A/N: Mikari here, with a change of pace. A sad little oneshot that came out of nowhere. Pretty depressing; I don't know why I thought of it in the first place, but here it is!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and co. -sniffle-
It is just another night of their quest, silence only broken by the crackling of the dying campfire. The others were all fast asleep, dreaming of their futures after the final battle. When she thinks of this, the cynic in her awakens with a vengeance.
She will never reveal it to them, but she doubts it will turn out well for any of them.
At night she releases this dark part of herself, venting it to the silence in order to keep her soul untainted. She watches each of them sleep, and thinks of how hopeless it all could seem to a detached passer-by. As if simply reading a book, still tucked in her bed half a millennia in the future without any worries greater than passing her exams, she ponders over their lives and futures.
She begins by finding her first companion in this quest, always lounging in the most comfortable tree surrounding their campsite. He sleeps with a small scowl on his face at most times, the expression rarely replaced by a smile or smirk. His lethal clawed hands are wrapped around the fang of his father, which rests in his lap. His future is the least clear to her, much as his past still is. She remembers the several times his father's blood had driven him near-insane, and a possible future appears to her, painted in shades of violent crimson.
Perhaps the crimson of innocent blood, or perhaps the crimson his first love wears when she drags him down to hell with her; she is not sure. Either way, his future scares her, tearing at her heart as if to rip it out.
Her eyes drift to the next to join them, down to his customary place in her lap. She plays with his shock of red hair as she ponders upon him, and his potential future comes to her in shades of blue. His future holds the most hope of them all, as his only connection to this whole tragedy is through his parents, slain by rogues with the power of the jewel shards they now collect. If he was to leave them and find a place to stay, his life could be left completely untainted by their fight, like the sky on a bright and sunny day.
She knows he will stay with her, though, and though she loves him as her child, some part of her yearns to push him away before it's too late; before his skies grow navy with the burdens of death and grief too great for his young heart.
The slayer is next, only the rose plates of her skin-tight armor visible in the dark. Her demon companion is wrapped around her and her large boomerang-like weapon lays within her reach. The woman has already seen more tragedy than any of them, and her last hope is what will break her, she believes.
She has seen the boy the slayer lives to save, and she knows that he will die before the woman can stop it. Perhaps it has already happened; she cannot remember seeing him for several weeks. Her future is in shades of orange, the color of the flames that dance around the only companion she'll have left when it's over.
Her eyes, now closing further as sleep begins to claim her, finally rest upon the monk, leaning against a tree with his arms wrapped around his golden staff loosely. His possible - most likely probable - future comes to her immediately and with little doubt – it is simply black, with no varying shades within it.
The black of the hole cursing his family for generations; the hole that will most likely end with him, only because he will bear no heir. Despite his lecherousness, she knows he will not conceive a child knowing that he is cursing it to a hopeless future.
As her eyes slide close, the optimist in her adds a few last words; perhaps she is completely wrong, and all will turn out well for her loved ones. She laughs at these words, replying bitterly.
Because despite her young innocence, she knows that in reality there are very rarely - if ever - happy endings for heroes, and the chance of more than one or two of the members of her 'family' receiving this gift is nonexistent. That is the price heroes must pay to be able to defeat the villain.
Good may always triumph, but sometimes she believes its nowhere near worth it.
A/N: Wow...-sniff-...That made me sad. Still...if you liked it even remotely, review please.
Mikari, the authoress who hopes she didn't just botch up Kagome's character and sign a deathwish -glances at rabid InuYasha fans-