A/N: Finally! (Sorry.) Okay, I just gave up on the editing that I wasn't doing, so here, have a chapter! ^_^
Chapter 8
Shippo and Kirara staggered out of Miroku's robes at last, sweaty, disheveled, and irritable. "That was a terrible idea!" Shippo cried, as if they'd thought of it. He stopped. "Whoa! Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha twitched. He was sitting with his knees drawn up against his chest, his forehead resting on them. His torso was bare, and Kagome was dressing his wounds. Inuyasha raised his head and smiled absentmindedly, sweetly. Shippo stood and stared.
He said, unnerved, without looking away from Inuyasha, "Uh, you guys?"
Sango answered, "He's drugged."
Shippo relaxed and said in an embarrassed way, "Yeah. Right. I heard that."
"You may have heard it, but he's a sight to see," Miroku spoke. "It's totally creepy."
Sango agreed, "I second the motion."
As Kagome finished tying the bandage wrapped around his lower back, she said, "Oh, come on. It's not that creepy."
Miroku raised an eyebrow. "Even you can't really believe that."
She sighed and relented. "Yeah, you're right. But… I don't know. Somehow, it seems mean to say." She reached for his left hand, but accidentally jarred it instead.
Inuyasha pulled his hand down, cradling it between his chest and thighs. He frowned at her. "Come on, Inuyasha. Give me your hand." He obeyed instantly, startling her. She'd been prepared for an all-out battle. "Well, okay, then. I guess."
She wrapped it snugly. "Too tight?"
He just continued gazing at her, as he had the whole time she wrapped his hand.
"Inuyasha?" she asked anxiously, tightening her grip around his fingers.
"Hmm?"
"Tell me if I wrapped it too tightly."
"It's fine," he murmured absently. He yawned. Then he took his hand back, folded his arms on his knees, and put his head down again.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked once more.
He hummed.
"Aren't you cold? Do you want to put your shirt back on?"
He shrugged, and then winced.
Kagome looked at Miroku, Sango, and Shippo for help. "Should I make him put it on?" her face asked.
Shippo tugged on Inuyasha's hakama (split skirt). "Inuyasha?"
"Hmm."
"Put on your suikan."
He unfolded and reached for it. Shippo was shocked, and then giddy. "Wow! Did you guys see that? He did what I told him to!" He clapped his hands, eager for this chance at revenge. Inuyasha was always being mean to him, and now he, Shippo, had the upper hand! The possibilities were endless!
Miroku folded his arms. "Shippo. Don't go getting any ideas. Much as I'd like to join in, now's not the time."
Shippo slipped his hands to his sides in disappointment. "Aw… but I'll never get another chance!"
Miroku and Shippo continued arguing while Inuyasha slowly, painfully, pulled on his shredded undershirt and magically repaired red top. Kagome laid her hand on his forearm in sympathy. He paused, looking at her, waiting. "Go on, Inuyasha." He finished tying it closed. "You should sleep now. That would probably be best."
He nodded, and lied down, closing his eyes.
Inuyasha awoke burning with anger.
Someone was wrenching his neck with that chain. His eyes snapped open. He grasped the metal between both hands and struggled furiously to tear it off. Gaining no margin of success, he jerked to his feet and crouched, hands out, claws at the ready. He growled.
"Come on, you mangy cur. Lord Atsuo demands that you pay him back for all the trouble you've caused."
Inuyasha ignored the soldier, looking around at his new surroundings. Atsuo was sitting not far away on some sort of raised platform in a large room open to the midday air. He was quite elaborately dressed. Miroku, Sango, and Kagome sat submissively near him, angering Inuyasha. Soldiers edged the area. They were tense and ready for anything. Atsuo seemed unconcerned, however, which really pissed him off.
"What's your problem?" Inuyasha called antagonistically.
Atsuo smiled grimly and tightened his left hand. "You are. But you won't be for much longer."
"Oh, yeah? Good luck trying."
"Oh, I don't need luck. Just this." He raised his fist. A ruby-red ring glinted in the sun.
Inuyasha snorted. "A ring? You think a ring is supposed to scare me?"
Atsuo fisted his hand, pointed it straight at Inuyasha, and held it there. Nothing happened. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. He laughed derisively. "Looks like you do need luck, Atsuo!"
Inuyasha's voice cut off. He clutched his chest, mouth gaping open. His eyes bulged. He couldn't breathe!
"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, rising to her feet.
"Yes, go to it," Lord Atsuo said sarcastically. "But then, this is just the beginning."
Kagome glared at Atsuo, and then gazed helplessly at Inuyasha.
Atsuo suddenly glowered at Kagome, and then relaxed. "No matter. This was my intention all along. This dirty half-demon needs to learn his lesson." He turned back to Inuyasha, fisting his hand hard enough to whiten his knuckles.
Suddenly, Inuyasha screamed in blinding agony. It was blood-curdling, gut-wrenching, and desolate in its suffering. Inuyasha shrieked again, its resonance nearly unearthly. His chain glowed brilliantly white, humming with intensity. Its reverberation joined Inuyasha's voice, forging an extreme dissonance.
Inuyasha knelt, his head thrown back, hands forming contortionist's claws at his chest. The blinding, vibrating chain streamed out of the soldier's hand to the lord, who snatched it. Atsuo cried, "YOU WILL OBEY ME!" His ring pulsed with his words a red glow. The red flowed through the metal and circled Inuyasha's neck in what seemed like a caress. But Inuyasha screamed and trembled with anguish. His face glistened in the red light. The scarlet glow continued to encircle his neck, swirling faster and faster.
"INUYASHA!" his friends yelled. "INUYASHA!" They all surged toward Lord Atsuo, but the soldiers engaged them in hand-to-hand.
"STOP IT!" Kagome screeched, her voice cracking. Her tears flowed freely. She stretched her hand out to Atsuo, temporarily safe as Sango and Miroku fought off the samurai. "STOP!"
Atsuo ignored her. A maniacal grin slit his face, lit disturbingly by the light from his ring.
Inuyasha screamed until his lungs felt like they nearly collapsed, then took a deep breath and shrieked again. He was blind to everything but the pain. He could sense nothing but the agony. It enshrouded him. Nothing else existed. Not the soldiers, not Atsuo, not even Kagome. He himself hardly even existed at all, only as a receptacle for the sharp, never-ending anguish. It felt like his every nerve was on fire, like lightning crackled through his body, like he'd incinerate from the inside out.
Kagome ran to him in desperation, dodging samurai. "INUYASHA! NO!" She threw her arms around him, holding on for dear life. "Inuyasha!" she sobbed. He didn't react, except to take another breath and scream again. She flinched. The light moved so fast around his neck now that it looked like a solid, scarlet necklace. Kagome shrieked with him.
The light and frequency of the chain's vibration died suddenly, instantaneously. Kagome cut off her cry in surprise. Inuyasha sagged in her arms, his final shriek dying away. He panted, eyes closed, face downcast. "Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Are you okay?"
"It's fine," Atsuo answered harshly. "Now get away from it. There's work waiting for all of you. Unless… you want me to do it again?" He gestured grandly with his left arm, clinking the chain he still held. The ring flashed.
"No!" Kagome cried, tightening her hold around Inuyasha.
Atsuo raised an eyebrow. "Come on, girlie. Time's a-tickin'." He slowly, gently stretched his fist toward them again. He growled, "I told you to move away from it."
She stared, and then released Inuyasha. He swayed on his knees and dazedly watched her walk away. Shoved, Miroku and Sango stumbled toward the same archway as Kagome. She paused and looked back at Inuyasha, her long-fingered hand resting elegantly on the doorframe. Then she stepped gloomily over the threshold and into the darkness.
Atsuo sent a mild pulse down the collar. The half-dog flinched and flattened its ears, glaring. "Go on. You're not getting out of the work this time." He offered the shining metal to a high officer standing behind and to his left. He took it, and dragged the slave off in the same direction as the other new troublesome acquisitions. But then, new slaves were always taxing. Lord Atsuo sighed.
