"Oh Kagome," Naraku's voice sang as he opened the door, "I've brought you some food."
Kagome remained silent, head hung down and hair shrouding her face. Naraku ignored her petulance and walked forward, grasping her chin in his hand and lifting her face to smile madly at her. "Come Kagome, surely you're not still mad that I locked you up in here? After all, I did allow you to stay in your old bedroom. Wasn't that nice of me?"
Her eyes flickered up to look at him, and the spark of anger in them gave him a dark pleasure. "You're a monster," she seethed.
"So it would seem," he leered. "I may be a monster, but at least I'm an honest one. I told you what would happen if you tried to escape, but you didn't listen. Instead, you riled up a member of my crew enough that he actually tried to kill me. More fool him." Naraku leaned in close, the tip of his nose gazing across her cheek.
"I didn't do anything," she gasped, squeezing her eyes shut. "He came into the cabin and started talking about all kinds of things, and then…he left."
"Ah, but would you care to know what he said to me as he tried to cut off my head?" Naraku whispered into her ear. "He said, I'll kill you, Captain! She should not be contained! And then, he came at me with his cutlass, but I got him first." Kagome screamed as Naraku bit his teeth viciously into her ear.
She ripped away, the chains that bound her to the wall jangling as she did so. "He was insane! Half the time he was in the cabin he thought I was Kikyou, and the other half he thought I was…some woman from the sea."
"I see," he chuckled, pulling away and wiping his lips contemplatively. "So Muso remembered her, then. I'm surprised, it happened so long ago."
"What happened?" Kagome asked warily.
Naraku stared at her for a moment before sneering. "You really don't know. That dodgy old bastard didn't tell you anything about her."
"About who?" she asked desperately.
"You're mother."
"Naraku," she hissed, glaring as she pushed a little Kagome behind her skirts. "What do you want?"
"Just thought I'd let you be the first to know that your protector is dead." He exulted in the way her eyes widened and her skin paled as recognition hit. She quickly pulled herself together, and Naraku felt his excitement race at the prospect of wiping away her calm façade, and watching her face twist with pain.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Don't you?" he asked, full lips pulling into a smirk as he glanced down at the little girl peeking out from behind her mother's skirts. "Perhaps I should give you a hint, then. He agreed to help you to re-establish an old covenant between your people – he even took in your precious first daughter. I've seen her, you know. She really bears a striking resemblance to Kagome; both so small and fragile…"
"Enough!" she snapped, glancing down warily at her daughter. Shooting him a look, Midoriko knelt down and gently grasped her daughter's shoulders.
"Kagome, darling, I want you to run home, okay? Run home and don't look back. Can you do that for mommy?"
The petite girl nodded, looking up at the looming pirate warily. "Come home with me, mommy."
"I can't right now, but I'll be home soon, okay? I just have to talk to this gentleman, and then I'll be home."
Kagome hesitate briefly before nodding. "Okay, mommy," she whispered. Turning around, she raced up the streets, never once looking back. Midoriko only turned around again when she could no longer see Kagome.
"I think we both know you aren't going anywhere, Midoriko," Naraku taunted.
"So what, I've been living on borrowed time?" she growled.
"Pretty much." Naraku sneered down at her belly. "You made a mistake, getting pregnant with his brat again. Morgan could've overlooked the rest, but not that."
"I don't—"
"Know what I'm talking about?" Naraku sneered. "That brat you're carrying isn't Morgan's, and he knows it. I guess there's no way of proving it now, though," he commented off-hand.
"What do you mean?" Midoriko asked suspiciously.
"I guess you wouldn't have noticed since you so rarely get to see each other, but Morgan found out about your little meetings with his brother," Naraku explained, shrugging. "He merely made sure they wouldn't happen again."
She gasped, feeling as if her heart were dying. "John…?"
Naraku's eyes slanted towards her and he grinned.
"No," she whispered.
"'Fraid so. And once you birth that brat, it'll be your turn."
"Why not just kill me now?" she asked bitterly. "It's like you said. My one protection is dead, and now I discover that John, too, is gone. Why wait?"
"Because for some reason Morgan has to know whose brat that is," Naraku intoned uncaringly. "If it were me, I'd just get it over with now that you've no one protecting you, but Morgan doesn't always think with his head.
"So you'll have to wait just a little longer…but for now, I'm placing you under arrest."
"You have no authority here," she seethed, backing up as armed guards stepped from the shadows.
"You're right, he doesn't," another voice came. From the shadows, Lieutenant Governor Morgan slowly appeared, his face set in a hard mask. "But I do. Midoriko, I'm placing you under arrest for consorting with known pirates John Morgan and Touga Taisho."
"You bastard," Midoriko shouted as the guards grabbed her. "John wasn't a pirate! You're the pirate, you thieving, black-hearted devil! You'll pay for all you've done, you'll see!"
Morgan watched impassively as his wife was taken away. Slowly, Naraku meandered over to his side, twisted grin in place.
"How many Maidens did you kill again? I believe the last tally was five. Do you think Midoriko will be added into that curse of yours?"
"Shut your mouth, Naraku," he hissed.
"You are cursed," he recited gleefully, "and will be betrayed once for every Maiden you kill. Let's see now – Midoriko slept with your brother and birthed Kikyou; slept with him again and is carrying his second child…do you suppose John and Midoriko would be counted as joint or separate betrayals?"
"Damn you Naraku, I told you to shut it!"
Naraku's eyelids lowered, and he peered at his old captain from beneath them. "I wonder who the fifth will be."
"My father didn't kill my mother," she whispered, shaking her head. "You're lying to me. All you do is lie."
"Didn't I just finish telling you, Kagome? I may be a monster, but I'm an honest one," he chuckled.
"But, I remember…"
"Do you?" Naraku asked, walking up to her side. "It was so long ago, do you really remember the events of your mother's death perfectly?"
"Father told me she had gone away, and everyone was so tied-lipped about it," Kagome said hoarsely, "but I knew she'd died. Like my cat had gone away."
"But you didn't know how she died, did you?" his voice came from the other side of her, and she looked around wildly, realizing it had grown dark, and she could no longer see him.
"Father loved Mother," she answered desperately.
"But she didn't love him," Naraku taunted, "otherwise Kikyou wouldn't have come to be…nor your little half-brother. Shame about that, isn't it? Morgan killed your mother, and your brother. I wonder what he wouldn't have done."
Kagome was panting softly when she felt his breath on the nape of her neck, making her shudder. "Life, it seems, doesn't get any better for you and yours. Death and betrayal follow in your wake. A curse, I suppose, to the ones protecting the Shikon Jewel."
"No, that's not true," she denied through gritted teeth. "Before you took me away, I was happy."
"Were you? And why were you happy, Kagome?"
"Because Sesshoumaru and I—"
"Ahh, yes!" Naraku exclaimed, "The Taisho's first pup. Let me guess, you think you love him."
"I do love—"
"But does he love you, Kagome?" his voice questioned sultrily, ghost fingers gliding up her sides. "Did he tell you he loves you?"
Kagome flushed and dropped her head, remaining silent.
"I see he didn't. And yet, he did those things to you…! How could he. How dare he."
She sucked in and enraged breath. "How do you know all this?"
"I know everything," he hissed, "because I am always watching."
"Well you're wrong," she ground out, glaring. "I know he cares about me, because I know him."
Naraku's laughter surrounded her. "If that's true, then why isn't he here yet? I took you a mere three days after he left to find me, and now I've had you for nearly a month. He's had plenty of time to appear, and yet, you remain."
Kagome breathed deeply, her eyes squeezed shut. Just as Naraku began to smirk, thinking he'd finally cracked her tough-girl façade, she began laughing. Laughing at him.
"For all that you claim to be smart, you missed one important thing," she smirked.
"And what is that, my dear?" he bit out, snarling.
"You want him to come for me. If he doesn't come for me, you lose! You want to fight him, so even more than me, you're desperate for him to come! But like you said, he hasn't come yet, but I remain alive.
"I think you're afraid of him," she murmured, grinning at his frustrated growls. "Afraid at what he'll do if I'm dead when he comes."
Naraku's face was suddenly shoved up into hers. "You know nothing," he spat. "Killing you will achieve nothing! With you alive, that bastard has hope. Dead, you are meaningless. As meaningless as the jewel is without someone to make a wish on it."
"Then why don't you wish?" she shouted, straining against her bonds. "Why don't you just take it!"
His lips pulled banged into a demented, fanged grin. "Because I am waiting for the opportune moment."
"Miss," a soft voice hissed. "Midoriko!"
The pregnant Maiden glanced up at her cell's window to see a familiar face staring down at her. "Muso," she whispered. "What are you doing here? You'll get in trouble!"
"You have to find a way to escape," he told her urgently. "Cap'n Naraku lied to you! The Taisho ain't dead!"
"What? But why would he lie? What would be the point?"
The boy shrugged. "Cap'n's a bad person," he said by way of explanation.
Midoriko nodded. "Yes, I suppose that's as good a reason as any. But if Touga really isn't dead, what do they think they're doing, threatening to kill me? Surely they know he'll come for me…!"
She gasped, suddenly realizing their plan.
Muso nodded miserably. "They're setting a trap for him. Plannin' to kill 'im, they are."
Midoriko stood, grasping the bars tightly in her hands. "Muso, I hate to ask more of you, but I need your help."
"I'll kill 'im, miss," he answered adoringly. "I'll kill 'im for you. You're not meant to be contained."
"Muso, no," she said firmly, frowning. "I don't want you to do that. Only, promise me that if Naraku should ever come to possess my daughters, protect them."
"But…what about you?" Muso asked softly.
"It is too late for me, I'm afraid," she smiled sadly. "Morgan will kill my child and then me. If he doesn't kill me, I'll be denied access to my remaining children. I'm resigned to my fate, Muso," Midoriko murmured. "I'm not sad to see the end. Without John, and without my children, there is nothing to live for. A new protector has already been chosen. My duty is done."
He watched her steadily before nodding. "There may be something we can do for your new babe."
"What?" she asked hopefully.
"I know these two guys – call themselves the Thunder Brothers, they do. And s'long as you pay 'em, they'll do all that you ask. We could hire 'em to watch o'er Cap'n Morgan…and step in when the time is right to save your babe."
"I don't know," Midoriko murmured uncertainly. "How do we know they can be trusted?"
"You ain't got much else choice, miss."
The Maiden was silent for a long while before she finally nodded. "All right, Muso. Just tell them, if they can manage to save my son, to take him to Madame Satomi, Taisho's wife. She will care for him, and reward them handsomely."
"Yes, miss."