1 Nineteen Already

I opened my eyes slowly, adjusting to the sunlight that was shining directly towards my face. As usual I walked to my closet and slipped into something other than my pajamas. It was my 19th birthday today, and as usual, I knew it would be as horrible as all of my 18 prior birthdays, if not worse. I slowly walked over to my desk and looked for any notes on the table, since I knew my father would be out in the market again today.

My father was a good for nothing and an unfaithful man. He had never "hired" even one male servant and only ever "hired" women, mother had always been suspicious but when she caught him in the act of infidelity, she just left with her best friend and personal servant, Erika. But not even taking me, her own daughter with her. I cried softly and inaudibly over the memory as I picked up the letter that was on my desk, exited my room, and slowly walked down the stairs, careful as to not trip over my dress and fall down the stairs like last time.

I smiled and waved to Sora as I thanked her for the breakfast and ate. While all six of us hated my father down to his very core, we all got along well with each other well while he was absent. I opened the letter, and the girls all gathered around me to read it with me.

"Happy Birthday Zara, as you are now responsible enough, I have decided that this year you will be getting your own personal Servant/Servants. You may use all of the money I have provided in the envelope to make your purchase. And remember, use your aggressive buyer skills if they try to up the price or convince you to buy a more expensive monster, beast, or creature than the one you actually want to buy."

I glared at the paper, disgusted by his choice of words. I could tell this upset the girls, knowing that I too would soon have a servant just like father. I looked back at them woth a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm not replacing any of you, and I won't be like my father when he trained his slaves. I promised myself to help anyone, regardless of rank or species, and that's what I'll do!" They looked at me, about to cry from my small speech, but I then waved goodbye and headed out to the market.

(Point of View: ???)

As usual, the whole town was either passing by or looking inside the store oohing and ahhing at us. This wasn't unusual for us though, we were used to it, being stuck on cages or viewing cases, waiting to be sold. Being forced to wear these damned shock collars, and being treated like garbage.

In this store, I was a legend to the others like me. I had been bought and returned so many times that my price was at the point where any child with pocket money could afford me. But no one ever tried. They would ask about me, they would be told about what I've done, and they would always say; "Well what do you expect of a monster?" It had gotten to the point where they were all waiting for tommorow, just so they could kill me and get rid of me once and for all, like they do all of their "undesirable merchandise." But this was just the life we all lived. Maybe in my next life, I can be powerful, and kill all of the slave traders to end this cycle. Tomorow's the day I die, so why bother doing anything but planning out my next life?

The door opened and my ears perked up. I looked through the corners of my eyes to see who it was that was given such early access into the store while it was still closed. It was a young woman, she seemed to be unsure as to why she was here.

"Hello miss, how may I help you? Said the man up front as he greeted her.

She was looking over the cages. "Just looking for now I suppose..." She replied. The man nodded and went back to working on fixing Dally's collar.

I scoffed at her innocent act and realized I had just messed up. Her eyes locked with mine, and she looked at the price on my cage. Her eyes widened when she read something on the other sign. She Then waved the man back over.

"I'd like to purchase him." She said pointing at me. The man looked at her as though she were crazy.

"Are you sure you want him? I mean, that monster's hurt all of his previous masters and they've all returned him here." He said as He tried to dissuade her. I looked away, and braced myself for the same answer as always.

"Well he most likely had a good reason to do those things. What do you expect when you treat him and his friends like garbage?" She said as she stomped her foot on the floor, chipping the brick flooring. I was shocked, no one had ever said anything remotely defending us before, and this woman... She just said it without hiding what she meant.

The Man quickly ran to the back of my cage and opened it, dragging me out by the chain that was attached to the Collar on my neck, then handing the end of it to her. She scoweled at the man, who then shrunk back into his hiding place behind the desk. She whispered something to him and he nodded again.Placing the mans payment plus extra on his desk, she walked towards me and I cowered away, but she grabbed me from under both of my arms and lifted me up onto my feet, then handing me the end of my chain. She took my hand and held it as I then followed her into the streets of the town.

A few more minutes of walking and we reached another store. She took me inside and she handed me a basket.

"Do you think you could help me out and carry one of the baskets?" She asked as she grabbed herself one. I nodded as I kept following her. She went into the fabric and sewing materials and let me walk around for a bit, occasionally taking glances at me, then back at the fabrics she held at the time. I waited on her to finish, but she just kept looking at me.

"Hey, what's your name? It's been bothering me for a bit that I dont know it." She said as she smiled at me.

I was confused as to why she would ask me that. Usually I just was given a name or was called "Beast." I looked down at her and told her my name.

"It's Leon." She looked up at me as she got up on the tips of her toes and pat my head.

"Alright then Leon, let's get along okay?" She said as she returned back to the flats of her feet.

A small chuckle escaped my lips, and my eyes widened. I hadn't laughed in ages, why now of all times would I start again? She looked at me and smiled.

( Point of View: Zara)

I hadn't noticed untill just now, but he was actually rather handsome. His long black hair faded seamlessly into a dark grey color. He had a fox tail, and his ears looked so soft, and like a child I was dying to try and pet them. Those deep icy blue eyes of his were the most stunning though. I was staring into them for a while until a genle elderly woman's voice came from behind me.

"Miss Zara, here you go. These should be just what you need to treat all of the injuries you listed." Said an elderly woman who handed me the now filled basket. I payed the woman and I led Leon back home.

"Sit down Leon." I said as I pointed to a chair in my room. I pulled up a stool and sat in front of him.

He seemed a bit uncomfortable but that was to be expected. He hadn't been shown kindness for such a long time and now he was being respected again. Not only that, but he was in a woman's room. I tried my best to calm him down and I took his arm.

I sighed as I could now see the full extent of his injuries. "You have cuts and scratches all over you. I'll need to treat them or they may become infected." He nodded his head in understanding while he sat down.

I swiftly got to work and cleaned out all of his deep cuts and sanitized an infected wound. I eventually had to stitch the largest one closed, so I did it as quickly and as efficiently as I could.

I let him rest and settle in for a bit after I showed him to where he would be staying. Since he was my "personal servant" he had the room next to me, which I had asked Kiri and Sora to prepare for him. I was just about to walk over and check on him when I heard a loud noise from his room.

Running out of my room, I burst into his room, but I stopped and laughed where I stood. He had gotten his claws stuck into a wooden post on the end of the bed, so he had fallen over when trying to free himself from it. He had a blanket over his head and his feet in the air. He looked up at me and gave me a pleading look. I sighed and walked over next to him and helped him sit up.

"Thanks Zara, I'm still not used to being free. I had a nightmare about being back in the store." He said as his ears lean back on his head. I sighed and took his free hand and squeezed it, careful as to not cut my hand on his claws.

"It's okay, you're going to be safe here, just stay on my fathers "good side," and you'll be fine okay?" I said as he slowly calmed down.

Eventually his claws retracted back into a normal shape and his hand was free from the wooden bedpost.

"Here, you can have these." I said as I handed him both the new clothes I had sewn for him, and a small bottle with a glowing shard of sorts inside it. He looked at me questioningly.

"That's a Star fragment. I Have another, so you can have this one. They're both from the same star. Since mine has given me good luck, I figured you could have one too since you might need it later." I explained as I tied it to a piece of string and then hung it over his head as a necklace.

"Oh, thank you..." He said sleepily as he rubbed his eyes.

"It's late now, so get some rest. I need to go handle something downstairs." I said as I left him in his room to handle something that I had secretly done earlier today.