Bound by Corruption by BelovedStranger

Warm Embrace

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I had a little difficulty with coming up with a continuing plot at first lol but no more! The story continues, so read on! Also, I'm late updating for this prompt, but that couldn't be helped as my internet connection failed before I could post it last night, but Stella Mira understand and has allowed me to have the banner associated with this chapter!

Prompt: 'When the wind of change blows, some build walls, while others build windmills.'

The distraught girl didn’t know where they were going, didn’t look around as they flew through the sky, didn’t feel any fear from being so high up off the ground nor wonderment for flying for the first time; she didn’t care at all. Instead, Kagome closed her eyes, hid her face in Sesshomaru’s neck as tears spilled down her cheeks, wetting his skin as she cried for the unfairness that dwelled in this world.

She wished fervently for the life she had lived for the last fifteen years with her sister and grandmother to return to her. If only this was a bad dream, a nightmare she would soon wake from, but she knew that this was no dream. This was reality, and it was not one she wished to have to bear.

Sesshomaru said nothing as he flew miles away from the village they had just departed, uncaring that the girl cried except, perhaps, mild irritation that she shed tears for Onigumo. He still couldn’t believe that she had chosen the bandit lord over him.

Onigumo had destroyed her village, killed everyone she once knew and cared for, and yet she still wished to help him.

“I hate you!” he remembered her screaming at him.

Was it possible that she despised him so much that Onigumo seemed like the better option to her?

Sesshomaru gritted his teeth, for this was not the first time his mind dwelled on this question. Yes, she hated him for trying to change her, but there was nothing to change, he inwardly insisted. He merely wanted to open her eyes to the darkness inside of her and show her that she wasn’t the little innocent flower she thought herself to be, that though she was a miko, that didn’t mean she was far removed from selfish human nature. Being a miko didn’t make her better than anyone, didn’t mean that she was faultless, and he was going to prove that to her, and how she thought about the matter be damned!

However, if he was so sure that she was like all the other humans he had come across throughout the centuries, why then did he have a seed of doubt that perhaps she was not like all the rest?

She didn’t want to kill the ones who had wronged her, didn’t want to see a man being burned alive even though she knew him to be a murderer himself.

At that moment, she gave a choked hiccup, and he smoothed her hair at the back of her head in a gentle caress meant to comfort.

Sesshomaru felt like sighing, for she wept—a lot. How many times already had he played the comforter? She was so fragile, easily hurt, and he wasn’t referring to her weak ningen body. She always cried as if her heart was breaking, bearing an immeasurable weight that sought to crush her with despair.

At first, he had thought she wept only for the ones she lost, or in fear, or because she was unaccustomed to the gruesome sight of death, but now he thought it might be something more. Perhaps she shed tears because of the evil he had shown her humans were capable of and didn’t understand how such vile acts were possible, especially when decent people could so easily allow hatred and fear to fuel their actions and commit heinous crimes.

This thought did not speak of a person who allowed the darkness within to cloud his or her mind, but an innocent who thought the good in a person should overcome the darkness.

Was she really like the others? he wondered. And if she was not, then what did that make her, for he had never—in his long— life stumbled across one such as her, who was innately ‘good’. If she was as she portrayed herself to be, than could he corrupt her? Would he want to?

It was one thing to open her eyes to the demon inside herself and coax it out, making her realize she didn’t have to hide behind a false façade any longer, but it was completely different to corrupt a pure soul as he was beginning to believe she possessed.

He almost growled in irritation. He was doubting himself, again, because of her.

How could she possibly be the one exception when every other human he had come across was selfish and self-serving? It wasn’t logical to believe she alone could be any different from all the others.

Or were there others, and he just hadn’t seen it?

If this girl was different, then he had been blind.

How many others had he condemned unjustly?

No! He banished these disconcerting thoughts. He refused to doubt himself, to consider that he might have been wrong.

Focusing his thoughts once more on the task at hand, he flew onward, getting closer to their destination.

Kagome was distraught—for now—but when she calmed down, she might recall her hatred for him and never allow him close to her again. He had to distract her, get back in her good graces if he wished to…what? Corrupt her?

Again his doubts surfaced, but he resolutely banished them once more.

Finally they arrived.

He descended and landed gently upon the grassy ground next to a large boulder, one of many that surrounded the heated waters of the natural hot spring in a small clearing surrounded by the forest.

Kagome had stopped crying by the time they landed and merely rested against Sesshomaru. She purposefully kept her mind blank, her subconscious well accustomed—recently— to allow her to float in a numb, dream-like state.

She didn’t want to think, to remember; she just wanted peace for a little while so she could rest her battered mind from all the atrocities she had had to face since the day she was trapped inside the Inu no Kami’s temple with bandits bent on raping and mutilating her body.

Later, when her mind could heal, she would remember and try to move forward in this world she knew not. She would have to adapt, she knew, or be crushed under the weight. But not just yet. Not yet.

She was barely aware when Sesshomaru set her down in front of him, heard his words, but couldn’t muster the will to respond, to care.

“I’m sure you’d wish to bathe, aijin. The hot springs should warm and relax you.”

When she didn’t respond, barely glanced at the hot water in question, he knew she had retreated into her mind again. Once again he saw how frail her mind was, how innocent she truly was, but he squashed the thought, and reached for her.

Untying her obi with quick tugs, he allowed it to fall unheeded to the ground.

Kagome felt her clothes part and a breeze tickle across the thin line of bared flesh down her body from her parted yukata, and her hands instinctively clutched the fabric together.

Coming out of her haze slightly, she stepped back when Sesshomaru reached for her again.

“What are you doing?”

Was that her voice, so dull and lifeless?

Not allowing her to retreat, Sesshomaru gently, but insistently pulled her clothes off, leaving her naked to his gaze. She gasped in embarrassment, using her arms to try to shield her breasts, but he ignored her slight protests and picked her up in his arms, and carried her to the water’s edge, lowering her slowly into the its warmth.

“My motives are pure, Kagome,” he murmured in her ear as she shiedaway from him, trying to hide her nudity in the clear water. A futile gesture. “I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to, but this will help you. Let me take care of you.”

Take care of her? she thought dully, eyeing him over her shoulder in disbelieving confusion, but she didn’t fight him. It seemed like too much effort. She sighed as the warm liquid swirled around her body like a warm blanket. When standing, it reached her waist, so she sat at the edge, and rested her back against the heated rocks.

She closed her eyes, feeling oddly calm, and if memory tried to slither into her conscious, she forced it into the back recess of her mind for now.

She was jerked out of her peaceful mood when she felt the water ripple around her. Her eyes popped open, and before her stood a nude Sesshomaru, walking towards her in all his masculine glory.

His genitals almost at eye level, it was impossible not to see them. She blinked owlishly before squawking and turning away, flushing. However, she’d had enough of a view in those few seconds to note that he was aroused—which intimidated her—because he was huge, making Onigumo’s shaft look small in comparison.

She heard him chuckle, the sound seductive.

“Calm yourself, aijin. I cannot help the way that part of me responds to the sight of a beautiful, naked woman, but I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

“Why not be considerate for once and allow me to bathe alone in privacy?” she replied in a high voice.

She felt his finger under her chin lifting her head, and she couldn’t help but open her eyes. He was kneeling before her, still much taller than she, as he captured her gaze with his own. She was captivated by the almost tender expression she saw in his eyes.

“I am trying to be considerate if you’d only let me,” he told her softly.

Before she could respond, his left hand reached for her face, and she flinched when his fingers lightly brushed against the wound on her temple. She was unable to dwell on how she had received the shallow cut, because Sesshomaru used the hot water and his gentle touch to clean away the dried blood.

It stung slightly, but she didn’t stop him, soaking up his tenderness like a sponge. This was what she needed, a gentle touch and comforting presence. Kagome didn’t question his motives, taking solace in from the Inugami, the fact that he was there.

Then he was pulling on her arm, gently dragging her away from her spot against the rocks and moved behind her. When he settled her between his thighs, his chest against her back, inner thighs on the outer sides of hers, and his erect shaft an imposing presence low on her back, tension shot instantly through her.

They both were naked. All that bare flesh moved and glided against each other, lighting a fire in her blood she recognized all too well.

She tried to pull away, but he wrapped his arms around her middle, just beneath her breasts, his forearms pressing against the lower half of her round bosom, stopping her.

“Sesshomaru…” she protested in mortification, clutching his forearms in a tight grasp.

She felt him rest his cheek atop her head.

“Calm yourself, Kagome,” he breathed softly. “I shall not take advantage of our nude state despite the condition of my body. It is harmless and has a will of its own. I can’t control how I thicken and harden any more than you can breathe.”

Unable to respond past the embarrassment choking her at his words, she decided to say nothing at all and sat stiffly against him, wary.

However, as the minutes passed and he did nothing more than hold her, she gradually relaxed and was once again comforted by his presence.

Unable to help herself, she whispered, “You came back.”

“Were you waiting for me?”

And like that, the dam broke, releasing the memories of the burning hut, Onigumo’s tortured screams, and the angry shouts of the villagers.

Almost as if he sensed her inner turmoil, he leaned down and kissed her left temple.

Desperately wishing to keep the memories at bay just a little longer, she turned to him and clumsily pressed her mouth against his, intending to kiss him, but her mouth fell short, and her lips fell to the corner of his mouth.

A small sob escaped her.

Wordlessly, understanding what she needed from him, Sesshomaru cupped the back of her head with his left hand, positioning her, and claimed her lips in a heated kiss.

She responded with more eagerness than experience, opening her mouth for his invasion and boldly met his thrusting tongue with her own.

Her ardor had surprised him, but he didn’t question her actions or hesitate to take what she freely offered. By her desperation, he guessed correctly that her protective, numb shell had collapsed, but she didn’t want to face the demons plaguing her mind and sought distraction, to lose her senses in desire.

He was amused by her reasons in finally seeking intimacy with him.

He cared not that she was using him in a way because his need for her was strong. Being away from her for those few days while she nursed Onigumo had been maddening. He wished to stamp his claim on her somehow, to make her his. Never again did he want her to turn from him and choose another man before him, in any way, ever again.

Though she was hurting, needed comfort, his kiss was not gentle. He may fake gentleness for her when she was distraught and cried on his shoulder, but in this, he would not tamp down his desire but give her all of his raging passion and force her to respond in kind.

Moving the back of her head to his shoulder while he continued to plunder her dark cavern, he couldn’t seem to get enough of her heady taste.

Seconds later, he freed both of his hands so he could cup her breasts.

She didn’t stop him when he thought she might. Instead, she made the most erotic, feminine sound his ears had ever heard.

However, soon her hand was cupping his jaw as she tried to remove his mouth from her plump lips.

“Can’t breathe,” she whispered, panting for air as she gazed into his eyes with lowered lids.

She wasn’t denying him as he thought she was attempting to do, and he groaned low in his throat as he kissed her cheek. Moving his mouth to her jaw, he nibbled on the bone gently as he pinched her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. 

He hissed in a sharp breath as her ass ground against his erection when her back arched beautifully, as she cried out softly in surprised pleasure from his touch.

Before she could move, he kept her back arched as he gently tugged on her hardened nubs, knowing it would add to her pleasure.

Kagome writhed against his powerful frame when he allowed her to settle against his chest once more as he pinched, pulled, and rolled her nipples between his expert touch. She had never thought the little nubs could be the source of so much pleasure. It was maddening, and she never wanted it to stop.

She forgot why she had encouraged him, thought only of the need that built unbearably under his masterful hands.

When his hands moved to her hips, she moaned low in denial, not wanting him to stop.

Instead of heeding her silent entreaty for more, he lifted her, turned her, and she willingly straddled his hips. Sesshomaru wanted to look at her face, into her passion glazed eyes, and settled her over his lap. His erection pulsed between them, drawing her attention.

The hot water did nothing to hide him from her gaze, and without thinking, curiosity got the better of her, and she reached down to grasp his thick shaft.

He was not ugly to her as Onigumo had been; though why she thought different of this male’s length, she could not fully say. She was slightly surprised it felt hard, yet silky smooth all at the same time. Tentatively, she tightened her grasp gently, wishing to test its firmness even though her small hand could not fully wrap around him.

He groaned, the sound vibrating out of his chest.

Fearful that she had hurt him, she snatched her hand back, about to apologize, but his larger hand grabbed hers, and returned it to his shaft.

“Don’t stop,” he rasped, their eyes meeting.

Encouraged by his obvious enjoyment, she never broke eye contact as he showed her how to please him by moving her hand upon him in pumping motions.

As she mastered the strokes, he let go of her hand, allowing her free reign.

The tip was softer than the rest. Curiously, she tightened her fist around the head and felt him shudder and make that sound again that did strange things to her heartbeat.

Their eyes met again.

“Am I hurting you?” she whispered.

“Yes, but not in the way you are thinking.”

Then she felt his hand graze her inner thigh, her only warning, before he cupped her between her thighs, touching her most secret place. She instinctively tried to close her thighs, to stop him, but his hips impeded her movement. She had forgotten that she was straddling him, unable to close her legs.

Before she could make any further—obvious—objection, lithe fingers caressed the petals of her sex, surprising her with instant pleasure.

Her hand had stilled around his girth, but with a silent thrust of his hips, she was reminded of her earlier exploration. Taking the silent hint, she began stroking along his shaft again, all the while she panted for breath as Sesshomaru touched her where no man had before.

Just like her nipples, he was teaching her how ignorant she had been about her own body, but what he did next went one step further. He pinched her gently, causing her to jerk, gasping in surprised pleasure before his thumb found her nub, and showed her she could experience even more ecstasy.

Unconsciously, she tightened her fist around Sesshomaru’s erection, heard him growl fiercely over her own cries.

He took his hand away from her moist folds and removed her hand from his flesh before grabbing the back of her thighs, lifting her, positioning her core over his length.

When she felt the head brush her entrance, Kagome froze.

What was she doing?

Reality came crashing back as fear set in.

He’s too big!

Before Sesshomaru could make them one, the girl started to wiggle, struggling against him, breaking the alignment of their sexes.

“No! Wait, Sesshomaru,” Kagome said frantically.

Pleasure fled in the face of her fear of his size and the unknown. He couldn’t do this! She was a miko, subjugated to remain pure unless by some off chance she was able to take a husband. She hardly knew him, this man who was more beast than the latter.

Mortification at her boldness surfaced, killing the last bit of her desire. She did the only thing she could do. She pushed at his shoulders, banged her fists against his chest, and tried to wiggle away.

“Calm down, Kagome,” Sesshomaru commanded, surprised by her actions, confused as to why she would call a halt now. He had been so close to delving inside her virgin body, to feel her delicate flesh hold fast to his aching shaft in wet, soft warmth.

But she refused to heed his words, continued to try to escape his arms. He realized that he would not be able to convince her to continue with what she had started in this frantic state without raping her, and he refused to take what he sought for her to freely give.

Angered that she had aroused him to such a state yet refused him satisfaction in the end, Sesshomaru had to bite his tongue to stop himself from unleashing his sexual frustration out on her and antagonize her for starting this interlude between them.

Instead, he grudgingly released her, watched her stumble off him and run, heedless of her nudity, out of the water.

But he was faster.

With narrowed eyes, he appeared before her, capturing her in his arms before she could reach her clothes.

“Let go, let go!” She struggled against him.

“I will not force you,” he growled, the sound fearsome and deadly, stopping her struggles instantly. She looked up at him with wild, fear filled eyes.

Sighing, he led her to his clothing and gave her his white outer haori.

“Here, take this. Your clothes are soiled. Until we find you more suitable wear, this will have to suffice.”

Dumbfounded by his generosity, grateful that he did not press her to finish what they had begun in the hot spring, Kagome mumbled her thanks, and quickly adorned the proffered clothing.

Both dressed in silence, aware of the other’s presence, but neither spoke, deep in thought.

Feeling awkward and shy, Kagome wasn’t sure how she would approach Sesshomaru as they were both finally presentable, but she needn’t have worried. He spoke first.

Coolly, he said fatefully, “Do you still wish to find your sister?”