A/N: For the 'Rant' theme on Dokuga's LJ comm - 300 words, no more no less. The next part of the serial "The Nightingale".
All due recognition to Hans Christian Anderson for the inspiration.
Originally posted on February 1, 2010.
Loss
Sometimes, he hated how right he could be.
The entire castle had gone quiet and cold in her absence - it was a wonder that no one else seemed to notice it. They didn't even feel how sluggish time had become, and how the simplest of tasks had become burdensome. Plans for war and even Kikyo's nightly concerts failed to ease his restlessness. He spent what little free time he had eschewing his entourage and wandering down to the cliffs that looked out over the sea.
He had never suffered a loss for which he had not been explicitly prepared - every child must expect a parent's death, and every warrior must anticipate the defeat of some of his strongest compatriots. But Kagome fit into no simple category. She was not just a slave. She was more than just a friend - although, admittedly, he had never had a friend. He had never had a female in his bed that mattered to him past dawn either, but if he had, Sesshoumaru could imagine that losing her would conjure a similar pain. But what did someone call a lover that had never touched them, save for one stolen kiss, far from his courtiers' watchful eyes?
It didn't matter.
The waves crashed into the cliffs far beneath his feet, ranting for him against the solid rock and immutable facts. She would never come back. She was where she should be - where she wished to be. He and his kingdom were safer this way, too. He could never seek her out, even if he wanted to.
It was time to work to redirect all those ridiculous urges to something tangible - someone whose blood would run over his claws and make him feel as if he were Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, once again.
Naraku.