...
If Law had opened the door, he might have attacked the big man on sight because he was just so happy to have someone who seemed to care for him that he would protect Topaz to the death without the slightest hesitation. But, as it was, Topaz opened the door and squealed, "Kuronue-san!" when she laid grass-green eyes on the big man's crimson orbs.
"Hey, darlin'," he grunted and hefted a sack of clothes. "I caught that peppy girl and the dragon boy at the driveway. They asked me to bring this up for you."
"It's odd for Marina-chan not to come up here herself. I wonder what kept her," Topaz said as she took the sack from Kuronue.
"Some kind of sudden emergency," Kuronue said and stepped in through the threshold. He was so tall he almost considered ducking so as to not hit his head.
Kuronue was a big, heavily muscled man though his frame was lean and wiry. He had a strong face and firm square jaw. His hair was dark and a few strands hung messily in his face, shadowing his crimson blood-colored eyes. He wore all black, true to his name. Though he was big, he appeared graceful, like a black panther, like a hunter. He pushed some hair back out of his face with one big hand and Law almost took a step back. Kuronue could break him in half like a twig with his bare hands if he suddenly got the inclination.
For a moment, they surveyed each other. Their eyes met, held in some staring match, but Law looked away first. He laid his eyes nervously on Topaz, but she was staring worriedly off into space, surely worried for Marina and Ryou.
"So, this is your new kid," Kuronue said finally.
"It's not very fair to call him kid," Topaz chided and rolled herself backwards a bit. "He's the first."
"The last?"
Topaz rolled her shoulders in a shrug.
Law gazed at her, puzzled.
"Have you eaten yet, Kuronue-san?"
"No, but I can't stay to long. That idiot called me fourteen times, demanding I come down and check on you while he was at work. I think he intends to stop in tomorrow, so be prepared for that," Kuronue grumbled.
Topaz smiled. "What do you have against Kaito-san?"
Kuronue shrugged. "He's a moron."
Topaz giggled. "Alright, thanks for the warning. If you run into Marina-chan or Ryou-kun, ask them to give me a call, please."
"Will do," the big man said. Then, he ducked back through the threshold and quietly closed the door behind him.
Law let his breath out in a rush.
"That's Kuronue-san," Topaz explained and she turned her chair around carefully. "He's an old friend of the family. He checks on me almost every day, but he said he'll relax it to once a week or so if I got a slave."
Law lowered his eyes.
" Law-kun, don't look at the floor. I didn't buy you just for that," she whispered. "Everything I said to you is true." Suddenly, her face lit up. "I tell you what! We'll make a promise. I promise never ever to lie to you," she said proudly and held out her pinky, curved slightly and waiting for his.
He wet his lips and then nervously bit his lower one. Then, finally, he said, "I will also never lie to you."
"Ah," Topaz began, but then she smiled. "Alright." They wrapped their pinkies around each other's and made a short shake.
"You can never break a pinky promise," She said. "Or you die." She smiled. "At least that's what Marina told me."
Law smiled faintly. "Alright," he whispered.
"Good, let's have some dinner! Are you hungry?" Law hesitated and Topaz turned in her chair to look over her shoulder at him curiously.
"I am, Miss Topaz," he said finally.
She smiled and rolled herself into the kitchen. "I'll make us some chicken and vegetables."
...
Law was tucked neatly in his bed. He was showered and dressed in clean clothes with his teeth brushed and his belly nicely full. He hadn't been beaten, raped, or molested. Topaz cared for him, wanted him as a friend, and called him -kun. He had never been so happy in his entire life. Within moments, he dropped deeply off to sleep, but was woken in the night by the sound of Topaz crying out in her sleep.
For a moment, he wondered if he had woken himself with his own cries for nightmares plagued him frequently, but sometimes escaped him the moment he awoke. Normally, nightmares left a clammy sheen on sweat on his skin. Now, though, his body was dry and relaxed and warm.
He sat up in bed, holding his breath and listening for the sound to come again.
Finally, after he was almost asleep again, it returned.
It was a quiet whimper, nearly inaudible, but was filled with such gut-wrenching terror that Law felt it racing up his own throat. Then, he heard a timid terrified little voice pleading, "Please, don't… please, don't hurt me… please!" There was a soft cry of pain, stifled, but the agony was thick in it.
Immediately, Law pulled back the covers, swung his legs out of the warm bed, and put his cold feet on the floor. Quietly, he eased open his bedroom door and peaked out. The sounds were louder in the hallway, but still muffled and they were coming from Topaz's room. He was sure of that now.
Edging silently down the hallway, he hesitated at her door.
"…please, don't… please!" Another one of her painful anguished little cries crept under the door, wrapped in the scarf of her terrified voice.
Unable to allow her to suffer in her dreams, he timidly opened the door and peaked inside.
Moonlight was streaming through her curtains, falling across the floor and the lower half of the bed like a checker board, and her bedside lamp had been left on, spilling warm amber light throughout her room. Discarded on the floor was a worn paperback book, crumpled open on a page about midway through. Beside her bed were her wheelchair and her brace, waiting for her when she woke in the morning like patient servants.
Topaz was lying on her side on her bed with her pale hair fanned out across the pillows. She slept in long cotton pants and a tank top, showing a minimal amount of skin. Her brown was wrinkled and her pink mouth was twisted into a grimace.
Emboldened, Law eased the door open all the way and slipped into the room. He retrieved her book and laid it carefully on her wheelchair with her brace.
Again, she cried out and suddenly her entire body seized up. Something grabbed her hands and wrenched them over her head, pinning them against the pillows. She struggled against this hold, bending and twisting her body at strange angles trying to escape.
"Please, please, don't!"
Violently, her words were choked off, as if someone was wrapping a hand around her narrow throat. Law could see her pulse hammering away beneath the thin layer of skin. Her chest heaved and jerked as if she was struggling to draw breath, but Law could see no one attacking her.
She appeared to suffer from violent nightmares.
He was hesitant to wake her tough she was clearly in pain. How would he explain being here in her room without permission?
Her head whipped to the side, tears swelled on her lashes, and she suddenly was able to heave in a deep breath. Choking and wheezing, she returned to struggling against whatever unseen force had her hands pinned to the pillows. She was clenching her jaw so tightly that the tendons and muscles stood out.
"No!" She screamed and suddenly lurched up in her bed.
Law stumbled away from her, shocked and frightened. He nearly tripped over his own feet and went sprawling, but managed to keep his balance.
Her shoulders trembled and shook and she slowly brought her shaking hands to her face. She appeared not to see Law and simply sobbed into her long fingered hands. She drew her good leg up against her body, tucking it neatly alongside her, but the lame one remained stretched uselessly on the bed. Leaving the light on, Topaz collapsed against her pillows on her side. She wrapped her arms around her legs and pressed her face into her knees. She continued crying and presumably cried herself to sleep for her back continued shaking and trembling for a long time before finally growing still and falling back into a light even breathing pattern.
Troubled, Law left her room and quietly closed the door.
Back in his own room, sleep did not find him so easily again.
...
I'm glad so many of you like this story! I know it's maddeningly OOC, but the whole fan-canon "Law was a slave, etc." thing was too tempting to not write about.
R&R, please! Reviews equal faster updates!