#um yeah did not expect this to be 4 freakin pages

[savethelastdan]

First time and unexpected virgin for sesshomaru x kagura please!

CW: brief mentions of sexual violence/rape culture

Virginity, as a concept, is both more and less complicated for Kagura than it may be for other women.

Naraku bore her to serve him; thus there is no expectation that she should love and marry. As a weapon of violence, she has no inherent virtue to protect; so she has no chaperones. (Not that she’d need one, what with her heart’s imprisonment.) As long as his thirst for the jewel remains first priority, Naraku should care less what she would do or who she’d do it with.

However.

Kagura knows Naraku’s heart almost as well as her own. It’s a fact that the roots of his evil spring from a being who violated others’ freedom in all ways. She’s watched from dark corners, nauseated, as he barters with greedy, powerful creatures. Witnessed him stare into Kanna’s mirror and draw fantasies of ruining Kikyo, solely because she is pure. In shards of broken glass, she has stared at her own face and noted the similarities between his obsession’s visage and her own - as well as how she differs, from all the other incarnations he’s created.

So the idea - that she must not lose a single opportunity to make a choice of her own, before he can steal it from her - takes seed early on.

-

“Yo,” She says to Sesshomaru, shivering from the chilly night air and the wet grass underfoot. “Do me a favor.”

He glances towards the thicket of bushes where she knows his companions have collapsed to rest, then back to the fan pointed at his chest. “Rely on yourself, if you want something.”

“Ah, but this is something I can’t do by myself.” She lowers the weapon and waves her other hand, fingers splayed, to show she has no shards for him to reject this time. “Come on, you can’t help me out one time before I die?”

That gets his attention; his nostrils flare, as though searching for the scent of her blood. The thought that he might know the scent beneath that of her master’s sends the wind witch’s stomach into knots.

“I know you have no intentions to help me escape Naraku,” she says, trying and failing to keep the words free of bitterness. “But you can help me gain a small piece of freedom in the meantime.”

He swallows and says nothing. Which, in her eyes, isn’t a rejection yet. Hopeful, Kagura continues, “He has my heart, not my entire body. I want to see what I can experience with it. What I’d be able to feel, with somebody else.”

His eyes narrow as her meaning becomes clear. Kagura braces herself to be brushed off, perhaps even hit with a whip of poison, for her boldness.

“Why me,” he says instead.

Once she is over her surprise that he is actually considering it, Kagura realizes she doesn’t know how to answer that question. Is it because he allows weaker creatures to wander along after him, which could be considered honorable as it is useless? Because she envies his pride and self-sufficiency, despite how annoying it is to be on the receiving end of it?

Or is it simply that, because he cares so little for her circumstances, that there is no chance he would take advantage of them?

“You’re handsome enough,” is what finally makes it out.

Clouds in the sky shift, sending shadows crossing his face like scars. Sesshomaru sighs, so deep it seems to come from the mud beneath his boots.

“I do not think you will find what you are looking for in me.”

It’s such a normal, almost gentle response that she forgets to be wary of arguing with him. “Why’s that?”

“I have no experience with such things.” His jaw tenses, perhaps thinking he has revealed too much to someone he must not remotely consider an ally. The tip of Kagura’s fan hits her bottom lip, as she processes that.

While it wasn’t what she expected him to say, it’s also not entirely shocking. Despite the inherent beauty of his face (and probably everything south of it), his poor attitude certainly would chase any potential suitors away. Due to the circumstances of her own existence, she cannot fathom what expectations have been placed on him, and whether this is a failure or simply a fact in his eyes.

“It’s not like I have any either,” she says finally. “Who else could I ask, anyway?”

Which is how, despite all common sense, Kagura finds herself with a plan to meet him in two days time. Weird as it is, she hasn’t been this excited since liberating the shards from that wolf prince’s legs.

-

Of course, once the situation is at hand she realizes that she’s made a mistake.

It’s awkward, almost unbearably awkward, precisely because Sesshomaru himself is so fucking awkward.

For one thing, it doesn’t occur to him that she might not want to have her first (and presumably only) time outside in the damn dirt; luckily, the humans of a nearby castle are properly frightened when she blows in through their ceiling and demands they vacate the premises for the night. Even then, she has to wait until he stops moping around and comes indoors.

It takes so much more time than she thought it would to take off three layers of her outfit. By the time she’s found a place to put everything he hasn’t even started to undress for some fucking reason. And of course, there’s the fact that he will barely look at her (even though it’s hardly anything he hasn’t seen before when he yanked her out of that river).

“You know,” she snaps, as he paces circles around the room, “I didn’t think you were going to be quite this useless.”

“Don’t act as though you were not warned.” He studies the triptych mounted to the wall with a distasteful expression. Grumbling, Kagura falls back on a futon so thin, she can practically feel the wooden floor beneath it. What does she have to do, snap her fingers and whistle?!

Somewhere far away, Kagura’s stolen heart thuds. A faint, painful echo rumbles through her chest. When she winces sharply, Sesshomaru finally deigns to glance in her direction, and that only pisses her off more.

“What a waste of time. If you can’t bear the sight of me for more than a few seconds at a time, then what was the point of agreeing, you son of a -”

Clawed hands land on either side of her head; the weight of one knee settles between her thighs. The rest of her complaint falls away into nothing. She blinks up at him, stunned.

“You are annoyed,” he says quietly, “because you are nervous.”

“What the - I am not.”

“You are.”

“I am not.” Gripping his face with both hands, she digs her thumbnails into the demon marks. Gold eyes narrow, but he doesn’t wrench his head away. “I’m annoyed because you keep annoying me.”

“Then tell me how not to do so.”

“How not to - what?” Her thoughts dissipate like a body in miasma for a second time, as his head dips slightly closer. She wants to say something along the lines of it’s not my job to teach you how to be normal but also maybe is this your way of flirting because it’s dumb and somehow even kiss me already you bastard, this won’t last forever.

“It is clear now that I can bear the sight of you.” He keeps their gaze locked, as if to prove his point. “You will have to decide what is next.”

Kagura swallows. If this is to go forward, then she will have to take the lead. It all rests on her choices - hers, which have hardly mattered up until now.

Perhaps he’s not as useless as she thought.

[crystallinekingdom]

"Are you scared? ... Then why won't you look at the screen?" (Prompt)

hey this got a little long… also im sorry it took 2 days

Movie Night

Taako’s sprawled out on the couch in their suite, painting his nails a shimmering blue and watching the world below through the now-exposed porthole that makes up most of the living room’s floor, when his Stone of Farspeech starts ringing where he left it on the coffee table.

He had expected this to be a quiet day. Apparently, in the aftermath of saving the world, nobody cares if you take a few extra days off work - Merle was planetside visiting his kids, while Magnus had gone to spar with Killian and Carey.

Whilst attempting to grasp for his Stone with semi-wet paint all over his nails, Taako drops the bottle of polish onto the counter, and the device is suddenly covered in tacky blue sparkles. He curses three different gods as he brings it up to his ear, inwardly praying that the person at the other end isn’t Brad ready to lecture him for thirty minutes about his use of expletives and how it isn’t beneficial to a teamwork environment.

It’s not. His sister’s voice crackles through the speaker, muffled by bad reception but still audible, and a grin spreads across his face.

“How’s it hanging, dork?” Lup asks. Taako can hear gravel crunching under her feet as she walks.

“Just chilling up here. What are you and the nerd up to, do-gooding in some random village again?” Lup and Barry had not been as blasé about the aftermath of the apocalypse as him and the boys - every day they were assisting a cleanup effort somewhere, trying to get areas that had been hit hard by the Hunger back in working order.

“Not today, actually, and that’s why I called. We aren’t scheduled to be in Goldcliff till Wednesday morning, which gives us, like, a day and a half free. Figured we’d drop by the moonbase and say hi. Want to hang out, or do you have better things to do?”

“No can do, sis, I’m busy curing cancer and making shoes for orphans - of course I’m down to hang out, who do you think I am? What time are you gonna be up here?”

“I just summoned a sphere, so.” The audio crackles a bit as she pauses, presumably to check her watch. “Around six, give or take?”

“Hell yeah. I’ll be in the suite. See ya then, goofus.” Taako puts the stone in his pocket, taking care to cap the bottle of blue polish on the table before hefting himself off the sofa.

The glass face of the clock on the wall has a large crack down its middle, but he can still make out a time that’s somewhere around 4:50 p.m. Enough time to whip something quick up, he thinks as he makes his way over to the kitchen.

Taako is halfway through mixing a bowl of dough for a yet-unfinished batch of glazed lemon cookies before he hears a light knock at the door. It’s much earlier than the ETA Lup had given him, but he trudges over, leans against the wall with one batter-sticky hand, and looks through the peephole.

In the hallway is Angus, newsboy cap slightly askew and clutching his wand to his chest. Taako is momentarily taken aback until he remembers what day of the week it is. Oh, shit. Monday is magic day.

He unlocks the deadbolt and pushes the door open with a flourish, feigning ignorance as to why the kid is here. “Hey, Django. What brings you to our neck of the woods?”

“Hello, sir!” Angus shifts from one foot to the other. “Uh, I’m sorry to trouble you, but I was just wondering if our magic lessons are, um, still a thing that’s happening? I mean, I totally understand if you’re busy, or if you’re finished training me now that I’m done being a Seeker and not really useful to you guys anymore, or-”

Taako cuts him off with a wave of his hand. “Sorry, kiddo. Don’t think we’re going to be able to do a lesson today.” Angus’s face falls and he opens his mouth to say something, but Taako continues, “Lulu and Barold are coming up for the day. Want to stick around and ask them all those nerd science questions you’ve been asking me? Might even be some baked goods in it for ya.”

He leaves the door open and turns around to retreat back into the kitchen, catching Angus’s “Th-thank you so much!” and the sound of the door shutting, then small footsteps following him inside.

“Now that you’re here, bubbeleh, I’m gonna have to put you to work. Child labor isn’t illegal if it’s on the moon,” Taako says, lightly clapping Angus on the back. “Want to go grab me a half tablespoon of vanilla extract so I can add it to this sick batter?”

Lup and Barry open the door an hour later to the sight of cookies left to cool on the stovetop and Taako sitting on the couch with Angus, teaching him some particularly nasty Fantasy Yiddish curses.

After a bout of small talk (considering the twins have fallen back into their old habit of constantly keeping tabs on each other for blackmail material, there isn’t much catching up to do) and a brief trip back to Lup and Barry’s makeshift moonbase quarters, Barry lays out a stack of old DVD cases on the kitchen table in front of Angus.

“It’s my movie collection from back on the Starblaster”, he explains. “First thing I salvaged once we got the ship back up here. We haven’t seen any of these in at least a decade, so take your pick, kiddo.”

Angus takes his time opening each plastic case and reading the blurb on the back. By the time he’s done, the other three are in an angry debate over the Fantasy Star Wars prequels (“They give context for episodes four through six, you uncultured swines!”), and Angus has to throw the case he’s chosen at Taako’s head to get their attention.

Taako looks at the case - Fantasy Alien. He briefly questions whether the whole chestburster thing is too frightening for an eleven year old boy, until he realizes that said eleven year old boy has fought eldritch abominations and been thrown off the back of a moving train. So much for childhood innocence.

“Good choice, Agnes,” he says, twirling the case in his hand.

Twenty minutes later, the lights are off and they’re all piled onto the couch under a knit throw covered in yellow embroidered ducks. Barry’s got an arm around his girlfriend and is staring at the screen with an expression of childlike wonder, Lup is whispering suggestive comments into Taako’s ear between mouthfuls of cookie, and Angus…

As the characters onscreen argue about what to do with the young halfling lying on the operating table with a squid-alien-thing on his face, Angus’s eyes are anywhere but on the action. The blanket is wrapped tightly around him up to his chest, and he’s staring directly into it.

Taako wrestles his right arm free from where Angus had pinned it while leaning on him and uses it to ruffle the boy’s hair. “Are you scared?” he asks softly. Maybe Angus is more squeamish than he’d thought.

“Oh, no, sir! If this were a real mission, they would have listened to containment protocol and prevented all this from happening. This whole situation could have been avoided if not for the sake of dramatic irony!” Angus responds, without looking up from his blanket cocoon.

“Then why won’t you look at the screen?” Taako lightly noogies him, then tugs on Angus’s piece of the blanket.

Out falls a small spiral-bound notebook with blue and silver trim, hitting the floor face-up with a small thump. Honestly, Taako doesn’t know what else he expected - he reaches down to pick it up, and surveys the page it opened up onto.

Below some indecent Fantasy Yiddish phrases (he’s both proud of the kid and terrified Lucretia will come after him once she hears Angus using said phrases in conversation) is a detailed sketch of a spacecraft. It’s surrounded by liner notes, detailing the workings of each part of the craft, its name - SS Nostromo - and physics equations describing what looks to be its capability for interstellar travel.

“Woah, is this the ship from the movie?” Taako asks.

“Yes, um. I’m sorry for not paying attention, I just thought it was a really interesting concept and-”

“Angus. It’s really dang good. Consider me thoroughly impressed.”

“Thank you!” Angus grins. “I’m just wondering, I know the Starblaster was made for hopping between dimensions, but did it have the raw power required for regular-old third dimensional travel on a larger scale like in this movie? Like, interstellar spaceflight?”

Lup, who has apparently been paying more attention to this whisper-conversation than Taako would have thought, turns towards Angus and wipes a few stray crumbs off her face. “See, the thing with bond energy is that because it’s freakin’ everywhere, it only takes a small core to process a huge amount of it. That’s how we could use such a small exploratory vessel. Of course, traveling in five dimensions takes a lot more power than in three, but if you factor in gravity and antimatter-”

Taako cranks up the volume on the television just as Barry shifts to face them, presumably to point out some obscure law of astrophysics. Adorable. They should set up their own little think tank. Taako smiles fondly at them as they continue their conversation, his face lit by the dim glow of the screen, then turns back around just as the alien bursts out of the halfling’s chest.

By the time the credits roll, both Angus and Barry are out cold - Angus holding his notebook and curled up against Taako’s chest, Barry clutching a throw pillow with a picture of a corgi on it. Lup has extricated herself from the cuddle pile and is raiding his pantry, and Taako is trying to figure out the best way to reach for the remote without waking up the two nerds asleep on his couch.

“You know,” Lup calls out from the kitchen, “I still feel kinda bad about blowing up his macaroons. He’s a good kid. You think it’d be cool if I made it up to him by baking him some more?”

Taako looks down at Angus, takes off his glasses, and places them on the coffee table. “I think he’d like that a lot.”