Ai No Kusabi Fan Fiction ❯ Forever Caged ❯ Chapter 32 ( Chapter 32 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Ai No Kusabi nor do I make any money from this fanfic. But I do own all the original peeps that I've chosen to invade the AnK world.
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Iason/Riki, Raoul/Katze, Original characters and novel character pairings.
Parts: 32 of ?

 

~~**Forever Caged**~~

Gabriel rhythmically tapped his pen on his desk as he glowered out of his office windows. Because of that damn willful Furniture, Gabriel had been late getting to his department. He had been reduced to asking his own Furniture to fetch something to remove the dye from his neither regions.

Little Niko had a lot to answer for when he got his hands on him later tonight, Gabriel thought.

But the punishment he had in store for him would come later. For now thoughts of seeing Raoul and Iason's ex-Furniture together, both wet from their bath that no doubt had been shared filled his mind. Those had surely been love bites on…what was his name? Katze?

Gabriel mentally waved away the question. It didn't matter what his name was, all that mattered was that Raoul had made a Furniture into his pet, his pairing partner.

Which meant so could he…Gabriel as not unfamiliar with the reaction his body had towards Niko, but it was the first time his body had become that way. His knowledge was vast when it came to sex. All Elites knew a great deal about the act. He had watched thousands of pet performances and knew exactly what his body was experiencing, it was just that it had been the first time his body had reacted in such a way. Now the question was what he was planning to do about it.

Gabriel growled low in his throat as he thought about the barriers in his way, and not the Elite barriers that forbid him from being intimate with another being, but Niko's. There was no point in instigating anything with the boy if Niko couldn't get aroused, not with those drugs and the implant in the way.

Sitting straight up with the thought that crossed his mind, Gabriel curved his lips up into a ruthless little smile. Reaching out, the Elite opened a line and called the one person that would help him with the problem he currently faced.

“Eos Medical Center.”

“This is Sir Gabriel Lazan. Get Sir Michael Ozent now.” Gabriel told the Midas desk clerk that appeared on the video link.

“R-right away sir.”

Gabriel waited impatiently for the Ruby to answer.

“Sir Gabriel. I didn't realize that we had an appointment to speak.”

Gabriel glared at the Ruby. “We do now.” Gabriel arrogantly replied, lifting a blonde brow, daring the lower ranking Elite to contradict him.

“Of course. How may I be of service to you?”

Nodding in approval, as the Ruby's voice changed from barely concealed annoyance to more humbled tones, Sir Lazan collected his thoughts. He sat back and studied the Elite's perfect features for a moment before speaking. “Your departments Hospital Director as well as the Chief of Medicine has been gone for two weeks out of every month, going around Amoi to visit our other Medical Centers. His second, the Platina, Sir William Landon, has also taken a leave for an undisclosed amount of time, has he not? Which leaves you, the highest in knowledge and rank, in charge, am I not correct?” Gabriel asked pleasantly, his smile growing when the Ruby's eyes narrowed before nodding.

“You are correct Sir.”

“Now before Sir Daylon's trip he submitted plans, to be approved of by me, to add an extension to Eos hospital. Without my stamp these plans cannot be turned in to his Excellency for funding.”

“Yes…I am aware that Sir Daylon turned in his plans…”

Gabriel continued to smile and speak politely to the Ruby. “What I find interesting is that after Sir Daylon departed, not two days later, another set of plans were submitted with a request to dispose of the one sent in earlier, but still had his signature on it. How do you explain that?”

Guarded eyes stared at Gabriel. “I can only assume that Sir Daylon changed his mind on what he wanted done and had one of his assistants submit the altered plans.”

“Ahh, yes…very true he could have done that.” Gabriel leaned forward in his chair. “But how would you explain the fact that Sir Daylon was not the one that signed the new documents for the building requests and designs? That it was you who did?” Gabriel held up his hand, stopping the Ruby from denying his crime. “I compared a past signature of yours to that of the paperwork turned in, Sir Michael. Forgery is a very serious offence.”

“…What do you want?”

Gabriel chuckled. “Such a thing will not go unnoticed. I'm truly amazed that you dared to do such a thing and not think to get caught…So here is what I can do for you, out of the goodness of my heart: When Sir Daylon comes to question the change and ask why another room was added, I will present him with why another room was necessary. A presentation that, of course, you will have delivered to me by the end of the day.”

“…And in exchange?”

Gabriel leaned back in his chair and looked down at his well manicured fingertips.

“Sir Gabriel?”

“You are in charge of the health of all the pets in Eos, correct?”

“…Yes I am…”

“And you are also in charge of the documentation making sure all of the chemically castrated Furniture are taking their medication. You also make sure that their implants have not shifted or been rendered defective, am I not right?”

“…Yes…”

Dropping his act of politeness, Gabriel pinned the Ruby with a hard look. “Sir Raoul's Furniture. I want you to remove his implant and change his self injections from a suppressant to a stimulant.”

“I can't-”

“You can and you will!” Gabriel hissed, narrowing his eyes when the Ruby shook his head.

“I could lose my position should Sir Daylon find out and-“

“You will lose everything if I make it known that you forged the signature of your superior. Your position, rank, wealth, everything. You'd be lucky if any department would take you in much less talk to you should I make this public about what you have done.” Gabriel said coldly, his teal eyes flashing with anger that the Ruby thought to refuse him.

“…”

Calming himself down Gabriel smiled again. “Do as I tell you and this little problem of yours will go away.”

“…I will contact Sir Raoul's Furniture and tell him that there was an error, which was just found, on his last test…”

“I don't care what you tell him. Just get that implant out, but make sure that a false implant is put back in. I do not want him to become suspicious, and change his medication like I told you to do.” Gabriel told the Ruby before cutting the connection. Laughing darkly Gabriel looked back out his office windows.

“Tonight will be very entertaining…” Gabriel laughed again. “I will have you on your knees before me and make you strip bare and perform for me. Very soon little Niko…”

Niko sneezed.

Someone's talking about me behind my back, Niko thought, rubbing his nose and sniffing. Giving the attractive red-head a suspicious look, and receiving the same look back, Niko watched the Black Market boss as he quietly talked on his cell phone.

Niko smiled at how lovely Katze looked in his all black suit. The dark color of his long ruby red hair and pale alabaster skin against the black made him stunning to look upon. If he had let me put up his hair he would have looked ever better, Niko complained to himself, as he walked up to the table where Katze sat.

“Don't touch anything.” Katze hissed, covering the receiver of his cell phone when the sneaky little Furniture looked at the merchandise he had brought home.

“What is it?” Niko asked curiously as he picked up a small vial of what looked like pink glitter.

“Don't touch I said- no not you Alex.” Katze plucked the vial of aphrodisiac from Niko's hand.

“But what is it?” Niko asked picking up another vial and darting away when Katze tried to take it from him.

“Give it here!” Katze hissed.

“Not until you tell me what it is.” Niko said, in a sing song voice.

“Alex, send all the crates of the high concentrate of aphrodisiac.” Katze glared at Niko then pointed to the Furniture to put the vial back down on the table. “To warehouse B. Make sure the crew is suited up when handling this stuff. The potency can give them a twenty-four hour hard on if any of it even soaks into their skin. And when you warn them, make sure to tell them that it also applies… in fact doubles, the effect if they consume it. They're asses would need to be rushed to the hospital to have their dicks cut to relieve the pressure of their erections should they be stupid enough to eat it.” Katze sighed and listened for a few seconds before snapping his cell phone shut.

Niko eyed the vial and smiled slowly.

“No.”

Giving Katze an innocent look Niko blinked. “No what?”

Katze stood and gathered all the samples, putting them in his briefcase. “No you cannot take one and sneak it into Sir Gabriel's food or drink or what ever else your thinking about doing in that tricky mind of yours.”

“I wouldn't do that…”

Katze looked at Niko with disbelief.

“I wouldn't put it in anything he ate or drank.” Niko grinned. “Did you bring it home for Master Raoul?”

“Are you crazy? I can barely keep up with him as it is.” Katze mumbled as he walked out onto the balcony for a smoke.

Making sure that the feisty red-head was out of sight, Niko opened Katze's briefcase and took out one of the vials. Searching amongst the papers, Niko spied and took an empty envelope. He poured just a little of the stuff in it and then put the aphrodisiac back where it was, closing the briefcase and pocketing the envelope.

Katze had stepped completely out of sight, so Niko didn't see that he watched him the whole time. Raoul had took him aside that same morning and told him all about Sir Gabriel's obsession with little Niko. He had told the redhead how, throughout the years, Sir Gabriel had always tried to buy him, with no luck.

Katze knew that by bringing home the drug, Niko would try and snag some of it to give it to the Blondie. He made sure of it after he warned Alex, information that his red eyed friend already knew, about the effects of the drug. Katze wasn't joking about the potency of the drug, but that was what would happen to a normal human. He had no clue what would happen if it was given to an Elite.

Niko giggled to himself as he patted his rear end where the drug lay safe in his pocket. Thinking of how he would get away after he put it in Sir “I'm your master now” drink.

Humming to himself Niko walked over to the ringing phone and answered it. “This is the residence of Sir Raoul Am.”

“This is the Eos Medical Center. I am calling to inform you, Furniture Niko, that on your last test the level of testosterone was not in the required field and thusly you are to report to exam room D-25 to be reevaluated by Sir Michael Ozent.”

“But I have been taking all my shots.” Niko said fearfully. If his levels weren't exact, he could be terminated or worse, physically castrated.

“Your record shows that you have always been diligent in taking your medication. It could just be computer error, but just in case the doctor would like to see you. Have you taken your shot today?”

“No not yet.” Niko mumbled. “I normally take it a few hours after I go to bed.”

“Bring it all with you. They might need to prescribe you something different, as well as remove and give you a new implant. Whatever is needed to get your levels back in order. Sir Ozent will probably administer the first shot himself.”

Mumbling a few more yes's, Niko looked at the clock. It was already four- thirty…by the time he got back it would be close to six and Sir Gabriel would be calling for him…Sighing Niko called out to Katze that he had to go to his doctor's appointment and would be gone for the rest of the day. Calling the finest restaurant in Midas, Niko ordered his master and Katze a four course meal. He chose the best that was on the menu, and also something he knew they both would enjoy.

“Hey, Niko.”

Looking at Katze, who leaned against the sliding glass balcony doors, Niko smiled and tilted his head to the side. “Yes?”

“Have fun at Sir Gabriel's.” Katze laughed and waved his fingers at him in good-bye, as he turned away to answer his cell while walking back out on the balcony to smoke another cigarette.

Pursing his lips, Niko spun around and went into the kitchen. Pulling out a bottle on wine that would go perfectly with his master and Katze's meal, Niko uncorked the bottle and took out the envelope from his back pocket. Trying not to giggle, he poured half of the contents in the small bottle before re-corking it and shaking it.

Walking back into the dinning room, Niko placed the small bottle of wine in the middle of the table with two glasses and instructions. When the waiter he had hired came tonight, he was to serve only that wine with the meal. “Hehehe….You have a fun time too.” Niko sang, then giggled the whole way out the door.

oOoOoOo

Riki wandered aimlessly around the ship for the third time. After ripping his room apart, after listening to every venomous, lying, word from that bitch Jupiter's, mouth he had just sat there covered in blood. He could not seem to force himself to move and it felt like it took forever just to try and calm down. Thinking about the surreal beauty of his Blondie had cooled his rage, but not as fast as if he had been allowed to talk to him.

For Jupiter to tell him that Iason despised him…it had shocked him. Riki had even believed her for a few moments, until he remembered who it was they had been speaking about. Iason wasn't someone that would forbid anyone from speaking a name. To do that would admit that he had a weakness and Iason would never, ever do that. If anything Iason would say Riki's name over and over again just to remind himself of what the pet had done. Iason would never forget about him, but he also knew Iason wouldn't be coming for him either. Jupiter wasn't lying when she said she would make sure he didn't.

After taking control of his raging emotions, Riki left his cabin and made his way back to the loading deck. The boys had been sitting in a broken semi circle around Amelia, silent, unmoving, mourning. None of them knew the girl, but it was never easy to see someone so young die so violently…especially someone what was obviously raised with gentleness.

Sky…Fidget…Violet and he may have been slum rats that were used to seeing death. Death had been a constant companion ever since their toddler years in Guardian and then again in the backstabbing wild war zones of Ceres, but it never got easy. They never get used to it or at least Riki didn't.

Hardening his heart, and blocking the quiet shuttering sobs of Jade's crying, Riki stepped into the circle and picked up Amelia's still warm body. He silently carried her away to a safe place where she could rest. Wrapping her in the blankets he had taken from his room when they passed by it, he created a bed for her to sleep in the deepest, coldest part of the ship. He stayed with her until Sky had found him and dragged his near hypothermic body away.

The only good news was that Sky and Lilly had been able to buy all the items that they needed, and a few other things, at the first store they had visited. Sky even managed to get everything to the ship before Fidget had contacted his brother, allowing Sky to listen in on their conversation. Sky had been able to get one of his stun bomb and a few other light weapons, just in case. He had made it just in time to save their asses. If not for that stroke of luck, they'd be all dead.

Riki looked up into the strange, pink sky of the seemingly deserted world they had landed on. Off, far into the distance, was where Amelia now rested encased in a metal storage box that had been just long and large enough to bury her in. Riki had made sure that Luke documented exactly what planet they left her on and where they made Amelia's grave. When he went to her home world, and he planned to regardless of her whispered warnings, he hoped to give the information to who ever might be waiting for her. That way anyone looking for her would know where to go.

“Have you seen Riki since we a buried that girl?”

Riki ducked out of the sight when he heard Sky and Fidget walking close to where he had stood.

“…No…He disappeared after he threw the last shovel full of dirt onto her grave…”

“Your not mad at him are you, for what happened last night? It was also me and V's fault for not taking in our surroundings.”

Riki hung his head. It wasn't Fidget and V's fault at all…

“…I am not…I am mad at us…Riki has always be a leader, our leader. Things that we should have been doing, we have been leaving it to Riki to decide…I've been watching him…and he hasn't been sleeping.”

“Yeah, I've noticed that too.”

“…We need to help him more…”

“Yeah, me and V have been talking about it too.”

Riki rubbed his aching head.

“…Hey Keita?”

“Huh?”

“…What do you know about Lilly? Do…do you know if he became a pet like how Riki did…?”

Riki frowned and inched a little closer so he could hear the twins talking better.

“Nope. From what I know he's a regular pet. Well, a tattoo tagged pet anyway. You can't really call him a normal pet, not with that smell thing he can do. Why do ya ask?”

“…Umm…cuz when we were at the store I saw Lilly speaking to a stranger…”

“That all? Hell the guy's gorgeous. It doesn't surprise me that perverts walk up to him and try and pick him up.”

“…No…Lilly knew this guy. He was shocked to see him and nervous too…”

Riki clenched his hands into fists. Amelia's dying words whispering over and over in his head. Words that only he had heard.

“She knew…you met us…She knew all that was said…word for word…You've a traitor…amongst you.”

“You've a traitor…”

“Traitor…”

Stepping out of his hiding spot, Riki revealed himself to the startled twins.

“Oh! Riki…err…Hey wait! Where ya go'n?”

Riki ignored Fidget's shout, as he stormed up the ramp and made his way to the engine room. Aoi had told him that night that the ones who had sold Amelia to the club had been there. That they had wanted to watch as the girl was being sold.

There had been a small group of strangers that were wearing Amoi clothing. There was only one person, no “thing”, that had the power to invade another world with ease. There was only one thing that could enslave a world's inhabitants without that world's allies coming to its aid. Jupiter.

Riki had always thought it was strange that the AI had allowed Jade and Lilly to escape with him. Taking two of her precious Elites' toys away, without a word, and blowing it off without another thought. He had figured that she must expect her kids to find replacements. After all, pets were considered disposable goods. Her little sweethearts could just go buy new ones.

Riki didn't know Jade very well, but he didn't think the pet was the snitch. He trusted him and not just because the boy could be his, impossible as it sounded. Jade was an open book. Every thought that crossed that boy's mind could be easily read on his face.

Lilly on the other hand was much more closely guarded. You could see he had secrets, but it was the god damn pet collar that the ex-pet still fucking wore that made Riki suspicious of him.

Riki paused outside the engine room trying to control his temper. Taking a few deep breaths, he stepped in the large room. Lilly lay on a blanket with a flashlight in his mouth and both hands up in the broken machine. Cracking his neck, Riki took another calming breath before walking up and squatting next to Lilly. “You locate the problem yet?” Riki asked.

Startled, Lilly swore softly as he banged his hand, dropping his tool in the process. Taking the flashlight out of his mouth, Lilly inched his way out from under the hitched up engine. The boy spared his bleeding knuckles a quick glance, before giving his attention to Riki. With the speed with which Lilly regenerated from injuries, something that small would heal in no time at all. Lilly smiled at Riki. “You scared me.”

Riki chuckled with the pretense that he found humor in surprising the ex-pet. “You and Sky did real good in getting everything back to the ship.”

Lilly hesitated as he reached for the tool he dropped. Sensitive to when someone's mood shifted, a useful skill he learned while under Mikhale's rule, Lilly was careful with his choice of words as he inched away from Riki and stood. “Ah…yeah. I was even able to convince the metal smith next door to give us some structural aluminum for the engine…its very strong. 0.375” thick plate of 6061-T6…umm you can't bend or form it. We will need to cut the parts to the desired measurements and then weld them together. The best part is that it does not rust…” Lilly walked over the table he had laid all his tools on.

“Really?”

Lilly laughed nervously. “I also got some aluminum 5052-H32, you can form that material and is almost just as strong too. But for the engine I thought that the 6061-T6 would be better. I wanted to get some stainless steel 0.250” of T304 or T316, either would have been fine, but they didn't have any that thick. So I got some 12 gauge and 0.160” of stainless steel T304-2B to replace the paneling throughout the ship, at least for the most important places. The ship looks so run down because whoever designed the inside used HRS, which rusts very easily, like in weeks. Stainless not only looks better, but its durable…won't rust…” Lilly knew that he was rambling but couldn't stop himself. The quietness around Riki was making him uneasy.

“Wow…that's impressive,” Riki said slowly standing. “How did you learn all this? You never did say.”

“….” Lilly could feel those black eyes burning into his back.

“It's about time you told me right?”

Lilly spun around, knocking his tools onto the floor, surprised when Riki whispered in his ear. He never even heard Riki walk up behind him. Lilly saw his image reflecting back at him in those chillingly cold onyx eyes as they bore into him.

Riki trembled in anger. “Or is there a reason why you never say anything Lilly?”

Frightened by the rage that was directed at him, Lilly tried to smile and get away. His training as a pet had taught him to always try to charm his way out of a confrontation. He turned only to have his escape blocked by Riki's foot that the black eyed man placed calmly on the edge of the table.

“Are you going to answer my question?”

Lilly swallowed. “I haven't said anything… because it's personal, that's all.”

Riki laughed coldly. “Personal…sure, sure,” Riki propped his arm on the leg that was still resting on the table. “Is it though? Or are you just saying that? You see before Amelia died she whispered something very interesting into my ear,” Riki leaned closer to Lilly. “You see she told me that we had a traitor amongst us.”

Lilly's eyes widened and then widened even more when he realized why Riki was telling him what Amelia had said. The sweet intoxicating fragrance of Lilly's fear flowed from the younger pet's pores as he saw how much danger he was in. Riki was clearly in a murderous mood. Before Lilly could say anything in his defense, Riki grabbed him by the throat and tripped him to the ground.

“It seems that someone heard everything that was said between that old woman we met and Amelia. Is that the reason why you've continued to wear that collar?” Riki half shouted, the thin control he had over his temper cracking with each word. “Did they tag you? Did they promise you something if you spied on me?”

“What? I don't know what you're talking about!” Lilly cried, staying very still under Riki.

“Then who the fuck were you talking to back on that planet?” Riki hissed.

Lilly froze then looked Riki in the eyes and lied. “It wasn't anyone. Just a stranger looking for directions.”

Riki growled. “Bull shit.”

Lilly had planned on just laying on the cold metal floor with Riki sitting on him, not fighting at all…until the black haired mongrel went for the fastenings of his collar. Panicked Lilly grabbed Riki's hands and tried to buck him off of his chest.

Even as enraged as Riki was, he didn't really want to hit Lilly. Using his knees to hold Lilly's arms down, Riki ignored the ex-pet's cries to stop. He held Lilly's thrashing head down so he could undo the buckles on the collar. However, his dark mood faded as soon as he took the pet collar off, revealing the pale skin of Lilly's neck. Releasing Lilly from beneath him, Riki watched as the boy scrambled up and quickly slapped his hand over the left side of his throat. It did not save him. The image was already burned into Riki's mind as the realization of why Lilly always wore the damn collar finally dawned on him.

“It's not as bad as it used to be.” Lilly whispered as he turned his head away from Riki, fingering the indentations of the prominent bite mark on his neck.

Riki looked at Lilly in horror. To think that the scar had been even worse than what it was now…Iason was a demanding and rough lover and he loved to nibble hard and leave hickeys all over his body but…

“Mikhale wasn't my lover…not really…”

Startled, Riki looked at Lilly. He hadn't realized he had spoken his thoughts out loud. Even knowing that what he was asking might hurt the ex-pet, Riki had to know. “It's time you talk to me Lilly. I'm…I'm sorry I attacked you.” Riki said with a sigh. He humbled himself to admit that he was wrong. Just seeing what was hidden under that collar had freed him from the strangling hold his rage and suspicion had over him. “We're in a bad situation with what Amelia told me, and I need to know. Who the hell are you? You're not a normal pet. Are you even a pet?”

Lilly continued to hide the scar with his hand, but he nodded to Riki. He did not want something like this to happen again and it wasn't as if Mikhale was here to punish him for speaking about himself and his past. Here, Lilly was free to open up to someone if he chose to.

“Your right. I'm not a normal pet, but I am a pet…I was a spoiled little shit.” Lilly laughed softly at the memory of his childhood. “I was created and raised at an academy "The Academy of Sensual Arts" is what they called the school. I was the best in every subject that was taught. I was the perfect student.”

Riki raised a questioning brow.

Lilly smiled. “I'm not shitting you when I say I was the best. I got awards for the crap I did...Anyway by the time I was ten no one could come close to surpassing me in style or technique…hell I even made my instructor, who's seen and done more then you or I can imagine and for us that's a lot, cum just by leaning over him panting and moaning, arching my back as if I was actually doing the act itself. I even held my scent back."

Lilly paused then softly said. "I was told that my selling price would be in the hundreds of thousands and because of my engineered youthful appearance, they could afford to keep me off the auction block for one more year. That extra year was to be used for intensive training. Teaching me, more then just the basics, on how to touch a body, be it a man or woman. I would have been taught how to make someone scream in pleasure. How to make a person beg and come crawling to me on all fours for more and how to engrave myself inside of them. I was to be taught how to use the pheromone scent I can emit like a drug, so that all my partners would want would be me..."

Riki whistled low. “Damn…” Riki shivered as the image of Iason flashed before his eyes. Yeah…he knew exactly what Lilly was talking about and it made him unconsciously lean slightly away from him.

“I was given everything I ever wanted or asked for. If I didn't want to walk to classes, then the Dean would have people come and cart me around on a pillow. That's how much of a little shit I was.” Lilly looked up at Riki and grinned. “I was very much hated by all the other pets and I loved it.” Lilly looked down at his trembling hands, having decided that it didn't matter if Riki saw his scar. “I was…treated like royalty. Fine foods, fine wines, the best clothing…I was even given my own room…”

Riki furrowed his brows. “Why?”

Lilly shrugged. “Maybe it's because I'm the only one of my kind. A prototype to be studied and to collect information on before they decided to created more to be released out to the public. I was the “New and Improved model” built with such an abundance of stamina, endurance, enhanced regeneration and this scent thing so that I could enslave my partners and sustain hours if not days of sexual carnage. I was told that I was made especially for Blondes and would become the new rave…built to endure anything that was done to me…” Lilly whispered.

“I'm hearing a “but” in there aren't I?” Riki said.

Lilly nodded. “But in giving me these experimental abilities…I was born with a defect. My sexual appetite would increase a hundred fold and if I did not “feed” my need for it, I would become sick…it can even become unbelievably painful.”

“Wait.” Riki shook his head in confusion. “Didn't you say you've only been a pet for two years? And that Mikhale had been your only master?”

At the mention of his Blondie's name, Lilly's shaky hand went to the scar on his neck. “When I was ten, just when I was about to start my extra special training, my creators and the Dean rushed me out of the school. They just shoved me into the arms of this disgusting little toad, Marlgoul or Goul, as I liked to call him. He was a merchant…they told him to get me off world and sell me to anyone that would take me…”

“Why?”

“Don't know…The school doesn't exist any longer either, that was the first thing I asked Mikhale to find out for me when I came back to Amoi…everyone was gone, they just…disappeared.”

Riki opened his mouth then snapped it shut. The kid probably already knew that the only way a prestigious pet academy like his could just disappear was if a Blondie made it disappear. Everyone that lived and worked in it would have disappeared too. “What happened to you after, when you left Amoi?” Riki asked instead, to keep Lilly's mind from torturing himself about the fate of what could be considered his first family.

“When I was in that school I felt like god.” Lilly continued as if he didn't hear Riki. “....I had the instructors and even the Dean moaning in pleasure just by giving them a little look. I believed I was invincible, that no one could touch me because I had the looks, body and skills. I could say and do anything I fucking wanted and they couldn't do shit to me." Lilly gave a pathetic little laugh. "They gave me so much power in that school that it fed my delusions and kept me blinded from what I truly was." Lilly stared blankly in front of him. "It took a year of being chained and locked up in a cage on that merchant's ship before I finally accepted that I was, and always had been, nothing but a slave. But that wasn't enough to crush me." Lilly said smiling up at Riki.

"It was the first two planets that did that, that crushed me. When it finally dawned on me that I wasn't the hot little shit I thought I was, the truth was very hard to take. I had to work hard to try and get myself sold. I threw my pride to the side and paraded myself for the crowd. I pranced around, seduced the un-seduceable. Drew them in and hypnotized them with my scent and body…but nothing fucking worked. Marlgoul had to tell potential buyers about my defect and because of that no one would buy me. ” Lilly angrily said. “When we got to the fourth planet I preformed like I was told to do…Showed the crowd my fine form, my perfect face, but that was it. Once we got to the fifth world I just gave up. Thousands of cities, hundreds of thousands if not millions of rejections took its toll....".

“At least you had the illusion in the beginning. I envy the fact that you had such delusions Kid."

Lilly looked up at Riki in surprise.

"Well, you see, where I was raised, they made it a daily habit to tell us that we were shit. Good for nothing, worthless, a waste of space. I was brought up to believe that I wasn't going to amount to shit, because I was a slum mongrel, a citizen of Ceres." Riki rubbed his forehead. “Once we turned thirteen, we were all shoved out into the world with only the clothes on our backs. We were like a pack of wild dogs and all trying to be the top dog…Whatever. It's not my past we are talking about.” Riki leaned back onto the leg of the table. “I'm guessing you did get sold, right?”

Lilly laughed. “We had just left a city and “Ghoul” didn't lock me up like he should have. Pissed off at him, the crew and the world I threw a tool into the ship's engine. We had to make an emergency landing. With what I know now, it was lucky that my actions didn't blow the ship up. The Captain bitched Marlgoul into trying to sell me in the dirty little town we landed at…and this man came…” Lilly's face softened. “Harold…he didn't care about my defect…he didn't want me for my body or my face.” Lilly brushed a tear that rolled down his cheek. “He made me his son and gave me a mother.”

Riki blinked in surprise.

“I never knew happiness, real happiness, until Angel became my mother. I worked hard to make her proud of me, not wanting anything I did to make her disappointed. Harold was a mechanic, the whole town was all about metal, machinery, engine technology. I made sure I became the best student he ever had. When I was at the academy the one thing that made my creators nervous, or at least from what I saw, was the fact that I could read. I couldn't read very well, mind you, and the breeders always chalked it up to stuff about samples and skills that could have been passed down genetically. Harold was proud of the fact that I could read and write. Angel and he worked with me to help to better them.”

Riki frowned. The ending of what Lilly said sounded a little like what Jade had told him about himself. “Inherited skills” or something like that.

“Anyway, I studied everything Harold taught me, and when he could not teach me anymore, I went to the Metal Former and learned all I could from him…I was in heaven for eleven wonderful years…I changed myself and became a good son, someone that Harold and Angel would never regret taking in. ”

“Wait, wait…eleven years?” Riki looked at Lilly in disbelief. “Your older then me?!”

Lilly grinned and patted his youthful cheek. “Couple weeks till twenty-five baby. Engineered youthful appearance, remember?”

“Son of a bitch, I thought you were sixteen at most.”

Lilly threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah I get that a lot.” Lilly's chuckles slowly faded as did his smile. “Hey Riki…That man that I talked to back on that smelly, cold planet….” Lilly swallowed. “H-he…We were to be married.” Lilly looked down at his left hand and rubbed the tan line on his ring finger where his pet ring used to be.

“Lilly! I can't believe it! Is it really you?”

“Ken…”

“Where's your husband?”

“Husband?”

“Yeah, that huge Blondie that you left home with…He had called your parents only six months after you left and said you both got married…came as a shock.”

“He had married someone else…A cute little girl we grew up with…She's about to have their second child…”

Riki didn't know what to say to that.

“I guess it doesn't matter now…But it hurt…It hurt badly when I found out how quickly he married her…”

Riki cleared his throat. “Ahhh, so how did you become a pet?” Riki asked quickly changing the subject.

Lilly exhaled. “It was a couple months until my twenty-third birthday, when a ship made an emergency landing a few miles from our town. Even from that great of a distance we could all see that whoever was on that ship was someone really high up on the food chain..." Lilly licked his lips.

"It was the first time I saw an Elite from Amoi and not any Elite… but a Blondie. I may not have ever seen one before, but I remembered from pictures my instructors had showed us at the academy. It was easy for me to identify him as one of them.”

“I remembered that he accompanied the pilot, with his armed guard detail, to take in the “wild life”… Sir Mikhale Tain...he was so beautiful he hurt my eyes. He wore a long sleeved, skin tight, shirt and dove gray slacks....it had to be about a hundred and ten degrees, but he walked around like he didn't feel the scorching heat, like he was showing us that he was on a different plane than the rest of us..."

Riki snorted. "Those bastards are on a different plane than us Lilly. So let me guess you saw stars and fell under his spell," Riki laughed but it was a, weak, forced little sound that held no amusement.

“…I did…It was like love at first sight…It was like the stories my mother, Angel, told me about when she met Harold…” Lilly was quiet for a moment as he thought back to his first close up look at Mikhale. “He came over to my house…My father was the best mechanic in the town…He was so…so amazingly perfect and beautiful…I couldn't help myself from trying to seduce him…”

Riki really didn't like where this was going.

“Angel was off in town and Harold had invited Mikhale to rest in our air conditioned home, while he went with the Captain to see what was wrong with the ship…I didn't think that my scent would affect him as badly as it did…” Lilly squeezed his eyes tightly shut against the memory.

Bare footed, Lilly leaned against the kitchen table where the Elite sat. He surrounded thedrop-dead gorgeous Blondie lightly with a seductive scent, hiding his smile with his cup of cold water when the Blondie stiffened and looked sharply at him. Lilly tipped the cup and purposely spilled the water, gasping almost sexually as the cold water soaked the front of his shirt, hardening his nipples and making them very visible to the Elites eyes. Boy did the Blondie's sexy aqua eyes lock onto them.

“Woops…so clumsy of me.” Lilly whispered huskily. It's only for fun, Lilly thought. I would never cheat on Ken…just some harmless flirting. It's not like the Blondie would do anything to him…Lilly smiled and emitted a slightly stronger scent. He had to hold back a snicker when the Blondie inhaled sharply and shuddered.

Lilly turned to leave, thinking that his little play was enough for now, when the Mikhale grabbed his arm. Lilly gasped out in pain and cried out in surprise when the Blondie threw him onto the table, knocking over a glass vase filled with water and lilies. Scared, Lilly struggled to get away, his shirt making a horrifying ripping sound as it was torn from his chest. Hot lips latched onto his sensitive nipple, sucking hard and making Lilly shout out in pain. A scent that Lilly never smelt before came out of him.

Lilly frantically tried to wiggle himself out from under the Elite's suffocating weight. There was no point in calling for help. There were no houses close enough and he was too far from anyone for someone to hear him from the street. Yelling would probably only piss the Blondie off even more. Lilly's hands, trappedbetween them, continued to desperately push at the well defined muscular chest of his tormentor. Arching his hips in an attempt to buck him off,Lilly writhed beneath the Blondie. The table groaned under their weight, but his struggles were to no avail, all it did was weaken him and give his captor an even greater advantage over him.

"Are you finished yet?"

Panting Lilly shuddered at the smooth, cool, tone of the Elite's voice. His arms ached trying to keep the Blondie as far back as he could. "Please, please let me go," Lilly begged. "I don't know what I may have done to offend you but if I have, I apologize so please release me."

The Blondie said nothing but leaned down and inhaled the air above Lilly's vulnerable, unprotected throat.

Slacking his arms so they wouldn't break when the Elite leaned in close, Mikhale hadn't seem to notice the resistance anyway, Lilly clenched onto the Blondie's shoulders. He wildly tried to pitch himself as far as he could under that staggering weight, to the side, hoping the table would break by doing so. Lilly was hoping for a chance to run, regretting his actions of trying to make the Blondie want him. For the very first time, Lilly felt true fear.

“The smell of your fear tantalizes my senses,” The Blondie whispered with a husky voice and then bit him viciously on the side of his neck. Lilly screamed.

“The smell is coming out of your pores…”

Lilly blinked back tears as he trembled in fear…and desire.

“A-92317. You're a pet. Your code is A-92317 isn't it?!”

“He knew everything about me.” Lilly shakily said to Riki, dragging himself back into the present, away from the private memory left unsaid. “Everything…He told me that he had bought me from the academy and that I was to be delivered to him, but something happened and I was lost. Because of who he was my parents were forced to give me back…But he promised them…He promised that he'd never kept a pet for more than a year, that when he retired me he would sell me to the whorehouse in our small town and would even give my parents the funds to buy me from them. A year passed…then another…He never planned on ever letting me go back home.”

“Shit…” Riki whispered.

“I did everything he wanted me to do. I became the best pet there ever was in Eos…even as scared as I was of him, stupidly, I still couldn't kill the feelings of love that I had when I first saw him. I…I teased him…Tried to make him want me…he would take these pills to stop himself from taking me. They made him cold, made me fear him even more...but I couldn't stop myself from doing it, no matter how scared I was of his punishments. It killed me that he forced me to sleep with so many pets even though my body needed it to stay healthy. He would pleasure me with his mouth and hands, but it was as if he was washing his damn hair with the amount of emotion he used while doing it…but I still couldn't stop. I punished him and myself for feeling this way about him when he cared nothing for me.”

Licking his dry lips Lilly smiled a little. “It wasn't all that bad in the beginning…We were happy for a while…but as I got older and my needs became more demanding he began to turn cold…”

“…”

Lilly looked at Riki pleadingly. “I couldn't stay with him any more. I just want to go home now. I want peace from him. I couldn't make friends. I couldn't tell anyone about where I came from, who I was or what I could do. I was alone there…”

Never did Riki think that Lilly story would be anything like what he told him. He didn't know what to say to him, but also it cleared him from being a suspect. Opening up as Lilly had, baring himself, Riki saw everything. The ex-pet wasn't lying. He didn't betray them.

“That story was so sad.”

Lilly and Riki snapped their heads towards the open doorway and saw six pairs of eyes staring back at them.

“What the hell!” Riki shouted. “Have you been there the whole time?”

Fidget shot V a glare as the violet haired mongrel pushed him into the room. “Me and Sky got worried when you rushed past us. V's stupid ass followed us and the others followed him.”

“…We just wanted to make sure you and Lilly didn't fight.” Sky said softly as he walked up to stand next to his twin.

“Is that so?” Riki said, doubtfully shooting Lilly a glance and feeling embarrassed that the kid's story was heard by everyone. “And what about the rest of you?”

“I was worried about Lilly.” Jade whispered giving Lilly an apologetic look.

“I just wanted to see how good Lily could hold up if the both of you did fight.” V grinned.

Riki glared at V, then lifted his chin to Luke and the girl, Aoi. “And the two of you?”

“I just followed everyone…” Aoi said with a faint blush.

“Yeah well, I came because we got some major shit coming down on our heads.” Luke `tsked'. “That fucking planet we were on has broadcast a reward for the capture of you, Fidget and V. Bounty to be paid only if the three of you are captured alive and unharmed and delivered to some fucker by the name of “Mr. Kirin”.”

“Hey! Why only the three of us?” Fidget pouted.

“Because the surveillance cameras were all fried when Sky electro bombed us.” Riki said with a tired sigh, leaning his head back against the edge of the table.

“So…what are going to do about Amelia being killed and her people getting sold off?” V asked.

“…And about this so called traitor?”

Riki give a tired sigh and stood. “Get all the shit we were wearing on Femland and scan it for bugs. In fact scan everything, clothes, gear, shoes. I don't care.” Looking at everyone's faces, Riki rubbed his aching head. “Amelia's death was my fault no matter how you look at it, as well as the enslavement of her people…We're going back to that cold planet and see if we can find out any information about whether or not any of her people were to be sold with her.”

“Sky hook us up with weapons you think we'll need and remember that if I'm caught-“

“If we're caught you mean.” V said giving Riki a look that dared him to argue with him.

Riki nodded. “Okay, if we're caught we need those weapons to go unnoticed when we're searched. Fidget you know the layout of the place. Get information together on escape routes and have them ready so we all know where to go if we need to jet. Luke I want you to work with Lilly and help him get that cloaking device of Sky's operational, cuz we are going to need it. Aoi I need you to tell me everything you know about this Kirin guy.”

Riki watched as the girl's face paled and turned an unattractive shade of pea green before she ran out of the hot engine room. Riki made a face when he heard the echoes of the girl retching in the hall.

“Oh yeah, our little voluptuous little waitress is preggy.” Fidget said grinning.

Riki choked. “She's pregnant! We don't know anything about birth'n any brats.” Shit just keeps piling up, Riki thought.

“…We have a lot of time before she pops…I think…” Sky said with a shrug. “She's puking so, if I remember correctly, when our block mother was breeding, she should be about five or so weeks….”

Riki's headache intensified. “One problem at a time.” Riki mumbled to himself, rubbing his temples. “Sky do you have anymore Gazer?”

“…We have a lot left.”

“Good we'll need it. Jade and Lilly, we'll need both of your help to smoothly extract information from unwilling employees of Kirin's.” Riki's mind quickly ran down the list of things they would need to do, other than what he had already said. “This time when we go in we'll do it right. No fuck ups. No running off half cocked. After we get the info we need, everyone get back to the ship.” Riki held his arm down, helping Lilly up from his frozen position on the floor.

Lilly frowned, still embarrassed that everyone heard his sad confession of unrequited love to his Elite master, but it was the heat from the forearm he clasped that shocked him. “Riki are you alright? You're hot.”

“Shut up, Luke.” Riki said when Luke shot him a leer and opened his mouth. “I'm fine Lilly.” Riki said even though he did feel a little dizzy and his head hurt like crazy. “It's hot in here that's all.”

“It's not that hot.” Lilly said worried. “You're running a fever.”

Riki waved away Lilly's concern, and that of the rest of the boys' as they all looked too closely at him. “It's nothing. Just a slight fever from when I sat in the cold part of the ship with Amelia. It'll pass.”

“…Maybe when we are done on that planet you'll take some medicine… as well as some sleeping pills to catch up on some z's.” Sky said as he walked up to Riki and felt his forehead.

“Maybe.” Riki said ducking his head away from Sky's cool touch. “Just remember that after we get what we need, all of you head back to the ship. We got two hours to get off this rock. I want to be back to the planet and off it at dusk. Their security will double once night falls.”

V eyed Riki. “And while we are heading back to the ship, what are you going to do.”

Riki looked at dead in the eye with a hard cold look. “I'm going to return the bullets that the man in the white hat gave to Amelia.”

oOoOoOo

Gideon curled his lip at the smell that assaulted his senses as his pale turquoise eyes took in the filth of the sad excuse for a cold planet before him. The planet, Hilio, had not had much information to give him. Riki and his crew's only mistake had been at the whorehouse. From the information he had been given about Sir Iason's pet, and the surprising cleverness of the pet's mind, Gideon was not surprised that had been their only error. For all he knew, Riki had not even planned to enter the place and the boy, whom he had discovered was Mikhale's pet, the tech Lawrence and the could-be mongrel that Marcus and Aisha were still fighting over might have acted alone. The one thing that put him at ease with the whole situation was that when he had forced the Queen to let him enter the town and speak to the prostitutes, they had clearly said that the little pet Jade had not been part of the orgy.

Gideon frowned as he watched the sky darken and dusk approached. The jade-eyed pet had been on his mind all hours of the day. That voice of his, he just couldn't get it out of his mind. Jade…

The little pet's Onyx Elite master, Jerico Ervic, was a thorn in his side. If physical violence was allowed to him, Gideon would have gladly snapped the Onyx's neck, brother or not. The thought of Jade being forced to appease the Elite's lust…Gideon had never had to control himself from harming another before. Jerico's constant calls for updates were an annoying hindrance and Gideon had warned the Onyx that if he spoke another word to him, he would make sure the Elite was stationed on the other end of the planet. Jade was his now. A decision Gideon made when he saw the Onyx's hand on Jade's smooth, unblemished skin

Drawing his thoughts back to the task at hand, Gideon nodded to his soldiers and watched as they silently took points along the pathetic excuse of a shipping dock. It might have been over kill, but Gideon needed to keep the mangy dock workers and other suspicious characters from his ship. The unequaled technology on Gideon's ship, as well as on all of Amoi's battleships, had allowed Gideon to journey to the female planet in only two days… including the day he left Amoi. He had made good time after warning the Queen away from seeking Riki and his mongrel friends as she had originally planned. The queen of Hilio had wanted to capture them and use them to breed a pure line of offspring, much needed due to her own weakening line. As Hilio's problems were the result of years of incestuous inner mixing, Gideon could not feel much sympathy. Gideon had just finished reporting to Sir Iason on his findings, when a call came in for the reward of Riki and Riki's mongrel friends…and their capture.

Gideon had immediately set a course to the planet identified only as PA98, and contacted the person that contracted the bounty. Gideon had of yet to tell his leader that Iason's pet had a price on his head. Knowing that Sir Iason would want the man's life for daring to do such a thing, Gideon wanted to speak to the man first. A threat was best dealt with swiftly and permanently. That was the code all Elites took seriously.

Flanked by his armed guards, Gideon paused in passing a group of beaten, foul smelling humans. With obvious distaste, Gideon lowered himself to speaking to one of the older men. The man's right eye was almost completely shut from a powerful blow. Politely, and with the barest amount of disgust in his voice, Gideon inquired on how the dirty man obtained his black eye, only to have the human spit at his feet.

Look at the glob of spittle at the toe of his boot with narrowed eyes, Gideon decided to educate the foolish being who dared such an insult. The elite seized the thing by the neck and lifted the man two feet above the ground. He repeated his question while the human's friends ran…They never noticed the black eyes and physical makeup that seemed to have been bred for darkness…watching.

TBC…. *