The moment we'd stepped into my chambers, I found myself on the floor with pain blooming in my cheek and a quickly-forming bruise on my skin. Just narrowly I avoided bashing my head against the dresser, currently supporting my back. A hand grasped my shirt, and I felt a presence straddle my hips—sadly, not the way I wanted them to.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Souichi growled.

"W-What was—?"

"Don't play dumb, you son of a bitch!" he spat. "You know exactly what that was for!" He leaned closer, our foreheads touching and his bright eyes burning holes into mine. "Slavery?! How is that any better than execution?!"

"C-Calm down!" I instructed, undoubtedly hysterically. "I'll explain it all to you, I promise! Just stop shouting!"

His body's rageful trembling may have ceased, and while his voice lowered, it retained the same intensity. "I will kill you," he whispered.

The darkness radiating from and circling around him made me shrink away. My sense of self-preservation had never been so high. "I-I'd prefer if you, uh...got off of me…"

If he was embarrassed by our position—his body practically resting in my lap, our lips mere centimeters apart—his rage camouflaged all traces of the emotion. None too gently he shoved me back and rose. That time my head did hit the wood, but that pain was minimal compared to what he'd hit me with earlier.

Those three days that had elapsed between when he'd awoken and now definitely treated him well. I still remembered how hard he could hit from my days as his captive, and while he definitely still had some recovery to do, his progress to normalcy thus far was substantial. Even the infection that had ravaged his arm had gone down much faster than I'd thought it would. Then again, I'd made sure to acquire strong medicine to treat that. I'd need him infection- and sickness-free, especially with what I had planned for him.

"So what is it, then?" Souichi asked.

I stood, holding my cheek, and turned his way. He leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes in a narrow glare.

"Well, as I said before, I didn't want to hurt you."

He scoffed. "When did you say that?"

Of course you don't remember, I thought. "Anyway, most of the punishments that I had the option of giving you would result in intense pain or death."

"And slavery doesn't?" he asked, appalled. "Are you really that stupid? Being a slave's worse than being executed! They get beaten and whipped and—"

"I won't hurt you," I interrupted.

He stared. "What?"

"You heard me." Dropping my hand to my side, I approached him. Whether out of instinct or intimidation, he moved back whenever I stood beside him. "I promise I won't hurt you," I assured him gently. I took another step toward him. One leg between his, I cupped his cheek and stroked him tenderly. Unsurprisingly his skin burned bright beneath my fingers, and sounds of both surprise and protest dripped from his lips. "I'll treat you well and keep you safe from harm." As our noses brushed against one another my eyes drifted shut. "I'll protect you."

The words ghosted their way across his lips before my own captured them in a sweet kiss. His hands pressed against my chest, and his mumbled protests fell on my deaf ears. He was strong; I could attest to that easily. But recovered fully or not, I had a stronger build than he did. Easily I could take him now. It wasn't time for that, however. Not yet, anyway. I'd wait a little before going any farther.

I wound an arm around his waist to secure him against my body before pulling back. Pinkness dusted my cheeks at the radiance his skin exuded. A smile appeared on my face. "I love you."

Trembling again but not out of rage, Souichi wriggled about in my hold so minimally I wondered if he was truly moving or if I was seeing things. "Where the hell did that come from?" he asked. Ah, his voice had raised a little bit like it always did when he was embarrassed. So cute! "And what do you mean, you?"

"Hmm? I thought you guessed." My smile stretched a bit. "I chose slavery. Personal slavery."

He stared for a few moments, blankness replacing all expressions. Then I saw the pieces click in his mind, and his eyes widened enough to cause me a bit of concern. "You...you mean…" He lifted a shaky finger to point at me. "You're my...m...master…?"

The fear and disbelief that laced the last word made me sadden and harden all at the same time. He looked terrified, but he looked so adorable…

I nodded to confirm his suspicions. "Yes. That's why I brought you up here instead of to a slave market." His terrified expression only intensified. "Ah, but don't worry! I won't make you call me 'master' or anything like that." I glanced away as my blush brightened. "Well, that is, unless you want to…"

Oh, that'd be so much fun to hear in bed...but I knew he'd never say it. Ah, well. At least I had fantasies to keep me entertained. Mmm, and what lovely fantasies there were...Souichi sitting at my feet, clad in nothing but undergarments, clinging to my legs and begging for me to take him. "Master, please...i-it's so hot...help...please...M-Master…!"

I tensed. Shit, now I was aroused! Could he feel it? We were really close to one another…

"S-Sen—" My mouth snapped shut when I looked at him again. His gaze was downcast, but the spot of wetness on his shirt told me everything that I needed to know. "Senpai…?" I placed my thumb and index finger under his chin and tilted his head up. Two waterfalls of tears surged down his cheeks, even if his eyes were pinched shut. "What's wrong?" I murmured. "Are your injuries irritated." I stroked his lower lip. "Was it my doing? I'm sorry if it was. I didn't mean—"

"Shut up!" he shouted. He shoved me back, successfully this time, and retreated a few steps. "I don't need your fucking comfort!"

My expression softened at that. Something was wrong, regardless of what he claimed. His back was to me, but I could tell that he was trying to wipe away the evidence. He didn't want me to see him cry, and I didn't blame him. I didn't know much about him, but I did know that he hated looking weak. Most people did. But…

Tentatively I walked up behind him, but I didn't move my arms. Either our relationship would be strengthened forever or all ties between us would sever. Regardless of the outcome, though, I needed to comfort—no. I needed to help him.

I wound my arms around him from behind and pulled him against my chest. A few moments ticked by. He didn't yell or struggle. Just cried. Cried and cried hard, undoubtedly harder than he'd cried in a long time. I loved him, and though it was only a tenth of what he felt, it pained me to see him like this.

"Are you scared?" I whispered.

"What do you...what're you saying…?" he mumbled in reply. Though I didn't want him to, he'd managed to repress his crying enough to remain coherent.

"It won't be bad," I assured. "Slavery sounds harsh, but it's not going to be nearly as bad as you think." I rested my head on his shoulder. "I know I've acted harshly toward you in the past, but I promise that I'll fix that. I don't want you to fear me."

He sniffled once. "It's not that. It's just...I…" He shook his head and wiped his eyes. "Never mind. It's nothing."

My frown deepened, and I pressed a kiss to his ear. "You don't have to do this," I murmured.

"Do what?"

The murmur didn't fluster him? "Feigning indifference toward everything. It's fine if you want to cry, Senpai. You've been through some harrowing things over the past month. Anyone would cry if they were that close to death."

"It's still not that," he denied. "You're...what I went through was harrowing, but...you don't understand."

No, I didn't. I understood nothing about him, even when I thought I did. "Could you help me understand, then?"

"How would I do that?" he muttered.

"Well...what about starting from the beginning?" I suggested.

"Beginning?"

"Yes. There's a lot of things that I don't know about you. Maybe if you tell me more about yourself I can understand better."

He tilted his head downward, and I felt hesitance radiating off of him. "You want to know?" he asked.

I nodded, then blinked. "But, of course, you don't have to if you don't want to. I don't want you to feel any more pain."

"It's fine," he assured. Though softer than before, I could tell that this assurance was genuine.

"Um...do you want to sit down?" I asked.

He turned his head toward me but not enough for me to see his face. "What?"

"It's a little late," I explained. "And crying usually makes people tired. I'm just trying to look out for your health, since you're still recovering and all."

"Oh. I guess that would be a little more comfortable. It's not a short story."

"I didn't expect it to be." Someone with a personality as complex as Souichi's undoubtedly had a back story even more complex.

We sat next to each other on my bed, and the ache in my chest grew in size now that I saw his face. His eyes looked as if he'd been up for days on end, and wetness still glistened on his cheeks. Without thinking I reached out and held him again. I couldn't tell if he wanted me to hold him or was just too tired to fight me off. I decided not to ask him; it felt better to just assume the former was true.

"If you really want to understand everything, we'll have to start from the very beginning," he started. "This may be surprising, but...when I was younger, I used to be extremely stupid."

"Really?"

He nodded. "And immature. My life had been relatively normal, living in a small village with a loving family. But since the middle of my adolescence I knew that it'd be difficult for me to earn an honest living, given how opinionated and outspoken I am."

'Self-centered' and 'violent' would be better adjectives, but I kept my mouth shut.

"So shortly after I turned eighteen, I left my village and family to start my life. I'd called myself a traveler when I left, but I think they knew subconsciously that I was going to end up in crime. Not due to history, though. Just due to me being extremely unstable."

Ah, so he did know.

"There was a bandit ring called Silver Bloods that had gotten extremely notorious at the time. Silver Bloods were known for their robberies from the rich, which in turn they used to assist the poor. Public opinion of them was split, with commoners calling them heroes while nobles called them degenerates. To me, though, they were a chance at fun. So I poked around a bit until I found a member of the Silver Bloods hanging around a tavern. He agreed to take me to their leader, but only if I managed to beat him in an archery match. The bastard was cocky at first; he shot his arrow in the dead center of the target. But I'd hunted with a bow since I was around seven. His may have landed in the center, but mine did, too."

I tilted my head to the side. "Yours landed aside his?"

He smirked at that. "Nah. It landed in the exact same spot. I split his arrow with mine. Safe to say, I secured a meeting with the ring leader. I'd always envisioned bandit leaders as harsh, scruffy-looking bastards with scarred faces and eye patches that cleaned their nails with knives. Imagine my shock whenever a clean-shaven man barely older than me sat across from me and the cocky bastard I'd beat in archery. He looked more like a noble who had never worked a day in his life than a criminal. But appearances are always deceiving.

"After witnessing my marksmanship himself, the leader made me part of the ring. There were only about ten members that I knew of while I worked with them, but their numbers ranged anywhere from thirty to a hundred. No one except Ikasma knew."

"Ikasma?"

"Ah, right. That was the name of Silver Bloods' leader. Anyway, I spent about a year with the Silver Bloods in total, but around my third month with them, Ikasma started interacting with me more. I started out just standing guard while senior members did the actual work, but sooner than later I actually carried out the work. Ikasma assigned the tasks himself, something he rarely did with even the oldest of members. Everyone was curious as to why, myself included, but we didn't want to ask out of respect. He'd tell us if he wanted to.

"And around my sixth month as a Blood, he did. He pulled me into a private meeting and told me that I was the most promising member of the group. Here I was, a young, inexperienced, unstable eighteen-year-old getting praised by the head of the most infamous bandit ring in Metsudan. Naturally the praise both shocked and excited me."

"I can see how," I said.

"Well, you may not be able to see the next part as clearly." His head was turned away from me, but I could see his face redden. "Not only was I young and inexperienced and unstable, but I was also stupid and naive. Ikasma had the personality to match his charming looks, and at that point in my life I was a little more...vulnerable."

I stared at him. "Wait...you don't...you don't mean…"

Now his even his ears were the color of beets. "Don't get any wrong ideas from this," he said immediately. "I was naive and he was charming."

I felt myself redden at that news. This Ikasma had...seduced the young Souichi? "What was it like?" I asked, now wholly intrigued.

He tensed. "I…" He sighed. "It's not my preference...but it wasn't awful…" He flinched. "B-But I was high on praise and we usually drank a lot before anything happened. I was never in the right state of mind."

"I understand." I smirked to myself. He'd done it indirectly, but he just admitted that he didn't hate having sex with me. It was only an affirmation of the physical side of things, but it was more than enough for now.

"Anyway, around my ninth month with him, Ikasma pulled me into another private meeting, though this time with a different intention," he continued. "He told me that he had a special job that only he and I would be involved in. At that time, criminals were being pursued relentlessly, to the point where even petty thieves could face death."

"I remember that." That purge of criminals had lasted for about five years, and while crime had lowered substantially, the death toll had risen exponentially. After four and a half years the purges decreased to the point of near-elimination. But after our father died, Kunihiro continued even when it wasn't absolutely necessary. He stopped only when public opinion began declining and plans of revolution whispered through the nation.

"Well, Ikasma's spies poked around a few forests, and they'd discovered the location of a noble who was supposedly responsible for those purges. He told me that most of the criminals weren't even committing crimes with malicious intent; they were stealing to support their loved ones. It's intolerable, even if the law is broken, and my younger self seethed with all kinds of rage whenever he told me. The mission was simple: kill the noble. Little did I know how complex things really were.

"We traveled to the forest where the noble would supposedly be passing through a few days later. I perched in a tree while Ikasma watched from below. Surely enough a small company passed right in front of us, four guards surrounding an armor-clad bastard. 'The middle one,' he told me. And a few minutes later he ordered, 'Shoot him.' And I did. A single arrow straight to the skull. I remember laughing a little; everyone else wore a helmet except for him. He was an easy target. But so was I.

"Naturally the guards were distressed, and I fully expected that. But what I didn't expect was what they shouted. 'Assassin! The king is dead! He killed the king!' At that point I realized that Ikasma had used my naivety to his advantage. But I realized that too late. Ikasma burst from the bushes and pointed to where I crouched in the tree, bow in hand, a quiver of arrows that matched the one in your father's skull on my back. I tried fighting the guards off, and I managed to break the arm of one. Even though I was outnumbered, the guards weren't the ones who restrained me; it was Ikasma. He held me back while the others beat the shit out of me. Eventually I passed out, and when I woke up next, I was in a cell in the palace."

"So he got you to do his dirty work?" I surmised.

He nodded. "And he didn't hesitate about giving me up, either. I wanted to kill him as soon as I heard the guards shouting, and I would've, too, had I not been so shocked."

Now that I heard that, I wanted to find this Ikasma and hurt him. Anyone who would give up their loyal subordinate so easily was scum.

"But that wasn't the end of it," he said. "Not even close. Shortly after I was captured, I received a visitor. I was curious as well as confused—I didn't think prisoners were allowed visitors when they were royal prisoners. And it—"

"—was Ikasma?" I interrupted. Gods, this was getting really complex. And I could tell he was nowhere near done!

Another nod. "If I wasn't restrained, I would've strangled him. We were supposed to be supervised, too, but Ikasma had bribed the guard to leave us alone. He told me that he knew I was scheduled for questioning—he had spies even in the palace. He probably still does. Ikasma told me not to say a word about him. Naturally I was going to do it even if he'd said not to. But then…" His tone harshened, and I saw his hands fist. "...he threatened me the worst way he could. He said that if I ratted him out, he'd rape my sister and then kill her and my brother. Even if Ikasma was a slippery bastard, I knew his threat was genuine. My safety wasn't worth nearly as much as my siblings'. So I kept my mouth shut and let the bastard go free."

He ceased his explanations, and I could feel the rage bubbling from every inch of his being. I leaned closer and kissed his cheek. He tensed but didn't fight, and his cheeks reddened. "It wasn't your fault," I murmured. "He tricked you."

"Shut up," he spat. "It was my fault. I should've been smarter, should've considered the possibility of him betraying me. But I let him take advantage of me…"

I held him tighter. "Calm down. It's fine. You said yourself that you were young and stupid. Everyone makes mistakes when they're young."

"They don't kill a ruler and get their families threatened!" he denied. "I'm a fucking disgrace!" His voice cracked on the last word, and he wiped his eyes. Was he going to cry again?

"Calm down," I repeated. "You're not a disgrace. You're still here, aren't you? And your siblings are still alive. Don't be upset. You're one of the strongest people I know."

He scoffed. "You must not know many people."

"Why are you so guarded?" I asked. "I told you that you didn't have to act so indifferent to your strength."

He sighed. "You're confusing me," he mumbled.

"What? How so?"

"Because you said earlier that you didn't want me to be strong, but now you're saying that you want me to embrace strength. Which one is it?"

I sighed. "It's not that I don't want you to be strong. It's that I don't want you pretend that you are when you don't feel like you are. You guard what you're truly feeling behind that facade, and when someone tries to give you comfort, you feign strength."

"I'm not used to it," he grumbled.

"What? Being weak?"

"No. Being...being comforted like this. It's odd and foreign to me, especially at this age. I haven't been...held like this since I was a child."

"No one's too old for comfort." I lowered my voice to a tender murmur. "I don't think you're weak because of this. I don't think I ever will." I cupped his cheek and kissed him. "You don't have to keep going if you don't want to. I can see that the memories are painful."

Though he concealed it with a scowl, I saw trust forming in his eyes. "If you shut up about my emotions, I'll continue."

I nodded. "Understood." I assumed my previous position. "Go ahead."

After averting his gaze, he continued, "So as I said, Ikasma had spies in the palace. Luckily for me, one of those spies was part of the group guarding me, and he recognized me as a Silver Blood. After about a month or so of planning, the night of my escape came. He slipped a chemical that induced sleep into the other guards' drinks, and once they were harmless, he released me. We escaped through the catacombs, but we didn't stop running even after the palace was out of sight. No, we didn't stop until we were deep in the woods. So deep that we questioned if we'd ever make it back to civilization.

"But after a few days, we managed to make it to a village. We were going to rest there until morning, and then we would return to Ikasma. He didn't know about the lie; I don't think anyone did except for Ikasma and me. I told him that I wanted to stop being a Blood, and we went our separate ways.

"The moment we separated I returned home, where I found my siblings unharmed. I didn't tell them about what had happened with Ikasma. I didn't need them worrying about me. I stayed home with them for awhile, making sure they were safe. But that was my third mistake."

"Third? What happened to the second?"

"I'm getting to that," he assured. "Anyway, they told me that they saw shadows outside the windows, and suspicious people were lingering around the village. I made preparations to investigate, and one night I went off. When I came back, however, our home was on fire. Kanako and Tomoe were safe, thankfully, but it became apparent that they wouldn't be if I stayed. I don't know for sure, but I'm fairly certain that the guard I'd parted ways with gave me away to Ikasma, who wanted to eliminate me. The day after the fire, I left them with a close family friend and left.

"For two years after I lived everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. Through those two years I avoided Ikasma and the Silver Bloods' attempts at killing me. No matter where I went, my life was always threatened. Eventually, when I was about twenty-one, a group of five was pursuing me through the woods. Luckily for me they were terrible shots, but unluckily they were on horses while I was on foot. I managed to kill their horses, though, which allowed me to cover a bit more ground while they recovered. But as always, luck was never on my side. The direction I ran in led me to a massive waterfall.

"I had two options: either jump off the cliff and die, or give myself up to Ikasma's men and either be killed or tortured. I chose the cliff. As I was falling I was convinced that I was going to die, but a small part of me didn't want to accept that. So I made a rash decision and started flailing about. By some miracle I managed to grab a branch, but I was still too far up to drop down without injury. Having no voice, I dropped down. In those five minutes between reaching the cliff and grabbing the branch, luck decided to like me. I was spared, but my arm was broken and I'd fractured my back in a few places. Ikasma's men probably thought I was dead, but I didn't want to risk it. So I dragged myself through the woods, though my injuries didn't let me get too far. But then luck struck again, and I ran into someone who was willing to help me. That someone was Isogai." He yawned. "And then—"

"It's fine," I interrupted. "I can see that you're tired. You can tell me the rest another time, if you want."

"You're sure?"

I nodded. "To be honest, I don't think I'll be able to comprehend anything else you tell me. That's a lot to take in."

"It was a lot to experience, too," he mumbled.

"I can see why. No one should have to go through that." And he wouldn't suffer. Not again. Not ever. I wouldn't let him suffer.

"Are you going to let go now?"

I blinked. "Huh?"

"You need to let me go. I need to go to where I'm sleeping."

I hesitated. "Ah...right…about that…"

My arms didn't leave Souichi as we slept, and though I had another bruise forming on my cheek, I smiled until morning.