AN: Hey everyone! Long time no see! It's that time again for the best week of the year: SessRin Smut Week! This is the week I let all my writing inhibitions go. As such, this is a VERY different type of story for me and purely self-indulgent, since it has several elements that I've been wanting to try but never had the right story to do so. I hope you enjoy it regardless.
Warning: There are rape/non-con elements in this story. I classify this as horror-erotica, so there ARE some dark themes. However, it is also a fairy-tale-esque romance, so there is a guaranteed happy ending, in case you were concerned.
Prompts: Onsen/Bathing and Outdoor/In the Woods
Summary: In which Rin decides to meet a monster.
The Monster in the Woods
Chapter 1: Her Only Warning
By LuvinAniManga
The moment the new chief ranger strutted into headquarters that morning, Rin pegged him for a city-slicker. Though all rangers shared a love of nature, the urbanites still had this air about them. They came with big plans and a desire for change. Not like in her rural hometown, where the traditions of centuries dictated the course of life.
So when the chief ranger set up a meeting first thing that morning to introduce himself to their small team, she wasn't surprised when he got straight down to business.
"Unless we bring in more revenue, the Ministry of the Environment is going to start reappropriating our funding to other more popular parks," the new chief ranger barked. "Which means any or all of your jobs might be in danger. How do we fix this?"
Rin and her fellow rangers piped in with the usual answers: new trails, more events, better advertising.
"Advertising, huh?" the chief ranger echoed in that way a teacher does when his students say exactly what he wants in order to prove a point. "Well unfortunately, we have a publicity problem. Would anyone care to tell me what it is?"
Rin exchanged uncertain looks with the four other park rangers sitting beside her.
The chief ranger turned to the framed map of the park behind them and jabbed a finger into a massive green blob in the heart of the park. "This."
"Sesshoumaru's Forest?" one of the other rangers asked.
"Precisely. It lies smack-dab in the middle here, and the locals are hell-bent on keeping everyone out. That means all our trails have to circle around it. Hell, there might be something in there for tourists to see, and we don't even know it! At this rate, I'd be happy if we gave goddamn ghost tours to cash in on our local boogeyman, but the residents—" he grumbled, pointing to the little towns lining the edge of the forest, "—are all too damn superstitious to go for it."
Rin frowned, put off by more than the chief ranger's coarse language. "Sesshoumaru is real, sir. I've seen him."
One of her fellow rangers snorted, and she snapped a glare at him. The chief ranger looked unamused.
"Right. What's your name again?"
"Rin, sir."
"You from around here, Rin?"
"Yes, sir. I grew up in Little Edo." She nodded at the map, where the chief ranger's finger lay right beside her hometown.
In fact, she was the only one from around here. The previous chief ranger had lived in Little Edo as well, and he'd been instrumental in getting her this job, but every other ranger in the park hailed from different parts of Japan. She alone had grown up with the legends of the monster in the woods—that monster's name being Sesshoumaru.
The stories surrounding him had been passed down for generations. Admittedly, no one could quite agree on what sort of monster he was—some claimed he was a fearsome white wolf with red eyes and a bite that could snap ancient tree-trunks in half, while others swore he was an elfin demon who seduced men and women alike with his looks, leading them into the forest only to kill and feast on them. But there were enough family stories about giant paw prints, unearthly howls, and ghost-like visages in the trees that convinced the locals that Sesshoumaru was real. And they knew to stay away from his forest.
"Are you saying you've been inside Sesshoumaru's Forest?" the chief ranger asked.
"Once. When I was a child." Back when she too was a newcomer and hadn't yet heard the legends.
When her parents in the city had died, she was sent to live with her grandmother in the countryside. Still grieving the loss of her family, she fled into the woods one day, wanting to be alone. The trees called to her—so different from the concrete jungle she had grown up in and yet, when she stepped beneath their canopies, she felt at home. She explored the forest all day, delighting in the flora and fauna. It was the moment Rin could now pinpoint as the one that led her on her journey to becoming a ranger, since it filled her with a love for the natural world.
But she got so caught up in playing that she lost track of time, and before she knew it, the sun started setting. The birds stopped singing, and the squirrels darted into their hidey-holes. Silence fell, and only Rin's footsteps echoed against the towering trees. She was a little lost, but she was certain she could find her way home in time.
But as the sun set, a blood-curdling howl pierced the silence—and it sounded so much closer than she would have liked.
Rin panicked and started to run, struggling to dodge roots and branches as the light faded fast. The bushes rustled behind her, and she whimpered in fright, putting on an extra burst of speed, even though it felt like her heart was already going to explode in her chest.
Then the light was gone.
Suddenly, a pair of inhuman, yellow eyes appeared ahead of her, glowing in the darkness.
Rin screamed and careened out of its path, crashing through saplings and fallen leaves.
Then she tripped on something hidden in the detritus and hit her head on a log. The world went black.
The next thing she knew, a soft touch to her cheek roused her. Sharp nails grazed her skin. Had her grandmother found her?
She opened bleary eyes, finding herself back on the doorstep of her grandmother's house. The touch pulled away from her cheek and she turned her head, catching a brief glimpse of those same golden eyes looking down at her from within the shadow of a face. The person dashed away, long, silver hair glinting in the moonlight, and in a blink, he was gone.
When she walked in all banged up and explained she had hit her head, her grandmother rushed her to the hospital. Once Rin was bandaged up, her grandmother held her hand and commanded with tears in her eyes, "You are never to step foot in that forest again, do you understand me? You could have been eaten by that monster, Sesshoumaru!"
"Sesshoumaru?" Rin echoed, the name slithering pleasantly through her teeth.
"He kills anyone who enters his forest—even children! Thank goodness you made it back here before he found you."
Rin lolled her throbbing, bandaged head from side to side over the pillow. "No, Granny. Sesshoumaru saved me. He brought me home."
Her grandmother looked at her bandaged head in alarm. "No, my sweet girl. Sesshoumaru saves no one." Rin then had to undergo a series of cognitive tests. She passed them all, despite her concussion, but her grandmother refused to believe she had been saved by the monster in the forest.
But Rin had never doubted that hazy memory.
Still, out of respect for her grandmother's wishes, Rin never stepped foot in the forest again, despite how much she wanted to. But her grandmother had just passed a few months ago, and now, as if that change hadn't been enough, it seemed the job she loved was at stake as well.
"And you saw this Sesshoumaru?" the chief ranger asked. She nodded. "So, what did he look like?"
Rin faltered. "Well…it was dark, so I couldn't make out much, but…he had yellow eyes like a wolf yet the bearing of a human."
"It was dark, huh?" the chief ranger answered while the others all bit their tongues to keep from laughing.
Rin scowled. "I'm telling you, Sesshoumaru is real!"
"Alright," the chief ranger said, holding up his hands in placation. "Let's say I give you the benefit of the doubt. In that case, prove it to me."
"What?"
The chief jerked a thumb back towards a closet. "Go to the forest and set up some wildlife cameras. Do a stakeout if you have to. Bring me proof. But if you can't bring me proof by the end of the month, we're going to start mapping it out and creating trails."
"Maybe you'll find Sasquatch while you're at it," one of the rangers snickered at Rin, making her flush.
Even so, Rin was determined to prove them all wrong. So she packed up some cameras and camping gear and left. She parked her Jeep at the edge of Little Edo, not wanting to run into anyone she knew to explain what she was doing.
They would all warn her against it.
She approached the tree line and stared into the forest's dark expanse. A breeze blew behind her, as if pushing her into the trees' embrace. She took a deep breath.
"Watch out, Sesshoumaru," she said. "I'm coming for you."
The susurrus of the trees whistled in anticipation. Or perhaps it was laughter.
Rin spent her day hacking through undergrowth, marking a trail for her to follow back, and looking for signs of Sesshoumaru, so she would know where to install her cameras. But as the afternoon waned, she had found nothing concrete. Oh, there were plenty of other tracks she found—deer and wild pigs and rabbits—but no footprints indicating her quarry. There weren't even any giant wolf prints. Interestingly, she hadn't seen sign of any predatory tracks—not even regular-sized wolves or bears. Still, she was prepared with deterrents in case she came across them.
As the sun sank, she turned her attention towards finding a suitable place to camp, ideally near a water source. Her park map indicated that a stream entered the forest, though no one had ever documented where the stream flowed inside it, so she started travelling north, hoping to run into it.
Instead, she stumbled across a hot spring.
The chief ranger would definitely be interested to know about this, so she marked her approximate positioning on her map and then tested the temperature of the water. Sixty degrees Celsius—far too hot to take a dip in. But the hot spring flowed out in a stream, and she followed its course until it tumbled over some rocky falls into a larger, freshwater river—the one she reckoned she had been looking for.
She went down to the river and, curious, took off her shoes, wading into the cold water and gradually walking towards the falls. With every step it grew warmer until she reached a point where it was a skosh too hot to be comfortable. Dancing back and forth between the waters, she found the perfect spot—not too hot and not too cold.
Yep, she had found her camping site for the night. And she was going to enjoy this secret offering of Sesshoumaru's Forest.
After setting up camp and eating, she brought a lantern and her field sleepwear—a tank top and boyfriend shorts—to the river. Out of habit, Rin glanced around before pulling off her uniform shirt, conscious of how the lantern's light illuminated her alone against the dark backdrop of the forest, but she neither saw nor heard anyone.
Even so, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Ridiculous. There's no one here.
Well, no one but Sesshoumaru.
But hey, if a little show would bring him out into the open, she'd take it. She needed proof, after all.
She shivered a little when the fresh, start-of-summer air hit her skin, and she stretched, feeling absolutely obscene walking around naked in the woods. Then she stepped into the cooler part of the river and washed the dirt off her body before heading up to the confluence to sit and soak in the hot spring water.
As the warm water enveloped her aching legs, she groaned. Walking in deeper, she let the heated water crawl up her body, shivering when it tickled at her sex. The rush of water filled her ears with its soothing symphony, and the currents beneath the surface slipped around sunken rocks, brushing against Rin's legs. At one point, a jet shot through her legs, and she gasped.
The way the water tickled her sex was downright sinful.
She glanced around again, not sure why. She knew she was alone, and yet…knowing how indecent she was being, she grew paranoid that someone would see her. She positioned herself against the rocks, opening up her core to the hot current that flowed between them. Mewls of pleasure escaped her throat as the water massaged her clit. She brought her hands up to her breasts, splashing hot water onto them and rolling her mounds, plucking at her nipples.
Ding.
A bush rustled on the shore, and Rin gasped, spinning around and covering herself. But there was no one there. She pulled away from the jet and sank further into the water to hide herself as she peered around the falls.
"Hello?" she called out, goosebumps rising over her neck despite the steaming water.
A faint breeze blew through the clearing, and a bird took flight, its wings and the fluttering leaves shattering the stillness of the evening. Her neck prickled.
Ding.
Her lantern light went out.
Rin spun around, trying to see what had happened, but her eyes hadn't adjusted to the sudden fall of darkness. Had the batteries died already?
Or had someone turned it off?
Ding.
What was that noise? A bell? Rin strained to hear it again, but it was difficult to hear anything over the splash of water. Even so, the forest suddenly seemed too quiet. Even the wind died.
Her back prickled with awareness.
"Se…Sesshoumaru?" Rin asked. "Is that you?"
Something brushed her leg.
She shrieked and jumped away.
Dear gods, please let that have been a plant.
She blinked, trying to banish the light stains from her eyes and find the shore. This wasn't relaxing anymore. She wanted out.
Something yanked her feet out from under her.
Rin screamed and fell back into the water, barely closing her mouth in time before she went under. The thing—its hands—clambered up her legs, bringing her closer to it. She tried to kick whatever had her, but the creature held fast.
Then its arms reached her thighs and yanked her close, pulling her flush across its body and wrapping her legs around it. It slid its clawed hands over her buttocks, digging into them.
A hard wall of muscle flexed under her opened sex, and something blunt and pointed prodded between her legs.
Oh no!
Then the creature slid its—his—hand up the dip of her spine until he found her neck. He grasped it, holding her head in place.
Hungry lips pressed against hers, a demanding tongue prying at the seam of her lips. On reflex, she tried to gasp—but water flooded her mouth. In terror, she shoved at his chest and untangled her legs from his waist, trying to swim up. Her hand broke the surface, assuring her that relief was near. He moved behind her and then hooked his arms around her body, lifting her.
She erupted from the surface, coughing and gagging, with her hair plastered over her face and eyes. She went to wipe it away, but the creature trapped her arms at her sides, wrapping his own around her body. She shook her head and wriggled, trying to escape, especially as the heated prod against her buttocks warned of imminent danger to her virginity.
When she had expelled all the water from her lungs, she tried to open her eyes, but between the streaming water and the fringes of her hair, it hurt too much, so she kept them closed.
"What are you doing here?" the creature hissed in her ear, and she shivered, the deep timber of his voice the pluck of a cello string reverberating through the air and into her soul.
Her heart hammered, and surely he felt it beating a drum solo over his forearm. "A-Are you Sesshoumaru?" she wheezed, her voice still raw and quavering with fear.
"Why do you seek me?" he demanded in the same harsh tone, his breath hissing against her ear. She shivered.
She couldn't come out and say she needed proof of his existence. "I—uh…you saved me as a child, didn't you? When I tripped and blacked out?" He didn't answer. "I just…wanted to find you again and thank you."
"Why now?"
It was a valid question. She should have thanked him eleven years ago, if that was the case. "I was a young then, and my grandmother forbid me from coming back to the forest. But I'm an adult now, and I can make my own decisions."
"You certainly are an adult now," he murmured, one hand snaking over her breast and squeezing it. She sucked in a breath, and he licked the shell of her ear. "One who makes foolish decisions."
He toyed with her nipple—almost absentmindedly, it seemed—rolling it through his thumb and forefinger. A tingling sensation washed across her body from that point.
A sense of déjà vu washed over her—which made no sense, because no man had ever touched her like this before.
While the one hand continued to knead her mound of flesh, the other traveled lower, over her pebbled stomach and entered the tangle of hair at the apex of her thighs. Rin squeezed her legs together, though her belly fluttered from the sensation of his fingertips trailing across it.
But still, he wriggled one finger through the gap—an eel finding its hole—and stroked the pearl within.
"Ahhh," Rin gasped, her legs trembling with need and cracking open just a smidge. He flicked her harder.
Sesshoumaru licked a line down her neck and shoulder, teasing sharp teeth across the delicate skin, before pressing a kiss to the crux of her neck. Suddenly, his finger stopped twitching, curling against his hand as if it took every ounce of willpower to restrain himself. He burying his nose in her hair, inhaling deeply.
Then he pulled back and said, "This is your only warning. Leave tomorrow, or you never will."
The phantom sensations of his teeth still haunted her neck. "Does that mean…you'll kill me?" Eat me?
His grip tightened on her breast, and he cupped her sex, his taloned fingers sinking into her folders. She writhed at the intrusion.
"No. I will never let you leave me again."
"What?"
Then with a sudden splash, his hands were gone, as was the warm weight of him against her back. Rin spun around and flipped her hair out of her eyes, wiping the water from them. But by the time she could see, there was no trace of him left.
Just like when she was a child.
She didn't understand. Were all the stories wrong? Sesshoumaru was supposed to be an indiscriminate killer, and yet not only had he saved her as a child, but just now, he could have raped her—easily. But he hadn't.
Though the erection digging into her back indicated he wanted her body very much.
So what stopped him?
Rin shuddered, despite the hot water flowing around her. The press of his fingers still lingered like ghosts over her body.
Strangely, though, she didn't feel repulsed.
She felt aroused.
How? A demon groped me in the woods. Why…?
Why did her sex throb so? The pulse in her core beat stronger than her frightened heart, it seemed.
Why was her body betraying her?
Was it because she had romanticized him as a child? Was she imagining the elf-like creature some tales claimed to say he was? Was it that deep voice of his that could melt the panties off any woman?
But what about the other tales that said he was a monster? A giant wolf?
But those had not been paws groping her, and his skin had been smoother even than hers.
The monster in the forest was hunting her, and she should have been terrified.
Instead, she felt challenged.
He had given her a choice: leave intact or remain behind and become his. And she had no doubts about what that entailed.
But would he really force her if she didn't want it? She had now met the monster in the forest twice, and twice he had let her go free. She was starting to wonder if the monster really was one after all.
So, she was going to call his bluff.
"You don't scare me that easily, Sesshoumaru," she muttered.
And then the voice of the forest seemed to speak.
"I should."
AN: I hope you enjoyed this first installment! I have a rough draft of the whole story written but still need to revise each day's prompt. I will endeavor to post these daily, but I'm going on another work trip tomorrow, so if things get delayed, that's why. Happy Smut Week!
PS: In case you weren't aware, I have a Twitter account now. Follow me at LuvinAniManga!