Chapter Four: It's just business . . .
Haruka . . . such a befitting name for someone like him . . .
Undertaker was smiling and Haruka only stared, "and you are?" he asked feeling he had a right to. Undertaker paused but smiled again quickly, "I am Undertaker, at least that's what your kind calls me~" he said playfully.
My kind? Haruka wasn't sure he had heard that right, but disregarded it anyways. "What do you prefer to be called?" he asked another question. "Undertaker~" he smiled and Haruka only paused yet not surprised. Haruka mumbled slightly in acknowledgement and went back to looking at the burning red orange flames. Haruka pondered in his mind, how would he ever get out of this?
He glanced back at Undertaker who noticed and smiled as a response. He quickly averted his attention back to the fire. He could get out of this, all he had to do was wait. He looked back at Undertaker once more, thinking him to be the type who doesn't fall asleep first.
Haruka purposely let out a yawn. Undertaker glanced to Haruka and grinned when Haruka's eyes started battering slowly, softly closing with a gaze still kept on the fire. "Sleepy? ~" Undertaker called out, making Haruka bat his eyes back open. Haruka looked to Undertaker confused, was he trying not to let him sleep? Had he already guessed it?
Never the less, Haruka decided to try and play it off, to make it seem "accidental". Haruka shifted his place, "N-no" he said making his voice sound sleepy. Undertaker rose a brow, quite amused at what the other was trying to do. "Very well," Undertaker smiled, "I guess that's lights out~" and he calmly laid down on his back, stretching his arms as he did.
Haruka paused, had he misread the other? No, he was sure Undertaker wasn't going to let him sleep but now . . . ?
Haruka waited a little before letting himself lay down and close his eyes, slightly peeking through his eyelashes to watch the other, waiting.
The flames were gone as night reigned over the sky. It had been three hours and Haruka finally opened his eyes, looking to Undertaker whose back was facing him, it was more than perfect. He carefully sat up, making sure the chains didn't move with him, he glanced at the other, no reaction. Haruka, with his heart racing, hearable even to his own ears, slowly and cautiously reached up to his hair, ever so slowly, taking out the pin from before.
He placed the blunt side to his lips and grasped on it with his teeth and carefully aimed for the keyhole on the lock. He clinked the pin to the side, trying to crack it open and was getting impatient when it wasn't working out. Please! He begged in his mind and out of frustration, accidently pulled abruptly on the chain, making clanking noises. A loud sigh came from Undertaker and in panic, Haruka turned, still as the dead.
After a few seconds of nothing, Haruka went back to trying to undo the chains. C'mon, please . . . he uttered in his mind continuously as he started to rapidly move the pin side to side, digging it into the lock. Work! He yelled in his head just when a small 'click' sounded and the chains unlocked. He paused, feeling a tremendous amount of joy overcome him, being thankful for his "luck". He glanced to the sleeping Undertaker, quite unhappy about having to ditch the man who had ultimately saved him before . . . but even then, Undertaker had his own motives. No regrets, right?
He shifted slowly getting up, always sure not to wake up the other, he paced slowly towards the woods and away from Undertaker, ". . . sorry . . ." he said softly in a whisper before turning to leave.
"Sorry for what? ~" Undertaker's voice suddenly rose and Haruka paused in his steps, shocked. He turned cautiously and gasped when he found Undertaker right behind him, standing with what seemed to be a smile in his face, though, it was not a very friendly smile.
"Planning on leaving so soon? ~" he mocked, "I presumed it would have been sooner". Then Haruka understood, Undertaker had seen through it all. Undertaker just let him think he hadn't and now he was probably laughing inside his head at Haruka's efforts. His eyes were wide in shock, his body frozen in its place, his mouth hung slightly open, "y-you knew . . . "
"Oh, don't be so dejected", Undertaker voiced smoothly, "there was no way you were going to make it anyway~" and with such a happy tone, he crushed Haruka's hopes there. His heart pounded, his legs went numb and he let himself slide onto the ground in shocking defeat, feeling all his emotions swirl to him and again, he wanted to cry.
Undertaker just stared at the human below him who tried desperately not to cry, though it was evident he wouldn't hold up much longer. He kneeled down, leveling with a shaken Haruka. He knew why he cried, as stated before, he's been around people long enough to know them. "There, there" he patted Haruka' hair. Not that he cared, it would just be a pain if the boy started crying again.
Haruka halted in his attempts, feeling a big hand come down on his head, the man practically telling him to calm down?
"No!" Haruka slapped Undertaker's hand away, pushing himself back, huffing as he did. "y-You can't tell me to calm down!" Haruka snapped to Undertaker's surprise, "How could you expect me to!" He had a point, but what intrigued Undertaker was Haruka's claim that he can't.
Haruka was sick of this, how many times would this have to happen to him? He knew he couldn't escape him, it was out of the picture. Feeling his eyes blur, getting watery, Haruka pushed Undertaker aside and ran back to the opposite side of the tree, cowering into a ball form, hiding his sobs away in his knees. "Why can't I just be left alone . . ." Haruka muttered under his breath, though it was hearable.
Undertaker still kneeled in the same spot, turning towards Haruka, that was easier than he thought it'd be, but also quite unexpected. Undertaker yawned and stood up and grabbed his chain and approached Haruka. Haruka didn't move but he could hear the other coming closer. "Ah!" Haruka gasped when Undertaker grabbed his leg only to see him tying it up and locking it. Undertaker held the other end and pulled slightly, tugging Haruka with it and he smiled.
Haruka eyed the chain around his ankle, having the strong urge to kick it away but paused, gasping, hitting his back up against the tree when his hair pin was held in his view. "Can't let you keep this now, can I`~?" he said playfully, shoving the hair pin in his sleeve.
His eyes widened when just at the edge, just at the corner, hidden in the back folds in Undertaker's sleeves, he caught a glimpse of a paper. Haruka mad a pretty good guess about what that paper was, the bargain item. He averted his eyes, not wanting to make it obvious that he had seen because, maybe just maybe, he could this to his advantage. And maybe, just maybe, the light of day hadn't shunned out on him.
The rest of the night was soundless and went by like a breeze until morning came. Haruka laid asleep, curled up from the shriveling cold that came from the night before. Undertaker sat inches away from the sleeping Haruka with his hands on his knees as he watched the boy's sleeping form. He could see why the poor boy was often targeted, he definitely was beautiful.
Though, such things meant little to him, there were always beautiful people being born into the world and this boy was no different than any of them. Besides, there was no point in such trivial things because in his lifetime, he figured life should just be more fun.
He raised the chain in his hand, thinking it fun if he were to pull the boy awake and drag him the rest of the way, but that all depended on how the boy decided to behave. Though, a sadistic part of him wanted him not to. Though, Haruka did seem to have random outbursts of confidence . . . better to test it to find out.
With a grin, Undertaker got up and started distancing himself, dragging along the chain with him until he was well enough away to give Haruka a rough pull. Having been dreaming peacefully, Haruka felt an odd and abrupt tug, pulling him away from the dream world and back into the harsher reality.
His eyes flared open in shock, "w-what?" He sat up quickly, wondering what the blazes had happened when an outburst of laughter resonated from a distance. Haruka's attention flew towards Undertaker who snickered and chortled, holding his stomach as he did. D-did . . . he . . . ? Haruka's mind considered the possibility and judging by Undertaker's sudden amusement, it didn't take long for Haruka to figure out what had happened. "T-That wasn't funny!" Haruka exclaimed feeling a slight burning on his bottom and thigh from being pulled roughly. And of course, no thanks to the assaulters from the day before, Haruka's clothes had been torn to rags, barely enough to cover Haruka's mid thighs, so the pull had slid his skin on the ground.
"Get up," Undertaker ceased his incoherent laughter and grinned, "we've got somewhere else to be~" he said playfully and pulled on the chain again, giving Haruka another rough tug against the hard ground. "Ah!" Haruka gasped, feeling it burn again.
Looking back to the Undertaker, Haruka nodded and stood up, rubbing his bottom as he did, "H-Hey!?" Haruka gasped as Undertaker gave another tug, though not hard enough to drag him off his feet. "Times a wasting~" He said playfully and began walking, Haruka following at a distance.
Not too long and they were re-approaching the village Haruka had recently run away from. Haruka dimmed his eyed to the ground, unhappy about being taken back. There was no doubt in his mind the previous "lord" probably had something horrible planned out for him. His steps slowed.
Undertaker noticed and glanced back over his shoulder at Haruka who held his head sunk low. Not that he could blame him, but It's just business . . .
People stared and gasped to see the odd man from the odd shop pulling behind him the boy detailed in the posters. Haruka fidgeted to the stares, uncomfortable with it and Undertaker trotted along with a slight frown, this would be bad for his business.
They walked and walked, passing by through more neighborhoods, each time, they just got worse and more rundown. Haruka was starting to worry about the people Undertaker planned on handing him to. He was starting to mentally panic, wondering if there was anything he could do to escape. Then he remembered that paper.
Yes . . . that paper . . .
Haruka's mind paced back and forth, unsure if he was going to make the right call but he didn't have enough time to as Undertaker stopped to a building with several men standing "guard" outside, giving Undertaker glares and the exchanged looks.
"Tell Fujin, his delivery is here~" Undertaker announced joyfully as the guards turned their attention to Haruka and to a poster in their hands, looking to one another before nodding in agreement. "Inside, but don't step out of line!" the warned and open the doors, Undertaker went in with a smile none the less, pulling Haruka to follow behind him.
The main door to the house opened and out stepped out a man in a dark grey robe, loosely dressed as always. "Ah, Undertaker" he greeted and Undertaker simply waved 'hi'. "You actually caught her—"Fujin sighed, quite surprised to see the tattered condition Haruka was in.
"Whoa, what'd you do, rape the poor girl before you brought her here?" Fujin mocked, giving Undertaker a teasing look. Haruka flinched. Undertaker laughed loudly, "Oh goodness no, let's just say I ran into some trouble makers about to make off with him" Undertaker casually explained.
Fujin paused and then smirked, "so it's she's a he, huh?" he turned back to Haruka who only froze upon his stare, "never would've guessed that" he admitted. "Well, you've done your part, you can leave him here, thanks Undertaker" Fujin thanked, scratching the back of his head. "Pleasure doing business~" Undertaker smiled before turning back to Haruka to undo the chains.
Haruka panicked, at this point, he'd be sold right off back to that disgusting man. He couldn't allow that, he just couldn't! "W-Wait!" Haruka threw himself on Undertaker, surprising everyone. "Please don't leave me here, Please!" he begged, his eyes tearing. Undertaker paused as Haruka clung to him and Fujin laughed, "Looks like he's attached to ya" ha mocked.
Undertaker sighed, "don't give me that look," he smiled, "this is just business, don't take it personal" He moved Haruka off gently. Haruka kept a pained and sad look on his face as Undertaker removed him away, "Pl-please?" He grabbed onto Undertaker's sleeve, giving him a hopeful look. Undertaker groaned ad Fujin kept laughing, no doubt getting a real "kick" out of watching. Undertaker sighed deeply, such frustrating situations to be in, "Sorry~" he smiled however, and backed away, heading towards the gate as Haruka only watched him leave casually.
A hand laid on his shoulder and Haruka winced, flipping away in shock. Fujin paused but smirked, "don't worry about it, we won't harm you" he teased. He waved for one of his men to come his way, "take him and put him away, and give him a change of clothes, that's just petty, we've got to make this transaction tomorrow, alright?" he carefully instructed his follower.
"This way" the follower led Haruka away and Haruka followed quietly but not because he chose to be quiet about the situation but because as they walked away, Haruka's mind panicked, wondering if . . . he kept his gaze strong towards the ground, eyes darting right to left, and he squeezed his sleeves tightly, careful not to fold the paper hidden inside . . .
Wondering if . . . he had done the right thing . . .
(Okay, hopefully it's getting interesting by now, so sorry the last three chapters were sadly short, I will try to expand them from now on, see ya on the next chapter!)