Trainride by Gracie

A Glimpse

He takes a breath of the cool air and steps on to the train. It’s three in the afternoon and he’s been waiting so long for this moment—once he steps off the train he can arrive at his house and relax. Take off the bracelet that hides his Taiyoukai identity and finally unwind.

It’s this half hour long train ride that seems to take the longest, though. It drones on and on, the other passengers noisily chatting away, smelling like they always do. He hates the train ride home. Immortal he may be, but the mere idea of the train ride home makes him feel like he’s wasting his last day.

Sesshomaru stiffens when an old woman bustling grocery shopping bags bumps into him. She apologizes but he doesn’t look her in the eye—simply can’t. He detests these humans who can go about their daily routine and never care that they’re wasting their time doing menial tasks. He wants to live for a bigger life, but those days have passed for him, and he works at a desk in an office, pushing paper.

He regretfully takes another breath and inhales the musky, dank smell of the humans around him. Except for one… He slowly swivels his head around and looks at the surrounding passengers. Someone near him has a refreshing scent like the ocean, and whether it’s instinct he isn’t sure, but he needs to see their face.

And then, all in one second, he sees her. She’s standing, holding on to a bar in the middle of the train, listening to music. He can faintly hear a melodic tune with a clear voice coming out of the head phones in her ears. Her hair is black, not unlike the rest of the population, but he feels it’s somehow different. It’s as if she wears the hair better, its dark color framing her porcelain face perfectly. She looks out the window and he can see stunning blue eyes, and he wants those eyes on him. 

And when she turns to look at him and their eyes meet—he can suddenly see the world clearly.

Sesshomaru can see so many things, so many possibilities. He can see himself walking over to her and introducing himself. He can smell her sweet scent as they walk together from the train and meet a street vender who sells them food he wouldn’t have even considered if she hadn’t said it was her favorite. In a few nights, he takes her out to dinner at his favorite restaurant, a quaint, quiet place on the outskirts of town and after he kisses her goodnight on her doorstep.

He can see them getting closer as the visits become more frequent—his beast becoming impatient and wanting to take her. He can see their first night together, where she shows him her vanilla-scented bedroom and shows him her black lace panties. He can feel her soft skin under his hands, and he sees himself revealing his true nature to her when they wake the next day.
And when she sees his silver hair and golden eyes, her striking blue ones fill with wonder and she demands he never go back to the way he looked before. Her kind, gentle acceptance, her bright smiles and warm lips, all meant for him and all equally treasured.

He can see himself walking her to her job and asking her to move in with him. Her small smile as she tucks her head underneath his arm and asks what took him so long. He can even see the small smile he sports when he asks her if moving in is not enough, and maybe she wants to become his mate. The joy on her face was a view more priceless than the entire earth to him.
He can see it now—months later, they walk hand in hand, rings on fingers, into a drug store for a pregnancy test. And then rushing, as fast as he can while she reminds him with a strained laugh that things like this take time, to the hospital so they can deliver the baby.

And then, a view of them walking down the road holding the hands of a little boy and girl, both with piercing blue eyes and silver hair. The sight does enough to warm his heart in a way so deep it’s almost painful. Watching a sunset on their porch, rocking in old wooden chairs, her voice singing their children to sleep in their arms. Teaching their babies to swim in a local pool—she doesn’t want to have a pool in the back yard because of her childhood fears. Eating watermelon together on a hot summer night, cuddling up near the fireplace with hot cocoa in the winter—he can see it all.

He can see all of their moments together. The fights, her running tears and his breaking heart, every moment when they questioned if being together was a possibility. If a demon like him could ever love a girl like her, how someone so imperfect could complete the other.

But he knows those moments don’t matter. It’s the other ones, the enchantingly life like heartbeats that they share together that matter to him. He can see it all, and he wants it. He wants it so very badly.
…

The train jolts to a stop, abruptly bringing his mind back from whatever faraway place it had been in. He blinks, dazed, and clears his vision.

She’s gone. The girl with the blue eyes has moved from her spot, and in a second, the great demon lord Sesshomaru feels his blood run cold, and he frantically searches for her.

Outside the window, standing with her back to the train, he can see her all over again. She’s just an ordinary girl, whose hair is a dark black color, but really nothing out of the ordinary. Her skin isn’t silky smooth, that much he can see from where he’s standing, and she isn’t wondrously beautiful.

He also knows, with a startled abruptness, that all of the moments he envisioned in his mind weren’t real. They might’ve been a possibility, but nothing says he even wants it. Or he can have it, for that matter.

Their future could be something that was never meant to mix. She could be exactly what she is—a stranger who shared a train ride with another, and then both went on their merry way. She didn’t even notice him, Sesshomaru recalls.

But still, he thinks, as he walks off the train after her.
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This was something I'd written a long time ago, but had forgotten to post. I hope you enjoyed it! Standard disclaimers apply.