Waiting Oneshot Series by PhoenixBlade
For the Sleeping Prince
Hey, its been awhile hasn't it? Yes, I'm still alive and no, I haven't updated any other story yet. Still in the works and I am not satisfied with Snow Pearl's next chapters and editing. We'll just have to wait until I am or when I just get tired of trying to make it look good. Anyway, this'll be all for now. Enjoy!
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Waiting: For the Sleeping Prince
by PhoenixBlade
Rated:M (mature, for sexual situations (not much of it actually) and death)
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You are MINE!
She stopped in her tracks and looked around. Trees surrounded her in silence, leaves slightly rusting in the breeze. Snow covered the forest floor, marred only in places where her footsteps were and where large overturn roots surfaced. Warm breaths of air escaped her lips in puffs of smoke. After a few moments, she sighed and continued on with the two rabbits she had recently caught in her gloved hands
Even after for so long, his words continued to haunt her to this very day. Closing her eyes, she remembered that bloodstained face of his, his glowing amber eyes and the fangs that were bared at her refusal of him. Before, she had not known about his feelings, merely taking them for what she believed that they were; feelings of obsession and possession.
A strong breeze blew through and she shivered in the cold. Small bits of snow from the trees flew down around her. She had cowered before him at the beginning, with knees buckling and her whole body trembling at the mere sight of him. He had once, been something of a nightmare to her and oh, had she feared him! His brother Inuyasha, a hanyou and her first love, had crossed swords with him from time and time again due to the sword that Inuyasha held, the Tetsusaiga. Their father had created the Tetsusaiga for protection, in which was given to Inuyasha and the Tenseiga for revival, for the elder brother. However, jealous that Inuyasha was given the stronger of the two swords, Sesshoumaru sought to kill his half brother to obtain the sword which he deemed was rightfully his.
She coughed as the cold air made her throat dry. She was thirsty. Setting her two rabbits down, she took off a glove and grabbed a handful of white snow in one hand. It was freezing to the touch, but she could feel the snow begin to melt in the palm of her hand. She crushed it into a clump of snow and threw it into her mouth. The chill set in and she lightly rolled it around in her mouth as it melted. All she needed now was strawberries and chocolate syrup and then she’d have an almost complete ice cream sundae. Oh, how she missed eating ice cream!
She wasn’t from here originally, or at least, she hadn’t been born yet anyway. Once upon a time, she had lived 500 years in the future, but a trip down the old well by her grandfather’s shrine and a centipede youkai ripping the powerful Shikon no Tama from her hip had led her to her present situation. It was here where she found Inuyasha pinned to the Goshinboku tree, met with her friends Sango and Miroku and befriended a small kitsune youkai named Shippo. However, she also met some terrifying youkai bent on taking the Shikon shards from her as well as Naraku, one of the most formidable enemies that they had made.
Naraku was as much a thorn in their sides as they were to him. Manipulation, murder, slaughter, you name it. He was capable of it all and had been the bane of everyone’s existence, as his main goal was to take the whole of the Shikon no Tama and wish himself into a full youkai. Naraku was only a hanyou, created from the merging of youkai with the half dead body of a bandit who had been madly in love with Kikyo, Inuyasha’s former love. It had been long, but in the end, they had defeated him, with a price.
Tears formed in her eyes, but she wiped them away as snow began to fall. Reminiscing about the past and her home in the future always made her heart ache, even if the memories happened to be happy ones. The fact was, all she had left were memories. With Naraku gone and the Shikon no Tama finally out of existence, at least physically anyway, she had also been barred from returning home. So, in an effort to continue living in the present time, she decided to take up becoming a miko under Kaede and marry Inuyasha. However, not long after their wedding, Inuyasha had gone out to take care of some boar youkai who wandering around the area and causing havoc… He had not returned for days. Worried, Miroku and some villagers set out to find him… and returned with Inuyasha lifeless and bloodstained body.
Kagome choked back a sad hiccup. She breathed in deeply and felt the chill of the air enter her lungs. Slowly, she let it out and counted slowly to ten. It would not do if Rin were to see her coming home in tears. Wiping away a stray tear, she looked up and was able to see the hut in sight with smoke coming out from the top. Had Rin come back from Kaede’s? The little gap toothed girl who loved to pick flowers and make flower halos out of them was now in training to be the next miko of the village, after Kaede. It had been Kagome’s original plan to become the next miko, however, other things got in the way.
With Inuyasha’s death, Kagome became depressed and forewent the rest of her miko training with Kaede, instead, she was being taken care of by the elderly woman, Shippo and her friends Sango and Miroku. A few months afterwards, she finally pulled herself out of her depressed state and began to live again, but that was abruptly halted by the arrival of Sesshoumaru and his proposal.
To say that she was dumbstruck wasn’t even the half of it. Ningen-hating and all-powerful Lord of the West, Sesshoumaru, the hated elder half-brother to her late husband Inuyasha, had proposed-or rather, was forcing marriage on her, a ningen and his half-brother’s widow. It was within youkai law for the next in kin to take responsibility of his deceased brother’s wife by marrying her or marrying her off another male in the family. It was awkward, to say the least, that Sesshoumaru would, of all times, finally act like the older brother that he had never been to Inuyasha… she promptly refused him though. However, with Sesshoumaru, she should have known that he would never take no as an answer.
Without word, he took her by surprise and against her will to his home in the west and forced her to his wife, or in youkai terms, his mate. Neither had liked the other very much at first. He forced her into his bed, he forced her to learn to be a Lady of the house and he forced her to attend places with him where she never wanted to be. Kagome continued disliking him, but Sesshoumaru developed an interest in her. She never could understand why the youkai began to even “like” her, however, as he began to, she realized that she was comfortable with him around, but the word love never crossed her mind. She never knew if he loved her, but he loved her body passionately, like starved man, every night when they were alone in their private chambers, and she guiltily enjoyed every moment of his touch. Regrettably, she would learn of Sesshoumaru’s “love” for her, and to what extent it could be pushed until it took the form of a raging, possessive love where it drove him crazy with jealousy.
At the invitation of one of the cardinal lords in which Sesshoumaru forced her to come along, she met the lord’s son, a young youkai, named Kouichi, whose personality was every bit like Inuyasha in almost every way except that he was gentler and charmed her. Mad with jealously at the attention Kagome gave to the boy the whole evening, upon returning to the Western Lands, Sesshoumaru threw her into their chambers and took her violently all night long. She had never bled and screamed so much in her life.
From then on, Sesshoumaru forbade her from attending parties or greeting guests. Every night, he showed her just how much every inch of her body and mind belonged to him. Sometimes, she reveled in the passion he exuded in every caress and the feel of this thickness sliding within her, but sometimes, she cried for forgiveness when he made her bleed in between violent thrusts because she had laughed with one of the male guards or servants. No longer able to endure his jealous love, she fled… and was caught by Kouichi. Sadly, the youkai who had charmed her now meant to use her as a means to take over the Western Lands, because he found out who she was, the Shikon no Miko. Everything went downhill soon after.
Closing the door behind her, Kagome shook off all the snow and removed her outer layers to hang up. She walked over to where the knives were and move to the center of the room, where the fire was, to start cleaning the rabbits. This way, she could stay warm as well. The fire burned on healthily, and to the side of it was a pot of recently cooked rice. Rin had been by.
“Rin…” she smiled.
No matter how many times she told the girl that she didn’t have to come by so much, her words went unheard. Honestly, she had miko training and duties to fulfill, but whenever she had free time, she always stopped by or slept over. Despite it all, she was always happy to have Rin over. The girl would always talk nonstop about what was happening in the village and how her training was going. She’d ask Kagome for advice when it came boys or miko training. Sometimes, they would talk about the past, but they never dwelled on the subject for long because Rin would always switch the subject as she was mindful of Kagome’s feelings… and because the other occupant in the room who was sleeping.
Kagome sighed and finished cleaning the rabbits. Grabbing a pot, she went outside to gather some snow and came back in to put it over the fire. She would make soup, just as she had always done for the past five years.
Five years… it had been five years since he had fallen into his sleeping state. Never would she have thought to see herself in a hut at the edge of Inuyasha’s Forest with her sleeping occupant. More than ten years ago, she had dreamed of starting a life with Inuyasha in the village. Several years later, she found herself living with Sesshoumaru in his castle in the Western Lands as his mate. Not long after, she found herself isolated in a mansion with little company as Sesshoumaru started his campaign to rid Japan of its youkai lords and stronger youkai.
She had not known what had happened during her seclusion from the world. She had lived day by day, not knowing where Sesshoumaru was or what he was doing. After Kouichi had taken her, Sesshoumaru and his army swarmed the cardinal lord’s castle in a matter of days and wiped out all his family and those strong and loyal to the lord. He left Kouichi to die last so that he could see everything taken from him. Sesshoumaru then proceeded to fuck Kagome over Kouichi’s corpse. The memory of having Sesshoumaru pound into her while trying to look away from Kouichi’s bloody and lifeless body was disturbing. However, it was his mouth, open and set into a silent cry, and lifeless eyes that haunted that moment forever for her.
Soon after, Sesshoumaru plopped her down into his secluded mansion and told her that he would kill everyone who could try to take her so that she wouldn’t have anyone or anywhere to run to. After another long night of exhaustingly painful sex, he was gone and she did not see him for three years. Being in the mansion had been lonely and depressing, but only Rin was the one who made the days pass by quick. He finally appeared one day and took them back to his castle. She remembered crying on the journey back to the castle, not because of Sesshoumaru, but because everywhere she looked, she saw devastation and destruction. Rotting dead bodies were lying open on the roads, the smell of fire was apparent almost everywhere and the presence of youkai had declined considerably. Sesshoumaru had made an enemy out of all the youkai in Japan and had, mostly, succeeded in wiping them out.
Guilt ate at her everyday when she heard the servants gossip about the famine and deaths that had spread throughout the land due to Sesshoumaru’s campaign. It was her fault. It was because of her existence that this had happened, as the Shikon no Miko… and as Sesshoumaru’s obsession. She had to get out, she had to leave before anymore destruction took place. Finally, one day, when Sesshoumaru was out to deal with some rebellious bear youkai on his lands, Kagome feigned sickness and ordered the servants not to disturb her until Sesshoumaru came home. She then concealed her miko powers and slipped out, unnoticed by all, and raced all the way to the well, hoping against hope that it would grant her one last final wish to allow her passage back to her time. This was the only idea she could come up with because running to her friends was not an option as Sesshoumaru would just kill them. If the well didn’t work, she would take her life then and there.
However, Sesshoumaru caught wind of her escape and immediately came after her once his had dealt with the bear youkai. She had come close to the well when she was attacked by ningen magic users. They captured her, intending to use her as bait to lure in Sesshoumaru. Due to his campaign, not only were youkai involved, but thousands of ningens had been caught in it as well. Those who sought revenge for their loved ones called for all magic users: sorcerers, mikos and the like, to answer their call for Sesshoumaru’s death.
It had been a mistake to have tried to escape Sesshoumaru. Even though he had caused a war and killed thousands due to it, she did not want him to die because she realized then that she loved him. She knew this the moment he came bursting through the trees and was caught in the magic users’ spell. She watched in tears as electrical energy crackled and flashed before her eyes, pulling Sesshoumaru back away from her. No matter how many steps he took towards her, arm reaching for her, or the invisible hits from the spell that caused his blood to pour out from his wounds, he still tried to come for her.. She shouted at him to stop, but her words went unheeded as he began crawling towards her, bloody and about to die.
Not able to hold back anymore, she screamed. Just then something broke inside of her and an large explosion of light engulfed everything around her. She heard screams of pain that were immediately silenced and felt the ground break and trees disintegrate around her. Just as it had come, the strange power she had called forth was gone and she blacked out.
The soup was beginning to boil over and she took it out from the fire. She poured some into a bowl and blew at it to cool in down. Once it had cooled, she brought it over to the sleeping occupant in the curtained corner. Pulling back the curtains, she kneeled down next to him. She slipped an arm underneath him, pulled him up slightly and brought the bowl to his lips. Tilting the bowl ever so slightly, she watched as the liquid went into his mouth, some of it streamed down the edge of his lips. She set the bowl down and using the edge of her sleeve, she wiped his mouth and then continued to feed him the liquid. When the bowl was empty, she set it aside and looked down at his sleeping face.
His skin was pale, as it usually was. A blue crescent moon graced his forehead, a sign of what he once was, royalty. Her fingers moved to trace two stripes on both of his cheeks, stripes that would become jagged whenever he was extremely angry or would turn into his beast form. Her fingers traced over his soft lips, lips which once passionately kissed her. She paused for a moment, then moved down to press her own lips against his. His lips were warm and tasted a bit like the soup she had just fed him, but were unmoving. She let her lips linger on his for several moments before she pulled away as tears slid down her face.
“Please wake up…” she pleaded to him, “please…”
She wiped her tears away, but still they came.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Sesshoumaru… please wake up…” she whispered to him.
After what had happened in the forest, she woke up to find herself in Kaede’s hut. Kaede explained to her that half a year had passed when they found her in the forest. Once the light had disappeared, Miroku, Shippo and the villagers had gone to investigate what had happened. When they arrived, a large section of the forest had disappeared, as if something had come and carved a huge chunk of land right out from the ground. There, they found Kagome’s unconscious form and Sesshoumaru’s bloody and battered body. Miroku, upon recognizing who the youkai lord was and that he was still alive, told the villagers to carry his body, as well as Kagome’s, back to the village so that Kaede could take care of them. Since then, Kaede and Sango had taken care of them.
However, within that time that they wereboth were unconscious, Sesshoumaru’s lands fell prey to youkai who wanted revenge. They killed all his people and destroyed his lands. Jaken had was near death as he arrived at the village with an unconscious Rin on Ah Un’s back, who was mortally wounded as well. The loyal retainer proceeded to explain to the villagers about the lost of the Western Lands due to its Lord’s absence. After finishing his story, the toa youkai passed away with his last words being that the villagers take care of his lord’s ward. Rin woke up several days afterwards. Ah Un lasted two months before his wounds finally took him.
After waking, she had cried for days and apologized greatly to Rin and Sesshoumaru’s still sleeping self. Kaede did not know what was wrong with him. The spells that the magic users had casted on him were meant to kill him, but he was still alive, but unconscious. For how long, she did not know. Rin forgave her, though she did not understand why Kagome had apologized to her, but she did not want to hear the reasons why. After winter passed and spring came, Kagome had finally gotten out from her depressive slump and asked to move out as she did not want to abuse Kaede’s hospitality any longer.
The villagers, as well as Miroku, Sango and Shippo, fixed up a hut just outside the village for her and she thanked them graciously for it. Shippo had wanted to move in with her because Rin had moved in with Kagome as well. Miroku and Sango were against it as they thought it was best that he not disturb the three. So, in the end, he stayed, but visited them often. Rin stayed with Kagome until both she and Kaede agreed that she would have to stay in the village to learn the duties of a miko.
Kaede had seen potential in Rin and though she had asked Kagome if she had wanted to finish her training and take up the duties of a miko, Kagome turned her down. Both then decided, along with Rin’s wish to become one, that she could live with Kaede as it would be better for her to learn in a closer environment. Although she would no longer become a miko officially, Kagome still assisted in miko duties when the other two had their hands full. When not farming, helping the village or guarding it against wandering youkai and bandits with Miroku, Sango and Shippo, she took care of Sesshoumaru, who remained blissfully sleeping as if the world did not exist.
Kagome wiped away the last of her tears and climbed into the futon with Sesshoumaru. At the beginning, she had shared a futon with Rin, but they would always wake up to find Sesshoumaru’s body cold. After a while, Kagome decided to sleep with Sesshoumaru to keep him warm, and Rin slept in her own futon. Every now and then, she would slip in with Kagome and Sesshoumaru, but for the most part, she grew accustomed to sleeping by herself. Also, Sango had told her that she shouldn’t spoil Rin too much as the girl was growing older and had to understand that she it wouldn’t be wise for her to sleep with any man unless if it was her husband.
Kagome spied Rin’s rolled futon in the opposite corner of the room. She had left it behind when she went to live with Kaede so that whenever she was over, she would sleep in it. Although she had planned to sleep over for tonight, she probably wasn’t going to make it due to the coming snow. She snuggled in closer to Sesshoumaru’s laying form and counted his every breath. A stray strand of silver hair had flown over his face and she smoothed it away from his face. Tracing over his stripes, she stared at his sleeping face for a long time before she began feeling sleepy. Entwining her fingers through his, she kissed his lips one last time and laid down comfortably next to him.
Despite all that had happened in the past, all the pain and suffering, she had somehow grown to love his man. He was still fearsome and though he had hurt her, she would, without a doubt, still love this youkai. Yet due to her idiocy, it almost cost him his life. Now, he was like a sleeping prince, stuck in a death-like trance in which no one knew how to break or when he would wake. From now on, she would spend the rest of her days waiting, hoping for him to open his eyes and come back to her. Though she had hated it before, she knew now that she was entirely his, just as he was to her.
“I love you,” she whispered to him and fell asleep not too long after.
The fire continued burning all through the night, soup forgotten and growing cold. The snow continued to fall silently outside the hut which housed its two sleeping residents. Unbeknownst to the sleeping female, the hand around hers tightened slightly.
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I realized towards the end as I was writing this that Kagome's basically contemplating the whole thing... huh... oh well.
Ah, I usually suggest stories for you guys to read, but this time, I'm going to suggest a manhwa. The manhwa's called Nabi, meaning "Butterfly" or oddly enough, "I am rain." It's a story about two orphans, Myo-Un and Ryu-Sang, who live at a temple with other orphans, however, their quiet lives are ruined when assassins come to kill someone at the temple who is the last surviving heir to a powerful family in another country. Fleeing from the assassins, Myo-Un and Ryu-Sang's journey begins... One thing about this manhwa, its got an unbelievably long and slow moving beginning for the first four or so volumes, but it picks up so you'll have to have LOTS of patience while reading it as there are many questions that also arise as you read. Still, it's got a good story so far and the artwork is really flow-y and pretty.
However, you can only read this manhwa at Sura's (the scanlater and website owner) website JanimeS at janimes.com and you have to register to be able to read what she's scanlated. There's some other manhwas/mangas that she's scanlated as well and they're pretty good too. Anyway, laters!