Alright, I'm not used to this style of writing, but I think I did alright so far... This was supposed to be a one shot, but I think I got a little carried away, so enjoy this for now and I'll update when I can. And for all of the people following my Yullen fic, I'm so sorry it's taling so long! I'm a horrible person! TT-TT I promise I'm trying to work on it!
Enslaved
It was not unlike any other day for the young prince. Aside from the fact that he happened to be another year older on this particular day. He himself didn't see how it was a big deal, however his father always insisted on giving him at least one gift. Unsure as to why his father insisted on such a ridiculous ritual was beyond him. It wasn't as if he couldn't attain anything he wanted anyways, such was the advantage of being born into royalty, not that it didn't have it's disadvantages, though, those weren't difficult to deal with. At least not to Seijuro anyways. Pondering what ridiculous gift his father would bestow upon him this year, Seijuro entered the throne room, kneeling before his father.
"My son, there is no need for such formalities on this day." standing up the young prince noticed a look of unease settling on the royal advisor's face.
Wonderful he thought to himself, Father must have decided on something exceptionally bizarre this time.
The Pharaoh himself was competent enough, he ruled the land and his people well, none of this Seijuro would deny, but when it came to family matters or interests, the man could be quite daft, Pharaoh or no Pharaoh.
"Seijuro, On this year my gift to you is a new responsibility." That's all? That isn't too bad I suppose…
"It has come to my attention that you go through slaves far more quickly than necessary. So my gift to you is a single slave. He will be the only one allowed to serve you for the next year, aside from the guards and their usual duties. I realize this is asking a lot of you, however my boy, you must learn the value of a single man's worth regardless of status." So that's it.
"Father, I do not understand what it is you are asking of me. A slave is a slave. Each one is replaceable, none is special. For what reason must I rely on one slave to fulfil my needs?"
"Because, one is all it takes Seijuro. You are to question me no farther, my decision is final. I have hand picked this particular slave just for you, he should suit your needs just fine. As of now all of your current slaves have been sent elsewhere to perform other duties on my orders." Furiated, the prince turned and took his leave. When he becomes Pharaoh, he will not have to be subjected to his fathers outlandish requests or whims, he will become Pharaoh, He will become powerful, and everything he says will be absolute.
Who cares about how many slaves die? Countless of them fall dead each week anyways, they are disposable. The young prince continued on this thought process until he arrived at his bed chambers. He sat at his desk, deciding to immerse himself in his studies to clear his mind until a guard called for permission to enter. Seijuro sat up and turned towards the door.
"You may enter." The guard entered the room accompanied by a scrawny looking boy with messy brown hair. "So this must be the slave my father 'hand picked' himself." he practically spat. The boy flinched at the prince's harsh tone and his heart rate increased as Seijuro walked over for a better look. "Slave, your name." The demand was clear.
"K-Kouki Furihata"
"And for what reason are you so special?" He sneered "What was it about you that impressed my father so?"
"I can read as well as write … not many slaves have that ability." The slave's gaze stayed glued to the ground until Seijuro yanked his head up by his hair to study his face.
"And how is it you became so literate."
"M-my parents taught me when I was young."
"And how is it they learned?"
"I-it's been passed down throughout my family."
"I see." Seeming to lose interest, Seijuro let go of Furihata's hair and went back to his desk. To be honest, Furihata was relieved by this. He had heard countless rumors about the young prince, how he treated his slaves horribly. It was said that he often made them starve to death as punishment for not satisfying his wishes, and was supposedly a great one for the lashings, however these were all rumors and Furihata didn't want to make any assumptions. Though the truth of the matter was that he was born a slave, lashings are fairly common for most and many starve to death anyways, not that he thinks it's right, but a slave has no voice in the matter and it's always best to keep such thoughts to one's self.
Not too long after Seijuro had gone to his desk, he got back up and excused the guard who left promptly. After that Furihata felt like he was a small prey with the way his new master kept circling him.
"You really don't seem very fit at all. What a shame, though between brawns and brains I suppose my father chose best. If you're smart I won't have to lose the only slave I'm permitted at the moment. However if you cause any trouble whatsoever, you might as well be dead. " Furihata noded, feeling the cold stare his master was giving him, understanding his position fairly well. Finally his master had decided to stand in one place. "It really is a ridiculous demand from my father. I don't see how one slave's life could possibly be worth more than ten or twenty. In the end you're all just expendable tools." a menacing smirk played across his lips "Why should it matter to him how many die? There certainly isn't any danger of a shortage~"
"That's a terrible thing to say! Every life has value, even a slave's!" Realizing his mistake too late, his eyes widen and he covers his mouth. The expression on his master's face became dark for a brief moment as he made his way back towards the now trembling boy in front of him.
"Could you repeat that for me?" He asked in an almost pleasant voice, "Because I could have sworn you said that you disagree with me, but that can't be the case. After all, I am never wrong~"
"I … Ah … Er …"
"Do speak up, I absolutely detest mumbling."
"I-I said that's a t-terrible thing to say…" before Furihata had time to ponder the consequences of opening his mouth again a sharp pain erupted across one side of his face.
"You have some nerve slave. You'd better find a way to keep that mouth of yours quiet. Don't forget. I can dispose of you easily and no one would miss you. You'd just be another corpse in the garbage heap."
But then you'd be down your only slave Furihata was tempted to say. Seijuro could see the wheels turning in the slave's head as if he had another 'smart' comeback but the boy stayed silent as well he should. A slave should be seen and not heard, much like a woman, and should listen to orders to the letter.
"Now off to the kitchen with you. I have yet to eat my morning meal." Furihata hesitantly bowed and left to go get his master some food, returning promptly with a tray full of the things the cooks knew Seijuro liked, and of course, Furihata would have had to watch the royal food tasters to make sure nothing was poisoned. However, before his slave could make it across the room, the nervous wreck tripped over his own clumsy feet, letting out a shout, scattering food all over the floor, and causing the tray to clash noisily onto the ground.
"I-I'm sorry! It was an accident! I'll go get you some more food!"
By this point, the prince was beyond angry. Livid wasn't even quite the right term for his rage either. Without as much as a word Seijuro grabbed the slave boy by his hair and drug him to a somewhat empty room. Furihata recognized the silhouette of the whip and knew what was coming to him. He tried to hold in the pathetic yelps and whimpers that he knew would escape his lips anyways each time the rough material cut open a fresh wound on his exposed back. Even the tears he had fought against had decided to surface without his permission after the a few more lashings. Eventually his master had decided it was enough and finally stopped hitting him. Furihata didn't know how many times he was hit, he decided it was probably best not to count, though he was glad it was over. Seijuro threw the leather whip back to the ground and drug Furihata to one of the guards.
"Take him to Shintarou." He then looked back the small pathetic boy, still visibly angry "After he's done with you, I want you to bring me a fresh tray of food. After that, you can clean up the mess you made of my chambers. I expect it to be spotless." The boy nodded as he was shoved into the guard who did as he was told.
It wasn't a long journey, but every step renewed the pain in Furihata's back, not that he hadn't been whipped before, it wasn't the first time his mouth and clumsiness had gotten the better of him and it certainly wasn't the last. It had just been a while, and the prince was a lot stronger than he'd expected. At last they seemed to have reached their destination. The giant man that had lead him there gestured for him to stay put and then left.
"Not much of a conversationalist I see …" Furihata stood there per instructions until the person he supposed he was meant to meet appeared.
"So you're the new slave everyone is raving about. I see you've already managed to get yourself into trouble." the taller man noted blandly.
"It wasn't intentional, I'm unfortunately cursed with clumsiness. I tripped and dropped the prince's morning meal."
"I see. Turn around, let me look at the damage." Nodding, the boy did as he was asked.
"That looks like more than a spoiled meal to me. You do anything else to make him angry?" he soaked some cloth in a pot of water and began cleaning out the wounds causing Kouki to wince.
"Earlier I opened my mouth and I shouldn't have … It's a bad habit of mine … No matter how hard I try the words just sometimes slip out … But he slapped me for that already."
"I'm going to tell you something you'll come to realize later on anyways. Violence doesn't satisfy his anger. He's still going to be mad afterwards no matter how hard of a beating he gives you and will likely send you back to me afterwards so that he has time to clear his head. I've seen it countless times." He seemed somewhat bitter with the last words he spoke
"I didn't mean to speak my mind though, it just … slipped out …"
"There is nothing the young prince loathes more than retaliation. If you're smart you'll get that under control quickly least I'll be seeing you here far too often. With the resources available there is only so much I can do for you, though working in the palace has it's advantages. " The rag left Furihata's back and the medicine man began mixing together a salve for the cuts.
"... as much as the Prince dislikes his situation, at least I'm a little better taken care of here … I've seen many people suffer badly and die from wounds such as mine because they couldn't get treated ..." He hissed at the unexpected pain that came from Shintarou, rubbing the solution into his back.
"Your optimism will either save you or get you killed one of these days."
"I'd like to think that it'll save me."
"Of course you do." He stated flatly; "You're done now so get on with your duties."
Seijuro paced his bed chambers after he sent the guard and his slave away, avoiding the spilled food to avoid unnecessarily dirtying his feet, thinking to himself and muttering in an uninterpretable manner.
What was father thinking?! When he 'hand picked' him, was he intending to mock me?! He sighed and lay on his bed and tried to go about his situation a bit more rationally than he had. Perhaps I shall think of this as a test. This slave only needs a bit more training before he meets my specifications … I do have the spare time, it shouldn't be too difficult to strengthen him up a bit and work on that speaking problem he has… he continued to ponder this and think up different strategies to fix his slave to his specifications, he hadn't however, stopped to think about how hungry he was becoming until his stomach growled at him.
"Speaking of which… Where is he. It shouldn't have taken Shintarou that long to clean him up." As if on cue the smaller boy walked in with a tray.
"w-where do you want it?" Seijuro sat up and pointed to a smaller table to the side of the room.
"What took you so long." again, more a demand than a question
"Ah, s-sorry about that … The kitchen staff wasn't happy with me …" Furihata carefully walked over to the table and set the tray down.
"They should know by now that's not their job." the prince muttered, a bit irritated for that being the only reason for his food taking so long to arrive. The brunette wasn't their concern anyways. Their one and only job was to prepare the food. The only reason it should take more time than necessary is if one of the tasters died, then there would be an execution. But before that would be pain. So. Much. Pain. Seijuro smirked at this thought. If anyone was caught trying to poison him they would be wishing for death long before they're given the privilege.
Not long after Seijuro had finished his meal, his new slave was still scrubbing the floor and he found himself honestly wondering where his father dug up such a pathetic mouthy slave that could hardly do any labor without breaking a sweat. He was also obviously lacking in punishment as well. Yes there were scars on his back already before he had whipped him from a supposed previous master or slave trader, but they must have been years old given how faded they had become.
Usually that would mean the slave tended to be fairly obedient and not need such severe punishment to be kept in line … Perhaps his last owner was just sloppy and lenient? He shook his head. What do I care? He's a slave, his past doesn't concern me. Regardless, he belongs to me now and no matter the lifestyle he was used to up until now, he is going to get used to this new one else he really won't live that much longer.
It was odd to him though. The prince usually had several slaves in the vicinity at the same time, each going about their assigned daily tasks, or doing whatever new task he would give them. only having one, there weren't as many things going on for him to observe at once, though that had never been a problem for him anyways. Seijuro was always able to spot uprising trouble or if one of the slaves had tried to make mischief; nothing ever got passed him, which was one of the reasons he went through them so quickly. He has had yet to have a slave that didn't have a death wish at some point or another, which was perfectly fine for him, if they wanted to die so badly he'd gladly assist.
Before he realised it, a week had gone by; the longest Seijuro usually had a single slave for, though occasionally they lasted longer. if he were to be honest with himself, the worst the boy really was, was clumsy and no matter what he did, that mouth wouldn't learn its lesson no matter how many times he was punished for it. Already they had fallen into a routine. The prince hardly had to tell Furihata what needed to be done anymore aside from whenever he trips and makes a mess, or Seijuro had made different plans for the day.
One thing was constant however, Furihata almost never left Seijuro's sight unless he was told to go fetch something, or would go before hand to heat up the bath for him, or whenever Seijuro wanted to go horse riding on his own for a while. As time drew on, He decided that he rather enjoyed the regularity of this schedule and had become slightly reluctant to punish his slave, but part of him still enjoyed it. It was an odd contradiction on his part, not that it really mattered anyways.
Though, no matter how hard he tried to disregard them, the questions continued nagging at the back of his mind. The boy truly did make him curious for some reason, he wanted to know everything about the clumsy, mouthy, little slave boy he had begun to grow if ever so slightly fond of. Perhaps he would give his father a private visit, he was going to get his answers for no other reason than to satisfy his curiosity, though he'd arrange for it tomorrow, it was late,he had grown weary, and any minute now Furihata would come in to let him know the bath water is ready and he could finally relax.
Furihata on the other hand, didn't have that growing fondness for his new master, If anything, he grew more terrified by the day and found himself relieved whenever he was sent off to do this week he had been beaten and whipped more than he likely ever had and was constantly sore and in pain. He hated being alone with the prince, especially when the man was feeling talkative. Most often when something was said that Furihata disagreed with, or was skeptical about, he would unconsciously open his mouth, which would usually earn him a smack across the face, or under other circumstances the whip. There were few people here who were kind to him, or even paid him any mind at all.
The first was Shintarou, who treated his wounds most times he got beat, the second was a boy he occasionally saw. He wasn't sure who he was or what his business was, but if he silently offered his help every now and then when Seijuro wasn't around, the last, but certainly not the least was a servant girl. She was kind and helped him prepare the hot stones for his master's bath. She also showed him the tools he could use to transfer the stones from the burning coals to the water without burning himself, and for that, he was truly grateful. She didn't say a whole lot at first, but he learned her name when she was summoned by one of the guards. Riko. After that each day they would talk a little more as the stones were heating up.
After the water was warmed up enough Furihata went to go let his master know.
"Master Seijuro, the bath is ready." Music to the prince's ears.
"Good." Without another word Kouki took a change of clothes for his master and they went back to the bath and he disrobed. Handing his clothes off to Furihata to put them somewhere dry, he lowered himself into the bath. After taking care of Seijuro's clothes, the smaller boy striped as well and bathed himself with cold water to the side of the room. stopping only when he was told to add another stone. He finished quickly and redressed himself only to discover that Seijuro had fallen asleep. In the bath. Unsure of what he was supposed to do at that point, he panicked a little.
D-do I wake him up? Or should I let him sleep?! I don't want him to get mad at me! Alright, calm down Kouki, just, just wake him up. He can just go back to sleep if he wants right? Hesitantly, he approached the bath and was about to tap Seijuro when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he saw the boy that had helped him several times before; he wore a very unsettling smirk.
"I can wake him."
"A-are you sure? He might get mad at you…"
"He'll get over it." Furihata watched nervously as the bluenette stepped towards the bath and knelt over; his nervousness turned to horror when Seijuro's face was doused with water. He instantly woke up spitting out the unexpected water and glared at the other boy.
"Tetsuya!"
"I apologise my prince. You were asleep and your slave was unsure of what to do, so I decided to help." Seijuro continued glaring at him, irritated with the deadpanned expression that had been perfected long ago.
"Tetsuya. There are other ways to wake someone without dousing them."
"I will keep that in mind. Though now you don't have to worry about becoming a raisin. Perhaps you should get more sleep so that you don't drift off in the bath again." As the prince got out of the bath and dried himself off he calmed down and continued to question Tetsuya. "What are you really here for Tetsuya? I know you couldn't care less about my appearance or whether I spend too much time in the bath."
"I came to inform you that Kagami will be watching over the guard tonight."
"What happened to Daiki?"
"He has some… Personal matters to attend to and has been pardoned for the night." Seijuro sighed before responding;
"There will be no sympathy tomorrow if he overdoes it."
"I know." Furihata could only stand there in shock that Tetsuya was able to be so casual around Seijuro. Though, he supposed it's only normal for him to at least have someone like that around. He can't hate everyone can he? He and the bluenette exchanged a few more words before Tetsuya disappeared once more and Seijuro finished dressing himself before taking his leave from the bath, Furihata following as usual.
"Um … M-master … May I ask who that was?"
"Tetsuya is none of your concern, now go to bed. I am going to retire for the night and I expect you to be awake at the usual time."
"O-okay …"
Thank you so very much for reading this all the way through, I'm sorry if the names and titles seemed redundant .
Please review! I love reading your thoughts!
P.S. I was getting reviews that said that the story was hard to read because the paragraphs were too long and was causing eye strain. Since then I broke them up into smaller chunks, I hope it helped!
