Part Four: Ripples

Interrupted in the act of pulling a fluffy blue towel out of a hamper, Shudoshi looked blankly at his new Owner for a moment. How could he not know who he was? Hadn't he paid dearly for the right to Own a Key?

"I am...Shudoshi. I'm your Key, Sir."

Andri rubbed his eyes wearily and accepted the proffered towel. He buried his face in it and breathed deeply to relax himself.

"I'm afraid I don't really understand. What does having a Key mean?"

Shudoshi was baffled. Did this boy really not grasp the situation?

"I am your Key, Sir. I am your personal slave for as long as you want me, or as long as you have purchased me."

It really was almost worth being so blunt just to have a chance to watch those pretty lavender eyes nearly bulge in amazement.

"So THAT'S what Rave meant.... Christ! I--urp--"

It was not, however, worth the sudden wash of pity and fretfulness as Andri's stomach tried again to empty itself of all contents. By this time he had tears of pain rolling down his face, and looked not only miserable, but also distinctly embarrassed. Shudoshi said nothing, simply running a glass of water for him and holding another towel.

Andri, for his part was trying to quell not only nausea, but also a severe panic attack. He was, for all intents and purposes, lost, alone in a desert, trapped in a room with a complete stranger who, despite the face that he claimed to be a personal slave was a good six inches at least taller than he was. He was sick, hungry, tired, and feeling very ripped apart from all he knew. All it would take was one wrong word, one indifferent look, and he knew, just knew, that the sick-tears would change into terrified tears. He felt too young, too small, too wrong for this place, whatever it was.

And there it was, his last straw, shining in the meltingly brown eyes of the man he could only think of as his captor--pity.

The words slammed out of his mouth in a rush of loathing and self-hatred.

"Lo, how far the mighty have fallen..."

And then the tears.

Shudoshi watched as his Owner's all-too readable face coalesced into a mask of brief fury, then shut down. He watched as the hazy confusion dropped down into a mess of hate and fear. Then he watched as Andri dropped to the ground, dry heaves still shaking him, and curled in a loose ball, tears rippling to the cold tiles. He only paused the briefest moment before kneeling beside him, scooping him up, and cradling the small, fragile body gently.

Andri cried himself to sleep, soaking Shudoshi's tee shirt with tears. The taller, older man held him closely, patting his back as though he were a small child, all the while telling himself that this was Andri as he was when he was sick, ill, traumatized by drugs and booze. This could not be that Narcissus in the photograph. Things would surely seem better in the morning.

Shudoshi let Andri sleep alone on the lower bunk all that day and well into the night. He tried to rest, knowing that sooner or later all the stress would take its toll on even his sunny disposition, but sleep wouldn't come. He finally gave up even trying to read, pulled a chair up to the bed and watched Andri lying senseless on the bed. After a long while, he folded his arms and rested his chin on the blue comforter. He had let the lights dim, and amused himself by trying to count the thousands of tiny sticker-stars on what he could see of the ceiling before they faded. Without noticing, he drifted off.

Andri woke shivering and aching. It seemed to be the beginnings of possibly the worst hangover he had ever had, and Clematis wasn't here with her endless stash of pills to make it better. His throat felt sticky and painfully raw, and his eyes were swollen with the remnants of tears. Thinking back a bit, he could begin to remember exactly what had happened the night--or was it day?--before. He threw his head back on the pillow with an expression of disbelief. How could he have embarrassed himself so thoroughly in front of a total stranger?! A sigh alerted him to  another presence in the darkened room, and one quite close by, to judge by the weight on the side of the bed.

It was too dark to see properly, so Andri contrived to get up without disturbing the other person. He didn't succeed; Shudoshi was awake and alert before he'd even gotten off the bed. He stayed still, listening, amused, to Andri blundering around the room searching for a switch. At length he spoke up, slurring his voice to feign sleepiness.

"You must be looking for the light." He punctuated this with a vigorous yawn. "Hang on a min'..."

Andri stilled, his headache banging away like surf on the beach. A minute or two of quiet movements, and lights flared to life. He winced as the pain redoubled, and they soon dimmed to an acceptable level. He looked about himself warily. Round room, windows, alcoves, bunk bed, door, presumably locked again. The walls were painted as if a tropical beach at low tide. He couldn't focus properly, but even the briefest of glances informed him that it was beautifully and realistically done.

He was still wearing his battered clothes from last night, and felt much the worse for wear. Motion from his right caused him to spin and nearly fall, but a strong hand steadied him and handed him two pills and a glass of water. Andri swallowed them obediently, not even asking what they were. The man (Shu...doshi? tashi?) quirked a grin.

"You're rather well-trained, Sir. That could have been anything. It was only Tylenol, of course."

"Clem used to feed me things when I had hangovers. They always worked."

"Clem?"

"Clematis. She was my...I don't know what to call her. I guess a valet would work."

"Intriguing. Ah well, now that you are moderately awake, I can properly introduce myself."

Shudoshi knelt, flipping his ponytail back, and began his speech.

"Welcome to the Palace, Master. I am your Key, the Cancer Key, Shudoshi. (Means monk)-"

"I know."

"Don't interrupt."

"Sorry."

Andri looked down at Shudoshi with great curiosity. He had thought that the often-played with ponytail was black, but in the better light, he could see that it was actually an interesting shade of violet, tending towards the blue, or perhaps blue with purple leanings. He tried his hardest, but couldn't see any roots. Hair that color couldn't be natural, could it?

"As I was saying, I am Shudoshi. I will be your servant, your slave, for as long as you want me-"

"No, just six months. That was all the time that Rave said I had."

"Now hold on a second here! Did I or did I not tell you to wait until I was done?"

"Who's the 'slave' here?"

Shudoshi grinned broadly, and lowered his head still further. Andri was fascinated. No roots at all, and it looked silky and perfect, neither adjective attributable to hair that had been dyed in that way.

"Point taken. Would you like to talk, O Master Mine?"

"No, go ahead."

"Thanks. Anyway, for as long as you want me, I am yours to do with as you please. Here, to serve, Sir!"

With the last statement he jumped to his feet (bare, Andri noticed) and executed a sharp salute. Andri looked him over. Rumpled tee shirt, tight, patched jeans, big brown eyes in an utterly boyish face. In another life he never would have taken notice of him, except, perhaps to wonder about the hair. There was an irrepressible gleam in his eyes as well, a brilliant intelligence and the threat of a wicked sense of humor. He also looked far too clean and far too perky. Andri rubbed his fingers through his own messy cloud of spikes and tangles.

"Uhh...nice to meet you. I'm Andri Yoshimura. Andri's okay. I was sent here as a sort of either punishment or a vacation. I'm usually a singer."

"Really? Me too! Maybe a duet sometime?"

To his surprise, Andri blushed.

"Maybe. I...haven't been doing much work recently. Life's been sorta crazed."

Shudoshi's eyes glittered.

"I can guess, from the condition you were in-"

"Don't start trying to judge me! I'm old enough to take care of myself!"

A brisk smile broke over Shudoshi's face, and he crossed his arms and leaned forward a little.

"How old are you, anyway?"

Misliking the grin, Andri responded hesitantly: "Twenty-two. Twenty-three next March."

"Pisces, then?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Nothing, nothing at all. Just noting for future reference."

"Okayyyyy..."

Shudoshi grinned widely and infectiously. This Andri fellow could be good bit of fun, provided he were handled wisely. It seemed moderately obvious from even the briefest contact that his sense of humor was less than ideal, but that was alright. He'd had worse. But before anything else, before even telling him where to find the light switches and single, tiny clock, Andri needed a bath, and, as everyone knows, baths are excellent places to judge a person's tolerances.

Ah, he was in luck. One sideways glance as Andri fussed with his jacket and looked uncomfortably down at his still-booted feet told him all he needed to know.

"Would Sir like to investigate the bathing facilities?"

"Sir? ...Me? Um. Yes. Andri's fine, by the way."

Shudoshi mentally chalked one up for himself. He trusted him enough to drop to a first name basis nearly immediately! He well knew that with an Owner like this, trust was important to build quickly.

"Then I shall run you a bath. In the meantime, if you'd like to change your clothing, I believe your bags were brought sometime this afternoon, or you may choose a robe from that alcove over there. At least one should fit you."

Andri shrugged disinterestedly. "I'll likely just grab a robe. Most of my clothes don't suit this place very well. I wasn't precisely expecting a desert, much less a room like this."

He thought to himself, "But then, I wasn't really expecting much of anything. I had no idea..."

And then, much to Shudoshi's surprise (he had expected him to be a little bit of a prude, honestly), Andri held out his arms, lifted his chin, and seemed very much to be expecting him to undress him!

"You weren't kidding, were you. She really was a valet..."

"That's about it. You'll want to be careful with the pin. I know she stuck her fingers on... it... many..."

Andri felt a thin tear spill out of his left eye. He remained still, plagued by memories, shut his mouth, and pretended to be stoic.

Shudoshi arched one eyebrow and eyed Andri's clothes. A mass of lace held on by (he presumed) the errant pin, which was enameled, large, triangular, and did indeed look dangerous. A silk shirt in a fine cream, lace at the cuffs, jeweled buttons -real rubies?-, cufflinks, half-tucked into a pair of crimson velvet pants, which, he reflected, matched not only the coat, but the pin, the rubies (?), and his hairtips. Soft leather boots, no heels, rather pointed toe. Very...rock star-like, unsurprisingly; not unattractive, but Andri had been right, not suited to this environment. With a mental shrug, Shudoshi set about unclothing the slim, fragile-seeming boy. Andri tipped his head back a little further and closed his eyes. Shudoshi felt his mouth go a little dry. Tempting, that boy. He carefully unpinned the lace at Andri's throat, which surprised him by being what held the shirt closed past the collarbone. It fell open, and for a moment, Andri stood like a perfect, willing sacrifice to any given vampire. The whole sight made Shudoshi feel ineffably cheesy for even thinking it. Then Andri opened his eyes, wrinkled his nose, swiftly turned his head away, and SNEEZED violently, which killed the entire effect so thoroughly that Shudoshi started laughing.

Andri looked briefly disgruntled, and held out one hand imperiously, saying, "Can you undo these things? I'd like to take this shirt off, now."

Still snickering, Shudoshi responded, "Don't you know how?"

"No. I've never done it. Clem always did."

"Saa..."

One pair of cufflinks later, the sleeves fell a little past Andri's fingertips, which made him look even smaller.

"Do you want to undo the buttons yourself?"

"No. You can do it."

"I thought you were a Pisces, not a Leo!"

"I don't know what that has to do with anything! I've just never had to really undress myself before. Either whoever I was sleeping with did it for me, or Clem did, or Mandarin, or my mother, when I was very small."

Shudoshi shrugged.

"Haven't you ever wanted to learn? It's certainly not difficult. Just a tie here, a button there..."

"Don't mistake my meaning. It's just this sort of clothes that I have trouble with. I can pull on a tee shirt and jeans, if I want to, but the laces and clips and pins just confuse me. Besides, women always like to play dress-up with me. It's humiliating, but it means that I don't have to dress myself."

Somehow, the shirt was unbuttoned, untucked, and left to rest on his shoulders. He sat down and Shu knelt to remove his shoes. They were filled with sand, and buttoned up the side, which he shuddered a little at. Imagine wanting to keep your feet so confined! Andri's socks matched the shirt, and had little fleur-de-lis embroidered at the ankles (in crimson, of course). He almost wanted to twitch at that--how coordinated WAS this guy?? He was about to find out, because Andri told him to take off his pants as well. Shudoshi had to concentrate a little harder than before, because his fingers kept wanting to brush over Andri's chest and stomach, just to feel if it was really as soft as it looked. Andri insisted, however, and was soon left wearing only the shirt and a silky maroon thing that was too short to be a pair of boxers, but too long and loose to be anything else. It was thought very interesting, and rather sexy by Shu.

Andri yawned, stretched, and laid himself out on the bed. He looked highly dramatic against the blue sheets. Somehow Shudoshi couldn't help wishing that his hair were longer and not so...hedgehog-like. The rest of him was entirely perfect...

"Your bath?"

"Yes, please. If you've anything strongly scented, don't use it. Just water is fine."

"Your wish is, if you'll forgive the turn of phrase, my command...Andri."

The word slithered a little in his mouth. Andri...Andri...what was it that bothered him about his new Owner's name? As he drew the bath, he reflected on it. The conclusion he reached was a little startling, and perhaps a bit bothersome. It was because he was treated like a servant, barely beneath notice; he wanted to fall into the slave role and never call him anything but Sir, or Master. That was annoying. He didn't want this relationship to start like this! He wanted it to be personal! He wanted to feel something for this hurt little boy, and even more, wanted him to feel something back.

"No hope, perhaps. He's too used to being treated like a lord. I should have never even thought it."

"I'll never think it again. Not even when he cries himself to sleep in my arms..."