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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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Just as we’re arriving at the palace gate, the young boy in my arms begins to stir.
“Duo? Are you okay?”
I hear him whimper and I can’t help but hold him tighter. That was a mistake. He begins sto squirm and whimper more as I do that so I loosen my grip and begin calling his name. He begins to wake up and I can’t help feeling a little relieved as his beautiful violet eyes blink owlishly at me from beneath his bangs.
“H-Heero?”
I nod.
“The priests… they… they came… and they took me with them… and they hurt me, Heero…” He readjusts himself on my lap so that he’s now clinging to me and shaking.
I feel my throat going dry, “Did they…did they touch you like they did when they prepared you for me?”
He shakes his head at me and I feel just a tiny bit better. At least they didn’t rape him.
“They were going to… when I woke up…They said that I needed to pay for all the time they had to put up with me in the past… I thought… I thought you had gone back on your word and told them to take me. I was really scared.”
I kiss his forehead as he talks, “I could never allow them to take you away from me. They took you without my consent and now they must pay the price. But first, I need you to have a proper meal and bath. You are going to live with me from now on.”
He looks happy, but there’s something hidden under that smile of his, something that looks a little like sorrow.
“Is there something wrong, little one?”
“No, I’m very grateful that you’re keeping me around and not killing me or giving me back to those psychos…”
“…but…” I prompt.
“I’ll still be a slave. I’ll still be little more than a glorified prisoner…”
My heart seems to contract as those words fall from Duo’s mouth. He’s a slave. I’ve never thought of him that way.
“You’ll have many liberties.”
“And limitations,” he supplies.
“You’ll have tutors.”
“That’ll tell me what to do.”
“You’ll have food, drink, and shelter.”
“Until I mess up badly enough to have you want to get rid of me.”
“That won’t happen.”
Duo looks up at me with cynical violet eyes and I inwardly cringe. Someone so young shouldn’t be so bitter. Not even I, who am trained in the arts of battle, politics, foreign affairs, and trade, have those eyes. But then again, my existence isn’t justified by having some stranger bed and break me.
“Don’t pity me.”
That gets my attention, “What?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know what you were thinking. You were pitying me because my one role in life is to get fucked over and over again until I die or am killed.”
I swallowed, how can he possibly know what was going on in my head?
“Now you know why your family had mine killed one by one. We have gifts, but since I’m the last one, my gifts will die with me.”
He sounds a little bitter. I’d be bitter too if I was in his position. “So you can read minds?”
“Yeah, sometimes.”
“What else can you do?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I was told that as I got older, my gifts would develop, but since I haven’t seen another of my kind since I was an infant, I don’t know what other gifts I could possibly have.”
We ride into the courtyard and I dismount easily with my precious bundle in my arm and hand Wing’s reigns over to a stable lad. I tell a maid on my way in that I want a meal brought to my room for myself and my guest and tell her that I want a seamstress sent to my rooms by tomorrow morning then I head off in the direction of my private rooms.
I feel Duo tense up in my arms when I open the door to my rooms. I guess they might not be bringing back very pleasant memories for him at the time.
“Don’t worry, I won’t make you do anything with me tonight, I promise.”
He seems to have calmed down a little at hearing my words and I carry him into my bathroom, sitting him down on the sink counter. I’m very proud of my people. We are one of the few countries that have developed a pluming system so my country’s cities are clean. Also as a result, we have hot water for baths that comes right out of the large brass faucet affixed to one side of the tub. I let the water run so that the tub fills then I open a cabinet with towels, oils, scented soaps, shampoos and conditioners and begin to sift though the array of bottles.
“What is all that?” Duo’s soft voice is full of wonder and it upsets me that he doesn’t know what a few common personal care items are for. In my kingdom, every household has at least one bath and for those who are too poor to own a place to live, I have established a bath house for that purpose.
I pick out what I want and turn around to set all the things by the tub before I turn to him.
“These are things for your bath. While you live here, you get to be clean.”
Duo looks at the warm steamy water in the tub with big, round eyes, “All that water is for me to use?”
“Of course! How did they bathe you when you were brought to me here last night?”
He looks a little nervous, “Well… they had me tied down and they poured water on me from this thing in the ceiling. Then they put some smelly stuff in my hair before they rinsed it out, then they dried me and let me comb my hair into a braid.”
“Would you like me to give you some privacy while you bathe?”
He looks at the tub and seems to think it over before saying, “No, I want you to be here. I don’t know how to swim and I’m afraid to drown in that.”
I smile, “I won’t hurt you, you know.”
“I know. I trust you.”
My Shinigami. I love you.
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Jess’ Rant
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Okay, people, you asked and you received. I’m glad y’all think I have an original plot, I hope so, although there’s a lot of AU fics where Duo is supernatural and is “Shinigami” or some form of descendant, representative, or member of a clan under that name. Just so you know, I’m not particularly into little kids, but Duo’s not going to be little forever. Besides, in medieval times, a lot of little girls were already married and having babies by the time they were thirteen or fourteen, and the grossest thing about it was that their husbands were between thirty and forty years old! *gags* Grossness!!