"Inuyasha! Look out!!" Kagome shouted, her bow bent back with an arrow ready to fly. Her entire body was shaking from the strain it took merely to keep standing up, much less stretch the bow back and the arrow somewhat steady. Tsubaki snarled, looking for a way to escape as Inuyasha crept up from behind. "I'm going to seal her with one shot!"

*twang!*

The sound of two bodies hitting the ground in unison filled the cabin. It was quickly followed by the sound of laughter.

"Inuyasha-a!" Kikyo's shrill scream pierced the laughter for a second, then was drowned out by it. Sango and Miroku could only stare as Kikyo ran toward the fallen body of the half-youkai. 

Kagome's final arrow had flown true, but Tsubaki had dodged. The arrow intended for her had struck Inuyasha instead. He lay motionless on the floor, his sightless eyes staring into Kagome's as an arrow rose from his chest.

On the other side of the room, Kagome mirrored Inuyasha's, the bow fallen from her hand and laying next to her, forgotten. "Kagome-chan!" Sango frantically rushed to the girl's side, fearing the worst. Miroku hovered over her, his staff warily aimed at the laughing Tsubaki. 

"Is she-?" He asked, his voice a rough whisper. Sango said nothing, staring at Kagome's body in shock. After a moment, she slowly nodded. She looked as if she was crying, but no tears tracked down her face. 

"She wasn't so tough after all." Tsubaki sneered, taking a breather from laughing. The triumphant smirk never left her face, however. 

"Be quiet." Miroku snapped. Faster than a human should be he ran forward, his right hand unbound and reaching for the youkai. In a surprising un-climatic struggle, Tsubaki vanished into the depths of the Air Rip.

Miroku bowed his head, carefully sealing the hole in his hand. Behind him, Sango spoke up quietly. "So what do we do know?" 

He shook his head. "I don't know." He felt numb. Numb and sick.

Silence took over the building room then for several terse minutes. Sango broke it.

"He's won, hasn't he?." She said bitterly. "Naraku. Kagome's dead. Inuyasha's dead. Naraku's won."

"No." Kikyo, previously forgotten, spoke up from over Inuyasha's still body. "Not yet. The Shikon no Tama. You have it all. Take it and burn it with her remains." She let out a wheeze, her body suddenly going through convolutions.

"Kikyo-sama?" Miroku inquired, moving to help her. Kikyo held up a hand, her head bowed.

"Our soul... our soul is leaving. Burn the Shikon no Tama with Kagome's remains. Then hide the ashes. What... what happened to me must not happen again." She trailed off again, her body appearing to fade away. 

"Kikyo-sama?" Miroku inquired again, stepping closer. Kikyo shook her head as she leaned farther over Inuyasha's body. There was a muted cracking sound, then her body started to crumble into dust.

"Take care of... Inuyasha..." She murmured before she became an un-reconisable pile of dirt and ashes that half buried the half youkai that her world had orbited around for over the past 50 years.

"We will." Miroku promised, even if it was too late for the Miko to hear. 

Sango bowed her head, her hair hiding her face. "The Bone Gobbling Well. Only Inuyasha and Kagome can pass through there. They'll be safe there. and... and maybe that way Kagome can find her way home." She whispered after a moment. Miroku nodded. 

"I'll take care of their rites. Kaede-baba can help. And we'll need to tell Shippou..." He trailed off.

They paused in silence, reflecting on everything that had just happened and everything that had been passed on to their shoulders. They would grieve, they both knew, and they would mourn as they took care of their friends remains. Then they would go and put an end to Naraku once and for all.

Finally Miroku shook his head, breaking the stillness. 

"Kuso."


Inuyasha floated in a haze of grey fog and silver sparkles for in indeterminable amount of time. He vaguely remembered being struck by the arrow, then put in a dark place. But anything after that was... nothing. Just absolute, perfect nothing.

The nothing was abruptly broken by the distinct noise of cursing. The voice was somewhat familiar... but some of the words were different. Had a different accent. Almost like Kagome's accent had been strange when she had first showed up.

Kagome...

He struggled to wake up, to move to do anything but found himself un able to move at all. Not even twitch. He felt his anger rising. What the hell had happened? He had to protect Kagome from that bitch Tsubaki.

The feel of two cold hard surfaces leaning against his legs caused him to pause. They didn't feel like rocks, the surfaces where too smooth. One felt suspiciously like Kagome, and the other felt like... Kikyo. 

The scent of the place was familiar as well. The Bone Gobbling Well, like it smelled in Kagome's time. Only.. different. There was another scent as well, more recent than all the others, coming from the female cursing. It was a humans.

"Wha-" The strange voice stopped cursing and footsteps came his way. With a growl, Inuyasha attempted to move again. To his frustration, this again was met with resistance. Kuso!

"Oi! Oi, Boy! What's going on here?" The footsteps stopped in front of him, with the sound of someone crouching in front of him. They poked at him with a finger. "Boy? WHAT? Dog ears?!"

This exclamation was abruptly followed by the sound of someone falling on their butt. There was a pause as the girl hyperventilated for several seconds. Then they moved forward, their scent becoming stronger. Definitely human. 

The human girl reached up and stroked his ears. If he could have, he would have sweatdropped. Curse this sealing spell!

"So you're the reason this mini-shrine is off limits." The girl murmured, releasing his ears. "But what is this arrow doing here?" 

The hands moved down to his chest, where the arrow was. There was a small grunt, then he felt the arrow and the spell keeping him frozen vanish. He was free again.

With his head still bowed, he opened his eyes, looking down into his lap. There were two urns there, like the kind used to hold ashes. Why were they there?

Puzzled, he looked up into the person who had freed him's face. It was familiar, yet... not. But there was the unmistakable glow of the Shikon no Tama around their neck.

"Ki... Kikyo?" He whispered, his voice not responding after who knew how long of un-use. No, it wasn't Kikyo... "Kagome?"

The girl blinked, looking taken back. She then shook her head, making her short hair shake. "Who are you talking about?" She asked "I'm Karou!"

Fin.