At the End of Every Road
Count the Lives of a Fox
Lately he found himself in a daze these days. His feet took him places, though his mind was permanently stuck elsewhere. Life had treated him harshly, but then again, he knew it would since the death of his father. But the wonderful thing was—he had trained himself to take it all in and never let it out. Tears didn't come easily to him anymore. Those were reserved for the ghost of what he used to be, back when he was a small child.
He spent the remainder of his childhood crying and sulking around the well. Sometimes he'd kick dirt into it in a fit of anger, other times he'd let his tears flood it to show his grief.
When he felt that the well had been brimmed to the top with his sorrow, he finally turned around and vowed to never go back.
--
When adolescence hit, his demeanor was almost reminiscent of a certain hanyou. He would plunder villages, play tricks on them, steal…Things he didn't really care about. It was just a way to pass the days of the rest of his life.
Often at the end of his days, he'd find himself sprawled on a grassy hilltop, gazing at the stars. He was reminded of the twinkle he'd always see in the priestess's eyes—the one he had come to know as a mother.
A scowl touched his lips as his memories traveled far back in time to the days spent in terror of a certain evil that hovered threateningly over their lives. He figured he had done much more damage with his death. They just couldn't win, could they?
--
He was an adult right now, and quite frankly sick of the world. It was dreadfully boring, pointless, and unnecessary. Solitude was all he had, and that wasn't much to live off of. But his emerald eyes didn't bother to reflect his current sadness. He had left all of his worry and depression back at the well where it would forever stay.
There were times though that he wished he had done something better with his life—something to make her proud of him like all children wanted from their parents and vice versa. But she was gone, and what did he care? There wasn't anyone to impress.
And now that he was looking back on his lives, he realized he really did have only one dreadfully long one.
It's just that he wasted it away and fell off the face of the earth in defeat.