Prompts: Void, Time, Ghost

Characters: Kaede, Kikyo


Warmth

Since Kikyo was no longer there, Kaede had to be strong and grow up, display a maturity that other girls of her age were not required to have. On the one hand, it hadn't been too difficult; she remembered the time when the absence of her parents had become a reality and, even younger, she had had to undergo the same transformation — what's more, Kikyo had been a very stern teacher for her, and Kaede had hardly ever known leisure. On the other hand, however, it had not been easy either. Kikyo's death — of the anchor she had been for the whole community — had hit her much harder than that of her parents, of whom she had no memory.

Some days, telling the villagers that she was fine, that she was going to make it, only to allow them to take comfort from her resilience, took more effort than carrying water from the well into the hut with her still slender arms; others, breaking down and letting them, for once, console her seemed so damn tempting. Still, Kaede held on and kept going, day after day.

She would practice.

She meditated.

She studied.

She helped.

And, above all, she fought.

She was strong, Kaede, but at night, in the small hut that still held the memory of her beloved sister, she dropped every mask.

It was during one of those nights when she had collapsed, exhausted, crying herself to sleep, that she heard her.

At first, when she woke up and it was still too dark around her, she thought she had hallucinated; after all, it wasn't the first time she dreamt of her. However, when after a few seconds the touch that had awoken her did not disappear, she had no doubt that she was there.

With her eyes, she frantically searched for her, yet apart from the feeling of slender fingers that almost imperceptibly caressed her cheek, she saw and felt nothing.

A laugh echoed in her mind, one that — however little she heard it — she recognised immediately. "Kaede, you know better than me that it doesn't work that way," Kikyo reprimanded her.

"Sister!" cried the youngest in the silence of the night as salty tears began to flow again from her red and swollen eyes.

"I see, Kaede, that you are doing very well," she heard again. And even as the image of Kikyo continued to escape her, the young woman clearly saw that gentle smile she had reserved for her whenever she made her proud. She remembered that when Kikyo was still alive, she lived for one!

The idea of letting her know how much she missed her disappeared, then; she didn't want to show her weakness and preferred to preserve the memory of that smile.

However, she should have known it wasn't possible to deceive her, and when she grew up and thought back to this moment, she would also realise that Kikyo had come to her because of that feeling.

And as she tried to push back tears that no one should see — especially her sister — the touch she kept perceiving transformed, and she felt a sudden warmth envelop her, as if arms stronger than her own were holding her.

How long had it been since she had felt so safe? Instinctively, she pushed herself even further into that embrace in a silent request that her sister immediately caught. It did not take her long before she fell asleep again, this time serene, and the following morning, the proof that it hadn't been a dream was the blanket that hadn't been there the night before.

She smiled as she prepared to face another day with the fortitude she had so far lacked. In her head, she kept hearing a faint whisper telling her not to be afraid.


Kaede knew the time had come.

She had had a satisfying life, full of joys that had somehow wanted to repay her for her childhood sufferings. The shadow of the frightened child she had been was long gone, and every person around her only remembered the wrinkled smile that still marked her.

But by now, tiredness was taking over, and she was ready to leave it all behind, even though Kagome still hovered over her and stubbornly stood by her, reassuring her that everything would be fine. She shook her head when the young woman couldn't see her but then smiled because she knew she was trying to console herself more than her.

Kaede was happy to leave peaceful memories behind, and even though she felt sorry for the people who would miss her, the knowledge that she had been significant to them warmed her heart like the memory of that embrace.

Then it happened at night — again.

This time, the priestess really saw the hand reaching out towards her, and without a second thought, she grasped it. And as they walked towards the border that would take her to the other world, she slowly became that child again, at least in appearance. Then, before crossing it, Kikyo turned towards her, the smile she had imagined long ago firm on her lips.

"Was it difficult?"

She shook her head vehemently, letting her loose hair fall over her face.

"You've been a good girl, Kaede," she heard Kikyo reply as her hand descended on her head with affectionate intent.

Together, they reached home, and finally, Kaede felt the emptiness she had always felt in her heart, even though she had never lacked affection, fill up and realised that from now on she would never be cold again.