#his presence off the ice is worth sooooooo much

[ehghtyseven]

“I had the time of my life in Pittsburgh,” Hornqvist said. “I tried to take some of those lessons to my role here.”

Once upon a time, he made a real difference in Pittsburgh: one never experienced before his arrival, nor matched after his departure.

The glory days of the Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang era in Pittsburgh were triggered by Jim Rutherford’s first trade as general manager, when he traded a talented, stylish goal scorer in James Neal for the fierce substance player that was Hornqvist. All of these years later, his old teammates — some of whom remain in Pittsburgh — speak admiringly when asked of Hornqvist.

There is something different about him, which everyone in Pittsburgh already knew and everyone in Florida has learned.

“Learned a lot from that guy,” Bryan Rust said with a smile. “No one else really plays like him, but you can learn some things from being around him. I’m sure Florida is happy that he’s still in the organization.”

Of that, there is no question. Evan Rodrigues played with Hornqvist in Pittsburgh briefly and now is united with him in Florida.

“I’ll tell you what Horny is,” Rodrigues said. “He’s a culture setter. That’s what he is.”

This isn’t a phrase used to describe many players.

Then again, as Mike Sullivan was fond of saying, “There’s only one of him.”

JY has a nice article about Horny today 🥰

[shinidamachu]

Holding On And Letting Go - Chapter III

Summary: Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV

Word Count: 1060  Genre: angst  Fandom: InuYasha  Pairing: Inukag Format: multichapter  AO3 Link: 🌹  Fanfic.Net Link: 🌹

Life was but a palid echo of what used to be, now that her presence was no longer there to color it, and as it moved forward, only one thought chanted through his mind with each lonely conversation by the well, threatening to stifle his hopes to death. 

Maybe I shouldn’t come here anymore.

His survival instincts joined frustration and sorrow in that chorus, adding with a mighty screaming that, of all times, he certainly shouldn’t be there that night.

Because the moon wasn’t shining and he felt desperately weak and none of it mattered when he was entirely sure that five hundred years from then, Kagome was sitting at the very same spot, at that exact moment.

And she would always be worth the risk.

Looking back, InuYasha couldn’t remember a single new moon night since they met in which Kagome wasn’t there for him. Even when he would tell her not to, even when he lied he was fine, even when he didn’t deserve her to stay at all.

Ever since she was gone, InuYasha had settled into a routine of coming to the well every three days. Regardless, he always went there in the new moons and — call him crazy — it was when he could feel her the best.

So in the end, it wasn’t much of a choice and even if it was, he knew what his would be.

He would choose her. For all those times he couldn’t. Day after day. He would choose her and he would keep on choosing her until he took his last breath on this world, hoping that would be enough somehow.

Smiling at the thought of her obstinate face on the many occasions she had decided to stay up with him, InuYasha gave her the same answer. 

“Go to sleep, Kagome.”

She could never sleep on those nights.

They were too dark.

Not the good kind of dark, like the bright tone his hair must be displaying at that very moment. No. It was the worst kind. The one that suffocated her courage, that left her lost and lonely, wary of anything that might jump on her as soon as she let her guard down. The one that kept her from seeing the stars.

Of course, spending new moons awake wasn’t something she was a stranger to. Since Kagome was fifteen, once a month, she had stayed up with InuYasha until the first rays of sunshine brought back what night had stolen. It was a marvellous experience every time.

She still remembered how vulnerable he could get — both physically and emotionally — when he was a human and how much he hated it, but she also recalled the gentle drop of his voice and the way his touch used to get sweeter, tempting her to delve into that mysterious part of who he was.

“Back then you acted like it didn’t happen, but the more I think about it, the more I’m sure you remember saying I smelled nice, that one night.” Kagome cherished that memory to this day, even though enough time had passed to make her feel like it belonged to someone else. Without realizing and yet so efficiently, he had swept her off her feet for the first of what turned out to be countless occasions.

When the fear that she might never find out whether or not her suspicions were true stared her in the face, Kagome pulled the blanket even closer around her.

Now, with the well sealed, her heart was heavy with concern. Being apart from InuYasha in the moments she knew he needed her the most contradicted each cell of her body.

And so, she had settled for the next best thing.

Every new moon after their fateful separation, without fail, she waited for the dawn beside the Honekui no Ido and recited the same prayer, over and over again.

“Please, be okay. Please, please, please be okay.”

“Sonuvabitch!” That had to be the third or so root he had tripped on. Trying to catch his balance, InuYasha resumed the staggering walk into the clearing, where the Honekui no Ido stood imposing.

Spinning the way it was, the old thing seemed to mock him. Why wouldn’t it? After taking Kagome away without giving him so much as a chance to fight for her, it was only fitting that his impotence got ridiculed.

From afar, InuYasha gazed the well with narrowed eyes, as if it was a viper ready to attack — not that it could kill him or anything, it just brought a lot of pain and it was a fucking nuisance. Differently from the Bone Eater, though, the viper he could slay, at least.

InuYasha took a sip from the sake on his hand, suddenly remembering why he was there. 

“Sooooooo sorry to interrupt K’gome. No no no I know ya too busy not bein’ here. I just got a few things I’d like to say.” He took a step closer, wiping the liquid from his lips with the back of his hand. InuYasha cleared his throat in an act of drunk courage. “I love ya.”

He let the words sink in, proud of finally being able to say it out loud. She would never hear it, but stil...

“I’ve loved ya so long and I know ’s too late and I know you’d think I’m drunk but ‘s no true. Y’know what’s true? This think taste like piss ‘n none of it matter ‘cause ya no comin’ back are ya? ‘N I’ll spend the rest of my life talkin’ to a fuckin’ well!”

InuYasha threw the jug as hard and far as he could, its crashing fleeing the animals deep into the forest’s shadows and intoxicating the air with the suffocating smell of alcohol. He paid no mind to it.

Finally reaching the wooden walls, InuYasha let himself lean against it. 

“Ain’t that just fuckin’ funny?” He asked, his eyes closing.

Kagome wasn’t going to cry. Not this time. 

After so long, her tears turned into dry fury.

In the course of her life, rage had been a capricious emotion — it slammed in uninvited, a supernova of screams and storming off that exploded whenever her temper got the best of her.

To say she had been angry before was an understatement. 

Kagome had been angry countless times. With her friends, when they got too pushy. With Sota, because as much as they loved each other, they were siblings and it was physically impossible not to. With Sesshoumaru, Kikyo, Naraku and each complication the later created along the way. Even with her father, for dying — although she never admitted out loud. With herself, every now and then, and Math and InuYasha both had chapters all of their own in this department.

Sometimes she could be unfair or overreact, which would come to her attention after the fire had extinguished, making her apologise when an apology was due.

The feeling she experienced now, glaring down the empty darkness of the well, was nothing like it.

She had only felt that anger in rare moments. It creeps in through an open door, burning cold and silent.

“What was the point of it all, then?” Kagome wasn’t sure who or what she was talking to, but for the first time, it wasn’t InuYasha. “I was living my life and I could spend the rest of it just fine thinking Grandpa’s stories were only that. But you sucked me into that mess because you needed me there. And I played my part, I played it pretty well.” Her low, iced voice carried a hint of danger that could make men twice her size shiver. “You used me for my powers and now that you don’t need me anymore, it’s all over? Just like that?” She shook her head, eyes burning with the tears she refused to let drop, making the situation even more infuriating. “That’s not how it works. You can’t toy with people’s feelings like that. The least you can do is let me get back. Let me get back!”

Her breath quickened uncontrollably and she could swear the walls were closing around her.

“Kagome.”

The sweet sound caught her off guard, making her unclench her teeth and free the wooden edges from her grip. As soon as she turned to met those eyes, the wrath inside melted to a sobbing crying. They ran to each other and before she knew it, Kagome fell apart into the embrace of the woman who had been her rock through it all.

“Mama...” Kagome clung to her, feeling like a child and not caring in the slightest. She didn’t know how much her mom had listened, but the woman simply stood there, petting her hair and letting Kagome soak her shoulder.

“I know, honey. I know.”

‘Tomorrow I am not going to cry’, she promised to herself, ‘not tomorrow’.

A/N: Thank you guys for deciding to read this.

Don't know what you'll think of drunk InuYasha. It was just a scene that came to my mind when I thought of writing this story. I didn't get into details but he jumped into that Master of Potions guy and decided to give it a try because he misses her too much and it couldn't get any worse, anyway (it could since he woke up with a major hangover). Oh, and Kagome feeling used is a personal headcanon of mine I mean... homegirl fixed everything and now that the mission is done she is quicked out and doesn't get her happy ending? Bullshit!

Anyway, let me know what you guys think!

Hey @simply_zerah, this chapter is for you! Thank you for all the kind reviews! I don't deserve you!

And a big thanks to @keichanz for letting me use her new moon headcanon (she is Da Best). It was love at first sigh!