Sesshomaru Unbound

© Salome Wilde, 2008

Sesshomaru Unbound

Chapter 6

It did not take long to pinpoint the direction of the new stronghold Naraku had projected for himself. Sesshomaru could sense the evil, and Naraku was doing nothing to shield the location from him. He might well be masking his position from everyone else, but Sesshomaru was an exception. Yes, he was being lured. That despicable spider thinks he will make a fly of me, Sesshomaru fumed. He growled with determination and rage. He would destroy the degenerate insect and never look back.

As he neared, however, his thoughts were once again muddied.

::How beautiful you will look,:: projected Naraku, ::draped over my lap, oiled and scented and purring as I stroke your thick inu fur and that lush, silken hair. I will reach my hand down to stroke and probe other oiled places as well, my Sesshomaru…my beautiful, lustful dog…::

“I have a more pleasing image for you,” Sesshomaru called out as he soared in the direction of the setting sun, and Naraku’s lair. “The glow of triumph in my eyes as you dissolve into a simmering mass of hanyo ooze before my claws.” But the words felt hollow, the bravado of an unsure opponent in the hands of a master.

As his use of the word “master” truly permeated his consciousness, so did his knowledge that, again, his cock was rising at the thought of not defeating but yielding to his contemptible nemesis. Naraku’s laugh filled his already overwrought mind, and Sesshomaru, stripped of both pride and clothing, fell to earth in a heap. His heart pounded and he reached a hand up to clutch at his chest, to rip out the offending organ that kept him alive and in such torment. Let him die at his own hand rather than submit to his body’s betrayal and Naraku’s filthy desires.

As he clawed at himself, tearing at the lean flesh of his pale frame, he suddenly felt something that should not have been there. A tiny tendril, rubbery and pliant, slithered out of his reach as he attempted to grasp it. He looked down at himself and saw nothing but his own raked and bloodied body, but when he closed his eyes and sought it out with his mind, his fingertips soon found it again. The slender strand thrashed and snaked away from his grasp, but it was rooted within him, twined into his flesh, so he at last could take hold of it and rip it from him. The pain was searing, but Sesshomaru welcomed it. It was real, and he knew how to deal with it.

So, the moyashi kurai had not been completely removed from his body, or it had sent some separate shoot into him as it was removed. No matter. There would be time later to research this venomous plant that Naraku had somehow used to control him and, worse, to cause him to despair. As he tossed the writhing rootlet onto a nearby rock then reached down and slashed it to bits with his claws, Sesshomaru searched his mind for Naraku’s invasive presence. It was gone. With increasing confidence, he brought the image of Naraku’s cock to mind. It brought nothing but loathing. His own mouth on that erection? He fought the urge to wretch. Good. His lips stretched into a feral grin. He was himself again.

Taking to the air, he wondered if Naraku’s den would disappear before he could reach it. Now that the vile coward could not touch his mind, he would conclude that the remainder of the plant yokai had been removed, and would no doubt flee. But he had Sesshomaru’s weapons, and Sesshomaru wanted them—and revenge—NOW.

Soon, he sited Naraku’s miasma in the air above a blighted mountain range. So, his worthless foe had not fled. He vaulted down into the courtyard, unhindered by any barrier. Landing, he called to his tormentor: “Naraku! Show yourself.”

A mocking chuckle came from within the building, but it was not Naraku’s. It was a woman’s laugh: Kagura’s. Her voice floated out to him on the air: “Sesshomaru, you arrive in such a state! Wounded…and without garment. Let us see how I may help you with that condition.” With the speed of the wind, Kagura’s Dance of Blades sent arcing shards at Sesshomaru, and he blocked them neatly with the energy attack of Toxic Flower Claw. Kagura laughed again and ceased her attack. She appeared in the doorway, a travesty of feminine humility in her ornate kimono and the fans she held before her. “Naraku regrets he cannot be here to greet you, Lord Sesshomaru. But I know where your weapons are. Will you convince me to risk Naraku’s displeasure and return them to you?” Her fan hovered teasingly before her rosebud mouth.

“I can sense them within the manor, Kagura. I will simply destroy you and find them myself,” Sesshomaru said evenly. He did not take his eyes off hers and prepared to defend himself against her wind attacks.

Instead, she laughed once more, tucking her fans into her obi and walking down the steps toward her adversary. “Let us be allies, Sesshomaru. You know I wish to free myself from Naraku’s control. He wishes me to make you suffer, by fighting you and keeping your swords from you, but there is more.” She came to stand before him, scant inches from his naked body, looking up into his impassive golden eyes. “Naraku desires you, inuyokai,” she said softly, reaching a hand up to stroke the mokomoko on his shoulder. “He wishes to possess you. More even than having you defeat me and regain your weaponry, he deplores the thought of you desiring anyone but him.” Her cherry-red eyes burned into his. “Desire me, Sesshomaru, and help me to defeat him.”