Author notes: I know! I suck with this! *Self-esteem down* Argh! TT-TT Honestly, this is getting harder and harder to translate, when I wrote these episodes in Spanish I had an idea of what I wanted and just let all my emotions to express themselves. Then, when I wrote these chapters I was passing for several critical moments in my life – relative's deaths, fails on jobs, money problems, and a long list of etceteras. And then now that I'm reading again my episodes I'm like remembering all of those things and I just feel so emotional again that it makes me difficult to translate and then I'm all like "Wait, am I writing this right? Oh, crap, no I'm not I have to redo it and then when I look at the clock it's 3AM in the morning a day later from the day I'm supposed to upload the chapter, and I haven't even sent the chapter to my beta ~ I'm so sorry Panda! TT-TT I feel bad for this, I really am, but this last week has been almost pure torture to me, seeking for jobs, money, trying to manage to publish a book I'm writing since I was 15, jobs, money, jobs, money, MONEY! And then I hate that they call you for an interview, and then don't call you ever again, guess who's paying the bus! (And it's ridiculously expensive in my city)

Sigh… sorry, I have had a lot in my mind, in my life, in my world the last couple of episodes, that's why I uploaded late – again – and I'm really sorry for that. Sorry to my readers, sorry to my reviewers and sorry to PandaStarz, really, I'm really sorry, but this is really difficult. I'll finish it, I will, but it's difficult. I was hoping it would be easier but now I've learned that it isn't.

Oh well, change of topic. I honestly was afraid of your reaction about Kikyo in the last chapter, but it seems that I survived, yeeey X3 hehehe =3 this chapter is one of those 'just for filling' but something of it seemed crucial to me when I wrote it. We'll see a bit more about the others Slaves life ^^ I hope you enjoy it.

Also it's placed in Valentine's dates so… even we're practically in Halloween I hope you like it ^^ I'll not take more of your time, enjoy the chapter and thanks for your reviews, reads and alerts! X3 They make me so happy!

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: Maybe there is bad language? I'm not so sure what you consider bad language... ^^U

Thanks to: Thanks to my beta reader, PandaStarz and A.B. Plasencia, for their wonderful work on this chapter.

Slavery.

Author: MikoAucarod

Chapter 7: Among fear and disclosures.

Just one more day, or one day less. That's what Valentine's Day meant for them. When they discovered that February 14 had fallen on a Sunday, they had hoped that everything would end and return to normal soon, but nooooooooo. There just had to be those famous 'sales' and 'offers' that people who wanted to spend their well earned money loved so much.

"If they only knew the real meaning of this day," whispered Kouga, watching, as always, from the roof of the school, the group of girls that were still giving out chocolates, stuffed animals, balloons and other stuff to their peers. No offense but… a whole week had passed since Valentines Day and they were still doing that? He just didn't understand them.

"No kidding. The white day will be the doom for those boys who had received so many chocolates. You see them happy right now, but wait for that day to come," scoffed Inuyasha, extremely bored. "They'll be crying for their mothers asking to borrow money and-"

"Come on, guys. Why do you have to be so pessimistic?" Miroku approached them both with a fun and curious stare. "It has always been like this. This isn't any new. Why don't you just enjoy the moment and leave it at that?"

"Years ago, things weren't like this, Miroku, and you know it. This merchandising stuff is just sickening… " Inuyasha wasn't cheesy, of course he wasn't. He was a grown man. But the truth was, that he missed those past times in which people cared more about the detail and intention than in an object 'far-more-bigger-than-the-one-X-person-gave-to-you-because-I-love-you-more'… "Feh! They're such fools."

"Tell that to Sesshomaru, did you see how many girls offered him chocolates and roses on the Monday after Valentine's day when they came to class?" This time, Kouga sounded kind of jealous.

"Don't tell me you wanted someone to give you one of those too, Kouga." Miroku started laughing out loud. "Oh boy, if I didn't know you well I'd say that you're mad because this year we won't be getting any homemade chocolate from Lady Kaede."

"I'm bored!" shouted Inuyasha, lying on the floor of the terrace. Since that time at the amusement park he had learned that screaming once in a while was de-stressing… although it bothered people around him, he didn't care about that.

"Inuyasha, you don't have to shout," said Kagome, going out to the terrace. Finally classes had ended. Sango, Kagura and Ayame were with her and the four of them had a little pink bundle in their hands.

"Not you, too?" Kouga approached Ayame and stared at the packet with a mix of anger, jealousy… and yearning.

"Is that what I think it is?" Miroku had walked over to Sango and stared at the package, eyes bright. He'd recognize it anywhere.

"Miss Kaede told us that she wished you, to have spent a happy Valentine's Day. Even if it's late, she sends you this with all her love. We hadn't seen her until today, that's why she hadn't been able to deliver them." Ayame delivered the bundle to Kouga, who took it with poorly masked indifference. He was dying to eat that unique chocolate!

"That old woman made us chocolate again?" said Inuyasha, still lying on his back, on the floor, while watching Kagome walk up to him. She left his pack of chocolate in front of his face, leaving the half-demon doing some funny squinting, trying to focus on the packaging. Finally he straightened up and took it.

"Have you seen Sesshomaru?" asked Kagura, noticing his absence.

"He left a couple of hours ago," Kouga told her, with his mouth full of homemade chocolate.

"Oh, look, Mr. Macho man that can't stand chocolates here has now eaten a full packet all by himself." Miroku couldn't pass up the opportunity to make fun of Kouga.

Everyone laughed out loud.

"Stop it!" growled the youkai angrily while watching Inuyasha roll on the floor, laughing.

Kagura was the first one to calm down.

"He must have gone to pick up Kanna from the elementary school. My parents couldn't go today because of a meeting they had at mid-afternoon so no one would have been able to go pick her up. I'll never understand him."

"What do you mean, Kagura?" Ayame asked as she wiped away lingering tears of laughter.

"Well, I don't order him to do much at home, but when there's a necessity, like this one and we ask him to do something he always acts indifferent… I'm not actually sure, he just… He's usually calm and cool and treats me well. He's not very 'sociable' but at the elementary school… I'm pretty sure that I heard him laugh a couple of days ago."

"Sesshomaru laughing?" Kouga, Miroku and Inuyasha couldn't help but exclaim, shocked. How was it possible that Sesshomaru could ever laugh? Never in their entire life – and they had shared a good couple of centuries together – had they ever seen so much as a smile on his face.

"I know it's weird! Even for me!" Kagura blushed a bit when she said that. "It's just that, I don't know. It seems like being with kids could heal his soul…"

"Heal?" Ayame couldn't help but ask while Sango and Kagome just looked each other. They knew what Kagura was talking about. They had heard Miroku and Inuyasha moaning in pain or murmuring things in their dreams, as products of the ghosts from their pasts, the same way it happened to Shippo. Then Sesshomaru probably had…

"Kouga, if I recall right both you and Sesshomaru were turned into Slaves at the same time, right" Kagura looked really concerned and needed to know.

The young wolf seemed uncomfortable with the question, but then he sighed and nodded.

"We were the leaders of the North Tribe. There was a war and, during a fight against some insignificant youkais, one of the human's palaces was affected. The entire region's human army turned against us. Finally, Sesshomaru and I were ambushed. One of the youkais under our command had been captured and he agreed to tell where we were in order to save is own flesh. The rest-"

"...is history." They all heard behind them. Sesshomaru had returned and sitting on his shoulders was Kanna, with her school uniform and smiling brightly.

"Sister, look! Mister Sesshomaru accompanied me to buy an ice cream and we decided to come and pick you up. So we can all go home together!" Kanna got down from Sesshomaru's arms and ran to Kagura. The Inu-youkai looked at everyone else with his usual cold stare.

"What are you looking at?" he asked. Kagome and Sango looked down, ashamed. "I hate compassion." Was the last thing he whispered, more to himself, before leaning on the rail of the roof and watch over the place.

"I wonder why you put so much effort into carrying this marketer garbage, Kagome," Inuyasha said while walking behind a small pile of roses, balloons, a couple of stuffed animals and a few chocolates."

"Well, they were gifts. I can't dislike them just that easily."

"Feh! You're just saying that because you don't have a boyfriend."

"Of course that's not the reason, even if I had one, the details that my friends give me are beautiful gifts…"

"Don't give me that crap. They bought more than what they really needed and now they don't know what to do with so many things."

"Inuyasha, could it be… that you're jealous?" Kagome asked, watching him, but the hard look that greeted her made it very clear that jealousy wasn't what he felt at that moment. For some strange reason, deep down from inside of her, she felt disappointed, and she knew what he was trying to get at…

"If this had been last Monday I would understand, but a week later, Kagome? Don't you think it's a bit late for them to say 'Happy Valentine's Day' or 'Happy Friendship Day' when they hadn't given you even a sign of affection, a hug or anything the first opportunity they got?"

Aha, she was right. She had been a fool to think that Inuyasha wouldn't notice.

No one, but him, the boys, Shippo, Sango, Kagura, Ayame and her family had given her anything for Valentine's Day.

"Well, it's not like this is something new, though. It's always been like this, Inuyasha. I don't really mind."

"But neither do you need to be around to receive the crumbs that are thrown out when they get tire-"

"Shut up." Kagome's voice sounded cold and clearly offended. Inuyasha rolled his eyes, letting out a soft snort through his nose. He had made her angry, you could tell from a mile away and he was angry too, because of that stupid 'You-can't-lie' law. He hated it. He knew when he needed to shut up, but he couldn't do it! In his mind he begged that someone please ordered him to open his mouth again, because he was starving and he couldn't eat anything if he couldn't open it.

"Dad, we're home!" yelled Kanna as she entered her house, followed closely by Kagura and Sesshomaru, who closed the door behind him.

"Welcome home, how was school, Kagura, Kanna?" A young woman with long, black hair appeared at the top of a staircase. "Sesshomaru, thanks for picking up Kanna from school. I called to ask if they'd already gone out and they told me that you had personally gone for her. You shouldn't have bothered."

"It was a pleasure, Ms. Aby. Excuse me, I'll be in the garden." Sesshomaru placed his hand for a moment on Kanna's head and then crossed to the door next to the hall and disappeared.

"That man is a really good person, my dear. He has been so much help at home, and he has such a good manners, very handsome-"

"Hold on, mother," Kagura cut her off, blushing. "I know what you're getting at and the answer is no. I'm not interested in having a boyfriend at all."

"Oh, but sweetie!" Aby's pout was comical. "When I was your age I was already married to your father."

"And for how many years did you blame me for steal your youth." A man entered the room. He seemed about 40 years old. His hair, long and white as his daughter Kanna, fell free behind his back. "'You're so evil, Haku! Give me back my youth!' How many times have I heard that?"

"Oh, but Haku, my darling." Aby pouted even more and at that moment Kanna and Kagura decided to escape to their rooms. Their parents were really weird, in a matter of seconds their mother would have a tantrum, their father would smile and five minutes later you had to evacuate the living room because of the huge quantities of 'honey' that they both poured. Words like 'little bear', 'cherry pie', 'sweetie', and such cheesy things were not ones that you wanted to hear from your parents. It was scary.

"You know, sister?" Kanna swung her backpack onto her bed and went to follow Kagura into her room. "Today, Mister Sesshomaru acted weird."

"You think so? It's not a secret. We know that he's very tender with little girls."

"And that's precisely what worried me today." Kanna approached the window of the room and looked at the garden. Sesshomaru was leaning on one of the trees near the property line. "Today when we got out I was with a friend from class and when Sesshomaru saw us, I noticed how he was… scared"

"Scared?" Kagura went over to stand next to Kanna and watch the youkai, who was apparently resting.

"Yeah, like when you see Chucky on the TV, or when Casper's uncles appear."

In short: When you see ghosts or monsters.

"And then what did he do?"

"He greeted her, asked me to say my goodbyes like a good girl and we left. But I heard him sigh three times. Three!"

That was weird. Sesshomaru never, ever, EVER sighed in front of them.

"Maybe she reminded him of someone he met over these past centuries that he has been living in."

"I hope it hadn't been a person that was very precious to him." Kanna looked sadly towards her hero. He was her hero. Her father couldn't place her over his shoulders so easily. "I would hate to see him sad."

Kagura shook her head slightly and went to take a bath. Nobody knew this yet, except the boys because they had asked but she had heard Sesshomaru whisper things in the middle of the night two or three times now. Despite having his own room, some nights she would hear him whisper, moan and if it wasn't for his appearance of 'ice man' she could have sworn that she'd heard him cry.

"If it's something that he wants us to know, sooner or later he will tell us."

"Ok… well, I'll go do my homework." And with that said, Kanna left, leaving Kagura behind with her thoughts.

What had happened to Sesshomaru?

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" the yelling was from the hall of her house and she knew that the peace had ended. New record. Miroku usually needed only ten minutes to make Sango's father mad at him. This time only sixteen minutes had passed without trouble.

Sango left her room to watch, holding in the crazy desire she had to laugh at how her father was chasing Miroku all over the place. The monk was running avoiding chairs, tables, lamps and other furniture while trying to escape from the man's anger. Her father was carrying Kohaku's bat!

"Why the hell did you scare the pizza delivery girl? You have any idea of how much I'm starving?"

"But such a beauty couldn't leave without receive a compliment from this humble servant!" Miroku tried to explain himself while jumping over the couch and starting to run down the entire hall, towards Sango's room, were, after pushing the girl inside, he locked the door.

"You could at least wait until she gave us the food! She ran away with the money and the pizza!" The man started to hit the door with the bat, in front of the astonished gaze of Kohaku, Sango's younger brother, and her mother, a woman much like the boy, because of her short and rebellious hair. "Besides, to ask a woman if she wants to bear your children isn't exactly a compliment! Open that door and get out of my daughter's room!"

Miroku was trying to hide behind Sango's bed, looking with terror at the door, which seemed about to give away at any second. When he began to march towards it to open it, Sango stopped him.

"I order you to ignore, for the next 30 minutes, whatever order comes from my father."

"Sango, my soul. Let the heavens welcome you, you deserve it. I beg you to help your father to calm down," he begged at the same time he hid himself again behind the bed in an attempt to hide from the wrath of the man.

The girl couldn't help but burst out laughing. Miroku was definitely a lost cause.

"You're incorrigible! Hahahahahaha, if you saw your face-" Sango gasped as tears of laughter welled up in her eyes. "If you saw… the expression of… Hahahahahahahahahahahaha."

The monk forgot for a few seconds the fear he had towards Sango's father. If these moments brought him the beautiful image of this smiling girl, it was well worth it to receive a few strokes from her father.

"Jeez, Inuyasha. You should have tried to write or something. For a moment I thought that you were mad at me." Kikyo watched the hanyou devouring the food in front of him as if his life depended of it. The poor boy had spent two days with his mouth closed until Kagome's mother had told him to open it. That Kagome had dared to not speak to him in two days!

"Feh! That fool-" Inuyasha started drinking orange juice that Kagome's mother had given him in a plastic glass. "Next time I see her, she will pay…"

"Oh well, understand her a bit. Normally things are like that, she is the 'weird bug of the school'" Kikyo tried to explain.

"That's precisely what made me mad! If she knows how they treat her, why did she accept those false things?" Inuyasha looked resentful towards Kikyo, who gave him a tired look.

"Inuyasha, the river took those drops of water a long time ago, you know?" said Mrs. Higurashi, sitting beside the boy, who looked at her blankly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that what's in the past is in the past. Kagome knows it, besides, everyone likes flowers and chocolate. Yes, I agree with you that it's better that the intention and detail is more important than anything else," she added when she noticed Inuyasha's expression. "I bet you that she values much more the hug and good wishes you gave her on Valentine's Day than all those gifts that appeared at her locker a week later. But you can't blame her for looking for something more, deep down in her."

Shippo, who had remained silent the whole time, jumped onto Inuyasha's shoulder and looked at Mrs. Higurashi with teary eyes.

"You mean that the love we have for her, she doesn't consider it enough?" That was a bucket of cold water for Inuyasha. He loved her. He had already admitted that to himself. He still didn't understand how or why but he knew that he loved her, and now they were saying those things? That they would never be nothing more than Slaves to her? Yes, they were friends of hers, but still just Slaves in the end.

"No, no, Shippo. I don't mean that, what I'm trying to say is-" the woman sighed, defeated. "I can't explain it, honestly. Its just… she's that way. She's used to underestimating herself and-"

"But what are you talking about, aunty? If there's something impressive about Kagome is her bravery and how she always confronts things." Kikyo was no less surprised than Inuyasha. They had never seen her underestimate herself.

"She's like that. When she's in front of other people she shows strength because she doesn't want to get hurt. She doesn't lie, she has never done so, but she always keeps her pain and suffering to herself. She doesn't allow herself to show weakness in front of anyone. That's why she-"

Inuyasha then remembered the day he found her at the lake. The first thing she had said was that she wasn't crying, even when it was apparent that she had been. Then Shippo seemed to remember something.

"When I met her… she yelled and drew attention at the school bus but when the students saw it was her, they ignored her a moment later."

Inuyasha stood up and got out of the kitchen, angry. Not at her… well, yeah, he was mad at her but…

"I don't like you!" exclaimed Inuyasha, entering the room and watching Kagome, who was sitting in a small couch while looking through a photo album.

"Wow, should I feel offended?" asked the girl, slightly surprised, looking up at him. She hadn't really expected him to speak to her after what she had done.

"What do you think you gain by acting so childish?"

"What are you talking about?"

Fine, if Kagome had no idea, Inuyasha wasn't planning to give explanations that ended in something embarrassing for him.

He huffed and jumped over to the top bunk and murmured something incoherent.

"What, are you praying, Inuyasha?"

"I'm not praying. I'm angry."

"I don't see why you should be." Kagome continued to look at the photo album. A few seconds later, a part of Inuyasha's face appeared from the on top of the bed, watching her.

"I don't even understand myself." He sighed after a moment. "I don't know, I just… seeing how they always treat you – or rather, the lack of treatment towards you – and then how you act with them as if you don't care what they do to you… and then those 'gifts' as if they did care about you but it only looks like they care about you when it seems convenient for them."

"The truth is that's what they do, Inuyasha."

"Then why do you allow it?" Inuyasha lay on his back and began staring at the ceiling. "You're a strong girl, you have a lot of virtues and if they can't see that then they don't deserve you."

"I know, Inuyasha."

"Then why do you allow it?" All right, his patience was warring thin. "Make them respect you. Maybe it's true, they don't treat you bad or bully you but neither should you have to act like that and allow them to do what they want."

"'Act like that' how?" Kagome was confused, the truth was that she didn't understand Inuyasha's point. He, by his part, was desperately trying to shut up. This was really embarrassing. "If you explained yourself, I could understand better what I'm supposedly doing wrong."

"Kagome, you…" Inuyasha turned again to look out from on top the bunk and looked directly in her eyes, and continued, "They… they don't deserve your forgiveness. You should have thrown away those gifts if you knew that they didn't have any emotional value towards you. You shouldn't let them-"

"You want me to begrudge them only because they don't accept me as whom I am?"

"Precisely." Immediately, Inuyasha hit his head against the edge of the bed, tired. "Well, that's not what I meant… well, that's exactly that I meant but- don't misunderstand me, Kagome."

The girl sighed again and looked at the album one more time.

"Perhaps I would consider your opinion if there was a reason to do it, but there isn't. On the contrary, they may not be my friends, but they don't treat me bad and once in a while I speak with them and it's nice. Besides I don't really need them since I have Sango, lately we've been seeing Kagura and Ayame more often and there's even Kikyo. I have my mom, Shippo… and I have you. It doesn't matter really what other people do, or what they thought about me or what their reason is behind talking to me. They haven't hurt me and there's no point in holding grudges towards anyone. It just-"

"It just kills your soul." Interrupted Inuyasha, with a confused and surprised look. Then he looked again towards Kagome. "How is it you know that phrase?"

"I should ask you the same thing. When my father was still alive he used to say that all the time. He… he used to tell me that there was no point in keep such bad feelings inside our hearts because that'll only torture us internally. Regardless of the damage they had made you you're no one to judge, and the ones who judge are not actually entitled to do so. It has no point."

Inuyasha jumped to the floor and watched Kagome, kneeling in front of her. The young girl blushed slightly, because of his sudden closeness.

"It's a nice way to think," he accepted. "But it's of no help when you're persecuted and harassed by everyone or when you're nothing more than an object for everyone else."

"You're not an object, Inuyasha, and you know it."

He smirked.

"I know. Thanks, Kag."

'And there it is again, that nickname. It's weird to hear it.'

"Does it bother you? The name?"

"No, it's just weird. I'm not used to being called by an affectionate nickname." Kagome looked at the floor between them, not being able to stand his gaze anymore. Then she looked again at the album and continued flipping through its pages.

Inuyasha noted with pride the blush of the young girl, but decided to leave things as they were at that moment.

"You don't hate me, right?" Whispered Kagome after a few minutes, a bit afraid.

"No, it's just that your attitude makes me desperate. Sometimes I simply just can't understand you." Inuyasha turned his back to Kagome and leaned against her legs, while looking towards the room's balcony.

"Well, you don't have to understand me all the time. I don't understand you either and don't question a lot of your attitudes."

"Let's not start a fight… not today."

Kagome smiled with some guilt and gently stroked one of Inuyasha's ears. He instantly struck it against his head, surprised at the sudden contact.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" Kagome laughed softly while watching his little ears twitch restlessly. 'He looks so cute!'

"You didn't scare me. It's just that they're very sensitive." Gah! Damn whoever had thought about that damn law of not to lie. That was the most embarrassing thing he had said in his entire life! "Stupid law…"

"It's good. At least I know you're honest with me."

"Sometimes honesty hurts too."

"But it doesn't kill and it's better to live knowing the truth than living with lies or in constant doubt."

Kagome kept flipping through the photo album for a few more minutes, until Inuyasha snatched it and began to looking through it.

"What's so interesting in this book that you're not able to make good conversation, to not get bored?"

"I didn't know you were bored," answered the girl, between giggles. "We were so calm that I didn't bother in- what's wrong?" Kagome straightened when she saw Inuyasha stand up, with the album in his hand and staring at one photograph, completely pale, white as snow.

"Kagome… who's the man in this photo?" Inuyasha showed her the album, with a mixture of despair and worry. She looked at him without understanding and then when she saw the photo, she smiled with nostalgia.

"If you pay attention, you'll notice that he's wearing the same beads that you have right now, Inuyasha."

In the photograph there was a man about 30 years old. His brown hair fell in mushroom-shaped. Not too short, but not too long either. He was wearing a business suit and on his shoulder there was a little girl. She was Kagome, no doubt about it, at the age of 5. Around the man's neck were the beads that she had given to Inuyasha for Christmas.

"That's a picture of my father and me."

At that moment Inuyasha felt like he was going to die.

He had killed Kagome's father.