[Laruku] [Tetsuhai] Taste of Love

[radhaj]

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Those people are not mine. I only wish they were
Warnings: All sorts of ickness: slavery, bdsm, bondage, all sorts of kinks, including the fact that Hyde is a minor in this one. Like, really a minor. You have been warned.
Summary: In a country where slavery is the main source of income, Hideto sacrifices his own freedom to protect his sister's. Young and impressionable, he finds himself giving his trust to the kind slave trainer that bought him, but there is no hope anymore for the inexperienced boy to ever experience what love is now that he's no longer in control of his own life... or is there?


Chapter 16

It soon turned out that when she was allowed to be, Tia was actually a really talkative person.

As soon as everyone was done eating and Tetsu went away together with Yukihiro to do... whatever they had planned for the day, Hyde looked at the slave girl sort of expectantly, and she didn't keep him waiting.

“Well then,” she started without preamble, “The first thing we do when we're on housework duty is put all this away,” she gestured at the food on the table.

“Won't May-san want to eat when she wakes up?” Hyde asked, and Tia shook her head.

“She'll get what she wants when she does and cleans up after herself. Our duties remain the same regardless.”

It was the first time that Hyde actually stepped into the kitchen and saw the expensive-looking appliances, the shiny counter tops and various tools for cooking that he couldn't even recognize. Thus he listened attentively while Tia explained where everything was and what to do there, although when he asked about specific things or items he found interesting, she waved the questions away.

“We'll talk about that when we cook dinner later,” she promised, putting the last of what they brought back from the dining room away.

They met a sleepy May just as she was coming down from her room, but only greeted her quickly before continuing on their own way. As they went from room to room, Tia continued giving him information. Both of their Masters' rooms were to be cleaned up when they weren't in them so as to keep out of their way. Making their beds was the duty of the slaves, whereas the slaves had to make their own beds each morning – failure to do so properly before that is checked would warrant punishment, and Hyde was supposed to tell Tetsuya if he found one of the other slaves' rooms untidy in any way some morning.

“We never said anything the last two mornings to you,” she noted, as she made him redo his bed in a way that was more proper, “Since you couldn't have known. But now that you've been taught how to do it, the rule will apply to you as well.”

Tia showed him how to use the vacuum cleaner, and then the washing machine, although not before carefully explaining what clothing was supposed to be washed in which program, and which fabric was only supposed to be hand-washed. Soon after they were done setting the laundry, the door-bell rang and it turned out to be a delivery from the tailor's – Hyde's new clothes. Yukihiro appeared briefly to sign for the delivery man as slaves didn't have the ability to do so, but then was gone away soon again, and Hyde and Tia hauled the clothes up to Hyde's room where the girl helped him put them into his wardrobe. Instead of turning into a small break as Hyde had expected it at first, the time was spent learning about what clothing from the ones he received was supposed to be worn to which occasions. In his previous life Hyde had so little to do with the rest of the society that he barely even had any understanding about which clothing counted as official and which as casual.

“Do I even really need this?” he asked, stupefied, when Tia pointed out an especially intricate outfit as something that is worn by the escort of a high-standing person while attending noble galas and banquets. It was made well enough and so expensive that it could even be worn at the audience with the King or the rest of the Royal Family.

“Master Tetsuya is of noble blood, and he is a highly respected slave trainer,” Tia explained to him patiently, and Hyde remembered Yukihiro mentioning something to that point in the conversation he had overheard yesterday, “There are many such occasions that he attends, and he always requires at least one of his current trainees to accompany him. Especially if it is a slave trainer gathering or so – that is one of the best places for the slaves to be shown off to potential customers. I've heard that our Master never takes any of his trainees to sell at the market. Up until now, at least, he has always secured a place in a specific household individually for each of them, and then finished up the training to the tastes of the specific buyer,” she revealed, and Hyde found himself eating up every word of what was, he assumed, waiting for him in the future. The girl, quite opposite of his excitement, seemed to become more and more subdued while she spoke about it.

“Is something wrong?” the boy couldn't help but ask, worried when he saw the normally cheery girl's expression cloud up.

“No, everything is fine,” The older girl immediately smiled to reassure him, “It is just... I've already been here for a month and a half, and I've been shown to public a few times, but there has been little interest yet. Master told me it's not because I seem like a bad slave, or for lack of... physical attractiveness. It's just because I'm rather old to be sold for the first time, and most people are worried about the lack of experience at such an age...”

“Old?” Hyde repeated, surprised. Tia could only be fifteen at most, after all...

“I was sick for a long time as a child. I'm well by now but...” the girl explained further, “May-senpai told me you used to be free, so you might not know, but normally I would have been sold at least two years earlier.”

“But May-senpai seems to be older than you?” Hyde continued to be confused, taking advantage of the fact that the older girl didn't seem to mind his curiosity.

“Oh, but she already had one Master,” she disclosed casually, “She is being re-trained for her second one who has some different tastes and needs than her first. But come on now, we should get going with this,” she gestured at the clothes that had yet to be put away. Hyde forced himself to, for the time being, put off thinking about what he had just learned about his fellow slaves until later, and almost winced at that, his head already heavy with all the new information that has been given to him today. But Tia seemed to notice his apprehension to listen to her even more and laughed light-heartedly.

“Don't worry about not remembering everything perfectly today already,” she reassured him gently, “This week is for learning all this. We will repeat things again and again to you if need be. Just try your best, and it will turn out fine.”

That did reassure Hyde at least slightly, but he still forced himself to concentrate on what he was being told about the rest of the clothes as well as he could. He didn't want to seem like he wasn't trying his best after all, and he was determined to not annoy Tia by having to ask about things again and again. However, it was truly hard to understand some of the things. Especially when it came to any appliances that ran on electricity – none of them were something Hyde had ever had to work with before in his life, and it was even a bit of a shock to realize some tasks that had been so arduous back at home could here be done by the press of a few buttons. It felt alien to him, and he just hoped that he really would get used to this soon enough.

The clothes were soon done, however, and it was nearing lunch-time. Hyde's stomach was already grumbling, quietly, every once in a while – he liked food a lot, after all, and now that he actually, theoretically, had access to ample of it all the time, it was like his body suddenly felt it was able to actively demand it for once and actually be heard. Tia heard it, at least, and suggested they got themselves some lunch.

Blushing a bit in embarrassment at the transparency of his hunger, Hyde did as suggested and followed Tia outside, where he actually saw the backyard for the first time. It was big. Huge, really, by Hyde's standards, including a garden, a lawn and even a small pool, and, apparently, sometimes required quite a bit of attention and work. Right now, it had been recently taken care of, so they had little to do. The girl only showed him how exactly would he have to go about mowing the lawn and weeding the garden and so on before they were back inside, only not for long. Tia showed him where the Masters usually left some money for grocery shopping and then led them out into the city, to the supermarket so they could buy food for dinner. Although Hyde was a bit apprehensive about it, since his rules didn't allow him to leave the house, Tia reassured him she had been given permission to bring him out for this.

“The money is only for dinner though,” Tia was stressing just as they stepped out into the street, “If you have some personal need for something, you can't ever use this for that. You have to ask the Masters personally for it, or use your own pocket money when you get some.”

Hyde nodded to show that he understood, but personally he didn't even think it had been worth mentioning – as if he would ever dare use the money for himself. He might be clueless about a lot of things concerning his new status of life, but he could have guessed very well that something like that would be an absolute taboo.

Speaking of cluelessness about the life of a slave... Hyde thought back to his and Tia's short talk in his room and the way the girl seemed honestly worried about not being sold. Was it really such a bad thing to not be sold easily? Hyde carefully glanced at his companion, now walking mutely beside him, leading the way, probably thinking about what exactly to buy. The girl was obviously distressed by a mere idea of not getting much interest from buyers, but wasn't that more of a problem for their current owner, not them? Tetsuya was a nice Master, Hyde could imagine that staying with him would be comfortable. He wouldn't be able to just start mistreating them once they outstayed their welcome – not with the laws in place to prevent it, and he didn't seem like a person to do that in general. He was too nice and too fair.

Of course, it would probably get awkward after a while, staying where you're not even wanted. Actually, wasn't he supposed to start wanting to please his owner, which, in that case, would mean wanting to appear desirable for his clients? And maybe... was that why Tia mentioned the way Tetsuya usually sold his trainees? Perhaps if Tetsuya couldn't find a buyer for them that way, he still wouldn't wait much longer and just sell him off at the market after all. And the prices are most likely much lower in the market than the ones in private deals; the slaves more available for less prestigious clientèle... perhaps it did make sense to want to appeal to the people that would be able to spoil their slaves quite well after buying, if you know you'd be sold anyway.

And then there was the thing he had learned about May... He truly didn't know before that she was already that experienced a slave. But that fact alone wasn't what bothered him – it was the reminder that he, too, wouldn't just stay with one Master through his life. Hadn't Tetsuya mentioned that too, how he expected Hyde to go through a few different Masters quite fast because of his age?

How must that feel? Hyde knew it won't take him long to get attached to Tetsuya and Yukihiro already, and they were just his trainers. In fact, he was already, in his mind at least, forming a bond with Tetsuya. How would he feel when he'd have to suddenly redirect the devotion, obedience and trust, which he was supposed to feel towards his owner at the end of his training, towards a completely different person? And then, assuming he would manage to do it with his first Master, do it again after a year or two when he will get bored of him and re-sell him?

Perhaps he was still thinking too much like a... person. Not like a slave, not like the commodity to other people that he was supposed to be. He had barely been conditioned into it yet, and when he finally would be, maybe it would come to him easily, naturally. But right now he just couldn't understand. The two images of a slave he had in his head – one, that was totally devoted to one person alone and the other, that easily accepted being passed off to another Master – were clashing completely.

Perhaps he would be able to ask Tetsuya about it in the evening. He was, after all, meant to guide and explain things to Hyde. The new slave thought about asking Tia about how she sees it but... having grown up into this life, she probably wouldn't even understand why it would puzzle him in the first place. The right mindset would have been drilled into her since birth.

By the time he was finished pondering, they had already reached the supermarket. Of course, again, Hyde had never been to a shop as big before, and certainly was never able to buy such a quantity of such quality goods before. But there wasn't really anything to learn here, so Hyde just helped out Tia with carrying everything home. People barely paid them any attention as they passed, and Hyde thought they probably looked like just a couple of regular, free kids, out on an errand. Except to the people who looked closely enough to notice the collars adorning both their necks, he realized a bit later. The collar that, he was startled to realize, he hadn't thought of or really felt even once that day. If only he could get used to all the changes he was going through as seamlessly as to this.

Preparing dinner was something Tia only used him as an assistant for. Having no idea about any recipes, Hyde could only cut, chop and grate what he was told to, the way he was told to. The girl explained that he would soon start learning about actual cooking and memorizing recipes himself, but it would be rather useless to just tell him one now. She did, however, instruct him how to make the table. Somehow, in the end, she managed to time everything just perfectly that by the time everyone else came down to dinner, the food was ready, hot, and waiting on the table to be eaten.

“Oh, Hyde,” Tetsuya addressed him absent mindedly when both the boy and his today's mentor came out of the kitchen to join them, “This came for you just a little earlier.”

The slave trainer was already handing him something, and Hyde's eyes widened as they recognized the rectangular, thin form of an envelope. A letter. From his sister.

His whole attention suddenly focused on that one, small thing, the newest slave quickly took it into his suddenly trembling from eagerness hands, barely blinking as he stared. It was true – the inelegant scrawl on the envelope was definitely his sister's writing. Suddenly desperate to read it as quickly as possible, Hyde felt divided between tearing the envelope open right then and there and running off to his room to read privately. In the end, he started to open it while walking out at the same time...

Suddenly, there was a firm grip on the boy's shoulder, and Hyde was twirled around before he could even grasp what was happening. Tetsuya was now standing before him, having somehow really quickly risen from his seat and caught up with him. Hyde had no time to wonder about that at all as the next thing he knew was a sting in his cheek and a quiet ringing in his ears as his owner suddenly slapped him.

It was not a strong slap. Hyde didn't tear up, and it was more the surprise than the force behind the hit that made his head get thrown to the side a little. He was sure, even in his shock, that Tetsuya had definitely held back and could have hit him many times stronger. Still, the fact remained that he was just slapped, and Tetsuya was looking seriously at him, obviously displeased. Half a minute passed in absolute silence. Hyde wasn't about to look and check, but he was sure all the others had stopped eating and were looking at them, perhaps holding their breaths.

“Do you know why I did this?” Tetsuya asked strictly, expectantly. Problem was, Hyde had no idea. He desperately thought back to what happened. Tetsuya handing him the letter, his excitement... The image of the envelope in Tetsuya's hand, extended towards him lingered in his mind. Oh.

“I... I didn't thank you, Sir?” he wasn't quite sure, so it came out more like a question. But Tetsuya nodded his head. Hyde breathed out in relief, but it was too soon.

“Yes. What else?”

Hyde blinked, now truly at a loss. He felt heat gather in his cheek, and suddenly also felt incredibly self-conscious. He was being punished, for the first time, for apparently not one, but multiple misdemeanours. Not only that, but it was happening right in front of everyone else. It felt incredibly shameful, and Hyde fidgeted a little, unable to give any answer.

“The dinner is to be eaten at seven. Together with everyone else. Is that not in your rules?”

Hyde widened his eyes as he finally understood.

“Yes, Sir,” he said barely audibly, looking at his feet.

“You were here with not one, but two of your superiors. Have you been given permission to leave the room?”

If possible, Hyde's shoulders hunched over even more. He felt like crying now – not from pain, but from disappointment and shame.

“No, Sir,” he whispered at the floor. Any pride he might have felt for passing the morning's test was gone and forgotten. Just as, it seemed, Tetsuya's good mood from the morning.

“So what do you do now?” Tetsuya prompted him, sounding a bit less harsh, but still just as serious and strict.

“I am sorry, Sir,” the boy apologized. His impatience to read his sister's answer to his letter had gotten the best of him, making him forget all the rules. He was still itching to read it, but he knew it would be impossible at least until after dinner. That is, if Tetsuya wouldn't take it away again and make him wait even longer as punishment, “This won't ever happen again.”

“Good,” Tetsuya nodded curtly, “There is one more thing, although I suppose you wouldn't know about it. But Tia can explain one more thing to you today, right?” he asked, turning his head to address the girl who was frozen in her seat. But she answered immediately.

“Getting punished by our Master is an honour,” she recited easily, “We must always thank him for taking the time to discipline and teach us about what we did wrong.”

Hyde didn't need more to understand, and didn't wait for Tetsuya to prompt him again.

“Thank you, Sir,” he said, finally regaining some volume to his voice, “I will make sure to learn from this.”

That seemed to truly be enough and the tense figure of his owner before him finally relaxed, as if satisfied, Hyde soon felt the same hand from before touching his cheek again, only this time gently, cupping it and making him look up. When he did, he saw that Tetsuya was now smiling down at him.

“It's okay,” the older man said softly, reassuringly, in complete contrast to his unforgiving attitude before, “Everyone makes mistakes. This might be your first punishment, but it won't be your last, far from it. It's important, and you should always take it seriously, but you must understand that it's a completely unavoidable part of the process. Take this as a push forward to try harder, not something to make you feel like giving up. Understand?”

Hyde nodded. He certainly felt terrible now, especially now that the tense moment was over and he was left shaking and blinking tears away from his eyes.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good,” Tetsuya repeated one more time, “Now let's get back to this dinner, shall we?”

He motioned Hyde back to the table. Still, to the seat right next to him.