Household Ch 01

"She ended up in our hands after her owner's death." The greasy fat manlet explained. "She'll do. She's the one I want; I'll be happy to take her off your hands." I replied shortly, keeping the revulsion out of my voice. The girl in the cage was barely alive, unconscious and only breathing shallowly. Between her condition and the foul odor and presence of the slave merchant, the darker part of my nature was stirred up. In this rare circumstance, nothing would do but the death of the slave merchant; however I nurse a talent for pissing people off, and enraging the dead man first was a pleasure I'd not turn down. "Given the state she's in, taking her off your hands is something of a favor. It must cost a lot to keep her alive, and you'll never sell her without time in a medical pod, which is quite a bit more expensive. I'm sure you won't need any compensation." The scent of anger quelled my dark side a bit, and my armored foot finally coming down on his throat sated it entirely. I don't wish to give the impression I acted out of emotion however. That the action sated the darker half of my nature does not alter the fact that I could not let him live. No one could know I'd purchased her, lest they suspect I had a hand in her former owner's death. Besides which, while leading me to the back room she was being kept in, he made several remarks showing that he thought I was interested in a mutilated corpse, or something even more vile and repulsive. It would not be wise to let him walk away from insulting me so grievously.

I read over the paperwork for my new slave as Jeeves drove. She was originally from japan, and a Kitsune—something I already knew, but felt the need to double check. I leave it to your imagination why I needed to look at her papers to confirm what I knew from looking at her soul alone. "So this is her, sir?" Jeeves asked, causing me to glance involuntarily at the empty driver's seat. "Yes Jeeves. Think you're up to the task?" I asked. Jeeves' very affected oxford accent thickened, the way it does when I question his capabilities. "Of course sir. She's even still breathing. Restoring her fully to health will be child's play." "Her name is Kawaguchi Haruka Izumi; that's Izumi Haruka Kawaguchi in english name order. Three names is a bit unusual for Japan, but Kawaguchi isn't a name I recognize." I said thoughtfully. Jeeves replied "Nor I sir. Her clan isn't in the upper ranks of the Shougunate. A good thing, It would be inconvenient to have relatives show up on your doorstep to claim her." I silently agreed, wondering—not for the first time—what my AI thought of my plans.

It took Jeeves nearly six hours to finish reconstructing Izumi's body. I had rarely had cause to use the top-of-the-line medical bay my AI had insisted I acquire. Izumi was heart-breakingly beautiful once Jeeves had removed all injuries and restored missing parts of her anatomy. She had long silky red hair, Japanese facial features but milky skin, five tails the same bright red as her hair, and cute little fox ears on top of her head. It was a bit strange to see the side of her head just smooth skin where human ears would be. Her body was toned, arms and legs slender. She had been malnourished and most of her muscles atrophied when she went in, but Jeeves had fixed that as well.

But the job was only really half done. Fixing all her physical injuries was the easy part relatively. I spent another hour meticulously removing all memories of torture and other abuses she'd suffered, which turned out to be damned near all of them. She would be left with a purely abstract sense of what had been done to her and the condition she'd been in when I found her—a summary in words but no specific memories.

I dismissed Jeeves. Now that Izumi was healed, I tucked her gently into my bed and gave her body a couple of minutes to warm the sheets. I removed the spell keeping her unconscious, allowing her to slowly wake. Her eyelids fluttered open. I barely had a moment to appreciate the startling gold of her eyes before she leaped at me. Her body was noticeably warm to the touch, Kitsune bodies running at a slightly higher body-temperature. It took me—I am chagrined to say—a couple of moments to recognize that she was not trying to attack me. She was hugging me tightly and purring. I put my arms around her, stroking her back.

"I think you let your tremendous power go to your head Charles. It is gratifying to know that my mastery of cognitomancy can fool even you." I felt a number of things in succession: frustration that I'd wasted an hour's efforts, worry for her mental state if everything remained, and finally acceptance of the situation—that she could read my mind. Her lips brushed my ear as she gave a short musical laugh "My past is my own, however horrible it was, master. But for now, your machine man—in his zealous desire to fix my broken and brutalized body—healed one thing too many. I think it's your responsibility to fix that little issue." I tightened my grip on her back and replied "Don't worry about any mess, the sheets are self cleaning. You are my property, but I'm a reasonable man—do let me know if anything gets too uncomfortable." I felt just a bit gratified that I was able to cut her off mid reply by sliding a finger into her. The sharp yip was oddly satisfying; though that may have been in part the immediate increase in her arousal I could smell and the changes I could observe in her soul.

A quick change of position and I had her bent over the side of the bed, one hand on her back, one hand on her hip, and thrusting into her. She was warm, tight, and extremely wet. I wondered—A bit late—if what I was doing was wrong. It might seem strange for a slave owner, but I wouldn't take a slave against her will—not that that was the issue since she was obviously willing and eager. No my concern was more long term. I had intended to erase any trauma that resulted from her past, but that had not happened. She was neither the broken and brainwashed toy I would have expected from what she had experienced, nor was she someone who craved abuse. Instead, she took honest delight in being dominated uncontaminated by any sort of pathology. Of course—given a little thought—it was obvious that if she had fooled me perfectly even as I tried to erase memories, then more conventional means of brainwashing must fail as well. She growled slightly in approval as my train of thought brought me to leave caution aside and start treating her a bit more roughly, confident that I would stir up no complex and unearth no trauma.

She half screamed, half moaned as we both came. I guessed it was her third, though Kitsune seemed to be built differently. Her last orgasm occurred exactly when mine did and was far stronger than any of the others. We both stayed there, joined and breathing heavily for a short time. Her tails lashed in delight, and she looked at me over her shoulder, golden eyes picking up the little light in the room. "I felt you from the moment I was brought into this city by my former owners. I never thought I'd meet a man I'd be willing to call master, but there you were. All I had to do was call out, and I knew you'd come." I stroked one of her tails, marveling at the softness of the fur. "You touched on my secret, and that resulted in his and her deaths. With both of them dead, their slaves were seized by the auction house's local branch. You knew that killing them at a distance like that would make me feel obligated to you." "Yes master, I did. And however much you might protest it, I know two secrets of yours, the second one something you keep even from yourself." I felt genuinely curious "What secret would this be?" and she told me, and I was faced with a quandary. A person who's judgment I trusted and who knew at least as much about me as I did told me something I knew was untrue.

I was silent for a moment before replying "I am touched that you think I'm a good man. I will go as far as stating that I'm not a bad man. But if we're throwing curve balls... I love you." She paused, and I watched the evolution on her face from responding with banter, to realizing that I was completely serious and honest. I could see the confusion on her face, as she tried to understand how I could possibly have fallen in love so quickly. "You see minds the way I see souls." I said, which described the situation quite well. I couldn't read thoughts or emotions directly, but I could see things hidden to most, even talented wizards. She was probably the most powerful cognitomancer I'd ever heard of, and I'm completely unique. It was much later—after a quick shower—when we were cuddled up to each other in bed and I was on the edge of falling asleep that she whispered "I love you too, master."