Author notes: I'm sorry for the delay with this chapter. This whole last week I've been desperately looking for a job D'= and it's not easy, and I really need one. Also I'm working on an original novel for a contest and all plus taking care of my brothers and all that, it barely gives me time to do what I want ;_; I'm sorry, but here it is, I hope you enjoy it ^^.

This chapter is… kind of complicated, but I think I managed to make it understandable, also I added POV's in this one, so you'll have two narrators this time, the normal narrator and Inuyasha's narration. Since when I wrote the original chapter in Spanish I didn't manage to get rid of that emotion of hate towards Hojou I had serious problems writing the continuation but then I thought: 'Hey! I can be Inuyasha, Inuyasha hates him ^^U' And so this chapter was born hahahaha anyway, I hope you like it, please, please let me know what do you think about this chapter in your reviews ^^ Thank for your messages, the alerts, favorites and reads =D

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.

Note: For the one's who doesn't know what a POV is, is the abbreviator of Point of View ^^

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 13: My feelings.

.-.-.-.-. Inuyasha's POV .-.-.-.-.

The only feeling that I had at that moment was frustration. And well, anyone in my situation would have felt the same way.

That guy is nice, I must admit it, – damn this shackle that won't let me lie! – But I just can't stand him. It's just that simple.

Despite that Kikyo told him to stop coming by and over-protect Kagome - and allow her to spend time with us – Hojou came to visit her almost every day during that week. And the few days he hadn't come were only because of some accidents, in which of course I had nothing to do with. For example, that block at the road way that lead to the town near the beach; it wasn't my fault that the rock which I had been using to train fell onto the road, preventing the people and drivers from crossing.

It hadn't been my fault either that the honeycomb of bees had been in a bad mood… well, yeah, that one was my fault, but it hadn't been my fault that Hojou had decided to walk near that area just when I finished hitting the honeycomb.

Ok, maybe I was partly responsible for that one, but shouldn't he have given up after all that?

Definitely, I hate him. It's just that simple. And what I hate the most is that he doesn't treat anybody badly. He soon gained the trust of everyone else, except Kikyo's who he still acted defensive with.

And to make matters worse, Kagome finally accepted Hojou's invitation to go to town and have some time for just the two of them. I wasn't able to do anything, and now I'm at home, not able to follow them because she ordered me not to…

"This is so frustrating!"

"Inuyasha, I'm not comfortable with any of this either, but what can we do? Kagome is the one who decided." I heard Kikyo talking to me, we're both doing the laundry. It's our turn to do so— no, it isn't, it was Kagome's turn but that little-

"I can't stand that guy!" I'm angry, I'm frustrated, disappointed, I feel betrayed, and all other bad verbs that end with '-ed'.

"Not only because you hate him must Kagome do the same. What happened with 'Grudges kill your soul', Inuyasha?"

"I don't have grudges against him. I just hate him, that's different." And then I remembered something. "If we have that idea, then shouldn't that guy's soul be completely destroyed by now? He's been acting defensively toward you all the time."

"Well…" Kikyo blushed guiltily, and I knew that I wasn't wrong. Hojou held grudges against Kikyo. "If you put it that way…"

"Weren't you living in another country or something like that? That's why you never knew about your bonds with the Higurashi, don't you?"

"You're right. It wasn't until I entered the fifth grade of the elementary school that we returned toJapan. It's not an excuse, but I had been living with Naraku for over a year and a half. The only things I knew at that time was pain and humiliation, when before that I had it all, money – I know now that that's not really important – love, a family, friends… I couldn't stand seeing other people being happy. Kagome was that kind of person…"

Hold on a second… when did we start talking about Kagome?

"She always did things the way she wanted. For example, if the dresses with square patterns were 'in', if she had a striped dress that she liked she would wear it, not caring if other people made fun of her— if I made fun of her," she corrected.

"Then why do you say that she has a tendency to think so low of herself?" I couldn't help but ask. The Kagome I heard about closely resembled the one I always talk about. Despite everything we had to live through, I have never seen her think low of herself.

"Hojou." That simple word was enough to make my blood boil. I must have made some sort of facial expression because Kikyo paled. "Calm down, Inuyasha. He didn't do anything with malicious intent. At least not that I remember. It's just that he's that way. It neither helped them much that I was always making fun of them."

"And if she knows that that kid is still being the same as before, why the hell did she go out with him?"

"I think she hopes that, as you and I did, he may have changed. Despite all, Inuyasha, it wasn't a lie that Hojou was her only friend in the elementary school.

Somehow we began talking about Kagome again and Kikyo started to tell me what she knew about her past.

.-.-.-.-. Normal POV .-.-.-.-.

Kikyo was running, she had a discussion with Naraku that morning and she hadn't been able to stand the humiliation anymore. She ran without stopping or caring where she was going. The tears in her eyes were falling down mercilessly. A small eleven-year-old girl wasn't supposed to suffer that way. She didn't deserve to be treated as if she were a 'nobody'.

She kept running until she entered a park and then sat down on one of the swings. After some time she managed to calm down and then she heard steps approaching.

She looked at herself and saw how messy she was so she quickly hid behind some bushes. She didn't want to be found so disheveled and be teased for that.

It was then that she saw them. Kagome and Hojou, both eleven-year-old kids, were walking around the park, quietly. They hadn't noticed her.

"We should have tried to ask them if we could play with them, Hojou, they seemed like nice kids."

"They're going to treat us bad, Higurashi, it's always the same at school, isn't it?"

"But it has to be the same outside the school?"

"Higurashi, we're different than them." Hojou didn't look angry, he was only trying to convince her. "I've already told you, we just have each other, no one else is going to want to be our friend, never. They won't even do anything other than make fun of us.

Kagome lowered her gaze, disappointed.

"I don't understand. I've never treated them bad… why do they do that to me?"

"Because we're not worth anything to them. They'll never take any interest in us."

Kikyo was hearing both kids, who were now sitting in the same swings she had been a couple of minutes ago.

"My daddy says to me that I'm a very good and happy girl, he told me that I should never worry about making friends. That people would come to me almost immediately. He said that I wouldn't have trouble finding friends… Tell me, did he lie to me?" The little girl asked, with tears in her eyes.

"No, Higurashi, it's just that your father didn't know that people are foolish and cruel, that's all."

Both kids stayed in silence lost in their thoughts and Kikyo took that chance to get away from the place.

They were now in their last year in the elementary school. It was break time and, as always, Kagome and Hojou were sitting away from everyone in the school's ground, as far away as possible from the people. Despite that, Kikyo and her friends wouldn't miss the chance to make fun of them.

"Well, well… Look who's here. 'Bobou' and 'The Bug'. You look so cute together."

"Shut up, Kikyo." Hojou spat, standing up in front of Kagome. She only lowered her gaze and he was blushing because of anger and embarrassment. They were now twelve years old and thinks hadn't changed a bit.

"Ohh, look Kikyo, the little tiny bug wants to cry, she wants to cry." One of Kikyo's friends mocked, making Kagome hide her face even more. "Yes! She wants to cry!"

"That's the only thing she's good at" was another girl's comment.

"Let's go, Higurashi." Hojou took Kagome's arm and helped her to stand up, not paying any more attention to the teasing from the other girls. Kikyo managed to listen part of their conversation while they moved away.

"Tell them to apol-"

"They won't do it, Higurashi," he interrupted her, without releasing his grip on her arm.

"Then tell the teacher that-"

"That won't work either. We're not worth it."

And both kids disappeared behind one of the buildings of the school.

.-.-.-.-. Inuyasha's POV .-.-.-.-.

I just managed to stare at Kikyo, completely shocked. That brat – now for my eyes he wasn't a boy or a stupid kid, he was now a brat – had dared to… Had dared to-!

"Why the hell was he trying to make Kagome feel bad all the time? And she knew it! Why the hell did she allow him to be near her?"

"'Grudges kill the soul'," Kikyo quoted that to me, with a soft smile in her face. "As I said, Hojou is that way by nature. From what I know he's always been like that, since he was a very small kid. For some reason he had no friends, not even in kindergarten, at least that's what my friends used to tell me. That's why I believe that when he met Kagome and she extended her hand towards him he took it, but he wasn't able to go out to the outside world and neither did he want to lose her. So he dragged her down with him."

That was more than I could bear and I threw my fist against the wall, cracking it. I was furious. And I felt so powerless! Who knew what things could Kagome be enduring at this very moment and I wasn't able to help her or even be with them to turn that bastard's face into-

"Inuyasha, Hojou isn't a bad guy. It's just that he doesn't know about another lifestyle. Besides he suffered a great shock when my uncle was turned into a Slave-" Oh great, now I would find out more things about Kagome's father? "Hey! Don't look at me like that! Have it your way, I won't tell you anything else. Stay here with your absurd anger."

And just like that, Kikyo left the room, leaving me behind angrier than ever. I had to accept it, I was angry with me and with that fool one…

Since that stupid 'date' that Kag had with Bobou I realized that things weren't going so well. She seemed to be depressed all the time. And I couldn't stand seeing her that way.

I reached my limit one day, when we were all at the beach. We were playing Volleyball. Sango, Miroku, Kikyo, Kagome and me, against Sesshomaru, Kagura, Kouga and Ayame – since both Sesshomaru and Kouga were youkais we had more people in our team. Kanna and Shippo were the referees.

Everything was going well, until a punch from Kouga made the ball go and hit Kagome. It hadn't been anything serious, Kagome was even laughing while lying there in the sand.

But that fool had decided to appear at that very exact moment and was scandalized, yelling at us – he was so exaggerated! He demanded to know what had been going through our heads for laughing at her, why we were treating her like that and a bunch of other nonsense that I didn't hear.

I just remember my hands holding the neck of his shirt, anger growing in me. His face was twisted with fear and he was trying to free himself from my grip. His feet left the floor and I could hear screams from Kagome, telling me to release him.

I didn't obey her.

The stone began to shine but I didn't pay attention, I wasn't even capable of feeling any pain. All I was concentrated was in my anger and the despair that I felt for knowing that the insect in my hands was guilty for the miserable past that Kagome had had and he was also the cause for her depression in these last few days.

Then my mind went black and I lost conscious.

.-.-.-.-. Normal POV .-.-.-.-.

Inuyasha was lying in his bed, next to Kagome's, with a cloth wet on his forehead. Miroku had again made a series of small spells to help stabilize him. Overcome with rage, the hanyou hadn't felt the agonizing pain that the stone caused when he ignored an order. But that didn't mean that his body was immune.

The pain had been so much that his body had sent him into an almost comatose state.

Kagome was sitting on the edge of the bed, her face tear-stained, waiting for the half-demon to wake up. She hadn't moved from her position in the four hours that he had been unconscious.

"What you did was a tremendously stupid." Everyone lifted their heads when they heard Hojou speak. They were in the dinning room, waiting for news from Inuyasha. That comment left them surprised.

"Excuse me?" Kouga couldn't give credit to his ears. It was obvious that that comment had been for him, since Hojou was looking at him clearly annoyed.

Hojou snorted and looked towards the stairs leading to the second floor, where he knew Kagome was. If it up to him, he would have gone up there and been with her, if it were by him he would have taken her away from this place as soon as he knew she had returned. But no one allowed him to do so.

"If you hadn't hit her with the ball, then she wouldn't be sad right now, she wouldn't have cried!"

"You big jerk!"

Kikyo hit the table with her palms at the same time that Sango stood up. Ayame, Kagura and Miroku were trying to stop Kouga, who was ready to go and punch Hojou with all his strength. Kanna and Shippo were hiding behind Sesshomaru's legs, clearly affected by the gloomy atmosphere that surrounded the place. Sesshomaru didn't move from his place, only to maintain support for the kids.

"That's enough!" Kikyo approached Hojou and started to poke him in his chest, marking every word she said. "Everything was perfectly fine until you decided to appear again in her life. Kagome has been depressed these last few days, and guess what? It started that stupid day she went out with you. I don't know what's going on in your head, but I won't allow you to drag Kagome back to those times when everyone around her was scum and miserable people. We were just playing volleyball! Everyone had already got hit by the stupid ball, its part of the game! Or what? Are you going to tell me that never in your life have you played volleyball with someone else?"

When Hojou lowered his gaze, blushing, she knew she had hit the nail.

"I have no idea, and I'm not interested in knowing why you're like this, but if Kagome was capable of getting over all those horrible things that you said- yes, that you said, Hojou! Don't you dare to deny it," she remarked when she noticed the young boy had opened his mouth to argue. "If she could get over yourself, you should be able to do it too."

"She is MY friend!"

"She's also ours!" exclaimed Sango, standing next to Kikyo. "We care a lot about what happens to her, and for respect to that friendship you're calling so much we allowed you to be with her, we allowed you to interrupt our vacations, we even allowed you in here. You treated us so well, what the hell happened?"

"She didn't stop talking about all of you!" he shouted, closing his fists and his eyes, with clear resentment.

Everyone stared at him, waiting for an explanation. But then Kagome chose that moment to appear at the top of the stairs.

"Could you please stop screaming? Inuyasha has sensitive ears and he can hear all of this, you're making him feel uncomfortable." And with that said she disappeared again into the room she and Inuyasha shared.

There was a silence only broken, a few moments later, by Hojou's hurt sigh.

"You see it now?" his tone was lower. He could never be able to say no to Kagome. "She didn't care what the reason of our yells was. She didn't know if I was all right or not. She doesn't care for me."

"You're a depressed maniac," spoke Sesshomaru from his corner, causing surprise in everyone. "Have you happened to think about what's going on upstairs? You saw it with your own eyes. Inuyasha is in a very delicate state, caused by both Kagome and you. The least thing that you can do is to offer an apology to her for having forced her to make an order that led to one of her dearest friends to the verge of dementia – because, truth is, this stupid shackle doesn't allow us to die. You only suffered a couple of scratches from when Inuyasha took you from your clothes. He could have done something worse to you before Kagome had time to react. But he contained himself, for Kagome. And you don't care about any of that; all you can think of is you and your misfortune. Don't be an idiot and get over it. And if you're not able to do so, then don't you dare to bring down the people who learned how to appreciate life and were able to move forward."

Sesshomaru took Shippo and Kanna in his arms. They looked like they would begin to cry at any moment. That's why he exited the cottage, immediately followed by Kagura.

No one knew what to say after Sesshomaru's monologue. It was almost unnatural. Sesshomaru had spoken over four sentences together.

Kagome returned to the room where Inuyasha remained unconscious, but he was visibly more relaxed. It seemed as if he were only taking an afternoon nap.

As soon as the shouting began, she had tensed. She didn't want them to treat Hojou badly, she could understand him but wasn't fool enough to go back to who she was years ago but neither was she capable of leaving Inuyasha and going to help Hojou. The reason why she was depressed was because of the knowledge that her only childhood friend hadn't been able to move forward.

He had to learn to fight his own battles, without her. That's why she had decided to not interfere, but when she noticed that Inuyasha began to complain in his unconsciousness and to move his ears, she knew that this wasn't easy for him.

That's why she had asked for silence.

Taking again her place beside the hanyou, she spent her time watching him intently. He looked so calm and fragile at that moment that it was almost impossible to imagine that he had survived alone all those years of his childhood and before he was turned into a Slave.

And that's when reality hit her. Inuyasha had suffered so much in such so many ways. He had been completely alone for lots of years. He was a Slave and had gone through so many owners, some of them truly evil…

While Hojou was just someone with problems of social adjustment and low self-esteem. Nothing else. It was nothing that couldn't be fixed if he allowed himself to be helped.

Inuyasha hated Hojou because a tiny part of him, – deep, deep, deep inside of him, - he identified himself with the boy and he couldn't stand to see that part of him in someone so weak. It was like seeing himself in a deplorable state.

"… you're so complicated, Inuyasha." She smiled softly, understanding a little better the reactions of the hanyou towards Hojou.

Kagome stretched her right hand and removed the wet cloth, cooling it in the bucket that she had at the floor beside her. The fever had fallen considerably, but she still needed to take care of him. While she let the towel to soak and cool off, she began to move his fringe, marveling at the image in front of her.

This wasn't the first time she saw Inuyasha unconscious. She already had experience with his death anniversaries, but at those moments he always seemed to be bracing life, fighting. His expression was always determined to not give up. But now he just seemed to surrender and give in to that dream, from which she didn't know when he would wake up.

Kagome began to fear the worst. What if Inuyasha never woke up again?

When she had told him to release Hojou, she hadn't expected this to happen. What if she could never see those golden eyes again? What if she never heard that 'Keh!' again that she hated so much, but at the same time was so fun to hear? What if she could never have him accompanying her again…? What if she could never see Inuyasha again?

She felt her heart burn. She couldn't- she couldn't see herself living without Inuyasha. She wasn't capable of returning to a life without him.

Inuyasha meant everything to her.

Kagome blushed strongly at her own thoughts. She couldn't believe what was going on through her heart and mind at those moments. It was impossible…

It couldn't be…

Hojou took a seat at the stairs and watched his feet, as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Since Sesshomaru had left no one had said a word.

"I don't want to be the bad guy in the story," he finally said, after a sigh. "I didn't want this to happen, I just…" The boy lifted up his gaze, a couple of tears were trailing down his face. "I just want my friend back. When we got out to the town she couldn't stop talking about how good you were with her. She was amazed. She kept talking about Inuyasha, Shippo and how they were now a part of her. All I could hear were Sango, Miroku, Kagura, Kanna, Sesshomaru, Kouga, Ayame, Kikyo…" Hojou looked the black haired girl who was still standing in front of him with closed fists. "When Kagome started talking about you I couldn't believe it. How was it possible that the same Kikyo that had been so evil with us at the school turned out to be her cousin? How was it possible that you could be friends? When I asked her if she was sure that she hadn't dreamed all that, she sent me a look so full of compassion. As if she had understood something…"

Hojou looked at his hands and began to remember those times.

"After her father became a Slave and when she and her mother moved out of the cottage… I was left completely alone. In the end everyone turned their backs at me, and there were even some people who said to me that Kagome had finally left because she had gotten tired of my presence…"

Sango and Kikyo stared each other, and then everyone looked at Hojou. Even Kouga had stopped growling and any attempts to hit him had vanished at the moment.

"I couldn't move forward. I didn't knew anything about Kagome's father, or her, or her mother… not even a phone number or some place to communicate, to see her, at least for once. I wanted to make sure that she was all right. It despaired me – the thought of her being teased in the same way or worst than me and I wasn't there to protect her… this three years had been a complete agony."

Hojou looked at them again, with reproach.

"And now that I have seen her again, is just to found out that you took her away from me. There's nothing left of the Kagome that was my friend."

"Hojou." Kikyo kneeled to be at his eye level and stared at him rudely. "Just for a couple of seconds would you like to stop thinking about you and realize how selfish are you sounding? The Kagome I've learned to know this last months is very active, smiles all the time, is sweet and kind with everyone and always looks to be a support for you at any moment. If that's not the Kagome that you considered your friend then who's that? The depressed one that only stared at the floor when someone insulted her? The one that allowed you to take her wherever you wanted without saying anything? The one who obeyed you in everything you said? That wasn't a friendship. She was your own slave."

"No! She was my friend!" Hojou didn't scream, but his tone of voice made it clear that he had no intentions to back of his position.

"Those aren't friendships, Hojou. True friends accept each other for who they are. Without doubts. And even if it's necessary to change it's only looking for something better, to be a better person. Tell me, will not trust again in the world bring any good to Kagome?"

"No one will be able to hurt h-"

"She won't have a life." Was the interruption of Sango. "And I think that it's time for you to look for one too. After what happened this afternoon I don't think it's convenient for you to come back here. At least not until Inuyasha recovers and that both he and Kagome allow each other to see you."

"What does Inuyasha have to do with this? I have every right to come and see Kagome whenever I want."

"Not if you'll only cause her pain." Kikyo had a calm expression and was speaking calmly and with authority but inside she felt explode in anger towards that kid who didn't want to listen to reason. "After what happened today, believe me when I say that you've hurt her much more than Kouga could have with that ball. You hurt her even more than I could have hurt her when we were just kids." Hojou couldn't understand those words and looked at her, confused. "Because of your presence, Inuyasha lost control. If you hadn't acted so selfishly and like her protector, he wouldn't have exploded. He had been repressing his emotions for some time now for the good of Kagome. He believed that if he did that she would be happy to have her childhood friend back. He let her live her life the way she wants it to be. That's what friends do. He allowed her to be whoever she wanted and didn't ask anything in exchange even though he has given so much for her."

Kikyo was speaking with such determination that Hojou wasn't able to counter any of her arguments.

"Since you came here you tried to change her back and at the end all you managed was to make her hurt, without wanting to, her best friend. She hurt a very important person for her and that damaged her in ways you can't understand, Hojou."

The boy stared at the floor again and without being able to help it a few tears more escaped from his eyes.

"She swore that I would be her only friend… I was her best friend."

"You didn't know how to maintain that friendship, Hojou. And forgive me for telling you this, but she didn't know better. You didn't allow it. Nobody is preventing you from being her friend now, but you must understand, Hojou, that with that attitude of yours you will go nowhere. If I was able to change, if Kagome was able to change, so can you."

He nodded slowly, thinking about what Kikyo had said. It was cruel, but she was right.

"When do you think that I can see her? Would it be all right if I go upstairs now and apologize?"

"I don't think that's for the best, Hojou," spoke Miroku, approaching the girls. "I think that the best now is to wait for Inuyasha to wake up. Once he recovers we will talk with them and then it'll depend on Miss Kagome if she wants to see you or doesn't."

Hojou nodded again and, not having anything else to say, he left the house, followed by Kikyo.

Outside, they could see that Kanna and Shippo were playing with the sand, near the coast, being watched by Sesshomaru and Kagura. The taiyoukai, feeling his stare, looked at them. Hojou bowed for a moment, as an apology towards him and then started to walk away from the house.

Kikyo observed him stopping and then looking at her for a moment. Her gaze turned curious.

"Do you honestly think that Inuyasha will recover?" He sounded concerned and Kikyo opened her eyes because of the surprise. Then she closed them and smiled softly.

"We hope so."

With a last nod, Hojou left the place

Why couldn't it be?

Kagome stared Inuyasha's face again and her blush was stronger. Then her gaze got a tender look when she accepted what her mind and heart were crying loudly.

Finally, the girl placed the wet cloth over Inuyasha's forehead again, who sighed softly as a sign of relief when his skin came into contact with the cool fabric. Kagome smiled tenderly.

"Forgive me, Inuyasha for putting you being in this situation." A slight tweak from his left ear let her know that he had listened to her and her smile widened.

Kagome closed her eyes and lay down beside him, taking one of his hands between hers. She gave into sleep, feeling safe and protected.

She loved him. She loved Inuyasha.

… Good Lord. Now how would she be able to look at him to his face?