Fandom: Inuyasha
Title: A Modest Peace
Author: Paynesgrey
Rating: R
Genre: Supernatural/Fantasy
Word Count: 650
Pairings or Characters: Naraku/Kikyou
Warnings/Spoilers: sexual content, post-series
Notes: Written for the "Afraid" theme at
inuyasha_et_al.
Summary: Naraku receives a generous gift in limbo.
Warmth.
It flowed around him and seeped into his essence like sunlight, and as he enjoyed this fleeting taste of peace, he exhaled and felt a stirring body within his arms. The white around him was so bright he couldn't see her, but he recognized her from the way her soft body fit against his.
Ah, he thought. This was his wish, but he knew that holding her wouldn't last long. Time and karma spoke differently, and soon she would be taken out of his arms, fading into the ether as he traveled onward and paid for the crimes in his life.
However, he was stalled. For the moment he was allowed to keep her, to feel her breath against his naked flesh, and to hear sweet moans of contentment instead of the laughter of vengeance. Kikyou was his for now, and Naraku knew the Shikon no Tama was never this generous. This was his wish, but the one who granted it had to be someone different. Kami-sama or Midoriko? Maybe, but Naraku did not wonder any longer about his mysterious benefactor. He held Kikyou, pulled her against him close, and took her willing mouth into his. Her fingers swept through his hair, and they both fell back onto an unknown bedding within the hovering light.
As Kikyou slid over him, his first thought was that he didn't deserve this. He wondered if this was a trick. Was he in Hell? Would he open his eyes and find that he was making love to a trickster spirit who would pay him for his crimes?
He held her possessively, tightly, and she responded by moving them and pulling his body over hers. He sighed heavily as she guided him inside her, and he closed his eyes. Yes, he thought. This carnal quickening was what he had desired all along.
Maybe Hell wasn't so cruel after all.
Strangely, he began to weep, silently at first, but as Kikyou drew him in rhythm, ecstasy and guilt melded together and rolled off them both in audible waves. This was the pleasure he acquired for all that pain? Yet as horrible as his insides felt, he still felt serene. In this space, this sanctuary without judgment, he saw no darkness. Everything, his deeds, his spirit, was scrubbed clean. His desire, the priestess Kikyou, was his prize for now.
One voice after the other, they both cried, tight and satisfied as they fell down from culmination. She pulled his body back against hers, and as delicate fingers roamed his skin, he felt afraid. When would this end? How long must he wait until his desires are stripped from him again?
He still felt the outside warmth when Kikyou fell asleep against him. His eyes were heavy also, but he fought to stay awake. If he slept, would he wake up here with Kikyou still his arms? He knew the answer already. His eyes soon dropped under the gray, and lust, too, was scraped away. Something inside him tightened, and like a twig it snapped. An infant's wail echoed, and he felt warm again, like sake swishing over his tongue. A heart was beating at the shell of his ear, and he felt hungry, thirsty, and constrained all at once.
Then, something - no, someone held him. Kikyou? He thought quickly. Glowing light hazed before his eyes, and when shapes defined, memories became slippery and elusive.
He didn't even know his name. He didn't even remember what evil he'd done. The woman he loved and cherished was gone - a phantom touch, but the feelings were still there. A new woman looked at him lovingly and sang, and he bestowed those feelings to her.
Whatever peace he once had and lost was slowly returning anew. The old darkness of his soul was a mere shadow, unmolded, yet it hovered years away from the recesses his heart.
END