A/N: This was originally posted for Forthrightly's Second Annual Drabble Challenge on LiveJournal. Enjoy! I suppose you could call this the first installment in my small collection for this challenge. The four are not necessarily related and they certainly are not consecutive, but they share the same event: the Obon Festival, which is a version of Halloween more akin to Dia de los Muertos than the American tradition.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of "InuYasha" by Rumiko Takahashi nor the wonderful world she has created.

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Kagome quickly dusted the filth off from her clothing and ran to catch-up with her half-demon companion. The girl smiled wistfully and normally would have snapped at InuYasha by now, but this time of year had Kagome in good spirits.

"Do you know what today is InuYasha?" Kagome clasped her hands innocently behind her back as she attempted to stroll ahead of him.

"What should it matter to me wench— today is no different than any other. Naraku still possesses a majority of the jewel and I will still destroy him. Nothing is different."

Kagome shook her finger at him playfully. "Ah, but today begins the festival of Obon. Surely you know of it."

"I know it."

"I can see it now: the lanterns strung across the village and the houses lit with blazing candles." Kagome paused and InuYasha simply stared at her back shamefully. "I just love this time of year, don't you?"

"I could do without being reminded of it," InuYasha mumbled more to himself than to Kagome, still she heard and her eyes widened.

"InuYasha! This is a time for celebration and magic— can't you feel it? Obon is a festival of—"

"—death," InuYasha finished for her.

Crossing her arms against her torso, Kagome's bubbly mood quickly swung into one of pouting as she argued childishly over his comment. "I wasn't going to say that."

"What were you going to say— life?" InuYasha asked callously.

"Yes— yes I was." The young woman struck a pose of indignation with her fists at the sides of her hip.

"Don't kid yourself Kagome. Obon is dedicated to the dead— what celebration can there be in that?"

Kagome gasped in sudden, conclusive horror at her ignorance. "That's what this is all about isn't it? Your mother."

"Drop it Kagome."

"That's why you despise this time of year— it reminds you of your mother's death."

InuYasha spun around, his eyes brimming with ignited anger and held back tears. "It reminds me that I'm hanyou okay! Each year I'm reminded of the first time I ever tried to do or be anything and the absolute fear and rejection that resulted. My mother was the only one to ever see me for anything other than an outcast. How can you even ask me to celebrate something like her death?"

InuYasha's eyes widened when he felt an embrace being wrapped around him from behind. "I'm sorry . . . but InuYasha?"

"Hmm?"

"I believe in you."

Closing his eyes, InuYasha cherished the moment and saw his clawed hand make its way over her own. "Would you like to meet her?"

Kagome's grasp loosened and InuYasha could hear her gasp. "They say the spirits arise during Obon. I—I don't think I could do it alone, but with you there Kagome . . . I'd like to go see my mother."

Kagome nodded and InuYasha began suddenly thinking that this festival may not be as bad as he originally thought; his fear seemed to matter little with Kagome by his side.

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As always, I would love and be honored to have any reviews/comments/suggestions that my fantabulous readers may have. I treasure them all!

Truly yours,

Mickey-the-Mouse