Shelving Memories
Kagome caressed the champagne flutes where intertwining initials had been etched into the crystal. Was it only last week that Inuyasha had given these to her?
"Seems like a lifetime ago," she whispered, carefully placing them in the box of stemware bound for storage. As she did, visions of her fiancée's casket being lowered into the earth flitted through her mind.
Covering her face, Kagome burst into tears. Strong arms encircled her and she leaned into them, seeking their strength.
"I don't know how to live without him."
"You know don't have to do this now," Sesshoumaru soothed, his deep voice rumbling through her back.
"Yes, I do." Suddenly angry, she pushed him away. Why couldn't anyone understand? Staying in this place, filled with so many dreams, so many memories of him… it was infinitely more painful.
Rising from her seat on the dining room floor, she walked to the piano and began stacking the photos there. She paused at a small portrait, tracing the smiling face.
'I wish you were here, Mama,' she thought, another layer of pain wrapping around her already constricted heart. Her mother had gone through this when her father died. She would have known how to help her daughter, known all the right words to say.
But Mama was gone too.
Sesshoumaru came up behind her, gently pulling the picture from her hands and returning it to its place. As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, he turned Kagome, lifting her chin. Kagome closed her eyes, unable to look into the face that was so like Inuyasha's.
"You are not alone, Kagome." His voice was firm even as he tenderly cupped her face, wiping away her seemingly endless stream of tears. Wrapping her once more in his embrace, he whispered, "You are not alone."
AN: This bit was written for the LiveJournal Community dokuga_contest and their Weekly Perfection prompt, flute. Entries for this challenge were limited to 200 words exactly. Originally posted April 12, 2010