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Pleasure Slave	By : Capitalist Category: +. to F > Card Captor Sakura Views: 84321 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
Chapter 19
‘breakdown’

Dawn watch, and Li found himself still pacing the walls long after Smyth should have come to relieve him. The sun was high and his sword drills complete, his audience departed for the morning, yet there was no relief in sight. Stifling a growl in his throat, Li left his post and made for the stables, where there was no one. Servant’s hall, no one. Training courtyard –
Yes.
Li arrived just in time to see Smyth take a hard left hook to the face and go stumbling, keeping himself on his feet long enough to shove back with his elbow when Rei tried to jump in and finish the job. Rei stumbled backward, wheezing, and both men circled one another warily. Both already sported blood on their knuckles.
“What is it now?” he asked of Jensen, who was following the fight with as much enthusiasm as the rest of the guard.
“Oh, cap. Looking for Smyth, were you? Well, he’s a tad occupied at the moment.”
“I can see that. What happened?”
“Not rightly sure, to tell the truth.” Smyth lunged at Rei swinging right and left and Rei retreated, dodging both strikes before counterattacking with a solid punch to the gut. Jensen and all the rest of the guard cheered. “Heard they were training, one hit a little too hard, the other hit a little harder back… you know how it is.”
“Yeah,” Li answered shortly. “I know how it is. But Smyth is missing his watch, and you know how Yue doesn’t like fighting in his castle.”
Jensen could only shrug. “That may be true, cap, but I don’t think they care much about it right now. I’m sure not stopping them.”
“Fine. I will.” And without any hesitation Li stepped beyond the spectators and into their ‘ring’. “Smyth! Rei! Cut it out!”
Neither brawler acknowledged him or even appeared to notice him. With a snarl Rei barrelled into Smyth and nearly sent him tumbling to the ground. Li almost winced at the clumsy technique.
“Rei, stand down! That’s an order!”
Rei spared him a cursory glance. “Out of the way, Li, this don’t concern you.”
“It does now, back off.”
“Beat it!”
Li’s temper flared and he stepped closer, only to be shoved out of the way by an eager Smyth lunging for Rei.
That’s it.
Smyth delivered a sharp uppercut to Rei’s chin that sent him stumbling backward, but hardly had he stepped forward to attack again when a hard kick nailed him in the stomach.
“Oof!” Taken aback by the surprise pain he doubled over, only to put his face directly in the path of Li’s hard punch. It knocked him flat out on the earth, and then Li whirled around to plant a solid back kick on Rei’s chest. Again he stumbled back, and this time he fell.
“I gave you,” Li growled, “an order. I told you to stop.”
An old animosity flamed in Rei’s eyes and the older man leapt up from the ground, Smyth forgotten and Li the only target of his furious punch. It was hard, brutal, and merciless. It also didn’t land anywhere on Li. With a mere heartbeat to spare Li twisted and snatched his arm, throwing Rei some distance. He hit the hard dirt and rolled right into Smyth, both of them collapsing in a tangle of arms and legs.
Rei shifted, and groaned, and opened his eyes to find Li’s boot pressing his chin up until it was almost impossible to breathe.
“I said,” Li repeated coldly, breathing only a little harder, “to stop. I gave you an order. So don’t ignore me like that again.” ‘Ignore’ was all he would say, in front of his rapt audience, the mutinous attack was better left unmentioned. “Got it?”
“Got it,” Rei wheezed.
“Smyth?”
“Got it.”
“Good.”
Li backed away and Rei slumped, gasping for air while Smyth picked himself up with a hand over his stomach.
“Morning watch, Smyth. Now.”
“Right… cap.”
Looking rather green in the face, he staggered past the rest of the guard and made for the front wall.
“There are a lot of men here,” Li pointed out. “Anyone supposed to be at their post right now?”
Shuffling feet and evasive looks were his only answer before half the men discreetly slipped away. Li glanced one more time at the man by his feet, ignoring the nasty glare he found there, and walked away.

Not a great beginning to the day. Li went inside the castle to splash his face but was lucky enough to run into Ralen and the girl before he had a chance to.
“Working up a sweat in the stables, Li?” the blonde sneered. “It seems to have the only females you’re interested in, after all.”
“Fuck off, Ralen. Go wash a window or something.”
“Ooh, someone’s in a bad moo -” Li took just one step forward and Ralen hastily backed up, covering the action with another slippery smile. “I’m too busy to bother with you today. Just take her and go.”
“Happy to.”
Ralen sniffed and sailed through a doorway, leaving him alone at last. Well, not exactly alone – wearily he looked her way and she offered the usual polite and sweet smile. “Ready?”
“Yes sir!”
“I told you before, it’s Li. Captain if you want, but not sir.” He turned on his heels and strode back to the door as he spoke, forcing himself to swallow his irritation. It wasn’t her fault that he’d jumped at the chance to snub Ralen that day and got stuck with this stupid task, no, it wasn’t even her fault she was here at all. But damn it…
They collected Spirit and headed to the far courtyard, as was their normal routine, but along the way they passed Rei. The older man shot him a spiteful glare.
“Nursemaid duty again, captain?”
“You still have blood on your lip, Rei,” Li answered darkly. “Go clean it off.”
They exchanged a look of smoldering annoyance, but the older man backed away and left without saying anything more. Li continued on his path to the courtyard in silence. Pausing only long enough to disrobe Spirit of her new halter, he made directly for the fountain.
“Umm…” ventured the slave, hesitantly. “Is something wrong? That man seemed very angry.”
“It’s nothing. Forget it.” His reflection in the water disintegrated when he dipped his hands in and he splashed his face gratefully. When he glanced her way again she was biting her lip.
“What did he mean, about nursemaid duty? Was he talking about… me?”
“Yeah,” he grunted, bluntly honest as usual. “Walking a girl around the castle ain’t exactly a task for one of the guard.”
“Ohh… so I’ve made you look bad. Sorry.” And she genuinely meant it, too, he could see the honest regret in her eyes and the way she clasped her hands so anxiously. Hard to believe, considering how badly she wanted these walks outdoors.
“Don’t worry about it,” he muttered, and bumped his knuckles against a tree in imitation of a straight punch. “S’not your fault. Trouble’s been brewin’ for a while.”
She settled herself in the shade of a young tree as she watched him, arranging her filmy skirt around her. “He’s a member of the guard, isn’t he? A man under your command?”
“Wouldn’t know it to see him,” Li growled. “He doesn’t act like he’s under my command.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothin’. Took a swing at me.”
To Li the two concepts were practically the same, but she looked horrified. Hand over mouth and green eyes wide, she asked if he was alright.
“What, me? Yeah, I’m fine.” With casual ease Li rolled onto his hands and kicked his feet over, testing his body for any stiffness. “There isn’t anyone in the guard that can lay a fist on me, I’m the best. That’s the problem.”
“What do you mean?”
A soft spring breeze tossed the leaves above them, and Spirit nickered. Li became aware of himself then, and hesitated. He was not by nature the type to unburden his problems on anyone else, and he did not even know this girl. But then, it was because of his solitary and reclusive nature that he didn’t fit in with the rest of Yue’s gossipy servants in the first place. After more than a year here he had made no close friends, and Spirit was an unsympathetic listener.
It was an odd choice, but at least she greeted him with a smile every morning. She might be the only person in the castle that treated him with absolute respect. Confide in the slave – why not?
“Rei was second-in-command to the captain before me,” he finally explained. “He should have been promoted to the lead position, but Yue chose me instead. He’s never really gotten over that, so he undermines me whenever he can.”
“Oh no. That’s terrible.”
“Wouldn’t be so bad if it was just him, but they’re all of the same mind. They call me captain but they take my tack equipment, arrive late for watch, desert their posts. None of them have accepted me as their leader.” Li hefted a tiny stone and hurled it across the courtyard, feeling a minor satisfaction when it struck the far wall of the castle. “It’s because I’m the youngest. Guess they hate it that I can beat any of ‘em.”
“Oh, I see. That is a problem.” She tapped her chin and frowned in concern, though how she could bring herself to care about other problems than her own situation Li didn’t know. “You do train very hard, though. I always like watching you before breakfast. Is that why Master Yue made you captain, because you’re the strongest?”
Li shrugged. “That’s part of it, he says. He also says I have ‘promising leadership qualities’, but I don’t know about that. The other men sure don’t think so.” Again he let fly with another stone, hitting the wall in almost the same spot.
“Couldn’t you speak with him, tell him how the men treat you?”
“Never,” he said hastily. “That’s not how I do things. Especially not now, not with him already wondering if he’s made a mistake in promoting me. Your brother didn’t make me look too good, you know.”
“Oh.” She ducked her head contritely and squeezed her hands. “Sorry.”
Li snorted. “Stop apologizing. I got sisters.” Pick up, throw, thunk against the wall. “I know why he had to try. But I had to stop him, because it’s my job. You know?”
“Yes.” Her smile was sad as she rested her head against the bark of the tree, but it seemed sincere. “I understand. It is your job.”
He’d run out of stones to throw, and wandered back into the shade to plop down on some grass. The adrenaline triggered by his short fight had melted away completely now, and he felt rather limp. Talking wasn’t so difficult after all, or else she just happened to be especially good at listening.
Another breeze sighed over their heads.
“So, you have sisters, sir?”
“Li.”
“Sorry.”
“Yeah, four of ‘em.”
“Four!” Astonished, she sat up straight and stared with wide eyes. “Your mother had five children? Or do you have brothers too?”
Li shook his head. “No, I was the last. Spent my whole cursed childhood growing up with only women in the house – it was miserable. Luckily I had my teacher. He was the one who taught me to fight.”
“I see. Is your family from Terriene?”
“No, Port Corryn.” A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips as he leaned back against a tree trunk. “On the coast. I could see the ocean from my bedroom window every morning.”
“Wow,” she sighed. “I’ve never seen the ocean before.”
“It’s nice enough. Corryn’s a lot better than Terriene.”
“Then why are you here?”
Li shrugged and gestured to the castle around them. “Work. My family’s an old one with a lot of fancy property but not much in the way of income. I didn’t want my mother or my sisters to have to work, so I came here to find some. I was on my way back from visiting them when I got Ralen’s messenger pigeon in Terriene, to pick you up.”
“I see… that’s wonderful, to support your family like that. Even though you’re the youngest!”
Li shrugged again. “I’m the only man left, since my father died. I have to.”
“But to leave your home and travel to a foreign city must have been scary. How old were you?”
“I left when I turned fifteen. Been here about a year and half now.”
“So that would make you…” She crinkled her nose in thought. “Only seventeen!”
“Yep.”
“You really are young! I couldn’t imagine trying to find work in a city like Terriene, and I’m only a little younger than you. I’m fifteen- no, wait…”
Li opened one eye when she trailed off, to see her looking up at the green leaves with a decidedly confused air.
“What? Are you fifteen or aren’t you?”
“I was fifteen,” she said uncertainly. “But, we’re well into spring now even aside from the warmer valley seasons. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I think I must be sixteen by now. I’ll have to ask Onii-chan about that later. Still, I think what you did was terribly brave. You must care very much for your family.”
“I guess.” She was positively beaming at him, and it made him uncomfortable. He was grateful when Spirit wandered closer and bumped her nose against his head for attention.
“I know a girl who was sold into slavery when her family found themselves in the same situation.”
“Well I’m not like that.”
“No.” She folded her arms atop her knees, still gazing at him in that peculiar way. “Not at all.”

“…he told me all about Port Corryn,” Sakura related later, gazing dreamily at the glowing magelight in one corner. “It’s smaller than Terriene, you know, but he said it’s much cleaner and quieter. And there are so many things to see, because of the ships that bring in goods. He could see the ocean from his own bedroom window! Isn’t that amazing?”
“Mm.”
“I wonder what it looks like.” Sakura sighed and fell back against the sofa cushions, apparently disinclined to finish her dinner in favor of daydreaming. “He said it’s like a lake but thousands of times bigger, so wide you can’t possibly see anything on the other side. I’d like to see it. Wouldn’t you?”
Touya would like to see his own cabin even more, but didn’t want to disrupt her good mood. “Sure. But what would a little monster like you do once you got there? You barely know how to swim.”
“Nii-chan!” She thwapped him on the shoulder. “I could swim in the stream well enough. I’d be able to swim in the ocean.”
“And if a fish came along and ate you?”
“There wouldn’t be a fish that big… would there?”
“There might be.” He shot her a wicked grin and her eyes widened.
“Well, maybe I wouldn’t swim out very far then. I still think it would be fun.” She relaxed against the cushions again. “I wonder if Master Yue has ever seen the ocean?”
Touya stiffened. “Don’t call him that.”
“Master Yue? But he said to.”
“That doesn’t mean you should.” It disturbed Touya how easily the title fell from her lips, as if it were natural to her. Sakura returned his look with a wide-eyed innocent one.
“But won’t I get into trouble if I don’t?”
“Well…”
“I don’t want Master Yue to be angry at me.”
Neither did Touya. He growled deep in his throat and looked away. “Do as you like.”
The quiet in the room turned awkward, for a few moments, before Sakura wisely returned to her original topic.
“Anyway, I bet he has. One of the servants told me that he’s very old, so old nobody even knows how much. Maybe even hundreds of years! Think of all the things he must have seen.”
“Thrilling.”
“Ne, Onii-chan, that reminds me.”
“What?”
“I know it becomes warmer down here sooner than our home, but spring has been here for some while. Do you think that I’m sixteen now?”
His utensils clattered noisily to the plate and Touya’s head jerked up. “What?”
Sakura’s smile was breezy and untroubled; absentmindedly she toyed with the hem of her skirt. “According to the calendar it was the first day of spring. But I haven’t even seen one since I came here, and I have no idea what the date is, but after all the trees have been flowering for a long time. Has my birthday come yet?”
The words dwindled and faded in his ears, drowned out by the peculiar quiet roar of his own bloodstream.
the cabin was empty
Her mouth was still moving, what was she saying?
the fireplace dark
If he could just… breathe, but it was so noisy. His heart pounded relentlessly in his chest, refusing to let his lungs work at all and he gasped for air.
strawberry pie and a rabbit doll
Ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump his chest had begun to tighten, his body begging for air and all the while his heart wouldn’t stop banging away inside him and the room was getting dark.
he hid them
He felt dizzy.
and left to find her
Darkness, Sakura fading from his sight.
never came back
Breathe!
Run go find her can’t catch up she was sold she’s gone she’s gone she’s gone she’s gone she’s –

“Onii-chan?” Sometime in the course of her chatter Sakura finally noticed her brother’s shaking hands and his face, getting whiter by the second. “Onii-chan, is something wrong?”
Without warning he slumped forward and hit the table with a crash, tumbling to the rug and gasping for air. Sakura shrieked and fell to her knees.
“Onii-chan!”
He didn’t seem to hear her, staring right through her with panic-stricken eyes and gulping like a stranded fish. His face was whiter than marble. Frantically Sakura shoved the table back to allow more space and cupped his face in her hands, begging him to stop.
“Onii-chan! Onii-chan, it’s Sakura, what’s wrong? Stop it, please!”
He only jerked away from her touch and continued to writhe, every breath strangled. She dropped a hand on his chest and could feel his heart hammering away at an unnatural pace inside – was this what killed her father?
She leapt to her feet and sprinted to the door, only to find it locked, of course. Screaming, she beat against the wood with her fists.
“Somebody! Help, please. HELP!!”
There was no sound from the hall; Ralen wasn’t due back for another twenty minutes at least. She tugged at the handle one more time, unsuccessfully, before giving up and tearing across the room. On the floor her brother jerked once, a desperate wheeze evidence that he was still fighting for air. Terrified, Sakura flung open the balcony doors and threw herself against the rail. Directly below her, just as he’d been that very first morning, the captain was pacing the castle wall. For the very first time, she uttered his name.
“Li!!”
He was too far away. Bemused, he turned around and scanned the courtyard below him, searching for the sound, and she tried again. “LI!!”
Finally his chin tilted upward, and she waved her arms to snag his attention. “LI, HELP! PLEASE!!”

Her high-pitched voice was lost to the evening breeze, high up as she was, and Li frowned at the girl waving her arms. He needed no words to see she was agitated about something, but what it was he couldn’t imagine. She tried again, almost falling over the balcony rail in her urgency, and he could swear he heard her scream help.
Odd. Without taking his eyes off her, Li felt for and pressed his palm to the magical gem strapped around his wrist. Such a thing had only been entrusted to two servants in the entire castle, and its mystical properties put him in direct communication with the lord himself. It was not something to be used lightly.
“Lord Yue.”
“Yes, captain?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you, but I think something’s wrong with your slave. She’s screaming something fierce from one of the balconies… I don’t know what room she’s in -”
“That will be all, captain,” Yue interrupted, and the magical link went silent. Without any orders to leave his post Li remained where he was, watching the slave plead for help and wondering what could have scared her so.

The door to the tea room slammed open with a violent crash, and the girl on the balcony whirled around. Yue ignored her and went straight to her brother, thrashing on the floor with skin whiter than Yue’s own robes. This could not be the sickness that plagued him before, Yue had just seen him hours earlier and he was healthy enough then.
“What happened?” he demanded of the sister, and she shook her head frantically.
“I don’t know! He wasn’t doing anything, we were just talking, and he fell to the floor!” Yue knelt by Touya’s side and she dropped to her knees across from him, pressing her hand to his chest. Impatiently Yue brushed it away so he could feel; the boy’s heart was hammering away at an unnaturally hyper pace, as if he’d been running up the mountain. Wide and dilated black eyes looked right through him without recognition, unseeing. Yue had seen that look in human eyes before – this was no sickness. This was sheer panic.
“Help him, please,” begged the other slave, tears rolling down her pink face. “Please!”
“Shh,” Yue ordered, his hand gliding up and over Touya’s clammy white skin to rest on his brow. “Be silent, or I will not.”
She clapped both hands over her mouth at that, but continued to sob quietly as Yue drew upon his magic. In its weakest form it was merely gentle and cooling, and with total concentration he guided it from his own hand and into the body of his slave.
There is nothing to fear here. Sleep.
The rigid set of Touya’s muscles softened, and he relaxed against the floor. Still more, and his eyes closed while his breathing evened out. Again Yue placed a hand on his chest, and felt the heartbeat beneath slowing down.
“It’s over. He’ll be fine.”
“Really?” she whispered, wiping away the still-flowing tears. “He-he’s not going to die?”
“Don’t be silly,” he admonished. “Tell me again what you were doing when it happened.”
“Nothing,” she repeated plaintively. “I swear. W-we were talking about my age, and he collapsed. I don’t know why!”
Her cries irritated Yue, whose servants knew better than to ever raise their voices when he was near. He shot her a quelling look and she subsided into hiccups, watching as he gathered the inert form of his slave in his arms and stood. Now, as before, he was probably in need of fresh air.
“Move aside.”
She scrambled out of the way just in time before the elegant sofa slid across the floor and out onto the balcony, facing the rail, and he deposited Touya gently on the cushions. The captain was still watching intently from his post on the wall.
“It’s taken care of, captain,” Yue informed him, hand on the magical blue gem. He felt a stray flicker of gratitude to the boy, for his prompt reaction, not knowing what might have happened to Touya without it. “You may return to your watch. Good work.”
“Yes, my lord.”
His other slave approached the sofa while he spoke, examining Touya rather fearfully as he slept. “His body needs rest; it might be some time before he wakes. You are dismissed, once Ralen arrives, I will stay here to watch him.”
“Excuse me, Master Yue.” Her voice still shook, slightly, but she spoke with her chin held high and her eyes firm. One hand slipped into Touya’s and held it. “But I would prefer to stay with my brother until I know he’s alright.”
The blunt refusal shocked Yue into raising his eyebrows, for he had considered the girl to be the more timid and obedient of the pair. It seemed the same blood ran in their veins after all.
“Very well,” he acceded, and crossed his arms. “You may stay.”

Sunset, and the evening faded into twilight. Ralen came to collect the girl, was duly flabbergasted to find the room in such a state, and left again with Yue’s orders to send servants up later for cleaning. Stars appeared, and the sky had gone from dusky blue to black by the time Touya stirred.
“Onii-chan?” she tried hopefully, and was rewarded by an uncertain attempt to open his eyes. “Onii-chan, are you awake?”
“Mmm…” Looking decidedly for the better after his rest, Touya shifted slightly and blinked once or twice. His confused gaze fell on the girl. “Sakura?”
“Yes! I’m here, I’m right here. How do you feel?” Squeezing his hand tightly between her own, she rose up on her knees and peered anxiously at his groggy countenance.
“-m a little dizzy… what happened?”
“It was so scary! We were talking at dinner and then your hands started shaking, and your face went pale. Then you fell! I don’t think you could breathe and you didn’t hear me at all!” A fresh pair of tears slipped down her face and she whimpered. “I didn’t know what to do, but then Master Yue came and he put you to sleep and we’ve been out here ever since. I was so scared…”
That was when Touya noticed Yue, standing silently by the far corner of the railing, and their eyes met just briefly before he turned his attention back on his sister. With a sleeve he wiped at her damp cheeks.
“I’m sorry that I scared you, Sakura. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“But why? Do you know what made you collapse like that?”
Touya hesitated, for a fleeting moment that Yue did not miss. “No. But I’m sure it was just one of those things, it won’t happen again.”
Sakura did not seem convinced, but Touya smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s late, Sakura, you shouldn’t have waited out here all this time. Why don’t you go on to your evening bath so you can go to bed?”
“But I -”
“Don’t argue, Sakura. I’m fine, and you need your sleep. Go on.”
Again his gaze flicked back to Yue for just a heartbeat, who took the hint and called for Ralen to come collect her.
“Goodnight, Sakura.”
“Night, Onii-chan.” She bent down a little and leaned her head quite close to Touya, for a purpose that mystified Yue until he reached up just enough to drop a kiss on her forehead. The simple and obviously ritual action provoked an odd feeling within him, but there were other matters to deal with tonight. Yue pushed the thought to the back of his mind, and watched the girl reluctantly leave the room. The door shut, and the balcony was quiet once more.
“You know what it was, don’t you?”
Touya swallowed and nodded, staring fiercely at the balcony rail and not looking up. Yue waited, but an explanation did not seem to be forthcoming.
“This is the second time you’ve collapsed since arriving at my castle, slave, it grows tiresome. I’ve had to exert myself twice now for your sake -”
“It was her birthday.”
Yue broke off, momentarily thrown. What was whose birthday?
“It was her birthday,” he repeated, “and she didn’t even know. I hid the calendar, because I wanted to surprise her. I took the money that I’d been saving for two months, and bought two presents. A doll, one that looked like a rabbit, and a strawberry pie. I brought them home -”
Something in his voice caught, and he had to swallow again.
“But she wasn’t there. I hid them, and I went to look for her. For all I know they’re still there, because that was the day two men kidnapped and sold her. It was supposed to be the best day of the year and instead it destroyed our lives. She didn’t know, though. She asked me tonight if her birthday had come yet, and I saw it all happen again. The dark cabin, the laundry still hanging outside, and how I just started cooking dinner like she’d be home any minute. I was so stupid. I should have known, I should have had a feeling that something wasn’t right. Everything just crashed over me and I couldn’t breathe… I don’t remember anything after that.”
He paused, glanced at Yue and then looked away again. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I know you don’t care. But I can’t tell her, she can’t ever know, and I had to tell somebody. Might as well be you.”
For the first time Yue moved, gliding silently across the space between them until he was close enough to touch. It crossed his mind to take the hand his sister recently grasped, and hold it, but instead his fingertips trailed up his body to rest over his heart. It was beating slow and strong again; the danger was over.
“You will live,” he announced, “even in spite of the damage you inflict upon yourself. Isn’t it enough that you suffered that day already? You really ought to have seen her terror.”
Genuine guilt flashed through Touya’s eyes, and he looked away. “I’m sorry.”
“I know.” He wasn’t looking. He didn’t see the way Yue’s fingers drifted back to Touya’s hand, then pulled away before contact. “You’ll never do it again.”

The sister was not the only one who’d been frightened.

-----------------------------
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

Hey, two months for an update is better than four. Right? I’d say this chapter only took about six days to write, the rest was dithering on how to start. But I promise that won’t be an issue next chapter, I know exactly how I want to tackle it. I really appreciate everyone’s understanding, you guys are awesome!
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Pleasure Slave