Disclaimer: I do not own the Kamen Rider Kabuto TV show or franchise, nor am I profiting from these materials in any way. This fic was written solely for pleasure.
Chapter Notes: 3 years before canon.
The Butler and the Worm
By fieryrondo
8. Spider's Web
Scorpio Worm glared sourly at the cobwebs by the kitchen windows.
Undoubtedly, Jiiya was confused by his irritable mood. And when he had directed the butler to sweep away the webs, the butler might be further bewildered by their very presence. Jiiya had always kept the house immaculate.
"Don't bother with the broom," Scorpio Worm said, as the butler retreated to a supply closet in search of cleaning supplies. "Use the garden shears. Or a chainsaw—we have one, don't we?"
Bemusement filtered through Jiiya's façade of sullenness.
"Are you suggesting that I wantonly destroy the manor just to remove some spider webs?"
Scorpio Worm forced his teeth in a mocking smile.
"No, I only suggested the chainsaw for your own safety, Jiiya. Spider webs are tougher than they look."
To Jiiya's chagrin, Scorpio Worm's advice proved to be quite correct. No amount of sweeping or heavy duty vacuuming could tear down the webs by the window. If not for their shape, Jiiya would not have thought they were cobwebs as well. Upon closer examination, the threads were sticky but stretched like silk. But regular spider's silk did not require a chainsaw to cut (the shears worked until the sticky film that covered the threads blunted the blades).
It was the toughest spider web the butler had had to tend to in many years.
As he powered down the chainsaw, Jiiya noticed a gleaming white strand of thread attached under the windowsill. Rather than floating freely, the strand pulled taut, away from the sill and ran parallel to the wall, sloping downwards. Fascinated, Jiiya followed the path of the strand, wondering where it ended.
The strand wound around the corner to the back gate, which led to the rose garden. Jiiya paused, the memory still too fresh in his mind. Steeling his resolve, he pushed open the back gate. He tripped over a garden hose and fell forward, his face inches away from the ground.
To his shock he could not get up. His limbs strained to pull off the sticky white threads, which stretched but did not break.
"Don't move."
Jiiya couldn't have moved if he wanted to, but his back stiffened regardless. He could hear the footsteps of Scorpio Worm approaching him from behind.
Soft, measured steps. Jiiya braced himself for the blow.
Instead, gentle, painfully familiar hands found him. Despite himself, Jiiya reveled in their reassuring warmth. Unbidden tears welled up in his eyes.
"Hold still—I'm going to set you free." With a flick of his thumb, Scorpio Worm lit the lighter and carefully began singeing off the threads binding the butler, one by one.
Finally, only the last thread remained. It was attached to Jiiya's shirt, just below the left front pocket. Unlike the other threads, this one was much thicker, and pulsated a dark gray.
"Merde," Scorpio Worm spat. Jiiya, now sitting on the ground, almost cross-legged, looked at it in disbelief.
"Since when do you know French?"
"Since always," the Worm replied, clearing away the broken strands that clung to Jiiya's clothes.
"Your French tutor would have never taught you to curse, Bocchama."
Consternation beaded the Worm's brow and to Jiiya's surprise, it turned away from him, face flushed red.
"He wasn't a very good tutor—one time, when he found out his wife had cheated on him, he used a worse word than that. And then he told me that if I kept quiet, he would change the grade on my last test—why are you looking at me like that?"
Jiiya, who had been watching Scorpio Worm very intently, coughed and looked away.
"Do you mind getting this—whatever this is off of me?" Jiiya reached out to tug the thread off, only for his hand to be crushed by the Worm's fingers.
"Don't touch—it's poisonous. See how it's gray? It's a feeler thread, meant to paralyze." The Worm hesitated. "The lighter's fire is too weak to break this one. I'll have to cut it."
"Don't tell me you're going to hack it off with the chainsaw."
Scorpio Worm scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Jiiya." It raised its hand and concentrated. Jiiya jumped when the hand deformed into a sharp claw.
"I need to make sure that the feeler didn't work its way through your shirt—will you let me?"
Jiiya contemplated the absurdity of a Worm being concerned. Slowly, he took a deep breath and nodded.
The Worm leaned close, one hand—still human—resting reassuringly on Jiiya's shoulder. The other hand—steel-like pincer—closed around the thick thread. Jiiya could feel the hardness of the pincer, every little barb poking through the cloth.
The Worm cut the thread, taking great care not to hurt Jiiya. Ever so lightly, the Worm unbuttoned Jiiya's shirt with its hands—now both human—and pulled back the shirt to reveal unbroken skin.
The Worm sighed with relief.
"Good, it didn't get you." Its eyes narrowed as it stared past Jiiya's shoulder.
"No, don't look—"
Jiiya turned around to look anyway and what his eyes beheld was enough to make him feel faint.
A giant spider's web—really a nest of multiple webs layered over each other like a mangled knitting project—sprawled over the Kamishiro rose garden. In the very heart of the web, dangling above a bed of roses was a severed woman's head.
Jiiya could not tell if the head was Mika's—it was too decayed and swathed in spider silk for him to distinguish.
"What in Kami-sama is—"
"It's her idea of a visitor's gift," the Worm said. "She'll be back to greet me."
Jiiya's face darkened at the thought of another Worm. "She likes you, then. You two suit each other."
The Worm grimaced. "Don't say that. She's disgusting."
Jiiya wondered in a Worm condemning another Worm for its grotesque sense of humor fell under hypocrisy.
"It seems we'll be having a guest over for dinner tonight," the Worm told him once they were back in the house. Under the Worm's instructions, Jiiya had discreetly doused certain parts integral to the web's support in kerosene. "I trust you can come up with a suitable menu?"
Still reeling from the Worm's almost hospitable demeanor, Jiiya found it easiest to countermand his growing doubts with a sharp tongue.
"And what will you be having then, some roasted human heads as the main course?"
"Kami, no, that'll only encourage her to stay." Scorpio Worm touched a fingertip to his lips as he thought.
Then he smiled.
"You wouldn't have any poison on hand, would you?"
Next Time: Lord's Choice