A/N: This was originally posted for Forthrightly's Second Annual Drabble Challenge on LiveJournal. Enjoy! I suppose you could call this the fourth installment in my small collection for this challenge. The four are not necessarily related and they certainly are not consecutive, but they share the same event: the Obon Festival, which is a version of Halloween more akin to Dia de los Muertos than the American tradition.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of "InuYasha" by Rumiko Takahashi nor the wonderful world she has created.
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The darkness of the village spread until the only illumination was that of three small lamps leading to the village's outskirts in the direction of InuYasha's forest. From the silence an elderly woman walked and lit the fourth lamp of the Obon festival. The time of celebration and mourning was nearing its close and the old woman soon scuffled her way back to the safety of her bed. There, she laid her tired bones down, budged uncomfortably for a few moments before finally settling down into sleep.
The lamp she had been carrying with her flickered as the wind outside swelled.
The world Kaede saw about her flourished back and forth without settling on one particular image. Blurry and inconsistent, Kaede struggled to focus, but as soon as her vision stilled, the woman gazed about and noticed something remarkable.
Sight. Her vision was clear and bringing he fingers dangerously close to her face was amazed to find there was no cloth--no bandage about her right eye. In bliss she laughed to herself and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. Her voice was young. Now that she allowed herself to revel in the presence of her location, Kaede realized that she was a little girl again. She was dreaming of her childhood.
Kaede saw the wondrous sight of her sister, Kikyou, young and just becoming a priestess. She had glowed so radiantly then and smiled often. There were few times once she began her service when she would have time for siblings, but Kaede reveled in the very awkward stance she now held as she attempted to hold her bow erect and presentable.
Then, Kaede found herself at the lip of a cave and shuddered, thinking of what she knew lay battered, bruised and conniving inside. Kaede did not long to relive the memories of the early Naraku, but her dream forced her forward. She witnessed her sister come and go and when the pale apparition of Onigumo reached to touch her, Kaede's eyes burned like hot coals and she could see no more.
Crouching lowly and trembling, Kaede clutched her eye until she felt a cold hand upon her shoulder. Eyes widening with shock, Kaede turned upward to face the clay-like form of her sister, barely recognizable from a ghost.
"Does death hurt?" the young voice of Kaede asked.
The form nodded.
"Sister Kikyou . . . why do you haunt me?"
The vision of Kikyou flickered until she vanished and Kaede along with it. All Kaede would recall was the despair of watching flames engulf her sister as she cried out— regaining her age.
Kaede shot up from her sleep, beads of sweat on her brow. She forced herself to the doorway and gazed out into the night, wondering whether all had been merely a dream; her only response, however, was the escaping sight of soul collectors, drifting away from the hut and vanishing just as a strong wind came once more and the lights from the lamps flickered out.
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As always, I would love and be honored to have any reviews/comments/suggestions that my fantabulous readers may have. I treasure them all!
Truly yours,
Mickey-the-Mouse
