Haunted

Haunted (Chapter 1) Assassin

Ciel Phantomhive sat at his desk in front of an enormous pile of paperwork. It was fairly early in the morning, and the sunlight glinted through the trees outside the house, making leafy patterns across the carpet. The window was slightly ajar, and there was no sound coming from outside save a few birdcalls every now and then. It would have been the perfect morning, had Ciel not been confronted with this intimidating stack of papers to get through. He sighed. Well, he would have to do it at some point. He sat up straight, and was about to begin work, when his solitude was interrupted by the sound of footsteps outside the door, and the housemaid sqawking "Please wait! You can't just barge in there, you can't!"

Ciel groaned. It could only be one of two people, he thought to himself. Either Alois Trancy or Lady Elizabeth. He suddenly thought of something, and jolted upright in his seat. Oh no, Lady Elizabeth! I'd completely forgotten about her... what on earth am I going to tell her? And what if she should meet Alois? Come to think of it, does Alois even know that Lizzie is supposed to be my fiance?! He groaned again, and rubbed the back of his head. This could get sticky.

He had no time to panic, however. The door burst open and a lively Alois strode into the room, with Mey-Rin scurrying behind him, apologizing profusely.

"Good morning, Ciel!" he said, bouncing up to the desk and sitting on it. Ciel hastily moved a pile of party invitations out of the way before they could be flattened. Alois swung his lacy boots over the desk so he sat facing Ciel, and beamed.

"If you've come for breakfast, you're too late," said Ciel. "I finished it quite some time ago."

"Oh, you're joking!" Alois said, disappointedly, then grinned. "Breakfast isn't the reason I came to see you, though!"

"It isn't?" Ciel asked.

"Nope!" Alois giggled. "I came because I was bored, and I haven't seen you in ages!" he concluded, triumphantly.

Ciel dropped his forehead into his palm, and shook his head in exasperation. "Two days isn't ages," he said wearily. It had been several weeks since the fateful holiday, but Ciel could swear he'd seen almost as much of Alois as he had of Sebastian. In fact, the blonde earl's near daily appearance at the Phantomhive manor was part of the reason Ciel was now up to his eyeballs in paperwork.

Alois pondered this. "I suppose not," he said, relenting, "but still!" He leaned forward and flung his arms around Ciel's neck, giggling.

"I can't breathe," choked Ciel, going red in the face. There was another knock on the door. "Good grief, who is it this time? Come in!"

It was just Sebastian however, armed with two cups of tea and some cakes on a tray. He smirked. "Since it is eleven o'clock my lord, and we have an unexpected guest, I thought you might want some tea."

"Fine," Ciel said. He sighed, and peeled Alois off of him. It looks as though yet again, the work will have to wait, he thought.

--

The boys decided to take a walk in the mansion's extensive gardens after lunch. Since Ciel had insisted on getting at least some of his work done, the hours between breakfast and lunch were spent at his desk, until Alois declared that he'd pass out from boredom if he didn't get some fresh air soon. Ciel had relented, and so here they were.

"Where's Claude?" Ciel asked, pausing suddenly beside some rose bushes as he realised he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Alois' taciturn butler. "I haven't seen him around."

"Oh, I think he's in the kitchen," Alois chuckled. "He's rather at a loss for what to do around here. He must have decided to help Sebastian with the chores."

Ciel smirked. "Sebastian will be overjoyed about that, no doubt."

Alois laughed, and they continued their stroll.