Weekly Perfection #68: Petal
Title: A Single Ray
Author: Sensei
Words: 200
Rating: G
Genre: Canon, after Naraku's destruction
Author's Note: My first ficlet of 2010 ~ Happy New Year to all!
The child hands me flowers, stems snapped and daisy heads wide-splayed. I am not the sun, and flowers cannot thrive once plucked. I say this without words, and she seems to understand. Her smile remains ever wide and unfaltering. There are times I would like to reflect back a single ray of that innocent, bright-eyed delight. She has faced the grossest wrongs of mortals, the cruelty of their false sentience and fears of mortality in ways I have not. Somehow it is always enough for us both that I silently accept her offering. "Sesshoumaru-sama," she chirps, and scampers back into the woods for more of nature's decaying bounty.
As dusk approaches, the ground before me is littered with daisies, chrysanthemum, and thistle; soft gifts of white, lavender, yellow. The child is out of breath, still smiling. She looks over the abundant treasure at my feet. The tribute has at last reached her satisfaction.
"Why so many this day, Rin?" I ask.
She climbs into my lap unbidden and rubs a pink petal across the markings upon my cheek. Into my ear she whispers her secret: "The miko has gone home, Sesshoumaru-sama. The flowers will mask the scent of your sadness."
~
Author: Sensei
Words: 200
Rating: G
Genre: Canon, after Naraku's destruction
Author's Note: My first ficlet of 2010 ~ Happy New Year to all!
The child hands me flowers, stems snapped and daisy heads wide-splayed. I am not the sun, and flowers cannot thrive once plucked. I say this without words, and she seems to understand. Her smile remains ever wide and unfaltering. There are times I would like to reflect back a single ray of that innocent, bright-eyed delight. She has faced the grossest wrongs of mortals, the cruelty of their false sentience and fears of mortality in ways I have not. Somehow it is always enough for us both that I silently accept her offering. "Sesshoumaru-sama," she chirps, and scampers back into the woods for more of nature's decaying bounty.
As dusk approaches, the ground before me is littered with daisies, chrysanthemum, and thistle; soft gifts of white, lavender, yellow. The child is out of breath, still smiling. She looks over the abundant treasure at my feet. The tribute has at last reached her satisfaction.
"Why so many this day, Rin?" I ask.
She climbs into my lap unbidden and rubs a pink petal across the markings upon my cheek. Into my ear she whispers her secret: "The miko has gone home, Sesshoumaru-sama. The flowers will mask the scent of your sadness."
~