Waste of Paint
The days passed by in a mind numbing fashion. The earth began to slowly warm and the icicles along the eaves began to drip while the grass began to work its way through the thin patches of snow that remained. On a certain unparticular moment during the day while Hotaru was off running errands about the estate leaving Kagome to her own devises. And so that was how Kagome found herself laying about on the veranda as she watched the icicles melt away ever so slowly. Though it was still cold outside Kagome discovered that when the sun shone down directly on her she became comfortably relaxed
Slowly a fleeting sleep came up and wrapped around her just as the sunlight had but fate did not want to seem so kind as to allow this. For a particularly biting wind swept along the veranda bringing Kagome out of her sleep, that was more like a very vivid daydream of haunting faces and whispers of laughter. Opening her eyes regretfully something shimmered snow white as it crossed her peripheral vision. Fearing it to be snow Kagome looked about herself desperately to find the offensive flake but she found nothing of the sort.
There laying as delicately as life its self was the pure, snow white blossom of a plum tree. Uncertainly Kagome reached out for the blossom and picked it up, somewhat mystified by its presence. Picking up the blossom she brought it up to her face and examined it with a critical eye, still unsure that it was actually real she got to her feet and made her way around the veranda. Coming around to the back where her favorite pavilion was she looked up to the plum tree which had been bare the entire winter but now looked as if it had been dusted with a fresh powder of unmeltable snow. Though scattered among the blossoms were a few that shown in a pinkish red, making them stand out brilliantly amongst the white.
"What a waste of paint." Kagome mumbled softly to herself as she clenched the blossom tightly in her fist before throwing it to the ground violently. Turning smartly on her heels Kagome stormed back down the veranda to her room and that was where Hotaru found her. As she entered into the room Hotaru was met with a furry of activity as she saw Kagome throwing things about the room and every once in a while cramming things into her large yellow bag.
"Kagome-Sama! What is the meaning of this?" Hotaru asked almost shrilly as she watched a particularly expensive Kimono go sailing across the room and landing precariously close to the brazier.
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked as she stuffed more things into her bag.
"All this activity! It looks like a storm swept through here!" she declared heatedly as she picked up a kimono that was closet to her and began to fold it.
"O I'm sorry I'm just packing all my things." Kagome explained as she pulled out her Miko outfit from under the kimono boxes, which had toppled over.
"Packing for what?" Hotaru asked, so surprised by this declaration that she stopped folding for a moment.
"I must leave, I should have been gone days ago." Kagome confessed as she grabbed a pair of her jeans and her shirt then disappeared behind her shoji screen.
"What?" she asked, clearly her mind wasn't working as well as it should have been.
"Hotaru, why didn't you tell me about the plum blossoms?" Kagome asked the old fox her voice unreadable.
"It must have slipped my mind." Hotaru lied as realization dawned on her.
"You make a terrible liar Hotaru." Kagome commented nonchalantly as she reappeared from behind the screen dressed in her Miko attire.
"Lady Kagome you can not possibly be leaving today, it is already very late in the day, it would be best if you left in the morning." Hotaru advised desperately.
Kagome stood before Hotaru and studied her closely before nodding her head. "I suppose." She reckoned as seated herself at the table awkwardly as she tried to accustom herself to wearing jeans again.
"Thank you My Lady." Hotaru sighed as she seated herself at the low table as well. Grabbing a piece of paper Kagome placed it in front of herself before she grabbed her bag and pulled it towards herself as she began rooting around in it. Finally finding what she wanted she pulled her trusty pen out from its depths and began to writing on the paper. After finishing it she folded it deftly and handed it to Hotaru.
"Take this to Sesshomaru please." Kagome stated more then asked and Hotaru could only comply. "Tell him it is urgent."
"Right away." She offered before she disappeared out of the room leaving Kagome alone and looking almost wistful.
Upon arriving at her Lords study Hotaru knocked and entered when she heard him call out to her. Seating herself across from him she held out the letter to him.
"It is from Lady Kagome, she says it is urgent My Lord." Hotaru informed him with a bow.
"Urgent?" Sesshomaru reported quizzically as he opened it swiftly and read it.
"With these plum blossoms
Falling like a sea of tears
All of which are mine"
I am leaving tomorrow morning
That was all that was written on the thin sheet of paper, it had surprised Sesshomaru somewhat that she had written a letter to him instead of barging into his study herself and tell him but Kagome was always full of surprises. Heaving an inward sigh Sesshomaru Pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and quickly formed a reply; folding it he handed the letter over to Hotaru. With leave from her Lord, Hotaru returned back to her charge.
"Why shed all these tears
For simple blossoms that will
Bloom after the ice"
I will have your departure prepared for then
As Kagome read his speedy reply she felt her heart plummet somewhat into the pit of her stomach. Somewhere deep inside her heart, in the back of her mind where the childish fantasies dwelled she hopped that maybe, just maybe Sesshomaru would try once more to convince her to stay but of course that would never happen. Sesshomaru was not much of a romantic, of course he couldn't afford to be a romantic he was a Taiyoukai! It was only foolish hope, Kagome had always been the fool and she knew that but even so she couldn't help herself and it hurt but it was durable. She knew she would live, unfortunately. Pulling out another piece of paper she scribbled down her own reply.
"I hate to ask you to go again Hotaru but would you?" Kagome asked kindly as she offered the paper to her.
"It is no problem My Lady, it is my duty." Hotaru replied as she took the paper and went back to Sesshomaru.
Once more Sesshomaru let her enter and when she offered him Kagomes reply he took it and opened it. Truly he had nothing better to do but he did find it somewhat odd that he had waited on baited breath for her reply and as he read it his eyes followed every word as closely as possible, as if in any moment they might jump from the page and try to kill him. And it was very possible that they may just do that, for Kagome had that certain knack of wrapping herself around a person and latching herself extraordinarily close to their weakness like a parasite. Somehow she had managed to do this with himself as well and he found that he did not have the strength to dispose of her or at least he did not have the time to do so for he was a very busy Taiyoukai.
"Not all blossoms
Bloom after such a harsh ice
My Tears, Their Petals"
I will see you there
Instead of grabbing a new piece of paper Sesshomaru left a comparable amount of space along the page before he wrote his own reply. Giving it a moment to dry he then folded it up quickly and handed it back to Hotaru before dismissing her.
Entering back into the room Hotaru seated herself at the low table as she handed Kagome the reply from her Lord. She watched as Kagome opened it and read over it her, brows knit together gently but other then that there was no outward appearance denoting to what was exactly written. Kagome looked over the paper, rereading what was written and slightly comparing their handwriting but as she did so a sense of sadness swept around her heart, which had placed itself back into her chest once more.
"Plum Blossoms of spring
Ice consumes the fire whole
Winter reins always"
Indeed
It was all that he had written and Kagome found it somewhat anticlimactic but of course her life wasn't a story, though it would make an interesting one, she could not just sit and wait around for her knight in shining armor or demon in long silver hair to show up and sweep her off her feet and ride into the sunset with her on his mighty steed or dragon demon thing. No Kagome was doomed to return to the future and get a mediocre job and meet a mediocre guy who would become her future mediocre husband and they would have mediocre children who in turn would have mediocre lives and she would die a plan death and this made Kagome feel like shit. Before she burst into tears Kagome began rifling through her backpack pulling everything out before she found her bathing supplies.
"I'm going to take a bath Hotaru, its ok you don't need to come with me. You've been running around the castle enough." Kagome rambled as she went out into the hallway before Hotaru even had a chance to reply.
After finishing her long bath in which she had cried her eyes out Kagome returned to her room, dragging her feet as much as she could without seeming woeful to all the hidden eyes that might be watching her. As she entered back into her room and shutting the door behind her she dropped her shoulders and rubbed her head gently. Looking to her bag Kagome expected to see it half empty with all her things scattered about like she had left it but when she looked down it was backed full and closed.
"Since you wouldn't let me accompany you to the baths I took it upon myself to back your bag for you." Hotaru informed her.
"O, thank you Hotaru but what about my bathing stuff?" Kagome asked as she hefted her things for emphasis.
"Your back is far to full put them in this." Hotaru offered as she handed Kagome a leather pouch just large enough for her toiletries.
"Thanks." Kagome mumbled as she took the back from her and began to fill it; once everything was inside it Kagome stood and surveyed the room. "Is that everything?" she wondered as she looked up to Hotaru for confirmation.
"Yes." Hotaru replied
"That's good." Kagome said mildly as she nodded her head and made her way towards the shoji screens that lead out to the veranda opening it she seated herself along the veranda and propped herself against one of the pillars. Not feeling very well Kagome sat there for a long time looking out over the gardens as the sun set into the mountains. Hotaru could feel the sorrow and uncertainty waft off of Kagome, which in turn made her feel agitated so she kept her space from her and remained inside. Once the sun had disappeared behind the mountains Kagome entered into the room feeling rather indifferent to the entire situation. She had come to the distinct conclusion that it didn't matter, that none of it mattered. The jewel didn't matter, Sesshomaru didn't matter, ancient Japan didn't matter; the only thing that did matter to her was the future, her future.
Coming in Kagome took a seat at the table across from Hotaru. The silence filled between them with words that they wanted to say but they said nothing and so the silence stretched on and it would seem as if they would stay like that until the sun rose once again until Hotaru sneezed.
"I'll miss you Hotaru." Kagome stated suddenly as she looked up into the old foxes grey green eyes.
"I'll miss you too Kagome-Sama." Hotaru replied as she gave her a gentle smile.
"I don't want to leave." Kagome admitted as her eyes filled with tears once more.
"Then don't." Hotaru suggested simply.
"I can't." Kagome insisted with a small shake of her head.
"If you insist." Hotaru said with a sigh.
"I do." Kagome assured.
"Do as you must." Hotaru advised. Kagome contemplated these words for a moment then gave a sharp nod of her head and smiled gently.
"I'm going to bed, see you in the Morning Hotaru." Kagome announced as she stood and went around her shoji screen and disappeared.
"Good Night My Lady." Hotaru replied as she stood and blew out the light.
Alright so a few of you have been asking how long this story is going to take and the truth is… I have no idea TT I'm sorry its just going to be long…. And its probably because of my chapters they are so short!!! XX Mergah! I know that was probably the last thing you guys wanted to hear but I would suppose that umm this is about the halfway point so no worries Alls well that ends well….. /Wink/Wink/Nudge/Nudge/ say no more say no more…. Yeah that was a hint… I think . haha /sweat drop/