Before Kagome could even begin to process the declaration, Inuyasha had slammed Kouga into the wall behind her. She turned in time to see him digging his claws into the wolf's neck.
"Don't get any ideas," he growled. "She bound you by accident, not because she wanted you. She doesn't."
"She will. I'll win her over," Kouga smirked confidently, completely unfazed by the violence.
"How? You're a slave! You have nothing to offer!"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed, shocked. "I can't believe you would say that. You're a slave, too, you know. But I've never talked to you like one, have I?"
"Feh..."
"So don't talk to him that way, either. Sit!" It was the first time since binding him that Kagome had used the subduing word, but, of course, it was also the first time she had been upset with him. He crashed down, releasing Kouga from his hold. She stepped daintily over him and offered Kouga her hand. "Welcome," she said, smiling. He took her hand eagerly and shook it with a lopsided grin of his own. On the floor, Inuyasha growled fiercely.
"I'll show you to our room," she said.
"NO!" Inuyasha yelled, leaping to his feet again and ripping Kouga's hand out of hers and flinging it in his face before turning back to her. "He is not sleeping with us!"
"Where else is he going to sleep, Inuyasha?" she asked, getting more and more indignant. She didn't understand why he would want to degrade someone else when he was so sick of being degraded himself. And hadn't he just been talking about a revolution to free all slaves? How did he think that was going to happen unless people were willing to stop treating slaves as such? "We're equals. Kouga, you can share my bed if you'd like. Inuyasha chose not to."
Inuyasha glared at her heatedly, a twinge of red seeping into his eyes. "Absolutely not," he growled, punctuating every syllable forcefully.
"What, are you feeling threatened, Mutt?" Without hesitation, Inuyasha swung his claws at Kouga, but the wolf was too fast. He ducked and punched Inuyasha in the stomach. Grabbing his wrist firmly, Inuyasha responded by flinging the wolf across the room. He landed smoothly and both charged again.
"Enough!" Kagome yelled, erecting a barrier between them. They both smashed into it when they met in the middle of the room and fell backwards. She then used a blast of energy to lift them both and bind them to the ceiling. "Stay up there for a few minutes and cool down," she commanded, frustrated. "I'm going to my... our room."
And with that, she marched back up the stairs, holding the skirt of her dress in one hand so she wouldn't trip in her haste and ruin the impact of her exit. She hoped they both learned something up there.
When she got to her room, she closed the door behind her and leaned against it, wanting to take a moment to mentally process all the things that had just happened.
But she didn't get that chance.
Out of nowhere, Naraku appeared and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head back so she had to look in his face. "I said we'd talk later," he sneered. "But I didn't really mean talk." He brought his knee up to slam into her gut. She felt pain and nausea, then that peculiar tickling feeling she felt when her body started to heal. "I don't know what you're trying to pull," he continued. "But remember your place." He slapped her. "And don't go too far. You wouldn't want to break this family apart, would you? Think of your mother." Then he grabbed her arm with two hands and slammed it against the doorknob behind her. Kagome both heard and felt the crunch of her bones and knew the arm was broken where it had hit. But she wished he would hit her more, because when he stopped the worst part started. As she feared, his expression changed and he stepped even closer to her, running his fingers across her face, down her neck, and towards the low neckline he had forced her to wear. It was too much.
"Sit!" she cried. "Down!" And within seconds she heard two crashes from the dining room followed by a moment of tense silence, then flat out sprinting towards her room. Naraku hissed and backed away.
"Looks like we'll have to continue another day," he said. Then he made a dash for the window and climbed out. Kagome wondered how long he had known that she had a ladder there for her own escapes. She guessed that he didn't take it away for moments such as this. Next to her, both Inuyasha and Kouga burst through the door.
"Are you alright? I smelled your fear... and your blood..." Inuyasha trailed off as he looked her up and down. Her face was no longer red from the slap, and her stomach wasn't visible, but she knew her arm must be a sight. She hadn't had time to set it after the break, so it wasn't healing correctly. She hadn't looked, but she knew there was blood, and possibly even bone protruding.
Avoiding eye contact, she went to her closet and got a hammer, drawing her arm back and readying herself for the impact. Kouga caught her hand. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Rebreaking it," she said. "So I can set it properly. It's fine. I've done it before."
"You've broken your own arm before?" the wolf asked incredulously.
"A couple times," she mumbled.
"Why the hell didn't you call me sooner!?" Inuyasha yelled suddenly. She finally looked at him. It was clear he was furious. His demon aura was flaring, causing his hair and clothing to float softly around him. "I thought I told you to learn how to scream when you're in trouble."
"I was handling it."
He pointed to her arm angrily. "This is what you call 'handling it'?"
"Better me than my mom," she said. Then she slammed the hammer down, shattering the bone again and quickly lying it straight and bracing it against a ruler. Her skin began to heal evenly.
"That's why you don't fight back?"
"Of course. That, and I don't want him to know the extent of my powers, so that he won't see it coming when I one day use them to kill him," she made eye-contact when she said this with each of the demons, wanting them to know how serious she was.
"I'll help," Kouga said quietly.
Inuyasha glanced at him then back at Kagome. "Obviously, I'm in, too. But do you have a plan?"
"Not... as such..."
"Well, I do," Kouga interjected. Both turned to look at him.
"You do?" Kagome asked.
"I do."
"Well..." Inuyasha said, after a pause. "Let's hear it."
