Contingency by Rikayu

Threaded

Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim any right or responsibilities for the characters used in this story.  All rights are reserved for the respective creator of Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi. 

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Threaded

A frown settled on his face as the fading campfire glowed in his golden eyes.  The claws of his newly regenerated arm flexed experimentally, unused to the feeling of it there now as it rested on his bent knee.  It felt foreign almost.

Sesshoumaru’s gaze wandered silently across the campsite.  His retainer was passed out beside his two-headed dragon steed, the Staff of Two Heads wrapped securely in the toad’s arms.  His human ward was cuddled next to the demon exterminator woman from his half-brother’s pack, while the red-haired fox kit slept next to the two-tailed cat demon curled up contently in a ball.  The monk slept with his back against a tree at the right side of the camp, his arms tucked into his sleeves as his head lolled to the side.  The half-breed rested high on a tree branch opposite of the monk, feet dangling as the wind blew.  Then slowly, the Lord of the West let his eyes fall on the slumbering girl across the fire. 

His hand twitched slightly and he closed his eyes, opening and closing his fingers repeatedly.  The sensation of the sharpness and energy of purification shivered across the skin of his arm as the tips of his fingers tingled.  The frown on his face deepened and his eyes slowly eased open to stare at the crackling fire, watching the figure behind it carefully.   The miko.

The young woman was fast asleep, leaning back against the tree that his half-brother was perched on.  Red, embroidered silk draped over her body, the threads catching the glow of the fire as the girl slept.  Her hair fell around her, curling softly below her shoulders, and framing her face with dark raven that shimmered in the campfire light.  Then as a small breeze blew a few of her dark strands loose, her hands instinctively tugged at the kimono, pulling it tighter around her even as she slept.

For a brief moment, his eyes focused on her hands as they loosened their hold on the kimono and her body relaxed.  He remembered the way they tugged at the hem of her skirt as she approached him earlier during a stop at a stream for water.  He remembered how her slender fingers interlaced and fumbled and pulled at each other as the girl quietly spoke.  He remembered the soft texture of her skin and the way her fingers tugged hesitantly at his sleeve before she ran them shyly against the skin of his shoulder.  He remembered how even as the sting of her powers had pulsed coldly against his skin, her touch had been warm, careful and tender, almost like a lover’s caress. 

Sesshoumaru’s eyes narrowed and he looked away, closing his left hand into a fist as the ghost of her lingering touch crawled against his skin.  Then in one swift movement, he was on his feet.  Turning on his heel once, the taiyoukai silently slipped out of the campsite.  His left arm swayed at his side, his hand flexing as he delved further into the darkness of the forest. 

The wind criss-crossed through the trees and blew against him almost fiercely, as he weaved his way through the night, his silvery hair billowing out behind him like a ripple of waves.  What little slivers of moonlight that could penetrate the canopy danced across his form in playful patterns.  Then as the wind shifted directions and blew from behind him, the dog demon stopped in his tracks.

For a brief moment, as wisps of youki swirled around him in intricate patterns of white mist, he closed his eyes.  The sounds of crickets and nightlife echoed all around him as the events from earlier that day replayed over and over in his mind, his fist clenching hard at the thought of the wretched seams that persisted on intertwining a frail human woman into his life.  His eyes snapped open and his irises narrowed into slits as his body began to rise into the night sky. 

He refused to let the threads of fate tangle him into a web he did not want to be part of.  He did not need another reason to be attached to that girl…

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Note: Done for Priestess Skye's Weekly Challenge on Dokuga. Prompt: Stitch. Word Length: 700 words.