InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Flower Girl ❯ Forsaken ( Chapter 21 )

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

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

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Kagome sighed, putting up a hand, she cupped it over her eyes to block out the bright sunlight, and looked away down the beach. They had been traveling for almost two weeks now - it had been that long since she'd died and been brought back.

And still, her body held a coldness that not even the heat of the day could warm.

They were nearing a small settlement along the sand, and Kagome smiled as she noticed a little grouping of pretty blue and white flowers - anemone. She waited...

"Kagome-sama! Look! Aren't the flowers pretty?" Sure enough, Rin quickly noticed the tiny blooms and went right for them, picking several to place in her book.

"Hai, Rin, the flowers are pretty. They are called anemone." She broke off when Sesshoumaru appeared at her side, looking thoughtfully down at the small blossoms, then glancing at her.

Does he know what they mean? she wondered.

He bent down and picked one, then straightening, he handed it to her. "He will be here in a few moments, miko. Perhaps you should give him this flower."

He turned, leaving her stunned, and spoke quietly to the rest of the group. "We will rest here." With that, he looked at her again, then turned away and disappeared.

She knew he hadn't gone far - he was giving her a little space to deal with what was coming.

Inuyasha.

She stared at the flower in her hand for a moment, then walked off, heading away from the group. She needed a little privacy, a bit of time alone.

It's funny, she thought, as she sat down in the sand, in the two weeks he's been gone, it's been so peaceful. I've felt... pain, yes, but... less stressed. It's almost as though... even though it hurt, I was relieved that he'd finally made his choice. The weight was gone from my shoulders.

She laughed lightly, for a moment. With Sesshoumaru, I don't feel that stress and fear. I know that no matter what, I'm safe.

Who would have ever guessed that?

Raising her gaze, she stared out at the ocean, watching as the waves came into shore, breaking slowly on the gentle sand rise of the beach.

Just as those waves break the rocks down into sand, Inuyasha was breaking me down - slowly, over time... and I didn't even realize it.

Would I ever have, if it hadn't been for Sesshoumaru?

Twirling the flower in her fingers, she didn't look up until she heard a thump next to her, and looked into Inuyasha's golden eyes.

Same color... and yet, so different, she mused, as she looked back down at the little blue flower in her hand. She stood up, absently dusting the sand off her skirt, and then solemnly handed the hanyou the flower.

Inuyasha stared at it, then looked back up at her quizzically.

"What's this for?"

She tilted her head, watching him almost blankly for a few seconds, then said, "It's anemone. It means 'forsaken' - and stands for betrayal." With that, she turned and walked back to her friends, leaving a shocked hanyou holding a little blue flower behind her.

She didn't even look back once.

Sesshoumaru watched from above, pleased at the strength she displayed towards someone that had caused her such pain.

She is frail - so human, and yet, she bends with the current, instead of breaking, like a reed in the river, she endures what would destroy anyone else.

It is... endlessly fascinating. I wonder...

Is this what so captured my father's interest with Izayoi?

But no, the hime was weak. She was not like Kagome.

He glanced at his brother.

That is why the whelp is so simple-minded - I have no doubt that if the miko had been his mother, he would have been a force to fear, hanyou or not.

Perhaps it is not simply his mixed blood that is his downfall...

He watched the boy clench his hand around the flower, and then stare after the girl with anger in his eyes - and pain. He didn't like being hit with the truth, it seemed.

And maybe if you had faced the truth before, Inuyasha, you would not be in this position now.

Because the truth is that you betrayed her for something that died fifty years ago.

So who is the fool, little brother? You could not even see what was right in front of you...

That is what makes you weak.

He looked again at the flower that lay, now crushed and forgotten in the sand, as he followed after Kagome.

Forsaken, indeed.

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A/N: And now he's seeing that human blood isn't always such a bad thing... wonder where that thought will eventually lead?

Amber