Under the Pale
Autumn Moon
Miroku walked forward and placed
the small jewel in Kagome's hands. He didn't say anything, being a
person who's always had everything in his life; he didn't even know
what to say.
Kagome smiled weakly and held the jewel in her
hand. The pain inside her heart was almost too much, it was
unbearable. She just wanted the pain to stop.
She leaned over
Inuyasha and placed the Shikon in his battered hand, "There you
go Inuyasha."
Miroku and Sango helped hoist the bulky
human and drag him away from the castle. Away from Naraku. Away from
everything.
Kagome felt tears prickling her eyes as she stared
off into the distance at the rising sun, casting shadows across the
courtyard. Her heart felt endlessly empty and she felt the wrenching
feeling in her heart again. Why wouldn't the pain stop?
The
three walked in silence, only with occasional grunt of effort as one
of them heaved Inuyasha over a fallen log or an especially bushy
shrub.
The silence weighed heavily in Kagome's heart as she
leaned her love against a tree and starting digging a hole with Sango
and Miroku. They'd picked the burial place in the field where Kagome
had first discovered that Inuyasha was a hanyou. She remembered that
day as clear as if it happened five minutes ago. The way his silver
hair drifted in the wind, the way his golden eyes captured hers for
eternity it seemed.
And the way he purred.
She
remembered the vibration deep within his throat that came out thick
and happily when Kagome had rubbed his ears. No more dog-ears to rub
now, though. And no more Inuyasha to purr even if she
could.
"Kagome?" Kagome looked up and saw that
Miroku and Sango had already placed a stick into a large mound, which
was unmistakably Inuyasha. Sango smiled, thought it was forced, and
placed a hand on her shoulder, "and are you ok?"
Kagome
cringed when her hand touched a particularly large bruise Naraku had
inflicted on her, "yeah I'm fine, the bruises will heal
soon."
"No, I meant," she averted her eyes
towards the mound of dirt and back at her, unable to
finish.
Kagome's mouth made a little 'o' in realization and
she forced a nod and a smile, "I'm sure it was only a small
crush, I'll get over it, promise."
"Kagome,
sometimes it's darkest just before dawn." Miroku said, adding
his two cents in before falling silent.
Kagome smiled, though
it was forced.
Sango sighed, obviously not believing a word
Kagome said but nodded nonetheless and headed towards her house, hand
and hand with Miroku.
Kagome stayed back, sitting in front of
the mound. She prayed silently to her lost beloved and finally let
her tears run again. The sunlight reflected off them tenderly,
shining silvery light on the mound before they crashed just as
silently onto the dirt.
"I love you Inuyasha,"
Kagome whispered, "if you can hear me, please, try and help me
get over you."
And she stood up silently and left.
That
had been two weeks and two days ago.
Two weeks without walking
into the room and making fun loving comments at each other. How she
cherished those moments now that she didn't have them any
more.
Kagome sat on the windowsill, looking into the darkened
sky. The pale autumn moon shown dully in the sky, and stars responded
by twinkling noiselessly.
She watched the shadows on the moon
that reminded her so much of her own heart. Two weeks ago she'd been
bawling her eyes out over Inuyasha, but now, now she had no more
tears she could shed.
Only remorse and sadness remained deep
within her, and nothing she did would make the pain go away.
She
visited his grave daily, and every time she would say the same thing:
"I love you, Inuyasha."
And she did.
She did
with all her heart, it wasn't puppy love, it wasn't a crush, and it
wasn't a summer fling.
The door creped open and Kagome sighed.
Probably Sango checking on her. After the Naraku fight, Sango had
welcomed Kagome with open arms and they'd become fast friends. She
sighed and looked down into the rose gardens, "Sango, leave me
alone."
No answer.
Kagome sighed, why did she
always have such stubborn friends?
She waved a hand behind her
shoulder, the hand slightly cupped, waiting for her friend to place a
glass of water in her hand, just like every night.
Instead,
something round and smooth resided her hand. She paused and grasped
the object timidly before staring at it in awe.
The Shikon no
tama.
"Sango, why'd you give me this?" She asked
softly, she'd given it to Inuyasha, it was not her place to dig it
out, "now I have to go back to his grave and give it to
him."
She turned around and saw no one there.
She
was alone.
Sango must have left.
"God damn it
Sango," Kagome muttered silently to herself as she treaded
towards the door. Opening doors, which was something she had to get
use too, no more floating, no more moving through walls.
She
missed that almost as much as Inuyasha. But she missed Inuyasha about
a thousand times more.
"Where are you going?" asked
a voice behind her. Not Sango's, but strangely familiar. She tensed
up, no way, it was impossible.
"Who's there?" she
asked and whirled around, she gasped and the Shikon no tama dropped
from her hand.
Inuyasha smiled softly at her.
"No,"
she whispered, "I saw you die, you can't be alive, and this has
to be a trick."
Inuyasha leaned down and picked up the
Shikon no tama from its position on the floor, "The funny thing
about this jewel is that it will grant any wish you desire."
He
rolled the jewel in-between his fingers casually, "And it gets
even stronger when two people want it."
"How do I
know you're the real Inuyasha?" Kagome asked suspiciously, it
might be Naraku, maybe he wasn't dead at all, and maybe he was taking
Inuyasha's form so that he could kill her in her sleep.
Inuyasha
looked puzzled for a second, "Who else would I be?"
"Don't
play innocent with me!" Kagome pointed a finger accusingly at
him.
Inuyasha smiled again, "Define innocence."
Kagome
felt tears run down her face, "That doesn't prove
anything."
Inuyasha shrugged softly, "Whenever
something's wrong you avert your eyes and your always silent. When
you're happy, you're bubbly and talkative, floating around all the
time, though you can't really float now I suppose. Whenever your
angry, you always take our your anger by ramming yourself through
walls."
"How do you know all of this? Are you a
stalker?"
"Nah, it's just my hobby to memorize
whenever you're depressed, happy, excited and so on."
Kagome's
eyes widened.
"Plus, kindred spirits always know what the
other's thinking," Kagome had no more doubts in her mind; she
flung herself forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Inuyasha.
At least, that was the theory.
Instead she went right through
him.
She blinked in surprise.
Inuyasha smiled
forlornly, "This isn't the real me, Kagome, I'm still buried in
the field, take this." He placed the Shikon in her hand, "and
go to my 'grave' and wish for me to come to life, before its too
late. If you don't I'll..."
And then he faded
away.
Kagome didn't need to be told twice, she ran out the
door (after running into it, forgetting she couldn't go through it)
and ran through the rose garden, the pastel autumn moon hung in the
sky, casting a pathway of moonlight through the trees.
Reaching
the mound she flung herself near the mound and grasped the Shikon
tightly, "I wish Inuyasha could be with me."
The
Shikon swoon a soft pink light as it surrounded her and Inuyasha's
grave.
She closed her eyes tightly, praying and wishing for
all she was worth.
A sudden warmth wrapped around her and she
felt everything melt away from her. A burning sensation was beginning
to take place inside her cupped hands, but she didn't dare let go,
she didn't dare scurry her thoughts else wear.
And then she
was in a place that was pure white. Almost like she was nowhere. It
wasn't a blindly light, nor was it a darkened room like thing. It was
just white, white spreading on for miles and miles.
She
blinked open her eyes and looked around.
She tried to stand,
but there was no floor. The place was warm yet cold at the same time,
like she was sitting by a fire while pleating snow hit her
backside.
She closed her eyes, "I wish Inuyasha could be
with me." She repeated over and over again, clasping the Shikon
in her hand, trying her hardest to ignore the smell of burning
skin.
And then the Shikon no tama disappeared from her hand,
its only evidence of ever being there were two burn marks on each
hand in the shape of circles.
She looked at her hand
puzzlingly as the whiteness melted away again and she was back in the
field.
She blinked and looked around.
And then
Inuyasha's mound shook. The corners of her lips upturned slightly in
hope as she sat, waiting, waiting for it to be true, or for her to
wake up from this dream.
A hand escaped the mound and grasped
around for something to hold on to. The hand found Kagome's. Kagome
felt her heart swelling as the person beneath the dirt pushed himself
out of the ground, and violet eyes met blue- gray ones.
"Geez,
I kick the bucket and the first thing you do is put me in a hole,"
Inuyasha smiled playfully as he pulled his trapped legs out of the
dirt. Even if he was dead for two weeks, he still looked like he had
been alive, and had only been sleeping for a few hours.
Dirt
was smeared all over his face, his hair, and his clothes, but neither
seemed to mind.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome whispered
hopefully as she reached out her other hand, Inuyasha instantly
grasped it and intertwined his fingers with hers.
"Yeah,
I'm here," he whispered into her ear, even though he had been
dead, he still smelled like he always did, the distant smell of
Inuyasha which she'd come to love.
"Oh Inuyasha,"
she rasped out as tears of joy fell down her cheeks, "I was so
sure you were dead!"
Inuyasha smiled so softly it almost
seemed like he wasn't smiling, his eyes held the caring look in his
eyes that he reserved just for her, "Did you miss me?"
"Damn
you and your heroic instincts," Kagome smiled and pressed her
chest against his, wrapping her arms around him. "If you ever do
that again, I'll hate you forever."
"No you won't,"
he said softly, and Kagome knew he was right, "but I promise I
won't die again."
Kagome let more tears fall as he pulled
away from her; kissing her tears away he inhaled her scent. It no
longer smelled like roses. He wondered briefly if roses really were
her natural scent or was it because she hung around them so much? But
her scent was different, she seemed more alive, and she smelled
faintly of strawberries instead of roses.
Not that he minded,
she always smelled nice to him. Kagome blinked her eyes open after
Inuyasha finished kissing her tears away, she smiled up at him, "Is
this a dream?"
"If it is, I never want to wake up,"
he whispered to her and leaned down to kiss her.
As they both
pulled away for breath, Kagome fiddled with some of his black hair
that hung loosely around his face, framing his beautiful features, "I
miss your ears."
Inuyasha chuckled, "ah well, I
guess you'll have to get over it, because this is all your
getting."
Kagome smiled and kissed him again, "I
think I'll live."
Inuyasha hugged her tightly, "I
love you."
Kagome smiled and sighed in pure bliss, "I
love you too."
"I know," he said plainly as he
leaned down and passionately kissed her.
They stayed out there
for hours, neither wanting to leave.
Two lovers under the pale
autumn moon.
