InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Look Before You Leap ❯ Out Of The Pan (and into the fire!) ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inu-Yasha, Mara Daughter of the Nile, or my cat for that matter. It’s being rented to me by my neighbors: 5 bucks a day. So it’s really their cat.

A/N: I’m in a really strange mood, if you couldn’t tell from the oddball disclaimer that I have. I have the strangest urge for ice-cream, but you don’t care about that, you’re only here for the story. Or maybe you’re not here for the story at all. Maybe you just accidentally clicked my page, and you’re just reading this cause you have nothing better to do. Or maybe you do. WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE HERE?!...... Anyway, if you indeed are here to read my chappie, then go ahead. If you’re not...........go buy some ice-cream. Bring me some, too! ^_~

“blah-blah”- words
‘I need a pedicure…’- thoughts

Chapter 2 – Out Of The Pan (and into the fire!)
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Inu-Yasha leaned on the side of a wall that was darkened by a building, casting his whole face in shadows. He has studied the village square for quite a while, especially the public well and the people around it. Villagers walking by would have hardly seen him since his clothes were common and he was as stiff as stone, except for his eyes.
A villager not noticing was exactly what Inu-Yasha wanted. If people saw him standing there, not doing anything but watching others, they would get suspicious. ‘And suspiciousness is very bad,’ he thought grimly.
He watched, bored, as a lord came through on his horse followed by guards and other important people. One of the body guards shoved a poor man and a young girl out of the way to get off of his horse in front of the inn. The lord went inside, leaving the guards outside to watch the horses. The girl who was shoved aside into the dirt frowned up at the guard, then a wicked smile crossed her face and she disappeared for a second.
Inu-Yasha tried not to laugh as she came back into view with a long piece of leather. She whacked the horse’s rump with the leather, causing it to buck wildly, hitting its master in the butt and knocking him into the mud. The other guards around him started to laugh. When the guard turned to see what had caused the horse to kick him, he saw no one, but found a piece of leather on the ground. The guard picked up the leather and turned to his friends angrily, but they were busy looking somewhere else, and commenting on the weather.

Inu-Yasha snickered. He wondered where the girl went, but she faded from his mind when he remembered what he was there for. He continued to study the crowd, and saw the girl a few minutes later walking down the street when suddenly a bread boy came rushing down an alley and ran into her. It was his fault, but she helped pick them up, and smiled at him. This distracted the boy so much that he didn’t see the few pastries that slipped into the girl’s dress. When the boy shyly offered her a pastry which she took with a look of gratitude on her face, Inu-Yasha couldn’t take it and burst into laughter. This girl was too much for him.
The bread boy walked away, and the girl started nibbling on a pastry as she walked through the crowd. Inu-Yasha thoughtfully watched her make her way to a bench, where she sat down and surveyed the area while eating. She was unusual, because he would have mistaken her for Kikyo in the beginning if she was properly dressed. A closer look showed she had smoky blue eyes, almost black, which was strange. She was the same size as Kikyo, but her hair was blue-black and wavy, and she had a certain grace that he hadn’t seen before. His attention was caught by the signal that he was waiting for.
A slave dressed in blue livery dipped a jar in the well, once, twice, a pause, and a third time. He mentally cheered as he stood from the wall and followed the slave down the street. He kept a space between them so that no one knew he was following someone, but kept the man in sight. The slave went through a doorway once they had gone along many streets, and Inu-Yasha waited to enter. The street had a few people walking along it, but the ones that caught his eyes shocked him.
The same girl he had repeatedly seen in the village was being pulled along by a chubby, evil-looking man with a frown on his face. He jerked her along, sometimes announcing that she would get it when they got home. The girl looked calm enough, but when Inu-Yasha saw her eyes, they were filled with anger. He sadly realized that she was a slave, and that the evil man was her master, and that she would probably be punished severely when they got home. He shook his head sadly at how cruel the world could be, but turned quickly away as a tall man covered in black followed the two silently, and turned the corner after them.
The girl once again left Inu-Yasha’s mind. The street was clear, so he went swiftly into the doorway that the slave had gone through minutes before.
When Kagome and her master reached the entrance to the house, he shoved her inside and grabbed a stick from the corner of the porch that he used to whip slaves with. He fingered the edge of the wood, and smiled maliciously.
“You have never run away before, my pretty little Kagome,” he said taking a step towards her. She didn’t back away, but watched him warily. “Very pretty,” he commented, eyeing her body. “I knew it would be wise to buy you when I first saw you. It would be such a shame to waste your beauty with a beating.” He licked his lips and smiled again. “So I’m willing to make a deal. Instead of getting whipped today, you can spend a few nights with me to make up for your misbehavior.” He ran a hand slowly down her side, caressing her hip and her butt, and Kagome fought not to throw up on him.
“So what do you say, hmm? If you spend some nights with me, you’ll be happier than you thought you’d be. ” Kagome was silent before answering, and the way her eyes gleamed made him sure that he had her. He was badly shocked at her answer and the vehemence with which she said it.
“There’s no chance in hell that I would ever sexually have anything to do with you! I’d rather marry a pig than even touch you!” she said disgustedly, and she was right to be disgusted. She was the same height as him, but he was bald, he had a smashed nose, tiny eyes, and we won’t even go into the fat that covered his body.
His face turned red, and he slapped her, sending her back two steps. “You impudent girl! Fine! Scorn my offer if you want, but you’re the one suffering, not me!” She glared at him. “No! Don’t look at me like that! It’s your fault for running away in the first place!” He gripped the special necklace he had bought right after he got her, because her eyes were so strange. Kagome grinned, and stared at him, then spit at his feet. This caused him to go into a rage, mercilessly hitting her as hard as he could, but she didn’t cry out.
Neither of them realized that the man from the alley was watching the whole thing until he stepped between Kagome and her master.
“Enough of this,” he said, his voice dark like his black clothes. “I want to buy this slave from you. How much do you want?” The fat man thought for a second. “This slave is very valuable, since she is different from all the others. She is strong, quick, smart, she can read and write, and she speaks Chinese fluently as well as our own language, so I would have to say that she’s pretty expensive.” The master smiled. The stranger watched for a second, then reached in his pocket and pulled out a fat coin purse which he tossed at the master’s feet. “Come,” he said to Kagome and walked away, not looking to see if she followed. She hurried to keep up, since she didn’t want her old master to change his mind. ‘Yes! I’m finally free of that pig! No longer will I have to suffer that man again! I just hope my new master is better,’ she thought.
He was tall, and that was all she could tell about him. She could see nothing else, not even his eyes. They walked in silence until they reached the same inn in the village where she had tricked the guard. They went in and up the stairs to a private room. Once the man had locked the door, he took off his coat and Kagome gasped. He was wearing very expensive clothes, and his hair was very long, black and curly. The only thing that bothered her was his eyes. Lined with blue eye shadow, his eyes were extremely dark, darker than black, if that was possible. They pulled her gaze to them like a black hole and made her want to look away at the same time. [AN: Guess who!!]
He motioned for her to sit down, and sat across from her. “What is your name?” he asked calmly. “Kagome, sir,” she answered, watching him. He didn’t seem mean, but he didn’t seem nice either. “Kagome. I am your new master. I saw you in the square earlier. You are exactly who I have been looking for. Your old master mentioned you speak Chinese. I hope you know more than a few phrases.” She nodded. “I can hold a conversation with anyone, sir.” He nodded. “ I appreciate your respect, showing you do think, but you don’t have to say ‘sir’ every time you talk to me.” “Okay,” she answered.
“Okay. I bought you for a reason, but your job is so dangerous that you have a choice. You can accept it, or if you don’t want it, I will just sell you to someone else.” He paused, looking for a second.
“If you say yes, you will have many tasks. But, if you obey me, and if you are successful on your jobs, I will free you.” Her breath caught in her throat. To be free…she would do anything for that to be real. “Yes! I’ll do whatever you want!” she announced forcefully. He smirked. “Fine. Remember this: once you agree, you can not go back. You will know too much to go back to regular life.” Kagome nodded.
“All right. Here is what you will do. You are special, because you could pass to be a well born girl, once you get cleaned up. You will find the man, Muso, in Nagoya and give her this jewel.” He handed her a blue triangle. “ She will arrange things for your clothes and hair. Then you will board a ship with a princess that will marry ‘Prince Sesshomaru’ and go with them to Tokyo. You will be her interpreter, since she only speaks Chinese. Sesshomaru does speak Chinese, but he won’t want to talk directly to her, so you will be her translator, and you will do something else.” He stopped, and Kagome had a feeling that what he said next would be the reason why her job was so dangerous.
“Basically,” he continued calmly, which frightened her, “ you will be a spy. I want you to watch who Sesshomaru comes into contact with. Listen to what he says to people. Someone in there works for him, giving him messages, and getting messages out. I want to know who it is. You will pretend to be a dead priest’s daughter, if anyone asks. One more thing,” he added.
“I suggest you listen to these next words and brand them into your memory.” Kagome nodded and leaned closer. “If, by any chance, anyone should find out that you are not what you seem, you will die instantly.” She leaned back slowly. She knew that would come up sooner or later, but it still shocked her all the same.
He smiled viciously at her expression. “Well that’s all I had to tell you,” he said cheerfully [as cheerful as Naraku can be]. “Here’s your money for your ship from Sakai to Nagoya. Sakai isn’t that far from here, so you can walk.” Kagome’s eyes widened. ‘Walk from here (Kyoto) to Sakai?! That might take me a week!’ she frowned slightly as she reached to take the money from his hand but he jerked it back at the last minute. “If you and this money disappear between here and Sakai, there will be severe consequences.” She just looked at him until he slowly opened his hand again.
He had already threatened her twice as if it was an everyday thing. ‘He must be really powerful if he can threaten with a clean conscience,’ she thought. ‘Or really evil .’ Kagome didn’t know how close that second thought was to the truth as she moved to the door. “Don’t make me regret buying you,” he said softly. She paused for a second, before opening the door and walking out. ‘Oh great,’ she thought as she started in the direction that she thought Sakai was in. ‘This just gets better and better.'
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Well, that’s another chappie of Look Before You Leap that’s done! Took me forever and a day, but I finished it!! Time to party and rest my poor hands ^-^ Till next time- Bai! ^_~

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