'….' Spoken
"…." Thoughts
italics bitbeast/master talking
/italics/ - telepathic between Rei and X..

Saving the phoenix

Chapter 8

Kai stormed out of his room and made his way to Rei's room. He entered his brothers room, and bumped into Tala. They both fell on the ground.
'What the…' said Kai confused. 'Tala…what are you doing here? And …what the hell is that on your lap?' said the prince while stood
up.
'O, you mean him.' said Tala grinning. 'I found him on the palace grounds, went to Rei to check if it wasn't magically spelled or something…' he said, holding a pet sized white wolf in his arms. 'He's free of magic, so I'm going to keep him, train him. He'll be of a great asset to the defence of the palace.'
'Train? A wolf! Are you out of your mind!'
'O…mood still hasn't brightened up?' teased Tala instead of reacting on the Princes outburst. 'I'll leave you and your brother alone then…' he said dismissing himself, the white wolf following the redhead immediately after Tala had put him down on the ground.
Rei grinned. 'Stay put.' he said to Max, who was sitting on the bed.
He gently pushed Kai out of his room.
'Max doesn't have to hear… what's wrong bro? You look troubled…' said the neko.
'Troubled!' snapped Kai. 'I…why the hell did you want the blond one? I thought you were against slavery.' he asked, instead of answering.
'I am…there's just something about him. I don't know. I trust my feelings.'
'Then explain my feelings!' snapped Kai. 'Why do I want to know more about him, why do I want to be near him, but at the same time, he pisses me off to no end.'
Rei smiled.
'What?' asked Kai when he saw Rei smiling nicely.
'You'll find out soon enough what is going on between you and Tyson.'
Kai looked at his brother, puzzled.
'Kai!' called Boris suddenly.
'Damn…' hissed Kai. 'Yes?' he asked, clearly irritated.
'I need to talk with you.' said Boris, completely ignoring Rei.
'I'm busy talking with my brother.' complained Kai.
'It's of royal importance my prince.' tried Boris.

Kai sighed. He reached for Reis thoughts.

/Is he planning to do something/
/No, grandfather asked him to call for you./

'Fine.' said Kai. 'Sorry Rei, we'll continue our talk later.'
The black haired teen nodded. 'Shall I watch your new one?' asked Rei.
'No. that won't be necessary. Kenny can handle him, and I want to talk to him before he sees the blond again.' answered the prince. He followed Boris to the throne room.

'You have to watch out with what you say to Master Kai.' warned Kenny while dressing Takao. 'You really don't want him to get angry. He normally doesn't punish anyone, but he has a line that can be crossed.'
'Fine. I'll watch my words. Anything else?' asked Takao, irritated because he was begin treated like a kid.
'Yes. Drop the attitude. I don't know why, but Master Kai is highly annoyed today. To be honest, I've only seen him this angry only once, and trust me, you don't want to know what he can do.'
Takao sighed. 'I'll behave…' "For now…"
Kenny smiled faintly. 'Hold out your arms please.'
'Why?' asked the blue hared teen, doing as the brunette told him.
'I need to put these on.' said Kenny clicking two 2.5 inch golden bracelets around Takao's wrists.
'What are they for?' asked the teen, quite interested. The whole slave being was new for him.
'So Master Kai can easily chain you hands together when necessary.' said Kenny dryly.
Takao's eyes widened.
'Don't worry. I wore them too in the beginning. If you do as he says he won't use them, unless there's some formal thing going on.'
'If you say so…' said the bluenette, uncertain.

'Shouldn't I be chained?' asked Max innocently, while Rei came into his bedroom again. He was still sitting on Reis bed, where he was told to stay when Rei was talking to Kai.

Differently from Takao, Max knew a bit more about slavery. As guard of the palace he'd seen some kings and queens who were coming for a visit, taking their slaves with them. Although there was no slavery in their country, other countries did allow it, and the king couldn't keep the visitors from taking their slaves with them.

'Why are you so submissive?' asked Rei instead of answering Max. He stood at the window, looking outside, watching Tala trying to start training the wolf he found. 'You've been born a free citizen, you've been caught just today, but yet you're perfectly calm.'
'W…what? How do you know!' asked max, not that calm anymore.
'I'm a sorcerer.' said Rei turning to the blond. 'I'm able to use magic, and I can also read peoples minds.' explained the neko.
'Y…you can read my mind? And Ta…Tysons too?'
'Yes, I can. But I won't. Not unless highly necessary. I'd rather have you answer my question yourself.'
'I…' Max was silent for a while. 'What was the question again?' asked the blond sheepishly. "Damn….if he can read our minds… I've
got to tell Takao…this might become a problem."
'Why are you so submissive?'
'O, right…' said the blond, thinking how he could best answer without giving too much away. 'I don't really have a choice, do I? Besides, I feel something when I'm here. I don't know…' he said honestly. "I won't give him a reason to pry in my mind. Better be honest from the start…as honest as possible…"
'Feel something?' asked Rei. "Does he feel the same thing as I feel?" he wondered.
'Yeah. I can't explain. I just don't feel like disobeying at the moment.' he said smiling brightly.
'What about your friend? Why did you hesitate when you said his name?'
Max's eyes widened again. "He noticed? Damn damn damn…"
When the blond didn't answer Rei approached him. He lifted the teens head up gently with his finger.
'Max. I can read your mind if necessary, and that way I'll learn even more. Do you want that?' It wasn't a threat. More a statement of
the facts on a nice tone.
'Tyson is not his real name.' confessed Max. 'I'd rather not tell his real name though.'
'Is Max your real name?'
'Yes. I didn't change my name.'
'Why did he?'
'I…safety measures.' decided Max to say, hoping Rei would find the answer satisfying enough.
Rei didn't say anything for a while.
The blond swallowed. He wasn't comfortable with the silence at all. He wondered if the black haired teen was reading his mind.
'How old are you?' asked Rei suddenly.
'How old?' asked Max confused. 'He'd expected a lot of questions, but this one came as a surprise.'
'Yes.' said Rei smiling nicely. 'How old are you?'
'Fifteen. Tyson's sixteen.' answered the blond.
'Only fifteen? You look older. Your aura feels older…'
'I've been through a lot.' said Max softly. 'What are you going to do with me?' he asked, knowing he shouldn't ask that question at all, but he needed to know.
'I don't know.' answered Rei. He hadn't really thought about that yet. He didn't take Max as a slave 'cause he needed one. He'd
chosen Max 'cause he felt some connection.
'You…don't…know?' asked the blond, his eyes wide as saucers.
'No.' said the sorcerer smiling sheepishly. 'You're the first slave I ever had. Technically I'm against slavery.'
Max just sat on the bed, dumbfounded. 'But…the prince…'
'My brother already has a slave yes, but my brother, Kenny and I practically grew up together. Kenny was an orphan, found on the streets. I don't know why, but he was taken in the palace. I arrived only a year before Kenny. Why I was adopted as a brother and Kenny a slave, I don't know. Though Kenny is a slave, he isn't really treated like one.' said Rei. After a few seconds of silence he added: 'To be honest, I really have no idea what to do with you.' said the prince, grinning.

Max blinked a couple of times.

When Kai came back from his talk with his grandfather he was even more irritated than he had been the whole day. He walked into his room, finding Kenny and Tyson sitting on the ground. Talking.
'Kenny.' he said while sitting down at the end of his bed. 'Go and see if Rei needs your help.'
'Help Master Rei?' asked Kenny confused.
'Go!' repeated Kai.
The brunette quickly stood up. He bowed and left the room, but not without giving Tyson some sort of glare to make sure he would
behave himself.
'What has Kenny told you?' asked Kai after he'd cooled down a bit.
'Enough for me to know what I should and shouldn't do.' answered Takao.
'He probably failed to mention then that I wish to be addressed properly.' said the prince. He stood up, and neared Takao.
'He did tell me that.'
'Then….why don't you address me the way you should?'
'I…I forgot.'
'Nonsense!' snapped Kai. 'Even when I attended you on the way to address me, you still didn't do so correctly. You may think I'll treat
you differently because we have met before. I won't. I don't know why you chose for slavery, and in fact, I don't even want to know. The only thing you have to know is how to behave.' he said with a firm voice. 'Stand up.' he added.
Takao did as he was told, without complaining.
Kai took a good look at his new slave. Even though Takao was on slippers, he was still longer than Kai, which bothered the prince a bit. He'd always been the taller one.
'Turn around.' ordered Kai.
Takao complied. The prince tugged Takao's hair band loose, making the bluenettes hair fall around his shoulders. Kai ran his fingers
through the still damp hair. He'd always had something with long hair.
Takao felt himself relax a bit. He'd always liked it when Max was playing with his hair, and even now with the prince running his ringers through his hair made him relax a bit.
'M…master?' he asked carefully, inwardly cringing. He didn't like that word.
'Yes?' said Kai, almost purring.
'I…may I see Max?'
'Not yet.' answered Kai, his voice suddenly back to formal. His hand left the teens hair and he crossed his arms on his chest.
'But…'
'Tyson…Not. Yet.'
'When will…'
'NOT yet.' repeated Kai.
Takao sighed.

'What are you good at?' asked the crown prince suddenly while he went to a cupboard, and got a brush out one of the drawers. 'Sit
down on the bed.' added Kai.
'What I'm good at?' repeated Takao.
'That's what I asked yes.' said Kai, starting to brush his slaves hair.
'I don't know really. I'm good with a sword…'
'You'll have to show me that later on. Anything else?'
Takao thought for a while. 'Max says I'm good at giving massages. But I'm not that good.'
'Any particular part of the body?'
'No. Everywhere…' Takao blushed slightly when he thought of the times he had given Max massages. Most of the time they ended up in bed.
Both teens didn't speak for a while. Takao enjoyed the feeling of someone brushing his hair. After a while he instinctively leaned back into Kai a bit. When he realised though, he scurried away from the prince.
'What are you doing?' asked Kai, his eyebrow raised.
'N…nothing…'
'Master.' warned the prince.
'Master.' added Takao reluctantly.
'Good. Now get back on the bed, I wasn't finished yet.'
Takao nodded and slowly got on the bed again.

TBC