Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha universe, but I sure do love playing with them. The rest is mine.

Chapter 3

"I might be able to wipe your memory, but I can do nothing about it until we get to Inusekai. We need to refuel first, and there are crew members on board who haven't seen their families in too long. When we get to Inusekai...I promise I will see what I can do about taking you home."

She found herself searching his face and trusting him before she could think otherwise.

"I believe you," she said finally, and he let out a breath of relief. He offered her the medicine again, but she shook her head. "Just let me sleep," she whispered. At that request, he scooped her up and made her yelp in surprise as he brought her back to the bed where she had woken up earlier. He gently laid her down and covered her with the sheets before sitting beside the bed and resting his head on his crossed arms on top of the mattress to watch her.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, and he flushed red in embarrassment.

"Making sure you are alright," he scoffed, as if it were obvious.

"And you have to do that there?"

"I didn't think you wanted me in my bed with you," he smirked.

My bed. This was his room.

Perfect.

She felt all of the blood drain from her head at that notion.

"You didn't have a spare room for me?"

"I didn't think it would be safe for you anywhere else," he admitted with pinking cheeks, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

He was blushing an awful lot.

If he was in fact part human...then that could mean he found her attractive.

Once you moved past the kidnapping and adjusted to the fact that he wasn't all human, she had to admit that he was rather attractive as well. That was another thing to file away under useful, though...and another thing to cause her concern.

"Why wouldn't I be safe?"

"My decision on how to...handle you...was an unpopular one," he admitted. She felt herself become light-headed again.

Today was going great.

Her cat runs off...she gets kidnapped (as opposed to murdered)...wakes up on an alien spaceship…and now, there are people on said ship who still want to kill her.

Fuck Mondays.

"You don't need to watch over me like a hawk. It's not like I can run off somewhere."

"Hawk?" he asked, tilting his head to the side on his arms in a perplexed tone.

"Large bird? Great eyesight?"

"I have great eyesight - why would I need to watch you like a hawk if I have great eyesight?"

"Why don't you use that eyesight from the otherside of the room, then?" she asked lowly. She really wanted to put some space between them, and it seemed to finally occur to him that maybe she wasn't too keen on the idea of him hovering around her.

He stood with a blush and walked back over to the couch. She rolled away from him to try and help herself ignore the fact that he was obviously still here, but that wasn't going too well. It was like she could feel the heat from his eyes as he watched her just lay there.

"What's so fascinating about me?" she finally asked, unable to take his attention anymore. "I'm obviously not the first human you've ever seen, so why do you need to constantly watch me?"

"I...you're...I don't know," he finally sighed, and she sensed that it was a lie. "I just do. I need to make sure you're ok."

"Given everything that's happened to me today...I think I'm coping with my new reality pretty well, wouldn't you say?"

She was met with silence, and she rolled back over to look at him with hard eyes. He looked so crestfallen and defeated...like he was genuinely upset with the circumstances and the situation.

"Yes. You are."

"At least we can agree on one thing," she mumbled. "So...how long will it take to get back to Inu-whatever."

"Inusekai?"

"Yeah. There."

"Our current trajectory has us arriving within the next two months."

"Two months?!" she repeated, bolting upright with a groan and cradling her head in her hands. "That can't be right...that means the soonest I'll be home is in—"

"—four months," he finished in a whisper, his ears drooping. "I'm so sorry, Kagome. For all of this."

"What will my family think? My friends? Oh my god...I'm so fired! And my cat!"

She felt light-headed again, and she was glad he had put her on his bed.

"We can contact them," he offered softly.

"Is that even possible? Doesn't that go against your whole liability thing?"

"We can record a video and send it out so I can make sure you don't say anything you shouldn't."

A video? He was just piling on the kidnapping cliches, wasn't he? Although, she had to admit that the whole alien thing was a bit of a twist...and, to her surprise, he appeared to be genuinely remorseful over everything.

"When I'm feeling better, I'd like that. Thank you..."

"I will make sure it happens," he reassured her, running his hands up and down his legs from his thighs to his knees rather nervously.

She laid back down and watched him watch her. His cheeks would occasionally turn bright red, and he would have to look away from her for a moment before shyly turning back to her. This was going to be a long four months if this was how he was going to constantly behave.

Fuck...was she going to stay with him the whole time?

"Where am I staying while we go to Inusekai?"

"Here," he replied, furrowing his brow.

"And where are you staying?"

"Here," he replied, clearly more timidly this time.

"Perfect," she groaned, and he winced.

"I told you...I don't think you will be safe elsewhere."

"And you think I'm safer here with you? A random man I don't really trust?"

"You don't need to trust me," he pointed out firmly. "You just have to obey me and stay."

"Obey and stay?"

"Yes."

"Like I'm a dog?"

"Yes."

"Are you kidding me?"

"What about this situation makes you think that I am anything less than serious? I told you - I can keep you safe."

"And what's keeping me safe from you?" she whispered harshly. She saw his breath catch in his throat, and his fists clenched and unclenched as he pressed his lips into a thin line.

Finally, he seemed to come to a decision as he stood from the couch and walked over to the wall across from her. There was a large, square, box-like hole with a tablet shaped screen to the right above a low, long, acrylic cabinet. He pressed a few buttons on the side of it and asked it for something she couldn't understand, and something she couldn't clearly see instantly materialized within it.

He picked it up and brought it over, kneeling down before her and placing the strange object on her lap.

"Put it on me," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. He reminded her of a child receiving a shot. It was obvious he didn't really want this - she could see it on his face, clear as day.

"What is it?" she asked, lifting it up. It looked like a long strand of large onyx beads with ivory teeth on it.

"It doesn't matter. Just put it on me."

"Why?"

"You wanted to be kept safe from me, right?" he demanded, his eyes hardening. "Put that on me and you won't have to worry about me."

She eyed him with uncertainty, but slid the long strand of beads around his neck and watched as the ends connected on their own, creating a necklace.

"What does it do?"

"Activate it and you will find out," he winced.

"Why do you look like you're dreading this?"

"Just activate it," he sighed, like he was resigned to his fate.

"I don't know how to do that."

"You pick a word of subjugation."

"What does that mean?"

"Just pick something!"

"I don't know what you want me to do!" she cried in exasperation, gesturing wildly with her hands.

He silently stood and walked to the other side of the room, squaring his shoulders and his jaw. He turned back around to face her, his eyes determined.

"Pick something, Kagome," he repeated calmly.

"I don't know what you want me to say!"

"Ok..." he nodded before bending his knees and flexing his clawed hands menacingly. Then, he charged her.

"Pick something!" he yelled as he jumped, raising a hand to strike her. Her world froze.

She needed to say something then and there to do whatever the fuck it was he was trying to get her to do, or there was a very good chance she was going to die.

He wanted her to say something to subjugate him?

Fine.

He looked like a dog right? So...

"Sit, boy!" she yelled, and she watched as the necklace glowed and roughly dropped him to the floor. He cried out in pain as his face smashed into the tile floor, and he groaned as the necklace kept him there until it stopped glowing.

"Fuck," he groaned, rolling over onto his back.

"What the hell was that?" she whispered.

"Your fail safe. Only you can activate it. Did you have to pick something so demeaning?" he ground out, covering his nose with his hands. "Fuck! That hurt!"

"You didn't exactly explain what the hell was going on," she snapped back, and he winced.

"I told you to pick a fucking word!"

"Yeah, well...I did."

"I was there. I know," he snapped back. "Fuck…"

Frankly, it served him right after doing what he did to her.

"So it only activates for me? And it does that every time?" she confirmed.

"Yeah," he sighed, slowly sitting back up.

"Huh. Sit, boy!"

"Fuck!" he yelled as he was slammed back down into the floor, the back of his head connecting with the hard tile with a loud smack. "Could you not do that every ten seconds?"

"Could you have not kidnapped me? Sit!"

"Shit!" he yelped as he was slammed down for a third time, and she giggled.

"This is kinda fun."

"You're kinda sadistic," he shot back.

"You're masochistic if you gave this to me," she shot back, and he reddened again. Maybe he really was masochistic. Interesting...

"Just...don't use it unless you feel you have to, ok?"

"Fine," she agreed. "What keeps you from taking it off, though? Seems like it would only work if you can wear it."

"I can't. Only you can."

"So...I own your ass?"

"Yeah," he smiled softly, looking up at her longingly from the floor. "You do…"

Well...that felt like a loaded response.

"If I sit back up, will you just put me on the floor again?"

"Not this time," she relented, allowing him to rise.

"Do you want your medicine?" he tried one more time.

"No," she insisted, and he nodded.

"I thought you would say that. I need to do something...but I promise I'll be back soon."

"You mean you can leave me alone?"

"I don't like the idea of it, but I have no choice. Just...don't open the door for anyone. Only someone with a key can get into my room."

"Aren't you worried I'll run off?"

"And go where? Besides...I thought your head hurt and you just wanted to sleep?" he smirked.

Well, fuck him too.

"I'll be back soon," he promised one more time, tucking his necklace into his vest. "Sleep well, Kagome," he smiled softly, leaving her behind to fall back into his bed with a sigh.

Kagome slowly woke up to hushed voices speaking softly through the translator, pulling her mind out of the sleep laden fog curling around the edges of her mind. She nervously looked around, trying to take in her surroundings. She thought she was still in Inuyasha's room, but everything was dark and there were walls where she didn't remember them before. She couldn't see the table and couch from before, and in their place a door stood slightly ajar.

"It's cruel. All of this," she heard a voice say from her translator. It sounded like Inuyasha.

"I know," a second male voice soothed, and she crept out of bed towards the door to peek into the other room where she could hear the original voices coming from. "I'm so sorry. Does she know?"

"She doesn't know anything," Inuyasha sighed, running his hands up his face. "She doesn't remember anything."

"Anything?" the other man pressed.

"Yeah."

"That could be good…"

"Really? How? She's terrified of me, and she hates me!"

"I know," the other man pacified. "I thought this wasn't possible?"

"So did everyone else," he laughed bitterly. "I'm so fucked."

"Not yet you aren't," the other man laughed, and Inuyasha shot him a withering look.

"I'm sorry," he winced. "I know it's not funny. Not really. If this were Ayame…" the man shook his head with a sigh. "What will you do?"

"I have no fucking idea. It hurts so much, Koga...I can feel it howling in me."

"I know."

"Do you?" he snapped.

"I know your situation is worse…"

"You think?"

"Hey...I'm trying to be helpful, here…"

"Then give me a fucking solution! I can't bring her home to be butchered," he whispered brokenly. "I won't do it. I'd rather die first."

"Can the jewel be removed without killing her?"

"Not according to the medic."

"Have you met him? He's not always the brightest. You need a second opinion. What about if you completed the—"

"—I can't do that to her, either. Not...not without a lot of things happening first."

"I'm just saying that your father might not be so quick to put her on the table if she is—"

"—it won't matter. The whole goddamn reason I'm even alive is for this. He's made that plainly clear over the years. I'm his fucking precious little science experiment. If I were my brother, maybe..."

How the hell was he a science experiment?

"He's changed."

"Not that much," Inuyasha sighed.

"I am sorry, you know."

"Yeah. I do. You're the only one I trust right now. You can't tell anyone else about this, Koga. Please…"

"I swear it."

What the actual fuck was going on?