This was written back in the fall of 2011 but I decided it needed some work before it was posted. Kind of silly, but the idea came from the two Ciel in Wonderland OVAs (the Cheshire Cat parts).

Disclaimer: See Ch. 1

X-x-x

It was a great day. No, it was a wonderful day in the shinigami realm. It was especially so for one shinigami in particular as he headed to work.

Ronald Knox was quite pleased with himself. Not only had he managed to get his work done early the day before, he had also managed to get to a late night party, which he thoroughly enjoyed. As an unexpected bonus, Ronald had even gotten to go home with one of the secretaries. And here he was the next day, able to arrive to work much earlier than he needed to. Ronald wanted to make sure that he hadn't missed any paperwork. He didn't want to give Mr. Spears any reason to scold him for going to a party. There was absolutely no way Ronald would be getting overtime today, especially not when the secretary had made it clear that she wanted to see him again soon.

Ronald grinned to himself, mind alight with ideas of where he could take that lovely lady out to dinner tonight after work. He opened the door to the employee lounge, but stopped short of entering it, somewhat confused. There no one in the room, like there normally should have been. There wasn't even the telltale sound of murmuring voices. Perplexed, Ronald entered the lounge cautiously, allowing his senses to drift, to see if there was any trouble…but there was nothing. Ronald couldn't sense anything except other shinigami in the building. Ronald relaxed visibly, and decided that he must have arrived to work much earlier than he had originally thought. There wasn't any reason he should be so nervous. Ronald was about to turn and leave the lounge to go check up on his paperwork, when it happened.

"It" being a sudden, red-blurred object ramming into Ronald's side roughly, and the momentum with which he was struck knocked the younger reaper down to the ground.

Ronald, though winded from the blow, had enough sense to roll away from his attacker, whipping out a switchblade as he did, his back against the side of a nearby couch. Ronald gulped down a few breaths of air, holding the blade forward threateningly. Ronald's sight, however, was met with not an enemy, but a grinning Grell, who was sprawled out on the ground in front of him. Ronald frowned, but slowly put the blade away. He didn't want to cut Grell accidentally, whether or not Grell meant any harm, because Ronald knew that Grell would injure him more than he had in return; more so if Grell got hit anywhere on the face. Ronald shuddered. He didn't want to think about what Grell would do to him if that actually happened. It wouldn't be very pleasant, that was for sure. "Mr. Sutcliff? What are you doing here so early?" And why did you just knock me over? Ronald thought to himself sourly, observing the other reaper. He knew that Grell was weird, but he didn't think that Grell would actually hurt him on purpose, even if he didn't exactly like him. Unless Grell had good reason to, Ronald mused, as he stared at his senior as he waited for a reply.

Instead of a worded response, Ronald received what sounded like a purr, which made Ronald more wary of Grell's mental stability.

Ronald stared hard at Grell for a few moments, wondering if his senpai was making fun of him, when he spotted something that he hadn't noticed before. There were cat ears poking out of Grell's hair, and there was a checkered tail swaying back and forth lazily through the air. Were they real or fake? Ronald let out a grunt as Grell suddenly leapt at him and tackled him again, knocking him onto his back this time. Ronald heard Grell make what sounded like a playful growl and the two-toned haired reaper wasn't sure whether he should be scared or not. What was going on? Ronald was utterly confused as to why Grell was suddenly acting like this, or how Grell had somehow, miraculously, sprouted cat ears and a tail.

Ronald was distracted from his musings as Grell nuzzled his head against Ronald's chest, pawing at the younger shinigami's suit with his hand curled. Ronald let out a strangled yelp of surprise as Grell lowered his head and nuzzled the blond' stomach with his nose once the clothing had rode up a bit from the pawing. Ronald tired to push Grell away, but only succeeded in coming into contact with the cat ears. Ronald couldn't help but feel them. They were very soft to the touch, and, giving it a light tug, Ronald determined that they were, in fact, real. Grell leaned into the touch, overbalancing Ronald and causing him to fall back down onto the ground, Grell nuzzling his stomach once more. "S…s…stop it…tickles…"

A series of giggles sounded, which ended up turning into a full blown hysterical fit of laughter and a gasping of air, "O…Oh my! What's this? Hee hee~. A make-out session at work, hmm? Whatever would William think~?"

Ronald tilted his head to the side, as he was now using his arms in an attempt to keep Grell at bay, and saw that Undertaker was nearby, seated on a chair and grinning widely at the sight. When had he gotten there? Ronald hadn't even sensed him. Nor Grell, for that matter.

Undertaker tilted his head, and, still grinning like the world would end if he didn't, spoke, making no attempt to try and save Ronald from his predicament, "I found him like that, wandering the streets of London. Since I wasn't busy, I brought him here. It's probably safer for him with the state of mind he is in." Undertaker started to laugh again as Grell managed to get Ronald's suit and white dress shirt to ride up higher to better rub his cheek against Ronald's chest, making louder purring like sounds.

Ronald shivered at the skin on skin contact, and continued to vainly try and defend himself from Grell's sudden display of affection. Ronald failed miserably with the way he was pinned on the ground, and managed to stutter at Undertaker as Grell pawed his belt, "Wh…what do you mean?"

Undertaker indicated the ears and tail on the happy Grell, who was basically molesting the younger reaper, "I believe that Grell thinks he is a cat, and is responding in that way. He does seem to recognize you though. I was waiting for someone to show up, so I'll take my leave now. I'll call if there is anything that will fix him~." Undertaker rose smoothly from the chair and swept out of the lounge, leaving Ronald to fend for himself against Grell, who had somehow managed to paw his belt off and was pawing lower now, making Ronald twice as embarrassed.

Ronald leaned his head back as Grell abruptly moved his head higher and nuzzled the younger reaper beneath the chin. Gently but firmly, Ronald was finally able to push Grell off of him, "Mr. Sutcliff, stay right here, got it?" Ronald reached over and patted the nearest couch. To Ronald's immense relief, Grell sprang lightly up onto it and curled up slightly, "Okay, stay there. I'll go and get Mr. Spears." Grell made a half-growl, half-purr sound as Ronald turned and fled from the lounge. Ronald straightened out his suit, and hitched his pants back up into place, blushing faintly as he headed for William's office. Ronald wondered just how he was going to best break the news of Grell's odder than normal behavior and appearance.

No matter what way Ronald chose to inform him, William was not going to be happy in the least bit with Grell's predicament.

x-x

William had come into work very early that day, as he fully intended to get his work finished without being interrupted. It would be a rare occurrence if that happened, but not outside the realm of possibility. William was just about ready to wrap up the current stack of forms before him, when a series of quick, desperate knocks sounded on the door. William looked up from his desk, his brow furrowing. Who could that be, and so early in the morning at that? "Come in."

Ronald entered the room, looking a little hesitant, and almost looked a little guilty.

Slightly suspicious at how nervous the other reaper appeared to be, William waited for him to speak and state why he had interrupted him. He was on a schedule, after all, and didn't want many interruptions today, so Ronald had better have something important to say. William's frown and suspicions grew when the younger shinigami failed to say anything, and merely fidgeted. Giving a light shake of his head and withholding a sigh, William spoke tonelessly, "Yes, what is it Ronald Knox?"

Ronald started, seeing William staring at him, the older reaper's eyes all but demanding an explanation, "Ah! Well…I don't know how to say this, but…sir…it's Mr. Sutcliff. Undertaker brought him here. To the employee lounge…'cause someone needed to watch him…er…could you come with me, sir?"

William blinked at Ronald stumbling over his words. Wondering what Grell had done this time to cause trouble, William stood up stiffly and walked over to the office door, "…Let's go then." The sooner he dealt with this, the sooner he could get back to work and hope that he would avoid overtime by the end of the day.

Ronald nodded in agreement, looking very relieved, and led the way out of the office. Ronald headed toward the employee lounge, speaking as he walked at a quick pace, "Undertaker said that Grell seemed out of sorts. Like something had happened to him. Undertaker said he'd try and figure out what had happened so it could be fixed. He said he'd call when he knew something." Ronald stopped short of opening the lounge door, and appeared to be nervous once more, "Don't be mad at him. Mr. Sutcliff isn't in a right state of mind…" Ronald paused, and then amended, "Well, more than he usually is. He thinks that he is a cat. He doesn't talk, but he seemed to recognize me." Ronald didn't mention the part that Grell had also inadvertently been molesting him.

William frowned deeply at Ronald's words, beginning to have a bad feeling about this, "Are you sure he isn't faking it to get out of work?"

"Fairly certain. He has cat ears and a tail too, and they are real…I just don't know how."

"A tail," William stated, at a loss for what else to say. It seemed far too surreal to be real.

Ronald noticed that William appeared to be confused, and he opened the door and went into the lounge, "Come in and you'll see, sir."

William hesitated for a moment, before following after Ronald, and stared at the scene that greeted him. Ronald was standing near a couch, and Grell was on the ground next to him, rubbing his face against Ronald's leg. The younger reaper was looking very unhappy with this. Before William could say or do anything, Grell suddenly perked up and looked in his direction.

Grell let out a happy yowl, and raced over to William on all fours, before clinging to the man's legs as Grell proceeded to rub his face against the nearest leg.

Ronald let out a short laugh, relieved that Grell had left him alone, "Well, it seems like he remembers you too. Should I go and see if Undertaker has found anything out?" Not that Ronald had expected the mortician to have gotten anywhere with figuring out what had happened to Grell. Ronald just wanted to get away from the oddness of the situation. Which was saying something, as Undertaker was rather odd as well.

"Yes, go." Was the strained response. William heard Ronald leave the room, but was currently preoccupied with Grell, who was clinging tenaciously to him as he rubbed his face enthusiastically against the leg. William's face set as Grell moved his face higher, all but purring, and quite content. If Grell had been in his right mind, William would have smacked the red head over the head with his deathscythe.

William sincerely hoped that this was some sort of sick joke, and that he would be told so. Of course, that didn't happen, and William was stuck with a very pleased Grell. Who was making incoherent and lewd noises and rubbing up against William's legs, his face getting dangerously close to William's backside. William sighed, and before Grell reached anywhere inappropriate, the dark haired reaper managed to untangle himself from Grell. William fought the urge to sigh again as he headed over to a nearby couch and sat down. He really didn't need this right now. He was far enough behind on his work as it was. William didn't want to deal with Grell on top of that when the red head wasn't even acting sanely…well, less sane than he usually was…

Grell rushed over on all fours, and sprang up onto the couch, and abruptly sprawled his upper body on William's lap.

William stiffened at the sudden contact, and glanced down, seeing Grell looking up at him expectantly. Feeling a little bit foolish, William ran a hand through Grell's hair lightly, ruffling the soft ears lightly, and Grell leaned into the touch, eyes closing, ears and tail twitching at the touch. William shot a quick look around the immediate area. Once he had determined that there was no one nearby, William decided to go along with the strangeness of the situation, for now. William ran a hand hesitantly down Grell's spine.

Grell apparently liked this, because he arched up and stretched, his butt up in the air as the tail swished back and forth, clearly enjoying the attention.

William did not want to see Grell's butt wiggling in the air like that, so he flipped Grell over onto his back, ignoring the happy exclamation Grell made at the way he was being treated.

Grell settled comfortably on William's lap, and used one hand to paw at William's chest, apparently wanting to be paid attention to and likely petted some more.

William frowned at this, and wondered how in the world he had gotten himself into this. With Grell pawing at him again, William shrugged to himself, and, wearing a dubious expression, ran a hand along Grell's stomach in a circle.

Grell leaned in close to William, making a sound of extreme pleasure, twisting slightly in order to make his stomach more easily assessable. When William stopped petting his stomach, the red head curled up more closely to William and drifted to sleep, tail draped loosely off the couch, ears down.

William resumed running a hand through Grell's hair, thinking to himself how calm Grell was, compared to how he normally was. It was almost…nice to be around him like this, albeit a bit strange. It wasn't as stressful as it usually would be, as he didn't have to say anything to Grell, or argue with him. It was almost…relaxing.

William waited out many hours in silence, petting the sleeping Grell absentmindedly, and wondering just how much overtime he was going to be in with this unexpected problem, as it was now evening. William glanced up as the lounge door opened, and Ronald entered the room.

Ronald wisely didn't say anything about the sleeping Grell on William's lap, "Undertaker hasn't found anything out yet. He said that it'd take a day or two at the most to figure out what happened and how to fix it.

"Keep checking back with Undertaker. I'll take Grell home with me for the time being, as I do not want him here for others to see." Not to mention William was feeling self-conscious about the fact that he had found he liked running his hand through Grell's hair. William shook Grell awake as gently as he could, and Grell yawned widely in response. With some coaxing, William managed to get Grell to follow him out of the lounge, and led Grell outside the building, away from headquarters. William decided he would return for the paperwork after ensuring that Grell wouldn't make a nuisance of himself.

William opened up a portal and stepped through it, Grell right behind him. Getting his bearings, William headed in the direction of his house, Grell keeping pace alongside him, occasionally bounding ahead to chase rats or mice down an alleyway. William was quite relieved that Grell hadn't managed to catch any of the filthy vermin. Who knows where they'd been. William didn't need a sick as well as out of his mind Grell to deal with.

William had nearly reached his home, when he saw Grell's cat ears perk up and turn his head, listening intently. Then, without warning, Grell bounded down the street. William quickly ran after him, for some reason having another bad feeling. William rounded the corner, and saw that demon backed up against a wall, looking incredibly frustrated. Grell was crouched on the ground, tail twitching back and forth. The Earl, Ciel, William saw, had covered his visible eye with a hand, and was shaking his head. William drew closer, and the demonic butler fixed him with a glare of disproval.

"Can't you keep a closer eye on your employees, reaper?" Sebastian queried through gritted teeth.

William blinked, and glanced between the demon and Grell, before looking over at Ciel, who looked torn between amusement and annoyance.

Ciel, apparently trying to decide whether or not to say anything finally stated simply, "Sebastian likes cats."

"Ah." That explained why Sebastian looked as if he were fighting an internal battle. If the demon liked cats, then Grell acting like a cat was probably trying his self-restraint…if demons actually had such a thing. William didn't want to see what would happen if Grell jumped Sebastian, as William had a feeling that Grell would come out of the encounter battered. William quickly stepped forward and seized Grell by the scruff of his neck, keeping a firm grip, mostly by way of Grell's long hair.

Grell yowled unhappily, ears going flat, as he tried to twist out of William's grasp and get to Sebastian.

Sebastian appeared to recover, and with an indignant gasp from Ciel, scooped the boy up and vacated the area. Sebastian couldn't stand it anymore, especially after Grell had started to make cat noises.

Once Sebastian was gone, William released Grell, who sat down and didn't move.

"Let's go, Grell." William said, turning and starting to walk away. He paused when he realized that Grell wasn't following him. Sighing, William went back over to where Grell was seated, "Come on, Grell."

Grell yawned, rubbed at his face with a curled hand, before flopping onto the ground, tail draping over his legs, seemingly content to stay there and see if Sebastian would return.

Twitch.

It was getting darker, and William had no desire to try to explain things to humans that might happen to see them. William knelt and picked Grell up, drawing forth a displeased hiss from Grell, who squirmed in his grasp, trying to get away, "He is not coming back, Sutcliff." Clamping his arms firmly around Grell's middle, William took the struggling red head in the direction of his house. After some difficulty getting his keys, William managed to open the door and toss Grell inside, locking him in the house. Grell immediately made his displeasure known by making a ruckus and throwing himself against the door. William ignored this and went back to get some paperwork from the office. As long as Grell thought he was a cat, William didn't have to worry about Grell figuring out how to open the door or windows.

-x

An hour later…

Grell was curled up on William's bed, a picture of absolute and utter misery; his tail tucked tightly against his body, ears lying against his head.

William didn't feel too bad, knowing that Grell would eventually cheer up once he stopped thinking about Sebastian, and started thinking about him…William blinked. Why in the world would he want Grell to think about him instead? Where had that come from?

Shaking his head, William bent over his paperwork again. He had returned minutes after throwing Grell into his house, laden with paperwork, and had found a miserable Grell on his bed. William didn't think Grell would remain depressed for much longer.

Two hours later, William's prediction proved true. As he was getting ready for bed, Grell had uncurled and was watching William button up his pajamas with a tilt of his head. Since he hadn't heard from Ronald or Undertaker, William decided to get some sleep. William settled down in bed, and stiffened as a sleepy Grell draped himself half on William, "Grell?" The response he received was a low purr, then silence. Well then…fine. As long as Grell didn't get well overnight and molest him in his sleep. William drifted to sleep with Grell, who had snuggled up closer to him with a yawn.

The next morning…

William woke to the sensation of someone touching his chest. William's eyes snapped open, and he was prepared to berate Grell, when he realized that Grell was kneading his chest with slightly curled hands, purring. Once he was satisfied, Grell settled his upper body on William's chest, and purred more loudly once he noticed that William was awake. William checked the time. He needed to get to work soon…William tried to sit up, scowling a bit when Grell refused to budge from where he was resting.

"Grell Sutcliff, I need to get to work," William stated, trying to push Grell up off of him so that he could get dressed.

Grell managed to keep him pinned down.

William had a silent struggle with Grell, until he was able to get into a seated position, with Grell draped across his lap. William wondered why Grell was being so clingy, when he noticed Grell doing something he most certainly shouldn't have been able to do if he were truly thinking and acting like a cat. The red headed reaper was trying to undo his belt. William frowned at this, his suspicion aroused. Grell could just be toying with the belt, but…just to check…

William scooped up a majority of Grell's long red hair with one hand, and he noticed that this distracted Grell from the belt. Okay then…William tightened his grasp on the hair, and spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, "Well, Grell Sutcliff, maybe I should give you a haircut while you're complaint. One that looks like the haircut you had back when we were in the academy perhaps?" William clinked his deathscythe , materialized out of nowhere, in one hand, angling it at Grell's hair. The response was instantaneous, and confirmed the slight suspicion William had.

Grell twisted in his grasp and freed his hair, seizing William's wrists, baring his teeth and glaring at him furiously, "William! You shouldn't go grabbing a lady's hair like that and threatening to cut it! Such a cold, cruel man~! I..." Grell froze in place, stopping mid-sentence, as he and William locked eyes with one another.

Grell offered a sweet smile, though he was inwardly frustrated. He had just blown his cover, when things had been going so well. Even now, Grell could see quite plainly from William's expression that the dark-haired reaper was not pleased in the least bit at being fooled.

X-x-x

I should have the second half up once it is typed and edited. At least I'm in the mood to write Black Butler stuff again, but it might take me awhile to get back to writing and finishing Rain Noir. I may even post another story to get back into the swing of things before going back to finish it.