Second Anniversary Challenge Prompt: Unsung
Title: The Unsung Life
Author: britedark
POV: Kaede
Universe: canon (last chapter)
Word Count: 296
Summary: If you could choose an ordinary life, would you?
Author's Notes: This will go into the Little Bits collection.
The Unsung Life
The second girl yowled just as loudly as her twin, as Kaede gently washed her clean. Kaede smiled, pleased at the vigor of the newborn. Twice before, she had helped women birth twins. In neither case, had the children displayed this pair's strength, and only one had survived to adulthood.
Cleaning, cleansing, and blessings accomplished, Kaede allowed the relieved Miroku back inside, then left the new parents in temporary peace. Pausing on the doorstep, she glanced at the glorious sunrise, smiling. Healthy babies, a tired but healthy mother, and a relieved, grinning father: what was more rewarding than this?
"Told you there'd be twins."
"I believed you."
"Miroku didn't." Inuyasha plucked the basket from her fingers, walking alongside. "And I thought Sango was gonna faint, when I told them."
"I'm not surprised-it's hard enough to be pregnant with one, let alone two."
They walked together silently for a while.
"I hope they have better lives than their parents."
Kaede gave Inuyasha a sharp glance. She had long since concluded that Inuyasha had matured considerably since that final fight and subsequent loss of Kagome, but his statement still surprised her. "Ah?"
He smiled, but his eyes were sad. "Watching your father die, from his own kazaana, or by your brother's weapon?"
Kaede nodded, understanding, still surprised. "It may seem grand to others, to have poetry and stories written about one's great deeds. But, if one knew the costs of those deeds, would not many choose to have an uneventful, unsung life?"
Inuyasha looked thoughtful, then nodded slowly. "It was mostly for Kikyo's sake, I agreed to turn human, back then, but… I… also kinda liked the idea of being normal. Accepted."
She had wondered about that. "But, now, you're accepted as you are."
"Yeah." He smiled.
Author: britedark
POV: Kaede
Universe: canon (last chapter)
Word Count: 296
Summary: If you could choose an ordinary life, would you?
Author's Notes: This will go into the Little Bits collection.
The Unsung Life
The second girl yowled just as loudly as her twin, as Kaede gently washed her clean. Kaede smiled, pleased at the vigor of the newborn. Twice before, she had helped women birth twins. In neither case, had the children displayed this pair's strength, and only one had survived to adulthood.
Cleaning, cleansing, and blessings accomplished, Kaede allowed the relieved Miroku back inside, then left the new parents in temporary peace. Pausing on the doorstep, she glanced at the glorious sunrise, smiling. Healthy babies, a tired but healthy mother, and a relieved, grinning father: what was more rewarding than this?
"Told you there'd be twins."
"I believed you."
"Miroku didn't." Inuyasha plucked the basket from her fingers, walking alongside. "And I thought Sango was gonna faint, when I told them."
"I'm not surprised-it's hard enough to be pregnant with one, let alone two."
They walked together silently for a while.
"I hope they have better lives than their parents."
Kaede gave Inuyasha a sharp glance. She had long since concluded that Inuyasha had matured considerably since that final fight and subsequent loss of Kagome, but his statement still surprised her. "Ah?"
He smiled, but his eyes were sad. "Watching your father die, from his own kazaana, or by your brother's weapon?"
Kaede nodded, understanding, still surprised. "It may seem grand to others, to have poetry and stories written about one's great deeds. But, if one knew the costs of those deeds, would not many choose to have an uneventful, unsung life?"
Inuyasha looked thoughtful, then nodded slowly. "It was mostly for Kikyo's sake, I agreed to turn human, back then, but… I… also kinda liked the idea of being normal. Accepted."
She had wondered about that. "But, now, you're accepted as you are."
"Yeah." He smiled.