Welcome to your life

There's no turning back

Even while we sleep

We will find you

~

Trigger warnings: anxiety and worry, human trafficking, panic, language

~

Y/N was lying on her bed. It was early in the day (for her at least), but she couldn't seem to fall asleep anymore. She hadn't seen Shouta the last few days, but he had said that he almost had the money together. So it was only a question of time. Maybe one more week, maybe two more weeks. But he would be here and he'd come and get her and take her back to his home.

His huge home, where everything seemed so luxurious and every little piece of furniture seemed to be made to be comfortable. Y/N wouldn't even mind if he just kept her there to clean the place and do household chores. She'd do them so well, he'd never let her go again. Because she never ever wanted to leave Shouta for anything in the world. He already felt like her home.

She wondered if she'd be able to take anything with her, when he bought her. Some of the girls were allowed to take things with them, others weren't. It was really difficult to say. But she didn't care. Maybe he'd let her wear his pullovers all the time. That would be nice. They were comfortable and they smelled like him. Wearing them made her feel safe and protected.

Y/N turned around and looked out of her window. It was a rather grey day today. But at least there was some daylight shining into her room. The high-rise buildings in the distance were stretching out over the horizon. Y/N had never made it that far into the city and she was sure she'd feel terribly out of place if she had gone there. Everything out there looked so nice and fancy...

There was no place for her in that part of the city. She was 25 years old and had been a whore for 10 years. She had never even finished school or had any kind of job besides this. Even if she managed to find her documents and papers and managed to run away and successfully hide... she'd starve out on the streets. She wouldn't be able to get a job or a place to live.

Running away had never been an option for her. She was trapped in this life. If Shouta decided that he was getting tired of her, she'd be in the same hopeless situation as before. So she hoped that wouldn't happen. Maybe she could somehow finish school after he had bought her. Maybe he'd even let her go out and work some simple job... but that wasn't anything that concerned her yet. He had to go and actually buy her first. And for that he needed money first.

Y/N just hoped he would actually go through with it and that he wasn't actually just playing with her. Who knew whether this was maybe some sick joke he had going with his friends... No. No, Shouta wasn't like that. He would never do anything like that. There was never a time when he was cruel to her. Even when he called her a filthy slut or a dirty whore, he made sure she knew that she was his dirty whore and that he would never want anyone else.

Y/N sat up with a sigh when she heard some commotion in the hallway. A few of the girls seemed to be running around, there was some laughter, excited talking, footsteps. Was there any news? Were any of the other girls getting bought? Maybe something had happened...

Just as Y/N was about to get up to see what was going on, she heard a knock on her door. Her heart sank immediately. What the hell could this mean? Had someone asked for her? Maybe Shouta was here... but this early? Had she done anything wrong? That sure was something the other girls would get all excited about... but she couldn't think of anything... there was another knock.

"Yes?" she called out and put her feet down on the ground, so she was sitting on the edge of her bed. The door opened slowly and Akiko poked her head inside. Behind her was the boss. A few other girls were trying to get a look inside as well over their shoulders. What was going on?

"Y/N? Someone's here for you. Someone's here to buy you." Akiko said quietly. Y/N's heart immediately sped up, as she felt like panicking. Someone was going to buy her? Already? It... it was pretty early. Maybe Shouta had gotten the money together earlier than he thought? Yeah, that had to be it. There was no other explanation. She hadn't heard of any other negotiations...

"O-okay. Come in then." she replied. Akiko nodded and quickly slipped inside, the boss following her. He leaned at the wall, as Akiko went to sit down beside Y/N and took her hands. Y/N didn't know why, but her eyes were suddenly filling up with tears and she started crying and sobbing, as Akiko took her hands and gently rubbed her thumb over the back of her hands.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's all good. No need to cry." Akiko said to her quietly. Y/N nodded and looked up at the boss who was mustering her with a dismissive look on his face. He didn't seem too happy.

"So, Akiko's already said it. You're being bought. He wants to keep it a surprise for now, so I won't tell you who it is. Anyway, he wants you to pack up five of your favourite outfits and nothing else. He says, you won't need anything else. Understood?" her boss asked her. Y/N nodded quickly and wiped away her tears.

"Great. Akiko will stay here with you and help you pack and then she'll bring you into one of the backrooms to get you ready. Make you look all pretty and what not. And then, well... off you go, Y/N. After seven long years." her boss added. Y/N felt confused. She didn't really know what she was supposed to be feeling. On the one hand she was almost certain that it would be Shouta waiting for her down there, but there was also a little bit of worry that it wasn't going to be him. And the other thing was... she had lived in this place for seven years and she hated every minute of it, but... this had also been her home for seven years... leaving it felt strange.

"I understand, Sir." she replied weakly. The boss nodded and then looked at Akiko, who had a soft smile on her face.

"Good. Akiko, you know what to do. I'll leave you to it. Don't take too long." he said, before turning around and walking out of the room. Y/N took a deep breath once he was gone. It felt so strange to know that... that she was leaving. Like right now. It felt wrong, somehow. Even though it shouldn't feel like that.

"So... the day has finally come." Akiko commented, once the boss had left. Y/N felt the tears still running down her cheeks. She just nodded, not able to say anything. Akiko wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. Y/N let her do it. She couldn't really afford to be picky right now, could she?

"Are you excited?" she asked. Y/N shrugged.

"A... a little, I guess. D-did you see w-who it was?" she wanted to know. Akiko shook her head and wiped away some of her tears.

"I didn't. But I thought that... what's his name... Shouta? I thought he had negotiated for you." Akiko replied. Y/N nodded. So if Akiko thought it was probably him, then... what were the chances, right?

"Okay... okay... it must be him, right? If... if it's him, then it's all good." she said with a smile on her lips. She was almost looking forward to it now. Whatever happened - apparently Shouta had managed to get the money together earlier than anticipated and he was here to get her out. Maybe she'd be able to take a nice warm bath with him tonight or just sit in front of his fireplace with him, cuddled up in a blanket. The thought alone made her feel much better.

"Alright. I better get packing then." Y/N said and got up from the bed. She opened her closet and took a look at whatever she had in there. Her five favourite outfits? That was such a specific number, but she knew Shouta could be a little weird like that sometimes. She was just afraid that she might not be able to decide. She'd definitely take only black things. She knew how much he loved black.

"You look happy." Akiko commented with a smile on her lips. Y/N nodded. She was sure it was Shouta who was here to finally get her. It still felt a little weird, but thinking of being with Shouta soon helped.

"I don't know what to pick..." Y/N muttered, before just grabbing a nice black corset. If she remembered correctly, he had also liked the thigh highs, so she'd definitely take those. She had a tight and short dress that was definitely coming with her. She also packed the only comfortable pullover she owned and a few more pieces of lingerie. With a sigh she closed the doors of the closet and looked at Akiko.

"Ready to go?" she wanted to know. Y/N shook her head. She still had something here she was going to give Akiko. Betrayal or not - she needed to give someone the money and she had no friends that were closer to her than Akiko.

She pulled out the drawer of her bedside table and quickly opened up the bottom of it. There wasn't too much left anyway, only a few notes. Y/N had spent most of it on painkillers and some other things that were always in high demand among the girls. She gave Akiko the few notes that were left with a smile. She looked at them with wide eyes.

"Y/N, where the hell did you get this?" she wanted to know, as she quickly took the notes and hid them in her bra.

"Shouta gave me some money, so I... so I could get medicine, food... the bare necessities." Y/N answered with a sad smile. She had used up a lot of that to get painkillers after... after the basement. Akiko just shook her head.

"But... why would you give that to me? I've been... I've been a horrible friend to you, Y/N... I don't... I can't take this." she replied, pulling the notes back out of her bra. Y/N shook her head.

"I can't take them with me anyway. And... you did what you had to do. I get it. It still sucks, but... well... I'm not sure what I would have done if I had been in your position. And you've been a good friend at all other times, Akiko. It's only fair that you get it. Get something nice for the girls." she told her and closed her bag. That was all she could take. She looked around the room again. It wasn't like she even owned much more than that. Nothing she would miss.

"You ready to get going? The girls are probably going to drop in to say goodbye." Akiko said, as she got up. Y/N nodded.

"Sure. I guess it's time for them to see me off." Y/N replied with a melancholic smile on her face. Whenever someone was bought, most of the girls came to say goodbye and see her off. It was more like a tradition than anything else. The whole thing of being bought felt a little like a wedding ceremony sometimes. Maybe that was done on purpose, since none of those girls would ever get married. Or it was unlikely, at least. Most would die before they got that far.

"Right. Come on, then." Akiko said and took her hand, leading her out of the room and through the hallway one last time. Down the stairs and through the main area, where a few girls were practicing on the poles already. They were looking at Y/N curiously as Akiko led her into one of the backrooms. There was a dress draped over a chair already - dark red and tight fitting with lace on top... it looked beautiful. Y/N was almost getting excited now. Akiko would clean up her face and put some nice, subtle make-up on her, do her hair and then she'd get into the dress. All while the other girls came in whenever they had some free time to say goodbye to her.

For what it was worth, at least that last bit was a nice little ceremony, Y/N thought. It felt a little as if she was getting some of her dignity back, before being sold off like cattle. Getting ready like that, getting some special treatment one last time before leaving... it made Y/N feel a little better.

She sat down on a chair opposite Akiko who started off with washing her face with a wet cloth. Y/N wondered just how bad she looked. She was sure she still had some bruises and her eyes were tear stained anyway. Y/N heard the door opening and some quiet footsteps enter the room.

"Y-Y/N? I just wanted to say goodbye and wish you good luck. Are you nervous?" the girl wanted to know. Y/N thought she could remember her. She only just got here a while ago, if she remembered correctly.

"I'm nervous as hell. But I'm also looking forward to it. I don't know, it's weird. But... I'm almost sure it's going to be good." she replied. Akiko smiled at her, as she was drying off her face with a towel. She started applying the make-up, just a small amount of it and some powder.

"Well, I hope you'll be fine, wherever you go. I'm gonna miss you." the girl said, before heading back out again. There were a bunch of other girls coming in to say goodbye and have a little chat with her, but Y/N was getting so nervous, she couldn't even remember them all.

Akiko was putting eyeliner on her next, holding her chin gently in her hands while carefully applying it to her eyelid. Y/N tried to stay as still as possible, so it wouldn't look weird. She knew how agitated Akiko could get when she did someone's make-up and they wouldn't hold still.

"Alright, done with the make-up. Hair is next. I think I'll just leave it open and put a few strands back. Your hair is really pretty, no need to hide it." Akiko said with a smile, as she brushed through her long (h/c) locks. Y/N didn't say anything. She knew that Akiko was going to do a good job. She had seen loads of the other girls as they were getting ready and Akiko had always outdone herself.

It didn't even take long, before Akiko told her to get up and put on the dress. It was a beautiful dress that showed off her curves well. Y/N wouldn't have thought that Shouta would pick a red dress, but he was always good for a surprise. She was feeling almost giddy when she put it on and looked at herself in the mirror.

Y/N would have never really thought she'd say it of herself, but... she looked beautiful. She truly thought that she looked beautiful. She felt beautiful. Was that what Shouta saw when he looked at her and called her beautiful? When she saw herself like this, she could almost believe him.

"Y/N, I'm going to cry. You look amazing." Akiko said, looking teary-eyed. She handed her a dark red lipstick. Y/N smiled and put it on carefully, before handing it back to Akiko. She put it away and took a last good look at her, before pulling her into a tight embrace. Y/N could feel a few tears on her shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you so much..." Akiko muttered. Y/N nodded, as they let go of each other. She had to really keep herself together to not start crying herself.

"I'll miss you, too. Let's get it over with." she replied. Akiko nodded and took her hand, leading her back out into the main room. She motioned to one of the girls to get the boss and his client.

Y/N could feel her heart beating in her throat, because she was so nervous. She was looking forward to seeing Shouta again, but she was also nervous about actually leaving to stay with him. And there was still the tiny bit of doubt that maybe... maybe this wasn't going to be Shouta. But she quickly shoved that thought aside. Who else would it be? Only Shouta had actually negotiated a price for her, as far as she knew. Right? And normally that meant he had first dibs on her.

Y/N took a deep breath and held it, when she saw the door opening and the boss walking out of the backroom. It took a little while until her buyer walked out of the room as well and Y/N thought her heart was going to stop. Her mouth fell open and she held onto Akiko's arm. What was going on? Why was...?

"Hello, Y/N. Good to meet you again. I hope you're looking forward to coming with me. I've got a lot planned for you." he said with a sickening smirk. Y/N just shook her head frantically, as she gave Akiko a panicked look.

"No... no, no, no, this can't be! Akiko, this must be wrong... there must be some kind of mistake, no!" she shouted in a panic. Her boss gave her a stern look that quickly shut her up out of fear.

"Y/N. Behave yourself." he just said.

"Come on, sweetheart. You're with me now." her buyer told her. Y/N gulped. She knew she had no choice, but this... this was wrong, all of this was wrong. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

This wasn't Shouta.