I couldn't believe Master had been given Shinigami. Moreover, I couldn't believe he had accepted.
Shinigami was legendary, but it was not a good legend. He was psychotic, violent, unpredictable, and disrespectful. The cost of keeping him drugged was so high that masters would only keep him for a night, because he had worked up such a tolerance for drugs that they had to be almost constantly pumped into his system. That, or allow him to wake up, in which case he was hostile and violent to masters and any slaves who tried to subdue him. Trying to drug him was also dangerous, as he often fought so frantically that he injured both his captor and himself, causing the master to lose more money in paying the fine for damaging a rented slave. Even when Shinigami wasn't acting up, he had a perchance for getting in trouble that had many masters rolling their eyes. He had caused thousands of dollars in damage by tripping, ruining everything from meals to china to electronics.
But the worst trouble Shinigami caused was always to the master's reputation. The humiliation caused by having an uncontrolled and disobedient slave could ruin a master for good. With Master's reputation already uncertain, what was he thinking taking on a slave like Shinigami?
When we arrived at the apartment, Master put Shinigami down in the slave's quarters to sleep off the rest of the drugs. Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei had to be shoed from gawking at the new arrival. I couldn't blame them, though, for Shinigami really did look like a wild man, with his dirty skin, matted hair, straw, and hay-burns all over his body. His behavior wasn't much to the contrary either.
I tried to put him from my mind as we ate dinner, but it was difficult when I had to put a plate of food aside for him, or when Master asked me to watch over the slave when we went to a party that night. I didn't really want the responsibility of watching over the demon-boy, but how could I refuse Master?
"Who will accompany you this party?" I asked. If I were watching Shinigami, Shinigami was drugged, and Quatre was still recovering, that only left Trowa and Wufei.
"I'll be taking Wufei," Master replied, "You will need to watch over Shinigami, and Trowa can help you when he's not helping Quatre."
"But master, when will I get to go out with you?" Quatre asked from his seat on the couch, leaning on Trowa's shoulder, who sat beside him. Wufei was sitting cross-legged on the plush chair, staring at the TV and doing his best to ignore us.
"You won't be going to any parties at all, little one. I can take you out shopping, if you'd really like, but only for a little while. The doctor did say no exertion for another week, correct?"
"Yes," Quatre sighed, "but I get so bored!"
"Perhaps Trowa can take you to the bathhouse. Heero and I had a good time there, didn't we, angel?" he said, smirking at me. I could only blush and turn away.
"I'd better go check on Shinigami," I mumbled.
"I'll go with you," Master said quickly, following me into the other room.
In the slave's quarters, Shinigami seemed asleep, but as we approached, his eyes suddenly opened wide. In the next moment, all hell broke loose, as he jumped out of the bed and attacked. Master pushed me to the ground to keep me out of the fight and dodged one of Shinigami's punches. Still under the influences of the drugs, Shinigami lost his balance and began to topple over, only to be saved from smashing his face into the floor by Master grabbing his shoulder. Instead being grateful, however, he snarled and shoved his shoulder into Master's abdomen, knocking him backwards into a wall. I saw Master's face darken with anger and knew that he was finally becoming fed up with our new guest. Master jumped to his feet and, taking a hold of Shinigami's hair, backhanded him hard across the face, knocking the boy to the floor. His violet eyes rolled dizzily as he shook his head to regain his composure, his lip bleeding slightly and a dark bruise forming on the right side of his face.
"Enough now," Master growled menacingly, towering over the smaller boy, "One more attack on myself or any of my slaves and I'll have you whipped and sent back to the warehouse, do you understand?"
"I understand, you jerk!" Shinigami shouted, jumping to his feet even as he held his bruised face in his hand, a painful lesson to the size and power of my master. "I understand what a jerk you are!" he shouted, but made no move toward violence. I knew that Master was serious about sending him back, but I also knew what a high tolerance Master had, and that he would not send Shinigami back for yelling if he had told him not to attack. I almost wanted him to, though, because I wasn't sure I would be able to contain myself if Shinigami began yelling at me like that.
"If you are going to speak to me like that, you can stay in here. If you think you can be civil, you can come out and meet the rest of the household," Master replied evenly.
"Come out and meet the rest of your hookers? I think I'll pass on that one," Shinigami replied with a sneer. Master frowned.
"I won't have you insulting my slaves. None of them are hookers, and you are not one who should be casting fire and brimstone for promiscuous behavior."
"Removed for content. You may as well send me back now if that's what you're after!" he yelled. Master nodded solemnly, his patience wearing thin.
"We shall see," he responded to Shinigami, then turned to me. "Keep an eye on him, and don't be afraid to use force if he gets out of hand. If he refuses to behave you may bring his meals in here to eat, and he can sleep in here if he refuses to be civil, but you may eat and sleep with the rest of us. Other than that, just try to keep him out of trouble if you can. I'm sure you're well able to overpower him, if need be, but try not to do any damage that I'll have to pay for," Master instructed, then turned to leave.
"Coward!" Shinigami growled under his breath as the door closed, leaving the two of us alone together. I swallowed and tensed, expecting him to attack as soon as Master was out of the room.
Instead, he spun around to face me, a bright smile on his face, and offered his hand to me.
"Hi," he said cheerfully, grinning from ear to ear, "I guess you're my new babysitter."
"Uh..." I responded, staring at his hand in shock for more than a second before tentatively taking it in my own. "Master has asked me to watch over you, Shinigami."
"Shinigami's too long," he said as he released my hand and flopped onto the bed. "The name's Duo. You?" he asked as he gingerly touched his bleeding lip. Again I paused in shock, for he had given me, almost a complete stranger, his real name. I wondered if I could trust him with mine but, as he had given me his and since it was very unlikely he would live if Master did not take him, I decided it was safe.
"I'm Heero," I told him.
"Heh. That's a funny name. It's cute, though, and it fits you," he said, smiling at me. He winked. "Are you going to be my hero?" he teased.
I could only stare at him for what must have been a full minute. What the hell had just happened? Where had the angry, violent creature of five minutes ago gone? And who was this cheerful, laughing boy before me? What had caused such a sudden change? Nothing had happened except...
"Why do you hate Master Zechs so much?" I asked, realizing the only thing that could have caused such a sudden and drastic change.
"I don't hate Zechs in particular," he replied, sitting up and beginning to pull hay off of his body. "I hate all masters."
"This master... he is not as bad as others," I defended.
"Psh," Duo snorted. "They're all terrible, this one's just less terrible than the others."
"Perhaps if you weren't so volatile the masters would not be so intolerable."
"Hm," he said, looking contemplatively at the floor. "But if the master's weren't so intolerable, I wouldn't be so volatile," he said, his smile fading. "You're probably better off liking your master, 'cause you're stuck with him anyway, but I just can't tolerate them. Not since... but that's ancient history," he finished quietly, then suddenly looked up at me, the grin back on his face. "There any way to get some grub around here?"
I sighed as I exited the room. Babysitting the Shinigami would either be a lot easier than I had originally thought... or a hundred times harder.