DDN CHALLENGE SUBMISSION - Senses
I can think clearly again! Did all 10 prompts too!! *high five* But, I got distracted and real life responsibilities called me away sooo...my 100-word count died around prompt 8. I also tried to make everything come around full-circle, so pay attention to details ;) I'll come back later to edit and make it all clean and pretty.
Many thanks to @shastuhh for hosting!
EDIT: These might contain triggering themes for some. I kept them vague on purpose; ergo, read at your own discretion.
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Sesshōmaru examined Kagome’s face carefully, noting the apparent discoloration underneath the cakey layers of foundation. His normally perfect face crumpled with disappointment and quiet anger.
“It’s nothing.” Kagome mumbled, bitterness in her tone.
“These bruises state otherwise.”
Sesshōmaru knew Kagome was involved in some shady business, but since it didn’t concern him, he didn’t bother to investigate further. It wasn’t his prerogative to meddle in other people’s affairs, especially not his half-brother’s…friend—whatever their relationship was.
But one fated night changed all that. An accident.
Or perhaps, in hindsight, he was at the right place, at the wrong time.
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Despite her best efforts to put on a façade to keep suspicions at bay, he knew better. He saw right through her little charade of ‘accidents’ and ‘it’s-just-a-scratch’ excuses. While many bought her lame stories, he saw them for what they were - the mistreatment, the sadness, the struggle, and the shame etched on her face as she told yet another lie to conceal the truth.
Kagome glared at him, tears threatening to spill. “What’s it to you? It’s not like you to care.”
Sesshōmaru said nothing, instead taking out a handkerchief from his front pocket and dabbed at her eyes, gently.
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He saw it coming. She was in even worse shape than the last time he saw her.
And yet, he couldn’t do anything more than pick her up in pieces, after the damage had been done, just like last time.
“Don’t pity me,” she warned, wiping the blood from the gash on her temple.
Kagome whipped her head, nonplussed by his admission. She looked at him like she’d never seen him before.
“So…why? ” She whispered as he applied a cold compress to her face, handling her gently.
“Because everyone else chooses to be blind.” Sesshōmaru responded, meeting her gaze.
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Once the bleeding on her head had stopped, Sesshōmaru felt reassured enough to take his leave.
A slim hand held his wrist hostage. “Wait!”
“T-thank you, for everything,” she stammered. “A-and I’m sorry…for being a bitch. You don’t deserve that.” She kept her gaze downward.
“It is of no consequence.”
She let go of him reluctantly, still refusing to look at him.
Sighing, he took her other hand and placed a folded piece of paper in her palm. “It’s my personal line. Call me, if you find yourself in another…precarious situation.”
He walked away before she could respond.
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Sesshōmaru found it difficult to concentrate on anything. He repeatedly checked his phone with each buzz—subconsciously on the lookout for any word from her.
He catapulted himself back to their last encounter. He replayed their conversation in his mind like a broken record, taking note of each inflection in her voice, her frazzled state, and her sad blue eyes.
He also wondered whether it was wise to involve himself in her affairs by offering himself to her.
The ping from his phone brought him back to present time. A text.
‘Hi, it’s me. I hope your offer still stands.’
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Kagome let the words repeat over and over in her head, clutching the phone tightly as she waited, in deafening silence.
It had been thirty minutes since she finally decided to take Sesshōmaru up on his offer, barely moving an inch from where she collapsed on the floor nearly an hour before that. Glassy eyes stared at nothing in particular. Dried tears streaked down her puffed cheeks.
Fishing out the crumpled piece of paper had been her last resort. She needed a lifeline—a buoy, to keep herself afloat.
She didn’t expect him to answer her SOS.
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The knocking at her front door stirred Kagome out of her daze.
He came, like he said he would.
Biting her bottom lip out of nervous habit, she flinched as the metallic taste of dried blood reminded her why he was here in the first place.
Drained of energy to untangle her hair or make herself presentable, Kagome haphazardly wiped her face with her uninjured hand before hobbling to the door. She only had so much strength, and right now, all she could focus on was the person standing on the other side of the threshold.
Sighing, she opened the door, allowing him to see her at her most vulnerable state, yet.
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Disoriented and at loss for words, Kagome mentally kicked herself for asking such a dumb question. Though in her defense, Inuyasha’s estranged older half-brother, of all people, stood before her at her vestibule. She barely spoke a word to him in all the years she’d been acquainted with her hanyou friend. What was she supposed to say to him now?
“It’s two thirty in the morning,” he replied, his expression blank.
“I’m sorry to bother you.” she said, ashamed. “You should be sleeping, but instead you’re here.”
Clawed fingertips found its way under her chin, tilting it up to meet bright amber eyes. His thumb stroked the lacerations by her cupid’s bow, his warm touch leaving a burning trace against her battered lip.
She shriveled like a raisin under his intense gaze; his hold on her soft, yet unrelenting.
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She felt naked and numb as he continued to dissect her with his eyes, stopping at every nick, and bruise that tattooed her body.
“Your reasons are your own,” Sesshōmaru cut her off. “But do not lie to me.”
Kagome stilled at his quiet demand, forcing her to face the reality with which she had intricately woven with her web of lies. She had to do it out of necessity, in order to live another day. She desperately wanted to find a solution, a loophole—anything to get her out of her miserable existence. If only she could tell him the truth…
“Penance,” she muttered, barely above a whisper. “A life sentence, a debt to be paid.”
Confusion marred the tall demon’s handsomely stoic face.
“Someone died. Not by my hand, directly, but I was there when it happened. I...”
Voice cracking, she swallowed the growing lump that threatened to choke her, as fresh waves of tears cascaded down her cheeks. “I was young and dumb, and I didn’t do a damned thing because I was too scared.”
She couldn’t stop. Her speech on autopilot, her mind grappled with her outpouring confession.
“I took a dare. I took her with me. We were going to jump off the cliff together, but I hesitated at the last second. She…she went without question, and hit her head against a rock on her way down.”
“Kagome,” Sesshōmaru tried again, with more force.
“I screamed. God, did I scream. There was so much blood, and she just laid there, lifeless. I couldn’t get to her, and Inuyasha, he went mad—”
“Kagome!” The demon grabbed both her shoulders and crushed her against his torso, as violent sobs wracked her body. Lean, striped arms wrapped around her tiny frame, with one hand stroking her tangled hair.
I know. It is not your fault, he wanted to say. But unlike her, his words failed him.
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The smell of Kagome’s tears saturated the expanse of the tiny vestibule.
Sesshōmaru continued his ministrations as he slid down to the floor, for what seemed like an eternity—cradling her in his arms, caressing her midnight tresses, brushing his thumb delicately over her cheeks—lost in his own contemplation.
Kagome thought she would have to live in silent agony until her dying days. Not even her family knew of her situation.
Sesshōmaru’s words opened a fissure in the impenetrable dam that she built around herself and her secret, causing the barrage of emotions that broke her in every possible way.
And here he was, sprawled on her floor, limbs tangled, his shirt soaked with her tears, snot, and god-knows-what. He let her cry on him until she couldn’t anymore, rocked with her, assuaging her guilt, her fear, and her shame.
He was a stranger to her mere hours ago. Yet at this very moment, he single-handedly became the most important person in her orbit; trusting him fully with her vulnerability, holding on to him for dear life.
Kagome knew she’d already asked way too much from him, but she was also too physically, mentally, and emotionally spent to keep up with boundaries. To hell with it all.
Tomorrow, she would explain everything, clearing up misunderstandings during her shameless blabbering. Whether he would stick around to listen was a different beast altogether.
But tonight, he didn’t ask anything of her, nor did he seem to care about why she needed him, out of everyone in her inner circle. He just held her in silence, offering what little comfort he could, without anything in return. And she was glad for it.
Despite her tight-roping on the edge of consciousness and sleep, she felt him pull back slightly, rousing her once more.
“Stay,” she murmured, clutching on to his shirt as if her very life depended on it. “Please.”
Sesshōmaru’s languid strokes paused for a moment.
“I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
Seconds felt like hours before she felt him nod his head in acceptance.
But as heavy eyelids slid down to hide her battered soul from the rest of the world, he pulled her closer to his side and tucked her face into the crook of his neck, before placing a feather-light kiss on her forehead.
“Sleep, Kagome. Your secret’s safe. You’re safe, with me.”
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