A Slaves Freedom
Chapter One
KellyQ
Prince Yamato turned when the door opened and a scrawny tall boy about his age came in. He had ripped pants, and gray short sleeve shirt that was torn. His eyes were full with pain, hunger, and sadness. The slave had bushy unkempt brown hair. Yamato eyed the tray filled with breakfast. I've never seen this slave before ...
"Where ... do ... you want this, my lord?"
"By my bed-stand," the prince answered. Yamato turned and sat down at his desk.
Taichi moved to the table, when suddenly his strength gave out, and he dropped the tray. The prince froze for one moment, trying to cetch his breath. He turned to see that the slave had dropped to his knees, and the tray with the food had turned over. Yamato sighed, rose to his feet and walked over as the slave started to quickly clean.
The brown-haired slave froze when the prince decided to help clean. The slave watched the prince more closely and never saw such beauty before. He looked down immediately when the prince felt the slave's stare. Now the brown-haired teen was in trouble. He was not supposed to look at the master. However, nothing happened. The prince just continued to help clean up.
Yamato sighed. He hated how poorly the slaves were treated, and he wished that he could help them, but he couldn't. He wasn't powerful enough to do anything - yet. The slaved snapped out of his thoughts when the last dish was placed on the tray. The slave looked back up at the prince and that's when Yamato saw that he had a collar with a name: Taichi.
"There." the blonde rose to his feet, waiting for the slave to get up as well. "Now what's wrong?"
"I'm ... t ... to ... w-weak ..."
Taichi's voice sounded broken, weak and rusty, from the lack of eating and getting water.
"Get to your feet," Yamato said with a sigh. "I'll come with you so we can get something to eat."
"We are not allowed to have food, unless we did something good."
"Who says?" Yamato wrinkling his nose.
"King Ishida ..." Taichi said looking down at the floor as they where walking down the hallway together.
Yamato tightened his grip on the tray. I'm going to have to talk to my father when he gets back. If our slaves don't get enough food, they'll drop like flies. Yamato looked up when he noticed they reached the kitchen.
"What happened?" The cook asked.
"I knocked the tray over," Yamato explained.
"Oh," the cook responded, narrowing his eyes.
"And give this slave some food ..."
"I'm sorry but I can't allow that. "
"Are you questioning my orders?" Yamato asked dangerously, causing the cook to cringe.
Taichi opened the door to the room where slaves stayed after they had their work done. Several startled faces looked up when they saw Taichi standing there holding a clump of dry-bread.
Sora was the first to get up and ran over to Taichi and hugged him. "I was so worried ..." she murmured.
"I'm alright and look what the prince gave me in reward." The female slave's face lit up seeing the bread. "Here. Give this to the weaker slaves." Taichi handed her the big lump of bread. "I'm going to check on my sister."
He walked past Sora who had a worried expression. When they hugged, Taichi was shaking like he was low on blood sugar. However, Sora had a job to do, and she wasn't going to let Taichi down.
Miyako was sitting next to a very thin pale girl with short brown hair. Sweat was coming down her forehead. The girl's brown dilated eyes stared up at the ceiling. Taichi bent down on the other side with a worried expression.
"How is she, Miyako?" he asked softly.
"Hikari's fever has increased ..."
The purple-haired girl's voice trailed off when when she saw a flash of fear appear on Taichi's face. Hikari turned her head to see her brother's flushed face. She reached out touching his face with trembling fingers. Taichi looked at her sadly as he took her hand, holding it tight. Miyako took the handkerchief off her head and used it to keep Hikari's fever down.
"Come on Ken-Chan, You've got to eat!"
It was Daisuke. Another slave with spiky brown-hair. He wore all gray. The look in his eyes was different than Taichi's. Daichi sat next to his half-starved boyfriend. Another teen with indigo hair and blue eyes.
Taichi sighed. Look at us ... being treated like we're nothing ... no one cares that we drop like flies. Taichi had lost some good friends. Jou died of starvation, Koushiro committed suicide. Mimi just died two days ago from an infection. Taichi looked at Sora with great guilt in his shaky heart. He felt a pang for the young female slave. She didn't get to tell how she felt toward the pink-haired teen before she died.
TO BE CONTINUED ...