A/N: Received Moderator's Choice at iyficchallenge. Week 11 of oneshots. Theme was 'Wish'. Banner can be found... somewhere in my livejournal.
Word count: 990
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Only One Wish
"Kagome's a lucky girl," Miroku said to Sango. Their eyes were both following the slim teenager as she hurried to the bone-eater's well, hefting a heavy backpack over her shoulder. "It's a shame she doesn't know what she has."Sango had only one wish. And silly as it might sound, it was to have a home.
No, not just any home. A permanent home, a place she could go on cold, rainy evenings, a place where she could rest after a long day, a place where she could relax, and just get sleep away all the stress that built up day after day after day. Sango wanted a place where she could laugh with family, where friends could comfort her when things went wrong, where little brothers could play tricks and she could tickle them in revenge.
And yet, Sango used to have all that.
At night, she would dream of her old home. The dreams were never quite exactly the same, but they always seemed to have similar people in them, and similar things that occurred night after night. The only thing was, Sango could never remember what that was. She would rack her mind brutally when the first ray of perfect sunshine landed on her cheek, and she would try so hard to remember what she had dreamt before – but they always refused to come.
Then would come the guilt. Why can't I remember? She would ask herself, feeling a deep ache start from the middle of her chest and settle deep in her toes. They're my family, they're all I have left, and I can't even be bothered to remember anything about them? What's wrong with me?
It would get worse, and progress into "if only's". If only I hadn't gone to defeat that demon, Sango thought to herself. If only I had found out earlier that everything was a trap. If only I had managed to protect Kohaku in time. If only, if only, if only. They never stopped. I miss you, Sango would then say, looking up at the painfully bright sky. I miss you all.
In the beginning, the impact of accepting that her village – her entire village, and all the people in it – was gone, slaughtered, had been intolerable. How is that possible? She screamed inwardly, wanting to claw her own chest out. How can it be, that the people I saw – all of them, just a little while ago – are gone? How is it possible for an entire village to be gone, without even a whisper of what happened? How can that happen? How, how, how?
And of course, no one ever answered her questions. Inuyasha played gruff, Miroku kept his distance, and Shippou did nothing at all.
Only Kagome seemed to care. She poked her head in every single one of those first mornings, smiling sweetly and saying things like, "Are you feeling better?" and, "Get some rest, it's good for you." In the beginning, Sango hardly noticed the strange miko from the future, seeing her daily but never bothering to care about why she was here, or what she was doing, not even seeing that small, pitying smile that was constantly plastered on her face. She could focus on nothing but the thought that her entire village was gone, and yet, people still lived their daily lives, seeming to have noticed nothing at all. Why? Sango's head screamed and pounded. All these people are dead! Yet to you, it seems like nothing's happened? What's wrong with you? How can you go on living?
And Kagome became annoying. The first time Sango noticed the pity and sympathy on the foreign girl's face, she wanted to slap her. What do you know? Sango burned to yell. You haven't seen death. You have no idea what I'm going through. Stop it. Stop your pity. I don't want it. I don't want you to pretend you understand, because you don't.
But Sango merely smiled amid her wounds, muttering polite thank-you's and hoping the stupid girl would just go away and leave her alone.
A small fragment of her heart healed; and Sango agreed to go look for the Shikon shards with Inuyasha and the others. It's not like I have a choice, Sango thought at the time. Where will I go? Something within her even believed that should they finally gather all the shards, they would allow her to make the wish. I miss you, she would murmur softly. I miss you all. And maybe when I get the shards, I will wish you all back.
One cold, windy spring day, an understanding hit her. Sango blinked at the swaying treetops and froze in her steps. Kirara meowed questioningly beside her. And before Sango could control it, tears started to gather in her eyes, dampening her eyelashes and making the green trees blend with the white-gray sky.
I don't have anywhere to go, she thought. I have no home to return to.
And she suddenly realized that she wasn't alone.
Miroku had no home. How could he? His kazaana kept him from building a life, a family. Imagine merely walking, or sitting, or breathing, each day, and knowing, full well, that it might be your last.
Inuyasha had no home. A hanyou child, hated by his youkai brother and ridiculed by his peers in youth. Taunted by the walking corpse of his former love, and protected by nothing but a cold sword that once belonged to his inscrutable father.
Shippou had no home. No one in their right mind would take in a mischievous juvenile fox demon orphan. He didn't even have parents, and the only one he could cling to lived a life hundreds of years after his.
Watching Kagome now, as she argued headlong with Inuyasha about returning home again, Sango sighed. She wished she had what Kagome took for granted.
"I know," Sango replied, looking at Miroku. "Kagome is really lucky."
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A/N: Last week, I received an email from the admin that said my parody "We Love You, Lord Sesshy" had been removed due to "disregard of proper grammar, spelling, etc". A few days ago, I received a review for "Trapped" that said (and I quote): "Actually, I appreciate that you're one of the authors on this site that really spellchecks." Thx for the review, btw.
Does anyone else notice something strange here? I do not have "disregard of proper grammar" (look, you're reading this-- is the grammar bad?) and I always spellcheck my work. Yet some anonymous idiot still reported my story, resulting in it's removal. I shall now give whoever out there did this a very sarcastic thank-you, but if your goal was to stop me from posting, you have failed, and very miserably so.
And everyone else, thanks for reading and please, don't report my story.