K, so this is my first attempt at a fan fiction, though admittedly it was written several years ago, and I've just now gotten around to putting it up here. Constructive criticism, good or bad, would be greatly appreciated...
...But (and it's a very nice but, I assure you...)
If your issue is only my use of a non-cannon pairing, kindly hold your tongue and move on to a story that better suits your tastes.
The usual disclaimers apply, all characters from Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi
-Aaand a great big tip of the hat goes to Resmiranda, who's own fanfics 'Fugue' and HotM were most enjoyable and inspired this tiny tale :)
Edit: I've just added a quick rate poll for this story to my profile, it's at the very top... If you don't want to leave a full review, then please at least stop by and rate it. I appreciate it!
Enjoy!
oOoOoOo
Peace
She laughed in the seat beside him, it was a pleasing sound, he thought fleetingly, sweet, like the ringing of a bell... He sat enjoying the gleam in her eyes as she navigated the rain slicked evening streets. They were returning home from a dinner out. It had been in celebration of her decisive victory over the algebra exam she had been dreading for weeks...
She was still laughing, when from the corner of his eye he saw the glow of headlights light the side of her face. His instincts told him what was about to happen. Told him to do something, anything to avoid the impending disaster, but he realized with horror that trapped in the cage of her tiny car, escaping was not an option. He was powerless to do anything other than watch the coming tragedy unfold.
In an eternal slow motion he saw her, that laugh still curling her lips, turn her head to see what he was looking at, just in time to see it and jerk the wheel to the right before the truck slammed into her door. Then they were sliding across the intersection, spinning, shearing the stoplight from its moorings, impacting the stone corner of a bank. Then finally, for a moment, the world stopped, becoming strangely silent as the mangled ruin of the sedan came to rest on the side walk and the truck roared away into the night...
It should have killed him... Would have killed him had he been anyone else, he was only dazed... but reality took less than a second to come crashing back, distantly he heard the cries of witnesses to the calamity, the pounding foot steps of rescuers who were already too late... She was not dead, but he knew before he had even begun to move toward her in the wreckage, that she was dieing. He smelled it on the air. At the edges of his senses, he felt the skittering of dark creatures in the shadows, and longed futilely, to feel the weight on his hip, of a sword now lost to the ages...
She opened her eyes as he leaned over her, the laughter was gone from her lips, replaced by pain as she strained to breath. "too soon..." she heard him breath unable to find his voice, his face a mask of pain and fear "I cant..." he moaned and she knew the truth...
She was dying...
And he, unable to, would be left to wander alone to the end of time...
"Please..." through gritted teeth "don't lea..." then the fear and sorrow again robbed him of his voice, he gazed upward for a moment, trying to find the strength to speak, then he seemed to reach a realization...
"Miko..." he whispered after he had regained his breath. He looked upon her again, with such sorrow and pleading in his eyes "take me with you..."
For a fraction of a moment confusion clouded her mind, then the weight of his request shook her, and a pain thousands of times greater than any she had ever felt engulfed her mind and consumed her heart. This wasn't how it was supposed to end! Deep in her soul she screamed, and raged, and cursed fate for its cruelty...
But she could not refuse him...
Unable to speak she only nodded as tears coursed down her face.
Gathering her remaining strength, as he gathered her into his arms.
"thank you."
It came as a sigh curling warmly around her ear, a sensation full of memories, painful, happy memories, that dragged a single agonized sob from her. Then tight in his embrace, she rested her head in the hollow of his shoulder, closed her eyes, and because no one else could, one last time she concentrated and the pale pure light flared...
The brightest it ever had...
Brighter than the sun...
And when it finally faded away,
They were gone...