A/N: heavy sigh I really should be working on another of my fics right now, but I just had to read some other Inu fics and come up with a good idea of my own. even heavier sigh I really should say everything else is probably on hiatus, I'm just to lazy. even heavier heavy sigh Oh well, enjoy and please please please review!
Oh, and I got the idea of doing a fic like this from 'Bound' by Keara so I suppose I should give credit, even though her fic is very different.
Disclaimer: No matter how much I want to, I do not own Inuyasha or any other character that might be placed in this story.
The cursed air stirred as the crack of a whip resounded through it's thick mass, heavy with humidity and heat. Another raw whiplash appeared on another slave's back, another punishment for whatever petty reason the overseer had.
With a groan Inuyasha trudged forwards, his matted silver hair clustered around his sweat covered face. He leaned forwards, gritting his teeth in annoyance and pain at the fresh lash on his bare back. Still, it was not the worst he had endured, oh no. He was glad the overseer that had just whipped him hadn't been the master. The master knew the words for all of the demon slaves, and when he said them the damned collars started up again, only to die down if the slaves obeyed. The master had gone back to the castle to escape the heat, or he, Inuyasha, would be suffering one hundred fold for slowing down.
He never thought he'd actually be thanking the heat and the humidity that hovered over the fields. It was hot, but not so hot that excessive water was needed to keep the slaves working. The air was thick and oppressive, though, and nothing was done for that. It was the worst conditions he could work in, for nothing came to ease the heat. The slaves had no rest, they worked from dawn to dusk, skipping the noon meal. In the morning they were given bowls of gruel, specially formulated to give them all the energy needed to work but leaving them with empty stomachs.
Leaving the slaves hungry was a must for what the master intended. He ruled with a strict system, the more you worked the more you ate, not that that was much more than the usual fare. Still, guided by hunger, many slaves devoted their whole lives to earning that extra crust of stale bread or extra spoonful of the cold soup.
With anger flashing in his eyes Inuyasha took another step forwards, dragging the heavy plow with him. It would be easier if he could use his hands, so much easier. He could even attack the overseer and run for his life's worth, not that it was worth very much. Half-demon slaves were worth nothing, they could not be sold for anything but the most brute labor, and their working conditions were terrible. Nobody in their right mind would spend precious gold on a half-demon, only the most groveling landlords would do such a thing, and even that was rare. Half-demons were often given as gifts to others when someone just happened to stumble upon one. Which was how Inuyasha had managed to reach this newest master, by far the worst of any he had yet had.
With another growl he trudged forwards again, leaning into his straps as far as he could go, cursing the master. The bastard hadn't even given him the weakest of partners, he had to pull the load of two full demons on his own, with his arms bound tightly behind his back. To disobey was to starve and be punished, for his collar would not let him kill himself, and it also meant he could not attack the master for if the master died so did he. It was a death bond, but it did not go the other way around if Inuyasha were to die.
"Pull, mutt!" the gruff voice of the overseer shouted and again the whip cracked in the air. Another red stripe appeared on Inuyasha's backside.
The master had even had the back straps of a harness cut off so he would feel the full blow of a whip across his back, which also made his task harder. The master hated him and Inuyasha knew it, and the reason why. The master was a full blooded demon, one of the most powerful in the land, yet he had been overruled by the new lord, Naraku.
Naraku was but a half-demon, he should have been nothing compared to the master and yet it was Naraku who was the emperor and the master that was his lowly servant, only holding on to his lands because Naraku had not found a reason to harm him, yet.
Inuyasha was just a puppet Naraku to the master, a scare crow to torture since he could not lay hands on Naraku himself. As soon as Inuyasha was free he would get his revenge on the master, if he didn't die first.
He had only five more steps to go, five more pulls until he completed the furrow, the last for the day. He would be able to rest then, to sleep and attempt vainly to keep fatigue away for the next day, and the next. It was a pattern, nothing more. He pulled, he rested, and he pulled again. Sometimes under the master, but mostly the master's overseers. Only if something had gone badly for the master did he go to torture Inuyasha, since the half-demon was the most useless of his crop of slaves.
If the damn lord would just allow someone to pull with him, Inuyasha thought angrily as he took another step forwards. Four more now. He took another step. Three, three more steps until he was done, three more steps before he could collapse with fatigue and hunger. Two more now, just two more steps that had to be taken. Two more.... one.
With a tired sigh Inuyasha took the last step... and collapsed to the ground.
"Stupid half-breed, get up and take your harness off!" cried an angry voice and something hard connected with his side. Suppressing the growl that fought to get out, Inuyasha got to his feet and unfastened the harness from the plow, the master had unbound his hands. No sooner had he unfastened the chains did his master clout him in the ribs, sending the half-demon tumbling in the dirt. Before Inuyasha could rise again the master spoke.
"Bad dog."
With those words Inuyasha gasped in agony. Pain surged through his body, starting near his neck and reaching through his arms and legs, eventually generating a great headache in his head. It felt like a thousand knives were piercing his body along with a hundred bee stings. There suddenly seemed to be a thousand whip lashes on every part of his body, stinging and burning and making him dizzy with pain.
Just like all the years before the half demon raised his claws and tried in vain to break the black leather band that clung tightly to his throat, ignoring the fact that he clawed himself more than his collar. Above him the master just laughed, kicking him every so often and sending him rolling over down the dirt track, never letting him roll completely to a stop before kicking him again.
Finally, what seemed like an eternity later, the master stopped kicking him and Inuyasha lay on his back, chest heaving.
"That's better."
the master said and the pain slipped slowly away from Inuyasha's limp body. With a suppressed groan Inuyasha sat up and finished the last of his master's orders, to remove the stinking leather harness from his back.
Anger surged through him as he crawled to his feet and picked up the heavy harness to begin the trek back to his cell where he would wait for morning. Something must have happened again, Naraku had done something again, he just knew it and suppressed the urge to snap at his master as he strode by, asking him what the big bad Naraku had done to the poor little master.
But no, the first time he had done something like that the pain he had just felt would have been multiplied ten-fold, for twice as long. 'Bad dog' was one of the more moderate words the master could use, there were worse, far worse.
He heaved his heavy harness back through the long alleyway in the cellars, passing many more cells and slaves within them, many of the demons that remained from the times when the master had been far richer than he was now. Many of them snarled or growled or made other menacing inarticulate sounds as he passed, reaching out with their claws or whatever other appendages that served as hands, hoping to get at him, hoping to get fresh meat and blood into their systems. They were all starving, just as Inuyasha was starving. He would give anything to rip one of those demons to shreds and devour it, but he was under orders not to attack the other slaves, and if he did not follow them the collar would automatically inflict punishment.
Instead he strode down the middle of the lane, bent over, eyes downcast, silver hair matted and flying wildly through the air as warm gusts of rancid breath blew it to and forth. The place stank of urine and blood, of decay and ruin. Only the cage bars were well conditioned, to keep their inhabitants at bay.
As Inuyasha turned one more corner and stopped by the door of his cell a guard appeared and unlocked the door, shoving Inuyasha unceremoniously into the cage. It was all the half-demon could do to keep his harness from smashing onto the floor, which the guard would report to the master and therefore punish Inuyasha further.
With a growl the guard entered the cell and grabbed a chain from the wall and deftly hooked it onto the one loop in Inuyasha's indestructible collar. As long as the chain was attached to the collar it, too, could not be destroyed. He hated it.
"Sweet dreams." the guard said mockingly, jingling the keys before Inuyasha. The half demon roared with fury and sprang at the guard, trying with all his might to slash the lower classed demon to pieces, but the chain kept him bound and with an icy laugh the guard left, jingling the keys all the way.
With an angry, and tired, growl Inuyasha grabbed his ration, more of the energy giving porridge, without any stale bread this time, and drained it in a matter of seconds. He then curled up in the darkest corner and in a matter of moments fell asleep.
"Eight... nine... ten..."
Inuyasha jolted awake by the sound of the master's voice. What was the master doing down here, in the middle of the night? The master never visited the slave quarters, never. He despised the place, and the slaves it held. Especially the isle that housed Inuyasha's cell.
"Eleven...."
The master was counting slaves, why? All of them would be accounted for, the collars would keep them all there for eternity if the master wished it.
"Twelve..."
The master was coming closer, Inuyasha quickly feigned sleep as the light of a torch appeared as the master turned the corner.
"Thirteen, that should do, lets see what the worthless half-breed can achieve." the master said, stopping before Inuyasha's cell. The guard that was with him laughed cruelly.
"That one couldn't fetch more than a few hundred, you'd have to list a myriad of jobs he's good at."
Inuyasha dared to wonder what they were talking about.
"He only needs to have one, being tortured." the master replied. Inuyasha prayed they wouldn't assign him another 'job'.
"Well than, you think twelve demons and a half-breed will get you enough to get out of the newest debt?" asked the guard. Inuyasha could tell he was a favored one of the master to be able to talk like that, but what were they talking about? They were going to rent him and the other twelve out to work? Or did he dare think that he was about to be sold.
"Yes, take them to the town square and have the auctioned off as soon as possible."
Hope swelled in Inuyasha's chest, hope that had not once shown its face in the twenty-seven years he had labored for the master.
A/N: So, what do you think? I'd really like a review please, maybe even two. puppy eyes Come on, if you read this far you can do it! Just push the button and say something. Pwease?
Darkwolf
Note: You're not getting another chapter until I get at least one review!