I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi

Autumn Memories

A leaf, caught on the breeze, landed on the ground in front of the red-clad man. Flicking a white triangular ear, he bent over and picked it up, then looked up, seeing the maple, scarlet in its glory.

"Autumn already?" he said, then twirled the leaf in his fingers. For some reason, the shifting of the seasons just hadn't registered with him until this moment. Looking at the reddish-brown leaf, his thoughts wandered, and he sighed, remembering a day three autumns ago, when he and his companions took a moment off from their quest as they entered a valley filled with scarlet and golden trees.

They were in such a hurry, those days, running from crisis to crisis, fight to fight. It was rare to take a day off, but the magic of the autumn had captured her, they were all in the need of a break, and this was one of those days that, after a little nudging, he even agreed they required it.

He remembered her, the girl who had won his heart after such a rough beginning, standing and looking up at the tree branches and the sky above. He had watched as a leaf dropped, lazily drifting on the breeze and landing in her hair. He had reached up and carefully picked it up, then handled it to her. She smiled at him, her blue-gray eyes a bit tired but happy, then twirled the leaf in her fingers.

"My mother always told me the maple leaves were giving the earth a thank you present for the good things of spring and summer," she said. "That's why they turn such a pretty color."

He had looked at the leaf in her hands, the points spiraling around like the thoughts in his head. There was so much he had wanted to tell her, but he could never get the words out. Instead, he raised his eyes back to her, and wrapped his hand around hers. Her smile said she understood, and his heart had said there would be other days.

But now, standing in the light of another autumn, separated by more than two years, he regretted each unsaid word in a world where there were no more other days. Sighing, he crushed the leaf in a clawed hand and let it drift away in the wind.