When it was done, his home had been almost on the auction block. He had had to do extraordinary measures. One of his own slaves, his darling Kumiko, had been the one to suggest the unthinkable but necessary solution.
The time spent under the Master had actually come in handy then, as the old Master had stayed away from certain brokers and agencies. Soun had gone to those. He could have gotten better money from other, less reputable agencies. He just hadn't had the heart for such measures.
Some had taken it less well than Kumiko. Asuka's mother, for example. No, she had really not taken it at all well.
"Asuka Langley Soryuu," said Soun, reflecting as he stood on the deck and looked out at the rain. Nor had Asuka taken it at all well. He'd gotten her back eventually. Asuka had originally gone with her mother, but her mother hadn't done too well with her next master.
Asuka was a little... brittle. Her mother had been placed at a worksite as janitorial help, some factory in Germany as he understood it. Her mother had apparently gone insane at one point and whatever the circumstance - Asuka had nearly gone that route herself. Asuka didn't talk much about it. She'd also taken part in some of the experiments in brain-stamping over there, with the result that she was fourteen years old but had the equivelant of a college education. Some of her psychological problems had apparently contributed to her being used in that program, but it hadn't been a complete success with regard to mental stability.
It had taken him years to get to where he could find and recover his daughters. If only he had been able to keep some with him at the time, but things had been so chaotic back then. Even now he might have not been able to do so without Mister Kanno. A tip had come in, something Kumiko had sent before her tragic death. Mister Kanno was apparently a kind man who worked over at the Nerima Trust and was very good at investing. Within six years, he'd been able to get the money needed to pay off old debts and reclaim some of what had been lost.
There were the three girls from Kumiko of course. Akane, Kasumi, and Nabiki. He'd been able to track them down and buy them back at least.
His daughter from that Tai Pu had been recovered as well. Shampoo was a bit fiesty but that was expected. She was of Chinese Amazon stock, and therefore fell under the laws detailed in that treaty. It would be interesting to see if she'd ever find a Master she considered worthy. Most people who knew of them considered the Amazons exotic but too much trouble. Shampoo would certainly be a handful to whoever her Master would eventually be.
Soun continued to stare out at the rain, listening to it patter against the roof overhead.
Kasumi had spent several years working her way up at the Kagoshima Hilton. From Scullery Maid, Third Class, she'd eventually worked in all the various departments and was now studying for a license as a Domestic, Second Class. Which was fortunate in a way, as if he'd tried to buy her back after getting such a license he would've had to forego one of his other children.
Nabiki had been located in Ise, working for a Trader Vic's. She'd been a little rebel one time too often and had apparently siphoned funds once. He'd recovered her, but the seventeen year old had gone through "personality adjustment" and had some problems of her own at this point. Nothing too bad, all things considered. That she enjoyed being chained up and was apparently a bit of an exhibitionist? No, it could have been much worse.
As for Akane. He'd recovered her but she'd been a rebel from day one. Worse was the fact that after ending up in a perfectly respectable General Labor position in Gifu, she'd behaved so badly that she had been resold to a less respectable employer. She wasn't rebellious at the moment, at least to her father, but that was probably because of whatever had happened to her during the five years she'd spent as:
(Posted Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:20)
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