Sesshoumaru glared at his visitor, not liking the man's tone or reason for visiting at all. There was no way he was going to hand Kagome over to some little hanyou. It just wasn't going to happen. Besides, he couldn't give her to the hanyou.
"No," the inu taiyoukai told the half demon. "Kagome is free now, so-"
"Damn it, Sesshoumaru, I already know that 'cause Myouga told me!" the hanyou snapped back. "That's why I'm here, to get Kagome away from you since she is now free to leave."
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome walked up to stand beside the inu youkai, curious and nervous at the same time. Whoever was at the door had a nasty temper, and he obviously wanted to take her from the pure- blooded inu youkai.
The visiting male was shorter than Sesshoumaru, but taller than her, with silvery-white hair and golden eyes. Dog ears twitched from their spot on top of his head, and he was dressed in a red shirt and pants in the old Japanese style. He had a sword at his side, and one clawed hand was already on the hilt, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.
"Kikyou," Inuyasha whispered so softly that only Sesshoumaru could just barely hear it. He automatically loosened his hold on his sword, and a gentler look entered his eyes. "Please, sir, may I ask who you are?" Kagome asked politely, her voice pitched to help calm down both demons.
The hanyou blinked, feeling very surprised. He hadn't expected the girl to address him. She had been a slave, after all. "Inuyasha," he replied after a moment. "And I've come here to free you from my bastard half-brother."
"Why?" Kagome wasn't sure if she liked the idea of leaving Sesshoumaru. The full dog demon was nice to her, and he treated her fairly. He had helped her out after 36 other people had refused to do so. He was, in a way, her savior, and she trusted him completely.
'I won't go with him,' she decided. 'I want to stay here with Sesshoumaru-sama, not leave with this new guy Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru-sama is obviously nicer... maybe not as emotional, but kinder. He never looks like he's about to draw his sword on a family member, unlike Inuyasha.'
"Why would you want to stay?" he countered. "I know my bother. He's not known for his hospitality or kind nature."
An urge to slap the man quickly rising, Kagome ignored the insult to Sesshoumaru. Her anger was giving her the courage to act more like a free person and less like a slave. "I want to stay here," she answered instantly and honestly. "I trust Sesshoumaru-sama."
Inuyasha's jaw dropped for a very brief moment. "Listen to me. He's not exactly trustworthy. He's spent years trying to get my sword that I inherited from my father." He paused to let that sink in. "What kind of a brother tries to take something from one of his siblings?"
The girl stared for a moment, debating how to answer. "Inuyasha-sama, I have never seen Sesshoumaru- sama do that, therefore I cannot judge him based on your accusation," she finally told him, not really liking how he was accusing her old master.
The pure-blooded inu youkai smirked, pleased with how Kagome was defending him. "One can hardly call trying to buy the sword from you a wrongful attempt to take it."
The hanyou growled, displeased with how the tables were being turned on him. "Never mind that. I've come here to save Kagome, not debate with you!" Inuyasha snapped.
"I've already been saved," the girl commented. "Sesshoumaru-sama saved me."
'She makes me sound like some kind of saint,' Sesshoumaru thought, feeling rather amused. The conversation was, after all, having an interesting effect on his younger brother.
"Keh." Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest, golden eyes narrowed in anger.
"I would like to remain here, Inuyasha-sama," Kagome said gently, hoping that her tone of voice would have a calming affect on the hanyou. Luckily, it did.
"It'd be better for you to come with me," he suggested, trying to get past the older demon so he could get to her. The full-blooded demon stopped him before he could take one step.
Sesshoumaru fixed a superior glare on his younger brother. "She said that she wished to stay here with me. You should respect her wishes," he told the hanyou in a cold tone. "Unless you feel like taking her against her will, in which case I will be forced to stop you. She's my guest and under my protection."
The inu hanyou opened his mouth to argue, but Kagome cut him off. "Please, Inuyasha-sama, let me stay here." Her voice was pleading, and that was what got through to him.
The hanyou rolled his eyes, giving up on his mission for the time being. He would just have to try again later. "Be careful, Kagome," he warned as he turned to leave. "He'll reveal his true nature eventually, and you don't want to be around when he does, I can promise you that." Then, without another word, he stormed off.
Once Inuyasha was gone, Sesshoumaru shut the door then locked it. He couldn't help but let his small smirk grow a little bit bigger. Kagome had stood up for him and said that she wanted to stay where she was. Knowing that just kind of made him feel a little happy, something he hadn't really felt in a long time.
Shaking his head, he wiped off the smile and turned Kagome, finding her still standing there perfectly still. Her gaze remained on the closed door, her eyes slightly out of focus.
"Kagome?" Sesshoumaru wanted her to say something, to show that she was fine.
She shook herself out of her small trance. "That was so strange, Sesshoumaru-sama," she told him, taking her eyes away from the door and resting them on the inu youkai's face. "I do not understand your younger brother Inuyasha at all."
"He is a half-breed," he explained simply, as if that one statement would answer all of her questions. Instead, she just became more confused.
"Why did he want to take me away, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome inquired.
Sesshoumaru almost didn't respond to her. He wasn't sure if he wanted her to know the answer to that question, but he did eventually decide to tell her. "You remind him of Kikyou, his dead wife," he replied in a tone that told her to leave it at that.
The girl bowed slightly to him. "Thank-you, Sesshoumaru-sama, for telling me."
"Kagome..." the dog demon began to say, a warning laced through his voice.
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked innocently, obviously having no clue what he was warning her about.
Sesshoumaru sighed. "No bowing, remember?"
"Oh... forgive me, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome apologized immediately.
'And she was doing so well while Inuyasha was here,' he thought wistfully. 'He was someone she believed she could disagree with. Hmmm... perhaps I should find someone else she can argue with.'
"You don't need to apologize either," he reminded her.
"But that's what I'm supposed to do, Sesshoumaru-sama," she protested. "That was what I was taught to do!" Realizing what she had just done, she clasped both hands over her mouth. She had actually been disagreeing with the inu youkai for no real good reason.
Sesshoumaru fought back the urge to laugh, finding her comical in her horror. "Continue," he prompted, keeping his stoic mask on. "I've been waiting for you to argue with me."
"Huh? What? Sesshoumaru-sama?" Once again, she was completely confused. "Why?"
"It's good for you," he answered, sitting down in his favorite chair.
"What if I don't want to argue with you, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome inquired calmly, voice soft and gentle.
The inu youkai raised an eyebrow at her. "It seems to be in your nature to argue, otherwise you wouldn't argue about arguing."
Kagome opened her mouth but quickly shut it, frowning for a moment before her face went back to a neutral expression. "If you say so, Sesshoumaru-sama."
Sesshoumaru silently growled in aggravation. 'Damn it! Things were going perfectly until she retreated into slave mode!' He sighed, feeling just slightly defeated.
"Would you mind if I went to bed now, Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked, voice emotionless. She was not going to make the mistake of arguing with him twice.
"No, I wouldn't," the dog demon answered, wishing that he could just find some way to permanently force her out of slave mode.
"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama," she replied. Then, after saying a polite good-night, Kagome left the room and went to bed.
~*~
Sesshoumaru sunk down into his chair, enjoying the silence of his house. With Kagome asleep and Inuyasha gone, he finally had some time to thoroughly read through Shippou's report. Picking up the folder, he opened it and slowly began to read.
The report covered Kagome's birth, early school career, short lived and simple miko training, and her family. She had lived at a shrine with her parents, grandfather, and younger brother. Her father had died not too long after her brother Souta's birth. Her grandfather had just begun to train her as a shrine miko right before they all had died. Strangely enough, there was no note about how they had died. Most likely, there had been some kind of accident or natural disaster.
He finally got to the back of the last page. When he began reading off names, he stiffened. Naraku had been her first master, followed by Hiten, Manten, Kaijinbou, Juromaru, Kageromaru, Gatenmaru, Ryuukossei, and many other names he recognized. The last two names on the list made his blood boil over. Onigumo and Hojo, both top employees in his company, had actually owned Kagome... after they had sworn to him that they were fully against slavery.
"How dare they lie to me!" he roared out loud, throwing the folder and paper onto the coffee table. He hated liars, especially since he had built his company on honesty and honor. All of his employees had been informed that they were always to tell the truth or they would be sent packing. The worst thing was that they were partially responsible for Kagome's condition. Either one of them could have freed her, but obviously neither Hojo or Onigumo had considered that important enough to do.
His fury gave the dog demon the most irrepressible desire to break something in many little pieces, and that something was Onigumo's and Hojo's jaws or necks. Their jaws so they wouldn't lie to him again, and their necks because they had actually bedded Kagome against her will.
Sesshoumaru finally understood why the kitsune had advised him to read the last page of the report in the forest. Shippou knew him too well.
Growling dangerously loud, he punched a hole in the wall, trying to get a hold on his anger. He could not remember the last time he had ever been so furious. His eyes were blood red, and he had subconsciously summoned his poison into his claws, making them glow a deadly green.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" a soft, timid, female voice called out from the vicinity of the door. "Is everything all right?"
Her voice and presence helped the inu youkai calm down. "I'm fine. I was only slightly upset for a few moments," he told Kagome, turning to face her. He found her dressed a large nightshirt and pajama pants, and her black hair hung about her in silky waves. Blue-gray eyes gazed into his, soothing his temper even further.
'Slightly upset... Well, that certainly was the understatement of the year,' Sesshoumaru thought humorously to himself.
"Is there anything you need me to do?" she asked, stifling a yawn.
The inu youkai almost shook his head, but he quickly reconsidered. There was a question that she could answer for him. "Could you tell me how your last two masters Hojo and Onigumo treated you?"
A look of sadness and pain entered her eyes before it was quickly pushed away. "Just like all the others. Onigumo was worse than Hojo, though." She paused for a moment, obviously debating with herself over something. "Why do you want to know?"
Sesshoumaru almost smiled, noticing that she seemed to be less on guard when she was half asleep. "Those two just happen to work for me." He smiled evilly. Oh, the things he had in store for them.
"Okay," she said blandly, her brain too tired to understand why the youkai seemed to be so happy -at least for him- all of a sudden. "Is that all?" Since everything was all right, she wanted to go back to bed.
Sesshoumaru thought for a moment, and then he nodded his head. "Go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay, Sesshoumaru-sama." With a yawn, she left the room, planning on getting a few more hours of sleep.
Once she was gone, Sesshoumaru resumed planning the demise of the two lying employees with a devilish smirk on his face, his mind going a thousand miles an hour. By the end of the week, both Onigumo and Hojo would be gone, he was sure of it.