#153 - Sweeping The Steps
Title: Swept Away
Rating: K
Genre: Angst/Romance
Pairings or Characters: Inu Yasha/Kagome
Warnings: None
Summary: Sometimes while doing the most ordinary of things, something extraordinary can happen.
Swept Away
Swish. Swish. Swish.
Each stroke of the old-fashioned, bamboo broom sent another light cloud of dust and debris skittering down the remaining steps.
Swish. Swish.
The slight breeze was cool, heralding the beginning of fall. It wasn't quite autumn enough for the leaves to start falling, but they would soon enough.
Swish.
Kagome paused in her work, taking a moment to look out across the city from her current vantage point. She was near the top of the stairs, just steps away from the uppermost torii that marked the main entrance to her ancestral home.
She remembered when she was very young, she had loved wearing miko garb. She had always been so excited about being allowed to dress like a "grown up". Then she had reached her teen years, and her interest severely waned. In fact, it was a chore for her to dress in such old-fashioned clothing.
Then she fell through the old dry well on the shrine grounds, and not only her world, but her entire worldview had changed.
She dashed away the stray tears that had crept into her eyes with the sleeve of her white haori, trying not to cry even harder. It had only been a couple of years, but it seemed like an eternity since she had journeyed 500 years into the past. Now the robes she had once huffed and puffed about felt like one of the few connections she had left to that time of her life.
In the beginning of their time together, she had hated miko robes more than ever. The comparisons between her and Kikyou were far too painful. Yet as time went on, and especially after her predecessor's death, she had come to embrace them. After all, if she ever did go back to the past, it was likely she would settle in Kaede's village. Hopefully apprentice herself to Kaede and earn a living that way. She knew her friends would understand. She just wasn't the type to be happy simply as a housewife.
A rosy blush crept into her cheeks at the thought of exactly whose wife she would be. In her heart and mind, there was only one possibility, and she missed him more and more each day.
Did he ever try the well? Did he think of her as often as she thought of him? It may be selfish, but Kagome sincerely hoped so. She shifted her grip on the broom and rubbed her chest where the pang of loss caused momentary pain. Maybe if she graduated high school, then this time would be done with her and she could go home.
It was strange, realizing that although she had been born and raised in the Higurashi Shrine, her home really wasn't a place anymore. It was a person.
She swept a few more steps absentmindedly, her arms moving even as her mind whirled. Her feet moved without her conscious input, taking her to the bottom of the stairs. She completed her task, and the finality of it shocked her out of her thoughts. She grinned sheepishly. At least the task was done.
She walked back up the stairs she had traversed since childhood, then pivoted once she reached the top, letting the air caress her cheeks and stroke her hair. She closed her eyes, wishing it were Inu Yasha doing such things.
Then she felt warmth surround her, a very familiar one. Her eyes shot open and she started to turn.
"Don't move," a gruff voice demanded.
Kagome's walls crumbled around her, her tears flowing freely now.
"Oi, wench, stop that," came the same pissed-off grumble that Kagome knew hid his finer feelings.
"I'm sorry," she said, leaning back a little bit and finding the warmth behind her to be solid. She brought her free hand up and found a steely forearm beneath the fire rat fabric she knew so well. She glanced down, but despite how real everything felt, the image of his haori-clad arms was translucent. "I just miss you so much," she murmured.
"I.. miss you, too," Inu Yasha replied, burying his nose in her hair.
Or, at least that's what it felt like to Kagome.
"Stay strong for me, Kagome," he said.
Kagome made a sound of assent, wishing this illusion would never go away. A moment later, he was gone, the breeze now chilling her back.
She finally turned around and saw absolutely nothing. No hint of red clothing or silver hair. Not even any visitors to the shrine.
She didn't care if it had just been a mirage created by her heart's desire. Those few stolen moments made her feel worlds better.
She would get through this, and someday she would make it back to him. Then it would be the steps of their own home she would be sweeping.
Rating: K
Genre: Angst/Romance
Pairings or Characters: Inu Yasha/Kagome
Warnings: None
Summary: Sometimes while doing the most ordinary of things, something extraordinary can happen.
Swept Away
Swish. Swish. Swish.
Each stroke of the old-fashioned, bamboo broom sent another light cloud of dust and debris skittering down the remaining steps.
Swish. Swish.
The slight breeze was cool, heralding the beginning of fall. It wasn't quite autumn enough for the leaves to start falling, but they would soon enough.
Swish.
Kagome paused in her work, taking a moment to look out across the city from her current vantage point. She was near the top of the stairs, just steps away from the uppermost torii that marked the main entrance to her ancestral home.
She remembered when she was very young, she had loved wearing miko garb. She had always been so excited about being allowed to dress like a "grown up". Then she had reached her teen years, and her interest severely waned. In fact, it was a chore for her to dress in such old-fashioned clothing.
Then she fell through the old dry well on the shrine grounds, and not only her world, but her entire worldview had changed.
She dashed away the stray tears that had crept into her eyes with the sleeve of her white haori, trying not to cry even harder. It had only been a couple of years, but it seemed like an eternity since she had journeyed 500 years into the past. Now the robes she had once huffed and puffed about felt like one of the few connections she had left to that time of her life.
In the beginning of their time together, she had hated miko robes more than ever. The comparisons between her and Kikyou were far too painful. Yet as time went on, and especially after her predecessor's death, she had come to embrace them. After all, if she ever did go back to the past, it was likely she would settle in Kaede's village. Hopefully apprentice herself to Kaede and earn a living that way. She knew her friends would understand. She just wasn't the type to be happy simply as a housewife.
A rosy blush crept into her cheeks at the thought of exactly whose wife she would be. In her heart and mind, there was only one possibility, and she missed him more and more each day.
Did he ever try the well? Did he think of her as often as she thought of him? It may be selfish, but Kagome sincerely hoped so. She shifted her grip on the broom and rubbed her chest where the pang of loss caused momentary pain. Maybe if she graduated high school, then this time would be done with her and she could go home.
It was strange, realizing that although she had been born and raised in the Higurashi Shrine, her home really wasn't a place anymore. It was a person.
She swept a few more steps absentmindedly, her arms moving even as her mind whirled. Her feet moved without her conscious input, taking her to the bottom of the stairs. She completed her task, and the finality of it shocked her out of her thoughts. She grinned sheepishly. At least the task was done.
She walked back up the stairs she had traversed since childhood, then pivoted once she reached the top, letting the air caress her cheeks and stroke her hair. She closed her eyes, wishing it were Inu Yasha doing such things.
Then she felt warmth surround her, a very familiar one. Her eyes shot open and she started to turn.
"Don't move," a gruff voice demanded.
Kagome's walls crumbled around her, her tears flowing freely now.
"Oi, wench, stop that," came the same pissed-off grumble that Kagome knew hid his finer feelings.
"I'm sorry," she said, leaning back a little bit and finding the warmth behind her to be solid. She brought her free hand up and found a steely forearm beneath the fire rat fabric she knew so well. She glanced down, but despite how real everything felt, the image of his haori-clad arms was translucent. "I just miss you so much," she murmured.
"I.. miss you, too," Inu Yasha replied, burying his nose in her hair.
Or, at least that's what it felt like to Kagome.
"Stay strong for me, Kagome," he said.
Kagome made a sound of assent, wishing this illusion would never go away. A moment later, he was gone, the breeze now chilling her back.
She finally turned around and saw absolutely nothing. No hint of red clothing or silver hair. Not even any visitors to the shrine.
She didn't care if it had just been a mirage created by her heart's desire. Those few stolen moments made her feel worlds better.
She would get through this, and someday she would make it back to him. Then it would be the steps of their own home she would be sweeping.