Nameless by ShadowsWeaver1

Nameless

Don't tell me of the love you have for me,

For words can be manipulated well.

But if you truly want to make me see;

There is a way that I can surely tell.

When from your touch I feel the warmth inside,

And in your eyes I see your passion's true;

Unlock my heart and make it open wide,

And I shall give my entire world to you.

I dream of love that's constant, strong, and pure,

And if I can be shown that it exists;

It shall bring to me my heart's joyous cure,

Fallen in the ecstasy of a kiss.

So take me not home to the stars above,

For my heart can not soar without your love.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Thank you, Kagome. Very fine work."

All Kagome could manage to do was mumble her thanks to her teacher and retake her seat. Her cheeks were flushed ten shades of red in her embarrassment. Of course, she shouldn't have been surprised. It was just her luck that the one assignment she actually did, the teacher would pick hers as an example for the class. It wasn't exactly that she was averse to public speaking, it was just that she really, really wished that her teacher could have picked a less embarrassing example of her work to have her recite in front of all her friends and classmates...not like there really were many other examples after her many prolonged absences, but still.

As she finally found her desk and managed to stave off some of her dreadful embarrassment and the feeling of absolute exposure, she only hoped that that had been the end of it.

She was, as always, not to be so lucky.

"That was incredible, Kagome!" Eri's voice from beside her was, though hushed from the teacher's ears, nearly ecstatic with praise. "I didn't know you were so good with poetry! With talent like that, you could be in the Friday showcase at The Shade!"

Trying her best to fight back the look of horror that wanted to make itself known over the mere thought of putting herself on display again, only in front of that overly-tight, drab, depressing group of college-age wanna-be critics that Eri like spending her time with at the equally depressing café known as 'The Shade', Kagome forced a tight grin.

"Thanks, Eri, but I don't think so. I only did it for the assignment."

"But Kagome," Ayumi had leaned over Eri's desk to join in the conversation. "It is such a lovely poem. You shouldn't let it go to waste."

"Yeah," Yuka's sarcastic snort from ahead of her instantly alerted Kagome of trouble. She wouldn't be wrong either. Yuka turned around in her desk, her dark eyes lit with devious glee as they found Kagome's. "Why don't you recite it to your boyfriend for Valentines Day?" The strained emphasis she made on the word boyfriend was not missed by Kagome, and neither was the smirk that was spreading over her friend's features as she continued. "Or, if not him, I'm sure Hojo would know how to appreciate such eloquent words, not to mention has just been dying to ask you to the Valentine's dance tonight."

Kagome damn near scowled, but it was Eri's soft urging from her side of how she should have accepted Hojo's offer so that she could come with all of them that made her sigh.

"I'm sorry guys, but I already told you; I have plans for the weekend."

They were the same plans that she had every weekend, and for a good portion of her weeks. She had a duty to perform, responsibilities she simply couldn't overlook. She was needed elsewhere, and that need took precedence over the fleeting intrigues and trivial games of teenage life.

But her friends didn't know of her secret life, and so they could never understand.

"Whatever," Yuka sneered in disgust. She began to turn back to face the front, but not before saying, "You've changed, Kagome. You spend all your time with that new boyfriend of yours. I think you're beginning to forget who your friends really are."

"Yuka..." But what could she say to an accusation like that?

"Don't listen to her, Kagome," Eri was saying softly from her side. "If your guy makes you happy, that's all that matters right?"

Kagome really wished she could have agreed. She really did. But Eri, for all her acting classes and time spent with the written word, was still missing the point. Her poem wasn't about a love that was; it was about an unanswered prayer for a love that she had dreamed about, but knew could never be.

"Why don't you read it to him?" Ayumi offered quietly. When Kagome turned to look at her, she smiled warmly, a smile filled with understanding. "You never know, Kagome. Maybe if he just hears the words, he might be able to understand how to speak them."

Though there was a part of her that couldn't believe he ever would, Kagome couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe, Ayumi might be right.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaning comfortably against one of the pillars supporting the sweeping arches of the shrine's entrance, Kagome looked down to the street below, watching as boys and girls her age, all decked out in their formal wear, made their way towards the school for their evening of dancing and partying with their special someones.

How she wished she could have joined them...

"Kagome?"

Turning at the sound of her mother's voice, Kagome forced a smile as she approached. "Hey, mom. What's up?"

"I was just wondering what you're still doing here," Miya replied. "I thought Inuyasha was coming to get you for the weekend. Or have you decided to go to that dance after all?"

"No." With a soft sigh, Kagome shook her head. "I'm going back. Inuyasha will be here. He's just a little late, is all."

"If you say so, dear," Miya told her with a supportive smile. "I will leave you to it then. But promise me you will take care of yourself while you're gone. You know how I worry."

"I know, mom," Kagome replied, returning her mother's smile. "I'll be careful. I promise."

She wished she could tell her not to worry, but she knew it wouldn't work. Her mother would always worry about her. The problem was, she had a good reason to worry; a reason that Kagome could never bring herself to say, but that he mother seemed to know anyways.

The Shikon would be the death of her.

Still, if that was her fate, if her life was the price for the balance of power to be restored, then so be it. She just wished, hoped, prayed, that before that time came, she would be given the chance to know real love. If she must die, then was it too much to ask that she be given a moment to truly live?

But what good was wishing? Wishing for something would never make it so. Only by doing could she ever see her dreams come true.

Then maybe it was time for the words to be said. Maybe it was time to stop wishing and start doing.

Maybe...

"You know what," Kagome said to her mother. "I'm tired of waiting. I think I'm just going to go."

Biding her mother a short farewell, Kagome gathered her things and began heading towards the old well.

Yes, she was tired of waiting. But, if she were to be honest with herself, she knew that it was more than that. There was just so little time left. She knew that if it was ever going to happen, that it would have to be soon.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hey guys!" Kagome greeted her friends cheerily as she stepped into old Kaede's hut. "Happy Valentines Day!"

"Valentines Day?" Sango asked curiously. "Is that another one of your holidays, Kagome?"

With a bright grin and an enthusiastic nod, Kagome replied, "Sure is!" But, with a sly wink at her slayer friend, she added, "It's the day where we tell the people we care about how much they mean to us."

"Really?" Kagome stiffened a little when she heard the voice of the lecherous monk a little too close for her liking. "Then might I say, Lady Kagome, it is, as always, my most esteemed pleasure to be able to share in your company."

Kagome's right eyes twitched dangerously when she felt a completely unsanctioned hand come to rest against the curve of her bottom.

"HENTAI!!!"

In less than a second, Miroku had been taught a lesson in preservation of the purity that was Kagome.

Huffing her annoyance at the crumpled form of the monk, Kagome turned her attention to much more pleasant things. Her smile returning to her lips, she reached into her bag and began pulling out the treats and gifts she had brought for her Feudal era friends.

To Sango, she gave a box of chocolates, one she had made certain was simply too big for one person to eat alone. She hoped the slayer would take the hint and share them with someone who would make her happy.

To Kaede, she gave a small keepsake box filled with the herbs she had gathered for the old miko who simply couldn't trek through the unforgiving tangles of the forest as she used to.

For Miroku, despite his lecherous ways, she wouldn't forget him either. She gave him a chocolate lollipop that bore the saying "Be Mine." At the look he was giving her that was all too clear he planed on following through on her suggestion, she gave him a stern warning, laughing as she told him, "I really did look for one that said, 'Will you bear my children', but it seems that even in my time girls would slap any guy stupid enough to come out with that line."

Finally, to her little kit, she gave a new collection of coloring books and crayons, along with a special card she had made just for him.

"You...are...my...sunshine."

He struggled a little reading the script she had printed on the page, but Kagome couldn't have been more proud of her little fox. He was learning quickly, her little Shippo growing up so fast even though he seemed the eternal child.

"It's called a Valentine," she explained. "Sometimes we give cards with special messages instead of candies and flowers to tell our friends and loved ones of our feelings."

But speaking of special messages given to the ones that were closest to the heart had Kagome looking around the small hut for the one person who seemed to missing. "Hey, guys?" she asked curiously. "Where's Inuyasha?"

The unease that settled down into the once light atmosphere of the room gave Kagome all the answers she needed before anyone said a word.

"I'm sorry, Kagome," Sango tried to soothe her, "But we haven't seen Inuyasha since early this morning. Maybe he's just gone for a patrol?" she tried hopefully. "You never know what kinds of demons could be lurking around these days."

"Yeah, maybe." But even though Kagome had forced herself to agree to Sango's hopeful suggestion, she knew that it was no demon that had ensnared her hanyou friend. Trying her best to hide the pain that such knowledge brought her, Kagome flashed a weak smile at her friends. "Well, I guess we're not going anywhere tonight then. I might as well use the time to my advantage. I have a few supplies that the villagers were asking for. I think I'll deliver them now before someone gets all antsy about getting on the road again."

Her friends didn't try to stop her as she gathered her things and made to leave the hut. Though a part of her wished one of them would, wished there was something to be said to make the hurt just a little less; she knew, as they did, that there was nothing they could do or say to change the fact that Inuyasha had once again left her in favor of his dead lover.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Standing on the rise that overlooked the village below, Kagome took in the sprawling fields and forests of the Feudal era. The sun was setting, but its light lingered, a blazing red that caught against the rice pools and made them seem like living fire as their rippling waters reflected the eternal burn.

But the image of the land became blurred, the vibrant colors of the sunset bleeding together into a bleary image of red and gold.

The wind blew, chilled hands that brought no comfort even as they brushed away the tears from her eyes.

Blinking to try and clear her vision once more, she looked down to the paper she held in her hand. She read the words again, knowing them to be her hopes, her dreams. But now, as she read the words, she couldn't help but think of herself as foolish for ever having written them.

Hope was fleeting. Dreams were never meant to live in reality.

It was time to let go.

The paper slipped from her hand, being taken away on the passing winds. Fleeting and wistful it played in the skies, taunting her with its careless freedom as it slowly and steadily was taken from her sights, her hopes and dreams being carried away upon the breeze.

She turned away then, making her way slowly back to the village below, back to the destiny that she knew was hers but that she wished had chosen another.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Night had fallen. Silence descended upon the land as all creatures lay sleeping in its gentle embrace. The fire had died down to nothing more than glowing ambers, the shadows it cast long and concealing. But such things went by unnoticed, as it was in these hours where dreams were the only reality for those captured by their soothing lull.

Something within her had awoken, stirring her senses awake even as her body still slumbered. But there was no threat to be found, no dangers present, and slowly she began to drift back into her dreams.

It was only when she felt something brush gently against her hand that Kagome finally stirred, her eyes blinking past the heaviness that wanted to pull them shut once more. Groggy to be awoken at such an hour, Kagome couldn't place the strange feelings of anxiety that were provoked to find herself held in a gaze of honeyed gold. After all, she had been with Inuyasha for almost three years now, and having him to be the one to wake her was not uncommon.

So, for a moment, she only looked at him in confusion, waiting for his reason to have woken her now. But he didn't say a word, only continued to look at her, his eyes more intense than she had ever seen, never leaving hers, holding her steady in his piercing gaze. So focused, so intense, so completely powerful.

But then she knew, knew that Inuyasha could never hold a gaze of such steady confidence, could never make her feel both awed and fearful by the sheer intensity, could never let her see beyond the refractive golden surface of his eyes to the shifting clash amber tides beneath that told of so much more than could ever be said in words.

No. Not Inuyasha. And it was not Inuyasha who she was looking at. It was Sesshomaru.

Drawing in a startled breath, not thinking, only reacting to his sudden presence and the anxiety she felt to be so exposed to such a dangerous and deadly youkai; she parted her lips to call out to her friends.

But he had seen her reaction, perhaps even expected it; and he quickly pressed a finger firmly against her lips, asking her without words to keep her silence.

She was frightened, terrified even. She could feel the sharp edge of his claw pressing against her tender lips, and she knew without question how easy it would be for him to spill her blood. But he did nothing more than look at her, keeping her eyes locked by the captivating glow of his own as even the meager light played against the flecks of gold.

And somehow she understood that he meant her no harm.

Nodding slowly in response to his unspoken demand, she let him know that she would not call out to her friends who were still sleeping nearby.

Her lips were trembling. He must have felt it, because instead of pulling back once he had her silent understanding, he let his finger rub slowly across bottom lip, applying only the barest amount of pressure to pull it down and let him feel the full curve of the sensitive skin.

She gasped softly; timid, uncertain, and afraid.

He let her pull back, but only to reach forwards again, slowly, his eyes never leaving hers, never breaking her from their steady hold. And this time, when his fingers ghosted over her cheek in a delicate caress, she didn't pull away.

It was like a dream, to feel the full heat of his touch when he cupped the side of her face with a gentleness she had never known, and know the warmth that flooded through her chest in response. And maybe it was a dream. Maybe that was why she felt herself leaning into that soothing heat and gentle touch.

Her eyes fluttered closed, a soft breath leaving her. But even after her eyes had been opened again, still she found him with her, looking at her with those eyes that spoke so much for a creature of so few words.

So lost in what she had found in the depths of his molten gaze, she had hardly realized that he had leaned closer to her. He was only a breath away when he paused, letting her see one last time the way he would look at her - as though he were seeing into her very soul - before he closed the distance between them, covering her lips with his own in a tender kiss.

Soft at first, he played his lips against hers, pulling at them with subtle but unmistakable motions to have her join with him. And she, so overwhelmed by the sudden rush of unknown feeling, could do nothing but comply. With her lips moving against his, he began applying more pressure, bringing them closer together, letting them both feel more of the other.

It only lasted for a moment; but in a moment's time there can be an eternity, something that will last forever.

He seemed almost reluctant to break away, his tongue dragging ever so gently across her bottom lip, his own not leaving hers until the very last moment. When he pulled back, he did so slowly, giving her time for her eyes to meet his once more, and the pleasure of seeing the small smile that played on his lips for her and her alone.

And then he was gone. No warning, no farewell; simply gone, vanished into the night.

Sitting up in a rush, her eyes darting around her as she strained to find him; Kagome was met with nothing more than shadows playing on the dark walls of the hut. Her breathing was heavy, confusion and uncertainty breaking through the tranquility and warmth of only a moment ago.

Had he even been there at all? Had it all been a dream?

Turning, she took in the sight of her companions. They were all still sleeping, even the hanyou whose sharp nose could detect scents from miles away. Surely Inuyasha would have known if his own brother were near.

Her chest grew tight, making it hard to draw a breath as it shuddered into her lungs. She held it there, afraid that should she release it she would sob at the loss of something she had never known, had almost given up hoping for.

She closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to look upon this truth.

But it was as she shifted to draw her legs up to her chest that she noticed something she hadn't before. There, in her hand, she felt something foreign against her skin. Blinking her eyes open in shock, she brought it closer, straining through the dark to see what it was she was holding.

It was paper, folded carefully and tucked into her hand. Her fingers shook as she pulled it open, curiosity, excitement, and a sense of secret thrill rushing through her. Because she understood then, she knew he truly had been there with her, that it hadn't all been a dream. He had left her this as proof, a secret Valentine.

But when her eyes finally adjusted to see the words written upon the page, she found that the words written were her own. The poem she had let free upon the winds along with her hopes and dreams, had found its way back to her. She read the words again, but this time, she understood them as even she never had.

Silent tears fell from her eyes as she finished the passage, tears filled with hope for what the future could bring. But as the crystal waters fell upon the bottom of the page, her eyes were drawn to the new writing she found there.

Scripted with perfect precision, beautiful lines made by only the steadiest of hands, she knew that the words were His.

'It needs a title.'

That was all he had said, but it had been more than enough. She smiled radiantly, unable to express what she felt in any other way; and she hugged the note to her chest, thanking him from the deepest places in her heart for the gift he had given her on this Valentines Day.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fin...

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What can I say? I'm on a one-shot binge. But lookie lookie! PG-13!!!! Sweet enough to melt your heart but not your teeth (right, Kitten ;P) It's been a long while since I've written something with such a low rating. Apparently I actually can write a story with no smut. Who knew?

I wonder, did anyone recognize the formatting of that poem? Iambic pentameter, alternating rhyming scheme...yeah, an Elizabethan sonnet. It actually was written for a school assignment, because, let's face it, unless you're Shakespeare, you don't go around writing those things for fun. And my teacher actually did use it for an example for the class. Gah! Talk about embarrassing XD I never did find a title for it, but I always really liked the poem and didn't want it to go to waste any longer without having the appreciation it deserved. So, I hope you all liked it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Shadow