A/N: I was reading The Scent Of Despair by Catrina Winner and this kinda popped up
Oh, for the days when I would get 15 reviews the day I updated my fics instead of, oh, one. I am now reviewing everything I read, because in the absence of reviews, I realize how gratifying they are.
Okay, I'm being bitter. Shutting up now.
Grief
A One-Shot
He could hear her sobbing, and instantly knew why. Despite their efforts, Inuyasha had overheard Sango and Kaede talking. The well had sealed. Wasn't as if he didn't know that already though. Kagome had jumped, but instead of the usual fading of her scent, he heard a loud thump and a low moan. The hanyou had immediately leaped in after her, finding her at the bottom of the well, unconscious and bleeding.
Inuyasha rolled to his feet, displaying a grace he ordinarily only used in battle. Sango and Kaede came silently to the fire, avoiding Inuyasha's eyes. Sango grabbed a flask of water and moved to boil it. Inuyasha walked to the door, only to be stopped by a very fast Sango, who had blocked his way with both her arms stretched out.
"Move." His voice was calm, but his posture and the fierceness of his eyes was otherwise. Sango shook her head, even though she knew he was serious.
"Kagome needs time, Inuyasha. She does not need ye to go rushing in now." Inuyasha's gaze moved to the old miko.
"Move." His eyes did not move back to the taijiya, but it was clearly spoken with deadly promise to Sango.
"You can't understand what she is feeling, Inuyasha." Sango shivered as she was once again met by those eyes, beginning to bleed red.
"Are you telling me," he said slowly, his voice like ice, "That I do not understand what it is like to lose a family?"
Sango froze. Inuyasha pushed easily by her and walked into Kagome's room, closing the shoji behind him.
His eyes easily spied her in the dark, the pale moon rays falling across her knees. "Kagome." His voice was so gentle, a complete turnaround from the icy tone he had adopted just moments before. The girl's sobs increased. Inuyasha went to her, knelt beside her shaking form.
He reached out a clawed hand to stroke her hair, just as his mother did when he was a child. He lay down next to her, resting his hand lightly on her hip, struggling to push down his swelling emotions.
He remembered his mother with fearful clarity now. Her voice, her hair, her scent. The way she would brush her hair every night. Her hand so smoothly creating beautiful kanji. The way she got that twinkle in her eyes when she was about to play a trick onon his father. He was a fuzzy image in his head. White, and soft. A booming voice.
Inuyasha was pulled out of his reverie as Kagome turned to him, beating her fists on his chest. His hand rested on her back now, and he rubbed her back, mindful of his claws.
Inuyasha began to sing the song his mother would sing to him on nights she wrote to his father and mother, his voice rough from emotion.
I'd a terrible broken heart
I'd a terrible broken heart
I'd a terrible broken heart
I'd a terrible broken heart
You were born on the day my mother was buried
My grief, my grief, my grief, my grief, my grief
You were born on the day my mother was buried
My grief, my grief, my grief, my grief, my grief
He continued humming. Kagome had settled in his arms sometime during his song, and was now crying quietly against his chest. Kagome hadn't had a child yet, and her mother was thankfully still alive, but the song wasn't about the lyrics so much as the grief. Inuyasha felt a wetness on his face and was surprised to find that he was crying as well. He pulled Kagome closer to him, humming and dragging his fingers through her hair in a comforting gesture.
He stayed with her until her sobbing had quieted, her breathing evened out. He spent the rest of the night holding on to her like a lifeline, and immersing himself in memories.