Disclaimer: I do not, of course, own Kuroshitsuji. And I would like to make it absolutely clear that the idea for this story is also not mine. I borrowed it from a book called The Witch Family, by Eleanor Estes, and decided to play around with it in the Kuroshitsuji universe. Just for fun.

Chapter One:

A Demon is Banished

On a cold day in December about two weeks before Christmas, Ciel Phantomhive turned seven and invited his cousin over to celebrate, though she was only six. Ciel felt much older than Elizabeth now, and acted as though he had just turned seventeen instead of seven. Elizabeth was properly admiring, and since she liked Ciel better than anyone else, she did not mind.

Both of them were angelic in looks, if not in actions. Ciel's name meant sky in French, and his eyes were an appropriate dusky blue. His hair was dark as well, and he always stood up straight because he was short for his age. Elizabeth's hair was as sunshiny as her nature, and her eyes were bright green, and she loved the color orange. Both children were very rich, but not yet entirely spoiled, and they had everything that they could possibly want in the world.

They were sitting in the playroom in Ciel's manor house outside of London. They were lounging comfortably in the window seat, eating a second helping of Ciel's birthday cake and being careful not to drop any crumbs so that the Japanese butler, Tanaka, would not have to clean up after them. They were tired out from having been playing hide and seek for the past two hours. In Ciel's large house, this was quite an expedition. While they ate, Ciel was talking about demons, and Elizabeth was listening.

Ciel had demons on his mind because, last night, his father had been reading a book about a man named Faustus, and Ciel, curious, had whined until his father consented to read some aloud. For a story that included demons, it had been very boring, but the name Mephistopheles had caught Ciel's interest because it was extremely hard to say, and there was something of a thrill about the idea of a demon walking around in broad daylight talking to people, and it set Ciel's little imagination whirring.

Elizabeth, who had only ever heard of demons in church on Sundays, opened her eyes wide. "I don't know what I would do if I met one," she told Ciel, when he asked her. "I'd be too frightened to do anything no matter how nice he seemed. What would you do?"

"I'd banish him," answered Ciel promptly. He liked to sound imposing, and besides, he had already known his answer and was hoping to be asked. "I'd tell him to turn right around and go back where he came from. ' I banish you!' I'd say. You can't just tell demons to leave; you have to banish them, or they'll walk all over you," said Ciel, who had heard his father use that expression and liked the sound of it.

"What if he wouldn't go?" asked Elizabeth, who was a great one for asking 'what if?'

"He'd just have to go," said Ciel, after another mouthful of cake. "He wouldn't have a choice. If you're banished, you're banished. And all demons should be banished, because they're wicked." Ciel, though he felt himself older and wiser than he had been the day before, had only a vauge idea of what it meant to be wicked.

Elizabeth meditatively licked frosting off her fork before speaking again. "Where would he be banished to?" she asked.

"To…" Ciel paused, unprepared for details. "To the hills," he said. "He'd have to live on a big glass hill, all alone, with no one else around to talk to and no souls to eat."

"Oh, Ciel!" said Elizabeth, startled. "Do demons eat souls?"

"The one I'm banishing does," said Ciel. "That's what makes him evil enough to be banished. It's not right to just go around pretending to be human, and really just trying to find souls to eat." Ciel's imagination tended to run away with him at times, and this was one of those times. He found the idea of banishing a demon to the hills to be incredibly enjoyable.

"Can demons really pretend to be human?" Elizabeth wanted to know.

"The really wicked ones can," said Ciel. "They can pretend to be anything they like. See that bird out there?" he pointed. On the barren tree in the yard the window looked out on, a solitary black crow was perched, looking lonely and sullen. "That might be a demon watching us right now."

Elizabeth placed down her plate of cake carefully, and opened the curtain wider to look directly out the window. Ciel had to give her credit; Lizzie was no scaredy-cat, even though she was only a girl, and only six. Then she did something that made Ciel like her even more. She undid the latch and swung open the window, letting in a blast of wintry air.

"Ciel says you're banished!" she called to the crow, who turned his head in the jumpy way that birds do to observe her gravely. "You're banished to the glass hill, and you can't have any more souls. You're banished until you give up being wicked! Ciel says you have to go!"

For a moment the two children looked out at the crow, and the crow looked back at them. Then, unexpectedly, the crow spread his inky wings and took flight. He flew away so fast that Ciel and Elizabeth soon lost sight of him. Elizabeth smiled and closed the window, but Ciel felt oddly nervous all of a sudden. The flutter of black wings made him shiver. But probably it was just the cold air.

"Ciel?" said Elizabeth, beginning again on her cake, "Don't you think he might be lonely, all alone on that glass hill?"

"He can have a cat, if he wants," said Ciel ungenerously, since he didn't like cats. "A black one."

"Make it a kitten," suggested warm-hearted Elizabeth, "so it will be able to live with him longer."

"All right," consented Ciel. "He can have a kitten if he wants. But no one else! He's still too wicked. He might eat their souls."

They finished their cake in silence, Elizabeth thinking of what game to play next, and Ciel thinking of the demon he had banished. He was thinking peculiar thoughts about what that demon might be thinking of him just now; after having suddenly found himself banished.

But then there was a gruff bark from the doorway, and Ciel laughed and held out his arms to hug the gigantic head of the large black dog that had entered the room, tail wagging furiously, big brown eyes luminous. "Sebastian!" chorused the children, showering the happy dog with attention. Ciel had been allowed to name the dog himself. Sebastian was his favorite name.

The children forgot all about the demon that Ciel had just banished. The demon, however, had not forgotten about Ciel.

A/N: I would highly recommend reading The Witch Family to anyone who might be interested; it's such a worthwhile read. It's a perfect blend of reality and fantasy… kind of like Kuroshitsuji is.

Please review, and let me know if anyone is interested enough for me to continue this.