Kuroshitsuji 1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Soooo… this was supposed to be a collab with a friend, but unfortunately she hasn't responded in over three months. I found it to be a really good fic, so I decided to continue it and finish it myself ^^ Hope you enjoy~!**

**I'm keeping the friend's name confidential, but credit still goes to her until chapter 3, which was when she dropped the collab**

Chapter One

Grell sighed softly, bored emerald eyes gazing down from the rooftop which he stood upon the highest point. It was his last soul to collect for the day and he just wanted to go home... It had been a long day, and every soul he went to collect seemed to be a fighter, and he was now exhausted. There, he thought, spotting his target. The man was scheduled to fall to the ground, and die of a heart attack of all things. Nothing terribly interesting. He waited before the man had collapsed onto the ground before leaping from the roof. However, he failed to notice a presence lurking in the shadows as he moved towards the body.

He was just about done collecting the soul, the cinematic strips just beginning to flow into his chainsaw scythe, when suddenly he was rammed into from the side with tremendous force that was enough to knock the breath from him. He lost his grip on his chainsaw as he landed on the ground, the scythe sputtering out with a low growling sound as it clattered noisily across the pavement. Grell groaned as he attempted to sit up, wondering what the hell had just hit him hard enough to do… that. Suddenly, there was a pressure on his chest and he looked up alarmed to see a demon with glowing pink cat's eyes standing above him. In one clawed hand he held the red head's beloved chainsaw; in the other was the glowing soul he was trying to collect. The bastard. The demon pressed his foot into the other's chest with a wicked grin and watched with what seemed to be humour Grell struggled to get loose from the demon.

Grell's emerald eyes widened as the demon raised the chainsaw upwards with a grating screech, before driving it downwards in a rather gleeful motion, right into Grell's gut. The red head let out an agonized scream as he felt the device tear skin and muscle. However, instead of just driving it right through him like Grell thought the demon would have done, he left it just cutting the flesh, slowly lowering it in a torturous way until the blade was heard grinding against bone, in which it was ripped back out from Grell's stomach and earning another shriek of pain from the red head. Suddenly the demon's head snapped to the side and he growled lowly before throwing the chainsaw off to the side and fleeing. The demon then left Grell lying on the freezing cobblestone, slowly bleeding out and in absolute agony.

The reaper attempted to draw in a breath, but could only tense in pain as a surging fire rippled through his body from the gaping wound. He'd heard of reapers dying from being stabbed with their own scythe, but never did he expect it would happen to him... He could only hope someone would find him soon. He managed to move one hand to rest over the wound, providing a small amount of comfort as the blood quickly flowed, staining his clothes with ease and beginning to seep onto the ground around him.

He continued to stare at the red liquid, the blood bringing none of its usual comfort. This time, he actually feared it; it could be the death of him... His thoughts worried at the fact no one would help him, he was going to die in this alley, cold and alone, as he had been his entire life. Would anyone care if he died…?

Though little did he know a familiar demon was on his way from the other side of town, and neither did the demon know of Grell's presence.

~x~

Sebastian leapt from rooftop to rooftop with ease, enjoying the quiet, cool night of London, amber eyes sharp and on the lookout for a cat, or even two if he was lucky... He was distracted from his plans though as a loud scream echoed through the night air, and the roar of a chainsaw along with yet another scream before deafening silence. The scream sounded all too familiar, he realized with a sigh- Grell Sutcliff's. Though the scent of a demon was heavy in the air as he continued on to investigate, now rather curious. Minutes passed before he spotted the red reaper knelt in the far, dark corner of an alleyway, panting and whimpering in pain, holding a hand tightly to his stomach.

"...Grell...?"

Green eye fogged with pain and fright raised to meet Sebastian's, a pleading expression overcoming Grell's features, he managed to give a small whimper, "Sebastian, please..." He whispered, in too much pain to even think about using the demon's ridiculous nickname.

He attempted to remove his hand from his stomach, but gave a groan of pain and pressed his bloodied hand against it again. The demon's eyes widened at the gruesome slash across Grell's stomach. It was ugly… ugly, bleeding, and deadly. Sebastian knew that this wound would be fatal if he cruelly chose not to help the red headed reaper... It was tempting, he would not have to deal with him anymore, but... Something in him would not let him leave the reaper to die in the alley in such an agonizing, slow death.

"Keep still Grell, I need to at least slow the bleeding down, and remove your hand from the wound... If you don't listen to what I say Grell, you might end up dead." His voice held a tone of utter serious as he ripped his beloved tailcoat up in strips to use as temporary bandages.

Grell nodded weakly, forcing himself to remove a shaking hand from covering the wound. As soon as it was out of the way, Sebastian quickly got to work on wrapping the pieces of his tailcoat around the wound and tying them tightly. He could sense the reaper slowly losing consciousness,

"Stay awake, Grell, pay attention to me and only me. Listen to my voice. Do. Not. Fall. Asleep." He said in a commanding tone as he scooped the other up in his arms, careful not to jostle him too much.

As soon as he was certain Grell was set firmly in his arms, he took to the roofs, moving far faster than normal. If he did not act quickly, Grell would die, and as much as the demon disliked the red head... He knew he would regret letting him die one way or another. "Stay with me Grell, try to stay conscious." Just as he uttered the words, he entered the Phantomhive manor with purpose, heading towards his own bedroom since he did not want to bloody any of the sheets on the guest beds in the mansion.

Grell winced as he was gently set on the bed, tears streaking down his cheeks at the unbearable pain. His dull eyes widened as he spotted Sebastian turning to leave the room and his breathing quickened.

"P-please! D-don't leave m-me!" He pleaded, growing more terror-stricken and panicked by the second until Sebastian's hand met his hand,

"Grell, please calm down lest you worsen your condition. I'll need bandages and some other items to dress the wound, I'll return momentarily," Sebastian attempted to calm the shaking reaper, who looked doubtful as his eyes held the fright of a newborn fawn. Sebastian sighed once more, "I promise..."

Grell seemed to relax at this and simply lay quietly on the bed, allowing Sebastian to leave and return quickly with the supplies he needed. Moving to begin unbuttoning the reaper's torn waist coat and shirt, he slipped the clothing from Grell form and splashed a small amount of peroxide onto the cloth. The redhead seemed to tense slightly as Sebastian's hand moved to where the wound was on his stomach.

"P-Please, be g-gentle," He asked quietly with a shaking voice, the demon's eyes rose to meet the other's and Sebastian gave a nod, moving to wipe carefully at the blood that had thankfully slowed to a light bleeding instead of pouring from the wound like before. Grell flinched and bit his lip, but remained silent as Sebastian worked quickly.

Though seeming to concentrate on the wound, Sebastian was deep in thought, Grell looked so pitiful, lying there like that, but more importantly... Why did he care? Why had he rescued the reaper when Sebastian had hated him so much before. Why...? Grell interrupted his thoughts with a whimper, and the demon noticed he had been pushing a little too hard.

"Sorry..." He mumbled.

Halting his thoughts about why he was doing this, he concentrated on the task at hand. Soon enough, Grell was properly bandaged and the wounds were treated. Sighing softly, Sebastian wiped his hands on a rag to clean the blood off of them. He noted the blood on his white gloves from when he had been carrying Grell, disposing of them as well as his now tattered and bloodied tailcoat. That would have to be fixed as well.

"Grell, get some rest. You've lost a lot of blood and you're weak. I'll stay here and watch... I have my tailcoat to repair anyways." He said with a small sigh, taking out a sewing kit.

The redhead nodded weakly, watching as Sebastian sat down in the chair by the bedside. He too was curious as to why Sebastian decided to save him, why he did not let him die back there, or worked so tenderly and carefully on his wounds. It puzzled him, but he sighed knowing that the thoughts would not help ease his mind into sleep. "I-I'll try..." He murmured under his breath, shifting as he got more comfortable in the bed.

Forcing his eyes closed, Grell forced his beating heart to calm itself, forced himself to calm down and push away the irrational fear that the demon would come back... After all, he was only after the soul... Right...? Once again clearing his mind, he slipped into sleep, but it was hardly peaceful, and haunted by the one who drove his own chainsaw through his gut.

Sebastian watched the sleeping reaper with newfound curiousness as he worked at repairing his tailcoat, continuing to think about the attack. How a demon had managed to defeat Grell was beyond him, but he was still worried about the redhead. But he halted those thoughts and shook his head, Grell was nothing more than an annoyance, and he knew the reaper owed them a favor for Sebastian helping him now- that was easily decided, call off the 'date' Ciel had promised Grell... However, it was still rather alarming to see the reaper in such a state, the usually happy, excitable reaper so worn down and terrified at every shadow and small noise.

He paused at a sudden snap outside and was shaken from his thoughts once more, the needle and thread halting abruptly as he glanced up to the darkened window. He then turned his gaze to Grell, who seemed to have awoken and was staring with wide eyes at the window, his breath quickening and hands tightly gripping the comforter of the bed.

"Grell, go back to sleep, it's just a branch," The flinch from Grell didn't go unnoticed as he looked to Sebastian,

"W-What...?"

"It was just a branch, calm down and go back to sleep,"

Grell slowly settled down from his panicked seeming state and lay back down under the warm covers, forcing himself into slumber once more. Sebastian sighed and continued on with repairing his tailcoat when a sudden weight on his sleeve caused him to look down. Grell had managed in his sleep to find Sebastian's dress shirt cuff and was now clinging weakly onto it, however the butler was quickly distracted again when another snap came from the Phantomhive gardens-

And a whiff of demon scent.

The same scent from the alley where Grell was attacked.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Sebastian froze. What was that demon doing back here? Was he not happy with the soul? Was he after Grell. His eyes narrowed, flashing a dangerous pink. This would not do at all. Gently prying Grell's hand from his sleeve, he placed it onto Grell's chest as he walked towards the window and opened it. Looking around, he opened all of his senses to their full extent, watching, waiting. There. With a feral growl, he launched himself from the window and towards the sound of another twig snapping.

The two demons wrestled for a moment before the intruding demon seemed almost to slither away like a snake. Sebastian jumped back, narrowly avoiding being bitten by a rather large black snake with piercing blue eyes, a silver flash of patterned diamonds across its back. A snake demon then... He could not say he was pleased to the least bit about this. As he landed gracefully on the ground, well out of reach of the snakes ferocious jaws there was the sound of someone clapping slowly in a sarcastic manner. "Well done, well done." Came a smooth, tenor voice.

The voice sounded slick, persuasive, and seemed to emit a sense of security, a false security obviously. Sebastian knew better than to let his defense down, especially in the presence of a snake. "I must congratulate you on your... Success in saving the little redhead. Quite the interesting person I must add, a fighter." The voice seemed to sneer at Sebastian, taunting him to react.

Sebastian kept a level head, throwing several knives in the direction of the voice, only to be met by a velvety laugh. "My, my! Some butler you turned out to be, so rude to a guest. Tsk tsk!"

The demon butler watched as the other finally revealed himself, his long raven-black hair coming down in waves to around his waist or so. His features were acute, well refined and sharp, with his cheekbones set high. His eyes were a piercing silver with flecks of ice blue, small pupils enhancing the effect. The demon's thin lips were pulled into a teasing smirk and his eyes danced with icy flames. He clothed himself with a suit, expensive from the looks of it, and he walked with his head held high. "If I could not defend the home against intruders, what kind of butler would I be?" Was Sebastian's cold reply, as he made sure to punctuate the word intruder.

The other demon scoffed, rolling his eyes in a cocky fashion as the snake on the ground wound its way up his body and settled around his neck, equally piercing eyes staring at Sebastian. They stood with a few meters distance between them, Sebastian poised for a fight while the other demon seemed relaxed, looking rather smug. "My name, is Sollas. A pleasure." He purred out as the snake let out a low hiss.

Sebastian had to suppress an eye-roll. This demon was more obnoxious than Claude. "The sentiment is not returned." Replied Sebastian, his voice flat as he stared with hatred towards the demon.

"Now, now... No need to get all riled up. I merely wanted to visit the sick patient. See how he's recovering. A chainsaw wound is a grave thing, wouldn't you think? I brought a get well gift as well, see?" Sollas produced a dying black rose from seemingly thin air, a petal drifting to rest on the ground.

Now it was Sebastian's turned to scoff. "Be gone. Do not go looking for trouble where you shouldn't. I could easily rip your arms and legs from your body."

"A challenge then?"

"Quite. The Phantomhive Manor frowns upon trespassers greatly."

"Engarde then!" Sollas smirked, launching himself towards Sebastian with the speed of a snake.

The two demons fought, the only sounds of them whooshing around the grounds or the brief growl or hiss. Despite Sollas' cocky outside, Sebastian held more power and soon enough he was pinned to the ground with Sebastian's hand around his neck. There was no way Sebastian was going to let this demon get away with hurting _his _Grell… Wait, his…? "The soul." Sebastian quickly distracted himself from his thoughts, and ground out the command as Sollas coughed and hacked, trying to squirm away.

Letting out a hiss, Sollas unhinged his jaw in an inhuman manner and soon enough the soul appeared, a glowing blue sphere with a tail. Sebastian smirked and plucked it from the air, his grip on the other's neck tightening as he placed the soul within the safety of his pocket. "Goodbye then, Sollas." Sebastian said in a too cheerful tone as he drove his hand through the other's chest, and snapping his neck at the same time.

The piercing eyes now held shock and surprise, that could almost bring them to be pathetic as Sollas gave a gurgling hiss, his jaw hanging slack as his body began to dissolve into the blurry mist of a demon transporting itself back to the depths of Hell.

"A demon, caring for a reaper... how pathetic..." The thick hiss resonated from the Phantomhive grounds around them as the demon, disappeared with the mist fizzling out behind them. Giving a sharp, pink-eyed glare to the black and silver snake, Sebastian watched as the reptile quickly slithered off, fading into the shadows and obviously returning to its owner. The demon then stared a few more moments at the spot where Sollas and the snake had lay, but with a small, disapproving shake of his head he gracefully leapt back through the open window, quietly approaching the slumbering reaper.

"Grell... Grell," Sebastian whispered, wanting to avoid scaring the redhead as he brushed some of the crimson hair from his face where it had fallen over his features, "Wake u-" The emerald eyes snapped open, widening slightly at Sebastian looming over him before lashing out,

"G-Get away from me!" Grell clawed at Sebastian's front, but froze and whimpered with fear once more clouding his eyes when his hands became tangled in the chain of Sebastian's pocket watch, preventing any further movements from the redheaded reaper. He trembled slightly as white gloved hands moved to his, flinching again with another whimper as they clasped around his wrists,

"Shh, Grell, calm down..." Grell raised his head to meet the red eyes of his 'attacker',

"S-Sebas-chan...?"

"Yes, it's just me," Sebastian allowed Grell's hands to rest on the reaper's chest again as he slipped his hand into his pocket, closing it around the soul, "I believe this would be rightfully yours," Grell's eyes widened as Sebastian brought his hand back out and uncurled his fingers, giving way to the bright, glowing blue soul,

"Y-You got it back...?" Grell stared with wide eyes at the gleaming soul before moving his gaze to Sebastian, a thousand silent questions burning within them as he continued to gaze up at the demon.

"Of course I did. A Phantomhive butler would not be worth his salt if he could not even perform the simple task of retrieving an item of such importance to someone," Sebastian allowed a small smirk to cross his features, watching rather curiously as the reaper sent the soul back to the realm with a small wave of his hand. The demon then nearly stumbled back as Grell threw his arms around his waist tightly, burying his nose into Sebastian's tailcoat,

"Thank you…" Grell murmured, hands gently fisting at the fabric. With a small sigh, Sebastian bent over slightly and allowed the redheaded reaper to hug him, gently stroking the other's hair as he felt Grell trembling lightly once more. After a few more moments of allowing Grell to cling to him in a hug, he gently pulled Grell's arms from around him and guided the reaper to lay down on the bed.

Emerald eyes glanced to Sebastian with a rather alarmed expression as Grell struggled against Sebastian's hold on him.

"Grell, settle down, you need to sleep more if you want to heal quickly…" Sebastian sighed softly, in which the red headed reaper finally relaxed, allowing the demon to drape the warm comforter over him and brush a gentle hand across his cheek. "I'll see you in the morning, should you need me, I'll be right here…" He murmured, once more sitting down on the chair beside the bed with his sewing kit and tailcoat.

"O… kay, Sebas-chan…" Grell eyes drifted closed, the reaper falling almost instantly asleep due to the exhaustion that had been clinging to him for so long after the soul collections and attack. Sebastian watched as the reaper slept seemingly peacefully, chest slowly rising and falling underneath the blankets. Slowly, a white-gloved hand reached out and brushed the red head's pale cheek, in which the reaper suddenly flinched away with a whimper.

"No…" Grell mumbled in his sleep, giving a small squirm, "N-No! Please, s-stop!" He suddenly lashed out, struggling against some invisible force in his sleep and pleading.

"Grell… Grell! Wake up!" Sebastian quickly set down his things and moved to the thrashing red head, gently shaking him by his shoulders for a few moments. After being trapped in his nightmare a few more moments, Grell's emerald eyes snapped open with a gasp,

"Are you alri-" Sebastian was cut off as Grell clung to him in yet another hug, his chest heaving and trembling against the demon. Rather surprised, Sebastian gave a small sigh before slowly moving to sit down beside the terrified red head, wrapping his arms around Grell and gently rubbing his back, whispering quiet words of comfort in his ear. He hoped he wouldn't regret this later… After a few long minutes, Grell slowly raised his head from burying it in the crook of Sebastian's neck before looking with teary emerald eyes to the demon,

"Sebas-chan…" He trailed off, hesitating and looking away slightly,

"Yes?" The simple question brought the reaper's attention back to Sebastian, surprising Grell at the fact Sebastian actually cared to answer.

"W-Why… Why a-are you acting so k-kind to me…?" He asked, voice rather soft.

Giving a small shrug, Sebastian sighed softly as he wiped the tears from Grell's pale cheeks with a handkerchief he produced from his pocket,

"To be honest, I really don't know Grell…" He murmured, the small sniffles not going unnoticed from Grell. The reaper really wanted to believe Sebastian was helping him, that he truly cared about him, but at the same time he had heavier thoughts weighing him down, the sinking feeling that Sebastian was simply building up his trust, only to be planning something later on with the reaper. Emerald eyes peered up at Sebastian as Grell studied him, unable to see the truth, or anything for that matter, behind Sebastian's eyes other than the usual emotionless void.

However, those cold amber eyes easily picked up on the doubt in Grell's eyes, and he pulled the reaper close once more, gently pressing Grell's head back to his shoulder and running his fingers through the long, soft, red hair. "I'm not exactly sure myself, but I can assure you, Grell… It's genuine…" He explained, voice continuing to stay soft as Grell nuzzled to the demon's warm shoulder.

"Well…" Grell's voice came muffled from the fabric of Sebastian's waist coat and dress shirt, "It may not be the romance I've always been hoping for between us, but I'll take what I can get."

Giving a rather amused smirk at Grell's comment, Sebastian knew the red head was slowly but surely returning to his playful, frivolous self that the demon was so used to.

"Oh~? And what do you mean by that? Is this what you wanted?" Sebastian purred, slowly tilting Grell's head up from his shoulder before gently pressing his lips to the red head's and earning a small gasp of surprise. He felt Grell's frail arms moving up and draping over the demon's shoulders to pull himself closer, therefore deepening the kiss between them as his eyes slowly drifted closed.

Smirking lightly against Grell's soft lips, Sebastian pulled the reaper even closer before sneaking his tongue out to flick across Grell's bottom lip before pulling his tongue back and earning a small squirm from the redhead. Quickly his tongue darted forwards once more, this time earning an impatient whimper from Grell as his lips parted obediently, eager for Sebastian. He gave a small noise of surprise as the demon's tongue was quickly forced into his mouth and his emerald eyes snapped open before he quickly tried to battle against Sebastian's surprisingly talented tongue; however he quickly surrendered into submission as Sebastian gave a low growl and forced the red head's tongue back into his mouth. A low moan made its way from Grell before he pressed up against the demon, only to find himself being pushed backwards to lay down on the bed before the kiss was parted and Sebastian's forehead rest against his, both demon and reaper panting, Grell's cheeks flushed with a rather arousing blush.

"M-Maybe we shouldn't do this right now… I don't want you to reopen your wound…" He murmured, gently stroking Grell's cheek and pressing his lips to the reaper's own. Grell nodded, seemingly disappointed,

"I-It's probably better that way…"

"Oh, no worries, I don't believe this is a simple one time thing, Grell…" Sebastian whispered, lips meeting Grell's yet again… Good grief his kisses were addictive…

"Then I'll be in even more of a rush for this wound to heal~" Grell purred, "I'm sure it'll be worth every minute though…" The reaper gave a vixen-ish smirk, eyes sparkling playfully.

"Well, better get your rest now, I'm not exactly sure how much you'll get once you're better~…" Sebastian smirked, nuzzling the other while adding a light nip to Grell's neck, earning a deep purr in response.

"Oh? Becoming a master to someone like the little brat is a master to you?" Grell grinned, looking up to Sebastian with a still-visible blush,

"Mmm, yes~ My little kitten is very well behaved…" Sebastian smirked, a light air of teasing to his tone before he lay down beside Grell, allowing the reaper to snuggle against him.

"It'll only be a week, not too long of a wait~"

"Good… Now go to sleep, you need your rest~" Sebastian purred, pulling the blankets over he and Grell as the reaper rest his head to Sebastian's chest, falling easily asleep within a few moments of his eyelids fluttering closed, "Good night, Grell…"


End file.
