A/N: Written for dokuga_contest's bi-weekly oneshot contest. This story will probably be updated mostly every other week, I plan to mostly update this story with the oneshot contests, and Conquered with the drabble contests. But it will probably end up being a 'whichever one I feel like updating' whenever the contests come up. ;)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! It's Alternate Universe, and may be a bit darker than my fics to date (thus being rated T instead of K or K+).

Please review, I'd love to hear feedback on this newest serial!

Word Count: 1,190

Originally posted on October 6, 2010.

Shackled

The entire prison seemed run-down. A damp and dusty underground with enchanted bars and helpless youkai imprisoned within them was well-hidden beneath a brilliant mansion that each of them had seen only once, and briefly at that. None of the humans going about their business in the region suspected a thing; to them, almost all youkai had been vanquished so that they could live their life in peace. Though, if they had known about a prison, even they would feel sorry for the youkai rendered helpless there—even though most humans hated youkai with a vengeance that only recently had died, and only because they believed the youkai race to be scarce.

The loud creak of the door could be heard, making all the prisoners wince. Two pairs of golden eyes slid to meet one another, narrowing in turn.

"This is your fault," grumbled the first—for possibly the millionth time since their capture—ears flattening against his head before crossing his arms, leaning against the cold, moist, moldy wall before wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I beg to differ, little brother." The elder of the two smirked as the scent of annoyance began to fill the air; he knew Inuyasha hated when he called him that. "If you did not always leap into battle without thinking, the humans would never have noticed us."

Inuyasha growled before his hands made fists, claws digging into the palm of his hand, drawing blood. "Like hell it's my fault! You can't just descend from a sky on a fluffy cloud without drawing someone's attention!"

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed further, becoming like golden slits as they bore into the hanyou. Inuyasha was only glad that one could not be killed simply by a gaze—but if it could be done, he knew Sesshoumaru would be the one to do it. Still, he couldn't help but smirk in amusement at his brother's reaction to the 'fluffy' comment. He knew it would get on his nerves—just like Sesshoumaru had known 'little brother' would get on Inuyasha's.

The door creaked open again, and both their heads snapped around when the most pleasant aroma that had ever entered the forsaken prison made itself known. Closely following was the sound of small footsteps and the clanking of metal chains against one another.

A young girl dressed in a plain, green kimono, chains binding her hands together as well as shackles on her ankles, causing a loud clank every time she took a step forward. Her head was down, ebony locks completely masking her face from sight. Followed by her was a guard—a monk, by the looks of it—keeping a hold of her chains as if keeping her on a leash.

Inuyasha growled slightly, his annoyance with his cell-mate quickly dissipating only to be quickly replaced with anger of another kind. "That creep is imprisoning his own kind, now? What's a human girl gonna do here with a bunch of youkai surrounding her?" Disgust was thick in his tone, and Sesshoumaru's eyes slid towards his brother with mild annoyance.

"She is miko," he commented in the same monotone he addressed every situation with, "Can you not tell?"

Inuyasha squinted, delicately sniffing the air once more. He thought he could smell the faint scent of purification clinging to her skin—something he'd completely missed before. "Keh," he mumbled, never one to fully admit he was wrong. "She's still human," he pointed out before his ears pricked upwards. "Wonder who's gonna get it?"

Giving a one-shouldered shrug, Sesshoumaru merely watched the girl who never lifted her face even once. Once studying her chains more effectively, he noticed that there was a dark aura coming from them, suppressing the miko's power—not to mention sapping her energy, he noted with interest. But shouldn't her own abilities surpass that of the chains?

"This one," the guard murmured softly before turning the girl around and removing her just of the chains binding her hands. She only lifted her head to give the guard a sharp glare—which he politely ignored. He turned her around, gently pushing her forward towards the closed cell. "You've been doing this for years now; you know what happens if you refuse to cooperate."

The girl's head hung low once more as the cell was opened for her, and she stepped in with her hands in front of her, reaching out slightly. This isn't real, she kept telling herself. It's make believe. It's pretend. One of these days, I'm going to wake up from this dream. I'll be back with Mama and Papa and Souta. I'll be free, and this will be but a distant memory. The thoughts did little to comfort her, and she couldn't help but meet the eyes of the tiger youkai she was about to punish.

Brown eyes were filled with remorse as she extended her arms further, the tiger's eyes widening in fright. "Wait," he begged, causing her fingers to pause just inches away from his chest. "M-My back, please, Kagome-sama."

"Of course," she replied, her voice soothing despite what pain she was about to bring him. As the male turned, she placed her fingertips lightly on his back left shoulder blade. Pink light surged and then fizzled out quickly, causing the youkai to shout out in pain. Both winced at the exact same moment, he from the pain and she from causing the pain. She withdrew her and quickly, and the guard immediately pulled her back and closed the cell. In a matter of what seemed like seconds, the chains were back around her wrists and her head hung low once more.

Sesshoumaru paused, his mind calculating as he watched the guard escort the miko back out of the underground prison. Why would the one in charge of this place wish to capture and keep a miko of such little power? Her purification had barely singed the youkai; most mikos he knew of could kill the youkai with just a touch, and had no reservations about doing so. Being forced to punish youkai through purification really couldn't be that difficult on the moral compass of a miko; after all, that was what they were trained for.

It was possible that she had been captured for her beauty, but since he couldn't see her face he could make no judgements in that aspect. Not that he would stoop to judging the attractiveness of someone whose sole purpose was to partially purify any youkai that might cause the slightest trouble.

"Oi, baka. Why're you zoning out like that?" Sesshoumaru's eyes slid towards Inuyasha with annoyance, a brow quirking up at his brother's inquiry.

"We are likely to be in this predicament for a long while, little brother; it would be wise to keep your mouth shut or lose your tongue."

Before Inuyasha could give any sort of response, a deep chuckle could be heard from the cell next to theirs. They were startled when they heard a smile in the stranger's voice when he finally decided to speak.

"Kagome has that effect on everyone—trust me."

End Note: I was just dying to lock Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha in a room together for an extended period of time. I can see their interactions being fun. ;) Anyway, please review! :)