Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Inuyasha. Nor do I own Kagome, Sesshoumaru, Rin, Kagome's family, or any of the other copyrighted characters that may or may not appear in this fic. So please don't sue me, and enjoy the story!

Notes: After a lot of thought, I've decided to leave the rating of this story at PG-13. There's not going to be anything explicit in it, as I find explicit sex somewhat unclassy, and the tone of this story is more light and fuzzy, though the themes are very serious and I'm trying not to downplay how horrible and disgusting slavery is. If, however, anyone who reads this story feels offended by something I've written and thinks that I should up the rating, just drop me an email or review and I'll change it right away.

Character update: I'm really happy with the way Miroku and Sesshoumaru are coming out as of this moment, and I'm also starting to feel better about Kikyo. Rin is still iffy, but I'm working on getting comfortable with writing her.

Learning to Let Go

Chapter 6: The Wrong Side of the Bed.

Kagome groaned, lifting her head off the pillow to squint at her alarm clock. With a mumbled curse, she rolled out of bed and staggered into the shower. As the warm water ran over her, she thought over the events of yesterday in her mind, more than a little confused.

What on earth was she doing with a slave staying in her house? Granted, he wasn't anything like the slaves she was used to, and he actually seemed like he might be pretty good company if he'd only stop snapping at her and open up a little.

She sighed and turned off the hot water, stepping out and wrapping a fluffy towel around herself. She didn't have time to think about it now; she had classes and then she was going to buy him some new clothes so he didn't have to wear that gaudy bright red all the time.

Although, come to think of it, he did look good in it. Then again, she couldn't really think of anything he wouldn't look good in. She made a face at herself in the mirror and ran a brush through her wet hair before grabbing her book bag and heading for the kitchen to grab a breakfast bar before heading off to class.

En route to the kitchen she passed through the entertainment room just to see how Inuyasha was doing - and froze.

Oh was all she could think as she took in the sight before her. He'd taken off his shirt to sleep, and the blankets were tangled around his waist. Her eyes followed the lines of his body to where they disappeared beneath the blanket at his navel, taking in the perfectly defined muscles in his sculpted physique. His frost colored hair was flung across the pillow, and his face He looked so much younger asleep - softer, more innocent. It took all of her willpower to look away from him, a heavy blush suffusing her as she hurried by him to the kitchen.

Oh god. What would her mother think if she found out that Kagome was living with a gorgeous boy? What would her grandfather think?

You'd be in deep trouble, Kagome, that's what. She sighed. Why did things like this always seem to happen to her? Though she had to say that this was by far the most interesting and complicated mess she'd managed to get herself into.

Sighing, she reached for a breakfast bar only to drop it when Inuyasha spoke up behind her. "What are you doing?"

She spun to face him, her flush from earlier returning when she realized he hadn't bothered to put his shirt on before coming out to investigate. "Stop doing that!" She shouted at him, glaring.

He blinked, then shrugged. "It's not my fault you're too easy to scare," he pointed out.

Kagome shook her head in exasperation. "I'm just getting a quick breakfast. I have to get to school or I'll be late for my classes."

"Classes? What am I supposed to do while you're doing that?"

Kagome shrugged, not having thought about it. "Whatever you want, I guess. There's Ramen and anything else you want to eat around. And TV, and a gym downstairs. I have some books upstairs if you want to - " she broke off quickly as he stretched, going wide-eyed at the unexpectedly appealing sight of the rippling muscle in his upper body. "I uh - have to go," she said quickly, face bright pink as she turned and fled.

Facing the most attractive boy she'd ever met while he was half-naked was not something she was feeling up to this early in the morning.

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Inuyasha blinked at her hasty exit, then felt his eyebrows go up as he realized the problem. He smirked slowly. So that's what had made her so skittish all of a sudden, he mused, leaning casually against the doorframe as his sensitive ears picked up her car starting in the driveway.

It was interesting to say the least. Pleasing a master sexually was one of the skills his prefects had trained him in most strenuously - probably only second to his combat skills. Inuyasha had gotten used to the intrusiveness of his training. Modesty was something they had quickly eliminated from his psyche - it was impossible to maintain it considering some of the techniques they employed. He supposed that's why he thought nothing of walking around shirtless - though Kagome would obviously beg to differ.

He'd always assumed sex would be one of the more unbearable parts of being a slave, but for some reason the thought of giving Kagome pleasure wasn't repugnant in the least. In fact he was finding it rather arousing. All his life he'd thought he was unlucky for being so attractive, but thinking back to Kagome's reaction to him, he decided he just might change his mind on that account. The thought of her fingers tangled in his hair, her voice moaning, gasping for breath, whispering his name -

Inuyasha came back to himself with a sharp jerk. What the hell was wrong with him? Kagome would never order him to do anything of the sort. In fact, If he read her correctly she'd never even been kissed by a boy before and he was an idiot if he thought that a beautiful, intelligent girl would give *him* the honor of being her first.

Scowling, Inuyasha stalked into the kitchen, determined to take his mind off these ridiculous thoughts for good and focus on the hundreds of interesting smells that were surrounding him. Somehow he'd been lucky enough to end up in a slavery where he had more freedom than ever before in his life, and he was going to take advantage of it.

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Kagome walked through the mall with Rin, feeling calmer after her classes and after unloading her problems onto her friend. Rin had been shocked to hear about Kagome's situation with Inuyasha, but she seemed quite amused with the scenes between the two of them that the other girl had imparted.

They were currently in the process of finding Inuyasha some new clothes, and Rin was trying to comfort Kagome and get her to see the bright side of her situation.

"Don't be so negative, Kagome," the older girl told her seriously, ever the optimist. "I know you think that slavery is wrong, but from what you've said you haven't been treating him like a slave at all. It doesn't have to be a bad thing for him - in fact, I bet this is the luckiest break he's ever gotten!"

Kagome shook her head. "That's not the point! The point is he should never have been put in a position where being treated like a person seemed like a lucky break to him. It's horrible! I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like for him."

Rin shook her head in amazement at her younger friend's empathy. "You've always been kind of strange, Kagome, but now you really sound like a revolutionary. It seems like you want to see all the slaves freed or something like that."

Kagome paused. "All the slaves freed" she murmured wistfully. "I wish I could do something like that but there's no way it's possible."

Rin bit her lip. "I don't know about all the slaves, but I sure wish I could free Sesshoumaru. It's really unbearable to have to live with Kikyo when she treats him so badly."

Kagome looked at her in disbelief. "Is it really that bad?"

"Yes!" Rin cried passionately. "She hurts him, Kagome, all the time. And she makes him do stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Sexual stuff," Rin whispered, sounding ashamed. "Twisted stuff, stuff that hurts him. It's awful and disgusting and wrong."

Kagome stopped walking, horrified and shocked to her very core. She hadn't really believed that things like that happened - not in her world where everything was civilized and humane and wonderful. Things like that had always been distant and hazy and untouchable - nothing that she could relate to.

But now, she couldn't help but think of Inuyasha as Kikyo's slave, being used and hurt and abused mentally and sexually. Being worn down over time until finally he lost the spark that made him so unique and became like all the other slaves she'd seen - broken and without hope. The image hurt. And it made her furious.

She didn't realize that her fists were clenched and she was trembling with fury until Rin touched her arm in concern. "Kagome? Are you all right?"

Kagome forced her jaw to unlock, pasted an unconvincing smile on her face. "I'm fine. Let's just buy these clothes and get out of here I'm starting to feel claustrophobic."

"All right," Rin agreed. "Lets talk about something else. Hey, have you noticed that Naraku guy in our math class?"

Kagome wracked her brain. "Naraku, Naraku nope, doesn't ring a bell."

Rin rolled her eyes. "You're so oblivious. He was totally checking you out today."

Kagome flushed. "I'm sure you're just reading too much into it," she muttered as she paid for the clothes and picked up her shopping bags.

"No, really!" Rin insisted, following her out of the store and toward her car. "I'm serious, Kagome. Pay more attention next time."

Kagome shook her head as she put the bags in her trunk and climbed into the drivers seat. "I'll take your word for it, I guess. Anyway, good luck with the math problem set tonight, and I'll see you tomorrow in class," she said, pulling out of her spot and heading home.

It had been a long day with no redeeming qualities, and Kagome couldn't help but feel that this was only the beginning of her problems.

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Sooo... sexy Inuyasha and poor Sesshoumaru! Kagome's getting ideas... and getting pissed. And we all know how...persuasive she can be when she's angry about something. Hopefully you can see now why she had to be so rich and naive about everything - otherwise she wouldn't care about this stuff, and it wouldn't shock her or make her angry.