Hello! Sorry for missing last weeks post. Busy with wedding planning. This will be the only chapter posted until after my wedding on 4/9. Sorry, I have way too much going on. That's not to say I wont be writing, I will be. Actually getting things posted... that will probably fall though the cracks. Forgive me?
NightlyRowenTree, thanks for the reviews on the last few chapters! 3
MissMarzia, nice to see you again!
TiaKay, Hope you like this chapter!
Chapter 3:
When she came to, the first thing that occurred to her was the full feeling in her belly. It was a strange feeling. It had been so long, it felt foreign to not feel hunger pains. She also felt warm. That was another strange thing to her. She was used to sleeping on the cold hard concrete yet she sat on a soft surface.
Then it hit her. She felt it, hands on her. Pale eyes snapped open wide as she froze and waited. She didn't hear his voice.
Kurama's guard went up the moment he felt her body tense. It was typical for one who was hurt and confused to lash out. He hoped she wouldn't target his mother. Should she lunge, he was ready to grab her.
Hiei shifted in his seat, placing one foot on the ground. His eyes were trained on the small girl and should she make one wrong move and he was ready to move.
Where was she? Who were these people? Where was he?
When she moved, it was sudden. Panic was wild in her eyes. Limbs seemed to suddenly be everywhere as she kicked at the bed, pushing herself away from them until she there was the soft thump of her back against the wall.
Kurama slowly moved around in front of the girl, still on the bed. He needed to be able to see her.
Shiori watched as Fox Girl took the opening her son created to shuffle herself into the corner. It hurt her heart to see how scared the girl looked.
"It's okay…" Shiori shushed the girl, talking softly, moving slowly toward the girl, who's ears seemed to be twitching franticly.
"Mother." Kurama warned, not wanting his mother to get closer to the girl.
His mother however seemed to have other ideas. Slowly she reached out and softly rested her hand on the girl's head, whispering soft words to her. Fox Girl cringed under her hand, as if rather than a gentle pat she expected to receive a harsh hit.
That did not go unnoticed by the two men in the room.
"What's your name dear?" Shiori asked softly as her son subtly pulled her back.
Fox Girl looked up at her with large wet eyes. Their color took Shiori's breath away. They were such a pale golden color. In response to the question, the girl simply blinked up at her with her wet eyes.
Where was master? Why was she in a bed? Why was she dressed? Who were these people?
She looked at the red headed man kneeling on the bed. She didn't know what he wanted. Maybe he liked to be watched? Could her master have sent her to these people? Did he like toys dressed?
They watched as whimpers and cries died in her throat. It was strange to them; she made not a single sound.
She looked again at the people in the room, then the man in front of her. He seemed to want something from her. He was on the bed. He must have been the one that wanted her on a bed. It was hard to tell what he wanted. She was on a bed. She needed to please him.
She took a shaky breath before braving moving closer to him. Her tail swayed behind her. If Master sent her here, he would be angry if she didn't please his client. She didn't want Master angry at her. Her ears tilted back and clearly communicated her timid nature.
It surprised all in the room that she approached Kurama. The shock however, only got greater. She reached out with a too thin arm and Kurama sat up straighter, not sure as to what she was doing. It was a move he regretted when her thin fingers slipped around his belt. She made shockingly quick work of undoing it.
Shiori sat in stunned shock. She watched as her son leaned away from the girl on the bed before him. As her son moved back, the fox girl moved forward on all fours. Her fingers made fast work of the button on her son's pants as Shiori's hands went to her mouth.
Thankfully, in both Kurama's mind and his mother's, as he scooted back he found the edge of the bed and quickly fell off in an undignified heap.
"What are you doing?!" Shiori was beside herself. Why would the girl behave so forward with her son?
The girl looked at woman. She looked displeased? The man who fell off the bed quickly stood up and refastened his pants, allowing his belt to hang uselessly.
"Yes, I fear you misunderstand." He confirmed softly. Something about this girl wasn't right. As she reached for him, he was allowed a good look at her arms, littered with scars. It was clear that at some point, she spent a good deal of time in shackles. This girl seemed to just bring more and more questions.
They watched as her ears lay against her ears. Tears gathered in her eyes. She displeased him. She displeased them all. If they told master… But she didn't know what to do. She just wanted to know how to please them. She began to shake as the scent of her fear filled the air.
Shiori was the only one who was ignorant to the scent, though it would be impossible not to pick up on the girl's fear. The woman sat on the bed, just an arm's length from the girl.
"It's okay. Did you have to do those things in the past?" Shiori softly asked. She waited but the only answer the girl gave was a wide eyed stare. Though her eyes were such a pale gold, she had a doe eyed look to her.
"You don't have to do those things here." Shiori added after it was clear that Fox Girl wasn't going to answer.
Tea should help calm the girl. When Shiori shifted to reach for the teapot and a cup, the girl flinched back, as if she feared the pot would be thrown at her regardless of the woman's kind words.
As soon as Shiori was off the bed the girl scooted back again, until she was safe against the wall. When she offered the girl the cup however, she wouldn't take it. The small girl just looked at the cup then back up to Shiori and cocked an ear to the side.
She knew better than to take things without Master's permission. Did master think she would misbehave? Was he testing her? The woman in front of her sighed before grabbing her hands and wrapping them around the cup. She didn't want this cup. She was so thirsty, was this Master's punishment? She didn't remember being bad.
"I'm Shiori." The woman spoke before waving her hand at the red headed man, "This is my son, Shuuichi and that," she pointed at the man in black who now stood a few feet behind her "is his friend, Hiei."
Again she waited for a response. Tears slipped out of the girl's eyes as she dropped the cup and scooted toward the bottom edge of the bed. She didn't want to be on the bed anymore. Beds were for when she was making Master and his clients happy, when she was serving their needs. It wasn't right to be on a bed now.
The edge came sooner than she expected and she fell off with an ungraceful tumble. They could see her mouth move as if to scream but no sound came out. Even as she righted herself and huddled into the corner, where the foot of the bed met the wall she didn't make a sound.
"Won't you tell us your name, dear?" Shiori asked again.
Behind them, Hiei moved closer to Kurama. It allowed him a better look at her. What they could see of the girl's too thin limbs were littered with scars. A gash on her leg had torn back open and blood was seeping through the bandages.
Her hair fell over her shoulders, preventing a clear view of her neck but Hiei was sure he would find more scars. It intrigued him, the lack of sound from the girl even when she coughed. She should have made some vocalization when she fell- it was natural and vixen were known for being vocal creatures.
"It's okay, we can help you but we need to know your name." Kurama knelt down next to his human mother.
The girl simply twitched her ears and again dumbly blinked at them. She held her knees tighter to her chest. Hiei almost thought the woman lame but something wasn't sitting right with him. It surprised Kurama when his friend stood directly behind him and watched the girl.
"Would you like some soup? Maybe some rice?" Shiori asked.
More ear twitches and blank looks.
"She's not going to answer." Hiei stated simply as he walked up to the girl.
She cringed away from him but if his theory was right, it all made sense. The deep scars on her wrists and ankles in addition to the shallow wounds that had littered her exposed skin.
He knelt in front of her and her ears rested nearly against her head. She had nowhere to run, no way to back further into a hole. She was too weak to fight him, he knew that. Suddenly his hand shot out and gripped her jaw as he pulled her forward. Her fingers clutched at him but she made no attempt to fight back.
Fighting back would get her punished by Master, she knew this.
"Hiei." Kurama hissed.
"What are you doing?!" Shiori shrieked.
"Look," He used his other arm to pin her shoulders and arms to her body, using his own to brace her against.
Her neck was on full display. While she was littered with scars, the ones on her neck were unique. Focused in the center, they were deeper. Whoever had done the job, it wasn't pretty nor did it look to have been anything but painful. The way the scar was jagged, without any clean lines it Kurama couldn't have imagined that they did her the kindness of doing the procedure while she was unconscious.
"What?" Shiori interrupted, this was not how a guest should be treated.
"She's been muted." Kurama had the sense to notice the scar the moment her neck was on display. He felt foolish for not noticing but even among slaves it was rare for one to be muted.
Shiori's hands went to her mouth. The poor girl. The poor child. No, she wasn't a child. She had to keep reminding herself that Fox Girl was really a fox woman. How could anyone do such a thing?
"She's a slave." Hiei confirmed, letting go of the softly crying girl.
Rather than run away or hide, she sat where she landed and cried. It dawned on her, when the man in black… Hiei, the woman had said his name was, grabbed her that these people didn't know she couldn't talk.
"We don't know your master, girl." Hiei stated plainly as she looked up at him.
"We won't hurt you." Shiori was crying softly for the girl. Never had she known someone as broken as this girl had to be.
"You're safe here." Kurama confirmed.
Fox Girl simply pulled her knees in and cried harder. She didn't know what to do. There wasn't even a time that she could remember where Master didn't dictate her every move. She served him, and he provided for her and protected her. His clients would have done so much worse to her if he hadn't demanded she live.
But, he also hurt her.