Kagome was momentarily stunned by his words, giving Naraku the upper

hand. He formed his delicate hand into a fist and slammed it right into

the back of Kagome's head. She moaned in slight pain as the impact took

over her. Her energy went down and an intense burning sensation formed

behind her eyes, it was like when she would stand up too fast, only this

was 100 times worse. An inky blackness soon followed after the burning

white light. It seeped from the corners of her mind until it completely

took over her. She collapsed soon after, right on top of the dark hanyou.

He grinned sadistically.

"Perfect."

He shoved her off of him easily and she slid slightly across the smooth

cold floor. He picked her up harshly and exited the current room they were

in. As he was closing the door behind him, he could already hear his

houses magic working to clean up the mess they had made. Naraku carried

Kagome up a flight of stairs and through many twists and turns. How he

managed his way around the complex make up of the house was difficult to

tell but he did and he did it with ease. Every movement was carefully

thought out and made to look as thought he knew exactly what he was doing.

He made a right around the painting of a large dog demon. Why he had that

sort of a picture in his castle was beyond anyone's knowledge but no one

questioned him... then again not a lot of people went in the castle to

begin with. Maybe he had too much of an infatuation with dog demons. The

sound of Naraku's boots hitting the floor could be herd throughout the

halls. Even the walls themselves seemed to reek of an eerie aura. The

whole castle was disturbing. Naraku attempted to open one of the doors to

a room but it wouldn't open and he was starting to get frustrated. Though

the human girl appeared light, she, in fact, was quite the opposite. She

wasn't overly heavy but after a while, gravity was taking it's toll.

Naraku tried to give the door a little shove but it still was not opening.

This time around, Naraku gritted his teeth and kicked the door down with

great force. It shattered into millions of splinters all over the floor

and Naraku grinned in silent triumph as he walked across the threshold.

What remained of the door, crunched under his weight. He continued walking

until he made it to a bed. He threw Kagome one the bed carelessly and left

the room, the door almost already back to full form as he exited the

doorway. He walked down the hallway and followed the designs carved into

the walls. They were spider webs, strewn all over the walls in a delicate

manner. Every once in a while one of the webs had caught prey and a spider

was eagerly devouring it. As Naraku walked the halls he raised his hand

and caressed the webs. He could feel the raised bumps under his delicate

fingers. His claws scrapped lightly against the wall. Naraku headed

towards a door and glanced around the hallway to check for anyone that

might be watching, not that anyone would, and he slowly turned the knob.

He found it to be locked and reached inside his inner haori and pulled out

a key. He grinned maliciously and slipped it into the small hole. Yes,

having a door like this had it's advantages, especially when it came to

this. He heard the sound of the click as the gears inside shifted and the

door became unlocked. He stepped inside.


Hours passed and soon Kagome

stirred. She awoke to being sprawled out on a bed. She had a throbbing

headache and as she reached her hand around her head she felt quite a

large bump and some dried blood, matting down a small portion of her hair.

She moaned in pain.

"Uhn, where am I? What happened? Something about...Naraku!"

Kagome sat straight up at remembering everything and the sudden rush made

her head hurt even more, she flopped down and held her head in means to

stop the immense pain that wracked through her body. After a few moments

passed and the pain died down a bit, she tried to sit up slowly. It worked

and her next step was trying to stand up. Her legs were wobbly and she was

uneasy but she made it none-the-less.

"Ha. I showed him. He can't keep me down and out forever."

She smiled at her small victory. She actually started to wonder where

Naraku had went but was too scared to leave the room to actually go find

him. She walked around the room, wondering what to do, having different

ideas of escape. She glanced over and saw a window. She walked over to it

and had thoughts of jumping out in attempts to rid herself of the hanyou

that plagued her so. She glanced at a corner of the castle wall on the

outside and saw a saimyosho buzzing about, watching her. Immediately her

mind went to Lord Sesshomaru. She let her mind wonder about him and soon,

quite some time had passed and she had grown angry with herself for

letting that happen. She kicked at the wall that held her up and turned

around. She saw a door.

'It connects this room to the next. Do I dare open it?' She walked over to

the door

'Yes... I do.' She twisted the knob and surprisingly, it opened.

'Ha, I knew it.'

Kagome peeked out and around the corners to make sure he wasn't coming

down the hall and she slowly crept out of her room. She made her way down

a hall and could see the spider web carvings all over, it was actually

quite beautiful. She silently wondered if Naraku himself had done all of

this.

'He isn't capable of such beauty...'

Kagome pictured Naraku that time in the rain, when his body was soaked to

the bone and his cloths clung tightly to him. His hair dripping with

rainwater, and it was running down his face so teasingly. She could feel

herself sigh lightly.

' I have to take that back... he is beautiful... in his own way...I

guess.'

Kagome came out of her musings when she reached a door. She was hesitant

to go inside for fear of Naraku being in there but she had such a

curiosity and she could not help it. She turned the knob slowly, hoping

that if Naraku was in there that he would not hear her come in. She opened

the door very slowly and crept in, silent as a mouse.

'Why is it so hot in here?'

Kagome tugged on her shirt collar lightly so as to remove some of the

offensive heat. The room was quite dark but it was easy to see once your

eyes adjusted. The room was also lit buy a few candles. She saw a screen

and walked towards it. As she got closer, the smell of honey and lilac

intensified. Kagome inhaled the sent deeply. Oh how she loved it so, but

what was giving it off? It must be some sort of oil or something Kagome

concluded. She was finally close enough to the screen so that she could

peer behind it when the sound of a splash could be heard.

'Huh? What could that be?'

She glanced over to her right and could see something purple. Actually

there were a few something's over there. They were purple and black and

had very small designs on them. There also appeared to be black shoes

there as well. Kagome shut her eyes tight and gulped as another small

splash of water could be heard as well as a deep sigh.

'Oh please don't let it be what I think it is.'

A deep voice could be herd echoing through the room.

"Hn. It feels nice to soak in a hot spring after a hard day."

Kagome opened her eyes a bit and was even daring enough to inch closer to

the edge of the screen to possibly hear more or catch a glimpse or him.

She herd something shift in the water and her eyes widened, she peered out

from behind the screen and gasped at what she saw. It was Naraku in all

his immaculate beauty. He had his back turned to her and she could see the

mark of the spider upon his back. Steam was rising up and it was leaving

small water droplets on his skin. And oh his skin. It was simply

wonderful. It was tanned to perfection and there were no scars or

blemishes anywhere on his body and that spider mark only enhanced how

utterly godly he appeared. He reached behind himself and pulled his hair

to rest over his right shoulder, revealing all of his back to Kagome. He

tilted his head up, seemingly pondering something before he shifted in the

water and was suddenly gone. Kagome tilted her head in curiosity and kept

her eyes on the spot that he once was and waited to see what would happen

next. Slowly something black appeared out of the water, Kagome scrunched

her eyes to see more clearly what it could be. Out of the water, Naraku

came. She couldn't even see his face through all of the black hair. It was

simply drenched to his skin. Actually it was quite humorous and Kagome

would have laughed if she weren't afraid of losing her life for spying on

the dark lord. He bent his head and his arms moved forward. His claws

entangled in his mane and he pulled his hair back and out of his face. He

then comfortably sat back against the wall of the hot spring and Kagome

now had a side view of him. Naraku carelessly reached over and grabbed a

sort of purple powder and tossed it into the water. As soon as it hit the

liquid, it bubbled. In only a few short minutes, the whole spring was full

of what looked like soap. He kept himself busy for a short while just

popping bubbles with his claws, enjoying the sound of it. A childish grin

settled on his face as he reached over again and grabbed a very small

amount of the same powder in one hand and brought it over to himself. His

other hand delved into the water and came back up. He sprinkled water over

the powder and watched it bubble in his hand. Slowly inside the light

purple bubbles a smoke formed. It seeped inside the bubbles and made the

bubble grow quite large. Kagome's eye widened at this.

'Is that his miasma? Does he know I'm here? Is he gonna kill me with

that?!'

Kagome wanted to run but found her legs glued to the floor. She could only

helplessly stare at what Naraku was doing. Slowly the bubble became bugger

and bigger and was now the side of his head. Naraku took his hand down and

the bubble remained in the air. The miasma inside was swirling around and

around. Kagome leaned closer to see what it was. A wing formed, and

another, then two small antenna...it was a...

'A...butterfly?"

Naraku then watched at the butterfly appeared to have life and it moved

around the room in its small bubble. He held out his hand and the small

creature flew right into his palm with no worries. Naraku then chuckled

lowly to himself and closed his hand hard, crushing the butterfly to bits.

Kagome gasped lightly to herself. Miasma seeped through his hand and

escaped up towards the ceiling, slowly disappearing. Naraku's legs came up

in the water slowly. They spread out in the water luxuriously and Naraku

sat up in the water until he just barely exposed his most intimate part.

He reached to his left and grabbed hold of some sort of liquid. It

appeared to be thick like liquid soap and Kagome thought that was what it

was. He rubbed the liquid on his shoulder and down his arm oh so slowly,

the liquid shining off the candle light room. His hand delicately traced

up the side of his body, traveling up to his neck then down through the

middle of his chest. He rubbed the liquid all over the taught muscles.

Running up to the start of his neck and down to right where the water

covered him. He ran his fingers over his abs, coating them in the liquid

and then worked on his other arm. He scooped water up to his body and

mixed the liquid and the water together, forming what appeared to be suds.

He then continued to scrub his upper body with said suds, taking his grand

old time. He then rinsed himself off and again grabbed the liquid in order

to clean the rest of his body. He lifted one of his legs and ran the

liquid over the skin. He started from the top of his thigh and went down

to his ankle, he then turned his hands to that they were on the underside

of his legs. He slowly brought his hands toward his body, covering every

inch of his legs, appearing to like the feel of them. He did the same for

his other leg and made sure to scrub and wash the powerful appendages. A

frown then appeared on his face at his next thought.

'hn...I have to wash my back...'

Kagome saw his expression and wondered what could cause him to appear as

such. She then herd a familiar sound and saw that his back was...moving.

Out of his back a large spider leg appeared and it moved and shifted to

grab some of the liquid. Naraku's face contorted and moved in what

appeared to be pain and disgust. Kagome touched her heart.

' Does it really hurt him that much?'

He tried to finish with his back as quickly as possible without missing

spots and was finally able to rinse himself. He was able to retract the

spider limb with a grunt and he sat back against the wall of the spring.

He glanced at one of the candles and saw it flicker. He rolled his eyes

knowing he still had to wash his hair but he wanted to get out of the

water, it was boring in here. He ducked under the water and came back up,

his hair now quite wet. It shined against the low light of the room.

Kagome always did like the way his hair looked. It was so... different.

Kagome decided she was getting a little tired of watching Naraku bathe and

wanted to give him at least some privacy some of the time so she turned

back behind the screen and sat down. She could have left but was enjoying

the sound of the water moving and splashing around too much. Besides, she

was feeling too lonely to be alone right now. Kagome closed her eyes and

just sat and listened to Naraku wash his hair and move around the room

then all of a sudden there was an odd sound. Like the sound of a wind

inside of the room. Kagome opened her eyes and could see nothing. It was

pitch black.

'Uh oh. He must have blown out the candles.'

She heard footsteps and could feel someone drawing nearer and nearer to

her. She started to panic and drew closer to the screen and curled up. Her

heart picked up it's pace and it was getting hard to keep her breathing

steady. If she squinted hard enough she could make out a figure in the

darkness, she assumed it was Naraku and he walked passed right passed her.

She smiled to herself knowing that he didn't see her and she carefully

followed him out the door. The hallway was dark and it was hard to see but

she continued to follow the dark lord down the hall. She traced her hand

along the wall to keep her balance and as she was walking she found the

room where he had left her and she quickly dove inside. He continued

walking and she closed the door, it made a rather large sound and Naraku

stopped in his tracks and Kagome froze behind the door.

'Oh shit, he heard that.'

Naraku immediately turned around and ripped the door off its hinges,

Kagome screamed. He grabbed a hold of her arm tightly and she winced.

"Bitch, why are you up?!" He growled in her face.

"I...I.. I woke up just now and-and-and wanted to look around."

"I didn't give you permission to do this. Why would you think that you can

just get up and do as you please? You are a prisoner in my home, not some

princess that can do as she pleases."

"I know but-but-but I th-though that maybe if I found you I-I-I cou-"

"Could what?!" He tightened his hold on Kagome's arm.

"Ow! You're hurting me!"

"Good, feel the pain, let it course through your body and take over you.

Let it consume you."

"No! Ow! Get off you disgusting monster!"

Hurt flashed through his eyes but Kagome missed it, to occupied on getting

his iron grip off of her arm. He released her and she fell to the ground.

"Fine...do as you wish, but if we cross paths, fear the worst."


Naraku left the room and went down the hall, leaving Kagome on the ground

stunned beyond belief.

'What did I say to make him act like that?'

Naraku walked down the hall, his pace fast and his back tense. He was

really, really angry. He went inside a small door on the fifth floor, which

was the one they were on, and he came out all the way on the first floor.

He made a left and went down a hall. He made it to a very large door, it

had a gigantic spider on it, sitting in a web. It was carved in wood. He

ripped the door open and slammed it shut very hard. The sound of the huge

slam echoed through the house and Kagome shivered in fear.

'What did I do now?'