Solace

© Salome Wilde, 2008

Author’s Note: I am frustrated with myself that I let this slip for weeks while the damn boys and their yaoi stuff took so much of my attention. But I’m back now to a piece that deserves as much attention. I hope you enjoy the chapter...and what it promises for Chapter 4.

Solace

Chapter 3

Sango sat at the edge of the brightly colored “picnic blanket” that Kagome had brought from her own time. At its center, she filled it with strange and delicious food that Inuyasha and Shippo fought over like selfish children. Miroku quietly asked for good manners while Kagome shouted “Sit!” and Inuyasha fell face first into the sunomono. A part of Sango enjoyed the familiar comforts of her friends’ interactions on this sunny, peaceful day. They were a family of sorts, and their presence consoled her for the loss of her siblings and her father while their shared quest gave her life focus and purpose. Yet, this day she found herself restless, irritable, and cold despite the summer sun. “Sango-chan,” Kagome chirped brightly, “will you try some sticky rice?”

It took an active effort not to snap back a refusal. She had already been offered every item on the blanket and had politely declined with a “thank you” and a bow. If she were hungry, she would eat! Summoning the last of a patience that should have been much deeper, she bowed again and excused herself in the polite fashion that indicated she needed to relieve herself. This would at least give her a few moments alone to gather her thoughts.

As she walked into the forest, the long grass tickled her ankles and feet. Looking down, she noticed a small, white feather in her path. Delicate and soft, she took it into her hands and held it to her heart. It had been a full cycle of the moon since she had seen Kagura last, disappearing into the night sky. After, she had looked into the dark heavens each evening before she slept, renewing her vow to destroy Naraku and bringing the unique sparkle of those ruby-red eyes to mind. Such a short time together had let her see that there was both fear in them and vulnerability. And there was softness and heat in her lips.

None of this could Sango tell another living soul. Nor could she seek Kagura out for a second chance to share their newfound bond, for another glimpse of those eyes, another taste of those lips. Sitting down on a hollowed log, she dropped her face into her hands. What a fool she was. Isolating herself from her friends and mooning over a malevolent creature spawned from her nemesis. But no: there was nothing persuasive in these thoughts. Whether they faced each other again as sisters or returned to enmity, she could never now think of Kagura as truly evil. She was a slave who did not, who could not, fully consent to the acts she was forced to commit. Could she? A fleeting image of Kagura vanishing into the sky with an entranced Kohaku rushed through her. She winced and pushed the vision away.

Removing her hands from her face, she lifted her eyes to the sky. The sudden bright light made them burn. She blinked and let the tears fall. “I cannot come to you, Kagura. Why do you not come to me?” She dropped her head forward again, ashamed at pining for a creature she should not trust with words, let alone a piece of her heart. She removed the feather from the folds of her kimono and pressed it to her lips.

A rustling of wind brought her from her sad reverie. Raising her eyes again, she found Kagura before her, seated on her ankles, kimonos neatly tucked beneath her.

“Sango-sama,” the sorceress murmured. “Why do you cry?” She rose from her knees and cupped the slayer’s face in her hands. In the sumptuous feminine voice Sango instantly remembered from their time alone together, she continued: “Who dares to bring tears to such beautiful eyes, so open to life, the color of rich earth?” Then, she leaned forward and brought her lips to each eyelid.

Sango blushed as she melted into the gentle caress. Kagura’s small, warm mouth took her tears away with such sensuous devotion. Her hands held her face tenderly, and when she had finished her ministrations, Sango raised her lashes and brought her own hands to match Kagura’s and crushed their lips together for a kiss of desperate longing.

Kagura was shocked at the intensity but did not shy from it. There was something Sango-sama needed from her that was greater than she had suspected. She would not hesitate to give it to her, especially when giving it brought such pleasure in return. She closed her eyes tightly and parted her lips, letting Sango lead them into a passionate embrace that swept all care from her mind. Their tongues met, and Kagura basked in the living warmth of that sweet, human touch. Sango’s fervor aroused and inspired her, and soon she could not resist but kiss her back with equal zeal, wrapping her arms around the slayer’s slender, muscled back to draw her in tightly. She needed to feel the beating of that powerful mortal heart against her.

The flush in Sango’s cheeks became heated ardor as she claimed Kagura’s mouth. Why she wanted this and what it meant she could not answer. She knew only that she needed this embrace with the passion that a month’s absence had kindled from ember to flame. Kagura’s mouth held answers to questions she could not even form. So, with the innocence of her adolescent heart, she focused only on those answers.

When their kiss had brought Sango to a dizzied high that left her faint and giddy, she parted their lips and released the sorceress’s pale face. Kagura felt surprisingly light-headed herself, and maneuvered them both carefully into a reclining position against the log. She could not resist wrapping the swooning Sango in her arms. “You are a potent lover, Sango-sama. More intoxicating than I would have guessed.” Sango blushed and curled into Kagura’s embrace. “But I should have known a warrior of such power would be equally skilled in other ways.”

“You are teasing me, Kagura,” Sango chuckled. “But it feels good to laugh.”

“You think I am not in earnest, Slayer?” Kagura replied, propping herself up on a dainty elbow. “I would not begrudge your right to doubt me—”

“Kagura,” Sango gasped. “I did not mean I do not trust you....” She marveled at these strange words flowing from her mouth. Of course she should not trust Kagura. But she did. Her heart trusted and she let it be her guide. “I have never kissed this way before.” She leaned forward and melded her lips to Kagura’s again.

Kagura pulled gently back. “Sango-sama, you do me more honor with your trust than I can ever merit. You have known so much suffering, and yet your heart is still so pure, so free. Please believe me when I tell you that I have never kissed with such uncompromised pleasure either. I have never felt—never had opportunity to feel—such untainted desire, such hope. Let me offer you more, Sango-sama. Let me repay your generous heart by showing you how much more pleasure your body can offer you. Let me be the first to show you a glimpse of paradise.”

Sango did not know how to reply. She was woefully ignorant of the details of adult sexual matters. She had been raised in a household of slayers and would never have raised such issues with her father. And now the only person she could perhaps talk to about such things was too lecherous to be trusted with instructing her in such matters. She wondered at what strange things fate wrought: of all creatures on earth, Kagura offered her comfort and pleasure in ways no one else could. “Teach me about desire, Kagura. And when the time comes, I shall be the one to free...and claim you.”