Hello everyone! I'm updating today: because I'm sick! (not sure if that's a happy thing or not, oh well). It's getting harder and harder to keep Sebastian faithful to his character while also being attracted to a stubborn, really annoying human girl who only gets in his way. So yeah, there went my energy (not sure if you can even say that in English, 'cause it's kind of a Dutch way of saying that I put most of my energy in keeping Sebastian as close to his original character as possible. But yeah, I'm sick, so even if it sounded weird: you could forgive me this once).

Okay, I've become confusing. Let's just stop here.

Btw I don't own Kuroshitsuji. Does that surprise you?

Enjoy chapter 35!

XxX

Chapter 35

We walked to the back of the circus tent, where all the other, much smaller and frankly kind of gross and smelly, tents were stalled. We walked passed cages full of animals, performers and all kind of weirdoes that looked so out of place here that I had no idea why they were her in the first place.

'Right this way,' Joker said as he lead us through the people and the tents. Sorry it's so filthy.'

When me nor Sebastian reacted, Joker decided to shut up. A wise decision. While we walked towards the less crowded part of the circus camp, Sebastian opened his mouth, but talked just loud enough for me to hear him; making Joker unable to. 'You know, you lied back there.'

'I'm sorry?' I said, pulling up an eyebrow. Well, at least I had spoken with two words. He should be proud, because normally I would just have said 'huh?'.

A small amused smile was playing on Sebastian's lips when he said: 'Well, you told the audience that you were going to calm the tiger down without touching her, but you did – in fact – touch her.'

I rolled my eyes and gave him a little push. 'Geez, Sebastian. Stop nit-picking. I was only trying to save your ass.'

He looked at me with a dangerous look clearly to scare me off. 'I don't need you to save me.'

'Well, too bad,' I said, not influenced by his dangerous look since I knew it was only to scare me away. 'Because I did. And know stop whining about the details and start thinking of a plan. I don't think the doctor will think you're normal when he sees that you're not injured at all.'

Sebastian sighed. 'Oh, please. Have you seen this circus? Clearly none of them have even finished high-school. These are humans who are terrible low in the social ladder. It doesn't matter what I'll tell them: they will be stupid enough to believe it anyway.'

I rolled my eyes again, but didn't object. 'If you say so…'

We reached the tent and I saw the snake-guy sitting on a crate in front of the opening of the tent.

'Ah, Snake!' Joker said. 'Is the doc in the medical tent?'

I just stood frozen. Why did that guy still have snakes around his neck? The show was over, right? And were those strange – snakelike – eyes natural? That was so cool. I would love to learn more about the guy. Too bad he was creepy as hell and not really our priority at the moment.

The man didn't answer, but one snake pointed at another tent. Now that Sebastian had said it… he was kind of right. Joker and Snake both looked really young. They couldn't be much older than me. Twenty-five at most, but even that age seemed to old.

'Oh, maybe he's making round,' Joker said in response to the snake's response and Sebastian followed him without question. What, was I the only one who thought that was odd? Yes? Oh well, I was used to it by now.

We walked into a tent that looked like some sort of canteen, with tables and some people eating food at the tables. It was warmed here, but something in this tent made me shiver. I wasn't sure what it was though.

'Good, there he is,' Joker said as he walked up to a man in a wheelchair who was helping someone sitting at a table. 'Doc!'

I noticed that the man in the wheelchair, an older looking man with round glasses, had been helping Dagger with his… leg? Wait… That was a strange leg. Just like Joker's hand… Was that a thing or something? They should use that in their advertising. I bet it would work.

'Hey, Joker,' the man said friendly, almost fatherly. 'Is your hand acting up again?'

We were standing closer to the doctor and Dagger now and Dagger was looking at me and Sebastian with curious eyes, almost as if he did recognize us while also not recognizing us at the same time. 'Naw, today I've got someone else—'

Then Dagger seemed to remember why we looked so familiar. He shot up and pointed at Sebastian. 'It's you!' he said. 'You're the one who just got bitten by Betty!'

'Betty?!' the doctor repeated, sounding incredibly concerned. I decided I liked the man. He seemed very kind. 'That's terrible. We've got to get you to the infirmary!'

I moaned. Ugh, but we just went there!

Sebastian gave me a look. Behave yourself.

I pulled up an eyebrow. No chance.

XxX

'Did you really get bitten by a tiger? I don't see any wound,' Doc said while inspecting Sebastian's head.

Sebastian actually went for a ridiculous explanation, almost as if he was trying to prove his point to me. 'Just an affectionate nip,' he said, smiling happily.

I almost laughed again. An affectionate nip? That sounded about as logical as tigers being whimsical.

Doc smiled relieved, reminding me in some ways of my grandmother. Wasn't going to tell him that, though. He would only be insulted. 'Well, I'm just glad you're all right.'

'Too true!' Joker said. He was still with us, almost refusing to leave us alone. I hated to admit it, but he started to annoy me. Everything about his kindness and happiness just seemed too fake. 'I was afraid the troupe leader was going to kill me for letting a customer get hurt!'

This made me frown. 'You aren't the leader?' I asked confused.

Joker turned to me to answer. 'I'm more or less the hired replacement. The real one's scary.'

Well, that fake smile of yours is scary enough as it is, though.

Dagger, who'd also decided to tag alone for no reason, stood next to Joker as he said that. 'Don't blame me if you get yelled at for saying that!' he said, smiling with his arms crossed.

Something about those two seemed strange. I mean, they clearly weren't family, but they behaved like they were brothers. I wasn't sure why that interested me, but it did.

Then someone entered the tent and we all turned to look. Ah. It was leather-wearing Beast. 'Doc, would you take a look at my leg—'

Dagger immediately melted away. 'Miss!' he said in an adoring voice, making his affection towards this woman rather obvious.

'You!' she said angry, clearly not talking to Dagger, but to me and Sebastian. Since Sebastian ignored her, I decided to do the same.

Dagger walked up to her. 'I'm here for my leg, too!'

I pulled up my eyebrows. No, you weren't! Doc was helping you in another tent! You're here because you were curious!

He wasn't done talking, though. 'Yet more proof of the red thread of destiny between—'

'You're those freaks!' she screamed, pointing at us while ignoring Dagger completely, making me sympathise with him. 'What are you doing here?! You wrecked my show—'

'Beast!' Doc said stern, sounding like a real father. 'You can't talk like that to a guest! This isn't his fault; it's yours for not being able to control Betty!'

That right! I felt a smile creeping on my face, as if we'd won a fight. You go and tell her, Doc! Okay, she was kind of right about the fact that we wrecked her show, but hey, at least I tried to at least make something out of it. She'd just been standing there like an idiot.

Beast came closer to us, still pointing at Sebastian. 'But he walked up to her without—'

'No buts!' Doc said. 'You're a pro, aren't you?'

Joker decided to join the conversation. 'Now, Doc, please don't shout in front of our guests.'

Dagger also joined the conversation now. 'That's right, please just forget this and check Miss's leg!'

Wait, why was he calling her 'miss'? She couldn't be that much older than him, but he made it sound like she was ancient.

Doc sighed, giving in. 'You'll be retraining Betty after this, Beast. Is that clear?'

'Yeah,' she said harsh, clearly not agreeing with the situation at all.

Doc closed his eyes for a second before opening them, that warm smile back on his face. 'Right, then. Show me your prosthesis.'

'Prosthesis?' Sebastian repeated while he stood up. He had been sitting so that Doc could have a good look.

I was now standing between Joker and Sebastian and between those two tall men, I suddenly felt really short. 'We're a bit of an irregular bunch here,' Joker explained. 'We're a gathering place for people with certain problems. I'm missing an arm myself, but the Doc got me this fine replacement. Good looking, isn't it?'

I shivered. I didn't have anything against people like them, but the idea that his whole arm, and apparently Beast's whole leg, was fake just made me shiver.

Doc took of a part of Beast's fake leg and started to adjust certain things while he spoke: 'The design you picked is the reason you always need adjusting, you know. Put yourself in my shoes!'

I laughed, because now he really sounded like my grandmother.

Sebastian still remembered that we were here to investigate, instead of me, who had kind of forgotten until he asked this question: 'Do you make the prostheses for this circus, sir?'

'More or less,' he answered, 'it's a big job! I do everything, from carving the parts to final fitting. Because of this circus and it special performers, who get a free passes and money from the government. It may not me much, but it is enough to keep even such a strange business alive.' He put the part of Beast's leg he was holding back on its place and started to check if everything was okay.

That last part clearly didn't interest Sebastian. 'Carving them? Are they wooden, then?' he asked and I frowned, not understanding his sudden interest in the prostheses. What, did he think that Ciel would need one in the near future? Well, he might need one, if he kept on leaving his walking stick at home. Though he had brought it with him today.

'No,' Doc answered, 'ceramic, but I use special materials, so they're light and sturdy.'

Sebastian walked over and touched Beast's leg, clearly forgetting that it was, in fact, her leg. 'I see. They're quite smooth to the touch.'

'Aren't they?' Doc asked, clearly proud. 'And I use spherical parts in the joints, for nice fluid movement.'

Sebastian slid his hand up, clearly intrigued by the fake leg, making Beast and even me blush. 'This truly is fine work.'

Then he pulled up her leg, making the whole situation just rude. 'What's this seal?' he asked, making me frown. Seal? With everything that had happened I learned to not trust the presence of a 'seal'.

That was the moment that Beast thought Sebastian had gone too far. 'What are you doing, you pervert?!' she screamed, pulling her leg free and kicking it in this direction.

Of course, Sebastian dodge her leg easily. 'Oh, I beg your pardon,' he said, not sounding apologetic at all. 'You didn't strike me as modest enough to be embarrassed by such trifles.'

I had to held in laughter. Geez, what was with Sebastian and his sassy comments today? Did he always say such things?

This of course only angered her more, to a degree that she even pulled out her whip. Of course Sebastian could easily dodge every attempt she made to hurt him, even protecting me in the process. I was impressed he even bothered to do that, but I was also bothered by the fact that I was so influenced by the fact that he had his hands around me while he held me like I was a dead fish. Did my presence really not influence him at all? Did his hand around my waist mean nothing to him? But the most important question was: could he hear my heart beat loudly in my chest, only because his arms were around me and his scent smelled so good?

Joker then grabbed me and pulled me away from the scene, to the only save place in the tent. Not that it looked entirely save, because next to Joker, Dagger was clearly boiling with anger.

'Oi, Beast,' Doc said, 'stop that!' Of course there wasn't much else that he could do. He turned to Joker and Dagger. 'You two, stop her—'

'How dare you lay a hand on lady's fair and tender skin!' Dagger screamed, pulling out his knives.

Oh boy…

The started to throw the knives in Sebastian's way, who again easily dodged them.

One jump caused Sebastian to end up on the pole near the ceiling of the tent, the one that made sure the that the tent stood the way it was supposed to. I was surprised that the pole could hold him and I was sure that the four others in the tent were impressed by Sebastian's skills. 'I didn't actually touch her skin… but I do seem to have touched a nerve.'

That was it, I just laughed out loud. It was a good thing that I wasn't the centre of attention at the moment, because my laugh truly sounded horrible now.

'Dagger, stop!' Doc said panicking. 'You'll shred the tent!'

'Miss Beast's honour is more important than this tent!' Dagger screamed, throwing more knives Sebastian's way.

The funniest thing was the fact that Joker was just observing it all, clearly not bothering to try and stop it.

Sebastian was kind enough to make sure that the tent was destroyed by catching all the knives Dagger threw. It was kind of stupid, though. I mean, I knew that Sebastian thought everyone here was stupid, but come on. No one was stupid enough to believe that a normal man could do all the stuff that Sebastian had done this past minute.

'No way!' Dagger screamed and the Joker whistled a sort tone, clearly impressed, but not thinking it was suspicious.

'Don't get cocky!' Beast said and as she tried to attack Sebastian one more time, Joker decided to make an end to it. He jumped and grabbed the whip, ending in front of Beast. He sued one of his magic tricks to turn his walking stick into a bouquet of flowers and handed it to Beast. 'Ta-da! All right, that's enough!' he said, still laughing that fake smile.

'What?' Dagger said, clearly disappointed. 'No!'

While screamed: 'Why didn't you stop them sooner?!' Joker looked at Beats in a way that I did not understand, but was kind of suspicious, and he said: 'here, Beast, don't be so scratchy.'

Sebastian jumped down as Beast said: 'But he—'

She was interrupted by Joker again: 'There, there.' He pulled her towards him, touching her leg way more affectionate than Sebastian had done. But it was clear that she wasn't going to punish him, nor was Dagger. The boss, but not the boss, huh?

'It's such an awesome leg, I can understand why he'd want to touch it,' he said while stroking her leg, making me blush and look away, only to see Sebastian smirking at me, clearly enjoying my embarrassment.

'Take these flowers and cheer up,' Joker said before releasing her.

Geez, with those seducing skills I wouldn't be surprised if he was a demon, too. Though I didn't think so since he didn't have red eyes nor pale skin. He didn't even have the dark hair that Sebastian had. Dark, soft hair that smelled like summer mornings…

Argh! I was dozing off again! I almost slapped myself in the face for thinking like that. Really, I shouldn't.

Joker turned to me and Sebastian. 'That was mighty athletic, sir!' he told Sebastian. 'I reckon I'd hire 'ee and the beautiful lady! You both seem very skilled!'

Wait… was he talking about me? Beautiful? Skilled? I would've fallen for it if his laugh didn't seem to fake.

'I'd reckon I hire 'ee!' he finally said.

Sebastian gave me a look that almost seemed to say 'watch this' before he leant towards Joker and looked at him. 'Is that true?' he asked, so intense that it made me giggle.

Joker looked totally surprised, but Sebastian wasn't quite done yet. 'Truth be told, my current master is so spoiled, I'm quite disgusted with him.'

I put a hand in front of my face, trying to cover my giggling. Ah, good thing Ciel wasn't here! But I had to admit that Sebastian had been right. Even though Sebastian played over the top and all around not believable, Joker seemed to believe every single word. The idiot.

'Master?' Joker repeated surprised. 'Be thee a servant, then? I took 'ee for gentry, dessed up so fine…'

What was that accent?! Seriously, I', sure I've heard it before. Just what was it?

I decided to join the act. 'He gentry? Hardly,' I said as I stood beside Sebastian with one hand on his shoulder, patting him as if we were best buddies. 'He's merely one hell of a butler.' I gave Sebastian a wink and he rolled his eyes, clearly not appreciating the fact that I was mocking him.

Joker pointed at me. 'Wait… be thee a servant, too?'

I smiled, knowing what Sebastian wanted me to say. 'Yes, I am! Though I'm not quite as capable as this guy.' I gave him a look that meant to say 'there, I gave you a compliment. Happy?'

An arrogant smile appeared on his face. Very much, thank you. He turned to the Joker then. 'Now then, was that true? If so, I'd like to join you very much.'

'Me too,' I said, copying his intense seriousness.

'Not having me on, are 'ee?' Joker asked, clearly not as stupid as Sebastian as thought, but still quite stupid, I had to admit. Who would believe two strange people who had just ruined your show? For all he knew we were spies from another circus. Or serial killers.

'I never jest,' Sebastian said while pinching my arm, clearly telling me not to laugh while also making sure that I stopped patting him.

Then, suddenly, the Joker laughed and the tension in the tent seemed to disappear. He put one hand on Sebastian's shoulder and one on mine, smiling honest for the first time since I'd met him. 'Lord, that's funny!' he said laughing. 'All right, me 'ansome. Sure, join us anytime!'

Beast decided that that wasn't a good idea. 'Hey, Joker! You can't just decide that!' she said.

'But she's got such talent!' Joker said, his innocence now making me question whether I liked him or not.

'Pardon me,' Sebastian interrupted, clearly not wanting to cause another scene. 'There's actually another person I'd like to introduce to you.'

I gave Sebastian a glare. Did he seriously think that Ciel would join a circus? I'd think he would rather never drink tea again than join a circus.

'Oh? And who he bee?' Joker asked, looking curious at us.

When Sebastian wasn't answering I thought up a silly answer. 'He's my brother!' I said and I could feel Sebastian's eyes burn as he looked at me. Boy, he did not like the answer I gave, but hey, at least Joker bought it.

Joker smiled. 'If he's anything like 'ee, that's fine. But I reckon we'll give an entry test!'

Yeah, this wasn't going to work. Ciel didn't only have problems with walking, but the only thing that kid could do was being the Queen's Guard Dog and play chess. Not really circus-material.

'Very well,' Sebastian said, pinching me again when I opened my mouth to protest. 'We'll come back tomorrow with him, then. Thank you for all your help today.' He bowed and I followed his example, knowing that we both had to look like simple servants.

Sebastian grabbed my arm and pulled be towards the exit of the tent. 'Oh, sir—' Joker said, but Sebastian interrupted him before he could say anything else. 'No need to show me out,' Sebastian said and after that we walked outside, into the cold while I wondered what the hell we'd just done.

XxX

Yay, chapter 35 is done! No word for today, because I'm too sick and tired to think. Tomorrow's my birthday, yay! Hope I'm not sick tomorrow… that would suck. I think I might write another chapter today, so I'll probably upload that tomorrow morning or evening, depending on when I have time. It's my birthday present for you guys 3 (okay, cheesy as hell, but who cares).

Oh, and I'm actually thinking of changing the title of the story, since the current title was just something I came up with on a whim. I'm not sure what I would name it, but if you have any ideas, let me know!

Thank you for reading and reviewing, I love to hear from you guys! Heheh :)

Silver Moon Fairie: Yeah, I felt like that was something she would do XD

promocat: Thanks! And rather than not having a clue, I think Clarissa just decides to not think about it too much. But yeah, of course she also doesn't have a clue.

jacelover103: I'd love to update more! But you have this thing called 'school' and I can't always ignore it :( but thanks for the compliment, love to hear that you like it! And talking about a love triangle… you might love the upcoming chapters… hehehehe.