Okay, so maybe I did need a little bit of help with this chapter. The credit for a lot of this one goes to Peggi, so the style is a bit different, but it's amazing how quickly she can help! Reviews would be lovely, my darlings!

Disclaimer? I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter Two: Sold!
By: Resa Kaiba and Peggi J. Crawford
Warnings: Implied suicide and a bit of blood

Shun awoke, feeling someone standing on his leg, hearing screams and cries from other people. He looked around and his surroundings frightened him. He was in some sort of a cage, and once he finally managed to stand, he realized he was in a concrete room. He saw his brother, standing in a cage right next to theirs, and he called out to him.

"Brother! Ikki! I'm over here!"

The Phoenix saint smiled at the sight of his brother, and had a look of relief on his face.

"You've been asleep for quite some time, Shun. We're here, on this 'Earth1'. They're taking us out, one at a time, seperating us.
Shiryu is already gone. They beat him and tested his strength.
They've sent him away to work in car building. That boy that explained things to us, Dib, he was dead by the time I woke up, and they just tossed his body aside as though he meant nothing to them. Shun, whatever happens, I will continue to look for you. I don't know if we will see each other soon, but when we meet again, you have to promise me one thing. You will NOT die, and you will NOT surrender!"

"I promise, brother! I'm scared!" Shun began to cry.

Ikki wished that he could comfort his younger brother, but there was really nothing that he could do or say to make this situation better.

Shun reached through the bars of the cage to grab Ikki's hand, and the older boy did the same. The boys held hands until Shun felt someone tugging on his arm.

"Your turn, boy."

Shun realized that it was now his turn to be tested. Without the Andromeda cloth, he could not fight back, and he was crying.

"Don't cry, Shun!" Ikki called out, "I will find you, so no tears!"

Shun tried not to cry, but he was too afraid. The last time he had been taken from his brother had been when Ikki was sent to Death Queen Island and he had been taken to Andromeda Island. Shun fought the hands that pulled him from the only family member he knew, but it was no use.

Two years had passed, Shun was now 14, and he had seen no sign of Ikki. He held back tears as he cleaned out the holding cage. He had not been seen fit for sale and had been sent from one auction house owner to another, none of them wanting him. Those from Earth2 were not allowed to return home, but were also not allowed to roam the streets as civilians.

The air was filled with the smell of blood and death, and Shun shed tears for those who had escaped slavery through suicide. Inside of the cage he was cleaning was a young girl, not much different in age from himself, who had eaten through her own wrist in order to kill herself. Shun knew this girl as Amelia, and the two of them had been fairly close for quite some time. Just like Shun, she had not been seen fit to be sold and was used for cleanups before an auction the next day. Her handlers treated her much worse than they did Shun, and in a way, Shun felt that her suicide had helped the poor girl escape.

Shun's amazing luck just got more amazing, as the boy in tattered clothes that he had been wearing for two full years felt snow falling upon his skin. He swept out the cage and removed the body to the pile of others who had taken their own lives or had been killed for disobediance, and began to pile the waste from the cage into bags.
The stage was almost set for the following day's auction.

"So young," a female voice spoke, "to be suffering like this. It's freezing!"

Shun had never met the girl who was speaking, and it was too dark to really get a good look at her.

"You look cold," the girl removed her thick fleece hoodie and handed it to the shivering boy.

"Why are you giving this to me? Don't know you what I am?" Shun asked the girl.

She laughed a bit, "Yes, you are a human being, just like me. You're cold, just like me. Take the hoodie, or stay cold, the choice is yours."

Shun accepted the gift and the girl walked off without another word.

"Please, miss, what is your name?" Shun asked the girl.

She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him, "Persephone. Yours?"

It took a minute for Shun to reply, as not many people from Earth1 had asked him that question, "Shun! My name is Shun!"

Days had passed and Shun had managed to keep up hope that he would meet another person from Earth1 like the girl whose hoodie smelled like vanilla, but no luck. Shun had shared his story with as many of his friends and cagemates as he could, but not all of them believed him. Some thought he'd stolen the fleece, while others kept up hope that Shun had, indeed, met a decent person from Earth1. Months began to pass, and if it had not been for the object that had kept him warm through the winter, Shun himself would not have believed his story.

Spring came, and the hot sun beat down upon everyone. It was another auctioning day, and Shun had done a fantastic job of cleaning off the stage and the slaves. Numbers were being listed, and Shun stood behind all the others, listening.

"Now, here we have us a 23 year old Yusuke Urameshi. Perfect for those heavy and hard jobs, responds well to orders, so do we have a bidder of $1,000?"

"I'll give $1,000!" a gentleman in the back offered.

"$2,000 if he takes orders in bed!" a young brunette offered.

$3,000 for Yusuke to a man needing lawn work, $1,500 for a young male for use as a pet sitter, $5,000 for a beautiful Chinese teen for use in the bedroom and Shun almost cried for those who had just been sold.

Finally, something interesting and unexpected happened. A voice called out, asking for a price to the auctioneer himself!

"How much for the young boy with green hair?"

Shun reached up and felt his green locks, looking around to realize that he was the only one with such a hair color. Someone wanted to. . .buy him?

"Ah, that young lad? He is 14 of age and is not well trained. He does not follow orders well and is not very strong. He cries and does not to do well for work. You would be much better off with a lad like this one!" the auctioneer pulled another boy out of the cage.

"No, I've decided I want the boy with the green hair. I am a collector, you see. I do not use my slaves for the heavy work if they are in my collection. I love hair colors, you see. I do not have a slave yet with that hair color. Where will his bidding begin?" she asked.

"For this boy, $500. But I warn you, miss. He has been known to run from his owners."

"I have high security. If he runs, he will be beaten until he will lose his will to ever run from his master again."

Shun realized he had just been sold. He was now part of a collection. Was that worse or better than where he was at now? He did not know, but he did know that at least he would not be cleaning out cages any longer.

After the auction was over, he was placed in heavy cuffs and given to a dark haired female with green eyes. If Shun had not been so terrified of her, he might've thought she was really beautiful.

"Come, child. Do we have a name for you?" she asked him.

"My name is Shun but you may call me whatever you wish, master."

Shun's eyes almost filled with tears at his own sentence, and she tugged hard on his chain lead. She had paid for him and was dragging him from the auction house, quickly, not caring that he was stumbling behind. Suddenly, he caught a whiff of something that smelled amazing and familliar. The heavy scent of vanilla.