The fire crackled wildly in the windy night, and Kagome pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders. Her companions were quiet, and as she cast her gaze around the circle of people gathering by the fire, she couldn’t help but notice the solemn looks on their faces. Slowly, her eyes returned to the flames in front of her. After only a few moments, she shut her eyes tightly and drew the blanket almost suffocatingly tight around herself, and buried her nose in its rough fibers.
It’s cold, she’d wanted to say – wanted to scream – but she kept quiet. The huts sat not far behind them, and all she wanted to do was avoid this dreary gathering. That wouldn’t be right, though. She couldn’t do that. None of them were out in the cold night because they wanted to be, no.
She gingerly opened her eyes once more, and shifted them around the circle. It was the absence she noticed most.
Sango sat on the log stool immediately to her right, and Miroku beside her. On the far side of the fire sat the old miko Kaede with Shippou sitting nestled against her side. Rin joined them as well, sitting on her own makeshift bench, with her back to the forest. Just out of sight, Kagome could also feel the pulse of a familiar youki, lingering, but not daring to come closer.
Even Sesshoumaru, she thought bleakly somewhere in the back of her mind.
It was when her eyes landed on the final sitting place, in the last opening by the fire, that she felt tears fill her eyes. The large rock just sat there, the top of it smoother than the rest due to years of use, like a – headstone, her brain supplied. The dam behind her emotions broke, and a strangled sob left her lips before she could hold it in.
Everyone’s eyes turned to her, then, and it was as if she had given them permission to let their emotions show as well. Suddenly, everyone’s face was shimmering with tears, little saltine rivers running down every cheek in sight. Even Kaede, the ever stoic woman who rarely showed any strong emotion, ducked her head and wept silently.
And yet, nobody moved. No one wanted to reach out and touch another, lest the emotion become too overwhelming. Everyone stayed rooted in their own spot, weeping for the one that could no longer shed tears of his own.
Somewhere, on the edge of her hearing, Kagome thought she heard a dog howling deep in the center of the forest.
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A/N: Hello! I'm not sure what tags/rating this will have in the future, as I don't have much of a plan going into this! I hope you enjoy this first chapter! I promise it won't be so dark the entire time... Hehe. All reads and reviews are appreciated!