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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
- 23
- 24
- 25
Chapter 24
‘savior’

Save for the whisper of the brush through Yue’s long hair, the room was silent. Not that this was anything out of the ordinary, but to Touya the silence seemed unusually frigid. For three days now Yue had barely spoken to him, other than to order him down on his knees, and the sex had been… not exactly harsh, but perfunctory. Absent the usual stroking and fondling that Yue always seemed to delight in, and short.
At first Touya thought it must be some kind of test, to see if he would do the work instead, follow through on the bargain made when Yue removed his chains. So he tried, only to have Yue ignore his touch or absently brush his hands away. That shocked Touya into noticing Yue’s other strange behavior: the silent treatment, and the way he was avoiding Touya with his eyes.
Enough, thought Touya, and sat back on his heels.
“Are you angry at me?”
Yue glanced at him, clearly startled out of other thoughts. “What?”
“You’ve hardly looked at me or spoken to me in days. And I’d hate for you to be angry at me without even having the fun of knowing what I did to deserve it. So, why?”
It might have been the first time he ever saw Yue’s eyes so genuinely perplexed. With such an expression they weren’t even their usual terrifying icy color, but a mere pale blue. He blinked, and the expression disappeared. His gaze also returned to the rug.
“I’m not angry at you.”
“Then why have you been acting so strange?”
“It is not your place to question me, slave.”
“Bull,” Touya muttered under his breath, then had a thought and brightened. “Are you getting tired of me? Like the others that you made servants?”
“Where did you hear about that?”
“Aya told me.”
“Silly girl.”
“So it’s true, then?”
Yue shot him a cool glare, one much more like his real self. “It is not your business how I conduct my household, slave, nor is it up to you to question your status. You will remain a pleasure slave until such time I see fit to remove you.”
“Then what is it?” Touya snapped, exasperated. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong,” Yue replied testily, “except that you have not finished brushing my hair and are talking instead.”
Touya hmphed under his breath and returned to his task, the room settling into a grumpy silence. He’d almost finished when Yue spoke again, quite abruptly, as if the words had been stewing within him for some time.
“You do desire me, don’t you?”
“What?” Now it was Touya’s turn to stare, blankly, hairbrush forgotten in his hand. Yue’s eyes were unreadable, perhaps purposely stonewalled against revealing any emotion.
“Of late you have been cooperative when I take you, sought me out with your hands and tongue in a way that pleases me.”
“Th-that was the deal,” Touya stammered. “You said you’d return the chains if I didn’t, so I did, it was just an agreement.”
“But the look in your eyes, and the way you pant for air… I do think you’ve learned to enjoy my touch.”
“No!” Furiously Touya tried to bury the blush he knew was spreading on his face, an unspoken admission that what Yue said was true. “No, not at all. I’m just doing this for my sister, because I love her, not that you would ever understand a concept like love -”
Crack went Yue’s open hand against his cheek, almost knocking him to the floor with the hard slap. He had to put a hand to the floor to catch himself, and in the next second brilliant pain flared up on the side of his face. Even the breath had been knocked out of him.
Stunned, not so much by the severity of the blow but that it happened at all, Touya put a hand to his cheek and looked up. Yue had never struck him on the face before. He was no longer reclined in his chair but standing, looking down upon Touya with eyes that glittered of cold, raw anger.
“Be careful of your tone, slave,” he hissed, and clenched his fists as if restraining himself from striking Touya again. Instead he whirled about and stormed out of the room, the doors swinging open so hard they crashed into the walls.

Yue did not come back that night, though Touya stayed up late waiting for him. Even the next morning the bed seemed undisturbed, and he had a strong feeling that Yue had not returned at all. Disquieted, he bathed in solitude, dressed, and went to eat breakfast.

“Morning, my little slave,” Ralen purred, upon opening the cage door. “My, you look sleepy. Not getting much rest?” He smirked, and Sakura kept her eyes on the floor. “None of that, now, a pleasure slave has no business hiding her face.” He put his fingers under her chin and tilted up her face, forcing her to make eye contact, and the smug knowledge there made her cringe.
He knew, of course, why she hadn’t been able to sleep lately, and just standing here like this she could see that he knew she knew. Lying still and pretending to sleep hadn’t fooled him.
A corner of his mouth turned up in a smile, when it was plain she understood. Fighting not to shiver, Sakura could not see the line that divided Ralen from her real master, could quite easily forget that she was not this man’s property and bound to his will. In a way, he’d already owned her for a long time.
“Soon,” he whispered seductively, his hand trailing to the small of her back. “It’ll be more than just watching soon, I promise.”
They remained that way just a moment longer, her heart thudding at a panicked pace in her chest, until finally Ralen stepped away and assumed his more typical bossy look. “Come on, then, time for your breakfast.”

Some kind of difference existed about Ralen, that morning, a tendency to let his hand linger on her body a little longer than usual, a more obvious manner of staring at her body. Li must have noticed it too, and when he’d taken her outside and Ralen was safely far away he rolled an annoyed groan down his throat.
“Yue must be gone again. You can always tell because Ralen’s even more of an asshole than usual.”
“Master Yue’s gone? To where?”
He shrugged. “No one knows, just like anything else about him. But about once a month, sometimes more, he disappears for two or three days at a time. He was gone when you first got here, I think.”
That’s right, she did remember. It was another mystery in this castle, but Sakura could hardly be bothered about that right now. Out in the warm sunshine with no Ralen hovering behind her, she could feel herself relaxing and even yawned.
“Tired?”
“Maybe a little…” Sakura knew she was supposed to be practicing Meilin’s routine, but when they reached the last courtyard she couldn’t bring herself to do anything but lie down in the shade. “I think maybe I’ll close my eyes just for a bit. If you don’t (yawn) mind.”
“Do as you like,” was his typical response, and Sakura’s last thought was how safe she felt falling asleep in his company. Much more pleasant than the dark and empty castle. Just fifteen minutes…

By reckoning of the shadows, she’d been asleep more than two hours. Li curried Spirit, even combed her mane and tail, ran through all his kung fu patterns and splashed himself clean with fountain water and still she had not woken, lying so peacefully still in the shadows that she could have been a picture in a book. Not sure what else to do, he fetched a whetting stone from the old armory and set about sharpening his knife. It was a finely crafted weapon, at least two generations old, so he had no excuse for not keeping it clean and sharp. Again and again he scraped the blade across the rough surface, long familiar with the motion, and eventually the gravelly noise woke her.
She stirred, first, rolling onto her back and blinking at the leafy canopy overhead as if she didn’t quite know where she was. Then her attention was drawn back to the sounds of his labor, and she turned her head.
“Mornin,” he greeted wryly. “Sleep well?”
“Was I asleep for a long time?”
“A while. You looked exhausted.” Li looked back at his knife, but he was so adept at the task that it seemed unnecessary. “Something keeping you up at night?”
She didn’t answer right away, and he looked up just in time to see her hesitate. “No- not really. I just… haven’t been able to sleep these past few nights.” Something about it felt wrong, to Li, but then she looked up at the sky again and saw the sun’s position. “Oh no, I really did sleep a long time! Now I can’t practice the dance like Meilin told me to!”
“Don’t worry about it,” was his instinctive response. “I can wait for lunch.”
“You really don’t mind?”
“Nah.”
“Oh, thank you!” She bounced to her feet, then paused and looked hopefully his way. “If you don’t mind…”
Li rolled his eyes. “Right.” Obediently he shifted his position so he was staring at the other trees, hearing the familiar scuff of bare feet on the grass as she began.
Why was it always such a temptation?
Idly he tapped his knife against the stone, trying to keep his mind on the guard schedule and whether or not he should make any changes – a couple of the night watch had begun spending more time flirting with the girls than patrolling their beat and it might do to change morning out with evening and was she doing that move that made her skirt twirl out?
A flash of white across the blade startled him, then he realized he’d accidentally caught her reflection. Not-quite-so-accidentally, he adjusted his arm and turned his wrist slightly, just enough to see her stop spinning and kick up one leg. She really was very graceful –
“There you are!” barked an all-too-familiar voice, and Sakura froze. Hastily Li resheathed his knife and scrambled to his feet, but Ralen paid no attention to him as he marched directly to Sakura. “Been stricken blind, slave? Did you notice how the sun is directly overhead? I have better things to do with my time than wait for your return from playing with the flowers.”
“S-sorry, Ralen sir, I didn’t see- I mean, I only wanted to practice a little -”
“Practice? You mean that dancing nonsense?” The tension in Ralen’s shoulders eased visibly, and without being able to see Li sensed that calculating smile. “Poor little thing. You shouldn’t have to practice out here in the hot sun. Let’s go inside and you can keep on practicing… I’ll watch you and make sure you do it well.”
He stroked his thumb lightly over Sakura’s cheek, to which she flinched and averted her eyes.
“Get away from her, Ralen,” Li muttered, drawing closer to the two in slow and measured steps. The blonde’s response was to throw him a snide glare.
“This is none of your business, captain, you’ve done your job for the day. It’s time for her to come back inside, with me.” He dropped a hand to Sakura’s rear and squeezed, causing her to squeak and cringe. “Where she belongs.”
That’s it, thought Li, and almost before he knew what he was doing he’d closed the distance between them. One effortless shove was enough to throw him against the nearest tree.
“I’m fed up with the way you terrorize her, and everyone else in this castle,” Li snarled. “You don’t own the place, don’t you know that?”
“How dare you,” Ralen wheezed, looking considerably shaken. “When I tell Yue -”
“So tell him.” Angry beyond all reason, Li whipped the newly sharpened blade out of its sheath and pressed it gently up under Ralen’s chin. Instantly the blonde froze, petrified. “Worm. I could kill you before you had a chance to blink, and the only thing stopping me is the thought that Yue might care.”
He dropped his voice a few notches in volume, exerting just enough pressure on the handle to hurt but not draw blood. “So do us both a favor, and stop tempting me.”
As quickly as he’d put it there he whipped the knife away, resheathing it in one smooth motion. “Go.”
Ralen didn’t move, apparently still frozen with terror, and Li had to nod his head at the archway before he finally grasped the idea he should get moving. There was no mention of taking Sakura back with him. Clumsily he stumbled a few steps to the side, probably afraid to take his eyes off Li for a second, but when enough distance had been placed between them he turned and left the courtyard at a near run.
Li exhaled with relief, feeling as though he’d satisfied a craving that had nagged at him for months. He really ought to have done that a long time ago.
“It’s okay -” he started to say, turning to face Sakura, but the words died on his lips when he saw her face. There was none of the pleased vindication Li felt; instead, she looked every bit as terrified as Ralen. Eyes wide in a pale face, she stood motionless in the shadows and trembled. “Hey, are you alright?”
Li took a step toward her, with the intention of waving his hand in front of her eyes, but before he could do so her hand closed over his wrist in a surprisingly fierce grip.
“Help me.”
“What?”
“Help me,” she repeated, fixing a gaze that was nothing less than desperate upon him. “Please. He’s all over me, always, he watches me all the time and he comes to look at me in the middle of the night when I pretend to be asleep…” Her voice cracked mid-word, eyes growing shiny with tears. “I’m so scared and I don’t have anyone else, I can’t go to Onii-chan because he’ll get in trouble, but you can help me. You’re strong, you’re the only one he’s afraid of. Please… help me.”
As if entranced, Li didn’t try to speak or move, even at the threat of female tears that normally terrified him so. Alone in an uncaring castle, this girl had become a target of someone who was eager to hurt her. There was really no other answer but to place a gentle hand on her shoulder and nod.
“I’ll take care of you. I’ll protect you from him.”

“Gone again,” Touya muttered to the empty hallway, words bouncing off the marble and falling on no ears but his. No servants would be found in the upper halls of the castle in the evening. Gone again, and Touya needed no servants to tell him so – even if they were allowed to speak to him which they weren’t.
“It’s not like I care,” he was quick to add, pausing in front of a grand mirror. “I don’t. I’m only too happy he’s gone. It’d be nice to know why, sure, but it’s not like I care.”
His own secret reasons like before? Or did it have anything to do with their argument?
“There’s nothing I could have said that made him that angry,” Touya appealed to his reflection. “We’ve fought. We fight all the time. He gets angry, but he doesn’t leave. He doesn’t hit me on the face. He doesn’t…”
Look like that. Through sheer force of will Touya forced away the image of Yue’s expression, because it made his stomach feel strange.
“I’m glad I said something that hurt him,” he declared, to no one but the mirror. It didn’t occur to him that talking to himself was a little odd, here in a lonely castle, because the only one he was permitted to speak to had mysteriously disappeared. He didn’t mind talking to himself, but it was strange how much harder it was to lie to a mirror than another person.

Touya was not the only one wandering about alone in a darkened castle. Long after the sun had disappeared and the stars cast their faint light through the high glass windows, soft footsteps sounded in the halls. They were taking obvious care to be quiet, but apparently it hadn’t occurred to Ralen that anyone would actually be about. Frowning with irritation and bemused disbelief, he came to a stop when he saw Li practicing with his sword in the corridor.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“Just running through some drills,” Li replied airily, sweeping the blade across in a sharp arc and then drawing it back in ready stance.
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” He paused in his movements to make direct eye contact. “What about you? Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
Ralen scowled and crossed his arms. “I’m head of the household, I don’t need to explain myself to you. If you’ll excuse me…” He made to take a step around Li and Li stepped right with him, keeping himself between Ralen and the staircase.
“Going somewhere?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“Excuse me?” Ralen stared in such utter disbelief that Li found it difficult not to laugh. There wasn’t anyone in the castle he’d rather spend less time with, but it couldn’t be helped. “You’ll what?”
“I’m scared of the dark,” Li explained, unconvincingly. “I need company.”
“Scared of the…” Ralen’s voice trailed off, and he shook his head briskly. “I don’t have time for this nonsense.” Again he tried to step around and again Li blocked his way. “Be careful of yourself, captain. We’re in the castle, and this is my jurisdiction.”
“And this is my sword.” Li hefted the blade in his hand, as if to test the grip, allowing the point to hover rather close to Ralen’s face. The servant shifted his weight to his heels, trying to lean back without actually moving.
“That’s twice you’ve threatened me today,” he stated, trying to sound nonchalant. His voice betrayed a slight quiver. “You should know that’s really not a good idea.”
“Feel free to talk it over with Yue when he gets back. I’m sure he’d like to know what you were doing out here too.”
Ralen’s lip curled into a sneer. “I have other ways of dealing with people than just Yue.”
Li shrugged and tipped his sword a little closer to Ralen’s throat. “So do I.”
“Backcountry barbarian.”
“Get out of here, Ralen. Go back to bed, and try sleeping in it alone for once.”
In the scant light Ralen shot him a nasty look, whirled about, and marched away with petulant strides. Li propped his sword across his shoulders, and grinned.

What had she done? The moment Li collected her that morning, Sakura had been seized with unexpected mortification for her actions yesterday. Just because Ralen put his hand on her, certainly not for the first time, something inside her had snapped and she’d cried… begged Li to keep her safe from that man. As if he hadn’t already been to enough trouble for her sake? She watched him yawning in the shadows and inwardly cringed, unable to believe how selfish she’d been.
“I’m sorry.”
The words had escaped of their own accord, quick and desperate, and she blushed when he glanced her way.
“For what?”
“For yesterday… what happened. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I was just a little upset, and scared, and I shouldn’t have asked you to worry about it.” His eyebrows were going up and she hurried to finish. “And anyway, I was being silly. Ralen didn’t even come to my cage last night.”
“I know.” Again he yawned, smiling sleepily. “I stopped him.”
“You- what?”
“I spent the night waiting by the grand staircase, and when he showed up, I wouldn’t let him past. Hope you got a good night’s sleep, because I sure didn’t.”
“You… stayed up all night?”
“Most of it, anyway. He’s a sneak that would try again.”
Sakura’s heart thumped away in her chest, giving rise to another blush though he wasn’t even looking at her.
“I can’t believe,” she whispered, “that you did that for me.”
As usual, he shrugged, still not meeting her eyes. “I’m captain of the guard. It’s my responsibility to protect the people in this castle, even the slaves.”
And just like that, Sakura’s blooming elation took a sharp turn downward. He hadn’t done it for her, he’d done it for his precious job that he took so seriously. Silly to think his actions meant anything more.
Unexpected tears pricked at her eyes, as she tried to swallow the disappointment. How she hated being dependent on someone to protect her. Li wouldn’t have to be there to keep Ralen away if she was just a little stronger, more like Meilin –
Then she got an idea.
“Teach me.”
“Huh?” His eyes had been falling shut, but he opened them when she spoke. “Teach you what?”
“The art that you practice… kung fu? Teach me to do it like you and Meilin can, then you won’t have to worry about protecting me.”
“Are you joking?” Looking wide awake and incredulous, Li sat up and away from his tree backrest and stared at her. “Do you know how long it takes to get good at the martial arts? Years. I’ve been studying it since I was three. It’s not the kind of thing you learn overnight.”
“Can’t I at least try to learn a little?”
“Even if I showed you a few moves, I seriously doubt you’d ever be able to use them on anyone. You’re too -”
“Weak?” Sakura finished bitterly.
Mouth open, he hesitated and then shook his head. “You don’t have what it takes. You’re not tough.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Why do you think I want to learn?” Sakura jumped to her feet and turned away so she would not have to look at him. “I’m trying to help you, captain Li, so I won’t be such a burden!”
“Who called you a burden?” He sounded confused, and Sakura had to struggle to hold back the tears. “Look, I told you I’d keep you safe and I will. Ralen will never have the nerve to bother you when I’m around.”
“And when you’re not?”
“I won’t go anywhere.”
“You’ll always be there?”
“Sure.”
“If two men, when no one was looking, attacked me and took me away with them, would you fight them too?”
“Of course.”
“Funny.” Sakura wiped away a tear and half-turned, to meet his baffled gaze. “Because that’s exactly how I was kidnapped and turned into a slave in the first place. One day, one simple mistake that destroyed my life and my brother’s forever. And ever since that day I’ve been tied up, sold, forced to sleep in a cage, always under someone’s control, never able to save myself from even a moment of humiliation. Can you imagine for just a moment what it’s like?”
He stared, expression a mixture of horror and pity.
“So I am asking you, please, to do more than protect me. I need to know how to do something for myself, anything at all. And you’re the only one that can show me. Please.”
All of the courtyard was silent, for a long moment, without even a breeze to stir the leaves over their heads. Somewhere out of sight, Spirit nickered and stamped a hoof. At the sound, Li stood.
“You’re a slave. I really don’t think it’s something I should be teaching you.”
“But I -”
“So we better go inside, and find a small room. That way no one will see.”

Ten minutes later they were alone in a small parlor, the low tea table shoved out of the way to make room. She watched him detach the sheath from his belt, tossing it and the knife within aside before he faced her.
“It is all,” he began, “about the attitude. Moves mean nothing until you can look a man in the eye and know that you can bring him down. People read that look, they can sense it. And if you don’t have it, you’re not going to win.”
“But I don’t want to win, I just want -”
“Shh.” He held up a finger, and she shut up. “If you’re not prepared to be in a fight, then you’ve got no business learning this. You just want to defend yourself and that’s fine, but if you throw one move then you need to understand they’ll not like it. You have to be prepared to fight. Get me?”
Sakura nodded rapidly.
“Doubt it. Hit me.”
She sucked in her breath and went from nodding to shaking her head. “Oh no, I couldn’t -”
“You can and you will, if you’re serious about learning.”
“But I couldn’t hit you.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not as frail as I look,” he assured her, heavy on the sarcasm. “Give it your best shot.”
Well, she did want to learn. Sakura clenched her little fists, nerved herself, and tapped the right one against his shoulder. Li stared at her in disbelief.
“What the hell was that?”
“A… punch.”
“Ancestors,” he whispered, and pushed his bangs off his forehead. “This can never happen.”
“No! I’m sorry, I’ll try again -”
“See? There you go again, apologizing when you should be knocking me to the ground for such an insult. This is not something you can do, you- you’re not cut out for it, and it’s not proper anyway, and you really -”
“Just say it!” snapped Sakura, thoroughly exasperated, and he did.
“You’re a wimp! You have no spine, you never stand up for yourself, you let everyone -” He paused and shoved one hand against her shoulder, with casual effort. “- push you around. If Ralen ordered you down on the ground to lick his boots, you’d do it.”
“He’s very frightening -”
“He’s not. He’s a coward that picks on people weaker than he is, and thinks he’s strong for it. I could break his neck with my bare hands if I had the inclination, and wasn’t worried about losing my job. You let him terrify you, and he’s happy to do it.”
“You don’t know how difficult it is!”
“Taking off your clothes for a minute outside seemed easy enough.”
The words caught her like a slap to the face, they were so cruel, and without conscious thought Sakura reacted in the very same manner. For the first time in her life, she raised her hand to strike someone on the face.
That was, however, about as far as she got. With the reflexes of a feline Li snatched her wrist before she could make contact, holding it fast and squeezing painfully. In his eyes there was the glimmer of approval.
“That’s more like it.”
And then he did… something, some kind of twist and a small step back. Next thing she knew she was lying flat on her back and staring at the ceiling.
“Oof. What- what was that?”
“That was a simple throw. Learn to do it right and you can bring a man twice your weight to the floor without breaking a sweat. Are you ready to learn it?” He’d never let go and was pulling her to her feet, his tone matter-of-fact and without edge. He hadn’t meant what he said at all. And now he was going to teach her. For once, finally, someone wasn’t treating her like she was helpless.
A flutter of exhiliration lifted her heart, and Sakura nodded. “Yes. I’m ready.”

That was the day Li started returning Spirit to her stall earlier. For the next two days they snuck into the castle and into any small private room they could find, where Li would shove aside the furniture and get down to business. He was a rough, unyielding teacher, as it turned out, gruff with his instructions and impatient when she didn’t follow them. Try though she did, violence just didn’t come to her like dancing had and she would try again and again only for him to shake his head. He never said a word of encouragement. Often he expressed doubt she’d ever learn. Sakura didn’t care.
After being outside, it had become her favorite part of the day.

“Ne, Onii-chan.” Sakura swallowed the last of her water and relaxed against the back of the sofa, idly rotating her feet. So often Li’s lessons left her awfully sore. “Is it true that Master Yue left the castle?”
Her brother made a face at his dinner. “Where did you hear that?”
“Um… a servant told me. He really did?”
Touya grunted an affirmative, and she wondered in passing that he didn’t seem very happy. If Ralen ever left the castle, she’d be overjoyed.
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did he leave?”
“I don’t know.”
“When will he -”
“I don’t know, Sakura,” Touya huffed, irritably, and she crossed her arms.
“Well why don’t you? Aren’t you curious?”
“Why would I be? I can do whatever I want when he’s gone and I finally have peace and quiet. I don’t care where he’s gone, I’m just happy he is.”
“You’re not smiling,” she pointed out softly, which seemed to catch him by surprise. He blinked, then grinned in spite of himself.
“Why do you always have to see the world so simply?”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.” He draped his arm around her shoulders and linked his hands, drawing her into a loose embrace. “Never mind Yue, anyway. The only one I care about is right here.”
Sakura was still a little confused, but she was also tired. Li was almost as bad as his cousin, as a teacher. So it felt nice to rest her head against Touya’s chest, and forget everything else.

She could hardly know it, but Touya was as far from forgetting everything else as someone could be. His sister’s comments, and disturbingly accurate observations, unsettled him, and the fact that he was unsettled also made him sulky. He managed to get them through dinner without anymore questions from her, but that didn’t change the fact that some of them had stuck.
He didn’t care where Yue had gone. He’d already told himself that. Neither did he care how long he’d be gone, why he’d gone, and he especially didn’t care that Yue was gone at all. For Sakura to suggest he missed Yue was utterly absurd. Irritably he stomped upstairs after dinner and settled down next to the fire with a book, his third since Yue had left. The firelight in this room always shone so bright and clear, unlike the more mundane fires Touya used to read by in his cabin, and he stretched out comfortably on the rug. Chin propped on his folded arms, he read page after page of philosophy, a subject Yue spoke highly of but struck Touya as rather dry. He’d always been an eager student, ready to apply his mind to something he didn’t understand right away, but now it was hard to concentrate. He was tired. Alone in the room with only a crackling fire, Touya’s eyes fell shut and then opened again, then closed once more.
It could not have been more than a minute, he was sure, but when he opened them again there was sound in the room.
“Finally,” Touya yawned, rolling over. “It sure took you long enough, this time.”
Yue had returned, a dreamy half-image in the dying firelight, and unsteadily he took a step toward his chair.
“It is true,” he acknowledged, “I was gone longer than I intended. Circumstances were a little more -” He interrupted himself with a stumble, and shook his head as if to clear away some dizziness. Touya sat up straight.
“Are you okay?”
“Just a little more difficult than I anticipated…” Yue swayed, tilting dangerously to one side, and out of lifelong habit Touya scrambled to his feet. It didn’t occur to him that this was his supernaturally strong master, one who had forced sex against his will and imprisoned him in a castle. He was about to fall and so Touya hurried to his side, quick to draw Yue’s arm over his shoulders.
“Whoa! There you go, I’ve got you.”
“That’s a good boy,” Yue murmured, his exotic eyes almost completely closed in fatigue. Sleepily he smiled and nestled against Touya. “To the bed, please.”
Please? Touya shook his head and decided to just concentrate on helping Yue to his bed, a task made slightly easier since Yue didn’t seem to weigh nearly as much as his strength would imply.
“Almost there… I don’t know if you want to undress or not but -”
“Leave them,” Yue sighed into his neck. “They’re only clothes, they matter little.”
“Right. Let me just try and…” Touya tried to pull back the covers with one arm, but apparently Yue didn’t care about them either. With a low moan of contentment he fell onto the bed, dragging Touya along with him.
“Hey!”
“Shh,” Yue chided, and curled his arm around Touya so tightly he was veritably pressed against Yue’s chest. He could even feel his heartbeat. Now decidedly uncomfortable, he tried to lever Yue’s arm off him. But for all his apparent weakness, Yue had trapped him with a grip like iron and wasn’t letting go.
“Yue?”
No reply. The heartbeat he could feel against his back was slow and steady, Yue’s breathing even. He’d fallen asleep, with Touya in his arms.
Blast. Touya swore softly, tried a few different ways to escape his sleeping master’s grasp, all unsuccessful, before finally giving up and relaxing against Yue and the sheets beneath him. It had been so long since he slept in a bed, he’d forgotten how much more comfortable than the floor it could be. And this bed was a king of beds, one that put his old hay mattress in the mountains to shame. The satin sheets were cool against his cheek, the plushy softness a welcome change.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to lie here, just for a few minutes. Just until Yue relaxed enough for Touya to wriggle out from under his arm, and get back to his normal place on the rug.
Just for a little while…

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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

Prize for best review goes to Ori this time. It was a tough choice, I’m getting a lot of wonderful compliments. Meh. In case anyone is wondering, Best Review always goes to a review that is well written (as in, decent grammar, reasonble spelling, complete sentences), and one in which the reader takes care to point out a certain aspect of the story she is enjoying. I do not require these things… but I do appreciate them. Hence me, here, showing my appreciation. Ori likes the plot. I’m glad. Thank you, Ori! I hope I will be able to entertain you in future chapters and not let you down.

Well kids, it turns out I was able to get this chapter up in time for the second birthday of the fic. Yay. Just so you know, I have NEVER written a story that took me two years, not even close. And I wrote a fanfic that was over 400 pages long, once. I have no idea why this is taking me so long, but I’ll go ahead and blame aff.net’s screwy reformatting this spring. It’s got to be at least part of the reason. To answer many of your questions: no, I pray it will not take me another 2 years to finish this. I still have so much to go, though, so I better buckle down and get to it. Should I convert this into an original story? Lord knows it would be nice to have some payback for all this work….
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Pleasure Slave