Author's Note: For Vexatively, who is full of life and soul.
Everpresent Soul
The jewel is like the moon between my pointed fingertips. It is eternal, shining, bestowing its light on all, prized and coveted. You can no more hold the moon than you can own the power of the jewel, though there are those who will always try. You tried, my Inuyasha, and I even wished it for you. Such wishes destroy us, and retribution is merciless. Perhaps.
I look down upon myself, seeing past, present, and future at once. The pyre on which I burn cannot burn the jewel anymore than it can eclipse the moon. There was a time I would have put out that light, Inuyasha. My arrow was aimed in the direction of darkness, of an eternal, moonless night. But kami is merciful, and I see from afar that renewal is always possible.
I died and was reborn in Kagome, though this did not end the cycle of my existence, all-encompassing and all-forgiving now. My incarnation's bright, full-moon light rendered me no more than a shadow across that lunar face for a time. And when I was forced back into the shell of an empty existence, the shadow was dimmer still.
Then, at last, I was truly released and able to release you, too, Inuyasha. Now I am the moon: glowing with the beauty of witnessing all without judgment or need or loss. I gaze down upon you and your miko with new grateful eyes.
I have but one prayer from the everpresence of my immortal soul: may the gift of a truly open heart be given to all who ever live within the jewel of mortal existence.