All in the Golden Afternoon (Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler fanfic)(Sebastian x Ciel)

Digitalin

Under the Blossoms:

Chapter 2:

"Did I talk in my sleep last night?" Ciel enquired the next morning after all of the suspects had finished eating and had left the room.

Sebastian was forced to tell the truth in this instance as not lying was one of the terms in the contract.

"Just a little."

The Earl scowled. "What did I say?"

"It was mostly about cherry blossoms, young master," Sebastian informed him, naturally neglecting to mention that he was the cause of most of the sleep talking and was able to because it did not count as lying.

"I am sick of dreaming about them," Ciel griped.

"I am sure that the dreams will stop soon," the demon suggested innocently.

Ciel shot him a suspicious look, but did not say anything and resumed eating his scone.

"Do you have any ideas about what avenue of investigation we should take, Sebastian?" he enquired once he had finished it.

Sebastian looked thoughtful before replying. "I found out what was served at dinner that night and I discovered an illuminating fact. All those present at the dinner table have particular tastes and that was catered for by serving them all different dishes and they only had done dish in common."

"I see, since they all had stomach pains, the poison must have been in that dish," Ciel cocked his head on the side. "What was it?"

"Sage and onion stuffing. The sage was from the herb garden and the onions from the vegetable garden."

Ciel frowned and glanced out the window and the blooming roses in the garden.

"It seems a little strange that they all became ill with one person dying. It was either a weak poison or only a small dose was used. The victim must have consumed a larger amount than everyone else do have died."

The demon poured his master tea into a flower patterned cup and wondered briefly what the reaction would be if the teacup was patterned with cherry blossoms. It would certainly assist in increasing his prey's paranoia considerably. It was entertaining to watch him puzzle over cherry blossoms to no avail.

"Perhaps she consumed something else laced with poison after dinner," Sebastian suggested.

"It's a possibility," Ciel said vaguely and looked out at the garden again. "Go and search the garden, Sebastian. It may have been a plant based poison and we need to find out what it was."

"Understood."

The Earl waited for his butler to leave the room before letting out a sigh of relief. He had noted over the past few days since he had started having those dreams that Sebastian was acting differently and whenever he was around the atmosphere was heavier and something deep within his mind was telling him that it was significant. Alternatively it could also be a sign that he was losing his mind.

He shook his head and finished off his tea before retreating to the library to find an interesting book to read to alleviate his stress. The murder solving was not progressing well. Fortunately for him the library seemed to be the place for murder suspects to have clandestine conversations and he discovered several interesting points by eavesdropping.

In the garden Sebastian poked and gently pulled at all the plants for any signs of tampering or poisonous plants being grown with the herbs. He was about to stop and move onto the vegetable garden when his sharp eyes noticed something strange about the colour of the sage stems.