Ichi-go Ichi-e
SessKag Week 2025, Day 3 — Spring Prompt: Hanami picnic Rated G 740 words
Read on AO3.
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Kagome closes her eyes for a moment and tilts her face towards the blue sky. For a few long silent seconds, she basks in the cheery brightness of the spring sun. There’s always something so refreshing and hopeful in sitting in a spot of sunlight on a beautiful spring day. She doesn’t do it often enough, these days.
A visceral wave of longing crashes in her chest, breaking into bubbles of wistfulness. The long-gone days of her adventurous youth had been wrought with ever-present threat of mortal peril…But in many ways life had been much simpler back then, travelling with her friends all over Japan, with a single goal to focus on. There are a lot of things about those days she’s glad to leave in the past, but others—oh, the others she sometimes yearns for so much that her whole body aches.
Her mother’s soft laugh brings Kagome back to the present. She grabs a handful of grapes from one of the many containers spread out on the picnic blanket, and smiles at her family. It’s been too long since they last had an outing like this, all four of them. The demands of her job keep her busy. Souta is studying at the university. Grandpa doesn’t leave the house that much, anymore. Age has started to exact its toll on his health and energy.
Kagome’s lips curl into a humourless smile. Time has always been her greatest enemy.
But here and now, they’re all gathered to admire the gorgeous pink clouds of sakura blossoms, sitting under the delicate canopy of stretching cherry tree branches. So Kagome teases Souta and pours her grandpa another cup of tea. She hugs her mother and eats the onigiri she made and soaks up every precious moment she has with her family. She learned early not to take her loved ones for granted; that the time she got to spend with them had its limit.
All too soon, comes the time for goodbyes. She helps her mother pack up the leftovers as Souta helps grandpa up. She hugs her family goodbye and watches them leave the park, grandpa flanked by mother and Souta both. Then, she sighs and starts to roll up the picnic blanket.
The wind stirs, rattling the branches overhead and soft pink petals fall around her like gentle raindrops. A spark, buried deep in a now-forgotten corner of her body bursts aflame and a shiver skitters down Kagome’s spine. Her hands fall, the picnic blanket slipping through her numb fingers. Her head snaps up, the fine hairs at the back of her neck stirring in an instinctual warning.
Her heartbeat is too fast and erratic, thumping in her ears as her startled gaze sweeps the park and the many groups of people who have come out to view the cherry blossoms. She can’t see anything out of her ordinary. Could she have imagined it? Conjured up the sensation she hasn’t felt wash over her in years? Her stomach feels heavy, teetering between dread and the fragile wings of a foolish hope.
A hand clamps on her shoulder. Kagome jumps and whirls around.
Time slows and narrows the moment she meets the golden gaze. She stares at his face, uncomprehending, for one brief eternity. How is he here? Is this happening for real? He looks completely different from the regal warrior of her memories, but the eyes staying steady on hers are achingly familiar.
Kagome would recognise them anywhere.
Her fingers find and latch onto the lapels of his suit jacket. The world blurs, as the sob wracks its way up her throat and the tears start to fall. His name is a soft, muffled mantra mindlessly falling from her lips.
“Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru! Sesshoumaru…”
He wraps an arm securely around her shoulder, cradles her cheek with his hand. His thumb brushes one of her tears away. The gesture takes Kagome by surprise. She would never had guessed he was capable of such tenderness.
His low voice is warmer than she’s ever heard it before, when he finally speaks right into her ear.
“Well met, Miko.”
With that simple greeting, Kagome’s tears turn to laughter. Her heart is too full for her chest, bright and overflowing.
“Hi,” she whispers, smiling luminously as he leans in.
The kiss he presses to her forehead is softer than a cherry blossom petal and more precious than all the blooming trees around them combined.