It wasn’t until Kagome was pulling her suitcase down the steep steps of an empty bus at the edge of a small village that she got the message.
Asahi surprised me with plane tickets to Paris! I think he’s going to pop the question!! Soooo sorry, but I have to miss our girls’ weekend.
The room is paid for, so you should take advantage of it. Getting to the airport now. I’ll talk to you once we land if we’re not too busy in the City of Love.
Yuka’s message made Kagome’s heart sink to the pit of her stomach. Their weekend trip was ruined right when Kagome needed it most. She was in a great battle with her final year of college, and it was winning. Her professor’s favourite pastime was beating down any students who dared to question his long-held academic beliefs, and Kagome was by far the most outspoken in the class.
It wasn’t her fault that his feelings about youkai were outdated, but she was being punished for it all the same. She had to work twice as hard to pull any grade above passing, even going so far as to hire a previous graduate of the psychology program to go over her papers. The red marks on the page never rose above a C. He would call on her in class even if others had their hands up. He would yell if she rose to pee or dropped a pencil. He made a point of saying things that he knew would infuriate her during lectures. It was awful, but she was so close to finishing that she had to see it through. Besides, in four short months, she would have her degree and be a step closer to her goal of being a registered psychologist with a specialty in hanyou psychology.
She’d only agreed to come on the trip because she hadn’t seen her high school friends in almost a year, but one by one they’d flaked off from their weekend adventure, and now she was alone in a small town while her work piled up at home.
The day was at least beautiful. The sky was a perfect blue. She reminded herself that the room was paid for. That she’d traveled a fair distance to get here. That a weekend alone in a relaxing ryokan in a beautiful place was a blessing, and she marched into the lobby where an elderly woman sat at a worn reception desk. She was round and creased, her white hair pulled into a low ponytail. She sipped a cup of steaming tea and greeted Kagome with a creaking voice.
“Do ye have a reservation?”
“Yes! I have a reservation for four.”
“There is only one of ye. Will the others be joining you later?”
Kagome shifted under her scrutiny. “Something came up. But we prepaid.”
“Very well”. The old woman introduced herself as Kaede. She rose from her chair, leaning heavily on the desk while she went around it, and reached for Kagome’s luggage.
“I can do it,” Kagome insisted, but the receptionist slapped her hand away with surprising speed and grasped the handle, leaving Kagome to follow her empty-handed through the quiet halls into a large room.
It was traditional, maybe even outdated, Kagome thought, studying the worn tatami flooring and the pink striped armchairs under the low window that overlooked the room’s private garden. The low table towards the entrance glistened lightly with wax, and a series of antiques her grandfather would have loved were placed strategically around the room. It was large enough for four, but it still felt cozy. The windows all opened into bright green foliage, like the city had disappeared. It was as if Kagome had stepped out of her life and all of its hectic action and high expectations and entered a safe haven. A spark of joy flared through her body. This was why her friends insisted she come here.
Kaede placed Kagome’s bags on the floor and leaned against the door frame, huffing slightly.
“Thanks,” Kagome said.
“Will ye be going out for dinner, or shall I prepare something at the appropriate time?”
Kagome sighed and looked around. Somehow she couldn’t picture herself having a fun time in this little town by herself. “I’ll be staying.”
“Very well. There is a bell here.” She pointed to a small white button by the door. “If ye need anything, simply press it once and I will be along to assist you.”
“Thanks!” Kagome smiled and the old woman looked taken aback. “Is something wrong?”
“Not at all, ye just remind me a little of someone. Ring me if ye need anything.”
She stepped carefully out into the hall, and Kagome heard her retreat slowly back the way they’d come.
Kagome peeked into all the cupboards and closets, even stepping out into the garden surrounding the Onsen. It was lovely. A high wall separated it from the next room, but the space was still bright and warm. She dipped a finger into the steaming water. It was perfect.
She returned to the room and shrugged out of her clothes, pinned up her hair, and then stepped into the shower and tried to let the steaming water wash away all of her stress about school. Real life was miles away. This weekend she didn’t have to be a student, or a shrine keeper’s daughter, or anything. She just had to relax.
She stayed in until the water went cold, then she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself on her way to the bath. A chill had entered the air and she was covered in goosebumps by the time she finally lowered herself into the water.
She couldn’t stop thinking about school. In fact, the harder she tried to relax, the more her head spun. She stayed like that for a long moment, thinking about her thesis project, the test she had coming on Monday, the field placement she had yet to find. She tried to think of happy thoughts, like what she would wear to the party after finals, but her anxiety twisted it into another task she had to complete.
She closed her eyes and tipped her head back against the rocks. It was picture perfect. Serene. She finally managed to relax, only to be disturbed when something hit her face.
It happened again, a light splash against her nose that slid down onto her cheek. She cracked her eyes open and saw that while she was lounging in the heat, the sky had turned grey. A thick bruise-coloured wall of clouds blocked the sun, and she gasped as the sky opened up and started to pelt her with ice-cold rain.
She sprang up and reached for her towel just as a gust of wind whipped through the garden, hitting her. She abandoned the soaking towel and ran inside, dripping and naked on the hardwood floor.
She ran to the bathroom and ripped the door open. A hot shower would warm her back up, and then she was going home to work. This entire vacation was stupid, and she’d been stupid to agree with it. She was so desperate for warmth that she didn’t notice the sound of the shower running until she burst headlong into the steam... and the man who was standing in it.
The sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh resounded as Kagome fell back. She landed on the tile floor with a yelp and stared up into the exposed groin of a very naked stranger.
Her brain shorted out as she took in all eight inches of perfectly proportioned dick pointing at her. As if in response to her attention, it twitched.
“Who let you in here?”
Modesty kicked in a moment too late. She tried to cover her eyes, then realized that she was also nude and wrapped her arms around her chest. Her eyes roamed up from his pelvic region, past a six-pack so perfect she would’ve suspected it had been photoshopped if she’d seen it in a magazine, over a pair of muscled biceps, and into the scowling face of the most beautiful youkai she’d ever laid eyes on.
If possible, he looked as shocked as she felt.
“I should be asking you that!” She snapped.
He glared down his sharp nose at her, and his eyes were liquid gold, melting with heat that made her still-cold body shudder.
“You trespass and then demand answers from me?”
He stepped around her delicately, sniffing lightly as he reached for a towel and attempted to cloak himself in it. The offending appendage poked at the material, creating a tent that he ignored as he exited the bathroom.
Kagome shivered and looked for another towel, but the small table where they’d been laid out was empty.
“Um... There must be a misunderstanding. My friends and I booked this room weeks ago and I checked in earlier today.”
“You will have to choose a different room. This one is taken.”
“Taken by me!”
Her heart sped up when he reappeared in the doorway half-dressed in a cotton yukata. How has she missed those pecks earlier? Her mouth went dried as they stared at each other and she felt heat rush to her cheeks and her centre.
“Leave.” He commanded, going silent when she spun under the spray of water to face the wall.
“Can we talk about this when I have some clothes on?”
He stepped back and made a gesture to her to enter the room, but she sucked in a breath. “I need you to ask for more towels. The one I was using got soaked by the rain and you took the other.”
“By all means, ask.”
She swore and ducked out, grabbing the damp towel that he’d just had wrapped around him and rushing to the intercom.
“Kaede-san there’s a strange man in my room!”
He snorted, put on a simple shirt that matched his pants, and lowered himself to sit before a metallic laptop she hadn’t noticed when she came in before.
Kaede didn’t answer, so Kagome went to her bag. She groaned when she touched it. The window above it was open, and now everything was soaked. She cast a glance back at him, but he was staunchly ignoring her. The sound of his claws on the keys told her that he was committed to pretending she didn’t exist.
She went to the closet and claimed a simple blue yukata, and retreated to the bathroom with it. The view might’ve been worth the loss of some of her dignity, but she was glad to be dressed, and when she re-entered the room, Kaede had arrived with hot tea.
“Oh, hello dear. I’m sorry about all of this! This is a rather small inn, and I’m afraid the sudden storm caused some flooding on the other half of the building. The rest of the place is fully booked, and this is our only group room, so I’ve moved Sesshoumaru-sama here with you temporarily while we try to resolve the problem of where to put everyone. Do you mind sharing?”
His eyes flashed a dangerous red and he opened his mouth, but the old woman handed him a cup and glared at him, and his mouth snapped closed.
“Work quickly,” he grumbled, then went back to ignoring them.
“Problem solved,” she said with a gummy grin. She pointed to a cupboard. “There are board games tucked away in that corner, should you need some entertainment. Just be warned that Sesshoumaru is a terrible winner and an even worse loser.”
A low growl rolled through the room, and Kaede exited with a quiet smile. “Don’t ye worry. He may be a little on the stiff side, but Sesshoumaru-sama is a gentleman”. Kagome choked on her tea and swore she saw a grin flash across his face before it was gone.
“Alone again,” she announced, looking uncertainly between him and the door. Her friends had instructed her to leave her work at home, so she’d only brought her phone with its limited calling and data plan, and a now-soggy paperback harlequin romance. “Should we play a game?”
“I have work to complete.”
“Well, I’m on vacation.”
The lights flickered above them and he snarled at the laptop. Kagome surmised that the wifi had been interrupted, as he smashed the keys so hard that his hand went through the keyboard. They both stared at the damage before he sighed. “Do you know how to play Go?”
Not really, but that didn’t stop her from racing to the cabinet. She couldn’t reach the container, which was at the back of the top shelf. She leaned up and nudged it with her fingertips, but only managed to push it away from her. She was at it for a while before she finally climbed up onto the bottom shelf. “Aha!” She grasped it in both hands. The shelf snapped and she pitched back into solid muscle. One pale hand reached forward and took the box from her while the other gripped lightly at her hip. There was a low rumble in her ear.
“Be careful.”
Her legs grew impossibly weaker so that she fell forward to press her hands against the cupboard door. Her hips jutted back into him and he grunted so quietly that she wouldn’t have heard it if he’d been any further away. So faintly that she almost missed it, he muttered. “Clumsy.”
Heat pooled low in her tummy, and she was shaking when he released her and stepped away. Once his heat was gone, she became aware of how cold her arms were and she shivered.
He sat back at the table and began removing the pieces of the game from its box. His long fingers set each pot of stones down delicately. Even in this relaxed setting, he gave the impression of a tiger lounging in the wild. It shouldn’t have made her heart beat faster.
She marched to the thermostat and turned it up, and though she felt his eyes pierce her from behind, when she turned she found him facing the table. He ignored her until they started playing. His expression grew grimmer each time he won.
“Are you even trying?”
“I haven’t played since middle school,” Kagome admitted.
He swept the pieces back into their jars and packed the game up.
“H-hey! I was getting better!”
“I would prefer a more casual game with an appreciative opponent.” He returned the game to the cupboard and came back with a pack of cards. “Do you know any card games?”
“Go fish?” She offered, feeling foolish and expecting him to shoot her down. Instead, he folded himself back onto the floor and shuffled the cards with ease. “We don’t have to play, we can find something else we’re both good at.”
“I do not mind. Go Fish is a favourite of my daughter.”
“Oh.”
He had a child? She peeked at his hands, but there was no wedding ring. She couldn’t picture this stoic stranger with a little girl, and she said as much. If she expected to be shot down, he surprised her again.
“Rin found me a few years ago. She’d slipped out from an orphanage and took to me.”
“I thought that youkai children usually remained with their clans if they were orphaned. Go fish!”
They continued laying cards down easily, and the conversation flowed as they batted questions back and forth.
“That is correct. Rin is human.”
She faltered and he pounced, winning the game. A smug smile lit his face. Her heart stuttered.
“Rematch,” she commanded. He shuffled again and dealt the cards. “It’s uncommon for youkai and human houses to mingle.” She knew this better than most people. She’d spent the last three years studying theory on human/youkai interaction, particularly in domestic environments.
“Hn, yes it is. She is an unusual girl.” His tone was even, but she caught a light ray of pride glinting in his eyes.
A million questions occurred to her, all of which would benefit her thesis if he would agree to go on the record, but his clipped answers didn’t give her the impression that he would share personal details in her study. And this was a vacation. She peeked at him from over her cards to find him inspecting her. Their gazes locked and there was something in his sharp eyes that made her blush.
He loosened his yukata, giving her a peek at the soft silver hair speckling his built chest. She swallowed.
“What are you doing?” She asked in a sharp voice, even as she wished he would continue to peel away the material.
“It is warm in here.”
“I must have caught a chill.”
He stood and silently went to the thermostat, and she watched his fingers manipulate the knob, turning the heat up further.
“What brought you here?” The words were caught in her throat, but she couldn’t look away from him.
“This is where I come when I require a reprieve.” He sat back down and pulled his hair to the side, allowing it to spill over one shoulder, before picking his cards back up.
“D-do you come here often?”
His eyes shifted to her. “Why? Will you be returning to look for me?”
Her heart stuttered. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Isn’t it?”
She couldn’t honestly say ‘no,’ or pretend that she was just making small talk. There was something about the way that he moved that made her want to reach out to him. The wind outside howled as it ripped through the garden and a shiver clawed its way out of her.
He played his final hand. “We should get the futon out.”
“It’s only 9 o’clock, and besides, Kaede is making arrangements for one of us to move rooms.” She said the last part mournfully. Their conversation, though short, had been pleasant, and she found herself warming to him quickly. She wanted to unravel all of his thoughts and experiences, and not just for educational purposes.
“I have decided to allow you to stay.”
“Oh.”
He dragged a large futon from the cupboard and made it up with practiced ease. It seemed strange to her- like he should’ve been used to servants doing such menial tasks for him, and she said as much.
“Part of my reprieve means time alone. Kaede rarely bothers me when I am here. That is why I return here. And yet, you may stay.”
The electricity flickered out once more, but this time it didn’t come back on. Kagome stood in the darkness, her heart pounding in her rib cage like a trapped bird.
“That’s very kind of you.” She startled at the feeling of something brushing against her, but her clumsy fingers buried themselves in the soft fur that she’d noticed trailing over his shoulder and he hummed.
“Indeed,” his breath was deliciously warm against her cold cheek and she shuddered, leaning into him. “Hn, you are cold.” He took her hand and lead her to the futon, and she felt like she might explode. “If you are uncertain, you are welcome to sleep. This Sesshoumaru is content to watch the rain.”
A bolt of lightning lit the room for a split second, giving Kagome a glimpse of his perfect face, his lips soft beneath a pair of sharp eyes made of melted gold. A thrum went through her, tension built in every line of her body, her mind tired of thinking, of processing and reaching for information and arguments, and of being shot down and made to feel foolish for her beliefs.
She knew that her body wanted this. She couldn’t deny the warmth present in her body when he was near, or the thrum in her veins when he growled softly at the deep thunder outside. This was a vacation; she was supposed to let go, have fun. Besides, she’d never see him again, right?
Kagome swallowed and leaned up into his waiting mouth, and just like the storm had, he let loose all at once, scooping her up into his arms and plying her with ferocious kisses. She growled and tugged at her obi, parting the cotton and twisting to wrap her legs around him. Her centre pressed against his through light cotton and she moaned while his lips and tongue roamed her neck, nipping lightly at her delicate skin.
She reached up to grab a fistful of his hair when his teeth scraped across her collar bone and he swerved to push her against the window. The cold glass was hard against her shoulder blades, the rain still rapping against it, giving it life, while he pressed into her from the front, all soft skin and delicious heat.
“Ah,” she moaned when he dipped lower and pressed the flat of his tongue to the curve of her bared breast. She ground into him and he rumbled. The growl sent vibrations through every place they were connected, and pressed back into the glass, she tried to ground herself, but lost it as his mouth and left hand each found a nipple. He applied suction that seemed to pull at her from her cunt all the way to where he had latched onto her delicate nipples. Heat soaked her core, and she was certain she must be dripping. As if following her train of thought, he shifted her suddenly, lifting her so that her legs were wrapped around his head. Her back hit the glass and it rattled, a bead of rain leaking through top and sliding across her bare skin while he lunged for her centre and began licking earnestly. His claws pricked at her bottom, holding her still while she squirmed under the firm ministrations of his tongue against her clit. She could hear herself pleading with him before she shattered completely, gripping his hair so hard that he growled once more, into her this time, his tongue vibrating on the bundle of nerves and causing her to cry out.
His lips left her core while she panted, traveled the expanse from the sensitive inside of her thighs, across her lower abdomen. He stopped to nip at each dusty peak of her breasts and then slid across her jaw before yanking her back into a feral kiss. She slid down onto her feet and reached for him, her hands clumsy in her haste to remove his yukata fully, to bare him as he had her.
He chuckled when she huffed at the knot.
“Allow me.”
Once the knot was gone, she pushed the yukata off of his shoulders and lunged for him again, sucking his bottom lip between her own and scraping her teeth against him. There was a rumbling, and she didn’t know if it was him or the sky – it seemed to come from all around her. Her hand darted down and she caught his member, her hands curling around it and giving it a good pump. It was silk-soft but hard as metal, and she couldn’t stop the noise that escaped her when she felt the size of it in her hand, the perfect shape. It was curved just so, she realized as she squeezed it, her fingers gliding up and down his shaft. He panted into her hair. His weight tipped until he leaned against the window with one arm above his head for support.
She rubbed the tip with her thumb, spreading thick precum on the rounded head.
“Kagome,” he groaned, and her heart fluttered at the sound of her name when he was so close to coming undone. She tried to break free of his grip, intent on lowering her own mouth to him, but he was unmovable as steel over and under her, and she settled for pressing her teeth into his shoulder. Her bite made him stutter her name out once more, so she repeated the action harder and then lathed the area with her tongue, never stopping the up and down movement of her hand on his cock.
His youki roared around them, turbulent, violent, seeking something, and she couldn’t do anything to stop the flare of her own powers in response. She singed his skin where her mouth was and dropped her hands suddenly. Any apology that jumped into her mouth was stopped when he twirled her to press her front against the glass.
They were isolated in the dark, the storm the only sound aside from their heady breathing and delicious moans. Sesshoumaru pressed his fingers inside of her from behind while his hand ran up her front and massaged her breast. She quickened, pushing back into his ministrations, and he hummed, sucking greedily at the curve of her neck.
She came on his fingers.
Her knees gave out. Her squeak of surprise was eaten up by his kisses as he gripped her chin and turned her face back towards him.
“Here, or on the futon miko?”
His voice rasped, and he barely sounded like a man at all. His was the growling of beasts, of storms, of a force of nature preparing to wreak havoc on her poor human soul. He rotated his hips, grinding the head of his cock against her dripping centre. She cried out. Her body was too hot, her cunt too empty. She wanted him inside of her and tried to catch him by rotating her hips, trying to catch the tip so she could sink down his shaft and finally connect them fully.
“Where, Kagome?”
“I don’t caaare!” She whined. She was so desperate for him she would have let him take her out in the icy rain. “Please!”
His laugh rumbled cruelly in her ear, and hot tears pricked at her eyes. Never had she known such desperation, and he was laughing at her? His words made her burn.
“We will just have to do both then, won’t we?”
And then, in one swift movement, he buried himself inside of her.
She choked on the sound that tried to rise in her throat while he stilled. His teeth gripped at her shoulder, his claws pricked her hips, her vision swam for a moment, while she adjusted to the sudden intrusion. She stretched to accommodate him, leaning forward against the glass and choking on a sob of relief and discomfort and desire so thick she thought it might asphyxiate her.
“S-sesshoumaru,” his name had taken on a rapturous quality in her mouth, an unintentional effect she couldn’t control. His mouth softened on her shoulder and he pressed a series of gentle kisses to her skin. His hold gentled to massage her hips. It had been a long time since she’d last been with someone, and it had never been like this.
“Breathe,” he hummed into her ear. The sound of his voice made her clench around him. She inhaled deeply and he kissed her ear. “Kagome, I’m going to fuck you now.”
“Please.”
He set an easy pace to start, slamming into her with confidence, but not as much force as she knew him to be capable of using. “Harder,” she panted. Lightning lit up the sky, and she caught their reflection in the glass. His lips had thinned and parted, and his eyes glowed red. He caught her gaze and pushed into her harder, grunting at the effort, and grinned when her eyes rolled back and her mouth opened in a silent cry.
Her release built, the tension so much that she feared what would happen if it didn’t snap soon, but before her climax could overtake her, he pulled out. She gasped at the sensation of suddenly being empty and pushed her hips back towards him, choking on a wrangled sob that rose from her core.
“Soon,” He promised. He pressed a kiss into her hair, gentle despite the roughness in his voice. He lifted her, spearheading her on his dick and allowed her to throb against him. She moved spastically, desperate to find that place again, to tip over the edge, but he surprised her by launching them forward. Her back hit the futon, and then he was on her and there was no stopping him.
He pumped in and out of her with inhuman speed, each thrust of his hips hitting her so deeply she doubted she’d ever find that spot again. His building growl and the thrum and press of his aura around her remade the world. Even the window vibrated with his passion.
She reached up and grabbed a fistful of his hair, and did her damnedest to meet each of his thrusts, to give as good as she got, to make him cum for her.
“Kagome,” he howled her name when he came, filling her with hot cum, and the sound of her name on his lips, uttered in such a reverent tone, sent her after him, her climax milking him for every last drop.
He collapsed, using the last of his strength to roll her on top of him where she basked in the afterglow of her orgasm. He purred beneath her, and when she tilted her face up from his bare chest, she saw that he had fallen asleep.
The sky cleared and a full moon lit the room. Her own eyes were heavy, but she watched him from beneath heavy lids and traced every bit of exposed skin that she could reach. Youki spilled over her and she shuddered, surprised when she felt soft fur cover her. She looked up to see his eyes half-open.
“You’re here all weekend?” he asked.
She thought of her thesis, her unfinished work, but the tension was gone, replaced by a glowing ember of satisfaction.
“Yes.”
The corners of his mouth quirked up and he rolled them so that they were on their sides with her leg hooked over his hip. Softly, he pressed his mouth to hers and maneuvered himself back inside of her. Gently, unhurried, they moved together into another climax.
With his fingers on her back, he panted. “Good. I have plans for you.”
Author's Note:
This was supposed to be 500 words max and somehow it morphed into this 5000+ word monstrosity. I hope that you enjoyed it. I haven’t really written/posted smutfic before so I would love to hear your thoughts.
PS. I’m obviously late to the party for the cliche-a-week, but I saw the prompt on my new tumblr (mschillinvillin) and had an Aha! Moment. montocalypse is the user running it, so give them some love as well if you’re into fandom cliches!