InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love of her Master ❯ Introductions ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: `Inuyasha' belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. While this plot and any additional characters belong to me, everything else is hers. I make no profit off this story, and am writing it only for my own enjoyment.

 

CHAPTER 2 - INTRODUCTIONS

 

Kagome silently followed her new master, not wanting to do anything to risk making him angry with her, but she was having a hard time keeping up with him. Her new master had a ground-eating stride that was forcing her to almost jog to keep up. Kagome was curious about her new master, this Lord Inuyasha. Her home village was small and rarely had much contact with the outside world. She knew very little about youkai, having rarely seen any besides the animal-like low level ones that sometimes attacked the village, and knew even less about those youkai that ruled them. Also, she had never been this far to the west before. In fact, Kagome wasn't even sure just where she was; it wasn't like the slavers had ever given the slaves a chance to look at a map of the area. She wasn't about to risk asking questions though, and her new master had yet to speak to her. She just prayed that he would be kind to her, although she wasn't about to get her hopes up too much. If nothing else though, he had to be better than Lord Naraku, didn't he?

 

Inuyasha was lost in his own thoughts as he walked quickly away from the slave auction, wanting to put as much distance between it and him as possible. He wondered what it was about the girl that walked behind him that made him want to protect her so badly. He had only just meet her, hell he hadn't even meet her properly, he had just seen her. So why was he suddenly so protective of her? Why was he willing to buy her like that, and pay such a high price at that. He had never brought a slave in his life, and had only just yesterday vowed he never would. Inuyasha sighed, confused by everything he was feeling, when he realised that the girl was having trouble keeping up with him and slowed down. He also realised that he still didn't know her name. Deciding that they should probably, no definitely, talk, he led her over to a small grove of trees just outside the market for some privacy. He also wanted to get rid if those chains that were still around her wrists, as the damn things offended him.

 

Kagome was glad when he master slowed down, but wondered what he was doing when he left the market grounds and moved towards the small grove of trees. Still she didn't say a word and continued to walk silently behind him. She figured if he wanted her to know anything he would tell her, and in the meantime it wasn't her place to say anything. Her independent nature rebelled against acting so subservient, but she didn't want to risk doing anything to make him regret buying her, and either try to return her to the slavers or else sell her himself. She was sure she couldn't stand to go through that again.

 

Once Inuyasha reached the privacy, such as it was, of the trees he turned around to face the girl and immediately turned his attention to the chains in her wrists. Gently taking hold of one of her wrists in preparation of getting the chains of her, he couldn't stop the scowl from crossing his face. The chains had dug into her wrists, and more than once judging by the blood on her wrists of varying ages.

 

Kagome noticed the scowl instantly. Thinking that maybe she had somehow done something to offend him, although she couldn't think what, she cringed and tried to look as small as possible. She was scared about what he was going to do to her.

 

Inuyasha instantly noticed when her scent changed, becoming thicker with her fear. Glancing at her face, he almost winched when he saw how she was cringing as far away from him as possible while he still held her wrist, knowing that he was the reason she was scared.

 

His expression lost its fierceness and became almost reassuring as he spoke to her gently; gently for him anyway, it wasn't really in his nature to be overly nice when dealing with people. “You don't need to be afraid of me girl, I'm not going to hurt you I promise.” He was relieved to see that she stopped cringing, although she still looked wary, not willing to trust him yet. Not that he could blame her; they'd just met after all. “What's your name?” He asked.

 

Kagome looked down at her feet before answering humbly. “My name is Kagome, Master.” She said softly. She was still wary and even scared around him, although she was relieved to hear that he had no plans to hurt her, at least not yet.

 

Inuyasha made a slight face when she called him `master' although looking at her feet as she was, she didn't notice. He couldn't help but think that `Kagome' was a beautiful name that suited such a beautiful girl well. He thought it an absolute crime that someone like her could be turned into a slave. At least now he could ensure that her life would be far more pleasant than most in her position. He could only imagine how bad her life would have been if Naraku had been the one to buy her.

 

“Do you know who I am?” He asked, guessing what he answer would be.

 

“I believe I heard that your name is Lord Inuyasha?” Kagome answered hesitantly after a moment. She didn't really know who he was, and feared that he would be angry with her for it. Didn't most lords wish for everyone to recognise them?

 

“Yes that's true, but do you really know who I am?” He asked again.

 

She didn't answer right away, but seemed to shrink down into herself again. “Not really, no.” She admitted fearfully. “I'm not from this part of the country, and my home village was small and did not receive much information about the outside world.” She was afraid that he would be upset about this, but he merely sighed.

 

“Well, I can't say I'm surprised.” Her new master said, not sounding the least bit angry but a little rueful. “Some of my father's own followers don't even know who I am. I'm Inuyasha, youngest son of Lord Inutaisho of the Western Lands. My father is one of the most powerful demon lords in the country, if not the most powerful. His castle is about two days travel south-west of here.”

 

Kagome nodded slowly, taking all this in. She hadn't heard of Lord Inutaisho before, but if what her master was telling her was true, that she had just been brought my a member of a very powerful house. If that was the case, it may very well turn out to be to her advantage. If his house was as powerful as he claimed, he would likely already have many slaves and would likely not spend too much time bothering with her. And if his house was a wealthy one, then maybe she would so be better taken care of than if her master had less money. Of course, she had already guessed that he would be fairly wealthy, considering how much he had been willing to pay for her.

 

Inuyasha watched the girl for a moment, as she took the news in of who he and his family were. He could see that she was thinking carefully about everything he had and hadn't said, trying to work out what this might mean for her. This just confirmed what he had suspected; she was fairly smart, which was good as far as Inuyasha was concerned. He had enough contact with stupid women, mostly in the form of the daughters of neighbouring lords who kept trying to put themselves forward as possible brides for him and his brother. He didn't need another one hanging around. After a moment, he returned his attention to the chains she was still wearing.

 

The slight pull on her left wrist was what brought Kagome out of her thoughts, and she looked up quickly to see what her master was doing. To her surprise, he calmly took the key the slavers had given him and unlocked the manacle on said wrist. She winched slightly when he removed it, for as gentle as he was clearly trying to be the manacle was so deeply imbedded that it still hurt. He then did the same for her right wrist.

 

Once both manacles were off, he looked at the chains in disgust before throwing them into a nearby bush with no intention of ever using them again. He took a moment to inspect Kagome's wrists and winched slightly in sympathy. Her wrists were in bad condition, and he feared they were likely to scar. The only good thing was that they weren't currently bleeding.

 

Kagome was watching Inuyasha as closely as she could without being too obvious about it. He appeared concerned over the state of her wrists, and this confused her. Why would it matter to him what condition her wrists were in? The slavers clearly didn't care and none of the potential customers that had looked her over earlier had even bothered to glance at them. Why was he so different? Maybe he just didn't want a whore who was scarred.

 

Inuyasha let Kagome's wrists drop and stepped back to look her over properly. Besides her wrists, she seemed to be uninjured, which was good for the slavers because otherwise he would be tempted to go back and beat the living shit out of them all. The yukata she was wearing was in such bad shape that it probably wasn't worth saving, so he better get her some new clothes. She also was in desperate need of a bath because she looked like she hadn't had one in several weeks. She smelled like it too, and Inuyasha was having serious trouble telling what her natural scent smelled like, under all the grime she was wearing.

 

She could have a bath once they got to the inn Inuyasha and his friends were staying at, but he figured she should do something about the clothes situation before he went back there. Since he had spent the last of the money he had on him on her, that meant he would have to risk his friends' wrath by asking either Sango or Miroku for some money and explain to them what he needed it for. As if summoned by that thought, the wind suddenly changed bringing the scent of his friends and the sound of their voices towards him. It was coming from a market stall not far from where he and Kagome were currently standing. Already cringing at the thought of what Sango might try to do to him when she found out about this, Inuyasha gestured for Kagome to follow him and started in the direction of his friend's voices. He just hoped Sango would let him explain before she tried to kill him.

 

***

 

The day had started out great for Sango, but had quickly seen a steady decline. First, there was that run in with that monster Naraku. Then her so-called husband had to go and flirt with that sales girl when he thought she wasn't looking. Damn letch, sometimes she really wondered why she had agreed to marry him. And now, Inuyasha had wondered off to who-knows-where, and they couldn't find any trace of him. Oh well, at least the last one wasn't too big a worry. Inuyasha was certainly capable of taking care of himself after all, and could probably use his nose to find them without too much trouble if he needed to.

 

Sango sighed, and turned her attention back to the bolts of cloth on display in the stall she was in. There were many beautiful fabrics here, and she would have loved to make a kimono for herself out of one of them, but sadly she couldn't sew to save her life. Oh well, maybe she should get a bolt to give as a present for Lady Izayoi, it was her birthday coming up next month after all, and she wasn't likely to get a chance to come to the market again before then.

 

Suddenly hearing her and her husband's names called out, she turned with a smile to see her long time friend Inuyasha coming up behind her. Her smile quickly faded when she spotted the worried look on her friend's face. She was instantly concerned, Inuyasha wasn't the type to worry easily, what was wrong?

 

“What's wrong, Inuyasha?” Miroku asked from next to her, obviously as worried as she was about their friend's unusual expression.

 

“Uh… well… you see…” Inuyasha muttered, looking tense. How the hell was he supposed to explain this? After trying unsuccessfully for a couple of minutes to try to find the words to explain this, he gave up and simply turned to look at Kagome. He figured they'd get the message soon enough.

 

They did. Glancing over to see what their friend was looking at and seeing the downtrodden looking girl with the old wounds on her wrists, following after Inuyasha with her eyes focused on the ground, it only took a couple of seconds to figure out what was going on.

 

“You brought a slave?” Sango asked, her voice was quiet but it shock with suppressed anger. She abhorred slavery, as Inuyasha knew all too well. She had never owned a slave in her life, and had vowed she never would. Until just now she had thought that Inuyasha shared her views on the subject.

 

Miroku was looking at the girl closely, and naturally he noticed right away that she was young, pretty and didn't look like the kind to have done much hard labour in her life. He felt a little sick to his stomach, knowing what kind of `work' slaves like her were usually used for. Even he, lecher though he was, wouldn't stoop so low.

 

“Inuyasha, I knew things had been tense for you ever since you broke off things with Kikyo, but I never thought you would stoop to this.” He said, letting his disgust show in his voice. Sango took a moment to figure out what Miroku was saying, before she felt her anger grow even more when the implications sunk in.

 

“You hentai, it's not like that!” Inuyasha almost yelled, looking like his anger was rivalling his friends now. He had thought that they knew him better than to believe he would do something so low.

 

“Then what is it like, Inuyasha, please enlighten us.” Sango said, her voice still tense in anger although some of it had bleed off a little at Inuyasha's violent rejection of the idea of turning the girl into his personnel whore. At least that was something of a relief.

 

Inuyasha took a deep breath, trying not to get angry about his friends' apparent lack of trust in him. He knew that if he was in their position, he would likely be suspicious too. This wasn't exactly something he had ever planned on doing, but at the time he couldn't think of any other way to help Kagome. “If I hadn't brought her, Naraku would have.” He said bluntly. “And judging from what I saw and heard, if he had brought her it would be like that with him.”

 

“Oh.” Sango, much of her anger instantly draining out of her as she looked at the girl who appeared to be trying to make herself look as small as possible. She didn't really know what to think now. She was still upset that Inuyasha had brought a slave, but considering what the poor girl would be facing if he hadn't she thought she understood why he had done so. She wouldn't want to see anyone forced into the kind of life Naraku no doubt had planned for this obviously scared and vulnerable girl.

 

Deciding that she could forgive her friend, providing he made sure to treat this girl right, Sango moved forward to look her over more closely. Besides her wrists which had obviously been chained and mistreated for some time, the girl appeared to be in good health, even if she was somewhat underfeed and very dirty. She was younger than any of them, and looked about sixteen years old, and as Miroku had noticed earlier, underneath the grime she was very pretty, even beautiful.

 

“What's your name, girl?” She asked gently.

 

Not looking up, Kagome answered her. “Kagome, my lady.”

 

Sango smiled reassuringly. “I'm Sango, and I'm no lady. And I'll tell you now, if this idiot ever mistreats you, I want to hear about it so I can beat the crap out of him for it, okay?”

 

Somewhat shocked, Kagome nodded. She couldn't believe she was hearing this. This woman was clearly of some rank despite her saying she was no lady. How else could you explain the fine material of her clothes and the way she addressed Lord Inuyasha by his name alone? Why would someone like her be so concerned about the welfare of a slave, so much so that she would even threaten a lord? Suddenly realising that her master was still watching her, she quickly looked at the ground, afraid he would be angry at her for agreeing with this woman.

 

Inuyasha on the other hand just snorted. He was well used to Sango's threats, after all she had been using them on him for years now. And while he knew this one was not idle, it didn't really matter as far as he was concerned, as he had no intentions of ever hurting Kagome. He had made a silent vow to himself the moment he made his bid on her that he would always protect and look after her.

 

“Anyway, guys, I need a favour.” Inuyasha said.

 

“What do you need, Inuyasha?” Miroku asked. Like Sango he had forgiven Inuyasha for buying a slave once he revealed that had he not she would belong to Naraku by now, though he also intended to make sure that she was well taken care of.

 

Inuyasha gestured to Kagome's yukata as he explained. “As you can see, Kagome's outfit is pretty much a lost cause. She needs some new clothes, but I kind of spent the last of my money on her. So I was wondering…”

 

“Say no more Inuyasha.” Miroku said. “We'll buy her something nice to wear. If nothing else, you bring her home looking like that and your mother would have your head on a platter.”

 

“In the meantime, why don't you take her back to the inn and see that she gets a bath and a decent meal.” Sango said, still looking Kagome over. “It looks like she could use both.”

 

Inuyasha looked relieved. “Thanks guys. I'll see you back at the inn then.” The two nodded and started to walk away.

 

“Oh, and Inuyasha?” Sango called back before they got too far away. “I meant what I said before. You hurt that girl, I'll hurt you ten times as bad. Got it?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” Inuyasha yelled back, not looking the least bit fazed. Once he lost sight of his friends in the crowd, he gestured for Kagome to follow him and started leading the way to the inn.

 

As Kagome hurried after her master, she couldn't help but wonder just what kind of people she had ended up with.