It all started after he accepted the "gig" to perform at that Berudian prince's birthday banquet. He should've known better than to accept the gift but out of politeness, he accepted the annual pass to some strange place called "The Palace." Trowa had thought that it was probably some type of vacation place and was rather glad at the time since he had finally found a nice place to go with Quatre. That was before he had decided to check out the place and find out what exactly was "The Palace" about.

Finally, Trowa got tired of pacing and slumped down on a chair nearby. He buried his face in his hands in dismay. He had really gotten himself in big trouble this time. Trowa sighed as he recalled what happened earlier yesterday...

"Mr. Barton," the attendant said. "We'll be arriving in ten minutes."

Trowa noded in acknowledgement as he peered out the window again. The ride had been uneventful. All he could see below him was a big desert. I like Quatre's desert better. He missed Quatre already. What kind of vacation place would be set in the middle of nowhere anyway?

Then, something shiny caught his eyes.

There ahead, set in the middle of the desert, was a large white palace. Its white gleaming towers and columes shimmer in the air, intricate carvings of angels and demons decorated its outer walls and the doors. The windows frames were casted in gold, decorated by various gems. The Palace looked like some type of castles out of a storybook.

I still like Quatre's mansion better.

The attendants escorted Trowa out of the carrier and led him into the building by several neatly dressed servants. He felt strange from the way those servants looked at him, as if he was some kind of rare animal. He couldn't understand why this was the case. What, hadn't they ever seen a teenager traveling alone before?

The lobby of the palace was very grandly furnished. Expensive carpets paved the floor, a large chandelier hung from the high ceiling. The sun shining through the multi-colored window panes, giving the lobby a somewhat gothic and magical atmosphere. In the middle of the lobby were several large leather sofas, nicely arranged with a marble table in the middle. Trowa sat down on the sofa and waited as the attendants had asked him to. Various exotic drinks were presented to him but he shook his head in refusal. The place was certainly strange, it definitely did not look like a vacation place at all.

"Ah...you must be the sixth guest," said a voice from his right. Sixth guest? What was he talking about? Trowa didn't like the sound of that very much, sounded as if he was the sixth victim or something. He turned his head to find a man dressed in the white uniform similar to that of the servants, except this one wore a hat. Trowa supposed that the hat must meant a higher rank of some sort.

The man came toward him with a glossy black box in his hands. He opened the box and presented him a key with gold tassle. Trowa stared that the key, not knowing that all these meant.

"Oh I'm so sorry sir," the man continued. "You see, there are six guests and six keys for each of them. The different keys are claimed on a first come first serve basis. I'm afraid that this is the one that's left."

"... Thank you." Trowa took the key out of the box and stared at it. Was this the key to his room or something? Why did it matter what color it was? What was with the other guests? For a moment Trowa had a sudden fear that this might be a conspiracy. But if so, where were the other Preventers? They would no doubt be here as well.

"This way please," the man said as he led Trowa through a corridor. The floor here was not carpeted, instead, it was polished. Footsteps echoed errily as they walked in silence. Trowa had to run to keep up with the man. He seemed to be in a hurry to finish his job. This was all way too strange, Trowa hoped that nothing bad would come of it. He shook the morbid thoughts away as they arrived at a door. The door was painted lavishly in gold, the man bowed to him and excused himself.

With shaking hands, Trowa took the key out and fitted it through the hole. He turned the key and the door opened easily. What he saw inside amazed him. The decoration of the room was absolutely beautiful. The room was very big, well-lighted, with white and gold as the predominant colors. There was a skylight with stained glass in the ceiling. Lights streamed into the room in different colors, scattering strange lights onto the curtains. Then there were the crystals on the windows, the lights shone through them and created many rainbows inside the room. It was absolutely beautiful.

But, I still like Quatre's room more...

Trowa wandered inside, looking around at his surrounding. Well, this was certainly one big fancy hotel. But why just six guests? What was the use of having a hotel in the middle of the desert anyway? Trowa touched the bed spread absent-mindedly as he sat down. Silk and satin, how nice. The green-eyed boy closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He could just feel Quatre here with him, on this bed ... The very thought of Quatre was making his heart race. Trowa had always loved the way Quatre would kiss him, first on the lips, then on his neck; he loved the way Quatre would run his finger along his jaw and when-

Trowa's eyes snapped wide opened suddenly upon realizing another presence in the room. Standing before him was another boy. The boy was tall, definitely taller than him. This boy had shoulder length black hair, his light brown eyes watching Trowa with interests. He was wearing gold satin trousers complemented by a matching hat. On his body were numerous tattooes. For a moment he just watched Trowa in silence, his glance slowly turned from curiosity to that of interest and even lust.

"..." Not being the kind to take initiatives, Trowa remained silent. Why was there a boy in his room? Was this boy his roommate or something? It didn't make sense to have a roommate in a hotel like this. This just didn't make any sense to him at all.

The boy stared back at him for another few seconds before replying brightly, "Hello! Are you new?"

"New?" Trowa echoed. "They ... they must've made the mistake of assigning the same room to me. I'll clear it up with them right away." With those words, Trowa stood up and started toward the door. But before he reached the door, the strange boy grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back. Resising the urge to throw the boy over his shoulder, Trowa turned around in surprise. The boy grinned at him in excitement. Trowa swallowed uneasily at the boy's enthusiasm.

"Oh! I'm sorry! So that's who you are suppose to be," the boy exclaimed in realization and then laughed gleefully. "For a minute I thought you are another slave who has stumbled in by mistake!"

Slave? What was he talking about?

"My name is Trinket!" the boy talked excitedly. "Wow! I didn't expect my new master to be this young...and short too! I'm your sex slave! What's your name, master?"

Sex slave?! So that was what all these were about. No wonder that boy was dressed so strangely. Trowa felt nauseous at the prospect of this whole event. What on earth made that Berudian prince thought that he would be interested in having a sex slave?

"Master?" Trinket inquired with concern.

"Eh? What did you say?"

"What's your name, master?"

"Tro...wa," Trowa replied uneasily. He didn't like this at all, nor did he like the direction this whole thing was taking.

"Trowa? Really?" Trinket asked in amazement. He stood there for a while before continuing. "You know, my previous master's name was Trowa too! But he doesn't like me very much, he never touches me." Trinket's lips formed a pout as he finished the statement. Not knowing what to say, Trowa just nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Master Trowa, is there something wrong with me?"

Trowa shook his head dumbly, still didn't know what to say.

"You see," Trinket began, "I only have little experience, I think maybe that was why my old master doesn't like me very much. He said he's not interested in boys. If he's not, then why was he here?"

"..."

"I mean, I may not be so good at certain things," Trinket continued. "I can dance very well, I can recite naughty poems, I'm very creative too!! And...oh! I can play musical instruments too!! Do you know how to play any musical instruments, Master Trowa?"

"Flute."

Trinket beamed at that remark, maybe this master would like him after all. "Well, if you would like, you can touch me you know," Trinket suggested helpfully. "See these pants? Lemme turn around and show you. See these slits in the back, you can see my nice round bottom through it. Do you want to touch it huh?"

"Er...listen Trinket," Trowa said slowly. "I'm sorry ... but uh ... I'm not interested in this kind of things."

For a moment Trinket just stood there in silence. Then his lower lips started trembling. "You don't love me either?" he wailed. "You hate me too? Waaaaah~~~!!!"

Uh-oh... Trowa realized that he must've hit a nerve somewhere  alongthe line. But what could he do? He was definitely not interested in this boy, in fact, he had no clue what this was all about until Trinket told him that he was Trinket's master. He managed to quiet him down after a few hours of companionable silence. Trowa had come close to exceeding his weekly speaking quota as he made it clear to Trinket that he was already committed to someone else. Much to Trowa's dismay, however, upon hearing the news, Trinket just burst out crying again. So that took Trowa another few hours of coaxing and convincing before Trinket decided to stop sulking and crying and go on to sleep, but not before he made Trowa promised him that he would return to visit him and find him another master.

So now here he was, stuck in this mess, all because he was too polite to refuse the gift from the Berudian prince. Trowa sighed as he mulled over the problem again.

"What's wrong, Trowa?" Quatre looked up from his lunch in concern.

"Nothing," Trowa replied hurriedly and forced out a half-smile. He avoided meeting Quatre's eyes and continued eating.

"Trowa..." Quatre started.

"It's about that gift ..." Trowa interrupted. "Remember the gift trip that I told you about?"

"Yes? It's canceled?" Quatre asked. "That's all right Trowa, you don't have to feel bad, we can always go somewhere else."

"No, it's not that," Trowa replied. "I mean, I went and-"

"Oh you went alone?" Quatre commented. "That's fine too, I don't blame you if you don't want me around you all the time."

"It's not that ..." Trowa remarked.

"So you haven't gone there yet?"

"No! I meant I want you to be with me all the time!" A slight flush stained those cheeks.

"Well I almost spend every night in your room and we always-"

"NO!!!!!" Trowa snapped, his face flushed in embarrassment. "I'm not talking about sex!"

"Trowa, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I mean no. I mean..." Trowa sighed. "I mean about the trip, I went yesterday and I found out what the place is about."

"It's terrible?"

"Quatre, would you please let me finish?"

"All right, all right, I'm sorry," Quatre apologized and wondered if Trowa was pregnant. The blonde boy picked up his cup and sipped his Maxwell House Coffee slowly.

"Well, I went yesterday and the place was very nice. But when I walked into the room, I found a boy," Trowa started rambling and took in a big gulp of air. "And he ... he claimed to be my sex slave."

Quatre choked on his tea, his cup fell on to his clothes, spilling hot coffee all over himself in the process. He jumped up from feeling the hot liquid on him and accidentally pulled the table cloth along with him. The things on the table clattered on to the marble floor with a resounding crash.

Trowa watched in silent fascination as the sequence of events took place. He had not expected such a reaction from Quatre. Quatre just stood there, his sea-green eyes showing confusion and shock from what he had just been told.

Trowa quickly walked over to Quatre's side with a handkerchief. "Are you okay? Did you get burnt?"

Quatre shook his head in silence, still in shock.

"S...sex slave?" he asked.

"Yes."

"He gave you a sex slave?!!!!!" Quatre demanded.

"Quatre, he probably did it out of good intentions and-"

"How could that be of good intentions?" Quatre asked.

"Don't worry about it," Trowa tried to calm him down. "I didn't do anything with Trinket, if that's what you're worried about. You have to trust me!"

"Trinket? Is that his name?"

"Quatre, you know that I will never do anything to hurt you right?" Trowa explained. "You do know that I've never slept with anyone but you in my life! And...and I promised him that I'll  get him a new master."

"You promised him what?!"

"Get him a new master."

"How are you going to do that?"

Trowa shook his head. "I don't know."

"Let's go." Quatre grabbed Trowa's hand and pulled him out of the dining hall.

"...?"

"Well if we're going to find him a new master, we need to know what kind of a person he is first right?" Quatre stated.

"Quatre ...."

"Hm?" Quatre looked at Trowa questioningly before realizing that Trowa had somehow gotten the wrong idea. He burst out laughing upon seeing Trowa's flushed face. "No no no Trowa! I'm not talking about three-somes!!" Quatre almost fell over as he continued to laugh and walk at the same time, drawing attention from the servants around them. Finally, Quatre contained himself and continued, "You my dear, should give me more credit."

Quatre just never ceased to surprise him, Trowa thought to himself. He glanced over at Quatre, who was analyzing the artistic architecture of the building. Quatre could definitely  understand why anyone would be hypnotized by the grandeur of The Palace, it was truly  beautiful. The Arabian was glad that somewhere on this planet there was still such a beautiful structure but unfortunately, it had been put to the horrible use of slavery and prostitution.

Note to self: Close down this place when we get through the paperwork; build a mansion just like this for Trowa.

"Trowa, where?" Quatre asked.

Trowa motioned for Quatre to follow. They went through the same dark corridor and arrived at that golden door. Trowa opened the door and peered inside, looking for Trinket. Surprisingly, Trinket was nowhere in sight.

"Trinket?" Strange, there was no sign of anyone in the room. Trowa hoped that everything was all right.

"So where is the boy?" Quatre asked.

"I don't know ..." The green-eyed boy wandered around the room, looking everywhere for Trinket but with no success. Finally he stopped in front of the bed and crossed his arms, trying to figure out where Trinket could be. He was caught by surprise when Quatre suddenly came behind him and wrapped his arms around Trowa.

"Quatre ... what?"

"Sorry baby," Quatre whispered in Trowa's ear and carried him to the bed. "You know you didn't have to go through all this trouble to get me into this room. All you needed to do was ask instead of making up some stories about some sex slave."

"Quatre, I'm serious!" Trowa protested mildly as Quatre laid him on to the bed. "Quatre I-" The rest of the sentence was cut off as Quatre leaned down and kissed him firmly on the lips.

"Since you're so stubborn about sex slaves," Quatre said with a grin, "is that what you have in mind for today?"

"Quatre ..." Trowa started to say something but changed his mind. Maybe Trinket had found himself a new master already. Since no one seemed to be around, why not go along with Quatre's suggestion? Seems like a rather wicked idea.

"No objections? Good." With those words, Quatre leaned down to kiss Trowa again. His fingers start to unbutton Trowa's shirt as he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue into Trowa's open mouth, exploring and teasing him. The blonde boy pushed the shirt off Trowa's shoulders and started to rain kisses over the exposed skin. He sucked lightly at the flesh, then harder, his teeth grazing the tender skin, leaving marks along the shoulders and the neck. Trowa arched his back in response to the touch, his arms came around Quatre's shoulders, pulling him closer. But Quatre grabbed Trowa's arms and pinned them to his side, and instead started to untug his own shirt. He then dropped it on the side of the bed.

Trowa's hands moved to undo Quatre's belt but Quatre grabbed both of his hands again and pinned them over Trowa's head on the headboard. He gave Trowa a wicked grin and undid the belt himself.

"So who's going to get tied up?" Quatre asked him, though the answer was already clear. Quatre fastened the belt around Trowa's wrists and tied them on to the headboard. He then leaned down and kissed Trowa's ear, his tongue tracing the intricate crevice of Trowa's ear before whispering to him. "You're completely at my mercy, slave."

Trowa wanted to laugh at the last remark, it sounded so strange for some reason. He gasped as he felt Quatre's finger on his nipple, drawing lazy circles around it, and then followed by a light pinch. Then there was Quatre's mouth on the other, tonguing it and sucking it, his teeth grazing at the sensitive skin. Trowa whimpered softly as Quatre continued the ministration. Neither of them noticing that there was someone else in the room.

Trinket stared wide-eyed at the spectacle before him. His master was having sex with another boy! The other boy had blonde hair and was shorter than his master. Trinket felt a pang of jealousy in him as he saw his master writhing on the bed, moaning in ecstacy under the onslaught of the other boy, the intruder. But as much as he disliked the latter, Trinket had to admit that the other boy has a very nice body. The blonde had lean, taut muscles on his body, and those buttocks, small and tight ... Trinket could feel something stirring in his pants as he watched on behind the curtains.

Trinket wanted to walk out from the curtains to stop the boy from making love to Master Trowa. After all, Master Trowa was his  master,and he disliked the other boy for stealing his master's affection away from him. But Trinket found that he could not bring himself to move from the spot, for he was too absorbed and mesmerized by the love play that was taking place. His hand subconciously slipped inside his own pants and started to caress his member, his breathing becoming in sync with that of the couple on the bed.

Trinket's eyes opened even wider as he saw what the couple were doing on the bed. He almost gasped in shock when he saw the other boy pulling out his erect cock. He had NO idea that it could get that big and that hard. Trinket wet his lips as he saw Master Trowa sucking on that impossibly large shaft and the other boy making wanton moans as he straddled above Master Trowa. Oh, how he wished that it was him who was on that bed. This was all so exciting for Trinket, for he had never seen anyone making love right before his eyes. He was now the voyeur, watching a rather erotic episode.

Trowa uttered a sound of surprise when Quatre suddenly pulled his cock away from his mouth. He stared at Quatre questioningly, it was rare for Quatre to stop so suddenly that for a moment he was worried that something was wrong. He realized what Quatre was about to do when Quatre lifted up his legs and placed them over his shoulders. Then, without previous preparations, Quatre slammed inside of him.

Trinket almost cried out with Trowa when he saw what happened. Wouldn't that hurt a lot to do that? Trinket wondered. His first time was used with lubricant and even then it hurt. Trinket decided that Master Trowa must be very brave. This made Trinket liked Trowa even more, but then there was the other boy, sure, Trinket didn't like the fact that the blonde-haired boy was penetrating his master but then again, he found himself enjoying the whole scenario. Trinket was so excited by the fucking that he was chewing on to the curtains without even realizing it. His hand was pumping his penis faster and faster as the couple on the bed approached climax. Finally, Trinket heard their sounds of release and for a moment was frozen in his own act by the fanstastic spectacle of his master's semen spraying into the air.

Quatre slipped out of Trowa and untied him before collapsing on top of Trowa. Quatre licked a path up Trowa's neck and kissed his ear.

"Too bad I can't find any chains and whips here," Quatre teased. "They would've come in very handy for this occasion."

"Quatre..."

"I'm only joking my dear, of course unless you really want to try them."

"You..."

Quatre laughed when he saw Trowa's red face, he nuzzled at Trowa's neck and kissed him again. The two continued laughing and kissing, their limbs entangled. Trinket on the other hand, was still trying to achieve release. He was breathing faster and faster as he saw the two kissing passionately. Trinket was pulling on to the curtains as he bit on them in the heat of achieving his climax. As he came all over his hands, a small cry escaped from his lips.

Quatre's eyes snapped open suddenly when he heard the sound. It sounded like a cry and it came from the far end of the room. He sat up suddenly, breaking the kiss with Trowa and banging heads with Trowa in process of doing so.

"Ow...sorry Trowa...sorry," Quatre muttered, keeping his eyes on that one spot in the room the whole time.

"What's wrong?" Trowa asked as he rubbed his forehead, a bit disappointed. He then followed Quatre's gaze to the other side of the room. There seemed to be nothing but curtains there.

"Who's there?" Trowa called out, his voice trembling a bit, and that was when Quatre saw a pair of feet sticking out underneath the curtains.

"Come on out!" Quatre ordered. The curtains shifted a bit and out stepped Trinket. How surprised Quatre was when he saw another person in the room. He glanced at Trowa out of the corner of his eye and found that the long-banged boy's face had turned a rare shade of pink.

Note to self: Must do this more often. Trowa looks good when he's embarrassed.

"How did you get in here?"

"This is my room, Master Trowa," Trinket replied, his eyes on Quatre. "Who's that? Another slave?"

"Slave?!" Quatre exclaimed. "Look who's talking."

"I don't know who you are but how dare you take my master's affection from me?!" Trinket accused Quatre, his eyes beaming with jealousy. Quatre returned with a cold stare and ignored him.

"Your master's affection? It just happens that Trowa is in love with me, and I am not a slave!" Quatre retorted as he climbed out of bed.

"Quatre..." Trowa spoke up.

"Let me handle this," Quatre cut him off, challenging Trinket.

"But Quatre!"

"Trowa, you stay out of this."

Trowa couldn't believe this, those two guys were fighting over him and he didn't even have a say in the matter?! Frustrated, he started to climb out of the bed himself before realizing that he was still naked, his clothes strewn about in the room, and so were Quatre's clothes.

"Quatre, your clothes." Trowa said aloud before he could stop himself.

That remark seemed to have an effect on both Quatre and Trinket. For Quatre immediately reached for his slacks while Trinket dove toward Quatre's clothes, scooped them up and ran away with them. Quatre growled and ran after the taller boy, leaving Trowa on the bed, staring at them in shock.

"Give my clothes back to me you impudent slave!"

"No!" Trinket retorted, still running around the room with Quatre's clothes. "I'm not giving these things back to the person who comes between master and me!"

"Why you...!!!"

"Both of you, stop it!!!!!!!" Trowa raised his voice, finally getting them to remember his existence. "Trinket, give them back to Quatre."

"But master..."

"Give. Them. Back. To. Quatre." Trowa cut him off. Trinket gulped and returned the clothes to Quatre reluctantly. Quatre gave him a good glare before putting on his clothes. He then picked up Trowa's clothes and handed them to him.

"Oh master, lemme put them on for you," said Trinket as he rushed toward Trowa.

"Hey!!" Quatre barked at him. "Keep your paws off Trowa!!"

"I can take care of myself..."

Trinket stepped back and glared at Quatre angrily. Who did this boy think he was anyway? Stealing his master's affection and attention like this. This was his master, it was so unfair.

After putting on his clothes, Trowa remained seated on the bed and glanced at Quatre, then at Trinket, and back at Quatre again. He sighed.

"Trinket, you see..." Trowa paused, he didn't know how to break this to Trinket.

"Master, you've already told me that you're committed to somebody, please don't tell me that this rude person here is the one," Trinket shot an accusing glare at Quatre. Quatre returned him with the trademark ZERO-System glare, murder written in his eyes.

"Actually...that's the one. This is Quatre, Quatre this is Trinket." Trowa muttered, feeling extremely awkward. "I promised you that I'd get you a new master..."

"Oh no!" Trinket gasped in horror. "Don't tell me it's him!"

Quatre frowned but didn't say anything. No point in bothering himself with someone like that, he figured.

"No," Trowa continued, "but I promised you that I will find you a good master."

"But you said that yesterday too and I still haven't one!!!" Trinket wailed. "You all hate me, I'm not loved. I suck! Waaaaaaaaah~~~~"

Quatre groaned in dispair as he tried to shut out the horrible crying generated by the whiny sex slave while Trowa looked on with dismay, not knowing what to do. Finally, Quatre spoke up, "Look, I promise you I'll get you somebody by tomorrow night. Just leave us alone."

"Quatre, that's not very nice ..." Trowa glanced worriedly over to Trinket, afraid that he would cry again but instead finding the boy beaming excitedly at Quatre.

"Really? You really promise? Tomorrow night? Huh? Huh?"

"Yes," Quatre sighed. He grabbed Trowa's hand and pulled him up from the bed. "Come on Trowa, we need to find him a master."

"We shouldn't lie to him like that," Trowa commented mildly.

"Who says I'm lying?" Quatre exclaimed, looking a bit hurt.

"You... are really going to get him a master?"

Quatre gave him a secretive smile and held up a folder in front of him. He handed it over to Trowa. "This is what I've found after bribing Heero to hack the Alliance computer system. That guy's a genius, he hacked it in no time."

Trowa skimmed through the files and looked up again, "These are Noin's biographical files, what does that have to do with finding Trinket a master?"

Quatre laughed and handed Trowa another folder. "Actually, Heero has found more data from various sources. Look at this one, it's rather interesting."

Trowa opened the folder and read through an assortment of articles that ranged from tribal groups to slave trades, from art to history and finally... Trinket!

"Are you sure this is ..."

"Of course I'm sure," Quatre answered. "especially when Heero's the one hacking for the info. Small world, Trinket's actually Noin's long lost distant relative."

"So...?"

Quatre smiled slyly and headed toward the door. "Leave it to me, I'll take care of the details. Besides, I gotta close down that slavery place." Quatre remarked as he exited. "I'll be right back in ten minutes, and when I get back, I would like to see you on the bed, open and ready." Quatre gave Trowa a suggestive smile before vanishing out the door.

"Another assignment, I see," Heero said as he looked at the instruction. "You promise me you'd get me four tons of wasabi, peas and shaving cream, right?"

"Of course, Heero, have I ever broken my word?" Quatre flashed Heero his trademark smile. "Just follow the instruction. It's doing a good deed too, Duo and Wufei will love you for it."

"They will?"

"Of course!! Oh and I'll even include a year-long pass to the best beauty salon if you want."

"When is this to be accomplished?" Heero asked gravely, his eyes studying the plan carefully.

"Tomorrow night," Quatre answered casually. "Any questions?"

"Ninmu ryoukai."