Wish
To dream is to wish
To wish to dream
We all have a secret darkness
A little bit of selfishness
We all have a dream
And beneath the light of the moon
The truth of the heart can be seen
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Italics= internal voices
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She sat up in her sleeping bag being careful not to waken the sleeping fox kit at her side and stared at the empty tree branch where he sat only seconds before. Her eyes turned towards the softly glowing forest a few miles away. He’d left them unguarded in the night to go see her once again. Just as he had every night this week. The cobalt eyed girl curled gently into herself her raven black locks hiding her face as she clenched a hand over her heart.
It ached.
The girl felt tears gather in her eyes as her soul twisted in agony screaming within in her as it reached for the missing piece of itself. Begging her to reclaim that oh so vital piece of her being that had so cruelly been taken from her; pleading with her to put an end to the unnatural existence that threatened her own. Her aching heart stilled her hand.
It would hurt him. It would destroy him to lose her again.
The young woman lifted her face to the waning moon letting its light paint her aggrieved countenance silver.
“I can’t,” she whispered softly. “ I can’t hurt him like that because... I love him.” A quiet sob broke from her lips at the last part.
“Why can’t he see how much I love him?” She begged the silent moon for an answer her hand moving from her heart to clench the vial of softly glowing pink shards at her neck as her tears finally flowed free. She bowed her head crying silently the moon, the distant glow within the forest, and the dying embers of the fire serving as the only witnesses to her suffering.
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“Kagome! Look what I found!” Shippo cried excitedly running towards his adoptive mother his prize hidden safely in his little hands.
Kagome turned abandoning the fire she had been tending to swept her little fox into her arms hugging him tightly to her chest before bestowing him with a loving smile.
“What is it Shippo?”
He smiled at her proudly before opening his hands to show the tiny blue and purple butterfly trapped within them. She gasped as she stared at the delicate creature sitting calmly in the kit’s hands. It was beautiful. It was no larger than her thumbnail and had jeweled toned toned wings. Dark purple was the dominate color covered in streaking lines of sapphire blue that seemed to twine, overlap, and even knot in places. Kagome had never seen anything like it in either time.
“It’s gorgeous.” she told the kit reverently.
The butterfly fluttered it wings and turned in a circle, strutting its stuff. The young women and kit chuckled at it antics.
“It called Fate’s Path,” Shippo said quietly staring down at the pretty little thing. “They’re super rare demon butterflies that are supposed to be able to grant a wish.”
Her hand brushed at the shards in their little vial beneath her shirt.
“Like the Shikon no Tama?”
The young fox demon shook his head. “No the jewel has to grant the wish of whoever holds it and it can only grant one wish, but Fate’s Path can grant the wish of anyone it chooses as many times as it chooses.”
“ Seriously! How is that possible?” she asked shock.
He shrugged. “ No one knows. They are so rare that no one even knows if they can really grant a wish or if that’s just a legend.”
Kagome nodded. “ Why is it called Fate’s Path?”
“ You see the blue lines on it’s wings?” At her nod he continued. “ Well it’s said that a very long time ago this butterfly was purely purple and resided in the realm of the Kamis. They were plentiful and could be found in abundance in the garden of the Kamis and within the Palace of each Kami. One day the Kami of Fate grew bored and decided to take a break from weaving the lines of people's fates into the Tapestry of Destiny and took a stroll in the gardens. As the butterflies danced from flower to flower the Kami of Fate had an idea as she watched them flutter about on their unblemished purple wings. Weaving the lines of fate into the tapestry was very harsh on her hands and kept her trapped indoors all day and for the nature loving kami this was a great travesty. So she decided she would no longer weave the lines of fate but rather she would paint them instead. Her canvases would be the little purple butterflies who each had their own personality but were indistinguishable from one another. So decided the Kami of Fate got to work and immediately went to the Kami of Nature and asked her to spare some paint. But you see the world was just in its beginning stages and the Kami of Nature did not have many colors to spare so she was only able to give her sister Kami the blue that was brother to the purple she used to paint some of the stones of the earth. As it was the butterflies that inspired that particular shade of purple anyway the Kami of Fate believed that the blue would do just fine so she thanked the Kami of Nature for her generosity and went back to the gardens. Once there she set about painting the lines of fate onto the butterflies. Because, each butterfly bore the lines of a different individuals fate it wasn’t long before they all became marked as individuals themselves. One day the Kami of Animals came across one of these little butterflies and noticed right away it’s new pattern and because these new patterns appealed to his eye he decided to make a copy of the butterflies for the new world the Kami were crafting. He made his little demon butterflies exactly the same as the ones he say in the heavens right down to the patterns of fate each one bore on its wings. When the Kami of Fate found out what he did she was furious and demanded he stop crafting his demon butterflies.When he demanded to know why she explained the true meaning behind the butterflies patterns. Horrified the Kami of Animals immediately stopped making the butterflies; however, he could do nothing about the ones he had already placed upon the new world and because time held no meaning to the Kamis they were unsure whose fate the butterflies carried. So in order to make it up to these unknown and unborn beings who fates now roamed freely across the world the Kami of Animals gifted the butterflies with three gifts. The first was the intelligence of some of the more complex life forms on earth, the second was immortality so that those poor individuals need never worry about their fate being destroyed, and the final gift was the power to grant wishes of anyone they choose though those wishes would come at a price to both the person and the butterflies. At least that’s how the legend goes.That’s why people call them Fate’s Path because people's fates create the blue paths on their wings.”
“Wow.” Kagome said blinking down at the little butterfly who still sat calmly in Shippo’s hands.
“So those lines are supposed to be someone’s fate?”
“Yup!”
“Do you think the legend is true?”
The little fox shrugged, “ I never really thought about before, but then again I didn’t really believe they existed until today.”
Kagome smiled at the mystified little fox. “WEEEELLLLL! It can’t hurt to make a wish and see if the little guy grants it now can it!”
The kit smiled up at his surrogate mother. He knew SHE would understand why this little butterfly was special even if no one else did. He nodded his head vigorously and then held the butterfly out to her. She raised an eyebrow at him and he blushed brightly.
“I already made my wish. I brought it back with me so you could make one too Kagome!” He said giving her a bright smile.
She smiled back at him slightly. “Now Shippo that’s very sweet of you but you shouldn’t have taken this little guy away from his home.” she scolded lightly. The little fox’s smile wilted slightly and the woman squeezed him lovingly.
“You wouldn’t like it if someone took you away from me right?”
He shook his head hard his little eyes horrified at the mere thought.
“Well it’s the same for this little guy. Now why don’t you take him back home and then I’ll get you a little treat from my time hmm.”
Shippo gave her a brilliant smile. “Okay ‘Gome!” Before he could close his hands over his prize and leap from her arms the little butterfly flew from his hands and landed on Kagome’s nose. She blinked at it in surprise. Shippo laughed loudly at the sight she made with the tiny critter perched so lightly on her face.
“He likes you ‘Gome!”
She chuckled, “Well it seems he does.”
“You should make a wish Kagome. If he likes you he might grant it!” Shippo bounced in her arms excitedly staring at her in wide eyed wonder.
She smiled at the boy her eyes twinkling with mirth.
“Well then what should I wish for?”
“Whatever you want it’s your wish.”
“My wish, huh.” she mumbled thoughtfully. “Alright I wi….”
“No!” Shippo burst out. “You can’t say it out loud.”
She cocked her head at him. “And why not?”
He looked at her knowledgeably. “Because,” he said in his know it all voice. “If you say it out loud then it’s not really a wish anymore.”
“Huh?”
“Kagome, don’t you remember you’re the one who taught me. A wish is something your heart makes and for it to truly be a wish you have to want it with all your heart. So you can’t say it allowed you have to say in your heart.” He stated nodding his head wisely before smiling up at her winningly.
Kagome couldn’t help but grin back at him. He was just too freaking adorable.
“Alright then here I go.” She closed her eyes tightly and focused on what she should wish for. Logically speaking she knew she should wish for the jewel to be whole, for Naraku to disappear, or better yet for the jewel itself to vanish forever from the world; nevertheless she couldn’t bring herself to do it. As she listened to Sango and Miroku talk quietly a short ways away she wanted with all her heart to be selfish.
Just this once she promised herself.
Only this one time would she ever wish selfishly.
It’s not like it is a real wish anyway, she comforted herself. Nothing will come of it.
She sighed and gave in to her only selfish desire, her heart's greatest wish.
I wish for someone to love me the way I truly desire to be loved... for me and not because I’m someone else's reflection.
Granted.
Kagome jerked and gasped at the powerful voice filling her mind and opened her eyes in time to see the tiny little butterfly on her nose begin to glow with a radiant otherworldly blue light. She watched stunned as the blue lines on its wings shifted, and twirled twining together in a whole new set of patterns. Once the glow died down and the patterns on its wings settled down the butterfly lifted its dainty little wings and flew off. Kagome and Shippo stared at it in shock until it completely disappeared into the forest beyond. They turned and gazed into each others eyes, hers filled with horrified shock his brimming over with joy and awe.
“It really was one of the legendary butterflies, Kagome.” he whispered with quiet reverence.
She blinked and gave him a shaky smile. “Yeah, I guess it was. Lets not tell Inuyasha and the others about this okay? It will be just between us alright. Our special little secret.”
“Can I tell Kirara, please? She keeps secrets really well!” he pleaded.
Kagome nodded her head. “Only Kirara, okay, and she can’t tell anyone else either alright?”
Shippo nodded his head eagerly never once noticing the worried look in her eyes before leaping from her arms and going in search of their only other full blooded demon companion. Kagome gazed into the forest where they had last seen the butterfly.
Dear Kami what have I done?
A/N Hi everyone I'm Night this is my first fanfiction everyone so I'm looking forward to seeing what people think of it. Reviews are apperciated and I will take the readers thoughts and opinions into account so if you want to make suggestions on how to make my story better then I'm all ears. To be honest I didn't plan for chapter one to turn out as long as it did it was so long I had to split it in two! Lol! That little butterfly threw me for a loop. He was not suppose to be anywhere near as important as he became but before I even realized what I was doing I had written him a back story. (shakes head) Life's funny like that. Anyway thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed the story and will continue to read it. I apologize in advance if some things don't come out right or confuse you. I promise to clear all confusion in future chapters.