A/N: *Chapters will get longer as story progresses*
I dont think this fic is as dark as it can go, in terms of the subjects covered, for what I've written so far...but it's still meant to be deeply unsettling.
-Reader discretion is adviced.
Other than that, enjoy!
. . . .
She was five years old when the frightening men carrying white and red banners attacked her village temple.
Like a sudden crashing tsunami, they came one day in waves of thousands, mounting beastly, fire spouting dragons that flew high above the tallest roof of the largest castle tower.
Merely harmless little ants in the sky in one moment, then growing larger and larger the next, only to bring doom and suffering wherever they landed.
Kagome could not remember much of that fateful day, and could only recall the screams of terror and carnage that forever linger like unsavory whispers in her ear at the dead of night.
That and the feel of soft silken fabric gripped within her small fist as her mother ran for their lives, and into the large temple housed within their ancestral land.
Many, many, years ago her father’s father, and his father, and his father before him had been bestowed the guardianship of this sacred place by order of the imperial family itself.
It was a most magnificent story, in truth, now lost to the sands of time, but once recounted over and over since she could first remember.
The shrine within, her mother had told her, would offer them protection, in exchange for the care and loyalty her family had displayed in honoring it for generations.
If no one else, the Lady Higurashi was certain the gods would surely listen.
However, the shrine, like the temple, and her mother’s weak human body, would fall regardless.
And as the village burned to a char, and the earth bathed in blood, they were found a day later, one dead, one alive, holding on to each other until the last possible moment.
For all her stories, Kagome would eventually grow to forget her mother’s voice, her smile, and her warmth, but never her eyes.
They followed her mercilessly wherever she went, like two dead pools of onyx, forever staring blankly at the horror she had so valiantly spared her half smothered child.
They haunted Kagome’s dreams well past childhood, and even into adolescence, she can still catch glimpses of them within bowls of clear soup broth, or in the calming waves of blue water springs.
But that was all that lingered in her memories from that time.
That, and the distinguishable feel of a calloused palm beckoning her forward, until long, sharply clawed fingers wrapped themselves around her own, promising never to let go.
Just like in a spellbound dream, he had appeared to her in her hour of need.
“Come to me”, the man’s voice had commanded, and in her dread, it reminded her of nothing but the dangerous warning rumble of thunder, right before a strike of lighting.
He was large, and almighty, with eyes like the molten gold of the dragon cresting statues his warriors had so carelessly torn off the temple roof.
His long, pointy fangs cleverly hidden behind thin regal lips, in the pretense of a small, grim smile.
Wide eyed and petrified, little Kagome could only push herself deeper into the rubble, clinging with even more force, to the mangled, unmoving arms of her long dead mother.
“Come out, or I will fetch you myself”, he warned, pulling away the large broken off pieces of the caved in ceiling over her head, as if they were mere leaves fallen from a tree.
The child whimpered helplessly, squinting despite herself at the sudden stream of light filtering through the large cracks.
The demon had simply smirked at such a sight, the teeth hidden from before, now out glinting freely for her to see.
Then, one lone deadly claw came down to ghost ever so gently over the contours of her soft dark brows.
“Where did you come across such captivating eyes?”, he inquired, and with small movements reached with his other hand into a stringed pouch hanging from the side of his armor.
Stretching out his palm in offering, he presented her with the content nestled inside.
The sweet smell of dried candied fruits had naturally made her stomach growl.
“…M-my…my f-father…”, the pitiful little girl muttered in response, warily snatching away the rare delights in one clean swoop of her tiny pale hand.
Another rumble met her ears, only this time the demon merely chuckled.
“Do you have a name, human child?”
She bit her small plump lip, her tongue desperately lapping at the sugar coating the candy in her mouth.
“…K-Kagome…”
His large hand extended towards her again, only this time it lay empty once more.
“Come to me, Kagome”, he ordered once again, the words imprinting and searing into her brain forever after, “your father is dead, and so will you die here if you chose to remain”
“This Sesshōmaru…”, he vowed, pulling her towards him, much like one might coax a startled baby animal, right before it could scramble out of grasp, “will let you live.”
And as the years passed, one after the other, time too would inevitably betray the delicate memory of her once dear father—her infant brother—her old grandfather.
Slowly and mercilessly, it simply wiped them all away, until nothing but only the bittersweet taste of candied fruits remained in their place.
But that did not matter, nor would it ever matter.
For he, and only he, had saved her that day, and then every day after—her beautiful, dashing Lord Sesshōmaru.
He whom had held her so tightly in his arms all the way to his stronghold, and whom with a single deadly look, challenged any and all who objected.
He whom bathed her, fed her, and watched over her sleep, chasing away the ghostly limbs that pulled and prodded at her nightmares, their eerie silent screams demanding ‘why us and not you!’
This massive, larger than life, and all powerful man, whom willingly kept her warm, safe, and protected.
Him, who cherished and elevated her high enough to where the large den of beasts at her back could never dare touch.
Because of him alone, whether prudent or not, she would become the envy of many, and the equal of none.
And little by little, as the years inevitably dragged on, the once small, pitiful, orphaned Kagome, would gradually grow and learn to live under the steady watch of those merciless golden eyes.
Discovering for herself, that monsters were only so, to those who feared them most.