InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shared Blood ❯ Old Friends ( Chapter 4 )

Inuyasha does not belong to me. The characters contained within are property of Rumiko Takahashi. Thank you.

Shared Blood

Chapter Four

By: Lazuli

lazulidreamer@yahoo.com

Kagome held her coat tighter around her, shivering as a gust of wind seemed to blow straight through her. Inuyasha said that she could go back to her old 'house' and get the last of her personal items, but she wasn't to stay there. He could track her down faster than she could run away, and she wouldn't have a chance of surviving if she did that. She came up to the well house, and sighed. She wouldn't want to go back to her old way of living. She had been free, but always cold, miserable, and hungry.

She saw her ripped blanket on the floor, and her only picture of her mother set up against her broken table, and tears came to her eyes. It seemed like so long ago that she lived in here, and considered it a blessing to have an enclosed space to protect herself from rain and snow. She quickly grabbed the picture, and hugged to her chest. She missed her mother so much, but she realized that pain was finally fading…

She took one last look at her surroundings and started out of the hut, and was stopped by a crossbow bolt thudding into the wood next to her head.

Kagome looked up in shock to see Unmei facing her, her eyes narrowed in anger as she readied another arrow to fire. "Stand still, Kagome. I want you to die as painlessly as possible. It's the least I can do for you."

Kagome's eyes widened. She's gone crazy! What happened to Unmei? "Unmei! What's wrong with you?" Another arrow fired, and Kagome had to throw herself to the ground to avoid being impaled. "Unmei!"

Unmei stalked forward, glaring at Kagome. "Able to dodge that, huh? Must be an advantage of being that bastard's whore. You wouldn't be able to avoid that otherwise." Her foot lashed out, kicking Kagome in the side.

"Unmei…I'm not his whore! Why would I be? Unmei!" Her old friend wasn't listening to her, and her hands trembled as she backed away from her. "Please be reasonable, Unmei!"

Unmei shook her head. "You're not one of us anymore. You betrayed us, Kagome; being with that damn youkai…wearing the clothes he gives you. You look healthy and well fed. Warm and content. What did they do to you? You're not the same Kagome I knew!"

Kagome got up slowly, her side still smarting from the kick. "I'm the same person! Just because opportunity presents itself, doesn't mean I'm going to smack it away! I'm a slave, just like any other slave in that household. I'm owned by a youkai, and have to work for them. I don't have the freedom you think I have."

Unmei smirked. "So why does he let you come out her all alone? Where's your leash? Isn't that youkai of yours supposed to be holding the other end of it? I'm surprised he let you wander off by yourself." Her expression changed.

"Unless you're running off, Kagome?" Unmei's eyes turned hopeful, as if she wanted Kagome to confirm just that. "Please…Kagome. Tell me you've run off…you can stay with me. I can hide you. You won't have to worry about him anymore."

Kagome laughed bitterly. "You try and kill me, and then invite me to stay with you? Friendship doesn't quite work that way. If I wasn't worried that I'd find in an arrow in my back the second it was turned, I still wouldn't stay with you. I wouldn't put *you* in danger that way. If you hadn't noticed, my master is an Inu youkai. It wouldn't be hard to track me down, and he'd destroy the store in the process for you helping a fugitive slave. The humans wouldn't have anyone to supply them with clothes or food, and we'd truly die out. You stay on your end, Unmei, and I'll stay on mine."

Unmei's face lost all traces of kindness or hope. She readied her crossbow again, and fired without warning, and Kagome couldn't avoid the arrow completely. It grazed her leg, tearing a long rip in the side of the dress she was wearing. She bit back the cry of pain, and ignored the blood trickling down her side.

"I was going to be kind, Kagome. Now, I think I'll make sure you suffer before I kill you. Traitor." She let one arrow loose after another, Kagome barely registering the sharp pricks of pain before realizing she was effectively pinned against the wall of the building, unable to move.

She opened her eyes to see the Unmei smiling sadistically and firing the arrow at her heart. "I'm glad I knew you before you turned on us, Kagome. Goodbye…"

Kagome shuddered and quickly shut her eyes again. She didn't want to see the arrow coming toward her…she was going to die anyways, and she only hoped that it would be quick. The pain from her leg was starting to bother her, and the ground felt unsteady beneath her. She heard the sound of the arrow being fired, and she waited for it to hit her. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes cautiously to find Inuyasha standing over her, holding the arrow in one clawed hand, glaring murderously at Unmei.

Inuyasha couldn't believe that this human was threatening Kagome. It was the same bitch that ran the human shop that he bought the kimono from…and now she was aiming the crossbow at his slave.

"I wouldn't try it, girl. She's mine." The girl smirked at him, and he felt his eyes narrow at the smug confidence on her face, and her steady hands on the crossbow.

"Protecting your little whore, youkai? Can't have anything else sleep with you, so you chose her? Take the bitch. I don't care." She turned to walk away, and he snapped the arrow in half before jumping in front of her, one hand wrapping around her throat, and the other grabbing her crossbow and smashing it on the ground.

Unmei's face paled at the loss of her weapon, and her hands tried to pry the tight grip of Inuyasha's off her windpipe so that she could breath. The corner of Inuyasha's mouth turned up in a sadistic grin, and he tightened his hold, wishing that he could snap her neck.

"It would be so easy to rip you apart, girl. I didn't send Kagome into this nasty place so that she could die in filth. As much fun as it would to hear your neck snap, I won't do it. I saw your store. You help this dirt grubbers live without youkai, don't you?"

Unmei nodded as carefully as she could, hardly able to get out a breath, let alone answer him in words. Spots appeared in front of her eyes, and her vision darkened momentarily.

"You can live…but don't even *dare* think about harming Kagome ever again. If it wasn't for the fact that not all the humans in this hellhole are as brainless as you, I'd kill you now and let your pathetic race waste away."

Inuyasha snorted in disgust at the almost unconscious girl in his grip and tossed her to the ground hard. Her eyes closed as her head smacked the ground, and he contemplated kicking her for what she had done to Kagome. He concluded she wouldn't feel a thing, and left her body where it was and went back to where Kagome was still pinned against the wall of the wooden shrine.

He began pulling out the arrows, noting her wince every time he yanked one out. She was finally free from the shrine and she slumped forward, one hand braced against the shrine. She was a bloody, torn up mess, and looked like she did when he rescued her from Yura. Did she make being attacked a regular occurrence?

He lifted her body into his arms, carrying her gently against him, mindful that she was bleeding from several different places. She struggled against him, and tried to get down.

"Thank you for saving me, Inuyasha-sama. I can walk though. I'm fine." She smiled at him, and started limping towards the direction of the youkai district, pausing when he didn't come after her immediately.

"Inuyasha-sama?" She asked, wondering what was wrong with him lately. He angrily shook his head at her.

"Stupid girl! You're as moronic as when I first met you, and you're *not* getting your way this time." He picked Kagome up in his arms again, touching the back of her neck gently on her pressure point. She slumped against him, and he shook his head. Sometimes she was too damn stubborn for her own good.

Kagome woke up slowly to a pounding headache, and found herself lying in Inuyasha's bed. She looked around frantically for Inuyasha, and saw him snoring beside her, and she blushed. What was she doing in his bed? She carefully crawled off of it, hoping not to wake Inuyasha's but his hand shot and grabbed her hair.

"Stay." He ordered, and she slowly lay back down, wincing at the pain that shot up her leg. "You see? You're hurt again. You get hurt too damn easily. It's like you ask for trouble or something, girl. Even getting attacked by your own kind."

Kagome's eyes filled with tears as she recalled where her injuries came from this time. She turned away, hurt more inside than on the outside.

"I know how it feels, Kagome. Didn't you say that to me? We're more alike…" He snickered. "A hanyou and a human having something in common besides blood. Amazing, isn't it?"

He didn't get an answer, and he paused, unsure of what to do at the sound of the girl crying into the blankets. He hesitantly reached out to stroke her hair, and she stiffened at his touch, but didn't pull away but curled up against herself.

He sighed and gently turned her around, remembering how he cried to his mother when he was young…about the same thing Kagome was crying about now. He pulled her face to his chest, letting her sob into his shirt. He held her to him, one hand stroking her hair almost absently, feeling her calm beneath his touch.

"I'm sorry, Kagome." He whispered. He was apologizing to his slave…it was ludicrous, but this slave of his understood him…and he understood a human for the first time. He held her closer to him, and he felt her heart race. He remembered what Kagome was his for, and he gulped, pulled away slightly to look at her tear stained face.

She pulled away from him violently, making her way quickly off the bed before he could stop her, curling up in her own blankets on the floor. He stared at her, not knowing what just occurred. He swore under his breath, but decided to leave her there. What the hell had come over him?

Kagome's heart pounded wildly as she lay on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Inuyasha was being kind…and comforting. What had happened to the slave-master relationship? Perhaps Unmei had been right. She was betraying her own kind. She should just perform her job for Inuyasha, and leave emotion out of it.