Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha and co. Hirosuke and the poetry used in this piece are still mine.
Startle
He is getting accustomed to her presence, he finds one day as he ponders the clouds. Nigh a moon since her arrival she is still a mystery to him. They hardly talk but he trusts her, and he wants to believe the feeling is mutual, but he cannot be sure. She is not what she appears, at least not in certain respects but he knows not what to make of her silences and her far off-glances. Sometimes he feels as though she looks into the past, centuries before him and sees things that no human can see. Sometimes he wishes he could see into her dreams, if only to be able to do more for her than smooth away her hair when the nightmares come.
He is more than fascinated by her. He wants to protect her. He wants to stay by her side and dispel the angry demons that haunt her, and he still wants that smile. He wants her to say his name! He wants to hold her, and for her to allow it. With a gulp he realizes: he is in love. The heart he believed dead thunders renewed with feeling. He sighs. How does he always manage to get himself into such situations?
She tends the vegetable patch. As her pay to him she has offered to clean and cook for him while he goes hunting. She had had no money to give, and she was sure even if the case had not been so, he wouldn't have accepted them anyway.
She isn't unhappy; the nightmares plague her less and less and, secretly, she enjoys having a companion again. It is strange, the thought it has been nearly three centuries since she has had one. Determined not to allow her memories overcome her she continues tending the vegetables. Already the potatoes are nearly ready for picking and the grapes would come into ripeness soon.
She ponders her fate, her past, but especially her present. It is her present that most befuddles her. She has a duty to her mistress, and she knows it well, and yet part of her wishes she could stay in the moment forever. She does not understand why. She knows it is unreasonable, illogical and perfectly impossible.
Her heart continues to waver.
Author's Note: Here we are :) I hope you like this chapter. Thank you very much for taking the time to read and review (those of you who do). Lots of love to make the world a shinier rainbow!