Blood of Devils, Blood of Angels
Chapter Two: "Maybe his new life with devil-eyes wouldn't be so bad."
An hour after the prices had been dealt with and transport had been arranged, Rei lay inside the slightly cramped mesh cage, beside his new owner. Lord of all the land, and true heir of Voltaire, Kai Hiwitari didn't look to Rei like he was a very happy person. He sat stiffly in the seat with his arms crossed, staring ahead at the wall with those devilish red eyes.
Rei shifted slightly inside the cage, pulling one of his feet up and rubbing at the red cross-hatched pattern on it from lying against the side of the cage for too long. Suddenly, a voice started to speak to him.
"I would advise you stop being so fidgety, slave. You are distracting me."
Rei quickly lowered his head and curled up tighter inside the cage, trying to keep as still as possible. The cold, menacing voice already scared him halfway to his death, even more so as it was irritatedly snapping at him. To his amazement, after a long moment of him being still, he was praised in a soft voice.
"Good neko... You'll find your life is as easy as you are obedient to me…"
Rei glanced up shyly at the Lord. Out of the corner of his eye, the Lord looked at Rei and the corner of his mouth curved a tiny bit towards a smile, then he turned his head to glance out of the window of the carriage, the cold emotionless expression sliding back onto his face.
Rei lay his head back down on his forearm and closed his eyes, feeling a slight spark of happiness inside him that he had pleased his new master. Everything was quiet except for the rolling of the wheels and the sounds of nature for a long while, until Kai leaned forward and tapped on the wall with two knuckles.
A small compartment slid across, and the driver glanced over his shoulder through it.
"How long until we are in this town?" Kai queried coldly.
"Only a few minutes, My Lord. We have just passed the outside borders of their crops."
"Good. Alert me when we reach the market."
"Yes, My Lord."
With that, the compartment was closed, and Kai leaned back in his seat, going back to staring out the window. Rei glanced around, a little bored, then noticed that Kai had unknowingly sat down closer to the cage than he had been before. Rei carefully slipped a finger through the mesh and touched the material of Kai's leggings.
The Lord immediately looked down and said sharply, "What do you think you are doing?"
Rei flinched slightly but made a motion of putting something in his mouth and chewing.
"You are hungry?"
Rei nodded frightenedly, ready to be punished for asking directly for something. To his amazement though, Kai tapped on the wall compartment again and ordered the driver to stop at the food market before going on to their original destination.
When the compartment had slid shut, Kai leaned down until his face was at the same level as Rei's.
"You will not always get what you ask for, neko. I'm only doing this because one of my acquaintances is always badgering me about being nice to the new slaves. 'Feed them properly, wash them, and then let them rest well for a day or two,' he always says. So I guess now is a good time to get into the habit of doing that, before he talks me to my death."
Rei gave a small smile and nodded to show he understood, then shifted slightly and settled back down in the cage.
"We are going to the next town on account of that particular acquaintance's orders, too. He says I need to get rid of some of the old disobedient slaves and get some new ones who can be taught by him to be obedient. I sold three slaves to the Lord of another land that I know well, so I need three new slaves to please Tala. I've already bought one other, and arranged for him to be taken to my palace on his own. You are the second. After we eat, I shall go and pick out the third… If you are good during lunch, I may decide to bring you along, and you can have a small influence on the next slave I buy."
Rei listened to the Lord explain the situation to him with excitement running through his ribcage. He had barely met the Lord, and their first contact had been him putting a slash on the back of the noble's wrist, and yet he was treating him as though he was only slightly inferior! All because he had simply done as the Lord had said and sat still for a while… Maybe his new life with devil-eyes wouldn't be so bad.
End
I'm so so sorry for not updating earlier! u.u I've gotten so many nice reviews… The reason for a late update was because I had 5 or 6 good ideas for this chapter, and had to decide which one to use. -.-; I hope this idea was ok for all you wonderful people. n.n