Hey again! I'm reading through my reviews and I'm really happy that I'm getting more. Most of them are very heart-warming and they give me a reason to keep writing. They just make me feel so happy! I want to thank everyone who has reviewed my story "Saving Her":

InuKag19 ~ my loyal reviewer, thank you for your kind words and constant reviews!

Jaylonni Love ~ thank you for reading and even bothering to review and I'm glad you like my story

KikiyoWillDieByMyHands ~ I totally love your username and I totally agree with it. Thanks for your review!

Shadow ~ Unknown to exactly who you actually are but thanks for reviewing! Love it!

Yamiroo Alice ~ your words brighten my day…and my story

Rin Kagamine250 ~ thanks for reviewing!

and last but not least

midnightstar32 ~ I loved your review and it made me soooo happy! I'm so happy that I got another fan THANKS A BUNCH!

I'm sorry if I missed your name, and tell me if I did. I'll add you next time. Now that my reviewers got their thanks, I will continue to write my story…sorry for the late updates.


Chapter 2

Kagome watched as a single, silver tear slowly made its way down his face and dripped off his chin. It ended up disappearing into the carpet.

'He's crying?' Kagome avoided looking at his face but could see the outline from the corner of her eye. She was nonetheless, shocked.

She walked up to him, stopping about a meter away and hesitantly, but boldly spoke out, "Are you…okay, master?" She tensed in fear, praying that nothing bad would come to her for her speaking out. She would always be on her guard.

She saw Inuyasha jump; as if he had forgotten that she was in the room with him. When he started to move his head to look up at Kagome, Kagome immediately crashed her eyes back to her feet, avoiding his gaze.

Inuyasha spoke as if dazed. "Uh…yeah…I'm fine. I'll go now." He seemed distracted, as if lost in thought, as he slowly turned to walk away.

Kagome nodded, and only until she saw Inuyasha turn the corner did she realise that she was holding her breath.

~:~:~:~

Sango woke up that day with regret. It was another sleepless night and a living nightmare in the morning. The feeling of dread flooded her insides, and she was drowning from the inside out. Sango moved to sit up, clutching her stomach since it still hurt from recent attacks and folded away the blanket she shared with her only friend. Sango held her gaze at the spot Kagome usually sleeps in and sighed heavily.

She wondered as she looked out the window. 'Where are you now Kagome? Are you okay? Did you manage to find shelter?'

Sango crushed her face in worry. 'Are you still alive?'

Looking at the clock, Sango sighed and got up to prepare her master's breakfast. It was mandatory that his breakfast is prepared before he wakes up. He usually woke up early, around 6:00 am, meaning that she had to wake up an hour early.

Sango looked inside the refrigerator and she covered her nose at the smell of old, musty food. As much as she wanted to feed her master food as bad as poison, she knew that she was too much of a coward to risk her life.

She took out a block of cheese, of which some parts of it were covered in green fur, some eggs and the only vegetables in the fridge which were mushrooms. Placing them on the table, she looked at them in despair. The only thing she could make out of that is an omelette.

She started up the stove and poured the oil in. Sango cracked all of the eggs into a small bowl and began beating them. She chopped up the mushrooms and then added them. Once the pan began to crackle, Sango poured the mixture into the raging pan.

Sango leaned against the counter to wait for the egg to solidify. That morning, it was suppose to be Kagome's turn to cook since they alternated turns. Sango missed her. Like, it wasn't the first time Kagome ran away, but Sango always felt unprotected when Kagome's missing. She was so used to having her by her side.

At first, she felt like she hated Kagome for leaving her under the watch of their master. He punishes her every time Kagome runs away…severely. She was lucky that she wasn't dead yet. The more times Kagome tried to run away, the more severe the punishments became. Not to mention more frequent.

Sango thought with hatred. 'How could she leave me like this? Why did she have to leave me? Does she want me to die? How could she?'

The scent of burning eggs reached her nose. She franticly flipped the egg onto the other side. Luckily, it wasn't too damaged, but the side was dark brown.

Sighing with relief, Sango plunged into thought again. 'No…it's not Kagome's fault. I mean, who wouldn't want to run away from here…and she wanted me to go with her too…maybe I should have listened to her.' Sango hated herself and her cowardness. She had a better chance of surviving with her than without her.

Sango grated the good side of the cheese into shreds and added them to the eggs. While folding the eggs in half, Sango thought back to the time they had just met each other.

Sango had been a slave about two years more than Kagome. When Kagome arrived and was sold to their master, Sango had already been working for him. Sango told Kagome everything that happens in the house and warned her about their master's uncontrollable temper. After all, Kagome was the new meat, and it was more dangerous for her than for Sango.

She used to be the tough one. When Kagome was hurt, Sango had that drive and fire in her eyes. She protected Kagome like she was one of the family…and she was. She was her little sister. Now the fire was gone, and the will to live once more was gone as well. There was no reason for her to run away. Nobody would want her anyway. Kagome was the only family she had. The only family she had after the incident.

Shaking her head, Sango refused to remember the horror of her past. Focusing on the omelette, she turned off the heat and waited for the oil to settle. She took out the only plate in the house and placed the food on the table. The smell sent waves of hunger down her body and saliva was threatening to leak out from her mouth. Sango hadn't eaten since yesterday morning.

Above, a door slammed, announcing that the waking nightmare had just begun.

'Shit…what should I do? Should I keep quiet until he finds out or should I tell him…or make up an excuse…or...urgh…?' Sango paced around in frustration. She was trying to think of a way to keep Kagome safe, giving her as much time as possible to run, and save her own skin at the same time.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Slowly and menacingly, it made its way towards Sango's area, arriving at the kitchen.

Sango was quivering but somehow managed to control her hands while she was carrying her master's food.

As he entered, Sango rushed to pull out his chair and kept her head bowed. He sat down and motioned for her to kneel beside him.

Every morning, once the food is cooked, it must be approved by the master, and this morning, Sango was fearful. She had burned the egg and even if it was just a tad bit, there would always be a punishment. Usually it's a beating, sometimes even breaking a few bones. But no matter what it was, Sango had been through it all. Her master preferred Kagome's cooking so every time she cooked, she was always hit. Kagome? Not so much.

Sango kneeled and waited for her punishment.

With her head bowed, Sango lifted her eyes a little to see her master's reaction. She watched as her master lifted painfully slow his knife and fork and broke a piece of the omelette.

Putting it in his mouth, he chewed, trying to savour the taste. He closed his eyes.

Sango waited in silence. She waited for her punishment. Little did she know, it was the worst one she will ever get.

Deathly…silent…

Her master opened his eyes and sneered to himself. He spoke. "Slave…come closer." intimidating.

Sango hesitated at first but then obeyed and crawled over.

It was the worst choice of her life.

With one roar of rage, he grabbed Sango's hair as he stood and lifted her with immense force, by her hair, to his face. Sango screamed and squeezed her eyes together in pain. She felt a drop of blood roll down her forehead.

"This is what you feed me? How dare you burn the food I order you to make! Are you trying to poison me? You useless slave!" He yelled into her face. His slithery yet powerful voice almost broke Sango's eardrums. She felt her tears mingle with the drops of blood dripping down her face. She screamed in pain as the grip on her hair tightened.

"Scream all you want, bitch, but there's no one who's going to come and save you. NO ONE!" Sango was crying out in pain and she couldn't bring herself to stop. She felt clumps of hair being slowly ripped out due to the amount of time she spent hanging by it. It hurt.

"You're useless, useless! Who do you think you are? After all that I've done for you, you can't even cook a proper meal and you will PAY for that." With one last roar, he swung Sango like a bag and brought her down fast as lightning, face first onto the plate, breaking the plate and table in the process, with a thunderous crash.

As everything stopped shaking and debris finished falling, pants could be heard from the master…and nothing from the slave.

He let go of her face and shook off the hair hanging around his hand in disgust, letting it fall onto the motionless slave below.

"Now get up and clean up. You look like what you are…trash. You even broke my table in the process of your bad cooking." With that he turned and walked into the living room, sitting himself down on the couch and started reading the newspaper.

Sango was somehow still conscious after that attack…but she would much rather be either unconscious or dead. Intense pain racked her body and face…especially her face.

The impact had created a hole under where the table used to be and the plate laid in pieces under Sango's face. Sango tried feeling her body. It was somehow untouched. But as soon as she moved her head to get up, she bit her tongue to avoid screaming an ear shattering scream.

Sango avoided moving her head, but she sat up onto her knees. She tried opening her eyes but to no consent. She was confused but she kept moving. She felt her way across the kitchen and entered the bathroom, not knowing that her master was watching her blindly find her way around things. She also didn't know that he was smiling.

She entered the bathroom, closed the door, and sat down behind it. She relaxed as she felt the cool surface of the door melt into her skin. She then reached to turn on the light switch. Instead, she reached beside it and turned on the AC instead. When the cool air rushed out of the vent and reached Sango's face, she couldn't help but scream.

She franticly grasped at the switch and turned it off and turned on the light. Sango felt the light reach her eyes but one side was dark instead. She walked over to the mirror and tried opening her eyes once again. She opened her right eye and stared into the mirror.

Another scream was heard as Sango discovered that the left side of her face was covered in glass shards and debris. She sobbed and cried in horror. Gallons of blood dripped down what was left of her face and onto the bathroom floor. Her face was puffed up and swollen, battered and bruised, distorted and damaged. It would never completely heal again.

Sango cried out in pain every time she removed a shard of the plate from her face. One was dangerously close to her eye. It made Sango temporarily blind on her left eye until it could heal, but Sango doubted that it would.

Opening the bathroom cabinet, she pulled out the first aid kit she and Kagome had put together.

She opened it up and pulled out the roll of gauze and cream that she and Kagome frequently used. The bandages were almost out and so was the cream. Sango made a mental note that she would buy more next time she went to the market.

As she put the cream on her blistered face, a fresh batch of tears fell out from both of her eyes, one crying blood and the other crying water.

Sango forced herself to continue bandaging her face no matter how painful it was. The wound stung and burned. It puckered against her skin. Sango swore that she could hear sizzling.

Once she finished, she cleaned up the bathroom floor with some tissue and didn't dare leave a trace. She then used the bleach to cover up the smell and stains it left behind.

Sango looked at the shower and shivered. She didn't dare take a shower until her face healed. It would burn like Hell's fire.

Someone was knocking on the door and it was no other than her master, waiting on the other side.

"Slave…are you okay now? I hope I didn't do too much damage." A smile was evident in his voice. "When you're ready, come out and do the laundry. I'm tired and will resign to my bedroom."

Sango croaked out a yes master and cried silently to herself.

She prayed and waited until she could hear the door slam shut…but it never came. She heard the footsteps stop half way up the stairs and then she heard it come back down.

The deep footsteps rested outside the bathroom door once again. The slithery voice seeped in.

"Slave…where is the other one?"

Sango froze and began shaking once more. Forcing herself to lie, she replied "I…I sent her to the market…to get some more food. She should be back soon, master. Would you like for me to get her?" Sango prayed that he would say yes.

"No…that is fine. I guess you aren't quite so useless after all." With that, Sango held her breath until the door closed upstairs, and when it did, she slid down to her knees and began to cry.

"Please come back Kagome. Please come back for me…please."

~:~:~:~

Kagome went to sleep that night very confused with the day's events. She thought through what had happened. She named each one with either a GOOD or a BAD.

She woke up clean and unharmed and in a bed. GOOD. The master wanted to keep her here, in this grand, beautiful place, instead of kicking her out. Hmm…it could be either. But she's saying GOOD for now. The master and his mother insisted that she ate instead of starving, and then the master wanted to know her name. Not to mention that he cried in front of her. GOOD and GOOD.

This made Kagome think even harder. The BAD usually outnumbers the GOOD…but this time…there wasn't a bad in sight. She shifted over onto her side and pulled the covers closer to her head, burying herself under the hem of the blanket.

Masters usually never show any emotion in front of slaves let alone cry in front of them.

They were treating her like she was their equal. What?

Even after another meal of dinner, Inuyasha had accompany her up to her bedroom once again and made her sleep on the bed. Not only that, but he had asked her to sleep on the bed and not the floor.

Before

"Whoever makes people sleep on the floor is inhuman. You're just like any other person for Kami sake." he growled.

Kagome must have looked shocked because Inuyasha sounded surprised when he said, "Wait…you always slept on the floor?" It was like he had never heard of such a thing.

Kagome gave a little nod. She heard Inuyasha growl deep within his throat, however, he stopped when Kagome gave out a little whimper.

Inuyasha's eyes softened and apologized. "Sorry about that…I'm just so angry that someone would make you sleep on the floor! It's inhumane!" He looked at her. "Sorry if I scared you, but I already told you, I won't hurt you." He gave her a little smile but Kagome was too busy looking at the floor to notice.

Inuyasha walked over to the bad and pulled back the covers. Stepping back he waited for Kagome to go into bed. She was already washed and dressed for bed…but Inuyasha could smell fear surrounding her aura.

There was a few seconds of awkward silence between them since Kagome refused to budge so Inuyasha broke the silence.

"So…I'll see you tomorrow. Do you want me to come and wake you?" He offered.

Kagome nodded her head. Inuyasha's heart soared, making himself feel so happy inside.

"Alright then…good-night." Inuyasha walked to the door and closed it behind him, leaving just a crack to peak in through.

He waited as Kagome shifted her weight from foot to foot and paced around for a few seconds. Finally, looking like she was about to collapse, she crawled into bed, and turned off the light.

Only then did he walk away.

End

Kagome wasn't sure what was going to happen to her in the next couple of days but she did know that she had to save Sango soon…before it was too late.

Kagome closed her eyes and tried to sleep. After tossing and turning for two minutes, Kagome dreamed another nightmare.

She was running. Everything around her was pitch dark. Nothing was there. Nobody was there. Yet…why was she running?

Kagome was tired…exhausted, but she kept on running. She would always be running, never stopping. Maybe…she didn't know how to stop.

Kagome finally eased her legs and feet to stop running and rest. Her pace became a walk and finally, she stopped. Kagome bent over and put her hands on her knees, panting hard. Kagome winced at the pain her breathing was causing her.

Looking around again, Kagome tried calling out, but there came no reply…until now.

"Well, well, well…we meet again…slave. Did you really think you could outrun me?" The darkness was filled with echoes of the slithery voice Kagome knew so well. Kagome began to uncontrollably cry.

"There's no chance for you to live without me. Nobody really wants you. You're just another lowly slave. Nothing special. You'll just keep running until you run out of places to run." Dark laughing was heard.

Kagome ran. She ran so hard; her legs were burning from tiredness. Her vision was getting foggy from her tears and eventually, Kagome was running blind. The scar on her left shoulder burned too (recall the previous chapter). It felt as if her whole shoulder had been engulfed in fire, slowly eating away at her soul.

Suddenly, Kagome collapsed and fell, skidding on her side until friction stopped her. Her legs and hands burned from the fall and her body ached with terror.

It looked like all hope was lost.

Kagome cried and cried. The tears traced pathways for others following on her face. She tried calling out for help and screamed until her voice gave in, but nobody came.

She would always be running. Kagome collapsed in a heap and sobbed. She closed her eyes and wept, waiting for the end.

Kagome felt herself shaking; he shoulders were rocking back and forth. Kagome was confused because she wasn't the one doing it.

"Kagome…Kagome!"

A faint voice reached Kagome's ears but she couldn't see anyone.

"Kagome!" The voice got louder and Kagome could see a light shining in front of her.

Shielding her eyes, she slowly got up.

"Kagome…Wake up!" Kagome walked closer.

The light was warm and it gave Kagome a new hope. There was light in the darkness…there always will be.

With that, she walked straight into the light.


Hoped you like it! I know it's long but I hope you think that's a good thing!

Love always,

miko2miko4ever

(I'm planning on changing this to…)

WanderingDreamer4Ever