The soft chirping of birds nearly covered the gentle sound of leaves and twigs crunching underfoot. Nearly. Sesshomaru remained still in his perch up a sizable tree, slightly curious to who had trespassed onto his territory. They had just crossed the invisible line, oblivious to the crime they had just committed. He could feel their presence, their aura, but it was muddled. One moment it was as weak as an average human's, the next strong enough to make even him worried. What in the world had he come across?
He hadn't actually caught sight of them yet, nor had the breeze been cooperative enough for their scent to reach his nose. It was rather aggravating, being reduced to sitting in a tree like some low-level demon, but he couldn't risk engaging them in an immediate battle without fist gaining the knowledge of who they were, and what they were capable of. Sesshomaru was aware of a few spells that allowed one to conceal your presence from the detection of another's, he was wearing one himself right now, and if he was witnessing a poorly-implemented one, then he was in trouble.
Sesshomaru was the undisputed Lord of the West, and every demon who hadn't been living under a rock for the past three centuries on this island knew it, but here was this unknown being whose strength could possibly challenge his own. It was borderline infuriating, not knowing who this being was, but his curiosity was soon satisfied.
The soft crunches grew louder, as a pair of small feet in black slippers came into view. Sesshomaru's golden eyes narrowed as he saw a young woman… Or was it demoness? It was probably a demoness. She wasn't bad looking, actually she was rather beautiful. Her small, willowy frame was in a strange outfit of a high-necked and long-sleeved green silk tunic over a pair of loose white trousers. Her glossy black hair was braided back into a simple braid, juxtaposed by the few snippets of pale skin her could see, namely her hands and her face. She had her nose in a scroll, a map it appeared. Was this unusual female lost?
The pattern of her clothing reminded him of the garments some wore over the ocean, in China. But it wasn't the same, perhaps she came from a different region of the mainland. Or maybe styles had changed since he had last visited, his last visit was a long time ago. As in about four hundred years.
The crunching stopped, and the female looked up from her map, her red eyes suddenly boring into his. He felt his pupils contract as the breeze finally decided it was fit for him to catch her scent. It was sweet, almost like a plum, dizzyingly intoxicating, it spoke to the primal part of him, it was the scent of a demoness in heat. A wave of instinct rushed over him, his normally calculating mind grinding to a halt as he suddenly found a need to claim the beautiful creature before him as his. The gold of his irises bled away into a throbbing red as his consciousness gave way to nature's commands.
Sesshomaru landed almost silently onto the forest floor, expanse of silver hair rippling from the disturbance, directly in front of his new fascination. A clawed hand reached out to grab her shoulder in order to pull her into him, but all he grasped was air. Sesshomaru was surprised to suddenly see a foot clad in a black slipper hurtling through the air in a trajectory that would soon result in said foot meeting his face.
Sesshomaru easily dodged, also blocking the foot with a hand just in case. The demoness was glaring at him now, clearly not in the mood for romance, even though her body was ripe for it. Silently, she cast the map away, not wanting it to become damaged in the scuffle, and took on a fighting stance.
The duo exchanged-almost blows for a long time at an impossible speed, both trying their hardest to strike their opponent, both failing. The part of Sesshomaru's mind that was still conscious was surprised to find that her movements were like her clothing, echoing those of China, but clearly holding their own flavor. The demoness's mouth was a hard line as her movements continued to pick up in tempo, attempting to end this. But her assailant easily kept up, even trying to push her limits to see just what she could do.
The battle without any blows actually being landed stretched on for hours. She had wandered into his territory in the early morning, and now the sun was setting. It was then, a line was crossed. The amount of physical exertion the demoness had put him through had helped clear his Sesshomaru's head, the gold returning in his eyes. It was then what he realized what he had to do to win her.
The fight morphed into a dance-like ritual older than both of them, as old as their species, eerily beautiful as supple bodies bent, blows no longer meant to harm (but could still deal some serious damage if misplaced) striking the air just a hair's breadth away from the other. Somewhere in their fight, it stopped being about her defending herself and him trying to take her, to the pair almost flaunting their respective prowess to the other, testing the other's faith in them, bonding.
The mood shifted again as darkness fell and fire-flies came out to illuminate the clearing they had ended up in. The pace slowed, winding down in anticipation of the eventual finale. The demoness's foot became ensnared in a knot of grass, and with a startled cry, she fell face-forward into the fragrant carpet. She had just started to pull herself up onto her elbows when a pair of now-familiar hands gripped her upper arms and pulled her upright.
This time, the demoness didn't move away. Rather, the mouth that had been set into a hard line for the majority of the day smiled slightly as she looked up at Sesshomaru. She had decided about an hour ago that he was worthy, she had just wanted to double-check a few things. Including to see if his consciousness was still significantly fogged by his urges. Her pale hand, so much smaller and softer than his reached up slowly, as to not startle him, to cup his face. He relaxed his grip on her upper arms, letting his hands slide down her arms, and travel around her to rest in the small of her back. He rubbed lightly the heated skin through the thin silk, urging her on.
Sesshomaru's golden eyes began to gain a reddish tint again as his demoness stood on tip-toe to place a simple kiss onto his mouth. This time, he was going to keep himself in control; the need for her to accept him was greater than the previous urge to simply take her. So he closed his eyes and returned her kiss, searingly slow, hinting at the passion that was to come, waiting for her to make the next move, to signal that it was alright for him to continue.
It came in the form of her letting her hand travel to the back of his neck where it was soon joined by its twin, her body now tantalizingly close, only a few vast inches separating them. One of his hands lifted itself from the small of her back to undo the armor he was wearing, as soon as the offending layers fell from his body, he felt the warm, soft body of his demoness press against his chest, heat radiating through his kimono.
No words were necessary, and a great deal of intelligent thought was lost in the sensations of warm hands tugging at clothing, scorched lips now moving hurriedly against their partners, and eventually the smoothness of skin against skin. Silk garments were hastily shed, the garments pooling on the grass.