Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha. Wish I did, but I don't.

Prologue

Fleeting Moments

It's all my fault. I should have tried harder, I should have been quicker, I should have pushed my feelings aside. If only I had more power, if only I had come sooner. Maybe if I had, it wouldn't have turned out this way. She would be smiling, he would be happy, and sure, it would hurt me, but not as much as I'm hurting right now.

She was dying. The poison was flowing through her, making her pale skin even paler, her delicate hands all the more fragile and her voice as soft as ever. And there was nothing anyone could do about it. I had tried, legitimately to save her, but all my efforts were in vain. I never really wanted her to die, without her I never would have met him. But she was, and I suppose I should have been happy about it, I mean, it's not like she hadn't died before. But it was different this time.

I wasn't there the first time, but I've heard about it so many times before that I can picture it perfectly in my head. She stood there, surrounded by the shade of the trees, mortally wounded with the blood red liquid seeping through the white fabric of her kimono. She was replaying what happened just moments before in her head over and over again. One moment, the jewel within her hands was glowing in the sunlight, the next, an excruciating pain, both mental and physical, as the man she thought she loved walked away with the sacred jewel she swore to protect, leaving nothing but bitterness, hatred and thoughts of betrayal behind. And in one swift movement, with perfect poise she knocked her last arrow on her bow, focusing what was left of her energy on the arrow tip, invoking it with her strong spiritual power.

He was there as well. He had just left the village, the precious jewel now in his hands, and he too was thinking those same thoughts. He, like her, couldn't believe at what the other had done. He had loved her, opened his heart to her, going against the very fabric of his being, and look where that had gotten him. He had been willing to completely change himself for her, and give up all that he had ever known just to be with her. And then she turned around and stabbed him in the back, stringing him along like a little puppy, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. He had let his guard down and she took advantage of it and tried to kill him. So he did what he had been going to do before he fell in love with her. He went and took the jewel from the temple.

I can't imagine what the next moments were like. He was running off with the jewel, she was forcing herself to get to him before he got away with it. And then they finally caught up with each other. He, holding the jewel's chain, looking at her, hurt, love and pain within his eyes, she, screaming his name, the unspoken question "Why?" heard within her voice. Time froze for an eternity in their minds, in reality only for a few mere seconds.

And then, it happened. The earth-shattering moment. The conflicting rage and sorrow got the better of her, and doing her duty she released her arrow. It sped through the air like a bullet does as it speeds across the horizon, a white aura engulfing it. And in a flash of white light, it pierced squarely through his chest. And the last thing he saw before he drifted off into unconsciousness was her distraught face, a beacon of light against the harsh sun. She died just moments after sealing him away, pleading with her sister to be buried with the jewel, in order to release the world from its enchantment.

Of course we now know that neither of them betrayed the other, in fact, it was Naraku himself who deceived them into trickery. He wanted her heart for himself and couldn't stand letting someone else have her, so he gave himself to the evil within his soul and used it to empower himself. He became utterly consumed by the evil that he himself had created, thus causing the demise of the one person he had ever wanted.

Fast forward 50 years to the present, the 2 lovers back to life, he awoken from his perpetual slumber, and she revived through black magick. Which is what makes this time so much more different, so much more significant, and so much more painful for me. Because as much as I should, I can't bring myself to hate her. This time only one of them is dying, only one of them can stay and now they both know the truth. This time, they're together, and as much as it kills me, as much as it hurts, somehow I know that this is how it's all supposed to be.

The sky is just another reminder of what's happening right now. Fitting that it's dusk, with the sun slowly setting against the backdrop of orange and pink. The streaks of red in the sky clash with the staggering black clouds, only proving that the earth itself is mourning the loss of her as well. Walking a little further in front of us, he holds her body carefully to his chest, head down, face numb. Staring at him I can see the grief it's causing him, to be carrying her as her life slowly ebbs away, unable to ease her pain, unable to stop her from leaving him yet again.

He stops suddenly, lifting his head so slightly that I can just barely glimpse a thin shining layer on his eyes. And I know that he's this close to crying, one step away from breaking down.

"Could you leave us alone?" he asks with a broken voice.

And as he takes a few more steps forward and sets her lightly down on the ground, I finally break, and crumble to the cold earth, hiding my face and the tears which have sprung forth from my eyes behind my hands. All I can think of are the same 9 words repeating constantly over and over in my mind. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't save you.

Slowly lifting my head I see them in the distance, exchanging words, possibly vows of love, I'll never know. Because all I can see is the look in his eyes, the internal agony, the torment, the love. And as I force myself to look away I see her eyes and all the happiness and peace she's found at just being with him. And I realize that I can never compete with her. As much as I care for him, as much as I sacrifice for him, it's never going to be enough. Just standing by him can never be enough, because she died to be with him. And I can tell that if he had to choose between us two, he wouldn't choose me.

And it hurts. It hurts because I know that rationally I can never bring myself to accept this. It's the eternal Bittersweet. But just seeing them together only confirms my theory, pushing me closer and closer to the edge. And though it's practically ripping me apart on the inside, I'm still more concerned about them than myself. I see the misery brewing inside of him and it breaks my heart even more than him being with her does. Because the one thing he's ever loved is being taken away from him again. And I can't stand to see him in this much pain.

I pity her too. Because the last time she was with him, truly with him was when she was alive. And she ended up leaving him on such bad terms. With all the time I've spent with him, I've come to know him in ways that she can't possibly have, and she deserves to be happy just as much as me. She deserves to know him like I do.

And then it happened. I was thinking these thoughts to myself, watching them talk out of the corner of my eye, when all of a sudden, they just stopped. They completely froze. And not only them, but the wind stopped, the birds stopped chirping and the sounds of the waterfall stopped. And that's when I realized that something was wrong. Getting up, I slowly took a few steps back, looking around surreptitiously, sensing that I was the only person who could move, the only person who wasn't affected by this sudden pause in time.

Then I heard the voice.

"That never ceases to amaze me." It was coming from behind me. Whirling around, I darted my eyes as quick as I could to look for the source of the voice, but couldn't see a thing.

"It's a miracle really. And you don't even realize that you're doing it, do you?" I whirled around again, this time unsure of which direction the voice was coming from.

"Who are you?" I piped up finally, slowly spinning in a counter-clockwise circle. "What do you want from me?"

A tinkling sound occurs, like angelic laughter. "It's not what I want. Rather what you want. So, what is it that you desire?"

What do I desire? Lots of things. Peace, world harmony, this damn jewel to be complete. But most of all? His happiness, even if I'm not a part of it. Except, I can't even have that anymore. Because she's about to leave forever, and whether or not she knows it, she's going to take a part of him with her.