Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

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A/N: God, it's been ages since my last update, huh? Very sorry for the delay in getting this out!

Not too sure about this chapter, but I'll roll with it, since you've all been waiting so patiently for it.

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As soon as we entered the house, I started pulling Yamato along a corridor on our left, heading for my room. I yelled to Sora over my shoulder, telling her not to let anyone else know I was back. She just grinned at me and winked. I rolled my eyes at her perverted assumption.

I opened the door to my room, seeing it had been left untouched in my absence. Yamato's blue eyes scanned the room curiously, probably trying to see if he could get a better idea of my character from the contents of my room. Not that my room flattered me much... Put bluntly, if I owned more stuff, the room would look like a disaster zone.

Bits of paper littered the floor, along with a few pieces of clothing, and a worn-out ball that I kicked around when I was bored. I always made an attempt at making the bed, but it usually just meant throwing the duvet carelessly over the whole double bed.

Yamato's scanning eyes landed on mine, and he blushed, looking away quickly.

"Sorry."

I shook my head at his apology, striding over to my bed and flopping down onto it, on my back. "Feel free to snoop around; you'll be living here for a while, so it's now your room, too."

"Right." Yamato nodded, but I could tell he was avoiding looking around the room again. Instead, he looked at me, fidgeting, still by the door.

"Well?" I enquired. "Aren't you going to join me?"

"Oh." Was all Yamato said as he scurried to the bed, climbing into it, and sitting on his knees with his eyes and hands on his lap.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, cocking my head at the blond. The reddening of his face told me that he could sense my gaze.

"Yama? What's wrong?"

He squirmed for a second, before looking at me with determination. "What do you want?" At my confused look, he clarified: "From me." I was still confused, and he rolled his eyes. "What kind of service would you like?"

My eyes widened at him and my jaw fell slack. I spent a few good moments just gaping at him, whilst he waited patiently for my answer.

"What?!" I finally managed.

He crawled forward, so that his arms were straddling me. "What, shy?"

"Wha—no!" Gently, I pushed him back. He looked confused. "Yamato—" I stopped, unsure of how to phrase my thoughts. "Wh—how cou—we're sleeping!"

This time Yamato cocked his head at me. "Just sleeping? You don't want me to pay you back for what you did to me at the tree?"

"No! That's not how relationships work! Are you not familiar with the concept of a healthy, loving, caring relationship?"

Well, at the very least, Yamato did look abashed.

I was appalled. "How can you have gotten through life without knowing what a proper relationship is about? How long have you been the Count's concubine?"

Yamato had returned to his earlier kneeling position, looking at his fidgeting hands in his lap. "Quite a while. Ten years, maybe? Maybe more; I'm not entirely sure anymore..."

"But before that, you lived with your parents, right? They must have had a healthy relationship."

I was not prepared for Yamato's hollow laugh.

"My parents hated each other. I only saw my father every few years, since he was a travelling merchant. My mother was a prostitute. I was a mistake."

He paused—maybe to let it sink in, maybe to collect his thoughts. I stayed silent.

"Whenever my father came back to the town, he would visit the brothel my mother and I lived at. They would spend their few hours together arguing about what to do with me; my father couldn't take me, since it would be bad for business, and my mother didn't want me. Apparently the only reason I was allowed to live was that my mother couldn't get away with killing me; the brothel was very strict about babies' bodies lying around." Yamato's eyes were glazed over, like he was lost in the past. "As soon as I was physically able to, I was told to keep the place clean; all the prostitutes' sons were responsible for cleaning and maintenance. The daughters became prostitutes, themselves."

I was disgusted by the story, but too transfixed by Yamato's deep, monotonously hollow voice to stop him. Besides, I wanted to hear this.

"It was pure luck that the Count saw me; I was sweeping in the front yard, when his carriage passed by. He'd been visiting the Count of my town, and, on the way out of town, he had to go past the brothel. At the time, I didn't know what was going on. All I knew was that a carriage had stopped outside the main gate, and a rich man got out. I thought it was a customer, so I ignored him. Customers weren't any of my business—except this one. He bought me from the owner of the brothel." He paused, then chuckled humourlessly. "I bet my mother was pleased when she heard."

"You never got to say goodbye to her?"

Yamato shook his head. My heart broke. Sure, they may not have had a good relationship, but—in my opinion—a mother is always a mother. Or then I was just biased, since I had loved my mother dearly and she had loved me back.

Yamato had fallen silent, and I wasn't saying anything either. Suddenly, he seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had been in and gave me a small smile. "Sorry, you must be tired, right? I'll let you get to sleep."

He started moving, as if trying to leave the bed, but I grabbed his wrist. "Where are you going? You need to sleep, too."

His blue eyes blinked at me. "That's what I'm doing."

"I don't have a guest-bed; we need to share."

"No, no, no, I can sleep on the floor."

"You are not sleeping on the floor like a slave. Or dog. Or anything else that sleeps on the floor. My partner will share my bed. So get under the covers with me." To emphasise my point, I pulled him towards the headboard, off the covers, lifting them, and snuggling underneath the white duvet.

I closed my eyes. It had been a long night. "Good night—or morning—whatever. Hopefully we can get a few hours of sleep before the others undoubtedly find out we're here."

All was still and quiet for a few minutes, and I was just starting to drift off, when I felt Yamato's hand caressing my stomach.

"Stop it." I mumbled. He didn't. Instead, his hand went under my shirt, sending shivers throughout my body from the skin-to-skin contact. "Yamato... We need to sleep."

"Sorry." He stopped.

With a sigh, I let myself drift back towards dreamland. Only to be brought back to the conscious world by Yamato's wandering hands.

"Stop it."

He did. Only to start again a minute later.

Exasperated, I sat up, glaring at the blond next to me. "Will you please just sleep? We can do stuff later, but I honestly have no energy for anything right now."

"Sorry, sorry. I'll try to stop."

I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Try?"

Yamato looked off to the side, clearly embarrassed by his actions. "I don't really know why I keep doing it—it's like a habit; I don't even think about it, but my hands just move. I guess it's the bed." He turned his eyes back to me. "If you just let me sleep on the flo—"

"No." I lay back down, pulling him to me and trapping his arms at his sides with a hug. "We are going to change your bedroom habits. Starting with sleeping in bed with me. You will sleep next to me, in bed, and that's final."

"I'm sorry, Master; I promise I'll be better." Yamato's reply was automatic, and that caused me to spring up to sitting and stare at him, aghast—and slightly insulted.

"Did you just...?"

Blue eyes widened, and, whilst panic and fear shone in them brightly, they were also slightly glazed over again.

I suddenly realised the extent of the damage the Count had inflicted. I had noticed Yamato's demeanour change as soon as we entered my room, but I'd just put it down to the initial shyness that all couples have when seeing the other's room for the first time.

This behaviour wasn't shyness—it was subordinance.

As soon as Yamato had entered the bedroom, he had changed and become subservient. It was a habit that had been ingrained into him. All those years in the Count's bedroom—in other bedrooms across the castle—Yamato had been forced to submit to the Count's wishes; disobedience was not acceptable. He had been put through the same routines over and over for years, until they were ingrained into him and became automatic. He became a concubine every time he entered a bedroom.

As I watched him shrinking further into the bed, I felt my chest tighten. I had to fix him. He was perfect to me, but I could not accept this kind of submission.

"Yamato..." I reached out towards his face, as slowly and gently as I could. He flinched, but made no other move to get away. I stroked his cheek with the backs of my fingers, so that my arm wasn't crossing his face and making him feel trapped.

It took a few long minutes, but finally his eyes started clearing and he seemed to snap out of his autopilot state.

"Taichi?"

I started chuckling. "Damn, you really do need a lot of saving, don't you?" I said, thinking back to Mimi's comment a few days back.

Yamato frowned at me. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Still chuckling, I smoothed back his fringe. "I'm saving you from the Count and these stupid habits you've developed."

The blond huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, and looking away. "It's not my fault."

"I never said it was."

His eyes snapped to me, and a gentle smile graced his features, which he quickly covered with: "How about we get that sleep you've been going on about?"

Grinning, I flopped back down next to him, throwing an arm across his chest. "Turn around." He did, letting me spoon him. I smiled into his neck, breathing a sigh of relief at finally being able to sleep. A second later, I had sprung up again. "Wait a sec..."

Yamato turned his upper body around, giving me a confused look.

"Have you ever had sex willingly?"

His eyes widened, blinking rapidly. "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean," I shifted, staring him down. "Have you ever wanted to have sex? Have you slept with anyone besides the Count?"

"No...?"

"..to which question?"

"Both? Any? All?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. What kind of question is that, anyway?"

I let myself fall back down next to him. I was pretty sure the answer was 'no' to all questions.

"Just so you know, we're not having sex until you want it."

"But what if you want it?"

"Doesn't matter. We won't be doing anything without your consent."

"But that's not fair."

"That's exactly what fair is."

"Taichi, that's not how it works."

"Yamato, that's exactly how it works."

"But—"

"I don't want any more excuses; I want to sleep, and you need to sleep, too."

He was frowning at me. "Taichi, I'm a concubine!"

"No," I said, glaring back at him. "You're my lover."

That shut him up, and I was finally able to fall asleep, spooning my lover.

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