EEEK!!!! I have finally updated! Aren't you so happy? I am!! T-T See the tears of joy? Oh well….it's going to be so hard to keep up with ya'll now. The good thing is that I'm more motivated to finish cuz someone's actually reading it. In that way I guess I owe ya'll one. Oh! And thanks so much to Silver Pain and my newest fan (jk!!) Youkai Goddess. Ya'll are so great! sigh If I sound crazy it's cuz it's like 12 at night and I'm feeling a little….out there. Anyways…On with the story!

Rika awoke with a vague feeling of dizziness and nausea. "Oof…" she muttered sitting up slowly her hand to her head. "I feel like I just got run over by a herd of horses…" She kept her eyes shut tightly against the pain in her head. At least the waves provided a kind of distraction. They were really peaceful in a—

"What the fuck?!" Rika's eyes shot open and she bolted out of her bed. She was no longer in the small room at Kagami's. In fact…she wasn't in any room at all. She was currently situated in the middle of a cabin. A ship's cabin. "Where the hell am I?!"

In two quick bounds, she was across the room and at the door. It was, of course, locked. Oh, I don't very well think so! Rika pounded frantically on the door. "Hey! Someone open this damn door!" Footsteps outside the room warned her in sufficient time to step back and glare. The door opened to admit a burly, hulk of a man. Oh, shit…

"Good. You're awake," the man grabbed her by the arm and hauled her out the door.

"Hey!" Rika tried to wrench her arm away to no avail. This man was strong. "Let me go!"

The man ignored her every plea and continued pulling her up a flight of stairs. When they had at last reached the deck, he released her.

Rika whipped her arm away as soon as he had loosened his grip. Turning around, she found herself faced with the stateliest looking man she'd ever seen. "You! I demand to know what is going on!" She tried her best to glare in an intimidating fashion.

Not working. "I am the captain of this ship. No one demands anything on this ship but me, just as no one commands anything on this ship but me."

Rika frowned but had no chance to reply.

"Since you are awake, you can join the rest in the hold. This is not a pleasure cruise; however, we will take decent care of you to ensure that you arrive at our destination in good health."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Rika's headache was slowly fading and with it her temper. Now she was just confused.

The Captain ignored her question. "Take her to the hold," he instructed the same man who had brought her up to the deck. "The others have had their chains unlocked for the day."

Chains….? Rika followed the burly man, this time without the benefit of being led. There was apparently another set of stairs unseen by Rika on her trip above deck. It was to these that she was directed and escorted down. Approximately midway down, a wall of stench hit her hard.

"Ugh! What is that?!" she asked pausing for a minute to cover her face.

The man behind her did not reply but prodded her forward.

At the bottom of the stairway, was a door. How theatric… Rika reached out and turned the knob. Once opened, the door did little to block the full effects of the stench. Now Rika recognized it as that of unwashed bodies. Lots of unwashed bodies. The room was fairly big and filled with bunks. They had been nailed to the walls and stacked as high as five, one on top of the other. And all of them were filled with women. Or girls depending on your point of view.

"What is this….?" Rika asked in a whisper as she surveyed the occupants' dirty clothing and unwashed bodies.

"This is your new accommodations," a new voice floated to her. A young woman, no older than twenty or so, stepped up before her. "You must be the new girl. I'll take her from here," the girl waved a flippant hand to Rika's escort.

The man grunted and turned to clomp back up the stairs, being careful to shut the door behind him. This time Rika heard a distinct click as the lock was turned.

"Overgrown ape," the new girl hissed at his back. She turned to study Rika. "Well. It's not hard to see why you were taken."

"Excuse me but what is going on here?" Rika asked a trifle vexed. This was so confusing. "I was inside Kagami's house eating soup and then…."

The girl nodded, "Yeah, sounds like what happened to every poor soul in here. This is a shipment of slaves, sweetie. Pleasure slaves."

"DO WHAT?!" Rika's mouth dropped open. "I-I'm on a ship that traffics girls?!"

"No," the girl explained patiently. "You are on a ship that traffics you. You're going to be a pleasure slave, too. We all are."

Rika slowly sank down onto the nearest empty bunk. "This can't be happening. I mean, I have to look for Aya. She'll kill me after she's done with that man for not finding her sooner. Ha!" Rika let out a short laugh, "She'll kill me for getting myself into this mess!"

The girl appraised Rika with a sharp eye, "Listen, sweetie, you're in shock. It's okay. You've got a nice figure and a pretty face. You'll be okay. I'm Naia, by the way."

"I'm Rika…"

Naia squatted down next to Rika and looked her in the face. "Look, we're almost at the port. We should arrive sometime tomorrow night. So just forget Aya. She's better off not being here, anyway."

Rika shook her head in a distracted fashion. "No. Aya would just love a situation like this. It would give her an excuse to cut loose. She'd kick the whole crew's ass and sail the ship home by herself. And Yuko would be all about bashing in some skulls. Mieri would look on and scold them for doing something bad. And I'd laugh at all of them…" Rika burst into tears as Naia held her as gently as she could.

"It's okay," she murmured gently into Rika's soft brown hair. "It'll be alright." But Naia knew that nothing was going to be alright for any of them.

Rika cried herself to sleep. It was Naia's bunk that she slept in with the older girl curled up beside her. When they woke again, it was to the sounds of sailors readying the ship for docking. "Get up," Naia rose and motioned for Rika to do the same. The other girls, young and beautiful for the most part, all seemed to take Naia's getting up as a signal. They, too, rose and stood ready to face whatever came their way.

"What's going to happen?" Rika asked, rubbing her red eyes. It was very rare that she let anyone see her cry. She was as bad about it as Aya; but then again, she'd never been transported to Ancient China, separated from her friends, and sold as a whore either.

Naia looked down at her with amusement. "Well, I'm not exactly sure. I've never been sold before. I'll let you know the next time around."

Even in such a stressful situation, Rika had to laugh. "Sorry. I'm just nervous."

"Oh, really?" Naia laid on the sarcasm. "Whatever for?"

"Alright, alright! I get it!" Rika shook her head. "I don't know why I'm laughing…"

Naia shrugged. "Because if you weren't, you'd be crying. It's the same for all of us. We just have to keep our hopes up. Escape isn't impossible, you know. Just damn hard."

"Thank you for that little ray of sunshine," Rika glanced at her new friend.

"No problem!"

Footsteps outside the door caused the entire room to tense. Rika took a deep breath and faced the door with an air of negligent confidence. This time it was the Captain himself who opened the door. "We have arrived at our destination," he informed them with no expression at all. "You will all be given baths. After you have been cleaned and dressed appropriately, groups of ten will be taken off of the ship. From there, it is Fate that you must answer to. I will have no further control." With that, the Captain nodded slightly and left, leaving several crew members to escort girls onto the deck where they would take their baths.

"Well, at least we can bath," Naia commented with a shrug. "I haven't bathed in forever, it seems. "

"I had a bath only a couple days ago, but I feel filthy," Rika admitted.

"Stick close to me," Naia instructed. "I don't want you to get separated."

"Maybe we'll be sold together?" Rika asked hopefully. "Then we can escape together, too!"

"Yeah," Naia smiled down at her. "Let's plan on it."

Much later, when everyone had been cleaned and clothed, the sailors began dividing the girls up into groups of ten and taking them up the stairs. They didn't return. Naia and Rika gravitated to the back of the room to put off the moment when they would be taken as well. Eventually, there were only six girls left in the room, including them.

"What happened to groups of ten?" Rika asked in a whisper.

Naia's jaw tightened. "There were some lives lost."

Now a bit frightened, Rika watched one sailor separate from his peers to head their way. "Follow me," he spoke in a gruff voice. "Don't make a sound and don't try to run. If you do, you'll be killed immediately." He turned and motioned for the six girls to follow. Once on the stairs, the girls were joined by four more sailors. They were tough and looked as if they would happily slit anyone's throat. Rika kept her mouth shut and her feet moving.

She was surprised to see that, once she arrived on deck again, that it was already late at night. When the bathing had started, the sun was just thinking of setting. With somewhere close to a hundred girls to ready, the preparations had taken a long time.

Rika took a chance and leaned close to Naia, "Where are we exactly?"

"A port in Hokkan," was the whispered answer.

"Hokkan? Where the hell is that?!"

"Not Konan if that's what you're asking. It's another country. Now be quiet! The guards will hear!

"Why are we being so quiet?" Rika whispered after a few seconds.

Naia glanced at her, their guards, and back to her, "You don't really think that Hokkan would allow slave trading to go on in its ports, do you? This is really illegal."

Rika looked annoyed. "So why don't we just kick up a fuss? Then they would get caught."

Naia looked at her with pity in her eyes, "Because the townspeople will turn a blind eye. They're making a profit off of us."

"Oh…" At that moment, one of the guards looked their way, effectively ending any more attempts at conversation. But as they moved down the silent streets, Rika could see that Naia had been only too correct. The streets were completely deserted: something that would never happen normally in a port town. She could see shadows inside the buildings they passed, but not a single person stuck their head out of their windows to see what this strange procession was up to. They didn't have to see. They already knew.

It took all of about fifteen minutes of walking silently to reach their destination. It seemed to be a pub nestled far back into the corner of an alleyway. Even from a distance, the music and merrymaking seemed deafening. The six hostages were hustled in past the rowdy and drunken customers to a back room. There a finely dressed man waited impatiently in a chair.

"It's about time!" he snapped irritably as the door was shut behind them. "I've been waiting here for hours!"

Rika glanced at the lavish surroundings and the pretty serving girls hanging all over him. Yeah, you waited all right.

The man waved an imperious hand. "Come, come! I can't wait out here all night! Let's see what you've brought this time."

The six girls, Rika included were prodded into a line in front of the man. He stood and surveyed them one by one. When he reached Naia, he paused. "Nice facial features. Adequate body. She'll do for the House. Now, just one more…" He kept walking until he stood in front of Rika. "You. You'll do nicely. I need a girl with a figure." The man grabbed a generous handful.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Rika screamed, slapping him before she could think. Her hands flew to her mouth.

"Insolence!" the man cried drawing away from her in distaste. "Yes, she'll do for the House but only after she's been properly broken!"

The sailor nearest her leered. "I've some experience with breaking fillies."

The man sniffed. "You'll do as well as any other."

Rika stiffened. "I think not!" she cried indignantly. "I don't know who you think you are, but I'm not about to be 'broken' by any filthy sailor!"

The sailor growled and advanced on her. "I'll show you filthy!"

Just then, the door flew open. A tall blonde stranger stood weaving in the doorway. "W-where is she?! Dammit, I just had a vision…" He stumbled into one of the sailors standing by the doorway. "Are you the P-priestess of Genbu?"

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