Freedom

Chapter4: Death & Consequences

"'It's too late to correct it. When you've once said a thing that fixes it and you must face the consequences'"

Queen of Hearts, Alice in Wonderland

"The place where this story is set is unknown to those in it. The kingdom that they lived in, died in, and fought for had no name and was simply called Nanimo. This place's history had been lost long ago and now it was an ageless, changeless place of suffering and despair. For it could be nothing else."

-From the text Hajime

How long the two of them had been here was unknown to them. One thing they did know that if they were here for much longer the two young village girls would go insane.

In the village where Kagome and Sango had grown up there had been many people who had been slaves. They had been set free in the rebellion that had taken place before either girl was alive.

The rebellion had only lasted a couple of months but had resulted in the death of their old ruler and the establishment of the new government. This new government was ruled chiefly by youkai and was based around their needs. Most ningens were slaves but a few had managed to gain wealth in the new society. Half the youkai population had stood beside the ideals of the old King and refused to pay tribute to the new rulers. So they and everyone else were sold into slavery. Because of the greed and cruelty of others two young girls sat in a cold stone room awaiting the opening of the slave auction.

The bruise of Sango's jaw and the one's on Kagome's throat had healed so the two of them could guess that they had been captured a good while ago, a least one week. They had yet to be sold because the man that owned this auction was asking an immense price for both of the girls. They didn't really understand the minds of men here but they could be sure that the reason wasn't in their interest.

Kagome sighed and attempted to rub some warmth into her arms. Her dress was dirty, her hair was tangled and her skin had become an odd gray color. Sango looked no better and the state that they were in simply added to their depressed mood.

"Sango what are we going to do?"

The elder girl looked up from where she was picking at her fingernails and gave a sigh that mirrored Kagome's earlier one.

"I don't know."

They had had this conversation many times before and it always ended up in the same place.

"If we were sold then there's a chance that we could escape," Sango said softly picking at her nails again. She chewed them when she was nervous and now they were so short it hurt.

Kagome could think of nothing to say to that that hadn't already been said before so she decided to observe her surroundings again.

She had spent most of her time of the auction block trying to be sold along with many other girls but when the auction closed she was stuck into this cell like room. Three of its walls were made of stone and the other wall was lined with thick metal bars. There were no windows and no chance of escape. Kagome couldn't help but ponder the point in looking around when nothing changed from the last time she had done so. It only depressed her more.

Sometimes Kagome just didn't understand herself.

"Get up wenches! Let's see if I can make some money off you today."

Kagome looked up in time to see the owner of the auction walk by. Both girls had quickly figured out that this demon was not to be trifled with. The youkai's name was Iyana and he like all youkai took on a ningen's form.

Before she died, Kagome's grandmother had told her that at one time not all youkai had walked as humans and had taken many different appearances. She eyed the youkai warily as he unlocked their cage, searching for differences. It was easy to tell that he was a youkai, with his spiky hair and pointed ears. His eyes were a dark bronze color that flashed angrily with malice as he watched the two girls through the bars of their cell. He looked rather frightening but Kagome wouldn't give him the pleasure of watching her shudder.

She and Sango got to their feet and waited until Iyana came in to unlock her manacles from the wall. The youkai walked forward and jerked the chains sharply to get the two girls moving.

For an instant Kagome held firm but Iyana was too strong. She gave in reluctantly to avoid being tugged off her feet. Kagome turned her nose up at the thought of being handled like she was and she saw that Sango held a similar look. There was nothing to be done about it though.

Iyana connected their chain with the other slave girls and begun to drag them out of the holding pen they had been shoved into. After a few minutes of trudging through the dark hallway they were pushed up a flight of narrow creaky stairs and then through another hallway.

Kagome smothered a sigh as she gazed around. She didn't realize her feet had slowed until she felt a jerk at her manacles from the woman in front of her. The woman was a youkai, though Kagome wasn't sure what type of youkai she was.

The woman glared at Kagome and Kagome, not one to be intimidated, glared right back. The youkai-woman abruptly stopped walking, causing all the people in front of her to be jerked back. Iyana looked over at them and was about to bark at them to keep moving but he seemed to change his mind and watched instead.

"You dare glower at me human?"

Kagome's eyes narrowed and she lifted her chin defiantly. "You almost made me fall over for no reason, and then you glared at me. I don't think I did anything wrong."

"Didn't do anything wrong?" the woman repeated shrilly.

Kagome grimaced at the sound of her voice and she saw Sango do the same out of the corner of her eye. The youkai's voice sounded like a sword scraping on a rock.

"I don't see what the problem is. You glared at me so I glared back. If you think that you shouldn't be glared at but you are able to do the same then I'm afraid you have a problem."

The youkai snarled and made a swipe at Kagome and the human girl screeched in surprise and drew back. She hit the ground on her right side and hissed as the force knocked the air out of her. The youkai woman was about to bring her claws down on Kagome exposed stomach when a number of things happened.

Sango grabbed Kagome's hand and tugged, pulling the girl out of range. A number of the slave women gasped and pulled on their chains jerking the youkai-woman's manacles back and stopping her from slicing Kagome in two. Iyana finally stepped up and brought the end of his whip down on the youkai-woman's head.

Kagome was sprawled out on the floor, panting and staring at the youkai-woman's body in horror.

Blood was beginning to pool around her head from the blow to her temple. Her eyes were half open, staring into nothingness.

Kagome had seen people die before. It happened all the time and few were lucky enough to have never seen a loved one killed in front of them. Even though Kagome was in no way sheltered, she was one of the lucky few. She knew hardship and heard of death before. It had been explained at a very young age, as was expected of her mother.

But she had never seen anyone killed before.

Sango pulled Kagome to her feet and stepped around the youkai-woman's body. Iyana was staring at the corpse coldly. After a moment he sighed and disconnected the woman's manacles from Kagome and the young slave girl that had been in front of the dead youkai.

He was grumbling under his breath angrily but Kagome had no doubt that it was because he had lost money. After he had reconnected the chain he turned to Kagome.

The young woman had no time to prepare herself for the blow that connected with the side of her face. Her head jerked to the side with the force of the hit and she cried out softly in pain. She felt Sango's hand on her arm tighten but she kept her eyes closed awaiting Iyana's fist.

It never came.

Kagome opened her eyes but she didn't look up at Iyana. She didn't move, feeling that that was the best thing to do right now. Kagome didn't know that she was submitting to Iyana until it was too late. His laughter filled the hallway and Kagome's head snapped up to stare at him coldly.

"Huh, spirited aren't you?" he asked tauntingly.

Kagome's eyes narrowed and she ignored the ache that the small movement caused on the side of her face.

"You're lucky that you'll make me more money than she would've. Otherwise you'd be far worse off than she is."

Kagome said nothing but she sorely wanted to. She already regretted not putting up more of a fight when she had been captured but the shock of being abducted had lessened and she was becoming very…

…peeved? No, not peeved, not anywhere close to peeved.

Angry? No. It was closer but nowhere near close enough.

She felt like snatching Iyana's whip out of his hands and strangling him with it. She felt like hearing him beg for her to stop as she squeezed the life out of him.

Kagome was not violent. She had never intentionally hurt anything in her life but right then she knew that if she didn't do something that she would explode…

She settled for clenching her fists.

The auction took place in the center of the city called Kitanai. The place was probably the largest, most over-populated, filthiest, most polluted, and over all, the most inhospitable city in all of Nanimo.

Kagome had heard great things about the cities that dotted the country. She hadn't been expecting it to be like this or her first time to be under these conditions.

The auctions were held outside much like a market was. Each slave owner had a booth of sorts were he haggled with his customers. Iyana specialized in selling women so his booth was always very crowded.

Kagome couldn't help but be a little frightened being in front of all those shouting men. She had been out here a few times before over the past week but you could never get used to anything like this. From where she was standing she couldn't tell if they were youkai or ningen but did it really matter? It would be just as unsettling either way.

Kagome's manacles were disconnected with the woman's in front of her and they were chained to a thick strong pole anchored in the floor of the platform. The same was done to a couple of other girls, including Sango. The other women were shoved into an iron cage next to the platform, anxiously fidgeting and waiting to see what would happen to them when it was their turn on the stage.

Iyana stepped up onto the platform and stepped up beside the girl that was four posts to Kagome's left.

Then the auction began.

Iyana began calling out prices and haggling, while customers yelled out the unfairness of those prices while still others examined the other girls on the stage, waiting for Iyana to auction them off.

Kagome found it completely mortifying. She wanted to die right there out of shame. Having people eye her like she was an interesting object that they were thinking of buying made her feel as if she was nothing. Like her life had no other meaning other than to serve someone until she died. How could these people, youkai or not, view her life as insignificant just because she was human?

Kagome hung her head in humiliation and closed her eyes as the young girl was sold to a middle aged, over weight, ningen man. Even humans were treating other humans like dirt.

Kagome opened her eyes again and looked up at the sky. It was overcast and promised rain. Kagome sighed when a clap of thunder was heard. The youkai ignored it.

Why should they care? Buying a person and working them to death seemed much more important then staying dry.

Kagome closed her eyes again and tuned out the shouting, the yelling, and the cruel voices of the people around her as the rain came down.

She must have done something wrong…She never remembered doing anything to deserve this.

"Why must I work for that pompous, overbearing, bastard? I did nothing wrong! I don't deserve this."

A tall, beautiful but furious woman walked around and around the inside of one of the grand libraries in the capital city of Nanimo, Tsuyoi.

The city was huge, almost twice the size of the largest city in the state. Most of it was made of white marble and it was kept extremely clean. Thankfully the sun never shined directly on the city, otherwise all the youkai inhabiting it would go blind.

All of the beauty and grandness was lost on the woman however as she stalked around the room, muttering obscenities under her breath.

"Do you have any idea how…" the woman seemed to struggle with which word would best describe her frustration. "…demeaning…it is to work for him, to be forced to work for him?"

Another woman grunted and nodded vaguely from where she was flicking though a book. She seemed to be ignoring the other person in the room with her completely.

"Are you listening to me?" the first woman hissed angrily.

The other woman looked up and blinked.

"Pardon?"

The first woman's shoulders slumped and she sighed. She began pacing again, fingering a finely made fan in her hand while the other played with a lock of her hair that had come loose from its tight bun.

The second woman put down her book and propped her feet up on the beautifully craved stone table in front of her.

"Kagura…"

"What is it?" Kagura snapped angrily without looking up. She was angry enough to pull someone's hair out.

"Stop walking around like that. You'll give me a headache."

Kagura stopped walking and shot her companion a sharp glare.

"I'm sorry if you're under the impression that I care," She hissed softly.

The other woman raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Kagura's palms began to itch as she stood there watching the other youkai woman pick at her claws. It seemed that her irritation was not affecting the youkai at all.

"Karan!"

The youkai looked up and blinked again, wearing the same expression she had been wearing mere moments before. Kagura had never understood this Hyou-youkai. Kagura glared at Karan for a moment before the panther youkai sighed and removed her feet from the table.

"Fine Kagura, complain if you must."

"I am not complaining," Kagura said harshly, snapping her fan closed.

Karan nodded to herself and closed her eyes while a small smile graced her lips. Kagura couldn't help but think that the other youkai was laughing at her.

"So why is it that your employer is so hard to work for?" Karan asked without opening her eyes. Her smile was still firmly set in place.

"You make it sound as if I'm a child having a tantrum," Kagura muttered softly, once again fingering her fan.

Karan opened her eyes and blinked at Kagura in mock surprise.

"So you aren't then?"

Kagura ground her teeth together and Karan held her hands up in surrender.

"I don't understand why you don't just suck it up and do what he tells you to do." Karan said flippantly.

"I can not do that," Kagura said shortly.

Karan raised an eyebrow. "No?"

"No."

"No."

Kagura nodded, closing her eyes and crossing her arms "No."

Karan sighed and the two of them sat in silence for a moment. The only sound in the large chamber was the noise from the street that carried in from the large, heavy, wooden doors, hanging ajar to let air in. Karan quickly found the lack of noise irritating and longed to break the silence. It was Kagura, however, who started up the conversation again.

"How is the training going?"

Karan's eyes darkened and she gave an angry sigh.

"Touran has gone in search of more. They are learning well and they all know of our plans somewhat…" Karan trailed off. She was frowning angrily, her brows drawn together in a frustrated pout. "They are far too weak," She finished bluntly.

Kagura frowned as well and silence descended upon the two youkai women again.

"What should I tell Sesshoumaru?" Kagura asked sharply, snapping her fan shut.

Karan ran a hand through her long bright red hair and exhaled through clenched teeth.

"Tell him what you want. He would find out anyway during the next set of tournaments."

Kagura nodded and prepared to leave. Before she walked out the door she turned back to look at Karan, who had risen out of the chair she had been lounging in.

"Karan," Kagura called sharply, bring the panther-youkai's attention back to herself.

Karan looked up somberly at Kagura.

"We are doing the right thing," She said confidently.

Karan smiled slightly and dipped her head. "We will not fail this time."

AN: Revised and reposted. Continue to watch this space. Review and no I don't own Inuyasha. (Stop asking!)

Translations:

Hajime-beginning

Nanimo- nothing

Iyana- vile

Kitanai- dirtied/tarnished

Tsuyoi- most mighty