Sesshoumaru woke up to the smell of food flooding his room. 'Hmmm... that smells pretty good,' he thought as he tried to figure out where the smell was coming from and why. His mind hadn't quite woken up yet, although his body already had. It took him a few minutes to remember that he was sharing his house with a slave girl. 'How could I have forgotten? She must have gotten up and decided to make herself breakfast.'
With a mental groan, he rolled over and looked at his alarm clock. 'Six- thirty. What is that girl doing up so early? Why didn't she sleep in?' He had never heard of a slave that rose early of his or her free will. Of course, he didn't know much about slaves anyway. He had always steered clear of conversations whenever they had drifted towards that subject.
Gracefully getting out of bed, he set about getting ready for work.
~*~
Fifteen minutes later saw Sesshoumaru in the kitchen, wearing his business suit, a briefcase in one hand. The sun had already risen, sending its warm beams of light into the room, highlighting the oak cabinets, the pale-blue walls, and a girl dressed in a familiar genie outfit cooking pancakes.
It was a peaceful scene with the girl moving about as if she had done everything hundreds of times before. The sunlight glistened off her black hair, making it shine almost blue. Her hips seductively swayed back and forth as she almost inaudibly hummed a pleasant tune. Her hands easily used a spatula to flip the pancakes as she occasionally glanced out the window over the nearby sink.
Suddenly, she tensed up and her humming ceased. She quickly finished cooking the last pancake in the pan and then turned around. With her hands on her thighs, she bowed very low to the dog demon.
"Forgive me, milord," she said, voice pleasant, her head down.
Sesshoumaru frowned, completely lost as to why she would apologize. "For what?" he asked, confused by her actions.
"I unknowingly ignored you, milord," she replied immediately, bowing again. She didn't rise out of the bow, her mind telling her exactly what was going to come next. Her master was going to hit her for her insensitivity.
He shook his head sadly. The girl seemed to be expecting him to do something. Taking note of her tense body and her posture, he guessed that she was expecting him to punish her. "Relax, Kagome. I am not angry." He paused, setting down his briefcase. "Please stand up straight now."
Kagome happily did as she was told, effectively hiding her surprise. 'He's telling the truth. He's not angry at all. Why though? He certainly has a right to be angry. I wasn't paying enough attention to notice him. My other masters would have hit me and denied me breakfast.'
Sesshoumaru decided to change the subject as he found the current one not to his tastes. "I see you made pancakes. Is there enough for two?"
Taking a quick glance at the plate with the food, she turned to the inu youkai and nodded her head. "Yes, milord." There was easily enough for two people. She had been planning on saving the extra pancakes for her breakfast the next day, but her master came first. Besides, she could always make more.
"Then I think I will have breakfast with you this morning," he told her. 'And while we eat, I can convince her to stop calling me 'milord'. By the time I'm done eating, I should hopefully have her calling me by my real name.'
Quickly and easily, Sesshoumaru set the table as Kagome took the food into the dining room. It didn't take very long to get everything together for the meal, especially since the food had already been cooked.
As soon as both of them were seated, Sesshoumaru brought up the subject of what she called him. He knew that he had to bring it up eventually, and he wanted to get it done before she gave him another headache. "Kagome, You don't need to call me 'milord' all the time. I would prefer for you to use my name." He really did hope that she would obey without questioning him. Unfortunately, his luck wasn't working at that moment, much to his displeasure.
"M-milord? I don't understand, milord," she replied, her eyes wide and her voice unsteady. 'I must have misheard him. There is no way in the entire world that he actually said what I think he just said. No master EVER lets a slave call him by his first name. It just isn't done!' He sighed mentally. 'So much for obeying without questioning me; however, I didn't give her a direct order, so that might have something to do with it.' "Instead of calling me 'milord' constantly, call me by Sesshoumaru, Sess... you can even call me Fluffy like Rin does if you so desire."
The mental slap to wake him up came too late. The damage was already done. 'Why did I just say she could call me Fluffy? Am I that brain dead this morning? Well, it's too late now. I'm not going to go back on my word. I was taught better than that.'
"Any of those three, milord?" she inquired, still a little confused. 'This guy is so... confusing. I've never had a master like him. Nothing he does makes any sense. It's official now, he's toying with me.'
"Yes," the dog demon responded, mentally wincing. He didn't like being called Fluffy. It was humiliating.
She stayed silent for a good, long moment. "If that is what you wish, Sesshoumaru-sama." She knew that she had to obey orders, no matter how strange they were. Of course, she also wanted to obey orders, a fact that could never be ignored. 'Now I just know that he's playing with me. No one would ever let a slave call them 'Fluffy.'
"That is what I wish, Kagome." He finished off the last of his pancakes and stood up. "Now, I'm going to work. You stay here in the house and be good. If you so desire, you may watch the TV or read one of my books. The library is downstairs."
Kagome stared at the inu youkai, completely confused again. "Sesshoumaru- sama, are you sure that there is nothing that you need me to do while you are gone?" 'There's no way he could actually be planning on leaving me here without giving me some work to do. No masters have ever left me at home to enjoy myself.'
"No," Sesshoumaru replied in his calm voice, shaking his head. 'She must be very badly broken if she expects to always have work to do. I do hope that she isn't too broken in. She'll be much harder to help if she is.' He mentally sighed. 'It looks like I really do have my work cut out for me.'
Kagome nodded her head, accepting the answer... although her training and the spell wouldn't have let her do anything else. 'So I'm just suppose to watch TV or read a book if I want to? This doesn't make any sense. I wish that someone could explain my new master to me.'
"I'll be back by five thirty. Take care until then," Sesshoumaru said, picking up his briefcase. "Lock the door behind me." Then, he left the house, got in his car, and drove off.
The girl stood there for a moment, furiously trying to process everything that had happened in the past fifteen minutes. Finally, she gave up and came out of her daze. Attempting to clear her mind of her confusing thoughts, she went to the door.
There were only two locks on the door, a chain and one on the doorknob. She turned the lock on the knob and slipped the chain's end into the metal part on the door.
With that done, Kagome resigned herself to boredom. She wasn't about to read or turn on the television. She had no desire to watch TV; and although she would have loved to read, she knew better. 'My first master explained to me very clearly that I was not to touch a book ever again. It would be bad of me to go against my training... especially if I end up getting a new master who does not wish me to read.'
She settled down on the living room couch, deciding to stay there until lunch. It was an easy decision to make. After all, she had learned long ago that a slave was often bored and that it was in a slave's best interest to take advantage of every relaxation opportunity provided.
With nothing to do for a few hours, Kagome let her mind wander a bit. Eventually, though, her thoughts wandered back to her new master. 'I wonder how long it'll take for him to show his true colors and begin abusing me. It can't take too much longer.' She rolled over onto her stomach. 'He must be having a lot of fun toying with me though, because he has certainly been doing that a whole lot... not that I actually mind.'
Finally, Kagome remembered that she did have something to do. She needed to clean up her mess from breakfast. All the ingredients had been left out, and the pan was still sitting on the stove.
Feeling a little better since there was work to be done, she got up and went to the kitchen. In no time, she had the kitchen spotless again, the dishes washed and put away, and all the extra food placed in the fridge.
Done with that little bit of work, she was bored once again. Shrugging her shoulders, she went back into the living room. She was about to sit down on the couch when someone knocked on the door.
Frowning for the briefest moment, she went to the door and unlocked the lock on the knob. Without undoing the chain, she opened the door a crack, wondering who would be visiting the house while her master was at work. 'What am I suppose to do if they want to see Sesshoumaru-sama? I don't know where he works.'
"Ah... hello my dearest little slave," the visitor said in an oily, evil voice that reeked of darkness.
Kagome successfully repressed a shudder. "What is it that you desire of me, Naraku-sama?" she asked the hanyou, hiding her hatred for the demon expertly. She was allowed to call the youkai by his name because he was no longer her master or keeper, but she talked to him respectfully. The man could still hurt her, after all.
"I want you to come with me for an hour or so, sweetling," he replied, smiling suggestively. The real reason of why he had come was clearly evident from his huge grin.
"Please forgive me, Naraku-sama, but my lord told me to stay here. I'm afraid that I cannot go anywhere with you," Kagome told him, making sure to keep her voice emotionless. It would not be good if Naraku got angry at her, which he would surely do if she showed any emotion.
"Then perhaps you can let me in so we can play for a while?" He pushed against the door, trying to force it gently open. He ceased his actions and growled when he noticed the chain.
She thought for a few moments then shook her head. "That is forbidden to me as well, Naraku-sama. My lord also told me to be good, and letting someone into his house without his permission is bad, Naraku-sama." 'Chew on that, Naraku!' she mentally shouted. 'You taught me that rule yourself!'
"Wench," Naraku snapped, dark eyes flashing in anger. "You will find a way to let me in." 'I hadn't been expecting this problem. If I had known there would be problems with seeing her, then I wouldn't have sold her.'
"Forgive me, for I cannot do that, Naraku-sama. My training says that doing so would be bad." Kagome gave him a meek look, hoping that he wouldn't punish her. "Is there anything else you desire of me, Naraku-sama?" She prayed that he would leave, but unfortunately, he didn't.
Scowling, he tried to force the door open, scaring Kagome. Trembling, she backed up away from the door as she watched the hanyou fight to break the chain lock. Finally, Naraku gave up. "You will pay for this, my little one. When Sesshoumaru grows tired of you, I will be the one to buy you. Then you will not be able to avoid me." With a wicked smile, he walked away.
Kagome shut the door as quickly as possible and locked it tightly, swearing that she would find a way to avoid the evil hanyou for the rest of her life. 'I will find a way. I don't care what it is or how long it takes to find it; I will find a way.'
Still slightly shaking from the awful encounter, she curled back up on the soft couch and fell asleep, letting her nightmares claim her once again.