InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Princess Bride ❯ A new farmhand ( Chapter 3 )

(A/N: The beginning here isn't really having to do with the movie or the book, but it's giving back round and setting up the plot!)

Chapter Two:

"Kagome? Are you ok?" Sota asked, after the long period of silence that had lapsed between them on the way home subsided. He had gotten a little worried about her since they had left the market. She had seemed… out of it…

"Huh? What?" She started, jolting upright. She sighed and got her heart under control, preparing to answer her younger brother's question. "Yeah… I'm fine."

"You've seemed kinda sad ever since we left. How come?"

"Oh! It's nothing!" She laughed nervously. "I'm perfectly fine, Sota! Let's just get home, ok?" She latched onto his arm and they broke into a run all the way back to the farmhouse.

*

Lady Higurashi walked around the slave auction, observing all of the young males who would be suitable as farm boys. Maybe Sota and Kagome will become friends with the farmhand, she thought to herself, stopping when she heard noises coming from a closed tent.

"You just don't LEARN do you boy?" A harsh voice spat, with the clashing of chains and a yelp of anger following.

"Tie him down!" Another yelled. Lady Higurashi's temper rose slightly and she marched to the tent and swept the fabric door out of the way. Inside, she saw a boy of about seventeen, shirtless and bleeding. He was panting, his eyes tinged red from his anger and defiance.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked firmly, her hands going to her hips. The men abusing the furious slave froze and looked up almost as if they were guilty of a heinous crime. The boy gazed up at the woman through skeins of his thick and messy silver hair in confusion. What was she doing?

"This trash has been escaping ever since he came here. He's too powerful to be on the loose. It's not your business what we do with him, ma'am." The tallest of all the slaveholders said. He stood and confronted her, an angry glint in his cold eyes.

"Well, he is a slave, isn't he?" Lady Higurashi stated slyly, her eyes narrowing in healthy mischief. "And I am in need of a farm hand…" She smiled sweetly down at the sprawled out boy on the ground, making his eyes soften. "I'd like to take him."

"You'd like to WHAT?" All of the slaveholders yelled in shock.

"He seems that he would do a good job." Lady Higurashi replied confidently. "Now prepare him at once!"

She's CRAZY, was the look on every one of their faces. "Very… Well… Ma'am…" The tallest that had spoken specifically to Lady Higurashi grabbed the chains and yanked him along. "Come on, beast!"

*

Kagome had just finished tucking Sota in for the night and walked through the kitchen and stared out the window, looking for her mother. The sun had just gone down and she was starting to grow worried. I wonder what kind of a farm hand she got?

She sighed and started to turn away to go up to her bed when she saw two shadows, the figures lit by the light from a weak torch. "Mother!" She called as she ran out the door to greet and stopped when she saw the slave hand Lady Higurashi had brought back.

"It's you…" She said quietly, watching as he tensed and growled slightly.

"He made some noise!" Lady Higurashi exclaimed, smiling at the slave boy. "You've been quiet the whole time. Don't be shy. Speak some more!"

The slave boy just growled softly in his throat again and sniffed, staring at the ground. Kagome noticed something purple around his neck, hiding underneath his thick silvery white hair.

"What's this?" She asked, reaching out to touch it, when he bared his fangs at her and jumped back. Lady Higurashi was jolted backwards a little bit because she was still holding the chains and she gasped loudly.

"Honey, I think he's a little bit afraid right now. We shouldn't do anything sudden like that," She explained to her daughter. "I'm going to make him a place to stay so why don't you go inside."

Kagome nodded and stared slightly at the new occupant of the household. Why didn't he like her? He had reacted like that after he had been publicly beaten when they had captured him. She watched her mother and the slave leave, in confusion, wondering what she had done to make him act like that.

What did I do to him? I don't even know.

(A/N: Yes, I will get into the plot soon enough, don't worry. But like I said, it's InuYasha style and it's got my writing twist!)