Chapter 4: The Black Plot Thickens

Now it was truly confirmed that I was screwed.

His eyes, his fiery eyes, were piercing the very essence of my being. It sounds silly, I know, but it felt like it deep down. I couldn't feel the memories anymore. I couldn't remember the slight elation from my laughter a moment ago. I was scared. It was plan and simple. He could drag me up to a standing position with as little strength as it took to lift a leaf. I knew that it would have been impossible to escape him yesterday (or what I thought was yesterday). If he could make me do such things like stand with a sheer yank at my arm, then what he had done the other day, chasing me down, was amusement for him and him alone.

"Adder?" he spoke over my shoulder, my arm still in his grasp and pulled straight up in the air.

"Yes, master?" Adder spoke quietly, his face paling more and more.

"I would expect there to be less friendly conversations between you two," he spat out. "There is no reason to care for her or she won't be yours to look after for very much longer."

I shuddered at his venomous response and my hairs stood on end.

"I do not care for her. I only followed orders," Adder responded, his voice gaining a little volume, but Naraku just laughed. In spite of everything, my eyes remained on Adder and he was staring into my eyes. He looked like he was pleading with me to end the interrogation, but I didn't know how to alleviate his plight. Soon enough, I felt a hand turn my head to face the opposite direction and though I fought to focus on Adder, I was forced to look at Naraku again. He was grinning again and that same emotion of spiteful revulsion filled me.

"Do I frighten you?" he asked. My eyes enlarged as I tried to speak, but it was as if my tongue was stuck to the back of my throat. I didn't want to see him angered and I just didn't know how to answer what he asked me.

"I'll take that as a yes," he scoffed and leaned in. "Do you wish to come with me now or later?" I swayed in his grasp and he lowered my arm down to a more comfortable position. I didn't know what he really wanted, what his game was, but if I had an option, I planned to learn what was to become.

"Later," I said unenthusiastically.

"I figured just as much," he stated wryly and let his grip on me go.

"Adder, I would work out my priorities if I were you." He glanced back at me and I glared the best I could through my anxiety. He just sneered and slipped out the door.

As soon as I was sure he wouldn't creep back in, I crawled hastily to where Adder sat. I placed my hands on his shoulders and tried to make him look at me. "Adder! Adder!" I cried.

He just rolled his head back and forth on his neck. His mouth hanging open and his eyes flitting from one place to another.

"Tell me what is going to be done! Tell me why I'm here? Please, Adder! Tell me what I just agreed to!" I was trying to control the hysteria building up, but it was no use. My eyes were leaking, the very tears I hadn't seen for years. They rolled down my cheeks in long streams.

"I can't," he mouthed.

"Please, just whisper it to me. Please. I'll go along with whatever is to be done; I just want to know beforehand." I lowered my head and was shaking violently when he gulped a few times. I looked up and he seemed to have regained a part of his old self. His eyes softened and I think he, like everyone else, took pity on me.

"He wants you," he said.

"I know that, but it is too vague. In what way?"

"Just the way you think. At least the way you think deep inside.
That thought hidden in the back of your mind. In your memories or in your teachings, you have the idea. You just don't want to indulge it."

"Please just say it. I need to hear it for I will not say."

"You're afraid of the thought. It will not change if I say it rather than you."

"Please."

"He lusts for you, to give it a sort of dignity."

I moaned a bit, knowing full well that I had thought just that. I didn't wish to reason with such notions. Then another idea hit me. He only saw me for a minute or two. What would cause him to watch me in that forest? How did he know where to find me? How did he know that I would kill that deer in such a way? That would have been way too coincidental if he had just happened upon the action. I heard he never left his castle without a good reason, Rin told me about him, Sesshomaru told me about him. It all seemed to out of the ordinary for him. He wouldn't be walking around in the forest for no reason and spot me. And if he did have a motive for being there, he wouldn't have abandoned it to take me. He must have known I was going there and that meant he already knew who I had been with. He knew that I was Sesshomaru's ward, that I was Rin's sister in a sense. I had a sense of pride for thinking this acutely into his mind, though not exactly, I felt as if I found something out. This meant that I was putting others in danger if I were to anger him. But what would anger him?

"That's a lie!" I accused.

"It is not! I saw how he looked at you when he brought you here. He couldn't stop smiling, if that's what you would call it. I heard how he spoke about you too, before he went and got you. He has plans."

"Wait! What?" I asked, now this was getting somewhere.

"He hired me to watch you and when he figured your location, he took you."

"He planned this in advance?"

"Yeah, didn't you know that? Well, of course, YOU wouldn't have known that, but he had to wait some time. He couldn't take a chance with that demon around you nonstop."

"He knew I was with Sesshomaru?"

"Is that the demon's name? Well, that doesn't matter," Adder seemed to have reached his confidence high by now. "He wanted his capture to be low key. So he sent a few spies to look over you, to watch your schedule, and if you were ever away from the other demon or your Sesshomaru we were to take you."

"What other demon? Jaken?" I asked. "He's an imp."

"That little green thing? No, we could take care of him easily and he was usually with Sesshomaru. The large two-headed one. He was very protective of you, if you hadn't noticed. I told Naraku that I thought the two-headed demon could sense us, but he would have none of our excuses."

"You were spying on me?"

"Don't take it personally; I didn't look when you and the girl bathed. I couldn't say much for the others, though." I felt used again and blushed. What was wrong with Adder? One moment he could be perfectly fine and the next minute he was nasty.

"Adder, how did this plan pan out? What made it what it became, if you will?" I wanted answers, no matter how embarrassing or awkward they were.

"The girl almost never left your side and neither did the demon. And when they were gone, Sesshomaru was in a short distance away. Naraku became very impatient and killed most of us off. I was the only one left alive and I followed his orders. I waited for Sesshomaru to leave like he usually did and that left just the demon and the girl to deal with."

I tensed up at the mention of Rin. Adder seemed to notice and sighed, " I didn't hurt the girl."

I nodded for him to continue after I relaxed a bit.

"I created a diversion for the young girl and when she was separated from you, the demon followed her, probably because he felt she needed more protection than you." Adder shrugged and I knew he didn't know much about AhUn.

"What was the distraction?"

"It was very subtle. The girl was behind you as you were watching the sky or whatever. We sent an illusion, one of Naraku's many tricks, of a rabbit running past, just in front of her."

"An illusion?"

"It was just an illusion, but the girl went after it. Probably hoping to eat it and, like I knew, that two-headed demon followed her and left you."

"But then why did Rin show up again. She came and asked me to kill a deer for dinner? Why didn't you merely come up and take me then?"

"You haven't figured it out, yet?" He lifted his eyebrow.

"I've figured out some things, but excuse me for not being able to become in tune with the mind of such a murderer." My voice rose slightly, but I held it down.

"We sent another illusion."

"Of Rin." It only took that one sentence for it all to click. "You made her tell me to kill a deer after hearing me request it so many times."

"Very good," Adder piped in, I could hear the slow clapping in his mind. "You went out looking for Serena, calling her as you did."

"But I still don't understand why you didn't just take me then."

"I had trouble with that part myself," he said. "I followed orders and watched that the illusion ceased to exist and when you reached Serena, I was supposed to contact Naraku, but I followed you to the spot where you landed. And something stopped me."

"What? What stopped you?"

"Naraku has a special way to find us, the ones under his control. So when I landed to take you, he was waiting for me."

I shivered and hung on for more explanation.

"He told me that I had disobeyed him. That I was supposed to contact him. I didn't know how he found out, but he did. He sent me reeling in pain for my treason. He told me to stay quiet and suffer silently; he worried that he would scare you off."

"So, he decided to take me himself instead of you?"

"I think he always planned to do that. I just wanted this foolery to end, so, in a way, I disobeyed him to get him what he wanted. I saw no harm in it."

"Yeah, no harm." I rolled my eyes.

"That's where I ended my part in your capture. Naraku took that into his own hands after he injured me. I waited until after he showed up with you, on his command of course."

"Could you try and answer me something, Adder?" I asked.

"I could try. I'm allowed to now."

"Why did Naraku wait for me to kill the deer? When I first realized that he was there I had already killed and stripped the deer. He said that he wanted me because I 'lulled' it to me. What could that possibly mean?"

"I couldn't answer that. Like you, I'm not directly into the mindset of a murderer."

"Are you supposed to call him a murderer, Adder? I mean, I'm a captive, but you kind of work for the guy."

"Don't go thinking now that I work for him of my own free will."

I hadn't known why I thought he did just that. It didn't make sense then or now, but that was the conclusion I had been drawn to.

"Adder I didn't mean to sound like you were a bad guy. Although I'm not exactly convinced that you're good, at least I know you're sincere and you're all I've got. I can't be too picky."

"You've got Naraku now," he added, smiling smugly.

"Like I said, you're all I've got." He laughed at that and we both took up a hush that was poignant. After that long reflection of our similarities, I didn't have much else to ask until my original question popped back into my head.

"Adder?" I asked.

"Yes, Lin?"

"What did I agree to?"

"All I have to say is that compliancy is the key to survival. Do what he asks. No do as he wishes. No matter the pain, don't let him get the best of you."

I knew the meaning of his words. I was grateful that he hadn't gone into greater detail. I don't think he wished for me to be in greater distress then I already was. I pulled my knees in close to my chest and hugged them. I pressed my head against my knees and cried. Silent sobs or the quietest I could. I cried nonetheless. I wanted my life back, even before Rin and Sesshomaru. I wanted love back not lust, but I had to play the game to get it. I knew this, but as the darkness seemed more menacing than before, I continued to cry. I wept into my skin, hoping for something better to come.