Author notes: I know, you hate me! V.V Oh well, what can I do xP I'll still continue this fic, I'm sorry for the angst in the last chapter, but I hope you enjoy this one ^^ even if we're in winter were I live, let's go to the beach! Thank you for your reviews, reads and alerts, and welcome to the new people that are now reading this story! ^^ I hope to not disappoint you.

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 11: To the beach!

"Summer!" Kagome yelled happily, while running around the entire schoolyard, not caring what other people thought about her.

"She looks very happy," Sesshomaru said, standing beside Inuyasha on the top of one of the buildings. They observed how the girl passed her arms behind Kagura's and Sango's backs and started to run in circles with them from one side to other.

"Yeah, she's content," whispered Inuyasha, who looked tenderly towards the girl who was smiling like there was no tomorrow.

"Can we know the cause?" Kouga approached the rail and then Ayame, who was just exiting one of the buildings waved at him, signaling that she was in a hurry. "Oh crap, I forgot, we have to pick up her parents at the District Attorney's Office. See you later, guys!" and then Kouga jumped from the roof towards the next building, from which he leapt once more on top of a tree and then he jumped to the ground agilely.

"The District Attorney's Office?" Miroku observed the way Kouga and Ayame had taken and then he glanced towards Sesshomaru. "Are Ayame's parents in some kind of trouble?"

"Not at all. Her father is one of the highest judges of this city. Her mother is the boss of the Department of Human Resources of the Federation."

Inuyasha and Miroku stared, shocked, at Ayame's back, who was almost lost between the multitude of students. Then her family had lots of money and power.

"Wow, look were Kouga ended up at: a super fancy house full of luxury. Now I'm jealous."

"Why do you say that, Miroku?" Inuyasha returned his attention to Kagome, who was now lying in the grass of a great field in the courtyard and over Kikyo's legs to whom she had apparently tackled to the ground in the midst of her fun.

"Well, Sango's family isn't poor, they have a comfortable life, but her father is so stingy…" Miroku pouted comically, like a little boy who didn't get any candy. "The other day he didn't let me buy a pizza for dinner."

"Miroku, that's not being stingy. That was his attempt to protect the female society from you."

"Sesshomaru, I am positively wounded by your criticism!"

"Hey, guys! Let's go!" yelled Sango, standing next to Kagome who was still on the ground, unable to stop smiling.

The three of them went down from the roof the same way Kouga had earlier done, with Miroku being carried over Inuyasha's back. Despite his enhanced abilities being a Slave, he was still a human.

"What's wrong, Kag? Hurry up, I want to get home and eat."

"Vacation!" she yelled, shinning with happiness "I can't believe we're finally on vacation! I thought this day would never come! We can go to the beach, Inuyasha! It isn't so far away from here, but I didn't liked the idea of go back and forth everyday. We can even camp in the forest if you want, or we can take a trip out of the country – I can talk about it with my mom – oh, oh, oh! I know! Maybe we could-!"

"Stop it, stop it, yeah, we'll do that, we'll do whatever you want but let's go now, I'm starving!" interrupted Inuyasha placing his claws over her mouth, always being careful and not hurting her. She blushed because of his sudden proximity.

"Kagome, I can't feel my legs."

"Ah, sorry, Kikyo!" the teenager stood up with a nervous smile and between her and Inuyasha they helped Kikyo stand again, though she was off-balance.

"I think one of my legs is asleep."

"Oh, that can be solved so easily," Sango said, with a malicious smile.

"No, don't you dare!" Kikyo couldn't get away because Inuyasha was holding her by her arms. Sango approached and slapped Kikyo just above her knee, sending a pins-and-needles sensation throughout her leg.

"That should do it."

"You're so mean!" Kikyo pouted and started to walk slowly, because of the pain in her leg once it had woken up.

"Hahahaha, I'm sorry Kikyo," Kagome was again smiling. Inuyasha and she approached the girl, "But it was an occasion that we rarely have, you should have seen your expression when Sango was-"

"Kagome," called Inuyasha, softly. She stared at him in confusion but all he did was to shake his head slightly and signal with it to Kikyo, who was giving her back at them.

She had suddenly stopped her walk and was looking towards the school entrance, with a look of hurt, anger, and disappointment.

In front of them, a couple was walking. He was a very handsome man who Kagome recognized as the one who usually took Kikyo in his car from school. He was taking the hand of a girl that seemed to be younger than them - maybe she was a second year. Both were chatting and minding their own business. The young man at certain moment turned his head back and saw Kikyo, but not even two seconds later he turned again and continued walking and chatting as if he hadn't see anything.

Everyone remained silent until both of they had gone up to a car that was stationed near the building and marched towards the main road.

"Kikyo, who was he?" asked Kagura, approaching with caution and placing her hand over the shoulder of the black-haired girl, offering her support, but she just dropped her eyes slightly and then sighed deeply.

"Nobody important. He's just another waste of my life, nothing more…" after a couple of seconds, she glanced up and observed Kagome with a small smile on her face, "Can we go now, Kag?"

"Yeah, sure."

After saying good-bye to their friends, Inuyasha, Kagome and Kikyo went to the school bus, as usual and boarded waiting with eagerness to get home. It had taken a lot of time to make Inuyasha travel with them – just as some other Slaves used to do – and not over the bus roof or running by his account.

"Well, well. It's none other than Miss 'I'm-better-than-you'. What brings you again to the world of normal people who take the school bus? Oh, that's right, you're as poor as we are, aren't you?" one of the girls already sitting on the bus bullied Kikyo, when she saw the trio get in.

"You're boring with that old joke, exaggerated idiot." Kagome answered coldly, passing them as if they didn't exist. Kikyo followed her closely without letting her gaze down, despite the fact that her eyes were beginning to water. Inuyasha growled to the group of girls that were laughing at them making them squeak with terror. He then put his arm on top of the shoulder of the black-haired girl, showing her support and making her walk faster. He had no objection to detest those stupid girls… was it good or bad?

Once they took a seat at their usual place, at the end of the bus, the rest of the people lost interest in them. With time they would leave them alone. That was the only thing that kept Kikyo unbreakable, but every day it was getting more and more difficult to do this.

Since Kikyo had been sincere with her family, she had told them that every time she surrounded the forest was to get to a rich neighborhood people on the other side of it, from where she pretended to leave from one of the houses and was always picked up by the same guy that had turned his back on her today.

Just as Kagome had told her, everyone turned to be hypocrite and just treated her for interest in all the money she'd claimed to have. When Kikyo showed herself as she really was, almost all of her 'friends' turned their back to her. And well, how was it possible that the most popular girl in school had become the 'weird girl' of the whole school?

Kagome didn't have problems with that anymore, but Kikyo was having a hard time adapting to her new life. She was achieving it, she was learning to ignore the teasing, learning to really value the people who really deserved it, to not break up in front of the people who didn't deserved it in order to avoid more teasing. But most of all, she was learning to not keep grudges against them.

Because that just killed the soul.

They had all practically adopted that ideology as a life style. Kagome, Kikyo and Inuyasha owed that phrase a lot, since they had suffered lots of things in different kinds of ways but that little phrase, step by step was giving them back their lives, their calm and their peace.

"I really admire your courage, Kikyo," Inuyasha finally spoke, sitting next to her. Kagome was sitting on his left. "You've done very well."

"Thanks, Inuyasha." The girl smiled softly, staring thoughtfully into space. "I know that I'm not wrong. I know that for the first time in years I'm finally doing the right thing, and this sooner or later will bring me happiness… but you can't help the hurt inside. I guess that a part of me was hoping that despite the hypocrisy and the lies, someone who called himself a friend of mine would support me. But as you see, everyone turned their backs on me."

"Maybe that's true, Kikyo," Kagome inclined herself to the front to speak with her cousin. "But you're not alone, you have-"

"I have you two, Sango, Kagura, Ayame and the guys, I know," Kikyo smiled sweetly, "I know I'm not alone and I never said that I felt bad for being myself. I'm not ashamed either. It's just…"

"You're hurting because you trusted in them, and they neglected you in the end," finished Inuyasha, closing his eyes crossing his arms. "That will end sooner or later. No matter what, you'll get over all this soon and you'll realize that, for having kept firm in what you believe, you got what you wanted, even if the path is hard. I really admire your courage."

Both girls smiled at the blushing hanyou, a clear signal that he had once again spoken with his heart and not been able to stop himself because he couldn't lie.

"And I think that will be all," Kagome said proudly, while she wiped the sweat from her forehead, admiring her masterpiece.

"Why did you insist on making a building with all our suitcases, Kagome?" Sango observed, with a large drop of sweat on her head, the tower that the girl had created on the roof of the van they had rented.

"I was bored, you can't blame me."

"But Kagome, that won't be able to pass under bridges."

"You're right… Inuyasha!"

"It wasn't me!" they heard him yell from the interior of the apartment, making the women laugh out loud.

"Are we done yet, guys?" asked Ayame, sitting on top of the van's hood with Kouga standing next to her. "I'm dying of boredom, here."

"Sorry Ayame, but Shippo and Inuyasha are being slow with packing their belongings."

"Shouldn't it be you and not the dog taking forever?" Kouga seemed surprised. Normally, Inuyasha usually took no time for Inuyasha to decide what to— "Oh! That's right, Miroku is with them. I understand it now; this will take a while." And then he began to laugh.

"For the last time, Miroku, leave my stuff alone!"

"But Inuyasha, this is so old! Why the hell do you need these jeans to go to the beach? The swimsuit is more than enough!"

"Unlike you, pervert," Inuyasha answered him while snatching the pair of jeans that he intended to pack out of Miroku's hands, "I'm not only going to the beach to lay in the sand and stare at girls."

"Inuyasha, you wound me!"

"Yeah, right. Shut up and take this suitcases downstairs, and don't you dare to open them to see what's inside!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. But hurry up. The girls are waiting for us."

Once Miroku left, with a couple of suitcases under his arms, Inuyasha observed around the room, to check that nothing was forgotten. Then he noticed Shippo who was still sitting over his bed, staring quietly out at the balcony.

"What's wrong, runt?" he asked, approaching the little kid who sighed and stared the floor.

"Everything's all right, right?"

"Be more specific."

"… all between us… you and Kagome… you're not pretending or lying, are you?"

"I can't lie, Shippo. We both talked to each other, it's been weeks, months, since that thing with Kag's father, and with time, she's been accepting it."

"Then that smile of hers… it's real?"

"I guarantee you that."

Shippo smiled openly and then they both exited the house and placed the last suitcases in the car.

"All right, all of you be very careful." Ms. Higurashi waved her goodbyes, while kissing her daughter and giving a hug to Inuyasha. "And promise me that you won't do anything reckless and that you'll take care these two months. Oh, I wish I could go with you so much, but who would take care of the house?"

"Mom, I insisted that Mr. Totousai or Mr. Myoga could take care of it, but you said no."

Ms. Higurashi smiled internally at her little bit of mischief. Of course she didn't want to go. She wished to have excellent news from Kagome and Inuyasha once they came back. If she were there she felt that it would interfere with their relationship.

How would her grandsons look with doggy ears?

"Aunt!" Kikyo called for the fifth time, bringing her out of her daydreams. "You'd better rest for a while. It seemed like you were dreaming."

And the lady smiled again, of course she was dreaming. She was dreaming for a beautiful future for her daughter.

"Beach!" yelled Kagura, Kanna – her little sister – Sango, Kagome with Shippo over her shoulders, Kikyo and Ayame while running wildly all over the place as if their lives depended on it.

Miroku, Inuyasha, Sesshomaru and Kouga observed, a bit angry, how all of them were left to deal with the suitcases.

"We're definitely the weirdest Slaves in the entire world," commented Kouga, once they finished getting the last of the suitcases in their corresponding room of the cottage they were going to spend that summer. It was a big wooden house, with lots of rooms, which seemed to be from a rich family but now it was abandoned and according to Kagome, the earlier owner approved them being there. It was like her summer house.

"So this is the summer house of lady Kagome. You, Inuyasha, are so lucky. Just imagine it: you have this entire house just for you two."

"Shut up, Miroku. If you haven't noticed it, you're all going to be here too."

"Oh, so then what Miroku was saying is true? You're in love with Kagome?" Kouga smirked, but not haughtily. It was almost as if he was happy and grateful. "I'm glad to see that you have finally come out of that shell of yours, pal."

"Shell?" the half-demon seemed confused.

"Yeah, you know that thing you once told me about not opening up to anyone again. Centuries ago, every time we fought each other you seem determined to protect the ones you cared for. With time, you started to fight to protect yourself. And finally you just fought because they ordered you to do it. It wasn't you at all. I'm glad to see that you were able to get over it and go on."

"Kouga's right, Inuyasha. Maybe we're not the best friends in the world, but we're happy for you. I'm sure that lady Kagome also likes you very much. Definitely, all your previous suffering is being compensated for right now."

Inuyasha couldn't answer that. He could feel he was blushing so he stared at his feet, in thin and comfortable sandals, as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

"To be honest… I'm not sure how I let this happen… two years ago…" Inuyasha walked towards the window and observed the girls having fun, every one of them smiling, without a care in the world. "After what happened with Kagome's father I realized that no matter what, with or without a shell, as you called it, Kouga… it hurt the same." The hanyou put his hand over his heart, not looking at Kagome anymore, but far beyond her, much further back in time.

The two youkai and the monk watched, a bit shocked, between them. Inuyasha had never been as sincere as he was right now. Miroku smiled, and the two others relax. Definitely, Kagome's influence was beneficial to the boy.

"The only thing that I managed to get for ignoring other people, being cold and trying to protect myself from the world… was making me feel miserable. I looked forward to death more than anything else…" Inuyasha trailed off. "I- I remember that era very well. Those

times were insufferable for hanyous like me… and when finally the death found me and I wasn't allowed to go beyond it I thought 'why the hell do these things happen to me?' but then all that hell that I went through…" Inuyasha directed his gaze again towards Kagome. He wasn't caring anymore what was he saying or who was listening to him. This was such a deep conversation with himself. His soul was finally speaking, it was finally seeing again the sun's light. "All that suffering… everything was worth it. If after that I managed to meet probably the only human being in this earth that is so perfect and accepted me for who I am since the first moment, even with my failures, she- she's always there. Just as I'll always be there for her."

Miroku and Kouga shared a stunned look. The hanyou had whispered that last sentence, but not low enough that they couldn't hear him. But it was obvious that those words weren't meant for them to hear.

Kouga was the first one to react and he approached Inuyasha, grinning. Then he started to hit his head with his knuckles.

"Our little hanyou is in love!" he sang foolishly, teasing Inuyasha. Miroku soon joined in the fun.

On the other hand, Sesshomaru had listened in respectful silence to Inuyasha. Without making noise he approached the window and observed Kagura running in the sand, totally foreign of the world, just concentrating in having fun. That made him smile a bit. That girl could be so volatile, and he loved that, even if he would never admit it out loud.

Seeing her at that moment reminded him of another woman and his look darkened notoriously. He looked away and saw another thing that made him even more tense.

Kanna was running from one side to other, gathering and collecting sea shells. He could hear her say things like, "sure he will like them" and, "never seen one."

Almost painfully, the taiyoukai observed how the little girl was entertaining herself and then, suddenly, he could se her white hair turning black, almost at the same time that his vision did.

"Hey, Sesshomaru, wake up!"

"For all the demons of- Don't joke like this, there's still a week and a half left to our death's anniversary!"

"This isn't funny, jerk, wake up!"

Finally the youkai opened his eyes. He was reclining on the wall of the cottage. He could still hear the girl's laughter outside, so he imagined that he hadn't spent a lot of time unconscious.

Unbelievable. When was the last time he had fainted? Around seven-hundred, eight-hundred years ago? This was outrageous.

The taiyoukai stood up and, without looking at anyone, he left the room. Everyone stared at each other.

"What do you think could have happened to him?" Miroku asked, clearly shocked at the taiyoukai's sudden faint.

Kouga shrugged and walked to the window, searching for what could possibly have caused that reaction to his friend.

And then he realized it.

"Hey guys… Have I ever told you that Sesshoumaru had a daughter?"

"Kagome, that's not fair!"

"No-one told me there were rules!" she answered, joking and running away from the girls to whom she had just destroyed their sand's castle.

Between all the persecutions, Kagome stumbled but soon she was caught in the arms of someone. She smiled to herself. Inuyasha was always there taking care of her.

"Thank you for helping me, Inuyas— Hojou?"