Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour! Benvolio (Montague)/La Muette (Capulet)

A/N: Hi people! I've been going on and on in my head for the past year whether or not to post this and if I should keep it a one-shot, or make it into a multi-chapter... What do you think? Be sure to let me know and put me out of my misery ^^

As quickly as he'd gotten her Benvolio pushed the young redheaded vixen forward into Mercutio's arms, her long hair brushing against her angry face as the boys kept pushing her between them, every now and then stealing a kiss or touching her body when she passed them.

As usual the girl put up a good fight but didn't make a sound, how could she? She was mute but that only made it so much more fun to play with her. It's not like she would ever say no.

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At the sound of Lady Capulet's voice the young boys quickly scattered, leaving the poor mute to fall to the ground shaking in anger. When she realized the mistress was standing in front of her she took a deep breath and stood up, meeting the older woman's eyes.

Receiving a hard slap to the face her head snapped to the side, her blood-red hair following and once again the girl sank to her knees, this time with tears stinging in those big blue eyes.

*************Nous on fait l'amour on vit la vie. Jour après jour nuit après nuit*************

"No, not that one." Benvolio said without even casting a glance at the girl the fat slaver tried to show him. She was blond, beautiful and downright boring. He'd had enough of women who were a dime a dozen. No, this time he was looking for something special.

He passed the many girls lined up in front of him wearing rags that left nothing to his imagination. He knew he wanted something but he wouldn't know until he saw it and when he came to the end of the line he stopped.

"Are these all the girls you've got?" He asked causing the slaver to start squirming.

"No, signore." He mumbled nervously. "There is one more girl... But I don't think she'll be to your liking."

"Show her to me." Benvolio simply demanded and the man being the coward that he was simply nodded and led the way through a locked door, leading to a corridor of cells. Something that was very rare in the Houses, although Benvolio knew they still existed.

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The further they went Benvolio started to doubt there was actually someone back there, that part of the building looked like it had been abandoned for a few years and whoever this girl was she must have done something pretty bad to end up here, Benvolio thought to himself as the slaver in front of him stopped at a cell.

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The young man looked into the dark cell that about looked big enough to hold two people at most. At first he saw nothing but as his eyes got used to the darkness he spotted two eyes looking back at him. Seconds later he saw her.

Huddled into a corner, dressed in what looked like a dirty, ripped dress, her long dirty brown hair fell into her blue eyes as she kept staring at him. Benvolio thought he recognized her even though he doubted he'd ever met her before. After all there was nothing special about her at all.

"Why is she all the way back here and not with the others?" The blonde asked and tried to get a better look, realizing that the girl's hands were chained to the wall behind her. "And why is she chained?"

"You see, signore. The other girls... They don't like her very much and as for her hands... Well, let's just say she has a nasty temper." The slaver chuckled as his eyes traveled over the girl's skinny body and at the sight of it said girl pushed herself further into the corner with a frightened look on her face, something that made Benvolio sick to his stomach. He really couldn't stand people who frightened women.

"Explain." He demanded and his firm voice was enough for the fat man to tear his disgusting eyes from the girl.

"Why, she's a mute, signore." He said as if it was obvious. "She signs with her hands and when she's angry she tends to use them to prove her point." The man laughed hard as if what he'd just said was amusing and hit his fancy walking stick against the cell-bars hard causing the girl to flinch in the dark.

"Get up, mute!" He demanded and although the girl hesitated she took one look at the stick and slowly stood up, as if it pained her greatly to do so. "Although she can't speak, signore, she's a very good dancer. Dance for us, mute!" He hit his cane against the bars again but this time it took longer for the girl to do as she was told, clearly angering the old man.

"Do as I say, girl! Or do I have to teach you a lesson again?" A flicker of fear could be seen in those blue eyes but she still didn't move. "Little whore! I'll show you..." The man fumbled with his keys, making the girl press herself so close to the wall in fear Benvolio felt the bile rise in his throat.

"That's enough." He said and took a step towards the man who immediately shrunk, realizing he was, once again, dealing with someone more powerful than him. "Get her into the light, I want to see her."

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The slaver simply nodded but Benvolio could hear him mutter to himself as he released the girl from the wall, but leaving the binds around her hands on.

Once in the light the blond noticed something wasn't right with the girl's hair. It was dirty alright but there was something else, the roots of her brown hair were blood-red but there was no sign of any injury to her head...

He took a step closer and grabbed the mute's chin as she tried to look away, bringing it up to face him. He remembered those blue eyes and together with the red hair the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place. It was the mute servant the Capulets had kept all those years ago when they were all still just children.

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"Why has her hair been changed?" He asked, never breaking eye-contact with the girl in front of him.

"Her last owner said it was an eyesore so he had it changed." The old man shrugged, not really caring.

"Simple as that?" Benvolio was angry. No, he was beyond angry. Hair like hers had never been seen before in Verona, or anywhere else for all he knew, and some asshole thought of it as an eyesore?

"Si, signore." The man moved to drag the girl back into her cell but Benvolio kept looking into her eyes.

"I'll take her."

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The look on the girl's face was strange. On one hand she seemed relieved to be able to leave but on the other hand she didn't seem to know what to make of him or his intentions.

"B... But, signore..." The slaver stuttered. "She's a mute, she's of no value, signore."

"Seems I'll be getting her for a good price then, won't I." It was a statement, not a question and the old man knew it.

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It was with a heavy sigh that he named his price and handed the girl's papers over to the young man along with a chain attached to a metal choker around her neck. Benvolio accepted the chain but as soon as they were outside the building he turned around and took a step closer to her, making her flinch a little at the unexpected move.

He placed both hands on her shoulders and spun her around, gathering her long hair in one hand and placing it over her shoulder, giving him free access to the choker around her slender neck.

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He cursed under his breath as he noted that it was too tight and that the girl was actually having trouble breathing properly, so within seconds he had removed the piece of metal with it's chain and tossed it away, far away.

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The girl looked at him with surprised eyes. He wasn't the boy she used to know. The little spoiled brat who enjoyed bullying her, using his friends to outnumber her, stealing kisses and touches whenever he could even though they weren't his to steal.

He was now 20 years old. A man, a Montague, who'd grown out of bullying and realized that he had his family's name to live up to.

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The walk home was silent. Could it be anything but?

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Benvolio noticed the girl limping slightly from the corner of his eye and without saying a word he slowed down his pace until she was walking next to him. He noticed how the girl threw questioning glances at him but having her head bent down most of the time he couldn't figure out what she was thinking. Not that it really mattered, at least not at the moment.

First thing's first, he thought as they passed through the doors of the Montague-mansion and called one of his friends over.

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Sabrina, a dark-skinned girl with the body of a fighter and the heart of an angel, walked up to them, throwing a glance at the pale girl with a warm smile before turning to her friend.

"What can I do for you, Benvolio?"

"I need you to help her get cleaned up, get some of the girls to fetch her some new clothes and try to get this awful color our of her hair."

"Of course." Sabrina nodded her pretty head and reached out a hand to the girl who looked utterly surprised at the kind gesture. "Would you come with me, sweetheart?"

The mute looked up at her new master and was met with a smile that actually had the power to relax her a little. Maybe he wasn't as bad as she'd once thought.

"Sabrina is one of my close friends, she won't harm you." Benvolio assured and with a small nod she took the girl's warm hand, allowing herself to be led away from the hall.

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"So where are you from?" Sabrina asked as she threw away the dirty, ripped clothes but received no answer. Looking over her shoulder she saw the girl in the bath gesturing with her hands to her throat.

"You're mute?" She walked up and sat down on the floor next to the girl who nodded in response, seemingly exited to have been understood.

Sabrina poured some water onto the dirty hair and starting scrubbing it trying to get out whatever concoction they'd used to color it with.

"Have you been since birth?"

Another nod and for a moment Sabrina wondered what her voice would have sounded like if she'd had one.

The more she worked with the hair the more of the color wore off and soon enough fiery red started shining through the dirt-brown. After an hour of scrubbing the mute's hair looked more a lot more red than brown but Sabrina decided that that's as much as they could wash out today and stood up to fetch the girl some robes to dry her off.

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Looking at the girl's body as she stepped out of the bath Sabrina was furious. There were bruises covering her sides and along her thighs and she was far too skinny. Her ribs were poking out and her collarbones looked like they might stick someone's eye out.

The girl needed food, but first she needed clothes.

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Sabrina took out the dress one of the other girls had brought, a simple bright blue one with a thick leather-strap around the waist, and started dressing the redheaded girl who's fingers kept caressing the fabric as if she'd never felt anything as soft in her entire life.

It was nothing special at all about it, it was just something for her to wear until the seamstress had made her her own clothes to wear. All the servants in the Montague-household owned their own clothes but Sabrina knew that most households were not that generous towards their servants, or slaves as they could be called with the way their masters treated them.

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Dressed and with her feet in a pair of soft leather-shoes the dark girl led her to the dining-hall where Benvolio was waiting for them, food and drinks covering the table in front of him and the mute felt her mouth water at the sight. She couldn't remember the last time she ate a decent meal... Actually she couldn't remember the last time she ate at all and the thought of all those cold nights as the hunger ripped through her scrawny body made her shiver.

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Benvolio couldn't stop himself from staring at the now redheaded girl. Now that her hair was pretty much back to it's natural color he recognized her, but as the dirt had come off her skin seemed sickly pale and she looked far too skinny to have eaten anything decent for a while.

Never the less, she was beautiful. Having the red back in her hair she looked more herself and if only she'd still had that fire in those blue eyes of hers she would have been perfect.

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That was the biggest change in her. She seemed to fragile, so vulnerable and so frightened of the world, so unlike the mute girl he used to bully. The girl back then had had a temper bigger than life, she'd never given up even when there was no chance of winning, she'd always stood up for herself even when she was outnumbered and she'd never let the fire disappear from her eyes.

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"Please, join me for dinner. You must be starving." He smiled and gestured to the chair across from him and it pained him to see the hesitation in her eyes as she slowly sat down as requested.

"Feel free to eat what ever you want. I prefer my servants with a little more meat on their bones, no offense." He said as he sipped his wine, his blue eyes never leaving her as she hesitantly reached for a piece of bread and put in her mouth, savoring it as if she'd never eaten anything as delicious before in her life.

Gradually she picked up her pace, reaching boldly for some chicken before grabbing a piece of veal to stuff in her mouth. She ate like a savage but Benvolio didn't pay it any attention. The girl was literally starving and the more she ate the more of the hesitation disappeared from her eyes, he said let her eat until it was no more.

Until the fire was back in her eyes and she went back to being the hot tempered vixen from his childhood.

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A/N: So what did you think? Keep it at this or continue it? Leave a review telling me what you think or if you just liked it ^^