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.
