This was originally written for something called "The Inu-yasha Blanket Scenario", but I never got it posted. Reviews are very appreciated, since this is my first fic going public and I would very much like to know what people think about it. J
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story at all.
Unwanted VisitorKagome sneezed and shivered, aware that she was growing steadily colder. Yet she had done everything she was supposed to: stripped off her wet clothes – only keeping her undergarments on – and wrapped herself in a thankfully dry blanket, then kept moving, pacing around and around the little hut. She cursed herself silently for being so stubborn – she just had to go back home, didn't she? She hadn't come halfway to the well before the snow storm struck. If the little cabin hadn't turned up like another sent-from-heaven gift, Kagome knew she wouldn't have survived.
She sneezed again. If only Inu-yasha had been there…. As much as it itched her to admit it, she depended on him a lot. And she had the feeling that he would somehow be able to get this situation under control. Lighted a fire, shared his body heat with her or at least annoyed her until her blood started to boil (well, at least she would be warm). But he was now far away in Kaede's village and it was Kagome herself who had decided that she would go on her own.
"It's just to the well, damnit! What could possibly happen?"
…. A snow storm, seemingly.
She was interrupted in her thoughts when the door to the hut creaked and opened. In the dim light she couldn't see properly, but as someone stepped inside and shut the door she saw a long curtain of white hair sweep back.
"Inu – " she began happily, then gasped in horror as the person turned towards her. Lord Sesshoumaru, one of the most powerful demons in Japan, stood before her.
"Well, well, well," he sneered. "If it isn't the human wench."
*
Kagome backed away from him slowly until she was standing with her back to the wall. It was one thing to be brave and stand up to him when she was standing in safety behind Inu-yasha, but it was not as easy when she was far away from her friends, trapped in a hut with the demon lord. She cast a glance in the direction of her backpack, where her bow and arrows leaned. If she could only –
In one swift moment Sesshoumaru sprang past her and picked up her weapons. She felt physically ill as he bent her bow, further and further until it snapped. With the bow snapped her defiance and she sank to the floor, despair starting to engulf her. He was going to kill her. She would never see Inu-yasha again…. Tears started to run down her face.
With an elegant flick of his wrist Sesshoumaru tossed the broken bow and quiver of arrows into a corner of the hut. His mouth curled in a frosty smile.
"Girls shouldn't play with sharp weapons."
He advanced on Kagome, who was now too scared to move. And even if she could move, where would she run? He knelt down before her, a cruel smile playing on his lips as he saw her wet cheeks.
"Human beings…you are so weak."
The demon stretched out a claw and caught one of her tears. He looked at it with amusement for a moment, before leaning forward to whisper in her ear. She cringed away from him, but he had her face clasped in his hand and left her no space to move.
"Pathetic," he breathed softly. "I could kill you right here and now so fast you wouldn't have time to whimper. I could torture you and leave you begging me to die. I could break your soul, set your bones on fire and shrivel your frail human mind….and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it…."
Suddenly he started and locked her eyes in his gaze. She felt hypnotized, aware that he was trying to look into her mind.
"Or would you?" he mused, thinking aloud. "You have a source of great resistance in you, girl…. Well, it would be no point in killing you now, anyway. Without Inu-yasha here to see you dying, to hear your tortured screams….it really takes all the fun out of it."
He paused, and looked at her again with that cruel amusement, making her shiver from more than the cold.
"Oh my, aren't your lips an interesting shade of blue."
She felt his hot breath on her face as he leaned in towards her again. He licked a tear from the corner of her mouth, making her whimper in fear and try once more to break free. His hand slid around to the back of her neck and grabbed a fistful of hair, forcing her head back. He laughed softly, eyes half closed, and murmured,
"So soft…."
Then he leaned down and kissed her.
For a moment, in shock, she found herself yielding to the kiss and stretching up towards him, then as the image of Inu-yasha formed on the inside of her eyelids her brain kicked in and screamed at her to stop. With an enormous effort she wrenched out of Sesshoumaru's grasp.
The demon lord leaned ominously above her, his eyes narrowed. Suddenly she felt how cold she had become.
"Feelings," he spat. "Love and care. Human pettiness. That these should come before the pleasures of the flesh…." Mustering all of her courage, Kagome spat him in the face. His eyes narrowed even more, becoming two slits of fury.
"So….you love my fool of a brother, do you." It was a statement, not a question, but Kagome still felt obliged to answer.
"Yes," she whispered, before darkness took her and she fell into an icy-cold state of mind where thoughts could not exist anymore.
*
When she awoke she was warm, nestled against something big and soft. An arm was around her waist and a lock of silvery-white hair snaked over her shoulder. She sighed with content and leaned back against what she thought was Inu-yasha.
"A dream?" she wondered aloud, and then froze when a deep voice answered,
"Unfortunately not."
All of the past night's events came back to her as she shot out of Sesshoumaru's lap and scrambled madly to get as far away from him as possible. He crept after her almost lazily, his liquid movements reminding her of a tiger. Without warning he pounced, pinning her to the floor. But now her mood had changed. Instead of the blind horror of the night before, her fear was now mingled with a terrible rage, and she kicked and thrashed, hitting him with all her strength. He seemed a little put back, but before she could use the momentum to free herself his hand came down on her throat, claws pressing into her flesh, forcing her to stay still unless she wanted a new windpipe. Sesshoumaru grinned victoriously.
She gasped with fear and disgust as he used his tongue to trace her jaw line.
"You know, for a human you are devilishly attractive," he mumbled with his mouth to her ear. Her only response was an animalistic growl from somewhere in the back of her throat. He chuckled softly, then moved his mouth down beneath her ear.
She screamed in pain as he sank his teeth in her neck.
*
As she stumbled back to the village one hour later she replayed the conversation in her mind.
"Stop your screeching, girl. There is no venom in my teeth, at the moment. I did not save you from freezing to death last night only to kill you just as quickly and easily now."
"What have you done? Bastard!"
"Now, now. That title fits my brother rather better, I believe."
That was when she had slapped him – and he had hit her back, calmly, without emotion, and hard enough to make her ears ring.
"I have marked you."
"What?! Are you saying I'm your – "
"Mate? Good heavens, no. I'd rather drown myself than have you bearing my pups. No, this mark merely means that no demon will ever touch you again."
Kagome remembered how her eyes had widened in shock and how she had stared, speechless, at the tall demon who had released her and walked over to the open door. He had been surrounded by light, gazing out on the world outside.
"…Why?"
"Because you are mine to kill."
Kagome sobbed uncontrollably as waves of nausea washed over her, praying that the village would come in sight soon. After her adrenaline ran out when Sesshoumaru left her, an unreasonable panic had taken her and she was crying like a child. It was no good that a small logic part of her brain kept telling her that if he let her go today, he wouldn't suddenly come back to kill her.
"Inu-yasha…. Please, Inu-yasha, find me. Don't let him kill me…."
She leaned against the trunk of a large tree as shivers and sobs racked her body. She wouldn't be able to go much further. Well, if she died out here, at least she wouldn't have to put up with the mental torture of knowing that Sesshoumaru wanted to put her cruelly to death. She wouldn't spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder after his shadow. Maybe she should just give up….
"Kagome!" She looked up to see Inu-yasha leaping towards her.
"Idiot! Why didn't you go back? Where have you been all night? What do you think you're doing, you stupid, bloody idiot!!" The words may have been fierce, but she heard the concern in his voice and was merely glad that he cared.
'I'm…safe…now,' she thought before she fainted into his arms.
*
Inu-yasha picked Kagome up gently and started to carry her back. His mouth was muttering curses under his breath but his heart was wringing with worry over seeing her in so much fear and pain. He had known she didn't make it back home last night – somehow he felt it when she was away – but the snow had been to thick for him to search for her and effectively hid all traces of her scent. He had been up all night worrying and his relief over finding her was immediately punctuated by the sight of her face. The girl was a wreck.
He brushed some loose strands of hair out of her face with his lips and watched her features contort in terror.
'Whoever it is that has put you through this,' he thought, 'the bastard will never do it again. I won't ever let him hurt you. Because I love you, Kagome.'
And bit by bit the unconscious Kagome relaxed, safe in the arms of the one she loved.