Chapter 6: Blanca

Ash-

Ash fell back to sleep after Ibe-san had been so kind to him by helping with his clothes. It amazed him – Ibe-san had actually washed out Ash's clothes. Sometimes, these new people shocked the Hell out of Ash. How was he supposed to react when everyone was so nice? He'd just gotten used to Shorter's friendship and Nadia's quiet kindness, but now life had thrown Max and Ibe-san at him, not to mention Eiji. He had no idea what to think of Eiji. People being nice to him made him nervous. Usually, they wanted something from him, but these people didn't. Even sick and nearly destitute, Ash somehow felt perfectly safe. Sick, but safe. The fire was warm. The air tasted cleaner than Ash had ever imagined possible. The little river made a gentle noise as it rolled over and around any obstacle in its path. His clothes were dry.

Ash looked at Ibe-san, sitting placidly by the fire, and felt his cheeks burn. No matter what Ibe-san had said about the whole incident being nothing to be embarrassed about, Ash wanted to bury himself in a hole. God! He'd never live that down! To have someone washing out his clothes like he was a little kid had to be one of the most embarrassing things that had ever happened to him. It hadn't happened in years. Not since Blanca…

'But he left.' Ash squeezed his eyes tightly closed. 'Blanca left and I'll never see him, again.' His heart hurt at the thought. 'I wish he'd stayed… just for a little while longer.'

In moments, Ash was asleep and he began to dream of a time long ago, a memory of when he'd been a child of thirteen.

Dream-

Ash had wet the bed.

He was thirteen and he wet the bed like a damned baby.

Still fuzzy from sleep and shaky from his nightmare, Ash sat in his bed and wanted to cry. He was wet and reeked. The fine silk bed sheets Papa Dino had given Ash were soaked right through and the mattress was probably ruined. The whole room smelled gross and the maid would come in the morning and she would know and she'd tell Papa Dino and then…

Ash sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He was getting cold and sitting there like a dummy wouldn't do any good. It wasn't the first time it had happened, after all. He knew what to do.

Ash got up and cleaned himself up as quickly as he could. His room had a bathroom, so it was easy enough to take a shower and put on clean pajamas. Then he took the bed sheets off the bed and bundled up his wet pajamas with them. He took the whole mess and stuffed it into a thankfully dry pillowcase and got ready to take it to the laundry room.

The clock said it was just after midnight, but that didn't mean the whole house was asleep. It was entirely possible that Dino was still working in his office and it was a certainty that there were guards patrolling the house. So Ash was very cautious when he pulled open the bedroom door and peered out into the hall. He neither saw nor heard anyone. After a moment, when he felt it was safe, he crept out and started down the hall.

He knew Dino's house like the back of his hand. The carpets were thick and tickled the bottom of his bare feet. He paused here and there and hid when Dino's men crossed his path. He wasn't noticed for a long while.

When Ash neared Dino's study, he decided at once to take another path to the laundry room. The light was on in the study and the last thing he wanted was for Dino to find him with an armful of wet laundry.

"His voice cracked the other day." It was Marvin who spoke and Ash went still – listening. He felt himself start to sweat. His breath quickened. He hated Dino, but Marvin terrified him.

"Yes. He's starting to grow up," Dino replied, blandly.

"Have you thought about stopping it?"

"How?"

"You could try castration."

Ash didn't know what 'castration' was, but as it was Marvin's idea, he was certain it was a very bad idea.

"No," Dino answered in that deep, powerful voice of his. "I won't have his body disfigured in any way." Then he hesitated for a moment. "Perhaps an earring, someday. Something to match his eyes. But nothing else. Besides, I haven't decided if I want him to breed, yet. He would produce fine offspring if I can find a suitable mate for him. Or perhaps I'll look into cloning. I have heard that there has been remarkable advances in the science of cloning these past few years. That way, I won't have to pollute his genes. I could have dozens of perfect little Ashs."

Ash slunk away after that. His stomach felt funny. A bad funny. Sick. He wasn't entirely certain what Dino and Marvin had been talking about, but… breed? Ash felt his stomach lurch. Maybe they hadn't been talking about him.

His hands tightened on the fabric of the pillowcase he held and he swallowed hard. As quietly as he could – silent as the grave – Ash started to look for another path to the laundry room. He would find a dictionary in the morning to look up what they were talking about, but at that moment, getting the bed sheets cleaned had to be the priority. He had no idea what to do about the mattress.

He went down this hallway and that, down stairs and around corners. The laundry room was in the basement and he was nearly at the stairs that led down to the basement when he had to walk by the kitchen. There should have been no one in the kitchen so late at night, but just as Ash went to walk by the open doorway, someone walked right into him.

Ash lurched away and, out of habit, put his back against the wall before he'd even looked up, but when he did, he froze.

Blanca.

Blanca was truly a mountain of a man. He had to be close to seven feet tall and was heavily muscled, like a brick wall in a jacket. Ash strongly suspected that Blanca could bench press a tractor. He had long, black hair that hung down his back in a ponytail. His face was broad and rather round with friendly, blue eyes and an open smile. Blanca held a glass of milk in one hand. He blinked down at Ash, surprised.

Ash was terrified. Blanca had only been employed by Dino for a couple of days so Ash really didn't know him. Blanca wasn't as scary as Dino or Marvin, but he worked for Dino so he'd tell. He'd tell that he found Ash wandering the halls with wet things. Ash suddenly couldn't find his voice. His breath caught in his throat and, for a moment, he felt the world go grey.

Blanca's eyes narrowed, suspicious and worried. "Ash? Can you breathe?"

"Yes." Ash sucked in a deep breath and his vision returned to normal. "Yeah, I'm okay." He frowned at Blanca and tried to summons up some of his bravado.

"That's good," Blanca gave him a smile. "I thought you might be having another panic attack."

Ash felt a blush rise up the back of his neck. "I'm not. That was just a one-time thing." It wasn't. He had them far more than he'd ever admit. When Blanca had found him in the slimy hotel Marvin had left Ash in, his hands still tied up and completely naked, Ash hadn't been able to fight off the panic attack. Marvin had frequently brought friends with him when he took Ash to the hotel and the idea of huge Blanca wanting to do things to Ash was just too much. He'd imagined Blanca being humungous all over and the idea of the pain that would cause had sent Ash out of control. He'd panicked and Blanca had held him and calmed him with soothing words. It had been completely embarrassing and fantastically confusing. Ash still didn't know what to make of the whole thing.

"It's late. You should be sleeping." Blanca kept his voice soft. "You have lessons early in the morning." Blanca took a sip of his milk. "I won't go easy on you just because you're tired."

Lessons with Blanca. It was to be Ash's first day of class with his newest teacher and he had high hopes that Blanca would truly be better than the other tutors Dino hired. Blanca had been very, very unhappy when he'd learned what Marvin liked to do to Ash. And he'd promised, when he'd found Ash in that squalid hotel room, that he wouldn't hurt Ash. Maybe he'd be better… Maybe not.

"I was just… out." Even Ash knew it was a feeble lie. He hadn't realized he might need a lie until just that moment.

"Just… out?" Blanca made a show of bending down to look at the bundle of laundry in Ash's arms. "Out doing the wash? At so early an hour?" Then, to Ash's horror, Blanca drew a deep breath in through his nose. The smell of Ash's filth was obvious. There was no hiding it and, from the look of understanding on Blanca's face, he knew exactly what had happened.

Ash was fairly certain that he kept his face still, but he couldn't help how his voice was just a bit wobbly when he said, "It was an accident."

Blanca nodded. "That happens sometimes. Are you clean?"

Ash nodded. "Yes, Blanca." Ash shifted from foot-to-foot. "Are you going to tell Papa Dino?"

"I don't see any reason to, if you think it will upset him. After all, it was only an accident. I'll take care of your laundry." Blanca gave Ash a gentle smile. "Wait in my room."

The betrayal Ash felt at that quiet order hit like a sledgehammer. He'd thought… after Blanca had found him in the hotel room… After everything he'd said and how nice he'd been…

It was with great effort that Ash pushed himself back to the problem at hand. He hugged the bundle of laundry to his chest. "The mattress is ruined. Papa Dino will find out and he's gonna be so angry." And angry meant a beating. If he was lucky. If he was unlucky, Dino would give Ash to Marvin for the day. He'd rather have a beating. "Papa Dino hates a mess. Stupid. I'm so stupid." Ash reached up a hand and grabbed a handful of hair, tugging it until his head hurt. "I can't believe I did that. Again. He's gonna yell at me."

Blanca took hold of Ash's wrist and carefully pulled it away from Ash's hair. "Please, don't hurt yourself. This really isn't anything to fret over. Believe me – it was an accident and a lot more people have them than you would guess. It's likely that it was brought on by stress and I think you have more stress to deal with than most people," Blanca answered, mildly. He put a hand on Ash's shoulder and guided him to the room he'd been given. Blanca's room was very simple, not at all like the room Ash had been given. There was nothing in Blanca's room of any kind of a personal nature except a hat sitting on a dresser and a small bookshelf packed with books. "Get into bed and I'll take care of your mattress as well as the laundry." He put his milk down on the desk and took the dirty laundry from Ash. "Don't worry yourself sick."

"How are you going to fix a soaking wet mattress?"

"I have experience cleaning up many types of messes and urine is not the most offensive one I've dealt with." Blanca left then and Ash, alone in the room, turned to stare at the bed with apprehension.

Ash's fear began to reassert itself. He'd thought Blanca would be different. Maybe he hadn't been angry that Marvin had used Ash. Maybe he'd been angry because he'd wanted Ash all to himself.

He had known Blanca for a grand total of a few hours and while Blanca hadn't tried to put a hand on him in any sort of questionable fashion, Ash just knew that the night wasn't going to end well for him. At least Blanca seemed nice and gentle. He was big so it would hurt, but he didn't seem to be like Marvin who LIKED hurting Ash. And he was helping and said he wouldn't tell Papa Dino about the accident.

Ash had had lots of practice putting up with adults and what they wanted from him and he was thankful that Blanca was nice and kind. He was. That didn't mean that Ash liked it or wanted to do anything. Still, he knew better than to argue. So he sat on the bed and waited. Sometime later, Blanca came back into the room, still smiling.

"All taken care of and none will be the wiser. Your bed is fresh and clean. The laundry is nearly finished. As soon as morning comes, we can put the clean bed linens on the mattress and you'll be in the clear. All that aside - I did notice that you didn't have a lie ready when I asked you why you were up in the middle of the night. You should always have a few good lies on hand to use; they're very useful. The morning's lessons will be about effective lying." He sat in the chair at the desk and picked up a book he'd left there. "For now, try to rest."

"Yes, Blanca." Then Ash, who knew it was better to settle matters at once rather than to worry about them, stood up and went to stand in front of Blanca. "Thank you for not telling Papa Dino." Ash swallowed hard, forcing down the revulsion he felt. "What do you want me to do?"

"Do?"

Ash knelt down at Blanca's feet and put his hands on Blanca's knees. "For helping me. What do you want me to do? Do you want a blow- "

"Don't finish that sentence." Blanca snapped his book closed and stood up. He towered over Ash. Blanca was bigger than just about everyone, but when Ash sat on the floor as he was, Blanca seemed like a giant and Ash couldn't help but be afraid of him. Blanca set his book back on the desk before he took hold of Ash's arm and pulled him up to his feet. "What I want is for you to get in bed and go to sleep like a good little boy. Your bed is still damp and will take time to dry, so you will sleep here." He walked Ash back to the bed and pulled back the covers. "Get in."

"But… what do you really want?"

"To read my book. Now, go to sleep."

That wasn't right. It couldn't be right. But he did as Blanca said and lay down on the bed. The pillows weren't stuffed with down and the mattress had lumps. The blankets were warm, but made of scratchy wool. He lay there as Blanca put the blankets carefully over Ash, then actually took the time to tuck him in.

"I'm not a kid," Ash muttered. "I'm thirteen. You don't have to tuck me in."

Blanca looked at Ash and his smile was gone. Ash felt badly that he'd said something to make Blanca lose his smile, but he didn't know what he'd said wrong. Blanca reached out slowly and carefully and patted Ash on the top of the head. "You are a child and I know that I do not have to tuck you in." Then he went right back to tucking Ash in. "The door and window are locked; no one will come in." He went and pulled the curtains closed and Ash felt better knowing that no one would peek in the window. Blanca turned off the light, but kept on the small reading lamp at the desk where he sat down and picked up his book, again.

Ash just stared at Blanca, completely mystified by his behavior. "But… I don't understand."

The pity in Blanca's eyes made Ash want to fight. Blanca sighed and said, "Someday, you will understand. Not everyone wants to hurt you. Good night."

"Good night, Blanca."

Ash didn't fall asleep. Having an adult in the room with him while he tried to sleep was too awful and he couldn't relax enough to sleep. So he watched Blanca quietly, though Blanca did nothing but read all night. He finished his book, then found another on the book shelf and started that one.

Eventually, the sun rose and Blanca quietly left the room for a few minutes. When he returned, he reported that he'd remade Ash's bed. The maids would find nothing to report to Papa Dino.

End Dream-

There was yelling. Someone was yelling.

Ash blinked and looked up at the sky. It was still night. He was tired and so sore that he didn't want to move, but someone was still yelling.

"Grab his arm, Eiji!" Shorter shouted.

Ash turned his head to the side and was utterly shocked to see Shorter and Eiji trying to wrestle Max off Ibe-san. Ibe-san was on his back on the ground with Max crouched over him. Max's large hands were wrapped around Ibe-san's throat as he did his very best to strangle him.

To be continued…