact that it's at the foot of the London Bridge. I mean, what if it break down again?'

Sebastian chuckled. 'The bridge is perfectly fine, it won't break down again.' But I heard that he muttered 'probably' after his sentence, making me only worry more.

But I forgot that when I saw an ice sculpture of the Queen. 'That's so cool!' I said, running towards it with the excitement of a child.

Ciel came to stand next to me as I looked at the old looking lady. 'You've never been here before, have you?'

I shook my head. 'Did you really think that that good for nothing father of me would take me?' I sighed. 'And my grandmother didn't really go out much. I've never been to many places before. School and home are the only places, actually.'

Then my attention was draw to someone who screamed: 'Hey, hey! I'm selling this cheap enough to even blow Jack Frost away! Why not buy one for Christmas?'

Well, even though it got my attention, it Was Ciel who actually walked up to it to take a look, while staying a safe distance away from the stand to that the man selling wouldn't approach him. A strange smile had appeared on his face and I walked up to him to ask him what's wrong when Sebastian already did that for me. 'What is it, my Lord?'

Ciel sounded amused while he spoke. 'Those are all inferior goods. If the river freezes next years, the Funtom company could set up a shop.'

I had almost forgotten that Ciel was not only my classmate and a strange noble, but he was also the boss of the Funtom company. He was a businessman. I tend to forget that.

Ciel went on talking, pointed with his walking stick to a toy Noah's ark that was standing on one of the tables. 'For example that's-'

Which wasn't smart. The salesman noticed the walking stick immediately. 'Ah, sir, you have a good eye!' I wasn't sure whether that was an insult or not. 'That's a fine piece from the Funtom Workshop. In other words, from when the popular Funtom Company was still a craft studio.'

I had to keep myself from laughing. Did this man have any idea who he was talking to?

Ciel wasn't amused anymore. Now he just seemed bored and only a little bit angry. 'A blatant fake one, you mean,' he said monotone. 'The Funtom Arks are rare. Only three sets were ever made, by an artist my predecessor patronized who used the finest technology. Since our mansion burned down, even we no longer have one.' He said it so casual, as if the fact that his house had burned down, taking his parents with him, was something normal. Like the weather. 'They certainly wouldn't turn up here,' he said, closing his statement.

'Noah's Ark is like this nation itself,' Sebastian said, making me and Ciel look up at him with a confused look in our eyes.

'What?' me and Ciel said at the same time.

Sebastian looked at Ciel as he explained. 'A boat led by a single skipper,' he said, looking surprisingly serious. 'The only ones saved are a select few.' Then an amused smile appeared on his face, as if what he'd said made him happy or something. 'It's an arrogant idea.'

Wait… had Sebastian just insulted the Queen? Ciel made an angry sound and opened his mouth to say something to Sebastian when a familiar face appeared.

'You guys…' Abberline said, looking at us as if it was really strange that we were here.

Ciel now pointed his anger and annoyance towards Abberline instead of Sebastian. 'If a Scotland Yard inspector has time to frivol about here, I suppose there must be peace in London… for today.' He sounded like himself would put an end to that.

Abberline looked angry, as if Ciel was seriously accusing him of something. 'I'm not frivolling! I'm on duty!' he said, for the first time sounding angry.

Ciel wasn't impressed. 'Oh, my. Well, then, inspector, earn your wages in faithful service to Queen and country.'

I started to think that Ciel had a unhealthy obsession with the Queen.

Ciel turned his back to the inspector, starting to walk away when Abberline said: 'Wait, I still have questions for you two!'

That made Ciel turn around. 'Us two?' he asked, giving me a glance. 'And about which two are you talking about?'

'You,' he said, 'and miss Lane.' When I gave him my 'please shut up now'-face, he frowned. 'Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that you knew…'

'That I knew what?' Ciel said, now sounding angry. The kind of angry that you only heard when someone who always pulled the strings had missed some of the strings and those puppets were now dancing on their own.

I slapped myself in the face. This was going to be a very long day.

XxX

So that was chapter twenty-one!

Miyoko-tan & Shadow demon Kitsune: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it! :D

Effervescent Ocean: That would have worked, too! Ha ha, I actually really like their version too :)

Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! See you next time!