Waiting
A boy was sitting under an ancient tree, his legs crossed, a pout on his face as he looked into the shadows between the old trees surrounding the meadow. His golden eyes seemed to be looking for something, his gaze drawn to any flash of pale sunlight dancing in the distance. He lifted his nose into the soft breeze, sniffing the wind, which rustled in the trees overhead and picked up the ends of his silver hair. His kimono was bright against the greens and browns of the forest but he sat there as if he was a part of it.
A soft, old voice spoke near the boy, a face appearing on the trunk of the ancient tree.
"Your parent will come back soon."
"I hate when he leaves me behind," the youth said. He was not yet an adult, but no longer a small boy. The old magnolia watched him for a moment, feeling sorry for the boy, who was so attached to his father.
"The Inu no Taisho shall return soon, young one," the tree reassured. "I know that he is a very secretive man, but when he decides to tell you where he goes off to so often, he will."
The boy made an unhappy face. The tree sighed inwardly. He'd hope that the young one would know this particular secret and would share with him. But it seemed not even Touga's son knew. Maybe his lady wife, but getting any information from her was like pulling teeth. The magnolia had no experience of how it felt, but he'd hear a lot about that. Which meant that he, like so many others, could only speculate about the great general's whereabouts.
"In the meantime, let me entertain you by retelling the great deeds of your sire's conquest of the nearby castle." he offered. It was better to focus on something and help the boy do the same, there was no use impatiently staring in the distance. Touga was bound to come get his son sooner or later.
Sesshomaru sighed and gave a small nod, accepting the offer.
.
The tree was lowering his wide branches, his leaves, as many of them that were still stuck to his branches, dry and shriveled rustling in a voiceless lament. The land seemed to be still in shock after the happenings of the previous night. The first snow was fresh and shone like a shroud.
It was as pure and foreboding as the white of the kimono of the young man, no longer a boy, standing in front of the tree. His face showed no emotion, his eyes stoic and distant, his posture straight. And yet, there was confusion, grief and sorrow in the air around him, as if he was exhaling it out of the body that refused to show his feelings in anything else than the somber color of his clothing.
"Accept my pledge of loyalty and words of sorrow, young lord," the tree whispered, sadness ringing in his voice.
"This one is not pleased that his sire left him behind and refused his advice," the cold voice of the young lord spoke, biting like freezing breath of yuki onna.
The tree sighed inwardly. It seemed that the boy of old was entirely gone, hidden behind the mask Touga's son now wore even in the presence of his father's close ally. It was painful to see this change.
Touga was gone, this time leaving his son and going to a place Sesshomaru couldn't yet follow or hope to see him coming back from. The boy had to find someone else he could wait for, someone else he could miss and hope to see at the end of the day.
.
Lord Sesshomaru stood in front of an ancient tree, a tree blessed by a kami, his gaze piercing the wide trunk to lay upon the slumbering form of a young woman inside. He didn't speak a word, there was no one to witness him standing there and the look of longing and loneliness in his golden eyes.
He hated to be left behind, but he now understood hope that his lonely waiting would come to an end soon.