The first glow of morning was just peeking through the clouds when I woke up to the sound of movement in the house. At first I thought that Heero might be trying to escape again, but he appeared in the doorway a moment later. Silently, he came over and knelt before me. He must have caught my curious stare, because he approached me and leaned against my legs, resting his head against my lap. I think it was the closest thing to a silent apology I could have gotten from him at the time. We stayed there in silence, enjoying the quiet for a few moments, but soon I had to ask Heero some questions to which the answers might very well alter my mission greatly.

"Where were you going, Heero?" I asked softly, trying to make it clear that I wasn't angry. Heero instantly understood that I was speaking of his attempt to run away.

"I needed to find people," he replied, his voice revealing the closing of his emotions, as though he expected me to be angry.

"Why? Would you have reported me?"

"What good would that have done? If you're powerful enough to be here, you're powerful enough to silence anyone who would criticize you, be it police or media. No... I merely wanted to find a tool shed."

"A tool shed?" I questioned, surprised, "But whatever for?"

"I..." Heero hesitated, "No slave is allowed to take of their collar, ever. And no master would let his slave out of their collar for more than a few minutes. It marks us as less beings, as property, and they don't want to break that barrier."

Heero lowered his head, sadness and despair creeping back into his voice, "I just wanted mine off for a few hours. Even just one night. It's suffocating me! I can't take it! I can't breathe!" he cried, then turned to me. His eyes were feverish and desperate. "If you would take it off for one night, just one night, I would do anything you asked of me. You would have my trust, and my eternal loyalty. Please!"

I hesitated, wondering what I was truly getting into, "Heero, I can't offer you freedom..."

"I don't care about freedom! I know I can never have that! I just want this damned collar off! Just for a night, please!" he begged, his eyes filling with the tears I had taught him to shed. I sighed, and Heero lowered his head, only two of the tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Tonight is almost over," I told him, "You have until this time tomorrow, then to collar goes back on, no questions asked," I said, then pulled the collar off with a small click.

Heero's face... saying that it lit up can't even begin to describe him. It was like fireworks in front of a full moon and a starry sky. The pain fell from his eyes, and he looked up at me with such adoration for such a small thing that I could barely stand it.

"Thank you," he whispered, "thank you, master."

I smiled at him and chuckled lightly. "I suppose," I said, "that since you're not a true slave right now, it would be alright for you to call me Zechs. Just don't get used to it, I'm still your master."

I pulled Heero onto the couch beside me, and he fell asleep again with his head in my lap while watching late night TV. I fell asleep soon after, knowing that he would not attempt to run away now that his plea had been fulfilled. I hoped that by giving him this small thing I would allow him to dream of bigger things enough that he would cooperate with me on this mission. Even if it didn't turn out that way, seeing such a look of joy on Heero's face made it worth while.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice, as I was still trying to help Heero regain his strength and weight. I pretended to order it from a little buffet in town, but in truth a chef hired by Preventers would cook whatever I needed any time of the day then have an agent deliver it to my door. Due to the size and severity of the problem I was now trying to solve, Preventers had spared no expense, and had anticipated a long reconnaissance period. My deadline was within three years, a length of time I desperately hoped not to reach.

After last night's display, which consisted of Heero unexpectedly vomiting everything he had eaten, I was a little nervous about how Heero would handle breakfast, and insisted we eat in the kitchen. Heero, however, gorged himself with no trouble at all, filling his stomach to the brink after having it empty for so long.

After his big breakfast, Heero could barely move, but managed to cart himself over to the couch before flopping down face first with a contented smile. He had been careful of his sore butt, and I suddenly realized that he had even eaten breakfast standing up for that reason. With an affectionate smile, I turned on some soft music and curled up in the corner with a book.

Heero listened to the music and dozed for about an hour before I tired of reading and closed my book. I had intended to sneak upstairs while Heero was asleep, but the sound of my book closing woke him, and he looked at me blearily before yawning, stretching, and giving me a warm smile.

"Where are you going, master?" he asked.

"I thought I told you to call me Zechs for today."

"Where are you going, master Zechs?" Heero asked with a sly smile. It was the first time he had been brave enough to tease me, and I took it as a good sign.

"Well I was going to go to my room, but perhaps you'd like to join me for a swim? I don't suppose you noticed the pool out back on your little adventure last night."

Heero merely smiled and rose to follow me outside. Heero had been naked almost since he had arrived, and I didn't have any clothing that wouldn't aggravate his sore ass, so I simply threw off my clothes and we went "skinny dipping" in the pool.

I soon learned that Heero loved the water, and was a world class swimmer. After entering the pool slowly, with a loud hiss as the cold water stung his thighs and butt, Heero quickly proved to be able to both out swim and out maneuver me in the water. When I asked him about it, Heero told me that he had not originally been trained as a slave, but as a body guard and assassin. He said that he had been trained for aquatic missions, and he had particularly enjoyed training underwater, almost as much as he had liked zero-G training.

The fact that Heero was combat trained both surprised and pleased me. I was surprised that anyone with Heero's current docile demeanor could have been trained to fight, but I was also pleased that the boy would be able to defend himself if my mission took a turn for the worse. I had often worried that a slip up of mine would cause some defenseless slave great damage. I vowed to begin retraining Heero in combat as soon as possible, mission or no.

Heero tired himself out soon and, though he was reluctant to leave the water, I made him go inside and dry off rather than risk fishing him from the bottom of the pool if the exertion should cause him to faint.

I soon found my intuition to be correct, as Heero dried off in my room and, unable to even stand any longer after such physical exertion, simply flopped himself down on the bed and was instantly asleep. I chuckled at the sight of him, hair still dripping, slumbering happily with one leg, one arm, and most of his head hanging off the bed. Gently I moved him so that he was more safely seated on the bed, then laid a spare blanket over his still form, lest he catch a chill.

It seemed almost cruel to me, but I also knew it was necessary, so while Heero slept I logged onto an Internet site that was supposedly affiliated with Collar and produced bondage wear. Once there, I skipped passed the pictures of nude slaves with various erotic toys and began searching for a new collar.

I had realized shortly after Heero had dozed off last night that the fact that his collar was not only made out of coarse leather, but was also thick, wide, and about a size too small for him had most likely all contributed to his feelings of claustrophobia when wearing it. That said, I began looking for slim, unobtrusive, and loose collars. Hopefully, I could find something light and small, yet elegant and noticeable. Of course, first I had to work through an appalling amount of leather, spiked, shock, chain, and other such collars before I could find anything I would even think of allowing my slave to be seen in. I finally found one that I liked after searching for what seemed like an eternity. It was a loop that was designed to rest on the slave shoulders and drape down elegantly just above the breast bone and the back of the neck. It actually looked like more of a necklace than a collar, the only difference was the this one was pure gundanium wrapped in a silver finish, and had a small loop on it for a leash or tag. The collar was also ingenious, as well as beautiful. The gundanium inside the collar was charged so that it was malleable in order to allow the master to put it on the slave. Once it was on, the master merely had to press a small electronic key to the collar and the gundanium would be uncharged, causing it to snap into one large loop and retain its nearly indestructible shape.

With a quick glance at Heero, I hurriedly ordered four of the collars, along with four tags containing my seal. A master's seal was like a signature, only less traceable so that there was no actual paper trail to follow, a fact that had annoyed Une and the Preventer's agents considerably. It was safer for Heero to wear his collar with my seal, as other masters would know who he belonged to and keep their distance. Hopefully.