A/N: Many thanks to hine for looking this over for me. You're a rockstar!
Saudade
"A love that remains"
...
The rocking chair creaked as the late afternoon sun alighted the courtyard in orange rays. A wistful sigh escaped from parted lips as jaded brown eyes gazed longingly over what remained. Years had passed - causing repairs to be made and things to be rebuilt - but in her mind's eye, it still looked the same as it always had.
"Grandma?"
She turned to look at the little boy who had wandered outside, his eyes bright with curiosity. In his hands he held a stuffed dog that was worn well past the point of distress. She chuckled and patted her knee invitingly. "Come here."
He quickly scampered to her side, allowing her to pick him up to sit on her lap. She gently began rocking again, the rhythmic movement sending a certain calm over her. He nestled his head beneath her chin, finding a comfortable place against her bosom.
They were quiet for a moment before the young boy in her lap piped up and broke the silence, "Can you tell me the story?"
Just as always, there was a second in which a flood of memories would hit her, always catching her off-guard, even though their impact had shaken her for decades. This time, she welcomed the volley of recollection - the scent of the forest trees with the wind against her face; the giddy laughter of warriors long tired; the shared secrets over a campfire.
"Again?" she asked, the corners of her eyes crinkling with amusement.
He nodded eagerly with a hopeful expression. How could she possibly turn that down?
She wrapped her arms more securely around him, holding him close. "Once upon a time, there was a magic well…"
In hushed tones, she told the story she knew by heart: of the time-traveling priestess who fell in love with an outcast, of the monk they fought alongside whose morals were questionable at best, and of the girl whose very soul had nearly broken but somehow still managed to laugh, smile, and share secrets as if she were no worse for wear. There were mentions of great battles and triumphs, of petty arguments and feelings unspoken, and of feats performed by this group of misfits that seemed impossible.
"And then, the jewel was wished out of existence." Her voice drew silent as her story came to a close.
The boy looked up at her quizzically. "And they all lived happily ever after, right?"
She smiled at his question - he was simply too smart for his own good - and leaned down to nuzzle his nose with hers. "Time to wash for dinner. If your mother finds out you've disappeared, we'll both be in trouble."
He giggled, pushing away her hand as she ruffled his hair affectionately, and jumped off her lap to scamper inside. She leaned back against the rocking chair, hands now gnarled with age wrapping themselves around the worn wood. Even though decades had passed and the world had changed, the shrine she lived at had not. Secluded on the hillside, it had stood against the test of time, a little haven that remained ageless.
With a creak of bones, she stood from her favorite resting place and took a walk through the courtyard. The evening summer breeze brought her quiet company along with the buzzing of cicadas in the trees and the occasional car creeping by on the street below the shrine. She passed by the towering Goshinboku, the scar on its trunk now too high for her to reach. Her eyes gazed at it fondly, thoughts turning to a day so long ago.
"Nearly eighty years," she mused aloud.
The first five years had been torturous - her heartache a heavy song she couldn't stop playing.
The next ten had been fruitful - her feet reluctantly moving past her time-traveling days.
The next twenty had been wonderful - her mind only recalling those memories a few times a year.
After that…
She sighed again, tucking her gray hair that had fallen loose from her braid behind an ear. As she began walking again, she tried to recall the voices from her adventures, but found they remained hushed. The memories were fleeting and faded, the images mere colors seen through fogged lenses. But there was something…
The well house had remained shut for a long time. The wood of the door splintered as she wrapped her fingers around it, tugging it open against a groan of resistance. She knew she probably shouldn't venture inside, the distressed sound of the wood beneath her feet undoubtedly proving it to be unsafe, but her stubbornness wouldn't give in to the logical decision of going back to the house.
After all, she had stood before monsters and lived to tell the tale.
"Hello," her raspy voice called down into the darkness - a place which used to connect time.
She knew no one would hear her, and her hope for that to change had vanished long ago. Even so, she found a certain comfort when she spoke to the shadows on the wall. The dampness and decay of the wood kindled a musty smell, causing her nose to wrinkle. She slowly made her way down the few stairs that bridged the raised floor leading outside to the packed dirt of the well house's inside. Her fingers brushed over the lip of the well, tracing the grooves of the wood she had memorized long, long ago.
A hand pressed against the well, launching herself over the rim, as she was falling, falling, falling back in time…
"Inuyasha," she murmured, his name a sweet sound to her ears. It had been so long since she had spoken it with such care.
Beautiful amber…
"Mom?"
Pulled from her hazy memories, she looked over her shoulder to the woman standing in the doorway to the well house.
An exasperated huff. "Mom, what are you doing in here? It's dangerous," she chastised, carefully making her way down the steps and to her side. "Let's get you back to the house."
"I've made a decision. Things are getting more dangerous by the day-"
Her daughter reached out a hand and wrapped it around hers as she lead her outside.
"I was afraid. I thought I was going to lose you. I was terrified."
She waited as her daughter shut the door tight, sealing off the well house once more. They slowly made their way across the grounds, her shuffled gait slow and unsteady. The breeze rustled the branches high in the Goshinboku where her mind's eye always caught a flash of red between the leaves.
"Just… hold onto me a bit longer. Just a little longer."
The night turned late as she listened to the laughter of children, her own holding conversations in-between hushing the little ones. And as the half-moon settled high in the velvet night sky, she laid her head against her pillow, the quiet of the house soothing. Her window stood open, a gentle breeze rustling her curtain, and a familiar pair of ears twitching with each breath that passed her lips.
"It's over."
Golden irises flecked with light. Youthfulness as she reached her hand up. A kiss pressed to her lips.
"Yeah. It's finally over."