Acclimated
Chapter 5
Evening iridescence reflected off sheen-coated skin and ebony slick tresses. Brows creased in an unseen battle beneath the vestige of fading nightmares while dark lashes quaked from wresting consciousness. Lulling warmth permeated along her side as she nestled closer, the soothing cradle pulling further into somnolence. However, torpor soon began vanishing as wakefulness timidly broadened at the brush of a gelid breeze.
Fluttering open, unseeing eyes searched and saw nothing but melding silhouettes and twisting shadows. The lethargic girl lifted a hand to gently rub away blurred visions, cerulean orbs meeting the sharp contours of a resembling profile.
Kagome alarmingly tried prying away at the abrupt realization, but a heavy arm lay draped across her abdomen, keeping her flushed against a slowly rising chest. Trapped, unsettling panic rose to the forefront as scenarios played about her veritable fate. There was no room to escape, weapons nowhere in reach, and too drained to feel even a dribble of reiki. Frazzling thoughts turned to her intrepid nature, guiltily admitting that she had brought this upon herself.
"Rest," came a quiet command, stilling her squirming movements before she cautiously peered at the source.
Magenta-lined lids revealed eddying gold in a reposeful stare. There was something about the way he looked that was different from the last, and she eventually found herself calming at the serenity of his features. That was, until notice was taken of their close proximity; her furled position upon his lap. Beginning to fluster as heat rose to her cheeks, she glanced away fleetingly.
Sensing her rising nervousness, Sesshomaru gently tightened his hold, and repeated his claim. "Rest," he soothed. "You are tired."
A newfound strangeness rooted even further confusion. Was she still dreaming? The situation was illusory to prior convictions, so much so that it was it was almost hypocritical. The daiyoukai's ambivalence stemmed spiralling curiosity, but his words had been true; she was undeniably tired.
Abandoning moderation, she minutely leaned into his signalling clasp, tilted head resting against the broadness of his silk-covered chest. "I don't understand you," she professed in a half-whisper, sleepy eyes shutting. "I don't understand this."
"There is nothing to understand." An almost unnoticeable vibration ran along his reply, felt beneath the leaning side of her face and solidifying the reality of his nearness.
"But there is," she hazily rebutted, "You keep finding me. Why?"
"I sought answers."
Kagome hummed absently at the repeated reply, remembering the last time those words left his lips. "What do you want to know this time?"
When a response was not forthcoming, she then supplied. "I haven't had anyone to talk to since I lost my family." A sorrowful sigh breached a pause between words. "Then you came along, and I think this is the most I've said in years."
Nothing else vocalized between them as a subtle beat allayed and assuaged, and Kagome soon began drifting in the deep of night.
-X-
Rising steam warmed and dampened, creating a misty haven reprieved from the season's lingering chill. Lying against a smooth stone ledge, Kagome relaxed in a relieving hotspring, dipping chest-deep in the balmy pool. Slowly but surely, each muscle relaxed in suspended weightlessness.
Scooping a handful of water, she lifted to her forehead before letting it pour languidly in trickling comfort. As she drew down to cup the water again, her attention slipped to two evident lesions. Pale, almost parallel lines sliced tawny skin along the length of her left forearm. She considered them her battle scars, though they were less jarring than most. To her, they were actually somewhat…elegant. Both cuts had been clean and healed surprisingly fast, leaving no raised welts and minimal discolouration. It could have been worse. I could have lost an arm. Fingers lightly traced its curve around her wrist and she was reminded of a striking purple. They are like his.
Imagery emerged of their previous shared evening, and she quickly shook the impression away. Since then, Sesshomaru had begun visiting in increasing frequency. It had somewhat settled into an arbitrary routine as every few weeks, he would appear with another sporadic question. He would ask directly, and she would answer politely. Nothing more than passing interest, it would seem. She'd share stories of her upbringing, of past lives in the village and other humanly traits. And occasionally a question of her own was posed, but most had been met with silent regard.
Feeling the pruning of her tips and toes, Kagome got up and dressed in a light yukata. Spring had crested and winter layers had been shed. Wringing out the wetness from silky hair, she openly embraced the enlivening crispness of a milder season. Nimble fingers were combing the tangles from flowing locks when an unmistakeable youki brushed against refreshed senses.
When the landing of footsteps carried to her ears, she continued her grooming without turning around. "You're here with more questions?"
"I am done with questions," his deep reply rumbled closer than initially thought.
Stiffening slightly, her voice was audaciously levelled. "If you're here to finish me, I hope you know I'm not going down without a fight." Perhaps it was foolish to taunt such a creature, but for some reason, she had begun to trust his aloof detachment. After all, he has not made any more attempts on her life since the night at the mountain.
"I do not expect you to." Hot breath whispered against the back of her ear, eliciting a rousing sensation as fine hairs stood straight along the bareness of her nape. Her own breath hitched as a tender claw began trailing across her delicate jaw, down the expanse of a slender neck and stopping at the dip of her clavicle.
Turning promptly, cerulean blue met a glowing set of red in a transfixed gaze. She backed away timidly but he soon closed the gap, encaging her against the stony ledge of the thermal hotspring.
Tilting towards her neck, the demon took a steadying breath, basking in familiar scents of lavender and citrus. A shudder released as she felt the brush of his sharp nose against electrified skin, flashing a feeling of cooling heat. What is he doing..?
Slowly, a hazardous claw tip began tracing along the pulsing column, faintly releasing a miniscule amount of poison along the way. She instantaneously hissed as burning skin rose in reaction, leaving behind a pinkish welt and a thin line of dotted red. Sesshomaru elated as tendrils of power surfaced to combat his affliction. Lemongrass.
Leaning in closer, a zealous tongue darted out to lap at the trickling blood, tasting the undercurrent of untempered power. Kagome inhaled sharply at the spiking touch, a blissful pleasure mollifying the pain upon his ministrations. She had remained still, but unaccustomed to such intimate actions had begun squirming, when a guttural growl filled the air and she stilled once again.
About to protest, a thumb pressed at the base of her throat in a silent reprimand as her mouth snapped shut. In one last sweep, his tongue trailed up the length of her neck before giving enough space to meet her gloss-coated eyes. A heated expression of baffling disorientation stared back, but his was implacable. He saw through the confusion to her own curiosity; her own intrigue of the transpiring cadence.
Without notice, cool lips came crashing down to press hotly against hers, pointed fangs nipping at plump edges as a malleable tongue sought passage. She parted without control, becoming a bystander of her sentient body's whims, melting against his penetrating kiss. Angling deeper, one hand crept up the base of her nape to grip still damp hair, the other pressed at the curve of her lower back to pin against his sturdy form.
When his searing kiss finally released, she was audibly gasping for withheld air through heady lungs as her heart thrummed loudly beneath her breast. Glimpsing downwards, she noticed her hands had unconsciously wound tightly to the collar of his spotless kimono. She splayed them flatly, feeling the pulse of the imposing demon before her with longing fascination.
"I thought you wanted to kill me," she voiced breathlessly.
His nails raked along the base of her skull tentatively in long, slow strokes. "I did."
Her angelic features beamed in the glow of the setting sun. "But not now?"
"No," he answered truthfully.
And suddenly, the forest didn't feel quite as bare.
END.
A/N: This is my first *completed* fic. I kinda like it, kinda hate it. Feedback and comments will make me happy.