Bound by Corruption by BelovedStranger

Nightmares

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Prompt: What goes around, comes around.

Word Count: 2,586

When her sobs finally subsided into tired hiccups, Sesshomaru felt her soon drift off to sleep, having exhausted herself from her bout of tears. However, he did not move. He sat there, holding the woman-child to his chest a while longer not because he wanted to but to make sure she did not wake and start crying again. His ears were still ringing from her last crying fit, the front of his haori soaked in the salt of her tears. He did not relish the thought of having to endure more of her human emotions this night.

Rising to his feet with languid grace, he moved an arm under her knees and another to support her back as her head rested on his shoulder, without waking her. He turned his back to the burning embers that was her home, walking into the forest that surrounded this area but not going far. Seeing a huge tree, obviously a god tree, he sat amongst its large roots, and rested his broad back against the wide trunk, ignoring the roughness of its bark.

He kept the girl close, helping her stay warm with his own body heat as she wore only a white sleeping yukata. Her ningen body was frail. He did not want her to become sick and possibly die from exposure. At least not until he was finished with her. He was not yet ready to part company with this little onna. He looked down at her, the night sky doing nothing to obstruct his vision as his honey, gold eyes observed her red, tear stained visage.   

Sesshomaru had witnessed many tears over the years, tears of those in pain, the fearful, the dying, from those begging him or others for mercy. So many tears, and not a one had ever moved him, not even hers. Such a display merely proved how weak the individual was, no matter the reason behind them. So far he had seen her tears on more than one occasion. When first he saw her, she had been crying from fear, then at her humble dwelling, though, he knew not the reason behind those tears, and now after the brutality that had befallen her village.

She wept a lot, he surmised with an internal sigh at the thought that this was most likely going to be a normal occurrence for her. He resigned himself to the knowledge that he would probably be the one to ‘comfort’ her at such times. It wasn’t that he minded holding her close to his body, but he would rather it be for a more intimate reason, not because she was crying all over him.

His gaze again flickered across her peaceful, sleeping face. She was no different from all the other humans he had seen or been in contact with. She had already proven so when she had tried to blame him for the Inu no Kami’s lack of response to her prayers. No, she was no different. After the shock wore off, surely she would become angry and desire revenge against those who took everything from her. It was only human nature to hurt those who hurt you.

He smiled, an upward movement of his lips that was pure malice as he leaned down to nuzzle her temple. Tomorrow would prove to be enjoyable as he watched her soul blacken when she would ask him to help her exact her vengeance. It was never a more beautiful sight than seeing the seemingly innocent turn from the light and embrace the darkness within themselves.

Kagome awoke with a terrified gasp, her breathing rapid, her heart pounding frantically in her breast as sweat coated her body, making her clothes cling to her flesh. At first she knew not where she was, images of the fire and crimson blood held her tortured mind in thrall. While she tried to breathe past the fear that she was trapped in, Sesshomaru watched her.

He had not gone to sleep last night, not needing the rejuvenating powers of rest. Instead he had watched Kagome, noting every time she had a nightmare, seeing how she flinched in her sleep, how her facial features scrunched up as unpleasant dreams plagued her unconscious mind. More than once she had curled into his chest seeking comfort unknowingly from her dreams, calming down soon after only later to again twitch as another nightmare rose to claim her.

Her fearful whimpers still echoed in his ears, but he had done nothing to save her from her dreams, wanting her to remember even in her dreams all that was taken from her to build her anger and need for blood lust when she finally woke. Yesterday, she had been too traumatized, too broken, to do anything other than break down in a pitiful heap. Surely today would be different, filled with the blood and cries from the dying of her enemies.

Wanting her to focus on him instead of the images he could tell were behind her eyes, he called to her, “Aijin.”

A startled gasp left her lips at his voice before large, chocolate brown orbs lifted to pin him with a frightened gaze. At first he could tell she did not recognize him, but then she gave a small sob and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burying her face in his neck. 

Sesshomaru’s eyes were slightly wide in shock at her actions, then dread centered around his stomach as he encircled his arms around her back, holding her against him when she started to tremble against him. Surely she wasn’t about to cry again? He wanted her angry, dammit.

In an effort to get things on the right tract, he turned his head towards hers, his lips next to her ear as he whispered in a low compelling voice, “Are you remembering, Kagome?” He said her name to further gain her attention on him and his words.

She nodded mutely, rubbing her face along the column of his throat while her arms tightened around his neck, though not so much to cut off his breathing.

Encouraged that she was listening to him, he murmured, “Do you remember the fire? How it consumed everything in its path?” Her whimper was answer enough. “Can you still hear the screams of fear and pain, from the dying? Or how the murderers laughed as they cut down everyone you once knew.”

“Stop,” he heard her implore softly, her hold on him slackened but not as of yet drawing away from him. 

“Do you want them to pay?” he tempted her, his voice low yet rough. He couldn’t deny the thought of her asking him to kill for her, to use him to exact revenge, was a turn on to his dark nature, to bask in the blood of her enemies before laying her down to rut like animals. His large body tensed and thickened at the thought and he held her all the tighter.

Kagome didn’t feel the change in him, her mind filled with the distressing images from the night before, and the words being whispered in her ear. They were words she didn’t want to hear, not when all she wanted was comfort and understanding, for someone to make everything better in a world gone so wrong.

She averted her face from Sesshomaru as she pushed against his chest in an effort to get away from him and the words she didn’t want to hear. “I don’t want to think about it,” she said, wanting him to understand.

Sesshomaru didn’t allow her to escape when she silently demanded for freedom, pressing her closer to him, using his hold on her back to keep her against his chest. Part of him was angry at her continual dismissal of the subject. Why wasn’t she filled with anger over the death and destruction of her family and home? Another part of him was aroused by his imaginings of fucking this miko while the blood of others coated them both. He wanted, needed, to taint her. It was a strong compulsion inside of him he didn’t want to deny, yet still she resisted. 

“They killed everyone, your grandmother included, and burned your village to the ground,” he reminded her angrily.

Unable to get away from him, Kagome begged in a thick voice, “No more.” Her hands were trapped between them, her forearms pressed against his chest, but she could not move him no matter how she tried.

“Do you think it was unintentional? Some kind of accident?” he demanded of her in a fierce whisper, refusing to let her put space between there bodies. “Those men knew what they were doing. You can’t deny the destruction they have caused. They took everything from you, your home, your family,” he repeated. Maybe she hadn’t understood the first time. 

“Enough!” Kagome cried, clenching her eyes tightly shut, wishing she could do the same to her ears to shut out his painful reminders.

“You’re all alone in this world now because of them.”

Those words made her freeze as she stopped all of her attempts at escape. She sat in his lap, half turned towards him, her face pressed against his shoulder, her arms trapped between them, while his arms caged her against him.

Sesshomaru felt her reaction and pressed further. “They deserve to pay, to suffer as you now suffer.” Almost comfortingly he stroked her hair and back. He nuzzled her ear. “It’s alright to hate them, Kagome, to want them dead for what they have done. Embrace the pain, the anger. I will kill them for you. You don’t have to.”

Yet, he silently thought, knowing in the future he would ask it of her. But not this time.

Since she wasn’t fighting him any longer, he leaned back, cupped her left cheek in his large palm, and met her tormented eyes. “Let me help you, Kagome.”

Kagome didn’t understand why he was so persistent, why he wanted her to be angry. Didn’t he know she already was? Just because she did not want to kill those who took everything from her, did not mean she was passive about what happened last night. But more death could not return to her what was stolen. “What would their deaths change? Nothing. Could their blood fill the void they caused inside me? Will it bring back my obaasan? What would their deaths accomplish other than more blood and death? That’s not what I want! I have nothing and killing them won’t change that.”

Sesshomaru felt like glowering at the obtuse female in his arms, his ardor replaced by anger at her refusal to see things his way. Without warning, he stood with her in his arms and flew through the air back to her village, ignoring her cry of alarm. He landed in the middle of the destroyed town, small fires still eating away at wood not yet consumed, bodies of the dead lying in dark, dried pools of blood around them. All was quiet except the cracking embers.

He set her down and demanded, “Look.” Perhaps she needed a visual reminder of the destruction that had occurred last night.

When she tried to avert her gaze, he stood behind her and cupped her face from behind, pressing her back against his chest, her rump into his thighs, their legs touching. He kept her immobile as he forced her to look around. “Look,’ he repeated harshly. “See what they have done? Do you think they deserve to continue living after all the pain and sorrow they have caused you? Have you never heard the saying, ‘what goes around, comes around’?”

“Stop it,” she cried, hating what he was doing, hating him. She tried to wrench away from him, but he would not let her go. She felt his arms cross over her breasts, his hands holding onto both of her shoulders as he kept her against his body.

“Are you not angry? You cry, but you do nothing to avenge the dead,” he told her. He couldn’t understand her. Was she merely a coward? But that couldn’t be right. Hadn’t he already told her more than once that he would kill them for her? Why did she hesitate?

More tears rimmed her eyes as Kagome looked at the destruction around her, remembered every horrible act she had witnessed last night. Her village on fire, bodies discarded on the ground, blood everywhere, even the unmoving body of her grandmother before it was crushed under a fallen beam. How could she not be angry? How could he doubt it?

“I am angry,” she admitted in a whisper, going limp against his body, no longer fighting to get away.

Sesshomaru was surprised by her admission, fearing that he had failed to entice her to violence. He smiled. She was like all the rest. Of course she wanted revenge. Who wouldn’t in her place? He was pleased by their progress. He opened his mouth to speak, but her words stopped his own. “I am angry,” she repeated. “But killing them will not make me feel better.”

His arms slacked around her and she stepped away from him before turning to face him from only a few feet away, her head tilted back to meet his gaze. He frowned at her, realizing what she was saying, liking it not one bit.

Her gaze turned pleading. “But there is one thing that will. My sister. I have to find Kikyo. She was in the neighboring village while it was attacked the other day. Captives were taken. She might be among those taken. I have to save her.” She lifted her small hands and clenched them into his haori, stepping toe to toe with him as she begged, “Help me find her. I can’t do that myself or save her. I need you. Please, help me, Sesshomaru.”

He didn’t move or speak for several seconds, his eyes never leaving hers. She feared he would deny her request, but his hands lifted to wrap around her own. He leaned down closer to her and said, “I will help you.” Hope and gratitude filled her eyes as she opened her mouth to thank him, but he spoke before she could get the words out. “However, I will also teach you the pleasure of revenge.”

She tried to draw back, shaking her head at his words, but he tightened his hands around hers, forcing her to continue holding onto his clothes. “Have you forgotten our contract? You have agreed to cooperate in my attempts to corrupt your soul. You have never tasted the pleasure of vengeance, and I will see to it that you do. I shall show you by killing every one of those bandits and you are going to watch me do it and know that the ones who have caused you such pain are gone from this world.”

Kagome couldn’t speak. What he said sounded horrifying, to kill another for such a reason was foreign to her, but he was right. They had a contract. Though she didn’t want to be the cause of another’s death, she didn’t want to die either, especially when she had to find her sister. She nodded her head and watched as his eyes gleamed with dark anticipation.