A/N: To all of you who reviewed, may I say: Wow. I feel like John Grishim. . .only without the money. . .an the fame. . . Okay, so maybe I don't feel like quite like John Grishim, but I still feel pretty damn good about my reviews. I'm on a favorite list *Saro smiles like an idiot.* Thank you all. You all rock.

I realize I didn't write it in the summery, but hopefully it's pretty clear this will be an Inu/Kag story. And there will be fluff, be patient. Besides, it's cute when they fight.

Sango will show up, but not for a while.

That's enough of that. On to the story!

Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, this wouldn't be a fanfiction now would it?

Synthetic Emotions

Chapter Three: Ex Machina



For a moment, both Kagome and Inuyasha stared at Kaede in a mix of shock and horror. In the back of her mind, the girl wondered how a youkai could have either reaction, but she was more concerned with the fact that Kaede seemed to be dumping ownership of an unstable hanyou right in her lap.

"She said you owned everything in Kikyo's place," Inuyasha said, recovering first. "That includes me."

"I don't want another youkai," Kagome added her protest. "I already have Shippo!"

"Y-yeah," agreed Shippo, pouting. "W-what would K-k-'gome need with h- him." Kagome looked down at the fox youkai in her arms with concern. Evidently his vocal unit had been damaged. I'll have to remember to visit Miroku later, she decided, and winced inwardly at the memory of his wandering hands. He would be able to fix Shippo, though, and he wasn't so bad. If you didn't stand too close. And kept and eye on him.

"I did own you Inuyasha," Kaede emphasized with the air of one who often had to deal with foolishness, and wasn't particularly fond of it. "But I told Kagome she could have anything she found, or just get rid of it if she wanted. That includes you."

"That isn't binding," he said, eyes like champagne amber glaring at the old woman through his thick white bangs.

"You know it is. I'll make it official, if you like."

The hanyou's scowl deepened. The old woman gave no indication of cracking. He tilted his chin up at a defiant angle, but averted his eyes. Beaten, Kagome realized, when he once again muttered, "Keh."

"And you, girl," Kaede said, shifting her authority on the other fool. "I'm sure you're fond of Shippo, but would you actually turn down a free Companion youkai? And a high quality one at that, despite his attitude. You can sell him if you really don't want him, but you should at least consider keeping him."

"A. . .Companion youkai?" Kagome asked, startled. He would be, wouldn't he? Companion youkai were made to be just what their name implied; the perfect companions for their human masters (or mistress in this case). They were designed to serve almost any purpose a person might have, from bodyguard to personal masseuse, gourmet chef to legal advisor… to sexual surrogate. The last thought made Kagome blush despite herself. Did Kikyo use him for that? she couldn't help but wonder. Was that the long dead woman's dirty little secret?

It wouldn't be a dirty secret, Kagome scolded herself. That one of the things they're made for.  Many of her friends did just that. But there was something vaguely unnerving about the idea of being able to command Inuyasha to do that. Everything he did seemed to belie the fact that youkai were really nothing more than glorified major appliances. Like toaster ovens with artificial intelligence.

"Yes, a Companion," the old woman said, snapping Kagome out of her line of thought. "A young woman moving out on her own for the first time could do worse than have one. At the very least you could probably use the security. I imagine your mother would feel more comfortable knowing that, if something happens, he'd be around. You know how mothers are, always worried about what will happen if someone breaks into their daughter's apartment. Shippo's hardly designed to handle that sort of thing."

"You're going to be living alone?" asked Inuyasha before the girl could reply. She turned to give the hanyou a withering glance and was surprised to see he looked patently appalled by the idea of her being on her own.

"I don't see why either of you should care," Kagome said instead of the retort that had been on the tip of her tongue.

"I'm a youkai. I can't care," Inuyasha said, once again averting his eyes.

"Well I do." Kaede planted fists on her wide hips. She managed to include both the girl and the disgruntled hanyou in her disapproving look. "My sister was much older than you when she was killed."

Kagome could not keep her spirits from flagging at her landlady's last argument. There was always violence in the world. Women were always more likely to be the victim. Even strong, self-sufficient women were easier targets than most men.

"Kikyo was killed?" Inuyasha asked softly, his rough voice shattering the quiet that followed Kaede's statement. "Not that I care," he added haughtily, "but I hadn't heard that before and I just wanted to make sure it was right."

"Yes, Inuyasha, that is right," Kaede told him sadly. Inuyasha made a show of not taking an interest, but it was fake. Odd as that sounded, his disinterest was fake. He did care about her? Impossible. Still…  Still, Kagome couldn't shake the impression that he did just that.

"Inuyasha, would you please wait outside for a moment? I'd like to speak with Kagome alone," the old woman requested gently.

"Why should I? If you don't own me, I don't have to do what you say. I can stay right here as long as—"

"Inuyasha, will you please wait outside for a sec."

He did not like being defeated. If was written all over his face and in his posture. However, evidently Kaede was right and her ownership was binding. After only instant, he snorted harshly and left. He slammed the door behind himself. Kagome jumped at the loud bang it made.

"You've already figured it out, haven't you?" the old woman asked with the hanyou gone.

"He actually feels, doesn't he…" It sounded crazy to say it aloud, but it was true. Kagome couldn't make herself doubt it.

Kaede sighed and nodded. "That's why hanyou are so unpredictable. They… think, but all youkai do that to some extent. It's what sets them apart from robots. Hanyou think creatively, though, and they feel. That's why they were recalled. They develop their own personalities from experience, just like children."

"That's impossible," Kagome protested weakly.

"Impossible, but true," Kaede responded promptly, then her expression turned grave. "At least consider keeping him, Kagome. If you sell him, he'll almost certainly be recalled."

"What would happen if he was?"

"He'd either be dismantled, or refurbished with a new emotion simulator and a deleted memory. Either way…"

"Either way, it'd be like killing him," the girl finished with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn't like the guy, but it wasn't right to just let him be erased, was it? He wasn't a human. He'd been made, not born, but that did not make it better, did it?

"I'll think about it," Kagome finally promised. She adjusted Shippo in her arms, realizing that if she wanted to visit Miroku's today, she had to get going quickly. From the hall, she could hear someone swearing with zeal. The girl shook her head and offered her landlady a wry smile. "He must have had some childhood, huh."

Kagome went to join Inuyasha, leaving Kaede laughing at her back.

*~*~*

"Hey, bitch, where are we going?"

Kagome glared at Inuyasha, who followed her like an obedient, but somewhat bad tempered puppy. "You will call me Kagome, not bitch," she told him firmly. If she really was going to keep him, then that was one thing that would have to change as of now.

"Alright, 'Kagome,'" he said, somehow managing to make her name sound as derogatory as 'bitch.' "So, where are we going?"

"We're going to see a friend of mine to get Shippo fixed. It's your fault he's broken in the first place, so don't even start complaining about it." Kagome wasn't in the greatest mood. For one, her 'friend' would still want to be paid, and while her family was well off, her own funds for the month were next to nil from the expenses of moving. Of course, that wasn't the problem, but it was easier to think about money than it was to ponder what was really bothering her, which was trailing her at a short distance, white hair gleaming realistically in the afternoon sunshine, mobile ears twitching irritably. The more she thought about him, the less sure she was what to do with him. She couldn't let him be reclaimed. Maybe it shouldn't matter, but Kagome could not convince herself of that. She couldn't even sell Shippo, for god's sake. How could she do that to Inuyasha?

"I could do that," Inuyasha said. It wasn't quite an offer, but he seemed a little offended that she hadn't asked.

"N-n-no!" Shippo stuttered, fear twisting his child-like face.

"Under the circumstance, I think I'll have to decline."

"Because he doesn't like me?"

"Yeah," Kagome said in a tone that warned not to be challenged. "Do you have a problem?"

"No," he said, ignoring the warning. "But you are crazy. You know that, right?"

"Why? Because he's a youkai, and not 'really real'?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," he told her.

"Well, maybe he thinks it's real," she argued. "Maybe he is fake, but if he believes he's scared, then what difference does it make?"

"That makes no sense," Inuyasha objected.

"We're here," Kagome said, happy to end the discussion. Does he think he's fake, too? No wonder he was so temperamental. She shrugged off the musing and stepped into a shop. A bell over the door rang, announcing her arrival with a sharp jingle. The shop's interior was much dimmer than it had been outside, forcing Kagome to blink several times before she could make out her new surroundings. Not that much ever changed in Miroku's.

Bits and pieces of youkai cluttered shelves on two walls, some in their plastic manufacturer packaging, others still greasy with lubricant from the unit they were removed from. The complete head of a female youkai was laid out at about eye level, most likely because Miroku knew some of his customers would find it disconcerting. That was the sort of thing he would do.

The man himself sat behind a glass counter, holding a magazine with a picture of some anti-youkai activist on the cover. He was young, only a couple of years older than Kagome herself, and rather handsome in a disheveled playboy sort of way, with his clothes mussed and his hair coming out of its short tail to fall across his forehead at odd angles. Kagome guessed that they had distracted him from the article he was reading when they came in, because he was staring up at them raptly. Not at her, the girl noted, but at the youkai following her.

"Wow," was the first thing out of Miroku's mouth. "Have you finally gotten a youkai more your age, Kagome?"

"Um, sort of," Kagome muttered. "I kind of ended up with him."

"You're not selling him, are you? I mean, is he really an Inutaiyoukai?" The young man was nearly drooling over the prospect. "He's a Companion, right? And he looks like a one of a kind--he's a little young, but that can make him a specialty model, which would only drive up the price with the right buyer. Is he a hanyou?" Miroku's scrutiny became more intense as he appraised Inuyasha. Kagome hadn't been aware he knew this much about youkai. "He is. Damn Kagome, I could get you a cool million four for this one, easy."

"Ah, no thanks. I don't think I'm going to sell him just yet," the girl said uneasily. "Actually, we're here about Shippo."

"You're selling Shippo?" Miroku asked, surprised.

"No, he needs repairs. He fell," Kagome lied uneasily.

"Okay, bring him here and let's have a look."

Kagome complied, setting Shippo down on the counter in front of him. Miroku immediately switched the fox youkai off and got to work. Shippo's face relaxed. He looked like he was asleep, just as Inuyasha had.

"So, tell me how you got him," Miroku commanded, pointing to Inuyasha with a jerk of his chin. Again, Kagome did as she was told, starting with Shippo finding the youkai storage closet, and ending with Kaede's confirmation that the hanyou did indeed belong to her. She edited out the part where he choked her, and hoped his next question wasn't about her bruises. With any luck, he wouldn't notice those at all.

When she was done, Inuyasha found his voice. "Which wires did you have to connect?" He looked slightly sick asking.

"The light blue one," Kagome said, reasonably sure she remembered correctly.

Inuyasha's sick look worsened and suddenly he found the ground very interesting. If he were human, he would have turned green. Kagome couldn't help but feel a stab of pity for the hanyou. "Why? What's the light blue wire?"

Inuyasha didn't look up when he answered. "It's part of my neural circuit."

"So?"

He didn't respond. Machine's do not get nauseous, the girl told herself, but seeing the hanyou, it was difficult to believe.

"Ah," Miroku cleared his throat. "It would seem that this Kikyo more or less disconnected his nervous system with that one plug. Sort of overkill, in my opinion."

Kagome tore her gaze away from Inuyasha. If she had any reserves about her belief that the hanyou felt, they were swept away now. Something that couldn't actually feel could not look as hurt as he did. It was almost like the look of betrayal that he'd worn when she woke him, except now it reached his eyes. The eyes of a machine could never contain that much bitterness. Kagome shivered, and saw that she wasn't the only one to notice Inuyasha's emotion. Miroku was considering.

"How long?" Kagome asked, hoping to distract her friend from the hanyou's display. "To fix Shippo, I mean?"

"What? Oh." Miroku gave himself a shake. "Come back tomorrow. I'll have him done by then."

"Thanks so much, Miroku. I should really be going then. Moving and all."

"Of course," he agreed, smiling now, and hopped over the counter to bid her good bye.

Oh great, Kagome thought, I thought I might actually get out of here without this, for once.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." She said, wanting nothing more than to beat a hasty retreat.

"Of course," he agreed.

Accepting the inevitable, Kagome turned to go, only to have a growling hanyou lean across her. And grab Miroku's hand mere inches from groping her ass.

"Don't even think about it," Inuyasha gritted out, his attention resting meaningfully on the young man's captured hand. One claw caressed the back of Miroku's wrist just hard enough to raise a welt.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Kagome pulled Inuyasha out the door behind her. For the first time since she met Miroku, she'd escaped without an encounter with his roving hands. Maybe having a Companion youkai wouldn't be so bad after all.

*~*~*

Hey, look at that, no cliffhanger! What the hell am I thinking? Oh well, I didn't even know I wrote cliffhangers until two of my friends kindly explained to me how evil I was.

I've become addicted to reviews, so please send me a comment or, better yet, a critique. Good or bad, I don't mind. I'm not so delicate that one bad review will make me stop writing.

And if you recognized the line "I feel like John Grishim," from Chasing Amy, you get a cookie.

Thank you so much for reading. Until next time.