For: iyficcontest 41 "memory." Second place!
Genre: Drama
Characters: Kagome, Mama Higurashi, Inuyasha indirect
Squicks: Blood, a bunch of it
Word count: 246
Summary: Another recollection slides away.
Red Fish
Wait, wait a second. Stop!
I almost had it. I almost grasped that little slippery fish of memory in my hands. Figurative hands of course.
It had red in it. That's all I salvaged from my stream of consciousness. Red all over. Red in front of my nose, red clenched in my hands, red wrapped around by my legs. And red soaring above tree tops and streams and…
Oh my, it appears the fish has returned.
"Mama!" I shout, bouncing in my bed. "I just remembered something!"
Mama smiles as she sips tea. "That's wonderful, dear," she comments.
"There were so many things!" I continue. Mama moves my tea cup away. "And…and!" More things are coming back to me. "There was a boy wearing red! So much red. He had white hair and…"
"Cute, fuzzy ears?" Mama suggests.
My eyes widen. "Uh huh," I burble. "Ears…"
I can see those ears now, but they're matted, not fuzzy, with blood splattered all over and dripping onto the white hair and it's red blood dotting the red clothes and turning into scarlet, scarlet over red. But if doesn't matter because he's bleeding and soiling those beautiful ears.
"Kagome?"
I glance up and touch my wet cheeks, frowning.
"Don't tax yourself," Mama soothes, rubbing my back. "You know you haven't been the same since that accident at the well."
I nod, but the fish is swimming away again, and I put my head down and cry a little more.