Show: Inuyasha
Series: Tears Of A Miko
Story: A Single Blade Of Grass
By. Tate Icasa
Nothing has grown there for hundreds of years.
It's a barren wasteland, for miles, and as far as the eye can see.
No one live's here. No one has, not for a very long time.
The girl stands alone.
She can feel the scorched earth beneath her feet. Dry, warm air blows her hair back.
A terrible ting happed there.
A fire, perhaps, that stopped all plant life from growning.
There are no trees. No bushes. No grass.
No animals live there either.
There are no birds, not even crows in the air. No worms in the parched earth.
There's no water to be found for miles, the stream is frozen at the mouth, and run dry at this end.
The girl is dressed in Miko garments, and her eyes are closed.
Slowly, she kneels in the center of this dead place, mourning the live's lost there.
A singel silver tear slides down her face, and onto the hardened dirt.
She stands, opening her eyes, and purposefully strides away.
She never once turns her brown eyes back to the place.
But there, in the tiny silver droplet she left behind, something is begining.
The teardrop doesn't evaporate, it doesn't disappear.
Instead, the Miko's tear sinks into nearly solid, bonedry earth, and from that spot sprouts the begining of new hope.
From the seed planted and watered by the tear of the browned-eyed Miko, comes the first growning thing in a long, long time.
A single blade of grass.
Show: Inuyasha
Series: Tears Of A Miko
Story: Sunshine
By. Tate Icasa
Between the river mouth and the dead place is a nearly pitch black forest.
It's been that way for as long as the land had been dead.
For as long as the river had been frozen.
The sun never shows to the ground, never past the treetops.
Rain manages, somehow, and it's enough to keep the trees alive.
No one ever went into the forest.
Never near enough to know it was there.
It's too dark, and cold, and damp for those who do know of it.
The brown-eyed Miko thinks so, too.
Yet she keeps walking.
Years and years ago, before the dead land had died, and before the river had frozen, village children used to go inside the forest.
None had ever returned.
The Miko is alone. There's no one to see her. To verify that she was there.
She kneels in a tangle of tree roots. Her eyes close slowly, mournfully. She thinks a minute on the dreary place, and a silver tear rolls down her face.
After a second she stands again.
Her face set grimly, eyes focused straight ahead, she begins to walk from the forest.
She doesn't look back.
The teardrop sinks into the tree root, leaving only a tiny circle of wetness where it had lain.
There is a tiny rustling in the now empty forest.
Suddenly, the teardrop residue begins to glitter.
Through the treetops streaks a single ray of sunshine.
