My Master: Birth of a Monster

Inuyasha, it's characters, setting, and plot lines do not belong to me. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. This is merely fan-made

~~ The Spider Mistress hid in the Karakuri Mountain Pass, all the while feeding off of the souls of the foolish men who ever made the folly of getting too close. Her eyes shining a bright red - and with her face transforming - her devilish grin stretching, she attacked the men when she returned to her true form – that of a giant spider. Hearing of this tale, a puppet maker built a Karakuri Ningyo puppet and left it in the pass to wait for the evil spider spirit. When the spider mistress finally came... ~~

I threw the scroll on the ground not bothering to rewrap it and not caring where it landed. Wrong, it was all wrong. The spider was not a mistress, but a man. The true spider demon was neither biased nor gullible enough to mistake a puppet for a person. He was not picky with his food; it did not matter the race or gender. Naraku ate everyone and took everything. I stared at the light that slipped through the cracks of the walls as it danced on the ceiling. I closed my eyes and counted breaths. One, two, three…ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, thirteen weeks since he…we… No matter my efforts, the memories always come back, always bearing names much sweeter than deserved – "Our first kiss", "Our first". No, they both belonged to "The day I proved myself a fool!"

The Spider took something from everyone (Kagura's heart, Kanna's emotion, Kohaku's family, and the bodies of countless demons and humans) but me. Unless, I was just too stupid to figure out what he would have taken that held any value to him. I had very few material possessions, but that wasn't what Naraku wanted. He needed something I was attached to, something to serve as motivation for me to stay. He would never have considered my love or my virginity. They meant nothing in the eyes of the all-powerful Lord Naraku, though they were enough to keep me here. I stayed to sweep and wash the floors. I washed the dishes, the clothes, the bedding. It wasn't hard to notice the look in Naraku's eyes as I stripped the sheets off of his bed. They were as emotionless as Kanna's eyes. He knew what I was thinking, what I was regretting.

I blinked and reality took over again. The bucket, scrub brush, and broom stood in the corner of the room, not slumped as if discarded by someone who just wanted to get the job done. I cared about my work. Naraku would never take a second glance, but I wanted to care for him. Cleaning was the only way I knew I could. My stories – my scrolls – were a mess, scattered around the room meaninglessly. Many would be permanently scarred by the wrinkling parchment. It didn't matter; there were more were they came from. Not exactly, all those villages were burned and gone. But Kagura could pillage another. I was so sick of this room – the same four walls of this dank, damp, cramped room. Maybe the mess was getting to me. I worked so Naraku would never see a spot, and yet let myself exist in this mayhem. I got on my knees and rolled each scroll back into neatness – the paper smoothly sliding against my palm. I watched the ink characters hide under the roll wondering at how it all looked so beautiful to me. How orderly the lines of script escaped my vision, not at all chaotic. It was soothing. Then the scrolls were to be separated, myths from stories. The sorting was great work, maybe even fun in an insane way; I smiled for the first time in months. The problem came when only the scroll of the Spider Mistress was the only one left – it's information was false, but was still structured as a myth.

It was still sprawled on the floor like an angry child. Odd, parchment looks nothing like a child. I shook my head to clear the image, but it still looked like a small innocent toddler saying "I hate you mommy" and yet knowing nothing of how hate really felt. The baby was only mad because I said it was wrong. "Don't tell lies!" I scolded in my head. The baby sat up, wiping the angry tears from her dark brown eyes. Her hair – dark and shiney black, wavy – stuck up at random places from laying on the floor in protest. Her lower lip puffed out in a pout, and I could have never imaged anything cuter. Her kimono was a blandish blue (like mine) only stitched together to fit her frame. I crawled to her and held her as she sniffled. I rubbed her back and smoothed out her hair. I ordered my mouth to open and my tongue to form the words "I love you," but the air would not support the words. Still she seemed as if she knew. "Lulu?" I mouthed. She nodded. I hugged her close to me, but got up soon after (my knees were killing me). She stood and raised her hands in the air, a universal sign any one would know. I lifted her from under the armpits and rested her on my hip, my arm wrapped around her back to keep her in place. I walked out of the room; the girl needed to know something other than those four bleak walls. But, I didn't know where to go. And frankly, I found that I didn't care. I took a left at the corner of the halls end and a right (past the ink painting of the Ajo Mountains) after that. I brought her to the kitchen – the one room of the castle that I could secretly claim. (I was the only person to ever enter this room, except for Naraku. He liked to parade his power in any and all of the four corners of the castle.)

"What is that you have Kawayui?" Think of Hell and here it comes.

"Just a…." I looked down at the bundle in my arms and found it was just a scroll – the fictional myth no doubt. "Just a scroll, milord." The disappointment in my voice was only too obvious.

"Where did it come from?" The sneer in his voice reminded me of how this image must look; a servant holding an item the master had no idea had entered his castle. This could only mean three things: 1.) I snuck out of the castle to get it (which would have been impossible due to the poisonous shield around the castle and the miasma), 2.) Someone snuck it in for me. (And rat out Kagura? I'll pass.) 3.)…

"It was a gift." I looked down at the scroll to hide from Naraku's glare. He was thinking of Option #2. I mourned inwardly for the chubby baby face that was no longer in my arms. "It was from my mother, who died when I was small." Glancing up at my master (why are scary things so attention grabbing) I noticed the emotion in his eyes glimmer for a second, but it was too quick to decipher fully.

"Keep it in your room. We don't want it getting lost do we?" He looked at me with an evil smirk. Next time I see it, I will rip the last memento you have of your dear mother in half. And I'll decide whether that memento is that scroll or your lovely face.

"I'm sorry to have wronged you, Naraku-kun." I lowered my head in a bow. When I brought it back up, I saw as Naraku's face contorted to a look of shock, then confusion (and was that fear?). He got himself back under control, showing his cool and suave persona again. He reached out to touch my cheek, but I flinched away from him. Naraku glared down and that night three months ago played back in my head. "Please don't rape me, milord! Please, please not again!" I screamed in my mind. "Please don't hurt me again. I'll be a good girl. I'll be a good girl; I promise. I can't go through another three months of fear - and hating myself for it. Please don't rape me!" This repeated over and over (so fast I stumbled on my plea) as his hand trailed down my neck, down the crevasse of my breasts (taking a detour to give a squeeze) and stopped at my navel. He waited there for some time, transfixed on that spot. (I wondered to myself if he had been able to hear my thoughts.

"Be at peace." Naraku sighed and removed his hand; his fingers lingered as if reluctant to go.. "I can' hurt you anymore."

"Milord," I slapped a hand over my mouth to stop the question "Why?" from blurting out. I should have learned by now never to question his decisions (and never to deny orders). The look in Naraku's eyes dared me to complete that insubordinate thought. Try it dearest just try it. Freedom is wonderful, so wonderful people die for it. Would you like to join them? "Thank you" I managed to whisper. It was the best I could do on the spot.

"Don't worry." A smile finally came to play across his lips. His grin tried to stretch past his cheeks to look like the spider he was deep down. "It's not that I don't want to punish you. Last time was entertaining. Just for you, this arrangement is only temporary." He turned and laughed to himself as he walked away leaving me to wonder what it was he meant. I stood there, slowly taking in his words – analyzing each one. Everything he said was so ambiguous. Naraku did enjoy mind games, saying his thoughts directly and yet at the same time preserving his desires in hidden meanings. The answer hit me like the smell of the basement I scrubbed every new moon. It was both disturbing and too true to merely push aside.

"I'm pregnant!" I yelled to Naraku's back. I couldn't tell if my voice wavered as in question from the sheer volume.

He turned, but was too distant for me to see his reaction. Each step echoed as he walked back to me, sure and graceful as a cat. It was still day – not much time could have passed – but the aristocratic features of his face were shrouded by the shadow of the enveloping castle walls. "It seems you're not as dim as you presume to be. Yes, you are with child, my heir to the castle and my power." I wasn't a fool. I could tell that my body was not acting as it should and three full cycles of the moon was far too long for the body to not bleed. I saw the clues, but like each sunrise that reflects off of the ceiling in my prison; I did not want to believe they were real. This thing of Naraku and I growing inside of me, what sort of new monstrosity would it bring to the blood—craving world to which it will be born?

"Milord, how are you sure the baby…"

"Insolence never knows not to talk back. You had better do your job as a broad and deliver me a healthy son."

"As you wish, milord." I walked past Naraku with my head bowed; the scroll rested in my cradled arms. I walked past the trapdoor leading to the basement filled with carrion. Drifting to the left, I allowed my hand to trail against the wall for a better sense of direction. Fifty paces to the west, past the long since dead potted plants. Kagura's room was the past the third door on the right. I kicked away a skull littering the floor and knocked.

"Which imbecile is it this time?" Kagura shot back from behind the screen door. She is very brave, very stupid, or observant. My guess was the last. With Naraku being as arrogant as he is, he would never go to an incarnation; rather he would have said incarnation sent for by the other. If that were the case, Kanna would be the messenger and deliverer. Kagura would have been safe with this outburst. Kanna had no emotion to tap into in order to have been hurt. For the same reason Kohaku would not have been affected either, had he been the one Naraku sent. She wouldn't expect me; servants don't exactly have visiting privileges. The shock in her eyes was not surprising as the door slid open. "Are you insane?" (That's a way to greet someone.)

"Hey, Kagura, I'm feeling great actually. Thanks for asking. And how have you been?"

Kagura replied to my sarcasm with a muttered "You're not supposed to be here." She grabbed one shoulder, spun me around and probed into my back with her fan – Out! Out I say! "Go, I'm not getting in trouble for you. Naraku will never let down his guard if he catches you. I know this is hypocritical coming from me, but just be obedient. Naraku needs to think he's in control." She hissed.

"But Kagura, it's fine."

"He sent for me, with you?" Her eyebrows raised in mock disbelief.

"No, not exactly."

"He said you could come over for a friendly visit then?" Kagura asked with heavy sarcasm.

"I never said that. Go inside and I'll explain." Kagura snapped back with something along the lines of "And when did I start taking orders from you?" I sat on my feet as I told my story from the beginning of this mess.

"Ugh! Just…j-just ugh! You mean you...and him…and." Kagura shivered in disgust. "Now that is just wrong, even for…it." Her upper lip lifted in a half-snarl.

"Maybe you missed the…. Never mind. But you see what this means right?" Kagura's face smoothed to take on her normal look of supposed superiority. Her lips took on a small pout, and her eyes raised in almost disbelieve of my ignorance. The grip she held on her fan tightened as she began to tap the tip of it against her chin.

"Yes, you have put me in an unfortunate predicament. Knowing this…. What you have told me makes me wonder: Do I kill you in whatever slight revenge it would give to the holder of my literal heart?"

"Or!" I shouted, quickly adding in that there could be another option. Think Kagura think! I don't want to die here! "Or…or…or…" My face lit up as past accounts finally fell into place. His tone, his face, his decision to not hurt me, it all made sense. "My baby… It, he, she, is important to him. This could be his downfall! His moment of weakness-" Kagura cleared her throat. "Fine, OUR moment of weakness… That could be his fatal mess up. What would he do to keep it safe? He's already loosened some of his control on me."

"An extra foot on your chain is not freedom, and you will do well to remember that! You are such a fool. Do you really know so little of," Kagura's finger stabbed the air in the general direction of my stomach," that thing's father to truly think that he cares? That means as much to Naraku as anything else besides himself and the Shikon Jewel: Nothing! He would gladly watch it choke, see it torn to pieces…slowly as the head continued to scream." I stopped listening. My stomach churned and kicked inside of me. My breath became ragged as the taste of bile filled my throat. How dare she conjure such images in my mind! My poor baby, I promise that will never happen. I started to gag in my throat and gasp for air. Kagura shot air from her nose as a show of the impatience she held for my sickness. "All I'm saying is you will have no leverage from him." Her eyes shot up, looking above my head as the door slid open. She recognized the smell before I did. Blood, the cursed blood of demons and a minor smell of decay drafted into the room and disappeared just as fast. I turned my head to find said father standing in the doorway, cleaning the gore from underneath his nails.

"Finally Kaugra, you choose not to tell her the slanderous poison you usually fill her ears with. Oh, I know. I've always known." The sound of rustling fabric and of his socks sliding against the floor gave away that he was kneeling behind me. Naraku held my head to his chest, angled so I would be forced to look at him. "It must make you sick. Your friend loves the man you want to see suffer and eventually die. At least, I thought she did. Kawayui, I would have never thought that you would entertain Kaugra's plots to escape. But you, you wish to betray me. I thought you loved me. I thought you loved our baby." The hand not holding my face rested on my stomach. "Do I need to make a leash for you too? The baby would work just fine."

"You can't have it without me."

"Sure I can. It doesn't have to be born of woman." His hand clenched viciously. "I could rip him out of you."

"The baby is too young to survive if you did that. All you would have is a dead embryo, not a tight 'leash' if you ask me."

Naraku stared at me, his eyebrows coming closer together and his eyes narrowing. But he wasn't glaring but thinking. I looked into his unseeing eyes and noticed the contrast of his cold look and the warmth of his arm wrapped around me. I watched as he played multiple scenarios behind his dazed eyes. If I kill her, then…. I could let her go, (Ihave no use for someone I cannot control) but…. I could tear the baby out anyway and…

Wet warmth touched my lips and a soft hand – that never knew hardship under Naraku or the previous owner – slid down my arm, and I blinked away the unfinished thoughts. "Don't get lost now." Naraku chuckled, the laughter replaced by a sigh. "But, maybe that would be for the better. Then I wouldn't have to worry about you." A squeeze of my arm punctuated the scold. "Come," Naraku stood, pulling me up with him. How could I do anything but comply? I was scared, yes, but I also knew that I had committed insubordination, and that sin must be punished. That hall was dark and smelled of the smoke of a candle that had recently been blown out. Dramatic Naraku, he was a master of toying with emotions. There was no sound, save for the echo of our steps.

"Naraku-kun, I'm sorry."

He chuckled, snickered, and laughed, bellowing the sound of his amusement. "Never been a slave before?"

"I must admit, milord, that I have only ever been bound to you."

"What artful language, flattering, chosen as if to make it sound as if we are in love…." Naraku sighed, as if relishing what little beauty was left in his world. "But that must mean, that you don't know the rules human slaves must abide by. The punishment for your actions results in as many lashes as it takes to kill the offending slave. But you made me laugh. I just may kill you quickly." No, why now that it ends, I find a desperate urge to survive? I tugged on my arm in futile attempt to save myself. Naraku quickened his steps. "It's sad; I was looking forward to turning the omen inside of you into the apocalypse." He moved, looking somewhere, but in the darkness I could only make out the shifting of his silhouette. I tried to keep track of the distance and the turns as we walked. If only I had started keeping track earlier. There was now no point in trying to pretend I had a sense of direction. I heard something slide, wood on wood. A door, what room would he be leading me to, a dungeon, a room of torture implements? I fainted, but not before realizing that my feet were no longer touching the ground.

I awoke, but the situation of the light had not seemed to improved. I could see the demons of the dark taunting me, laughing. I would soon join the dead, and they would feast. My limbs started to shake, and I became dimly aware of the cold. Panicked tears trailed down my face and a terrified scream left my throat. What if I really wasn't going to die? Would Naraku leave me down here to go insane? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! I got to my feet and ran. I never left the castle, I'm locked somewhere inside. There had to be a way out. Panicked breath filled my lungs, and my feet gained momentum as I sprinted straight into a wall. Think, think, all those stories, what was the first thing anyone did when locked in a room. Find a wall, check. Then, find the perimeter of the wall. My fingers brushed the wall as I counted steps. My fingers caught on a ridge as I walked. A door, could it really be? I dug my nails into the groove in the wall and pulled. I stopped when I was afraid my nails would rip out. If I needed to claw my way out, they were all I had. I tried again with my finger tips, but it must have been locked. I kicked and punched at the door. Anger and a feverish anxiety drove me to break down the door. But it didn't last long. Exhausted, I leaned my head on the door and sobbed. For half a second, I heard a grinding sound on the floor again and fell on my face. I began to pick myself until I saw the rim of a purple-blue kimono. His kimono, I bowed instead. "Naraku-sama."

"Get up." Impatient Naraku grabbed the back of my kimono and lifted my off of the ground instead. "Come."

"Now I die?" I whispered. Naraku kept walking at a quickened pace. He turned a corner and looked around as if afraid to be seen.

"You said 'sama'. Why?" I was not even given time to take in a breath to reply. "Well, was it the difference in rank? Why did you change the title from 'kun' to 'sama'?" Naraku again didn't wait for an answer, but kissed my lips. I readily kissed back. "I'll not kill you, and that is why. I could find plenty of other female much more attractive than you to serve under me, but none of them would obey me out of your…unique fondness. Kaugra is waiting outside. Go to her. Leave."

"Naraku why? You're not normally this way. What's wrong, milord?" Naraku slapped my cheek.

"Kaugra is waiting outside. I have no need to explain anything to you, no go!" I hesitated to look in his eyes one last time, turned, and ran. I wasn't to know then or ever that he watched as I left for a few moments before running off in the opposite direction.

As I was told, Kaugra was waiting on her giant, white, feather that she flew on. She grabbed my arm as I ran up and took off. We didn't slow down as we flew. I had barely noticed that the air tasted clean as I left the castle. "Kaugra, I can breathe."

"Good, isn't that necessary for you to live?"

"Yes, but the air around Naraku's castle is poisonous isn't it? I never held my breath." Kaugra ignored my observations. I held onto her as we flew. "I'm afraid of heights." I said this more to myself than to Kaugra. I began to wonder about Kanna and Kohaku. And Naraku had seemed so rushed. What could have possibly happened? I pondered as The Forest of the Dead seemed to drift beneath us. Its acidic lake had decayed all of the plant life, killing tit, and yet, allowing it to grow crooked and discolored. The spirits of evil people inhabited the trees and would drive the living insane if they dared to approach. The evil aura faded as we came closer to a dwelling of monks. I saw them harvesting their garden and tending to the building by sweeping and repainting the damage done by nearby animals. Kaugra flew higher into the clouds so a monk looking at the sky to pray would not see us. I tried in vain to convince Kaugra to divulge her secrets. The rest of our flight together was silent and uneventful. I was grateful to find a tall mountain break through the cloud cover. As we came closer, I saw a cave dug into the side, and Kaugra flew into it.

"Naraku wants us to stay here. I'll take care of you as I am ordered. Don't leave," she added as a sadistic joke. If I left the cave, I would fall and be pulverized when I hit the ground thousands of feet below. My stomach growled, and Kaugra glared. I'll go find you something to eat. I won't be back for awhile.

"Tell Sessho-Maru 'hi' for me, k?" I joked back, but Kaugra had suddenly lost her sense of humor. She flew off of the mountain, and I watched her go until she was less than a speck. I waited obediently, until I heard my stomach growl again. "I have to find something to distract me. First, find a wall." I followed the first wall I found away from the entrance. Counting steps, I reach 296 when I heard a growl too loud to be my stomach. "Hello?" I called. "Idiot," I immediately thought, "That could be a monster." The cave suffered from its own earth quake. I lost my footing, and the walls developed cracks. Pieces of rock fell from the ceiling as a roar erupted from far off. The sound of a large rock breaking came from the dark tunnel followed by a burst of bluish-black flames. The head of a black dragon appeared before me.

"So, you are the weird smell. You look nothing like a demon." The dragon's voice boomed deeply.

"No, I am not a demon, great beast. Rather, I am a human slave of the demon Lord Naraku of the Eastern Lands."

The dragon with its black scaled snout sniffed at the air. "But the aroma is being produced by you, instead of surrounding you; there is also another heart-beat within your body. Did this 'Lord Naraku' incarnate himself to insert into you, if it is the same Naraku that has many forms of himself roaming the land?"

"If I have been given a parasite of Naraku, it would be the child I bear."

The dragon lowered its head to look at me with one midnight blue eye. "A child of a demon lord and a human slave? A child of darkness that bears light. You, Maiden, hold the doom and last hope of your race. A child of paradox, your child, if it is born, will destroy us all."

*piggyhanyou: Sorry this took so long. If you liked this, please tells me so in a review along with any ideas you want incorporated in the next chapter(s). If I do continue this story, it will end in a new story that will intertwine both of my fanfics. Didn't like this chapter? Please tell me how I can improve my writing. Thank you for the support. :D