Wufei POV

My life was over. Seems like an over-dramatic, childish statement coming from a scholar such as myself, especially seeing that I was not dead nor intended to be so. As a matter of fact I would probably live the next few years of my life in the lap of luxury.

As someone's slave. A pet. A toy.

My pride would not let me live with this, it told me to fight and free myself. It wanted to restore my honor. My intellect told me that I would never be able to regain my honor. That I was beyond help and fighting against the wishes of my emperor would only serve to deepen my disgrace. It wanted me to give up. Only a few years ago, I would have given in without a fight to the wishes of those around me, but that had changed. Merrian would have fought. Merrian did fight, and she fell with honor. I would not have the same fate.

The memories of what happened to my honor, my home, and my young wife are too painful to stir at this moment. Later, when I have been beaten and broken, I will look back on the happy times we shared and try to drown out the painful times. My memories will be my only solace.

I can recount some of my less painful memories, ones that happened after my tragic downfall. I was accused of sorcery by one of the emperor's advisors while working in a library close to the imperial palace, waiting for word of my family's estate. Though I doubt the advisor, Noventa, had any real evidence that I was a sorcerer, his accusation was not false. I had been battling with powers beyond my control for some time, but I hid them carefully and no one had ever learned my secret, not even my wife.

I would have been burned, the traditional punishment for sorcery, if not for the fact that I am somewhat attractive. It had been rumored for some time that I was more attracted to the other boys than I was to the girls because of my inability to produce an heir, so I was told that I would be given to a powerful foreign lord with a taste for young boys.

I was prepared for him just hours before I was to be given. It was not a gentle lesson. There were five people total assigned to help prepare me for my new role. Four of them held me down while a fifth one "cleaned" me. The room we were in was small and dirty, housing only a large iron tub filled with cold water and an old rug over the dirt floor. The room was used for peasant girls to wash before they would meet with soldiers for liaison. In other words, it was a whore bath.

I was held down over the side of the tub, my legs held apart and my arms pinned to the cold metal, while someone pushed a tube into my rectum and filled my insides with icy water. My muscles instantly cramped and I cried out before biting my lip to keep silent. After what felt like hours, they allowed me to release on the ground outside, like an animal. One of them stayed with me while I did it, holding my hair in a vicelike grip in case I ran. Then they repeated the process.

I had thought that they would end it after that, perhaps giving me a bath and sending me to await the lord. I was wrong. The next part was worse. I was again held down, this time to the dirty rug on the floor. My legs were pried apart and a slick oil was applied to my anus. They had me pinned so that I could not even look behind me to see what was happening. I was taken so much by surprise when something blunt and long was shoved into my protesting body that I screamed in pain. One of my captors slapped me across the face to silence me. The person behind me continued to shove the thing into me little by little, inch by painful inch. I would not let myself scream, nor would I cry like a weakling, but I couldn't help the moaning and whimpering sounds that came out of me. It was mortifying.

Finally, there was no more of the thing to push inside me. I sighed, thinking it was over. Again, I was wrong. I felt the thing inside me being pulled out, but it was instantly shoved back in even deeper than it had before. I cried out, but there was no pity for me. The person continued to pull that horrible thing out of my body, only to shove it back in a second later with a force that made me cringe. Sometimes the person would pull it up and down, or side to side, stretching my canal. Sometimes they would spin the thing inside of me, it would stick to my insides and pull painfully when it came loose.

By the time it was over, I was panting and clutching at the carpet desperately, biting my bloody lips. A signal was given and I was released, that damned thing still inside of me. I simply lie there, on the floor, too exhausted and hurt to move. I managed to role over onto my back, but that was it. One of my captors came back and bent in front of me, lifting my legs. I was too tired to fight them as they pulled the thing out from inside me and revealed it to be a phallus of less than average size. It seemed strange how such a small, blunt thing could be used in such a painful manner.

I was lifted by two of the captors and unceremoniously dropped in the tub, where the other two scrubbed me until my skin was raw and I was shaking from the cold. I couldn't bring myself to care. They pulled me out and toweled me dry, then applied various make-up and oil to my body, covering some of the bruises and scratches I had recently acquired. There was nothing to be done about the long scar that adorned my stomach. My final decoration was a tight, intricately carved band that was fastened tightly around my penis to prevent me from coming. It was so tight that it nearly cut off my circulation and I thought they would pull my manhood off trying to get it on.

I was given a long, tattered but clean robe to wear, though at that time I could not understand the fake modesty I was being given. They took me inside the palace, I had never been there before but couldn't quite feel honored under the circumstances, and up a winding stairwell to a small room. It was obviously the room of a healer, various herbs and minerals were scattered about the room. A man, old and tired looking, came out of the piles of books stacked in one corner. My hands itched to look at some of the volumes, but I realized with a hint of disappointment that I might never read another book. It would all depend on how kind my... my master was. Though the best thing he could possibly do for me would be to kill me, but I had little hope of that.

The man walked over to me, a hint of annoyance showing on his face, and injected me with something. Just a quick prick on the arm and then we left, but I felt the effect almost immediately. My head swam and my vision blurred. I had been imprisoned for the past two days, unable to palate any of the slime we were fed. Though I had not eaten in two days, I became nauseous and would have vomited had there been anything in my stomach.

We walked. I don't know where or how far. I can't remember much of what we saw. Once we passed a servant walking a dog, one of the ones bred for beauty instead of skill. It was done up in red ribbons and combed to perfection, held on a thick leather leash and collared by a gold collar. All I could think was, "That's me. That's what I'm going to be." It was not a normal thought for me and the next thing I knew the dog and servant were gone. I remember walking passed a window and seeing the trees. I wondered if it was the last time I'd ever see them and stopped for a moment, only to be roughly shoved and forced to walk away from the windows. I don't remember stopping or entering the room, but I remember very clearly when my robe was removed and I was shoved onto the bed. There were more people in the room now, but I couldn't see clearly enough to tell how many. They held me as I struggled, weakly, and tied me to the bed in the most provocative position they could. Then they left and I was alone in the room.

I remember thinking that I wouldn't let him hurt me like that. That I'd be ready for him when he came. What I had expected to do is beyond me, but I was going to do something. I remember that it got harder and harder to focus, and there was with hot feeling in my stomach. I remember seeing an ginger haired man, obviously foreign, hovering over me and wondered how he could have snuck up on me like that. I remember that he cut my bonds and let me down to the bed. I remember him pushing me back against the bed and climbing on me, I tried to push him away. My next memory was of being seated across his lap in a chair, though I had no memory of how we got there. I remember him asking me questions and suddenly, I knew he knew about my sorcery. I remember there being a sharp pain of something entering me and I prepared myself to yell and scream until he killed me. I remember the band coming off my member and I remember the pain I felt once it was off. I remember reaching down and masturbating, but I don't remember where the ginger haired man went. I remember being lifted, but I couldn't open my eyes. I remember someone cleaning the semen off of my chest, and I remember someone lifting me again. And then nothing.

I awoke slowly, with a pounding headache. I was quick to note that I was not in my own bed at home, nor was I on a lumpy mat in the library, nor was I curled up on the floor in the dungeon. The strange bed was warm and soft and I was tempted to just go back to sleep.

But as I began to wake more fully, I found things in the room that I could just not ignore. Like the fact that I was naked. Or the fact that there was a large man sleeping behind me.

I sat up as quickly as I could. The man beside me stirred but did not wake. Desperately I looked around and found myself in the same room I had been put last night. Had I been taken? I didn't remember, but there was much about last night that I didn't remember. Wouldn't there be some residue from the encounter? But it might have been washed away along with my seed. Why else would I have been put in the man's room, if he wasn't going to use me? I must have been too drugged to remember being taken. The dog! To take someone while they could not defend themselves. I would avenge my honor and die a warriors death!

I leaped out of the bed, startling the other occupant, and grabbed one of the swords that hung above the bed. They were made to be decorations, but I didn't plan to use them in a long battle. I took the sword and fell back into a battle stance on my side of the bed. I must have been a sight, wearing nothing but my skin and brandishing a sword on a sleeping man.

The man with the ginger hair yawned and sat up, casting a glance to me but seeming unsurprised. Like I was too weak to be of any threat. It made me angry.

"Defend yourself, you foreign pig!" I raged at him, but he simply stretched his arms above his head.

"Good morning, Wufei," he told me. I could only stare at him in disbelief. I shook myself, it had to be a trick.

"Defend yourself! I will defeat you in combat and regain my honor!"

"Wufei..." but I wasn't listening. I made a pass at him, intending to give him a shallow cut on the skin and show him that I wasn't playing games. He easily dodged to the side and used my momentum to throw me across the bed. While I tried to regain my footing, he grabbed the other sword from the wall. I had just managed to get back to my feet when he attacked, knocking the sword from my hands and laying his blade at my throat. I stilled for a long time, too shocked to do anything.

I had lost. I would never regain my honor.

"Kill me. Please, kill me," I begged him, but he was unswayed.

"No."

He turned and picked up my fallen sword, then replaced them both on the wall. I fell to the floor, despair and grief washing over me. Would it be too dramatic to say that I was doomed?

"Here," he told me, pulling a robe out from under the sheets of the bed and handing it to me. "Put this on. It must have fallen off while you were asleep."

Fallen off while I was asleep? I wondered as I slipped into the soft robe. Meaning it had been on me last night? But why would he bother to dress me?

"Wufei, why did you feel the need to attack me?" he asked me. I didn't bother to look up, nor did I disobey him by not answering his question. He owned me now.

"I wished to restore the honor you had taken from me."

"Taken from you?"

"By using my body for your own pleasure."

"Wufei," he said, his tone stern as he lifted my face to look him in the eyes, "I doubt you would believe me if I simply told you the truth, but you may believe this. I am not a small man in any way. Had I taken you quickly and in that position, you would not be able to walk today, let alone fight like that. I did not use you, nor am I going to without your consent. Your honor is safe."

I could only stare at him as he moved away. He was right, I had trouble walking after they had put the phallus inside me, it would be worse if something bigger had gone in. I was still a slave... but my honor was still intact. I felt a glimmer of hope and tried to squelch it. After all, he could still use me, couldn't he? But, then again, he had just promised he wouldn't and he passed up the chance when he obviously could have had me last night... better not get my hopes up too high.

"So, what would you like for breakfast?" he asked.

"Ya Zu Kuei," I answered, without even thinking about it. Ya Zu Kuei was one of my favorites and I had them for breakfast whenever I could. I looked up, startled at my lapse, to see the man frowning slightly.

"I've never heard of those."

"They are made of deep fried dough. The name translates into Deep Fried Devils."

The man smiled at me, his frown fading to nothingness. "Well then, I'm sure the chef could whip some up. I believe if I plead a headache we can have breakfast served up here instead of in the hall, don't you think?"

I only nodded, my headache combined with the recent events had my mind somewhat boggled. My stomach was still upset, but I was so hungry. And tired, I just wanted to eat and go back to sleep.

The man disappeared out the door, only to return a moment later. He must have gotten his way, because he was smiling slightly. I was too dazed to think properly.

"Wufei," he said as he began to take clothes out of the dressers, "Perhaps you shouldn't sit on the floor," he told me, then went into another room and shut the door. I looked down at myself, realizing that I had forgotten I was sitting on the floor and giving him a strategic advantage. I quickly lifted myself off the floor and sat on the side of the bed.

The man returned to the room a little later. I was beyond telling time, but it seemed fairly quick compared to other nobles I had seen. Most of them would have attendants sleep in their rooms too, I wondered about his attendants.

It was also the first time I noticed the large wings on his back. Like our emperor, who had golden wings, this man also had wings, but of a deeper red shade. It reminded me of roses in full bloom, since the color of his wings was a deep rose red.

"Now," the man said, approaching me and sitting on the other side of the bed, "I should probably introduce myself. I am called Treize. I already know your name is Wufei..."

"How did you know that?" I asked, not realizing at the time how rude it was to interrupt and how badly I could have been punished. Treize didn't even blink, thinking nothing of my boldness.

"You told me, last night. Don't you remember?" I simply shook my head.

"I... was not in my right mind last night," I told him, evading the fact that I was drugged. It seemed, though, that this man was not nearly as stupid as I had begun to think.

"You were drugged," he clarified. I simply nodded in assent. "Where do you come from? Do you have family that you could return to?"

I bit my lip and wondered if he was thinking about selling me back to my family. It wouldn't be a very prosperous venture for him, but it was the kind of thing noble lords did with unwanted slaves. I shuddered at the thought. If Lord Treize did not want me, I would be burned at the stake for my sorcery. For all the bravery and bravado I tried to show, that thought scared me. I did not want to die slowly and dishonorably like that.

"Wufei?" Treize asked, trying to call me back from my thoughts. "Wufei, did you hear my question? Do you have a family waiting for you?"

So, should I have lied and be discovered later for a liar and a coward, or tell him the truth and have him sell me to another, less honorable man or return me to the emperor? In the end, I really made neither decision, my fear drove me to shout, "I won't tell you! I won't tell you about my family, not under torture you cur!"

I leapt to my feet and prepared to dash out the door. Where I would run or how I would get passed the guards seemed unimportant as long as I got away from this man. The fact that, if the guards didn't beat me to death, I would have starved alone in the countryside, was not important.

So I suppose it was lucky for me that Treize was, and always has been, faster than I am. He darted and arm out and grabbed my shins, tripping me before I even got to the other side of the bed. I fell into a heap on the floor, but with my years of martial arts training I tried to kick Trieze and gain my freedom. He made my attempt look pitiful, by reaching out and grabbing my foot in midair, then bending my legs back so that I couldn't move on the floor. I felt the pain grow as the muscles stretched to accommodate the awkward position. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Treize leave the bed and move to the floor beside me. I felt him press his knee into the small of my back and pin me so that I was trapped and helpless. All this in mere seconds.

"Wufei, if you promise not to run again I will release you," Treize told me calmly. I muttered a few curses in my native tongue and Treize patiently held me down until the strain on my leg was too much and I was forced to concede. Treize released me and rolled off, I pulled myself into a sitting position and pulled my leg up to rub at the cramped muscles.

"Here, let me do that," Treize said, and pulled my leg out flat before I could reply. Gently, he worked the knots of tension out of my leg until it no longer hurt, then even after the muscles had all relaxed.

"Wufei," he said quietly, not looking at my face as he continued to rub my leg, "I will only be here for six more days, then I will return to my home country. It will take me three days to make arrangements for you. That means that in two days you must tell my where your family is. I promise that I will not endanger your loved ones, but you must tell me."

"And what will you do if I don't?" I asked him. I now knew for certain that he did want to sell me back, since he thought I was afraid for my family's safety. What would happen to me without that family?

"I will return you to the emperor," he told me, then got up and went to the door. I sat there, frozen with fear. There was no way around it. In six days time, I would be burned at the stake.