He'd not taken much note of her, the first time he saw her.

Though see was all he really could do. She'd outright ignored his whole existence in favor of turning all her fevered excitement on his young master-her cousin. That was perfectly fine. He was very good at just standing by and observing. That's what he'd primarily done for many many years.

He was almost positive the brush off was not intentional, her little mind was too caught up in the frenzy of her dear cousin, back from the grave. It mattered not though. Taking an approximate five seconds to scan, analyze and deduce her character and importance was seemingly all he needed; she was utterly uninteresting.

Just another boring soul in a monotonous world. The last month was most likely the worst event that has ever happened to her. An innocent girl with nothing in her heard other than what society and authoratative figures had put there.

It was a bit comical to see her next to his young master with her vibrant colors and his dark ones. Her energy and his reserved air. She flung herself onto his young master without a second thought. Embracing him in an intimate familial way in which he did not return.

She looked shocked, and a bit heartbroken at the deadness in his voice and the rigidness of his posture. He wondered briefly if, before the incident, would he have returned the gesture with as much enthusiasm?

It was certainly a little unimaginable, if not a little funny in a twisted way to think about. The truth of the matter was it made no difference if he would have before; he most likely never would again. Whatever energetic, innocent boy he'd been before was long since buried with the remnants of his old life.

After that he blotted out all the incredibly awkward idol chatter that was attempted. Picking out only tidbits of information that could possibly be useful later on. If one got to be his age, one learned the importance of blocking out unnecessary things and only absorbing the important parts. One also became quite adept at deciding which parts would be important.

He answered to his masters beck and call, giving short, evasive answers as to his former employments and how he'd been hired as a Phantomhive butler. Only a couple of maids accompanied the girl, and a footman and butler that served her family. No, that was wrong, he was much too slovenly to be a butler. A trainee perhaps. But not nearly worthy of holding the title of butler.

The visit ended in a blink of an eye, to him. They all packed into the carriage and promptly left. It was as if they'd never been there to begin with, if his masters behavior was any indication. His little lord immediately called for the rest of the paperwork he'd neglected to finish earlier that morning. The only hint he gave at acknowledging the visit was a muttering of how much time had been wasted.

So he simply followed his master up the grand staircase, putting all thoughts of silly girls with boring souls from his mind with no trouble at all.