InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dust of Life ❯ Dust of Life ( One-Shot )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"Dust of Life"
by Somnambulicious

She is 35, and her mother is finally moving out of the shrine.

"Could you check that old shed, the one at the edge of the property, Kagome? I haven't used it in years, but there might be something..."

"Sure thing, Mama." Kagome finishes taping up the last of the boxes and sets it down by the front door. The movers will be here in ten minutes.

The shed is locked, and Kagome has to try several of her mother's keys before she finds the right one. A small cloud of dust poufs up around her like miasma -- no, like dust, just dust, -- as she slides the door open. Kagome blinks as her eyes adjust to the darkness of the shed, just an empty old storage room--

Well, mostly empty, anyway.

He is sitting cross-legged in the corner, with that ancient sword propped up at his side. Kagome holds her breath, hoping against hope that he won't move, because the movers will be here in five minutes, and she's 35, and she doesn't need--

Damn.

His amber eyes shine in the darkness like beacons as his eyes flutter open once, twice, three times. Decades of dust encrust his pale eyelashes, and she watches, transfixed with dread, as his lips part.

"Ka--" he croaks out, his voice just as dusty as his clothes.

"Kag--" He tries again, his sightless eyes searching in the dark for her form, and Kagome fumbles for the door frame.

"Kago--" And before he can finish, before he can name her, she stumbles out into the sunlight and slides the door shut again with a snap.

She leans against the shed, panting heavily, shuddering. But she steels herself, takes a deep breath, and turns her back on the childhood fantasies that she left behind long ago.

She is 35 now, and the movers will be here in three minutes.

Inside the locked storeroom, the silver-haired hanyou sighs and sinks down into himself. Two months later, the new priest will find a large pile of ashes in the corner of the old shed, which he will spread over the soil under his new lilac bushes.