An Education by UnknownRandomness

Please Stop Being Like This

Prompt: Xanthic – Of a yellowish tint or colour.

Word Count: 470

There was something wrong with Inuyasha’s forest. The trees were losing all their leaves even though it was mid-summer, the grass had withered until it had turned into a layer of biological concrete underfoot, and everything that had once been lush and green looked sick, a thin layer of yellow mould coating everything.

What was even more curious than the sudden illness affecting the woodland was how it didn’t affect anything else. At the edges of the sagging trees, the visible signs of decay stopped, and everything beyond it was thriving as normal. Animals avoided the place as though their survival was dependent on it – which was probably true.

The hanyou stared in disgust at the death that bore his name.

“Do you think it’s Naraku's doing?” Kagome’s voice piped up from beside him.

“Could be.” He replied. “But even Naraku would need someone’s help for something like this – there’s no miasma anywhere and you couldn’t sense the jewel shards.”

They both looked at the disease with identical expressions of reluctance and worry. The forest was not only home to lots of wildlife, but it also served as a natural barrier against some of the demons rampaging around, the village below being nestled amongst its strong fronds. But no longer, both present could feel various undesirable creatures closer than they would like.

Kagome clambered up onto her friend’s back and they quickly ran through the forest, feeling unsettled by the sudden and stark change in a place that had been familiar to them both. A horrible discovery awaited them in one small area that had been a large, unobtrusive part of their lives.

Without conscious effort, the shocked miko slipped from Inuyasha’s red-robed back, her wobbling legs carrying her towards the carnage before they gave out, her arm outstretched towards it.

Inuyasha’s breaths were light and quick, as he stood frozen, his unblinking eyes affixed on the sight of his half-sibling.

“Why?”

Her trembling whisper was deafening in the silence. It was quickly followed by a retching noise and violent vomiting as the smell invaded her nose, and he shut his eyes and turned his face away from something he refused to accept. Grabbing her trembling body, Inuyasha hauled the weak woman over his shoulder and fled, his face revealing the hurt, rage and fear that coursed through him, and his eyes flashed red for just a moment.

A long way behind them, the ancient Goshinboku had been felled, a jagged and weeping wound showing the signs of many blades. Upon its diminished stump, the Lord of the West gazed sightlessly into eternity, a hole ripped in his chest, heart missing. In a clearing of ruin, Sesshoumaru slumped, and for the first time - in death - he was no longer the Killing Perfection, but a mortal.

And mortals can be killed.