Faerie Fics

June Flashfic

2006-07-09T18:53:31Z

Title: Morning
Written For: numisma
Pairing or Character: Kohaku/Kagome (and Miroku/Sango)
Genre: A bit fluff-ish. Oops.
Word Count: 2042
Rating: PG
Summary: After the end, Kagome makes a wish on the jewel and is left behind in the feudal era without Inuyasha. She moves to the taijiya village, and the rest is history.

When Kagome made her wish on the jewel, five years after she’d seen it for the first time, she imagined that she was putting everything back in its rightful place. It was a simple wish, definitely not selfish, and when it was done she thought she could just go home, back to where she belonged, and life for everyone else would just go on. Everyone could be happy.

But, of course, that was just too easy.

Kagome wished that Inuyasha and Kikyo could have a second chance, but instead of bringing Kikyo back to life, or any of the other eventualities that Kagome had prepared for, they disappeared, along with the jewel. Kaede decided that they’d probably been sent back to the beginning, fifty years beforehand, so they could have their second chance.

Maybe so they could just repeat history all over again. Everyone hoped that they would remember everything that had happened.

Kagome hoped that Inuyasha would remember her.

But at least almost everything else seemed to be where it was supposed to be. Kagome resigned to the fact that her wish wasn’t what she’d meant it to be, but the jewel was gone, and she just had to trust that somewhere, Inuyasha and Kikyo had a chance at being happy. Kagome said her goodbyes, and headed for home.

Except that the well wouldn’t let her through.

Kagome was baffled. She’d never been able to get through the well from her time to the feudal era without jewel shards or Inuyasha, but she’d never had a problem getting back home before. It seemed that now that the jewel and Inuyasha were both gone, the well just decided to stop working. Even after jumping in several times, it still wouldn’t let her through. Frustrated and out of breath, Kagome returned to the village.

She stayed with Kaede for a while, helping her tend to the sick and collecting herbs, as Kaede’s hands had started to get to stiff and gnarled to do it anymore.

The well still would not open.

Life went on. Miroku went back to visit Mushin for a few months and tied up all loose ends there, giving Sango and Kohaku a chance to reconnect. Shippo, after tagging along with Kagome for a few weeks and being bored completely out of his mind, was finally convinced to go stay with Kouga’s tribe to learn youkai-related survival techniques and the like, as he was growing up and needed to learn to fend for himself. Life fell into some sort of rhythm.

Kagome tried to get through the well almost daily, but day after day all she had to show for it were scraped knees and her ever-diminishing hope of ever returning home.

Sango and Kohaku spent a lot of time together, Sango staying close Kohaku throughout most of the day. Kohaku didn’t speak much, but had grown into a strong, handsome young man of almost seventeen. When Kagome would walk by them, sitting by the river, she noticed that Sango often looked frustrated, and that Kohaku’s eyes were usually downturned. It seemed as though even though Naraku was dead and they were together again, a rift remained between the siblings. Sango was interested in moving on with their lives, while Kohaku was invariably still stuck in the past and what he’d done, whether it was of is own will or not. Kagome came to realize that she’d never seen him smile.

When Miroku returned from Mushin’s, he and Sango made plans to marry, and then to move back to the abandoned taijiya village, along with Kohaku and Kirara, to start over. They tried to convince Kagome to come with them, but she refused, wanting to stay close to the well and Kaede, clinging to the tiny shards of hope that one day Inuyasha would come back, or the well would let her go home, but one day, almost a year after the well had closed for good, Kaede took a turn for the worse, and passed away within the month. With a few choice words from Kohaku, she was able to finally accept the fact that the well was probably closed for good. Kagome agreed to go to the taijiya village with her friends.

Sango and Miroku were optimistic, excited at the prospect of starting a new life, starting a family, and rebuilding the village. They filled the spaces in between the broken well and their new home with chatter about plans and the future and all the exciting things it held. Kagome didn’t talk much, and Kohaku was nearly silent.

When they finally arrived at the village, they found that it was much as they’d last left it. There was only one shelter that was still mostly standing, and even it was heavily damaged. The four of them, plus Kirara, moved into the small hut, and began rebuilding. It was decided that the newlyweds would live in the most intact hut, while Miroku and Kohaku would work together to build two more shelters for Kagome and Kohaku. Sango and Kagome set to work clearing debris and searching for anything salvageable amongst the fallen buildings.

As they worked over the next few weeks, Kagome and Sango talked idly, but there seemed to be barriers between them that hadn’t been there before. Kagome had become distant, and Sango, for the first time in a very long time, was finally happy. The two quickly ran out of common threads, and neither wanted to talk about the past. They worked in silence, for the most part, and after awhile, in order to avoid Sango’s eye, Kagome began watching the men build.

Both men had made great progress on their own respective projects. Miroku had been working on fixing the hut that he and Sango had claimed, and in just a few short days had managed to place a sturdy roof over their heads, but the real remarkable accomplishment was the fact that Kohaku had managed to put up all four walls of the second hut in almost the same amount of time. Kagome realized that she hadn’t seen him take a break at all in the days he’d been working, unless he’d been forced to stop by Sango or Miroku. Apparently the last six years of constant battle and flight had done wonder for the boy’s strength and stamina.

One hot day, Kagome observed that both men had shrugged out of their shirts and were both sweating profusely. It hadn’t passed her notice that Sango had been stealing glances at Miroku all afternoon. They were still in the honeymoon stage of their marriage, and Kagome knew that they would probably want the completed hut to themselves as soon as possible. Sharing the small shelter with both herself and Kohaku was undoubtedly frustrating, although they would never say so. Kagome hoped that Kohaku would finish the second hut quickly, so the newlyweds could have some time to themselves.

Glancing back over at the hut that Kohaku was diligently working on, she was surprised to find that he was already starting on the roof of the small house. Kagome stared for a minute, letting her eyes wander over the boy’s muscular chest for a moment; before she felt him glance her way, and quickly turned back to the file of broken dishes she’d been sorting through. She felt a blush creep over her cheeks.

That night was clear and warm, so Kohaku suggested that Kagome sleep in the new hut, despite the fact that the roof was only halfway completed. Kagome agreed, knowing that Kohaku wanted to give Miroku and Sango their alone time just as much as she did. Kohaku had disappeared the last couple of nights, and she was sure that he’d found someplace else to sleep, so the newlyweds would finally have their time alone.

Lying in her new home that night, Kagome stared up at the stars. The night sky revealed thousands of stars that she’d never dreamed of seeing at home. She let her mind wander back to the last time she’d stargazed like this. It was a little over a year prior with Inuyasha, just a few days before the final defeat of Naraku. At the time, Kagome had wanted to discuss the future with Inuyasha, but looking back she was grateful for the silence in one of the last times they’d been able to spend together, alone.

She thought back to other nights when she’d stared up at the stars. Eight summers ago, when she and Souta had gone to summer camp together and he’d pointed out constellations for her, and even further back, almost to the very beginning of memory when her father had done the same. So many memories wrapped up in those heavenly bodies. Kagome closed her eyes and tried to pinch back tears, knowing that she wouldn’t sleep that night. She got out of bed, hoping that a short walk would calm her down so she could sleep.

She wrapped her blanket around her shoulders and wandered through the village, the full moon illuminating the broken buildings. She heard a shuffle in the foundation of one of the very badly damaged buildings and jumped back, fearing that it was a small youkai of some sort, then Kohaku emerged from the rubble. He sighed heavily, brushing off his clothes before he realized that Kagome was standing there with a gasp.

“You scared me,” he said softly, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips but not quite reaching the rest of his face, “couldn’t sleep?” Kagome smiled back.

“No,” she answered, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders, “is this where you’ve been the past few nights?”

“Yes,” he said, “I...I’ve been having nightmares...about Naraku and everything...and I didn’t want to bother Sango.” He shifted from foot to foot, avoiding eye contact with Kagome, “This place isn’t so bad.” With a sigh, Kagome reached for his hand.

“Come on, come sleep in my hut. It’s big enough and I really don’t like the thought of you sleeping in a pile of junk.”

“N-no, that’s okay,” Kohaku said, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to fall back to sleep tonight anyway.”

“Then do you want to go for a walk or something?”

“Okay.”

He didn’t take her hand, but they walked closely, side by side, out into the woods surrounding the village. Kagome had been too afraid to venture into the dark on her own, but she knew that Kohaku knew the forest he’d grown up in like the back of his hand. They walked for several hours, talking quietly about this or that, slowly venturing into the forbidden territory of the past.

Kagome talked about Souta and Buyo while Kohaku divulged secrets about Sango and Kirara. They exchanged stories about their parents, their schooling, and drifted slowly into the pain of the past. Kagome told Kohaku about how responsible she felt for everything that had happened because of the jewel, and Kohaku told Kagome about the guilt he still carried for his father’s death.

Shortly before dawn, Kohaku whispered in Kagome’s ear that he wanted to show her something, and she followed him through the trees, finding his hand in the first glow of the morning.

They came upon a beautiful field of white lilies, the petals illuminated for the first rays of the sun rising up over the horizon. Kagome forgot to breathe for a moment.

“It’s beautiful,” she gasped, squeezing Kohaku’s hand tighter, and she stole a glance at Kohaku’s face, where a small smile had formed that finally reached his eyes. Kagome grinned. “You know, this is the first time I’ve seen you smile in the six years that I’ve known you,” she said.

“It’s a new day,” he said, picking a flower and handing it to Kagome, “I just realized.”

The two walked back to the village hand in hand, and promptly collapsed in the new hut Kohaku had built for Kagome, smiles on both of their faces.

When Kagome awoke late the next morning, she opened her eyes to a clear blue sky.

‘It’s a new day,' she thought, as she watched Kohaku, who was already up on the roof, finishing her new home.

faeriefics @ 2006-07-07T15:08:00

2006-07-07T19:07:33Z

Title: Lost and Found
Written For: prpl_pen
Pairing or Character: Shippo+Rin
Genre: Fluff
Word Count: 1169
Rating: PG
Summary: Rin and Shippo both lose their way in the woods, and keep each other company when it gets dark.

Rin hugged herself tightly as she tried to catch her breath. She’d been running for a long time now, and she was pretty sure that they weren’t still following her. Rin wasn’t afraid of many things, especially because she knew that Sesshoumaru-sama wouldn’t let anything hurt her, but there was still that one sound that set those little hairs on the back of her neck on end, that sent her running until she couldn’t breathe.

The wolves howled again in the distance, increasing the pace of Rin’s already frantically beating heart. She spun around in a panic, trying to tell which direction the sound had come from. Once she figured out where the sound was coming from she took off as fast as she could in the opposite direction, on already aching legs.

Her eyes were clouded with tears so that she couldn't even see where she was going, but she kept running at top speed, blindly groping for safety. The howling got closer and closer, when all of a sudden she ran smack dab into someone who seemed to have been running straight at her in the opposite direction. She screamed, and tried to break into a run again, but a small hand took hold of her wrist and stopped her.

"Wait," said Shippo, glancing around nervously, "this place is surrounded...we've gotta get up in a tree, okay?" Transforming into his pink bubble form, Shippo carried Rin up high in a nearby tree.

Rin had calmed slightly, but she was still crying, and mumbling "Sesshoumaru-sama" over and over again. Seeing the girl cry tugged at Shippo's heartstrings, so after he set her down gently on a sturdy tree branch, he awkwardly patted her on the shoulder in an attempt to console the girl.

"Don't worry, the wolves can't get us up here," he said, but Rin just curled herself up into a ball and continued her mantra of "Sesshoumaru-sama". Shippo tried again. "You're the little girl that travels with Sesshoumaru, aren't you?" he said gently, "What's your name? I'm Shippo." He bowed slightly, and Rin's sobs subsided a bit.

"I'm Rin," she said, dipping her head a bit, and using her sleeves to wipe her eyes, "You travel with Sesshoumaru-sama's little brother, Inuyasha, right?" Shippo nodded enthusiastically, extremely relieved that the girl had stopped crying. There was another howl in the distance, and Rin quickly clamped her hands over her ears and started wailing again. Shippo, flustered, looked for something to placate the girl, and just said the first thing that popped into his head.

"Um...so...what's it like, traveling with Sesshoumaru?" Rin brightened instantly at the mention of Sesshoumaru's name.

She started rambling on an on about how wonderful he was, and how strong and powerful and amazing, and...she just went on and on and on until she had explained her entire history with Sesshoumaru, starting with the day that she found him with his arm missing all the way up to...this evening when she'd wandered off from Jaken's watch to pick flowers and lost her way and heard the wolves and just started running...and she ended up in tears again. Shippo just sighed in frustration. he was beginning to see what Inuyasha was talking about when he rambled on about women and their emotions.

But at the same time, he had this overwhelming urge to do something to make her stop crying. So, he just started talking, recounting his adventures with Inuyasha and Kagome, starting from when he'd first tried to steal Kagome's jewel shards to just this afternoon when he'd played a trick that caused Inuyasha to walk in on Kagome while she was bathing, making it necessary for Shippo to hightail it out of there if he didn't want a few new lumps on his head. He'd gotten lost and ended up running into Rin...

"...and then I heard the wolves and started running, and then I ran into you and we ended up in this tree and then you told me about Sesshoumaru and then I told you about Inuyasha and now here we are!" he finished, throwing his arms in the air. Rin smiled.

By this point, the sun was starting to go down, and Inuyasha had told him that this particular part of the forest was teeming with lesser demons. They'd definitely be safest staying in the tree. However, after an hour of exchanging silly stories of how Kagome had sat Inuyasha or Jaken had tripped over the staff of heads, Rin got fidgety and almost wiggled herself right off the branch.

Shippo panicked for a moment, but she righted herself just fine, and Shippo brought out his tops and the two of them played with them until Rin fell asleep, leaning against Shippo.

Early the next morning, Shippo was awoken by a high pitched whining noise that seemed to be coming from the base of the tree. He peeked over the edge of the branch and saw an angry green imp with several angry red lumps in his head, shaking the Staff of Heads vehemently up the tree.

The yelling finally roused Rin, and she nearly dove down the tree, shouting, "Jaken-sama! You found me!"

"Get out of that tree instantly, young lady!" the imp chirped, "Sesshoumaru-sama will have my head if I don't have you back in five minutes!"

Rin just giggled and tried to shimmy her way down the branch, but they were far too high for her to make a safe landing. Before Shippo had a chance to grab her wrist and take her down to the forest floor, Sesshoumaru-sama himself appeared before them, floating in the air directly beside the branch. He plucked Rin off like an apple, and she instantly started babbling to him about how Shippo had saved her and how they had played with his tops and how Inuyasha had seen Kagome naked and...

Sesshoumaru raised one enigmatic eyebrow, and told Rin to hush.

Sesshoumaru thanked Shippo for looking after Rin, deposited her on the nearby Ah-Un, and they left silently, leaving Shippo alone in his tree. For a moment, Shippo just sat there, trying to come to terms with the fact that he'd just been a mere yard away from Sesshoumaru, and had lived to tell the tale.

He was shortly jerked from his reflection by Inuyasha's voice yelling rudely, "Oi, brat, come down out of that tree, we're leaving!"

Shippo quickly bounced down from the tree, eager to tell Inuyasha and everybody else about his new friend. As soon as he was close enough, Inuyasha bopped Shippo on the head.

"That's for worrying Kagome," he said, then bopped Shippo on the head several more times, "and those are for tricking me yesterday." Shippo winced and rubbed the newly formed lumps on his head. Maybe he would just keep his night with Rin to himself then.

That, and all the information he had learned about Inuyasha's older brother as well.

Shippo laughed, confusing Inuyasha, and ran ahead to catch up with the others.

faeriefics @ 2006-07-07T14:37:00

2006-07-07T18:41:32Z

Title: Broken
Written For: numisma
Pairing or Character: Sango and Kohaku
Genre: Introspective
Word Count: 304
Rating: PG
Summary: After the end, Sango took her broken little brother to their broken little village, whispering promises of a future into his ears as she held him close.

After the end, Sango took her broken little brother to their broken little village, whispering promises of a future into his ears as she held him close.

The village was quiet and empty, and the ghosts of the friends and family they had failed to protect, that they had murdered, crawled into their heads at night and latched onto their hearts, making the draft from the hole in the roof seem much chillier than it was. Each morning Sango woke with the intent to fix the roof, to till the gardens, to rebuild, to mend, to put back together, but each morning she was still broken, and he was still broken and how can someone who is broken fix anything?

She lay lilies on the graves of her father, her childhood friends, the children she had taught to fight, the women and men who had watched her grow up, and she was still broken.

The boy said nothing, the guilt was so heavy that he knew he would never be able to properly apologise, to tell her that he was grateful for his life, but that he did not deserve to live, but at night, when the chill of the night air soaked into their bones and the dead whispered curses in their ears, he clung to her. Something about the warmth from her body warmed him to the core, and felt almost like home even when their broken little village did not.

And she clings back. Something about the weight of his head on her shoulder felt like an apology, like a promise that someday they could mend their broken hearts.

After the end, Sango and Kohaku went home, and clung to the past and built a new future in the spaces between the cracks in the ceiling and his hand in hers.

My May Flashfic!

2006-06-01T05:32:19Z

Title: Between the Now and the Forever
Author's Name: faemous
Written For: paynesgrey
Pairing or Character: Kikyo (with a teeny bit of Inuyasha/Kikyo and Inuyasha/Kagome)
Genre: Introspective
Word Count: 1009
Rating: PG
Summary: Kikyo bound the jewel to her own soul, brought it with her to the between, and now, she waits.

In one moment, the world came crashing to a halt and the future that had been so painstakingly fought for and carefully planned and had seemed to be almost within reach was snatched away, and then it was over.

In the very last moment, Kikyo bound the jewel to her own soul, brought it with her to the between, and now, she waits.

Even in death she cannot rest, she exists now in the last moments she was living, the last moments she was dying, in the moments where hope slipped through her fingers and those where regret seeped through her veins. She exists in the moment when the truth fell away and the hatred ignited.

And now she is full and she is empty, completely incomplete, and she waits in the space between the Now and the Forever.

If she were able to think on it, from somewhere where she wasn’t drowning in that moment for even just a second, she might have cried over the fact that her life had come down to that one moment, one tiny glass ball, one selfish wish.

Or maybe she would have laughed to think that she would spend more than twice her lifetime living in that moment, unable to change the past or fix the future, hung up on the hatred, the betrayal, and the tiny glimmer of hope that next time, maybe next time, her soul could get it right.

And in the meantime, she waits.

The boy calls her name.

And then all at once she’s back on solid ground, back from the between and back to where the moments kept unfolding while she was hanging in hers. But she is still stuck, nothing has changed, the reincarnation keeps making mistakes, throwing her sacrifice back in her face, and the boy, the boy who betrayed her, whose name is on her lips even now, who broke a promise and should have been stuck in that moment too, and he is still alive, why is he alive, and the look on his face when he sees her makes her wish that she could have lived in the if only instead of the regret, but she knows that face and she knows that it must be a lie.

The only choice to make is how to bring him with her back to the between, she knows, they don’t belong in this strange space between the Then and the Next Time, she didn’t spend fifty years in a moment to pick up where she left off, but when she finally has some sort of chance to finish something she hadn’t had the strength to finish then she takes it, and tries to pull him back with her, fingers tingling, the hatred settling into the very foundation of her imitation body.

She falls and crawls back to the village she had once sworn to protect and finds the old woman who was once a little sister, and she learns the truth, and the truth is a name.

Naraku.

The name itself means hell, and now she knows that he is the reason that she died, that the fifty years of regret and pain and clinging to a moment she thought she knew had all been a lie. The boy was telling the truth and they had both been betrayed, and that look on his face had been the truth, but she had been hating him for decades longer than she had ever loved him, and forgot how to feel anything but the hatred, and the need. And so now all she knows is that she needs him. She can’t love him anymore but he is still hers, and if she brings him back with her, if they go, they can wait until the next time, and the next time it will be better. The next time she’ll be able to feel and maybe then, maybe then there can be a happily ever after.

But he has already found his next time in her next time, but she hasn’t gotten there yet, this is still a twisted between and now she doesn’t know why she even exists at all. All she knows is the hatred and she grasps blindly until she finds something to blame for the emptiness, and when she makes her decision it seems to be the simplest thing she’s ever done, and then there is purpose. She will gather together the jewel and purify it within the body of the one who is to blame. For now, there is no next time, because next time is struggling to find her way, and she doesn’t know what Kikyo knows.

So now she looks forward to the future, painstakingly fighting and carefully planning for the ultimate end, so that it almost seems that it is finally within reach, and then it dawns on her that now she is really living, and for the first time in any life, either her first life or the strange in-between life she is living now, she is free to do what she chooses. Her responsibilities have been passed on to the next one in line, and one day when she seeks out the boy, she finds that she doesn’t need him anymore. She doesn’t trust that he can win, nor can her reincarnation, who is far weaker than Kikyo ever was, but that isn’t why she’s fighting. She’s living for herself, correcting old mistakes because she wants to, and not because it’s her duty, there is no longer the obligation, only a desire to see things through to the end. To try to turn what was into what could have been.

So she lives, she lives for the End and for the Next Time, and looks forward to the day when she can go back to the Forever, and maybe on the way she’ll find some better moment to live in, but for now, she must wait and do what she can, finally finding her place in this not-so-strange place between the Beginning and the End.

Regret, November/December Flashfic

2006-01-02T08:43:52Z

Title: Regret
Written For: lucindathemaid in iy_flashfic
Pairing or Character: Hojo/Kagome
Genre: Angst/Drama
Word Count: 2,360
Rating: PG/K+
Warnings: Character Death
Summary: Kagome's been living on her own side of the well for years, and is now living with Hojo, but there's something about the past, and Inuyasha, that she can't let go.
Author's Note: Thank you to darcelona for helping me with some rough spots, and to the lovely numisma for beta-ing for me. Much love, ladies.

( Regret )

Updates!

2005-12-04T21:39:55Z

Okay, so I've been a complete phaleyur at updating this thing, so I figure I'll just do a huge mass update of all the things I've done recently. Or at least semi-recently.

Original!Fic:

1. Cold As Stone - Medusa. She spent her days in icy, quiet isolation; any creature who happened to stumble upon her in her seclusion instantly became another cold reminder of her fate. [ONESHOT]
-Written for my original!fic community, imagine_ink
-Won second place in Myth/Legend challenge

Inuyasha Fanfiction:

1. A Second Chance - Kagome makes her wish...but is it the right one? Inuyasha/Kagome [ONESHOT]
-Won second place in iyfic_challenge's Fate/Destiny challenge.

2. Letting Go - She'd been dreading this moment since the very beginning... Kagome says goodbye. [ONESHOT]

3. With His Touch - Miroku made a vow not to make the same mistakes his father did, however his hands and heart have their own ideas. Miroku/Sango [ONESHOT]
-Written for naybob in the August round of iy_flashfic.
-Won first place for Best Miroku/Sango Romance at IYFG third Quarter 2005.

4. To Stay and Fight - ‘Is she worth it?’ he thought, watching her lean over gracefully to trail her fingers through the clear water, ‘Is she worth what I would lose? Is it worth it to stay and fight?’ Inuyasha/Kikyo [ONESHOT]
-Written for alf_b in the September round of iy_flashfic

5. Remember - Souta turns eleven, and is suddenly plagued with visions of a past he doesn't rememb er. Souta, Kohaku [ONESHOT]
-Written for black_lavender in the October round of iy_flashfic

Enjoy!