Shards

She lie awake, staring at the stars beside the last dim fire, her head resting in her hands. She could hear the animals in the night, chattering away amongst themselves. She could feel the wind over her body, and she sits up, her raven hair flying over her shoulders. It's a warm night, and with the thoughts bouncing around in her head, there was no way she was going to get to sleep. So she stood up, grabbing her bow and arrow, and began walking towards the small stream they had settled beside.

She sat down, listening to the calm water as it trickled through the path. The dirt and mud was close to the bank, and it felt like the grains of time slipping through her fingers. In a way, time did slip through her hands, as she traveled back and forth through time to collect shards. She began thinking deeper though, as she sub-consciously scratched into the mud.

She was collecting shards, which would eventually become the whole Shikon jewel. But, no matter what wish occurs, there is a chance that she would have to return home. Forever. She began to think this over, as many ideas crossed her mind. Maybe if the jewel is never completed, she wouldn't have to go home. She wouldn't have to leave the world she loved so much. She could switch a single shard with a pink piece of glass, and forever travel between the ages.

But that wouldn't be fair, would it? To deprive the chance to free the jewel, to send it out of existence, to stop someone from getting a true wish... It's wrong, is it not? Then perhaps she shall collect them all, and simply go home to her life. You never know, she might still have a chance to get into high school.

But in reality, what are the shards? Are they just fragments of a wishing jewel, or are they something more? More thinking followed. Every time they collect a shard, a new piece to a great puzzle unfolds, and a new emotion seems to spring forth within her. Are they her shards? Are they parts of her soul that just couldn't stay together? Or is it truly just a jewel? She looks down, and reads the inscription she has wrote.

Pink, shining, small and cracked.
These are my shards,
And they are me...
I'll pick up the pieces, one by one,
And bleed as they cut me, oh what fun...
Pink, shining, small and cracked.
These are my shards,
This is my life.

So take it all away, and leave me alone,
And let me cry to myself about trivial things,
For these are my shards,
A piece of my life,
This is my burden,
This is my blessing.
So take it all away.