Freedom
Chapter6: Lows and Highs
"Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish."
-Ovid
Houjo stared up at Inuyasha in what could only be described as complete fear. The hanyou snorted and pulled the sword away from the boy's throat, staring at him oddly. He didn't really expect Inuyasha to kill him did he?
The rest of the slaves were still staring at Inuyasha in awe, their mouths still hanging open. The spell was broken however when one of the men suddenly began to choke. The man next to him thumped his back with the heel of his hand until the unfortunate choking man coughed and spit something out of his mouth. He looked around and grinned sheepishly under everyone's gaze.
"Swallowed a fly," he said shortly,
Karan shook her head and moved closer to the pair in the middle of the ring.
"Good job Houjo, you too Inuyasha," she said as Houjo climbed to his feet.
She patted the human boy on the back and smiled at him. Houjo was still eyeing Inuyasha wearily and discreetly inched away from him. Karan didn't notice because she had walked away and was once again eyeing the slaves, looking for a new pair to fight no doubt. Inuyasha did notice and stared him down blankly, before shrugging and walking back to Miroku.
"Nice job," the monk said shortly "Although it could have ended a lot sooner."
Inuyasha snorted and shook his head. "Of course it could have, but wimpy would have lost an arm."
Miroku thought for a moment before nodding. "Yes, but do you really care?"
Inuyasha placed the bow-staff across his shoulders and stretched, thinking hard.
"No, I don't care, but I don't want to get kicked out of this place so soon."
Miroku blew out a long suffering sigh and closed his eyes. "Do you think this is okay, what we're doing?"
"Why not? Slave drivers kill slaves all the time for no reason. We've got no reason to feel guilty."
Miroku nodded but the frown could still be seen on his features. "But does that make it okay?"
"No," Inuyasha answered shortly. "But we're still better than them because we won't torture before we kill them."
Miroku flinched and turned to Inuyasha in surprise. "How can you be so callous about it?"
"That's the way the world works. Get used to it monk," Inuyasha snapped sharply, turning back to the ring where two new Shihitou were preparing to spar.
Miroku continued to stare at the side of Inuyasha's head in disgust and surprise.
"I can't believe that everything is okay with you," He said sadly, also turning back to the fight.
Inuyasha said nothing but inwardly he gave a long suffered sigh. The conversation and the current fight were interrupted by Shunran running into the middle of the ring and stopping at Karan's side. Karan narrowed her eyes as she watched her younger sister fought to regain her breath. The Shihitou in the center ring appeared a little angry at the disturbance and anxiously awaited Shunran to deliver her message and leave.
"What is it Shunran?" Karan said sharply after a long pause.
Shunran looked up from the ground and blinked. "Huh?"
"What do you want?" Karan grounded out behind bared teeth.
"Oh yeah, Touran told me to tell you that she was leaving again today to find two new serving girls, since Moyu and Kayumi left when their Shihitou were killed."
One of Miroku's eyebrows arched up, the only sign that he was listening to the conversation as he stared into space. Inuyasha's face was completely impassive, as it usually was, but one of his ears twitched and turned in the direction of the two siblings voices. It always had given him away even when he was younger.
"She's going today? She just got back a couple days ago," Karan said a frown marring her features.
"Yeah I know, but that's what she said," Shunran said flippantly, picking at her sleeve. "She's going to Kitanai and she said she'll be back in a couple of days."
Karan's nose turned up and she made a revolted sound in her throat.
"Kitanai? Why there, she couldn't have picked somewhere less…"
Shunran interrupted her sister by turning away and sprinting back toward the compound.
"Sorry, but that's what she said!" the young-looking youkai called back waving at her sister.
Karan shook her head, a large number of emotions playing across her face. The other Shihitou had begun speaking with each other again but snapped to attention when Karan cleared her throat. She raised her right hand and stared pointedly at the two slaves in the middle of the ring. They quickly got back into starting positions and Karan paused before bringing her hand down.
"Begin!"
Kagome shuddered as the man reached out and painfully grasped her jaw. He roughly jerked her head to the side as he examined her face. Iyana stood next to them wringing his hands nervously. Kagome didn't know what was more disgusting, the fact that this ugly man that she didn't know was touching her face or the fact that Iyana did this sort of thing for a living.
"Is she fresh?" The ningen man asked in a gravelly voice.
Kagome did her best not to shudder again. She kept her eyes distant; past the man and into space.
"Of course she is; never been touched. I'll let you have her for 300 gold pieces."
Kagome couldn't stop her eyes from widening in surprise. 'Oh wow, I'm that expensive?'
The ningen man seemed to think so too. He let go of Kagome's chin and eyed Iyana like he was mad.
"Three hundred!" he huffed angrily. Kagome was reminded of a blowfish. "I'll give you 50 pieces."
"Piss off. This one is worth far more than that."
The man huffed again before waddling off, probably to go find a less pretty and less expensive woman elsewhere.
Kagome had been here for a little more than two weeks now. She was surprise to say that she wasn't angry anymore. She had become resigned to her fate. She would never see her family again; she would live the rest of her life in servitude then die an early age like most mistreated slaves did. And so would end Kagome, the little, human, slave-wench that no one would remember. If that was her life then so be it.
Sango on the other hand was a different story. She had become antsy and violent. She often snapped at Kagome for becoming docile and giving up, but slowly the elder girl was beginning to as well. It was only a matter of time before her spirit broke.
Kagome's dark thoughts were interrupted by another voice at her side. Instead of the voice a horny man, youkai or ningen, it was a soft female voice with a rather sharp edge to it.
"So Iyana, still a bastard I see. Selling woman…"
Kagome's head snapped up in surprise and she stared at the woman who was standing next to her. She was obviously a noble youkai, but what was she doing here?
"Lady Touran you wound me. How's Karan?"
"She still hates you," the woman Kagome now knew as Touran said piercingly.
"Huh, well what does my most valued customer want?" Iyana said smoothly eyeing Touran hungrily. Kagome made a small noise in her throat which brought the slave trader's eyes right to hers. "I've got this one here. She was spirited when she came in but you know how it goes…"
Touran eyed Iyana with something akin to complete revulsion. Iyana ignored the look and turned back to Kagome.
"Give her to you for 450 pieces."
Kagome's heart sank. If some fat, horny, ningen man wouldn't pay 300 for her then how could she expect for this youkai to pay 450? She had gotten the feeling that this youkai, Touran, wasn't bad. Even though she hadn't even looked at Kagome yet, the young girl had let hope fill her heart again. She allowed her eyes to travel to the ground once more. She heard Touran give an angry sigh.
"You really are a pig. You raise the prices on the girls you like so no one will buy them and you can have them to yourself. I'll take her if only just to spite you."
Kagome's head snapped up again and for the first time she met eyes with the youkai that was going to take her away from this place. Touran smiled at Kagome as Iyana roughly undid her manacles.
"I don't see why you need her anyway. Only a fool would pay 450 gold pieces on a serving girl." Iyana snapped at Touran as he held his hand out for his money.
Touran made no move to give it to him. She smiled at Kagome again and made a small gesture for the girl to move to her side. Kagome hesitated for a moment before she complied.
"I'm not done. I still have more shopping to do," The youkai stated flatly, moving to the end of the stage.
Iyana glared at her angrily before rudely dismissing her with a wave of his hand and turning back to another customer.
Kagome was ecstatic. Touran said she wasn't done shopping, meaning that she was going to buy another slave. Maybe she would buy Sango. Kagome followed Touran over to the iron cage and instantly searched for her friend among the other girls. She was sitting near the back staring to the side. Kagome willed the older girl to look at her, to make eye contact but she just wasn't paying attention.
She wanted so badly to ask Lady Touran to buy her friend but how could she request something like that when the youkai had just spent more gold on her than most people have seen in their lives.
Touran was looking over all the girls with an odd melancholy look on her face. Kagome watched her sigh a few times as the slave girl wondered what was making her so sad. Suddenly Touran turned to her with a smile.
"I really wish I can buy them all, but Iyana would make too much of a fuss about it and raise the pieces. It's horrible and I am very aware of that." The youkai looked back at the stage where Iyana was selling another girl to a youkai man. She couldn't be over 10 years old. "It's horrible of me to have to pick just one…"
Touran trailed off and Kagome thought that now was as good as ever to make her request.
"Excuse me Lady Touran, but I have a friend and…please buy her. She was captured with me, from our village. I don't want to be…"
Kagome stopped herself. She was going to say that she didn't want to be separated from Sango, but that would have made her seem selfish. She was thankful that such a nice person would come along and buy her when she had given up hope. To make it seem like she was still unsatisfied would be rude and might make Lady Touran angry; 450 pieces was a lot.
But Lady Touran didn't seem angry. She stared at Kagome for a moment as if thinking. Kagome held her breath, trying to look as humble to the noble youkai as she could. Sango's fate rested on Lady Touran's decision…
Touran gave a little shrug and smiled. "Sure, I can do that for you. Show me."
Kagome wasted no time in running up to the bars and peering inside. The other woman in the cage stared at her as if she had gone mad but Kagome ignored them. She felt sorry for them, she truly did, but she was so happy right now she could barely think straight.
"Sango, Sango come here!" she called excitedly.
Said girl looked up from where she was sitting and eyed Kagome wearily. "What is it?"
"Come here,"
Sango stood up and squeezed her way to the front of the cage. She looked past Kagome and caught sight of Touran behind her. It wasn't very hard to figure out that Kagome had been bought. Before she could say anything Sango cut in.
"I'm happy for you Kagome." She said quietly. "Try to escape and get back to the village if it even still exists. Tell my family that I'm okay?"
The pleading look on Sango's face brought tears to Kagome's eyes but she still smiled and shook her head.
"I won't,"
Sango's face fell even more. "Why?"
"Because even if I did tell them that, it would be a lie. You're not okay here and you never will be. You can tell your family yourself."
Sango stared at Kagome incongruously, her eyes narrowed in confusion.
Kagome's smile widened and she leaned in closer to the cage. "She'll buy you too. She seems nice; she paid a small fortune for me. If we have too we can escape from her and go back to our village."
Sango looked up from Kagome to gaze curiously at Touran. The youkai was now arguing with Iyana again. The slave trader was yelling loudly enough for Kagome and Sango to hear him from here.
"NO! That one is mine! I don't care how much you offer me!"
Touran shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. She said something to Iyana, but the two girls were too far away to hear it. Iyana instantly quieted and shook his head again. He pulled out his keys and started toward the iron cage.
"You pay far too much for serving girls, Touran. You and your siblings might be the best Shihitou trainers in Nanimo but one day your money will run out."
Touran said nothing to that, but she did smile softly, like she knew a secret. Iyana had his back to the noble youkai so he didn't see the look, Kagome and Sango did. Iyana unlocked the cage and dragged Sango out by one of her wrists. He shoved her in Touran's direction and held his hand out again. Touran pulled out a large bag of gold and dropped it into Iyana's hand. The slave-trader weighed the gold carefully before nodding to himself and stomping up onto the platform to haggle with more customers.
The three women stared after him for a minute before looking away and dismissing him from their thoughts.
"Well let's go." Touran said with a smile. "We have at least a three day ride until we get where we're going."
Kagome and Sango exchanged looks before falling into step behind the youkai as she pushed by throngs of people and out of the city square.
"Before we leave I'm sure that you would appreciate some clean clothes and a bath," the youkai stated thoughtfully, looking over her shoulder at the two girls.
They nodded numbly, hardly believing what had happened to them over the past few weeks. Touran seemed to read their minds because she offered a sympathetic smile.
"I have no idea what you went through, but for whatever happened, I apologize. Not all youkai are evil; quite a few are very nice. Ask anything of me and I'll do my best to make sure you obtain it."
Kagome and Sango stopped walking all together at that. All the things said to them by youkai, all the horrible things that they had been put through; this youkai that they didn't know showed up out of the blue, bought them, and was now saying sorry for everything.
For the first time in a long while both girl smiled.
"Thank you very much Lady Touran." Sango said quietly
Lady Touran smiled back but she was slowly shaking her head. "I would feel much better if you dropped the 'Lady'."
She stepped closer and clasped the two girls' hands in her own. "We are equals. If you called me 'Lady', then I would have to do the same…" Touran wrinkled her nose and looked disgusted with herself. "…and that totally sucks ass."
Kagome and Sango stared at Touran for a moment as they let her words sink in. They pressed their lips together and tried not to laugh. But Touran was already laughing. She dropped Kagome's and Sango's hands so she could use her own to cover her mouth.
She wiped tears of mirth from her eyes as Sango and Kagome did the same. The noble youkai held her hand out again.
"My name's Touran. Yours?"
Kagome offered her hand to the youkai. "I'm Kagome."
The two shook hands and Sango also offered her hand, giving her name with a warm smile. For a moment everything that had happened was forgotten. The fact that they were miles away from their families and that their village might not even exist anymore didn't seem that depressing.
Formal introductions made, Touran turned around again. "Let's go now. The stench of this place is making me lightheaded."
Sango shook her head, while Kagome giggled.
AN: Revised and reposted. Continue to watch this space. Review and no I don't own Inuyasha. (Crap! My hand cramped up! I blame the evil monkey that lives in my closet!)