Pet Spider

Summary: Inuyasha has the ultimate leash to control his tantrums, so why not collar Naraku, who has an even greater temper? What will the consequences be in subjugating such a volatile being? Kagome will find out soon enough. (Humor/romance/angst in that order. Lemon and Character death near end of story.)

Beginning is comedy ending gets more angsty, a mismatch of ideas thrown together just for the fun of it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. There is a lemon and character death near the end of the story.

Chapter 3

The days passed and Naraku's words were few and far in between. He preoccupied his time with plotting and discreetly testing his boundaries. He only spoke to Kagome, and only when she was upset. Miroku was curious, but for the life of him couldn't flush out any possible motives or sinister plot behind it. Today found them on a dirt road, plodding along in their quest, when Inuyasha's nose twitched in disgust. Kagome heard his growl and immediately sensed two jewel shards approaching very quickly.

'This will be interesting,' Naraku thought to himself as the wolf gained on them.

"Oh, no," she sighed already prepared for the constant flirting and awkward refusals. No sooner than she thought that were her hands clasped in his as a fierce wind whipped on by.

"Kagome, you look well," he flattered.

"Oh, hi Kouga," she plastered on a fake smile. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I caught Naraku's scent; I know he's in this vicinity somewhere, but don't worry, I'll have his head for ya in no time," he boasted quickly, tunnel vision trained solely on Kagome.

"Is that so?" a deep, smooth voice intoned. Naraku smirked as Kouga's eyes widened immensely. "I'd like to see you try." Easily taking the bait, Kouga rattled off another threat or conviction before lunging, completely missing Kagome's plea to stop.

Right before the blow landed, he felt as if he was being burned alive from the inside out. It was excruciating, blinding all of his senses beside touch, as he yipped and writhed on the ground. Naraku only laughed at the idiot, reveling in the fact his subjugation could hurt others. He may not be able to strike out with his own power, but that wouldn't stop him from taunting others into his web.

As soon as Kouga caught his breathe, Naraku began again, "Whats the matter, Wolf? I thought you wanted to strike me; lose your nerve."

"You bastard," Kouga spun on the ground trying to kick Naraku's legs out from under him but was struck once more by the same pain. Naraku's laughter got louder and darker before Kagome's voice rung out.

"Naraku! Enough, that is not nice," she scolded. "He's my friend! Don't make me have to say it."

Still chuckling under his breathe, he feigned regret, "My deepest apologies, Kagome, however it was he who attacked me."

"You goaded him and you know it!" she rebuked back, checking up on Kouga to make sure he was alright. "Kouga, you need to stop trying to fight and just listen to me."

"W-what did h-he do t-to m-me?" he panted out of his exhaustion.

"See the necklace he wears? It's a subjugation rosary; I placed it. It prevents him from hurting others and from others attacking him. It was the only spell I could find that was strong enough to neutralize his threat," she explained calmly.

"So, you're protecting him?!" Kouga growled. "Have you forgotten what he's done to my pack?"

"Don't you yell at me, Kouga!" her temper rose. "Of course I haven't. But really, your pack was only slaughtered because they invaded his castle and tried to steal the jewel for their own selfish purposes. You only want vengeance because you feel guilty for not being there. His death would not alleviate that guilt and I am putting an end to all this senseless bloodshed!" Kouga looked as though he had been struck, Kagome hit upon all of his buried pains.

"You're my woman," Kouga demanded. "You should always stand on my side no matter what."

"I will only say this one more time, Kouga. I. AM. NOT. YOUR. WOMAN!" she screamed, then calmed. "I am your friend."

"I see," he murmured as he sped off. She felt bad; never wanting to hurt him.

"Good riddance," Inuyasha scoffed.

"Sit boy," she snapped, Inuyasha only made her feel worse about her argument.

Slumped on the ground, Kagome jumped when a hand was suddenly offered her. Taking it mindlessly, it hoisted her up before she had seen just who had shown support and was shocked to see it was Naraku. She stared at him, marveling at how he could be so nice when he wanted before realizing she was still gripping his hand. Dropping it like she was burned she backed up and blushed. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo bore witness once again, but Inuyasha was still eating dirt.

Naraku had been impressed with her deduction skills, finding the wolf's weak spot so adeptly. On top of that, she had defended him, somewhat. It was a strange feeling; warm and foreign.

Time passed quickly, uneventfully, except for when Kagome finally demanded the jewel from Naraku. He had been even more intolerable since, but never quite to the point of causing his subjugation. With the jewel no longer sustaining his body, the effects of 'hunger' were taking hold quicker than he had expected. He was deteriorating, his very flesh decomposing off of him, and there was nothing he could do about it with these damn beads around his neck. His body was made up of the bodies of various demons, and these demons were bound together by a mass of demonic power and a human soul. Without a constant supply, he would simply fall apart. That's why he wore the shapeless, baboon pelt, to hide his true composition from the world. And now, he was only a few days away from being nothing at all, reduced to this by a mere human girl. It was infuriating, but he had run out of time; this is what he must do to live, "Miko, a word."

His harsh, impersonal words startled her, but seeing him turn away from the path they were currently trekking and heading into the woods made her understand that whatever he wanted to say was not something he wanted all to know. She turned to follow until Inuyasha grabbed her wrist, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Naraku wants to talk about something," she explained, "I'll be right back. He can't hurt me and we won't go far." He wouldn't relent. "Don't make me si-" that worked, sending him back with her nearly complete threat. She jogged to catch up to Naraku, watching his broad back as they moved further and further away. He stopped suddenly, but didn't speak. Kagome peaked around him searching for an answer, "What did you want to talk about?" He sighed, visibly so, then started loosening his haori and pelt. Kagome flinched back, thinking his intentions to be perverse, but when he spun around, chest revealed, she almost threw up at the sight. He looked like he was rotting. Having gotten his point across, he closed it back up and waited for her to recover from the sight. "W-what is wrong with you? Are you ill or something?"

"I am starving," it was the easiest term for her to understand.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" she scolded. "I have plenty of food in my bag still."

"That is not what I require," he corrected. This had to be handled delicately.

'Now that I think about it, I've never seen him eat a single bit of any food we've prepared. I know I've offered several times,' she thought. "What is it you eat anyways, Naraku?" she wasn't sure she really wanted to know, but if she didn't help him, he might die. 'Wasn't that the goal from the beginning? To kill him? But not this way, not so cruelly, and hopefully, not at all.'

"Live demons," he watched her confusion. "If you remove the spell I can acquire what I need. If you do not, than you have sentenced me to a horrendous, slow death."

Kagome winced, guilt tearing at her for the obvious pain she's put him through, "If I nullify part of the spell, you won't hurt me, will you?"

"My priority right now is to sustain my life, not take yours," he answered honestly.

"O-okay, I'll make it so you can fight, but you still need to remain close by and I can still use the command if I need to," she tentatively decided.

"Remove the barrier this rosary creates too," he added to the deal, "I need to be able to be attacked for this to work." Kagome was confused, but agreed. She touched two of the gems and their glowing vanished, signaling they were no longer in effect, then looked up at Naraku skittishly. He grabbed her hand and swiftly punctured a fingertip with a claw.

"Ouch," she exclaimed and tried to pull her hand away. "What was that for? Let me go."

"Hold still," he ordered, squeezing the digit until a drop of blood oozed out then swiped it off with his palm before letting her wrist go. Her finger went straight to her lips, sucking on it to sooth the pain and watching him carefully, slightly upset. "The blood of a human female, virgin at that, should lure enough demons to us. I will use you as bait." He squeezed his hand around the droplet and when he opened his hand a red mist floated out instead, spreading the scent faster. Luckily, they were downwind from Inuyasha, otherwise he'd have come running too.

Kagome blushed at the virgin comment, but then got mad as he told her she was bait. "I'm not bait!" she argued.

"You are," he looked up, "many demons have already begun converging in search of a meal… or gratification." Her face got red again at the insinuation. A few minutes passed before he spoke again. "They are here." Then he disappeared from her sight. She looked around frantically but couldn't see him.

A gravelly voice hissed out, "How lovely, a human, all alone, and ripe for the taking." More voices joined in making similar lewd comments about sharing then devouring her.

"G-get away," Kagome stuttered, fearful about suddenly being alone. She shrieked when she was suddenly grabbed around the middle and pulled into the forest, until she saw just whom the tentacle belonged to. She was upset he left her there but also relieved to be in familiar company, even if he was substantially more dangerous than the lesser demons before her.

"The human belongs to me," he stated to the horde that just kept growing in numbers. "Will you attack me in order to have her?" Just as predicted, the entire swarm charged him, he dropped Kagome to his feet and cast his spell, absorbing the masses of demons in a manner that she had seen before. She kept her head down, braced against the ground, until the commotion ceased. Slowly rising to her feet, she cautiously looked at Naraku. He had a calm expression. "That feels much better," he droned, nearly moaning out.

Kagome noted he was nearly glowing and looked significantly healthier. A worry began to creep in, 'Now that he's fed, will he find my death a priority.'

His brightened eyes took in her new fear and smirked at the effect he still had on her. "Are you scared of me now, Kagome?"

"N-no," she failed at her bravado.

"You should be," he warned, and walked up closer to her. She backed up, but hit a tree.

"I-I can s-still use the command," she warned, "so d-don't go trying anything."

He chuckled at her, then threw her mind for a complete loop, "Don't you need to reactivate these gems?"

"Huh?" it was so unexpected she was sure she heard wrong. He pointed to the rosary, reminding her that two of them had been nullified. "Oh yeah." She regained her senses and quickly touched both of them, returning their light glow. With his threat once again eliminated, she smiled easily and followed as he began leading her back. No matter how she analyzed it though, she couldn't figure out why he willingly let her reactivate the rosary. He hated the thing, why would he remind her. He was an absolute enigma.

Naraku knew she was confused about his action, but if was part of the plan. It took only a word for her to overpower him and reactivate them by force, so it was in his best interest to cooperate and gain her trust. He wanted the entire thing removed, not just partially deactivated.

Emerging from the forest, Inuyasha immediately jumped in front of him, "What took you so long?"

"It takes time to devour a fresh meal, Inuyasha," he took advantage of Kagome's distraction with her own thoughts to goad the hostile pup.

"Fresh meal?" his mind automatically went to the worst possible scenario. "Where is Kagome?"

He chuckled at the predictable response and stepped aside revealing the daydreaming girl just emerging from the tree line. The tension visibly deflated at her appearance. That is until Inuyasha turned his annoyance on her, causing an argument and getting sat.