• Chapter 6

    Keisei struggled among the other girls, crawling over them trying to find a better spot. It was futile, in the pit, there was no "better spot", just a pile of living flesh. Soft, naked, nubile young flesh. This was where the girls waited until they were wanted. "Wanted" is a nice way of putting it, no girl was ever really "wanted", the perverted executives just wanted their bodies. When one of them got horny and had the time he would pick one out to fulfill his desires. If the girl ever resisted, then she was chained to a wall and whipped, which was as much for the pervert's pleasure as the girl's punishment, if not more. Too many times the girl would cry out "sorry" and he'd just laugh and crack the whip harder.

    Just before the horrible memory completed itself, Keisei awoke from her nightmare. Keisei took a step outside, feeling a little claustrophobic from her past, any enclosed place felt too small. As she looked up at the stars she felt so free knowing that an endless sky seperated her from all she knew. She absentmindedly approached the lake where the shuttle had crashed, now completely submerged and invisible from the surface. How nice that the past could just disappear like that.

    Hidariude sat by the edge of the lake, staring up at the stars like her. At first she was afraid. He was one of those things, those...men. She couldn't trust him. But he had helped her get free...or was that just his way of trying to get what he wanted, like all the others?

    While she was lost in thought, he spoke "I can hear your teeth chattering." He turned around. "It's nice out here, but much colder than 7th Moon. You should dress more warmly for the night. Here take this," he took his shirt off and wrapped it around Keisei. Then he began to shiver, "Not smart, now I'm cold. I'd better get back inside, under my warm blanket. Enjoy the stars, good night."

    As he walked away, Keisei looked at his half naked body. He was muscular, but not bulky, and his left arm looked odd, the way it suddenly went metallic at the elbow. She knew what he was capable of, how dangerous he was, yet as he shivered, exposed to the cold night air, he seemed so vulnerable. She had never seen a man that way before. She pulled his shirt closer to her face and smelled him on it. His smell was, well sweaty and dirty, and musty, but somehow the mix made for a pleasant fragrance. In spite of herself she smiled, "Maybe he is different. Just, maybe."

    The next morning, Keisei made breakfast. There wasn't much to it though, just rice cakes and tea as usual. Hidariude was the first to come out after her. He was wearing his shirt again, she had left it in his room before she went back to her room and went to bed. He said "Thanks for my shirt back." and took his plate and cup and sat down to eat in silence.

    It seemed like nothing, but no one had ever said "thanks" to her before, and no one appreciated such small gestures. Hidariude may have been oblivious, but to Keisei, this was a nice change of pace. She was so used to being an object of desire, it was comforting to know she could be in the presence of a man who would just let her be. The more distance he gave, the closer she felt to him.

    She couldn't help but watch him whenever she got the chance. While she attended to the daikon garden, she'd look at him in the rice paddy. When he trained in the dojo, she'd deliver tea. When he trained outside, she'd hide in the foliage and watch. What was this feeling? Was this what the men thought of her?

    She knew so little of how the world worked, she could think of only one way to express herself to Hidariude. She went into his room in the night as he went to sleep.

    "Keisei, what are you doing here?"

    In very practiced movements, she dropped her kimono and bore her naked body to Hidariude. Without a word, she approached him and removed his clothes too. She pushed him on the bed. She did what she was trained to do, the same movements, pleasurable yet hollow and emotionless, depsite her attempt to put some feeling into it. Hidariude didn't know how to respond to this at all, he just sat there allowing her to do this until she was done, then both fell asleep.

    The next morning Keisei awoke in Hidariude's bed, but he was not there.
    She went out to the dining room, and he was finishing his breakfast. He glanced at her once and then avoided eye contact. Without a word he picked up his sword and went outside to practice his form.

    The whole day was like this, he was avoiding her. She felt a mix of emotions; frustration, sadness, anger. She thought he was different, but he just got so cold and distant after he was done with her.

    That night she confronted him at the lake, where they had shared their first moment. "Why are you avoiding me? After what we did? The men on 7th Moon always liked it when I did that! What's wrong with you?"

    "I'm not like them. I'm like you." Hidariude told Keisei, stopping her in her tracks, "Keisei, I appreciate what you tried to do, but we're not on 7th Moon anymore, we don't have to play by those rules anymore. I was trained to be a weapon, you were aggressive last night, you're lucky I didn't fight back instinctually, I could have killed you. I'll admit what you did felt good physically, but I could tell you were just doing what you were trained to, like me. I don't want you to feel like you have to be that way with me. I brought you along just so you wouldn't have to do that."

    He looked at her and he could see in her eyes the same confusion he felt when he started training with Ryu, to throw away all that you knew and start over. He went back to the water and lifted a small lotus blossom. He returned to Keisei and put the lotus blossom behind her ear. As the flower's stem brushed against her head between her ears, it felt good and she purred. He scratched her head a little with his right hand, "Does that feel good?"

    She blushed and pulled away.

    He went back to the water to look at the lotuses. Their white petals seemed to glow as they reflected the moonlight. "What do you think of the lotuses? Aren't they beautiful? I could look at them all night long. Just like you. It's nice sometimes just to look."

    She came to sit by him by the water.

    He turned his eyes to the sky. "Do you know what I find so beautiful about that sky? Knowing how far we are from 7th Moon. There it is hanging in the sky, the whole world we knew, now just a small glow that I can fit between my fingers." He held up his hand and closed one eye so that it looked like he was holding the moon between his thumb and forefinger. "They are so far away, they can't hurt us, they have no power."

    Suddenly all this space felt like too much to Keisei and she pulled close to Hidariude. She was right the first time, he was different from the others. She could be different too. She started to tell him about what it was like for her. "It was hard up there. My whole life I was their plaything, doing what they wanted. When I started to mature physically they started getting worse. It hurt, but fighting just made it worse. Finally, I just went numb, I accepted the way my world worked and that it was never going to change. Then I heard about how one of us got away. It must've been Kichiku they were talking about, I overheard my masters. It woke up something inside me, and I wouldn't put up with them anymore. I realized I was bigger and stronger than I used to be, and no pain they could inflict on me was worse than being submissive. I couldn't escape my master because he knew me too well, he anticipated me too well. But then he gave up and sent me to a tech to get retrained. He wasn't so tough. I got away, but I was still so scared that they would drag me back. Then I met you, and everything changed. I had no idea someone like you would want to be free too."

    "I'm a fighter and you're sexy." Hidariude replied, "We may seem different, but to them we're all just things, not people. We deserve better than that. And here we can have whatever life we want." As his voice trailed off, he absent-mindedly started scratching her between her ears again and she started purring again. Her tail twitched back and forth with excitement. Her fuzzy tail tickled him as it brushed past his legs.

    She reached over and took a hold of his cyberarm. She started kissing it near his elbow where metal met flesh, and gradually worked her way up to his wrist, then turned it over and kissed the top of his hand three times, once on each retracted blade, and then playfully sucked his finger. He smiled; for the first time in his life, he actually smiled. She had handled the most dangerous part of his body so casually it disarmed him.

    She finally felt safe.

    He finally felt free.

    They were finally at peace with eachother.

    The next day they sat together at breakfast. Ryu smiled "Young love."

    "Love?" Hidariude thought, "Is that what this feeling is called?" He looked back into her eyes and both smiled.

    Love.