Love in Chains

By DragonMage

Notes: Yeah! Another chapter!

Wufei: It took long enough.

DragonMage: *pout* No fair, I got lazy.

Meiren: Don't you always?

DragonMage: *sweatdrop* Uh, yes...

Duo: Well, at least she loves us enough to put off that health report to do this!

DragonMage: Hush, Duo! *looks around to make sure her essay partners don't see her do this and not work on the report*

Chapter 2

"U-uh, I hope you feel better," Wufei said half an hour later after Duo had bathed and changed into the clothes that had been laid out for him.

He was dressed in a white cotton shirt buttoned down the front with black pants over knee high socks with soft black slippers. *I feel like an idiot! Slippers for pete's sake!*

"Thanks a lot. I needed a bath," Duo admitted to his new master. He really hated it all of if. One day he had the freedom that everyone dreams of and the next he's stuck in China to be the slave of some Chinese nobleman.

"Wonderful. Now, its time you begin your tasks," Wufei said, smiling slightly.

Duo almost groaned out loud.

~*~

Duo sighed as he dropped down on the futon he's supposed to sleep on and closed his eyes. He was exhausted! All day he did work! He had to help Wufei organize his papers, bring his meals, clean his brushes, lay out his clothes, help him get dressed for some important meetings. Never had he done so much work in one day before! All his life he had been a lazy theif and now he was forced to work! Injustice!

Suddenly he felt a poke in his side.

Duo's eyes flew open and he stared into dark obsidian ones. Then the owner of the eyes smiled slightly.

"You aren't going to go to sleep, are you?" Wufei asked archly.

"Are you deliberately trying to kill me with work?" Duo groaned, forgetting for a moment that this boy was his master and could beat him for insolence.

Wufei merely shrugged. He was having tons of fun with this slave. Duo was interesting and fun to talk to even though he had a habit of making small complaints but Wufei had no trouble dealing with them. He liked this boy. He was very different from the slaves he had in the past who were always quiet and did as they were told. It was pretty boring.

"Not really. I need to keep you around for tomorrow," Wufei said, straightening up. "You've got to draw my bath."

Duo sighed and struggled to his feet. Then he bowed mockingly. "Yes, master."

Wufei just smirked.

Duo glared at him briefly before trotting off to draw a bath for Wufei. He heated up the buckets of water and poured them into the bathtub. When he was finished he bowed to Wufei again, intent on going back to sleep when Wufei stopped him.

"Help me get undressed," Wufei ordered. "There's far too many buttons and hooks on this damned outfit."

Duo refrained from sighing and nodded as he followed Wufei over to the bath behind the screen. Then he went to the task of unbuttoning every single hook and helping Wufei out of the clothing. He was down to the last garment and all was left was Wufei's underwear.

The Chinese noble loosened the sleeve buttons and stripped off the shirt from his neck down to this waist, revealing a very well developed upper body. Duo almost lost his breath at the sight of his master with his back turned to him. The back was nicely tanned a golden color with very well defined muscles.

Then Wufei did something that Duo did not expect.

He dropped the rest of the garment and stood there naked before slipping into the bath. Duo blinked, his blood rushing through his head before dropping down to his *ahem*. He took a step back, trying to control his rapid breathing. *Wufei did not do that!! Did he?? Oh, my god he did! He--* Duo cut off his train of thought and whirled around before numbly walking towards his futon.

"Duo?" Wufei called over behind the screen.

"Yes?" Duo breathed a sigh of relief that his voice didn't waver to prove his nervousness.

"Can you wash my back?"

Duo swore he could hear Wufei smiling in his voice. Beating back an intense blush Duo walked back over to the tub that Wufei was currently in and picked up a towel and began to the wash the boy's back. Duo honestly kept his eyes on the back and only the back as he washed. *Are you trying to get me back for something I never did, God? What the hell are you doing shoving me into this kind of situation??*

"...you know," Wufei was saying.

"Huh?" Duo mentally smacked himself for not listening.

"I said, this is usual procedure for a slave you know," Wufei repeated.

"What is?"

"Giving your master a bath."

Duo glared and bit down on his lip before replying. "It's not done like that back in the Americas."

"The Americas are different," Wufei said, shrugging his wonderful shoulders. "Wash my hair, won't you?"

Duo nodded and picked up a bar of soap. Then he began to gently wash Wufei's hair. The boy literally purred as Duo massaged his scalp.

"I've never had such a wonderful slave before. My other slave's fingers were never this talented," Wufei murmured with his eyes closed.

Duo swore there was had a double meaning and the second meaning was as "innocent" as the first. And here he thought his master was actually a sweet, innocent guy. Well, figuring from how Wufei reacted when he saw him naked that was...

"I guess I should be flattered," Duo said dryly as he continued to wash the silky strands of black hair. He couldn't remember touching anything more wonderful before.

"Hmmm," was all Wufei said.

Duo scooped up some water and began to gently wash out of the soap. He worked thoroughly and soon enough Wufei's hair was nice and clean.

"Wonderful. Now get me a towel," Wufei ordered.

Duo nodded and got Wufei a towel. The boy stood up and wrapped himself with it before getting out of the bath and retrieving his sleeping clothes.

"So, am I finished here?" Duo asked.

"Nope," Wufei said, shaking his head as he combed his hair. "Snuff all the candles when I go to bed. Then you can go to sleep." With that said Wufei walked over to his bed and slipped under the covers. He made himself comfortable before he finally nodded off.

Duo glared at the sleeping figure but he couldn't do it for long. Sighing softly, he had to admit that his master looked really sweet in his sleep. Gathering the last of his strength, Duo snuffed all the candles before dropping down on his futon and nodding off the second his head hit the pillow.

~*~

"Duo!" Quatre said happily the next morning while Duo walked into the kitchen to get breakfast for Wufei.

"Hey, Quatre. How goes the cooking?" Duo asked.

"Good," Quatre said, nodding. He then shrugged. "The head chef isn't so bad. He's actually very nice and--" the blond turned a little red "--he's being pretty patient with me. I guess I just need to get used to cooking."

"Well, at least you only have to cook. I have to do far more things than that! Lord Chang is determined to kill me with all this work," Duo huffed.

"Now, now, are you two suppose to be doing your tasks?" A deep voice said behind Quatre.

Quatre started and whirled around, his eyes wide. "S-sorry, Zechs. I was just..." He trailed off in embarrassment and bowed his head as his cheeks turned red.

Zechs Merquise chuckled and shook his head. "It's all right, Quatre." Admittedly, the platinum blond had a slight crush on the beauty since he first stepped into the kitchen. He would never go hard on the sweet angel for anything. "Duo, right?"

"Yep," Duo said, nodding.

"Here's Lord Chang's breakfast," Zechs said as he handed the other boy the heavy tray. "Be careful with it."

"Got it," Duo grunted as he slowly turned around and walked out with the heavy tray. For skinny boy Wufei sure ate a lot!

While walking through the gardens to get to Wufei's bedroom Duo passed Trowa on the way. But the green eyed boy didn't notice him because he was faaar too busy talking to the Japanese boy they had seen yesterday talking with Wufei. *Looks like someone has a crush,* Duo thought wickedly as he quickly walked back to Wufei's room with the food.

~*~

Trowa smiled slightly as he spoke with the intelligent Japanese boy. They talked about all sorts of things but they mostly talked about China and it's history.

"China has a very rich history," Trowa remarked after a while.

"Yes, it does. I learned a lot from Wufei," Heero said, nodding as he tried to take his eyes away from the beautiful white flesh between Trowa's neck and collar bone. *Control, Yuy. You can't just jump on him and start ravaging the poor boy.*

Trowa nodded as he poured some more water into the plants. He paused and looked at Heero intently. "Is Wufei a good master?"

Heero smiled at Trowa's concern for his friend Duo. "Yes. Wufei will never hurt a slave. Since I came to this home I've never seen a single slave beaten or starved. They're only scolded if they do something wrong. Both Lord Chang and his sister have very good hearts. Wufei hates the slave trade as much as people would hate a flea. He wants to squash it but it can't. He's only one young man."

"Yet he keeps slaves," Trowa said darkly.

"Because he has to. It's part of the trade and you don't make money if you don't follow the trade," Heero said seriously.

Trowa looked thoughtful for a moment before he slowly nodded. "I suppose you're right."

Heero nodded and smiled. "Yes, well, I always try to."

Trowa smiled, his green eyes sparkling. "Really?"

And Heero just wanted to kiss him right there.

~*~

"No, Quatre, cut it like this," Zechs said patiently as he took the soft hand in his own callused one and began to show the new slave how to cut the vegetables properly. "If you cut it like that it won't cook fast enough."

Quatre nodded, not trusting his voice as the taller man had his hand wrapped around his own. *My goodness he has a wonderful touch.*

Zechs looked down at Quatre and smiled. "Now, try it by yourself." He removed his hand and watched as Quatre tried again.

"Very good. I know you've never cooked Chinese food before or even cooked at all from the softness of your hands," Zechs said, "but you'll get the hang of it soon enough."

"I hope so," Quatre said sincerely, trying desperately not to blush. He couldn't believe his ears when Zechs remarked on his hands being soft. It sounded like something...oh, he didn't know but it just didn't seem to be something a man tells another man every day.

"Don't worry. You're a fast learner from what I've seen," Zechs said as he patted Quatre's shoulder before wandering off to help others.

Quatre stood there for a moment, knife poised over the vegetables. Then he took a deep breath to clear his head and continued to work as he tried to ignore the warm sensation between his legs.

~*~

A Few Days Later...

"The Moon Festival is going to come soon," Meiren sang as she swept into Wufei's room with some scrolls underneath her arm. "What are we going to do this year?"

Wufei looked up from his work and stared at his sister. "What do you mean? We never do anything special for the Moon Festival."

"Yeah, well, this year I want to," Meiren said frankly as she dropped off the scrolls and looked at her brother. "Let's do something."

"Like what?"

"Fire works! Dancing! Food! Let's have all the slaves and servants have a day off," Meiren said extravagantly as she danced around the room.

Wufei smiled. "You really want to do that?"

Meiren gave her brother a look that said 'Don't I look like I want to?' "Of course, Wufei. I know how much you care for your slaves and servants. Since we just got a new load let's give everyone some time off and relax! I know it's not really what people do every day but let's do it anyway."

Wufei looked thoughtful. Then he grinned and nodded. "Why not? We have too much money and no place to spend it. Let's use a little for the Moon Festival."

"Wonderful!" Meiren laughed. "I'll go get some servants and we'll start planning." Then she turned and ran out of the room.

Duo looked up from washing Wufei's brushes. "What's a Moon Festival?"

"It's when we celebrate the Moon Princess for luck and beauty. It mostly leans towards the women but we all like to celebrate it. Children get to have beautiful lanterns to carry around their home and toys to play with along with mooncakes and other sorts of food."

"Sounds fun," Duo said, smiling slightly. "So you're really gonna give the slaves and servants a day off?"

"Why not?" Wufei said, shrugging.

Duo nodded and went back to cleaning the brushes. *He's not bad at all.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*fidgets nervously* Tell me what you think...