a/n: day 3 for @inukag-weekĀ ā¤ļø 400 words
Inuyasha could not remember the last time he cared about feeling protected.
Living was mostly about survival, a little bit about having fun between the hunt and the chase, but never about coming home to anything, or feeling particularly warm, cozy, or safe.
Days bled into each other, time passed like a fishnet of vines crawling up a forgotten wall in the forest, and he lived between the moments of horror and peace. Safety was a luxury he could not afford, and by the time he came to the age of 9, Inuyasha resigned himself to the feral life of an orphaned half-demon, forgetting what it ever even felt like to not worry if heād see tomorrow.
Once, he might have recalled what it meant to be safe when he wanted it for a priestess that later broke his heart.
But it was fleeting in the large scheme of things, and although he woke up from his magic induced slumber like the betrayal was just yesterday, safety as an idea felt 50 years away.
And then that stupid girl that smelled like another era, smiled like she had not seen villages pillaged, spoke to him as if his father was not a terror to an entire region of the country, had to go and get herself kidnapped. Again. And again. And again.
And damn if that didnāt make him want to seek safety like a nook in an aged tree he could stuff her into.Ā
Damn if that didnāt make him shove her into a well, stuffing it with a tree because he could do that.Ā
Damn if that didnāt make him wake up in cold sweat in the middle of the night, images of losing her mocking him for not being fast enough, strong enough, safe enough.
And then he forgot what it was to forget what safety was. And then he forgot what it used to feel like, falling asleep to the tune of his own heart instead of 4 others.
And then one day, years later, he woke up to the oblivious press of a toddlerās left heel on his ribcage, the quiet humming of a baby making shapes in the ceiling, and the gentle staccato of his wifeās heartbeat draped over his own.
When once he had sought safety, desperately wanting to be it for the people he most loved in this world-
he now found himself wrapped in it, cocooned in her warm embrace.
Warm, cozy, a bit uncomfortable, and safe.
snowghoul
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
areudirty
titsay
izzy806
tangentwithtanner
