Auburn orbs lit by the sun, twinkling at sun set. Her cheeks rosy from the burning tears that stream down her face, dripping down her neck like small creeks flow from mountains to rivers. She stands against the darkness of the forest behind her, feeling the trembling in her thighs as she resists the need to let her body crumple. How many days had she stood in this same spot, wishing that her destiny would have been different to the fate that she now is forced to lead.
A memory creeps from the crevices of her mind and she watches it play out. A hug that he gives here, sweet words that are so few and far between. His smell of the forest, and cinnamon, and the feeling of his arms around her legs as he carries her through the trees. The freedom that lie within his every spring as they completed their mission.
She moved from her spot among the steps and turns to make her way back to the dimly lit house on the very back of the property of the Sunset Shrine. 3 years. The day's pass like slow moving water. Some she is suffocating from the feel of too many auras. On others she can't feel anything. And even then, there are days where she cannot be busy enough to keep her mind from following broken pieces of memories that she sometimes wished did not exist.
She slides the door open, and calls half heartedly to her family. Her mother greets her with a look of compassion, and a kiss to the cheek. Her brother over dinner loudly chats about his day. Her Jii-chan growls about the hoodlums that only come to steal his charms rather than learn the Shrine's origin. These are normal dinner conversations, but they do not pierce the haze of her dream.
Kagome blinks away the burning liquid, excuses herself, and walks down the path to the old well. Sitting on the lip, the wood struggles a little under her weight. She looks down into the inky blackness, and it is a living shadow that seems to roil and curl in on itself. She shivers, and turns to watch the crescent moon. No spark of magic, no feel of Him. Inuyasha… her thoughts tur toward him. She hoped he was happy. She hoped one day they could both be happy. But like their lives before, they were cursed to separated souls.
Shaking her head, Kagome moves out onto the path. She walks back to the house, and slides open the door. With one last look to the old well house, she steps into the house and shuts the door.
