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Disclaimer: I own nothing

Warning (for fic in general) : yaoi, lemon, semi-NCS but not really, age difference reflecting medieval practices.

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I wake the next morning feeling oddly content with myself. I stretch but there’s something wrong here. I grope around my large bed, but I’m alone. That thought makes me sit upright and look around the room. Where’s Duo?

As I examine my room, I notice that all the ‘equipment’ in the room has been removed so that my bedroom no longer looks like a torture chamber.

“Shit,” I mumble to myself and throw on a fresh pair of blue silk pajamas. I run out of the room and call to the guard on duty, “You! Where is my Shinigami?”

The man looks nervous, giving away how much he knows, “Umm.. The priests took him this morning, Sire. They said that they would take care of him for you.”

Fuck. Duo said those priests would harm him.

I go back inside, putting on a pair of black pants, a white shirt, my belt and boots then run out towards the monastery. There’s no way I’m going to let those bastards hurt *my* Duo!

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Wing gallops furiously across the field to the isolated monastery about an hour and a half’s ride from my home. I need to get there in time. I need to know that Duo is safe. I promised him he would be. What kind of ruler am I if I can’t even protect *one* subject?

As I reach the gate, I note that some priests are waiting for me at the entrance. I scowl at them. How *dare* they come into *my* room in the middle of the night and steal *my* Shinigami?

“Where is he?”

One of the older priests looks at me blankly, “We’ll take care of him, Sire. Don’t worry, we’ll dispose of him in a fitting manner. He won’t be a bother to you any more.”

I don’t think I could have been more infuriated had *I* been the prisoner they had taken.

“I want him *NOW*!” I yell at the priest. He doesn’t look quite as frightened as I would like, so I draw my sword on him. “Take me to the Shinigami child *now*,” I say through grinding teeth. He gulps and backs away nodding his assent.

I hop off Wing and hand him over to the nearest apprentice before following the elderly man. It seems like it takes hours to get to Duo. We have to walk down a long series of halls and doors and flights of stairs before we finally make it to the Shinigami holding cells. I’m appalled at the site.

I look around me. There are dozens upon dozens of barred doors with very little room to them. Most of the little enclosures are smelly and dank, the cots rotted away and the stench of human waste is thick in the air. I think I’m going to be sick.

Finally, we arrive at the end of the corridor and my fury is doubled when I see Duo lying there, unconscious. “Open the damned door,” I demand, the priest complies.

Inside, I see that Duo has chains around his wrists and ankles which in turn are bolted to the blocks of stone that make up the wall. His little body is naked and curled in a fetal position on the floor. He’s shivering. I begin to lift him up, looking at the priest pointedly.

“I need clothes for him and I want him out of these chains.”

The priest releases the chains and motions for me to follow him. I have Duo’s small body in my arms and carry his unconscious form as I follow the much-hated priest. I am given a blanket for him and though it isn’t much, I wrap him in it.

I need to get out of here. I need to get Duo to where it’s safe. He needs to be safe. I hope he can still trust me to take care of him after I unwittingly let the priests take him away.

“He’ll be trouble, my lord,” the priest has the audacity to say to me.

“What was that?”

He doesn’t look apologetic, making me dislike and distrust him. A priest should be so snobbish toward royalty, nor should one presume to walk into their monarch’s bedroom and take the person said monarch is sleeping with.

“I said, he’ll be trouble. That thing you hold is nothing but ill luck and bad omens, that is why your ancestors always raped, beat, and killed their Shinigami. It shows your weakness to keep him around. He wasn’t even beaten or bruised when we got him. You didn’t even make him bleed. With all due respect, your highness, you haven’t claimed the Shinigami. There is no way he could name you fit to rule. The boy is just as wild as when he was given to you. You haven’t broken him at all.”

I can’t believe that man just said all that to me. He’s going to pay. Right now though, Duo is more important.

“I’ll deal with you later, Deikim(1)” I say as I walk out of that ghastly thing they call a monastery and get Wing back. I climb on and begin to make my way home. By now, it’s already getting to be mid-to late afternoon and the only thing I have to eat is some bread, cheese and water my cook hastily put together before my hasty departure.

Hopefully, I’ll get home before Duo wakes up. He’s not going to be pleased that he was taken back to his prison. By the bruises on his pale arms I can tell that he had been struggling before he was either knocked unconscious or given something to put him to sleep. No, he won’t be happy at all, but if I get him home before he wakes, then at least I can have him change into something other than a thread-bare blanket and feed him properly.

Don’t worry my little Shinigami. You’ll be safe with me.

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(1) Did I spell that right?

Okay, you all asked for it so here it is. Now all I have to do is think of where to go with this story. I hadn’t really thought of a storyline to put to this since it was intended as a one-shot, but I said I’d continue with this when I finished one or both of my current WIP’s and since I finished one and am about to wrap up the other, I thought y’all deserved this. It’s a short chapter, I know, and a little rushed, I agree, but it’ll get better soon. I’m sorry you had to wait a couple of weeks to get an update though. I hate making people wait for new chapters. Anywho… enjoy!