Alpha by Lyra
Blossom
Drabble Collection Alpha
CXCVIII
Prompt From Priestess Skye's Bi-Weekly Challenge
Blossom
Those words were the last Kagome was able to read for several days, and they haunted her. In her mind, she drew pictures of the events she had read. She saw Sesshomaru, tall and pale and cold, his mouth moving to shape terrible words. She saw Izayoi, standing with the stiff pride of a princess...and then she remembered Sesshomaru speaking, his confession: “Because I have done to you what I did to her. Or rather I have tried – to melt the flesh from your bones, boil bone into nothing.”
In the evenings, while the moon was low in the curve of a lavender sky, Sesshomaru came for her, his eyes warm, his lips warm, his hands warmer still. Then, while he was with her in the passionate dark, it was hard to think that he would ever hurt her – and after, she was not left with many hours in which to question him, or his motives.
Though he came to her every day, sometimes many times in a day, he came to her full of desire, not for speech. Whispers moved through the palace and around her; often, she turned just in time to find dark eyes watching her movements, waiting...
She knew what it was they waited for; they waited for her death, for a moment of inattention; they waited for Sesshomaru's favor to fall away from her like the autumn leaves from the trees.
Then she would be bare before them, stripped of all protection but her own power, which none who had not encountered it deemed a threat.
With Sesshomaru himself, she was at first pleased and then afraid; three and four days passed without many words between them, without any sounds but those of flesh meeting in pleasure. Was that all he wanted from her, all he would ever want?
If that was so, how long could she possibly last here? She knew, knew, that there were other females in this place, and that some of them were not servants...but she said nothing, because she was pleased by Sesshomaru's attention, if exhausted by it; because she did not want him to go to other females...and because to admit that was to admit to something deeper, something she found far more disturbing.
At night if he was not with her she felt it most strongly; alone in the dark of her gilded chamber she couldn't help but think he was with those others. She knew her feelings for what they were – jealousy! - and in them sensed a great danger. One could not be jealous if one did not care – and she could not have feelings for Sesshomaru, could neither afford nor justify them.
So, alone in her rooms on the fifth night of her stay, Kagome paced and muttered and glared at walls and, finally, wept – and admitted, in silence, that she did care for him, just a little - and that this blossoming of feelings was just awful.
Nothing could be worse!
It was late, very late, when Sesshomaru came to her – and for the first time since he had brought her here she shied away from his hands, his kisses, and looked at him with a worried expression.
“Sesshomaru – Sesshomaru, where have you been?”
If he was surprised at her question, he did not show it – but neither could she tell if his answer was truth or lie.
“With the Council. You are not used to the hours of a youkai fortress, Kagome. Sleep, when you have need – and do not worry.”
He stood, and made as if to leave her, but she caught him by his sleeve, and he scented sudden terror, strong from her.
“Kagome. What is it – what do you fear? If I am not with you, Yoko will -”
“I can protect myself!”
He was relieved to hear the fire in her voice – and then utterly struck by what she said next.
“But I can’t stand it that you might go to them – the other females. The ones who want you – the ones you should be with. That they could be touching you - that you could be touching them - I hate it. I hate it!”
The words came out with more far feeling in them than she had intended. Sesshomaru stared at her, surprised. She saw that and shook her head, disbelieving.
“You think it’s strange? What would you do, if there were a half-dozen men who might keep my bed?”
The intensity, the violence of his reaction startled them both – the red in his eyes, the rawness of his glare.
“I will kill anyone who tries to touch you!”
She leaned forward onto her elbows and stared up at him. There was a long moment of silence, and then he nodded once, and reached forward to touch her lips with one finger.
“Kagome. Mate. I am – sorry. I understand. Wait here.”
He left briefly; there were startled noises, and then the sound of many feet...and Sesshomaru returning.
“I have called them here – the females who displease you. I will be rid of them...now.”
Almost as he was finished speaking, there was a rustle of noise and four females entered, all of them haughty in their youkai perfection.
Swiftly, without warning to them or to Kagome, Sesshomaru’s claws flashed out, sank deep into a throat...a heart...a throat...a fleeing back.
Kagome stared at her floor, suddenly awash in blood. The tawny furs were dyed crimson; the black pelts glistened like fresh kills. Four pairs of youkai eyes glistened at her, dull and lifeless, all their jeweled tones stolen by death.
“Sesshomaru! You didn’t have to...why did...Sesshomaru!”
Sesshomaru shook blood off his fingers, stared at the mess with distaste and then turned to Kagome. Her sudden increase in distress filled him with confusion.
“Mate, I do not understand. That you did not want me to have these females; this is easy for me. But now what upsets you?”
Kagome took a deep breath and looked at him with wide-eyes.
“You...you killed them, Sesshomaru!”
He nodded.
“Yes. Of course. Did you want to -”
“No, I didn’t want to! You – you just...why would you do that?”
He eyed her, surprised.
“Mate, if I had merely sent them away they would have been a danger to you until they were dead, each one of them angry at the loss of their place...the loss of the prestige which comes with being mine.”
His head tilted; his pupils dilated, looking at her.
“Now, only you are mine, Kagome. Only you – no other female...no other woman. The females that remain here are only servants; as you wanted, mate. As you desired.”
Slowly, dragging her eyes from blood and mayhem, Kagome nodded. Her voice came hollow from her throat.
“Will you kill me as easily as that?”
Sesshomaru let out a long breath; he understood her panic now, or thought he did, and answered her as best he could.
“Once, I might have. But not now...and never again, Kagome.”
~~~~
A/N: 1200 words! Another monster chapter completed, and so therefore, on we go. Kagome's jealousy has had unintended consequences...and remember, Sesshomaru's mother is due in two days time, though Kagome knows nothing of it...yet. Coming Soon: some of Kagome's thoughts...and a living Inuyasha comes out of the forest and encounters Sango and Miroku. Does he stay a living Inuyasha? Read on...and find out :D
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