Sesshomaru x Reader: A Change for the Love We Want #Wattys2017

Chapter Ten: Victim of Nightmares

I'm being chased.

Evil laughter ensues. It's coming from everywhere; I can't tell the source of it.

"You can never escape me, [Y/N]," it says. It's Naraku. "No matter how far you go, no matter where you hide, you can never hide from me.

"HELP ME! LORD SESSHOMARU, PLEASE HELP!" My breath is becoming ragged and my lungs are burning.

"[Y/N], is that you?" a soothing voice says off to my right.

Mother! I run off towards her voice. I spy her and leap into her arms. She hugs me tightly and kisses my forehead and I close my eyes.

"I've missed you so much, [Y/N], my precious little girl," she says.

"I've missed you too, Mother," I say to her. She hugs me tighter.

That's when I feel it. Hundreds of tiny stings in my limbs. I open my eyes to see Naraku's poisonous insects burying themselves into my skin.

This isn't my mother. It's just another illusion. I run for my life, the bugs' venom coursing through me. I trip on a tree root and fall, scraping my knees and hands as I try to catch myself. I can hear ravenous barking and howling come closer and closer with every second.

This is just like some other time... I think... What could have happened to me that makes this familiar? Strange... The venom doesn't hurt anymore.

SLASH

Out of the corner of my eye, something glimmers like a weapon in the light. The wolves that were heading at full speed towards me are now just bloody chunks of meat and fur.

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

No. It's not my lord. Who is that?

Someone steps into the clear so that I can see them. The person is small, maybe shorter than I am. They are carrying a sword that is perfect for their size, but it looks powerful.They are wearing a special kind of armored suit and have a metal mask over their face, covering their nose and mouth. "That outfit is only meant for demon slayers," I say to myself. As they walk towards me, I stand up from the dirt and dust myself off.

"Thank you very much for saving me. But... who are you, if I may ask?" The person doesn't answer me; instead, they remove their mask from their face. I gasp and cover my mouth with my hands.

"[L-l-little brother's name]?!" I look him up and down. Even after five years, when he's gotten older, there's no mistaking that face of his. "Y-you're a demon slayer?!" I run towards my little brother and try to hug him, but he only steps out of the way. He puts his mask back on and leaps into the air, magically fading out of sight.

"[Y/N]," says a deep, calm voice behind me. I turn around.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" I run over to him and stop a few feet away.

"[Y/N]," he says to me. "Come." He takes my smaller hand in his large one and leads me through the forest until I begin to notice that everything around the two of us is either dead or dying. Fallen, rotting trees and poisonous plants lay everywhere. Soon, I see something in the distance. A house. A building. A castle. A dark castle.

"M-my lord, why are we here? What is this place?" I sense something different about the demon lord. Something negative. Something evil. I try to pull my hand away from his, but I only feel his claws dig into my palm.

"Welcome to the epitome of power in this world, [Y/N] [L/N]." Lord Sesshomaru's voice has changed. It's different. It's smirking through its words. It's getting pleasure from the amounts of fear that are rising inside of me.

It's Naraku's voice.

"NARAKU!" I try to pull my arm away from him again, but it is to no avail. "Please don't! Let me go! I won't tell anyone! Please! What have I ever done to you?!" Rivers of tears are now making their way down my face. Naraku pulls me up by my collar and I watch as my lord's calm face melts into one with red eyes and a sadistic smile.

"You were not given to me. I cannot punish your mother any more than I have. I have her human offspring to serve under me instead. You weak..." he pulls at my locks of [hair length] [hair color] hair. "...pathetic human." He holds me by my throat and I can't breathe. I grasp at his currently cold hand, but my resistance is futile to him. He is too strong.

Naraku drops me onto the ground and I cough violently, gasping as oxygen fills my lungs once again. "You will come with me, little girl." I do not understand what Naraku is saying, but then I feel myself being picked up off of the ground. I am being held against an unnaturally strong body and I'm too weak to do anything else. Naraku begins to walk towards his castle of darkness and my cheeks are red and wet as I sob silently in his arms.

"No..."

I gasped as I opened my eyes.

I sat up straight and looked around me. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure that it would burst any second. I was so dizzy, and I felt like I was going to be sick.

"[Y/N]!" said a voice next to me. I looked to my right, and it took me a moment to register who it was that was staring at me worriedly.

"M-Master Jaken." I coughed. "H-how are you doing today?"

"Me?! Never mind me, [Y/N], you were the one who was tossing and turning in your sleep!" He stopped and looked at my face. "Why are you crying, [Y/N]?" I reached up and felt my face. I was, indeed, crying.

"N-no reason, Master Jaken. It might just be... Something in the air...?" I was an awful liar, but Jaken only nodded and walked away.

"[Y/N]. If you were allergic to anything here, I would have noticed by now." Lord Sesshomaru walked over to me. I looked up at him and remembered his face changing into Naraku's in that terrible nightmare. I turned and wiped my face on my sleeve.

"It... It was just a nightmare, my lord. Nothing more." I was shaking. "I am going to bathe. I'll be back in a bit."

"I will escort you, [Y/N]. It isn't very smart to be alone in the woods, especially for humans. There is a hot spring I noticed a little ways from here." I looked at him uncertainly, but then nodded and stood up, straightening out my kimono.

When the two of us got there, I bent down and felt the temperature of the water. It was hot, but not hot enough to burn me. I stood back up. "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru." He placed his large, clawed hand on my shoulder.

"Be cautious, [Y/N]," he said.

"I will, my lord. Thanks again." He then left me to bathe on my own.