Standard disclaimers apply.
A/N: Here's the second part to the story, "The Color of Love". Thank you for all the reviews for chapter one…you guys rock! In the last chapter, we ended off where Sesshoumaru mentioned that he was going for a cornea transplant. Enjoy the story!
Title: The Color of Love
She sat alone on the almost empty bus, pondering over his words. The trees and streets zoomed past in a blur, but her mind was not on the scenery outside. Instead, it was on a certain person who changed her in a mere period of three months.
"The color of love…I saw it."
He said he saw the color of love, and it was all because of her.
"If it is a success, I'll gain some vision. And if I see you then, and still like you all the same, will you give me a chance?"
Her heart was filled with a fuzzy feeling of warmth, but she was not ready. What if he saw her and decided that he does not like her at all? What if she was nothing like he had imagined?
She was afraid; she was nothing like the color of love he had imagined. He has never seen colors before, so what if his imagination has beautified things beyond reality? What if it was a level of beauty which she would never ever be able to attain?
He was so perfect, and she was nowhere near to perfection.
He would be terribly disappointed.
At that time, a chance will not matter at all, whether or not she was willing to give it to him.
So right after he asked if she would give him a chance, she answered.
"Alright, I will give you a chance. However, if you don't like what you see, you have to tell it to me directly, and I will not blame you or whatsoever. Neither will I force you to do anything against your wishes. All I ask for is you to be truthful."
It was a month since he told her he was going for surgery, and today will be the day when she would face the fears plaguing her day and night.
The hospital came into view, before the bus came to a stop at the bus stop. She stood up, alighting before walking towards the hospital entrance.
"Because I fell in love with you."
He had no idea how simple yet complicated he made things for her.
Striding into the interior of the hospital, she made her way to the ward in which he was at. The basket of fruits which she was carrying felt increasingly heavy with every step she took towards the ward.
She thought if he could identify the colors of the fruits she was holding, since he was already recovering from the surgery.
The door was left ajar, and she could see him facing the door from the bed.
Her footsteps halted, and she scooted behind the wall to hide from him.
What should she do? What could she say? She feared if he pointed out to her the color of love was nothing like he had imagined, she would be devastated.
The worry in her heart was mounting to nauseating levels…somehow she felt torn between wanting to run in to see him after a few weeks of being apart and yet wanting to hide from him.
She steadied herself, taking a deep breath and wondering what she should do next.
"Kagome? Is that you?"
That was his voice. There was no hiding now.
She emerged from behind the wall, standing in the door way. He was facing her by now, but she could not raise her head. It was so much easier looking at him when she knew he could not see her.
"Good afternoon, Sesshoumaru." She greeted, walking in to stand by the bed. "How are you feeling today?"
"I'm well, thank you." He answered dutifully with a small nod of his head.
"Aren't these fruits simply beautiful? They looked so fresh, so I bought them on my way here." She tried to lighten the atmosphere, placing the basket on the side table. "I hope you like Fuji apples."
"Aa. I do. They are indeed beautiful."
Silence elapsed after his reply, and for a moment, the both of them stood facing each other, yet unaware of what to say. Kagome was still staring at the floor, anything to avoid Sesshoumaru's gaze.
She felt so miniscule, but she knew she should not hide any longer. Summoning courage, she broke the silence.
"So…you can see me now, right?" She spoke up in a small voice, before she became louder with false happiness. "I don't look anything like you've imagined, right? It's alright if you change your opinion towards me…I really don't expect you to like me after you see how I look like."
He did not say anything, and she took it as silent agreement.
"I'm glad you're well now…and since the four months of community work is now over, I think I better get going…"
A stinging pain rose behind her eyes, and she instinctively knew she was about to begin crying anytime soon, and if she did not leave, she would end up a crying mess.
Bowing to him, she turned to go.
"Kagome…"
"Byebye." She smiled through the film of tears welling up, waving to him, but he did not return her wave.
She stepped towards the door determinedly, before hearing his voice clearly.
"Kagome, wait!"
She did not and only hasten her footsteps. She told herself, she would be strong, she would not turn back.
He was too good for her, too perfect.
I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru…I really do not have the courage to accept your love…
It was then when she heard a loud, resounding crash which caused her to turn back. Through her tears, she could see him sprawled on the linoleum floor of the hospital, while his eyes were kept on the door.
"Seshoumaru! Are you alright?" She instinctively ran over to kneel down by his side, trying to help him back into a standing position. "Are you hurt?"
He pushed her hand away, breathing hard while staring straight at the ground.
"Sess…" She whispered, unsure of weather to reach out to him or not.
His back rose and fell with every breath he took, before he said bitterly. "I thought you would be different from all of them."
She was surprised, but she did not make a sound.
"Like all of them, you only sympathized with me. Whatever came from you was nothing but a so-called act of compassion…but once you think I am alright, you leave my life as if you have never come into it."
"Sesshoumaru…" Her tears were falling freely by now, and through her tears, she saw that his fists were tightly clenched. She reached out, not caring if he was going to push her away, and covered his larger fist as much as she could with her hand.
"The surgery was a failure."
A failure…?
Her heart ceased beating momentarily, and a lone tear fell onto his fist.
"You…you mean…?"
"I still cannot see anything, but I didn't know how to tell you that. I tried pretending like I could see, hoping that I still stood a chance despite being blind. You showed me the color of love…and all I can give you is darkness." He took a quivering breath. "But now, my world is still nothing but darkness...you took the color away with you."
He looked up then, and she saw how his eyes were still dull, except that they were clouded over with tears as well.
Her heart ached with every word he said, before she reached out instinctively to hold him in her arms. She did not know what to say, but she realized something.
All along, she had been trying to escape the reality, fool her heart and disregard the color of love. He meant the world to her, but it was because of her indecisiveness and fear that she had brought so much misery to the both of them. She really was an idiot, to harm the one she loved.
"No, Sess…your world is not dark, because I will bring you the light. I'm so sorry for being so selfish…all I thought of was myself, and I undermined your love for me. I'm so sorry…" Kagome cried, while she clung on to the man who held her heart. Hot tears flowed as if they had their own will, as she regretted her actions.
So what if he could not see? He could see the color of love so clearly. Instead, it was her, who had no visual disability, who denied herself the vision of such a beautiful thing.
She could not even be compared to him.
Pulling apart from the embrace, she cupped his cheeks and pressed her lips against his in a chaste kiss. Her lips were quivering slightly against him, but she did not care.
She drew away, before saying with all the sincerity she had. "I never knew what the color of love was until you showed it to me. And your world is no longer in darkness, for I will share the color of love with you. Just so you would know, this is not sympathy. I love you, Sesshoumaru. It does not matter if you cannot see…I like everything about you."
He nodded, before pulling her into a tight embrace that promised of the future to come.
"I love you too, Kagome."
And just like every other fairy tale, their ending was a happily-ever-after.
The End.
A/N: Thank you for reading "The Color of Love"! I hoped you guys enjoyed it and thank you for all your support. I'll continue writing more Sess/Kag stories, that's for sure!
Thank you once again!
Love,
MissTeak