I claimed the platonic relationship between Kikyou and Suikotsu at the LiveJournal community "Inuyasha no Kakera." In this community, authors claim a certain character, pairing, or relationship and write pieces for that claim based on 100 themes. This is where I'll be putting all of my drabbles and ficlets written for that community based on Kikyou and Suikotsu's relationship.

Title: True Smile
Theme: Smiling Face
Genres: Drama/Introspection
Rating: G
Summary: There are several areas where Kikyou and Suikotsu differ – one of them being that Suikotsu knows how to smile.

…

She watched as Suikotsu gently tended to one of his many wards, his eyes shining with a light clear enough to rival that coming from the shard in his neck. Sensing her gaze, he glanced up and gave her a bright smile. She returned it as best she could; Kikyou had never been good at smiles, and nowadays her attempts were feeble at most.

She and this young doctor had the common bond of lingering death, but it was a bond Kikyou considered superficial. They were quite different in all other aspects, and she found none more prominent than the way they smiled.

Kikyou's lips, made from a mockery of flesh, could twist themselves into a shadow of a smile – but it was never with mirth, never with contentment. Even before her death, smiling had been awkward, an alien expression for an unfamiliar feeling. She could vaguely recall Kaede grinning as though it was the most natural thing in the world. There had been times when she'd wanted to ask her sister what it felt like to smile and truly mean it.

Her attempts at those gestures of warmth increased when she met Inuyasha. But her efforts were hindered by the fact that she and the hanyou were far too similar; for Inuyasha, too, did not know how to smile. She suspected he might've known once, but had forgotten it long before, or else had buried it deep along with his innocence.

And now, a death and a lifetime later, Kikyou watched on as another being who had no business being alive smiled with all the affection he could give. As she tried to smile back, she wondered if there really was an answer to her question on how to give a genuine smile.

Suikotsu's soft chuckle reached her ears and delved into her fragment of a soul.

Perhaps, she thought, I do not need a smile of my own. Perhaps it is enough to take comfort in the true smile of another.

…