'Bonds of Destiny'
The sensation of touch returned first, as pain shot through her nervous system, telling her that her arms, wrists and ankles were experiencing severe strain. But at least the pain was an indication that she was still alive.
Her eyes slowly opened, blinking away the dust in the air. She looked around at her new environment, eager to find an opportunity for freedom.
Her captors had thrown her into a prison cell that was ten feet high, eight feet long, and six feet wide. It was roomy for a cell, there was a high window with sunlight streaming through the bars embedded in the window frame. The room's color had a greenish tint, like all of the city buildings seemed to have. Then again, it seemed as it the whole planet were one giant ocean with the buildings rising from the waters...
The prisoner was brought back to her current predicament as she tried to move her arm to wipe the ever present dust from her eyes, but both of her arms were held above her head by cuffs on her wrists. Those cuffs, in turn, were effectively chained to the wall. When she tried to move one of her legs she found that her ankles were cuffed as well.
Taking a deep breath, she yanked at the chains, hoping that they could be loosened due to rust and the force of her constant pulling. However, the circular rings of metal only jingled merrily until she relaxed, defeated, still held in the manacles' restraining grip.
'Damn... It looks like I'm just going to end up hanging around here-"
She raised both eyebrows as she smirked to herself, realizing the irony of the statement. She was, indeed, hanging around from the chains with the pain in her shoulders getting worse by the second. By leaning against the wall and standing on the tips of her toes, she found that she could relieve the strain... for a few all too brief moments.
Craning her neck so she could get a better view from the window, the prisoner noticed that the sunlight was slowly fading. A breeze drifted through the opening, easing the heat that had built up over the course of the day. All she wore was a rough cloth tunic that was chafing against her skin, but when the air drifted past the bars of the opening, the tunic seemed to breathe and dust drifted away from her, the air tasting fresh with just a hint of salt in the scent.
Her stomach growled and thirst made her mouth feel as dry as desert sand. She licked at chapped lips, trying to bring moisture into her mouth. Some stray bangs had fallen out of place and she blew the strands up and out of her face, twisting her back and neck carefully to ease the cricks in them from the strain on her muscles.
'I have to get out of here... how?' She looked around her cell, her eyes scanning the walls, the window with bars, the door, waiting for an opportunity to reveal itself. The bars were embedded as well, no luck there... the door hinges were outside of the cell, there would have been chance to escape if she could have destroyed the hinges...
She suddenly heard voices just outside. It was two women talking by the sounds of it. One of them was muffled, and the captive heard only the reply to the first
"Erm, Mi'lady, I wouldn't recommend choosing this particular prisoner..."
'Choosing?' thought the captive as she pondered the words. 'Chosen for what?'
The second voice continued, urgently, yet holding back coarseness.
"Please, Mi'lady, it's for your own safety!"
A gentle voice answered with no harshness whatsoever... it was a voice that would have rivaled the tone of a musical instrument.
"Are you that cautious for my safety, Captain Gray? I appreciate it, but I know that I would like to-"
"Mi'lady, forgive me, but you do know that this prisoner is a-"
"-a foreigner, yes, I am aware of that. What was the crime that it deserved this kind of punishment?"
There was a brief silence, then a sigh, accompanied by a small laugh.
"There was a fight between her and a few of the hotheaded new guardsmen-"
"The prisoner is a woman?"
The 'prisoner' heard another laugh, louder this time. "They were giving her a rough time, saying a woman, especially a foreigner, shouldn't act and dress the way she did. I was going to go over to send them away, but before I can even move, one of the men goes flying through the crowd into a merchant's booth! It was as if a whirlwind had been set loose, men were flying everywhere!"
The first voice laughed again, even as the prisoner grinned in some satisfaction at her exploits, listening to the rest of the story.
"She finds a break in the crowd and takes off, running down the street, the rest of the guards chasing after her! She turns and doubles back toward the crowd, making them run into each other, merchants shouting at the guards running over their wares... it was unbelievable. We only managed to catch her because she stopped so suddenly..."
As the words faded away so did the grin on the prisoner's face, the memory returning to her. It was true, she had stopped...
...The blurs of unfamiliar people as she zoomed by, glancing up at a balcony...
...A vision stood there...
...A beautiful girl, with flowing hair, the color like that of the ocean...
...Memories of times long past, crowding in on her, the dreams, the realization... That was what had caused her to stop. In a daze she had been captured, thankfully taken away from the vengeful guards who had tried to assault her merely for being a woman, as well as a foreigner...
The prisoner was brought back to reality as she heard the musical voice finishing a sentence.
" -it is all right, I understand. Thank you for telling me what happened, and also for your concern. But I have made my decision."
"Are you certain it is the right one?"
There was silence. Then a rustling, as if something metallic were being shifted from on hand to the other.
"Only time will tell, Captain."
The door to the cell swung open. The prisoner turned her head, and the breath caught in her lungs as someone entered the room. She slowly exhaled, managing to keep her steadily beating heart from moving any faster.
She expected a guard or even an executioner to appear, either to take her to slavery or to her death. But she had not expected a girl... no, she hadn't expected a woman to enter her cell. Moreover, she hadn't expected the woman who had caused her to be captured in the first place to enter her prison.
The door had been opened by the guard outside, and it closed gently as the woman who had entered walked forward, carrying two pairs of manacles and three short chains connected to them. The footsteps of the Captain could be heard as she walked away, and all outside sounds faded into nothingness. Their eyes met, challenging each other, seeing who would break the silence. They were both alone in this room, a distance of four feet between them, and yet that closeness was familiar, almost intimate.
Then the captive spoke.
"You don't look like a servant."
The free woman smiled up at the other woman, her eyes holding a mixture of curiosity and coyness as she replied.
"What makes you think I am a servant?"
The captive replied smoothly as she could. "I wasn't implying anything insulting. I was expecting one of the guards or an executioner... I don't know why someone that's as beautiful as you would carry chains around."
The prisoner gave a rakish grin, even as the woman holding the chains smiled back, her voice as sweet as her smile. The prisoner's grin faded with her words.
"When you bring a slave to your home, it's required by law for them to wear chains. Even if it weren't, you still are considered a criminal and should be restrained."
The word 'slave' froze in the captive's mind, and she opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, blinking in shock. …A slave? She was going to be this woman's slave?
Mentally she was waging war with her emotions. This couldn't be right... something was very wrong with the way things were going...and yet-
A lock softly jingled as it tapped against metal, and the captive came back to reality, her bright eyes focused on the free woman as all the cuffs were unlocked. The prisoner landed on her feet, the strain in her arms and her back finally gone. But rather than tend to the muscles that begged for attention, she stood, leaning against the wall, slipping the now loose cuffs from her wrists and her ankles as her eyes darted from the barred window to the door.
"You can't expect to escape here, especially with all the guards around," said the aqua haired woman, glancing toward the door, knowing what the taller woman was thinking. "They have weapons, which they all know how to use. Most of them wouldn't be fond of you, after the fiasco in the market place. And if you were to attempt to take me hostage to secure your own freedom-"
She narrowed her eyebrows as she glared meaningfully at the prisoner. "I wouldn't let you do such a thing."
The captive looked at the woman in front of her, with a sudden and growing respect. True, this stranger was a bit arrogant, and she had a royal attitude, but the way she stood and acted, she had total confidence in herself and a no nonsense way... also, it helped that she was very beautiful... even if beauty could be only skin deep, there was just something about her... something she had known for a long time...
Appearing nonchalant, the captive closed her eyes and leaned against the wall as if resting. She smiled and shrugged, even though her chances for freedom were gone at the moment. Inwardly, she was hesitant... a sudden rush of emotion welling up inside of her...
How familiar this ocean-haired woman was! The shape of her body through her dress, the moments and the slightest expression on her face, everything seemed as if the captive had seen her before, a long time before this moment...
But seeing as how things were going, it wasn't yet time to ask questions.
The best thing to do, at this moment, was to play along, pretend to comply... But something in her decided to be honest with her emotions. Shaking the loose cuffs away from her ankles, she moved away from the wall. The 'prisoner' opened her eyes and sighed, almost theatrically.
"Seeing as how my options are so limited, I'd best do what would be considered the most intelligent thing."
The captive walked forward until she was inches away from the other woman, noticing that she was taller than her 'mistress'. If they were to stand closer, maybe intimately, the smaller girl's head would rest on her chest, next to her beating heart...
Waving away romantic thoughts, she knelt down, and offered her wrists, not without a cocky smirk on her lips.
The new mistress gently cuffed the captive's wrists. She moved swiftly and attached new cuffs to the captive's ankles, connecting one cuff to the other with a chain, than attaching the wrist cuffs together with another chain. Finally, a lead was attached to the chain between the wrist cuffs and all was done.
The ocean haired woman moved over to the door, calling out to the waiting guardswoman.
"The prisoner is secure, Captain Gray."
With that done, the door opened, and the siren winked at her newly acquired charge and pulled gently on the chain, bringing the captive closer to her. She stood on tiptoe as she whispered into the taller woman's ear.
"When we get to my home, I can release you from your chains, but I would have to explain some of your... responsibilities."
The new 'slave' started at the way the word 'responsibilities' was implied, but recovered as her eyes closed, smiling as she whispered back a reply.
"If they involve only you and me, I'll look forward it then."
The siren pulled her new slave forward with a slightly harder yank, but she was smiling and laughed softly before she spoke. "You're very brave... and confident in yourself. What is your name?"
"Haruka."
"My name is Michiru."
Setsuna had a small smile on her face as she finished her tale and sat back on the couch, looking from one astonished senshi to the other.
Michiru was blushing, her cheeks a deep pink color, as she toyed with the cup in her hand. Haruka's eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open slightly, staring into space in shock. Finally coming back to herself, Haruka closed her mouth with an audible 'click', took a deep breath and glared at Setsuna.
"Are you certain that story was one of our histories together?"
Setsuna's smile twisted, but she nodded. "As a matter of fact, the story itself has changed through the ages, but it was one of your beginnings. In that time, your fame spread. Everyone knew about the pair that started as owner and slave, but eventually became both heroes and equals in their own rights."
Michiru cleared her throat, still blushing slightly, but composed. "So I was the, um, 'owner', in that time..."
'I wonder if there's a reversal of roles throughout the years...' the violinist thought to herself.
Haruka's gaze had been on Setsuna, but turned toward Michiru, as she couldn't resist an opportunity to tease her lover.
"I always knew you had a bit of regal bearing..." she grinned, ducking a swinging hand from Michiru.
Undaunted, Michiru raised an eyebrow at Haruka. "I have a regal bearing? I believe I vaguely remember something about the slave actually being a member of royalty who had ran away from home... If that's true, you were probably more arrogant than you are now..."
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Haruka had an 'innocent and insulted' look on her face that would have done Usagi proud if she had seen it.
Michiru sighed and placed her teacup down onto its saucer. "Do we really need to talk about this...?"
Setsuna realized that they were going to keep talking about this, and decided to leave while she still could, taking her empty teacup toward the kitchen. When she got there, however, still hearing the two of them arguing, she muffled the sound of the laughter that kept trying to escape from her. After all these eons, those particular Senshi were still the same caring and loving couple they had been.
Even with all the teasing.
"I'm sorry, I'm not doubting anything at all... just the idea of you being a... an, um, mistress... that's..."
Michiru's eyes sparkled as she smiled knowingly.
"I did read somewhere that some couples do try that sort of thing... and I am wondering why there are a pair of velvet lined handcuffs in that shoebox under the bed..."
There was a clattering sound, as if a teacup had tipped over. Then a small laugh was heard.
"Hmm... I'm not the one peeking in people's belongings under the bed."
"Haruka, we do share the same room. And the only reason I found those was because I was looking for a pair of shoes."
"...Oh. That's alright, then…"
"By the way, have you seen my black stiletto heels, Haruka?"
A loud 'THUD' was heard, along with a sigh.
"Ara, I was only kidding."
Setsuna had a idea about what had happened, but she peered from the kitchen anyway. Michiru sat on the couch, an exasperated look on her face, while Haruka had landed flat on her back, lying on the carpeted floor.
Unknown to Michiru, the mock dazed look in Haruka's eyes was replaced by a mixture of tender love and naughty scheming.
From the floor, a hand reached up and swiftly grabbed the ocean senshi's wrist. Michiru gave a surprised cry as she landed on Haruka's lap- right where Haruka wanted her- as the taller woman sat up. Haruka was smiling at her love, her teal-colored eyes glinting mischievously.
"So was I, Michi. So was I… I can tell you where those heels are, though you might need to…'interrogate' me about the exact location…"
Setsuna's mouth quirked in a sudden urge to laugh her head off. Smiling to herself, mindful of the fact that those two were going to have an interesting bed time conversation tonight, the time senshi headed out of the kitchen.