ROYGBIV by witchy_woman

Pink

Author's Note: For the think Pink challenge.

Pink

Three weeks. It had been three long weeks since he had decided to pursue the miko and three weeks since she had disappeared into the old well. She had said she needed to go home and jumped down the well with a wave and a smile saying she would be back in two days, but that was three weeks ago. After three days of her absence, the pack had sent Inuyasha to check on her. It was galling really, to know that his idiot half-brother could pass through the barrier of the old well to reach his chosen female, but he, the Lord of the West, the Killing Perfection, Sesshomaru, could not.

He watched as his brother jumped into the well and was consumed by the blue light of the magic within. It was torture to know that another male was alone with his female in a place he couldn’t go. Night fell before the whelp returned. His exit from the well was sedate and he could tell the boy was subdued in a way he had never seen. There was a scent of sickness clinging to his clothes and skin, but it wasn’t his. The scent was female and seemed related to his miko, but it obviously wasn’t her. With his ears pinned back to his head, Inuyasha looked over to him, catching his eyes and the grief Sesshomaru saw was enough to almost frighten him. Something had happened, it was obvious, but the question became what.

“I gotta talk to the others. If you’re waiting on ‘Gome then she won’t be here for a while. Come on if ya wanna know what’s happening I gotta tell the others anyway.”

He sat in the clearing as the boy told the pack that Kagome was going to be staying home for a while because her mother was ill and she just couldn’t leave her family. Everyone was cloaked in sadness at the revelation, but the hanyou wasn’t done.

“She said we should follow leads and all while she was gone since she didn’t know when she’d be back. I know we gotta get the shards and all, but I ain’t leaving Kagome and Mama Higurashi so I’m staying. I will go back and forth every couple of days to help the family and take her stuff from here or bring stuff she sends back. If y’all want to go then ok, use Kiara to stay in touch. I don’t know about you Sesshomaru, but if you decide to go till she’s back then the kid can stay here.”

It was the first time since the boy was a pup that he could remember him ever using such courtesy towards his person and he had never heard the boy so affectionate towards anyone in a paternal way since the boys own mother was dead.

“We are not leaving Inuyasha. We will stay here until Kagome is back. Tell her our prayers are with her and her family.”

“Thanks Sango.”

“This Sesshomaru will remain with his pack.”

So it was that they waited. Nearly two months went by when her scent entered the clearing. She seemed the same, but there was a new strength to her. Her strange clothes were the same, except for a small pink pin upon her top shaped like a ribbon. It was that night before she explained what had happened, though many words were foreign to him and the others as well.

It seemed, from what he could garner, that her mother went to the healer to be checked over and he found an anomaly in her breast. They cut a piece of it out and tested it and found that it was a type of poison. The healers then removed all of the bad poisonous tissue and gave her mother medicine that made her feel sick, but her mother is better now even though she has to be watched carefully in case the sickness comes back. He had never heard of humans being eaten away by their own bodies, but that is what seemed to what nearly happened to the miko’s mother.

The strength and the pin weren’t the only change it seemed. He noticed the strange marking on her back when her night clothes moved to expose the back of her shoulder that night.

“What is this Miko?” he asked of the mark of her shoulder.

“It’s a pink butterfly with a pink ribbon for the body. Pink ribbons are a symbol of breast cancer. That’s what my mom had. I got this tattoo to honor her courage and remember not just her struggle, but that of everyone who has to suffer with it or has lost someone to it.”

“It is permanent?”

“Yes.”

“It is good that you honor your mother. She is strong to survive something that kills many, as are you. I am pleased your family is well Kagome.”

He walked away quickly, never seeing the sheen of tears of gratitude and awe at his words and care.

“He knows my name.”