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: Okay, so in the last chapter when Kikyo was all over Inuyasha and she tells him to open his mouth - that's totally from Elora's fic! I meant to mention that in the last chapter but forgot, so I'll mention it here. She gets full credit for that idea - I just liked it so much I had to include it here.

Also, slaves are trained to take orders from anyone who's not a slave. That's why Kikyo could tell him what to do. Not to mention he was completely intimidated by her and by his own lack of control over the situation, which is why he didn't put up a fight. Like I tried to convey in the chapter, he'd never been in a comparable situation, having just gotten out of training and being sold to Kagome imediately thereafter. Slaves are ultimately controlled by their masters though - for example if Kagome and Kikyo both gave Inuyasha an order, he would follow Kagome's without hesitation.

This chapter is all about beginning to build trust... as well as other deep emotions! I know you've all been waiting for it, so I hope you enjoy. It's not too heavy, but hey, it's something!

Learning to Let Go

Chapter 9: Snapping Out of It.

When Kagome came downstairs Inuyasha was standing exactly where she'd left him - but there was a girl with long, straight black hair standing directly in front of him, a little too close to the half-demon for comfort. She couldn't really tell what was going on, but her attention wasn't on the girl anyway - it was on the half-demon who was standing motionless in front of her.

Inuyasha didn't look up at her as she came down the stairs. In fact, he wasn't really focusing on much of anything, and the look in his eyes terrified her.

"Inuyasha?" she said, her voice higher than usual with worry. The girl spun to face Kagome, looking furious at the interruption but her face quickly smoothed over and she gave a cool smile.

"Kagome, I presume?" the older girl said, not offering her hand. "I was just getting acquainted with your slave. He's very tempting."

The words barely registered with Kagome. She was too frightened by Inuyasha's lack of a response. "Inuyasha, are you okay?" she asked hesitantly. When he didn't respond she turned worried eyes on the other girl who she assumed must be Rin's older sister Kikyo. "Is he okay?"

Kikyo was looking at her with barely disguised contempt. Kagome thought she was going to snap at her for a moment, but the look faded and Kikyo ignored the question, smiling faintly again. "You must be very pleased with him to show such concern. You don't even keep him leashed. And ranked 10 in sexual ability I have to admit I'm quite curious - how is he in bed?"

The comment was as effective as a slap would have been. Kagome reeled back in shock and stared wide-eyed for a moment before disgust took hold of her. She spun away angrily. "Come on, Inuyasha, we're leaving."

To her surprise, he turned immediately and followed her without question or hesitation. Kagome glanced back once at Kikyo's satisfied smirk before slamming the door and practically running to where the car was parked. Inuyasha stopped beside the car, his face still devoid of any kind of expression or emotion. Kagome bit her lip.

"Inuyasha please talk to me?" She whispered. No response. Not even a flicker of eyelashes gave any indication that the hanyou had heard her. She opened up the passenger-side door for him and wondered how on earth she was going to get him in. He'd followed her when she'd told him they were leaving, so maybe he would listen if she told him to get in the car. "Inuyasha Sit."

The command wasn't given with much confidence, and for a moment she was afraid he wasn't going to listen to her. But after a tense moment he got into the car and Kagome quickly shut the door behind him and hurried to the drivers side of the car. She wanted to get the hell away from this house. And she wanted to get Inuyasha home and back to normal as quickly as possible.

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Kagome sighed, resting her chin in her hand and staring disconsolately across the kitchen table at Inuyasha, who stared back over her head blankly.

"Come on, Inuyasha! Stop acting so strangely. This is getting old."

Nothing.

"Are you tired? Do you want me to leave you alone so you can go to sleep?"

He hadn't twitched since she'd gotten him in the house. He'd barely even blinked, and it was really starting to unnerve her. He had to go back to normal sometime didn't he?

"Do you want some Ramen, Inuyasha? I bet you're hungry again." Ugh, she thought, getting desperate. If that didn't snap him out of it, what will?

She sat there for another moment, studying him pensively. Suddenly, she sat up straight, snapping her fingers. "Maybe you just need your memory jogged! Lets see, what can I show you that will get you to remember everything?" She thought for another moment. "Follow me," she told him, heading into the living room. She pointed at the couch. "Remember sleeping there, Inuyasha? You watched TV."

No sign of recognition was forthcoming, so she glanced around for more inspiration. Seeing her shopping bags from earlier beside the couch, she pulled out the coat he'd worn out by the pond. "This is your coat," she told him, feeling ridiculous. "You were wearing it by the pond. Can you remember the pond?" Maybe I should show it to him, she thought dully, though she was starting to think this method was just as useless as the others she'd tried.

"Come on," she said, heading out back. The air was cold, and she hugged herself as they made their way across the grass to stand next to the glassy surface of the water. "Still doesn't ring a bell, huh?" she sighed, when all he did was pause on the rocks by the edge of the water, still with that monotonous, expressionless stare.

"What's wrong with you?" she yelled at him, her worry starting to be expressed through panicky anger. "You're acting like some kind of android!"

She waited a moment more, getting more and more angry every second. "This isn't funny!" she shouted, surprised to find herself close to tears. "Do you hear me, you stupid jerk? This isn't a joke!" Impulsively, she stepped forward and gave him a solid, straight-armed shove - right into the goldfish pond.

She gasped, shocked at herself, as he went under with a splash. What had she been thinking? Shock was quickly replaced by delight as Inuyasha thrashed in the water, coming up sputtering with his hair plastered against his head. "What the hell?!" he shouted, looking around him in fury.

Happiness overtook her, and before she could think about what she was doing Kagome had dropped the coat she'd been carrying and flung herself at him, ignoring the cold water and mud that splashed over her.

He looked up, his eyes widening, just before she flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his wet hair. "You're back!" she cried, ignoring the tenseness of his body, which had gone rigid with shock and uncertainty.

"K-Kagome?" he said disbelievingly. "What happened? Are you okay?"

She pushed back to glare at him, pointing an accusing finger at his nose. Her blue-gray eyes were dark with irritation. "Am *I* okay?" she parroted, her voice full of furious reproach. "You've been acting like a zombie for the past hour and a half! You wouldn't talk to me at all! I even offered you Ramen," she continued, relief making her waspish, "but nothing worked. What *happened* to you?!"

He'd been staring at her, caught somewhere between astonishment and wariness, his whole body poised as if to flee, but now she felt him relaxing slightly, looking around to take in their current situation. "I'm wet," he said slowly, glancing down at her. "You pushed me in the pond?"

Kagome felt herself blushing. "What else was I supposed to do?" she asked defensively. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Apparently," he said dryly, and Kagome's anger abated slightly. She'd never heard humor in his voice before, and she was just so relieved that he was finally talking to her. Emotion swamped her and she flung her arms around him once more, taking him off guard for the second time.

"Don't ever do that again!" she gasped, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

"Kagome" he said in a different tone completely, lifting one dripping hand and touching her side lightly. She started at the touch, and abruptly it hit her that she had all but attacked him. Suddenly all she was aware of was the warmth of his body against hers, the feel of the muscles in his chest against the palms of her hands, the whisper of his breath against her wet skin. She launched herself away from him, stumbling in the water and falling on her rear end facing him, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she all but shrieked at him.

"Me?" he demanded, the confusion in his eyes replaced by his more typical defensive anger. "*I'm* the one who got pushed in the pond! Are you trying to kill me or something?"

"Of course not!" she shouted back, her fists clenching in the muddy bottom of the pond. "How can you say something like that! I left you alone for five minutes and when I came downstairs that girl Kikyo was molesting you or something and - " she broke off at the look on his face.

For a moment she was afraid she'd given him a relapse back into zombie-land, but then his fangs flashed dangerously and he growled. Kagome's eyes widened in fear and amazement. It wasn't the kind of growl she'd expected, the type where a human was trying to imitate an animal. This was a *real* growl, low and guttural, starting somewhere in his chest and rumbling up through his throat in a way that sent chills of premonition down her back.

"That bitch," he snarled, and his voice had deepened too, become more rasping and feral. His eyes flashed a predatory gold. "That fucking *bitch*!"

He was suddenly on his feet, towering over her threateningly, and Kagome pressed her back against the rocks behind her in complete terror, staring up at him with huge eyes. "She knew I belonged to someone else but she was going to take me anyway. She *touched* me, and I couldn't do anything about it!"

He paused then, and the fury in his eyes lessened as he seemed to remember her. She was sitting in the cold water at his feet, half-submerged, her knees tucked tightly to her chest and her eyes wide and frightened. Slowly, the murderous fury seemed to leave him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't know, Inuyasha. I'm so sorry"

"Why are you apologizing to me?" he demanded gruffly, but she could tell he wasn't angry anymore - or at least, not with her. "It wasn't you who did it." He glanced up at the house, then down at her again with a sigh. "Baka. You're going to freeze to death."

He reached down, offering her his hand. Kagome hesitated for a moment, a vision of his fangs catching the moonlight and the fury in his eyes flashing through her mind. She stared at the claws on the hand that he'd extended to her before slowly, cautiously, slipping her cold fingers into his.

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I really wanted to have Kagome tell Inuyasha to sit as she pushed him into the pond, but there's no way I could have done that without making the whole thing seem ridiculous. But I hope you noticed my reference earlier in the chapter! Chapter 10 has more bonding time, so psych yourselves up!