InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stream of Consciousness: A LiveJournal Collection ❯ Seasonal Remembrances ( Chapter 79 )

Title: Seasonal Remembrances

Community: First Tweak

Theme: Autumn Leaves

Place Earned: none

Rating: PG-13

Universe: Canon post-manga

Word count: 611

Summary: Inuyasha gazes at the falling leaves and remembers…

Warnings: none

 

 

Seasonal Remembrances

 

Inuyasha watched silently as the forest slowly shed its vitality, the dying leaves cascading down upon the earth. A cool breeze blew through, picking up leaves and tossing them into the air, as if the wind was trying to return them to the trees from which they fell. But nothing could reverse the cruel will of nature; soon the land would be gripped by a ruthless, icy winter. Inuyasha sighed. He hated this time of year, when the forest became barren, almost lifeless. The trees were reduced to dormant hulks, winter's icicles the only things to grow on them. Autumn was the precursor to a season of cold and lifelessness, but that was not its only vice in the hanyou's eyes. The fluttering leaves reminded him of the past, of shreds of memory better left forgotten…

 

The leaves had fallen on that day too. The day he became an orphan, alone in the world. The wind gusted strongly that day; to a small hanyou child, it seemed to lament his mother's passing as much as he did. Hapless leaves would drift into the funeral pyre, being instantly consumed by the leaping flames. Others clung to his hair, but he failed to notice. He stood there long after the few indifferent mourners had departed, and the fire slowly withered before finally going out. The darkness closed in on him swiftly then, the night's chill such a contrast from the warmth of his mother's embrace. He had been tempted to find a pile of leaves and simply lie in it until he became one with them, his cold, hungry body dying so his spirit could reunite with the only person who had ever cared for him. But something stopped him, brushed against his consciousness, urged him to live. He never knew what it was, or whether it was his imagination. And he had never returned to his home village.

 

The leaves had fallen three years ago as well. Almost three years ago to the day, he'd been sitting in the same spot. Naraku was defeated, the jewel was gone, and Kagome was safe in her own time. It had been a full month since he'd last spoken to her, smelled her scent, touched her…and it had taken him that long to realize how badly he missed her. The leaves fell around him again, clinging to him during one of the lowest moments of his life. The dark clouds overhead fit perfectly with the depth of his depression. He later blamed those same clouds for the moisture on his cheeks. The only problem was that it had never rained.

 

It was not a mysterious force which caused him to shake off the leaves and rise. This time, he had something to live for. His friends, Miroku and Sango's unborn children, whom they had asked him to be `uncle' for. And Kagome…his heart refused to give up, to admit that she would never return. That hope kept him going, even as the months turned to years and each Autumn shriveled his heart a little more. But it did not give up, nor did he.

 

Now, Inuyasha found himself unable to resist doing something which he never in his wildest dreams thought he would while brooding on the falling leaves. He smiled. Kagome had returned, answered his heart's plea, and just yesterday she had even added a new memory to his collection of seasonal remembrances. Chasing her during one of her ridiculous games, tackling her, rolling with her through the leaves, staring into her eyes, kissing her…truly kissing her for the first time…

 

His smile widened; somehow, he knew this winter would not be so cold.