The incident with the wine, it turned out, was just the beginning of Ciel's transformation.

Ciel's initial rebellion that hit the Phantomhive manor like a steam train had slowed, but it certainly hadn't stopped. The boy had returned to his lessons and paperwork, though he paced himself, and his steadily growing appetite made way for healthier options come supper. However, the topic of sleep was still one where demon and master butted heads.

Though Sebastian tried, it was nigh impossible to coax Ciel to bed before eleven, and twice as difficult to wake him up again in the morning. Their battles were becoming an evening event that the rest of the manor had grown to anticipate. As the sky darkened, Finny, Mey-Rin, and Bard would begin to eye each other with apprehensive interest, as if silently betting on how high tempers would flare tonight. Ciel's inconsistent sleep patterns threw off the daily schedule entirely, gave Sebastian less time to keep the rest of staff in check, delayed crucial appointments with business tycoons, and set his own housework back by days. Now it was ten o'clock, and the bedtime process was about to begin again. After three tedious weeks of these spats, Sebastian felt his patience exacerbated. Regardless, ending the contract was not even a question he considered.

It was all in wait of that delectable soul. Wasn't it?

Lately, Ciel spent a lot of time alone. In the evening he could often be found in his study or his bedroom, and on occasion Sebastian was asked to "go away, come back later." Indeed there was an increased need for privacy that did not go unnoticed. Sebastian preferred not to ask questions. He was aware of the Phantomhive library, however, and that certain books on human anatomy had been selected as of late. Sebastian had seen empty slots in the shelves, only to find their missing books in spontaneous locations around the manor while cleaning. No passages were marked, but favored pages seemed to involve the makeup of the derma layer, male and female alike. Scotland Yard needn't be called in for this little mystery.

Ciel's interest in his own body and the bodies of others was of no surprise to Sebastian. If he knew anything about humans, it was their fascination with the parts hidden beneath cloth and lace, whatever parts their culture deemed sinful to gaze upon. It had been that way for thousands of years. What Sebastian was significantly less familiar with were the swinging moods and sensitive feelings that began with a young one's startling introduction to sexuality. Though he'd now been informed that Ciel was in the midst of a tender age, perhaps the tenderest of them all, the boy was as prickly as a hedgehog and as argumentative as a jay — truly anything but tender.

Tonight Ciel had chosen his study as his lounge spot. This made Sebastian's job harder: at least if Ciel were in his room, he wouldn't have to move much to get ready for sleep. Being a walk away from the bedroom caused Ciel to procrastinate until he was practically stumbling over his own feet down the hall in exhaustion, midnight chiming on the grandfather clock.

"If you don't wish to walk, I will carry you," Sebastian had offered stiffly a fortnight ago. He didn't like to suggest it; it was something a nursemaid would say to a weary toddler.

Ciel had seemed to think so too. He'd slammed the covers of his book together hard. "I'm perfectly capable of walking there myself, when I'm ready to," he'd snapped, and that was all there was to it. As if to punish Sebastian further, Ciel hadn't gone to bed until two a.m. that night, and the following morning he'd refused to stir until after noon. Sebastian had been rethinking his strategies ever since.

Sebastian stood before the study door. What were to be his means of persuasion this time? Ciel was not swayed by logic or meaningful prodding, and Sebastian refused to resort to bribery. Begging was equally unbecoming. And Ciel was likely already poised for a fight. Perhaps… Perhaps this war had gone on long enough. Perhaps a penalty was in order. Yes. The very thought of enforced obedience brought his knuckles to the wood.

Sebastian knocked. After a slight hesitation, Ciel barked, "Who is it?"

"My lord. May I enter?"

There was a snort. "Whatever."

Sebastian stole briskly into the room and stopped dead in the center of the lush green carpet, hands folded curtly behind his back. Ciel was sitting at his desk, leaning back in his chair and propping up his feet on the tabletop, book in lap. "What do you want?" Ciel asked airily, without looking up.

Such feigned ignorance annoyed the demon. Sebastian put effort into steadying his voice. "It is after ten o'clock, young master. It is late, and time for you to go to sleep."

"No, thank you," Ciel said, gazing into the book.

"And why not?"

"I'm not tired yet. I want to read."

"Whether or not you are tired, now is the time for bed," Sebastian said.

Ciel flipped a page distractedly. "No, it isn't."

This was a new strategy of the boy's: dismissing the other's argument as insignificant so as to belittle it. Sebastian refused to play this game. "Yes, it is bedtime. I believe this routine must be enforced for your own good. You can't afford to get fewer than eight hours of sleep or wake up after mid-morning anymore. You have to go to bed by ten o'clock from now on."

"No, I don't." Ciel's tone hardened a little, but he still forced his gaze on the book.

"You do," Sebastian continued, "or I shall have to take away certain privileges."

"No, you won't."

"I will. No one should have any obligation to take you to town, for instance, if you do not rise at a reasonable hour. And if you are not awake by nine, you should not have your breakfast served hot."

Ciel glared at him. "No, that isn't fair. I can do what I want."

"You can't, and I want to believe you'll thank me when you're older for saying so," Sebastian replied thickly. Ciel flared his nostrils, and Sebastian raised his chin. "We've discussed this before. Being an adult isn't about doing anything you want. It's about having the self-control to withhold yourself from greed and desire."

"Greed and desire? Pff! What right do you have to lecture me on those?" Ciel snorted, standing up and pressing his palms to the desktop.

"Would you like me to get someone else to lecture you instead?"

Ciel pounded his fist on the hardwood. "No one needs to lecture me!"

Sebastian tutted, unable to resist mocking him just then. "Your quickness to anger says to me that you're tired."

That struck a nerve. Ciel rounded the desk and stormed up to the man with shoulders hunched. "I can do what I want to do, and if you don't leave me alone, you can be my dog instead of my butler!"

Sebastian couldn't help it. He smirked, which only ruffled Ciel further. "Do you believe you have such a say in the matter? If you think you can still change the guidelines of the contract, you are sorely mistaken. It does not matter that you are rich or a lord. You cannot change what I am." He licked the tip of a fang. "Only I can do that."

For an instant Ciel looked unnerved. Sebastian was suddenly aware he shouldn't have bared his eyetooth like that, but the boy recovered quickly. "Well you can't change me either," he declared, standing tall. "You made a contract with me, so you have to put up with me too! I'm still the one in charge! Now get out of my sight!"

There was an order he was happy to take. Sebastian gave a smart turn on his heel and strode out of the study.

He realized too far down the hallway that he still should have said, "Yes, my lord" before leaving the room. Any butler worth his salt would remember to announce his exit. Cursing himself, Sebastian slowed his footfalls from an irritated stride to a thoughtful pacing. Had he really just lost his temper? At a human? His patience, certainly, but never had his composure fled him like a frightened dove. That was new.

Sebastian put a hand to his chin as he walked. He didn't like this loss of control. He didn't know what it meant, but it couldn't be anything good. What was more, that little exchange had escaped his grip before he'd thought to rein it in. He had derived no pleasure from that conversation, none of it, not the threats or the imposed punishment, not like he thought it would. Instead Sebastian felt… hollow. Unfulfilled.

… Guilty?

No, this wasn't any good.

"Mr. Michaelis?"

Sebastian paused, glanced up. He had been so lost in thought, he hadn't noticed Tanaka approach him from the west stairwell. Or perhaps it was the senior butler's soundless presence that hadn't raised any suspicion. "Ah, good evening, Mr. Tanaka," Sebastian greeted. "Is there something you needed from me?"

"I thought I heard the young shouting just a moment ago," Tanaka said carefully. "I wondered if all was well and came to take a look."

Sebastian sighed. "I wouldn't say that all is well, but perhaps that all is done, for now. As usual, I was unable to convince him to go to sleep on-time. The young master is quite attracted to staying up late these days. I know you've been taking on an increased amount of paperwork because of his new schedule."

"Plenty of the paperwork already falls to me," Tanaka said, smiling beneath his mustache. "It isn't a concern."

"But the attitude that contributes to the increased paperwork is a concern." Sebastian put a thumb to his chin and his index finger lengthwise across his lip. "This night owl behavior needs to be nipped in the bud, in my opinion, but he won't listen to reason from me. Do you feel as though he listens to you?"

"I don't know if it's a matter of him listening or not," Tanaka said after a moment's hesitation. "I think the master hears you loud and clear."

Sebastian lowered an eyebrow. "Well, yes. But he does not take to heart what I am saying."

"Perhaps," Tanaka began, "perhaps you are not taking to heart what he is saying."

"Oh? What have you heard from him?" Sebastian tried not to sound eager to know.

Tanaka chuckled into a fist. "He doesn't talk to me about how he feels either. But I can see it, you know. I was young once. Growing up is difficult for everyone, much harder than getting old. And I can only imagine what it must be like to do so without his father around." Tanaka's eyes saddened. "I don't know what the young master went through when he was kidnapped either. I don't believe he's ever told anyone the whole truth of it. It must hurt him badly. It is likely there are memories he's tried to push down that are coming to the surface now with all this new confusion."

Sebastian didn't follow suddenly. "New confusion?"

Tanaka raised a knowing eyebrow. "The confusion of growing up, of course."

But Sebastian could not relate to that. He did not understand what it was like to be human, and realized now that he especially did not understand what it was like to be a human child. He had gotten by in past contracts without having to fathom mortal intricacies. He hadn't cared to. Now Sebastian found himself with a curious, inexplicable desire to unravel this whole thing. After all, he wanted to make nice with his prey. Make peace with his charge. Make sense of a child who found himself lost in the world of adults he would soon be initiated into.

Oh, dear. Had that thought really just sprung to him?

No, none of this was any good at all.

The young master did not go to sleep until after midnight. Sebastian gave Ciel a wide berth when he walked to his bedroom. Any further interaction between the two of them that night would likely end in discord. Fortunately, the boy had become adept at undressing himself, so as to cut Sebastian out of his nightly routine altogether, and would leave the clothes in unfolded puddles by his bedside to be picked up in the morning. He still needed help navigating his own wardrobe though, and so Sebastian would be necessary again come daylight.

Sebastian had eight hours of darkness to digest Tanaka's words. As the sun's rays first touched the horizon line, he felt no closer to the answer. "Perhaps you are not taking to heart what he is saying." Sebastian lowered his eyebrows. He had no heart, no soul. Could he come to grasp this lesson?

And if he did, would that mean he had a heart after all?

When the clock sounded eight tolls, Sebastian sought out Tanaka again. "Perhaps you should awaken the young master today. I don't suppose he will be pleased to see me. He will likely be more compliant with you as well. You don't have a history of arguing with him as I do."

Tanaka smiled, his typical response to a difficult situation. "No, I believe you should proceed as normal. Perhaps be gentle with him today though. Last night's shouting match didn't do either of you any good."

"Strong a conversation as it was, I didn't shout at him," Sebastian felt the need to say.

"Perhaps not," Tanaka nodded. "Mind the inflection of your voice anyway, I think. He cannot be angry at you for being rational."

Sebastian was sure if anyone could find a way to be angry about rationality, it was Ciel, but he didn't further question the old man. Instead he followed his advice, for it was all he had.

When he approached Ciel's door at half past eight, he rapped on it softly with his knuckles. "Good morning, young master. Do I have your permission to enter?"

"NO! Go away! "

Sebastian drew his hand back in surprise. The response had been immediate and shrill. How peculiar. Ciel was usually too tired to speak at anything above a murmur at this hour. Was he still angry with Sebastian about last night? No, the boy would just be aloof with him if that were all. Something had to be wrong. "Hmm. I see. Well, then… If you won't allow me in, will you allow Mr. Tanaka?"

"I don't want anyone to come in! "

Ciel's tone, so steeply pitched, said this was a fresh wound. Sebastian wondered what he could possibly have done now without doing anything at all. "Young master… you are concerning me. I ask again—"

"I said don't come in, damn it! Why can't I just be left alone? Why are you always bothering me? I hate you these days! Go away and don't come in until I say so! Go away now! "

If Sebastian were a normal human, he would have walked inside in a heartbeat to see what the fuss was about. But he was a demon bound by contract, and his intuition told him that opening the door now would in fact not be better for Ciel's well-being.

And so his only choice was to leave.

Tanaka didn't have a smile to offer when Sebastian regaled the details. He listened, and then hurried off in the direction of Ciel's room himself. When he knocked on the door, the response was the same. "Didn't you hear me the first time? I said to leave me alone! "

"It's Mr. Tanaka, young master. Please allow us inside."

Tanaka's tone was so much more businesslike than usual. Ciel seemed distressed by it. "No, you can't come in! I don't want anyone to come in! Leave me alone! Don't bother me anymore! I don't need anything! I don't want anyone to see me right now! "

Tanaka and Sebastian exchanged glances. "You sound very nervous," Tanaka said cautiously. "I really feel I should—"

The door's hinges rattled loudly as if Ciel had thrown himself against the entrance. "The door is locked and I don't want you to open it, and if you do I won't speak to you about any of this, so just go away until I say so! Go! "

It was hardly an argument, but the desperation in Ciel's voice made both butlers go silent. "All right, young master," Tanaka said softly, "we won't open the door. But we will be very near. Please call us when you are ready."

"Fine, just don't come in until I say so! Leave me alone! "

After a final worried look at the door, Tanaka gestured for Sebastian to follow him a short distance away. "I think he must be experiencing trauma," he said sadly, "perhaps from a dream or a bad memory."

"Hmm. That seems a possibility." Sebastian had seen Ciel in the midst of a panic attack, though, and usually his trauma caused him to want to be near people, just not touched by them. It would be one thing to turn Sebastian away, as hard feelings still lingered from the night before, but Ciel had also dismissed Tanaka. Sebastian couldn't help but feel this situation was something different. "What do you believe is the next course of action?"

Tanaka sighed out his nose. "Well… it is hard to say. I'm very worried, but I feel perhaps the master's boundaries need to be respected. I also fear that not attending him will only worsen things. If he does not allow us in by five o'clock, I believe we may have to go against his wishes. By then, he will have gone too long without eating. We should see if we can convince him to break his fast."

"Hmm. Yes. I believe you're right." Sebastian wanted to use his demon abilities to see beyond that door, but he had to resist. He would know if Ciel were in pain or if there were someone else in the room. He did not sense any immediate danger. This only served to heighten Sebastian's curiosity. Though he was bound by the contract not to lie and to obey all orders, Ciel had no such obligation. Could this perhaps be another trick to get Sebastian to stop scolding him?

Well, it certainly wasn't going to work.

Bardroy folded his arms as he watched Sebastian stir, flip, and prod at various foodstuff over the manor's impressive stovetop. "Gee, what's the occasion?" he finally asked past an unlit cigarette. "You usually save the full English for holidays n' company. N' it's not any holiday I can think 'a."

"It isn't a holiday," Sebastian said, tipping the sausages a quarter-turn so that they sizzled perfectly in their skins. "The young master is refusing to come out of his room this morning. I am seeing if I can tempt him out with a breakfast more extravagant than the usual."

Bard lowered his shoulders. "Refusin' t'come out? Oy, that can't be good, can it?"

Tanaka and the chef alike seemed to think Ciel's reclusive behavior was more of a worry than a gimmick. Sebastian still wasn't certain. "It isn't good, but he must come out, or else he won't have anything to eat."

"He has been eatin' a bit more than usual lately, hasn' 'e?" Bard said with a grin, scratching at his stubbly chin with one finger. "He's always been a small one, I hope this means his age n' his height are catchin' up for him. How old is he now? Fourteen? When I was that age, I ate every meal like I was half-starved, I was growin' so fast. No doubt I could have billied up t'all this here n' still had room for seconds."

"No doubt," Sebastian muttered, practically ignoring him, at least until an idea touched his brain. Bardroy had been young once too. He had been young even more recently than Tanaka. Perhaps he also had a perspective on this matter.

"Bardroy," Sebastian began, and watched as the chef straightened up for an order, "is it possible you may have an idea why the young master is so reluctant to leave his bedroom?"

Bard blinked and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, no, sir. Don't believe he'd tell me anything he wouldn't tell you, d'you?"

"No. What I mean to ask for is your own personal opinion." Sebastian began to plate stewed tomatoes and baked beans onto white dishes. "Let me rephrase the question: when you were the young master's age, would there ever be any reason you would refuse to leave your room if called?"

"Not if I didn't want to get a good hiding!" Bard laughed. At Sebastian's deadpan gaze, he stopped to consider the question more seriously. "Hmm. Well, let's see. Maybe if I'd been out late all night n' I didn't want anyone t'know about it. If I'd gotten my good clothes all ragged, Ma'd throw a fit. Didn't always like the boys I palled around with. We did all sorts o' things we shouldn'ta."

"So you hid when you wanted to avoid trouble," Sebastian said.

"Well, not every time! I wasn't that yellow," Bard laughed again. "But yeah, sometimes I'd try to get out of a mess by keepin' it to m'self. I'd have to come clean eventually though. Never worked out in my favor."

"I imagine not," Sebastian said, a little too bluntly. "Well, I've finished cooking, so you can get on scrubbing the pots and pans then. Gently."

"Can count on me, sir!" Bard saluted. Sebastian took the trolley on its way, not really believing Bard could be counted on for this, but at least the chef had given him a potential clue.

Ciel's bedroom door remained a shield between himself and the rest of the world. Sebastian knocked thrice on the center of its frame. In the room beyond, Sebastian heard a flurry of footfalls as Ciel barricaded the entrance with his body again.

"Don't come in! "

"I'm not going to," Sebastian sighed. "I wanted to let you know I've brought you breakfast."

Ciel didn't hesitate. "I'm not hungry!"

"Why not?"

"I'm just not! "

"Are you sick then?" Sebastian asked. "It isn't normal for you not to be hungry at this hour."

"I'm not sick!" A hesitation. "Go away already! I'll call you when I want you!"

"Regardless of your lacking illness, I am worried about your condition." Sebastian removed the lids from some of the trays, hoping the smells of streaky bacon and black pudding would leak under the doorway. "Again, just like with the wine, you aren't taking care of your own body properly. You know I can't allow you to jeopardize your health. What's more, you're not allowing me to do my job by—"

"I'm fine already! " Ciel's voice had jumped back to that shrill octave of terrified anger. "I said I'll call you when I want you, so leave me alone! "

"Young master, I only mean—"

"Just leave! "

It was off-putting to hear the boy so enraged. As he set off down the hallway at a clip, Sebastian felt irked and tried to convince himself he was merely annoyed at the lack of cooperation. But Ciel was so clearly trying to avoid something… Was he afraid?

Sebastian set his jaw. If Ciel were really afraid, he wouldn't be going to such great lengths to keep everyone away from him. It was more likely to be what Bard said: Ciel was just dodging trouble. Sebastian left the trolley of food at the end of the hall, where Ciel might be tempted to come after it, and then tried to occupy himself with the usual upkeep of the estate.

That task was easier said than done. There may have been clothes to wash, and a garden to manicure, and horses to feed, and a whole three staff who should be keeping atop those things but weren't, and yet Sebastian found himself distracted in the middle of each chore as his thoughts dwindled off to the mystery of the day. At eleven, the food trolley had still not been touched. At noon, Tanaka had tried again to sway Ciel to come out and failed. At one, Sebastian prepared an early high tea of wulong with osmanthus flower and orange scones. At two, Sebastian took the food back cold. By three, Sebastian found the human pace he was expected to work at especially aggravating.

"Um… M-M-Mr. Sebastian?"

"What is it?" Sebastian practically groaned, turning away from the kitchen sink to see Mey-Rin standing there with a basket of clean laundry in her arms. "Oh," he said, "did you finish them?"

"I-I did, sir," Mey-Rin chirped. "It seemed you might've needed some help today, so I took care of the foldin' after I finished up with the banister, I did."

"Hmm. Looks like you even did it properly. Very good." Mey-Rin was glowing pink from the praise, meager as most would find it. Sebastian's thoughts were still elsewhere. He dried off his hands from washing the china — he would never trust Bard with something so delicate — and slipped back on his gloves. "Now then, since you seem to be the only one capable of doing things correctly today, I'm going to leave you to clean the silver."

"M-M-M-Me? Clean the silver?" Mey-Rin squeaked, pointing at herself. "A-Are you sure I'll do it right?!"

"I'm not, but I have other things to attend to. I'm counting on you then." Sebastian hesitated in the kitchen doorway. "Ah, right. One more thing."

Mey-Rin paused in the middle of floundering. "Oh, ahm, yes, sir?"

"When you were younger — around the young master's age — would you ever hide from your responsibilities as he is now?" Sebastian asked.

"Oh, dear," Mey-Rin said. She wrung the end of her apron in her fists. "I am worried about him too, I am. Don't know what could have him shut away like this."

"But maybe you do," he prompted. "Think back to when you were a girl—it wasn't so very long ago." Mey-Rin blushed harder at that and Sebastian ignored her again. "Was there anything, if anything, that would make you do whatever it took to hide a mistake?"

"Whatever it took… Hmm… Well… Let me see…" Mey-Rin pondered this for half a minute. Then she jabbed her pointer finger into the air in remembrance. "Ah! Yes, I do recall one time that something similar happened... It was because, well, because actually I had almost broken something…" Mey-Rin poked her fingertips together with fresh embarrassment. "I-I-I know breaking something isn't such an uncommon occurrence with me nowadays, but well, and not to be rude, but I'm certain nothing I broke in this household would ever be as valuable as a jade seal of my boss's I once dropped while protecting his office... Oh, I'm shaking just thinking about it all over again, I am! I think he would have killed me if he ever found out it had been mistreated. Thank goodness it was in one piece or, well, I probably wouldn't have been in one piece either! I had to feel it with my hands to make sure it wasn't cracked, but even so, when he came back, it took all my courage not to run away! If he had noticed, I... Well, I might've had a fight for my life on my hands, yes!"

"What a distinctly unique situation…" Sebastian said under his breath. "Well. That perspective may be useful. As you were."

"Uh, right, yes! I'll make that silver sparkle, I will!"

Sebastian had his doubts that Mey-Rin could succeed so many times in one day, but it was three-thirty and nigh time to check on Ciel again. By five o'clock, Tanaka would open Ciel's door with the manor's skeleton key and all would be revealed no matter what. Sebastian did not tarry on his way. For a demon who had lived for thousands of years, this particular day felt like a decade in itself.

Another knock to the door. Another clamor as Ciel barricaded it. Sebastian snorted softly — what good did Ciel think his slender body could do against brute force? Well… perhaps nothing. Desperation made men do strange things. "My lord," he began.

"Oh, when are you going to leave me alone already?"

Ciel's voice had gone willowy with hunger and emotional exhaustion, it held no more bite. Sebastian did not pity that voice. It had brought this day upon itself. "Young master, I am not going to leave you alone, and it is foolish to think otherwise. You cannot hibernate forever — you will starve first, and I am incapable of letting that happen to you. You will allow me in now, or by five o'clock Tanaka and I shall come in on our own accord."

A little energy came back to the boy with that threat. "You can't! I don't give you permission!"

"The contract cannot keep me from managing your health," Sebastian reminded evenly. "Self-sabotage is grounds for action on my part. Whether you like it or not, I will enter and your well-being will be seen to."

"I don't give you permission!" Ciel reiterated.

"I don't know what you've done," Sebastian continued, with a calm darkness, "but I know you've done something you're not proud of and you're trying to hide it from me. Whether you broke an object or a rule, got drunk again or tore apart your bedroom in a fit, I will find out about it. You may as well let me in now, while you have the choice. In just over an hour, that decision will belong to Tanaka and I."

"I hate you!" Ciel cried, desperate for something to change his mind.

"How natural it is, to hate a demon," Sebastian said, unfazed. "I should expect no less, should I not? You have eighty minutes to make up your mind. Summon me, or do not, for I will arrive in due time."

"No you won't! I won't summon you, so stay away from me! "

A simple argument from a weary mind did not break Sebastian's resolve. It was time to do what he should have done long ago. Much as he disagreed with the woman, he needed to involve the Marchioness of Midford herself — Ciel's aunt Francis.