Snow pelted the sodden wood of the roof, each burst of icy wind rattling the screens in the windows. Every breath she took puffed out in small clouds in front of her as she shivered. She huddled closer into her own body, knees tucked to her chin, arms to her chest. The chains on her ankles rattled and clanked with each movement.
Her bare toes were almost as blue as the bruises that littered her arms and legs and face—the only parts of her he could see from the slat in the otherwise closed and sealed door.
“The rest of the complex is empty, Sir.”
Sesshoumaru slanted a glance over his shoulder. “I am aware.”
“Just making sure.”
He turned his attention back to the door and studied the unaware girl shivering against the far wall. Their targets had abandoned the girl. Whoever she was. “This room is not on the blueprints we received in the intel.”
“No, Sir.”
Sighing, Sesshoumaru sheathed his gun and studied the door. An intricate series of locks formed a line down the seam of the door, each one marked and sealed with yōki. The characters were old and weathered, barely discernable to the human eye, but he could read them perfectly. Not a lock to keep something out, but to keep something in. Perhaps the girl was one of hundreds of missing youkai.
“The research team will want to study the locks on the door, Sir.”
“….I am aware,” he said again as he took a step back from the door. The temptation to just melt the thing was strong, but he knew the knowledge it could provide them might be beyond measure. “I will melt the hinges and remove it. Stand back.”
It was slow work. The metal was made from material he had never seen before—no doubt something else of interest for the R&D team. Whatever it was, his poison acid ate through it at a much slower rate than expected, but in the end he was still able to get through the hinges and heave the massive door away. The locks screeched and groaned as he lifted it away, making his ears flinch. “Have Inuyasha secure it. Don’t let any of the other youkai touch it.”
“Yes sir. Right away.”
The youkai ran off to find his half-brother. Sesshoumaru ignored him in favor of the girl in the freezing room. The girl who was now looking at him with narrowed, defiant eyes. Eyes that might have been blue or brown, but it was nearly impossible to tell by the state of her face. With the light from the hall shining into the room, he could see just how badly she had been beaten.
“Who are you?” he demanded as he stepped into the room.
That one step sent her cowering into the nearest corner, her face hidden by her arms.
Trying to protect her head, he realized, and took no more steps as he thought of another girl who had come to him beaten and scared. Except this girl had not come to him willingly. He had found her in his enemy’s house. Whatever else she was, she was clearly a prisoner.
“My name is Sesshoumaru,” he said, and reaching up slowly, drew the ski mask off to shove in a pocket at his hip. “What’s your name?”
She only stared at him, wary and weary all at once.
Remembering what he had done for Rin, he crouched down on one knee and made himself smaller. “I can take you from this place. Tell me your name.”
A particularly rude gust of wind slapped into the screens and she flinched, then shivered. And still she did not answer him when she drew her eyes back to his.
That quick turn of her head exposed her neck and shoulders to him and rage settled like a beast in his fists. She was naked and there was another manacle around her neck. Gritting his teeth, he unzipped his bullet proof vest and set it aside so he could remove the thick, black, wool sweater he was wearing. He slid it wordlessly across the floor.
She watched it as it came closer and when it brushed against her feet, she automatically dug her toes into the thick fabric and shuddered at the warmth. But she hesitated to reach for it, eyes darting back up to his as she bit her lip.
He pretended not to notice and instead focused on putting his vest back on. When he saw her reach for the sweater out of the corner of his eye, he let out a quiet breath of relief. He did not look up again until the rattling of her chains stopped.
“What is your name?” he asked again once they were both settled. In the hallway, he could hear his half-brother murmuring to a few of the other members on their team. He ignored that in favor of the girl. She wasn’t hiding her face anymore, and while that was an improvement, more of that rage settled along his spine as he saw the bruises lining her jaw. “Does it hurt to speak?”
Finally, a response as she nodded just once. The noise in the hall drew her attention and she would have shuddered back even further if she wasn’t already buried against the far wall.
“They won’t hurt you. No one will hurt you again.” Sesshoumaru was unsure where the promise came from, but he did not retract his claim.
She hesitated again but reached up for her jaw. “M….” She winced and cupped her hand along her jawline until her fingers were tucked up under her ear. “Miko,” she whispered.
Sesshoumaru’s heart stopped.
Miko. Good god. That wasn’t possible. Miko hadn’t existed in more than seven hundred years. Even his father had never seen one. They had been eradicated by a sect of fanatical youkai centuries ago. His mother had told stories to him as a child of the monster a miko could become in protection of the humans, of youkai turned to dust under their touch, of innocents felled by their powers.
He focused on her again, all his senses coming alive as his yōki poured out of him on instinct and curiosity. Sesshoumaru could not help himself as he poked and prodded at her aura with his. And when he found it, when that sleeping behemoth of power blinked sleepily up at him from that well of magic deep inside of her, the beast inside of him purred in delight. What a beautiful, majestic thing her power was.
“Nothing will ever hurt you again,” he said, and stood slowly before he took the few small steps to close the distance between them. “You will come with me now, Miko.”
She hadn’t known what to make about his powers poking at her, but he felt safe in a way her master’s never had before. This time when he approached she did not flinch away. She only watched him carefully as he broke the chains attached to her manacles with easy strength.
After he’d dealt with her chains, he scooped her up and tried to smother another bout of rage when he realized she barely weighed as much as Rin. Rin, who was barely ten years old. He wanted to murder the bastards who had trapped her here and abandoned her.
As for her, she could not help but to duck her face against his shoulder and savor the warmth of his body as he carried her. The lights in the hallway were too bright and she could feel the curious eyes of his team on her. It wasn’t until something warm wrapped around her bare legs and feet that she could bring herself to peek out from his chest. Another man with white hair and gold eyes was wrapping a jacket around her legs.
“She’s so small,” the new man said, and the furry ears on top of his head twitched.
“Yes,” answered Sesshoumaru, physically restraining himself from tightening his grip on her.
“You gonna make these bastards pay?”
“Yes.”
That was the last the miko heard before she drifted off, lulled by the warmth and security of the arms holding her.
o.O.o
Word count – 1375
a/n – Annnnd here we go again. I was working on A Lady’s Promise (on fanfiction.net), and just could not get this idea out of my head. This is obviously an AU, so please bear with any out-of-characterness or story details that don’t quite match. Hope you guys enjoy it! Please read and review. I love you guys comments. They really make my day. :’)