So sorry for making you wait. Give me inspiration. Give me a push to write! I need them. Desperately.

Reviews!!! I love them a lot. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Sashlea: interesting review . . . Not much I can say to that, except thanks for reviewing!

Kisa: Thanks! ^_^!! Your support is much appreciated!

Black Twilight: Thanks for the word that I needed! Ookami. Hmm. Oh, just a question, how is this sad? I know that there are some sad parts, like with Sayuri, but I try to make my fics light hearted. Not that I'm upset, no, I'm glad. I'm just curious.

Anti [.] Poptarts: Sweet name. Um, yeah, thanks for the support! And I'll update as soon as I can. I'm just working my way through writer's block in chapter five. @_@. I've never written a date scene before . . . (What I mean is, I'm having trouble in a later chapter)

Mkh2: Well, just for you, the scene is right up front. It'll explain all, and no, (@_@) nothing like that. (Gets the shakes) I can't write stuff like that. No, it's a psychological bad thing. . . . Just read on.

InuKag91: You pushed me to it. I'm posting this, even though I've had the biggest brain freeze in years. What's even worse is that it didn't affect my ability to write, so I felt really bad holding out on you guys. (Sob.) Okay, so no problem reviewing your stuff. I only review when I feel I absolutely have to, so that means you're really good in my mind. (Starry eyes) Wow! I feel like I've just met a really big star! The only problem is, I forget which one you wrote, so I'm going to have to check it out. . . .

In case no one else noticed, but I've not posted in a while. I happen to be, at this time, in a huge brain freeze. I cannot think of Inuyasha unless I'm reading it. True. So, I've been on this huge Rurouni Kenshin and Gundam Wing fling and I am trying to force myself by to Inuyasha.

Expect new Gundam fics.

New ideas will on my stats page, as well as other important information.

Okay, enough jibber jabber, Kay says, (the one in my head) so I'm going to let you read the chapter now.

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Kagome shifted restlessly in her bed. Sure, one week had gone by, but Inuyasha had changed greatly. He was pensive, following her without question. But never was there conversation; he seemed to have lost all interest in everything.

Maybe she had pushed it too far.

That was the last coherent thought she thought before she drifted off to sleep.

Minutes later, she was awoken by a sharp pain in her forearm. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw a small knife drawing a line along her arm. Blood was bubbling around it, not pouring, but enough to make her blanch. Her eyes followed the knife to a hand, to an arm, to a face. Naraku.

Slowly, Naraku placed a finger to her blood and started to raise the finger to his lips. He was trying to taste her blood! "Back!" she hissed angrily. Naraku was thrown to her wall, a grim smile crossing his features. "Get out of my room, you disgusting creature!" The spell loosened and the dark youkai slid out of the room, a sly grin on his face.

Kagome got to her feet, silent tears starting down her face. She ran out of her room, looking around for Naraku in the darkness. He was no where. With that assurance, she ran to her parent's room and slipped into their bathroom. Gauze, soap, wipe off the blood, wash it, wrap it up.

She started to walk out of the bathroom, hoping to get out of the room without hitting a squeaky spot.

"Kagome-chan?" Kagome froze in fright. Her father had woken up. "Are you all right?" Kagome slowly turned to him as he turned on the bedside light. She shook her head mutely and he motioned for her to come to him. "What is it- oh!"

She took off the gauze she had carefully wrapped on her arm and showed him the slightly bloody forearm. "Who did this?" Kagome took a deep breath and said who it had been.

"Naraku."

Her father nodded sternly and helped her wrap up her arm again. "Get some sleep, after you get Inuyasha."

Kagome slowly nodded, her body shaking at the idea of getting so close to Naraku again. She walked out the bedroom door and started down the steps only to face Inuyasha watching her.

"I thought I smelled your tears."

Kagome sniffed weakly and motioned for him to follow her. "What happened?"

"Nothing. Father wants you to stay in my room tonight," Kagome muttered. Inuyasha sniffed, and snorted.

"I bet you'd appreciate it too. What happened?" Kagome refused to answer, and Inuyasha did not ask again.

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Inuyasha was gone the next morning, and Kagome got dressed without a word. She assumed he had left when she had fallen asleep and went back to sleep in his room. Sighing heavily, she stepped out of the room and nearly tripped over an exhausted hanyou. He looked up at her from his position across her door and sat up.

"Good morning," he greeted sleepily before he stood up and leaned against her door-post.

"Did you stay awake all last night?" Kagome asked, amazed.

"N- yes."

"Why?"

"Because you were afraid."

Kagome's jaw dropped. He cared about her feelings. Slowly, she regained her surprise and swallowed to calm her nerves. "Um, thank you. Well, I need to go to school, so," she paused and weakly smiled at him. "I guess you will have to follow. You could take a nap at home though."

Inuyasha scowled. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

So he walked her to school, waited outside the building for her, and walked her home. As far as she could tell, he did not sleep at all during the time between the beginning of school and the end.

Luckily, she did not have much homework, so she reclined in the TV room for the afternoon, letting Inuyasha take a rest if he wished for it. The television was on, but she was only dimly listening to it.

"And a reminder, there is a party going on in the down-town market for the young slave that has selflessly risked his own life to save the one of his master -er, mistress. So, please, tell us a bit of what happened, Rin- kun."

Kagome looked up, her eyes taken from Inuyasha's slumber. She remembered that name. And there, on screen, was Inuyasha's half-brother, Sesshoumaru, and his young mistress. The little girl was gripping tightly to her servant, as if letting go would make her relive the horrors she obviously went through.

"It was wolves," the girl said quietly. "Rin was walking with her mama and papa and Sesshoumaru-sama. It was in the woods and Rin was laughing, smiling. Wolves jumped out, were everywhere. Hitomi and Takumi were fighting for mama and papa, but they could not fight all of them. Sesshoumaru-sama fight for Rin, scare off a lot of wolves. He tried to help mama, and he tried to help papa, but- but-"

At this point, the child started to sob into Sesshoumaru's kimono. With one arm, he pulled the girl into his embrace, and placed her on his shoulder, and that was that. The girl was crying. No one would speak to her; not with her servant giving them all death glares.

Slowly, Kagome sat up, still staring at the screen as they went on about the weather forecast. "I was going to buy him," she murmured.

"Are you sorry you didn't?"

Kagome looked at Inuyasha's face, hidden in the shadow of his bangs, surprised he had noticed the special interview. "No."

Inuyasha glanced up, his eyes daring her to not explain, and Kagome could not help but smile a little. "Because then, she might be dead, and I would have a cold, unfeeling inu youkai suffocating me to death. This way, she is alive, she has a servant who cares for her in some way or another, and I have a hanyou who is making life difficult."

The moment the last word was out of her mouth, she regretted it. Inuyasha lowered his head again, not noticing she meant it to be a sarcastic joke. Of course, that joke was wrongly placed in that situation, but a joke none the less.

"I- I think I'm going to take a shower," Kagome mumbled, feeling awful. Inuyasha rose and walked with her to the door of the bathroom. Once there, he leaned back on the door-post and glowered into space.

"Oh, Inuyasha-san, did you hear?"

Inuyasha turned his glower to the nezumi, Keiki, walking up the stairs. "What?"

She faltered at his expression but continued. "There's been talk started from Raidon that a male is going to be sold!" Keiki was not sure, but she thought she saw a look of pain cross Inuyasha's face before it disappeared. "The Master says he did something bad to Kagome-sama.

"Kagome-sama was wounded last night."

Inuyasha looked up, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Is that all?"

Keiki swallowed hard before she nodded and waddled off to Souta's room. He knew that Kagome had been hurt; he had smelt her blood mingled with her tears, but she did not say what had happened. He figured it was just a small accident, bumping into something sleepwalking or something like that. She had been really rattled by it, so he slept outside her door to prevent her from walking out. But he had soon figured out that if he was to not hurt her, he would have to stay awake.

But now, Keiki mentioned that a male servant in the house did something bad to Kagome and linked it to her wound. Did they think it was him? He had been quite the pest, but would they really sell him to a raving drunk to break his spirit?

He hoped not. He was actually beginning to like it here. Kagome had been nicer to him, now that he did his job, and she did not purposely restrain him. Several times she would say "sit" to others, in normal conversation, and he would plummet to the ground. That was before Sayuri taught him how to not listen to conversation in other rooms, but still be alert for his name. She had told him that it usually only worked when he heard the restraint command, and Naraku had mastered the art of it perfectly. He never was thrown to the wall when someone said "back". Or, at least when they did not mean it.

The thought of restraint commands brought back the other day about a week ago, with thoughts of that miko, Kikyo. He had met her two servants at the school that day. Kagura and Kanna were their names, and they were the strangest pair in the world. Kagura was loud, brash, and made her thoughts obvious to the situation. Kanna was silent, silent, and silent. She said nothing, seemed to think nothing, and displayed nothing. And with their different scents, he managed to find Kikyo's scent and recognize it.

It stunk. Horribly.

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Inuyasha winced as he heard the doorbell ring. It was so high-pitched! Why did they use it? Kouga and Naraku, who were the quarters with him, did not seem to notice the bell.

"Oh, good afternoon, Onigumo-sama. Please come in."

Inuyasha knew instantly. This was it: the moment when he would be sold. Without noticing, he curled into a fetal position, much like he had sat in when he was in the slave yards. Naraku and Kouga continued talking.

He could hear the footsteps coming closer to the room, coming closer and closer to his doom. Naraku and Kouga took no heed of it. There was a knock and Kouga called out pleasantly. Higurashi-sama, Master-sama's wife, stuck her head in the room and looked at Inuyasha.

This was it. She would tell him to come to him and it would all be over for him.

"Inuyasha?"

He shivered and started to unfold himself.

"Are you all right, Inuyasha? You can stay there. Naraku, please, come with me."

Inuyasha froze. She told him . . . to stay there? And she had called Naraku? Slowly, he got to his feet, watching Naraku as he walked, curious.

"Here he is," Higurashi-sama said, pushing Naraku to the man standing in the doorway. Naraku locked his knees, shock covering his face. "Make sure you keep him away from any children you have, Onigumo-sama. Other than that, he's a good cook."

"What?" Naraku screamed, looking around for support from anyone. Higurashi- sama was angry, Souta-sama was surprised, and Jii-chan-sama was not moving to help. Master-sama was at the foot of the stairs, looking like it was not enough for him to be sold.

But Kagome-sama. She was standing at the top of the stairs, fear and anger crossing her face, her bandaged arm obvious. Naraku instantly knew what was going on. "You witch, you dog, you cur!" Naraku screamed suddenly, looking like he was going to attack someone.

"Back."

Naraku was thrown to the wall, and Onigumo nodded his head at the efficiency of the restraint. He was the one who had spoken the restraint. "Good, good. He'll be good, since I do not have children. Much thanks to you, Higurashi-sama, and his lovely wife."

And Naraku was dragged screaming from the house -to a new master- as he vented his frustrations.

"I'm surprised he was so surprised and angry," Keiki muttered, her brown eyes watching Naraku with hatred. "I overheard Master-sama say that Naraku tried to taste Kagome-sama's blood."

Inuyasha slowly turned his attention to his charge, who was standing at the top of the stairs, looking very defeated, or even violated. Slowly, he walked up to the stairs, walking up to her. He did not see the eyes of the rest of the family on him, but he could feel them.

She was watching him with slight distrust and he could understand, but a part of him felt miffed. "Are- are you all right?" he asked quietly. Kagome swallowed, and he could smell the fear on her. Slowly, she walked away from him and started up the stairs. Inuyasha followed her without a word.

To taste a master's blood was the ultimate dishonor. It meant they were trying to return to their original control of humans, and it was the best way to get free. Most masters, when their slaves try to taste them, grow fearful and set them free. It only meant that they had gotten away with it.

But Naraku had been sold.

Suddenly, Kagome's arms found their way around his neck and she was sobbing into his yukata, her face buried into his chest. He stiffened before he slowly wrapped his arms around her to comfort her.

She had been dishonored, scared, and violated. He did not blame her. Slowly, he took her in his arms and carried her to her bed, placing her down gently. She tried to get up, but he pushed her down, his hands on her shoulders. "Stay down, Kagome-sama. You're tired. Go to sleep; he won't hurt you."

Kagome slowly grinned and relaxed on her bed. Once he was certain she was asleep, he started to leave. "Inu-chan . . ."

Inuyasha froze. She had to be asleep. Turning, he saw she still was, but it still unnerved him to hear her calling out to him like that. "Don't . . . don't leave . . . Scared . . ."

Inuyasha could not refuse that command. With a small sigh, he sat down by her bed and tried to relax and let himself sleep. It did not take long, and he soon found himself in his dreams, his head rested comfortably next to Kagome's hand.

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Oh, yeah, did I mention I rarely have cliffhangers? I need them, though. Give me an idea for a cliffhanger! I have a few, but I'm not certain I'll have a true, terrible cliffhanger. Sometimes those are fun.

Sorry about the wait. But I've speculated this at about nine chapters, and I've only got five written, and I don't want to over-post myself, you know?

Teaser! Next chapter, named: Courting by the Hanyou's Rules

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"Do you like it?"

"Yes. You look," he paused and thought of what to say, but his instincts started to offer ideas that did not appeal to him. Another part of his mind started to finish his sentence when he did not immediately, 'like an angel, like an enchantress, like a princess . . . '

"You look nice."

'You baka.'

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Thanks for reading on the Kay Kylo express. Please leave a fully formed review in the basket you find when you push the button. Thank you and please come back to K.K. express. Have a nice day.

REVIEW PLEASE!!!

~ Kay Kylo