A/N: Hi, people! This oneshot is dedicated to Rupanzel, who requested a Little!Ciel oneshot featuring Ciel and Elizabeth. So here it is! Go have fun with it! Oh, and I imagine them as having been about eight when this happened, but hey. It doesn't matter much.

Title: Kiss in the Rain

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: K+

Pairings: Ciel/Lizzy, Vincent/Rachel

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Warnings: Possible morality issues? I'll get back to you on that one. Or possibly not.

Summary: Ciel and Elizabeth's very first kiss happened much sooner than you might think.

Disclaimer: Sadly, Black Butler is not mine.

Ciel leaned out the window, intensely focused on the road outside. He scanned up and down the abandoned path, peering through the pouring rain. His blue eyes searched out a flicker of movement, anywhere. Anywhere! Ciel shifted restlessly, beginning to grow impatient.

"They'll be here soon," Rachel assured Ciel.

Ciel didn't answer.

There! The long-sought flash of motion caught his eye as a carriage started to emerge from the surrounding trees. A cry burst from his mouth, delighted and resounding. "LIZZY!"

He scrambled off of his perch and stumbled out of the study door, hurrying down the stairs and then toward the front door. The carriage was closer now, just drawing to a halt a little way away. He hardly felt the torrents that drenched him, soaking through his clothes and plastering his hair to his head.

From the carriage, another gleeful scream rang out. "Ciel!"

Much to Ciel's disappointment, Lizzy was not the first to step down, but he smiled anyway. He didn't really mind Edward – actually, he rather liked the older boy. Edward didn't seem to feel the same way, though.

"Hi, Edward," Ciel greeted happily.

"Ciel," Edward replied politely. Then he turned and carefully helped Lizzy step down from the tall carriage.

As soon as she was on the ground, she let go of Edward's hand and hugged Ciel tight, still sticking close to her brother. Edward turned away and, as the two elder Midfords took the lead, followed them into the Phantomhive home.

By the time they made it in, each of them was dripping with rainwater, and Lizzy was tucked against her brother, shivering, but smiling all the same. Tanaka was waiting for them with a knowing smile and a stack of soft, white towels.

Alexis and Frances, who had gotten there first, were already beginning to dry themselves off. Edward took a towel from Tanaka with a nod of thanks. Ciel smiled at the old man, then took two, handing one off to Lizzy.

Ciel covered his head with the towel and rubbed vigorously, drying his hair off, and then rubbed quickly down his face. He emerged from his makeshift covering, suitably dry, to find Lizzy struggling with her own towel. Her face was perfectly dry, but each time she passed the towel over her hair, it was dripping again within moments, and she was beginning to look frustrated.

She jumped when Ciel suddenly put his towel on her head, starting to help her. Just behind them, Edward – about to do the same thing – clenched his teeth. Unknown to either of the cheerfully smiling fiancés, he glared at the back of Ciel's head.

When both of them were satisfied, Ciel took the towel off and Lizzy smiled at him. He smiled back.

At that moment, footsteps echoed down the stairs, and they looked up to find Vincent coming down at a gradual, but steady pace.

Vincent smiled at them all in welcome and descended the last few steps. When he reached them, he shook hands with both his sister and Alexis, and then with Edward. He moved on to kiss Lizzy on the forehead, drawing a sweet smile from her, and ruffle Ciel's hair, earning himself a protest. Finally, he reached Rachel and gave her an absent peck on the lips while Lizzy watched with curious, jade eyes.

"Hello to all of you," he greeted.

They returned the greeting and then Ciel, growing impatient, grabbed Lizzy's hand. Together, they slipped out into the hallway, noticed only by the watchful eyes of Edward.

"Where do you want to go?" Ciel asked Lizzy, who 'hm'ed thoughtfully before she replied.

"Well, it is raining… but I think I still want to go outside. Into…" She trailed off and looked at him hopefully.

Ciel smiled at her, then winked with a hush-hush finger on his lips. "Mama and Daddy wouldn't like it," he commented offhandedly.

They went outside anyway.

Both children laughed as they ran through the garden, splashing gleefully through the puddles and getting very, very wet. Neither minded much.

Ciel squinted through the rain, trying to find the place he was looking for. They had to be getting close by now…

"There!"

Ciel followed Lizzy's pointing finger. "Oh!"

Now that it was pointed out to him, he could just make out the outline of the entrance to their clearing. Amid the sound of resumed chatter, they made their way toward it.

Suddenly, Ciel's foot landed in something low, a rabbit hole, maybe. He yelped as he pitched forward, but Lizzy caught his arm just in time to keep him from falling. He steadied and carefully lifted his foot out of the hole before smiling at her in gratitude. "Thanks, Lizzy!"

They made it into the small clearing and grinned at each other, a little breathless. In the clearing, the rain was a bit lighter and less drenching, slowed by the branches of the surrounding trees, which stretched out over their heads like a makeshift roof and darkened the clearing slightly.

Ciel let out a laugh as a droplet of cool water landed on his nose, and then gestured toward the rose bushes. They rested at the foot of a tall tree, which in turn sat in the very center of the clearing, and two of them tangled together, so blended that they almost appeared to be a single bush. The ancient maple tree, at the foot of which the bushes grew, was the source of many of the branches providing shelter from the rain, with their long branches and large leaves, and it rose high above any of the other trees.

Lizzy understood his gesture instantly and kneeled down, crawling into a gap in the branches of the white roses. Ciel followed moments later, entering the small tunnel after her.

They emerged on the other side and sat up, encased inside their own little alcove, which they had worked hard together for many, many hours to hollow out from the two bushes. Twice a year, on each of their birthdays, they made the hollow just a little bigger.

And so there they sat, encased in their cocoon of roses and thorns, hidden from the outside world.

The thick, clustered branches of the bushes blocked out even more of the pounding rain, and it now fell less than half as thick and fast as it had out in the open. Ciel cupped his hands, watching as water streamed from one of the leaves and pooled together. Then he let go, watching as the cool liquid splashed down onto his lap. He looked up and both he and Lizzy laughed when she stuck out her tongue and, instead of catching a drop of water as she expected, a rose tipped abruptly, splashing its clear contents across her face.

"I like the rain," he told her, smiling.

"I prefer the sun," she replied absently, watching water pool into another rose and make it tip. "But rain isn't bad." She smiled. "It can't be, if you like it."

He smiled at her warmly and for a while, they just listened to the rain, together in the dim rose hollow, water falling on their heads.

"I wonder why married people like to kiss each other," Lizzy said suddenly, mind wandering back to the times she'd seen her parents kiss, and just earlier, when Ciel's Daddy had kissed his Mama.

Ciel shrugged, not answering. He didn't know.

"There has to be a reason," Lizzy continued. "Do they like the feeling? What does a kiss even feel like?"

She stopped short, realizing what she had just asked aloud, and Ciel looked at her with surprise.

"I never thought about that," Ciel said slowly.

Curious sapphire met startled emerald and for a moment there was only the sound of rainwater hitting leaves.

Then, as if entranced, both of them leaned forward slowly, never once breaking their gaze. Even as their lips met, their eyes remained open, looking into each other, intense cerulean delving deep into brilliant verdant. But as they lingered, just a few moments more, clear droplets running down their faces, their necks, and their shoulders, first clear green, then crystal blue fluttered closed, savoring the warmth in the chilly storm air.

A moment later, they broke apart, and two pairs of vividly colorful eyes blinked open. Lizzy's mouth was slightly open in surprise.

"Ciel, I-I think I do like the rain, after all," she said breathlessly.

Ciel grinned at her. "I told you it was nice."

Together they sat, leaning against each other lightly, watching as the rain fell steadily from the sky in a never-ending flow. Neither minded as the clear streams ran down their faces, down their shoulders and their arms and their intertwined hands.

They were far too content to care.

Well, that was fun. I enjoyed it, anyway. It was inspired by a picture of a little!Ciel kissing little!Lizzy and though this has deviated a bit from that (and also I can't remember where it was) it remains the inspiration. Please review and tell me if you like it!

Rupanzel - If this wasn't what you had in mind, just let me know!