Freedom

Chapter9: Passive Violence

I never think I'm good at anything I do. I can always do better. I know my weakness. I've never been perfect

The silence, was killing her. It burned her ears and made her skin crawl. Someone say something damn it!

"So uh…have you ever been to Fukuju before?"

Sharp golden eyes slid open to glare at her. Kagome sighed and settled into the corner of the carriage. She gave up. Getting this guy to talk was like pulling teeth with a rusted spoon. The golden eyes slid shut again and Kagome heard him shift his weight around trying to get comfortable.

They had been on the road a few days now. Kagome had been wondering how all the chosen Shihitou were going to fit in one carriage even if it was huge; now she knew. The coaches had all been connected to each other, like a train of sorts. She really did find it quite interesting how they had managed to do it. She would have to ask Shuuran later. He had been left behind at the compound to watch over it while they were gone.

Kagome never had liked the idea of traveling. The few times she had left her village to visit family, she had hated it. She could never get comfortable, but at least then, she had someone to talk to, to take her mind off of her uneasiness. Inuyasha wasn't the world best conversationalist.

Sango and Miroku were supposed to be in here with them but Touran had to find a replacement for Miroku at the last moment. Kagome had never known Sango could hit someone that hard. She wondered if Miroku could see out of that eye yet.

Kagome sighed. It was dark; the sun had gone down hours ago. She couldn't even look out the little window. She sighed again.

"Stop that,"

Kagome glanced over at her partner. He was sitting much like she was, his head resting against the wall, his shoulder slumped as comfortably in the corner as he could get it. She couldn't see his face but she could see his sharp golden eyes narrowed into slits, glaring at her. 'How can he do that?'

"Stop what?"

"Stop sighing. If you're that bored go to sleep."

Kagome frowned and had to stop herself from bristling at his tone. She tried to strike up a conversation again instead.

"How do you think Miroku's doing?"

To her surprise Inuyasha chuckled. It was a deep throaty sound; she had to suppress a shiver.

"The pervert finally found someone who can kick his ass. I'm a little worried about his back though; that crack didn't sound healthy."

"Do you think it was smart to leave Sango with him? What if she hurts him again?"

Inuyasha's eyes slid closed again and Kagome found herself wishing she could see his expression. "Anything he gets he deserves."

Kagome franticly searched her mind for a way to continue the conversation. Now that she had him talking maybe she could get to know the excusive youkai a little more.

"Your eyes…"

Said eyes slid open again. He wasn't glaring at her, which was a first in the short time she had known him. He merely looked at her.

"What about my eyes?"

"How do they glow like that?" He didn't say anything. Kagome, not one to be deterred, tried to express her curiosity another way. "Is it because you're a youkai?"

Now he was frowning. Kagome couldn't tell if he was angry or not and once again she cursed the darkness of the carriage.

"Sunrise is in a few hours. We'll be in Fukuju in a day and a half. Go to sleep."

Inuyasha then shifted again, so that his back was resting against the side of the coach completely. He closed his eyes, crossed his arms and didn't talk to her anymore. The conversation was definitely over. She started to sigh but a growl cut her off.

"-and if you do that again I will throw you out of this carriage, little girl."

Kagome huffed and closed her own eyes, trying to fall asleep. She found that if she relaxed and focused on the gentle rocking of the coach, she found it rather soothing. Before long, her breathing evened out and she slipped into a peaceful sleep.

"This is so…amazing!"

Karan glanced back at Kagome and smiled. "First time seeing an arena?"

Kagome gave a slow nod and craned her head to see the high domed ceiling. It was so beautiful. The light filtered through small slots that were angled to give sunlight during the day, in way of torches, but still managed to keep the elements out. She would have the ask Shuuran how they had done that too. The outer walls were made of a glossy marble and shone brightly in the sun. It was obviously very well kept. Despite there being very little windows in the closed in part of the arena, it was very airy due to the open ceiling.

Kagome really wanted to see the front entrance. She had heard so much about the Great Fukuju Arena Arch; she was disappointed when she heard that they would be coming in a different way, the Shihitou entrance.

The arena itself was a little outside Fukuju, surrounded on the west and north by the Yumei-Mori, which they had to travel through to get there. The tournament could last from a few days to a few weeks depending on how long each fight took, so it had a number of housing buildings around it for the Shihitou and Enjo quarters. How could fighting take so long anyway?

Kagome suddenly stopped walking and frowned. Inuyasha who was walking behind her stopped also and glowered.

"What's wrong with you? We're going to be left behind."

Kagome glanced up at the retreating mob of Shihitou from their camp and quickened her step to catch up with them.

"Inuyasha?"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before looking down at her. 'Here we go…'

"What?"

"How is this supposed to work? How can I help you fight?"

Inuyasha snorted and crossed his arms. "I've asked myself the same thing more times then I can count."

"The fights are one-on-one right?"

Inuyasha openly rolled his eyes before he gave a curt nod.

"You don't have to be so condescending about it. I was just asking a question."

Inuyasha bristled visibly and looked down to fix Kagome with a nasty glare. She ignored him and continued to ponder what exactly what would be going on when the Shihitou began to fight.

"How many people are going to fight for us?"

Inuyasha snorted but examined the group in front of him with a sharp gaze. "Twenty give or take a few."

"How do Shihitou trainers make money by having the slaves they trained fight?"

Touran just so happened to walk by from behind them to hear Kagome's innocently, naïve question. She stopped short and pinned Kagome with a surprised look. "You don't know anything about this do you?"

Kagome shook her head, while Inuyasha raised his eyes to the sky as if asking what he had done to anger the gods so much.

"I lived in an isolated part of Nanimo. There were very little slaves there and we had all thought the state had forgotten about us. All the ningens were free there and there were not that many youkai. That's why it was so surprising when Sango and I were captured."

"You do know of Shihitou correct?"

Kagome gave Touran a dry look. "I wasn't that isolated. Plus if I didn't know I would have asked you two weeks ago."

Inuyasha hummed to himself and Kagome pinned him with a glare. He promptly ignored her.

"Well your duties aren't so hard. This is Inuyasha's first fight so it's bound to get a little messy…"

"Don't forget he's a half-breed!" a Shihitou called from the small mob.

Touran's eyes darkened and the air around her chilled slightly.

"Say it again Kouga! But next time say it out in the open so I have more room to kick your ass!" Inuyasha snarled angrily.

"Half-breed?" Kagome looked to Touran in question but the noble-youkai was more focused on making sure Inuyasha didn't maim Kouga before the tournament.

"Yeah right Dog-shit, I could take you any day!"

Kouga stepped forward and the other Shihitou stepped back out of instinct. Karan and Touran exchanged looks from across the semi-circle that had formed around the two hot-headed youkai.

"How about now then you pathetic mangy wolf?"

"I'll show you pathetic!"

"Don't forget mangy dumbass!"

Kouga snarled and jumped at Inuyasha. The hanyou squared himself and prepared to block the ookami-youkai's attack. What the two Shihitou didn't expect was the sudden burst of flame that sprang out of nowhere in between them, causing them to jump back. They ignored it and made to jump at each other again but a number of large icicles blocked them this time.

"Stop that right now you stupid, immature brats!"

Both Inuyasha and Kouga turned to pin Karan with wide eyes.

"Immature!" Kouga snorted and crossed his arms, looking disgruntled.

"Brat…Keh…" Inuyasha unintentionally mirrored Kouga's stance.

Touran walked forward and grabbed Inuyasha by one fuzzy ear. "Get over here before you kill each other!"

"Get off of me!"

"Ha! Poor Koinu getting dragged away by a woman," Kouga sneered pointing at the two of them. He quickly found his own pointed eat tugged on and twisted by Karan. She was far shorter than him and had to pull him down to her level.

"That's my older sister wolfy, understand. You'll be nice, understand? If you don't you might find yourself in a hot spot, understand!"

"Yes ma'm…"

"Good wolfy…get in line…"

"Yes ma'm…"

Inuyasha snickered as the crowd of Shihitou began walking to the center area of the arena. Kouga gave him a murderous look but that was all because Karan was still walking next to him. Kagome went back to examining the architecture of the arena as they passed through a miniature version of the Great Arch and in into the open part of the building.

She blinked as the sun hit her eyes and took in the grandness of the Fukuju fighting arena. It looked far bigger than she had guessed, compared to the outside. The stands rose up so high Kagome couldn't even see the tops of the tree she knew were there.

"Those are the camps we'll be fighting against." Touran stated, drawing Kagome out of her thoughts.

The Enjo followed Touran's gaze to two groups of Shihitou on either side of the arena. They were lounging in the large alcoves that had been carved into the stands; some of them were even sleeping.

Kagome stared at the two groups of Shihitou for a few moments before glancing up at Touran. "They don't seem very anxious about the tournament, do they?"

"Nope, that's why they'll be a pushover." Touran said with a smile as she stepped into their alcove. "Now go find your Shihitou and do your job."

"What is my job?"

Touran waved Kagome away as another noble-youkai walked up to her and began talking. Kagome sighed and looked for Inuyasha through the crowd of Shihitou grabbing their weapons. Of course he would be in a corner as far from everyone he could get.

"Why are you so anti-social? Don't you get lonely?" Kagome sat down next to him and pulled his sword out of his lax grip and reached for a piece of lead to sharpen it.

"I'm not anti-social. There are just too many people in the world like you who talk too much about things they don't understand," Inuyasha snapped, narrowing his eyes at his Enjo, then as an after-thought, "…give me my sword back! I can sharpen it myself!"

Kagome leaned away from his hands as he tried to snatch the weapon back. "This is my job, you know."

Inuyasha tried again before he gave up and crossed his arms with a snort.

"What happened to that bow-staff you were always fondling?" Kagome asked, without looking up from her work.

"A bow-staff wouldn't work here. It takes to long to make a kill."

Kagome grimaced at Inuyasha's choice of words but didn't comment. "How do you know that?"

Kagome glanced up just in time to see Inuyasha's face break out into a lazy smile. "Experience, little girl…"

Kagome bristled at the annoying nickname and scraped the lead block across of the surface of the blade extra hard, giving a smug smile when Inuyasha cringed and his ears flattened against his head.

"Okay everyone, over here!" Karan called from the other side of the alcove. "All Shihitou get your lazy asses over here now!"

Inuyasha snorted and got to his feet, holding his hand out for Kagome to give him his sword. The Enjo slid it into its sheathe and tossed it to him, smiling when he caught it and slipped it into his belt.

"See ya, Inuyasha,"

The Shihitou merely nodded before he joined the crowd of youkai around Karan.

"Time to fight," she called over the noise of the spectators around them, "your name will be called when it your turn, so don't doze off or anything and remember…don't die."

A number of the Shihitou rolled their eyes discretely at the pointless reminder as the crowd suddenly fell silent. A loud booming voice echoed around the arena calling everyone to attention.

"This is the first tournament in a great long while! Let the games begin!"

Inuyasha recognized the voice of Jishin, one of the most powerful political leaders in the state. Inuyasha had been owned by that man for a short while before he had lost a great deal of money and had to sell half the things he had in his household. However, it seemed that the noble-youkai had managed to get himself back on top of the most wealthy list.

"Is the puppy nervous?"

Inuyasha's eyes snapped to Kouga who was walking next to him as the Shihitou from all the camps spilled out onto the fighting arena. The crowd was screaming again and Inuyasha flattened his ears against his skull as turned to look Kouga in the eye. "I, unlike you, don't have a reason to be."

Kouga snorted and glanced back at the alcove as the Shihitou formed ranks in front of Jishin. All of the Enjo were watching intently, but one of them caught his eye. He recognized her as the mutt's Enjo, damn…

The ookami- youkai's eyes snapped back to the front as Jishin addressed them from his place of honor in the stands.

"What is your oath Shihitou!"

As one the Shihitou bent at the waist, their eyes staring straight down to the ground as they recited, "We pledge to live and die by the sword. We will cut through everything; Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. To the four corners of the world we make this oath: To live, breathe, and be like the sword. To this we pledge, we will cut everything and never stop. To this we swear!"

The crowd screamed as the Shihitou straightened and dipped their heads once to Jishin. The noble youkai dipped his head back and waved them away. The three camps separated once again and went back to their alcoves.

"I call to honor their oath, Kouga of the Hyou Clan and Katsu of the Kaji clan!"

Kouga stopped before he even had the chance to walk into the alcove and cursed. 'I hate being first! I swear the bastards do it on purpose!'

Inuyasha paused as well and smirked at Kouga as he walked passed him into the alcove. "Good luck wolfy. Remember not to die."

Kouga growled at Inuyasha and made a rude gesture as the hanyou sat down next to his Enjo, before turning around and walking back to the center of the arena.

Inuyasha watched as Kouga walked away and held his thumb and pointer finger up. He pretended to squish Kouga's head as he bowed to his opponent and unsheathed his sword.

"Why do you hate him so much?" Kagome watched Inuyasha pinch his fingers together again and frowned at him in confusion.

"Keh…why not? He's a bastard…"

Kagome's eyes snapped back to the arena when she heard the clang of metal on metal. She glanced up at her Shihitou to see his reaction and was slightly surprised when she saw Inuyasha was now watching the battle intently.

"For someone you hate, you sure are watching him closely." Kagome yawned, leaning back on wall behind them.

"Shut up," then as an afterthought "little girl…"

Kagome clenched her fists and looked back to the fight. Kouga was winning easily. His opponent was loosing ground rabidly due to Kouga's endless onslaught and the ookami-youkai didn't look as if he were even trying. Inuyasha blew out a sigh as Kouga deliberately overlooked a perfect opening.

'Wolfy is really hamming it up.' Inuyasha snorted as Kouga flashed a grin as he stepped out of one of Katsu's slashes, the blade missing his chest by inches, 'Show off…'

Kagome quickly diverted her eyes from the fight when Kouga landed a hit, making a deep gash in Katsu's upper sword arm. The unfortunate Shihitou gasped in pain but the sound was lost in the cheering of the crowd. There was a final clash of metal as Kouga easily knocked his opponent's sword away and leveled his weapon at the youkai's chest.

It took Kagome a few seconds to realize what the youkai in the crowd were chanting; it would take her far longer to understand why she was so surprised in the first place. As Kagome's eyes widened in horror at the crowd's screaming of "Kill…Kill…Kill!" she turned back to the fight just in time to see Kouga's sword thrust into his opponent's unguarded midsection. He looked somber as the crowd's screaming reached painfully high levels and Kagome thought she would be sick at the sight of a dying man. She turned to the only person next to her, which was Inuyasha. His head was lowered but he was staring at the dying body on the arena as if it was the only thing that was, that ever would be. Kagome closed her eyes and turned away as the next set of names was announced.

She didn't look up when the crowd starting screaming again or when the awful chanting of "Kill!" started up once more. Another person was dead, and another, and another, and another, and another.

"Hey…"

Kagome opened her eyes and looked up at Inuyasha, surprised at him calling her or even acknowledging her at all. "What?"

"The sun's going down; we're almost done for the day. This tournament's gonna be a short one, only three days with four days of beast fights. Then we'll go back to the compound."

Kagome gave him a suspicious look, but kept her eyes firmly fixed on his face, away from the arena where two Shihitou were, by the sounds of them and the crowd, killing each other slowly. "After nearly a whole week of being a pompous jackass you try to be nice to me now?"

Inuyasha scowled and turned his nose up, his ears twitching in irritation. "It's not my fault that you're being so afraid of watching this that it's annoying me. I was right in thinking that you were a little girl if watching a little bit of blood getting split is sickening you this much."

Kagome looked away from him and closed her eyes again, trying not to be too angry. He had tried to be a little comforting in his own weird twisted way. At least she knew he wasn't a brainless, heartless, condescending, bastard all of the time.

Kagome jerked slightly in surprise when a loud booming voice ended the last callings of "Kill!" and the following cheer as the winning Shihitou complied with their request. Oh god, what had she and Sango gotten themselves into?

"The first day of this tournament draws to a close with this last battle. I call to honor their oath, Inuyasha of the Hyou clan and Gekido of the Kaeru clan."

Kagome's eyes widened and she turned to Inuyasha as he got to his feet. "Wait a minute! I thought you said they were done for the day?"

"Didn't you hear him? After this fight the first day is over. What's in your brain, rocks?"

Kagome made a grab for him as he walked by but missed. The Shihitou spared her an annoyed and slightly confused look. "Don't worry about me, little girl,"

"Wait a minute! You can't…"

Inuyasha was already gone. He wiggled his fingers at her over his shoulder as he stepped out of the alcove and onto the field.

"I'd worry if I were you."

Kagome's head whipped around to pin the speaker with an angry glare. Of course it would be Kouga. "What do you mean? Your fight was easy enough for you wasn't it?"

"Yeah but the puppy's a half-breed." Kouga crossed his arms and wrinkled his nose in disgust, "There's a difference."

"You said that before in the hallway," Kagome muttered, glancing up at the fight to make sure she hadn't missed anything. Inuyasha and Gekido where taking their bows now. "What do you mean by that?"

"I thought it was kind of obvious. Half human, half demon," Kouga paused for a moment as if thinking. "Yep…he's a mutt-face."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything." Kagome turned back to the arena when she heard the sound of metal clashing together begin.

The first fight she had seen sickened her and she had refused to watch any of the other ones, so why was she so worried about her bastard of a Shihitou? Kagome frowned in confusion over her own conflicting feelings but pushed them to the back of her mind as the crowed began reacting to what they were seeing. They began muttering at the appearance of a hanyou Shihitou and asking among themselves why he hadn't been killed off yet by his obviously superior opponent. Kagome's eyes narrowed in anger when they began chanting his death sentence early. 'I want you to win Inuyasha. Even if it's just to prove all these people wrong…'

Inuyasha seemed to have the same thought in mind. His movements were quick and efficient as he ducked under a slash aimed for his head and brought his right elbow up to plow into Gekido's nose forcing the youkai to backpedal a few steps. If he heard the crowd's mutterings he ignored them as he advanced on his opponent, feinting to the left but twisting around to attack Gekido's right, unprotected side. His opponent blocked the slash and moved to counterattack. Gekido made for the Inuyasha's open back but Inuyasha sidestepped and twisted again with an upward slash, catching Gekido's sword easily. The two Shihitou fought against each other's brute strength for a few moments before Gekido jumped back leaving Inuyasha nothing to push against. The youkai had counted on Inuyasha being slightly off balance and used it to his advantage. He jumped forward and trusted his sword at Inuyasha's unprotected stomach as the hanyou staggered back, trying to reclaim his footing. The hanyou saw Gekido's attack coming and managed to twist away at the last moment. Gekido paused and blinked in confusion, not counted on Inuyasha being able to move away in time. The youkai was unprepared for Inuyasha to reappear behind him and plow his elbow into the middle of his back. The blow knocked Gekido to the ground and Inuyasha kicked his sword away before the youkai could grab it again.

The crowd didn't know what to do for a moment as they peered at the panting half-demon and his defeated opponent sprawled out in front of him. Inuyasha's sword rested on Gekido's collar bone and his hand shook as he tightened his grip on the hilt. Slowly the crowd began to chant their wish for his opponent's death. Inuyasha closed his eyes when he realized that it was much harder to do than it looked. Gekido's pleading for Inuyasha to let him live was not helping.

Inuyasha sighed and relaxed his shoulders. He closed his eyes and tuned out the crowd. 'I apologize…'

His sword cut through the man's skin like it was paper as Inuyasha apologized over and over again. The crowd screamed but he didn't hear it. He did feel his body aching as it reminded him that he had been injured. When Gekido had managed to knock him off balance, then surprised him with that thrust, Inuyasha hadn't been able to completely get out of the way in time.

'Well, at least you took some of me with you…'

Inuyasha sighed again as he made his way back to the alcove. The Shihitou grinned and patted him on the back for a job well done. It was his first fight after all.

"Great job,"

"You didn't freeze up or anything!"

"You were made for this. You're not even sweating!"

One Shihitou in particular, Tsuta, grabbed him into a headlock and ruffled his hair with his fist. "That was great! You're as much of a showoff as Kouga is! No one even noticed that you got slashed with that last attack! Great job kid!"

"About that…"

"What?"

"You're hurting me…"

"Oh! Hehe…sorry! There's your Enjo; she can patch you up."

Inuyasha felt himself pushed in her direction and grunted in annoyance. Despite the youkai's tendency to get a little touchy, Inuyasha could safely say that he wasn't that bad and that he hated a lot of people more than him.

"Inuyasha! Are you okay?" Kagome stopped short and eyed him carefully, her face paling. "You're bleeding…"

Inuyasha sat down heavily as Jishin's voice prattled on about how well today's games went and to come back tomorrow for the next day. The Shihitou weren't allowed to leave until everyone in the crowd had removed themselves from the arena grounds. His stomach hurt…jeez…

"Are you okay?"

Inuyasha blinked open his eyes and peered into Kagome's face. A few of the other Shihitou from their camp had been seriously injured today as well and two had lost their fights. Inuyasha shouldn't have felt any shame about being injured but he did. So he nodded to his Enjo and closed his eyes again.

"No you're not. You're bleeding all over the place."

Inuyasha gave a lazy smile before his head lolled to the side in a dead faint.

Kagome sighed as Inuyasha passed out and asked one of the Enjo next to her for the roll of bandages that she had been using on her Shihitou. The girl, Kasumi, peered at Inuyasha intently as Kagome peeled off his armor.

"He did a good job for his first fight. Sorry about that."

Kagome frowned but didn't look up from making sure Inuyasha didn't die later of blood loss. What a depressing thought. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well…if he stays alive then you'll never get to leave this place. My Shihitou won't survive his wounds so I can go home after we get back to the compound.

Kagome's eyes widened and her hands paused in moving Inuyasha so that he was stretched out completely on the bench. He was sleeping soundly, his face slightly sweaty but peaceful. 'Even if you're a jackass, I don't want you to die Inuyasha…What do I do?'

AN: Revised and reposted. Please continue to watch this space. Review and no I don't own Inuyasha. ( :evil monkey points: Can't you see I'm not in the mood! :sobs:)

Translations:

Jishin: Earthquake

Katsu: Victory

Kaji: Fire

Hyou: Panther

Gekido: Fury

Tsuta: Ivy

Kasumi: Mist