1- Through the Crooked Glass and What She Found There
Yes I know the chapter name is referencing 'Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There', but I figured hey, why not? This is what I produce when I can't sleep…damn having acute sleep insomnia. And it's also what I get for reading stories about slaves and too much Naruto…oh well, enjoy it…and don't be too judgmental please!
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Sakura knew from the moment she'd been all but dragged to the warehouse by her mother and left there with enough money to buy the entire warehouse worth of slaves, that it had been a mistake to listen to her mother's wishes. She always hated the idea of slavery and advocated the abolishment of the practice. And yet, there she was, being forced by her mother to buy a slave. She lived in the dorms at Konoha Academy, but her parents had enough money to squander, and a slave each. And they lived near enough to the school that she could have stayed with them rather than staying in the dorms.
It was her protest to the presence of slaves in the house and the abuse her parents put them through. And there she stood in the front lobby of the warehouse, waiting for the woman behind the desk to notice her presence. If her mother hadn't threatened her with being cut off—and therefore having no flow of cash to fund her protests and petitions—she would have turned and left. It was a vicious cycle for Sakura.
The woman finally noticed her and smiled brightly, standing up and pulling a thin black remote from a drawer. Sakura grimaced at the remote and refused to take it.
"Look, the only reason I'm here is because my parents are forcing me to get a slave." She said at the woman's look of confusion.
"Ah…Any particular type you're looking for?" Sakura paused.
"I suppose one my age…about sixteen or seventeen…male…" She thought it would be awkward if she bought a female slave when she knew how people thought of those with slaves the same gender. The woman nodded a little and headed through a set of double doors. Sakura followed her, trying not to vomit at the sights of the people huddled in cages and being abused. One frail looking girl was being raped by a pale haired man wearing glasses.
"Feel free to browse…if any that you wish to have a look at are being handled at the moment, feel free to notify the handler and they'll help you out." With that, the woman walked off. Sakura paused and looked around. Frail teenage boys were huddled in cages and she shook her head a little. She walked down the row and stopped at a cage.
A thin boy was huddled in a corner, black hair shading his face and mussed terribly in the back. He was clothed in all black and nearly every inch of his skin was covered save his hands and bare feet. Sakura cleared her throat a little, but he made no move to even lift his head.
"Are you sleeping?" She asked tentatively. His head jerked up, his eyes surprised. "Were you expecting to get hurt because you didn't respond?" He blinked coal black eyes and nodded once. She glanced around for a moment then put her hand into the cage. "Come here please."
He didn't move, only stared at her hand blankly. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to get a better look at your face." She lifted her other hand, fingers spread. "I don't have a remote even." He paused, but carefully scooted closer to the bars where she stood.
She smiled a little and brushed his hair a little when he got close enough, brushing it out of his face. He was admittedly attractive. She also noticed that he wasn't clothed in black from head to toe, but was covered in dark bruises that covered nearly all of his exposed skin from his dark black shirt and too small shorts. He recoiled from her and she pulled her hand back.
Sakura decided suddenly that she wanted desperately to help him and the only way she could think of at that point in time was to buy him. So she flagged down one of the people that worked there and had them get the boy from the cage. "He'd better not be hurt." She warned dangerously. "Or you'll get no money and I'll just take him." Seeing that she was serious, the man who had been just about to grab the boy by his hair struggled to gently pull the boy to his feet by his elbow
The boy smiled a little at Sakura, obviously grateful. She stalked back into the lobby and started with the paperwork. When someone came out with the boy in tow, she was relieved to find that most of the dark bruises she'd seen on him were apparently smears of dirt and grime—they'd apparently showered him off as his hair was wet. She finished signing things and handed the money over to the woman as she took the folder of papers and the little remote and shackles from the counter. She shoved it all in her large bag and turned to the boy—there had been no name on the paperwork for him, so she was just going to have to find it out for herself.
He trembled with cold and was pushed toward her. A chain leash was put in her hand and she gave it a gentle tug, leaving the warehouse with relief. The boy trailed behind her until she got to her car and opened the door. He stared at the passenger seat of the red convertible. "Don't be shy. Sit down and buckle in." She said gently, letting go of the leash to walk around the car and get behind the wheel. The boy got in and shut the door, buckling his seatbelt silently.
Sakura sighed and drove back to the school. She parked and got out, putting the roof up. The boy stayed in his seat, as though waiting for permission to get out of the car. She opened the door and smiled a little at him. "Come on. I'm not going to let you sit out here in the hot sun." Hesitantly, he got out of the car and followed her to her dorm room. Sakura opened the door to her suite—her parents had paid a high price to get her into a private room that was basically a studio apartment on the top floor of the female dormitory.
Once inside, Sakura turned to the boy and removed the leash and collar. She hung the collar beside her jacket and hid the leash away in the bottom of her closet along with the remote and shackles. She then skimmed through the instructions from the folder and shredded them, only keeping intact the receipts and papers she'd need to show her mother as proof she'd bought a slave—those she stuffed in the bottom of a drawer in her desk. Finally, she looked at the boy again.
He had been standing ramrod stiff the whole time she'd been bustling about, watching her warily. "What's your name?" She asked lightly. He only shook his head. "Well, I can't just say 'hey' or 'you' to get your attention. And it's wrong for me just to give you a name to answer to." She said tiredly.
He shook his head again. This made Sakura touch her forehead in exasperation. "Fine then. For now, I'll just call you Kuro…" She then glanced around her messy room. Dishes were left undone in the kitchenette sink and dirty clothes were scattered across the floor. She sighed at the mess. "I guess you're waiting for me to give you something to do…" She paused. "If you'll do the dishes and pick up the dirty clothes on the floor, I'll fish out my extra bed and fix it up so you'll have a place to sleep."
He paused, but set to work immediately. Though he didn't have a punishment collar on anymore, he worked as though his life depended on getting everything perfect. Sakura shook her head a little and set to work herself, getting out the guest futon—which was rather plush and comfortable compared to most futons available, courtesy of her rich parents—and setting it up on the long window seat. Once she'd finished with that, she decided to start picking up her dirty clothes; fully intent on helping the boy with every chore she set him to if she had the chance.
To her surprise the clothes were already picked up and in the laundry basket inside the bathroom and the dishes washed and set out to dry. The boy straightened from dropping a shirt in the basket and tensed at her look of surprise. "Okay…you work fast. Come here so I can look at you." He hurried over to her and she walked around him. "Hm…I'll have to do something about the fact you have no shoes…and your clothes are too small." She smiled a little. "I think my friend Hinata's cousin may have some extra clothes and shoes in your size."
She grabbed her cell phone from her purse and texted Hinata. "I guess I should explain a few things…I usually go to bed around eleven and get up at six thirty…I'm on a diet, so I don't eat in the cafeteria with everyone else. Classes start at eight thirty sharp and I make a point to be there fifteen minutes early."
Her phone went off so she checked the message. "Okay…she said he's in his dorm." She paused. "I just set up your bed in the window seat there…and the linen closet is practically empty—it's just inside the bathroom, by the way, right behind the laundry basket—so you can put whatever extra clothes we get from Neji in there. The collar…simply because it'll cause problems for both of us if I don't make you wear it…" She sighed. "Outside of this room, you'll have to wear it."
He blinked in surprise. "No, I'm not going to make you wear that stupid collar all the time and punish you over every little thing. I'm entirely against slavery and the only reason I was even there today was because my mom forced me to be there." She grabbed the collar and slowly put it around his neck, keeping it extremely loose. "Come on. Once we get back from this errand, we'll have lunch. I'm sure you're hungry."
His stomach growled loudly and he put his arms around his stomach to staunch the noise. "And I want you to have a proper shower using soap and comfortably warm water and shampoo as soon as you get some food in you." She went to the door and he followed close behind. "I'll try not to be rude or mean, but sometimes I get a little moody and I'm like that to everyone." She continued as they walked across the dormitory and into the male area.
The difference was obvious because of the heavy smell of cologne and sweat from all the jocks that lived on that floor. Sakura stopped in front of a door and rapped lightly on it. Just behind it, the sound of a television playing some random anime theme turned down and a girl with dark brown hair pulled into braids below her ears answered the door. "Ten-ten, is Neji around?" She nodded.
"Yes, Miss Sakura, he is. Neji-sama." She turned to look into the room. Neji looked up from the show.
"Come on in, Sakura. Hinata-sama texted me a minute ago to let me know you were coming by. Who's that?" He asked as Sakura and the boy entered the room and Ten-ten closed the door quietly behind them.
"My mom finally dragged me downtown to get a slave." Sakura groaned. Neji smirked.
"And you actually went along with it?" She nodded a little.
"I had no choice. You know that the money they wire me mostly goes into my protests and campaigns against slavery. I'm making a little headway and can't afford to lose funding."
"Right…he have a name?"
"I don't know it. He refuses to tell me. So for now, I'm just going to call him Kuro." She sighed tiredly. "Please say you have decent clothes you don't wear anymore…and shoes."
"Of course I do. My uncle sends me more clothes than I need." He got up and opened the closet. It was filled to overflowing with clothes. "Go ahead and pick whatever. All the clothes I actually wear are in the dirty clothes or in my drawers." Kuro hesitated, but after an encouraging nod from Sakura, went to the closet and pulled out about four full outfits and a pair of shoes from the closet.
"Thanks a bunch Neji." He nodded, taking note of what the boy had taken.
"No problem. If anything else comes my way that he might like I'll send it to your room." Sakura grinned.
"Thanks. Enjoy your show." She said with a laugh as Neji sat back down in front of the TV. Ten-ten paused, seeming torn between opening the door for them and sitting down with Neji. Sakura opened the door herself and Ten-ten finally just sat down beside Neji as the pink haired girl and her new companion left the room, shutting the door behind themselves.
Sakura went back to her room and removed the collar from the boy's neck when the door was closed. She smiled a little and went to kitchen area. "What kind of food do you like? I've got stuff for salad, omelets…" She trailed off.
"A-An omelet…sounds good." He answered hesitantly and she smiled.
"So you can talk! I was beginning to wonder if you were mute." She joked, pulling eggs and milk out of the fridge. She heated up the stove and put a pan over a burner as she whisked eggs and milk together. She stuck the milk and eggs back in the fridge and poured her mixture into the pan with a sizzle.
She made the omelet and put it on a plate, cutting it in half and sliding one half onto another plate and grabbing forks from the drawer. She sat down on the bed with both plates and patted the space beside her gently with a hand. Slowly, the boy sat beside her and she handed him a plate and fork. "Enjoy." She proceeded to do just that to her own plate.
When they had both emptied their plates and their stomachs content, Sakura stood and took the dishes to the sink. "You can use my soap and shampoo, and the water ought to be at a comfortable temperature setting…but you should double check it before you start washing up, sometimes it can get temperamental." She said lightly, setting to washing the dishes.
"Y-Yes ma'am…" He went to the bathroom and shut the door. Sakura sighed as she did the dishes quickly and went to fluff her pillows and otherwise straighten up her room. The water started and she turned on the television, putting it on a drama she'd been keeping up with.
About halfway through her show, the boy emerged, clean and dry and in the better fitting clothes from Neji. She smiled approvingly and patted a space on the floor beside where she was sprawled out on her stomach. Slowly, the boy lowered himself to the floor beside her, but sat on his knees.
"You can make yourself comfortable, you know. I don't bite." He shook his head and trained his eyes on the television. Sakura sighed and did the same, watching the last fifteen minutes of her show with little interest in more than the basic flow of events. When the show ended, she turned the television off and grabbed her school bag, pulling out her homework and sitting at her desk to get to work. The boy stayed on the floor in front of the TV, staring ahead.
Sakura glanced at him over her shoulder and shook her head a little. She knew it was going to be a while getting used to him and his hesitation.
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So yea…it's really hard not to type his name! But I will diligently continue refraining from using the boy's real name as long as I possibly can. Please review and be kind to me…this is only my second story after all.
