InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Violation of Honor ❯ Chapter 8 - Unfortunate Cellmate ( Chapter 8 )

Violation of Honor

By Rinseternalsoul

**Disclaimer: I do this for free. I'm not affiliated with Rumiko Takahashi's Inuyasha, and only write free fanfiction for my love of twisting her character's to my dark, demented will. May the smut live on.

*I do not condone the reading of this fic by anyone 17 years old or younger.  

Chapter 8 - Unfortunate Cellmate

A/N: I would like to announce that I have joined forces with a beta in order to bring you a better quality fanfiction story. After the Inuyasha Fanguild disqualified my story Madman from the awards for the previous two quarters due to punctuation errors - like too many commas and a few typo's - I decided that it would be beneficial to find an editor. So, without further adieu, please welcome my new beta.... RISA! Risa is a loyal reader, great on-line friend, and a really sweet person - that also happens to be an English teacher! I count myself lucky to have met her through Inuyasha fanfiction, and I am very happy with our new author/beta partnership.

Thank you, Risa, for coming to my rescue!

A/N 2: Thanks to everyone for the great support that I've been getting for Violation of Honor. To all those who graciously nominated it into the various fanfiction awards found on-line and to each individual who took the time to leave a heartfelt review: Your support brightens my days and makes all the hours spent writing and dreaming worth it. Thank you.  

Sesshomaru was having a hard time understanding what it was Iku meant about his grandfather. His mind was muddled and confused. He felt detached and debased. A humiliation so great that it crushed his guts in a vice, growing to a staggering depth in his soul. The drug had addled his mind, nothing seemed clear, and he thought that it was just as well. He really didn't want to think. Thinking would replay his greatest moment of shame, only leading back to thoughts of his body being used as if he were the local whore.

On a positive note, there were less bleeding cuts on his body this time and Asuza only bit him once. The few wounds made did hurt, but not as badly as his backside. Sesshomaru blinked. No. He did not wish to think on that particular pain.

All in all, the wounds were not life threatening.

Too bad about that.

He hardly cared to make the effort to live anymore. How could he return to his life with such a burden weighing his every thought? What would life be like after being subjected to the perversions of those two? He really did not wish to find out.

He wanted to die. Escape.

Sesshomaru was lying on the fur rug at the foot of Asuza's bed, when the guards came in to drag him away. A kick to his ribs made him crunch up, but the abuse worked to get him up on his feet in the end. He stumbled along, passing faceless figures, ashamed of himself, hating himself. How could he have released? It was sickening to think that his body had rejoiced with ejaculation after what had been done to it.

If his body was not so damnably weak, would he have had the will to hold back? He told himself 'yes'. It allowed him to maintain a shred of sanity when all he felt like doing was howling with madness. It had to be the weakness. The manipulated rutting should not have affected him thus.

These thoughts and more were darting randomly through his mind as he was pushed to continue down the long winding staircase. His legs felt weak, and nearly gave out beneath him before they made it to the bottom. He never bothered to look up; he was too busy trying to stay on his feet. The preoccupation between slipping into madness, and keeping upright, inhibited his normally acute senses. He should have known that something was wrong when the jailer laughed as if he had the key to some inside joke.

It wasn't until he was shoved to the ground and chained up again that he realized what it was that they found so humorous.

He had a new cellmate.

At first sniff, his heart nearly stopped beating altogether.

It couldn't be. No. This could not happen to him.

It was only when the jailer and four soldiers left that he could no longer deny it.

Curled up in a corner of his cell was Inuyasha's human female. The miko.

He hung his head in absolute despair. Now he would never be able to escape this place, even if he could get away and put it behind him. She would know. She would remember. Would she tell Inuyasha? His stomach rolled.

No. He would not live with the humiliation of it. If he escaped, he would commit seppuku and end it all. It would at least be a noble death. Better that, than to live with the shame.

When the priestess failed to speak, he pulled his foggy eyes up to look at her. She was still huddled there in the corner, as far away from him as she could get. Her face was turned a little toward him, but she wasn't looking directly at him. Instead, she seemed focused on the wall over his shoulder. What was she thinking?

Was he so thoroughly ruined that he was unrecognizable? No. His markings were still clear. Perhaps she had not seen his face?

He turned his head a bit and regarded her through the cuff of his bangs. Something was wrong with her. She was usually outspoken and feisty, if not down right insolent and unruly. Why did she not speak now? He wondered, then, how she came to be here, and where was his idiot brother? That fool should have come to rescue him over a month ago. He was probably off chasing that undead priestess. Sesshomaru spat in disgust. What compelled Inuyasha to her side time and again, he would never know.

The wench pinned him to a tree for fifty years. What more was there to understand?

There were questions that Sesshomaru wanted to ask of the miko, but at the moment, he simply had no willpower to speak. No energy to share. He finally slumped down to stare once more at the stone floor. He wondered if his naked state frightened her, or perhaps offended her? If that were the case, then she would simply have to adjust. He had no control over that, and with his hands chained just over his head, he could not even cover his organ up.

Had he been in this hole so long that he wanted her to speak?

That discovery made him internally cringe.

He shifted to the side a bit, bringing his knee up just a little. His backside was throbbing and sore, It was regrettable that the position he was locked in left little choice but to suffer the pain of it.

Maybe he would be sick after all.

Her sudden question startled him.

"Are you really going to kill me like they said?"

What? That was ridiculous. He was in no position to kill anyone, and if he could, the first one to go would be himself.

The silence grew on as Sesshomaru glared curiously at the miko from beneath a tousled splash of snowy bangs. Truth be known, he had already tried to kill her twice, yet she somehow managed to escape death each time. At this point, he doubted that the irritating wench could be killed. His somewhat disjointed train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the monkey.

"He doesn't talk much. Hell, if he hadn't growled out that I was a fool the first day that I arrived in this wretched place, I'd never have guessed that he could speak at all."

"Oh," Kagome murmured. It made her feel just a little better. At least the guy didn't discriminate with his rudeness, she thought grumpily. This whole thing really sucked big time. She should have stayed in bed. Then she remembered that stupid rooster under her window. "It's that roosters' fault. This whole thing," she grumbled under her breath.

The two youkai sharing the dungeon with Kagome listened to her inane ramblings, while wondering if the girl was possessed of some brain illness. She was strange for a human. Sesshomaru had always been privy to that knowledge. At first it was a trait that he loathed. But as she remained by Inuyasha's side, he began to appreciate her value just a little more. Who else, but the miko, could control the brash, ignorant half-breed. Had she not been by his side the whelp would have been dead long ago.

Kagome drew her knees up closer to her body and leaned her head against the bars beside of her. "I hate roosters."

Sesshomaru disagreed. Why, he would love a rooster right at this moment, preferably served with a large cup of warm rice wine.

It was sad that they locked the poor youkai sharing her cell up like that, but Kagome had to admit, at the moment she was sure happy that they did. Being blind left her with no idea of what she was locked up with. Earlier, the jailer and guard had tossed her into the cell, while laughing about her demon cellmate that would be returned soon to join her. They said that he was terrifying and half-starved; that he would rip out her throat and eat her for supper. The jerks had hoped to scare her, and though she tried to appear calm, she was terrified on the inside. She really wanted to keep her throat.

Of course, she could have purified the demon, but the success of that option had really depended on how strong the demon was. If he was powerful, he might not die too quickly. Time and space would have been an issue. If he didn't disintegrate immediately in these close quarters, then he would have had ample time to do some serious damage with little effort. Even if she had lived through the fight, she would probably have just bled to death down here afterward.

When she was first manhandled down the winding stair well and pushed through the dungeons' creaking door, the other prisoner had been super terrifying himself. His barking snarls had nearly made her deaf, as well as blind. He sounded like he was rabid or something. When the guards pushed her passed his cell, Kagome had breathed a huge sigh of relief.

The guards, unfortunately, had noticed and began their taunts. She realized too late that she shouldn't have let them see her fear. They had a great laugh teasing her about being eaten. It made her angry, now that she could think straight again. She should have been braver, and any other time, she would have.

At the time she had been too worried about how she would fight an enemy that she couldn't see.

After they left her in the musty smelling, but empty cell, she had a little time to calm down and gather her frantic thoughts. By then the youkai in the other cell had calmed down too, seemingly soothed with the retreat of the guardsmen. Her mind had been racing nearly out of control, but she had enough wits about her to take the opportunity to feel around.

She was in a square cell with rusty bars on three sides and one wall made entirely of stone. As she moved, she bumped her shoulder against something on the wall and discovered, through a fumbling exploration, that it was some sort of ancient restraining device. There were thick metal rings attached to equally thick steel plates. Oddly enough, the metal there was not rusted like the bars around the cell. That tidbit of knowledge wasn't what drew her brows up in surprise though; it was instead, the thick ooze of dark magic that permeated the contraption. Obviously it was meant to hold a very powerful demon. She pulled her hand back and resisted the urge to shiver.

When the key had rattled in the lock of the dungeon door, it nearly made her wet her pants. She had hurried back to her corner, safely away from the restraints, and prayed with all of her might that they would lock him up in the torturous thing. Her relief had been nearly overwhelming when she heard the men drag the youkai into the cell then proceed to lock him up. She hated to be mean about the whole thing, but she was at a distinct disadvantage in her current state, and she highly valued her life.

Thankfully, things didn't seem quite as bad as they had when she first entered, so Kagome finally released a little of the tension that she felt, and relaxed. Neither of the youkai was making any noise now. She could feel their eyes on her, giving her the creeps, but being the optimist that she is, Kagome was hoping that they would see her as a sort of ally, since she was just as much a prisoner as they are. Finally she couldn't take the charged silence anymore. If she was going to be stuck down here with these two then she may as well introduce herself.

"My name is Kagome. I'm a miko, which you probably can tell." Gee Kagome, that sounded kind of stupid. Quickly she added, "But I promise not to hurt you, uh... that is... unless you attack me first."

The youkai sharing her cell snorted rather disdainfully, but the one who spoke up earlier answered. "I am Uchuu, and I don't know his name. So, what's a miko like you doing in a place like this?"

Kagome wanted to laugh at his sour attempt at humor, but the situation was just too grim to summon it up. Instead she sighed. "It's a long story."

Uchuu chuckled. "Hell, woman. Time is all we have down here."

Kagome had only arrived about an hour earlier, but she could imagine that the days and nights down here would be long and boring. She didn't want to guess how long Uchuu had been stuck down here, so she decided to tell him her story. She started with her trip to Madam Seto, and her strangely prophetic warnings. He even laughed when she told him about the rooster under the window. Later he grew quiet, listening intently, as she told him of the meeting with Oda Nobunaga himself.

"That rat bastard. You should have let him die," Uchuu spat with an inhuman growl.

Kagome could sense their youkai aura. They were both strong, but Uchuu sounded like he was almost nice. His swift flare of anger surprised her. Kagome then laughed in response, shook her head, then her fist. "I should have. That jerk." She added her own little growl as she remembered that it was all Nobunaga's fault that she was blind and stuck in a dungeon.

Kagome continued grumbling to herself. To think, I had once wanted his autograph!

Finally, with a sigh she explained, "It's my job to help people in need. I can fight, but I am best at healing. He needed my help, and I tried not to be judgmental about who he was." Uchuu grunted, but made no other comment. Kagome went on to tell him how she escaped only to be recaptured. She told him about Shippo being hurt and despite her best efforts her voice broke up a little, then she was forced to clench her eyelids shut in order to push back the tears.

Besides his shock at discovering her close ties to a young fox youkai, Uchuu found it ironic that the miko had been saved only to be recaptured. "Perhaps it was in your destiny to come here," he supplied for thought. She gave him a look that clearly showed her disbelief in his suggestion. It was when she told him about the note from Nobunaga, that he gave a hearty laugh.

"What?" Kagome asked, feeling a little perturbed from being laughed at. As far as she was concerned, there was no humor in her situation at all.

"Well, little priestess, if it is not your destiny to be here, then you must have angered the Gods. I will tell you why. You are not at Oda Nobunaga's castle. You are at Setuyama-Jo, which had been abandoned since the days of my ancestors, leaving it falling to ruin. Unfortunately, it is now occupied by Kobe Asuza and her wretched minions." He growled out Asuzas' name as if it were poison on his tongue then continued. "She's a heartless youkai bitch, and she's in league with the human that you saved, Oda Nobunaga.

Kagome gasped. No.

Her voice actually squeaked when she sputtered, "Please tell me that you're joking."

"I wish I could. Sorry miko. Looks like you've been stolen and shipped to the wrong place."

"Oh God," Kagome breathed. She had hoped to appeal to Nobunaga-sama and plead her case. He obviously had the hots for her, and she was hoping to sweet-talk him into letting her go - without any side benefits, of course. Now... NOW he wouldn't have any way of knowing what happened to her. No way of knowing where she had been dumped. No one knew where she was.

"Sounds like you're stuck here to rot like the rest of us," Uchuu muttered hopelessly, unaware of the despair beginning to cloak the miko from his words. The woman's unseeing stare was a little unnerving, but her eyes were pretty. Curiously he asked, "So, what happened to your eyes?"

Kagome visibly winced when Uchuu called attention to her newfound handicap. She hated that her weakness was so obvious. With a heavy sigh, she told him about the wagon explosion and waking up blind.

"Ouch. Tough break, but hey, sometimes stuff like that clears up - with time." Uchuu added when he realized that he was being insensitive. Sumiho was always fussing at him about that, and he had been working on it. She said that he was getting better, and that it was sweet that he was trying to be kind for her sake.

Thinking of her always made his heart feel warm. Damn, he really missed her.

From his awkward position against the cell wall, Sesshomaru was completely focused on the miko. Blind? The priestess can not see? He was awash with relief. He did not want Inuyasha's miko to see him like this. She knew him only as Sesshomaru, feared demon lord of the west. Not this. Not a disgusting bug, filthy and used.

It was strange, Sesshomaru pondered, that he would care at all anymore. He had begun to suspect that he had no honor, no self-respect left. Oddly enough, somewhere deep inside, he longed to preserve what was left and was willing to fight to keep it. Perhaps he was not completely broken?

It was too hard to think. It was much easier to listen. He leaned his head back to rest it against the cold stone wall at his back. Drunkenly, he settled into a slightly different position, biting back a groan from the pain. He tried closing his eyes against it, but suddenly was stricken with a torturous image of Asuzas' foul grin, as she watched her loathsome minion take his pleasure.

He gasped, choking forward, clenching his hands nearly as tight as his gut. No. He shook his head, trying to mentally swipe the flashback from his sight. He took a gulping breath of stale air, and another, trying to calm the frantic beating of his heart. Down that path lay madness. He had to push the visions from his mind or he would soon be reduced to a drooling, blathering idiot.

Kagome immediately sensed the youkai's distress, and she could plainly hear his personal struggle as he wrenched against the restraints holding him firmly to the wall. His aura flared with pain and fear, which pulled on her heart like nothing she had ever experienced. What could they have done to such a powerful creature that would leave him like this? She wasn't sure that she wanted to know.

Before thinking ever came into play, Kagome scooted closer aching to ease his suffering in some way. The tip of her finger grazed his leg, and he went completely still, completely quiet, then it began. A low rumbling from deep within his chest - that gradually became louder - reverberating in a deep baritone quake of warning that sent her scurrying backward. Obviously he didn't like to be touched. "I... I'm sorry," she stammered. "I was only trying to help."

Uchuu watched the situation play out with sadness in his blue eyes. She was too kind for her own good. The miko was strange; an oddity among her kind. It was in a miko's nature to destroy youkai, yet this miko did not seem to recognize her own calling in life. Hell, he was a youkai and he obviously had missed his own. Unlike most youkai, he held a deep affinity for humans. Particularly the kind with full breasts, shapely hips, and a lovely smile. He was monkey enough to admit it; women were his weakness, especially human women.

The pale-haired inuyoukai had drawn his attention when he suddenly became unsettled, snatching against his restraints and making a low keening noise that was a sound birthed from soul scarring pain. The miko had no idea why the youkai was distressed, but Uchuu knew. The scent was strong on the dog when the guards had brought him back to the cell. Blood and sex. Female and male. Sickening.

The knowledge that the dog was raped and beaten wasn't sitting well with him either. Uchuu had no delusions of escaping such a fate himself. He could only pray that they intended to use him to get to his brother, hopefully keeping him intact for a trade. It was only a small hope, but damned if that was the only hope that he had.

Seeing the way the miko reacted to the inuyoukai's commotion was surprising, but seeing her actually attempt to soothe the dog with her touch was somewhat shocking, and completely unexpected. He was just attempting to determine whether the woman was stupid, or uncommonly brave, when the pale youkai went completely still. Uh-oh. That couldn't be a good sign.

The growl gave him shivers, and Uchuu figured that if it affected him so, then the poor miko must have pissed herself. She jumped away from him faster than a cat tossed in a water trough. Uchuu waited to see what would happen next, expecting the blind girl to break down and cry. Amazingly she didn't. She apologized.

Sesshomaru regarded the miko with narrow eyes and a thundering heart. He was furious that she dared touch him with her female hands, dared taint his flesh with more unwanted advances. No. He shook his head in confusion. The miko was not Asuza. Her touch was not tainted. He was unclean. Not the miko. Through the crazed fog in his head, he knew that.

She was pure of heart and soul.

Blinking, Sesshomaru tried to focus. She had apologized to him. He had frightened her.

Kami, he was in so much pain. His body screamed. His mind screamed. Would it ever end?

Sesshomaru tried to shake off the fog in his mind enough to consider the woman. The miko, Kagome, would not harm him. He knew that. He had been in her presence enough to know that she would never attack unless provoked.

He thought of Rin. His young Rin, who adored the miko. Rin had a pure heart as well. Perhaps when he was gone, the miko would see to Rin's wellbeing?

His thoughts were errant and scattered. He wanted death, but he wanted to fight. He wanted the mikos' comfort, but he could not abide her touch. He wanted to see Rin's smile once more, but he never wanted to face her again. It seemed he was at odds with himself over the very drawing of breath. Nothing made sense. Nothing.

It was all too much. He hoped that the miko would begin talking to the monkey again. Earlier, her voice had been a soothing balm to his jagged thoughts, distracting him from a spiraling descent into insanity. He needed that again, but he would not risk speaking. He refused to chance that she would recognize his voice.

Hours of silence later, Kagome knew that if she didn't do something soon, she would fall asleep. It had taken forever to calm down after the youkai viciously rejected her offer to help. Kagome began to fidget restlessly. The dungeon was irritatingly quiet, causing each breath that she took to echo in the emptiness, though she couldn't hear the breathing of her companions. There was water dripping somewhere in the distance, and the 'kerplunk' of each individual drop was driving her crazy.

For awhile she contemplated her blindness, and Uchuu's casually offered line of hope. 'Could he be right?', Kagome wondered. Was it viable that the blindness would eventually go away? Would she possibly be able to see again? Oh, she prayed that happened with all of her heart. For the first time since waking in darkness, Kagome began to feel just a little bit of hope.

The tiny grain of hope was enough to lighten her heart as well as her mood. She was bored, and tired of the silent brooding, so she decided to try and get to know Uchuu a little better. "What kind of youkai are you?" Kagome asked curiously.

Unseen by Kagome, Uchuu's chest puffed out a little when he answered proudly, "Macaque. Some know us as the Snow Monkey Clan of the North. My oldest brother is lord. Hell, my link with him is what got me tossed in here." Uchuu paused for a minute then he corrected himself. "No. It's not his fault that I'm in here. It's mine. He warned me about the dangers, I chose not to listen."

Kagome smiled a little and said, "That is very honorable of you, to admit that you were wrong."

"A little late now," Uchuu mumbled with regret.

"Don't give up hope," Kagome whispered just loud enough for his youkai ears to hear. "We can never know what tomorrow will bring."

The snuff of disgust from nearby captured her attention and Kagome waited, hoping that her cellmate would speak. He was so quiet that she nearly forgot he was there. Why didn't he say something? Would it be so hard for him to just tell them his name? Maybe he couldn't. Maybe he was injured or something? She couldn't see, so she couldn't tell what condition he was in. If he had been in here for a long time, he could be in pretty bad shape. Earlier he had been reliving something horrible. Was he being tortured for information? Had he been a spy captured while trying to steal information from his enemy?

After no further comment from him, Kagome decided that she could handle the silent treatment from the youkai. Silence was preferable to the growling. His refusal to talk to them really didn't bother her that much, but she would at least like to know what to call him.

Uchuu was proving to be a great conversationalist. He regaled tales of his comical adventures through the remainder of the evening. Kagome often laughed, in spite of herself. Occasionally his mannerisms were a little gruff, but she was used to that. She hardly noticed the thoughtless, foul words; and she ignored any rude comments. Her tolerance was from being around Inuyasha all the time, because he wasn't exactly what one would call 'refined'.

Unlike Inuyasha, however, Uchuu was mostly open about himself, sharing stories about his closest family. He even told her several funny snips about his little sister, Akina, who was always getting into mischief. Kagome was grateful, because talking about normal things helped to distract her from the fear that still lingered near the surface.

It was just after hearing about Uchuus' great uncle Manabu and his harem of fifty female macaques, that Kagome finally succumbed to sleep. With a yawn, she curled up as best she could on the pitiful splash of stale straw scattered on the floor, before closing her unseeing eyes, and drifting off into a fitful slumber.

The next morning brought with it a whole new set of problems, like where to pee? She knew from her exploration on the previous day that the cell was empty, save for the two of them and a few handfuls of straw. Would the guards let her out to go?

Panic began to rise. What if they wouldn't? That thought gave her the strength to grit her teeth just a few minutes longer. When she couldn't hold it anymore, Kagome finally stood up and shouted for the jailer. She ignored Uchuu, who was yelling for her to quiet down; and labeling her an idiot for purposefully calling 'that fucker' to them, but at the moment she didn't care. She had to go. Bad!

"Shut your mouth, bitch! I've heard enough of your yapping!" The big smelly man shouted after he closed the door behind him. He then stomped up to the bars. "What the hell do you want?"

"I need... um. You see, I need to... uh." Kagome stammered, while desperately crossing her legs. Kami, this is humiliating. Finally she just spat it out. "I've got to go!" She hopped a little on one foot to clue him in. He didn't act all that smart, but even a big dummy knew the signs of a strained bladder.

The guy chuckled, like he was enjoying himself all of a sudden. "Go where? 'Fraid I don't know what you mean, miko."

Kagome narrowed her blind eyes, fast growing angry with the lousy jerk. "Do I need to spell it out for you? Oh, never mind," she snapped. "You probably can't spell either. I have to pee. There is no place to go in here!"

Kagome couldn't see the humor on the man's face drop into an angry scowl, but she clearly heard the aggravated grunt he released before turning to leave. He returned a minute later, opened the door to the cell, and then shoved something into her hands. She grabbed it, and immediately identified it as a bucket. An empty bucket.

Though she couldn't see, Kagome stared down into the bucket anyway, as if a nice flushing toilet and a roll of tissue would magically appear at the bottom.

With a door.

The cell slammed shut, causing the wench to jump, then, with a big rotten-toothed grin the jailer said, "There you go, miko. Just leave it in the corner when you're done." He followed with a loud guffaw and a slap on his filthy knee.

"Oh God," Kagome whispered in disbelief.

His heavy footsteps and the slamming of the big wooden door preceded a strained silence during which Kagome frantically tried to figure a way out of her latest crises. Unfortunately, nothing was forthcoming, and her bladder was beginning to scream in pain. With a defeated whimper, Kagome sat the bucket down in the far corner of the cell. She stood up straight, shifted her shoulders, and tried to sound confident and unconcerned when she said, "Please don't look."

After the miko finished her business, then moved quickly back to the corner of the cell that she had claimed as her own, Sesshomaru looked up. He found her near to tears with cheeks the color of ripe cherries. She had brought her fingertips up to cover her lips as if trying to hold back a cry of despair. He hoped that she managed to contain it. Asuza's torture was dreadful enough.

To her credit, she held it in.

Only after Kagome settled down again did Uchuu awkwardly attempt to comfort her. "It's nothing to fret over, Kagome. We didn't look."

Gee. For some reason that didn't ease her mind any. She was beyond embarrassed. "I've got to get out of here," she finally whispered softly.

Uchuu gave a very disconcerting half laugh, "Yeah. That's what I said too."

Given her recent run-in with the jailer, Uchuu decided that now was as good a time as any to warn her. "That guy is a real bastard, miko. You should watch out for him. Don't draw his attention. I've seen him do some horrible shit."

Kagome did not doubt that at all.

The morning only grew worse when the jailer came back with many others. Kagome couldn't tell what was happening, but the cell door was opened and someone said, "Drink." She heard some scuffling and a lot of growling, but couldn't tell what was happening, then unexpectedly someone handed her a bamboo cup.

"There's your water for today, miko. Better make it last!" The jailer laughed, then tossed a piece of bread onto her lap. After that the men shuffled out of the cell and locked the door behind them.

Unfortunately they did not leave. They merely went to Uchuu's cell. She heard the macaque youkai growling ferociously as they approached his cell. The sounds of chains, rattling and snarling were followed by fighting and finally a hard grunt of pain. Kagome winced, knowing that Uchuu had the breath knocked out of him. It wasn't long after that the men were gone.

Kagome softly called out, "Uchuu, are you okay?" He grunted, and she assumed that it wasn't too bad. "What happened? What were they doing to the two of you?"

"Drugging us, so that we will be good little youkai, and not rip their entrails from their bodies." Uchuu spat on the ground before explaining further. "They put it in the water, and make us drink it. It messes with our head and suppresses nearly all of our power. Between that and the enchanted chains, we're weak as humans."

"I'll let that jab at humanity pass, since it's obviously true," Kagome muttered, before taking a bite of the stale, tasteless, bread. She had to fight the urge to spit it back out. "God. These people are worse cooks than I am." Begrudgingly, she took another bite. "I'm not that great at bread, but I make great omelets. If we ever get out of here, I'll cook one up for you both."

The monkey didn't say anything to that, and neither did Sesshomaru. It was just like Inuyasha's miko to look past their differences and make an offer to share a meal with them so trustingly. It was one of the traits that made her so strange; a curious creature.

"I don't think Inuyasha likes my omelets, though. He only compliments the pickled radishes, but tell me, how can you mess up something that you pull from a jar?" Kagome asked, rambling on, while nibbling at her bread.

"Who is Inuyasha?" Uchuu asked curiously.

Kagome pulled the bread away from her lips, and then slowly lowered it back to her lap. "Inuyasha is... my friend."

Despite Sesshomaru's best attempts to listen impassively, that answer intrigued him. Beneath a messy fall of bangs, an elegant dark brow rose with curiosity. Friend?

"A special friend?" Uchuu asked with a knowing hint to his rapidly slurring voice.

Kagome could tell that the drug he had been given was already kicking in. She felt sad about that, and wished that there was something that she could do. Instead, she answered his question as best as she could. "You could say that Inuyasha is my best friend. He protects me." Kagome smiled warmly as fond memories swam through her mind.

"Sounds like a mate to me," Uchuu teased.

It didn't bother Kagome. She just shook her head and explained. "No. It's nothing like that. He's just a dear friend. We've been through a lot together."

And that Sesshomaru knew to be a fact. He did not know, however, that their relationship was limited to friendship. The way Inuyasha protected her, he was certain that they were, at least, lovers and he was rarely wrong about such things.

Without warning Sesshomaru became incredibly dizzy. His eyesight blurred. He could hardly catch his breath, and moisture beaded at his brow. The dark world of stone and iron wavered, becoming fluid, and then he was reliving it.

The awe in Iku's deep, throaty voice, when the vermin had first invaded his body came to him as clearly as that of the miko, in reality, sitting so near. The humiliation he felt at that moment - the moment that he was stripped of even the smallest shred of dignity - came back to him like a hard fist to the gut. He doubled over, as the force of it swept through him.

The pain had been horrific, but the memory was proving much more terrible. His hands clenched into white knuckled fists. His stomach rolled and his body trembled. He felt the fear next. The fear that it would happen again. How could he stop it? He was at the bastards' mercy, as helpless as a pup in its crib. He felt the panic rising, unbidden and unlike anything that he had ever experienced.

No!, he barked. I will think on it no more! I will not torture my mind with these putrid thoughts! I will... Sesshomaru's mental cry trailed off and he thereupon dropped his head in defeat. Asuza's goal was to break him.

He feared that she had succeeded.

The truth of his dilemma was more horrifying than he could handle. He simply could not allow his mind to dwell on it, for doing so would surely open the doors to madness. No. His sanity was the one thing that Asuza had not taken from him yet, though madness sometimes seemed an appealing option. In madness he could escape from the complete understanding of what had been forced upon him since the day of his abduction. In madness he would be lifted from this wretched existence and safe from the evils around him, if only within his mind.

Suddenly, he froze. Sesshomaru peeled his tightly clenched eyelids open and looked up. The miko was kneeling beside him... again; her blind eyes filled with compassion. Her small hand, slightly chilled from the cool damp air, was resting lightly against his upper shin.

He could smell her nervousness, but her concern was so great that she somehow overcame it, daring to touch his person with her female hands. He jerked his eyes to that hand, so tiny compared to his own. It trembled slightly, probably from fear. The uninvited touch had, at first, sliced through his being like a frozen sliver of ice, chilling him with an anger that burned cold in its intensity. He was reminded of Asuza's repulsive claws caressing his flesh, but then he felt it, a warmth that seeped into his body from the miko's soft touch.

It was her power; a soothing spread of peace and healing that called him back from the valley of depravation, slowing flooding him with calm. His rapidly pounding heart began to slow. Drawing breath became easier, slower, more natural. He unclenched his hands, and tightly wrung muscles gradually eased.

Her power, and her use of it, stunned him, making Sesshomaru grateful, yet wary of such false repose.

Amazingly, her touch was tender and caring. She could not even see him, and he had been less than amenable since she arrived. Not one word had he spoken, only grunting and growling, yet, she felt moved to comfort him. Why?

The miko was, and always would be, a complete mystery. Years ago he determined that she was either the bravest human that he had ever encountered, or the daftest. She seemed to have no self-preservation instincts, allowing her heart to guide her actions, even if it meant her downfall.

The silence between then was wrought with tension. Sesshomaru was still not sure how he felt about the liberties that she had taken. So much of his free-will had been ripped away from him, that he was loath to give even this fraction of himself. When she finally spoke, her voice was so soft and full of concern, that it touched a part of him that he thought dead, easing his doubts.

"You have so much pain." She actually sounded shaken, as if she had experienced the intensity of his suffering within her own human heart. "I can feel it, you know?" She added in explanation. "It's a miko thing."

Sesshomaru regarded her. The warmth of her power continued to flood him with calm, then she closed her eyes beginning a whispered, melodious, chant. The words were so softly spoken, and so low, that even he could not make out all of them. He allowed her to proceed, assigning the guilt of such weakness to the drugged water and her soothing power. Besides, he was willing to do most anything to stop the nightmare of his thoughts. The mikos' touch was acceptable in this instance, and this instance alone.

Kagome stopped singing the healing spell, cocked her head slightly, and save him a regretful, smile. "I can't take the memory of whatever has happened to you away, but I can ease your turmoil. It's a trick that I learned from a crazy traveling miko. Anyway, um...," Kagome trailed off, beginning to feel a little awkward with the silence. He wasn't growling, but he hadn't spoken either.

Again Kagome wondered if he was mute. No, Uchuu said that he had spoken before her arrival. Why didn't he say something? Had the wicked ruler of this castle done something so horrible that he lost his speech? Torture was not an uncommon means of obtaining information from ones' enemies. It could be a gruesome and incredibly painful ordeal.

Another thought was even more horrifying. Maybe they had cut out his tongue! Kagome shivered, with fear and disgust. Was the youkai female, Asuza, such an evil tyrant?

It was several minutes before Kagome could tell that the distressed youkai was starting to relax. He was so tightly wound that it was surprising he could even breathe. The feel of his aura had been stifling. It had become thick, black; with rage, and despair, but there was also pain and rising panic.

Kagome had never felt anything so... overwhelming before. It nearly took her breath. Her first and only thought had been to make it stop. Without thinking about the consequences, she had scooted over to her cellmate, and touched him. She never had been very bright. It often occurred to her - after near death experiences - that her actions were a little reckless. By the time she actually paused to think about it, the deed was done, and she was left to make the best of the dangerous situation.

He wasn't too happy about being touched. That much was made obvious the day before when he had snarled so viciously at her. She couldn't blame him if he didn't want to be touched, for whatever reason, and she knew that she had overstepped her bounds. Kagome also knew that she could help him. So she had done the thing that she was best at. She healed.

Chapter 9 -