Slayers is the creation of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. I don't own it; they and a lot of other people do. I'm not making any profit off of this story.
By Ryo Hoshi
Chapter 1
Amelia tried to stay calm as her 'ladies in waiting' bustled about, preparing her for the 'most important event in her life'. She didn't know what she felt about it, herself. She only knew that she was too young: regardless of how old she looked, she was only a little over fifteen.
Of course, the women currently filling the room wouldn't believe her if she said as much. They all 'knew' her as Ami Smith, the foundling that was the previous Madame's last purchase and, since it was officially her 18th birthday, she was finally joining the ranks of the hard-working 'girls' at the Blue Lotus. Best of all, their 'Ami' had gotten 'lucky'.
The newest girl was always in demand and was rarely without a customer, and Amelia had been aware that the Madame had gotten offers by several of the regulars to be among the first to enjoy Amelia's wares. None of them were attractive, possessing either ugly bodies or misshapen souls, and all of them could not be honestly called young. Her luck consisted purely in that she had been saved from having to service them because, instead, she had gotten contracted to be the concubine of a young man by his relatives.
Amelia smiled slightly at the memory of Madame Zola telling her about her luck. She really was as kind towards her girls as she could be without causing them all to starve. Amelia knew that she had looked old enough to openly service the customers for almost a year now, and that if she had been in a different brothel she would probably have been serving customers in some way from the first day she was there.
It would be unjust if Madame Zola was too hurt by the contract. It wasn't her fault, after all, that Amelia had been sold to a brothel. When her father vanished -- Amelia refused to accept that he might be dead, even though him being still alive was very unlikely now -- she had been put into the care of her uncle Christopher and his son, Alfred. While her uncle had been nice, he was too busy taking care of her father's gigantic corporation to take care of her. She had been entrusted by him to his son, who wanted Amelia's inheritance as his own.
Amelia only found out about that, however, when her 'sweet cousin' Alfred had her kidnapped and sold nearly two years ago, once it was clear that she was entering puberty. Sometimes she wondered what happened to her, officially. She didn't feel quite right about asking the other girls about it, and by the time she was getting to join them when they gossiped it would have been old news so she would have had to ask them.
Amelia hoped her customer would be a nice man, whom she could trust enough to explain why she wanted to know what had happened to her.
Zelgadiss made one last check of his disguise before stepping out of the limousine. He was glad that it was currently fashionable for men to visit the red light district in disguise; he was already embarrassed enough that Rezo had decided to, for his 18th birthday, arrange for him to have a concubine. Having to expose his freakish body to more than he absolutely had to would have only made it worse.
He could understand it, to a certain extent. He was, as far as he knew, Rezo's only heir. Zel could understand the Red Priest's desire for him to have an heir, and the troubles of arranging a proper marriage for an ugly freak like him. However, since he only was an 'ugly freak' because of Rezo...
He couldn't complain, though, about the arrangement. He was certain it had been made because Rezo had decided that the only way any woman would agree to being with a chimera like him would be because she was being paid...
Zelgadiss just hoped that the woman wouldn't scream when she finally saw her customer. As long as she wasn't that afraid of him, he might be able to pretend that they were together just because they wanted each other and not because she was being paid.
Amelia had given up trying to hide her nervousness. Once it had started to get dark, the women who had been so busy preparing her for her debut in her new profession had started drifting away, most of them deciding that there was little else they could do to prepare her for her first customer and that it was time to look after their own. The last one had left her sitting on the plush couch of her new apartment sipping a shotglass of rum, wearing a white dress-like robe carefully belted over fancy lingerie.
The alcohol, she had to admit, did help calm her. The advice she had been given by them had not been all that calming, though she supposed it might be useful. She hoped that the advice she had gotten about dealing with the more exotic desires of men and the more distasteful kinds of men, though, would not be needed. She would be dealing with this man for a while, not just a single night here and there.
She wasn't sure how long exactly it was between when she was left alone and when Madame Zola knocked, but it was just long enough for her to have finished the shotglass. Madame Zola looked around the room, clearly giving the preparations their final inspection, and nodded in approval. "I see you are ready, dear. Your guest has arrived; he's not exactly handsome, as much of him as he doesn't have covered, but he seems honest enough for a sweet young girl like you."
She placed the thing she had carried in with her onto the low table in front of the couch and pulled away the quilted cloth to reveal a bottle of champaigne on ice. "This is for the both of you, and though the one who made these arrangements for your guest supplied it, I did suggest it. For before, if he's not too nice, or after if he is a nice one."
Amelia blushed. That was quite considerate of Madame Zola. "Thank you, Zola-sama."
Zola smiled. "Such a polite girl! I wish I could give you a bit more of an idea of what he's like, but he seems eager for your company."
Amelia smiled back. "It's alright. I'm glad you tried."
Zelgadiss sighed in relief as the Blue Lotus's Madame finally told him that his 'girl' was ready. He hadn't known what to expect, really. He had only recently become old enough legally visit the brothels, even though he knew that he could have likely visited the unlicensed ones -- but those had become few, as that scandal about some rich man's underage daughter getting kidnapped and sold had caused the authorities to become much stricter on enforcing the laws regulating brothels.
He remembered that she never had been found. He smirked slightly as he rejected the idea that the 'other shoe' would be that she'd turn out to be this 'White Daisy'. That was impossible, since the girl at best would have been shipped out as a parcel to a foreign brothel as soon as possible once the scandal broke. More likely, she was dead.
It didn't take Zel long to find the door he had been directed to, and he slipped in silently. A quick glance around told him that this was an apartment; Daisy, he decided, must be one of their more experienced girls, one whose age had yet to start showing too much. At least one of us will know what we're doing, he thought to himself.
He thumbed the lock on the door, which made a distinct click to signal that the door was now locked. He didn't wonder where the room's owner was; he could hear her from behind the door to the other room, probably a bedroom. She must want to know what kind of act she needs to put on beforehand. He found the thought mildly amusing.
Zelgadiss turned so she would have a good view, moving naturally so she'd not think that he had guessed what she was doing, and pulled his hood and veil down to reveal his chimeric features. There was a little exclamation of surprise from behind the door, and Zelgadiss turned to look at the door as the voice sounded distinctly younger than he had expected.
It was his turn to be surprised, as in the door stood a rather pretty young woman, who looked much too young to have any experience.
This story was inspired by a mix of: two fanfics which shall not be named, certain doujinshi, anthropology texts about Japan, and some just plain bad influences. (You know who you are.) I hope those whom I've liberated plot elements from will not mind it too much.
The version I will be posting on FF.net will probably not be a full version; there will be some lemon scenes written for this, but I will not be posting them here. I may ultimately choose to only provide them privately, on request. I've yet to decide.
Comments, questions, suggestions, and requests would be liked a lot. So would dark chocolate.
