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Chapter 07 - Shopping

Yuka, Ayumi, Eri and I were walking through the market. Right after my mum announced that she would give me a slave for my birthday, they immediately decided that they would help me to choose the best one.

"Aw, there are all so ugly." Ayumi groaned, breaking me away from my thoughts, and turned at me. "I don't think you would like to see such ugliness everyday, would you Kagome?" I looked over the slaves which were displayed on the side of the road like any other market goods.

From what I could assume, they were all just low-leveled demons and most of them didn't even resemble humans in any way. Sure, they were just demons, but they were still living beings and to see them here like this was strange. I didn't like it. I didn't like this twisted reality but I knew I couldn't do anything about that.

"I guess so." I answered. Maybe if I pretended that none of them caught my eye, I wouldn't have to buy anyone of them.

"You said that your mum doesn't mind about the price?" Eri asked. I nodded and her face lit up in excitement.

"Then why do we waste our time here, I know about a much more interesting part of this market." She winked at the rest of us and already led us through the crowds. I didn't like the way in which she said it and I didn't have the slightest idea where she could lead us. I always avoided these places, it would only remind me just how wicked this world was.

As Eri was dragging us through the crowd, I noticed that the demons on the sides were changing into more powerful ones. There was more of them whose appearance was closer to humans and even the buyers seemed to be more wealthy in these parts.

As we were moving ahead, the demons were more human-like and they also had less clothes on them. We were in the male part and most of the buyers were women so it wasn't hard to guess for what reason they would buy them. I shivered at the thought and tried to ignore the talks of my friends as they were commenting everything what they were seeing.

I unconsciously glanced over the slaves on the side and I noticed the familiarity in one of them. I stopped to take a better look. Even though he looked quite different, I was sure it was him. He had only short pants on, like the others beside him. His hair were cut short and he didn't have his markings either. I took a step forward and noticed that on the places where his markings used to be, there were only light scars.

"Did some of them catch your eye?" Eri asked. I didn't even notice them when they came back to me and I didn't pay them much attention now either. I was focused on the display in front of me. How could they do this to him?

"Which one? The first in the row?" Ayumi tried to find out which one I was interested in.

"Well, any of them would be a good choice Kagome." Yuka patted me on my back in appreciation. I ignored her and instead started to walk to the seller.

"How much do you want for this one?" I pointed at the one about whom I was sure was the demon I once knew, hoping that no one will notice the real purpose of my interest. He looked at him, then back at me and said in kind voice.

"I don't think he is suitable for you young lady. He was very persistent during the preparations. It took us more than 400 years before we were able to display him here. He will need someone more experienced than you." Preparations. How I hated that word. It sounded so innocent, and yet I knew there was something horrible hiding behind it.

"I'm sure I can take care of him, don't worry." I said sternly. I didn't want him to end up in hands of some of those women. It was hard enough to admit that he actually ended up as a slave. I couldn't imagine what he must have gone through during those 400 years. I let some of my spiritual powers to show themselves and the seller's eyes widened in surprise for a second.

"Oh, a priestess, it changes everything. Now I don't have any complaints for this trade." He smirked. We made the contract and he used the spell to bond him to me. The bonding spell ensured the complete obedience of the slave towards their master. The slave then has to protect their master even at the cost of their own life, follow all their master's orders, and listen to their every whim.

I tried to pretend that everything is normal and how it should be, but I couldn't help to feel bad. This was just so wrong and I couldn't do anything about it. But this was also the only way how to get him out of this place.

I was returning back to the girls, Sesshoumaru following me obediently. I glanced back at the seller and saw his wicked smile. Why would he smile like that? He shouldn't care about us, but he seemed to be pleased by the fact that I just bought Sesshoumaru. He reached for the phone and I whispered quietly, so only Sesshoumaru could hear me.

"Listen to what the seller will be talking about in the phone, you'll tell me about that later." He nodded slightly and I was already surrounded by my friends. They were praising me for my choice but I hardly heard them. They weren't saying anything important anyway and I had many other things to think about.

I wanted to go home as soon as possible. I needed to settle my thoughts, and I needed to be alone to do so. I tried to avoid looking at Sesshoumaru, he was much too different from how I knew him and I just couldn't get used to it.

"How will you name him?" Ayumi asked and I looked at her.

Name him? He already had a name but I doubted I could use his real name. What name I could give him?

"I don't know yet, I will have to think about it." I answered and I saw the sparkle in their eyes.

"Maybe we could help." Yuka winked at me and I just nodded, though I wasn't planning to really listen to them. None of the names which they could think of would be suitable for him. It was strange enough to be even thinking about giving him some name and there was no way I could give him just some ordinary name. He was always so far above ordinary.

On the way home we stopped at the clothing store, where I bought him some more suitable clothes, though it was still far from his standards. After we left the market, the girls separated from us and I let my mask slip a little.

I looked at him and when I saw the emotionless expression on his face, I let out a sigh and started to walk towards our house. The expression on his face wasn't the one of the cold-blooded killer who doesn't care about anyone. It was rather the look of someone who's completely lost.

At this time I was lost myself. I thought that nothing could surprise me anymore, but obviously I was wrong. Now I had to deal with a situation which, a short time ago, I considered to be impossible.