Iron claws score the salt crusted rock.
Snarling, he drags up the writhing sea dragon. Wing-like fins shear against the crags, stomach plates sparking at the contact.
Waves rise and crash as the serpent’s tail thrashes. He braces himself against the tide, fangs crushing through scale and flesh and bone.
Death shrieks rattle the flinty earth. He shakes his head to silence the cries, hot blood streaming from his jaws. With a final crunch, he casts the serpent’s limp body aside.
As the primordial beast slides back down into the deep, he licks at the gore matting his fur and relishes his dominion.
Worthy opponents are becoming scarce to find.
It is then that he notices her presence.
Resting on her haunches on a stretch of cloud, she stares down at him in her true form. The sea breeze ruffles her ivory pelt, her amber eyes narrowing as they catch his own.
She takes to the sky, and he pursues her. Together they travel, through air and space, to the palace that lies on the far side of the sun.
It is a land of eternal twilight.
Descending, she transforms, and he with her. Their bare feet alight on a balcony of pure moonstone.
With a toss of her silver hair, she turns toward him, pulling a fur-trimmed kimono about her shoulders. At the base of her throat a celestial amulet gleams.
Red lips curve upward, like the mark upon her brow.
“Sesshoumaru,” she greets.
“Haha-ue,” he returns.
“My,” she simpers, sauntering toward him, “how strong you have become.”
A lacquered claw tip traces his cheek. Dark blood flakes beneath her touch.
“Come,” she says, her eyes glittering as she turns.
She leads him down, into an inner courtyard open to the night. A shimmering pool lies at its center. Reflected on its surface is the moon.
He allows his mother to remove his swords, his clothing. Naked, he crosses to the middle of the pool. Whorls of crimson trail in the water behind him.
Moonlight shines down upon his shoulders. He tilts back his face and basks in Tsukuyomi’s cold radiance.
“You have your grandsire’s blessing,” his mother remarks, her eyes lifted to the moon as well. “Your father and I are his favored children, and you are our only son.”
She sits at the crest of a curved ledge. Her legs are folded beneath her. As her gaze lowers to his, he wades toward her outstretched hand.
Water, clear and cool, anoints his crown. Deft fingers sift through his dampened hair.
“It is long past time,” she purrs, “for you to take your rightful place.”
His eyes slide open. Her thighs part before him, an invitation.
There was a time when he would have accepted.
Now, he averts his gaze.
“Not interested, I see.”
The smile is gone from her voice. Sharp nails rake his scalp as she rises.
“But perhaps there is something here that you want.”
She circles around the pool’s crescent edge, approaches a pedestal of opalescent stone. On it rests a small black chest.
What she extracts from it is darker still.
She turns toward him with a knowing smirk, the Shikon no Tama resting in the cradle of her palm.
Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi
Did his mother just invited him for sex??? Why???
Also, may I know where in Stasis does this snippet fit in?
I’m just a little confused and curious.
Hope to hear from you!
Please continue writing <3
hey there – thanks so much for your comment, girl! <3 I imagine this snippet takes place sometime between Ch.22 & 23 of Stasis.