Snow Pearl

Chapter Seven

By PhoenixBlade

Whisked away into the dark night,

Was it the light of fire you were searching for?

Still blind to the flame that had been blown out,

You, who kept fighting a losing war.

"Report."

I looked at his pale face, eyes trailing down the two stripes that ran down his cheeks. He looked as bored as ever, with that blank face and emotionless frown that graced his oh-so-lovely lips. I had just returned from fulfilling my task in wiping out General Hlub Neeg and his army. Darkness surrounded his study room with a touch of light from his one melting candle that sat on his desk. The faint glow danced and caressed the cheek that was not leaning on his fisted hand.

I fell to one knee with a hand held before my chest and head bowed down, "As you have commanded, I have fulfilled my task. General Hlub Neeg and his army now lie among the many inhabitants of the soil."

There was suddenly a sudden chill in the air. Crinkles of magic-like sparks pricked at my skin, threatening to pierce through my skin. He wasn't happy.

"You… buried him?" he asked, his voice still emotionless but now had a tint of anger in it.

Both my knees were now on the floor as I bowed my head low with hands out in an apologetic position.

"I apologize, but I am a miko after all. Is it not my duty to bury the dead even if I was the one who slew them? They were worthy of burial. They had fought tooth and nail to the end in protection and revenge for Hlub Neeg," I apologized in a mad rush. No need to get him this riled up. He was grumpy from lack of sleep I could tell, burying the one man whom he detested above all others was just fuel to the fire.

"You buried Hlub Neeg, the one man whom I detested above all others!"

"Yes…"

Feeling somewhat daring, I rose from the apologetic position to the suicidal position, staring back at his greatness with confidence that my actions were for the better.

"Though I have angered, what has been done is done. You ordered me to take care of Hlub Neeg and his army and I have done so. You did not tell me what to do with the bodies afterwards," I spat back at him and smirked.

How odd it was… I had never really smiled before, but this wasn't a good kind of smile either. I was baiting him, and that was bad. Heh, bastard. Deserve. The sound of wood splintering brought me back to Sesshoumaru.

I could see the growing fury in his eyes, the annoyance of my actions. He was sitting upright, his claws digging into his chair, his jaws clenching to hold back a snarl.

Suddenly, as if he had just had the greatest idea in the world come up, he dropped back in his chair, jaws unclenched, fury fading from his eyes and hands clasped in the sleeves of his kimono. A small smirk danced on his lips as he looked at me with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and I bit back a gasp, realizing what he wanted. No way…

"Go wash up my little pearl and come to my room after you are done. I want you to be clean and glowing when I… punish you tonight," he said with a malicious grin on his face.

Inwardly, I panicked. The only times he would call me little pearl was to ensure that I would finish a task that he gave me, when he had me in bed, or when he wanted to punish me bad. This was his way of showing me who was in control. If I could have chosen other punishments that he used in punishing others whom he deemed failures, I would have chosen them over his own personal punishments he had with me. There was going to be a lot of blood, pain and screaming… and it would be me doing all the screaming.

Earlier that day...

Dusting off the dirt from my hands, I looked on at the funeral fire. The dead bodies were burning and turning to ashes. It has taken me the whole day, but I had managed to drag all the bodies by myself to a huge clearing in the forest. I could hear the cracking of armor, the scent of cooking flesh and see lifeless bodies being burned away into things that no longer resembled who or what they had originally looked like. All that was left of them were charred skeletons and rotting flesh.

I walked up to the large fire, but stayed far away enough to not get scorched by the fire or get smoke in my eyes. I pressed my hands together, palm to palm, and went to my knees. I bowed as far down to the ground to the fallen soldiers and stayed there for a little while before I rose to my feet. Looking on at the fire for a few seconds, I began to sing a prayer that my miko-sensei had taught me long ago.

A prayer to the fallen soldiers

May my gentle whispers

Lull thy restless bodies to sleep

And guide thy wandering souls

To contentment and nirvana

Sleep, for thy waking shall never come

Listen well to my voice

A lullaby to thy sensitive ears

Rest and be assured

Thy family and thy friends

Shall keep their memory of thee

Sweet within their hearts

Thy debts and thy burdens

Are no longer yours to own

You who owe nothing to this world

Sleep for you are now free

Let my hush sighs bring thee silence

Sleep, sleep for all eternity…

I heard a faint rustle of cloth behind me a ways, but I ignored it for now. I kneeled and bowed to the burning bodies again, longer this time in respect, and rose up again to turn to my one-man audience.

Instead of looking at me, his clear amber eyes stared straight behind me at the funeral fire. They were sad, mournful and seemed to want to cry, but some unwritten law of manliness stopped him from doing so.

I looked at him a bit as he watched the fire. He was tall, almost a head taller than me. A billowing red outfit clung to his body as a dull-colored armor hugged his body. His long thick silver hair was tousled from sleep. His eyes were wary and tired from waking, among other things. They were gentle, but at the moment serious. His lips were set to a grim line, almost to the point of crying if not for that unwritten law of manliness again. I was a woman, he was a man. He could not cry in front of me, simple as that.

His skin was tanned a little, though not much, but more so than mine. He held an old, rusty sword in one hand and had his other hand clenched to hold back any emotions that wanted to be let out. Though his father said he was actually older than me, in youkai and ningen years, he looked so… young. Naïve perhaps, but definitely young, as if some part of him was so innocent that one did not want to have him tainted.

He blinked and inhaled deeply before looking back at me, "…My father? Is he…?"

"Dead," I answered.

He looked away and breathed in deeply again, holding back his emotions again. His attention returned to me, "…Where?"

His voice sounded like a little child, as if asking for their favorite blankie that had gone missing, but that was what he was, from what I had seen so far. He may have looked ready to battle, but inside, he was like a child.

"If you would follow me, I will show you," I said.

He hesitated for a bit then nodded. I began walking in the direction back to the forest. He said nothing as I led him past some brushes and behind some trees until we came to a big lonely tree that bled petals of pink blossoms from its branches to the ground. Underneath the tree was a mound of dirt and several small rocks over it.

I stopped and he stopped at my side.

"I did not know how you wanted the general's funeral to be so I buried him here out of respect. If you would like, I can bring his body over to where the others are and burn it," I suggested.

He immediately shook his head, "No… don't. I… I would rather see him buried under his favorite tree than to let his body rot away to the wind. At least here I can…" he drifted off.

It took me a minute to realize what he wanted, "…I will leave you alone."

I stared to turn away when he grabbed onto my arm and I almost went to my sword out of habit, but stopped and looked at him. Those now-watery honey suckled eyes looked at me with gratitude and sadness, "Thank you… for all that you've done…"

I was quiet for a few seconds, not knowing what to do or say.

I turned my body around and I looked at him, "…It is my job. There is no need to thank me."

"No, thank you… for everything miko-sama. They would have appreciated what you've done for them… I… I thank you…" he said and proceeded to bow to me, but I stopped him.

"There is no need for thanks again my lord. I shall be taking my leave of you, for I must go," I said and bowed once more before walking away.

"Wait!" he shouted to me as had just reached the trees.

I turned around and he hesitated for a bit before saying, "I'm… My name is Inuyasha… May I… ask what your name is?"

I was a bit surprised and a little taken back, but I felt the gentlest of smiles touch my lips. "I am Kagome."

He said my name, as if trying it out before he was satisfied with how it rolled on his tongue.

"Kagome," he smiled and bowed.

I bowed back and left with him staring after me, still with the smile on my face. How odd…

Back to the present…

Sesshoumaru was heavy against my naked body, panting into the curve of my neck, satiated from our "lovemaking." One arm was wrapped around my hip, gently caressing an old scar there and the other was wrapped around my waist. His length was still engulfed in my warmth, still wedged between my legs as I felt our cum trickle down my bloody sweat-soaked thighs. My thighs were sore and hurt from him ramming roughly into me while he was pumping in and out of me, it had hurt and had felt good at the same time. He was good at that, drawing out pleasure from pain and vice versa.

I laid still against his weight, panting for air and staring at the wooden ceiling above me in the darkness. It felt like he was suffocating me, but he wasn't. I should have cared that he was smothering me and that the throbbing pain at my newly inflicted and still bleeding cuts were wanting my attention, but I didn't. The anger, the invisible and overwhelming burning sensation inside, was raging wildly in me. I hated him.

I had done as he had ordered me to, I took the bath, but I took longer than necessary and one of the youkai servants came and dragged me out of the bath before dressing me in a simple yukata before shoving me into Sesshoumaru's room where he was waiting for me. For that small act of rebellion, he made me scream, bleed and beg him to take me as he brought forth such pleasurable sensations throughout my body. It was the worst kind of torture that I had ever gone through and I begged him like some submissive wanton bitch in heat. The bastard…

I tore away from my trip down memory lane back to our current position when Sesshoumaru started licking the sweat away on my neck. He shifted a little and I winced from the pain between my legs. I wanted him off but I had used up all my strength on him earlier when I tried to pry his hands away from me, but it was a stupid thing to do because it was like trying to move a large boulder.

His tongue found its way to the mark at the junction between my neck and shoulder that was now bleeding slowly then when he bit me earlier as he thrusted into me. He lapped away at the blood as if it were some sweet and addictive elixir. I whimpered a little when he bit down gently on it. It still hurt. Unfortunately, he didn't care and chuckled. He bit down a little harder this time, digging his claws lightly into the fresh wounds he had inflicted on me earlier. I moaned, caught between pain and pleasure as his length pulsed to life and hardened inside me.

I made a slight sound, unsure of what I was feeling at the moment, but there was a slightness of anger in it. Yes, I was angry at him. I didn't want this. I had never wanted this in the first place.

He looked at me, lust plain in his eyes. He was ready for another go and I glared daggers back him. He smirked and leaned in for a kiss. I turned my head to the side to avoid it, but he dug his fingers into my skin, breaking it. I yelped and he took this moment to slash his lips across mine. Before I knew it, he was back up and slowly thrusting his length in and out of me, drawing out pleasure from me that my body craved for but my mind didn't want. I shut my eyes tightly and bit my lips to stop myself from crying out in pleasure and letting him know that my body was enjoying it.

His lips moved down over my left breast, hovering above it, letting his hot breaths bring my nipples to life, hardening as the knot in my stomach tightened with every slow thrust of his hips. I heard a faint sloshing sound from between our legs, but I ignored it. Stay on the focused Kagome, stay focus or he'll-

His next thrust was so rough and hard that I couldn't help but cry out, caught between pain and pleasure, I let him know that I wanted him. He groaned in satisfaction, knowing that I had wanted his body and continued his slow, torturing pace and I made unrecognizable animal noises with each meandering thrust. It was too much, too much to handle. I needed him to- oh god… I needed him to…

His mouth covered my nipple and he sucked on it like a hungry newborn. I squeaked as he raised one claw to my other breast and kneaded it, tips of his claws fondling the nipple so precisely; I couldn't help but scream his name, though hoarse my voice was from my ruined throat.

"Sesshoumaru!"

Before I knew it, the orgasm came in a rush as I began to fall into that place between sleep and complete darkness while he continued to thrust into me. As I felt myself slip away, I felt him bite down hard into my collar bone. I came back fully awake with a blood-curling scream. It…hurt!

I stared at him with eyes full of hate and disgust as he continued to pump into me. He leaned into my face, so close that our noses touched every time he filled me.

"Stay awake my little pearl, your punishment is not yet over…I'll have you screaming until your lungs are burning…"

With that, he drove into me like a madman… and I screamed.