by
Anaphalis
Summary: It's not right and he knows it's not right, but he can't stop reading it, even when the page becomes dog-eared and starts losing its corners. One Shot. IY Fic Challenge Entry. Challenge - Happy Ending.
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Distribution: My site, IY Fic Challenge and FF.Net. All others please ask before taking.
Feedback: Much appreciated at [email protected]
Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Shonen Jump. Brushes on this page courtesy of Pure Anodyne.
A/N: Because there aren't nearly enough Souta stories...
There- the half-demon chased the jewel of the miko guardian.
There- the half-demon was sealed by the miko guardian.
There- the half-demon was freed by the miko guardian.
There- the half-demon fell in love with the miko guardian.
There- the half-demon destroyed the jewel with the miko guardian.
There- the half-demon vanished with the miko guardian.
There- The End
It's not right and he knows it's not right, but he can't stop reading it, even when the page becomes dog-eared and starts losing its corners.
It makes him sick to his stomach even as he sees her in his mind, arriving home exhausted and bleeding, her eyes clouded with pain. He hears her telling them about her friends, her adventures, gesturing wildly while Mom attempts to clean the injuries. In his mind he hears her crying late at night, only to cheerfully greet him in the morning as she stuffs her bag with ramen.
He has searched, three years, four years, five years for records, legends, anything that may help him find something.
And this class text is the best he found.
Everything she saw reduced to a few paragraphs on a single page in an out-of-print textbook.
Where is the story of the monk, the slayer, the kitsune?
Where is her story?
It is a little thing, really, of all the things that should hurt him. But he so desperately wants to know. Something. Anything.
When she smiled and waved that last time, what happened on the other side?
He sees her when he daydreams in classes, her face contorted in absolute terror.
He wakes up sweating every morning, her panicked voice just beyond the reach of his dreaming mind.
There is no one to talk to.
Grandfather is gone.
Mom smiles, her eyes blank. "Kagome? Oh she'll be home the next time they pass through the village. Those jewel shards are hard to find, you know."
He studies History at the university.
Mom sets an extra place at the table every night.
Everyone deals with loss in their own way.
He shakes his head, brings his mind back to the book in front of him, feels the ache in his back and neck. He rolls his shoulders, trying to relax the knotted muscles.
It is no use. He has sat here for too long- he needs to move.
Reluctantly, he rises and goes outside, leaves the textbook on his desk. It's cold and he pulls his jacket tighter around himself as he walks aimlessly.
Where are you Kagome?
As usual, he arrives in front of the tree, stares at the faint ancient scar that once marked a hanyou's prison.
He slowly sinks down in front of the tree, running his fingers over the bark.
Are you happy Kagome?
He is seized with a sudden anger against his sister, pulling on the tree with all the strength of his frustration and loss, until the bark gives and he falls backwards.
Bark shouldn't peel back in an even square.
There shouldn't be faded writing on the smooth trunk under the bark.
Higurashi Kagome.
Mom, Souta, I'm alive. I love you.
And maybe that's the best story of all.
He gently puts the bark back over the writing and gets up off of the ground.
Tomorrow he will ask Mom if they can go on a vacation for the holidays and maybe he will travel this summer with one of his friends.
After all, he still has his own story to live.
-The End-
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