Can't

Author’s Note:
This is my attempt at a romantic tragedy. It is short, but I still
hope it packs somewhat of an emotional punch. After reading, you may
have some questions; however, this story is not meant for questions.
Just take this for what it is and understand that this is how it
ended; also, because I myself don’t know any of the events
that led to this moment. I was reading the news when this came
knocking at my imagination’s door. I would like to thank a
couple of my good friends, both fellow D&D players, for helping
me smooth it out and supplying reassuring compliments. You two know
who you are. With that said, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do
not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

“I can’t keep
doing this,” she despaired. “I can’t. I can’t.
I just can’t.”

Can’t. Like
a mantra in her mind, the word kept repeating. Can’t.
Can’t. Can’t.

“I can’t keep
apologizing for every little thing. I can’t keep apologizing
for my humanity. I can’t keep apologizing for being
imperfect,” her voice trailed off, no longer willing to hold
the tenacity it once had.

She was weak. Broken down
by time and emotional stress. Far too much for one to bear,
especially for one still trying so desperately to cling to her
youth. On the outside, she was still very much the same. On the
inside, she silently withered away much like the coming of a winter
centuries in the making.

Most of all, she was
human.

“I can’t keep
trying to live up to your expectations. I’m not of your kind…
You know this, but still…” she let her words die on her
tongue. She vaguely wondered why she even tried to reason with him
anymore. She was so tired. He was so stubborn. She audibly sighed.

He could see the
invisible lines on her face threatening to come to the surface. A
testament to all the seasons she had seen. Powerful sorcery kept her
alive, kept her bonded to him. Perhaps it had been a mistake.

“It’s no
use,” her brows furrowed, voice barely a whisper. “I
give up.”

I give up. It’s
no use. The words replayed in his mind. I give up. He
knew full well what that meant. It’s no use. She was
giving up. No use. Giving up on him. Give up. Giving
up on them. I give up. Giving up on herself.

He turned from her then,
to face the fireplace, not wanting to see her face. The fervent
orange glow of the blaze showered his face, but he felt no warmth.
The merry snapping of the logs and the erratic dance of the flames
mocked him. He scowled visibly.

Something should have
stirred within him, but he felt nothing. His mind should have
shattered like fine crystal, but he remained completely sane. He was
displeased, but then again, he was always so. Perhaps she was right
to give up. It was time she rested.

“Goodbye,”
she mouthed. Her voice left her. Her strength waned.

Still, he said nothing.
Whether because he had nothing to say, or that he could not find the
words, he did not know. He did what he could. He stood there. He
watched the one constant in his life slowly fade away.

“There’s
something I never told you.” Her mouth did not bother to move.
Her voice wafted through the air around him, pushing, pulling,
embracing, and rejecting him all at once. The sensation chilled him,
causing the fine hairs on his body to stand on edge.

“I never told you
because you didn’t believe.” She sagged down the wall to
sit on the floor.

“Because you said
demons couldn’t.” She drew her knees to her chin and
embraced them.

“But I’m not
a demon.” Heavy eyelids slid to a close, and her shoulders
drooped accompanied by a profound exhalation.

“I loved you.”
A lone tear spilled forth from her left eye, slipped over her cheek,
and dropped onto the hardwood floor landing with a soft plink that
echoed deafeningly in his ears.

Then she was gone;
disappeared into the air which carried her last words. The only
evidence she was ever there being the solitary tear puddled so
helplessly on the floor. Her aura was no longer detectable. Her
smell instantly gone from his nostrils.

I loved you. The
words settled neatly into the category of the unfamiliar. I loved
you…

And all hell broke loose.

A feral growl
reverberated low from deep within his chest and tore from his lips
with monstrous momentum that shook the very foundation of his soul.

But it was too late.

She was already gone.

He leveled his home. No,
he leveled their home. Where the stately manor they had lived
in for so long once stood, now nothing but a pile of debris lay.
Everything was gone. No more comfort could be found there.
Everything that symbolized his survival through the ages was lost to
the destruction.

Dropping to his knees, he
sank his mighty claws deep into the earth and rested his head upon
the grass as the sky started to weep for him. There he stayed late
into the night. How long he stayed there, he did not know. Days,
weeks, years… Years, he surmised. It felt like he had knelt
there for years.

Rain ran small trails
down the side of his face, the coldness stinging his eyes, yet he
did not blink. Finally, completely drenched, he stood and rose to
his full height. He turned his face upwards and a ghost of a smile
graced his lips.

“I love you too.”