Update August 2015: This is a revised chapter. I believe my english is better now than back in 2011-2012... or at least now I can read this fic in english and say: "That doesn't sound right..." hehehe...

Author notes: I'm so sorry for being late with the chapter, I got flu ~_~ and it's really bothersome… Oh, and this chapter is really complicated… I didn't love it, honestly but I dreamt the last scene of this chapter and… well it was impossible to not write it this way. I hope you won't judge me and I'll like to know what you think about it. Thanks to all my reviewers, readers and thanks for all your alerts ^^

Disclaimer: Besides the plot line, I don't own anything. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Yomiuri TV Corporation. I'm not getting any profit from this story; this was just made for fun.

Warning: Once in a while there will be cursing. I'm not familiarized with the english dub of this series, but I don't think it's so much, because I honestly don't like bad words but sometimes they happen. You understand me, right? :3

Thanks to: PandaStarz, petpeeves12 and A.B. Plasencia for your help when I was uploading this fic, for your corrections and beta work!

Slavery.
Author: MikoAucarod

Chapter 5. 'Damn…!'

His first thought was 'what the hell?' the next one 'Drop her. Don't let her touch you.' But then he noticed Kagome's worried eyes, and her concern for the girl. It was then when he thought 'Get out of here, the three of you, now!'

Inuyasha obeyed his subconscious' last order.

Up till then he had been kneeling, so he stood up with Kikyo securely in his arms and walked towards Kagome so she could see her condition with more detail.

"Why is she like that?" Asked the girl, in a low voice. She couldn't believe that the most popular girl in school could live in a place as humble as this, even less that she could be in that feeble condition.

Inuyasha didn't need to ask, ever since he first moved in he had heard, every night, the fights, the yelling… the crying.

None of them had yet recovered from the shock, when the hanyou literally felt the presence of a man approaching. Immediately he placed Kikyo on the floor, and stood in front of her and Kagome. There, standing in front of them was a man reeking of alcohol.

He had long, messy, black hair, his skin was pale and he walked unsteadily. He looked at the girls, then at Inuyasha. Finally, he snorted and threw a trash bag at them, which the young hanyou swiftly caught. He damaged the bag with his claws and that allowed him to see its content: it was clothes.

"Tell that stupid girl that I don't want to ever see her in my house again. Ever." He turned around and walked back through the corridor to his apartment. A few seconds later they heard a door slamming close with a loud bang.

"Wha-what was that?" Kagome asked, completely disturbed. Inuyasha was speechless. Kikyo then began to awaken, shifting slowly, letting out low moans of pain. She stared at them, disoriented. "Kikyo, are you all right?"

She couldn't answer because at that moment she began to cough roughly in a way that made her spit up blood.

"It sure took you long enough to come back, what hap-?" Ms. Higurashi froze in shock at the doorway, staring at the unconscious girl in Inuyasha's arms. "Get her upstairs, Inuyasha. Shippo, bring me the first aid kit! Kagome… please leave the sugar on the kitchen counter and then bring me some bandages and gauze."

Inuyasha took her to the room he shared with Kagome and Shippo, and placed the girl on the young kitzune's bed.

"Now I understand what your eyes were trying to tell us the day of the auction," he whispered to himself while he studied the condition of the woman. "That sickening stare that you had… was screaming for only one thing, wasn't it? You were planning on only give us one order, weren't you?" Inuyasha's eyes darkened as he stood up to leave the room.

"D-don't. St-stay… by my side…"

When Kagome and her mother entered the room, Inuyasha was sitting on the floor beside the bed with an extremely annoyed expression on his face. Kikyo seemed to be sleeping, and he was holding her hand.

"What happened, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, with a mixture of emotions, confusion and… was she angry?

"It happens that this shackle is broken, Kagome" answered Inuyasha, obviously uncomfortable. "As I was leaving, this girl regained consciousness for a moment and told me to stay. I haven't been able to move ever since."

"Inuyasha, darling, don't be offended but," Ms. Higurashi began smiling softly while approaching them to take care of Kikyo, "normally you're very sensitive towards the women's suffering."

"That has nothing to do with this," he snorted annoyingly, looking to the other side of the room. "If I could I would move from here, but I can't!"

Inuyasha tried to stand up but when he did so, the stone on his shackle began to glow and made him sit back down beside Kikyo. That made both Kagome and her mother stare at him in confusion.

A few seconds later, Ms. Higurashi's eyes widened in realization.

"It can't be…" She kneeled beside Kikyo and removed the hair from her face. Then she cleaned it a bit, and gasped in surprise. She studied her face, on the verge of tears. "I thought she had died…"

"Mom?"

"Kagome… she's Kikyo… your cousin, Kikyo."

"She's my what?"

"I had a sister, Sonomi. She and her husband had a daughter, named Kikyo. They lived in America, because of their work. So many years ago, you weren't even 5 years old, I heard in the news, about their deaths. I tried to reach Kikyo then, to see if she was all right but I never got a response, that's why I had thought that she too was…" Kagome's mother trailed off and then looked at Kagome. "I believe that would explain why you look a lot a like."

Inuyasha 'keh-ed' incredulously and looked at Kikyo, then at Kagome, who was still in shock, then back at Kikyo again and finally his eyes landed on Ms. Higurashi.

"They don't look alike at all," he stated, angry.

"Maybe not in her nature, dear. I can tell for your reaction that you already know her. But anyway, the most important thing right now is to help her. Once she wakes up we'll see what she has to say. Inuyasha, honey, get out of here, you're blocking my way." Inuyasha immediately let go of Kikyo's hand and jumped into the air landing on the top bunk on the other side of the room, completely disgusted.

"Then, when she ordered me to stay…"

"The shackle reacted because she's directly related to Kagome." Stated Ms. Higurashi, while healing and cleaning Kikyo's injuries.

When Kagome noticed that her mother didn't need her she climbed the bunk beds and sat beside Inuyasha.

"… What just… what happened?" She asked, still a bit shocked, and looking at Inuyasha, who had a puzzled look on his face. "How did we end up like this?"

Two months had passed since. School had started again and everything seemed to have return to how it had always been. But now, they had Kikyo in their lives.

Once she had recovered, she had explained to them that, as Kagome's mother had said, she had lived in America with her parents until the age of 5 when, because of an accident both her parents had perished. She really was Sonomi's daughter. They had lost contact with the rest of the family because of all the travels they had made around the world.

Finally, in her parents will, they stated that everything they had was to belong to Kikyo, but not until she turned eighteen, then she could take possession of her inheritance. Meanwhile, Naraku, an old friend of her father, would be in charge of raising her and administrate all her inheritance. Needless to say, the whole idea had been a disaster.

After the story it took a couple of minutes to calm Ms. Higurashi down, a few more to stop Kikyo from going into madness and order Inuyasha to kill Naraku, three more minutes for Kagome to came up with a plan and finally, two hours later Naraku was arrested, thanks to a call from Ms. Higurashi.

Thanks to the testimony from Kikyo, proof from Ms. Higurashi and papers and documents found in Naraku's apartment, he was jailed for fraud, domestic violence, assault, aggression and other things that had nothing to do with the family, such as possession of drugs and "that kind of stuff" as Ms. Higurashi had said upon her return from court.

Even after all that, what was done was done, so Kikyo found herself with nothing, since Naraku had sold and spent everything her parents had left her. Kagome's mother insisted that Kikyo should live with them, but she was only able to persuade her to move into the apartment next to them. It was paid for by Ms. Higurashi and the salary of a part time job Kikyo had gotten at a mall close to the school.

However, the girl spend lot of time at Higurashi's house, but whenever it was time to go to school she left earlier than Kagome and took another route, through the forest.

It was a mystery as to why.

"Kagome, Kikyo, you're going to be late!" yelled Ms. Higurashi from some were in the house.

"We're going," answered Kagome, "I swear, all you need is your bed in here. We have plenty of space in this room."

"Why do you say so?" asked Kikyo, handing her the hairbrush while she finished applying make up on herself.

"You're here practically the entire day… It doesn't bother me at all, but you always take a different path to school, you don't talk to me there either. When you have plans with your friends you never allow them to come near the house, don't lie to me, the other day Inuyasha and I saw you pass in a car with some guy somewhere further away from here, and then you came back walking."

Kikyo sighed softly then looked at Kagome, thinking over her response.

"I have a reputation to uphold," she finally said "It's not a lie that I came from a rich family, do you have any idea of the prestige that gives you?"

"No," was her dry answer. "Not if it's a false and hypocrite prestigious who's only achievement is to attract the attention of silly and superficial people."

"Well, those silly and superficial people will be the ones to get me out of this hole I'm stuck in." Kagome sighed, somewhat irritated. Kikyo wasn't a bad person, but she had a temper…

"If you're going out earlier and walking through the forest, get down there for breakfast…"

"Crap, I'm late!" Was the last thing out of Kikyo.

"Hey, Kagome!"

"Good morning, Sango!" said the teenager to her best friend upon entering the classroom.

"I saw you entering the campus with Inuyasha, where is he?"

"On the roof, like always. Ever since we started classes again Inuyasha has been accompanying me to the school everyday… as if I didn't see him the rest of the day."

"Hahahaha, yeah, something similar happens with me and Miroku." Sango blushed slightly when she thought about that man with weird manners and a golden heart. "Maybe they're talking right now."

"Maybe you're right," smiled Kagome. Then they saw Kikyo enter the classroom with a group of her friends, she took a seat at the back of the class, like always.

"Hey, speaking of weird things. In these three weeks off school we've had, Kikyo hasn't upset you at all, right?"

"Not at all, why do you ask?"

"Well, I've heard rumors… they say she plans on doing something really evil against you. Much more than what she has done to you since the beginning of high school."

Kagome knew very well that it was a lie. Kikyo was weird but she wasn't a bad person, not now that she had gotten to know her. But she couldn't tell Sango that. Her mother had asked her to keep it a secret, that Kikyo had to be the one to tell everyone about their relationship. She understood it. Yes, Kikyo didn't talk to her at school because she didn't want other people to know that they were related, but they could get along reasonably well. She wouldn't do something against her now.

"Don't be silly, maybe she's tired of picking on me and now she'll find someone else to pick on." Sango didn't respond to that, but she just couldn't let it go.

"That's ridiculous, Miroku. I can assure you that she will never hurt Kagome again, at least not while I'm around."

"Inuyasha, my dear friend, I recommend you to not let your guard down, either way. You must accept, that girl is really weird."

"Miroku's right. If you really care for your owner, don't leave her alone."

"She knows how to take care of herself" was Inuyasha's answer to Miroku and Kouga's comments. It hadn't been an order, Higurashi's family and him had agreed not to tell anyone about Kikyo because she was the one who had to take the first step towards change.

"That way," Ms Higurashi had said, "she'll know then that she had been mistaken and her redemption will be sincere."

"It's not that I agree with them, Inuyasha, but you must be careful either way, and I'm not talking about Kikyo," said Sesshomaru, leaning against the railing of the terrace. "I'm talking about that Naraku person. It wouldn't surprise me if he's not working alone. He'll probably send someone to attack you. Stay on guard."

"I will, Sesshomaru, but stop bothering me about it, all of you."

"I'm home!" Kikyo yelled with a smile, from her apartment. She knew that they would hear her… that specifically someone would hear her.

She left the bags she was carrying on top of her dinner table and went out, in the direction of the apartment that belonged to…

"My family…" she whispered, tenderly.

"Welcome home, Kikyo. Sorry, we can't stay," Said Ms. Higurashi as she left her house with Shippo on her shoulder.

"Where are you going?"

"She's taking me to the Amusement Park!" exclaimed Shippo, with a big smile.

"Since he's been a really good boy I plan to give him a big reward. We'll be back tonight, can you tell Kagome, please?"

"Of course, auntie," said Kikyo, as she smiled at Shippo's excitement. "Where is she?"

"She called, Sango kidnapped her again for shopping. Inuyasha is in the living room watching TV."

"Ok I'll tell her, then. Don't worry."

"Thank you, sweetheart. Take care." She smiled at her one last time and left with Shippo.

Kikyo entered the apartment were, of course, Inuyasha was sitting on the couch with a bored expression.

"Shouldn't you be taking care of Kagome?" She asked, walking to the kitchen.

"She went out with her friends and they had Miroku, Kouga and Sesshomaru with them. They don't really need me, so I decided to rest for a while." That wasn't a total lie and he was tired of the constant insults of Kouga, the tireless warnings from Sesshomaru and the foolishness things that Miroku liked to do. Besides, go shopping with girls? God no, he was a man… well, half-breed… Male! He was male. End of discussion.

Kikyo served herself a cup of coffee, returned to the living room and took a seat beside Inuyasha, who didn't care. Over time he had become accustomed to her presence.

"Tell me, Inuyasha," she began, drinking from her coffee. "Do you think I'm a hypocrite?"

"Yes" he answered dryly. He wasn't going to lie to her. Correction, he couldn't lie.

"… D-do you think that someone could love me for being myself?"

"I have no doubt that in some place somewhere you will find someone. But if you don't let them see who you really are, that will never happen."

Kikyo clutched a hand over her heart, while with the other one she squeezed her skirt for moment and looked over at Inuyasha with a light blush on her face.

"Could you ever love me?"

That question puzzled Inuyasha. Once, long ago, Tsubaki had asked him something similar.

"No."

"Why not? I could always order you to love me, right?"

Inuyasha released a slight chuckle. Oh, the irony. History undoubtedly tended to repeat itself.

"One advantage of this," he said, gesturing to the shackle, "is that no matter what kind of orders you give me, I can't be forced to love someone. You can't rule over the heart."

Kikyo stared at the floor suddenly feeling insulted. In some way she was confessing her feelings to him and he… he appeared not to care…

"But that doesn't stop you from falling in love, does it?"

"No, of course not." Inuyasha got tired of the conversation, took the remote control and began to channel surf.

"Are you in love with Kagome?"

The remote slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor.

"Sorry?"

"I asked if you're in love with Kagome."

Inuyasha stared the floor, with a slight frown.

"I know you can't lie, that's an order that all the Slaves have as a natural law. So, tell me, are you in love with Kagome?" Kikyo started to feel frustrated.

Inuyasha knew that he couldn't lie. But he wasn't answering not because he didn't want to. He didn't answer because he didn't know. Was he in love with Kagome?

"I'm sure that… I really appreciate her… but…" He said, some what disturbed. Crap, he hated to talk about these things.

"But do you love her?"

"I don't know."

"Kiss me."

Inuyasha almost jumped off the couch, trying to get away. Had that been an order? He stood up and tried to ignore the slight struggle that had began to feel in his body, forcing him to stay.

"I'm ordering you, Inuyasha, kiss me. And not rudely or with any bad feelings towards me. I want you to kiss me and pretend to love me. Kiss me vehemently. I command it."

God damn it, Inuyasha found nothing in it that order that involved his heart directly, he couldn't ignore it. Apparently, that damn shackle had reached the same conclusion, because after hesitating for a second or more, he felt his body began to move towards Kikyo, who had stood up.

The hanyou, delicately and carefully began to remove, with one of his claws, the strands of hair falling over Kikyo's face. His actions not coinciding with his expression because, at that moment, Inuyasha felt frightened, humiliated and used.

Worst thing of all was that… that question about Kagome kept echoing around in his head.

Inuyasha closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to see what was happening. He begged for something to happen to stop the order.

But nothing happened.

He could feel Kikyo's arms go around his neck the moment their lips touched. No. This wasn't right. He had to stop now! But his body wouldn't obey his own orders. What kind of body didn't obey its own orders?

He felt a tear of impotence slide down his cheek. He didn't bother pretending he didn't care. He felt so much anger towards himself, towards Kikyo, to whoever had invented the damn Shackle, whoever that was. He just wanted it all to stop now!

And at that moment there was only one thing on his mind. There was only one phrase haunting his mind. It wasn't until that moment that he had realized that one thing… He truly loved Kagome. He loved her so much that, if he could, he would die the very moment she did. He didn't know how, when or why it had happened. He just knew that it was true.

He loved Kagome with all his soul.

'Kagome… forgive me,' he thought with all his heart, feeling Kikyo keep on kissing him… his body not putting up any resistance, responding to that act that was supposed to be something special and wonderful, but was only bringing him pain.

"What's going on here?" He heard in a faint whisper. He couldn't help opening his eyes, his watery eyes, to look at the only person he would give his life for to prevent her any pain or suffering… yet somehow he felt as if at that moment, he was hurting her, so much.

'Damn… Kagome…'

Extra Author notes:

And well, here it is, I feel that I must say something extra before finish this chapter. I want to clarify something about Kikyo, and I believe that with this chapter you can understand a bit her behavior. I don't hate Kikyo, actually I see her as a very complex character, I understand why she does some things even if that doesn't justify her actions, but that's how she lives, I hope to explain myself in this one. Explain it in Spanish was difficult enough so imagine how hard it is for me to express myself in another language xD

And by the way, don't forget this is an AU, is that why Sesshomaru and Inuyasha aren't brothers, they don't even hate each other, ok? Sessh, for example may change a bit in his character. It won't even be the love triangle Kouga-Kag-Inu because as you should already have noticed, Kouga is more relaxed. I try not to change them so drastically but in order to help the story some things must change. I hope you understand this and let's see what will happen in the next episode ^^

Please don't kill me xD have mercy on me. I accept your comments, but believe me when I say that everything in here has a purpose! Even when I was writing this I could understand Kikyo and I try not to use her as the 'ice girl' that they showed in the anime D= but don't forget that this is a InuxKag fanfic! But obviously you won't have them so soon as a couple, hahahaha that'll short a lot the fanfic XDD but don't you think is rather interesting how Kagome will react to this? And how will Inuyasha act now that he's conscious of his love to Kag? I believe that I really should shut up now, or I'll spoil you xDU see you all in the next chapter, entitled "Promise at midnight."