InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Miko Malice ❯ Here Kitty, Kitty ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Productions, among others.

 

A/N: I dedicate this chapter to my roommate's cat Lucy. She was the inspiration of a bit of it, as you will soon see.

 

Thanks to my reviewers: Sessh omaru (2x), kyokatlover, ScottishChick

 

Foxcat: yeah, I know, I need to have someone besides myself proofread my stories (I've had beta offers) but I'm a control freak not to mention the fact that I write on such a fuckered up schedule that I can't image subjecting a beta to it. So bear with the errors—I do my best to catch them (I do at least two read-throughs before each post), but I know I miss a lot. I'm trying to get stuff done early so it sets a day or two before being proofed, but we'll see how long that lasts. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing this! And on your lunch break! I really do feel special, lol. Glad to know someone is reading.

 

Coykoi: Yeah, Kikyou is a bitch in this fic. She's a pretty one-sided character, my bad. There will be more from Midori and Kikyou will get a punishment that will be like a death sentence to her. I hope you'll keep reading to see what happens.

 

Chapter 2: Here Kitty, Kitty

 

After a nearly sleepless night, Kagome woke with a start, leaping off her small futon with her claws unsheathed and ready to attack anything that moved. Sniffing there air cautiously, the cat hanyou determined that she was alone, but there was the resent scent of someone. It did not smell like the inu hanyou, but a human woman.

 

Taking in her surroundings more carefully, Kagome noticed a new set of clothes placed at her bedside as well as a plate of breakfast consisting of fresh fruit, two different kinds of meat she could not name, and a glass of milk. She had eaten the food the hanyou had given her the previous night, but only after she was completely sure it lacked any poisonous odors.

 

She also seriously doubted a hanyou—even an inu hanyou—would try to kill her. Especially one who had just won her in a card game.

 

Kagome picked at the fruit and checked the milk before inhaling both. She had been so hungry for so long the feeling of so much food in her stomach was strange. Once she had given the meat a tentative lick to assure it was cooked and not rotted, she inhaled that as well.

 

When her breakfast was over, Kagome picked up the garments that had been given her. They were gently used and very plain. The obi was simple, the skirt fairly short, with small flowers stitched at random where the dress's maker had pleased to put them. But considering she had not changed her clothes since…leaving home all those months ago, she nearly wept over them. Her kimono—once fine—was now frayed at the edges, beyond filthy, and patched crudely with her own strong hair when she had been able to find a blunt needle.

 

Giving the outfit a precautionary sniff to make sure it contained nothing harmful—be it venom or barbs—she stripped herself of her old kimono and put on the new one. Just the feeling of new cloth against her skin made her feel better.

 

However, Kagome's new happiness was short lived as she examined her dirty skin against the clean kimono. Looking around the small servant's quarters again, Kagome made sure there were no eyes to watch her. She stripped down once again to nothing and began to lick her skin clean.

 

When she had been with her family, she had been able to bath on a regular basis. Her instinctual hatred of water was overcome by the need for cleanliness (she already was considered a disgusting hanyou). The compromise Kagome made between her nature and her nurture was to use as little soap and water as possible, but still keep herself as clean as Kikyou. Yet since becoming a slave, she had not even been granted that luxury. Her masters might have tried to drown her when she made escape attempts, but that was the closest Kagome had been to a washing she had come.

 

Just because this new master gave her fresh food and clean clothes did not mean he would give her such liberties as bathing, so she took the opportunity of a private room to bath in the only manner she could.

 

Giving herself a cat bath had been instinctual to the point of becoming a habit she did not cringe at. Once she had licked her hands and arms clean, Kagome applied more saliva to the backs of her hands to get her face, neck, underarms, and behind her ears. The small furry triangle attached to the top of her head flicked under the contact, but Kagome knew she had to keep them clean. She also used her hands as opposed to her tongue to wash her feet as they were always extremely grimy, and instinct or no, she was just human enough not to stick her foot in her mouth.

 

As she worked, Kagome pondered her new master. Or at least temporary master—Inuyasha had said that she was going to work at “the Manor” the next day. Kagome was still a little frightened at the idea of being changed around so quickly, but Inuyasha seemed very uninterested in her because he believed her to be property of someone else.

 

Or perhaps his behavior towards her could be because he was a gentleman. He did live in a tiny shack, but he had treated her very kindly the night before. Though there were some women who might have thought a man shoving them into a room the size of a broom closet would be insulting, Kagome felt rather appreciated by the fact that he was kind enough not to throw her into his own bed—which they had even passed on their way to the broom closet.

 

Conceivably, he could be a genuinely good guy, her mind posed, but Kagome quickly pushed the idea away. He's only being kind because there is a bigger fish in the equation. Inuyasha is just going to fling you into the fire and you'll be right back to where you started.

 

We'll believe it when we see it.

 

Fine.

 

Kagome was just trying to stretch to an out-of-reach part of her back—still very naked in the middle of the floor—when her bedroom door swung open.

 

XXXXXXXXXXX

 

Midori had had enough of her husband. She knew he was protecting Kikyou, but locking her in her chamber with fucking ofudas was going a little far. Deshi had tried to reassure her that he was doing all he could to find Kagome, but after so long Midori had given up her hope in him and was going to leave to find her daughter herself.

 

She could always tear down around the door for her escape, but that would have been too easy.

 

The roof would send the much better message.

 

Gathering her strength, once her mind was decided on taking out her youkai wrath on the ceiling, it was only moment before Midori was flying up, up, breaking through wood and plaster and roofing tiles.

 

Even if there had been archers and soldiers on the roof, they would not have had a hope of catching her. Midori flew out toward the youkai lands, racing away from the human realm and her human husband.

 

Deshi should be expecting this, and if he was not, he thought her a much more obedient wife than he had right to.

 

Midori's plan was simple, though incomplete at the moment. First, she was going to the Eastern Lands of the youkai realm to her family's home. They would be able to help her more in finding Kagome than Deshi and his armies that were not even welcomed on demon soil.

 

While Midori conceded there was little Lord Higurashi could do while Kagome was in demon territory, it was also true he had done nothing to confirm if that was where their daughter actually was. After all, it had been Kikyou who said Kagome was in youkai territory. She could have been lying.

 

However, Midori felt her stepdaughter had been telling the truth—what better place to send a hanyou one wanted to see dead than amongst the youkai? Because they had been in humans land, Deshi had been reluctant to let Kagome train and hone her demon powers; she was weak and Kikyou knew that. Her daughter would have little hope there.

 

At the thought, Midori forced herself to move faster, zooming toward her family home.

 

She prayed she hadn't waited too long to save Kagome.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Golden eyes stared across the kitchen table at angry brown ones. Neither gaze appeared willing to back away, and with each passing second the tension in the room grew.

 

Finally, it was Inuyasha who backed down: his eyes dropped to the floor, ears drooping in defeat.

 

“I can't believe you did that Inuyasha,” Sango snapped. She stood up from her seat and picked up the cleaning she had been doing when Inuyasha had told her he had collected a neko hanyou slave the night before. Though she had only stopped her work to have a staring contest with the hanyou after she had set some food and clean clothes in the girl's room. “First of all,” Sango began lecturing, “your father hand picks all the slaves and servants for the manor—he doesn't want just anything working in his home. Your hanyou could have a disease, or not be trained. What are we supposed to do with her?” Sango paused to suck in a breath, waving away Inuyasha's attempt to speak for himself. “Then there's the fact that she's a neko—a cat Inuyasha! You do realize that you are a dog demon? Not to mention a hanyou. No offence, but you know what I mean.” The poor inu hanyou nodded, his ears sinking into his hair. “I honestly don't know what you were thinking,” Sango said, shaking her head as she began to sweep the floor.

 

“Can I say something?” Inuyasha asked when there was finally a moment of silence between them.

 

Inuyasha was a little discouraged by Sango's reaction. She was one of his oldest friends at the manor as her family had always worked for the Takahashis. They had been playmates as children and their friendship had not deteriorated because he was currently her master. Like any woman in his life that showed him kindness, Inuyasha felt the need to protect Sango in anyway he could. He had been counting on her support in the hanyou matter even if she had a point in disagreeing with him.

 

Sango rolled her eyes, but nodded.

 

Inuyasha growled when he realized that he had nothing to say. Sango was right. His father was going to be pissed that he brought a stray neko hanyou home with him. Ears sunk into his hair sadly. “Sango, I don't know what I was thinking. She just kept looking at him. I felt like I had to help her. And she had a damned ribbon covering her ears. I didn't even know she was a neko until after. I couldn't leave her then.”

 

Sango stopped sweeping and stood up straight to look at him. “So you picked up a girl, who your family will have to support, because you want her to warm your bed with some pretty eyes? You know you could have always sent her back—she's a slave, not a princess.”

 

“Its not like that!” Inuyasha practically exploded, slamming his first down on the table. “She was with some youkai bastard who she was terrifying her! What did you expect me to do? Leave her there?”

 

Shaking her head, Sango leaned on her broom, head cocked to the side. “Inuyasha, you can't go saving every damsel in distress that you come across. But, considering the fact you were trying to do the right thing, I can't really blame you,” she finished, conceding that he hadn't acted completely irresponsible.

 

Inuyasha nodded. “What are we going to do with her? I've never brought a slave home before.”

 

Sango thought for a moment. “Are you sure you wouldn't want to keep her here with you? It might be good for you to have a companion. Its not as though you find a hanyou everyday.”

 

Inuyasha glared at the maid. “That's not why I brought her here. I'm not Miroku!” He cried, thinking of the pervy man who was the apprentice of the local priestess and healer.

 

“I didn't mean you have to marry, mate, or even sleep with her!” Sango sighed exhausted by the argument. “She could be a friend for you! She's a hanyou—you are a hanyou. You might be surprised what the two of you have in common.”

 

Inuyasha was silent for a moment. His head was bowed down, bangs covering his eyes. “Just drop it Sango. I don't what to talk about it. I just want to know the wench is taken care of.”

 

Sango relented: “I'll take her to the manor with me today and tell Hide; she'll know what to do,” she spoke of the servants' supervisor. “And I'll keep an eye on her.”

 

“Thanks Sango.” Inuyasha brightened, looking at his friend with a smile, their previous squabble seemingly forgotten. “I'll go wake her, and maybe you'll have better luck with her. She wouldn't talk to me last night,” Inuyasha said. He stood from the table and trotted off to fetch the girl who had been the topic of their conversation for most of the morning.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Kagome had been concentrating so intently on her cat bath that she did not hear the approaching feet across the hardwood floor or the sound of the doorknob turning.

 

That was how Inuyasha found her: propping herself up with one hand behind her while she used the back of the other to scrub high up between her shoulder blades.

 

Inuyasha was initially shocked to see her naked form. He found himself, at first, frozen by the sight of her nude body. But as he looked at her longer, his eyes were drawn to the old scars that covered what he assumed had once been flawless skin. There were lashes on her back, deep bruises on her arms, and claw marks peppering her flesh. Though it had healed much faster than if it had been inflicted on a human, her eye still had hints of purple and brown that Inuyasha realized would not be leaving the girl any time soon.

 

The hanyou sitting completely bare on the floor reminded Inuyasha of a bruised piece of fruit. At one time she had been soft and smooth; unblemished by any touch. Then one day, she had been plucked down from her tree or vine and tossed into a dirty sack were she was bumped and squished by other fruits who were stronger than she.

 

Inuyasha felt an overwhelming need to protect this piece of vegetation sitting before him. She was looking at him with her wide eyes again, seeming not to move, though he did notice she had subtly moved her hand away from her back and brought it across her body to hide her breasts. It seemed to him that she was waiting for something. Something unpleasant by the way her scent had spiked with fear, but also resolve. She looked like she would fight him in whatever she thought it was he was going to do to her.

 

…What he was going to do to her. The implications of that thought made Inuyasha blush. The girl was a slave and she was waiting for him to act as her master.

 

Without a second thought, Inuyasha turned and fled the room, looking for Sango.

 

He found the maid scrubbing out the tub in the bathhouse. She had wrapped a handkerchief around her head to keep her hair out of the way and her pale blue kimono was grimy from scouring the surface on her hands and knees.

 

“Inuyasha,” she cried when he entered the bathhouse and closed the door behind him. “You look like you've seen a ghost!”

 

“She's naked,” he blurted out.

 

“Who's naked?”

 

“Th-the girl! She's sitting in the servant's room without any clothes on.”

 

“And why would she be doing that?” Sango asked doubtfully. She continued to clean as the spoke, taking little stock in her master's words.

 

“I don't know! Maybe its something cats do!”

 

Sango quirked an eyebrow. “` Something cats do?' Just because she's a neko hanyou doesn't mean she sits around without any clothes on. Really Inuyasha.”

 

“If you don't believe me, why don't you go see for yourself?”

 

About to laugh at the agitated hanyou, Sango decided better of it. “Fine, I'll go see her, but only if you clean the bathhouse for me. I won't get in trouble because you're in one of your moods and taking up my time.” Staggering to her feet, Inuyasha reached out to steady her. Sango nodded to him that she was all right, but still rubbed her back; she looked pale, and not completely well. He hoped there wasn't something wrong with her.

 

“Arigato Sango,” Inuyasha bowed as he took the maid's place in the tub and set to work. It was not that the neko hanyou's body disgusted him. He just felt more comfortable doing a woman's work than knowing that the girl thought he was as much of a monster as the other youkai.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

By the time Sango made it to Kagome, the hanyou had once again dressed herself. She stood awkwardly, wondering if she was going to be punished. Reprimands were always handed out freely with her other masters.

 

To her surprise, the other woman smiled at her happily and began to straighten up her bedding. Kagome cursed her own laziness. She should have been the one to pick up her things. Quickly, she pulled the sheet Sango was folding out of the maid's hands and began doing it herself.

 

“At least you aren't lazy,” Sango commented as she pulled a dust cloth out of her apron pocket and began going over the woodwork in the room. She waited for the hanyou to respond, but she said nothing. Maybe she's just very shy. Turning away from her work, Sango put out her hand in greeting: “I'm Sango. I work at the Takahashi Manor as a maid. Inuyasha has arranged for me to take you back to the manor with me and find you a job.” Still the hanyou was silent. “What's your name?”

 

To Sango, she appeared very embarrassed. She looked away from Sango, then her eyes crept back up to meet the maid's gaze. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Finally, the hanyou pressed her hand to her throat, shaking her head.

 

“You can't speak?”

 

The hanyou nodded, a shy smile nervously gracing her mouth.

 

“How long have you been a slave?”

 

The girl held up four fingers.

 

“Four years.”

 

She shook her head “no.”

 

“Four months?”

 

Sango received a nod in the affirmative. A thought came to the maid. “Let me see your hands.”

 

The hanyou offered hands to the maid. Sango looked them over, paying special attention to the fingertips. Unlike her own, they were smooth, far from calloused.

 

Something is really not right about this. By her hands alone I can tell she has done very little work in her life. So strange for a hanyou…

 

Most hanyou became slaves—that was not what was unusual. It was the fact that she didn't look like someone who had been forced to slave day and night since birth. True, the girl had many resent scars that Sango could see by looking only at her arms, but there was a softness about her that did not fit the personality of most drudge laborers. It was in her eyes, in her stance, even in the caring way she folded the sheet. The hanyou had to have come from a good home.

 

Shaking her head to clear out the said thoughts clustering in her mind, Sango decided that she couldn't do anything until she had discussed the matter with Hide.

 

“I'll call you Miyuki—since you don't speak—until we can find out your real name,” Sango offered and the hanyou nodded. “Now, if you'll help with the cleaning, we can get back to the Manor. Hide is the overseer of all the slaves and servants, and she'll know what to do with you.”

 

Sango had thought nothing of the her words, but the as soon as she was finished speaking, Miyuki had latched onto her arm, shaking her head violently.

 

Trying to reassure the suddenly very worried hanyou, Sango began, “Hide is very old and very wise. She won't put you an any harm.” Still she looked afraid. “And I can swear to you,” Sango reached out and held one of her own hands over that of the shaking half demon, “that I will do my best to keep you out of harms way. You are not going into the most friendly territory for a hanyou, but I'll try to keep you by my side.” Miyuki's grip on Sango's arm loosened, she could still sense the girl was not completely satisfied, and Sango could guess what her lingering doubts were over. “I work in the kitchen most of the time, Miyuki, when I'm not here tending to Inuyasha. Little more would be expected of you than scrubbing pots.”

 

That seemed to do it. Most of the fear left the hanyou's eyes, and she even offered Sango her shy smile.

 

“Good, now lets finish with this pigsty.”