InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In Bloom ❯ One-Shot

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Though Kagura is my favorite.

 

A/N: This is a one-shot for those of you who want something deeper than conversations. The last part will have a conversation, however. But, the first part is not.

 

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It's fascinating how a simple bud can blossom into a beautiful flower when spring comes around the corner.

 

Normally, I would not bother to notice the amazing transformation every full bloomed flower went through. In fact, it was so simple that I thought it to be unimportant. But, she showed me I was wrong.

 

Whenever she looked up at me with that smile, I always imagined her as a bud. A cheerful, hyper bud, but a flower still in bloom nevertheless. She'd come up to me with an armful of flowers, beaming and asking me if I thought they were beautiful. I never answered, but the look I gave her somehow told her that I thought she was right.

 

And, she was the one who brought me closer to that woman. That woman who never showed me any respect, but she made me feel warm around her anyway.

 

Now that I ponder over this, I realize with a slight smile that she, too, was a bud. A bud itching to bloom, but stuck in the last days of winter. Even in the winter, she stayed a bud, refusing to fall as the other buds did. That was what I admired in her. No matter how tough the situation, she stayed higher than the others in spirit and in determination.

 

When she passed away that day, I could feel my heart breaking.

 

Why? Why had she left this world so soon?

 

She had promised me that she'd survive till spring. She had made a vow.

 

Still, when that frigid wind had passed her so suddenly and quickly, she had fallen. Fallen and unable to rise back up. I still think that it was my own fault.

 

I could have shielded her from that wind.

 

And yet I let her fall to the ground like the golden leaves of fall. I let her hit the ground with such an impact that she froze up right then and there.

 

I did come for her, though. I did come forward with all the intentions of saving her, like all those times I had refused myself too.

 

But I was too late. She had fallen and was frozen.

 

Somehow, she had waited for me to come, and then had let herself fall. She'd waited.

 

She had waited for me. For me.

 

And I had not saved her.

 

Now I stand in that same season she had strived to reach. The girl comes to me with an armful of flowers once again and I look at each flower, angry at myself that I could not have saved her, yet someone had saved these plants before me. One particular flower catches my eye and I soften.

 

The flower she would have bloomed into.

 

I ask the child if I may have the flower and she excitedly gives me it, skipping away in satisfaction.

 

Then, I walk to the grave of the woman who had occupied my mind so many times.

 

Her grave? The air.

 

I walk to atop a hill and extend my arm, releasing the flower from my grasp.

 

Yes, I'm sure she's taking the flower from me as I feel a soft breeze carry it gently downwards. Before it completely disappears from my sight, I make a wish.

 

I wish that she may be reborn, and learn to bloom through her second chance.

 

For, I know that if given a second chance...

 

...she will bloom.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama, do you ever feel sad?”

 

The demon lord looked at her, no emotion in his face.

 

The child who had spoken fumbled with her hands. “Rin is not sad about her parents anymore because she thinks of you as her father now.”

 

With a raised eyebrow, Sesshoumaru slowly digested that last sentence and felt his heart warm up a little.

 

“But Rin also thought of that lady as her mother. And now Rin's new mommy is not here.”

 

Rin's new mother? Who is this woman who had made such an impact on her life?

 

“Did Sesshoumaru-sama like Rin's new mommy?”

 

“Who is Rin's new mother?” he questioned her, still not able to comprehend who she thought of as he mother.

 

Unable to remember her name, the girl instead picked up a stick and drew something in the dirt. What she drew...was a feather.

 

“This,” she said, pointing to the drawing.

 

Instantly, Sesshoumaru realized who she was talking about. How was he to answer, though? Should he tell her that he had fallen, unwillingly, in love with her? Or should he tell her that demons had no need for such feelings? Finally, he concluded with the safest response.

 

“Does it matter?”

 

Shaking her head, the child stopped fumbling with her fingers and looked up to the sky.

 

“She will come back for Rin, right? Maybe she is thinking of Rin right now?”

 

Out of no where, a petal fell from the sky and landed in the hands of the small girl. She gazed at it with soft eyes before presenting it to her `new father'.

 

“Look! She sent this petal to Rin! Rin's new mommy is thinking of her!”

 

Sesshoumaru gazed at the petal and saw that, indeed, she had to be right.

 

For, that petal belonged to the flower he had released from atop that hill. And there was no way it could have landed perfectly in Rin's hands if not directed by a certain someone.

 

Yes, that certain someone was still thinking of them, even if she couldn't be with them.

 

A voice passed by him, and he could faintly hear what it said:

 

Yesterday's lovely flower is but a dream today...

 

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A/N: That last line is actually a Japanese proverb.