The horn of a familiar alarm woke you up. The speakers cracked and squealed from the feedback of the alarms as they couldn't handle it. The heat began to rise and make it more toasty. The humidity rose to make it swampy. The loud click of the lights turning on sounded. A deep sigh sounded from your partner. He was beside you, being your big spoon. His face is nuzzled against your neck. Despite the fact that each day begins like this, it's hard to wake up sometimes.
"It early..." He sighs.
"Who knows if it's really day." You sigh as well.
"What do you mean?"
"They control the lights. Who knows if they turn them on when it's actually day or if it's night."
"Ohh.."
Your beloved monster sat up and yawned. He stretched out all the way to his toes. When he relaxed, he flopped down on his back. This place is strange to him. He was taken to this place moons ago. It felt about four or five. His thigh still had a bruise from the sharp thing they shot at him, so it's been long but not very long. He had just finished mating with you when he was shot in the leg by a thing that looked strange. Metallic and thin tipped but had a fatter body. Like a mosquito or a wasp. He was injected with something that made him sleepy. Next he knew he awoke in a place that didn't smell like home. You were already awake with the only thing covering you being a silky robe. He's in one too, which he didn't mind all that much. It's soft.
You he liked. A lot. The only human for him. The rest can rot. They've done nothing but hurt you. You are his mate now. And they won't get away with hurting his mate. You aren't like these humans. You are sweet, fun, smart, and you speak in a way he understands. You really care. Enough to give him a name.
"Jiraiya. Come on, they get mad when we hide." You coax him.
Jiraiya. That name wasn't like anything he was called before. Monster and freak was his usual names humans give him. When you explained what it met, he liked it. The toad summoner was the hero of the story. It was nice to be the hero for once. He watches your butt with a smile when you led the way... Another round of mating to cope is about due. It's really the only thing to do around here. It keeps him close to you and you to him.
The den was the only thing good about this place. The low ceiling structure was secure and familiar. It was made out of a flat boulder that was angled out of the ground. The den was underground and shallow. With soft dirt and moss to cozy up to. It was the only thing that didn't have a camera, that you've found anyways.
The cage itself didn't feel like one. The ceilings are tall, maybe a hundred feet. It gives the slight illusion of a sky with the mist they dispense and the lights that shine down was a white daylight colour. The walls were hard to see since trees and jungle blocked the sight lines. They went on long enough to get tired from running to one end to the other. There's a lake that has fish. There's nature sounds, but there's a slight metallic sound to them giving it away as all artificial. Despite how nice it is, this is no place for a creature like Jiraiya.
Now, why you are here? Even now it was hard to swallow. Your freedom stripped away. Your family has no idea where you are. All the things you took for granted was gone. All because you got involved with the unusual. When you visited Jiraiya for the second time, you were surrounded by people in raid armour. They shot Jiraiya with a tranquilizer before your boss revealed himself. He was ecstatic that one of his employees was involved with an abnormality. Honestly you thought you were going to be killed. But you were knocked out with barely an explanation. Next you awoke you were here in this human sized terrarium.
The explanation you were given was brief and it's still shrouded in mystery. There's a viewing window on one wall that you've met with and talked through it to your boss. All he told you was that the research and conservation labs he runs are just that, but for cryptids. He held up the photo you took of Jiraiya with a smile, saying he found it a few months ago in your desk at home. The fact he sifted through your personal belongings was incredibly violating.
"Now this is your home." Your boss, Orochimaru as you call him now, announced as he gestured to the enclosure. The name is inspired by the villain of the old Japanese folklore story you read that inspired Jiraiya's name. It fit pretty well as you've grown to despise him. "Your only objective now is to bare the children of this wonderful creature."
"Why?" You asked quietly. All this information was overwhelming.
"These creatures are superior! They should be running this world rather than what we have now! They are the true rulers and deserve to have a chance to thrive and take back the world that rejected them!"
It was truly the rantings of a madman. Orochimaru didn't answer any other questions you have. Who knows if you and Jiraiya are the first. By how they operate with such efficiency that's probably not the case. There could be only a few, or maybe hundreds of unbelievable oddities kept captive here. All of them victims to this man's insanity. Those poor creatures. They are probably just as frustrated at your creature was when first locked in.
Jiraiya was clearly trying to make the best of it. After weeks of attempting to escape, he's finally come to terms. He's ruined the walls with nail marks and he once shrieked at Orochimaru out of a frustration so intense he didn't have words. Now he ran around to expend his energy. He climbed the trees like he did to the ones at home. He focused on taking care of his mate rather than breaking the walls.
He did look different dry. His hair was fluffy and wild. The plates on his sides were flat and closed. They didn't need to be used when he's above water all the time. The simply blended into his skin when not in use. His skin was rough in texture, but not unpleasant. You trace his markings with your finger when you speak to him. He likes it when you do so. He smiles and becomes very relaxed when you stroke his skin in anyway. He's really a wonder.
As you predicted, Jiraiya was very smart. All of the down time you had with him was usually spent teaching him things. He was speaking in full sentences. He understood things when you explained stuff. But he refused to speak to the scientists. The speaker system would crackle to life and a calm male voice would ask questions. But Jiraiya just ignored them. He went about his day secretly relishing when the man on the speaker got very frustrated with his lack of cooperation.
"I know you can speak! Speak god damn it!" The enclosure echoed with the angered voice at least once every few days. To which you would usually find Jiraiya grinning maliciously at one of the cameras.
Once he grasped English to a better understanding, he talked about himself when you asked. You learned about his life. Which was fascinating. From what he could piece together in his head, Jiraiya was born on a completely different continent. His body is able to filter and survive in saltwater as well, but freshwater was easier to survive in. He swam across an ocean in his youth to flee the nest. He travelled around to different swamps and other water filled areas until he found somewhere isolated. It was in his nature to seek isolation. His survival depended on it as a predator. Then he met you... and he didn't want to be alone anymore. He wanted his mate to stay. You did stay, not by choice unfortunately.
"I'd probably find a way to stay with you eventually." You comforted him. "I was in the middle of uprooting my life and moving to be close to you."
That at least made him feel better. And yeah it really couldn't be more perfect in timing. You simply moved and went off grid. You at least got to say goodbye to your family. But the promise of seeing them again was now impossible. No more holiday dinners or parties. There's no way to even know the date. None of the humans here care about that or want you to know that. But you can at least make a somewhat half good guess on the months that have gone by.
By your estimate, it's been five months. The only thing you could use to gauge the time was your period. Your captors were nice enough to give you the luxury of sanitation pads and underwear. Only during that time unfortunately. They were weirdly stingy and sexual. Jiraiya nearly had a heart attack the first cycle. He thought you were dying as blood is always a bad sign. When you explained, he didn't fully get it. He decided that even though he didn't quite understand why you bleed from this strange process he would do what he could to comfort his mate. You aren't given pain killers to help with the cramps so having Jiraiya around to hold you and be empathetic to your pain was incredibly comforting.
This month... you are late. You felt weird... your body felt weird. You just knew your period was late. The timing made sense. Without anything to do, you and Jiraiya occupy the occasional night having sex. It's been a week or so since then and about a month since your last bleed. The faint feeling of your cramps aren't really there when you do usually feel them. It was just... strange. Your body knows it feels strange, which just makes your brain worry more.
Or it could just be late and you're paranoid. Hopefully that's it. It's scaring you. You've never been pregnant before let alone pregnant with a monster baby. You got a nuzzle and a kiss from your mate as he could sense you are stressed about something. He's very sweet. He's always worried about you. You kiss him back before letting him trot off. He prefers it when you stay near the den. To make him happy, you usually do. In that time, you try and build a fire so you can eat whatever he catches.
Jiraiya left you to go to the lake. Fish had become the biggest source of food for you and him. It was nice to dive into the water for a while. It felt like the closest thing to home. He dropped his robe to the shore before jumping in. It was deep. It was similar to some of the waters he came across in his youth. He's a master fisherman and caught a few quickly. It's clear that these fish have never been in the presence of a predator before and were rather docile, so catching them was a simple feat that wasn't too strenuous. It made for an easy meal. Along with your praises for his swiftness, it tasted all that much better. When he surfaced with the fish in his mouth, new scents hit his nose.
Fear and anger flooded him. Jiraiya clumsily swam to the shore. He booked it back to the den. The smells were that of the white coats. He hates them and their smells. He followed them since your smell was among them. Those clever dirty bastards! They saw their window of opportunity when he left to hunt. The smell stops at the wall. The door was an electrically locked panel that was flush to the wall. His now old claw marks still decorated it. Panic filled him more as the scents get old. He can't get through this stuff and he knows you're on the other side.
Gone! Gone gone! Mate gone! Not good! It's not good!!
His brain tends to revert to his primal and primitive understanding of things when his emotions are elevated. All Jiraiya's instincts knew is that his mate was gone and he needed to fix it. There was no time to conduct himself and use that brain power to think more human. Because he's not all human! He's still over half other animal and it takes over more in an emergency situation. His instincts are what ensures his survival. They now must ensure your survival.
Jiraiya span on his heel and ran to the other side of the enclosure. He comes face to face with the strange wall. You called it a window. It reminds him of reflective still water. It tricked him once and he didn't like it. He ran right into it, believing it was more enclosure by how well it reflected the forest around him. He hits it and growls. He can't see them but he knows white coats are on the other side. They're the reason why you were taken. He hates it. He hates them! He snarls and bashes it again.
"Give her back!" He demands. The strange thing under his hands was bending under the stress of his strength. Maybe if he pushes on it hard enough it'll break. Then he can maul all of these white coats for taking you.
The window thing changed. It went from being reflective to see through. The cryptid is now face to face with a man that makes his hair stand on end. This tall thin figure. Pale like the moon and staring like an owl. This man had bad energy to him. Every time Jiraiya saw this particular white coat, his guard raised. This didn't feel strictly human. It was a predator as well. With bad intentions. The finer tuned instincts he had were screaming at him that this thing was dangerous and to keep him away from you.
"Give her back." Jiraiya demands again. He doesn't back down. This is his territory now. He won't allow another male to intimidate him.
"Or do what?" Orochimaru asks with a coy grin.
Jiraiya sneers and leans more heavily on the glass. It creaks and crackles along the seams. His enemy didn't seem to be intimidated. He wants to rip this man apart. He will once he gets out of here. He'll take you with him and take you back home. Even if it kills him, all he wants to do is show this smug human he can do it. He raised his fist and bashed it.
Bash! Bash! Bash!
He slammed his fist against the material. The man on the other side remained calm. It only irritated Jiraiya more. He hisses. He shakes out his hand. His knuckles are bloody but he didn't care. You are gone. This man had you! He won't let this stand! No one takes his mate! They'll learn he is to be feared. He doesn't compromise! This is his territory now and he will prove that he's in control here. Not these people! Never these people!
He flexes his fist and draws it back. The glass is fractured and cracked now. He raises his gaze up to the white coat staring him down.
"I'll take her back."
The look on Orochimaru's face basically said try it. So he will. Jiraiya is not a creature that backs down from a challenge. He slammed his fist into the glass again. It caused pain that ripples up his wrist, through his arm and down his spine. The shattering sound of the glass was worth it. The hole was only big enough for his hand. It was jagged and sharp.
Make it bigger! Get mate! Bring her home.
He reached in swiftly, like a snake striking prey. He swipes at the white coat that is undermining him. Pain keeps slowing him down as he scratches up his arm on the glass. As if to mock him, Orochimaru simply took a few steps away, never losing composure.
"You are such a fascinating creature."
"Shut up!"
Jiraiya clawed at the other side of the glass, dragging his nails down it in a frustrated attempt to make the hole bigger. Blood is running down his arm and the pain is horrid. Like how he injured himself in the past on brambles or poison ivy. It stings. But he really didn't care. He wants you back. He'd walk on all the brambles in the world for you.
He punched out some more of the glass to make the hole big enough to get through. He will get through! For you. He wants you so badly. His eyes lock with the cold gaze of his captor but not his ruler. The smile on the other man's face still sends fire throughout his body. It overcame the pain and fear of losing you.
"Yai!" Jiraiya yelps.
His leg suddenly was numb. Looking over to see what happened revealed one of those pokey metal mosquito things stuck in his leg. His whole body felt tingly.
He glared at the smiling man behind the window. It took several tries with his numb tingly fingers to pull it out. He did the weakest throw ever that made it only a few feet. It clatters and stumbled onto the floor on the other side of the glass, into that smelly sterile environment. Jiraiya's eyes drooped closed. He tried to fight it, but the venom in the metallic bug was too strong. He hit the ground with a fading consciousness. More pain followed in his arm as it undoubtedly got ripped deeper on the fang like teeth of the shattered glass. His last thoughts before fading into oblivion was terrifying thought of not knowing if he'd ever see you again.
Waking up under the influence of the knockout drugs always sucked. Jiraiya was stiff and cold as he became more aware. He sat up slowly with a quiet groan. The lights are dimmer. It's the pretend dusk you've told him about. Everything here is not natural. It makes him nauseous if he thinks about it too hard. He's been out for hours. Even if these lights are not of the real sun, their days are just as long. Looking at the window revealed that it was reflective again. It was whole again. Probably for the best. Seeing that smug pale man will only piss him off again.
His legs quivered under his own weight. He groans and pushes through it. Why? Why together again? He touched the glass. It feels different. Not as cold. Not as smooth. It's not the same...
"Jiraiya?" Your distant voice caught his attention.
Jiraiya perks up immediately. He turned around, or tried. He stumbled around. He'd get to his feet to take a few steps before collapsing again. He still had tingles along his legs that made them feel like a floppy fish. It took thrice as long, but he got to the den.
The hazy expression said it all. Poor thing must have lost it when you were taken. Enough to get shot with a tranquilizer. You meet Jiraiya half way in the clearing that framed the den so he doesn't have to walk as far. He's bleeding. His right arm is mangled with jagged cuts like he went searching for fish in a shark's mouth.
He didn't seem to noice the pain or the blood. His arms wrap around you and he makes a pitiful noise. It's that toad like chirp he does when he's sleepy and upset. His face buried into the crook of your neck and he sunk to his knees. You are forced to sink down with him. Not that you mind all that much. You live to be his now.
"Okay? Mine? My okay?" Jiraiya asked you. His brain reverts back to his basic speech when he's drugged.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry I had to go." You coo at him. He is very child like when he's stoned out of his tree and you tend to speak to him like he's five. He's clinging onto you for security.
"Why go?"
"They had to check on my health."
"Why?" Jiraiya sat up to look at you. He's clearly scared. "Hurt? Why hurt? I hurt?"
"Shh." You hush him and hold his cheeks. His eyes are wide and have a frantic expression to them as they look you over for wounds. "I'm perfectly fine. Let's just go to the den."
He nods and began to crawl towards the security of the underground home. You crawl in after him. Jiraiya immediately snuggles right up to you. He chirps again in a sleepier note. It's very hard not to just melt in his arms. But he needs some medical attention. Why the scientists didn't patch him up is unknown and worrisome. Don't they care? Isn't he their star subject? You rip strips off of your robe and try not to think about it.
You pet his hair to soothe him as you treat his wounds, using the strips you made to clean and dress his cuts. Which only comforts him more into sleeping the drugs off. He's very easy to make happy. He likes being touched and talked to when he's under the influence of the tranquilizer. He's been shot a few times the first few weeks for his violent outbursts at clawing the walls and even attacking one of the scientists when they came into the enclosure. It helps when he wakes up to you petting his head and assuring him he's fine. Those little keens he does in his drugged up sleep are heartbreaking. It's like when a dog has a dream and they yip and twitch in their sleep. You just wanna pick him up and hold him as he's stuck in that uncomfortable twilight of consciousness and unconsciousness.
A few pieces of glass poked through his bloody cuts. You had to pinch some of the wounds to squeeze out the foreign material from his flesh. It caused more little keens to come from his sleepy haze. Just what did he do? A question for later. You wrap his arm up with the makeshift bandages you made. You got too much to worry about at this current moment.
As suspected, you aren't just paranoid. You are pregnant. The scientists noticed you were late as well. They escorted you out with armed guards pointing guns at you, so it's not like you had a choice. A young girl with red hair, glasses, and a strict frown took some blood and ran tests. The results didn't really surprise you, but it filled you with dread. Without a doubt Orochimaru is celebrating. One of the lab assistants said something about you being the first successful incubator to an abnormality's spawn. So this is all new territory for them too. To them, this is a breakthrough in their work. It sucks being the milestone for these twisted bastards.
It's all the unknowns that are worrying. So you are compatible enough to carry Jiraiya's baby, but who knows for how long. Will the baby hurt you? Will they even live? Will you even live? You've been assured that some of the country's top doctors are working here and they take your health very seriously. Not that it's much of a comfort.
What will happen when you have the baby? Will they leave them with their parents? Or take them? Will they even survive? Surely Orochimaru will want to run some experiments. Which is scary. You don't want your baby to be taken from you. No mother does.
The only choice you have is to take it day by day. To live with the unknowns and just... deal with it. It's scary, but least you aren't dealing with it totally alone.
When Jiraiya was sober and awake, you told him. It took a few tries. He didn't understand a few words still. The word pregnant didn't mean anything to him. That is until you made him understand. What finally worked was taking his hand and putting it against your belly.
"Baby. Your baby." You told him slowly so he caught every word.
The puppy like, childish curiosity finally changed to understanding. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. His mate his having his baby. Well... if Jiraiya was protective before... he's on a whole new level now. He'll make sure the white coats fear him enough to never touch you or take you away. This is his territory. With his pregnant mate inside of it for him to protect. He'll leave piled bodies all around the entrance and the window if that's what it takes to convince his captors to leave him and you alone. He pulled you against him in a tight hug and promised you one thing.
"No one will ever spilt up our family."
You broke down into tears. The stress of this whole situation has finally caught up to you. You hold onto your wonderful cryptid and sob into his chest. Jiraiya contently holds you while you cry. He spends the whole day with you in the den, ignoring the sirens and speakerphone voices demanding he gets out for them to observe. At one point he did leave just to fetch his robe and put it on you. He's been naked his whole life, so what does he care if he's deprived of one soft layer. Clearly his mate needs to be warmer than his cold blooded body can provide. Plus you sacrificed your robe to help him. His wounds are better with your care and you need it more than him.
He paid another visit to the window. It's still smeared with his blood. No one is there that he can see aside from his own reflection. It looks like how it did before he broke it in an attempt to harm his warden. Poking it did confirm that he wasn't totally crazy when he was under the influence of the metal mosquito's venom.
It is different. Warmer. Stiffer. When poked it had more give. It sounded different when he pushed it. Even more different when he tried to scratch it. It'll be tougher to break through this.
A challenge. The white coats are taking him seriously now. They underestimated him and it led to a breach. No matter. If they ever did take you or his child away, he'd find away to break through. He'll slash apart that thin pale man behind the frame as if made from blades of grass.
Leave it. For now. Breaking this window will only get replaced with a stronger window. It won't do any good to have a window he can't break. If another threat rises, he needs to have a window he can shatter like he had the first time.
Jiraiya spends a few days doing only night hunting just to spite them. These people don't need to see him. They took you away. He brought home enough fish to feed you and him for a week. He told you he didn't want you to leave the den. He'd bring you everything. He pushed the food towards you with the expectation for you to eat it all. He even tried cooking it over a fire outside of the den. They were burnt, but it's the thought that counts. It all comes from a place of slightly misguided love. He expects you to eat more since you are having his baby.
"You must be twice as hungry with another person in you to feed!" He thought it was quite logical.
"Aw... come here." You hold your arms out and crawl towards him on your knees.
Jiraiya pouts a little as he knows that's the tone you use when he does something incorrectly but well intentioned. He hugs you anyways, even if you are making fun of him a little bit. You pet his hair and inform him that it's not that simple.
Despite how hard this situation is, you at least got Jiraiya. Your beloved cryptid is here to support you and take care of you. He's going to make a good father even if he has no clue what exactly is happening. His instincts about this whole situation hasn't steered him wrong yet. You are at ease knowing he won't let anything bad happen to you. All that can be done is let time run it's course.
Let's just hope it runs in your favour.