Progression

The end of innocence in three parts (act one - innocence)

*)----(past)

Fifteen year old Kagome sighed in relief as she pulled the band from about her ponytail and let her hair fall around her shoulders. After having had it scraped so severely backwards and bound for the past few hours while she danced, letting it down was the signal for her body to relax. She hummed to herself as she shoved her sweaty practice clothing into a plastic bag and stuffed the whole bundle to the bottom of her small leather shoulder bag after wrapping herself in her towel. Shampoo, conditioner, and her much used body-poof joined the pile along with her street clothes.

She smiled and waved at another student as she moved towards the showers, absently rubbing her shoulder and anticipating the hot shower that was to come.

She stepped into the shower stall, closed the curtain behind herself, and flipped the dials to her favored setting before pushing the button that turned on the water. She jumped as the stream hit her, cold as hell for a few moments before it reached the desired temperature. She giggled at herself for being surprised yet again, because the studio’s showers had not once hit the proper temperature with the first blast in the year and a half that she had used them.

“Good night, Kagome!”

The chorus of voices came from the door at the exit and Kagome peeked her wet head around the corner from behind the curtain. “Good night! See you next Tuesday!”

Now alone, her tired eyes closed as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair, conditioned it, then washed her face and body. She could hardly wait to get home, where she felt certain that she would not have to wait long for her favorite youkai to climb through her window, because she was almost certain a good massage could be wheedled out of him. Uncannily gifted with his big hands, the Inu had taken the intuitive leap not long after she had taken up dance in more than an idle fashion and begun working the tension from her tired body after some of her longer classes. Pressure, positioning, and the speed of every movement seemed to come naturally to him. But then again, she never really understood how he seemed to be so in tune with her needs, able to ‘listen’ to every movement of her body before he would respond accordingly.

She remembered coming home after that first night. She had begun belly dancing months ago, but had since taken up ballet as well. Her legs had ached, her back had felt as if it had been run over by a steamroller and her shoulders had burned. After having forced herself into the shower in the Taisho household, she had emerged from Sesshomaru’s bathroom infinitely cleaner but very nearly hobbling. She’d hardly jumped, no matter her desire to, when the male had opened the door and stepped into the room before locking the door behind himself.

She had clutched her towel tighter and babbled nonsense as every exposed inch of her went rosy under his warm golden gaze. A soft smile had settled on his lips, and he’d gently pushed her towards his bed before urging her to lie on her stomach. She had followed his unspoken direction, still babbling as he folded the towel downward, then slowly tapering off as he’d swung a leg over her body and sat straddling her bottom as he set to work on her back. At first, she’d tensed in anticipation of the pain she’d felt certain would accompany the manipulation of her overworked muscles, but after those first few wary seconds, she’d sighed and melted under his touch. The heat of his body braced above her own warded away the chill and she’d been asleep long before he had finished. She never heard the low chuckle as he’d eased the blankets up over her shoulders while she’d cuddled his pillows. And if he’d felt the urge to curl himself tightly around her little nude body, he’d never allowed her to see such a need in him.

Kagome yawned as she toweled her hair free of excess moisture and pulled on her ‘comfy clothes’. Lightweight, hipster-slung drawstring sweats and a soft knit shirt that she’d stolen from Sesshomaru just that morning. It was a constant source of amusement to him that she was more comfortable in his clothing than her own. He was forever teasing her that he was just grateful he was so much larger, or she’d be trying to get into his pants, next. The double entendre always passed her by, as did the way his smile would take on a momentarily libidinous twist.

She was the last dancer to leave the studio that night. It took her only a moment’s fumbling to lock the door behind herself before setting off down the sidewalk towards home. Her mother was away for the night and she wanted to get dinner started before it was too late. The sky was already dark and full of stars as Kagome trudged on her way, ignoring the way her legs attempted to tremble with fatigue. Consequently it was almost a full ten minutes before she realized that she was being followed. She stopped for a minute, trying to decide what it was, exactly, that had alerted her. It wasn’t anything outright, no sound or anything visually obvious, but she knew just the same that she was no longer alone and that her ‘company’ wasn’t out to simply smell the roses.

She glanced behind her, disposing with subtlety as she knew very well that she was being watched, as they made no move to hide their actions. ‘They’ was an apt term, because that’s when she felt it…multiple youkai auras, each filled with anticipation and malicious intent. They were of a lower class than her best friend even if they were just a bit older than he but they were traveling in a pack which more than made up for any insufficiency in their personal power. She would have loved to wait them out, but something told her that they were not going to be content with simply frightening her. And she would never have dared run…but for the way all six suddenly began to move in her direction. Inhuman males with evil eyes and ill intentions that abruptly made her feel like prey. It was that human instinct of self preservation that drove her just then…fight or flight…and she found herself breaking into a desperate run even as she knew that she could never outrun them.

She never questioned why they were after her, only poured every bit of her remaining energy into finding safety.

They slowly emerged into the yellow glow of the street lamps, each with leering smiles full of sharp teeth that she could only too well imagine sinking into her flesh and tearing her apart. The ursine males broke into a lope and followed her down the pavement, silently stalking the girl who only sought to escape them.

The first stages of panic began to set in as the uneven ground caught the toe of one of her sneakers and sent her crashing to the ground. But she managed to pick herself up and regain her fear-induced speed, taking a spontaneous detour away from her original route and beginning along another. She realized that, miraculously, she was beginning to leave them behind, but it took her all of three more spills to realize that they were playing with her. Letting her get ahead of them, before retaking the distance and dashing her hopes. And she felt her heart climb into her throat when they got close enough to force her into the razor wire surrounding the estate of a neighbor who had previously displayed his paranoia of youkai-kind. She had no idea what he might have thought it would accomplish, but at that point in time all she could do was force herself not to cry when the bladed spikes dug into her sides, back, and thighs. They laughed and jeered at her, one or two going so far as to body-block her and shove her harder into the fencing out of the desire to see her bleed. And for those few seconds in time, she was certain she was going to die.

Then, as they once more pulled back and dangled freedom before the petrified girl, Kagome caught sight of her destination. She felt a renewed surge of hope as she crossed the street and tore up the gravel driveway. She sensed their sudden rage as they realized that she might yet manage to get away from them. But she was already stabbing the key into the lock and jerking open the door. She never stopped to consider what might occur once she reached the house, unsure if anyone else was home.

It was only as she began to limp up the long, winding stairway, that she heard the savagely inhuman roar from outside. Something told her to keep running, because there was something in that enraged sound that chilled her far more than the rough growling and threats of the Kumayoukai males who had stalked her. She didn’t stop to wonder who had voiced such a sound, only raced up the stairs to hide herself in her friend’s room. Childishly, she found herself curled up in the back of his closet, hoping with everything in her that he would be home soon, but unable to bring herself to move from her hiding place. Sounds from outside continued to filter through the open window, sounding more like a brawl amongst animals on Wild Kingdom than anything else. She cringed when she heard the impact of a heavy body against another and the accompanying pain filled grunt, jumping as a fearful howl rang through the night. Growls and snarls….and the sickening sounds of claws rending flesh. She tried to shut them out as tears rolled down her flushed and scraped cheeks, before she finally pulled a heavy leather biker jacket over her head to muffle the sickening sounds.

She breathed in the spicy male scent that permeated the leather, one she was used to curling into when she had an occasional nightmare….and it didn’t get more nightmarish than this.

She was so intent on blocking out the violence that she never realized when it ended, shrieking in fear when she was abruptly lifted from the floor. She kicked and thrashed as she sobbed, until the jacket was pulled from her and she became aware of the identity of her ‘captor’. A low, rasping purr reached her as she scrambled to get closer to Sesshomaru, who pulled her legs up around his hips and rocked her as if she were a child. The sound was one he used to sooth her when she was stressed or frightened and it worked on her as swift and effortless as black magic. She didn’t feel the tension in him, missing the blood streaking his face and his bleeding eyes with her faced buried against his chest.

He was careful to keep his claws from her, not yet able to pull himself into check enough to retract them. The beast in him clawed to get out, to kill the source of her pain and terror. The blood he could still taste on his lips and feel drying on his arms and the stench of their fear were a poor payment for their offense.

He was shaking very nearly as badly as she was with so many instincts running rampant and attempting to shred his control. He needed to get the blood off of her before he lost himself and so hefted her higher to keep her from taking notice of his more base reaction as he strode in the direction of his bathroom. Her only response was to curl her arms tighter around his neck and press her hot face against his throat. She had quieted and now only the occasional hiccup would emerge. He set her on the ground before he pulled the shower curtain shut and reached behind it to set both shower spouts to a softer spray, swiftly rinsing the red splashes from his face and arms before turning back to her. He was impossibly gentle as he titled her chin upwards and licked away the blood staining her face, delicately healing the scrapes and the shallow cut that ran the along the soft slope of her right cheek before curving by her mouth towards her corner of her jaw.

Her huge, wounded eyes and trembling lips almost destroyed him.

She was his. Had been his since that first night when she’d curled up in his arms and slept without fear, trusting him and effectively giving herself over into his care. And yet, someone had dared to touch her and bleed her. He’d never really understood hatred before, that driving need to hurt someone so badly they begged for death with every waking moment and breath, nothing touching him deeply enough to garner the necessary emotional reaction. But he felt it now.

His movements were slow and carefully controlled to mask the simmering rage as he set out the towels and found the scented candles that she used when relaxing in the tub after a long night of study. She didn’t fight him when he carefully turned her and pulled her shirt over her head, nor when he sank to his knees and looped a possessive arm around her hips to draw her backwards. The position allowed him to heal the deeper cuts along her back and dip of her waist, her infinite trust in him outweighing her normal modesty. She only shifted a bit nervously as he reached around and tugged the drawstring loose on her sweatpants, letting them slide down her hips and pool at her ankles. Again, his mouth followed the trail of welts and painful red slices, not hesitating even when he trailed his lips along the under-curve of her right buttock with a light scrape of his fangs. She started at the contact, and her breathing hitched momentarily at the unaccustomed sensation.

He’d never touched her like that, before, was the fleeting thought that ran through her head as she was nudged forward under the warm spray of water.

But the hot water was a welcome comfort to her battered body as the soft whoosh of the water drowning out the soft thump of Sesshomaru’s clothes hitting the marble flooring, the heavy belt buckle muffled by the worn denim of his jeans. She didn’t sense him, she who was so uncommonly aware of his every movement, until gentle fingertips began to smooth shampoo through her dirty hair. She gasped and jumped a bit, almost turning to face him till an alarming length of bare thigh and hip caught her startled gaze and she turned forward once more, docilely allowing him to rinse it clean again. Belatedly, she curved an arm over her chest and lowered the other in an attempt to preserve a bit of her modesty, but he wasn’t having that. A low rumble vibrated through her where he’d stepped forward and pressed himself along the line of her body, powerful hands gently shackling her wrists as he lowered her arms to rest at her sides. And she couldn’t fail to take note of what now dug insistently against her back like some velvet-clad threat. Something in her went very still; wary of the predator at her back…the one she seemed to have mistaken for tame.

He transferred one captured wrist into the other hand, both now held effortlessly no matter her reflexive, futile tugging. Kagome’s slick body squirmed against his with every attempt and he wrapped his free arm around the girl’s hips and pulled her back, his low growling laughter appreciative of the way her wet skin slid along his hardness. The strange, dark sound was disconcerting and she pulled all the harder, though he didn’t seem aware of her struggles as he bent and nuzzled her vulnerable throat. She couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her suddenly tight throat as she felt his fangs graze her flesh as his lips brushed over her thundering pulse, and outright panic leapt through her as she turned and caught site of his face. Drawn tight with lust, his heavily lashed golden eyes were hooded and glowing eerily in the dark flickers of the candlelight as a strange smile curved his sensuously molded lips.

Every female instinct she possessed screamed at her to escape. And so she made the one mistake she never should have. He released his hold on her wrists as both big hands slid up along her ribs to cup her breasts….and Kagome ran.


%%%%%%%%%%%%

a.n. - still going, though the end is in sight…this ‘chapter’ is for Alternative Angel of ff.net