Author notes: When I originally wrote this I had recently discovered that a beloved one was going to die, so maybe you'll find that I'm kind of 'emo' in this chapter and that's the reason why this chapter is really short. Anyway, thanks to all for your reviews and PM's ^^ I hope you like this chapter and sorry for the delay, I had to attend an important event and I didn't have time to translate this earlier ^^U

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, for her wonderful work on this chapter.

Slavery.

Author: MikoAucarod
Chapter 8: The truth.

"No… my son, don't blame yourself… this isn't… your fault at all… it'll never be. And even less keep grudges against- against them… don't pity yourself and- and don't… don't keep bad feelings inside your heart. Please don't torture yourself, I- I… I don't judge them… I'm nobody to judge them… that would- that would just kill my soul. Grudges kill the soul."

Inuyasha opened his eyes, scared. His whole body was shaking. He hated to remember that day. The day he had done it.

The day he had killed Kagome's father.

He had asked himself a thousand times who that man had been. Why did he have to do what he had done? He had tirelessly searched for someone who might have known him – because of his clothes he could tell that he was from this era – but he hadn't been able to find anybody. Not even the damn people who had done that to him. Not even someone who could give him a clue of his identity.

He never would have thought that he was the father of the girl that someday would become his owner.

And there he was. Sitting in the largest, lush and hidden tree that he could find. He had practically been hiding there for a month. He hadn't been able to look at Kagome face to face to since then. How could he? He had heard her call for her father in her sleep. He had heard the story from her mother's lips… He had been the murderer!

He didn't want Kagome to hate him. He couldn't bear her disappointed look… that's right. He was afraid to disappoint her. Now he understood why since the beginning he had felt some kind of connection with both of them, Kagome and her mother. Now he could understand why he was always keeping them safe and looking out for them. Earlier he hadn't noticed, but now that he knew the truth, he was conscious that the scent of Kagome's blood was identical to the one of the man he had killed.

His subconscious had made him pay for his sin.

And he… he had fled like a coward. He had preferred to return to the face of loneliness rather than stay a second longer and risk everything to tell Kagome the truth. At any moment she could bring up the topic of her father and he, now knowing the truth, would have to tell her.

He watched guiltily the small yellow backpack in the roots of the tree. Despite all… she cared for him.

"When do you think he will return?" whispered Kagome, who glanced out the kitchen's window once in a while searching for the hanyou.

"I don't know, sweetie, but he will be all right. He's in the forest, that's true, but this is nothing compared to the great places that existed in the ancient times. Besides, we gave him your backpack with food and things that he would need while out there.

"I know but-" 'but what?' Kagome asked herself. Why couldn't she stop thinking about him? She depended on him so much. "It just- it's weird. I mean, he just told us out of nowhere that he wanted to spend some time in the forest, saying that he would accept the proposal I had given him before."

"Well, that promise was still standing. I'm actually surprised that he hadn't left earlier. However, he promised to come back every weekend to let us know that he's okay," her mother explained, understanding how her daughter may feel. She herself missed the boy a lot, but it was true, sometimes he needed time to be alone.

"But I haven't seen him since a month ago. Not once," she pouted, like a little girl.

Kikyo observed her expressions. Since Inuyasha had left, Kagome looked very depressed and as if she no longer had the strength to do things. She sighed. Both of them were fools. He for not confessing his feelings for her and she for not even being aware of her own feelings.

What a family she had!

A few days later, Inuyasha entered the balcony of the room and watched, with relief, that everyone were sleeping… and he smiled to himself while watching Kikyo snore.

The half-demon left the backpack over a near chair and, cautiously, got near the bunker bed where Kagome was sleeping, in the lower bed.

Softly, he took one of the pillows that weren't being used and launched it towards Kikyo's arm so she would move and stop snoring. With joy he noted that his plan had worked, because the girl had murmured something in between dreams and rolled over the bed, turning her back to them and continuing with her sleep.

Shippo was practically dead when he was sleeping so with him he wouldn't have problems.

"Forgive me…" he heard in a sweet whisper. Kagome had woken up.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about, Kagome," he replied, with his back to her. He didn't know what to do; leave at that moment, confront her and wait for the worst, or keep going like this. Damn! He had trusted that she would stay asleep!

"I know I don't have to, but since it seemed that I'm the only one you've been avoiding for over a month I supposed that you were mad at me."

"Not at all. It's me who should apologize to you…" Inuyasha started to sweat cold. He would say it, he was sure, if he didn't leave right now.

The hanyou began to walk towards the balcony but Kagome stood up quickly and took his haori, softly, making him stop.

"Don't go."

"Damn, Kagome. Don't do this to yourself… don't do this to us…" whispered the man, looking the floor. What was he supposed to do now?

"What are you talking about, Inuyasha? I just want to talk. It was all so sudden… what happened? Why did you decide to leave so suddenly? Are you hiding something from me? Are you all right?"

Inuyasha closed his eyes, with both tenderness and despair. He clenched his hands into fists, trying to soothe his troubled heartbeat and also trying to be as sensitive as possible with her. If he had to drop the bomb he would make sure that it would hurt the least possible.

"Nothing bad happened…" he finally spoke. "I-I needed to think…"

'Good,' thought Kagome, 'that cleared my first doubts.'

"And… I am hiding something from you…" Inuyasha felt her tense behind him.

"I thought you couldn't lie."

"I can't. But you haven't asked me for that truth, so I'm not lying. I just haven't told you."

"And what if I-?" Kagome stopped her sentence because Inuyasha had placed his index finger on her lips. She blushed, realizing how close they were and also for finally, after over a month, being able to watch those golden eyes again. But they looked troubled and dried. As if that time had been a living hell for him.

"Please, I beg you, Kagome… leave things as they are. Don't ask, I- I don't want to hurt you." Inuyasha lowered his hand, releasing the girl from her silence.

"The truth doesn't kill, Inuyasha." She shook her head with shame but she needed to know. She needed to know what was happening with him. "Is that the reason you left?" She asked, cautiously.

"Yes" was the half-demon's dry answer.

"And I imagine it has something to do with me."

"That's right."

"Is it something bad or something I should worry about?"

"… It's something… It's something that made you have the life you actually have and it won't have any repercussion in your future." Inuyasha felt his soul relieved when he saw that he had escaped from that question.

"Then it's all right."

"What?" Inuyasha couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'Is she accepting my attempts of explanation just like that?'

"I trust you, Inuyasha," she said. "I know that you would never do something to hurt me. And if you did, it doesn't matter. The life I have at this moment is almost perfect. I'm- I'm fine living like this…"

"Even if I'm a murderer?" Inuyasha's eyes widened with fear. That question had escaped his lips before he could stop it. There was no way back now.

Kagome was even more surprised than the man in front of her but after a few seconds she calmed down.

"Were you the one who hurt him or who attempted to do him harm?" she asked.

Inuyasha shook his head. He looked down, tired, exhausted… Knowing the truth was killing him! How was he supposed to deal with this?

"I ended his life…" He finally spoke. "But only because he was a Slave he was still there… I just-"

"You removed his shackle," whispered the girl. Kagome observed Inuyasha and then she smiled weakly. "You didn't kill him. You only released him from his agony…"

"It's still something bad. I snatched his life away from him. I snatched him from his family…"

"Did you know it at the moment? Did you know that would happen?"

"No…" Inuyasha looked Kagome and just let it out. "Your father asked me to save him, to end with the pain. And that's what I did- I didn't know that it would cause you pain for more than two years.

And then everything clicked into place for Kagome.