Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha, its characters, nothing

Kagome stood in shock. It was one thing to thing about being a slave, but another thing to actually be one. "I won't be a slave." She insisted, getting up slowly to her feet, careful not to reveal the fact that she was hurt.

"Do you think I'd choose you?" He spat back. "Some stupid human girl who almost managed to get herself killed twice?"

"Then why did you choose me?" She demanded. He looked away, crossing his arms.

"I do not have to answer that." 'How immature.' Kagome thought to herself. "Come on." He grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. Kagome came crashing to the ground as her weight settled on the leg that had been shot earlier.

"Ow." She muttered, and winced as she tried to prop herself up with her bad shoulder.

"Humans are too weak." He spat. "Little wounds like that wouldn't bother me."

"Well, I am not you!" She determinedly got to her feet again. She'd show this boy she was not any 'mere human.' She took a defiant step and instantly fell to the ground again.

"You are going to kill yourself if you keep trying that." He sighed. "Fine. Get on my back."

"What?"

"Get on my back! I order you to get on my back!" He cried. He turned around and Kagome awkwardly stepped up to his back. He instantly jumped high into the air and began to run to where she guessed he lived. She clung on tightly, scared that she would fall off, which only cause him to yell at her some more. "Hey, you are choking me!"

"Sorry." She loosened her grip a little. "If you wouldn't go so fast…" She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." She watched with astonishment as they began to past more highly developed buildings. The youkai city was huge! This area seemed to be of a higher class, because the grounds were neat and everything looked well cared for. She saw several humans walking around, carrying laundry or sweeping off side walks. After a few minutes, they stopped at an exceptionally tall building that could only be described as a mansion. "Is this where you live?" She asked, awed despite herself.

"Yeah, at least that part of it to the right." He pointed. "It is actually my brother's house." He opened the door to the house and ran down the halls, ignoring the curious looks he got from several humans. There were no other Youkai in sight. "There is only me and my brother living here." He explained.

"Having to explain yourself to your own human slave?" Came a calm yet biting voice from one of the hallways.

"NO!" He cried, standing up and dumping Kagome to the floor.

"Hey…" She muttered. "You could have warned me."

"I heard you finally decided to get yourself your own slave. Now you are carrying her around and telling her about the house. Your human side seems to be affecting you." The person steeped into the light. His hair was the same color as the boy and was carrying some strange fluffy thing over one of his shoulders. 'Weird.' She thought.

"Hey! I live by my Youkai blood! I don't have a 'human side.'" Her, well she guessed she could term him owner, cried out.

"You are lucky I even let you stay here." The man said in the same voice. "There are plenty of Youkai who would just love to kick you out or kill you." 'He must be his brother.' She realized.

"Let them try." He cried, raising up one arm threateningly. Kagome found all this a little surprising. Was this boy only half demon? A hanyou? Now that was odd. She never even knew hanyou's existed.

"Well, I will be seeing you later." The older man walked down the hall, heading toward the center of the house, pausing beside Kagome. "I just wonder why you got her? She seems like she'll be of no use." He continued on as though he had never said anything.

"Come on." The boy turned and walked on. Kagome got to her feet and took a step, managing to limp after him. Her wound felt a little better after her brief period of rest, and didn't sting as much when she put her wait on it. "Hurry up!" He called.

"I am going as fast as I can!" She cried back. How annoying! He was lucky she didn't just fall over. He seemed against carrying her now, especially after that remark his brother made earlier.

"Jeesh." He waited for her too catch up and carefully looked around, making sure his brother was out of range, the picked her up. "It'll take forever the way you walk." He ran down the corridor before pausing at a room. He opened the door, revealing a modestly attired area with a couch and a table. A door off to one corner was ajar, revealing a bed, where he probably slept. "You can stay on the couch." He said, dropping her on to it.

"Hey, what is your name?" She asked suddenly.

"Inuyasha." He said and turned to walk off.

"Don't you want to know mine?"

"I don't really care what your name is." He responded. Kagome crinkled her eyebrows. 'That was rude.' She thought.

"It is Kagome." She shouted as he closed the door to his own room. "KA-GO-ME!" She looked at the door that stood within a few feet from her. She hoisted herself off the couch and walked to it, wincing each time her weight settled on her leg. Her hand finally was able to brush the doorknob when…

"Do you think you can really escape like that?" Came Inuyasha's voice. "I could smell your revolting stench leave the couch. Even if you did get out of my room, guards patrol the halls and kill any humans who don't have and Youkai pass to leave." Kagome blinked. It seemed like escaping would be more difficult than she thought. She glumly returned to sit on the couch.

"What am I suppose to do then?" She asked.

Inuyasha scratched his head. "I don't know. My brother is the one with the slaves and his clean my room too. Just stay there I guess."

"My job is to sit on a couch…" She echoed, then shook her fist angrily at him. "You are such an IDIOT!! Why buy me if there is no reason for me to be here!! Just let me go and then you won't have to worry about what I am to do."

"Hey, don't speak to me like that! I am you owner!" He cried.

"You know what I think!" She stood up suddenly and pointed at him. "You just want a slave to prove to your brother that you could have one!" Inuyasha glared at her.

"SHUT UP!!" He picked up a vase sitting beside him and chunked it at her, throwing it high enough where she wouldn't be hit, but low enough to cause her to duck. He walked back into his room and slammed the door.

"Humph." Kagome said and then got comfortable on the couch. "I knew it." In a few minutes, she fell asleep, tired by the day's events.

"Wake up!" A voice barked in her ear. Kagome snapped her eyes open and sat up.

"Souta, you can go make breakfast today." She yawned.

"Souta?" She blinked and realized it was Inuyasha who had woken her up. She looked around her surroundings in surprise. Memories of the day before rushed back to her.

"I thought it was just a nightmare." She whispered.

"Come on! You slept all day yesterday!!" He cried again, dragging her to her feet.

"All day?"

"Yes, all day! Man, you humans are so lazy. Get a cut and sleep for a week." He snorted. Kagome wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"I need to take a bath." She insisted as soon as her thoughts began to work again. "And I need a new pair of clothes." After being carried around by a Youkai, trapped in a cage, and being bloodied up several times, she knew she must look like a fright.

"Slaves don't get requests." He sighed. "Fine. Use the bathroom in my room and I'll have someone bring in some clothes." Kagome stopped. He was actually being nice right now. After the vase being thrown at her, she expected him to yell at her some more.

"Thank you." She walked toward his room.

"Feh, you are the one who smells. I can't have my only slave look like trash." Kagome turned to face him, hands on her hips. She was about to yell at him, but then realized he could change his mind at anytime, so instead just glared angrily before storming into his room. She was pleased to see that by entering another door from his room there was a huge bathtub.

She wondered if she was going to have to heat up water herself, but then she saw it was one of those new kinds that had the water heated upstairs, water that was able to instantly come into the tub from connection pipes. 'Pretty sophisticated.' She had to admit. She turned the knob and allowed the water to pour into the tub. Once it had reached her desired amount, she slipped out of her clothes and into the water and began to scrubs the days of grime and blood off of her. She winced whenever she touched her arrow shots, but did her best to clean them as well.

Inuyasha watched as his new slave stormed off into his room, slamming the door shut behind him. He really never meant to buy her and was actually never planning on getting a human slave. Why should he? He could take care of himself and was rarely home anyway. His brother took pride in owning hundreds of slaves to do ever type of work imaginable. He had concubines, guards, cooks, dancers, room cleaners, desk dusterers, and eh… sweeper people??...the list could go on and on.

In fact, many of the Youkai in this town boasted on having many human slaves. Sure, other races could be used as slaves, but humans, despite there many flaws and weaknesses, were the most productive and there were a lot of them. He had been mocked by some Youkai for not having even one slave, mockery added to the fact that he was only half demon. He was getting tired of being made fun of. "Not that I care or anything." He said out loud. So he had decided to leave town for a few days.

He had come across a girl who was captured by the slave trader Tereshi. He hated that man himself, since he often lead some of the rumors against him. Inuyasha prevented him from killing the girl who managed to escape from his grasp. It was nice to see Tereshi go red with anger as Inuyasha promised to personally see to it that he would never see another day if he killed her. Not that he really cared whether or not the girl lived or died; he just enjoyed making that disgusting creature squirm. Unfortunately, he had been conned into promising to buy the girl if she did not sell by the end of the day.

Okay, slave girls were always in high demand, so he wasn't worried about having to actually buy her. But, luck was against him when the girl managed to spread to some idiot Youkai that she was gravely ill and that kept all potential buyers off. So, he had to buy her. Sure, he was planning on getting a slave, but what was he going to do with her? He didn't even have any slave quarters for her to live in and if he sent her off with his brother's slaves, Youkais would then talk about his inability to own a slave and blame it on his human side. That was one thing he did NOT want.

He stepped outside the door and grabbed a passing slave girl's arm. "Hey, go get some girl clothes for a person who would be about you size." He ordered. The slave looked at him worriedly and then nodded submissively, just like an ordinary slave would.

He returned to his room. He had nothing planned today, other then he needed sometime to go down to the market and buy himself a new kimono, since he had this strange habit of ruining the one he wore almost on a daily bases. Wait…he had a slave now. She could go and buy him a new outfit. He was proud by his ability to FINALLY find use in his new possession. A timid knock came from the door. "Enter." He yelled. The slave from before came in carrying a stack of clothes. "Set them in the bathroom in my room." He ordered, waving his hand toward the door. She bowed and quickly complied with his wishes. A second later, she returned and again bowed to him.

"Will that be all?" Came a soft voice.

"Why not? Go away." He watched as she left the door, managing to be completely silent in the entire process. Exactly how almost all of his brother's slaves behaved. Broken and obedient. He jumped up in surprise as his bedroom door was slammed opened and out stomped his own slave.

"Okay." She announced. "I am done." Her hair was still a little damp, but he had to admit that she looked ten times better then before she had left. Even her limp was a little less noticeable. And the clothes, though designed specifically for slaves, only complimented her figure. Not that he noticed or anything.

"Great for you." He said sarcastically. "Took you long enough. I thought you drowned."

"Shut up." She said calmly, and then walked over to him. She looked at the broken vase that still littered the floor. "You haven't cleaned it yet."

"WHAT! I am not going to pick it up! You are! That is your job!" He sputtered.

"You were the one that broke it! Why should I clean it up?" She yelled back. "Besides, my job is to sit on the couch, remember?" She sat on the sofa and looked defiantly at him.

"Clean up this mess!" He demanded. "I order you!"

"Fine." She began to pick up pieces of the broken vase and tossing them into the fireplace.

"That is not cleaning!"

"Do you have a better idea what I should do with this then? Whoever deals with the fire will already be sweeping up the ashes, so it'll save time for her to just sweep up the glass too." Kagome reasoned, still throwing the glass in the fire. Try as he might, Inuyasha couldn't find the flaw in her logic.

"Humph." As soon as she was done, she stood up and dusted off her hands. "Finally. Now, you can go to the market and buy me a new kinomo."

"I thought you said I need to have a pass or something?" She asked. He handed her a strange necklace. She took it and slipped it on. She recalled the humans she saw also wore something similar to this. "What is it?"

"It is a charmed piece of rosemary. You can't take it off unless someone with Youkai blood removes it and if you try to leave, you will be zapped to the ground." He laughed a bit.

"Okay, then." She turned and began to walk out the door. "Eh.." She looked back at him. "Where is the market?"

"You don't even know where the market is!!?" Inuyasha asked incredulously.

"Hey, I never been in this city before! How am I suppose to know where places are!?" She cried out.

"You just follow the street and you'll hit it. It is not that hard." He crossed his arms and looked away.

"Got it." She started to leave again. "Eh…" She looked back. "How do I leave the house?"

"Just follow the corridor. If you get lost, ask someone." He answered through clenched teeth.

"Right." She paused by the door. "Eh…" She began again.

"What is it!!?" He yelled. It would be easier if he just went and got it himself.

"Do I need money for it?" She asked.

"…Humph…" He looked away from her as he tossed her some coins, a bit flustered for forgetting to give her the money. "Here."

"Okay. I am off." She marched out the door, slamming it behind her. Inuyasha sighed and got up, waiting until he was sure she was out of the house before leaving to follow.

"She is going to get herself in trouble." He stated.

********

The Road Between Two Souls? I have never read it, but sorry if it sounds similar ^_^ Smirk, now I am going to read it and make sure they go in different direction, k'? Okay, so how was it? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!!