It was dark, and it was quiet-but for the raindrops on the stone pathways. A small blur of light hair shone temporarily in the light of a candle as a boy ran through the city streets in a desperate effort to evade or escape the guards.

He glanced behind him a moment and saw the blades of various weapons following him. They must have gotten closer, because he could now hear the loud clinging of shackles and their connecting chains as the guards ran. The boy was short of breath, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep running for much longer, that meant they would catch him.

Determination lit in his eyes at the thought of being caught. They wouldn't imprison him he wouldn't let them. If he was caught, he would be killed, and he knew it. Quickly he darted down an alleyway, his hair clinging to his face in wet strands, his feet cut and bleeding, while his clothes barely covered him, and were in no way protecting him from the rain, or keeping him warm.

His eyes welled up with tears as he saw a shadowy figure standing at the other end of the ally, and heard the footsteps behind him. He was trapped now. They were going to kill him.

"You know, little thief, if you had just given up in the first place, we wouldn't have had to hurt you," a deep voice from behind him said. "But because of your disobedience, you will be punished."

Glancing around a minute, he made a last ditch effort to escape by darting at an opening in the guards' ranks, but to no avail, he soon found himself in the arms of the speaker from before, who leered a little at him.

"You're a pretty little thing aren't ya?" the man said, and warning bells immediately went off in the boys head, as he tried to struggle away from the man. The guard laughed. "Not here, little thief, we wouldn't want you to get ill now would we? Chain him up and let's get back to the palace. The King will be pleased that we finally caught the little brat."

As the metal clamped down around his wrists, then his ankles, the boy held back tears. He hoped the others would escape, at least. Only then would he be sure he could die without regret.

Ken sat irritably in the hall, listening to his half-brother make a deal with a man of the town. It was politics he hated politics. His brother nudged him in the arm a minute, looking entertained.

"You aren't paying attention, are you?" the redhead asked quietly.

"Nope, I didn't catch a word of it," Ken replied with an exaggerated yawn.

"I didn't think so..." Ran gave him a humored smile. As he opened his mouth to speak again, his hands absently running through the hair of the slave in his lap, the doors burst open, and a ring of guards walked in, seemingly dragging a small figure along in chains.

"Sire," the man in front, his captain of the guards, bowed, followed by his companions sans the captive. "We finally caught your little thief."

"Oh?" Rans eyebrow raised as he glanced at the boy before him who's eyes were narrowed as he tried to free himself of the chains.

A wave of the Captains hand was all it took for one guard to stand and pull the chained blonde forwards. Ken's attention was caught the moment he could clearly see the blonde. He had a slim, mal-nourished look to him, and was wet, covered in mud, but was pretty none-the-less. He had wide expressive blue eyes, his hair was chin-length and he had an amazing pair of long strong looking legs.
Ken continued his scrutiny of the boy, as Ran and the guard spoke with one another, and finally Rans voice rose somewhat.

"Is there anyone in this room willing to take on a slave to teach obedience to?" the violet eyes glanced around at them all, and a few of the guards had small smirks tugging at their lips as they raised their hands, followed by the hand of the Captain.

The small boy looked around wide-eyed at this and struggled with the chains more, obviously desperate to escape what he'd been condemned to. The Captain, being of the highest rank of those whose hands were raised, was about to grab the chains, when a quiet voice came.

"I'll take him."

Both Ran and his slave, Yohji, looked over at the brunette in the chair beside them in surprise.

"Pardon?"

Kens eyes met Rans. "I said, I'll take him."

The Captain of the guards sputtered a bit and stared incredulously at the Prince. Allah knew the Kings younger sibling would never take on a male slave for any purpose, but for Ken, something about the boy drove him to say those words.

"Master is the Prince ill?" the blonde in Rans lap purred softly.

"He just might be," Ran blinked a bit, but nodded. "Very well then, Ken, he is yours."

Ken smiled a bit and nodded. "Thank you brother."

Ken rose and walked down the steps to take the chain handle from the Captain, then pulled the blonde after him. "Well... get moving then." In reply to his order, he merely received a glare through narrowed blue eyes. With an irritated look, Ken ended up basically dragging the small boy down the hall to the baths.

Once the room cleared, Yohji sat up and looked at Ran slyly. "The boy was cute, hmm?"

"...Your point?" Ran raised an eyebrow at the green eyed man.

"I think your brother likes him," Yohji nodded a bit.

"Well he must if he was willing to take him on," the redhead replied evenly.

"Does that mean I get to tease Ken now?" the blonde asked eagerly.

"...Why do I put up with you?" Ran sighed over dramatically.

"Because you love me," Yohji purred happily, nuzzling Rans thigh.

"You just keep thinking that..."