Rustic Servitude

Rustic Servitude - Chapter Seven

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“How long have you been awake?”

“Since five.”

Itachi turned his gaze from his slave to his alarm clock on the nearby nightstand with its glowing angry red numbers. It read 8:11.

Despite being awakened at such an early hour by the chill that coursed his spine, number twenty-one found himself to be calm instead of livid with his situation. Unlike many of the slaves that coursed the trails of the underground slave trade, number twenty-one was in fact submissive. Even though, he would only submit to someone he thought truly worthy of his submission, thus he would test each Dominant that ever took him on. If they reacted the way he thought they should, he would respect them doing everything and anything in his power to please them, if not he would undoubtedly give them nothing but trouble. Number twenty-one had never had a Master that he had respected.

Itachi eyed his slave noticing his skin had taken on a bluer hue than he remembered, but attributed that to the fact that it was freezing. Though, he could not feel the cold much with two heavy goose-down comforters stretched over his body and bed. He unlatched his slave from the steel column that he had attached him to the night previous, holding the chain firmly as he slid socked feet out from beneath warm covers and onto the chill floor. He stood letting the comforters and soft cotton sheet fall away from his body revealing his naked chest and baggy flannel pajama pants. Itachi then vacated his room and strode to the thermostat in the hall to turn it on before making his way to the kitchen, his slave crawling dutifully behind grinning widely all the while.

Ebony strands were in disarray from sleep, clumps of hair that attempted to escape the elastic of his pony-tail holder hung over his ears and kept them warm until the central heat kicked in. The slave also noticed his Master’s nipples were hard from his seated position at Master’s feet, but other than that his Master seemed unfazed by the temperature as he opened and shut cabinets to do whatever it was he did in the morning. He did not indulge his curiosity to ask probing questions, but instead sat back and simply observed. His eyes trailed over the well executed fluid movements his Master made, the strength of his straight bare back, and how even though he had just woke up he exuded dominance. The more the slave observed the more turned on he became. Never had he encountered such a phenomenon, and even though he was still testing his new Master, he already had an ounce of respect for the young man.

Itachi noticed the shift in atmosphere and glanced down into beady eyes noting his slave’s half hard state of arousal, then promptly turned back to making a pot of tea.

A slight quirk of an eyebrow and for that minute spark of attention number twenty-one was more turned on than he had been in a long time. Too bad that his need would be ignored, never the less he still sported an all knowing grin.

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Itachi backed a trailer hitched to his Ram between large piles of graying hay dusted with frost around the edges. Pitchforks lay in the scarred bed of the pickup among various other tools, while Sasuke stood behind and directed his elder brother close to piles of hay. Gloved hands held with open palms held high signaled Itachi to stop. Fluidly he braked, shifted from reverse to neutral, and pulled the parking break before turning to the two men seated in his truck, “Out.”

“Itachi,” Sasuke spoke lowly as Itachi vacated his ‘baby’ and shut the door, “you think it’ll be ok to let yours use a-”

“Yes,” he answered the unfinished question with finality while fixing Sasuke with his steady gaze as if to reassure his younger brother that he would let no harm come to him if his chosen slave were to go berserk with a pitchfork at hand.

Sasuke made a face of distaste, but trusted Itachi’s judgment.

A truck door slammed, and the brothers walked to the rear of the Dodge where Itachi lowered the tailgate and hauled out the pitchforks handing the first to Sasuke and the second to number twenty-one.

Number twenty noticed immediately that there was one less than there were people, and as Itachi slammed the tailgate closed with the last pitchfork in hand, two and two clicked together in Naruto’s mind.

Their duties were explained on the way to their destination, and was very simple. The cattle had been transferred to another pasture and the leavings of the round rolls they had not eaten had to be transferred as well.

Number twenty slid his bound hands behind his head turning his back to the others and began walking back to the passenger door that had just been shut, “Guess I’m not needed.”

Sasuke stepped over the trailer hitch and past number twenty-one quickly latching onto his slave’s mop of blonde hair to yank him back, “You’re going to be using your hands.”

Naruto turned glaring at his ‘Master’, “I don’t have any gloves dumb-shit, and however much I want to do what you say, I don’t want to get frostbite.” The slave then proceeded to show his Master his bare hands bound at the wrist, wiggling his fingers to get his point across.

Master countered his slave’s glare with one of his own, then tugged off his gray leather working gloves and forced them onto Naruto’s bare hands.

Itachi and number twenty-one watched the spectacle the loud number twenty made, but after Sasuke took control of the situation Itachi directed number twenty-one to start lifting clumps of hay onto the trailer with his pitchfork while he did the same.

Dark eyes stared into the blue of his slave’s for a moment after he got the gloves on number twenty’s hands, then looked over his face then back to his scowling eyes, “Anything else?”

Naruto grinned, “Ya’ know…a cheeseburger would be nice.”

Sasuke ignored his slave’s sarcasm and pushed him toward the pile of hay Itachi and his slave were working on transferring to the trailer, “Maybe after we finish.”

Number twenty stumbled and glared over his shoulder at his Master, but turned to the large pile to grab a handful. He then proceeded to trot over to the trailer and drop it neatly onto the bare boards that made the trailer while Sasuke retrieved his four prong pitchfork. However, as he turned back he was caught off guard by a large clump of hay being thrown in his face, but it wasn’t just hay Sasuke soon realized as something hard hit him in the face.

A hand swiped his face where the hard object had hit him before squinting down at his feet where the projectile lay alongside the fallen handle of his pitchfork. For a few moments he just stood, trying to make sense of what had just happened while number twenty’s loud guffaws assaulted his ears.

Sasuke noticed his brother and his brother’s slave had stopped working to stare in his direction while his own slave was rolling in the scattered hay around the pile. Warm visible puffs of air heaved with every gasping breath Naruto took as he laughed loudly.

Sasuke simply stood staring down at the small frozen clump of cow pie that had been hurled at him. The pain prickling the skin of his flushed face was nothing compared to the rage he felt boiling deep in his gut.

“Sasuke.” Itachi’s calm voice in his ear snapped him out of his murderous thoughts, and under the fringe of bangs littered with hay he looked to his elder brother.

Naruto’s laughs waned as number twenty-one approached him, then stopped altogether as the other offered his hand to help him up. Number twenty was wary of number twenty-one, but took the hand up anyway.

“Restrain him.”

The hand up soon became a strangle hold, but that did not stop the smirk spreading across Naruto’s face once his eyes caught his pissed Master’s.

“Put him in the back of the truck,” Itachi added to his previous command and number twenty-one obeyed hoisting Naruto in his arms. Complying he strode over to the edge of the bed and threw the other slave like a sack of feed into the back of the truck. Number twenty landed loudly and cursed even louder after he landed on his ass.

“Look at me boy,” Itachi commanded as he walked over to his truck to look over the tailgate and down on the slave trying in vain to sit up and act like his pride wasn’t injured. Angry blue eyes flashed to those of his own Master before looking to the elder’s then turned away to ignore him, but before the move was fully executed Itachi’s left hand shot out to grab the insolent slave’s jaw. Itachi squished those tan cheeks between his thumb and fingers as he glowered into wildly defiant eyes, “My younger brother, your owner, takes pity on you because of his lack of experience, however I am here to remedy the situation. You will soon learn disrespecting an Uchiha will be the last thing you ever do, should you make a habit of it. Do you understand?”

Hack-tou.

Itachi shoved the slave away from him as he wiped his face with his right hand of the spittle trailing from his closed right eyelid and down his cheek. He transferred the offending spit from the fingers of his working glove to the side of his right pant leg as Naruto struggled once again to sit up after being thrown into a small metal toolbox. He knew he’d have more than a couple of bruises, but retorted anyway, “Your family name doesn’t mean shit to me, bastard.”

Itachi chuckled low, deep within his throat before responding, “Your opinion will change in due time.”

Sasuke was livid, not only had his chosen Christmas present disrespected him, but Itachi as well. That in itself was unforgivable. He frowned slightly as he stared at the wild man in the back of his elder brother’s truck, was this handsome face really worth the struggle? Blue eyes snapped to Sasuke’s, the intense glare shifting from one brother to the other, though affecting the second far more than the first. Yes, he decided, it was worth the work to tame such a stunning creature. Even if said stunning creature was in dire need of a bath.

“Like hell,” Naruto huffed.

Like number twenty-one, number twenty had never met a Master he had respected, much less liked enough to submit to. His beliefs were strong on the whole Master/slave, underground slave trade concept believing that it was utter bullshit through and through. Men and women getting off by making demands of some poor unfortunate soul that they had purchased illegally or not, was disgusting to Naruto. He believed love should come natural to two people in a give and take relationship that they both worked hard at to prosper. However, he had never experienced something as such, but believed that it did in fact exist.

“We’ll see, won’t we?”

“I doubt I’ll be here any longer than two weeks!”

Itachi looked to Sasuke, a small smile directed his way before looking back to the blonde slave, “I’d like for you to prove me wrong.”

“I will, asshole! You can bet on it!”

“Confident, aren’t you?”

“Yes I am!”

“Well then, if you can get Sasuke to admit that he no longer desires to keep you within two weeks time, you’re free.”

Naruto blinked at the sudden turn of events, “What…what about Sakura?”

Itachi stared into wide hopeful blue eyes without questioning who Sakura was or looking to Sasuke to question his opinion, “She will be freed as well.”

Naruto narrowed his eyes, “Everything would be legit right? You’d get us valid citizenship papers and everything?”

Itachi nodded once.

Naruto smiled briefly before frowning, “And if I don’t win the bet?”

“This will be your permanent residence.”

Naruto’s frown deepened, but he had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

He nodded, “I accept.”

“This should be interesting,” number twenty-one mumbled under his breath his grin a bit wider than usual.

Sasuke wasn’t sure how he should feel, he actually felt a bit uneasy knowing the blonde would do everything in his power to make his life a living hell, but he had confidence in Itachi’s decisions. Even so, the two emotions didn’t mix well together leaving the younger Uchiha agitated with the turn of events. He remained silent subduing any emotions that forced to well up, and remained expressionless.

“Now, with that out of the way, you will sit back here until we are done. I’d advise you not to be any more inconvenient until we’re done.” Itachi left that at that and turned walking back to his standing pitchfork that pierced the ground where he had left it, his slave followed his example with silent Sasuke in tow after he had picked up his own fallen pitchfork.

Naruto watched the three men as they worked for a while before laying down in the bed to stare up at the stratus clouds that made the day gray and dreary as he mulled over what had just transpired. After a while, his thoughts ceased as he curled into himself and drifted off to sleep.

Upside-down, everything that Sasuke was used to, was completely topsy-turvy ever since Itachi took him to that damn shack. He honestly didn’t know what to expect anymore, but kept sane with the confidence that everything would turn out well. Wiping his damp forehead with his near numb fingers, Sasuke continued to heave hay onto the trailer with his brother and the ugly abomination he bought the day previous. To each his own…

When they finished, the pitchforks were stacked beside the pile on the trailer and Sasuke climbed onto the trailer to sit next to them near the hitch. Itachi and number twenty-one climbed into the truck, while number twenty was left in the back as the truck was started and began moving.

Naruto woke as the truck jolted forward and sat up quickly to look over the tailgate. His eyes glanced around until they found Sasuke, who raised an eyebrow at him. He returned the look with a narrowing of his eyes.

The truck soon came to a stop at a gate where Sasuke immediately jumped off of the trailer to open it to let the truck and trailer through before closing it again. He jumped back on the trailer shoving his freezing hands deep into his winter coat pockets as he settled himself. His slave was no longer interested in him and looked around at the frozen landscape instead. That was fine with Sasuke, though everything would be that much more difficult with the slave now. He remembered last night and this morning vividly, especially when he had awoke that morning and cleaned the slumbering blonde with a damp bath rag to remove his crusty cum he had left smeared on him while he watched him sleep peacefully. His thoughts quickly shifted.

Sasuke could hardly wait to take a hot shower and sink into clean sheets after eating a hot meal he instructed the pink haired woman to make. It’d be nice going home to a clean warm environment with the smell of dinner wafting through the air. Originally he thought about taking a bath with his blonde, but dismissed the idea to think of later as Itachi pulled up to another gate.