"I am losing parts of you like I lose eyelashes. Unknowingly and everywhere." ~ Rupi Kaur
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Sango's father used to tell her that no matter where she stands in the world, she can never truly be lost if she knew north from south and east from west. She wonders how Kagome can distinguish up from down when she dives into the well.
"Why don't you ever tell Kagome that you miss her?" Sango has been watching him for the past three days.
Inuyasha stirs as if she had disturbed him from a nap–as if he hadn't heard her coming at all and she wants to ask him why he pretends to be human in practice. Especially when he doesn't have to. When she walked away and the sun began to set, he'd still be able to smell her feet trailing back to the village.
"I swear I have." Inuyasha's left ear twitches. He pretends to appear startled.
"She tells me everything." Every little detail. About that time she scraped her knee when she was twelve on her 'bicycle'. Kagome talked about a lot of things that made Sango feel miniscule. The world is big, but beneath her, in another time, it's even bigger.
Sango leans against the well and peers down, ducking her head into the darkness, her hair slips around her face as she inhales the smell of wet stones. Perking her lips, she tumbles a whistle into the wondrous depths of the well.
"Does she really?" Inuyasha watches her, paying close attention to her nails scraping against the dirt. He's scared she will fall over, but reminds himself that she's not as clumsy as Kagome.
"Mhhmm." Sango pulls her head from the well. Her hair disastrously falls around her features and she makes no effort to right her twisting bangs. "Everything. Are you curious to know?"
"Wouldn't that make you a bad friend for telling me?" He smirks but it's a very distant amusement. Sango spits strands of hair from her mouth and tucks some behind an ear. Her smile rivals his in distance.
"Not if it's for the greater good. What does her 'textbook' call it?"
"Uuuuutil...itarianism?" Inuyasha frowns as his tongue stiffens.
"What a strange word."
"Why I even remember it is the real mystery."
They both fall into a comfortable silence, both of them gazing down the mouth of the well. For a moment, she thinks she can hear it whisper– about destiny and she gets tingles up her arms.
Inuyasha feels the immediate spark of her mood but he ignores it, flaring his nostrils and exhaling.
"I wonder how Kagome avoids becoming lost." Sango drags her eyes from the bottomless shadows and blinks at Inuyasha.
"What do you mean?" He looks at her from the corner of his eye.
"How does she not feel trapped? Wouldn't you lose your mind not knowing whether you're coming to the right place or not?" It makes sense in her head.
"That's the difference between you two. You have survival instincts. Kagome has a bicycle and textbooks." The new words she teaches them feel like secret passwords or spells. Kagome has the consistency of soil, but there's something wonderful about being that attainable. Anyone can get a hold of her and wring out the answers.
Stars apparently are glowing orbs of 'gas'– the sun is a huge star as well.
The thing about soil is that it's soft and can erode. People also bury bodies in the dirt to decay.
But sometimes people grow gardens.
Why can't the moon be a star, Kagome?
"She keeps coming back–to the right place so maybe there's nothing to worry about." Inuyasha reads her still body. It feels invasive but she understands that he can't help it.
"Inuyasha, why are you so modest about your senses?" And not honest about his feelings of doubt? If he wants Kagome, the answer is easy but he purposely makes it an arduous journey.
"Because it makes people uncomfortable."
"We aren't just 'people' though."
Inuyasha had learned that honesty wasn't always good for the people closest to him. The truth could be just as painful as a lie. He doesn't respond immediately, but he does step closer, gently taking her arm and holding up her hand.
"Even though it's been days, I can still smell the blood under your nails. You've dipped your hands in water plenty of times but it still isn't enough to get yourself clean..." If he tries hard enough, he could envision where the blood had dried on her skin.
"I'm not uncomfortable." Sango doesn't flinch away from him. She balances his glare with stone resolve.
"I might as well be a mind reader."
"And if you were one you'd have more confidence in all of us." She reproaches him.
The trees pause. The well stops murmuring. Inuyasha doesn't readily let go of her hand. When the wind stops blowing, her scent rises and sits in place. Sango, all of her details, are no longer scattered bits he has to pick from the air. The sound of her throat rolling, the heat rising to her ears– he catches himself holding on to her design for too long and releases her.
Sango catches him too; in what looks like the middle of fantasy that involves a full course meal or a childlike curiosity concerning the inside of a beehive.
But it's a slow retraction to a sudden feeling.
"You smell like Kagome." It's that strange smell that settles at her scalp after a bath. That strange foam she scrubs into her hair. 'Strawberries' she had claimed but it doesn't smell like any fruit he's ever eaten before. Sure as hell not strawberries.
"I think she calls it shampoo." Sango's face is scarlet.
"But it doesn't smell like strawberries at all." Inuyasha folds his arms and his cheeks expand.
"I don't think so either."
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A/N: This is just a series of drabbles in no particular order. I had them uploaded on AO3 first and now I'm going to store them here as a whole collection. I hope you enjoy. If you want to send me prompts or recs to add to this collection, hit up my tumblr ask box or my inbox on here. Either way works. Or you can make a suggestion in the review section. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day. My tumblr is the same as my pen name.