Snowdrop by PhoenixBlade
Snowdrop
Hello! Yes, I'm still around and sadly, Snow Pearl and all other fanfics will have be put on hold onto I can find the right words to continue on the story. Till then, I've decided to get the creative juices flowing by following Kneazles' Valentine's challenge. Let's hope I can do this! *crosses fingers* Also, this is is of course rated MA so no YIMs!!!!!!!!! Sorry!
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Snowdrop
By: PhoenixBlade
Prompt: Snowdrop
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Disclaimer: Inuyasha and company do not belong to me. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz and other people who have rights to it. This story, however, is mine.
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“I want a snowdrop, nee-chan.”
It had been an innocent wish from the lips of her little brother, one selfish wish that Kagome had been dying to hear since he had been born. Souta had been born weak, so weak that the doctor Hojo, her father’s friend, had told the family that he wouldn’t survive the mountain cold or the first winter there. The family had sought to move from the mountain shrine, but Grandpa had been adamant that the mountains gods would look after the youngest Higurashi. Not wanting to fight with him any longer, Kagome’s mother and father agreed and oddly enough, Souta continued to live well beyond his expected departure.
He grew up well, but not strong. He was little, but his heart was large. He was pale and sickly, but his smiles were bright and warm. The family doted on him and spent whatever money they could make on medicine to help Souta stay with them longer. Living at the shrine brought in very little income, so her father took up wood cutting and her mother wove baskets to sell, just so it would help pay for his medicines. Yet even the medicines could not make any Souta healthier, it just extended his life by a little. Unfortunately, the medicines weren’t working as well anymore. His illness had caught up to him. Souta was dying.
Being as poor as they were, the family wanted him to die in comfort. When Doctor Hojo suggested that Kagome marry his son, (who’d had the longest crush on her since they were children) he’d help with the finances to bring Souta somewhere comfortable to live out the rest of his days. Souta refused so strongly that it took Kagome by surprise when she told him about it. He went into such a coughing rage that Kagome quickly changed her mind on marriage. He told her that he didn’t want her to make rash decisions for him and wanted her to live out her life like how she wanted. She cried so much that night, and firmly promised him that she would. From then on out, she rebuffed any attempts Hojo made towards to her on marriage. She felt bad, but she had to let the poor boy understand that she just didn't feel the same way.
However, she made sure that whatever Souta wished for, she would make sure it was granted, within reason of course. Yet reason didn’t tell Kagome that she would now be lost in a forest in the mountains looking for a flower, of which she had to lie to her parents about so that she could look for the stupid thing.
“Where is it!?” she screamed in anger.
She was cold. She was tired. She was hungry. Worst of all, she was lost.
There was a thick layer of snow blanketing the forest floor and Kagome was finding it hard to walk in it. She threw the cloak around her tighter as she trudged through it. Her breaths escaped her in visible puffs and she found herself blowing the warm air into her hands to keep them from freezing. Snow began to fall around her and she cursed for the umpteenth time as she looked behind to see that her footsteps were already beginning to cover. Being stuck out in the middle of nowhere was one thing, but losing your only clue to the way back home made things worse. She should have gone back home when the area looked unfamiliar to her, but Souta’s wish weighed heavily on her. If he wanted that Snowdrop, then by god he would have it!
With a loud grunt, she took a step forward and jumped when something flew up and away in her face.
“Ahhhhh!”
She grabbed a branch as she found herself falling to her left, but the branch was tiny and snapped, sending her sprawling to the snowy ground… only the ground didn’t stay still and soon, she found herself tumbling down and down and down even further without stopping.
I’m going to die! Oh my god! I’m going to die! she screamed frantically in her head.
She felt roots snap at her face and snow shoved into her mouth when she tried to scream or breathe. Her head hit against something like a rock and she soon saw red covering her vision. What she bleeding? A quick look to her left and she saw the red splotches in the white snow before she was knocked breathless by another tree root. Something stabbed her sharply in the thigh and something hit her right side hard enough that she felt her arm and ribs snap at the same time. She couldn’t even get a cry out as more snow shoved into her mouth. What seemed like a lifetime’s worth of tumbling, she suddenly felt weightless as she was now flying in the air…downward. She’d fallen off a cliff and looking down, she saw that it wasn’t very high from the white ground below, of which was rapidly approaching. She wouldn’t die on impact, but it'd be enough to damage her to the point where she wouldn’t be able to tend to her injuries and would probably die from it…or be easy prey for hungry predators. She gulped as her final thoughts rushed in a jumbo mess with prayers and apologies.
I’m really going to die, she surmised, I’m sorry Souta, but at least you won’t be alone now…
A quick tear escaped as she felt her whole body slam into the snow-covered ground...
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Next chapter coming up in a bit... By the way, this story will be a Dokuga exclusive! ;)