A
First Rate Thespian for a First Rate Laugh

Black
Butler, Chapter one

It was a normal day in the Phantomhive
household. The master of the house Ciel Phantomhive a twelve year old boy with
grey hair and blue eyes, one covered by an eye patch, was sitting at his desk.
He was doing what he normally did at that time of day and that was the mail. He
was waiting for a letter from the cane smith saying that his custom made
walking stick was ready to be picked up. As he leafed through the mail one
letter caught his eye. It was a white envelope with a seal on the back showing
even before he opened it that it was a letter from the queen.

He opened the letter and started to read
through it. While he read it his faithful butler Sebastian knocked on the door.
“My lord, your afternoon tea is ready.” he said before walking in and beginning
to pour the tea and cut a slice of cake he had prepared only moments before. As
he set the tea on the desk he looked at Ciel, seeing his master engrossed in a
letter.  He spotted the seal he knew it
was the queen requesting the services of her loyal guard dog. “What does it say
my lord?” he inquired. Ciel looked up at Sebastian and sighed heavily as if the
weight of the whole world was on his shoulders. “Apparently Sebastian there
have been random fires appearing all over London. Her majesty is worried that London
might become a blaze if the person who is setting them makes a mistake, but none
of the victims are connected in anyway. Some are people who work in the
underground others are hard working people who haven’t done anything wrong in
their life. I just don’t understand it.” He told Sebastian as he sipped his
Earl grey tea and took a bite of the chocolate cake that he had in front of
him.

Ciel sighed after taking a second sip of
tea. He thought of what would be done and who it might have been before his visible
eye looked up at Sebastian. “Sebastian we will leave for London right away.” He
said as he stood up and looked out of his window. Sebastian smiled and bowed
“Yes, my lord.” he said while bowing. Sebastian turned and walked out of the
door to prepare the carriage to take them to the Phantomhive summer house in
the city. Once everything was in place he knocked on the door to the study.
Once he heard Ciel say come in he walked in and bowed “Everything is ready
young master.” he informed him.  Draped over
Sabastian’s arm was Ciel’s finest coat, waiting to be put on. Once all the
buttons had been attended to they walked out of the manor and to the awaiting
carriage. Sebastian opened the door and helped Ciel into the carriage before
jumping into the driver’s seat.Then they were on their way towards London.

After a while they arrived at the summer
house. Once the carriage came to a stop Sebastian jumped down and opened the
door for Ciel to get out of the carriage. 
Moving quickly Sabastian reached the door before Ciel and opened it,
when they got inside he was ready to take his master’s hat and coat, as ready
as he was for any new orders regarding the case.  After Ciel’s hat and coat and been careful
stored he turned to Sebastian. “Sebastian this is an order I want you to go to
all the victims that are still alive and find out what they were doing at the
time and what they had seen. Also if there were any witnesses around the area I
want their statements as well.” He told him watching as Sebastian smirked and
bowed again.

“Yes, young master.”

Ciel sat down at his desk as he waited
for Sebastian to come back from his questioning as he looked at his desk he
noticed a letter there. As he picked up the letter he looked around it and
noticed that there was a seal for the cane smith. He opened the letter and
nodded seeing that his new walking stick had been finished and was ready to be
picked up. Suddenly he heard a knock, he murmured a come in and watched as
Sebastian came in with a cart with tea and some scones.

“I have done what you have asked for
young master. Now for today’s tea I have brought over some Yorkshire tea” He
said pouring the tea in a cup and setting it on the table along with the scones
for Ciel to help himself with. Ciel nodded as he drank the tea. “My new walking
stick has been finished once we have reviewed the list we will leave to get it
and look at where the victims were attacked.” He said biting into a scone as Sebastian
bowed. “Yes my lord.”

Once Ciel had finished they left to go
to the cane smith. Once they had entered the cane smith smiled. “Ahh hello
young man, are you here to collect something for your father?” he asked smiling
with his eyes closed. Ciel twitched. “No, I have come for my walking stick” He
said handing him a letter watching as the cane smith read it. “Ahh, I wondered
who had ordered such a small walking stick.” He said putting the stick on the
table as he began to talk again but before he could get a word in the walking
stick was suddenly thrust into his face. “Straight as an arrow. Such fine
craftsmanship, I commend you sir.” he said as he handed it to Ciel and put a
bag of money on the table. “Keep the change for a job well done.” he said as
they walked out of the shop and towards where the first victim was attacked.

Once they had arrived and talked to the
manager it appeared that there was a woman who had preformed that night. Soon
they had gone to all of the places that the victims were attacked. All of them
described the same person performing. “So we are looking for a woman who has
been performing.”

“Such soft white fur.”

“She has long brown hair.”

“Such a long sleek body.”

“Violet eyes, Five foot in height.”

“Soft soft paws oh so soft,”

Ciel pauses in his talking to look at
Sebastian playing around with a white cat with red marbling. “Sebastian this is
no time to be playing with a cat we have work to do” He said annoyed at how his
butler was so easily side tracked by anything feline.

Sebastian put the cat down and stood up
before he bowed. “I am sorry my lord but you know how I am with cats.” He said
to him while still bowing watching the cat as she tilted her head before
running off. Ciel sighed before walking off.

“Let’s just go and get this over with.
Once we find this Actress then we might find out who started the fires.” He
said to him. Sebastian stood up and moved quickly to be by his master’s side.

As they walked down Ciel looked up at
Sebastian. “What other information do we have?” He asked him. Sebastian looked
at him before looking forward. “A man named James Jones I believed he talked
about a woman named Awna.” He told him. Ciel sighed and looked around “He is
the best lead we have right now we might as well go and re-question him.” He
told him as they started walking to the stall that James worked at. After
questioning him further it was discovered that Awna was indeed one in the same
with the performer everyone has been describing.  James frequently went to see her on arietta
night at the Rose Inn where she lived.

After walking to the inn they were
greeted by a smiling woman at the desk. “Oh hello, my name is Rosa. What can I
do for you gentlemen?” She asked them still smiling. “Hello miss. We are here
for some information on a woman named Awna.” Sebastian said smiling as he
tilted his head at her. Rosa laughed “Oh my Awna, she’s such a sweet girl. Her
room is upstairs. She’s in there now, room number 201, just go on up.”

Ciel and Sebastian made their way up to
the room and knocked on the door. When they heard someone ask who it was they
said their names and why they where there. After that the door opened to show
Awna standing there looking confused. “What can I do for you Gentlemen?” She
asked them. Ciel stepped forward and looked at her. “We are here because there have
been people that have caught fire in London. All of the victims all went to see
you perform and we hoped that you would have any other information.” He said to
them.

Awna opened the door more and invited
them in. “I am sorry but I don’t have any more information I just do my
Performance and leave to come back here.” She said, making Ciel sigh, that
wasn’t what he was hoping for, he was hoping that she knew what was happening
or at least knew who they had been talking about.

Outside while Ciel and Sebastian are
talking to Awna. The white cat named Tessitura was walking around waiting for
Awna to come out to go to the theater where she was auditioning in. As she sat
there and waited a strange man walked over. “Here kitty kitty kitty I won’t
hurt you” He said with a grin on his face. All he was thinking about was how he
could sell this cat as meat or a pet. The cat looked at him and made a growling
noise in the back of her throat as small sparks started coming off her coat.
All the while Ciel and Sebastian had finished their convocation and had walked
outside and where watching what was happening. As the man reached for the cat
the sleeve of his coat caught fire, this made him scream as he turned and ran.
Once he was out of sight the cat looked up and purred once she could see a
window open that lead to Awna’s room. She moved in a way only a cat could and
jumped on window ledges to make it up to her room. Awna hearing a purr turned
and smiled as she walked over to the window and began to pet the cat. “Did that
scream scare you Tess?” She asked the cat smiling as she purred more unknowing
that Ciel and Sebastian had watched the whole thing.

please leave a comment on what you think of the chapter so far.