The End of Innocence in three parts (Act Two - Dominance)
Instinct could be a very curious thing…
In some, the instinct for either fright or flight had been bred deeply into their very being.
On the uppermost level of a huge, sprawling residence, a petite, frightened girl followed her most driving instinct: flight across the pushly carpeted floor of the dark and lushly gothic lair of a predator.
Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as a part of her acknowledged that she might have just made a very serious mistake. She scrambled desperately at the doorknob that should’ve allowed her the escape she sought but only succeeded in spinning uselessly in her hands. No matter how hard she pulled, the doors refused to grant her an exit. The dark, stonewalled room that she normally loved so very much now felt overwhelming and oddly threatening, the coolness of the air sending gooseflesh across her nude body. She frantically searched for the reason of her failure then forced back a sob of dismay as she saw that both doors were bolted from the top. Heavy, dark steel slide bolts that were impossible to pick, both due to their make and the location of their installation.
At one time, Inuyasha had been fond of stealing into his elder brother’s room and startling him awake. It had taken his very-near decapitation by the heavy fist of an un-amused beast to force their sire to understand that his eldest had only given a simple warning, even if his youngest had not understood it for what it was. The bolts were installed later that evening.
Kagome leapt up in an attempt to grasp them, though she knew just how futile it would prove to be; those bolts were more than eight feet from the ground.
In others, instinct drove them to hunt and capture their chosen prey…
The strangeness of Sesshomaru’s smile warped even further with the addition of pleasure in the chase and growing lust as the towering male slowly followed in the path of his fleeing female. His golden eyes narrowed momentarily on the way her body writhed and flexed with her efforts to escape, her small breasts bouncing with every jump. She seemed to be blocking out his approach. That, or she was far too focused on the doors to notice him gaining on her and so he took the time to appreciate the display she unknowingly presented.
His eyes gleamed in the darkness as he pursued her, graceful and silent.
Then like all prey in the sights of a predator, the prey gains a sudden hyper-awareness of its dangerous situation and puts forth a last desperate surge into flight. Ineffective and occasionally heartbreaking to witness due to the degree and brand of hunger demonstrated by the predator in question, there was only a very narrow percentage of those who escaped.
Big hands curled gently around her hips, arresting Kagome’s downward trajectory and startling every bit of air from her lungs.
Instinct caused the female to still like a frightened little bird that had sighted the hungry cat.
Too little, too late…because the cat had already caught this little bird. An odd thought, being canine as he was, but then Sesshomaru’d always been strangely more like a wild cat than some domesticated lapdog. His warm, heavy body pressed against her calves to her shoulders as he leaned into her from behind. That part of him that had so unnerved her, even if it were still sight unseen, pressed firmly against the base of her spine as he held her caged against the cool smooth wood.
She squirmed for a moment as if to escape, but it once more proved to be an exercise in futility. And she hastily went still when she realized that the small writhing shifts of her body were only encouraging his physical response to her where he lay thick and hard against her. She felt the vibration of his body against her own as he chuckled in response. The girl shivered as the unusual heat his body generated permeated her own, driving away the damp chill as he leaned into her just a bit harder and forced her flat against the door. That same instinct that had made her go still now had her struggling wildly in the predator’s effortless hold.
Kagome hated how helpless she felt. She of all people knew how incredibly pointless it was to struggle against him when he had his mind set on something. But just like before, when, the pack of males had chased her, she found herself unable to simply allow something like this to just happen. And though she was sweet and rather unassuming, Kagome had an amazingly strong will. It was this very quality, in fact, that drew the male’s beast. It was unlike any other of its breed…it did not want a truly submissive mate. It thrived on challenge and adored the girl’s agile mind.
However, the male’s reasoning was far from typical, instinct driving him to manipulate his chosen female’s emotions for his own ends.
Sesshomaru found himself putting incredible effort into maintaining his restraint. He did not want to overpower her to the point that she simply gave up and ceased to fight him. For all that the first time between a couple was about dominance, to simply frighten her into compliance would have felt far too much like rape, something he would never have forgiven himself for. He and his beast had been in accord from the very first moment he had met her; the Miko was not to be harmed, especially by him. If he were too rough with her, or let her feel that fighting him might cause him to beat her as most Inu males would in this situation, she would stop fighting him. He was highly unlike most in that, while he was completely secure in his dominant male nature or maybe even because of it, he very much desired for Kagome to battle him for that very dominance. And if it came down to her attempting to force him down onto the floor and take him for herself, he’d be on his back for her at the first sign she desired it of him.
Were one to call him a sociopath, they would not have been far off the mark…
A true sociopath was prone to obsession. They might even fool themselves into thinking they loved that obsession, but rarely saw beyond their own perception of the object of it. And those few, who perceived the reality, were desperately focused on enforcing their own desires on the person/thing they obsessed over.
Sesshomaru was truly a unique case. The love he felt for the Miko was both genuine and protective of its object. He had no desire to change her, nor would he ever allow anything to change her without her consent. That Kagome had been stalked and then frightened so badly, only to be violently abused by strangers simply for the fact that she was a very small and female example of her species, had earned those strangers a bright, shining lesson in true pain. The love he felt for her also governed his responses to the rest of the world. That it would distress her kept him from becoming a cold-blooded killer, effectually making her his unwitting conscience and the only reason the males currently littering his lawn were not yet fit for pine boxes.
The beast in him had him following his nose down the vulnerable column of her slender neck, half of him enjoying her skittering unease and the other berating him for it. It crawled just under his skin and purred when she pushed back against him harder in her attempt to put space between her body and the cold wood, allowing her to gain purchase on the floor with her outstretched toes. Just as it allowed him to slide those powerful hands back up along her waist and ribs before they slowly curled over her breasts and gently kneaded.
The unfamiliar sensation shocked through Kagome’s body like lightning, raising every fine hair on her body, prickling over her skin as she unwillingly arced into his hands before she regained control over her traitorous body. Her breathing momentarily hitched as she tried to ignore the provocative touch, though her lack of any sort of sexual experience left her far more susceptible to the male’s warm, unrelenting carnality. Every move she made was countered and redirected while her body continued to betray her. He was slowly seducing her senses with the heat of his body as it wrapped around hers while his lips made a gentle trail down the side of her neck and along her shoulder.
She’d never appreciated just how physically intimidating he could be, because she’d never been in a position to oppose him in anything at all. Only scant inches under seven feet in height and tipping the scales at well over three hundred pounds, Kagome was well used to feeling comforted by those very facets of him. His stature alone was easily enough to intimidate most and if that failed, she knew he was ungodly strong. Far stronger, in fact, than his sire had any inkling of. Before now he’d never used that strength in any way against her. But right this second she felt every bit as trapped as she had before while being hunted down and her well-being threatened by people who she had apparently wronged by simply existing. She didn’t know what was wrong with him, but she couldn’t figure out why he had suddenly turned on her. And while he wasn’t physically hurting her, her sense of safety with his presence was being battered as it submerged under her new understanding of his nature.
His hands drifted downward again, skimming over her belly and tracing the curve of her hips. She gasped when long fingers slid through the short curls at the apex of her thighs and tugged almost playfully. The stark contrast of his tawny fingers threading through the blackness of the soft hair before the broad palm cupped over her mound suddenly struck her as a purely and possessively male act. One that brought nerve endings never discovered previously to singing awareness as she clamped her thighs shut in denial.
In a strange way, his very gentleness was winding her tighter and she fought harder still as she felt the new and uncomfortable tightening of her lower body. She didn’t like the way she suddenly felt empty…and almost achingly needy for something she didn’t understand. She didn’t want to think about why it was that her skin seemed almost burning hot wherever his body touched hers or how much she wanted to push back into him just to feel him against her. Desperation caused her to reach back and pound her fists against his legs and lower back to no avail. Sesshomaru shrugged off her blows as if they had never happened, and she wanted to wail in frustration when she realized that she was actually amusing him.
But for all of her struggles and attempts to deny him, all her growls and occasional sobs of increasing agitation, the word ‘no’ never passed her lips…the one word that would have stopped him in his tracks because he’d never been able to deny her anything at all. Even if it meant reining in and crushing down his need to reassure himself and the beast in the most basic way of her continued well-being. For all that his intent was aggressively sexual, it was not limited to it. He wanted –needed- to reassure himself that, while she might have been frightened, she was not broken.
And, in a curious way, forcing her to fight him was showing him exactly what he needed. Yes, he was amused by her efforts, but not for cruelty’s sake. He loved that she knew him well enough to know that fighting him was not dangerous to her. No matter how outwardly brutal this would have appeared, he was entirely controlled. Was he sorry for frightening her: unquestionably. Would he stop?
Never…unless she asked it of him.
Kagome suddenly found herself pulled to the floor and caged under the male she now realized she had greatly underestimated. She had known he was frightening to many, though she’d never understood why. To her, he was warm and sweet even if occasionally he confused her. She’d never understood why others found him to be cold, because his eyes always left her feeling warm and accepted. She’d never seen the cold-blooded nature he wore so openly. And to be honest, even after the cries and howls that he had drawn from her attackers like some creepy musical of pain, she still didn’t truly comprehend it.
He was Sesshomaru! The guy who delivered her homework to her in class when she had left it on his dresser some mornings. She’d not noticed the way the students would gape in surprise at the sight of him, or the way the teacher would swallow uncomfortably as the big male swept past him without a word, a smile curving the wide mouth as he placed the papers on the edge of her desk. She didn’t know that it was a mark of possession when he would bend and press his black shaded lips to her brow, leaving an imprint that showed for the remainder of the day. The big Inu in monochromatic black; from the heavy biker jacket that she loved to curl up under to the steel capped leather boots. His attire contrasted with the long silver-blue hair that flowed down his back in an old-fashioned queue, golden skin and eyes that drew the eye and would later infiltrate the dreams of every female present even if they did not exist to him.
He was the Sesshomaru who brought her midnight snacks, unasked for and greatly appreciated, when she spent long nights studying. The one who stayed up with her to keep her company and massage her back and shoulders as she leaned against his spread thighs while he sat on the low-framed bed. Her friend who had once ditched his own classes to come to her school and ‘speak’ with her mathematics teacher who had been giving her a hard time. The man despised the fact that she wasn’t stupid and he couldn’t treat her as a mindless drone that he talked down to so as to make himself feel smarter. She was the only girl in the class and he had a long held belief in male superiority. He hadn’t understood just who he was dealing with when the young male had appeared soundlessly in the doorway and gently closed the door, the smirk well in place along with his perceived authority. No one really knew what had been said, though the teacher practically turned green when anyone mentioned the Taiyoukai thereafter, with not a mark left on him to explain the mystery of it. She later learned that it had in fact been Naraku who had worked up the guts to approach the older male with his observations and lack of understanding as to why it had been happening. He shared the class with her, and had found himself increasingly frustrated and offended on her behalf. Kagome had not really understood the subtle questioning about the teacher she had gotten from her best friend a few days preceding the incident while she lay curled up with him in the wee hours. Of course, that she was only half awake might have had something to do with that. She was only thankful that she had later been transferred out of the class and into a higher grade, something that finally challenged her.
He was the Sesshomaru that always came to her dance recitals, even if he caused a massive reaction amongst both the other students and their families. Her ballet instructor had pulled her aside to question her on his appearance, certain that he would cause a problem because of the image he presented, but he had been perfectly contained. As had the occasional friends he brought with him, all of them intent on showing support to the young Miko who kept their friend grounded and in control. They were an intimidating, eye-catching lot, but they loved Kagome and would never do anything to embarrass her. That was all it took for him to gain Madam Joiselle’s approval, no matter how uneasy the male made her, and she could only wish that her other girl’s families and friends were as supportive.
But he was also the Sesshomaru who lately made her stomach twist with butterflies when he said her name in that low, purring rumble of his. Who sent hot little tremors through her when he touched her. She’d never understood what Sango and Kagura had meant when they said a guy had a ‘sex-voice’. But nothing could be better than her best friend’s when the husky tone would rasp over her senses and make her want to stroke any part of him he would allow her to just so she could hear it again. And that was another thing…she had always wanted to touch him, actually found comfort in it, but the urge to slide her fingertips down his chest, let them skip down his abdominals and lower still? It scared the crap out of her.
She was suddenly brought back to her present situation when warm, firm lips pressed against her shoulder in a soft kiss just moments before his teeth gently bore down and tightened to hold her in place. Her eyes were huge as she pounded harder against his shoulders, though it made no more of an impact than any of the other blows. She pulled her legs up to kick at him, but it only let him force them wider apart with his thighs and settle between them while riding out the wild bucking of her hips as she tried to throw him off.
And still, despite all of her thrashing and fighting, not one word came from between her lips. Lips that tightened in determination before curling back and baring her teeth. The small hands that pounded suddenly stopped as she curled her fists into his hair and pulled…hard.
He grunted in response, smiling against the shoulder he held clamped between white fangs and refused to let her pull him loose. He was careful as he settled more of his weight atop her to keep from crushing her and ground his hips down into her, enjoying the way she gasped and reflexively curled her legs up around his hips to hold him there. But he enjoyed it far more when her small teeth unexpectedly sank sharply into his shoulder, completely unconscious and wickedly pleasurable though it didn’t stop her as she took stock of her assault.
The beast forced a low, growling moan from his suddenly tight throat and he clenched his eyes shut as he felt them slowly begin to bleed red. Little pinpricks of heat danced down his spine in the wake of slender fingers. Nails dug in at the small of his back as she struggled under his weight, but seemingly losing sight of just what she truly wanted when the reactions garnered were diametrically opposed to what she had thought she desired. Pain at her hands was apparently hardwired into him wrong and he only rolled his hips into her slower, making her shiver and cling to him all the harder as if to ward off the burning inside her body.
That aching, empty feeling she had discovered suddenly grew claws almost as terrible as Sesshomaru’s and tore through her with merciless abandon. Fear resurfaced as she failed to understand what her body was demanding, only knowing that he was making it worse with every move he made. She was angry with him as well for the seeming betrayal as he refused to stop and yet helpless to keep her body from arcing up under him and attempting to satiate itself against his all too accommodating form. The agitated little grunt that worked its way from her clenched teeth suddenly gave way to a full throated, gasping moan. The rolling of his hips began to unhurriedly work her needy body open with his own, filling the emptiness with his own relentless hunger in a slow, inexorable thrust that left her no room to escape as he pinned her to the floor.
Kagome couldn’t stop herself from biting down harder as the inescapable pressure inside of her mounted. The emptiness was melting away slowly and surely. She hated the way she felt invaded and yet so hungry for more though she felt almost bruisingly full with him. Her body instinctively clutched him tighter as if she could arrest his progress, unknowingly goading the male to take every bit of depth that her body could yield. She didn’t see the way his claws suddenly and almost viciously drove through the floor as he fought to remain still and let her have a few, precious moments to breath and allow her body to accept him. Sesshomaru hated the fact that he was hurting her, even if part of him was darkly satisfied by the way her small, shuddering form had offered up its tangible proof of her innocence.
And in the end, even those willingly driven by instinct…fall to instinct.
He concentrated on the short, swift breaths that shook her in an attempt to ground himself, ignoring the way the stone crumbled under his hands and the way her pulse thundered under his lips. But he had no way of predicting that she would clench even tighter around him in an attempt to lessen the discomfort of his presence. Just like he had no way of stopping as the sensation caused his taut body to suddenly rip all control from his grasp.
Kagome found herself with no other recourse than to coil her legs tighter around his hips to keep from being jarred against the hard floor. Lost in the confusing buffeting of emotion and unfamiliar sensation, she failed to notice when exactly the burn of overstretched muscles slowly began to shift back into the burn of need, one that he continued to feed with every deep thrust of his hips. The feeling of him driving into her was no more comfortable now that it had been before, but in a bizarre way it was something that she found she wanted and her entire body bowed upward in an unconscious attempt to intensify every movement. Her nails dug deeply into his lower back no matter that they were unable to break the surface and it only seemed to provoke him further. Shivering heat licked over her skin and prickled along her scalp as a strange aching pleasure began to grow and grow untill it felt like it would consume her entirely. Her body rocked upwards into him with every thrust and she let it as everything in her tightened yet further, her lips drawing sharply at his shoulder. It dragged a low, feral sounding growl from the male’s throat and he drove in so hard and fast that the growing pleasure suddenly sparked, caught fire…then detonated like a new year’s fireworks finale. She felt her eyes rolling up behind her clenched lids, her nails raking violently up along his spine as he suddenly shuddered and stiffened and she could feel the way he throbbed just before he spilled hotly inside of her. She barely felt it when his fangs sank into her flesh as easily as diamond-honed razorblades, because it was just one more sensation amongst all the others.
Part of her conscious self, that piece that had decided to hide under a cowardly mental rug with its proverbial fingers in its ears while humming during the entire event, took that moment to abruptly re-emerge and frantically attempt reengage her panic-stricken fear. It screamed in desperation and something in the stiffening of her body must have alerted him because he left the mating mark he’d just branded across the juncture of her neck and shoulder to face her.
And it was at that moment that Kagome decided for herself just what her fate would be.
His eyes widened momentarily as slender arms suddenly curled demandingly around his neck and pulled him down, her soft lips finding his and taking greedy possession. It should have forced him to retaliate, for most males in this position would have seen it as an act of a defiant female trying to turn the tables…but all he could do was groan and let her have her way. Let her force his lips open and take whatever she might want from him. Her kiss was slightly clumsy due to inexperience, but she’d always been a fast learner. Soon she had him stretching up over her to keep her from stopping, distracting him from the wild bucking his body had been so intent upon, though possibly only due to the fact that he’d already come once. It gradually slowed into a slow, sensuous rolling that kept her from coming completely back down.
The hands that had held her still began to unhurriedly stroke over every bit of exposed flesh they could reach, re-learning her body in ways he had never allowed himself in the past. The beast rumbled a purr in his chest when she arched up into his hands as they curled around her breasts and squeezed. The smooth, shapely torso was mapped by hands that cherished and pleasured every inch, then wrapped around her hips and slowly rotated her against him in short, digging grinds. He could feel her squirming to get closer and very slowly shifted above her, sliding his thighs up behind hers and pulling her inexorably downward until he sat upright on his heels, her bottom cupped in broad hands as he held her suspended. Her eyes widened as muscles pulled and stretched in new ways, pressing him heavily along the back wall of her sheath.
It was partly an experiment of sorts, testing her compliance and waiting to see if she attempted to bolt. But she only pulled her knees up against her chest and let her head roll back, her lips tipping up into a smile that he’d never seen the likes of before. His eyes had regained their normal heated gold though they remained as inhumanly wild. The calculated pace of slow forward thrusts left her shuddering, her hands gripping his upper arms every bit as tightly as her body clasped around his. He leaned down again, kissing those lips that smiled with the pleasure he gave and again let her take control of it, delighting in her demands for more. He would never have dared take this position with her the first time; his self control would not have been up to the task. It required a great deal of restraint, which in itself was also oddly erotic. It forced him to focus on every responsive move she made, because the way she was positioned left her incredibly exposed and for all he would never do such a thing, he could have broken her with almost frightening ease.
He could hear her heart racing, gradually picking up speed the closer she came to her next orgasm. He’d never told her, but he’d memorized every pace and beat it kept; from the slow and steady tempo when she was relaxed, to the heavy thumping of excitement, and everything in between. He could have picked out her heartbeat in a crowd of millions from miles away. Now, he was learning the rhythm of her arousal, distracting himself from the clamoring of his body as it attempted to force him into his own end. Her hips twisted and writhed in his hands and before long her entire body bowed upwards once more, her neck sharply arced back as he felt the delicate ripple along her inner muscles that told of her impending climax. A sharp, carefully measured thrust forced what might have been simply a good orgasm into a flesh burning, mind numbing meltdown as a low, ragged scream escaped her faintly swollen lips. His teeth sank back into the new mark and the part of her that knew to feel fear at the knowledge of a predator’s teeth buried in her throat made a feeble protest, then sputtered out. Her body jolted under his as he let himself go and the muffled roar that followed heralded his own finish, echoing in the great stone room.
After what seemed like hours, Kagome managed to pull her scattered atoms back into a semblance of order. She felt almost dizzy as dark spots danced in front of her heavy lidded eyes. Her body was boneless as gentle arms curled under her hips and shoulders, cradling her against his body as he slowly made his way across the room. His familiar swaying stride sent small shivers of pleasure through her satiated body with every step. Her head lay on his shoulder as he carried her, reminding her of how he had held her so protectively just after he had dug her from the depths of his closet, and she found that the fear from that moment was only a distant memory. Nothing could ever hurt her with him nearby, nothing would dare.
She felt the room dip and sway as she was placed on his bed. He followed her down, crushing her pleasantly into the cool sheets. The trust she had placed in him so close to instantaneously after meeting him still ran strongly through her, because for all that he had hunted her down and scared her, he’d not once hurt her more than could be avoided. He could no more have prevented the pain of her lost virginity than he could have pulled the moon from the sky. She found the understanding inside herself to forgive his actions, because he was Sesshomaru…her very best friend. She would always love him, being completely incapable doing anything else. She would always accept him, because she knew that he had accepted her for everything she was long ago. Her body was languidly arranged to his liking, her arms wrapping around him as her legs curled higher around his waist. And she kissed him as he once more set about proving just who she would always belong to.
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a.n - This is dedicated to two very specific folks - Chaos, for all of her hard work and all of her quirky imput, and to Rowdy, because she cracked her whip and demanded the inevitable lol
(Entry for r0o's Gutter Marble Challenge!)