A/N: Wow, first fanfict I've written in a while. Hope you like it!!!

Ch1. Bad News

A click resounded though the room, announcing her mother's entrance. Almost every muscle in her body tightened, as if preparing for an attack from a particularly vicious animal. Despite this, Kagome continued looking out the window. Seated high above the ground, she could watch the servants hustle to and fro without fear of being seen. The gardeners had come and go hours ago, but the servants boys never seemed to leave. She watched the pretty ones chop and carry wood with a sort of sick fascination. Oh, the places they could carry her…

She shook the thought from her mind. That's just the sort of thinking that got you into this mess, she told herself sternly.

"Daughter."

Kagome was mildly startled. She'd forgotten her mother was coming. Gracefully, she stood and curtsied.

"Mother," she greeted. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Her mother's eyes, dark brown and so like her own, narrowed at the word pleasure. Kagome struggled not to throw her arms up in xasperation. Honestly, these people had their minds in the gutter even more than she did…

"Your uncle wishes to see you."

Kagome internally winced. Seeing her uncle, be it rain or shine, was never a good or pleasant thing. The last time she'd seen him he was calling her a whore and had locked her in the farthest, tallest, and most remote part of his mansion.

No, she didn't like seeing him at all.

Yet, judging by the sour look in her mother's face, she didn't have much choice in the matter. She nodded and reluctantly followed her mother out of the room. It'd been months since she'd been out of that room. Naturally everything around her would've been a sight for sore eyes. A breath of fresh air. It wasn't, though. Everything seemed to take on a grey hue as a cold feeling grew in the pit of her stomach.

Her uncle could literally do anything to her. And she had a sinking feeling that he was going to send her away to the mountains to live with her aging aunts. There wouldn't be a civilized human (read: male) for miles. She'd live out the rest of her life in an almost complete lack of human touch.

She wanted to throw up.

Kagome almost screamed as she waited outside her uncle's study for what seemed like hours. And she very nearly bolted for the nearest exit when the tall dark oak doors opened. Roughly, her mother shoved her forward. The thought, be strong, flitted though her mind before dying of terror at the cold look in her uncle's eyes.

She walked forward and curtsied, noticing, with surprise, the presence of both her father and husband. In hindsight, neither presence should've surprised her. He'd need the permission of both to send her away. Which won't be hard to get, she realized with a sinking feeling. Her father was an incredibly weak man and her husband hated her furiously.

"Niece, it had been a while." Her uncle spoke first. His dark eyes, cold and unfeeling, were slightly amused.

Hostility bubbled in her and overflowed.

"Hai. So, uncle, for what reason have you taken time out of your busy day to release me from my cage?"

The words had barely gotten out when pain blossomed on her cheek. Her mother glared at her coldly, raising her hand to slap her again when her brother jumped up.

"Don't hit her! She must remain unscathed!"

Kagome and her mother blinked simultaneously, both surprised at his defending her. Surely my aunts wouldn't care about a few scars, she though, rubbing the pain away.

Her husband and father had remained silent, though her father did offer her an apologetic smile.

Kagome turned her attention back to her uncle, waiting for the true reasoning behind her summoning. She looked up to find her uncle appraising her with a mildly curious look.

"Kagome," He began suddenly. "You have disgraced this family with your adulterous and whorish acts. For your crimes, you have been punished. You are only saved from death because it is convenient to this family for you to remain alive."

None of this was new to her but where was he taking it? Obviously this lecture wasn't to ship her off to the mountains, so what was it for?

"Niece?" He continued, circling her like a vulture. "Are you familiar with a man named Lord Sesshoumaru, Prince of the Western Lands?"

She frowned at the chance of subject.

"No, Uncle, I'm afraid not."

"Then I shall educate you. Lord Sesshoumaru, to put it simply, is a very powerful lord. You see, he is not called 'Lord of the West' for naught. He controls a little over a forth of his entire continent.

Kagome blinked in surprise. Continent? How powerful was this man?

Her uncle watched her reaction closely.

"This lord has no mate-"

"Mate?" Kagome interrupted.

Her mother hissed at the interruption, but her uncle remained unfazed.

"Hai, you see, he is a demon lord."

Kagome's muscles tensed, all at once remembering that she was standing in front of a very dangerous creature.

"In any case, he has no mate, the most recent one having died giving birth to a child that died shortly after. Now our lord is looking for companionship." He stared unbrokenly as the meaning of his words flickered across Kagome's face.

"In short, we have offered him your services. And he has accepted."

Bile rose in her throat, but she forced herself to respond.

"You're selling me?" She gasped.

Her uncle snorted.

"You misunderstand. You're already sold. While you are in service to our lord, we shall received a bi-monthly income for you. After his majesty has tired of you, you will return here where we shall dispose of you properly."

She was being sent away…sent away to become a whore…sent away, and then killed upon return. That was her destiny: to be a whore, and then die. This time. Kagome was sure she was going to puke.

Instead, her vision swam and everything tilted to the side.

Then, nothing.

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