Four Seasons (Sesshomaru Fanfiction)

Autumn: Chpt 10

10. Power & Retribution

"How reckless," thought Sesshomaru to himself as he pinned down the panting demoness, holding her wrists firmly above her head.

It was as if she had a death wish, the way she constantly aggravated him.

He had denied her request to die by his hand, but now he wondered if he had been foolish in letting her live yet again. Had she developed a sudden streak of foolish confidence? If so, it seemed to have run in the family.

But as she lay there beneath him and made no attempts at struggling, Sesshomaru questioned whether it was truly that. The fearless look of determination and confidence that was in her eyes the moment she had leaped out of the darkness and towards him was gone now. Instead, she stared up at him blankly, trying to catch her breath.

He glared down at her in annoyance, and that was when he noticed.

Her long red hair had been cut off and now stopped at her shoulders – shoulders which, along with most of her torso, were covered in black and purple bruises and cuts both new and old. The sight surprised him, and even piqued his curiosity briefly, but nonetheless he got to his feet, letting go of her.

"Tell me why I should not kill you where you lay," he said with much venom. "If you've gone mad from grief then perhaps I should put you out of your misery."

She looked at him, wordless, and then sat up, sighing as if she were disappointed in something. A part of him wondered what was going through her mind – what had been going through her mind from the very moment she had made such an unwise decision. The other part of him, however, was telling him to ensure she regretted her act of brazen insolence. But then she spoke up, making him reconsider.

"If it makes any difference," she said, finally calmer, "I regretted doing that the moment I jumped."

Sesshomaru was about to reprimand the demoness further when suddenly her eyes began to close. He found himself surprisingly frozen in place as she fell backwards and, finally, passed out.

***

When Akiko opened her eyes she found herself staring up at the forest canopy, hues of red and orange shining down on her. The sun had begun to set.

"Funny," she thought to herself. "I had a dream that I tried to sneak up on Sesshomaru, and it was right in this very-" she froze, her eyes widening with realization. But she dared not move a muscle, for she quickly remembered that it hadn't been a dream at all.

She recalled the angered face of the daiyokai as he had hovered over her, far too closely, with a firm grasp on her wrists. She remembered the overwhelming bloodlust that emanated from him the moment he had pinned her down. It was that almost suffocating bloodlust that had wiped all confidence from her mind and had replaced it with an endless stream of doubt and regret.

Why would she have even begun to think that sneaking up on Sesshomaru was a brilliant way to test how strong she had gotten?

Though, the fact that she had managed to sneak up on him in the first place did say something about her progress. But regardless, Akiko was sure that Sesshomaru's abilities far surpassed hers - so much so that her advances in strength meant nothing to the daiyokai – because he could easily defeat her regardless. But of course, she had come to that realization much too late. She'd gotten caught up in her newfound desire for strength – and in the rush that came with that pursuit of strength – and had made a mistake. But everyone made mistakes, right? Even Sesshomaru understood that.