Chapter 31 everyone! Yay! And sorry for the typos, hate me if you want to.

I still don't own Kuroshitsuji (duh), but I do own my OC.

Enjoy chapter 31!

XxX

Chapter 31

'Can you please just stop laughing?!' Ciel asked frustrated.

'I'm… s-sorry… C-Ciel!' I said laughing. 'But you look absolutely ridiculous! What, are you joining the Circus?'

Ciel was wearing some sort of strange uniform that looked like he was auditioning for a movie about warrior fairies. He was blushing now, but I wasn't sure if it was anger of embarrassment. Maybe both.

We were on our way to the studio were the curry show was filmed. It was all going to be live, but now Sebastian had four hours to take a look at his workplace and prepare himself. The program would be live on television, but I really hoped that Ciel would change his outfit before that happened, because I really did not want to sit next to someone dressed like that. That would draw attention and that meant that the camera's would often point his way. And if there was one thing I didn't want to attract, it was attention.

When we arrived at the studio I saw how big it was. It was gigantic. Not only the studio itself, but also the area the curry show was going to be held. There was a very bug space for audience and four kitchens. I guessed this meant that there were four participants.

All the others got killed by Agni, of course.

'Sebastian,' Ciel then said as we walked through the studio after talking to the producer about the show. 'Look after Clarissa. Me and Soma will investigate the other parts of the studio.' I wasn't sure what he meant by that. It didn't seem like Ciel was prioritizing Agni anymore

Sebastian nodded. 'Yes, my Lord.'

'You know,' I said, 'I'm not a dog. I can take care of myself.'

Ciel made a disdainful sound. 'No, you cannot.' Then he turned around and Soma followed him, but saying goodbye since he was terrified of Sebastian since yesterday.

I sighed.

Sebastian turned to me. 'Well, let's see the cooking area they've created for us.'

I pulled up an eyebrow. 'Us? Are you saying that you need help?' I asked.

'No,' was his answer, though it did not sound convincing at all.

We walked to the place where the 'Funtom-team was supposed to be. And then I realised something. This was a modern day cooking show.

With modern day cooking utensils.

'Well, shit,' I said soft so that the staff members couldn't hear me, but Sebastian could. 'You're screwed, buddy.'

'Not entirely,' he said, turning to me.

It took a while for me to realise what he meant. 'Oh no, I'm not going to help you in any way. There are rumours enough about me without me being in a cooking program. So you can say goodbye to that idea, Sebastian. Never going to happen.'

Then he leaned forward, ignoring the crew as he pressed his lips against my ear. 'Please?' he said, his voice sweeter than chocolate.

I pulled up an eyebrow, surprisingly enough not affected by his presence. 'Stay back, Seb. I'm not going to try to remove you, because we both know that that won't work, but this kind of trick won't work on me.' Not anymore.

He pulled back. 'How unfortunate,' was his reaction, his eyes narrowed.

I sighed. 'Fine, I'll help you. But only because I want to help Ciel. Not because I want to help you.' I gave him a disgusted look. 'I'd rather go on a date with the devil than help you.'

'Ah, how ironic,' he said, a content and somewhat amused smile on his lips.

Argh! He was way too cute! If I didn't keep myself in check, I would kiss those perfect lips of his again. And that was a mistake that I didn't want to repeat again.

Then a familiar face walked up to us. 'Clarissa. Sebastian,' Agni said, looking surprisingly sad.

XxX

'Mina promised me that she'd act like her old self in front of the prince if I obeyed West's orders.' Agni put the bandaged hand to his face. 'If my innocent prince found out how Mina really feels…' He looked desperate, not knowing what he should do.

I wasn't sure how to react. I was happy that I finally understood what the heck was going on, but it really felt like this was none of my business.

'So that's what this was about,' Sebastian said, not really saying it for any reason other than to say something.

Agni pulled his hand away from his face and looked at us with a face full of fighting-spirit. 'That's why I can't lose!'

I again didn't know how to react. But, again, I didn't have to. Sebastian chuckled. 'What a coincidence. I feel the same way.'

Then I noticed another participant looking at us with a look of jealousy. Oh, boy. These people really did take their curry seriously.

'Now then,' Sebastian then said, ripping my eyes away from the participant. 'I think now is the best time to explain to me how to use these modern day cooking utensils.'

Agni opened his mouth, clearly wanting to say something, but then closed his mouth and walked away. I bet he knew that going against Sebastian with words wasn't going to do much. He was ordered to do something, so he will do it. Demons were straightforward like that.

'Oh, great idea!' I said. 'Then I don't have to be on television during the curry show itself! And maybe I even have time to call Elizabeth for a more decent outfit for Ciel.'

Sebastian rolled his eyes. 'Oh, please. Young master looks absolutely fine. Maybe he's not dressed properly for this time period, but he certainly looks proper to me.'

Now I was to one to roll my eyes. 'You're a demon, remember? I don't think you have a good understanding of what 'proper' means.'

The smile on his face was so fake that I felt like punching it. 'Well, I believe I do, miss Lane.'

I shook my head as I grabbed the mixer from the counter. 'Do you know what this is?' I asked him, ignoring his last statement.

'A mixer,' he immediately answered. He was intelligent enough to guess that, of course.

'That's right,' I said. 'So you have to plug it in and you push this button and then it will go on and you can mix stuff! Isn't that gre-' I stopped mid-sentence when I saw how close Sebastian was suddenly standing to me.

'Which button?' he asked.

I had to get myself together before I could look away from his face and answer. 'This button, you see?'

He stood behind me now and his arms were around me as he grabbed the mixer, covering my hands with his own. 'This one?' he asked.

I knew he was just teasing me now. 'Yes,' I said, hating how breathless I sounded.

'Hmm,' Sebastian said softly, tightening his arms around me. 'I rather like this position. You should help me cook more often.'

'No way in hell I'm going to do that,' I told him, still a bit breathless. I had to focus on my words more than usual to make sure I wasn't stuttering.

I felt Sebastian's breath in my ear as he said: 'Ah, the irony.' Then he leant closer to me. Now I could feel his breath against my cheek.

'What are you doing?' I asked. 'We are in a public place!' I looked around me, suddenly way too aware of all the crew that was there, clearly trying to ignore us while also clearly failing to do so.

'So you would be okay with this kind of position if we weren't in a public place?' Sebastian asked, one gloved finger stroking my hand very softly.

I was too scared to move an inch, too scared what my body would do if I did. 'I didn't say that—'

Finally he pressed his lips against my cheek. 'Paparazzi,' he said and as he said that I looked directly into the lens of a camera. The one holding it was a woman who looked way too happy with the picture she took.

I pulled away from Sebastian, but it was already too late.

The woman got herself a picture.

XxX

Sebastian should be thankful that I wasn't standing next to him when the curry show started, because I would have messed with his curry just to annoy him as much as he'd annoyed me. I probably would be on the cover of some gossip magazine tomorrow. Argh!

'What got you all grumpy and cranky?' asked Ciel as the host of the show walked up to the main stage.

'Nothing,' I said, trying to sound not all that grumpy.

'Thank you for waiting, everyone!' The host then said. I hadn't noticed that they'd started filming, but there was no turning back now. 'It's time for the Curry Festival, The Best of London Curry!'

'Look, it's him again,' Lau said, pointing at someone on the main stage. That cat-girl was sitting on his lap again, annoying everyone who was sitting behind us. As I followed his finger my eyes fell on Aleister.

Oh gosh. As if this day couldn't get any worse.

'Attention seeker,' Ciel muttered, making this awful situation only a little bit better,

Then I frowned. 'Where's Soma?' I asked.

Ciel shrugged. 'He met someone a while ago and it seems that meeting didn't bring him much pleasance. I bet he also doesn't want to see his servant Agni participate in a contest against him.'

'And now,' the host said, 'let the cooking be—'

There was sudden music through the studio as everyone looked around, except me. I looked at the host and it was clear that he'd known about this. They just pretend like it was a surprise.

Then a woman dressed in black, her face hidden away, walked up to the main stage, accompanied by a very familiar face.

'Her majesty!' Ciel said while I said: 'Ash?'

The host opened his mouth again. 'Ladies and gentlemen! Her Majesty Queen Victoria, mother of England, has favoured us with her honoured presence!'

Everyone in the audience started to speak. 'I can't believe she really came!' 'Her Majesty!' 'She seems to have lost quite a bit of weight…'

That was all nice and fine, but the only things I could think of was A, Ash was here and I had no idea why, also, he was accompanying the Queen! And B, even though her face was covered so I couldn't really tell, the Queen certainly did not look like a middle-aged lady. She looked like a twelve-year-old kid.

And then Aleister came to seek attention again as he stood up and started to sing God save the Queen. He was soon joined by everyone else in the room, except me, Lau and that girl on his lap. Lau and that girl probably didn't sing it because, in fact, she wasn't their Queen. And I didn't sing because I honestly didn't know the words. Then I noticed that Sebastian wasn't singing as well, but he was staring at Ash with a glare. I couldn't tell which emotion was on his face, but he looked pretty intense.

'God save our gracious Queen, long live our noble Queen. God save the Queen! Send her victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us. God save the Queen!'

As the song wrapped the Queen stood in front of a very fancy chair next to the other judges and I realised now that she was wearing all black because her husband passed away. Was that why she was hiding her face?

Ash leant towards the Queen, clearly listening to something she said. Then he straightened himself and spoke to the audience, but he looked at me as he spoke. 'Her Majesty wants me to tell you: "I apologize for my inability to appear before you for so long. However, I am now in such perfect health that I may even enjoy curry again. My late husband Albert was very fond of curry as well. I look forward to examining the fruits of your labours."'

As the audience cheered I rolled my eyes. I never liked the whole hype around the Queen. I just felt like she didn't really do much.

'And with that,' the host said, 'allez cuisine!'

Allez what? Was that French? That didn't sound right. Oh, well. It wasn't like I knew how to speak French, so I really wasn't the one to judge.

All the participants went to their own cooking area as I saw that Agni was unwrapping his bandage. Was Samadhi really useful while cooking? It sounded a bit questionable to me, but hey, I lived with a demon, a kid with a contract with said demon and three idiots who couldn't do anything, so I was ready to believe anything.

It was almost funny to see how quick Sebastian and Agni moved in contrast to the others. Sebastian wasn't moving too fast, so it didn't seem supernatural, but it did looked really, really impressive.

I was actually still wondering if he managed to find the perfect curry. I had given up before all the curry's were tasted (there was only so much curry as I could take), but I guessed he did seeing as he looked completely sure of himself.

And of course you could hear the girls squeak as Sebastian took of his tailcoat and pulled up his sleeves. He was still wearing his gloves though. It felt kind of cool that I knew why.

The audience was giving loud commentary while all of this happened, but they stopped talking for a while when they saw what Sebastian's final ingredient was.

Chocolate.

The silence only took a while. Then everyone was talking about how absurd it was to put chocolate in curry. But then I looked at Agni and the look on his face told me that that wasn't true. He looked… defeated.

Then, for the first time since the show started, one of the participants spoke.

'Where did an Englishman like you get such an idea?' Agni asked Sebastian, who had the cooking area next to him. Everyone was silent now, curious what the butler would answer.

The answer he gave shouldn't have surprised me. But it certainly shouldn't have surprised Ciel. But his answer surprised us both. 'My master ordered me to do it. I carry out my master's orders, no matter how unreasonable they may be. You see, I am merely one hell of a butler.'

I looked at Ciel with my eyebrows pulled up, but didn't say anything. Lau, on the other hand, did. 'It's all in the phrasing, eh?' he said, petting the girl's hair.

'Was that supposed to be sarcasm?' Ciel asked annoyed, but he looked at Sebastian with a small, almost invisible smile on his face. The smile Sebastian gave him was almost blinding.

Then Agni pulled out a strange ingredient as well.

A blue lobster.

You could hear all the food specialists talk about the rarity of such an ingredient, but I really could care less. Because I just noticed that Ash was staring at me. Great, for how long had he been staring?

I kept staring back at him, but he didn't look away. He just kept staring with that strange smile on his lips.

I was the first to look away, but only because the host said that it was time of the judgement. The first few weren't really that interesting, but when it was Agni's turn I got interested. The reaction he got from all three of the judges seemed impossible to outdo. Sebastian could never win.

The host seemed to think so too. 'Such high praise! Is victory assured?! Or can our final contestant garner even higher praise?!'

Sebastian gave the judges a plate and then I saw that there wasn't any curry on the plates.

There were buns.

Buns?!

Everyone in the audience looked confused. Everyone was sure that he had been making curry. So… where did it go?

One of the judges stood up. 'What are you playing at?' he asked Sebastian, clearly feeling insulted. 'I see no curry!'

'Wait!' Aleister said. 'It's…' He cut the bun in half. 'There's curry on the inside.'

That surprised everyone except Ciel, which wasn't much of a surprise to me. He knew that his butler wouldn't let him down. 'This is the curry Funtom is proud to present,' Sebastian said. 'We call it the curry bun!'

Then the judges tasted it and their doubts faded. Praises were given by every single one of them, but I couldn't tell whether they were higher praises or not.

'We'll now leave the judges time to deliberate!' the host said. 'In the meantime, feel free to try any curry you like! We'll be back after a short break!' And then the camera's stopped filming and the audience started to move towards the table that was set up, where different paper plates with different curry's were standing.

Ciel, Lau and cat-girl didn't move, though. 'I noticed Her Majesty didn't eat. She's not going to examine the recipes?' Lau asked.

'I imagine she avoided it to spare her health,' Ciel said.

I shook my head. 'I bet she will give her opinion after the break, to keep everyone watching at home.'

Ciel looked at me annoyed. 'I wasn't finished yet,' he told me mean-spirited. 'Anyway, it's possible she'll sample the ones she finds interesting. And that would change the judges' impressions. It's up to the Queen who wins, in the end.'

We all looked at the Queen in the big chair, Ash still standing by her side and the way he stood made me think of Sebastian. Was he her butler? I really hoped he wasn't a demon as well. Where would England be if the Queen made a contract with a demon?

Ciel frowned and stood up, but it was clear that he wasn't going for the curry. 'Back in a minute,' he said and after that he just walked off.

I thought about following him for a while, but then I saw that Ash was speaking to Sebastian and I focused on that. And then I watched as Sebastian brought a curry bun to the Queen and heard the audience react to the scene. Shame Ciel just walked off, he missed the Queen tasting his curry.

But then he appeared besides me, as if he'd never left. 'Is she…?'

Ash leaned forward to the Queen again, only to straighten himself moments later. He rose is voice now, so that everyone could hear what he was saying. 'Her Majesty asks me to tell you: "You were considerate enough to make this easy for even a child to eat, requiring no knife or fork. Treating all equally, rich and poor, adult and child, it embodies the ideal I strive for: a kind and noble country". Her Majesty is deeply moved by your kind attitude is treasuring our children… our future.'

Kind? Did Ash just seriously call Sebastian kind? That wasn't kind. That was math. That was knowing humans well enough to tell what the thing is that would win them over.

'Don't make me laugh!' someone in the audience yelled and at first I thought it was someone agreeing with me, but then I saw an Indian looking lady and I realised that this was the Mina Soma had been searching for. She was standing close to the stage, her hands on the table with the curry. 'How you flatter yourselves! Equality? The future? The queen of a wealthy country like this who'd never done any hard work has no place saying that!'

I frowned. She didn't look… normal. She looked like a demon. More demon than Sebastian looked. Wait… were her eyes glowing? What the hell was going on?

She smashed the curry on the ground and a tall man, who I thought was mister West, grabbed her from behind, trying to stop her. 'Mina, stop! You're in front of Her Majesty!' Then she pushed him and the strength that came with that blow proved my statement. There was something wrong. 'Out of my way!' she yelled, her eyes glowing red.

More people became like her, like they were swimming in a dark aura and their eyes were glowing that reddish colour.

And they all turned to Ciel. 'I smell it!' they screamed. 'The stench of the impure! Snuff out the unclean!'

Ah, yes. There was something very, very wrong here.

XxX

End of chapter 31! Same as always: weekend's offer, update on Friday probably. Today's word is 'butterfly'. In Dutch 'butterfly' is 'vlinder'. I personally love that word. If pronounced right, it sounds so elegant. And in Japanese, it's chouchou, so that's a nice little fact for you right there.

justaislinn: thanks, I'll try! And I actually have Spanish lessons, but I forgot that! Ha ha, I guess I suck at Spanish. Well, yeah, I do suck, my grades prove it.

Sliver Moon Fairie: I had guessed it was you, ha ha. And yeah, I kind of like creepy Sebastian too, but he does give me shivers sometimes!

promocat: Yeah, I think Clarissa was just too stubborn to admit it to herself. And I also think that she will keep being stubborn for the sake of it, so Ciel really has to have a lot of patience when it comes to her.

Aizawa Maiko: Ha ha, yeah, nothing's flawless.