InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Flower Girl ❯ Consolation ( Chapter 19 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

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Kagome clasped her hands together as she sat atop the hillside, staring down on the group as they enjoyed a break from traveling - and lunch. It had been several days since she'd come back from her time, and Sesshoumaru had met her at the well, telling her that he would now be her protector, rather than Inuyasha.

She was glad for that - he was much more stable. She could count on him to do what he said he would do.

She smiled slightly as Miroku walked up the hill to join her, the rings on his shakujo singing out a faintly melancholy melody.

"Kagome," he murmured as he sat, and she nodded at him, before looking back down the hill.

They sat together silently for a while before she finally spoke.

"Come to bestow some of your wisdom on me, my friend - or perhaps some hentai mayhem?" she asked, with an artfully arched brow.

He chuckled at that. "I suppose, knowing myself the way I do, that I would have to agree it would be one or the other. I am not a very complicated creature, am I?"

"Not really."

"Ah, well. We cannot all be as deep as the daiyoukai we now travel with." He flicked a quick, measuring glance her way. "Truthfully, Kagome... how are you doing?"

"I am... surviving, Miroku. Growing up is painful, but necessary, and I've no desire to hide from life. I will be fine." A tiny grin touched the corner of her mouth. "I'll probably gain a few wrinkles from this, and perhaps a gray hair or two, but..." she shrugged, an amused sparkle lighting her eyes, though there were still shadows behind it.

Understanding her need for solitude, he smiled, and stood. "I will be sure to point out any gray that I see, then..." he winked at her, then turned and walked back down the hill.

Life truly is pain, she thought, as she watched Rin and Shippo run and play, but it's how we learn. And perhaps... perhaps the bad, the pain, makes the good, the joy, touch us even more deeply than it otherwise would - it teaches us to hold onto what happiness we can find.

Her hands absently rubbed her arms; it seemed that was a habit that would now stay with her, as if the chill of death would always leave a memory of itself within her unwilling flesh. She supposed that if it was the only effect her death would leave on her, she should be grateful - it could have been much worse.

"Are you still cold, miko?"

Kagome shook her head and sighed, amusement once more flickering in eyes that she flicked towards the inu Lord that had come up from behind, and was now sitting beside her.

"Do you always move so silently that your words panic your unsuspecting victim into heart failure, my Lord?"

His brow moved into his bangs at that. "It is a good thing that this one has taken you under his protection, miko. It seems that you do not pay attention to your surroundings well enough to take care of yourself."

She chuckled. "That seems to only be a problem around you, Sesshoumaru-sama. Believe me - I've always been good at paying attention to what's around me." Her voice went serious, then, and she cast another glance at him from the corner of her eyes, fingers idly playing with a blade of grass.

"It is because I trust you."

"Trust me?"

"Hai. To do what you said you would. Protect me. I didn't see it before, I suppose, but with... Inuyasha," she said his name with a low note in her voice, "I never knew if he would really be there or not - if Kikyou showed up, I knew, deep down, that he would run off. With you, it isn't the same. I know that you will do what you said you would - no questions asked."

He stared out at the horizon for a time, pondering her words. She... trusts me to keep my word - and she knew that she couldn't trust his.

It causes her pain to admit it, I can see that.

"I had considered giving you a flower - one to console your heart for the hurt it is feeling. However," here, he looked at her for a moment, before looking away, "when I saw which flower symbolized consolation, I decided against it."

Kagome frowned, intrigued. "Why?"

"Do you not know which flower it is that means such?"

"No," she said slowly, brow furrowing deeper as she ran through all the flowers she could remember the meanings to. "I can't think of it."

"White poppy."

And then she understood. Poppies. Flowers that also symbolized eternal sleep.

He did not wish to remind her of the cold embrace of death.

She looked down at the ground, a small, but heartfelt smile lighting her features from within. He didn't wish to remind her of betrayal, and pain. He was even protecting her as much as he could from being hurt emotionally.

That knowledge, more than any other, warmed her heart and consoled her more than anything else probably ever would, and she looked up at him, to find him watching her.

Smile growing, brightening her eyes until there were no shadows left, she said, "Maybe the best consolation isn't found in flowers, my Lord - but in being reminded that there are always those who care for us, no matter what. Once again, I find myself in your debt - this time for reminding me of that."

Standing, she continued to hold his gaze. "Will you come with me to join the others, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

He held her gaze weighingly for a moment, then nodded once and stood to follow her down the hill.

A small child watched them from her spot in the field, and smiled delightedly.

Soon.

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A/N: I like the way this one turned out...

Amber