Lay Me to Sleep by aimee_blue [oneshot#73]
Title: Lay Me to Sleep
Author: aimee_blue
Prompt: Conquest
Words: 1,334
Genre: Romance,Mystery, Drama
Rating: T
A/N: A future chapter of In From the Cold, however, it is not necessary to read that first.
Summary: AU. Kagome and her uninvited guest Sesshoumaru settle down for the night.
A shivering Kagome hastily pulled the futon from the washing line in her small front garden. It was cold out and the darkness seeped into her bones; she shouldn’t have left it out here for so long to air, but she’d been distracted by Sesshoumaru.
“A little late for you to be out, isn’t it, Kagome-san?” Kouga’s voice was tinged with neighbourly concern as he stood in his front door, illuminated by the light of his apartment.
Kagome smiled wanly. “I forgot I was airing my futon out here,” she explained.
“I see,” Kouga inclined his head. “Is that for your guest?”
Could you call Sesshoumaru a guest? Considering he seemed to be running from someone she was more likely to classify him as a refugee. But her neighbour shouldn’t be privy to all the grisly details. Kouga was overprotective and if she told him she barely knew Sesshoumaru, the hot-headed male would call him an unscrupulous character and throw him out. And considering the brand that some evil person had put on Sesshoumaru’s neck, Kagome wasn’t willing to throw the mysterious man to the curb just yet.
“Yeah,” she smiled, folding the futon over her arm and making her way back to her apartment. “What are you doing out here so late?”
“Just checking up on you,” Kouga answered lightly, though his sharp blue eyes narrowed slightly. “Maybe you could introduce me to your mysterious guest.”
Kagome let out an airy laugh as she climbed the half a dozen steps to her apartment door. “There’s nothing mysterious about him, Kouga-san. He’s just an old friend, is all.”
Kouga appeared unconvinced; Kagome could practically sense the curiosity bubbling inside of the handsome male. Quickly, she kicked open the door and sketched a token bow. “Well, goodnight!”
Once again, Kagome found herself closing the door on her overly inquisitive neighbour. A sigh escaped her lips at how rude she was being. A hand came down on her shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin. It seemed to amuse Sesshoumaru if the slight quirking of his lips was anything to go by.
“The man who lives in the other building is unduly interested in you,” Sesshoumaru stated as he followed her across her open plan apartment.
“Kouga-san is just being friendly,” Kagome hedged, though she was beginning to agree with Sesshoumaru. Was Kouga too interested?
“Hnn...” Sesshoumaru’s golden gaze slid to the window through which Kouga’s apartment was visible. “He did not carry the scent of a friend.”
“Scent?” Kagome asked, glancing at him sharply as she once again wondered exactly what Sesshoumaru was.
The silver-haired male seemed to realise he’d let something slip and treated her to a tight-lipped glare as she rolled out his futon next to her bed. Apparently he still wasn’t in a sharing mood. Once again she was struck by the idiocy of allowing a stranger in to her home, regardless of the fact that she didn’t even know what he was. But, for some unfathomable reason, she trusted him and, strangely enough, he seemed to return the trust.
Kagome rolled her eyes as Sesshoumaru glowered at the futon she’d made up for him. She could tell that he still wanted to share her bed or kick her out of the bed and let her sleep on the futon.
“Do you possess a comb?” Sesshoumaru inquired belligerently as he settled onto the futon cross-legged. Kagome grinned, picking up the brush from her dresser she sat behind him on the bed. He gave her a flat look.
“Please let me brush it?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.
Sesshoumaru appeared to count backwards from ten. “I am not a doll,” he bit out. It sounded as though he was talking from between gritted teeth.
“I know, I know,” Kagome placated as she beamed hopefully at him. The stoic male lost a little of his haughty reserve and turned his back on her offering his hair for her pleasure. She squealed, he winced. And Sesshoumaru cursed his strange inclination to let the human have her way. Apparently he was developing a soft spot for her. Which would not be a good thing. Like a mountain that developed a crack, he would eventually crumble if he continued to expose himself to her benign cheerfulness.
Sesshoumaru sighed. He had to leave soon.
Gleefully, Kagome removed the tie from his braid and let his spun silver hair fan out across his broad shoulders. It was as fine as it appeared to be, shifting through her fingertips like the finest silk. She gathered the silky mass and rubbed it between her fingers, a sigh of bliss escaping her lips. She had an urge to bury her face in it and inhale his fragrance but hastily pushed it down in favour of pulling her brush through the long hair.
Sesshoumaru allowed his eyelids to slip to half-mast as the contented woman sifted through his tresses with infinite care. Patting and pulling, sifting and stroking, brushing and fluffing. He didn’t miss the way she traced the tips of his pointed ears in fascination, he didn’t miss the deep inhales when she pulled his hair through her comb, as though she was trying to breathe him in. It was soothing. The last person to take care of him so attentively had been his mother in his younger years. This was nostalgic and yet better. This woman’s care stirred his blood and made him lapse into lethargy in the same moment.
So relaxed, he missed when she drew open the drawer of her bedside table.
When her delicate little fingers with their feeble claws patted his brand he tensed, unsure as to her plans and relaxed when she rubbed a balm that smelled of aloe over the dent to his pride. The brand that struggled to dampen his youki was more of a wound to his ego than to his body. It was strange that, merely with her presence, Kagome had soothed his rankled superiority easily.
A soft sigh puffed against his neck and Sesshoumaru quickly moved to catch the young woman as she pitched forwards floppy as a rag doll. Confusion gripped him for a moment as he pressed his ear over her heart and then he relaxed. It had been too long since he’d been around humans. She’d fallen asleep, lulled by the sedative scent of his hair. It was a lesser known talent of his, so much so that he’d forgotten about it.
Carefully, he pulled back her bedding covers with one hand and laid her on her back in the middle of the bed as gently as he could without jostling her. Almost as soon as he’d relinquished his hold on her, she’d curled up like a feline in a ball. One hand moved lethargically across the bed and, amused, Sesshoumaru pressed a lock of his hair into her palm. The wrinkle between her brows smoothed out and she sighed before falling into a deeper sleep.
It seemed that this woman was besotted with his hair.
A lopsided smirk claimed his features as his eyes glinted in the semi-darkness of the room. His sudden attachment afforded him an invitation and with great relish he bid his futon sayonara and climbed into her incredibly comfortable elevated futon. A fine and defendable conquest; after all, she was the one who had refused to let him go.
Frozen in surprise, Sesshoumaru remained still as the small woman moved towards him in her sleep. Her head ended up over his heart and he frowned as he twined his fingers through the ebony strands of her hair.
As he stared solemnly up at the ceiling he pondered this latest development. He’d never contemplated attachment before, considering that he found most other living things detestable. But now, as he allowed a human to use him as a pillow, he found himself wondering.
Could continue to do as he pleased, when it pleased him to remain in the company of someone so frail?
Author: aimee_blue
Prompt: Conquest
Words: 1,334
Genre: Romance,Mystery, Drama
Rating: T
A/N: A future chapter of In From the Cold, however, it is not necessary to read that first.
Summary: AU. Kagome and her uninvited guest Sesshoumaru settle down for the night.
A shivering Kagome hastily pulled the futon from the washing line in her small front garden. It was cold out and the darkness seeped into her bones; she shouldn’t have left it out here for so long to air, but she’d been distracted by Sesshoumaru.
“A little late for you to be out, isn’t it, Kagome-san?” Kouga’s voice was tinged with neighbourly concern as he stood in his front door, illuminated by the light of his apartment.
Kagome smiled wanly. “I forgot I was airing my futon out here,” she explained.
“I see,” Kouga inclined his head. “Is that for your guest?”
Could you call Sesshoumaru a guest? Considering he seemed to be running from someone she was more likely to classify him as a refugee. But her neighbour shouldn’t be privy to all the grisly details. Kouga was overprotective and if she told him she barely knew Sesshoumaru, the hot-headed male would call him an unscrupulous character and throw him out. And considering the brand that some evil person had put on Sesshoumaru’s neck, Kagome wasn’t willing to throw the mysterious man to the curb just yet.
“Yeah,” she smiled, folding the futon over her arm and making her way back to her apartment. “What are you doing out here so late?”
“Just checking up on you,” Kouga answered lightly, though his sharp blue eyes narrowed slightly. “Maybe you could introduce me to your mysterious guest.”
Kagome let out an airy laugh as she climbed the half a dozen steps to her apartment door. “There’s nothing mysterious about him, Kouga-san. He’s just an old friend, is all.”
Kouga appeared unconvinced; Kagome could practically sense the curiosity bubbling inside of the handsome male. Quickly, she kicked open the door and sketched a token bow. “Well, goodnight!”
Once again, Kagome found herself closing the door on her overly inquisitive neighbour. A sigh escaped her lips at how rude she was being. A hand came down on her shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin. It seemed to amuse Sesshoumaru if the slight quirking of his lips was anything to go by.
“The man who lives in the other building is unduly interested in you,” Sesshoumaru stated as he followed her across her open plan apartment.
“Kouga-san is just being friendly,” Kagome hedged, though she was beginning to agree with Sesshoumaru. Was Kouga too interested?
“Hnn...” Sesshoumaru’s golden gaze slid to the window through which Kouga’s apartment was visible. “He did not carry the scent of a friend.”
“Scent?” Kagome asked, glancing at him sharply as she once again wondered exactly what Sesshoumaru was.
The silver-haired male seemed to realise he’d let something slip and treated her to a tight-lipped glare as she rolled out his futon next to her bed. Apparently he still wasn’t in a sharing mood. Once again she was struck by the idiocy of allowing a stranger in to her home, regardless of the fact that she didn’t even know what he was. But, for some unfathomable reason, she trusted him and, strangely enough, he seemed to return the trust.
Kagome rolled her eyes as Sesshoumaru glowered at the futon she’d made up for him. She could tell that he still wanted to share her bed or kick her out of the bed and let her sleep on the futon.
“Do you possess a comb?” Sesshoumaru inquired belligerently as he settled onto the futon cross-legged. Kagome grinned, picking up the brush from her dresser she sat behind him on the bed. He gave her a flat look.
“Please let me brush it?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.
Sesshoumaru appeared to count backwards from ten. “I am not a doll,” he bit out. It sounded as though he was talking from between gritted teeth.
“I know, I know,” Kagome placated as she beamed hopefully at him. The stoic male lost a little of his haughty reserve and turned his back on her offering his hair for her pleasure. She squealed, he winced. And Sesshoumaru cursed his strange inclination to let the human have her way. Apparently he was developing a soft spot for her. Which would not be a good thing. Like a mountain that developed a crack, he would eventually crumble if he continued to expose himself to her benign cheerfulness.
Sesshoumaru sighed. He had to leave soon.
Gleefully, Kagome removed the tie from his braid and let his spun silver hair fan out across his broad shoulders. It was as fine as it appeared to be, shifting through her fingertips like the finest silk. She gathered the silky mass and rubbed it between her fingers, a sigh of bliss escaping her lips. She had an urge to bury her face in it and inhale his fragrance but hastily pushed it down in favour of pulling her brush through the long hair.
Sesshoumaru allowed his eyelids to slip to half-mast as the contented woman sifted through his tresses with infinite care. Patting and pulling, sifting and stroking, brushing and fluffing. He didn’t miss the way she traced the tips of his pointed ears in fascination, he didn’t miss the deep inhales when she pulled his hair through her comb, as though she was trying to breathe him in. It was soothing. The last person to take care of him so attentively had been his mother in his younger years. This was nostalgic and yet better. This woman’s care stirred his blood and made him lapse into lethargy in the same moment.
So relaxed, he missed when she drew open the drawer of her bedside table.
When her delicate little fingers with their feeble claws patted his brand he tensed, unsure as to her plans and relaxed when she rubbed a balm that smelled of aloe over the dent to his pride. The brand that struggled to dampen his youki was more of a wound to his ego than to his body. It was strange that, merely with her presence, Kagome had soothed his rankled superiority easily.
A soft sigh puffed against his neck and Sesshoumaru quickly moved to catch the young woman as she pitched forwards floppy as a rag doll. Confusion gripped him for a moment as he pressed his ear over her heart and then he relaxed. It had been too long since he’d been around humans. She’d fallen asleep, lulled by the sedative scent of his hair. It was a lesser known talent of his, so much so that he’d forgotten about it.
Carefully, he pulled back her bedding covers with one hand and laid her on her back in the middle of the bed as gently as he could without jostling her. Almost as soon as he’d relinquished his hold on her, she’d curled up like a feline in a ball. One hand moved lethargically across the bed and, amused, Sesshoumaru pressed a lock of his hair into her palm. The wrinkle between her brows smoothed out and she sighed before falling into a deeper sleep.
It seemed that this woman was besotted with his hair.
A lopsided smirk claimed his features as his eyes glinted in the semi-darkness of the room. His sudden attachment afforded him an invitation and with great relish he bid his futon sayonara and climbed into her incredibly comfortable elevated futon. A fine and defendable conquest; after all, she was the one who had refused to let him go.
Frozen in surprise, Sesshoumaru remained still as the small woman moved towards him in her sleep. Her head ended up over his heart and he frowned as he twined his fingers through the ebony strands of her hair.
As he stared solemnly up at the ceiling he pondered this latest development. He’d never contemplated attachment before, considering that he found most other living things detestable. But now, as he allowed a human to use him as a pillow, he found himself wondering.
Could continue to do as he pleased, when it pleased him to remain in the company of someone so frail?