Abstract
Risa stared up into the specialized plexiglass box at the young woman who stood inside, dressed elegantly and swaying to a beat that echoed lightly inside the case. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, her eyes dark and piercing as they watched her warily, “Are you having fun?” Risa questioned her absently and the girl pouted, cheeks puffing up cutely as she struggled not to answer.
“She’s only allowed to talk to her owner.” Sayumi said as she joined her friend at the case, “Isn’t that right, Kitten?” she finished teasingly. This time, the girl stopped moving and crossed her arms, looking up and away from them both, refusing to speak to her mistress. She knew when she was being made fun of and she made certain they knew she didn’t like it.
The bean chuckled at their interaction, “She’s definitely beautiful, though.” she said, gaining the now pleased attention of the girl, “Is Kitten your real name?” Risa asked her, the girl looking to her mistress to answer.
“No, it’s not. She wouldn’t tell me her real name, so I decided to call her that. She is very feline like in her mannerisms, so I felt it was fitting.” Sayu said, watching Kitten nod and motion to her as if to say, ‘What she said.’ “She’s also got quite the attitude, but I could tell that from the way she glared at me in the store.” This time, the girl in the box grinned mischievously at her mistress, who returned the look.
“So you guys fit each other, then?” Risa raised an eyebrow at her long time friend, gaining a happy nod.
“Oh, Gaki-san, you should get one for yourself! With Eric being away all the time, not only do they make great companions, but when he’s there, they can just sit there and look pretty. It’s perfect; a living, breathing work of art.” Sayumi enthused, being backed up by her own piece of artwork, the girl nodding firmly, almost daring her not to go shopping for her own.
Risa had to admit to being fascinated by the thought, but at the same time, “Is this really okay? I mean, why are they in this business? Isn’t there some kind of law against it?” Sayu laughed at her innocence.
“Law against what? It’s not slavery, Gaki-san, or kidnapping. They all have a choice, some have incurred debt and work until they pay it off, others like this life and do it to earn a living. I mean, they’re fed and have a warm place to sleep and they earn wages enough that anyone would be envious. God knows I pay this one well.” She jerked her thumb over at the nodding and smirking Kitten.
“Well,” The bean hummed thoughtfully, her friend’s words setting her at ease, “Where did you get her?”
“I’ll give you the address to the branch in Tokyo.” Both noticed Kitten beginning to get restless, “Are you ready to sing?” Sayumi asked the girl, gaining frantic nodding, “Okay, go ahead.” The bunny laughed lightly at her artwork’s eagerness.
The girl darted out of the box and over to the karaoke machine set up in one corner of the room, shedding her heels sloppily as she went. She poked some buttons and fiddled with some controls until an upbeat instrumental began to play. When she began to sing, Risa was surprised, realizing that this was the first time she’d heard Kitten’s voice. It was quite pleasant and it was obviously something the girl loved to do, the small audience watched as Kitten broke out into choreographed dance moves.
“She’s good.” Risa complimented, receiving a proud smile from her friend.
“Isn’t she!? I don’t know where she learned it, but I suspect she taught herself.” They watched for a few songs before the girl’s mouth got dry and she decided to take a drink break, coming over to perch upon her mistress’ lap when the older girl enticed her with some water. Affectionately, Sayu began to stroke Kitten’s head while she drank and Risa noticed an odd look in her eyes. “You should get one for yourself, Gaki-san, really. She’s the best purchase I’ve ever made.”
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Risa felt a certain excitement as she walked into the spacious store, hand clutching that of her husband’s, “Calm down, Gaki-san.” Eric Kamei, salesman extraordinaire, said to his excitable wife.
“How can I be calm, we’re finally here.” The store was filled with rows upon rows of clear plexiglass boxes, each containing a single human being. Risa examined each with critical eyes as she passed, pausing to grin at a man with a charming smile flexing his bared chest at her. Each person was dressed differently, depending upon their personalities, some wore elegant clothing, dresses and suits, others were in barely there mini skirts and tube tops or tight jeans and no shirts. A few girls wore cute summer one pieces and some guys were dressed in baggy jeans that hung off their asses. No one really stood out to Risa and she continued down the rows.
Behind her, she heard Eric sigh, feeling bad about being so picky in her choices. Checking her watch showed that they’d been in the store for nearly an hour and she knew she was coming to the last few rows of artwork. She nodded at a severe looking older woman standing with her arms crossed and moved on to the next box, freezing in her tracks.
Inside was a slight young woman with long, dark hair pulled into a side pony tail and curled fetchingly. She wore a flowery shirt that bared her smooth shoulders, tight jeans with fashionable rips in the thighs, and black Chuck Taylor’s completed her wardrobe. Her eyes were deep, dark portals that regarded her curiously as she stood in front of the box, oddly cold and inviting at the same time. She was still mesmerized when she felt Eric place a hand on her shoulder.
“Gaki-san?” he questioned gently, noticing the odd sort of stand off the two were having. Risa couldn’t tell if the young woman was begging to be taken home or trying to convince her to leave her alone, her face had an apathetic quality that at the same time was full of expression.
“I’ve made my decision.” She said, not taking her eyes off the now surprised looking young woman.
“Well, then, happy anniversary, dear.” Eric said, lightly kissing her hair.
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Risa stood with the young woman as her box was being installed in the upstairs sitting room. Connected to the sitting room was the guest bedroom that the girl would be sleeping in and across the hall was the master bedroom where Risa, and Eric when he was home, slept. Risa examined her new purchase as she stood nervously, fidgeting next to her.
She was quite different from the seemingly emotionless young woman in the store and the change fascinated Risa. As she watched, the bean noticed color begin to flood the girl’s cheeks and ears as she studiously avoided Risa’s stare. The bean couldn’t help but grin at her embarrassment, then focused back on the construction going on in the room.
A large platform had been planted in the middle of the room with a few stairs leading up to it and the workers were currently installing the plexiglass walls that were hinged together. The furniture had already been arranged to surround where the box was going to be.
The box itself was going to be square and big enough to house a chair, a small table and the young woman herself. Said objects were already in the room along with the single duffle bag of belongings the girl had and a small boom box.
“So, what is your name?” Risa finally asked, causing the girl to jump slightly and look around the room at the workers warily. “Oh, right, come on then.” She forgot the contract said that the girl could only talk in front of her owner. Singing didn’t count.
She led the girl to her new room and watched her plop down her things on the bed. “What you call me is up to you.” Risa was surprised by her voice, the heavy country accent not at all what she was expecting.
“Hmm, I haven’t decided yet. Are you sure you won’t tell me your name?” This time, the young woman gave her a cold look.
“To give you my real name is to give you power over me and you may own my body, but you‘ll never own my soul.” The bean couldn’t help the hurt that flashed across her features, especially when she knew the girl saw and obviously didn’t care.
“O-Okay.” Risa stuttered, looking down; an awkward silence filled the room. “Let’s get back to the sitting room.” She knew she was being stupid for feeling so sensitive to the girl’s words, but she couldn’t help it.
It didn’t take much longer for the workers to get the walls up and soon the girl was examining the small space critically, adjusting her chair and table quite anal retentively. Risa watched silently as she shuffled around, much like an animal in a new space, trying to make it comfortable. Finally, she set up her boom box, popped in a CD and began to dance.
Risa could hear the pounding beat through the clear walls and felt her eyes glue themselves to the girl’s swaying hips as she threw her head back with her own orbs closed in utter rapture. It was obvious that this was the reason she could stomach being ‘owned.’
“Do you like her?” A male voice asked, and Risa felt Eric wrap his arms around her middle, pulling her close to him. She smiled, not taking her eyes away.
“Yes, I do. She’s absolutely,” the girl opened her eyes and looked down at her in a sultry glare. Risa felt her breath catch, “Lovely.”
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Risa sighed in boredom, stretched out on the couch in the sitting room flicking the remote fireplace on and off. She’d taken Eric to the airport early this morning to go out of country on a month long business trip and she was already feeling his missing presence. Their’s was an arranged marriage, but both truly cared for the other, especially since they’d grown up together.
Thinking about the past made her smile and she sat up a little to grab a picture that sat on the end of the coffee table. It was of her, Eric, and Sayumi when they were in high school. Their parents had met in an ’Investment for Toddlers’ course and the three soon found themselves together all the time. They lived in the same rich neighborhood and had mansions next to each other all throughout their teenage years. When Risa’s dad’s company started to do badly in the recession, Eric’s father offered up a solution; join the two families together. The only problem was that while they loved each other, it was only a familial love. Eventually they were going to have to produce heirs, but they’d decided to avoid that subject for as long as possible.
Even though she wasn’t in love with Eric, she still missed him when he was gone, they were best friends, after all. She briefly thought about going to Sayu’s but then remembered that she, too, was out of town. Sayumi’s parents were constantly trying to set her up with nice rich boys, but that girl was as queer as black ‘sunsign.’ When she bought Kitten, her parents about disowned her.
Risa giggled, thinking about how much groveling her friend had to do to get back in their good graces. The arranged meetings with possible husbands was part of the deal. Once again, Risa began to think about going out and getting a part time job or something. Even though she didn’t have to work, between her and Eric’s sizeable fortunes, she really had nothing better to do with her days. Maybe she could go be a volunteer or something, she’d always admired the people who worked in soup kitchens and animal shelters.
A noise behind her made her shoot up on the couch and whip around behind her. Her eyes met surprised orbs and both girls froze. Lovely was dressed in loose, striped sweat pants and a t-shirt with her hair pulled back in a bun. On her hip was an old, beat up walkman that looked like it had seen better days, mostly held together with electrical tape and chewing gum.
“G-Going for a jog?” Risa stuttered, she couldn’t help it, the young woman made her nervous.
Her features now schooled into an unreadable expression, Lovely nodded , “Got a problem with that?” She looked like she was gearing up for a fight.
“N-No, just be careful out on this road, people like to speed.” Silence descended between them for a long moment as the girl tried to decided whether Risa was going to give her a hard time or not. Her features softened slightly, seeing genuine concern in the bean’s gaze, and she nodded. Risa watched as she walked out the door, hips swaying.
The bean went back to playing with the fireplace, until a few minutes later, Lovely appeared in front of her, “Uh, there’s some girls at the door.” Giving her a confused look, Risa glanced at her watch.
“Oh!” It was six in the morning already, “That’s Aika, Jun and Lin, they’re here to clean. I’ll come let them in.” Treading lightly to the front door, Risa felt a grin come over her face, Aika came twice a week to clean the house and had gotten into the habit of bringing her two friends with her to help. Since Risa was constantly lonely, she welcomed any company and she got on with all three girls well.
She greeted the three with hugs and watched Lovely slip out while they were distracted with her. “So what’s new, Niigaki-san?” Aika asked sweetly.
Risa explained her gift to them and got mixed responses, “Why would you want a human as artwork?” Lin’s innocent confusion sent giggles through Risa and Aika.
“It must be a rich person thing.” Aika teased, “How envious~!”
“How creepy.” Jun’s statement drew surprised stares, “Someone you don’t know living in your house? I couldn’t do it.”
“She seems alright.” Risa said contemplatively, “I mean, you’re right, I don’t know her very well. Or at all.” She said quietly.
“Where is she now?” Lin looked around curiously as if the young woman would appear out of nowhere.
“She’s out for a jog. Besides, who says I’m going to let you guys meet her? Don’t you have work to do?” Three groans met her question and she laughed.
“But Gaki-san! I can’t work without your delicious breakfast in my stomach!” Lin wailed, clinging to her tightly.
“Well, it takes time to make breakfast, so you guys can go work until then.” Risa insisted playfully. Jun drug the groaning Lin off with a grin and Aika followed, directing them to different parts of the house. Shaking her head, Risa headed into the kitchen to get the food started.
Her mother had made her take lessons when she was younger, so she was quite good at making anything under the sun. In no time, she was loosing herself in the familiar process of cooking. A pleasant aroma filled the lower floor and it was the first thing to greet Lovely when she came back from her jog. Following her nose led the young woman to the kitchen, where she peeked in to spy Risa at the stove, sporting a frilly apron and humming a cheerful tune.
It was all quite domestic and not usually something that Lovely went for, but she felt her breath catch at the simple happiness that was on the younger girl’s face. Suddenly, the bean turned to grab something behind her and her eyes fell on Lovely’s face, peering through the doorway. For the second time that morning, both froze, staring at each other.
Again, Risa was the first to break the silence, “Would you like some breakfast?” Instead of stuttering, she lit up in a genuine smile.
Lovely nodded slowly, “I’ll get a shower first.” She stared for just a second longer, before abruptly breaking the eye contact between them.
Happy with the agreement, Risa continued to hum, this time with a grin plastered ear to ear. A second voice joined her impromptu concert and the bean jumped, spinning to find Lin had wandered into the kitchen, “Ah~! Hum stealer!” Risa accused playfully as the girl sat down at the island counter expectantly.
“Do you want me to call the others?” Risa nodded at her and Lin reached over to the intercom system, “Mistui-san! Junko! Breakfast!” What sounded like elephants stampeding through the mansion echoed as their footsteps pounded against the floor in the rush to get downstairs. In record time, the two appeared at the doorway, pulling on each other’s clothes and limbs in an effort to get into the room first.
“I win!” Jun shouted triumphantly.
“No, I win!” Aika argued back.
“Lin Lin, who won!?” They asked in unison.
“I did.” Lin replied smugly, eliciting both to jump at her with fingers extended. The little Chinese girl couldn’t help but fall under their searching fingers, the tickling sensation causing her to try to squirm unsuccessfully away. Watching fondly, Risa began to lay out breakfast for them. This was the warm routine they’d settled into over the years.
“Five?” Aika asked astutely when she counted the places, after they’d begun to dig in.
“Lovely will be joining us.” About that time, the young woman rounded the corner timidly, causing conversation to drop. She paused at the doorway nervously, wearing the same clothes Risa’d seen her in at the store, minus the shoes and plus some house slippers. In an effort to break the silence, the bean smiled at her warmly, “Ah, come on, I have your plate ready.” She patted the place on her left, across from Jun and to the right of Lin, diagonal from Aika.
Eyeing her warily, Lovely took her seat, “I’m Mitsui Aika.” The youngest girl finally started. Silence was her response as Lovely merely nodded at her.
“Oh! Uh, she’s not allowed to speak to anyone but her, uh, her owners, for lack of a better word.” Risa remembered abruptly, “Lovely, this is Jun Jun and Lin Lin.”
“We’re cousins.” Jun said helpfully.
“We’re also from China!” Lin exclaimed, seeming to get the young woman’s attention. She titled her head questioningly then pointed at Lin, then at the ground, and then shrugged and made her eyes wide and innocent. Lin stared at her for a long moment, brows knitted together as she repeated the motion, “Oh?! You mean, why did we come to Japan?” Lovely nodded, happy to be understood.
The cousins exchanged a look, a little uncomfortable, “Family reasons.” Jun said after a moment. Silence descended after that ominous response and the group ate their meals in silence for a while. “Hey, what are you doing today, Gaki-san?” Jun finally said.
“Eh, nothing probably. I might go shopping later if you guys want to come.” Risa offered, watching the three exchange meaningful looks.
“Are you okay with both Kamei-san and Michishige-san out of town?” Aika asked softly, the bean tried not to give an annoyed sigh. She knew the younger girl was just looking out for her.
“Of course, I’ve got you guys to keep me company and now I’ve got Lovely to entertain me.” The girls still gave her worried looks, “Really, I’m not a child guys. Eric will be back in a month and Sayumin in two weeks. Boredom is not going to kill me before then.” Her look finally reassured them that she was going to be okay and they nodded, beginning to fill the room with friendly conversation.
Noticing Lovely giving her a look, Risa smiled at her. The girl regarded her for a while, then went back to eating.
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“Tomorrow, Niigaki-san!” Aika promised, “You better buy me lots of clothes!” Chuckling good naturedly, Risa waved, seeing the three out. When they were gone, she leaned her head up against the wall, the left forearm up beside her face. She turned slightly to look at her wrist, feeling a dark mood come over her for a second before she could shake it away.
A presence behind her reminded her of her of Lovely and she turned to find the young woman regarding her with a serious look, “Why were they so worried about you?”
“They know I don’t like to be alone.” Risa lied easily, the real reason niggling in the back of her mind, ‘They don’t trust me by myself.’ she thought.
Lovely nodded slowly, seeming to roll this around in her mind, “Oh.” Was all she said.
“They’re good kids.” Risa continued, beginning to make her way upstairs, she heard Lovely follow and went on, “Even though Jun is actually older than I am. I used to babysit for Aika when she was little. She was the daughter of our cleaning lady and the woman had no one to watch over her while she was at work, so I told her it would be fine to just bring her to the house. Aika’s always been terribly mature.”
“Her and Lin go to school together and are pretty good friends and Jun and Lin share an apartment, so that’s how I know them.” Risa finished, coming into the sitting room again. This time, instead of retiring to the couch, she headed for a large cabinet and opened it to reveal a large stash of wine and liquor. “What would you like?”
The bean turned to find Lovely’s wide eyed gaze and couldn’t help but giggle, “Umeshu.” she said, then paused, “Actually, I shouldn’t.”
“Why not? There’s nothing in your contract that says you can’t drink.” Risa began to pour them both a large glass of the wine.
“Well,” Lovely went on as the glass was shoved into her hand, “Alcohol makes me sleepy.” Regardless of her own protests, she took a sip and sighed, “Besides, isn’t it a little early to start?”
“It’s five o’clock somewhere.” Risa replied, taking her own drink, “I was just going to nap anyway or watch a movie or something equally boring.”
The young woman took another sip, “Do you want me to entertain you?” she asked acidly.
Feeling another stab of hurt go through her at the tone, the bean turned away abruptly, heading for the couch with her glass and the bottle in hand. “I don’t care what you do.” she mumbled.
“Of course you do. You bought me, so you must expect something from me.” Lovely said and Risa could feel her glare burning against the side of her face. “You’re the same as the others.”
“You’re just artwork to me!” The bean, fed up of the young woman’s attitude, yelled at her, “So just shut up and look pretty!” The silence that settled over the room was painful as Lovely watched the usually level headed bean lose her cool, “I won’t be insulted by some abstract Ice Queen.” She chuckled mirthlessly, “Maybe that’s what I should call you instead, Ice Queen, because you’re heart is incased in a big, cold block.” With that, she got up and left the room.
Feeling chastened, Lovely climbed up into her box and sat on her chair. Giving another sip to her wine she sighed, it was sweet.
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Awakening with a painful thud, Risa’s eyes snapped open. She had rolled off the couch in one of the sitting rooms on the first floor. Feeling more than a little woozy, she groaned and looked at the half empty wine bottle sitting on the low table in front of her. Deciding to head to her own bed, the bean struggled to her feet and made the long trek upstairs, bottle in hand.
Heading into the main sitting room where she’d gotten the alcohol from in the first place, Risa paused. Lovely was passed out on the couch, another bottle at her side, only about a fifth of it gone. Shaking her head, the bean scooped up that bottle and put it back in the cabinet. She turned around, intending to head to her own room across the hall, but a whimper made her pause.
On the couch, Lovely moved restlessly in the throes of a nightmare. Unable to ignore her now, Risa went to her room and shuffled around for a minute, coming back with a blanket and something else. The blanket was draped over the young woman and the something else tucked into her arms. Lovely calmed slowly and drifted back to peaceful dreams. Satisfied with herself, Risa headed to her own bed.
When she awoke the next morning, Lovely was surprised to find herself curled up under a warm blanket and clutching a soft, plush Stitch to her chest.
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Reclining back into the center of the couch, Risa watched with mesmerized eyes as Lovely swayed and twisted to the beat of the song being played on her beat up boom box. After their initial rocky start, the young woman had begun to put on this show for Risa every day before lunch. At ten she would find the bean, wherever she was in the mansion and drag her to the sitting room to dance for her until almost noon.
Once she was covered in sweat and panting breathlessly, Lovely would stop, climb out of her box and head for the shower without a word. Risa would take this as her cue and go down to the kitchen to fix lunch and the two would eat together in silence. Then they would split up and do whatever they wanted to for the rest of the day.
Sometimes Lovely would go out and sometimes Risa would go out and sometimes they would both go out. The never spent their afternoons together. Then in the evening, usually after dinner, they would have a few drinks together and then go to bed. Risa wanted so badly to get to know the young woman, but every time she tried to strike up a conversation, she was either glared at or downright ignored. Eventually, she stopped trying, the girl would have to trust her sometime and the bean thought she’d wait until then.
The music died down and Lovely reached over to flick the off switch. Glancing at her watch, Risa determined that it was time for her to make lunch. Deciding on a simple ramen dish, Risa began to almost absently cook as she mentally reviewed her to do list for today. Sayumin should be coming back so she had to be prepared to possibly entertain a guest, but at the same time, who knew with that girl. She might have found a nice club and decided to stay for a while longer.
Lost in her thoughts, she barely realized that she was setting the table and adding ingredients until the dish was done and she was just waiting on Lovely to show. The young woman finally came down, dressed in short shorts and a tight top, both designed to show off her lovely assets.
Risa couldn’t tear her eyes away for a long moment and the two paused to regard each other, “I-Is that new?” Risa finally asked, voice catching in her throat.
Still staring at her, Lovely just nodded, before finally taking her seat. Risa looked down, pretending to focus on her meal, but really trying to hide her hot face, “This is good.” The compliment made her head snap up and she gave her companion a wide eyed look.
“Oh, uh, thank you.” Not really sure what else to say, Risa just blushed again, focusing on her meal.
“You’re a good cook.” Two sentences in a day? The bean looked around the kitchen as if to find the hidden cameras. When she looked back at Lovely, the girl had her head down, concentrating on her noodles. Brushing it off as her imagining things, Risa took a spoonful of soup, “Where did you learn to make this?”
Looking around again to make sure that had actually been Lovely asking the question, Risa replied hesitantly, “I went to lessons.” She felt as if any wrong move would end badly on her part and she definitely didn’t want to hear the girl’s sharp words against her ears again. “W-Why?”
Lovely shrugged, “Just curious.” Silence fell on them again.
“Is there anything you want?!” Risa blurted frantically, “Anything you need or want me to get you? A-Anything at all?” Her tone wound down under the intense glare she was receiving, “I-I’d be happy to get it for you.” She braced herself for the harsh response she knew she was about to get.
“You can’t buy me, so stop trying.” Risa flinched as the tone felt like a physical blow, “I’m not some mindless lackey or some greedy idiot.”
“I know…” The bean sighed, “I just meant-”
“Meant what? That you think money is the way to make someone happy?” Feeling weak against the venomous voice, Risa could only shake her head, “Don’t lie to me or yourself, money may make your world go round, but not mine.” The glare made the bean feel like she was melting.
Mood deflated, Risa only poked at her lunch a few minutes longer before retreating from the room, vowing to do dishes later. She found herself in the music room, hands automatically reaching for her violin. She’d always been inclined towards music and had begged for lessons when she was younger, she learned that she absolutely adored the violin and had stuck with it well into her high school years.
The strings helped to sooth her and she often played when she was lonely or depressed, which happened a lot, but she hadn’t done so since Lovely had been there. Now she took solace in the one thing that wouldn’t talk back to her. It was easy to loose herself in the familiar feel of the bow in her grasp and the strings at her fingertips.
She played for hours upon hours, not knowing when Lovely left the mansion. She didn’t even stop until the sharp string on her instrument snapped, the jagged end whipping against the side of her jaw and arching underneath her wrist to cut deep into the flesh there. She was startled into falling backwards, tripping over herself and banging her head hard against the ground. Darkness was all she saw next.
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When Lovely came back later in the evening, the house was oddly silent. Now, it was a big house and sound couldn’t possibly travel all over, but there should have been something at least, a tv on or the radio, maybe. It was certainly too early for the always staying up late Risa to go to bed, even if she was still upset about lunch.
Lovely was infinitely sorry about what she’d said to her mistress at lunch, she didn’t want to get too close to the girl, but at the same time, she really didn’t have a right to be mean to her. She had known since the first day there that the bean was particularly sensitive to her words. As she began to search the mansion, Lovely decided that she would apologize to her mistress and try to be more kind to her. After all, the girl didn’t even know her and was letting her work and stay there and cooking her meals everyday.
When she opened the door to the music room, the young woman felt her heart stop at the sight that greeted her. Risa was sprawled out on the floor unconscious, one hand above her head and the other beside her, surrounded by a small pool of blood. With a gasp, Lovely ran over to her, falling to her knees beside her. Placing her ear over the bean’s chest, the young woman breathed a sigh of relief at hearing a steady heart beat and feeling the rise and fall of her chest.
Looking around, her eyes landed on the violin with it’s thinnest string broken, blood on the end of the string indicated that it was the culprit and Lovely saw Risa’s bloody, right wrist. Trying to lift it up to inspect the damage, Lovely noticed that it had dried to the floor. She guessed that if she broke the tentative clot, it would start to bleed all over again.
Getting up, she darted to the nearest bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit, coming back, she readied some gauze. With a jerk, she pulled Risa’s hand up out of the dried blood, immediately beginning to wrap the bandage around her wound. When she deemed it secure enough, she sighed and began to inspect the younger girl for anymore damage. There was a small slice on the left side of her jaw and a sizeable bump on the back of her head, but other than that, Risa appeared to be fine.
It took a little effort, but Lovely lifted Risa into her arms and carried her upstairs. Blood stained her outfit, so the young woman decided to change her clothes for her, while she was out. Setting her on the bed, she stripped her gently, pausing when something caught her eye.
At the apex of her thighs, just underneath her hips, were tiny puncture scars, dotting along a visible vein on both sides of her body. Lovely felt her breath catch in surprise, this girl certainly seemed to be the last person to ever want to shoot up. A little higher above her hips on her left side were more scars, about ten of them, all identical and each a little over an inch longer. They almost looked like knife wounds, but that couldn’t be.
Further curious inspection of the mostly smooth and flawless skin revealed only one more scar. On the younger girl’s left wrist was a long, faint slash mark, vertical and deliberate. Lovely felt a sense of anger begin to simmer low in her belly, what could have been so bad in this privileged brat’s life that would constitute these type of marks?
Nothing at all. Looking back down at the helpless Risa, Lovely felt something else begin to warm her insides. Despite her scars and this situation, the young woman had to admit that her mistress had a nice body. Her skin was naturally tanned and flawless, she wasn’t tightly toned, but she obviously took care of herself. Her shoulders were slim and her breasts were small, fitting her slight frame well. Her flat belly was a perfect hourglass figure leading down to flared hips and long legs.
Lovely swallowed hard, pulling her eyes away forcefully and going over to the closet. When she opened the doors, she felt her breath catch for an entirely different reason. The walk in was humongous! If she hadn’t been doing something specifically important, the young woman felt as if she could spend hours in there. Shaking her head against the thought, she quickly grabbed the nearest pajamas she saw and went back to put them on her mistress.
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With her head pounding, Risa awoke slowly, groaning at the pain that spiked through her. Thinking hurt her so for the moment, she just laid still and waited to come back to herself, taking stock of her limbs. She wiggled her toes and moved her ankles, bent her knees and lifted her thighs. When she tried to check her hands, a dull throbbing echoed at her wrist, causing her to groan again. This time, a stinging sensation resounded on her jaw and she brought her non hurting hand up to gently poke at a slim cut.
All at once, her memory came back to her, the violin string snapping and her wounds before falling over and knocking herself out. She had to laugh, almost unable to believe her luck. The last time her string had broken that badly, she’d nearly severed her pinky finger; she sighed, thinking about the pain of having the metal lodged in her joint.
“You’re up.” A voice stated lowly, causing her to jump, “About time.” Lovely stalked into the room and Risa watched her warily. “You’ve been out for nearly two days. Any longer and I would have had to call a doctor.”
“You mean you didn’t?” The younger girl asked, looking at her bandaged arm, “This almost looks professional.”
“I paid attention in school.” the young woman mocked, “How’s the pain?”
“Alright, I guess. I’m a little sore.” She felt like she could use an aspirin, but she wasn’t going to ask Lovely to get it for her. She shifted to a sitting position, paused for a moment and then darted for the bathroom with a groan, leaving her artwork blinking after her. When she came back a few moments later, she sighed in relief, “Sorry, nature bellowed. Anyway, thanks.”
“Uh, you’re welcome.” An awkward silence descended, “Are you hungry?”
“I’ll fix something for us if you want.” Risa offered, walking into her closet.
“No, I already ate, but there’s some omelet rice left and I’m pretty sure it’s still warm.” There was silence again and Risa stuck her head out of the closet to give Lovely a searching look. After a second, she nodded and smiled happily, popping back inside to finish changing, leaving her artwork with an odd feeling in her chest. That smile was so innocently pleased…. Shaking her head, Lovely turned to head downstairs.
When Risa came down a little later, she found her place set and the young woman waiting for her patiently, “You don’t have to stay, I mean, I’m sure you have better things to do.” the bean looked down shyly.
“I’ll wait. It’s almost ten.” Lovely settled her chin on her fist to watch Risa eat. The bean felt a little uncomfortable under the searching gaze, nervously taking a small bite of her meal. At the taste, her eyes widened and she hastily took a larger mouthful.
“This is really good!” She exclaimed, half surprised and gaining a smirk, then a scowl out of her companion.
“You didn’t think I could cook?” Lovely growled. Instead of being fearful, Risa merely gave her a blank look and shook her head honestly. Not expecting this response, the young woman fell silent for a second, “W-Well, I kin.” she drawled, clapping a hand over her mouth in surprise.
The bean couldn’t help it, she laughed, “’Kin?’” She repeated between chuckles, drawing a deeper scowl from the older girl, “That is so cute.”
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Grumbled Lovely, causing Risa to shake her head dizzyingly. Stopping for a second to wait for the world to stop spinning, the bean gave her companion a dazzling smile.
“I love your accent. It’s amazing and unique and it’s cute how much it embarrasses you.” She watched Lovely duck her head, secretly glad to get to see her ears burning bright red, “I wish I could hear it more.”
After a long moment of silence where Risa went back to her meal, pleased grin still on her face, the young woman spoke up, “I’m from Fukui.” She revealed, watching Risa give her a searching look.
“I’m originally from Yokohama.” She finally replied, settling into an easy smile, “I still go back to visit sometimes.” She took another bite, gathering her courage to continue the conversation, “How long did you live in Fukui?”
“I moved here when I was fourteen.” Lovely answered her neutrally, “My dad found a job up here.”
“My family moved here when I was twelve for the better school system.” Risa offered up, she was surprised when she received a glare at the information.
“Private school, right?” Lovely bristled.
“Hey, I earned my way in!” The younger girl defended.
“Yeah, with your parents’ wallet.” The artwork countered quickly, “Don’t think I don’t know how that works, the best education has always gone to those with the fattest purses.”
“Don’t think you know anything about me just because I have money!” Risa shot out loudly, standing up.
“I know enough about you to know that you could afford plenty of heroine!” Lovely replied, causing her mistress to gasp, “Tell me, do you still dope up? Or was that just a teenage rebellion sort of thing?”
“Look, I don’t know how any of your previous owners treated you, but I’m not like them! Anything you think you know about me, you don’t!” Risa absently touched the top of her thighs, where the puncture marks lay hidden. “How do you even know about that?”
“I saw the marks when you were out and don’t think you’re any different from anyone else who’s grown up with a silver spoon! Having everything handed to you, you don’t know pain! You don’t know real work! You don’t know hardship or starvation!” Lovely scoffed, “I bet you even come from old money.”
“I do come from old money, but my father worked hard to make his own living! He proved himself to my grand parents and he proved himself to the business world.” Before she could continue, Risa was cut off by a harsh laugh.
“And look at you! Riding on his coat tails! And your husband’s too! Just playing the part of the bored trophy wife, shopping everyday, thinking your better because you’ve had cooking lesson and music lessons by expensive teachers. Did your parents pay somebody to potty train you too?!” Stalking over to her mistress, Lovely snatched up her left wrist and pointed to the scar, “You just think you have it hard when in reality you don’t know anything! You did this the right way, but you’re still here, what, did the maids catch you before you bled out?”
Risa jerked her hand away, feeling tears dripping from her eyes, with all the force she could muster, she drew her other hand back and slapped Lovely across the face. The sound of skin connecting with skin echoed in the sudden silence as both women froze. With a terrible glare, the artwork slowly turned her face back to burning daggers at her mistress, “You don’t know anything.” Risa ground out before she spun away and retreated to the music room.
“What’s the matter?! Can’t stand to hear the truth!?” Lovely called out to the younger girl’s back, unaware of her own tears tracking her cheeks.
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Much later that night, Lovely came back into the mansion, more than a little drunk and guilty. Even after her promise to herself, she let her mouth run away from her and she hurt the younger girl again. This time, when she opened the door, she was greeted by music blasting through the whole house, the kind of angry rock that she wouldn’t have suspected of even being in the mansion.
It didn’t take her long to find the source and she entered the sitting room to find Risa sprawled out on the couch, clutching a mostly empty bottle of wine. At her appearance, the younger girl shot up out of her sitting position and Lovely braced herself to be physically attacked. She still wasn’t prepared when she was slammed against the wall and she definitely wasn’t expecting to have her lips covered by her mistress’.
The kiss was so forceful and demanding, that Lovely couldn’t help but melt, submitting to the pressure of a foreign tongue inside her mouth. “What you think you know about me is wrong.” Risa said when they finally broke apart for air. The younger girl dived lower to begin to lick and bite at her artwork’s neck and shoulder.
“You’re just like every other rich person I’ve worked for, you only want my body.” Lovely countered, pulling the bean against her and digging her fingers into her back.
“You are very beautiful.” Risa agreed, “But I don’t just want you body.” she ripped the shirt over the older girl’s head, “It’s just the only thing I can have.” The bra lasted only another moment longer, “Every question I’ve asked is rebuffed or ignored, the only things I know about you are that you’re from Fukui,” Risa’s hands gently caressed plump flesh, eliciting a gasp, “you’re favorite food is strawberries,” Lips traveled down to replace one hand that scratched a trail to a toned belly, “you listen to rock music and American pop,” Searching fingers circled around Lovely’s navel, feeling muscles tighten in pleasure, “you took choir and paid attention in first aid,” Jeans were made short work of as Risa dropped to her knees, planting kisses above silk panties, “and you hate rich people.”
Staring down at her mistress, Lovely was stunned, “How do you know I took choir and I love strawberries?” Was all she managed to ask.
“You can read music, but you can’t play instruments and I’ve heard you sing. So I figured you were a choir girl, since you apparently couldn’t afford personal lessons.” Risa reached around and cupped firm cheeks, pulling the gasping Lovely closer to her mouth, “And since you’ve been here,” she murmured against soft skin, “you’ve eaten every strawberry in the house.”
Their eyes met in a smoldering flame and Lovely reached down to push her panties off her hips and to the ground.
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The next morning, Lovely awoke with her arms wrapped desperately around her mistress, the younger girl curled into her comfortably. Her memories were a little hazy, but she perfectly remembered returning the favor, laying Risa back on the bed and slowly removing all her clothes, planting teasing kisses along every inch of exposed skin. When she got down to that final area and lovingly uncovered it, she paused, taking in the scarred lips.
Noticing her scrutiny, Risa tried to close her legs, covering her face in embarrassment, but Lovely held them open, “What happened.”
“I’ll tell you later, it would take too long now.” Staring for a second longer caused the younger girl to try and squirm away, “You don’t have to, let’s just go to bed.”
The artwork shook her head and leaned in to kiss her intimately, “You’re beautiful.”
Even just thinking about how her mistress had responded to her touches made Lovely hot under the collar again. Feeling the younger girl shift in her arms, the young woman waited patiently for her to come to full consciousness, holding her closely. Her breathing slowly changed and Lovely knew she was recalling the night, just as she had.
Finally, Risa sighed, “I was a stupid little girl, too privileged to understand the lessons I was being taught about how the world worked. When I was sixteen, my parents started fighting really badly, my little sister had just died and it was tearing us apart. I felt like nobody saw me, that nobody cared about my pain. I ran away.”
“Tokyo is a harsh city and I fell in with a bad crowd, I was in so much pain and so depressed, my room mate introduced me to the wonderful world of drugs and I started to shoot up. She always took care of me, so I was never afraid, but one night, we were at a party and someone spiked our drinks. I woke up in this dingy hotel room, tied to the bed and listening to my room mate screaming in pain.”
“These men, they were hurting her, cutting her everywhere and laughing. It went on for hours until she finally passed out and then they moved to me.” Risa felt her breath hitch at the memories and Lovely pulled her closer, “They raped me and cut me. Then they stabbed me and left. The cleaning lady found us in the morning and called the police. After we had healed and were sent home, I couldn’t handle it, every night I had dreams of what happened and I knew my room mate did too, but I was too weak. I tried to kill myself and she found me just in time. While I was in the hospital, my parents found me and brought me back home.”
Stunned, there was nothing else Lovely could do except for hold her mistress as she sobbed, reliving the pain of always tender wounds. She couldn’t imagine what she must have gone through and she was so strong to have come out of it with such a kind and sweet disposition. It took a long time for her to calm down, but when she did, Lovely uttered just one sentence, “My name is Takahashi Ai.”
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Topic: rndmnwierd's Closet (Granite 9/6) (Read 74301 times)