Fan Fiction ❯ The Nekos ❯ The Market ( Chapter 1 )

The Nekos

By Space Ghost

Neko- (noun; singular) A hybrid creature composed of the attributes of human and feline. The Neko, or nekos, are human in form, but possess feline tail, ears, and paws, and usually covered in a light coat of fur that sometime matches their own hair color. Often nekos have strange hair colors that do not match their fur.

The year is 1987, in the month of February, on the fifteenth. A family of nekos had just recently experienced a tragedy. The husband, a 35 year old neko with very short purple hair and a coat white fur, named Zephyr, had heard news that his wife had been killed in a car accident just a few hours ago. When he had first heard, he holed himself up in the bedroom and sobbed uncontrollably for an hour. Fortunately, he thought, his two children, his son Goethe, and his daughter Willow, both fraternal twins, only seven years old, had not heard him crying. Now Zephyr was walking about aimlessly in the bedroom, trying to think of a way to break it to his children. Even as he walked about trying to think, he couldn't help but to break out into silent sobs. He knew that he couldn't live without her, he needed her, he cherished her more than anything he ever had. The only thing he cherished more was the possible exception of his children. He tried to think, but once again, his train of thought was interrupted, but this time, by a knock at the door. Followed by the gleeful and angelic voice of his daughter, Willow. " Daddy! Mr. Akudo is here!"

Atlaas Akudo was his name. He was not a neko, he was a full-blooded human, but even though nekos were considered an inferior race to many, there were also many humans that considered them equals and were good friends with nekos.

Atlaas walked in and smiled and said, " How are you today Willow?"

" I'm good", Willow said with a giggle.

Atlaas smiled and pat her head gently. Atlaas was quite young, only 21 years of age, but he was very intelligent, and his state of mind to the world was more in tune than most men could ever reach within a life time. Had he taken to a certain art form, such as writing, he would without a doubt be a prodigy to the entire world, however he was content with the life he had now. For his line of work he wrote his own column in the local newspaper where he wrote his own thoughts for the people to read, mostly in the subject of philosophy. And in his spare time, he made things. Nothing spectacular, simply models, small statues, sculptures, and often made toys for the children of his human and neko friends.

Atlaas walked upstairs and knocked at the bedroom door, which it was answered slowly by Zephyr. Atlaas looked at Zephyr, whose eyes were stained with tears. " Good lord, what's wrong?", Atlaas said.

Zephyr lead Atlaas inside and closed the door. Then Zephyr turned to face Atlaas and said, " It's Lyvian…. She…..She died in a car accident ..Only a few hours ago."

" Oh my god..", Atlaas said, " Do the kids know?"

" No", Zephyr replied, " I don't know how to break it to them.."

Atlaas went over and hugged Zephyr, " I'm so sorry…"

Zephyr began to cry on his shoulder, " I don't know what I am going to do without Lyvian.."

" Do you want me to tell the kids..?", Atlaas asked.

" No", Zephyr said, " Though I thank you for offering… But it really should be me who does it."

" All right", Atlaas replied.

Meanwhile, in the outskirts of the city

In a large underground cavern, was a place that almost no one knew of in the city. It was a black market, of sorts. It was a Slave auction market. There were many of these around the world, most of them unknown to the public eye, but all of these markets dealt with one form of merchandise; Nekos. For the many who did not consider nekos as creatures that had "real feelings", a select few had decided to put these creatures to use. Male nekos were mostly used for manual labor, whereas most females were made as pleasure slaves.

This market was nothing but a hive of cruelty and a haven for the wicked, while at the same time, was hell for nekos. The market had hundreds of vendors, most of them selling specific types of nekos. Certain vendors only sold males, others sold females, and others sold children. The treatment of these nekos was appalling by ANY standards. The males had their clothing stripped of them in order to display their masculinity, to see which one would be the best choice for hard labor. The women were not only stripped of their clothes, but their fur was shaved off to display their body. And the neko children were kept in small, rusty, filthy cages that barely allowed them any movement and all, and made something so simple as turning in the opposite direction a physical impossibility.

" What have we got today?", cried out a deep, croaky voice. The voice had been issued from the owner of the market, a man named Jehan Modou, a well-known neko-hater that decided to make some use of the nekos, or as he called them, "Abominations of God and nature".

Two of Jehan's assistants grinned as they tossed a neko woman to the floor. She was beautiful, but her face had been caked with dirt and her fur shaved off. She sat up and attempted to cover herself, and was smacked hard across her face for doing so. This neko woman was none other than Lyvian, the wife of Zephyr and mother of Goethe and Willow.

" We got a real pretty one here today!", Jehan said and laughed heartily.

Suddenly the entire market was silenced, including the loud mouth of Jehan Modou. The reason for this sudden silence was the entrance of one person. He was tall, wore a red tuxedo, a golden cape, and a golden turban headdress that also had a veil that hid his face completely, except for his eyes. He had several wrinkles under his eyes, so the man was probably in his late 40's, or early 50's.

" It's Le Breade..!", came a whisper of fear from several slave traders.

Yes, Le Breade. Le Breade was without a doubt the most ruthless, and richest neko slave trader in the entire world. All nekos feared him, and all traders respected him, as well as feared him. Le Breade had a reputation to be as ruthless to humans as he was to nekos, if he found no way to make money from an individual, that human, or neko, was useless to him. One of the main reasons Le Breade was feared was that he had many countries military forces, including certain areas of the U.S. military, on his payroll. So in effect, he could easily acquire dangerous and powerful weapons for his personal disposal.

Jehan regained his composure and went to Le Breade and said, " Le Breade! My dearest of friends! What brings you to this low and run down market?"

" I was unaware that we were on such friendly terms", Le Breade said, " Besides, I always have time to visit all the markets. What's going on over there?"

" A new girl, just came in an hour ago", Jehan replied, " Very pretty. Would you like to have a look at her?"

Le Breade didn't reply, he simply walked up to Lyvian and looked her over. She whimpered quietly, afraid that he would hit her. Le Breade examined her only for a minute, but to Lyvian, it seemed like an eternity. Then Le Breade turned about and said to Jehan, " I am insulted that you tried to pawn off that piece of trash on me.". Then Le Breade left the market just as soon as he had came. Most traders would pull a knife to a man's throat if he had insulted his merchandise, but this was different. No one dared challenge Le Breade. Even the most foolish and arrogant of traders knew well enough not get in Le Breade's way. So, business began as usual, and again another man with a hidden identity entered, but this was not strange, because a great deal of the traders and buyers hid their appearance from others. This man was of average height, and wore a Japanese Kabuki demon mask. He walked up to the center, where Lyvian was, and folded his arms.

" How much for this one?", the masked man said.

"Hmmmm, maybe 25,000?", Jehan said.

" That's fine… if you're giving me five other women to go along with her."

" I see you know a little about this business…", Jehan said with a growl.

" Only when it comes to buying.", the masked man said.

" Fine…. $7,000", Jehan said.

" Deal..", the mask man replied and forked over the money.

A collar attatched to a chain was placed around Lyvian's neck, and Jehan handed the chain and a key to the masked man. The man dragged Lyvian out of the market and as soon as they were far away from the market, the masked man removed the mask, it was none other than Atlaas Akudo.

" Atlaas!", Lyvian gasped.

" That's right… I had a feeling something wasn't right.. I'm just glad I got there in time.", Atlaas replied.

Lyvian sobbed and hugged Atlaas, while he unlocked the collar and removed it from her.

" Come on… Your family needs you right now.", Atlaas said and led her to his car. She was too mixed up in emotions of joy and trauma to say anything. Atlaas took a dress out of the trunk of his car and gave it to Lyvian. She thanked him and put it on. Then they both got in the car and drove back into the city.

" So, that whole car crash thing was a fake.", Atlaas said.

Lyvian nodded, still trembling slightly from the terrible experience she had been through. "How did you know..?", Lyvian asked.

" I didn't", Atlaas explained, " But for the sake of my friends, I had to check."

Lyvian smiled and thanked him again.

Soon they had returned to the house and Lyvian entered quietly, but Atlaas did not go with her, he went back home.

Zephyr had finally worked up the courage to tell the children, when he heard Willow cry out, "Mommy!", and giggling. He rushed downstairs immediately to see Lyvian, tickling her young daughter. She looked up and smiled at Zephyr. Zephyr ran to her and kissed her deeply and lovingly. She knew that she would have to explain to her husband what had happened.. But for now, now the family would just share their love for each other.

This concludes the first chapter of "The Nekos"