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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
- 46
- 47
- 48
Chapter 47
‘confessions’

Yue had no reason to spare Li’s life. He, and Ralen, had destroyed everything in their greedy lust for Yue’s younger slave, committed the one crime that could rip Touya from Yue’s side forever. His precious slave, whom he loved more than life itself, turned his back on him and walked away, and when the shock wore off Yue experienced a murderous rage unlike what he’d ever felt toward a lowly human. For what they’d done, for what they’d taken from him, the human men must die. With all the concern of squashing an insect, Yue extinguished Ralen’s life and prepared to do the same for the other.
He had no reason to spare him at all. And yet, when Yue opened his palm to Li, on the brink of unleashing magic that would tear the young captain to shreds, he hesitated. The boy’s face had gone white as the marble, he knew exactly what was coming, but somehow he was managing not to panic. Unflinching courage was a trait Yue had often admired in this servant, courage and intelligence and an uncomplaining work ethic not common in those borne from luxury. Li Syaoran was Clow’s child, if not literally then assuredly in spirit, a brave and noble boy for whom Yue had always felt fond affection. He’d been so pleased to bring him here, to the home of his ancestor.
And there he stood, waiting to die, in one hand still clutching Clow’s own enchanted sword. Even for his crime, even for costing Yue his beloved slave, he could not bring himself to kill this boy.
In disgust he snatched his hand back from the attack and turned away. “Take him to my dungeon,” he ordered his gawking servants, voice dark with anger. “I will deal with him later. And get rid of that.”
Contemptuously he turned his back on both Li and the body beside him, watching only out of the corner of his eye as the rest of the guard timidly approached their captain. Li could fight past the whole lot of them, and they knew it, but he did nothing to resist. Before anyone could order it he dropped his sword and raised his hands, allowing the bewildered and extremely discomfitted guard to march their disgraced leader out of the room. Yue did not stay to watch them go. Acutely aware of the growing pressure behind his eyes, he swept out onto the balcony and took flight before any servants could see him cry.

She had not stopped crying, but at least her hysterical sobbing had ebbed by the time Touya carried his sister into the library and deposited her on the sofa. Silent tears still rolling down her cheeks, she curled up into a sniffling ball while Touya stoked at the fireplace.
“Sakura.” When he’d rekindled the embers into a cozy fire, Touya sat next to her and laid a tentative hand on her arm. No response. “Sakura, look at me.”
“Leave me alone,” she mumbled into a cushion.
“I wasn’t asking.” Impatiently Touya tightened his grip and hauled her up into a sitting position, ignoring her sullen glare. “I am angry, Sakura. And I know you’ve just been through something awful, but I need you to talk to me. Why didn’t you tell me Ralen was hurting you? I told you on our very first night here to tell me if anyone touched you!”
“He didn’t though,” Sakura cried. “He never touched me, never hurt me, not until tonight -”
“But you said he… made you undress before him? Watched you…” Touya clapped his hand to his mouth at the sudden surge of nausea, and pushed off the sofa to stand. What did that bastard make his sister do? Part of Touya demanded to know every detail, part of him couldn’t bear to think of it. It was a struggle not to vomit right there on the rug.
Somehow, as the second part took control, he managed to swallow it all back. “How long?” he finally wheezed. “How long has he been doing that?”
Sakura seemed to shrink into herself. “A long time,” she whispered. “Months.”
“How could you not tell me?” he barked, and she jumped. “All that time? Sakura, I agreed to become Yue’s slave for your sake, we made a deal hinging on your safety. He guaranteed no one would harm you!”
“Well how could I know that?” Sakura wailed. “You never told me you made any kind of bargain with Master Yue, you never told me anything. I had to find out you’d become his slave from Ralen!”
“Don’t you try to turn this around on me,” Touya snarled. “I raised you to know better, Sakura; no matter what Yue and I agreed on you knew that you should have told me what Ralen was putting you through. I would have smashed his skull into the floor.”
“That’s why I couldn’t tell you! I wanted to, but after that day you punched Ralen I was so afraid of getting you into trouble. I didn’t want Master Yue to be angry at you anymore.”
“Since when has it been your task to protect me? As if I would let Yue keep me from thrashing someone who did that to you! I am your older brother, Sakura, it has always been my job to keep you safe!” The more he thought about it, picturing his fragile little sister quietly suffering for his sake, the worse his pride hurt. “I can’t believe you just let him get away with that, didn’t ask anyone for help!”
“I did ask someone for help,” Sakura flared defensively. “I asked Syaoran.”
There it was again, that queer dread, like someone had just dropped ice into his stomach. All this time and he’d never managed to remember quite how it felt when he brushed the kid’s hand that day; now he couldn’t shake that creepy coldness.
“Who’s Syaoran?” he heard himself ask, in a strained voice. “There’s no Syaoran here.”
“Li Syaoran, Onii-chan. The captain of the guard.”
“Oh… you mean him. The one in your room. The one who said he forced you against your will.”
“Onii-chan, that was a lie, he was only trying to protect me, he lov-”
“Do you need water? Your face is a mess, I’m going to get you some water.” A jug of water lived on the desk where Touya spent most of his time; mechanically he fetched it and dunked the edge of his sleeve.
“Onii-chan, you have to believe me, he never hurt me at all! Will Master Yue hurt him? You can’t let him do that, I lov-”
“Close your mouth.” Sakura squeaked when Touya applied his wet sleeve to her face, rubbing at her tear streaks with a vigor that made her whimper.
“Onii-chan, ouch! Stop that, it hurts.”
“I’m just trying to get you clean, make you feel more comfortable. I know you must be exhausted after everything that just happened, but you’re safe now, you can sleep in here for tonight.”
“I don’t want to sleep!” Sakura argued. “I can’t sleep until I know what’s happened to Syaoran, please just let me -”
“You’ll get chilly, though, the nights are getting too cool. I’ll go get a blanket, okay?” Quite firmly he shoved her back into the cushions when she tried to get up, desperately ignoring his racing heart and sweating hands. His stomach kept twisting into queasy knots, and if Touya didn’t get out of here now it would only get worse.
“Onii-chan, wait!”
“I’ll only be gone a few minutes, don’t worry, you’ll be safe. I’ll lock you in just to be sure.”
On the teetering edge of panic he escaped the room, deaf to his sister’s pleading. He got out just in time to shut the door in her face, and hastily turned the key in the lock. His hands shook while doing it.

Feeling very small and alone in a vast castle, Yue had to clench his hands into fists to keep them from shaking. He’d shed his tears out under the stars, helpless to stop them, but the time for panicking was past. Hell might have erupted in his home tonight and destroyed everything, Touya might be threatening to leave him, but deep down Yue knew it was not necessarily over.
Deep down, he knew he didn’t have to let Touya go.
So what if he hadn’t kept his end of the deal? His word might be broken but his castle gates weren’t, neither were the high walls or the crossbows of the men patrolling them. He was Yue, pure magic and power, and Touya was only a human. Yue didn’t ‘have to’ do anything for him, least of all grant him freedom.
Stalking the halls in search of Touya, Yue caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror and averted his gaze. Clow would be so disappointed to hear the dark thoughts circling in his mind. For many painstaking years he’d taught his creation to control his awesome powers, taught him how to be, not human, but a man. Only a “petulant sulking child,” as he’d so cruelly put it, would resort to unjustified force to get what he wanted. Yue was very much a child that day of the stag, but Clow was there to tell him “no”. Now, there was no one. If Yue was to honor his contract with Touya, be the mature creation Clow could be proud of, then he would have to do so by his own strength of will.
And in the process, lose Touya forever.
He finally found his – former – slave in the upper corridors, headed towards the library with a folded blanket in his arms. Touya froze in his tracks when they caught sight of each other, his face dark with fury. Yue cringed in advance.
“You.”
“Toya, try to calm down -”
“Try to calm down? You’re telling me to try and calm down? My baby sister was nearly raped tonight, so no, I am not going to fucking calm down. Nearly raped after months of humiliation and abuse from your servant, the one that you promised would never dare do anything inappropriate to her. I told you I didn’t like the way he looked at her but you didn’t listen to me, you punished me for knocking him to the floor like he deserved! You made my sister afraid to tell me what he was doing to her!” Like a vengeful demon he marched closer, dark eyes flashing in the wan moonlight. “And you promised! You swore it to me down in that dungeon, you swore that no one would touch her!”
Yue’s clenched his fists so tightly it hurt. “Toya, I made a mistake, I didn’t know.”
“Your castle, isn’t it? Your promise, wasn’t it?”
“I never wanted any harm to come to her. If she’d told me what he was doing to her I would have seen to the matter at once!”
“A few months late for that,” Touya snapped. “I trusted you, Yue, I thought my sister was safe. I gave up my freedom, let you make me a slave because I trusted you on at least that much.”
“I am sorry,” Yue pleaded. “I cannot undo what happened to her but he’s dead now, Toya, isn’t that enough? I killed him for what he did to your sister!”
Touya hesitated, his gaze narrowed. “He? Don’t you mean ‘they’? Which one did you kill?”
Yue swallowed. “I killed Ralen. The Li boy I couldn’t- that is, he’s in my dungeon awaiting punishment -”
“Not good enough.” Touya turned to go around him and Yue reached for his arm.
“Toya, wait.”
“Do not touch me,” he snarled, and jerked his arm out of Yue’s grasp. “You don’t have that right anymore, remember? I’ll sleep in the library tonight with my sister, and we leave at dawn. We’re going home, if we still have one, and we’re going to pick up what’s left of our lives.” He paused, curled his grip around Clow’s necklace, and with a minor wince tore it off. “I believe this is yours.”
He tossed it at Yue’s feet like it was nothing more than garbage, or more accurately the shattered remains of Yue’s heart. The broken chain hit the floor and Yue could have wept.
“There is no we,” he muttered instead, voice toneless and dull. Touya had begun to walk away again but stopped, turning not quite all the way around to face him.
“What?”
“There is no ‘we’, there is only you. Our original agreement made you my slave as long as no one touched her. It’s true my word is broken and you are released, but I never promised to let her go for any reason. She is my property, now and forever. If you choose to leave the castle at dawn, you will do so alone.”
Clow would have been so ashamed. It was not a violation of the contract, perhaps, but in his heart Yue knew this manipulation was almost worse. He had not matured since that day of the stag after all; he would still do whatever it took to get what he wanted. To watch Touya’s face fall, as the words sank in, was such a heartrending sight that Yue could not bear to watch. He dropped his eyes.
“No…”
“I’ll retire to my room now,” Yue informed him, talking more to the banister than Touya. “If you do mean to depart with the dawn, please do me the honor of at least telling me goodbye.”
And, still not looking up even once, Yue turned and sailed gracefully up the stairs.

When Touya had made it inside the library and shut the door behind him, the first thing he did was slide down it until he’d hit the floor with an ungainly thump. Then he buried his face in his hands.
“Onii-chan?”
He should have known, of course. Hadn’t he learned by now that Yue would do anything to keep him trapped in this castle, hadn’t the son of the devil promised him as much to his face? He should have known that a mere breach of their contract would never be enough to loosen Yue’s grip.
“Onii-chan, are you alright?”
Wearily he lifted his head and found himself looking straight down his sister’s sagging neckline, as she bent ever closer to face him.
“For pity’s sake, Sakura, act like the decent girl I raised you to be!” He jumped to his feet, startling her, and threw the blanket around her shoulders like a reverse cape. “No matter how hard everyone else in this castle tries to turn you into a whore, I won’t let you become one. You’re still my sister.”
She blinked and stumbled a bit before his sudden assault, green eyes round and nervous. “Yes… of course, Onii-chan. Did something happen to make you angry?”
“Of course something happened to make me angry. Two scoundrels kidnapped you, sold you into slavery, and ruined both our lives. Didn’t you notice?” She flinched when he stormed past, punching one or two of the bookshelves on the way.
“Onii-chan?”
“What?”
Timidly she followed him closer to the firelight. “Did you ask if Master Yue hurt Syaoran at all? I’m so worried.”
That name again! With a menacing growl Touya dragged his sister forward and almost threw her down on the sofa.
“Alright, Sakura, out with it. What did that man do to you? Did he- no, no he couldn’t have done that, your collar’s still white.” Touya allowed himself a short sigh of relief, missing his sister’s guilty cringe. “But did he do anything else? Did he try to kiss you?”
“Yes, Onii-chan, he did kiss me. I wanted him to.”
“No, no, no! He admitted that he hurt you, I heard him!”
“I told you he was lying! He was trying to protect me, he loves me!”
“Stop saying that word!” Touya shouted, slamming his fist into the wall behind him. Sakura jumped, and he tried to get control of his temper. “Sakura… you’re just a child. Whatever he told you, whatever you think you felt about him, it wasn’t real.”
“Onii-chan, of course it was real! How can you say such a thing?”
“I’m just trying to keep you from getting hurt. Men like that prey on girls like you, they’re only out to hurt you.”
“Syaoran isn’t like that,” Sakura insisted. “He’s kind and considerate, he would never hurt me! He’s the one that kept me safe from Ralen!”
“That was my job.”
“He was so afraid of scaring me he almost couldn’t touch me. He’d do anything for me, tried so hard to make me happy. He’s perfect and I love him!”
“Stop it, stop it, stop it! You don’t love him, you can’t love him, you don’t know anything about love!”
“I know more than you,” Sakura retorted spitefully. “At least when I’m in love I know it, and don’t clap my hands over my ears, shut my eyes, and pretend it doesn’t exist!”
Touya tensed. “Sakura, this is not a subject that you want to bring up right now.”
“I think it is.” Looking unusually determined, and angry, Sakura rose to a standing position and glared up at him from her tiny height. “It’s not as if it’s a secret, Onii-chan, the whole castle knows. You can sense it when he needs you, you get upset when he leaves the castle, you couldn’t even bring yourself to think about him when we tried to escape. You love Master Yue, Onii-chan, and you won’t even admit it!”
“I do not love that monster,” Touya snarled. “He’s taken everything from me! From us!”
“But he’s given us so much too! My dancing lessons, and the piano for you, and this library – he tries really hard to make you happy! I’ve seen it in his eyes so many times when he talks about you. He loves you so much, and he’s sad because he doesn’t believe that you love him back. You break his heart a little more every day!”
“If that creature has a heart,” Touya spat, “it deserves to be broken. Don’t you understand we are his prisoners?”
“I don’t care. Onii-chan, can’t you see how lucky you are? You love your master. You could tell the whole world if you wanted to, shout it from the highest tower in the castle. I would have given anything to be that honest when I fell in love, but I couldn’t, because I wasn’t ‘allowed’ to love a man that was not my owner. I knew it but couldn’t say it; you could say it but refused to know it. It’s so unfair!”
She tumbled back down onto the sofa cushions with a solitary sob, her shoulders convulsing once. Touya could hear a horrible rasping, scraping noise somewhere in the room and eventually realized it was his own breathing.
“You don’t love him. You’re just confused; you’re so young. A year from now, you won’t even remember his name.”
“Onii-chan, he asked me to marry him. We’re engaged.”
Just like that, the nausea he’d been fighting all night erupted in the space of seconds. Touya barely made it to the dustbin by the desk before every bite of dinner came up, at a rather violent speed. Sakura said nor did nothing, allowing him to empty his stomach in frigid, unhappy silence. When he’d finished, Touya wiped the cold sweat from his brow and decided he could not spend the night in here after all. He could not, come to think of it, spend one more minute in here.
“Go to sleep,” he ordered hoarsely. “I’ll come let you out in the morning.”
“But what about Syao -”
“Good night, Sakura.”
Clutching the basket to his chest, Touya fled the library and locked the doors behind him.

Yue was on his fourth glass of wine, staring vacantly at the white-gold liquid sloshing about in his goblet, when his bedroom door opened and Touya stumbled in. Even in the dim firelight he looked an obvious wreck, his face pale and clammy with sweat, a dark despair lurking in his eyes. Yue took in his appearance and spoke more evenly than he felt.
“Come to say goodbye?”
“Shut up. You knew I’d never leave without her.”
Touya didn’t even look at him, on his way to the bathroom, which was just as well because there was no question of hiding Yue’s relief. Yes, he’d known that, but it still brought overwhelming security to hear the words. Thank the heavens for that little sister; Touya was still his. For the first time in hours he drew a free breath, and never mind that nagging pang of guilt. It would go away, eventually.
With no small amount of satisfaction he drained his glass and set it aside. Touya, from the sound of things, was splashing his face and gargling with cold water – six or seven times. It took a long time for him to reappear in the bathroom doorway, sagging limply against the frame.
“You don’t look well, Toya.”
“I’m having a bad night. And to think it started so peacefully. I wasn’t prepared to lose my freedom, again, and my sister, again, all in one blow.”
Wearily he shuffled to the rug and dropped into a forlorn heap, looking like he didn’t care whether he lived or died.
“You did not lose your sister. Ralen was unsuccessful, and she’s safe enough now.”
Touya attempted a humorless chuckle. “You would think, wouldn’t you? But Sakura… said some things that really scared me tonight. Things that made me think I’m gonna lose her. And I won’t. I can’t.”
“What happened?”
“She told me she l-loves him.” He almost choked on the word. “Said it right to my face. She’s just a baby, she doesn’t know what love is, but she thinks she loves him and that’s just as bad. He could tell her to do anything and she’d listen.”
“Then what is it?”
“What is what?”
“Love. Since you know and she doesn’t, tell me.”
Curiously Yue cocked his head and Touya met his look blankly. Something, perhaps a memory, flickered in his eyes but then Touya shook his head and looked away.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. It isn’t real anyway, she’s just confused, I guess I didn’t raise her as strictly as I thought I did. From now on I’ll have to keep her closer to me, talk to her until she understands the mistake she made. I won’t lose her to that brat.”
The vicious inflection on that final word nearly made Yue wince. “Is it so terrible, whatever she feels for him?”
“She is my sister,” Touya reminded him coldly. “I’m the one that worked for years to feed and shelter her, I’m the one that tracked her from our home to this castle, I’m the one that sacrificed myself to protect her. If I don’t want her to be around another man, then I have every right to make sure it doesn’t happen. I won’t let all my hard work go to waste.”
“Toya, are you jealous?”
Irritation flashed across his expression, and defiantly Touya lifted his chin. “You will kill him, Yue.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll kill him.”
“No.”
“Why not? You had no trouble killing Ralen!”
“Ralen was only a servant, and unacceptably cruel to my slave. Li Syaoran is a different matter.”
“Because of his bloodline? You can’t be serious. You’ll spare him, even after he admitted to abusing my sister, just because he’s descended from your precious master?”
Had he really done such a thing? Remembering Sakura’s frantic denials, Yue doubted it. It just baffled him why Li would make up a story that would get him in worse trouble than he already was.
“I am lord and master of this castle, slave. You don’t need to understand anything about my decisions except that they are mine.”
An odd look filtered into Touya’s expression, a look that could almost be described as calculating. After a moment of silence, he shrugged and leaned back against braced arms.
“If you say so, then.”
“I do.”
“But Yue, you forgot again. I’m not your slave anymore. Just because I can’t leave this castle doesn’t mean I’ll be sleeping in your bed – or doing anything else in it. Perhaps I’ll go back to spending the night on this rug. It wasn’t so bad.”
“Nonsense,” Yue replied, slightly unnerved by that strange look. “You would miss me. You couldn’t resist me.”
“Maybe. But, you’ve learned how stubborn I can be. Maybe not.”
“What are you getting at?”
“…you.” Touya reached for one of Yue’s feet and slipped his hands around it, stroking and massaging in a way that made Yue suck his breath in. “And that body of yours. How good I’ve gotten at touching it in a way that pleases you.”
A smile that was very uncharacteristic of Touya – but disturbingly similar to the smile of that fake-Touya from his dreams – played across his lips. Hands moved up Yue’s legs and between his knees, levering them apart with little difficulty.
“Yes, I think you like that. What a shame to lose it, after all those months you spent training me, taming me.” Palms glided up his thighs and Yue fought to hold still, keep breathing. Touya dipped his head, almost to Yue’s stiffening erection, then slowly raised it to Yue’s throat. “I’m not your slave now… but I could be. Even though I’m proud and defiant, I’d be your willing pet, do anything for you in bed. I could belong to you again, answer to slave.”
He was almost in Yue’s lap by now, his lips tracing a path up Yue’s neck and onto his jaw. “For as long as you wish it, I could be yours. Master.”
Tantalizingly, his lips hovered just over Yue’s.
“Is that what you want?”
With excruciating care Yue exhaled. “Yes.”
“Then you will get rid of him. Dead or gone from this castle forever, I don’t care, just so long as my sister never sees him again. Do you understand, master?”
“I believe I do,” Yue murmured, their lips just close enough to sense his warmth. He felt more than saw Touya’s smile grow, this boy who was supposedly his slave.
“Good. That makes me happy. You know I’m so good in bed when I’m happy.” Finally Touya kissed him, twice, very lightly. “Go take care of him, and when I know he’s gone then I’ll be able to really relax. You want that, right?”
“You know what I want. Apparently too well.” Yue’s hand glided up over Touya’s ribs and chest, his finger drawing a line up his neck to push up gently underneath his chin. “You little mynx. You are so much stronger than I ever thought you’d be.”
“I warned you.”
“So you did.” This time Yue kissed him, and it was not lightly. “It only makes me want you more.”

And that was how, some while later, Yue came to be standing back out in the silent and moonwashed corridors again. Touya had allowed some kissing and fondling but refused to let Yue any further until the deed was done; now he was back in their room and waiting for Yue’s return. His slave, who’d sent his master on an errand.
Yue stared at the waxing moon through a window and wondered how it had come to this. Touya, somehow, over these past few months, had learned to play Yue every bit as well as he could play that piano. It was a bizarre, slightly humiliating, position to find himself in, but what could Yue do about it? He loved Touya, but as long as the little sister was in any kind of perceived danger from a man, Touya would close himself off to Yue. He remembered well enough how much he’d suffered the last time Touya did such a thing – and that was only for a week. Yue would not endure that again.
Get rid of Li, get Touya back. Simple as that. Even if Touya had manipulated him into this position – effortlessly – at least it was not an impossible price. Li was only a human. Wasn’t his own love more important than any boy, no matter his bloodline? Marble halls passed in silence as Yue descended the floors of his castle.
Still, the boy was special. Yue would never forget his first glimpse of him. Of course he recognized him, even in the middle of nowhere; both Yue and Keroberos had been keeping a loose eye on the Li clan for two centuries and it was impossible to mistake that distinctive fighting style. His fearlessness and flawless technique were instantly apparent, even before he drew the sword. The sword… Yue vividly remembered watching Clow forge the beautiful, unique weapon. It was not only a work of art but a labor of love, and must have taken at least a year to fashion. He’d been so bewildered and upset when Clow announced he did not intend to keep it.
Give it to a nephew? How could he? Such a thing was wasted on his silly relatives. Clow only smiled when Yue protested, and reminded him that even mere mortals deserve a chance to defend themselves against the Void. It was one of the few blades in the world that could at least scratch its monsters and, Clow predicted with relish, if anyone could wield it with the necessary skill then it would be a Li. When Yue worried that future children of the family would use it to inflict more harm than good, Clow explained he’d built in a special charm. The sword would only unlock itself for a worthy, good soul, the kind of warrior that would never attack someone weaker than himself. Watching young Syaoran drill with it every dawn, Yue suspected that the old wizard had designed it specifically for him. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d gone peeking into the future.
The sword. Yue stopped when he realized he’d reached the fourth floor, where everything had gone so horribly wrong tonight. Li Syaoran dropped his sword on the floor when the guard took him to the dungeon; was it still there? Without its owner’s sustained contact, it would revert to its amulet form and Yue did not want any servant mistaking it for junk. Moving more quickly now, Yue changed direction and made for Sakura’s room. Servants had, as ordered, removed the body, but no one had gotten around to cleaning up the mess of blood or torn bedsheets. Li’s sword amulet was lying close to the foot of the bed, and Yue stooped to pick it up. But the amulet, he was surprised and very displeased to learn, was not the only object strung onto the cord.

Alone in a dark dungeon Li Syaoran, shivering on the cold stone floor, sat chained to the wall behind him and waited. What he was waiting for, he did not know, anymore than he knew why Ralen was dead and he was not. Eyeing the thick whip hanging on a hook not too far away, Li wasn’t so sure that was a good thing. Maybe he was waiting for some excruciating torture, some punishment worse than death. Whatever it was, as the hours dragged by he started to wish it would just come, already, and spare him the agony of not knowing. And even more so than his own fate, he was desperate to learn of Sakura’s.
It was undoubtedly the worst night of his life. He wasn’t sure how much of it had passed, dropping in and out of a doze, before a bang startled him into sitting up straight. The cool white glow of Yue’s magic swirled through the dungeon and Li scrambled to his feet. When he appeared, against the grimy blackness, he had to blink. He looked angry, still, but it wasn’t the blazing fury he’d seen upstairs. He could almost believe he saw a shadow of disappointment in those eyes.
“Li Syaoran,” he began, frostily. “It is such a pity to look upon you like this. I had very different expectations for your future here.”
Li had linked his hands behind his back out of reflex, absurdly, as if he were still captain, still standing at attention as he reported to his employer. “It doesn’t feel so great either. Sir.”
“You have only yourself to thank for it. Unless, everything that happened tonight was a misunderstanding. I would certainly prefer to think so. Tell me that the girl solicited you, that you rejected her and never invited her touch, and I’ll release you right now. Tell me it was her fault.”
Li didn’t twitch. “It is as I said before, Lord Yue. I abused her. I demanded favors from her when I took her outdoors in the mornings. She never wanted nor invited any of it.”
Yue tsked in irritation. “You’re a very unconvincing liar, captain. Even if I believed you were capable of such a thing, this does a more than adequate job of contradicting you.”
From one hand he dangled his sword amulet. Sakura’s opal ring glittered in the torch light.
Shit.
“Men do not usually purchase engagement rings for the women they victimize,” Yue mused, while Li tried to hide his grimace. “You weren’t molesting her, she was not molesting you; no, I can see it’s far worse than that. You were having an affair. Why did you try to pretend it was all your fault?”
Li gave up on lying, it was obvious Yue would not believe him. He was so afraid for Sakura. Quietly he asked, “Are you going to punish her?”
Yue blinked, looking slightly thrown. “I… don’t know yet. Perhaps.”
“Then I will ask you to please let me take her punishment for her: twice as many lashes, or whatever you deem fit. I beg you not to hurt her.”
Yue looked slightly astonished at first, but eventually understanding filtered in. “I suppose that answers my question, at least. How unexpected. You really, truly love the girl, don’t you? The Void… you didn’t risk your life protecting her for the sake of ‘a captain’s duty’, no, you did it because you couldn’t help yourself. And- and her brother, down here.”
Unhappily Li watched Yue’s eyes flash, making the connection. “You made it obvious enough you resent him yet you flirted with death, coming between him and my anger. Why take such a risk? Did you do it for her? It’s been going on that long?” He tossed the ring into the air and snatched it, squeezing it in his fist. “I shudder to think what Toya would do if he knew about this. You’ve nearly cost me my slave a hundred times over, I should kill you where you stand.”
Li refused to flinch before the freezing blast of his anger. “I always knew there was something more to it – you taking him instead of Sakura. Something important that I just couldn’t put my finger on. A deal. I was an idiot for not seeing it sooner, I even overheard part of it: he told you after he caught Sakura dancing that ‘you weren’t supposed to be looking at her’. What kind of slave talks like that to his master?”
“Our arrangement is none of your concern,” Yue replied testily.
“No, it’s a big concern of mine, actually, because it means that everything I’ve hoped and worked for over the past two months is destroyed. I never wanted to steal from you, Yue, I was saving every cent I had to buy her from you outright. But I can see now you wouldn’t have parted with her for any price, or ever given her to me as a reward for fighting that monster. You need her. You can’t control him without her. She’s the anchor that keeps him in your grasp.”
“I don’t need anything to control my own slave!” Yue snapped, but Li knew he’d figured it right.
“You just said you ‘shudder’ to think what he’d do if he knew about us. What are you, afraid of him? Afraid of him leaving?”
“I will not hear this from a dishonored servant. You committed a terrible crime, Li Syaoran, do you not understand how close you are to death?”
“I’m not afraid of death as you are the truth.” Li stepped forward as far as the chains would let him, matching Yue glare for glare. “You don’t want to know if he really wants you, and you’ll do anything to keep from finding out. Even if that means locking up a girl for the rest of her life, a girl that’s done nothing to you. She doesn’t deserve that!”
“Silence!”
“You’re obsessed with him, Yue, everyone knows it. And you’re using her as a pawn in your power games. Honestly I hate him and don’t care what you two do to each other, but I won’t stand for watching you drag her down with you. Set her free.”
Something sharp and shiny zipped past Li’s head and splintered against the stone wall behind him, missing him so narrowly he could feel the rush of air.
“And you, prisoner, are in a position to demand anything of me?”
“I’m not. But she admires you, and even after what you nearly did to her she trusts you. She told me she believes you’ll never hurt her again. You could at least have the decency to hold true to that, and not keep her prisoner for the rest of her life.”
“She is my property, I have every right -”
“If she was your property, you’d have been the one that kept her alive when that monster attacked. You would have been the one shielding her from Ralen’s sick perversions, staying awake at nights to make sure he didn’t go staring at her while she slept. If anyone has any rights to her, it’s me. But I’m not asking you to give her to me, I’m asking you to set her free. I can do that, because I know she’ll stay with me once she has the choice. Aren’t you jealous?”
He just kept pushing and pushing, recklessly unafraid as only a man with nothing more to lose can be, too full of his wrongs to care about warning signs like the deepening cold or the color bleeding from Yue’s eyes. That last snide comment proved too much, and Li hit the wall with a dull thud. He tumbled to the floor like a rag doll, wheezing for air.
“Count your blessings, boy, for there is nothing but your heritage keeping you alive right now.”
Huh? Li had hit his head fairly hard, and watched the stones underneath swirl and blur.
“You are obviously determined to be punished for what you’ve done, so I will oblige you. There will be no whipping, no lashing, no imprisonment. You’ve served me well and worked hard, that does merit something in return. I’ll even allow you to keep this.”
His sword amulet clattered to the floor directly under his bowed head.
“Li Syaoran, as punishment for your crime you are herefore banished from my castle. You will depart at dawn. You will not ever return, nor attempt to contact Sakura through a message. You must never see her again.”
For the first time that night, Li nearly wept. With considerable effort he held it back.
“His demand, I’m sure,” he muttered. “Because I know you wouldn’t care. Gods forbid he share her with anyone else. The two of you really do deserve each other. You’re both so obsessive and selfish you don’t care who you hurt, as long as you get what you want. You’re perfect for each other.”
“Time to close that insolent mouth, Li Syaoran. You have a few hours to rest before dawn, I suggest you use it. I will have a servant pack your possessions and prepare your horse. Out of concern for the women you left at home, I’ll allow you to take all the gold that you’ve earned.”
Li never remembered telling Yue a word about his family in Port Corryn, but he’d always seemed to know all about his widowed mother and many sisters. Someday he might wonder why.
“Wait,” he gasped, when Yue had turned and begun to walk away. “Wait, please.”
“What is it?”
“Keep the money. I don’t want it, it’s all yours. If you’ll please just… let me say goodbye to her. Just five minutes.”
The ends of Yue’s long silver hair swished when he paused, and Li imagined he saw the momentary tensing of indecision across his back.
“I’ll consider it.”
He left the dungeon as abruptly as he’d entered it, the heavy door slamming shut with another bang when he did so. Leaving Li alone, in the dark, to contemplate a future without Sakura. He’d been right after all.
It was a punishment worse than death.

Yue would like to think the captain’s words had no effect on him. He was just a boy, after all, and Yue a creature more powerful, older, and infinitely wiser than that lovestruck puppy down in his dungeon. He was barely old enough to fall in love. What did he know of heartbreak, of grief, years endured alone after someone you trusted had left you forever? Nothing. He was no more than a child.
Yue would like to believe that he was unaffected, but it was not true. Even now, hours later, after countless reminders that he was doing this for the sake of Touya, for the sake of love, Li’s accusations still needled at his heart. Keeping her to control him. Using her as a pawn. Ready to lock her up for a lifetime as long as it meant he and Touya could be together.
All true. Tonight’s near miss had demonstrated as much with horrifying clarity. He’d underestimated the boy’s wit; all the more reason to get him out of this castle as quickly as possible. Outside the library window the sky was starting to pale, and in the growing light Yue watched Sakura breathe. She’d been curled up on the sofa when he found her here hours earlier, asleep, her face wan and streaked with the evidence of tears. His property, after all, a slave purchased for two hundred pieces of gold and then never once used. It hadn’t even occurred to him to punish her for what she’d done, until Li mentioned it. He thought of the murderous rage he’d felt when he found Touya and that silly girl tangled up on the floor, and sighed. Li was right; to Yue she was nothing more than the key to locking up her brother.
Carefully, Yue perched himself on the edge of the cushions and bent over her. He could kiss her, right now, prove the captain wrong, but Yue knew it wouldn’t happen. If she was not his pleasure slave then she wasn’t ‘nothing’ either, she was a girl that he’d learned to see as a sister. She held him and comforted him once, when he was sad, showed him kindness. Even though he owned her, and would forever, he would never claim this body for sex.
Instead of kissing her, Yue cupped her face with a gentle hand. “Sakura, wake up.”
Sakura stirred and mumbled a bit, and he repeated himself. Eventually she opened her eyes, blinking rather owlishly at him and then her surroundings in confusion.
“Mstr Yue? Why am I… oh! Oh, it wasn’t a dream.” With a swiftness that took him by surprise Sakura bolted upright and clutched at his shirt. “Master Yue, where’s Syaoran? Please don’t hurt him, you mustn’t believe that he ever hurt me, he was only -”
“Shh, I know. He’s come to no harm.”
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, before a hint of fear crept into her eyes. “Are we in trouble, Master Yue? Are you angry?”
“Somewhat. You and the captain nearly cost me what I love most in this world, after all. But never mind, that crisis is past. I just need you to come with me now.”
“To where?”
“Just come. I am granting him his request.”
Confused but dutifully obedient, Sakura wrapped the blanket more tightly around her shoulders and followed Yue out of the library. Through the castle they descended, and the gray light of pre-dawn had almost become pink by the time they reached the great front hall. Li was waiting by the open door.
“Syaoran!” Sakura’s face lit up with joy and relief and she rushed ahead, throwing herself headlong into his arms. “You’re alright! I was so worried, I kept asking but Onii-chan wouldn’t tell me and I thought for sure that you -”
“Shh,” he soothed, and put a finger to her lips. “I’m fine, nothing happened. Nobody’s hurt you, have they?”
Quickly she shook her head, and he exhaled. “Thank gods for that.” Pointedly ignoring Yue’s presence, he crushed Sakura against his chest in an embrace that would have surely had Touya in hysterics. “I was so afraid I wouldn’t see you again.”
“Why would you think that?” Her question went unanswered, for several long seconds, and Yue watched Sakura fidget awkwardly within Li’s arms. “Syaoran?”
She couldn’t see, though Yue could, the horrific grimace that crossed Li’s expression. As if it physically hurt, he pulled back just enough to face her directly.
“Syaoran?”
“Sakura… I have to go.”
“Go? Where?”
“Away. I have- to leave and I can’t ever come back.”
The meaning sunk in slowly, her grasp on his shirt tightening with each passing heartbeat. When she spoke, her voice shook. “No.”
“I have to.”
“No! You can’t- you can’t leave me here!”
“Shhh.” His own hands were shaking as badly as she was, but Li still managed to cup her face and press a kiss to her brow. “I have no choice, Sakura. It’s Yue’s castle, he says I have to go. We’re not allowed to see each other anymore.”
“Forever?” she cried. “That’s not fair, he can’t do that! Master, you can’t -” She half turned to Yue and promptly Li grasped her shoulders, forcing her to face him again.
“Don’t. He won’t change his mind, he can’t. Just look at me, because I don’t want to forget a single detail about your face.” He brushed away her tears. “I know it’s hard, and it’s unfair, but Sakura, it could have been so much worse. And you’ll be fine, Ralen’s gone, you don’t need me to protect you anymore.”
“I need you to love me,” she sobbed. “I can’t live without you.”
“I will always love you,” he whispered, forehead resting gently against hers. “No matter where I am, no matter how far apart we are, I will never stop.”
“Please don’t go…”
“I want you to have this.” His hands were still shaking and he fumbled a bit before producing the white opal ring, which caught a pink ray of the sunrise and sparkled. “It’s been yours for a long time; I’d hoped I could give it to you when you were free…”
Sakura’s chest heaved with another sob, as he slipped it onto her finger. “No matter what they think, no matter what they say, you’re my girl. And if your masters ever have a change of heart and free you, you know how to find me. I’ll wait for you always.”
Again he kissed her, this time on her lips, with a passion Yue would have never thought such a young boy could feel, and she was responding in kind. These children, who shouldn’t know anything at all of love, were now glowing in its pure light. So much so that Yue had to look away, suddenly ashamed to be intruding on such a moment.
“I love you so much.”
“I love you too.” Li tipped his forehead against hers again, breathing her air as if to have that final taste, before taking a long step back. Sakura’s breath hitched in fresh panic.
“No. Not now!”
“It has to be now. I’m so sorry, Sakura.” His voice broke on the final word and he fled out the doors, followed by a frantic Sakura. Yue caught up in time to clasp a firm hand on her shoulder, before she could leap on the captain and drag him to the earth. Li almost ran to close the distance to his horse, and leapt on her saddle.
“Syaoran, no! Please!”
Li turned miserable eyes back on the two of them, one last time. “Goodbye.”
He nudged his mare and she wheeled, making for the opened gate at a speedy trot. Halfway across the courtyard, she switched to a canter and within seconds he was gone. Sakura cried out his name again, uselessly, then burst into uncontrollable tears and sank to the ground, out from under Yue’s hand. For some reason, it felt dirty.
Minutes passed, and still she cried. At a loss for what to say, Yue picked up the fallen blanket and draped it over her shoulders, for it was still chilly so early in the morning. She must come back inside.
“Sakura -”
“Don’t touch me!” Hysterically she swatted his hand away when he tried. “Don’t come near me, you took him away! I love him!”
Such was the force of her anger that Yue actually backed away, to safety. “This is the way it has to be, Sakura. He committed a crime when he touched you -”
“You don’t care anything about me! You never touch me! What do you care if I love him?”
Yue had no answer for that, and helplessly shrugged. “It is what your brother demanded.”
“Onii-chan?” Face red and blotchy as the changing autumn trees, Sakura lifted her head to look at him. “Onii-chan did this?”
“He is only trying to protect you, he’s just doing what he thinks is best.”
From her crumpled position on the ground Sakura stared at him, eyes pink and swollen, still gasping for the breath she’d lost while crying. When she spoke it was through clenched teeth.
“I hate him.”
“I’m sure you don’t mean -”
“I hate him! I hate my brother he took everything and I hate him!”
Again Yue backed away, appalled and fearful of the sheer poison in her voice. He didn’t try to collect her again; the men had closed the gate and she could stay here. As she relapsed into another round of wild sobs, Yue turned and fled.

Touya had dozed off in his armchair while waiting for his return, legs dangling over one arm and head tilted back in a position that was bound to result in a sore neck. He must have been too anxious to fall deeply into sleep, though, and woke up when Yue shut the bedroom door.
“Yue?” He rubbed his eyes and stretched. “Finally. That sure took long enough… you did do it, right?”
“The deed is done. He’s gone.”
His face split with a victorious smile, and when Yue had come close enough he reached for his hand.
“Mm, that’s good news to wake up to. Master. Do you feel like celebrating?” He brought his hand close enough to kiss it, and Yue tugged it back out of his grasp.
“Not just yet, I think. It was… an unpleasant task, after all. My hands feel dirty.”
“Then I’ll bathe you.”
“I don’t think so, Toya. This sort of dirty isn’t going to wash away very easily, I suspect.” Yue turned away from his slave, uncomfortably aware of a growing queasiness within. “I – we – inflicted considerable pain this morning. Your sister is crying.”
“She is? Really? I should go see her, then.”
Touya slid off his chair and made for the door, only to be held back by Yue’s sudden grip on his arm. “Toya, no. You don’t want to go near her.”
“Of course I do, if she’s crying then she needs me. Now let go.”
Yue only tightened his grasp. “Toya, if you approach that girl right now, I promise you will regret it. She will say such hurtful things that you might never recover.”
Touya frowned briefly. “She can’t be that upset.”
“I assure you she can, I saw it with my own eyes. Her heart is broken, Toya, for she really loved him.”
“Don’t say that, she doesn’t know what love is!”
“I wonder if perhaps those children know it far better than we do.” The queasiness was getting worse, along with a dull ache in his chest. Yue had a nasty suspicion that something bad was about to happen.
He relinquished his hold on Touya and turned away again. “I wish I had not granted him his request. If I hadn’t seen them together, how much they loved each other, I might not be so ashamed of myself. That is what real love looks like, then: touching without coercion, freely saying ‘I love you’ without fear, secure that the other returns your love, faithful it will never end even with separation. Your sister knows what love is.”
“She doesn’t! Why are you talking like this, how can you be on her side?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you still favoring that kid?” Touya guessed darkly. “Still pining away for that trace of Clow in his blood?”
“Perhaps.” Though Yue did not really think that was it. “I do not favor him only because of that heritage, Toya, he is a good man. Clow’s sword obeys him for a reason. And by all accounts he’s done much to protect your sister, he even lied to protect her from my punishment. He risked his life to defend her against the Void. Why are you so determined to keep them apart?”
“Because he’ll take her away from me!” Touya kicked the armchair and stomped past Yue on his way to the balcony, then stopped and turned around. “Do you think I’m stupid? Or blind? I know what he did to keep her safe, I know what I owe him. Why do you think I hate him so much? Protecting her was my job, raising her was my job, a job I had to fight to keep when my father died two years ago. So many people have tried to take her away from me, but I always won, I always managed to hang on. In my life she’s the only beautiful thing I’ve ever had, the one who’s kind and happy even though I’m not. And she worships me, looks up to me. How can I live when she loves someone else more than me? She’s all I’ve got, I don’t have anything else!”
But you have me.
Yue opened his mouth to say it and then closed it again; the words were meaningless. How could that be any consolation when Touya did not have him by choice?
“But Toya… if you keep her chained to you, how can she love you? How can she not hate you?”
“She’d never hate me,” Touya muttered, uncomfortably. He hugged himself, rubbing his arms. “And even if she did, at least she’d still be mine. It’s better than losing her forever.”
It was like listening to an echo, like looking in a mirror. Stunned, Yue stared at his slave and realized he was seeing his own twisted self. It was far uglier than he’d ever dreamed.
“He was right,” he heard himself whisper. “We really do deserve each other. I didn’t know how terrible those words could make me feel.”
Touya couldn’t quite hear him. “Huh?”
“Oh, Toya. I thought I could live selfishly forever, but I cannot be a part of this. If you ever grew to hate me as your sister hates you now, I know I could not bear it. I would break and die.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Clow warned me his descendent would force my hand. I wish it hadn’t been this way. I wish the whole night never happened, but I cannot pretend I didn’t see them…”
Yes, something bad was coming, something horrible that he had no power to stop. He could feel it, bearing down on him with the inevitability of death.
“Yue? You look pale, what’s wrong?”
Touya was standing directly in front of him now, a touch of concern in his eyes, cupping Yue’s chin to get a better look.
“Nothing,” he lied, and kissed his slave. Touya stiffened slightly at the unexpectedness of it but quickly adapted, opening his lips to allow him better access, responding to Yue’s urgent desire. They kissed and all the while Yue could feel it coming, hurtling toward him at a fantastic speed. It’s not too late, some voice in his mind pleaded. He’s still yours. Don’t say it!
They parted, and Yue exhaled with a shudder.
“I release you.”
Silence. Touya simply stared at him, motionless except to blink. “What?”
“I release you,” Yue repeated, some part of him marveling that his voice hardly shook at all. “And your sister too, of course, you are both… free.”
Touya still hadn’t moved. Anger was the first emotion to cross his face. “Yue, don’t tease me.”
“I am not playing!” Yue snapped, and turned aside before he could weaken and recant. “You are no longer my property, you are free to go. But if you wish to stay, then- then that is also acceptable. The choice is yours.”
More silence. Yue sensed the subtle change in Toya’s breathing and posture, and knew that his slave understood he meant it. He did not dare to turn around see his expression.
“Why?” Toya finally asked, his voice not much more than a whisper now either.
“Because you are not a wild stag. Because I think I can at least be as strong as the foolish boy who loves your sister. Because…” Yue paused to breathe. “I love you. So how can I not?”
Touya’s reaction was a sharp intake of breath, and no more. What did his face look like? His eyes? If only Yue had the courage to turn around and see.
“We’re really free?”
“You really are.”
And again, silence. Breathlessly Yue waited for what seemed an age, and at last heard some kind of noise. What…?
He peeked, but the only thing moving in the room was the door, slowly closing shut on itself. Touya was already gone. It must have taken no more than a second to make his choice.
His knees buckled, and Yue collapsed.

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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

No need to ask, this time. I know you guys hate me.

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Pleasure Slave