"Oy, Sin!"

"What?" Sin pulled off the headset from around his ears and glared. The speaker was someone who attended the same school as him. It was a stroke of luck really, the high school nearby was a delinquent's heaven, and no one took the role all that seriously. All he had to do was pretend to be some student no one ever saw at class and he fitted right in.

"Woah, don't look at me like you're gonna eat me," the other boy shrank back a bit, but it was a half-joking motion. "We're gonna grab some burgers, you in?"

"Nah," Sin pulled the headset back up to his ears and turned the iPod to high volume. "You guys have fun, I'll catch you all later."

He left the bustling Arcade and headed towards home. The sun was setting and things were settling down again. He had managed to escape the Acanthe family and land himself a cushy new position in a new school.

He felt the air behind him move, but it was all the warning he got before pain exploded in his head.

Sin opened his eyes gingerly, his vision swam a little, and his head ached, but other than that... He was in some kind of vehicle, he could tell from the way it was moving, and every bump jolted his brain and made his headache worse. There was something over his eyes, some kind of hood or bag that covered most of his face but let in some light. He could see feet. His hands were tied, but that wouldn't stop him once they were outside.

Then the car stopped and suddenly he was being manhandled out of it. He grinned and spun as he was prodded forward, escaping the clutches of his kidnappers as he summoned Agith and Garula to his side. One was a fiery hound, the other made of leaves and air.

"Now you're fucked!" Sin shouted as the hounds launched themselves at enemies he couldn't see.

Sounds cracked in the air. Xiao Lan had been standing not far from the van when they unloaded his new price. He unrolled the whip he held on his belt and whipped at Sin's back. Aiming to strike him where it counted

'I suggest you stop running.' He ordered in a suggestive tone. The guards handling the hounds on their own.
Xiao Lan wasn't one to run after a slave. He'd send out his workers and they'd retrieve his property.
But this one was different 'I asked for women, you gave me a man? How is this able to get pregnant?' He asked, nodding towards Syn, whom he had in eye view while strolling after him as his workers went ahead.

'Unless... he breeds them for me... I could use him as their toy...' He thought out loud about the idea.

Sin hadn't gotten very far when the crack of a whip sounded, followed by a burning strike against his spine. He recoiled from it and stumbled a little, but came up fighting despite the agony shooting up his back. Flames erupted around him, burning away whatever had obscured his vision. His power was at its strongest outside, and though it took him a little while to recover, he felt confident even with his hands tied that mere mortals were an easy fight.

Bursts of flame fanned by wind kept the workers at bay even as his summoned creatures fought, but Sin had eyes only for the man strolling towards him. The nonchalance annoyed him.

"Are you nuts? I thought maybe you guys were Acanthe, but obviously you're an even bigger pervert." He continued backing away as he spoke, if only he could get his hands free. Sadly, the bonds weren't a flammable material. "This is a kidnapping, it's illegal."

'Oh, are you implying you will be missed? It's only kidnapping if I intend to ask for ransom, now, do you have anybody I am taking you from to ask that? No? Then I guess it's a simple taking you without informing you...' Xiao Lan chuckled, cracking his whip at the boy again.

'I don't have the patience like the Acanthe family. Either listen, or die. Choose pet. And choose quick.' His whip being ready to crack at him again.

"I'm attending school, moron." Sin stopped backing away. It was obvious that the man had the advantage of distance with his whip, and though he'd never heard of anyone killing someone with a single blow from one of those, he wouldn't put it past this one. Compliance till he got his hands free might be the best option.

"All right, I'll listen, so hurry up and talk." It could be said of Sin that although he's had a lot of dealings with slavers, he's never actually ever been a slave or seen the inside of a trainer's house. And so he took the man's words quite literally.

'School?' Xiao Lan stood silent for a little bit, then smirked 'That can be arranged. Now, I want you as my personal pet. Seeing as you'd hardly have any opportunity to get pregnant... Lee, do we have any requests for male whores?' He asked over his shoulder, one of the men by the door quickly flipped something open and skimmed through it.

'Only for elven boys, Master.'
'A shame, guess, I could always sell you as body parts. Some slave houses need human meat for some of their slaves.'

"Personal... what?" Sin finally said, after giving the man's words enough silence to avoid bursting out into a flaming rage. The hounds returned to him, snapping at anyone who got too close. They were elemental in nature, but a bite would hurt nonetheless.

"Hold on, you can't just decide what I'm going to be used for like that," he began. He learned about human rights fairly quickly, and had decided they applied to him too, since he looked fairly human.

"Just what kind of a business do you run anyway?" Sin's mind raced as he spoke, if he could keep the man talking then... What? There were too many people for him to take care of, and he couldn't fly with his hands tied like this. He decided to try a more human approach.

"Please let me go? I'll do whatever you want." He had read that somewhere and it worked for the guy in the book...

Xiao Lan rolled his eyes, shifting his weight to one leg 'I run a slave training and trade business. Also breeding and selling of body parts.' He explained shortly 'And I can do that. All I have to do is burn down the school. And nobody would miss you.'

People went silent with the last sentence, Xiao Lan staring at the guy like he was nuts 'Hold on. Let me think about this...' Minutes passed by and he looked like he was actually thinking it over.
Except he was thinking about how much money the boy could earn him.
'I have decided... No. Take him to the Butcher.' He ordered, cracking his whip into the air.

(hilarious scenes are going to come out of this)

Sin kept his expression blank. Burn the school down? Was this guy crazy? He noticed how people were staring then, and thought about what he just said. Was it odd for a human to say that? He should have studied up on slang ways of saying what books say. Then he felt a faint hope when the slaver was silent.

"... Wait! what?!" Sin shouted and turned to run, his hounds immediately closing ranks behind him to prevent attacks and pursuit. Was the man serious? He wanted to chop me up into steaks for some other guys' slaves? ... What kind of slaves eat human... well, almost human meat!?

Even as he thought all this he was running as fast as his bound hands allowed.

The men ran after the boy. Xiao Lan only rolled his eyes, sighing. 'Some people...' He muttered, turning to stride back into the house. Little did Sin know, the place he was in was like a maze.

'Hold up! What are you running away for?!' One guy yelled after, avoiding the Hounds at all costs. The others trying to close distance while distracting the Hounds. They didn't understand why he was running away so desperately for. Wasn't like he was going to die or anything.

Sin didn't slow down even when he could see the one with the whip had not chased after him, there were plenty of other people on his tail to worry about. The hounds were providing him with a fair amount of back up, but there were too many to keep at bay. It was like sheepdogs trying to keep ranks on intelligent sheep.

What was he running for!? What kind of stupid question was that? He turned his head just enough to shout. "What do you mean what am I running for!? I don't want to be turned into topside or rump steak!"

Were all of these people crazy? He tried to use a few alleyways to get away from the men, and soon realized he was starting to wander around in circles. "I don't want to be sent to the butchers..." he muttered to himself.

'What?! We're not going to turn you into food! We're supposed to take you to the administrator!' The guy yelled again, not seeing the harm in the word Butcher.

Xiao Lan was sitting in his office, having surveillance cameras follow the lad around 'He's quick. I might use him after all...' He muttered, sipping from his glass of Chardonnay.

"Yeah right, like I'm going to believe that one!"

Since the men had the home ground advantage, there wasn't much chance of Sin outrunning them in the alleyways. He waited instead, letting himself catch his breath. His hounds were now positioned carefully on rooftops ready for an ambush. As he heard steps approach, Sin spun around and kicked one of the men in the stomach and bit another on the arm as a few more wrestled his hounds.

In the end though, superior numbers won out, and unable to direct his own powers properly without his hands, Sin was wasting precious resources quickly. The hounds disappeared with a howl and he sank to the ground with a worker on either side. He tried to get his breath back as he pondered his future.

I hope the men were serious about the butcher being the administrator.

After the battle, the men were exhausted. 'Dammit. I thought I hated to answer questions, but this is just ridiculous.' One man said, getting to his feet 'Come on. She might look like a total geek, but her books are heavy, yo.'

They dragged Sin along with them, to a fairly modernly plain building. 'We came for the Butcher.' One of the men announced.

The guard let them through, whispering something of a good luck.
Inside, it smelled like moth balls and old things.

'Butcher?' They opened the door and closed it immediately when a book was thrown
'I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!' A woman's voice yelled out.
'She's very tempered. Advice you to just answer every question.' And they pushed him inside.

Sin was too tired to argue now, and let himself be dragged to their destination. The building looked normal enough, and he had never heard of butchers with heavy books before, but maybe she had lots of accounts to deal with. A female butcher might give him a better chance too. His apprehension rose again when the guards whispered a good luck to the others. Who the hell was this woman?

He didn't get a chance to object as the booming voice led to a quick retreat by the guards who brought him there. The push between his shoulder blades fired up new pain from the lashes he'd received from the psycho earlier. Added to his weariness and bound hands, he fell rather than walked in, narrowly avoiding breaking his nose on the floor.

"Please don't cut me up!" he shouted, scrambling back up with some difficulty. "I'll answer whatever questions you've got."

The woman looked up from her desk. It was silent while she stared at Sin.
'... Cut you up?' She repeated, more to herself than him.

'Good, then answer the following. Your name, age, gender, medical history, your residence prior of coming here. Your good qualities, your bad ones. What profession do you think you will gain by joining this company?' She asked, pushing her glasses back up with her middle finger.

Outside, the men were eavesdropping, just in case the boy would spout something, that would set her off.

Sin looked around curiously, realizing suddenly that he had assumed the worst, and this wasn't it. He sighed in relief and gave the woman a disarmingly charming grin. "Sorry, they said you were a butcher, so I thought you were going to turn me into mince."

Her litany of questions brought him up short and he stared at the ceiling for a while before rattling off answers he had prepared for school. "Name's Sin. Age... um 17 this year. Gender... well I don't have breasts, and you do. So I guess that makes it clear. Medical history, nothing recent. Prior residence, Itokawa. I was born there."

The next one got him a bit stuck, but he plowed on courageously. "Um, good qualities, I'm good in a fight, I can count up to 10 without my fingers, I can eat three burgers in a row, and I don't like pop music. Bad traits... I don't think I've got any. And I don't think I'd gain anything in this company. Is this some kind of forced recruitment thing? I was going to look for a job during the holidays, I swear."

"Can I go now, butch?"

She stood up from her chair, walking to a file cabinet and pulled out a stack of papers as thick as a book. 'Fill this in. According to your good traits... If any, there is at least one in there useful. You'd be a sufficient guard. For the Master that is. Fill it in...' She dumped it on Sin.

Her eye twitched at the last sentence, picking up a big big big book 'As I said before... DON'T FUCKING CALL ME THAT!!!!' And she threw the book aimed at Sin's head.

The guards outside all fled to the opposite wall, just in case the boy would come flying out.

Sin stared at her, and gave her a very good impression of a high school kid on report. Which technically, he was half-accurate in. He didn't get long to stare at the files though as a book came hurtling in his direction from his last comment. A momentary panic gripped him, then the joker expression faded, and the cold face of an elemental at work came through as the book disintegrated in a burst of flame.


"You're not expecting me to fill that in with my arms tied are you?" He asked sweetly, indicating the files on the floor near him with a jerk of his head. "And I won't call you that anymore, so don't go throwing books at me, alright?"

The woman quirked her brow, then pushed her glasses back up 'Try writing while holding the pen with your mouth. Master didn't order them to be taken off. So they will remain tied, until he says otherwise. Good luck.' She focused back onto the files on her desk. Picking up the phone in the process.

'It's me... Don't even think about hanging up. I am looking at your expenses and you're going bankrupt this way. Either cut down on spending money or I'll cut something off of you.' She hissed into the phone. 'Master would take you as a slave if you keep going like this. And when he does, ohohohoho~ pray that I don't get my hands on you.'