Cages

Zechs 73
“But why?” I heard Quatre ask, “What do you need another slave for?”
“Not to replace any of you, that’s for certain. I don’t want anyone getting upset over this. It’s simply that I want each of you to have a partner if I should go anywhere, or if you should go anywhere without me. You’re safer in pairs. As it is, there are three of you, granting that Wufei is only with us for a week, and I want to have an even number of slaves when we get back to the house, understand? No one’s being replaced, alright?”
I wasn’t sure whether to grateful to or offended by master’s comment. While he hadn’t mentioned me specifically, it had been obvious that he was only buying this slave so that I would have someone to be with. Didn’t he trust me alone? Did he think I’d be angry that Quatre and Trowa were so close, and that he needed to buy me a friend to replace them? Did he really believe you could force people to be friends?
On the other hand, it would be nice to have a spotter to help me with my work outs. As much as I didn’t want master thinking I was weak, could I really take the chance of happiness away from whichever slave he chose? Would that be fair of me?
But eventually it dawned on me that I truly had no control over the situation. Master would do what he thought best, regardless of my wishes or demands. He was not a master like the others at Collar, but he was still... dominant. He was the leader and protector. He was... a king to us, I suppose. He often made choices we did not like, but he always made them with our benefit in mind.
We were, as Master wanted, early to the party and were able to speak with Master Grindel before any other guests arrived. Master had commented on Master Grindel’s obviously German name, and had quickly found that Master Grindel’s hometown was one he had traveled to as a teen. Master made such an impression with our host that I doubted he would be offended if Master hung from the chandelier, let alone leave early. But Master made an impression on everyone he talked to, and had gained an amazing amount of popularity in a very short time. Of course, it didn’t hurt that a rumor had circulated that he was a prince, either.
I wasn’t sure I believed that Master was a prince. Rumors at Collar always had some ring of truth to them, but were usually more false than true. If Master had come from a country that had a prince, it was possible for Collar to skew it into such a rumor. And while Master certainly looked the part of a prince and acted like one in formal situations, he never seemed proud or aloof to even his slaves, the lowest of servants. How could someone raised with such a lineage not look down on such humble and homely creatures? It was very difficult for me to believe.
The party went well, but I wasn’t sure Master was enjoying himself. He never really seemed to, at parties. He rarely drank and never had to be helped back to the room from intoxication. He wasn’t fond of other drugs that were available, and he refused to smoke. He also wouldn’t let his slaves have any drugs, but I for one was not in the least bit disappointed. I hated feeling out of control, of waking up and not knowing if you had done something very bad or not. For a slave who was drugged was not excused from punishment. I often remembered a drugged slave who had broken a plate or spilled a cup later being punished for the infraction, and having no idea what they had done wrong. I had been the recipient of such punishments a few times.
Master also held back when using me, though I was fairly certain that the treatment he gave me would be similar with all his slaves. He would never go further than groping in public, and I was not allowed to grope him, and he would only grope me if there were something to hide what he was doing. He would kiss me openly and passionately enough, but I was never allowed to be completely nude in a party again, and he had been very upset when I had been nude at Master Scrub’s party. He would not have sex with me in public, nor anywhere that someone was likely to walk in on. It had to be a private room, preferably with a lock, and there had to be at least a couch. He was not fond of the floor, though we had done it once at a particularly racy party of Master Ruby and once at a pool party held by Master Hong, though technically we had been in a shower. There also always had to be oil or some kind of lubricant to use. I was grateful for this one, but I had been used dry many times in the past, for some masters preferred it, and I didn’t want Master to think that I was easily hurt.
For now, no one really saw anything wrong with the way Master acted. He was new, so he had yet to fully adjust to the ways of Collar, and most of them had pegged him for possessive. Those two factors allowed people to excuse his behavior for a time, but some of them were now becoming suspicious. They wondered what he was doing with his slaves, that he could not show in public like the rest of them. Some thought that perhaps he was beating us viciously, but as we had all recovered a lot from our first days there was really no basis for this theory. Others believed that perhaps he was hiding something embarrassing, like a prosthetic penis. Because Master would not venture into public naked, this theory had some credit, though it would have been considered strange for a master to parade around nude anyway. If he would have sex with me in public, though, the theory would have immediately been disproved. Still, this theory was fairly limited because Master was so beautiful that most had trouble thinking he could have any imperfections and because prosthetic limbs had become so cleverly designed that no one would have been able to tell if he had one anyway.
Everyone else was divided between two opinions; that he was shy or that he was proud. Some thought that he was far too shy to do anything so private in public, while others thought that his heritage as a prince caused him to look down on the acts of the other politicians. They thought that he didn’t want to get dirty. Both opinions were dangerous in their own way. The first allowed people to think that he might be weak, easily frightened or swayed. The second allowed people to see him as the enemy, as someone who needed to be taught a lesson.
I doubted any of the masters would form a solid opinion of Master before the Collar competition began. Though many new masters overcame their original morals in just a few days, some took all of the Collar banquet to do so. Even if Master was still reluctant during the summer, when he attended some private parties at other masters’ houses, it would be understood. We were only in trouble if he still could not use his slaves by the start of the Collar competition. That was when the most wild parties were thrown, allowing the masters and slaves to relax and unwind from six months of intense training before starting to compete. It was then that Master would need to show us off by letting the other masters watch as he took us or we took each other. All the masters would be doing it, and it would seem strange if one did not join in. It could even cost Master his reputation, and that would cost him tips, training techniques, and better slaves. It could be disastrous.
I revealed my findings to Master as we walked from the party to Collar’s warehouse of slaves. I had never been on the buying side of the Collar warehouse, so was not sure of what to expect.
Master was quiet as we walked, contemplating my words, I think. He did not seem angry, though, and for that I was grateful. Some masters would get mad when a slave gave them bad news, going as far as to beat them. I was sure that Master wouldn’t beat me for expressing my concerns to him, but I had worried that he would be miffed. But the alternative was worse, to watch Master lose his reputation because of my silence. The risk had been too great.
“You’re sure they will not grow suspicious before Collar?” he asked, his eyes riveted on the floor.
“Yes, Master. There is a grace period for new masters, but it only lasts so long.”
“And you’re sure they will want to see... all of you together?”
“I cannot be sure, Master, but slaves are on display at Collar. They may ask to see any of us together. They may ask for all of us.”
“I see. We... will have to deal with this problem, but not right now. Do not speak to the others of this. I don’t have time to deal with this right now, but I don’t want you worrying. We will deal with it when the banquet is over. Until then, I don’t want you to mention it again. Alright?”
“Yes, Master,” I replied, glad that he had listened to me, but worried about the repercussions of this. Just what had I gotten us into?

Zechs 74
When we arrived, we were told that there weren’t any slaves available for rent.
“What do you mean, there aren’t any slaves?” I asked the light haired clerk. He was wearing a white uniform similar to those in the hospital, but a little more starched. He had a nice smile and was polite, but it was easy to tell from his nervousness that he had either once been a slave or was still a slave, and the gold chain peaking out from his collar confirmed my suspicions. It seemed odd to me, then, that he should lie about anything, but I could easily see that the cages behind him were filled with slaves.
“We don’t rent out slaves for five days before the auction, so they can rest before the biding starts,” he said. That I understood, for who would want to buy a slave with bruises and abrasions all over him? They would be given a few days to heal, so they were pretty for the bidders. But I doubted they would get any better care here than they would with me.
“I see. So there’s no way for me to borrow a slave?” I asked. I really did not want to risk taking home a brand new slave, but I did want to get a partner for Heero. I had hoped to attempt something of a trial period by renting the slaves, but it seemed as though that idea was shot.
“Well...” the clerk said, biting his lip, “There is one slave I can lend out for today and tomorrow, but you’d have to bring him back in good shape on Sunday for the auction.”
I contemplated his proposal for a moment. If he was offering a slave this close to auction, there was probably something wrong with it. On the other hand, there had been something “wrong” with all my slaves so far. He’d fit right in.
Heero, standing quietly to my right, gently touched my elbow and shook his head. I understood that he was telling me to be cautious, because he too realized that something must be wrong with this slave, but would trying this one be any worse than buying one completely unknown and being stuck with it once we were home? I’d rather risk a little now than a lot later.
“I’ll take him.”
“Excellent!” the clerk crowed, “Just sign right here,” he said, pointing to the contract. I noted that the contract was for two days, instead of the usual one, but dismissed it. Perhaps they always loaned them out in two day stints.
The clerk pressed a button and another man in white appeared, this one with a dark complexion.
“Go get cage #666,” he said. The other man leaned in close, a frown on his face.
“You’re loaning out slaves?” he whispered harshly.
“Just him,” the clerk replied.
“Oh. Oh! Did you get rid of him for both days?” the man asked, a smile suddenly on his face.
“Yeah, so hurry up!” the clerk replied, and the other hurried to his work with a grin on his face.
Well, that did not bode well at all.
On the other hand, however little I liked the whispering words of the two employees, I liked even less when the other man returned pulling with him a heavy, barred cage, with two armed guards on either side. And inside the cage...
“You’re giving me Shinigami?” I gasped in shock.
“The one and only,” the clerk said, with a smile that was a little too wide. “Good deal, huh?”
Somehow, I doubted that. Not that the armed guards or the iron bars would warn me off.
“Are you going to take him out?” I asked, barely containing my annoyance. I did not need another troublesome slave right now. I had barely managed to tame the last one.
“Are we... what?” the clerk responded, mystified.
“Well you certainly don’t expect me to drag that thing down the halls, do you?”
“Oh! Of- of course not. Just... uhh... just let me go get the dart gun.”
Dart gun? Good lord! What had I gotten myself into?
The clerk disappeared into the doorway behind him where the cages of slaves were stored and came back with what appeared to be an animal tranquilizer.
I wasn’t surprised, though, as what I could see within the cage was more animal than man. If it weren’t for the mass of dark brown hair lying on top of the hay I would have never guessed which slave was inside, and would have been hard pressed to guess that there was a slave in there at all. The only part of Shinigami other than the hair that peaked out of the roughly strewn hay in the bottom of the cage was a set of fingers, which were tightly wrapped around one of the bars at the front of the cage. And from the grime covering those fingers I shuddered to see what the rest of Shinigami would look like. His hair was matted and encrusted with dirt, tangled almost passed the point of salvation. He was a far cry from the creature I had seen only three days before.
As the clerk took aim on the highest lump in the hay, which was assumed to be Shinigami’s butt, a pair of eyes rose just above the straw. As the clerk squeezed the trigger, a foot came flying from between the bars, hitting him in the chest and knocking the gun out of his hands before the shot could be fired. One of the guards growled and grabbed the foot, but instead of staying still Shinigami reared back, pulling the guard toward the cage and smashing his head against the bars. The other guard pulled out a tazer and advanced on the cage, only to receive a flying foot to the groin. As the second guard went down, the first guard and the clerk were able to get back up, but instead of reaching for the gun they decided to attempt to grab Shinigami. They did not have much luck.
Ignoring the melee to my back, I sighed and calmly walked around the cage and picked up the gun. Then, careful to remain out of arm’s reach of the cage, I proceeded to take careful aim at Shinigami’s revealed shoulder as he reached for the hair of the first guard, found my mark, and fired. The dart hit the meaty part of Shinigami’s shoulder. The boy roared, ripped the dart out, and threw it to the floor, but it was too late. In another minute, he collapsed against the bottom of the cage.
I watched the three grown men standing around the caged boy, giving them a look that said, “There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” They did not look particularly pleased with me.
“I’ll get him out for you,” the clerk offered, moving to open the door. Shinigami twitched at his words, tensing.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warned. “He’s going to run like a wet cat if you open that door now. Wait for the drugs to fully kick in before you set him loose.”
“Oh. Well, then, I’ll go get you some chains.”
“I won’t need them,” I told him, though it probably wasn’t completely true. It was very possible that I would need them to deal with Shinigami, I just wouldn’t use them. The clerk probably thought I was boasting about my skills as a master, though, while I was truly just being stubborn with my morals. Still, I didn’t really care what he thought of me. They were all buffoons.
“Well then, sir, is there anything I can get you,” the clerk asked angrily.
“I could use a cold drink,” I replied offhandedly, suddenly deciding that I hadn’t pissed them off enough just yet. The clerk scowled and stormed off, returning a moment later with a glass of water. I only barely managed to restrain myself in making a comment about the lack of ice.
I sipped a little of the water and, after offering Heero a drink, sat the cup down on the desk and proceeded to open Shinigami’s cage. The three buffoons tensed, ready for an attack, but I knew that the boy would be far too drugged to do more than kick exhaustedly at me, which he did as I entered the cage. I ignored his attack and pulled him out of the straw, finding that the rest of his body was just as grimy and dirty as his hand had been. He was wearing no clothes, and seemed to have dropped a few pounds, which concerned me only because he had been too thin already. Now he was nothing but wiry muscle and bone, and the bone seemed to exceed the muscle.
I wanted to sigh as I pulled him into my arms. If properly cared for, he would have been such a beautiful creature. His eyes, which glared at me in hazy hate, were the most beautiful violet color I had ever seen, and his hair was a dark, tri-colored blend of deep brown, hazel, and gold. His body was well proportioned, and would have been shapely with ten more pounds of weight, and beautiful with twenty. As it was, he was whipcord thin, his bones jutting out unbecomingly.
“Pu’ meh d’wn, f’cker,” he growled incoherently as I lifted him into my arms and out of the cage. I had to smile. The boy had a lot of guts, and a lot of soul. Perhaps he could teach the others to be a little less fearful. On the other hand, I couldn’t allow him to teach the rest of my boys to disrespect me. We would have to see how he behaved around me, around the others, and, most of all, around Heero. Only time would tell if he stayed or went. I tried not to think of it as lived or died, though it was probably the same in his case.

Heero 75
I couldn’t believe Master had been given Shinigami. Moreover, I couldn’t believe he had accepted.
Shinigami was legendary, but it was not a good legend. He was psychotic, violent, unpredictable, and disrespectful. The cost of keeping him drugged was so high that masters would only keep him for a night, because he had worked up such a tolerance for drugs that they had to be almost constantly pumped into his system. That, or allow him to wake up, in which case he was hostile and violent to masters and any slaves who tried to subdue him. Trying to drug him was also dangerous, as he often fought so frantically that he injured both his captor and himself, causing the master to lose more money in paying the fine for damaging a rented slave. Even when Shinigami wasn’t acting up, he had a perchance for getting in trouble that had many masters rolling their eyes. He had caused thousands of dollars in damage by tripping, ruining everything from meals to china to electronics.
But the worst trouble Shinigami caused was always to the master’s reputation. The humiliation caused by having an uncontrolled and disobedient slave could ruin a master for good. With Master’s reputation already uncertain, what was he thinking taking on a slave like Shinigami?
When we arrived at the apartment, Master put Shinigami down in the slave’s quarters to sleep off the rest of the drugs. Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei had to be shoed from gawking at the new arrival. I couldn’t blame them, though, for Shinigami really did look like a wild man, with his dirty skin, matted hair, straw, and hay-burns all over his body. His behavior wasn’t much to the contrary either.
I tried to put him from my mind as we ate dinner, but it was difficult when I had to put a plate of food aside for him, or when Master asked me to watch over the slave when we went to a party that night. I didn’t really want the responsibility of watching over the demon-boy, but how could I refuse Master?
“Who will accompany you this party?” I asked. If I were watching Shinigami, Shinigami was drugged, and Quatre was still recovering, that only left Trowa and Wufei.
“I’ll be taking Wufei,” Master replied, “You will need to watch over Shinigami, and Trowa can help you when he’s not helping Quatre.”
“But master, when will I get to go out with you?” Quatre asked from his seat on the couch, leaning on Trowa’s shoulder, who sat beside him. Wufei was sitting cross-legged on the plush chair, staring at the TV and doing his best to ignore us.
“You won’t be going to any parties at all, little one. I can take you out shopping, if you’d really like, but only for a little while. The doctor did say no exertion for another week, correct?”
“Yes,” Quatre sighed, “but I get so bored!”
“Perhaps Trowa can take you to the bathhouse. Heero and I had a good time there, didn’t we, angel?” he said, smirking at me. I could only blush and turn away.
“I’d better go check on Shinigami,” I mumbled.
“I’ll go with you,” Master said quickly, following me into the other room.
In the slave’s quarters, Shinigami seemed asleep, but as we approached, his eyes suddenly opened wide. In the next moment, all hell broke loose, as he jumped out of the bed and attacked. Master pushed me to the ground to keep me out of the fight and dodged one of Shinigami’s punches. Still under the influences of the drugs, Shinigami lost his balance and began to topple over, only to be saved from smashing his face into the floor by Master grabbing his shoulder. Instead being grateful, however, he snarled and shoved his shoulder into Master’s abdomen, knocking him backwards into a wall. I saw Master’s face darken with anger and knew that he was finally becoming fed up with our new guest. Master jumped to his feet and, taking a hold of Shinigami’s hair, backhanded him hard across the face, knocking the boy to the floor. His violet eyes rolled dizzily as he shook his head to regain his composure, his lip bleeding slightly and a dark bruise forming on the right side of his face.
“Enough now,” Master growled menacingly, towering over the smaller boy, “One more attack on myself or any of my slaves and I’ll have you whipped and sent back to the warehouse, do you understand?”
“I understand, you fucking prick!” Shinigami shouted, jumping to his feet even as he held his bruised face in his hand, a painful lesson to the size and power of my master. “I understand what an asshole you are!” he shouted, but made no move toward violence. I knew that Master was serious about sending him back, but I also knew what a high tolerance Master had, and that he would not send Shinigami back for yelling if he had told him not to attack. I almost wanted him to, though, because I wasn’t sure I would be able to contain myself if Shinigami began yelling at me like that.
“If you are going to speak to me like that, you can stay in here. If you think you can be civil, you can come out and meet the rest of the household,” Master replied evenly.
“Come out and meet the rest of your bottom-boy sluts? I think I’ll pass on that one,” Shinigami replied with a sneer. Master frowned.
“I won’t have you insulting my slaves. None of them are sluts, and you are not one who should be casting fire and brimstone for promiscuous behavior.”
“I didn’t lay down for a damn one of those men by choice and won’t lay down and take your prick up the ass either! You may as well send me back now if that’s what you’re after!” he yelled. Master nodded solemnly, his patience wearing thin.
“We shall see,” he responded to Shinigami, then turned to me. “Keep an eye on him, and don’t be afraid to use force if he gets out of hand. If he refuses to behave you may bring his meals in here to eat, and he can sleep in here if he refuses to be civil, but you may eat and sleep with the rest of us. Other than that, just try to keep him out of trouble if you can. I’m sure you’re well able to overpower him, if need be, but try not to do any damage that I’ll have to pay for,” Master instructed, then turned to leave.
“Asshole coward!” Shinigami growled under his breath as the door closed, leaving the two of us alone together. I swallowed and tensed, expecting him to attack as soon as Master was out of the room.
Instead, he spun around to face me, a bright smile on his face, and offered his hand to me.
“Hi,” he said cheerfully, grinning from ear to ear, “I guess you’re my new babysitter.”
“Uh...” I responded, staring at his hand in shock for more than a second before tentatively taking it in my own. “Master has asked me to watch over you, Shinigami.”
“Shinigami’s too long,” he said as he released my hand and flopped onto the bed. “The name’s Duo. You?” he asked. Again I paused in shock, for he had given me, almost a complete stranger, his real name. I wondered if I could trust him with mine but, as he had given me his and since it was very unlikely he would live if Master did not take him, I decided it was safe.
“I’m Heero,” I told him.
“Heh. That’s a funny name. It’s cute, though, and it fits you,” he said, smiling at me. He winked. “Are you going to be my hero?” he teased.
I could only stare at him for what must have been a full minute. What the hell had just happened? Where had the angry, violent creature of five minutes ago gone? And who was this cheerful, laughing boy before me? What had caused such a sudden change? Nothing had happened except...
“Why do you hate Master Zechs so much?” I asked, realizing the only thing that could have caused such a sudden and drastic change.
“I don’t hate Zechs in particular,” he replied, sitting up and beginning to pull hay off of his body. “I hate all masters.”
“This master... he is not as bad as others,” I defended.
“Psh,” Duo snorted. “They’re all terrible, this one’s just less terrible than the others.”
“Perhaps if you weren’t so volatile the masters would not be so intolerable.”
“Hm,” he said, looking contemplatively at the floor. “But if the master’s weren’t so intolerable, I wouldn’t be so volatile,” he said, his smile fading. “You’re probably better off liking your master, ‘cause you’re stuck with him anyway, but I just can’t tolerate them. Not since... but that’s ancient history,” he finished quietly, then suddenly looked up at me, the grin back on his face. “There any way to get some grub around here?”
I sighed as I exited the room. Babysitting the Shinigami would either be a lot easier than I had originally thought... or a hundred times harder.

Wufei 76
It was because of the arrival of Shinigami that I found myself tossed back into my fighting uniform, for there had not been time to buy me other clothes, and on the way to a party with Zechs. I had been informed of this arrangement earlier, but I could see that Zechs was nervous about taking me out in public alone, in case I should act up or something. He seemed naive about my honor-bound submission now that he had defeated me, and I was not stupid enough to enlighten him.
I, too, was dreading the party, but for different reasons. There was the pounding headache that I simply could not get rid of and the aching lethargy in my limbs that no amount of sleep could cure. I knew, because I had slept nearly the entire time Zehcs had been gone, not even waking for lunch. I regretted that now, for there had not been time to get dinner before the party, and my stomach was so tightly in knots that I wasn’t sure I would be able to eat once there. I had not even had the forethought to take something for my headache before leaving.
We had to hurry down the halls, going at a brisk pace. I, of course, had to walk faster than Zechs, for my legs were considerably shorter than his, so that my pace looked more rushed than his. But Zechs always made things look easy, no matter what it was. He had an inborn grace and flow that could not be mimicked or replicated. It was all him.
In the halls, he kept glancing at me, and I eventually couldn’t take it anymore. Since we were alone, and because I probably would not be able to do it for the rest of the night, I snapped at him.
“What?” I snapped, grumpy from the pain.
“Hm?” he responded, as though he had been doing nothing wrong.
“You keep staring at me. Did I tear my clothes or something?”
“It would be an improvement,” he said, smiling slightly. “No, I was just thinking that we should get you something nicer to wear.”
“I can assure you, these clothes are of the highest quality.”
“That as it may be, they don’t do you justice in the least.”
“Ah, so you want to show off my body.”
“Mm. I suppose you could see it that way. I just think it’s a shame to hide such a perfect physique, that’s all.”
“I’m not perfect,” I replied, blushing. “And besides, there are thousands of beautiful boys here.”
“Yes, but most of them are lapdogs; trained for one purpose alone, only ever thinking of how best to attract the attention of the masters. You’d be amazed at how many heads you turn, Wufei, merely because you scorn attention. In a place like this, the best thing you can do to stand out is to go against the usual rules of conduct. You’d probably stand out less by revealing more skin. But none of that matters now. We’ll speak of new outfits later. Are you ready?” he asked, pausing just beyond the entrance to the party.
I huffed in response. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I told him. He smiled.
“Don’t look so morose,” he chided. “The others will think I’m not a good date,” he said, then winked and led me into the party before I could respond.
There was, like most parties, a theme to the party I found myself in, but luckily it was nothing scandalous or outrageous. It did not even require that I change into a costume, as many of the parties did. The theme was simply dance, and the huge, high domed ballroom was filled with slaves performing various dances in various ethnic outfits. The ballroom was sectioned off into smaller areas, so that the dancers could perform without getting in each other’s way. Each area also had its own sound system, so that each dancer or pair could play their own song. The masters all congregated around the dance area, watching their slaves dance or dancing with the slaves. Of course, many of these dances were nothing more than sex to music, sometimes literally, but there were a few of the dancers that were very good. A few I recognized as slaves that had previously competed in Collar, and the others I expected would be competing this year.
I worried for a moment about dancing in front of Zechs, for dance was the competition I always did my worst in. I worried that he would, with his fighter’s eye, see how easily the steps came to me and how effortlessly I performed up until the jump that I always failed. I doubted, however, that I would do very well at dancing in my condition anyway. I would probably look terrible, if I were even asked.
It was an hour before my intuition was proved correct, and a master that had been speaking with Zechs suddenly turned his eyes on me.
“I don’t suppose,” he asked, “that you could persuade Dragon to show us his routine for Collar?” the master asked. I couldn’t quite remember his name.
“Hm. I couldn’t possibly ask him to reveal what he has planned for this year, but I suppose I could convince him to perform something from past years.”
“Yes, that’s lovely. Have you seen any of his moves?”
“Oh,” Zechs said, grinning, “I’ve seen several of his moves, but probably none you’re acquainted with.”
The other master burst out laughing, giving me a rakish smile. I was well aware that Zechs was speaking of my swordsmanship, but I could only assume from his look that the other master had assumed that Zechs was referring to... swordsmanship of a different kind. I wanted to glare at him, but didn’t dare. My honor wouldn’t let me humiliate Zechs in front of the other masters, no matter how much I wanted to.
Zechs nodded to me, and I nodded in return, then found a music station and put on my song, chose a somewhat secluded area of the dance floor, and began my routine.
The dance really wasn’t all that different from my katanas. Actually, many of the moves that were in my dance had been pulled from my fighting studies. I wondered if Zechs would see that, then decided he would. He was a master fighter, and even a novice could see the fighting moves inside my dance. Of course, most of the masters at Collar missed it.
It started out slowly, the routine mimicking the movement of the wind through tree branches. It was all about balance and poise, in the first section. Then, after about a minute, the song suddenly picked up, causing my movements to mimic the movement of a storm. There were high jumps and kicks, a couple of somersaults and back flips. At the very center of the storm, at which point all the music would stop, I was to perform my most difficult jump. In this jump, I would spring from a handstand, corckscrew my body as my feet came over my head, and land on one leg. It was nearly impossible to perform, and I fell every time I performed it in public.
The dance I performed then, however was different. In this one, I wasn’t even sure I was going to make it to the corckscrew, let alone land it. My head was pounding in time to my music, and I could feel my body shaking as I performed the slow part of the dance. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I shake this feeling of... utter crap? My stomach hurt and my eyes were bleary, my vision fogged, and I wanted to do was go back to bed.
But I couldn’t just quit. I wasn’t sure if Zechs would actually beat me or not for it, but the other masters would ridicule him for not having control over me, even though they had never been able to control me. And, as much as I couldn’t stand masters, I had sworn to Zechs that I would obey him if he defeated me, and I would not go back on my word.
It was almost as if the music had timed my downfall. There was a crash of drums just a few seconds before my big jump in which I was to create a small, less complicated leap. In the past, I had almost enjoyed this particular jump, despite the pressure that dancing put on me. This time, however, the small jump seemed like an arduous task and, halfway through it, I realized that I had neither the energy nor the concentration to land it correctly.
I managed to catch myself just enough to ensure that I would not break anything when I landed. I hit the ground, stumbled, took several steps, and could only watch as my legs gave out and the floor rose to meet me.
There must have been a few seconds of darkness between when I fell and when I opened my eyes, but for the life of me I could not remember them. I merely remembered falling, then waking up to two unfamiliar slaves opening my eyes.
“He seems alright,” on commented over his shoulder. “Should I leave him or call the medics?” he asked. Looking beyond him, I could see Zechs standing at the fence, trying to look unconcerned while I could tell that he was barely controlling the urge to come to me. The rest of the masters had wandered off when the entertainment had ceased.
“Is there a private room we can go to?” Zechs asked. “I’d rather not make a spectacle of this.”
“Right this way,” one said, hauling me to my feet. My world swam, my vision going dim a moment before I managed to find my feet. I heard Zechs gasp, and could see rage in his eyes.
Surely he wasn’t that mad that I had fallen? I always fell. I wasn’t even his slave to show off. And I was still one of the best dancers of Collar. But, despite this, the rage did not fade from Zechs’ eyes, and only seemed to increase as the two slaves pushed me away from the party and to an empty bedroom.
“Is there anything else you need?” one of the slaves asked as the other pushed me to stand next to the bed. I felt the color rise in my cheeks, as I knew exactly what a room with a large bed and velvet sheets was intended for. Surely Zechs wouldn’t...
“I could use a pitcher of water. Perhaps something light to snack on?” Zechs said to the slaves, who were quick to respond by hurrying out of the room. When they were gone, Zechs turned to me, frowning deeply.
“Sit down before you fall down,” he ordered, “and put your feet up. Actually, lie down on the bed. That’ll seem less strange to them, I think,” he said even as he pushed me to lie back on the bed. I wanted to resist, but I was simply too weak. When the other two slaves arrived again, I was lying back as wantonly as any harlot.
“Is there anything else you need?” they asked, setting down the pitcher of water and tray of fruit and crackers.
“Just some privacy. There are things I need to tend to with a rather insolent slave,” he said, leering and placing a hand on his trousers, pulling them down slightly. I felt my heart begin to pump wildly, and almost wished the two slaves would stay. But I wasn’t foolish enough to think that they would save me, instead merely adding to my humiliation.
“Yes, Master Zechs,” they said, kneeling before scurrying out the door. And then Zechs turned to me.
“Give me your hand.”
“What?” I wondered, staring up at him. In the two seconds since the slaves had left, his demeanor had completely changed. Gone was the savage, leering pervert, and in his place was the gallant swordsman. But which one was real?
“Give me your hand,” he said once again, reaching out to take the wrist I extended. He knelt in front of me and, bringing my hand close to his face, pinched the skin on the back of my hand.
“What are you doing?” I snapped, yanking my hand from his grip.
“Don’t be such a baby,” he said, reaching for my hand again. He retrieved it, pulled it to its prior position, pinched me a second time, and, after a moment of deliberation, stood up and walked away.
“You’re crazy,” I muttered, holding my hand to my chest.
“And you’re dehydrated,” he responded. I could only stare at him again. “See for yourself,” he said, taking my hand and pinching me again. The skin that he had pinched stayed pinched even after he had let go.
“But... how? I didn’t do anything strenuous,” I protested.
“But you were attacked and drugged last night. You also had to pee thirteen times while you were drugged, for which I had to accompany you to the door for every one,” he said, smiling at the memory. I blushed a dark red. Surely I hadn’t asked a master to take me to the restroom!
Zechs moved and retrieved a glass of water for me, then made sure I drank the whole thing.
“I should have seen this earlier, but I guess you should have said something as well. But I suppose there’s nothing we can do about it now. You probably have a headache, too, but there’s nothing I can do for that right now except let you relax. How long do you think we have?” he asked.
“If they think we’re having sex, at least an hour. Maybe more.”
“Ah. Well, then, would you mind terribly if I caught forty winks while we’re waiting?”
“It’s my fault you’re so tired anyway. If I had taken care of the intrude myself, you wouldn’t have had to wake up.”
“Oh, I doubted it was the late night that killed me,” he said as I moved over to make room for him on the bed. “I’ve pulled all-nighters before. It’s these constant parties that are going to be the death of me,” he told me as he lay back against the pillows beside me. He sighed and set his wristwatch, then let his arms drop to the bed as his eyes closed. “I’ll just take a little nap. Make sure... you... drink...” he sighed, and was already asleep. Looking closely, I could see the bags under his eyes, and the faint lines of stress on his face. Unfortunately, being so close, I could also see how beautiful he was, how well formed his face was, and how glossy his hair was.
I had to remind myself several times that evening that I hated Zechs.

Zechs 77
The nap I managed to sneak while Wufei was recovering gave me the energy to finish the party without anyone being the wiser to my exhausted state. Unfortunately, I still had to deal with Shinigami when I returned to the apartment. I didn’t relish the idea.
I worried about Wufei for the rest of the party, but despite my concerns he seemed to have bounced back rather quickly. I couldn’t help feeling more than a little guilty for missing the tell-tale signs of dehydration in him, and my only excuse was the paralyzing exhaustion that taking care of five teenage boys, going to back to back parties, and breaking a slave ring could cause. I did manage to use his fall as en excuse to leave early, though, so at least one good thing came of the night.
Back at the apartment, Quatre was already asleep, resting against Trowa, who was watching TV as he gently stroked the small blonde’s hair. It was a touching scene, one I hoped that my next slave would replicate with Heero, but I had little hope that the Shinigami would show such tenderness toward him. I regretted now that I had not refused him the minute I saw him huddled in the cage, and could only blame a lingering sense of guilt from being helpless to save him at the Duke’s party for my momentary lapse of judgement. I had wanted to alleviate some of Heero’s stress, not add to it tenfold by putting the responsibility for a demon on his shoulders. If I hadn’t known Heero’s strength and tenacity, I would have been surprised the apartment was still in tact, with Shinigami inside.
Which it was so surprising for me to open the door to the slave’s quarters to find Shinigami, not only asleep, but haphazardly thrown across Heero’s lap, snoring slightly without a care in the world. They were both on the floor, and Heero’s back was resting against the edge of the bed. Two empty plates of food sat beside them. As I entered, I just barely caught sight of Heero running his fingers through Shinigami’s bangs, watching the colors of the strands dance together. When I entered, he pulled back, as though he had been caught doing something wrong. If I hadn’t been so amazed, I would have laughed.
I motioned and slowly, carefully, and with great reluctance, Heero slid out from under Shinigami, who yawned and rolled over, but stayed firmly asleep as Heero gently settled him to the ground.
Once in the hall, I couldn’t seem to find the words to speak to Heero. He seemed to grasp my problem, though, and spoke first.
“He... He’s really not so bad,” Heero said, staring decidedly at his feet. Did he feel guilty about liking someone who was so uncontrollable, ill-tempered, and bad mannered? Or was he simply ashamed that he had let himself get so close to someone so quickly? Did he think I’d be angry.
“I...” and for once, words utterly failed me. How to express that I wasn’t angry, while also expressing my disapproval of the other’s actions? For certainly I didn’t mind that Heero got along with the wild slave, but I couldn’t condone that slave’s actions, nor would I allow Heero to mimic them.
Heero took my silence for disapproval, and clenched his fists at his sides. His body tensed and he still would not raise his eyes to me, but I knew that they would be filled with pain. I couldn’t bare to have him so upset, and pulled him to me. He came unresisting, and raised his arms to cling to me after only a moment of uncertainty.
“I’m not angry,” I said softly against the top of his head. “Merely confused. He was so... so vicious before I left. What did you say to quiet him?” I wondered. Heero tensed again, and remained quiet for a moment.
“I... didn’t do anything. As soon as you left... he calmed.”
“But... why?”
“He hates masters. That’s why he’s so wild around you, and aggressive toward you. Once you were gone... it was like he was a completely different person. He still talked a lot, but he was very friendly. He still cursed, but it was much milder. We had lunch together, then I sat with him while he talked himself to sleep.”
“I see,” I told him, moving away to look into his eyes. “Perhaps, since he’s here for two days anyway, you can try to convince him to... tolerate me, at least for the two days he’s here.”
“I can try,” Heero responded, but didn’t sound very hopeful. I moved closer again, bringing him back into my arms and kissing the top of his forehead.
“I appreciate what you’re doing for me,” I told him. “I don’t even want to think about what Shinigami would be like if you weren’t around to keep an eye on him,” I said, nuzzling the top of Heero’s head. Somehow, though, my words didn’t make him feel any better, and instead he suddenly looked sadder. I opened my mouth to say something, but the door to the slaves’ quarters suddenly flew open.
Shinigami stood in the door way, looking suspicious for only a moment, before his eyes filled with pure rage.
“Get your filthy fucking hands off him!” he roared, yanking Heero from my grasp.
“Duo, no!” Heero gasped as he was roughly shoved behind the irate boy.
Duo?
“Look, you sick fuck, I don’t know what you and all the other assholes think, but you can’t just go around shoving your cock in people! You...!”
“Duo!” Heero hissed, spinning the other boy around and grabbing his face. “He wasn’t hurting me. He wasn’t trying to do anything. We were just talking,” he said firmly.
“But... But I saw... But he was...” the long-haired teen stuttered. “A.. Are you sure?” he asked, looking deeply into the other’s eyes, trying to see if Heero were lying for my sake.
“I’m sure,” Heero responded.
“Well,” Shinigami said, turning to me, “then I guess I’m sorry or whatever. But you’re still an asshole,” he said, then proceeded to storm into the slaves’ quarters and slam the door.
Which left me in the hallway staring, agape, at Heero.
“What was that?” I finally managed to snap.
“I don’t know! I don’t understand half of what he does! He just... he was nice... for a while,” Heero finished lamely, staring in hurt confusion at the door.
“Well...!” I tried to snap, but simply couldn’t hold onto my anger with Heero looking so forlorn. “Just... see if you can get him to calm down in the next half hour. Then he will have a bath,” I told him firmly. No slave in my household was going to look like a gutter-rat. Heero nodded, then entered the room, closing the door behind him.
Which left me huffing another sigh and heading for the medicine cabinet and a well-worn bottle of aspirin. Dryly I noted that I should probably buy stock in the company, because I was likely to triple their output by the end of this mission. If not more.
Wufei had joined Trowa and Quatre in lazing in the den, but unlike the other pair he was reading a book instead of watching the comedy on the screen. It caught my interest, as I had not had time to buy or bring any books, so it could not be one of mine.
“What is that?” I asked, sitting down beside Wufei.
“A book,” he replied, flicking his eyes over the tops of the pages toward me.
“I can see that. What of?”
“Ancient Chinese proverbs.”
“Ah. Are any of them good?”
“Good as in wise? All of them. Good as in nice? Very few.”
“I see. Since I don’t need anymore bad news, I’ll leave you to your reading,” I said. I moved and sat on the loveseat to give Wufei his space, but I couldn’t seem to stop looking at him. Something was tickling the edge of my conscious, and I couldn’t figure out what.
I spent several minutes staring blindly at the TV before sighing and giving up. It was at this moment that I chose to glance at Trowa, which made me realize what I had been thinking, for Trowa was staring longingly at the book in Wufei’s hands. If Wufei had been a teacher, perhaps...
But it was all moot. Wufei would be gone in a few days, and there was nothing I could do about it. I would merely have to run the risk of hiring a tutor for Trowa, and hope that he wasn’t too nervous to learn.
Fifteen minutes later, I heaved myself out of the chair and headed for the slaves’ quarters, hoping that I wouldn’t regret it.
“Heero?” I called, opening the door. “It’s time for Shinigami’s bath.”
“Fuck you!” came the snarled reply.
“Duo!” Heero snapped. I wondered, for the second time, what a Duo was.
“What? I’m not going!”
“Yes, you are. You smell bad.”
“Well who made you such a pussy? If you can’t stand my smell, leave!”
“You’re both leaving,” I snapped, “because you are getting a bath and you are going to help me with him,” I told them, then grabbed Shinigami by the arm, tossed him over my shoulder, and proceeded to the master bathroom. Once there, I dropped Shinigami into the empty tub and turned on the tap. When he tried to scramble out, I pushed him back down forcefully, accidentally making him hit his head on the wall. He became dazed enough to sit still, which was a blessing.
I probably made it sound like this was all very efficient. In truth, it was the sloppiest mission I had ever carried out. Not only did Shinigami thrash the entire way to the bathroom, but he also screamed like a banshee and tried to grab anything to knock me off balance. Which he did at least three times before we got to the bathroom, where he fought to stay out of the bathtub. It wasn’t until he hit his head that he calmed, and I didn’t dare hope that it was more than a temporary quiet.
Heero arrived a moment later, and we both set to the task of cleaning Shinigami. Surprisingly, the boy remained fairly docile as we washed him, sulking on his knees in the water. Heero scrubbed his arms and fingers while I grabbed a bucket and began to wash the dirty mass that was his hair. After a few minutes of silence, I finally felt that words probably wouldn’t spook Shinigami into another attack.
“What’s a duo?” I asked Heero, who was scrubbing at a particularly dirty fingernail.
“Ah... it’s his name.”
“But you still have to call me Shinigami!” he demanded.
I gave a sharp tug to the boy’s hair. “Behave yourself,” I warned. He growled in frustration, but settled back into the water. Meanwhile, Heero had moved from fingers to toes, and I was starting to shampoo the long strands of Shinigami’s hair. It was beautiful, if only he didn’t have such terrible dandruff.
“‘M I just gonna stay naked all the time?” Duo huffed moodily.
“I should make you earn clothes. We’ll find something of Heero’s for you to wear and...”
I trailed off, scrubbing harder at the little spots on the boy’s hair.
“Master?” Heero asked, bringing me back to task.
“What-... Oh! Sorry, I just can’t get this dandruff to come out. Anyway, I think Heero is about your size and...” I trailed again, peering more closely at the boy’s scalp. “Oh hell.”
“What is it, master?”
“Lice.”

Heero 78
Duo tensed until the muscles in his shoulders stood out drastically.
“You have to be fucking kidding me!” he shouted, pulling away from Master’s grasp and rising partially out of the tub. “You’re not cutting my damn hair off! I’ll kill you first! I’ll-...!”
“Sit down!” Master snapped, getting to his feet. “Cutting your hair is probably a breach on contract anyway, now sit your ass down!” he hissed. Duo obeyed and, once he was seated, Master stormed out of the room.
“Trowa!” I heard him call as he stormed down the hall. I turned to Duo.
With Master gone, all the anger that had held him up poured out of him and left him slumped in the shallow water, his arms wrapped around himself protectively, his head hung. He didn’t move as I approached, but his head came up as I touched his shoulder. He shrugged me off moodily.
“He’s gonna cut it, isn’t he?” Duo asked despairingly.
“I don’t think so,” I told him, but he wasn’t assured.
“He is! I know he is! Why would he bother to clean it when he’s only got me for two days, and then I’ll probably be dead anyway?” he gushed, putting his head back down.
I moved to comfort him, but Master’s voice came from the bedroom before I could move.
“Heero! Finish Shini’s bath, pronto!” he snapped. “Then get him dressed.”
“Yes, Master,” I sighed, even though I knew he couldn’t hear me.
“I can bathe myself,” Duo said, grabbing the washrag from the side of the tub. “You don’t need to help me,” he said sullenly, beginning to slowly wash his legs.
“Then I’ll go get you some clothes,” I said, then rose and went my dresser in the master bedroom to get some of my clothes. In the bedroom, Master was busy pulling his hair back into a severe bun. In light of the recent catastrophe, he was probably very nervous about his own hair.
“You’re going to have to be de-bugged, too, you know,” he said, never looking away from the mirror. “It’s possible the other three haven’t caught it, because they stayed away from Shinigami, but you were far too close to risk infection. Once you’re clean, we’ll get rid of the clothes you and Shinigami are wearing, and the sheets in the slaves’ quarters. The mattresses, too, probably. Do you think we should have the carpet cleaned?”
“Master... it’s just a little bug.”
“Uh...” he stuttered, coming back to himself from the “mission mode” he had put himself in. He blushed, and laughed. “I guess you’re right. Suppose it will be enough to have everything washed thoroughly?”
“I should think so.”
“Now,” he sighed, “the big problem. Is Shinigami the only one with lice, or...”
“The rest of us do not have lice. The warehouses check for lice before any slave is allowed in. I don’t know how he got them.”
“I escaped,” Duo snapped, leaving the bathroom to enter the bedroom a towel wrapped around his waist.
“You what?” Master asked.
“You heard me. I escaped. Jumped on a ship headed for L2 and hid in a pile of old rags. That’s were I got the little buggers, so don’t go blamin’ anybody else or yellin’ at the other slaves. It was all me, because I’m such an idiot that I decided it was better to go for two weeks without food in the hanger of a stuffy shuttle than stay in this hell-hole another minute. If the damn captain hadn’t kicked me in the balls I’d already be three days out on a fourteen day trip to freedom. ‘S why those assholes at the warehouse were so eager to shove me off on the next dumb-ass who walked by.”
“I see,” Master said, giving no indication as to whether or not he was insulted by Duo calling him an idiot. I decided that I had better intervene, before Duo pushed Master too far. He was, after all, my responsibility.
“Come on,” I ordered, pushing Duo back into the bathroom. “We need to get you dressed.”
“Why? The asshole’s just gonna tear ‘m off me again next time he can’t find a cunt!” he yelled, glaring angrily in Master’s direction as I closed the door. Once the door was closed, he immediately quieted and put on the clothes that I handed him. The shirt was a little too big, and the pants were a little too short, but all in all it fit well enough.
“Do we have to go back out there?” he asked me, and I noticed that the melancholy had settled over his body again.
“Yes.”
“Can’t we just... you know... hole up in here?”
“We have to fix this problem.”
“I’m really sorry,” he said suddenly, grasping my hand and looking into my eyes. “You know? I really didn’t mean to give this to you or anything. If I had known, I wouldn’t have gotten so close. Really.”
“I never thought that you deliberately would have infected me,” I told him, “but I can’t condone your wanting to stay infected. You have to let Master fix this.”
“Master, master, master,” he said disgustedly, tossing down my hand. “He’s not superman, you know!” he growled, and wouldn’t look at me.
“I know, but he is very kind to us,” I replied, uncertain of what I should say. Again, the anger drained out of Duo as though some kind of plug had been pulled. I wished he’d choose a mood, all these changes were beginning to give me a headache.
“I felt the same way about my first master...” he said, his voice trailing off. His eyes went misty with remembrance, and a slow smile crept onto his face.
“Master Zechs is not my first master,” I told him.
“What? Oh. Well, I guess it’s not really because he was my first. He was just the best,” Duo said, the joker’s grin back on his face. “The best at everything, know what I mean? But Zechsy is pro’bly pretty good, too, if everything is in proportion. Is it?” he asked, raising his eyebrows several times in what seemed to be some sort of twitch.
“I’m not certain what you’re asking. Do you want to know the size of his penis?” I asked. Duo looked for a moment as though he had been punched in the gut, then suddenly doubled over with laughter. I wasn’t sure what he found so funny.
It didn’t matter, though, because Master called us out before I could say anything else. Master’s voice killed any mirth Duo might have gained, and he was instantly the spitting cat he had been in the cage. I led him out of the room, careful to keep him close enough to grab if he were to lash out.
I found that Trowa had returned from the pharmacy with medicated shampoo to kill the lice, which Master and Trowa applied to my and Duo’s hair unsparingly. We were then forced to sit in the bathroom for fifteen minutes while the shampoo took effect, a trial that I bore with much more patience than Duo. After that, we had our hair thoroughly rinsed out and were whisked into the kitchen, where we were forced to sit still while Master combed out Duo’s hair with a tiny comb and Trowa combed mine. Duo, of course, found that sitting still while a near stranger played with his hair was nearly unbearable.
“Ouch, damnit! You’re supposed to get the bugs out not yank the hair out by the roots! Shit! You’d be better off using a lazer to get the fuckers out!”
“Be quiet or I’ll use a steak knife,” Master threatened, not even glancing away from his task. Behind me, Trowa was having a much less difficult time with me, for I was not only holding still and had short hair, but also probably did not have any or many visible lice or eggs. Duo, on the other hand, was constantly moving, had extremely long hair, and had given the lice enough time to breed. Master was doing his best by pinning most of the hair up and only working on tiny sections, but it was still so long that it became knotted or wrapped around the comb when he tried to pull it out. There was also the fact that master was somewhat terrified of the tiny insects, and was actually dipping the comb in a small bowl of acid to be sure the bugs and their offspring were completely dead.
“Ow! Damnit!” Duo cursed as Master once again hit a snag and had to unknot the hair. “What the hell, I want him!” Duo griped, pointing at Trowa. “He’s nice and doesn’t pull out all the hair!”
“Trowa’s not being more gentle that I am, Heero’s just less of a baby than you are,” Master replied, still working on Duo’s hair.
“Hey!” Duo hissed, turning to glare at Master. In response, Master used the hair he was holding to twist Duo head back to where it should be. Duo yelped, tears springing to his eyes, but looked more humiliated than injured. I would have felt bad for him, but he really did bring it on himself, and Master had been more than lenient with him. Any other master would have severely beaten him, even for something as accidental as picking up lice. The curses and attacks would have been dealt with swiftly in another household. Duo was lucky he had been given to Master, and yet all he had done all he could to get sent back to the warehouse. In a way, I couldn’t understand it, but in other ways I knew exactly what he felt like. Who didn’t dream of yelling at the cruel masters of Collar? Who didn’t want to disobey them? As Shinigami, Duo could do that without being punished. But why live the life as an unwanted slave when Master was offering so much more? Couldn’t he let go of the anger long enough to see how good living with Master was?
And why did I feel that I needed to show him, to prove to him that life could be worth living?

Heero 79
It took another six hours to get Duo’s hair completely cleaned. Once my hair was finished, Master and Trowa began to take turns combing Duo’s hair. After a little while I realized that his hair was long enough for two people to brush without getting in each other’s way, and I too began combing Duo out. It was exhausting, both for us and for him, because we were forced to comb out what amounted to a yard of silk thread, and because Duo was forced to sit perfectly still in an upright position while having his head jerked around for nearly eight hours. One would think, being that tired, Duo would not be able to find the strength to bicker with master, but one would be wrong.
“You all sleep in the same bed? Ew! That’s gross!” Duo said, crinkling his nose in disgust.
“I would prefer you keep your opinions of my private life to yourself,” Master said in a tiredly annoyed manner as he washed his hands in the kitchen sink.
“Keep me the hell out of your private life and I’ll keep my opinions to myself! I’m not gonna sleep where you fuck-...!”
“Then don’t!” Master snapped, drying his hands as he entered the den. “Sleep in the slaves quarters, sleep on the floor, sleep in the refrigerator for all I care!” Master shouted, tossing down the towel before lifting a sleepy Quatre from the couch. “The rest of us will be sleeping together in the master bedroom, there’s plenty of room, and nothing weird is going to happen. But do whatever the hell you want. It’s not like you’re going to believe me anyway,” he growled, then stormed into the bedroom, carrying Quatre with him. Once inside, I could just barely hear Quatre’s soft voice calming Master as he changed for bed. Trowa was quick to follow them, after washing his hands, and Wufei, though still reluctant, also followed the implied command and disappeared into the master bedroom.
Which left only Duo and myself standing in the livingroom.
“Just go,” Duo sighed, collapsing onto the floor, “I know how eager you are to be with your master.”
“Will you be alright?”
“Heh,” he laughed, but it was lacking any energy or real mirth. “Stuck in a huge apartment with a stocked refrigerator and 149 channels? I think I’ll survive.”
“You should go to bed,” I told him, letting my eyes take stock of his haggard and exhausted appearance. “Do you know where the slave’s quarters are?”
“First door in the kitchen, right? There aren’t that many rooms in this place, Heero. I won’t get lost.”
“Alright,” I said, then, not knowing what else to do, turned toward the master bedroom.
“Hey, Heero?” Duo called.
“Yes?” I said, turning back.
“I’m sorry about being such a pain.”
“Hn. You would be less of a pain if you were more civil to Master.”
“Eh... yeah. But... for that, I would have to not hate him. And I do... well... don’t... uh... I mean, I do hate him. Not just him, but, you know, all masters. Every single one of them.”
“Hn,” I replied, looking at those dark violet eyes. “Sometimes there are exceptions to the rules.”
“Huh? Jeeze, didn’t think I’d hear you say that. Maybe you’re right, but it doesn’t really matter, does it? I mean, I’ll be dead in two days anyway, so I might as well do whatever I want, right?”
On some level, I knew that Duo would die after the auction was over. So why did his admission of impending death suddenly cause such pain to flare inside me? I mean, the man was obviously insane, jaded, and violent. Wouldn’t death be a release?
I couldn’t think of a reply to that and, hesitant to allow Duo to see my internal turmoil, I turned on my heel and marched into the bedroom. I was trying to stuff my wayward emotions back into their box, like a good little soldier, but it was proving more difficult than I had anticipated. What was it about the Shinigami that turned my life on its side?
I had more problems than just Shinigami that night. I suddenly found myself returned to that strange coldness that I had felt when Trowa had first arrived, and when Quatre and Trowa had gotten together. It was the same feeling I had when Master had slept with Wufei on the couch, and I had spent the night beside Trowa and Quatre. Only, this time, the evidence of my predicament was directly in front of me. As Trowa and Quatre curled together in their sleep, so did Master and Wufei. Though Dragon was standoffish and uptight while awake, he sought the comfort and warmth of Master in his sleep, and curled up on master’s chest as I had done. His head was carefully tucked beneath Master’s chin, his loose hair spilling down Master’s shoulders to mix with the golden locks that tumbled from Master’s head. There was a look of contentment on both faces that I had rarely seen, and never wore.
But, strangest of all, was my own lack on animosity toward Wufei. I puzzled over it for a time, while laying on my side and watching the slumbering pair. I thought for a while that it could be because Wufei was the Owner’s slave, and thus was not a threat, but it didn’t seem to make sense. He was taking my Master away, none the less, and there was less need for me. But, somehow, I had finally come to accept that Master would not sell me for something as simple as another slave making an appearance, and that perhaps I was needed after all. But that still could not explain why I was not at Wufei’s throat, trying to regain my place with Master.
Sleep eluded me, and after a while I sighed and got up. The warmth that usually held me in bed was not there, and something was tickling the edge of my consciousness. Silently, I slipped from the bed and into the hallway.
I had some notion of going to the kitchen and getting a drink, but quickly forgot this as I approached. There were strange noises coming from the slave’s quarters and, fearing a repeat of Wufei’s first night with Duo, I rushed silently into the room, hoping to surprise and disarm the attacker.
But there was no one in the room with Duo. Instead, Duo himself was making the noises of distress, fighting his bedsheets as he thrashed in the hold of a nightmare.
It was instinct more than anything that made me move. Instinct told me to move closer, while logic pointed out that moving close to someone who is thrashing in their sleep can only lead to pain. The were both right; Duo’s arm smacked me down to the bed where I had crawled beside him, but his kicking stopped instantly when he came in contact with me. His breathing was still deep and even, so I had no worries that I had woken him.
It puzzled me that his nightmares had stopped so suddenly when I touched him, for there was no way he could have known it was me. For all he knew, I could be a thief or assassin, but he had all the same relaxed as soon as he touched me. It didn’t make any logical sense. But, then again, my nightmares fled upon another person being in the room in much the same way. Perhaps Duo needed human contact to keep his at bay?
I looked down at the slim, heart-shaped face before me and sighed. There were terrible bags under his eyes and, though he had been asleep for hours, it didn’t seem like he had gotten any rest at all. I scooted closer to him, pulling the blanket out from under me as I went, and resigned myself to sleeping in the slaves’ quarters tonight. As reckless and obnoxious as he was, Duo was still my charge, and I could not allow anything to harm him, even figments of his own imagination. I missed having Master’s arms around me and feeling his warmth at my back, but, feeling Duo’s arms come up to wrap around my neck as he snuggled into my embrace, I felt almost like I belonged there. Duo was not Master, or anyone else that I trusted, but there was something warm and inviting about him all the same. He had a need for me, I think, which I felt I needed to answer. Be it because of Master’s orders or because of my own need to serve, it was impossible for me to tell, but it didn’t really matter.
As I pulled the covers over myself and the demon in my arms, nothing really seemed to matter anymore.

Duo 80
I woke up feeling bright and refreshed, so I knew instantly that there was something wrong. Not that I didn’t like feeling warm, cheerful, and well rested, but there were only three times when I woke up to that feeling; when I was drunk, when I was drugged, and when I was raped. Obviously, I was a little afraid of feeling good.
I noted that there were arms around me. They weren’t tight, like they expected me to run or fight, but they were holding me back either way. So, either I was still in Collar and in the arms of a heavy-sleeping master, or I had magically managed to get away, get drunk, and was currently snoozing in the arms of a rather flat-chested young bar maid.
I opened my eyes to see a head of extremely clean shaggy brown hair. Ah. Scenario four, when a kind hearted slave took pity on the nightmare haunted savage and bunked with him to let him sleep. This one didn’t happen all that often, because a lot of the slaves were more afraid of me than their masters were, but every so often one would take the risk. A couple had been hoping I would kill them when they did it, others were being hen-pecked by the rest of the harem and decided the safest place for them was right next to the sleeping monster, and a few had just been too stupid to know danger when they saw it. Of course, I hadn’t hurt any of them. I mean, I wasn’t really a monster, I just wanted to be left alone. As long as the slaves weren’t trying to hurt me, I didn’t have any problem with them. It was the masters I wanted to throttle.
So, back to the situation at hand. Not the worst scenario possible, but not the best either. Way above rape, but still a few rungs below drunk and barmaid. I wondered, as I slipped out of Heero’s arms, if he had decided to help me out of the goodness of his heart, or because his master ordered him to. Since his master didn’t like me much, and because there were two other beds in the room, I guessed it was because Heero was such a sweet kid. I was glad he had found a master like Zechs, who would take good care of him, though I really wished that he had never had a master at all. But, then again, I’d seen what could happen to orphans on the streets, and it was sometimes worse than what happened to slaves. At least a slave was fed and well-groomed. So perhaps it was simply better to say that I wished Heero had been more fortunate. There, a good wish with no possibility of backlash.
Heero made a noise as he adjusted to my body’s removal, and for a second I thought he would wake up, but he kept right on sleeping. I felt kind of bad about sneaking away like that, but I didn’t think that I could stay in bed, either. Despite having nightmares every time I slept alone, I really couldn’t stand being touched or held like that. Too many beatings or something, I guessed, but whatever it was I had trouble being touched. Which, really, wasn’t trouble at all, because most of the time no one dared to touch me unless I was drugged half way to hell or sleeping. Both times in which I wasn’t conscious enough to give a damn.
I was hungry, but I wasn’t dumb enough to try to find food in a place where the master hated me, the other slaves didn’t know me, and I didn’t know where the food was. So, having no other choice, I tossed myself down on the bed next to Heero and shut my eyes, knowing very well that I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep.
I stayed there for about half an hour before I heard the patter of feet telling me that someone else was up. It was a soft sound, so much so that I knew it couldn’t be the master. I assumed that it was probably the tall green-eyed slave, who had the style of a dancer and the voice of a mouse.
The door opened, but instead of the green-eyed boy being in the doorway, the little blonde was there instead. I slitted my eyes, pretending to be asleep and wondering what he was up to. He took a minute to look and me and Heero, probably making sure we were asleep, before proceeding past us into the little bathroom across the room.
Ever hear that “Curiosity killed the cat,” saying? If I were a cat, I’d be dead like a hundred times by now.
So, being the little sneak that I am, I slipped out of bed and padded silently to the doorway of the bathroom, then peaked through the crack between the door and the wall. Inside, the blonde boy was rifling through the cupboard under the sink. He seemed to find what he wanted, then stood, a small yellow bottle of prescription pills in his hand. The water was running, so I opened the door a hair more to get a better look. I couldn’t help glancing at the name on the bottle. While I’ll never be able to pronounce it, I recognized the prescription as the same one that had been forced upon me by several masters to quiet me. It hadn’t worked, as instead of quieting me it had merely shut down my emotions and nearly turned me into a robot. But, regardless, it was a powerful antipsychotic. Was the fucker forcing it on the blonde? How badly behaved would someone his size have to be to warrant such a punishment? And he had seemed weak, was it because of the pills? Damnit, those things nearly killed me by overdosing on four pills, what were they doing to him?
“Shit,” I muttered, then realized my mistake as the blonde boy jumped a mile, tossing the bottle into the air, and spilling most of the tiny pills into the sink, where the water washed them away. The boy spun to look at me, his eyes wide and face pale with terror. He looked into my eyes with that kind of fear that makes me sick. The one a cow has when looking at a butcher. But his eyes only paused on me for a second, then darted behind me.
“Shit, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
“I-it’s alright,” he replied shakily, still trying to see around me. “Where is-...”
“Quatre?” Heero asked as he sleepily pushed me out of the doorway. “What’s going on? I heard a commotion and... what are you doing here?”
“I...” the blonde said, then hesitated.
Of course he hesitated. What was he supposed to say? “Oh, I was just in here taking my happy pills when the god of death walked in and scared the shit out of me. It’s no big deal, master will just have to buy me another bottle of these pills, which are probably worth more than he paid for me.” Yeah, like that would go over real well. On the one hand, if the master knew about the pills, then Quatre, which I could only assume was the boy’s name, would be in trouble for dropping the bottle and costing the master more money. If the master didn’t know, there was a very good possibility he would sell Quatre when he found out. No one ever wanted to deal with a crazy slave, for fear that they would freak out randomly. Only the most prized slaves, like lucky me, were considered valuable enough to drug. Given the fact that the master would also have to buy the slave the expensive medicine all the time, masters were very hesitant to take on slaves that were considered crazy. Not that any of us could be considered sane.
But, anyway, back to the scene at hand. Heero stepped forward and pulled the bottle out of Quatre’s lax grasp, then read the label. Quatre looked like he just wanted to slide into the cabinet and die. As Heero read, he frowned in confusion, finally looking up at Quatre when he finished.
“Quatre... what...? Does master know?” Heero wondered.
“No, he doesn’t... but I was going to tell him! I swear, Heero, it’s not what you think!”
“Then tell me what it is,” Heero demanded in his monotone. Jeeze, this guy was scary, always talking without emotion. Creepy.
“It-.. I... It’s difficult to explain...”
“Look,” Heero said, staring at the bottle in his hand, “It’s none of my business. As long as master knows, you don’t need to explain anything to me. Just make sure you tell him.”
“I will,” Quatre said with conviction, then suddenly smiled sheepishly. “Really, I guess I have to now,” he said, taking the bottle back. “I just lost all but three pills. I’ll need master to buy me a refill.”
I gaped at the two of them for three whole seconds.
“What are you thinking?” I bellowed. “You think the big blonde bad-ass is just going to let this blow over? He’ll fry your ass!”
“Duo,” Heero snapped, “Be quiet. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The hell I don’t! I’ve had more masters than you have hair!” I yelled, then turned to Quatre. “You tell the big prick that you’re on happy pills and he’s gonna drop you like a hot potato!”
“Duo!” Heero yelled, grabbing my braid and giving it a tug sharp enough to bring me to my knees. From the floor I looked up to see the little blonde looking so terrified that he would be physically ill. Good. It was about time someone kicked these idiots out of pretty pony land and showed ‘em the real world. “Master is not like that. He’s not going to abandon one of his slaves just because he needs some medicine,” Heero finished, glaring at me.
“When are you going to wise up? The kid might be a good fuck, but he’s not good enough to be worth that kind of money.”
“It’s not about money. The master doesn’t care about that.”
“It doesn’t matter how rich they are. They’re only gonna pay for a purebred hole. They don’t want one that’s got flaws.”
“Damnit, would you listen! I swear to you, nothing bad will happen to Quatre, unless it’s for lying! And I know master won’t even beat him for it.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it.”
“I would.”
I snorted, looking him up and down.
“And what do you have to bet with? It’s not like slaves are allowed to own anything, and, sorry dude, but I’ve had better bodies than yours, if that’s what you’re going for,” I said, sneering. Heero was unfazed.
“Master bought me some jewelry for my costumes. If I lose, it’s yours.”
“Huh,” I said, considering it. I wasn’t interested in looking pretty or anything like that, but if I managed to escape, which was a big, huge, crater-sized “if”, then I could pawn some of the jewelry for food. But I also realized that Heero would be in trouble for “losing” the jewelry. Well... maybe a taste of the whip would put the kid’s head on straight. And Zechs didn’t seem like such a bad guy, no matter what I said. Maybe he wouldn’t be so rough on him.
“Alright,” I said. “So what do you want for your end? I’m warning you, I don’t do sex, and I’m not givin’ up the braid.”
“If I win, you have to behave yourself and be civil to master for one whole day.”
“Well what the hell? I can mind my manners for a day!” I said, laughing. “Not that I’ll have to,” I said, getting off my ass and heading for the door. “You tell the master all about your problems, Kitty-Cat, and when you’re all purple and junk I’ll be sittin’ pretty with the diamonds.”

Quatre 81
I put off talking to master for another couple of hours. Master decided that, if Heero and Duo were going shopping, there would have to be at least two escorts with him, so that Duo didn’t get out of control. Wufei was chosen to go, and I managed to convince Trowa to go as well, though I didn’t really have to beg much. Trowa and I had grown really close in the short amount of time we had known each other. So close, in fact, in such a short time that it scared me. Slaves weren’t allowed to fall in love, and I was terrified to admit that I was doing just that. More than that, it seemed that Trowa was falling for me as well. And, as much as I liked Trowa, I wasn’t ready to give up the life master had allowed me by breaking a rule that could get both Trowa and myself sold separately. I got so scared sometimes that it was hard to breath, but Trowa was always there to calm me. His mind was so pure, clear, and free of malice that it was like a soothing balm to my own.
I wished, as I watched Master reading on the couch, that I had Trowa’s soft presence with me now. But I knew that had he been there, I never would have been able to face master. No, this was something I had to do on my own.
Clutching the almost empty bottle of pills to my chest, I approached and stood in front of master. After only a moment, he looked up, then closed his book and set it aside.
“Do you need something?” he asked.
I tried to form the words I had been rehearsing for the past hour, but nothing would come out. My mouth was frozen shut. So, instead, I merely handed him the bottle, hoping he would understand what I could not say. He reached out and took the bottle, frowning as he read it. When he finished, he looked up at me, then back down at the bottle, then back to me.
“I don’t understand,” he said simply. “What is this? I mean, I know what these are for, but why are you taking them? Or are you? Is it one of the other boys? It’s Duo, isn’t it? Not that I’m surprised...”
“No!” I gasped, jumping in before the lie could get away. The last thing I wanted was to get someone else in trouble for my problems. “Duo hasn’t done anything. These pills... they’re mine. I’ve been taking them.”
“I see,” he said slowly, rolling the bottle between his fingers. “Come sit with me,” he said suddenly, moving to make room for me. I went to sit stiffly beside him, but he pulled me into his lap instead, tucking my head under his chin. Instantly I felt better. This was the master I knew.
“Now,” he said once I was settled, “Tell me everything.”
“I...” I trailed, my mind going blank. “I don’t know where to start,” I admitted.
“Why don’t you tell me where you got these pills, and why you need them?”
“The doctor gave them to me when my back got infected. He... I told him about my... problem, and he gave me the pills to stop it.”
“Problem?” he asked, shifting me closer. I could almost feel the concern radiating from him. It relaxed me, and I was able to continue without fear.
“I’m empathic. I can feel the emotions of others. And in a place like this...” I trailed off. There was so much pain in Collar, that it was a constant struggle to tune it out. I had felt like the weight of the worked rested on my shoulders, and it was crushing me.
“An empath?” master said, startled. I could understand why, for there were very few true empaths. But if I wasn’t an empath, then I was living in a psychotic hell, for that was how my days at Collar felt. “How do you know for sure?”
“My father had me tested for empathic abilities when I was very little. They proved scientifically that my brain was sensitive enough to pick up on the brainwaves of others.”
“Father? Doctors?” master wondered. “But those kinds of tests cost millions. I thought... as a slave...” he trailed, looking confused. I could tell that he didn’t want to insult me y referencing my past or the fact that I was now a slave. I was almost glad he hadn’t asked, for the past was very painful to me, but I knew that I had to tell him. Master had a right to know.
“I wasn’t always a slave,” I told him softly, curling close and resting my cheek against his chest for comfort. He held me closer and leaned back into the couch. I wished I could go to sleep, but I had a story to tell. “I was born into a very rich household. If I tell you the name now, you might not believe me, so I won’t say it yet. My father had many, many daughters, but only one son. I was the youngest, the baby of the family. My sisters ranged in age from nearly forty to only a few years older than I was. There were several that I couldn’t recognize, because they lived far away. I think there were 29, total.”
Master whistled appreciatively.
“I only have one sister, and that’s bad enough,” he told me, nuzzling my head gently and attempting to lighten the mood. I smiled for him, but could not hold it long. Too many negative feelings inside me for smiling.
“They weren’t bad, most of them. A lot of them really cared about me, I think. The older ones always doted on me when the came home for visits, and the ones that were closer to my age would play with me when I wasn’t being trained to take over the family business. Unfortunately, my father believed that I would have to be prepared for my position at any time, and had me working almost ceaselessly with tutors and teachers. My teachers never really gave me any trouble, but my older sisters who lived with us were always saying how dumb I must be to need so much schooling. Some of them went to school, but not many. Most of them shopped and... well, that was about it. When they didn’t think I was listening, they would talk about how unfair it was that I was inheriting the business, and how much more freedom they would have if father’s money were split up equally. I knew they were jealous, but I didn’t think it would ever come to anything. I mean, they were my sisters!”
“It’s alright,” master said, rubbing my back. I only realized then how upset I was getting. It hurt to think about the memories, but I felt I needed to continue.
“Maudia was always the smartest. If she wasn’t, no one dared to do any better. Sometimes I think the others just went along with her because she was so mean. She had her favorites, a few of my sisters who were always with her, but no one ever went against her. She was one of the first ten to be born, so she was older than all my other sisters who stayed at home. It made her seem wise, if bitter and angry. Made her seem mature instead of old. Whatever the case, she never liked me. I think that she had wanted to be head of the family after father died, and whenever I was born her dreams were crushed. Many of my other sisters were relieved by this, because no one wanted to live under Maudia, but no one told her.”
I stopped for a minute and took a deep breath. Master waited patiently for me to continue.
“When I was taken, I didn’t even think that someone I knew could be involved. Rich people get kidnapped all the time, right? In retrospect, I realized that no kidnapper could get past our security without help, but by then it was too late. I didn’t believe that I was going to be a slave. I thought it was all a trick. The person who broke me for Master Marcel had to prove it to me... painfully. Really, I held out hope of a rescue, or a ransom, or anything right up until the time that Master Marcel... claimed me. After that, I just went numb.”
I stopped again, remembering the ice that had encased my heart. I hadn’t been alive. I acted like a walking corpse. The only thing that told me I was alive was the constant pain my empathy pushed on me. But even that could barely reach me.
“Seeing my father’s funeral on TV brought me out of it. I was being taken by my master at the time, and he was watching TV while he did it. When I saw it... something broke. I knew I would have to get myself out of this mess, because father could not. I waited until he was done, and then late that night I spliced the wires of the phone and managed to make a call. I had been tutored in electronics as a child and, though I never understood why it was something I would need to know, I was grateful now. I prayed that the call wouldn’t be intercepted, for I knew the kind of punishments given to slaves who tried to escape. Luckily, the call wasn’t noticed, and one of my sisters picked up the call. At the time, I didn’t even think about the fact that she was one of Maudia’s girls. I was just so relieved to see my family again, to be assured that I was not in some parallel universe. That this wasn’t hell.”
I stopped again. The next part was the most painful, no matter what else had happened. Master pulled me closer, rubbing my back. Perhaps he knew what would happen next. Only I had been blind to the signs. Had I truly been so naive? So trusting that I could overlook even the serpent of evil hiding in my home? Was it wrong of me, not to want to believe that my own family could be so cruel.
“It happened so quickly after I hung up the phone. It couldn’t have been ten minutes later. There was a call to the room. My heart jumped to my throat. The ringing woke Master Marcel, and he got up to answer the phone himself. I heard Maudia’s voice on the other line. I couldn’t believe it! I thought, for an instant, that she had called to demand my release, and simply didn’t realize the danger she had put me in. But she wasn’t calling for me to be sent home, instead she was yelling at Marcel for losing control of me! She said something about a deal and threatened him. He was shaking with rage, red in the face, as she ranted, but went pale when she said she had already called the Collar board, and that they would be taking steps against him.”
I realized that I hadn’t been breathing, and stopped my story. I took several deep breaths, hoping to calm myself, but my chest still felt unexplainably tight. Master stroked my back, patiently, but I was anxious to finish. If I didn’t tell the whole thing now, I wasn’t sure I would be able to. “Master Marcel was never very creative with his punishments. He put me on starvation rations, gave me all the chores in the house, made me sleep on the kitchen floor, and had me beaten at least once a day for two weeks. It wouldn’t have mattered, though, because my soul was already broken. He never gave me a mark, probably because he still wanted me to be worth something, but my beauty faded anyway. My eyes, which had always been one of my best features, were dulled with pain and constantly full of tears. I cried almost all the time, but for a pain I couldn’t really feel. For a long time I wasn’t even sure if it was my pain, or the pain of those around me that made me cry. Eventually I found that I didn’t care. I couldn’t smile, and I couldn’t find pleasure in anything, even sex. I was dead.”
I stopped again, because I realized that my voice had lost all emotion, and was almost the same as in those days. I shivered and decided to change the story’s direction. “Master Marcel was fined for nearly losing a slave, but it wasn’t an insane amount. He couldn’t buy a few of the slaves he wanted, though, so he drove me extra hard because of it. He never killed me, though. I wondered about that for a long time. Slaves were usually killed for trying to escape, and wouldn’t it be easier for my sister to just kill me and get it over with?” I wondered, really looking at Master for the first time since I had started.
“One would think so,” he ventured, as though afraid to halt my story be speaking too much.
“I finally figured it out, months after the incident happened. As the oldest child in the household, Maudia was the one that would run things until I came of age, or in my absence if I didn’t decree otherwise. If I turned up dead somehow, Maudia wouldn’t be the head of the household. It would fall instead to one of my uncles, none of which were overly fond of Maudia. However, if I ran away or simply disappeared, Maudia would hold the title of head of the household until I returned. And what better to do to an upstart younger brother than turn him into a slave? I was such a fool!” I blurted, my voice bitter with old pain.
“You weren’t a fool,” Master said, brushing the hair from my eyes. “No family should behave that way. You trusted your sisters, and couldn’t imagine them hurting you so much. If I had been in your place, I would have done the same thing.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You’re much stronger than I am. I’m weak.”
“You were strong enough to tell me this, when it obviously hurt you. You were strong enough to tell me about your past, when you didn’t think I would believe you. You were strong enough to trust me, when you’ve been betrayed so badly. Crying doesn’t mean you’re weak, and pushing others away doesn’t make you strong. You’ve overcome a lot in a very short amount of time, and I’m proud of you,” he said, and I could feel the warmth of his emotions seeping into me. “Now, I want you to finish the story. I need to know what these pills are for,” he said, ut the good feelings didn’t disappear, so I dared to continue.
“The empathy I told you about. It... well, it hurts in a place like this. There are so many negative feelings, and it’s hard to block them all out. It makes me depressed, and I cry a lot. In the hospital, I told the doctor about my condition and he tested me. When the results came back , he gave me this drug and I began to improve much more quickly. So much weight had been lifted from me and...”
“Are these the reason you’ve seemed so much happier since you came back?” Master interrupted.
“A... a little,” I admitted. “Some of it is because I felt better, and because of how nice everyone’s been, and because of all the good energy surrounding all of you. But, yes, some of it is because I don’t have to deal with everyone else’s pain as well.”
“Then we’ll get you as much as you need,” he said, smiling fondly at me. “I’ll want to have all this checked out by my doctor back on earth, but I’m not going to take those smiles off your face. I’ve enjoyed having your cheerful personality come out, I don’t want to see it go away again.
“Thank you!” I gushed, tears springing to my eyes. Master rubbed my head, a half smile still on his face.
“Now you didn’t really think I’d say no, did you? I’m a little upset you didn’t tell me about it right away, but I can understand why you wouldn’t now that I know your background. You do trust me fully now, though, don’t you?”
“I do,” I swore.
“Alright then, we’re going to test that. Get your shoes, we’re going out.”
“Out where?” I asked as I jumped up top fetch my sandals.
“You’ll just have to trust me about that,” he said with a smirk. I hesitated for a second, but there was still the gentle, fondly teasing look in his eyes that knew nothing of malice. I smiled and slipped my sandals on as Master opened the door. After that, I followed him out, knowing I was safe wherever he led me.

Trowa 82
I was anxious to get back to Quatre. I doubted you could tell from my face, but I was worried about him. Whatever had prompted him to send me and the others away was obviously enough for him to want to speak to Master alone, and I was deathly afraid that he wouldn’t be there when I got back. In my mind, I was pretty sure that Master wouldn’t sell Quatre, no matter what the reason, but my heart couldn’t help pounding every time we were apart. It was so easy to find trouble at Collar, especially for a slave, and I didn’t want anything to happen to Quatre. He was so pure and innocent, so happy and radiant, that I didn’t think I could stand to see his light put out. The fact that he tolerated my presence was a bonus as well.
Our mission was to supply Duo with a costume, in case Master decided to take him out. The chances of Master actually allowing Duo into public were pretty slim, though, so the trip was almost useless, since Duo would be gone in a day anyway. Adding to these feelings of frustration was the fact that Duo could not for the life of him decide on one outfit, and was constantly harassing Wufei.
“Shinigami, damn it, we’re here for a costume for you, and I would not disgrace myself by wearing such a... a... a monstrous outfit!” Wufei huffed, his face going red with anger.
“But why not?” Duo asked, looking innocently at the red matador’s outfit in his hands. The vibrant color of the garment was only surpassed by the billowing ruffles round the cuffs and collar. The pants were plain black, but of a fabric that would conform perfectly to the skin, revealing more than it hid. The outfit was completed by a widebrimmed hat with small red pompoms dangling from the edges.
“Duo,” Heero intervened before Wufei could yell, “We’ve wasted enough time already. Find an outfit or you can go to the party naked.”
“Sheesh,” Duo mumbled, turning to put the costume away. “No need to get grumpy,” he complained, but heeded Heero’s words anyway. It seemed that, in many ways, Heero was almost as much our leader as the master was. Besides Wufei and possibly Duo, he was the strongest of Master’s slaves. He was also the one who had been owned longest, and the one Master trusted most. Because of this, and an inner authority he seemed to contain, Heero often gave out orders to make the household run smoothly. Granted, they were never orders that the Master would disagree with, nor were they harder than doing the laundry or buying the groceries, but it still gave Heero a measure of power that few slaves enjoyed. He was the master’s current favorite, a position which few held and even less managed to retain.
But I doubted that Master would ever lose his faith in Heero. Heero was far too strong and capable for that. He was solid and unmoving against any obstacle. Stronger than I could dream of being. I could understand why Quatre was so friendly toward him, and I wondered why the blonde was friendly to me. I was the newest slave, the one in the most vulnerable but threatening position. I could be quickly thwarted, or I could rise to displace either of them. Still, neither raised a hand against me. I could almost understand Quatre’s lack of viciousness, for he was innocent and caring. But Heero was as hardened to the ways of Collar as I was. With so few slaves under the master, I was in a prime position to displace one of them. I was a threat. Why hadn’t I been dealt with?
But this could only fall in with a list of questions that filled my head. Why was Master so kind? Why was Heero putting up with the shenanigans of Duo, a temporary slave at best? Why was Wufei being so docile, when he was notorious for being impudent to both masters and other slaves? Why was I so drawn to Quatre? And, what bothered me most of all, why hadn’t master taken me since my purchase?
That action confused me most, out of all Master’s oddities and eccentrics. He had obviously found me attractive before I was owned by him, so why the sudden change? Or perhaps I was only attractive when and because I was owned by someone else. For I had yet to see him take Heero, though I am sure from the way the other slave acted that he had done so on their trip to the spa. I was a little grateful that Master had not taken me, but worried as well. I was glad that I did not have to do those things in front of Quatre, but I was worried that I would be sold because I did not.
But I didn’t dwell on it too much. I was well aware that going against a master was like trying to breathe in space. There was no way to do it, so you just had to hope your suit didn’t fail. Likewise, there was no way for me to influence the master one way or another, so I merely had to hope for the best. Had I been prettier, or more seductive, perhaps I could have plied him with my body, but, being rather plain, I knew I would only embarrass myself. I did not want to add to my shame.
“You’re going to try these three on. You will take five minutes or less to change in to each garment, at which point you will come out of the stall for an inspection. After the outfits have all been tried on, we will come to a consensus as to which you should buy. Now, change,” Heero demanded, finally tiring of Duo’s antics. I was only surprised that Heero had been patient this long, for it had been nearly an hour since we began shopping.
Heero handed Duo the outfits, which I couldn’t really see beyond the fact that they were black, which Duo had said was his favorite color. Duo huffed, probably eager for more chaos, but obeyed Heero and entered the dressing room. Heero seemed to have a calming affect on Duo, as he was both strict and patient. Heero may have been choosing Duo’s clothes for him, but he chose clothes that seemed to suit Duo’s style fairly well, and in Duo’s favorite color. In other households, slaves often attempted to make one another look bad by pressuring a slave into buying a hideous outfit. They would blatantly lie, saying that it looked lovely, only to turn their backs on the slave when the master scolded him for buying something so tasteless. It had happened several times in the Duke’s household.
I shook my head and silently stepped away from my group as Duo began throwing off his clothes. A wayward shirt hit Wufei in the face, who then began to sputter angrily.
“Damnit! They have changing stalls for that!” Wufei growled as he pulled Duo’s shirt off of his head.
“Yeah, but I don’t see why,” Duo said, pausing in taking off his pants. “I mean, everybody runs around here naked anyway, so why bother?”
“Because not everyone is an indecent savage!” Wufei growled.
“Duo,” Heero said calmly as he stepped between the fighting pair and took Duo’s shirt from Wufei. “Go change in the stall,” he commanded, handing the shirt back to him.
“Alright,” Duo huffed, the took his shirt and walked toward the changing rooms. Having moved a few feet away, the others didn’t notice that I wasn’t with them as they followed Duo. I needed a few minutes alone. I just wanted a few seconds of peace and quiet to collect my thoughts and settle my worried stomach as I moved off into the racks of clothes.
It seemed, though, that I wouldn’t get it, as I heard a voice that sent shivers down my spine. Quietly, I tried to move back to the others, but it was too late. Even as I turned to walk away, a voice rang out from behind me.
“Well, if it isn’t little Nanashi!” Weave’s voice screeched from behind me. He seemed almost gleeful at the prospect of harassing me and, as I turned, I found the other two, Honey and Jaz, had almost identical expressions of joy.
“I’m called Emerald now,” I said evenly.
“So he changed your name? How wonderful! Now if only he could change your mind and body too!” laughed Jaz.
“Let’s see,” put in Honey. “All he need to do is make you smarter, prettier, more talented...”
“Don’t forget to give him a heart!” Weave put in.
“... A heart, and maybe some balls to!” Honey finished.
“But he can’t do that!” Jaz said, laughing harder than the other two, “Because then he’d be us!” he howled. The other two began laughing uncontrollable as well, and took several minutes to calm themselves.
“But, seriously,” Weave said once he had calmed somewhat. “If your master ever wants a real slave, just send him back to us. If nothing else, we’ll talk to him while showing him a good time. Or has he even done that with you?” he taunted. “Not that I could see him being able to get it up for you or anything.”
I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t seem to find the words. I was afraid, suddenly, that they were right, as many of their comment had struck far too close to home. But Master had picked me, hadn’t he? He had chosen me over the other three, so there had to be something about me that stood out, right? And I had been very careful not to make him regret that decision, especially after the piercings came out. I had done everything I had been asked to do. Could I be blamed if I hadn’t been asked much?
I opened my mouth to say something, though I’m not certain what, when I was against interrupted.
“Emerald,” Heero said, monotone and slightly annoyed, “What are you doing?”
“Uh... nothing,” I said, lowering my head. If Heero heard all the things the other three said about me, if he found out how bad my reputation was, would he use it against me? Could he get Master to sell me? He was the first, the senior, and the favorite slave, and he obviously felt threatened by me, though I didn’t know why. Did he have enough leverage to sway Master’s opinion of me?
“Oh, so now we’re nothing to you?” Jaz snapped. “That’s what happens you sell a rotten slave. Can’t trust ‘em at all!”
“Slaves are not permitted to remain loyal to the slaves of another master once they’ve been sold,” Heero replied, still casually monotone. The others were taken aback for a moment by his lack of response, but soon recovered.
“Yeah, well I doubt Nanashi could be loyal anyway. You need emotions to get friends.”
“Emerald no longer goes by the name of Nanashi. Master has already had it changed and documented. As for emotions, they are most often a hindrance, though one that masters prefer. And Emerald does contain the capacity to feel, despite what he does or does not reveal.”
“Uh...” Weave started, once again startled by Heero’s lack of anger in the face of their insults. “Well, your master must have weird tastes to like Nanashi. I don’t even know how he could tolerate someone as dumb as Nana around him all the time.”
This time Heero really did roll his eyes before responding with, “He’s obviously smarter than you for keeping his mouth shut. I doubt the Duke would react well to hearing that you’ve been insulting other masters. And, as far as I can tell, Master is very fond of Emerald. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Emerald and I have more important things to do.”
“Like what?” Honey snapped, offended by the insinuation that he wasn’t important. “It’s not like your master would even bother to pay for the lousy job you do!”
Heero snorted, obviously amused by Honey’s attempts at insulting someone he knew nothing about, and turned his back. This only enraged Honey further, and he suddenly lunged himself at Heero. I moved to intercept him, but Heero was quicker than even I was, and had spun around and smacked Honey to the ground before I could move more than a step. Weave, next, came to his friend’s aide and tried to slam Heero to the floor. This time I did manage to intercept, grabbing Weave’s arm as he ran past me toward Heero and using his momentum to toss him to the floor.
Dealing with Weave, I was oblivious as Jaz came up behind me until I heard a grunt and turned to find Heero pulling his fist out of Jaz’s stomach. Jaz, eyes wide with pain, slumped to the floor with a groan and a thin, heavy pole that had held clothes only a minute ago slipped from hi fingers. It was not difficult to guess that he had tried to hit me, and with my back turned he could have easily have done serious damage.
I glanced at Heero in amazement. It had been the perfect moment to be rid of me. So why had he defended me instead? Even in his banter with the three slaves he had defended me, and now he protected me in a fight? But I was his rival.
“We have to stick together,” he said suddenly as he lifted the rack and set it back on its feet, then began to put the clothes back on it. “Like them, we’re slaves under the same master, working to fulfil his purposes. Their unity is a weapon they can use against us and our master. If we let them separate us, we let them weaken us. It is crucial that we do not allow that to happen.”
“But...” I protested as he finished. “I am your rival.”
“You are...” Heero said, the paused, “but you are not. You and I will compete to fill the slots allotted for Collar, but... you and I do not compete for Master’s affections. He... He does not allow it, otherwise I have no doubt we would be bitter enemies. In any other situation, I would have allowed him to hit you, but it would serve no purpose for me now,” he said, and his brutal honesty allowed me to believe him. If he had said anything different, if he had tried to deny the temptation to do away with me, I would have been suspicious of him. But none of his words rang of falsehood, and made a great deal of sense to me, so much that I found myself nodding even through my uncertainty. Still, I couldn’t help asking, “What about Quatre?”
That made Heero pause, and he stopped dead to contemplate the question. It had been obvious from the start that Heero was suspicious of my relationship with Quatre and jealous of the blonde boy’s affection for me. I could understand both of Heero’s emotions much more than I could understand Master’s trust in me and Quatre’s fondness for me, but I was still hesitant to lose either.
“Master trusts you, and that should be enough for me,” Heero suddenly decided, “And I cannot tell Quatre who to like. He seems fond of you, and I think...” he trailed, turning to where Duo was causing a commotion by tossing skimpy, frilly underwear at Wufei, “...I think I’m beginning to understand just how quickly an emotion can overcome one who is unprepared.”

Heero 83
I realized, while walking through the third store in three hours, that Duo was the most obnoxious, irritating, annoying, spoiled brat I had met in my comparatively short life. He had looked at more than two hundred articles of clothing, picked up at least fifty, and tried on twelve. And, if that wasn’t enough for one trip, he refused to stop harassing Wufei, who was steadily moving closer to decking the braided idiot. I was so busy standing between Duo and Wufei, in fact, that I didn’t notice Trowa had gone.
Trowa and I had started off... rocky, at best. We were both very aware of what normal rules of conduct would have required, and we were suspicious of each other because of them. I was the alpha, he was the omega. I would try to belittle him, while he would attempt to knock me out of my seat. And, for a time, it seemed to me as though he was having more luck rocking my place than I was holding him in his. The addition of Wufei and then Duo allowed me to see things differently, as he was suddenly propelled upward from his place at the bottom, while I remained firmly seated beside Master. Meanwhile, neither Duo nor Wufei remained at the bottom, because neither were truly Master’s slaves, and because Wufei had prestige from being the Owner’s slave and Duo was the Shinigami. In any other situation, Duo and Wufei would have been above the three of us, but instead they seemed to be beside. The pressure of the hierarchy was removed. It began to feel as though I would not need to be defensive around any newcomers, which was what Master had told me all along.
I think that splitting my time between Master, Quatre, and Trowa had made me analyze the relationship too much. With the addition of Duo and Wufei I did not have the time to worry so much about Trowa. Without the time to worry about it, the threat disappeared, because it had never really been there in the first place.
Which is much of the reason that, upon ditching Duo and Wufei and finding Trowa surrounded by his aggressive former-peers, I jumped to his defense.
They were idiots, much as I had expected them to be. And not even the fun-loving, reckless idiocy that Duo exhibited. They were merely lacking for common sense, or any sense for that matter. They were cowardly and power-hungry, which was a fairly common mix at Collar. But their stupidity set them aside from the rest of the cowards, who were at least smart enough to pick on the right people. They, instead, decided to pick on Trowa, who they assumed was still weak and submissive toward them. There was nothing they could possibly hope to gain from abusing him save perhaps a short heightening of their own egos. That heightening, however, would come at the cost of Trowa’s confidence, so I decided it was my place to step in and protect Master’s property.
They proved their lack of brains though their words several times during the argument, then again when they decided to initiate physical violence. The three slaves were obviously more interested in staying soft and pretty than getting in shape, for they had almost no muscle tone. Trowa and I easily dispatched them, and I wondered for a moment why he had not done it before. But, in his last household, the master had probably played favorites, and Trowa would have gotten in trouble even for defending himself. But I was as certain that master would defend us as I was that he would not harm Quatre.
Once the fight was over, I revealed many of my changed feelings to Trowa. He must have believed me, because he seemed to relax suddenly. As though he no longer felt that I was threatening him.
My answer to his last question took me more by surprise than the question itself. I had somewhat anticipated a question about the tension between us because of Quatre, but I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to plan out my answers. So when my eyes caught on Duo, who was laughing uproariously and dancing around with a stack of clothes in either hand, I simply allowed my feelings to flow from my mouth, and was shocked at what came forth. I wasn’t even sure I liked Duo, so how could I so quickly become attracted to him? But there was no denying the vibrant energy that came from the boy, or the way he could command all the attention of a room to himself. How he was open and happy even in the most repressive situations, like being enslaved. And I admired him for being brave enough to stand up to his masters, even if he was so stupid that he would stand up to our Master. And, too, there was something weak inside him, so well hidden that I only first glimpsed it in the bath, when he was certain that Master would cut his hair. It was something hidden deep and dark, but it seemed more real than the smiling face he wore now. Merely another piece of the boy who had so captured me already.
It was around that time that Wufei stormed over, dragging Duo by the arm, and demanded that we, “Control this lunatic!” I obliged by sweeping him into my arms and carrying him into the dressing room, to be certain that he actually changed.
“Hey! Get the hell outta here! I’m getting changed!” Duo snapped as I set him down inside and closed the door behind me.
“Firstly, you offered to change in the lobby, so it shouldn’t be a problem for me to be here. Secondly, I’ve already seen you naked,” I told him reasonably. Duo grunted unhappily, but began to take his clothes of anyway.
“You just wanna stare at my ass,” he grumbled as he slipped on a pair black leather pants. I merely grunted something I hoped sounded vaguely negative. In all honesty, the constant nudity at Collar had made me somewhat immune to becoming aroused by naked bodies doing anything short of erotic. Not that Duo and his ass weren’t gorgeous, simply that being around so many gorgeous naked bodies all the time had made it the norm instead of a turn-on.
“Well, what do you think?” Duo asked, showing off a black robber costume with small black wings that resembled something out of Zorro. Or what Zorro would have looked like if he were a demonic porn star.
“It’s perfect! Buy it and let’s go!” Wufei snapped from outside the door. Duo huffed in an offended manner.
“You didn’t even see it!”
“I don’t care! You could be wearing a paper bag! If I had my way, you’d be wearing a plastic bag! Over your head!” Wufei shouted. I expected Duo to snap something snide back, since they were arguing, but instead he merely laughed and turned back to me.
“So?” he asked.
“It’s a good look for you. Accentuates your mysteriousness and remains less than feminine.”
“You’re not just saying that because you want to get me out of the store?”
“Duo, by your thinking I should be telling you that they’re all ugly, so that I can see you butt again. If I say yes, I mean it.”
“‘S a good point, Hee-man.”
“Besides, you obviously like it or you would have thrown it off again like all the rest,” I pointed out.
“Yeah,” he said, grinning sheepishly, “I knew I was going to get this one for the last twenty minutes. I just wanted to torment Wufei.”
“You what!” came a shout from outside our door. Wufei began to bang on it shortly before Trowa led him away to cool down. I sighed, but I couldn’t help when a chuckle slipped out with it. It made Duo pause as he hung back up his shirt.
“You laughed,” he said, only part statement, part question. As though he couldn’t believe it.
“I am capable, you know,” I replied, smirking.
“For a while there I wasn’t sure,” he said, removing the last of the costume. “But it’s nice to know that I’m funny enough to make even a stone wall laugh. You’re cuter when you smile,” he said with a wink, then finished dressing and walked out of the stall.
I followed casually after, knowing that they couldn’t go very far without me, because I had master’s credit card. Duo’s was our final, and most aggravating purchase of the day. Wufei had been the first to choose a costume, a green dragon costume that required him to glue many jeweled scales to his body. I still had my angel costume, which I decided I would wear to the party. In the second shop Trowa had gotten a demon costume with flowing black clothes, a cape, and long black wings. With Quatre having worn his angel costume only once, and with Duo’s purchase of a demon costume, we were set for the party. Two demons, two angels, and a dragon.

Zechs 84
Quatre was nervous as I led him away from the residential area of the colony and into the market area. I was almost certain that Quatre was thinking less of the stores and shops that existed in this area and more of the slave’s blocks and warehouses.
I knew that a few small words from me could allay any of his fears, but I restrained myself. In the past, Quatre had been nervous and fearful around me, and I hoped that by telling me of his past he had quelled those fears. So, in truth, our outing was both to be a reward and a test. As much as I wanted Quatre to know that his past didn’t matter to me, I also needed to know that he trusted me completely as a master, not simply when the thought struck him. Even when he couldn’t understand my directions, he would need to be ready to follow them.
And, if I were to be totally honest, his past did matter quite a bit to me, simply not in the way he would have thought. The fact that he had once been a spoiled rich boy or that he had attempted to escape made no difference to me. I was actually proud that he had managed to overcome both his upbringing and his fears to survive, even if his escape attempt had backfired. What really mattered to me was that it was not only nameless street children that were being enslaved. The slavery had spread so that even the wealthiest classes were at risk of being abducted. And, while I felt the same amount of revulsion for Quatre’s bondage as I did for even Duo’s, I was sure that the public outcry would be far stronger for someone as well-known and respected as the heir to the Winner family than for a foul-mouthed orphan. I didn’t like the hypocrisy of the public, but I was realistic enough to look past what should happen to what probably would. If the “masters” were to fight their arrests I would need to mount evidence for a trail, and gain the support of the public. It would be difficult, for most of the masters were prominent leaders and government officials. Quatre, with his innocent blue eyes and soulful smile, could lead the campaign against his former masters. Irony and justice in the same sitting.
But it might never come down to that. I hoped that public outcry would be strong enough to put the masters away without any help or trial. And there was always the power Lady Une held. Hopefully my evidence combined with the backing of Preventers would keep the boys from a long and arduous trial, along with any invasive interviews a trial might require.
Quatre brought me out of my musings by taking my hand in his. I was a bit startled, but noticed that he was shaking slightly as he held my long fingers in his own slender ones. My brooding must have frightened him, for he already suspected that I was angry with him. Still, I could not allow myself to say a word to the contrary, for then I would never be able to accurately gage how much he trusted me. So I walked on in silence, wishing I could do more to comfort the nervous boy beside me.
There were many other masters out with their slaves, which only served to alarm Quatre more, for he had not been around anyone but myself and my slaves for several days, and only the hospital staff before that. He went as far as to hide behind me as we walked when a particularly brutish-looking master in leather and spikes came walking past. Soon after he began to chew on the ends of his finger to alleviate his anxiety, and I had to remind myself, as I pulled his hand away from his mouth, that he didn’t fail the test by being frightened. Actually, the more frightened he was, the more faith he showed, because he had yet to try to run or even question me. He simply followed me, obviously terrified but trusting me to lead him safely to our destination.
The test ended far later than I would have liked, for I would have much preferred never to begin it at all. Still, the small, timid smile on Quatre’s face as we arrived at the icecream parlor made it worthwhile. The hesitation in his step was almost gone as I opened the door and led him inside. All in all, it was less than I had hoped for, but far more than I had expected.
The shop was antique style, right down to the glass box that enclosed the icecream. There was a bronze rim around the glass case that matched the bronze railings and inlays that decorated the store. There were a few white french table sitting toward the back of the shop, one of which was occupied by three haggard looking slaves. I ordered a chocolate icecream for myself and, after careful deliberation, Quatre decided on a strawberry cone. I could only chuckle at Quatre’s astonished look when he saw the size of the cone, but for the price I was paying I probably should have gotten the whole damn cow. Still, everything at Collar was like that, overcharged because they were well aware that the masters would pay it. Whoever the Owner was, he was getting richer by the second, and with wealth came power. The sooner I stopped him, the better.
But it was hard to think about that kind of thing with Quatre happily licking his icecream cone and grinning. A little less enthusiastically, I nibbled at mine. I would probably throw half of it away, since a “doggy-bag” was unheard of in the upper reaches of society. Sometimes my humble upbringing made it hard for me to understand the aristocracy, but it better allowed me to understand common people. Working for a place like Preventers, it was a must for any agent to be able to work with any level of society. Which was one of the reasons I had moved up the ranks so quickly.
Another was my keen hearing and eyesight, which alerted me to the presence of a rather unwanted set of associates to my left. I had hoped never to see Honey, Jaz, and Weave again, and though I hadn’t actually expected to be that lucky, I had hoped to put off our meeting a little longer. Luckily, however, they seemed to be in no shape to fawn over me. In truth, they seemed to have taken a rather bad beating, and while I couldn’t condone any master beating his or her slaves, this was one that I could at least understand.
But it didn’t look like a normal beating, and my curiosity was strangely aroused. Not that any beating should be normal, simply that masters usually, from what I had seen, chose to hit their slaves across the face, on the back, or on the butt, depending on the severity of the slave’s act and their mood. These slaves, on the other hand, had been struck in a range of places. Honey was holding his face, where a deep bruise was forming, Jaz was holding his stomach, and Weave was clutching his shoulder, as though it had been displaced. To be crude, it looked more like a downtown mugging than a punishment. I leaned closer to hear what they were saying.
“...should tell the Duke what happened! He’ll...”
“Laugh at us,” Jaz finished, frowning angrily. “We’ll be lucky if we don’t get a beating for getting marks like these.”
“I’ll never find make-up tp cover this!” Honey wailed, and I hid a wince.
“Oh shut up,” Weave snapped. “You’ll find something in that box of goo of yours. I’m the one in trouble! How will I ever do chores with this arm!”
“You’re both idiots!” Jaz snapped, finally losing control. “We’re all in huge amounts of trouble if that little idiot tells his master what we did! You think the Duke’s gonna protect us from somebody like Master Zechs? Now the only thing we’ve got goin’ for us is that nobody saw that, alright? It’s their word against ours. If it was just Nana we’d be fine, because the Duke knows he’s a lying little hole, but I don’t know about that Angel guy. If his master trusts him enough we could be screwed, and not in a good way. We’ve got to get our stories straight and stick to them if we’re gonna make it out of this, alright? So, we were in the store and they started pushing us around, okay? We didn’t do anything, and since there’s not a mark on them we’ve got the proof in our favor. So just relax and go with anything I say, you got it?” Jaz asked. The other two nodded obediently, obviously shaken. Jaz was just as much of an asshole as I had originally expected, but he was quite a bit smarter than I had thought.
“Master?” Quatre’s voice came hesitantly across the table. I shook myself out of my thoughts and turned back to him.
“Yes?”
“Is... Is something wrong?”
“No, of course not. Have you finished your icecream?”
“Uh-... yes. I don’t think I can eat anymore.”
“That’s alright. I didn’t think you would eat it all. Throw it away and lets go,” I told him, and he scurried to obey. I took my icecream as I walked out, for I hadn’t been paying it all that much attention as I listened to the boys talk.
“What were they saying?” Quatre asked as we got into the street.
“Who?”
“Those slaves. I saw you listening to them, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. You seemed pretty captured by it, though.”
“Hm. Well, it seems that Heero and Trowa have been causing a bit of a raucous while we were away.”
“Are they alright?”
“Oh, I’m sure they are. Heero can take care of himself, and he wouldn’t let any harm come to Trowa.”
“They do seem to be getting along better, don’t they? Really... ever since Duo came around,” he said, and I had to stop for a moment to think about it. I had noticed that Heero had been less edgy around Trowa the last few days, but I hadn’t directly correlated it with the arrival of Duo. As a matter of fact, Heero had been more relaxed all around, which I couldn’t understand, because Duo was a monster. I couldn’t understand how Heero could find the patience to deal with him, either, but Heero often astounded me.
“I suppose,” I said, and left it at that because we were nearing the apartment. In another moment I could raised voices inside the apartment. As I punched in the code to open the door, Duo yelled, “I’m telling you, he’s gone! Now pay up!”
Beginning to worry, I threw open the door and took in the scene in front of me. Duo had been storming toward Heero, intent on some harm I’m sure, but stopped mid-step upon my entrance. Heero was as stoic as usual, only a small bit of annoyance showing on his face. Wufei was toward the back of the room, looking hesitant and confused as to what the situation called for him to do. And Trowa was in the forefront, looking pale and shaken.
Trowa was the first to shake himself out of the startled daze and rushed to Quatre. It was obvious, then, that Duo had once again instigated the notion in my slaves that I was attempting to do them harm. It seemed that Heero had been impervious to his ramblings, and I wasn’t surprised that Trowa had become frightened at the prospect of something happening to Quatre. Not only had they become very close in the last few days, Trowa also seemed to take some kind of responsibility for Quatre’s well-being. He would obviously blame himself if anything happened to the fragile blonde.
“Shit,” Duo cursed, smiling in relief even as he said it. “I guess I did lose,” he said to Heero with a sheepish smile.
“Lose?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Lose what?”
“Ah.. I...” Duo stuttered, and I knew instantly that this would be something I wasn’t going to appreciate.
“We made a bet,” Heero told me, coming to stand protectively in front of Duo. I could only hope that the protectiveness spanned from his responsibility for the boy, not for some strange affection. After all, Duo would only be around another day.
“A bet about what?”
“We bet on whether or not you would punish Quatre for telling you about his medicine. I bet negative, he bet positive.”
“So... you knew... and you didn’t tell me?”
“He only found out this morning!” Quatre jumped in, and for a second I wondered if he were only trying to spare Heero my anger. “He made me promise to tell you! Please, master, it was my fault! I should have told you in the first place!”
I took a moment to think the entire scenario over. If it was as Quatre said, Heero had only found out this morning and had made him promise to tell me, then there really wasn’t any reason for me to be mad. It also wasn’t a terrible secret, like if Quatre had been doing some other form of drugs. On the other hand, Heero and Quatre were very close, so I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility of Quatre lying to protect Heero. Also, despite the fact that I had found out about it, Heero should have told me immediately. And I wasn’t fond of the idea of my slaves betting on my reaction. So, based on that, I had to find that Heero’s reaction was wrong.
Now, the tricky part. I had to punish Heero, because all my slaves were watching and if I didn’t punish him they might think it was alright to imitate the behavior. I especially couldn’t seem weak in front of Duo and Wufei, who weren’t even my slaves. So the punishment would have to be severe enough to show that I meant business. On the other hand, if the punishment was too severe, I risked losing the trust I had worked so hard to gain from Quatre, Trowa, and even Heero. I could easily scare them back into slave mode, re-erecting the barriers between us that I had worked so hard to tear down. So what to do?
There was no perfect solution. And, with five sets of eyes watching me and the seconds ticking down, I figured I had to do something. I decided that the best course of action would be to take Heero away from the rest of the slaves, thus alleviating most of the problem. With that in mind, I took Heero by the arm and began to lead him toward the slaves quarters when I suddenly heard a growl from behind me. That was all the warning I received before I was suddenly knocked to the ground and my head slammed against the floor.

Heero 85
I had known Master would be angry if he found out about the secret and the bet. Any master would, and ours was more protective than most, which would probably add to his anger instead of detracting from it. Making the bet had been a calculated risk on my part. I hadn’t anticipated that Master would take Quatre out so soon, or that Duo would have so quickly jumped to the conclusion he was gone. I also hadn’t anticipated the pressure Master was put under to react to my miss-step by the presence of Duo and Wufei. I was, however, ready and willing to accept any punishment he deemed necessary for my actions. When he had led me into the slave’s quarters, I had been anxious, but not afraid.
However the most unanticipated action of the night was when Duo, enraged by my punishment, attacked Master, landing a solid drop-kick that sent Master sprawling to the floor. Trowa and I reacted in the same instant, lunging at Duo and knocking him to the floor, where Trowa pinned his arms while I pinned his legs.
“Let me go! Damnit, Heero, you have to get out of here while you can! In a minute he’s going to get up and flay you like a damn codfish! Go!”
“I...” said Master as he dizzily got back to his feet, holding his forehead, “had no intention of flaying anyone, and I’m still not going to hurt Heero. You, on the other hand, I’m going to gut like a fish!” Master growled, and I left Trowa to hold Duo while I attempted to intercept Master. I knew better than to enrage him further by trying to physically stop him, so I could only settle for latching onto his arm.
“Master, please, let’s go tend to your wound,” I asked him quietly and he hesitated. He was still frowning, but a little of the rage had seeped out of him, and after a moment he nodded to me. I was relieved, because it was perfectly justifiable and within his power as a master to do just as he promised to Duo. But, just as I didn’t believe he would seriously injure me with my punishment, I didn’t think he would actually kill Duo, either. Of course, that wasn’t to say he couldn’t seriously injure him, which was something I wanted to avoid. After all, Duo was my responsibility.
“I can’t believe that little punk!” Master hissed as he stormed into the bedroom as I closed the door, giving us some privacy.
“I’m sorry, Master, he is my responsibility. The fault is mine.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t be held accountable for his every action. Besides, you’re already in trouble. Speaking of which, that little stunt Shini pulled is not enough to get you out of your punishment.”
“I admit that my actions were wrong and I will willingly accept any punishment you deem necessary to keep me from repeating my mistake,” I told him as I took and icepack out of the cabinet and cracked it. He stared at me as I laid it over the bump on his forehead.
“If only Shinigami were a little more like you,” he said wistfully, an amused half-smile on his face.
“But then he would not be Shinigami.”
“He wouldn’t be an idiotic punk, either.”
“He was only trying to save me,” I found myself defending. “Duo is not used to masters who do not enjoy punishing their slaves. He thought that you were going to seriously injure me.”
Master looked contemplative for a moment, then nodded. “I hadn’t thought of that, but I suppose you’re right. Still, he had no right to push me like that.”
“I agree completely. If he is ever to make a good slave, he needs more discipline.”
“Well, I won’t be bothered with it. He’s only here for another few hours, anyway, then we can get back to our normal lives,” Master said offhandedly as he turned to the mirror to inspect his face. I couldn’t understand the strange pang I felt when Master said that. I felt somewhat bad that Duo had just risked so much in what he believed was saving my life, and now he was going to die and there was nothing I could do. But there was always the possibility that Duo would get picked up, because someone always wanted to buy Shinigami, so I really shouldn’t have been feeling so bad about it.
“So, let’s get your punishment over with,” he said, putting aside the icepack. I refrained from reminding him that the longer he held it on the more effective it would be. The two seconds he had given it were nearly useless.
“Yes, Master,” I said as he went to the closet and pulled something out of the top. I recognized it as the paddle he had first used on me, and realized he must have brought it from home. Realizing his intentions, I pulled down my shorts and set them aside. When he sat on the bed, I placed my self unresistantly across his lap.
Master was quick, thorough, and seemed to take as little joy in my punishment as I did. His cracks were hard, but not damaging. The punishment was 20 hits, which was more than most masters administered, but less than was required to harm me. I was not, after all, a normal slave. I had been trained to live with discomfort and pain, so my pain tolerance was high than most slave’s. In my first punishment, Master had to administer well over two hundred hits harder than these to influence me. Based on that I decided the punishment was light, but enough for me to realize my mistake. A harsh warning, by my standards.
It was over quickly, and master allowed me to get up. My butt was red and aching, but it wasn’t as bad as the first time, and not nearly as bad as some of the other punishments I had been given. Still, when Master rubbed his knuckles over my backside I couldn’t help but hiss in pain.
“Heh. A little sore, I see. Why don’t you go hop in the bathtub, see if a cool bath doesn’t take the sting away. I’ll see if I don’t have some lotion to keep it from being sore for tonight,” he said, even as he followed me into the bathroom, where he rolled up his sleeves and set the bath water to a cool but not cold temperature. He didn’t leave as I watched the bathtub fill, but sat on the rim instead. “Despite this... transgression, you’ve been a model slave the past few weeks. I can only hope that this is a one time mishap, and that it won’t happen again.”
“I will not betray your trust again, Master,” I said, and meant it. The look on his face, the look of angry accusation, had been too much for me.
“Good. Then there’s only one question left; what exactly did you bet?” he asked.
I had been afraid of that question, but had though I had avoided it with the punishment. Now, my heart jumped to my throat. I couldn’t seem to bring the words out of my mouth, because I new he’d be angry again. To bet with something I didn’t rightfully own... to give away Master’s property... would he sell me for that? I had betrayed his trust by keeping secrets from him, but this... was this a betrayal of loyalty? I didn’t want to see that disappointed look in his eyes again, but to lie and be found out would only hurt my cause more. It was a lie by omission that got me here in the first place. I stared into the quickly filling water, wondering what to do.
“Heero?” he asked, and I could hesitate no longer.
“I bet the jewelry you bought me. Please forgive me, I...”
“That’s good.”
“W-what?”
“I was worried that you bet something important, like your body,” he said. I tried to find the lie in his face, but there was no hint of falsity in him. So he was... serious? “Don’t look so surprised. You didn’t think I’d be that upset by losing a little bit of jewelry, did you? After all, I can always buy you more, and I did give it to you. If you want to bet it, that’s your business.”
“But... I... I mean, a slave can’t own anything. I bet your property.”
“Hm. But I own you as well, correct? So if you bet yourself, that would be betting property that is much more valuable to me than those petty trinkets I bought you. You’re still not allowed to do it again, though. Betting is a horrible habit to get into. It makes far to many fights and losses,” he told me. I agreed, nodding my head as I turned off the water. I had seen many slaves get into fights over lost or won bets.
“Yes, Master. But I should tell you, I didn’t lose. I bet that Quatre would be unharmed, and he is.”
“Oh, so what did you win?”
“Shinigami promised to behave himself at the party tonight,” I said, gently easing my sore bottom into the cool water of the tub. Master tipped his head back and laughed.
“Well, I suppose that’s punishment enough for him, then. He promised to be on his best behavior, huh? We’d better take full advantage of this, though I’m not sure his best behavior is up to the standards of sewer rat society. Ah, well, I suppose it’ll seem a feat to simply have Shinigami there without drugs. He... What the hell?” Master wondered as there was suddenly a ruckus in the other room. “Finish your bath,” he instructed as we heard Trowa and Duo exchange harsh words outside the door, “I’ll handle this. Be quick, we don’t want to be late for the party,” he said, then stormed out the door to deal with Duo. I could only hope Duo submitted quietly, for Master was still angry about the kick he had received earlier.
My hopes seemed in vain, though, as angry words were exchanged outside the door. A moment later, there was a smacking sound and a thud as someone hit the floor. I could only hope it was Duo, because if it wasn’t and if Duo had hit Trowa or Master again, there was nothing I could do to keep him from being returned. Duo was wearing on Master’s patience without the violence.
I finished my bath quickly and, although I had only been in the water a few minutes, my backside felt good enough for me to put my shorts on and hastily leave the bedroom.
The den was surprisingly quiet, for I had thought Duo would still be fighting with Master. But, instead, the braided boy was sitting sullenly in the plush chair, another dark bruise forming on his face. I let out a sigh of relief that he had allowed himself to be quelled so easily.
“Heero!” he said, jumping up and running to me. Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei had also been sitting in the living room, and Master had been in the kitchen preparing tea. Now all four sets of eyes turned to me, though Master’s went back to his tea a moment later. Duo ran up to my side and grabbed my arm, looking me over thoroughly. Finding nothing externally wrong with me, he growled, low and under his breath, “What did he do?”
“Nothing, Duo, I’m fine,” I snapped, strangely embarrassed about telling the other slaves that I had been paddled by Master.
“Damnit!” Duo hissed, and seemed strangely uptight for me being the one who was punished, “Tell me what he did!” he growled again, and I could tell wasn’t going to leave me alone. I looked over to Master, who nodded his assent, then back to Duo. I leaned over to Duo’s ear and whispered what had happened. The others seemed dying with suspense as Duo’s eyes went wide.
“He spanked you!” he blurted, the angry energy draining out of him as he laughed. “Hell, that’s not a punishment, that’s a reward!” he said, and I hoped the others didn’t agree. I didn’t want them to think of Master as a weakling, Wufei especially.
“Not all of us are so crude,” Wufei remarked, glaring snidely. “I’m sure the embarrassment alone is worth twice the punishment,” he said, relieving me of my worries.
“Embarrassment-shmarassment! How the hell can you be embarrassed about a spankin’ when you’re walkin’ around nekkid all the time?”
“Enough,” Master silenced before the two could get into a real argument. “You all need to get ready for the party. Duo, I’ve been told that you will be obedient tonight as part of a lost bet, so you’ll be coming as well. Quatre, this is the last party, and you’ve been recovering very well, so you may come as well if you like. Wufei, Trowa, suit up. We leave in half an hour.”
Everyone hurried to get their costumes, because half an hour was a very short amount of time for the complicated costumes and makeup worn at Collar. Trowa and Quatre took their costumes and went to the master bedroom to put them on. Wufei took his into the master bathroom, which left Duo and I alone in the slave’s quarters. As we dressed, Duo seemed nervous, and kept glancing at me. I knew that if I allowed him enough time, he would tell me what was wrong on his own, and he didn’t disappoint me.
“Heero, I wanted to tell you... I mean, I’m sorry I got so nosey about... about your... punishment. It’s just... when I heard the water running... I thought...” he said, then hesitated, stumbling for words. He seemed to be on the verge of giving up, so I prompted him a bit.
“Thought what, Duo?”
“I thought... you know...”
“Know what?” I asked again, losing patience.
“I thought he was gonna hold you down under the water as a punishment. You know, an almost drowning.”
“Duo, that’s insane. Master’s not like that. Why would you even think... Did... Did someone do that to you?” I asked, but he wouldn’t answer. Still, the fact that he couldn’t seem to look me in the eye said enough. Shinigami was said to be one of the worst slaves, but also one of the most popular. He was a challenge, so masters went to great lengths to try to break him. I was horrified that something like that had been done to Duo, but not surprised. He was, despite everything else, Shinigami. “Duo, Master would never do that,” I told him, pulling his chin so that he would face me. Another thought struck me. “Is that why you fought the bath so hard?” I wondered, remembering the fight to get him into the bathtub on his first day here.
“Yeah,” he admitted with a sigh, “I guess... I guess I’m a little bit phobic now. Pretty stupid, huh? Being afraid of a damn bathtub.”
“Humans learn to fear what injures them. It can’t be helped. I’m sure, however, that Master would have been much more gentle and understanding if you had told us what was wrong.”
“Yeah, tell you what’s wrong so you can use it against me later,” he said bitterly, pulling away from me. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this damn stuff. I am an idiot. I mean, hell, I barely know you!”
“But you do trust me,” I said evenly, knowing it was true. “You wouldn’t have admitted this if you didn’t.”
“Yeah... well... you’re one of a kind, ‘Ro. ‘S probably not a conniving bone in your body, but not everybody’s as nice as you are.”
“Master is.”
“I sincerely doubt that, or he wouldn’t be a master,” he replied, the bitterness returning to his tone. I took his face in my hands and forced him to look at me again.
“He is kind, and being a master is hard for him. Just give him a chance tonight, at the party. You did promise you’d behave.”
“Fine,” he said, sighing and looking like he’d rather be sucked into a vacuum than listen to master. “You know, you’re a pretty good negotiator,” he said, the sly smile returning to his face. He zipped up the last of his costume, and we were ready to go.

Trowa 86
It was something of a scramble to get into costume. I was not used to the elaborate outfits Master Zechs bought for us, so even my relatively simple demon costume caused me some problems. The skintight material kept bunching up, and the wings constantly slipped down until Quatre managed to find a strap that I had missed and fasten it. I also helped Quatre, because he had been drugged when first donning the costume and couldn’t figure out where some of the pieces of gauzy material went or how they were supposed to lie. Still, we had about fifteen minutes of extra time once our costumes were on to put on makeup.
“Wufei, are you alright?” Quatre asked the closed door.
“I’m fine,” he responded quickly, his voice somewhat strained. Quatre rolled his eyes.
“Then could you open the door?” I wondered. “We need the mirror.”
“Uh... For what?”
“To put on our makeup.”
“Can’t you... uh... use the slave’s bathroom?”
“Nope!” Duo said cheerily, entering the room with Heero in tow. “We just came from there. Apparently all the makeup is in here.”
“It has better lighting and a bigger mirror,” Heero grumbled.
“Wufei, could you please open the door? Are you sure you’re alright?”
“No! Yes! I mean... Just give me a minute!”
“You’ve had a minute,” I pointed out, “and we only have a few more left if we want to make it to the party on time.”
“K’so! How much longer do we have?”
“About twelve minutes.”
“Shit!” he cursed, and there was the sound of something being knocked over.
“Wufei, open this door right now!” Quatre demanded.
“Here, I got it,” Duo said, pushing his way past us to the door. He extracted a pin from his hair and proceeded to pick the simple lock on the door. It took him almost no time, the lock clicked open almost the second he inserted the pin into the doorknob. “And there’s how we deal on L2,” he commented proudly, a wide grin on his face. Heero looked grim and I thought for a moment that he would protest, but he merely opened the door and proceeded inside.
In the bathroom, Wufei was only half dressed and scurrying to pick up a jar of spilled body-jewels. He wore only a small piece of green fabric covering his modesty and green leather-like tights with attached claws that looked like lizard feet. There was a bottle of glue on the counter, along with gloves that matched the socks and an empty bottle of jewels.
Wufei looked up at us in shock, his face pale and panic-stricken. There was no way he could get his costume together in time on his own.
We moved as a group, suddenly, as though we had each been taken over by the same impulse. Quatre and Heero both dropped to the floor and began collecting the scattered beads. Duo pushed a startled and confused Wufei to sit on the toilet, then pulled a small chair over for himself while I hopped up on the counter. As soon as the other two had collected a handful of beads, we each began sticking them to Wufei’s chest in a lessening scale-like pattern. The idea was that when we finished it would look like scale was melting into flesh as the eye drifted upwards. Wufei merely sat there in a stupor as the team worked in tandem to assemble his costume. When we were finished, a light dusting of a green sparkling dust gave Wufei’s body an otherworldly tint.
We stepped back, as much to see our own work as to let Wufei see himself in the mirror. He was radiant, and he barely seemed to recognize himself. After a moment of staring, he turned to us and bowed deeply; a sign of gratitude.
It felt good to help out a fellow slave without being told or expecting anything in return. In other houses, I and the others would have let the slave flounder until the master saw. The master would always order the other slaves to help him, but he would lose some of his value in the master’s eyes. If one was late too many times, the master would stop taking him, and he would eventually be sold.
There wasn’t that kind of pressure, that kind of competition here. I was new, but I wouldn’t doubt that if Master saw Wufei flounder, he would have helped him himself instead of calling us. Still, it felt good to do Wufei a favor, and the gratitude in his eyes told me that he wouldn’t soon forget it.
“You look great, FeiFei. Now we gotta hustle!” Duo snapped, and Wufei found himself pushed out of the way while the rest of us crowded around the mirror.
Duo’s makeup was simplest, since he was wearing a mask. He merely put some dark powder and sparkles on his face to make him look more mysterious. I put the same dark powder on my face, but also included gray eyeshadow and lipstick, to make my face look like it was constantly in the shadow. Heero and Quatre both dowsed themselves generously in white powder and sparkles, along with a sliver lipgloss and white eyeshadow.
“Boys, are you ready?” Master asked just as Duo and I finished putting the last of the sparkles into Heero and Quatre’s hair. “Ah, you all look magnificent. Wufei, those jewels are stunning,” he praised. Wufei blushed at the complement.
“I had help with them,” he admitted. Yet another thing a slave under a different master would not do without prompting; give credit to someone else.
“Well, you’re all lovely. Now, let’s get going. This is the last party, so we don’t want to be late!”
The last party was always held by the Owner and, though he never attended, it was rumored that he always watched. The party was more of an old-fashioned ball than anything, and it was the only one where every slave was expected to be at least scantily dressed. The masters all wore ancient outfits, male masters with military or royalty suits and female master with large hoops skirts. Our Master looked like the king of an ancient city, dressed in a long royal gold coat inlaid with gold embroidery. The tight white pants showed off his strong thighs and the high boots accentuated his tall stature.
The slaves were either dressed to mimic the masters or in some kind of costume. Many slaves were dressed in animal costumes, cats and birds seemed most popular this year. The other slaves, who chose to mimic the masters, were often in the tattered remains of what would have been a beautiful outfit. One slave was wearing a suit of armor, only the only pieces he had were the gloves, the pants, and the shoes. His entire torso was bare. Another fellow had been dressed in a hoop skirt, but the fabric was removed from the outside of the skirt, so that his undergarments were clearly visible.
Master took us directly to a table when we entered. The tables, unlike the rest of the party, were simple at first glance. They were small, meant to seat a maximum of four. The only alteration to this was the there was a large pillow chained to either leg. The chair, of course, was for the master, and the pillow was for the slaves.
Master sat in the chair, Quatre and I sat on the left pillow, and Duo and Heero slid onto the right pillow. This left Wufei standing awkwardly at the side, wondering what to do. Master seemed uncertain as well, but as another master approached he quickly made up his mind and pulled Wufei into his lap. Wufei squawked, surprised by the sudden movement, and more or less fell into Master’s lap. He had to hold onto Master’s neck to keep himself from slipping onto the floor, and Master put his arms around him to keep him steady.
It must have looked like a tender moment to Madam Long, who sat down across from Master with a laugh.
“I see someone finally managed to tame Dragon!” she gasped. Wufei reddened, but didn’t respond.
“Patience can tame even the wildest beast. Or the most stubborn,” he added, looking Wufei in the eye with a smile. Wufei blushed and rolled his eyes. I could only assume that he realized he had been stubborn, because I’m sure he would have offended otherwise.
“You must tell me how you managed to subdue him! Did you best him?”
“At swordplay,” Master admitted, though he turned his face away from her in a somewhat pained manner. I wondered why, but didn’t dare to ask. Beside me, Quatre looked concerned as well, but knew better than to say anything.
“My, you must be the best around! Or perhaps Dragon simply hasn’t been practicing.”
“No, Dragon is an exemplary swordsman. I must admit, my methods were... less than chivalrous.”
“Did you cheat?” she asked, her brows furrowing in curiosity. “Because he never accepted cheating...”
“Master did not cheat,” Wufei said hesitantly, looking to Master for approval. Master nodded, and he continued. “He simply found my weakness and exploited it. Any good swordsman would do the same.”
“And what is your weakness?” the Mistress asked, looking very interested in the conversation. Warning bells went off in my head, but speaking would be considered rude, so I couldn’t warn Master.
Apparently, though, Master sensed Madam Long’s devious intentions, for he smiled and said, “Now that would be giving up the game, wouldn’t it, madam?” He winked. “You’ll just have to find out for yourself.”
Madam Long pouted, but there was really nothing she could do. Instead, she turned her attentions to the slaves behind master, myself included.
“No!” she gasped suddenly. “It can’t be!” she squealed. “Don’t tell me you’ve purchased Shinigami as well!”
“No,” Master quickly corrected. “Fortunately, I have not. I only took him on for a few days. Luckily enough, too, for he’s far too much of a handful for me.”
“But he seems so well behaved tonight,” Madam purred, leaning closer to Duo, who leaned into Heero, who pulled Duo away from Madam Long.
“I managed to persuade him to behave himself at the ball. Trust me, he isn’t always so docile.”
“Oh, of course not,” Madam Long said, sitting back in her chair and turning her attention back to Master. “All slaves are better behaved in public. That’s only natural. But, of course, if he’s as much of a handful in private as you say, it’s probably better to get rid of him. He is Shinigami, after all. I’ve heard he’s killed a few masters,” she said, then laughed. “Of course, I don’t believe it! It’s about as much crap as him having ever been on Black.”
“So you don’t think he’s done drugs?”
“Well of course he’s done drugs! He just hasn’t done Black. You’d know if he had, because the tips of his fingers,” she said, reaching out and grabbing his hand, “would have a black spot,” she announced, revealing Duo’s fingers to be spot-free. Duo was glaring and struggled to get out of her grasp. She let him go, paying him no mind as Heero gathered Duo back into his arms. “That’s one of the reasons it’s called black. It’s the most powerful Collar drugs, so powerful that it’s rare for a slave to survive it. And it’s the only one of the Collar drugs that’s addictive.”
“Really?” Master wondered.
“Yes, didn’t you know? The Collar drugs are made so that they can be given to slaves once in a while, without needing to constantly up the doses. Slaves don’t become physically addicted, though many do become mentally addicted to the properties of the drugs. That’s why someone so often drugged, like Shinigami, wouldn’t be a burnout by now.”
“Huh. I hadn’t thought about it,” Master admitted.
Meanwhile, Duo was getting antsy, sitting quietly as the two masters talked about him. He kept squirming, even though Heero tried to hold him still, and eventually pulled out of Heero’s grasp to tug on Master’s sleeve.
“Yes, Shini?” Master asked. Instead of speaking, which was frowned upon for slaves, Duo merely pointed to the dance floor, where several pairs of slaves were dancing, along with some slave and master pairs. Master frowned as he looked over the crowd, then back to Duo. “You can go, but make sure you behave. I don’t want you knocking anyone over.”
Duo nodded cheerily, then grabbed Heero, hauled the other boy to his feet, and trotted off toward the dance floor. I looked at Quatre somewhat wistfully. I loved to dance, though I was not particularly good at it, and would have loved to dance with Quatre. But would he want to dance with someone so plain? So homely?
“You two can go as well,” Master offered, perhaps sensing my yearning. I turned to Quatre, wondering if he wanted to go or not, but he had pulled me to my feet before I could even turn my head. He dragged me toward the dance floor in his excitement, and I had to pull him to a stop at the edges. He was radiant, joyful and excited. His eyes, such a perfect blue found nowhere else in nature. I looked deep into his blue orbs as I pulled him against me, his small form tucking snugly against mine. He smiled at me, and the other dancers faded away as we rocked back and forth in the tide of the music.

Heero 87
I almost, just for a split second, wished Duo hadn’t asked me to dance. I didn’t feel right, leaving Master unguarded in a room full of other masters. If he made a wrong step, said a wrong word, there could be repercussions to all of us. With no one there to guide him, no one to take the fall, he was vulnerable.
But even as I thought this, Wufei’s head turned slightly and met my eyes. An understanding passed between us, warrior to soldier. He was honorable, and I think that he was beginning to see that, at the very least, Master was far more honorable than the other masters here. Wufei was trustworthy, and his eyes told me that he would guard Master in my stead. With a capable slave such as Wufei watching Master, I felt I could relax just a touch.
Duo was a surprisingly good dancer. He caught the rhythm quickly and moved into the dance, spinning like a professional. I had expected him to attempt something indecent, perhaps a trick he had shown off in the Collar competition, but he was a picture of purity, never even slipping outside the required step for the dance. His caresses to my body as we met, circled, and parted were light, teasing, and perfectly acceptable at even the most prudent gatherings. Still, I could see from the smile on his face that he was enjoying himself. His infectious grin spread to my eyes, though it still could not melt the stone that kept my lips sealed in a stiff, straight line.
To our right, Trowa and Quatre were dancing at the same languid pace the classical music set, but were slightly closer than Duo and I. When the dance required for them to embrace, Quatre laid his head on Trowa’s chest, and Trowa pressed his cheek into Quatre’s silky locks. I felt a sharp twinge of jealousy, but I couldn’t tell if it was jealousy because of how close the two were, or jealousy because there was no one to hold me like that.
Duo must have sensed my sadness, because the next time I spun him he came back a little too hard, hitting into my chest. I would have thought it an accident, but he grinned at me and rubbed his cheek against mine. Then, in the next instant, he was once again dancing as though nothing had happened. But the warm feeling would not leave my chest.
The dance sped up again, and we were once again twirling, this time as a pair. As we circled, I noticed first that the Duke had joined Master, and second that Master was frowning. In the next passed, I found that Madam Long had left, and Master was suppressing a glare. I worried and wondered if I should go help, but the next turn of the dance had already pulled me away. I nearly tripped Duo, rushing to turn again so that I could see Master. But when I did turn, I found the table to be empty. I felt a flare of panic, but soon caught sight of Master leading Wufei toward the dance floor.
The dance finished and there were a few seconds for some dancers to sit down and others to join. As Master and Wufei entered the dance floor, I pulled Duo over to where they were standing, and noticed that Trowa was following suit. We arrived just in time to pick up our respective partners and begin the next song.
As we danced, I noticed many people staring at us. Curiosity piqued, I tried to figure out what could interest them so. After careful scrutiny, I realized the picture we made, with two angels and two demons surrounding the dancing pair of Master and the dragon. It seemed almost as though we had carefully selected the costumes to highlight not only our own beauty, but that of Master. Surrounded by angels and demons and dancing with a dragon, his golden hair highlighted by the gold of his clothes and the deep ruby of his coat, Master looked like an immortal god, come down to the plain of man for a lusty and lavish affair. Dragon seemed to be his guardian, and we angels and demons seemed like subjects under his benign rule.
The party took several more hours, longer than most of the other parties, but it was over far too soon. Always at the back of my mind as the last dances were finished and the party began to dispense was the slithering feeling of despair. I had been able to block out the thought at the beginning of the party, but as it came to a close there was no denying that I would soon bid my last goodbye to Duo. I felt that I could barely allow him out of my arms to spin as we danced, for in the next moment I knew he would be plucked from me.
But I was being irrational, and I knew it. I chastised myself time and again for the longing I felt for the beautiful boy. I had only known him for a few days, there was no conceivable way I could have formed an emotional attachment that quickly. A few short months ago, before Master had taken me, I had not been sure I was capable of emotional attachments, and now I thought I was... affectionate toward a slave I barely knew? The only logical reasoning I could come up with was that I merely lusted after him, which was selfish and low. I knew Duo hated being thought of as a sexual toy, and I was also aware of my lusty Master who would gleefully help me satisfy my needs. And yet I still greedily lusted after something that was not mine? Someone who had shown no interest in me other than on a platonic level? I dared to betray my Master by becoming enchanted by a slave who could barely tolerate Master, and who Master could barely stand as well?
But there were pluses to Maxwell to balance the scale. Firstly, he was famous, or perhaps infamous, which got Master the publicity that he needed. And to have seemingly tamed Shinigami was getting more and more masters to look toward Master Zechs as a potential ally or threat. Along with Wufei, Master had successfully tamed the two most stubborn and aggressive slaves at Collar in his first year, and the public could see that. It was important for the other masters to see he was serious about Collar, so that they would share some of their techniques with him in the summer. Masters commonly held parties at their private residences during the summer to solidify their allies and share training techniques and information about the upcoming Collar. It was important that Master gain information from the more experienced masters, and Duo had almost guaranteed that he would get invited to several parties in the summer.
But would Master think it was worth the aggravation of keeping him? He would certainly see the risk of Duo acting up in front of some important allies and hurting his reputation. Could Master truly tame Shinigami? If anyone could, I knew that it would be Master, but I wondered if Shinigami was tameable at all. And Master seemed to look forward to Duo’s leaving. Was he jealous of the time I put into Duo? Was he afraid I would turn my affections toward the other slave? Certainly he couldn’t doubt my loyalty, for Master was most important in my life. But... Duo... needed me. As strong as he was, he was as easily frightened as he was angered, and as easily depressed as he was excited. And I wondered, often, if he wasn’t sad more often than he was happy, for the smile on his lips rarely touched his eyes, and I had noticed that his smile disappeared the instant he thought he was alone. There was a longing in him that was the same for the rest of us, but he had been hurt so much more that he was afraid of reaching, afraid of hoping. Certainly I could understand the instinct that led Duo to push away what he wanted most, for fear of having it stolen again.
The dance ended, and I realized that I hadn’t paid attention through most of it. It was lucky that I was decent at multitasking, for I felt that I needed to think things through, and now was my last chance. Within the hour, Duo would be returned to the warehouse, and by the next day would be auctioned off or killed. As far as rumor went, the older masters were tired of trying to tame the Shinigami, and none of the new masters had enough money to purchase such an expensive slave. Master was Duo’s only hope, and it was a slim hope at that.
Final goodbyes were made, and an unusually large amount of masters came to wish Master farewell. It seemed that we would be invited to many parties over the summer. I shuddered at the thought. I had been hoping for some peace to train before returning to the Collar competition. The constant partying was beginning to wear me out, and social graces had never been a particularly appealing aspect for me.
When we were finally able to leave we boarded an elevator to return us to our floor. It was then that Duo began to return to his usual personality, first by tugging on his costume, then by taking off his mask, and finally be dropping down to sit on the floor. There were a lot floors in the station we were on, and we were all tired, but none of us were tired enough to plop down on the floor, and I knew Duo was just doing it to irk Master. I wanted to smack him, though Master patiently ignored the behavior. This, in turn, irked Duo, who decided to try again.
“What a shindig, huh? Never seen so many assholes together in one spot, huh?” Duo said, smirking hatefully at Master, but was again ignored. He went on, undaunted. “It’s like they all come together once a year, every asshole in a mile radius, come together at one party to do all kinds of shit,” he tried again, with the same result. “I’ll be glad to get back and wash the shit-smell out of my hair. You gonna let me use the big shower this time, or you wanna hog it all for yourself again?” Duo asked Master.
“We won’t have time,” Master finally responded.
“Hey, look, it’s not that late and I may have long hair bit I don’t take hours to-...”
“We don’t have hours. You forget, you go back to the warehouse tonight,” Master informed him tonelessly, his face cold and blank. Duo looked shocked for a minute, then returned to the angry scowl he had worn since he started his verbal assault.
“Hell, that’s fine. I’m tired of putting up with your shitty, stuckup prick all the time anyway. You and all your friends from the party. And what a party, too!” he gushed with sarcastic enthusiasm. “Bunch a richy-riches, huh? Spared no expense- Well, except when it came to food. But then, who needs food when you’re pouring enough alcohol down your throat to knock and elephant on its ass, huh? Guess they forgot the poor little slaves, though. Couldn’t even give us a damn drink. Psh. But it’s okay, no hard feelings. Asshole masters...”
“Duo, you’re babbling,” I muttered. He gave me a scathing glare.
“So? I’m hungry! I talk when I’m hungry! That a problem?”
I shot a glare back and opened my mouth to retort when Master sighed and pressed the stop button on the elevator.
“If it will keep you quiet,” Master said, “we’ll stop and get something to eat. I’m a bit hungry myself.”
“Uh-...” Duo hesitated, shocked by Master’s generosity, then his face lit up. “Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!”
The doors opened and Master led us out of the elevator. I followed right behind him, and Duo followed excitedly at my heels. By the time we arrived at the bakery and Master placed our orders, Duo was almost dancing in his spot.
The food placated Duo, and we finished the journey in relative quiet. Duo often became tired after eating a substantial meal, and tonight was no different. By the time we arrived back at the room, I was almost carrying him.
“Put him in the slave’s quarters,” Master instructed. “We have some time before he has to be back and I was going to have a cup of coffee before we go.”
I nodded and took Duo to lay him down, but when I went to set him down on the bed, he grabbed my arm and opened his eyes, instantly awake, but still groggy from sleep.
“‘M I back ‘lready?” he mumbled.
“No. You fell asleep and Master said you could rest a bit before leaving,” I told him, settling him on the bed and moving to sit beside him.
“That’s good. I don’t know if I’ll get any sleep in the cage, that damn hay itches! Wanna be energized for tomorrow, whether I’m trying to attract a master or lookin’ to make a quick escape. All this food lately, too. Man, I haven’t felt this good in a while now...” he said, drifting back to sleep even as he spoke. With Duo, it was all ups and downs. When he was happy, he was always exuberant, excited, constantly moving and laughing. But just as quickly as he went up, he came down, and he would often crash with the same speed he used to be happy.
As Duo slept, I ran my hands through his hair and watched his cherub face relaxed peacefully in a fitful sleep. It wasn’t hard to convince myself to do what I knew needed to be done, not while looking at that face. Gone were all the masks of the daytime, all the fears and anxieties, the phobias and the pain. Were we really so different, in the end? He covered his fears with masks of emotions, while I hid mine behind a stony indifference. In the end, though, wasn’t the result that same?
The question was almost too charged for me, and I quickly escaped into the kitchen, where Master was having a cup of coffee and a dose of aspirin. I joined him at the table, watching as he sipped desperately at the hot liquid. I knew Master had a habit of getting headaches, particularly when he was having problems with his slaves. He had used up an entire bottle of aspirin on the arrivals of Quatre and Trowa, and was almost through a second with the tensions caused by Wufei and Duo. I didn’t doubt he had snuck a couple tablets on my behalf, as well. But, strangely enough, even when his headaches were the worst, he was still even tempered with us. He might snap more and growl once or twice, but he never punished more or less with the ebb and flow of his headaches.
And he was beautiful. It was hard to deny it, even as shallow as it might seem, but we were lucky to have a master who was not only kind, but also beautiful. Many slaves were cursed with repulsive masters, and many were forced to dose themselves with drugs in order to perform. Master was a strong, gentle lover, who was always careful to arouse and satisfy me. I could only say me, of course, because I was not aware of his having intercourse with any of the other slaves except Trowa, who had not spoken of that night, nor had he repeated it.
And, as I sat there, staring at Master as he casually sipped his coffee, never losing his air of beauty, refinement, and grace, I was afraid. I was afraid that, by asking for more, I would endanger what I already had. What if Master thought I was greedy? What if he thought I was selfish? I could find myself on the blocks, just like Duo, and how would that help him? And I doubted that Master would say yes anyway, because he hated Shinigami so much. And Shinigami had gotten out of tighter situations before, right? I... I couldn’t go back to that. I wouldn’t survive.
So I sat there, half a foot away from the only man who could save Duo, and said nothing. I couldn’t move, couldn’t feel, couldn’t breathe. I felt like the stone man I had been before Master found me, and I was too afraid to break free. I fought, against the fear and the uncertainty, but it seemed as though I was losing ground every second. And by the time Master finished his coffee, I had been buried alive.
“Go get Shinigami,” he instructed, and I rose to do his bidding without a moment of hesitation. No, a good slave would never hesitate. A good slave did their master’s bidding instantly, without thinking of the consequences.
I walked noiselessly to the slave’s quarters, just as I had been trained to, and opened the door without a sound. To my surprise, Duo was already awake, sitting on the bed and braiding his hair. He smiled at me as I entered, but I did not respond. Could not respond.
“Heero, my man. You come to pick me up for the long road?” he asked, a lopsided grin on his face that I did not allow myself to interpret.
“Affirmative. The Master wishes to return you now,” I informed him. His smile faltered into a confused look, and I was about to repeat myself when he tied off his hair and stood.
“Hey, man, don’t get so upset. There was nothing you could do, huh? Everybody’s gotta go sometime, and maybe now’s not my time. Maybe it is,” he said, laying a hand on my shoulder. “I mean, I wouldn’t have had this great time if it wasn’t for you, ‘cause the asshole would ‘a got rid of me the second my cruddy bare feet touched his manicured carpet if it weren’t for you. I know how much it took to keep me out of trouble, and how many times you jumped in on my behalf. So... thank’s, man. I really owe you one,” he said with a wink before preceding me out the door.
How could he be so brave in the face of such a bleak future? Wasn’t he afraid of death? Couldn’t he see what lay ahead of him? Or was he only trying to spare me guilt at seeing him go?
Whatever the reason, I could only feel awe as I watched him stride through the door, as though not a care in the world rested on his shoulders. And I knew, I simply knew, that I could not let such an amazing creature be destroyed. And, suddenly, I was able to breathe again. The rock cracked, and there was fear and pain and everything else I had locked away, but I was myself again, and not the doll inhabited by a soul.
The walk to the warehouse and back was strangely short, but it could have merely been because I was so worried about how to ask Master. I knew I had to get him alone, somewhere private, so I could only hope that the others would be asleep when we returned. Wufei, after finally beginning to trust Master, had still been hesitant about coming to bed with all of us, but after his first night of nervousness had felt no guilt about sliding into bed with Master, Quatre, Trowa, and myself, or any combination of those listed. Not that I could blame him. In place as cruel a Collar, even the touch of warm, unassuming skin was a luxury to be enjoyed, and sharing a bed with those closest and more trusted to you was a rare gift.
Dropping Duo off was anti-climactic as well, for it merely consisted of Master signing him back into the Warehouse and handing him over to the guards. He went sedately, I think perhaps a farewell present to Master and myself, though there were sounds of a scuffle and several shouts as Master and I departed. I saw a faint, almost approving grin on Master’s lips, but it so quickly vanished that I could have imagined it.
And then, suddenly, we were back in the apartment, and I was standing in the middle of the den, and Master was heading for the bedroom. I saw my last chance slip away and the breath caught in my throat, for once Master reached the bedroom I would not be able to talk to him away from the other slaves, and I worried that the others would side with Master and try to persuade me not to bring Duo back. I couldn’t allow that. I couldn’t lose him!
“Master!” I puffed, somewhere between a whisper and a scream.
“Hmm?” he asked, turning to face me with surprised, confused look on his face. “What is it, Heero?”
“I... I need to speak with you.”
“Oh. Alright then. Let’s go to the den, hm?” he asked, leading me to the long couch. He sat down, but I could not. There was too much nervous energy inside me for sitting.
“Master... I... I need...” I tried, but everything was getting heavy again, and I could barely breathe.
“Heero? Calm down, love!” he whispered harshly, pulling me into his lap. His hands were gentle, running up and down my back, until I could breathe again. I was never afraid with Master.
“Now, if you can ask without panicking, why don’t you ask your question?” Master cooed gently in my ear. I nodded, still leaning heavily against his chest.
“I... I need a favor, Master.”
“I assumed as much, Heero. I was pretty sure you needed something when you called me out here. What is it? You know I can deny you nothing.”
“I want you... I want you to buy Shinigami.”
Master stilled behind me, and I held my breath, not daring to look at him. Finally, he sighed and forced me to look at him.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked seriously. “You’d still be responsible for him, along with practicing for Collar. You wouldn’t be able to slack off, and you’d have to make sure he behaves himself and practices too. Are you sure you want this responsibility?”
“I do,” I told him, and he gave me a sad smile.
“Well, I can’t really say I’m surprised. I had an inking that you’d ask me this. I’d hoped you wouldn’t, but was pretty sure you would. I suppose this is my punishment for meddling, hm? After all, I was trying to find you a friend when I picked Duo up, and now that I’d rather be rid of him, you’d rather have him.”
“I assure you, Master, this is not in any way your fault.”
“Oh, of course it is, I picked him up, after all. But it doesn’t matter. In the morning, we’ll go to the auction and buy him outright. Still...” he said, hesitating and giving me a playful, hopeful smile. “Are you sure you don’t want a different friend? There are hundreds to choose from! A red head or a blonde...”
“No,” I replied gently, smiling only because I knew Master was teasing, “I want this one. He’s special.”
“Ah. Well, then, let’s get to bed. We’re going to have a busy day tomorrow. With adopting a demon into the family and all.”

Duo 88
Nobody expected me to die that morning more than I did. I was sure that, after a fairly short run, my time was finally up. I didn’t tell anybody, nor did I stop trying to escape, but everything I did that night and the following morning had a certain... defeated feeling to it. Like I was already dead, and just waiting for the axe to fall and my soul to slip into oblivion.
Of course, most of it was my own damn fault. I should have tried to escape before they brought me back to the warehouse and put me into the reinforced cage. That would have been the optimum time to get away. Unfortunately, I just hadn’t been able to give Heero any more grief, not on our last day, and not with him looking so tense. We had been kinda close, but I hadn’t really thought my leaving would affect him. Or maybe it was my death he was so upset about. They seemed to coincide, really.
That night, as I lay in the itchy, stinking hay, I wondered if he thought of me. Stupid, huh? I mean, who cares if he’s thinking of me? What can I do about it? Or how would I even know about it? But, I did wonder, and I saw his face again, with those haunting blue eyes, and I wondered if I’d ever see him again. I made a point not to wonder like that, because no one could ever tell what the next day held, and wishing only led to more pain. But, in what I thought to be my last hours, I couldn’t help hoping to see those eyes again, if only for a minute.
The next day they darted me before I could even stand up. A precaution, I guess, because I was known to be most vicious right before a sale. I was almost glad for it, though, because I didn’t really feel like being vicious today. I felt almost... defeated, even before the sale began. It was wholly unlike me, who always fought even against the worst odds. But perhaps my time was finally up.
They stripped me, something they hadn’t bothered to do last night, ripping Heero’s spare clothes off my body. I felt a twang of regret to see a gift handled so poorly, but I had known it was coming all along. If there weren’t golden threads in the clothes, these people didn’t give a damn about them. Speaking of gold thread, as soon as the comfortable clothes were gone they shoved me into a gold thong about six sizes too small, then oiled my body until they could barely keep a hold of me even when I wasn’t struggling. The oil would have made an attempted escape easier if they had been dumb enough to put shackles on my wrists, but they weren’t. They had been through this a couple of times with me, and so they put the collar around my neck and handcuffed my wrists behind me. I could break my wrists and get out of the cuffs, but breaking my neck to get out of the collar would kind of defeat the purpose.
Once that was done it was over to hair and make-up. The hair they really didn’t do much to other than taking it out of the braid and brushing it. They knew from experience that I went wild if anything sharp came near my hair. The make-up was a different story, and I got the full works. They brushed gold powder on my face, put kohl and mascara on my eyes, gave me golden eyeshadow, and painted my lips a shimmering red color. All in all I was pretty, but it wasn’t what I would have picked for myself. I guess they were trying to make it seem like I was worth my weight in gold, because that’s what they were trying to sell me for.
Then it was off to my stage, or the big box with a glass window I was displayed in. I didn’t have anything to do, since I had learned from experience that the guards would shove something unpleasant up my ass if I made faces at the potential buyers, but I was drugged enough that time went pretty fast. I don’t think I saw Heero that day, which was a mixed blessing, but I could have simply been too drugged to recognize him. So there was the ever morphing image of masters in front of me, and then I was being dragged out of the box and onto the stage.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I was perfectly aware that these were my last few minutes on Earth. But I will always be, even to my last breath, a showman. So, on stage in front of hundreds of masters who hated me for disgracing them and hundreds more who were disgusted by the waste I was about to become, I walked onto that stage with a shit eating grin on my face, stuck my tongue out, and flicked off the masses. There was a murmur of disapproval, though I heard a few scattered chuckles around. That’s all I ask for, really, to piss off as many people as I can for the amusement of the few who can enjoy it.
The guards came out then, but I wasn’t worried. They couldn’t manhandle me on stage, in front of the customers. Instead, they dragged me, backwards and grinning like a loon, to a small stool, where I was supposed to wait patiently for five minutes, which was the time at which, if no bids had been made, I would be dragged to the back and quickly, quietly, and sanitarily killed. Not that I would be quiet. And, actually, with the way the guards were leering at me, I wasn’t sure my death would be quick or sanitary either.
Sitting there, with my time ticking down, I figured I’d enjoy my last few breaths of air.
Which was when a one and an insane number of zeros appeared in red lettering on the board above me.
Now, Collar is far above the normal auctions, where people yell or pull their earlobe to signal a bid. In this auction, all the Masters sat behind a small desk and when they wanted to make a bid, they just typed in the number and the proper amount of zeros and hit the enter key. No muss, no fuss.
But... who the hell would waste that kind of money on me? Who had that kind of money to waste? And those were only a few of the questions that blew around in my, and apparently the shocked crowed before me’s mind. Suddenly, one of the Masters rose. Looking closer, I could see the Duke standing before me, and hoped he wasn’t the one who bought me. That guy was a real jackass.
My fears were put to rest, however, when the Duke began to laugh uproariously, garnering chuckles from the surrounding Masters.
“Who did it?” he shouted to the hall, still laughing. “Who’s the upstart who wants to tame the Shinigami, hm? Who’s naive enough to think that fucking the demon is worth the price of inviting him into your home?”
“That,” the big blonde badass said in a strong voice, standing imposingly above the rest of the masters, “would be me.”
The Duke burst out in laughter again, but this time he was alone. “So, my friend, you think you’re ready to take on the devil? We’ll see how you dance now!”
“With all due respect, I’m going to give it a try. And, if you don’t mind my saying, I enjoy a challenge. Besides, you can’t deny that the boy does have a million dollar body.”
“Well,” the Duke said, still chuckling, “I wish you luck. You’ll need it,” he said, and they both sat back down.
What the hell? Hadn’t I tormented the blonde beast enough? I mean, I was certain when I left that he hated me, despite the one day of behaving myself. He couldn’t possible think I would be that nice all the time, could he?
But who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Hell, I’d never even seen a horse, but I was smart enough not to complain about a gift that had essentially saved my ass. Speaking of which, I complacently walked my skinny little ass over to sit down, calmly and obediently, beside my new master. I wasn’t going to give him a reason to change his mind, not when I had just escaped death.
We slaves, of course, weren’t allowed to sit next to our masters, but instead had to duck under the table and out of sight. It wasn’t so bad, though, because there was a thick mat on the floor for us to lay on, but mainly because I found that Heero was already under the table waiting for me. The relief in his eyes upon seeing me put a knife in my chest; I hated hurting people, and only pain could come from growing attached to me. I mean, look at what had just happened. I almost died. Would he have been sad? Hurt? I didn’t want that. But, then again, I didn’t think I could push him away either. Despite not wanting to hurt him, I had grown fond of his presence. I felt that he was trustworthy, and I trusted very few people. I had gotten close to him, something I hadn’t allowed since Solo, and I felt almost a physical need to be close to him. Hey, everybody needs somebody, right?
So... I’d wing it, just like I always did. Come hell or high water, I’d do whatever my gut told me to at the time and beat myself up about it later. The Shinigami motto, I supposed.
Heero and I sat together under the table, not touching but basking in the other’s body heat, for at least another hour. The bidding still wasn’t over, but Zechs gave a gruff snort and got up in a huff, leaving us to scurry after him. He still hadn’t bought another slave, but after the amount he had spent on me I wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t the most ever spent for a slave at Collar, but it was fifth on the list. And that is one hell of a lot of money for one broken slave. Still, I kind of doubted that it was the money that kept the bid man from buying anymore. The master never struck me as the kind of person to make a bid he couldn’t afford, and three minutes of deliberation should have been well enough for him to decide whether or not his bank account could support me. No, there just must not have been any slaves that interested him or something. I had to admit, after the first hour or so pickings at the auction tended to get slim. They sold their prize slaves, then just tried to force the warehouse trash off on somebody else. Most of the last slaves were used up, burned out, bitter, angry, and ugly. It was harsh, but true. If the master wanted a good slave now, he’d have to get one brand-new and freshly or not yet broken. And breaking a slave was about as much fun as handling me, for those who don’t like to wield a whip and a heavy hand.
We went to a sort of reception after that, where we again sat on the floor while the butthead schmoozed and drank coffee with his buddies. Oh, I’m smart enough to know that half of it was political alliances and crap, but would it have killed him to pass a little coffee my way? Would he have died? I don’t think so.
Anyway, once that was over I had to go back into the warehouse for the night, or at least until my new master’s check cleared the bank. Then I was officially property of Prince I’ve-Got-My-Head-Up-My-Ass. I could only hope that the guards remembered that I could be returned if I showed up in worse condition than I was sold in. I didn’t hold much hope, but I did hold some.
That night was the second night in a row that I had slept away from Heero, who had constantly snuck into my bed while I was with them, and the second night in a row that screaming nightmares haunted me. The next morning, obviously, I was tired, grumpy, and slow. Maybe, just maybe, if I hadn’t been all three at the same time, the next day wouldn’t have ended so disastrously.

Heero 89
Wufei left the morning after we returned Duo, and returned the evening after we bought him. It was unexpected, as none of us had ever expected to see him again outside of the Collar games. Master, especially, had been upset, though he had tried not to show it. He moped around the apartment most of the day, pretending that he was reading while he never turned a page. We hadn’t known Wufei that long, but Master had formed a special bond with him, a warriors bond, and was having trouble breaking it. I think Wufei was the only one of us that considered himself equal with Master, and somehow that had appealed to our leader. Like he wanted to be challenged and questioned. Like he liked the rage and the attitude, the curses and the smart remarks. Or maybe he was simply sad to see one of his group leave. Master had, after all, never sold a slave before or parted with one for more than a few days. Maybe he just couldn’t stand seeing something that was his taken away.
Perhaps I would never really understand Master, but I did understand the way the shadows disappeared from his face when we found Wufei at the door. It was early morning, though by Collar time it was actually very late, and we had all been getting ready to go to bed. But all that was forgotten when we saw Wufei, and Master and Quatre began to ask questions as though he had been gone a month, and Trowa and I pulled him into the house and got him to sit down at the table.
“I... ah, thank you, Trowa,” he said as Trowa deposited an iced tea in front of him. He sipped at it, then shook his head, as though trying to bring himself back to purpose. When he continued, his voice was deep and determined. “I actually have a message to relay, and a question to ask of you, Master Zechs,” Wufei said, ever polite and diplomatic. “The Owner would like to congratulate you on defeating me. He also said that... since you have proven yourself strong enough to take care of me... and because he will be away on business most of the summer... he would ask you to care for me for the entirety of the recess period between the Collar banquet and the Collar games. I would... I would be your slave, without any rules to what you can or cannot due to me. There would be no contract other than that you will not kill me.”
“I see,” Master said, his eyes filled with thoughts as his brain processed everything he had just heard. He deliberated for what seemed like a very long time before asking, “Would you like to stay with me for the summer?”
Wufei, likewise, deliberated for a moment, then seemed to have great difficulty finding the right words. “I... It would not be... the worst possible outcome... from my given options,” he said, ever proud. Master smiled indulgently.
“I’ll assume that’s the closest I’m going to get to a yes,” he replied, making Wufei smile as well. “In that case, I have only one more thing I must ask. Will the Owner allow you to compete for me in the Collar competition?”
Wufei looked startled, as I’m sure the rest of us did. Wufei was probably the best lone player at Collar. To ask the Owner to let him play for us was like asking the Owner to give us half the space station.
“I-... I’ll see what I can do,” Wufei answered hesitantly.
“My answer is still a yes,” Master replied, smiling gently, “but it would make my life a lot easier if I had one reliable slave who had been through Collar, if only to help get the others ready.”
“Ah... yes,” Wufei said, looking relieved and somewhat embarrassed, “but you must know that I have never won at Collar, and I never placed or participated in most of the events.”
“But you did place in several.”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ve done better than us. You have to remember, this is my first year, and as dedicated as the rest of the boys are, they’ve never competed before. You’ll be a big help, no matter what.”
“Then I will take my leave. I have much to discuss with my master.”
“Surely you can stay a little longer.”
“No. My master... ah... requires my services as of this evening,” he said, blushing fiercely.
“I understand,” Master said, giving him a sympathetic look. “Take care of yourself, then. I will see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, but probably only a few hours before the flight. I have a few things I must pack.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Be safe.”
“Tomorrow. And thank you.”
Wufei bowed, then departed quickly. Master sighed and rubbed his eyes, then took the three of us to bed. I took a moment to reflect on how lucky I was, how lucky we were, to be owned by Master. I didn’t want to think of what was happening to Wufei with the Owner, but he was strong, and I was confident that he could hold up long enough to get back to us.
The next day was filled with a suppressed excitement as we ate and then began to pack. It didn’t take much, because we only had three sets of casual clothes a piece, and only two or three costumes. Quatre only had one. Master, on the other hand, had two suitcases full of delicate clothes, though this was still less than most masters.
It was almost lunch when everything was packed and sent ahead of us to the plane. We kept only the essentials, some clothes and hygienic products that we would carry with us on the plane. Master also bought several doses of medication, which I was pretty sure was the same drug he had dosed me with on my first trip. I was glad, although I didn’t envy Master babysitting me and the others while on those drugs. Perhaps Trowa or Wufei could stay sober and help him.
As the day progressed, I became more and more tense, worrying about Duo. By late afternoon, I was almost hopping in place, and Master finally got fed up enough to send me on ahead.
“Go get him ready, alright? Fill out the paperwork for me and I’ll be down in a little while to sign it. Go on!”
So I trotted off to find Duo and managed, just barely, to keep myself from running. I was a little worried that he’d behave badly, but mainly I was excited about getting Duo back with the group. For some reason, I felt that our group could only be complete once Duo and then Wufei were returned. It felt shattered now, divided. We needed to get everyone back together for our... family to be complete.
I arrived at the warehouse and, in common slave treatment, I was harshly given a cage number and then ignored, left wander the halls in search of the right number. I could have been wandering for hours, but a pair of passing guards were muttering about “babysitting duty with the demon” and I was able to follow them.
I wasn’t too surprised that Duo was being yelled at. He was... well... Duo. But when I got closer and found his nose bleeding my hackles began to rise. There was trouble in the air, and Duo was right in the middle of it.
“Take off!” one of the attacking guards yelled to the others. “We’ve got some business to attend to with a certain little demon prick. We’ll take your shift.”
“Alright, but you damage the goods and you’re taking the hit, y’hear!” one of the two new guards yelled, then they both headed on their way, muttering something about getting a beer.
Well, obviously I would not receive a great amount of help from the local authority figures. Assessing the situation, I would have to hope I could either diffuse it myself or stall until Master arrived. Of course, my instincts screamed at me to rush in and diffuse the situation using force, but I had been trained for years to ignore my instincts and think logically, and tonight was no different. As always, my first concern was Master’s well-being, for only through Master could Duo and myself be well. But perhaps that only makes sense to a slave, one who has had to depend on another for everything, always. Perhaps only a slave can understand that kind of total dependency, the feeling of having one’s life drastically altered by a shift of the mood of another person. Can anyone else truly understand that?
Regardless, I was able to assess that Duo was in danger, but not in a critical sense. My physical intervention could be detrimental to the situation, but I could not stand idly by. I hoped that the guards would not forget that Duo was owned. A nosebleed could easily be dismissed by a master, but any further damage and Master could actually sue the guards for damaging his property and lessening his value. Unfortunately it did not look like the guards would let up any time soon, despite what damage was done to Duo.
And Duo... Duo looked more irate than anything, glaring at the guard even as he was being pinned up against the wall by the larger of the two guards. The guard yelled something unintelligible, and Duo actually spat in his face. Spat in his face! That would certainly make my job of protecting him easier. Yes, lets just make them more angry.
I sighed. What to do? If I intervened, I could very well make the guards more angry, but if I didn’t it looked like Duo would be seriously injured. But could I really keep the guards from doing any damage? Could I even stall them? And what of Master? Would this new spat be enough for him to finally get rid of Duo, and maybe even myself? He wasn’t happy with taking Duo anyway, what would he think of this new catastrophe?
The guard lifted Duo, still pinned against the wall, off his feet and threw him to the floor. He grunted in pain, but the guard wasn’t done. He went after Duo. And that was it. I knew there was no hope for Duo if I didn’t intervene. For whatever Duo had done, the guards were mad enough not to let it go. They were going to beat Duo within an inch of his life, and I simply couldn’t allow that.
“Sirs,” I said loudly, trying to get their attention and bring them away from Duo. “I’m here to receive the Shinigami for transport into a private facility.”
“We’re not done yet. Come back in an hour,” one said, sneering at me as he kicked Duo in the ribs. “You wanna mouth off now, pussy?” he spat at Duo, who had curled into a protective ball.
I spared myself a moment for the first time to look critically at these two as adversaries. The first, the one who had pinned Duo against the wall and was now standing over him ready to aim another kick, was roughly 6'8" and well over 250 pounds. He was, obviously, a big guy, more muscle than fat, with a blonde buzz cut, a sour face, and cold blue eyes. He didn’t strike me as extremely intelligent, but he wasn’t an idiot either. The second one was of slight stature, probably around 6'2". He seemed young, mid-twenties, and of pretty average weight. There seemed to be a sharp wit in his blue eyes, but again it was nothing above normal. His hair was black, a bit longer that usual for a male, with a slightly messy look to it that could have been on purpose.
And, of course, I had to factor in Duo. Chances were that he would either serve as a hostage or an antagonizing factor for the other side. I doubted he’d be much help to me as he’d already been injured. With that in mind, I decided my best chance at success, and survival, was to stall for Master and hope he could diffuse the situation.
“Excuse me, sir, but I am here to retrieve my Master’s property.”
“Fuck off, cunt face!” the smaller on spat at me, shoving me back a few paces.
“If you damage my Master property there will be consequences,” I replied, keeping my face impassive.
“Damage, huh?” the larger one sneered. “I’ll show you some damage!” he yelled, then lifted Duo off the ground by one wrist and flung him into the wall, cracking his head against the metal. “This’ll show you to listen to your elders, bitch! When I say suck, you suck, got it!”
Duo gave a moan of pain, his head lolling, but stubbornly refused to give up. “Go fuck yourself!” he yelled, then spat, again, on the guard’s face.
Yes, Duo. Make him more angry. That’s just what we need.
“I’ll show you some respect!” the guard yelled and slammed Duo against the wall again.
“Leave him alone!” I yelled, moving to engage the larger goon, but the smaller guard intercepted me.
“Heh, I wouldn’t mess with him,” he said, sneering at me. “You don’t want to be in the same position as your friend, do you?” he asked. Duo, meanwhile, was dropped to the floor, and the guard began to kick him again. A particularly nasty kick to the face sent him sprawling to his stomach, and another to his gut turned him onto his back. The guard then began to stomp on Duo’s stomach, the blows making Duo’s entire body jump and convulse. If I didn’t get him to stop soon, Duo might die.
Meanwhile, the smaller guard had engaged me as I tried get by him to help Duo.
“I warned you,” he said before shoving me into a wall and aiming a punch at my head. I dodged, but wasn’t fast enough to completely get out of the way, and the struck the side of my head, throwing me off balance. Using my disorientation to his advantage, the guard grabbed my head and slammed it against the wall.
After that, I was done playing around. Initially, I had hoped not to attack the guards and cause more problems for Master. Unfortunately, with the blows delivered to Duo becoming more serious by the second, it looked like I would not be able to wait for Master to come. I went into mission mode, where I knew that by sheer force of will I would be able to put my own pain aside and focus on saving Duo.
I struck quickly, placing my back against the wall and jumping, then shoved both feet into the diaphragm of the guard. He grunted and flew against the opposite wall, striking it with enough force to render him unconscious. Then I turned my attention to the larger guard, who I had managed to distract from Duo by my attack on his partner. Duo took the momentary lapse to push himself off the ground, but could only get to his elbows. The side of his face was swollen and bloody, with more blood spirting from his nose. Still, he managed to give me a look that clearly said, “What the hell are you thinking?” I, of course, was thinking of saving his ass, and my own.
The large guard charged me, grabbing me around the middle and slamming me into a wall. I could only minimize the damage by curling around him, so that only my back struck the wall, and not my head. Once against the wall, I launched my own attack, slamming my fist down onto his head. Unfortunately, I was smaller than he was, so most of my blows glanced off of him.
In the next moment, both the guard and I were tossed to the side as Duo plowed into the guard and took us both down. We became a chaotic pile of limbs, each person trying to get out from underneath the other and to the top of the pile. We eventually managed to separated, each of us going our own way to form a triangular standoff.
We faced each other, the guard looking for weakness, Duo trying to signal for me to run, and me trying to figure out just how bad of shape Duo was in. The face-off only lasted a second, though, because in the next instant the guard had rushed me, throwing me into a wall where I hit my head again and saw stars. When my vision cleared, I saw that he had abandoned me in favor of Duo, and was now strangling him a devious intent that I doubted would be swayed. I tried to get up only to have a boot connect with my stomach. Apparently, the smaller guard had come to, and was severely pissed off at me. But, with Duo turning blue, I didn’t have time to deal with him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t giving me much of an option, for every time I rose to help Duo he kicked me down or kicked my legs out from under me. Duo was struggling harder now, sinking his nails into his assailant and thrashing like a dying animal, but to no avail. And with all my effort to get to him, it seemed that every time I gained an inch the guard knocked me back a foot. I was losing Duo, and I had just found him.
“Get the hell away from my slaves!”