You always dreaded what news you were about to receive when one of the maid's of the Zenin clan would slide open your door with a sheepish look on their face. Every time you heard a certain man's name leave the messenger's lips, a part of you died inside, wondering and dreading what he'd request of you next. To be under the control of the embodiment of misogyny made you gag every time you thought of it, from prepping his dinner to being forced to train with him, it was enough for any non-sorcerer to go insane. But you knew if you didn't follow his request, the consequences would be dire.
But, there were days that weren't spent slugging yourself around with a figurative hunchback from all the misogyny and sexism over your shoulders. Only a handful of times did you see a pair of girls, twins, to be correct, walking around the Zenin estate. One of them had short and messy hair, you thought she looked like a sheepdog, and that it was cute. The other had perfectly cut bangs and her hair stopped at her jawline- her hair was also never messy, if the other differences couldn't spot them out before. On occasion, you'd run into one or both of them while you were both doing chores around the place, often which led to long conversations while you'd both merge duties around the estate to maintain the conversation. That doesn't always have a happy ending- for example, one night when you were sweeping the floors and the twins were doing other people's laundry and happily talking, one of the adults found the three of you and gave you all an earful about how 'you can't merge chores for leisure.'
Nothing lasts forever, and that's what humbled you when you stopped seeing the twins after a while. At the time, all three of you were 14- you were about to turn 15 in a few weeks (though nobody acknowledged it) when you heard that one of them left. Her name was Maki, you remembered, the one who had no cursed energy at all. Her sister, Mai, left shortly after she did. When you overheard one of the adults talking about it, you felt your heart begin to sink a bit; drowning in loneliness. Now for the next few months, you've been moping around the Zenin estate with no one to talk to, no one to share your frustrations about the misogynistic men who controlled you- not just your lord- around the place. It made your skin crawl when you'd pass one of the old men staring at you creepily. Sometimes you wondered if those old men knew how old you were, or if they even cared about that.
Still, here you are, sighing deeply as you reach down the side of the counter, grabbing a dirty rag and placing it in the hot water running from the tap. Thank god nobody else was in the kitchen at the moment, you couldn't take another gross comment from one of the other men today. Washing the dishes alone was better than being forced to lounge around with Naoya and the other adults- not just men, the stereotypical 1950's housewives, too. The pile was big every time you came into the kitchen, though that never stopped you from finishing them quickly, as they were usually just a bunch of small plates, bowls and tea mugs.
"This is the first time I'm not having to tell you," A smug, masculine voice came from the other side of the room. Your eyebrows furrowed at the sound of his voice, clearly irritated; you still grabbed the dish soap, turning the bottle upside down and squeezing roughly to get the minuscule out beyond the entrance. The only noise in the room was the water running from the tap and the whistle that came from the bottle as you were shaking it onto the gray rag.
"I should get one of the other maids to do it, I have a request for you," He continued, stepping away from the entrance, his shoes clacking against the hardwood floor. Each step got louder as he was getting closer, and your skin was crawling by the time he was about half a foot away from you. His arm reached out to turn off the tap, pushing down on the lever, stopping you mid-wash. You turned to look up at him, grimacing at his expression that was equally as smug as his voice.
"Come," He nudged his head towards the doorway. "I need to talk to you about something." He finished as he finally started stepping away from you, slowly, but was still gaining distance. You waited for a moment, glaring at him as he was walking backwards as if to make sure you wouldn't grab a knife to stab him in the back, then ultimately set the dish and the rag down with it before you slowly followed him out.
In fear of giving him attitude, you sighed, collecting yourself to not sound exasperated. "Yes, Sir Naoya?" you ask quietly as you begin to pick up your feet so they're not dragging against the floor. He hums in satisfaction at the title, seeming proud of your obviously fake respect for him. "I'm not evil like those other guys here," he starts, his voice now a bit firm, a heavy contrast to his sneaky, almost villainous, tone from earlier as he turns to face you with his arms crossed behind his back. Now you noticed that he's not wearing his usual yukata- instead he's just wearing a simple black shirt and white pants. "And you're aware that I can announce your release whenever I'd like, right?"
"I am," you answer quietly, keeping calm even though you were fearing what he might say next. He huffed for a moment, his shoulders rising and falling as an exhale escaped his lips. You could see his breath condensing in the air, reminding you how cold it was outside, though you chose not to do anything about it. "I've got a request for you. Do you remember Maki? That meek little girl-"
"Yes, I remember." you firmly cut him off, frowning at his unfinished description of the girl. He clenched his jaw, "This is only between you, me and the Head, but I need you to take her out," he finished. Now he seems hesitant, like he regrets what he just said. And you simply stand there, merely appalled by his words. Take her out? In what way? Does he mean murder?
"As in...killing her." he corrected as if he knew what you were wondering. You curled a brow in confusion, staying silent as you kept watching how your breath condensed in the air. "Killing her?"
"You do know what that means, right?" he questioned, lifting a brow and emphasizing the phrase. You narrowed your eyes as you nodded curtly. "Good. Do you want to leave now or wait in the morning before everyone wakes up?"
"The morning would be better, there could still be random people wandering around the estate," you answer bluntly. Naoya nods briefly, undoing his arms and letting them fall to his side. "The Head told me not to tell you this, but I will just because I'm not heartless, but he said if you succeed, then he gives me full permission to release you and let you go from the Zenin clan. But if you fail, he'll have you executed for defiance." He admits, seeming to be taken over by shame a moment later. Now that's a surprise if you've ever seen one. Naoya sounding soft? Around you, of all people? Naoya Zenin, the infamous misogynistic jerk who always bossed people around, was being nice to you, his servant. The other men and stereotypical women would have a stroke if they ever saw this, seeing him be so nice to a presumed low-lifer who's worth nothing better than a servant and a potential weapon.
"Executed for defiance? How is that defiance?" You scowl as you cross your arms. Naoya simply shrugged as he was out of answers for that one. "I dunno, but I'll make sure you leave before everyone wakes up."
"And what will you say when people are questioning about where I am?" you lift a brow, tapping your shoe against the floor. Naoya's silent for a moment as he's chewing on the bottom of his lip, thinking for a solution. "I'll figure that out in a little bit, just don't worry about it."
"Fine," you seemed curt and unbothered, but on the inside, you were filled to the brim with joy that you were finally leaving the Zenin estate for however long it takes. Though it's pretty regretful if you succeed and you're finally free from the sexism and the misogyny. It'd be at the cost of an old friend, somebody you used to talk to and laugh with. Were you even ready for that?
"Alright...are you happy, now that you're about to be free?" his eyebrows shoot up as he's asking you the question, still chewing on his bottom lip. You don't want to seem too excited, so you simply shrug. "At least I'm gonna see other people."
"That's right, I forgot to mention, I heard she goes to one of the Jujutsu Tech schools. I think she goes to the one in Tokyo," he added as he finally let go of his bottom lip. The emotion behind his sharp eyes tells you that he doesn't really want you to leave, which confuses you, because you thought that he sees you as nothing more than his servant.
Naoya sighs for the last time tonight, "Make sure you come up with a good reason for getting into the school- the principal there is a picky man," he reminds you, clenching his jaw at the fact you're about to leave him. "And make it quick, I don't wanna be pressured by the Head if you're taking too long."
"Sure," you replied, staying silent for a moment while he cringes. The clock that's been ticking in the back of your mind ever since you got here has finally stopped ticking- you might not be literally free, but the silence in your head was a signal that you were mentally free from the chains of command and misogyny. You were finally free to think for yourself instead of letting others boss you around and let creepy old men stare at you, to be yourself instead of letting stereotypical women compliment you to your face then talk about how unmannered you are behind your back and giggle at the gossip.
You're finally free from that. Mentally, of course.
"I'm gonna go back to my room now," you finally break the short but thick silence, stepping past the grown man and walking down the hall to the direction of your room which wasn't too far away. The whole estate was large, you consider yourself lucky that you worked in places that were close to your room rather than trekking all the way around the place just for some chores.
Excitement was bubbling in your body, unseen by any peeping walls or peeping toms in the hallways that had you lingering around them. You weren't quite happy; reason being that you'd be leaving to kill an old acquaintance, or even perhaps someone you'd call your first friend, all for your freedom. Your own freedom, something the men and the women at the estate never gave you, that you were always denied from the moment you got sold to the Zenin clan. You were only 6 years old, and you were sold to the Zenin clan, where you'd been staying at the estate for 9 years and were trained to become a weapon, all thanks to your cursed technique. Your stupid cursed technique that you never even asked for. Naoya would sometimes make you train your curse technique into perfection to see if you're worthy of fighting him. Maki would sometimes say that you are, you just lack the combat skills, which was something Naoya never taught you.
The events of the day had finally caught up to you just as you slid open the door to your tiny room- no smaller than a downstairs cupboard yet no bigger than a high school broom closet, to which there was only a few square-feet difference. Your bed, a simple floor mattress with lame excuses for bed sheets that were extremely thin and do nothing to keep the cold away from you, sat on the floor, waiting for your presence once again. You sigh, slipping off your shoes and shut the door as you simply topple over onto your floor bed.
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It wasn't a rarity that you barely got any sleep- the bare minimum being two hours- the halls outside your room were constantly being bombarded with teases and comments from the immature and adolescent boys roaming around. Even on the rare occasion that you did get some peace and quiet, you were under the mindset that it would happen again. You'd spend your sleepless nights laying flat on your bed and making up scenarios on what would happen if you were to be inevitably set free from the Zenin clan. Though you never imagined it would be to kill your first friend.
When you woke up from your hour-long nap, which was at 4 in the morning, you waited a little while before there was a knock on your door. When Naoya got there, you barely got up from the mattress to shuffle over to the door, opening it and revealing your lord standing before you.
"Good, you're up. Let's go," he said as he quickly turned on his heel to speed down the hallway. You quickly turned back around to grab your bag that you'd packed while you were staying up and walked out of your room, shutting the door and trying to catch up with Naoya as he was already on the other end of the hallway. He turned a bit, watching you catch up to him as he frowned slightly.
The two of you made your way to the front of the Zenin estate, which was quite the walk. Neither of you said a word to each other while you were making your way down there. Naoya had to sometimes risk it by turning on the lights in the hallway so the two of you could see where you're going. Luckily you two didn't run into anybody on the way to the front, you didn't feel like explaining what you were doing with Naoya so early in the morning.
"We're here," he starts, sighing as he turns to face you. His lips are parted, like he wants to say something, but nothing comes out, and you're still staring beyond the gate. He swallows the lump of words that he wanted to say down his throat, then raises his arm to push open the gate. You watch as the black bars and the black arch move further away as the gate is being pushed open, keeping your eyes hooded as your grip on your bag tightens. Naoya parts his lips again to speak, "See you after a while, I guess."
"See you," you deadpan, marching towards the open gap that was once filled by the gate. Naoya watches with melancholic eyes as your walking figure gets further and further away from him. He wished you didn't have to go, he wanted you to stay here so he could protect you from those creepy old men that you're finally free of. But, as much as he wished, his hopes fell upon deaf ears as you didn't turn back to face him even for a second. It was safe to say you're glad to leave him.