Anything by cloud

Prologue: Sad Smiles

Anything

Prologue: Sad Smiles

Blue eyes sparkled brightly in the early morning sunlight, glittering like dark sapphires as they stared happily at the older boy before them. He was surprisingly tall for his age with deep golden eyes and long silver hair that brushed against his lower back. He was dressed differently then normal in a white hakama and haori set with red sakura patterns on his shoulders and sleeves.

Sesshomaru looked down at the little bundle of energy before him and resisted the urge to sigh. Kagome Higarashi had been his best friend, his only friend, for almost five years now and she always wore that same giddy smile every time he saw her. Her smile lit up her entire face and made her already glittering eyes shine with a holy light that seemed to draw his very soul into their endless depths. She was dressed in a light pink kimono that had splotched grass stains here and there. She looked so painfully weak and blindingly innocent that he could not help what he did next. Sesshomaru, the cold prince of the western lands, kneeled down before the little twelve year old girl and pulled her to him in a soft hug.

Suddenly worried, Kagome watched as a sad smile, that made her heart break, cross her best friend's stoic countenance. His eyes seemed to knit together in apology before she could no longer watch because she suddenly found herself on the receiving end of her first hug from Sesshomaru. "What's wrong," her worried and slightly muffled voice asked, innocently.

He seemed like he was going to ignore her question completely until his hold tightened marginally and he whispered softly into her ear," Goodbye friend."

Tears immediately sprung to Kagome's eyes as she tried in vain to grasp Sesshomaru's shirt and keep him there, but he tore from her grasp and was gone in a flash of silver and white. Kagome sniffled loudly as she turned her tear clouded eyes to sky and cried her heart out.

Deep golden eyes watched her from a nearby tree for a moment as he searched for any danger in the area. When he found none, he turned and left for good. In his imagination, or he assumed his imagination, he heard a choked sob of goodbye and suddenly felt a warm liquid stain his cheek. Of course it was only his imagination, that's all he had to keep saying to himself, just his imagination. Of course HE would NEVER cry.

Kagome cried until her throat hurt and her eyes stung. Deep in her heart she knew she was staying behind just in case Sesshomaru came back, but as the sun hit its highest position in the sky she slowly stood and began the short trek home. "He'll come back, Seisho has to come back, he's my best friend," she sniffled with false determination as she marched her way home. By the time she got home the only evidence of her tears were a few wet stains on her checks and traces of redness in the whites of her eyes.

"Daddy, daddy I'm home," the little girl called with as much cheerfulness as she could muster.

"Kagome," she heard her father call from inside their small house, but something about the serious tone in her father's normally cheerful tone made her pause.

"Daddy," she called softly, worry lacing her tone as she watched her father emerge from the doorway. Large chucks of old armor rested over his chest, shoulders, and hips. While two katanas rested on his left hip. It was as she spotted him that Kagome noticed their family horse was standing off to the side all tacked up and ready to go.

"Kagome, the western lands are at war, I was just informed today that I have to go fight. Everything will be fine, but you are going to have to stay at Lady Kaede`s house for a little while. I'll be back soon," he promised with a soft smile as he opened his arms to embrace her. He was unable to lean down and pull her into embrace like normal due to the clunky armor. He tried to smile to reassure her but it was a useless endeavor and ended up looking like an awkward twitch of his lips.

"Daddy don't go, don't go," Kagome cried as she tightly hugged her father's leg.

"I have to my little tenshii, it is my duty as a samurai, but remember I'm only a human in Lord Inutashio's army I probably won't even see the battle field," he commented as he patted her softly on the back.

"Well, be back soon daddy," she remarked as she squeezed his leg tighter before slowly letting go and taking a few steps back.

"Good girl," he said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'll be back before you even know I'm gone," called behind him as he pulled himself up onto the horse with a big heave. "Be back soon my little tenshii," Kagome's dad called as he kicked his heels into the horse's waist and they were off in a flash.

Kagome watched through clouded eyes as a new batch of hot tears streamed down her face before she turned and took off running. She carried on for some time before she ran into a small wooden hut and went running into the gentle arms of an elderly woman. "Grandma, daddy had to go away for awhile," Kagome cried softly as she inhaled Kaede`s strong maple wood scent.

"I know little one, I know," Kaede cooed softly as she patted her back in a grandmotherly way. "Come now Kagome dry your tears and help this old woman with cooking dinner."

Sniffling once then twice, Kagome dried her eyes and nodded enthusiastically. "Okay," she cheered with a bright smile. It didn't take long before the entire hut began to fill with the mouthwatering smells of a home cooking meal, and it was not long at all before Kagome's young mind brushed away her worries.

It had been almost three months and Kagome was beginning to severely miss her dear father. News of the war was always circling around the village but no one would bother to tell a twelve year old girl, and Kaede would always say that it was better not to listen to rumors whenever Kagome would question her about it. After trying constantly and failing horribly to find something out, Kagome decided that she would wait at her house everyday to see if her father came back.

One day as she waited outside, bathing in the warm sunlight, the little tempest eyed girl shot up from her spot in the grass at the distinctive sound of a horse crashing through the forest. It was not long at all before Kagome found herself nose to nose with the family horse as it stopped rather abruptly right in front of her. "Daddy," Kagome cheered happily as she looked up, only to find the man sitting on the horse was not her father at all. "Where's daddy?" she questioned, her smile faltering momentarily.

The red headed youkai on the horse shook his head softly before he jumped off the horse with a hastily bundled package under his arm. "This is for you, sorry kid," he mumbled with a pitying smile before he turned and left. That was it, nothing more then those six words did he utter before his form was engulfed by the shadows of the forest surrounding them.

"It's just a letter from daddy," Kagome tried to tell herself as she held back the tears and looked at the letter. Kagome could hardly read more then a few symbols but some of the ones she did know just happened to me printed in the neatest and most meticulous calligraphy skills she had ever laid eyes upon. From what she could decipher, the envelope that held the letter read," Prince Sesshoumaru, Kagome Higarashi." "It's a letter from Seisho," she muttered to herself though she figured he had not written what was on the envelope for it looked nothing like his own handwriting. Slowly, oh so slowly, as if handling someone's very heart in her tiny hands, Kagome peeled open the envelope and removed the small tan parchment inside. With trembling hands she opened up the folded paper and looked down at the wispy handwriting. Her eyes filled with tears and she could hardly even make out her own hands through the misty obscurity of her tears. "It seems I'm always crying," she mumbled through the thick knot in the back of her throat. With such harshness it stung her eyes; Kagome rubbed her forearm across her eyes and rubbed away the tears with a harsh fever of determination. She had recognized the changed handwriting in an instant. The letter had gone from cruelly impersonal and formal to intimately informal. There was only one deft word written in a wavy black ink across the vast parchment. It was the only word she knew that wasn't a name. It read," sorry."

To anyone else the paper would have meant nothing more then a headache and a vast deal of confusion, but she knew in the depths of her heart exactly what her dearest friend was saying. He was apologizing for not protecting her father, he was apologizing for her father's death, and perhaps, just maybe, he was apologizing for ever saying goodbye. It was actually the most emotional thing, short of the hug she had received the day he left, Sesshoumaru had ever done.

The idea that she was now an orphan hurt a good deal and all she wanted to do was crawl into a ball in Kaede's lap and cry her heart out, but that was not what at hurt her the most. From this moment on her freedom she had always loved so much was shattered. When a girl like her was orphaned they were normally married off as quickly as possible or shipped off to the shrines to become Priestesses. Kagome knew that Kaede would never willingly do that to her, but the poor woman was getting weaker and weaker everyday, she would never be able to support herself and a twelve year old girl. "I have to leave," Kagome decided with a flash of unbreakable determination flashing in her tear flecked eyes. She grabbed the package that the demon had put on the ground and opened it carefully, only to find her father's two swords and a small pouch of coins.

"Thank you Seisho, I'll find a way to pay you back someday, I promise. I'll show you and daddy I'm not a weak little girl," she stated as she heaved the swords up one at a time and tied the two deadly weapons to Hokori's saddle. Then with much scrabbling and jumping she managed to pull herself onto the horse's broad back. "Father didn't have any sons so no one can wield the Higarashi swords in his honor, but I'll learn. Dad died fightingbut I'll live by fighting," she practically growled as she urged Hokori forward at a steady trot with a squeeze of her legs.

The horse carried her with practiced ease and it was not long before the reached the last boundary lines of her village. "This is the farthest I've ever been," she whispered in awe as she looked out at the sun setting the sky. It flashed and eerie red in the darkening sky as it dipped below the dark shadows of the distant mountains before the sky exploded in bright colors of red, orange, pink, and blue before her very eyes.

"Thank you Daddy, I know you are giving me a sign," Kagome sniffled once more before she swiftly whipped away the tears with her dirty sleeve. "Come on Hokori," Kagome called with a sudden recharge of energy as she pushed Hokori into a gallop westward. It was only right before the village disappeared out of view completely, did Kagome turn and look back with one final tear and a gentle, sad smile.