"You wanted my kiss. I know you did. That's why you made it look like Inuyasha betrayed me fifty years ago. It was you, Naraku. I could smell your foul miasma and evil aura from many miles away. You, as a demon, wanted the Shikon Jewel like many others before you. It was my duty to protect the Jewel, and you were jealous because you thought I would give it to Inuyasha." Naraku turned his head away. "I've done no such thing before," he lied. Kikyo did not take this seriously. "You wanted my kiss. You've always been jealous of Inuyasha, Naraku. I am not the only one who noticed. You cannot hide it from yourself." Naraku turned to leave, his long hands curling into fists. Cold sweat ran down his neck, and he was truly nervous. He did not know what to say. He did not expect Kikyo to think of such things. Naraku turned to leave her, and Kikyo stared angrily after him. Naraku hesitated to hide behind the rock wall. He wanted to know what Kikyo's reaction to this was.
Kikyo walked over to Inuyasha's unconscious body. She lowered her head, her face now wet with tears. "Naraku has tortured us both. So...I must not be with Inuyasha again. It will be too dangerous for us all." She turned to leave, her sandals gently tapping on the rocks just as her eyes had tapped into Naraku's the other night. Naraku felt awful. His heart started to crumple and fall apart, like a paper ball that was suddenly lit by a match of despair.
Naraku returned to the castle late that night. Kanna and Kagura had finished with their second secret conversation. Kanna had left, leaving Kagura in Naraku's quarters to await his return. Naraku shed his baboon outfit off, which was smeared with Inuyasha's blood. "Why are you hiding in here, Kagura? What are you doing?" Kagura seemed not to notice that her master asked her a question. Instead, she smelled the air.
"I smell the scent of temple fire. You were near Kikyo, weren't you?" Naraku chose to ignore her. Kagura frowned, and crossed her arms.
"You never listen to me, Naraku. This is why I've been secretly talking to Kanna." Naraku sat on the floor, resting his elbow on his knee.
"I know perfectly well why you've been conversing with Kanna behind my back. You long for freedom. Well, Kagura, you're not going to get it that easily."
Kagura clenched her teeth and grabbed a rod from the slowly-moving fire behind them.
"I'll fight you for my freedom," she declared. "I will not play servant girl to you any longer! I have my own life and my own emotions. You refuse to see that, and you keep me as your own. You're like a young child, and I am your lifeless toy."
Naraku did nothing but stare coldly back at Kagura. Slowly, he got up and walked over. He grabbed the rod out of Kagura's hands and knocked her down with it. When Kagura hit the floor, Naraku threw the iron rod on the floor by her feet.
"Take this and get out of my sight," Naraku ordered. "I will not waste my time dealing with you tonight."
Kagura leapt up suddenly, grabbing her fan. "Deal with this!" Kagura scratched at Naraku's face with the sharp, wooden fan. Naraku pushed the fan away with an old, war sword decoration. Naraku stabbed at Kagura's side with the old, elaborately designed blade. Blood appeared at the corner of Kagura's mouth, but she refused to cry out. She refused to give in to the one man who took pleasure in her pain.
Anger burned deep inside of Kagura's heart. The anger felt good, because it helped the blood cool down and flow. Damn Naraku! Damn Naraku to his own hell! Kagura thought to herself. Naraku came up to Kagura, holding a glowing ball in his hands. Kagura knew that the glowing ball was her heart.
"Kagura, you speak foul of me. I'll say it again, pitiful wench. I hold your heart in my powerful hands. If you utter a single word that insults my being, I will do something worse to your lowly body."
Kagura's slender hands balled up into fists, but she dared not to raise them.
"What can you possibly do to me that's worse that what you've already done?!" she cried. "You have imprisoned me here, making me slave over your "ever-powerful'' body. Well, guess what? You're just a half-demon! If a half-demon like you can't take down a half-demon like Inuyasha, you can consider yourself as powerless as a human."
Naraku's mood was grim, and somewhat fretful. He could not have his own incarnation speak badly of him, calling him a human! Well, it was Kagura's own life. Should he punish her, he would not be blamed. He sensed that Kagura, who never once questioned Naraku, wanted to engage him in conversation to keep him from harming her. Well, engage this! Naraku thought.
While Kagura was busy nursing her profusely bleeding side, Naraku's arm lashed out and caught Kagura in the back of the head. He sent Kagura flying backward onto the floor, and she crashed into one of the purple pots holding the smoky substance.
Naraku's sparkling silver ring, which he wore for the fashion, had caught a strand of Kagura's dark green hair. Kagura turned her head toward him, her eyes streaming with tears from the pain. Naraku slowly pulled at the hair on his ring. The strand of hair glowed, and Kagura realized that Naraku was placing a spell on her.
Kagura caught a flash of Naraku's famous, evil smile from the corner of her eye. He pulled at the hair on the ring, and Kagura magically felt it. She cried out in pain, feeling an invisible, long string around her neck. Kagura realized that this string was her hair.
He duplicated it! Kagura realized. He's going to strangle me with my own hair! Naraku pursed his lips, and twisted the hair around the outside of the ring. Kagura fought, but she could not free herself from the ever-growing pain on her throat.
In one swift move, Naraku snapped the hair in half. Kagura felt the string fall from her throat, and she shrank back against the wall. She gasped, massaging her throat. Her breaths were shallow and slightly farther apart, and her throat made a whistling sound as she breathed. She fought back tears, but she could not keep them from escaping her eyes and falling on the shiny, wooden planks of the floor.
Naraku carelessly let the split hairs fall to the floor. He took one step forward, and stared down at Kagura with evil, merciless eyes.
"How dare you defy me, you four-legged, two-timing wench. Did it ever occur to you that I, Naraku, hold your very life? When you called me a human, did it occur to you that maybe, someone is controlling your every breath? You do not deserve to live, Kagura. I would have disposed of you sooner, but your work has been somewhat pleasing. You deserve to die, wretched demon, but I will spare your life for now. You still have work to do for me."
Slowly, Kagura stood up. Her knees were badly cut, and there was a stabbing pain when she bent them, but she must say this to Naraku.
"Naraku, I am much happier than you. Even if you beat me and treat me as your servant, I am still happier than you."
Naraku's evil smile faded, and turned to a small frown. Kagura gave a small, confident laugh. Naraku shook his head, and unclenched his fists.
"You fool. You can never be happier than me. I am happy because I am hidden, and far away from the priestess Kikyo." This was a lie, and Naraku knew it. However, he did not want to admit his fear to a woman who was born from his very ribs. He would die first.
"Naraku, you have your castle. Plus, you have your power, and respect, and servants to do the dirty work for you. However...you're still not happy. You've never been happy, and I'm sure you never will be." Kagura stared hard at Naraku for a few moments, before Naraku started laughing.
"Ha ha. You truly amuse me, Kagura. Tell me, do you have anything else to say before I dismiss you?" Kagura gasped, her eyes widening in horror.
Naraku held up a hive of poison insects, and slowly released them. "Learn your lessons well, Kagura, and stay out of my sight forever."
The poison insects flew angrily and wildly at Kagura. They flew in and stung her face, arms, and neck. Some of the wasps got inside her dress and stung her chest. Kagura flailed her hands, and fell backward into the dirt outside Naraku's castle. After the bugs shooed Kagura out of the castle, Naraku came to the window. He began throwing things at her, like wooden fans that she used to control the wind. He also threw her clothes at her, like silks and kimonos. The clothes fluttered like sheets of color around Kagura as they fell to the ground beside her. The servants joined in, too, throwing clay jars and empty sake bottles at her. They thumped to the ground, and the bottles busted by Kagura's bare feet, splashing the lukewarm alcohol all over her.
Kagura began to wonder if she made a mistake. After all, no matter how much Kagura couldn't stand Naraku, the castle was her home. It was her birthplace, and even though Naraku treated her like vermin, he and his incarnations seemed to get along without very many complaints. Half of her was angry. She then realized that Naraku did not care for her at all. He only thought of her as his possession, a woman kept for stalking Naraku's rivals. Naraku had drawn the battle lines within just two weeks of Kagura's creation. Naraku had asked to see her in his quarters. It had been their first formal meeting, and Kagura was not sure what he had planned for her. She remained dutiful to him for about fifteen days, until the time when she had enough.
Yes, Kagura thought. I remember now. Naraku was accompanied by more servants, who sat and listened with evil smiles on their faces. Kagura was not sure that they could be trusted as well as Naraku. Naraku had told her how things would be:
"I give my incarnations and servants food and shelter. We all help one another here, but there is always something to be done. Murders, for example."
Then, Naraku extended his hand and a glowing ball clattered onto the plywood table of his quarters. "If any of you were to defy me, even you, then your heart would most likely be shattered by me." Kagura nodded, trying not to show her discomfort around the group, and Naraku took back the glowing ball.
Then, without another word, Naraku put on his baboon cloak and left the room as silently as he had entered. No sooner was Naraku gone than a servant appeared with a long blade that had been tattered in the war of many years ago.
"Master Naraku says you should repair this and use it to slaughter the wolf tribe in the mountains," the servant had said, dropping the blade in Kagura's manicured, slender hands. "No later than three days from now," the servant added before he departed.
And that was Kagura had gotten along with Naraku many years ago. She had done his dirty work, and in exchange, Naraku offered her food and gave her shelter in the castle. "I wouldn't want you dying of starvation and cold," he would say. Naraku set the tone for the other servants' attitude toward Kagura. If Naraku was the war general, it would only be a matter of time before Kanna became his field commander. Since then, Kagura had always longed to be free from Naraku's pale, evil claws. Now, she finally had her wish.
"Where should I go?" she said aloud, feeling the pain return to her. She ignored the cruel, wicked laughter of Naraku and the servants from the window. Kanna, her own sister, joined in as well. Kagura had thought that leaving Naraku would be great. Now, she felt cast aside, and she lost ones that were actually dear to her all along. Never had she felt so alone. Kanna held up her mirror, showing the humiliated Kagura's reflection as the servants pummeled her with belongings of her past.
Kagura slowly gathered her things and departed, leaving muddy footprints in the dirt as the cold, merciless rain of betrayal fell.