A/N: This MirKag fic was inspired by the song "Two for Tragedy" by Nightwish. It's a song very near and dear to my heart. I highly recommend listening to it :) Anyway, this is just a bit of fluff. My first time writing fluff, so this is bound to come out really cheesy and contrite. Oh wells.
Miroku's head bobbed wearily as he slumped against the wall, trying his best not to give in to the torturous fatigue. He observed the huddled form of the sleeping Kaede, watching her body steadily rise and fall with every soothing, life-giving breath she took. "You'll never know how much you take it for granted, Kaede-sama," Miroku thought tiredly without malice. A slight muffled padding outside the door and the shuffling of the door hanging signified that Kagome had come to retrieve him. The parting of the door hanging temporarily let in the incredible light of the full moon, illuminating the floor and making the sand granules sparkle before Kagome stepped in front of it, making her seem as a glowing beacon before him. She held a small pouch in her hand, and he glanced wearily up to her face, where he saw tears serenely glistening in her eyes and down her cheeks, the sorrow in her slightly crumpled face brightening his heart and elating his soul. "Success at last…" he thought before slowly getting to his feet, leaving his shakujou leaning against the beaten and battered wall, a symbolic abandonment of his life, his duties, and his obligations.
He followed Kagome outside where she led them just outside of the village and up a tall grassy knoll near the Goshinboku that overlooked the village and the peaceful hillsides surrounding them. She shakily lowered herself to the ground once she reached the top and sat seiza, awaiting him. He sat facing her, following her downcast eyes until he saw the object of her observation. He saw a small pine tree, maybe half a foot tall, shyly sprouting from the hilltop, all humbleness and meekness.
"This was the tree we planted, Miroku-sama," Kagome said with a slight quiver to her voice. "The tree that was to remain forever here for our feelings, our plight. This is our tree." She was unable to look up and meet his eyes, despite knowing that this was the best option, the only way out. She admitted: she was afraid. There was no doubt that she was ready and willing to go through with their plans, but that did little to assuage her nervousness, the finality of it all.
Miroku almost flinched at the formality in her voice. "Kagome…" he trailed off, his heart sinking at the prospect of her having second doubts. He reached out to touch her hand which was resting on her knee. She almost shuddered, but looked up, a steely resolve having taken root in her eyes. Despite her emotional turmoil, the weary monk's heart once again soared with joy.
She pulled the small pouch from inside of her white haori and looked up at him, her jaw set and lips pressed firmly together, a single question lingering in her eyes: "Are you ready?" Miroku serenely shut his eyes and nodded his head softly, a smile ghosting across his features. "Almost free at last. Almost there…"
Her thin, nimble fingers gripped the corner of the small silk pouch, and from within spilled two small plastic vials filled with liquid. "Two vials…" Miroku thought, shooting a questioning look towards Kagome, who'd averted her gaze in favor of looking out over the landscape, watching the moonlight sparkle over the rice paddies and glint amidst the numerous trees' leaves that were quietly quaking with the light breeze that caressed them. Miroku waited patiently for an explanation, cautiously happy with her choice.
"I didn't want to leave you," Kagome whispered, turning to face him. Her blue diamond eyes gazed at him piercingly, meaning shimmering in their depths. Her voice gained strength. "I don't want you to go alone, and I…" The last bit was once again reduced to a whisper, "I don't want to be alone." She quietly rose and walked to the other side of the tiny, frail pine tree as its deep blue-green needles slightly rustled in the wind. She once again lowered herself to the ground next to her dear monk, settling so their thighs pressed together. She looked up to meet his expectant gaze, nothing but serenity shining in the depths of his eyes.
She handed him a small vial filled with the unknown liquid. He held it up to the moonlight, which shone through the plastic vial, making the contents shine a placid sea-green. "I brewed it in your favorite tea," Kagome said, her voice taking on a tranquil quality as she turned her gaze upward toward the multitude of stars that studded the sky. He turned to face her, appreciation radiating from his tired smile. Her eyes crinkled with a sweet smile.
"I powdered some aconitum root and brewed it with the last of your expensive green tea store, so it shouldn't be too bitter," the little miko said, bringing her eyes down to meet his with a small smile. He threw his head back and laughed, the moonlight highlighting his features as Kagome stared on in wonder. She realized that, in a matter of moments, her fear had completely dissipated. It was as if it was never even there. All that was left inside her was an overwhelming sense of sureness and security.
"Arigatou, Kagome," Miroku said through his smile, reaching forward to capture her cheek in his calloused palm. Her breath was completely taken away as she saw the light from the millions of stars overhead reflected in his violet eyes. She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his own, feeling his warmth, his radiance, his total happiness. It was like basking in the brilliant light of a dying star.
They uncorked their bottles and their eyes met briefly before simultaneously dumping the small quantity of sweet liquid down their throats. Their eyes met once more, and he smiled at her, appreciation radiating from his whole form. "Thank you so much, my sweet Kagome. Words cannot express how much I appreciate this. I will finally be able to be in peace," he sighed as he pulled her against his chest and laid back on the soft grass below them. Kagome nodded her head in agreement with his words. Peace had eluded them all in the months after the final battle. The seeming Eden they were living in had become a hell. People still fell like toy soldiers, and this monk and this miko were quietly burning like falling stars, looking for a release from the pain, for the absolution they had been so cruelly denied.
Miroku's hand tightened around Kagome's own small, soft one as he sighed in contentment. The cold beads wrapped around his left hand gently clacked together and settled upon Kagome's smooth skin. "Look... look at the stars, Kagome."
"I'm sorry, Miroku. I'm sorry that it came to this, that we couldn't fix you," Kagome whispered, tears quickly falling from here eyes like glistening diamonds. Her tears were not of regret over their decision, but of sadness and pity for the hand that fate had dealt them, and of sadness for the inadequacies of the tools dealt them to cope. She took a shuddering breath and continued. "The stars are so beautiful tonight, Miroku. Like a bed of millions of candles shining down on us. They shine for you. They shine to bring you home, for everyone to see."
She listened to his heartbeat as her head lay on his chest, rising and falling with his steady breath. His arms came up to wrap around her, pulling her closer as he turned his head to bury his face in her soft black tresses.
Kagome's right index finger traced lazy patterns across Miroku's purple robe-clad chest. "I'm glad I could share this with you, Miroku," she hedged. He hummed in agreement or contentment, she couldn't tell which.
"Kagome, I think I lived a full life, ne? We accomplished so much in our time. Even though there were so many impediments, so many unfulfilled goals, so many tears shed by all of us, I think we did well. I'm so weary, Kagome. So weary. Life has nothing more with me or for me but death and misery. It's about time I went home." She could feel the smile as his chest rumbled with his voice. She nodded her head, burrowing closer to his warmth. She gazed back up at the stars, at the Milky Way shining above them. Shining with them. Shining for them. One light for each unwarranted, undeserved tear that had been shed over the course of their journey.
"Close your eyes, Kagome," Miroku whispered and then placed a lingering kiss upon her brow.
"…I love you, Miroku," Kagome murmured contently as her eyes slipped closed, succumbing to the luring pull of their awaiting eternal slumber.
"I know, Kagome," she could barely hear him whisper before she faded away into unconsciousness.
The next thing Kagome saw was a bright yellow light. Birds could be heard chirping, and she was warm. "So this is what the afterlife is like…" she thought. As she recovered her senses, her feelings of euphoria and happiness quickly faded as she realized that she could hear bustling in her direction and a certain hanyou's brash voice coming from behind her in the trees. She opened her eyes to see a blazing bright sun shining down from an impossibly blue sky, warming her body that was simultaneously being chilled by Miroku's cold body.
She pushed herself upright, her bottom lip trembling and tears rushing to blur her vision. "It didn't work," she shakily muttered as Inuyasha burst through the trees to land beside her. His ranting quickly stopped as he scented death and poison on the air and looked down at Kagome's prostrate form, weeping into the dead monk's robes. He cautiously stepped forward, laying a hand softly on Kagome's shoulders.
"Kagome, I… I'm sorry. I didn't know he was wanting to do this, end it this way," he softly murmured but was quickly rebuffed when Kagome began inconsolably sobbing. The sight left him shaken, and the scent of Kagome's tears mixed with the beginnings of rot slightly tinged with the acerbic scent of poison cut him to the quick.
"I was supposed to go with him! It failed! He's gone! And I'm lost!" She weakly pushed Inuyasha away, and he left her to her grieving… her grieving of the afterlife that was snatched away from her by a whim of the iridescent Jewel that was to hang around her neck for the rest of her days.
As midday approached, Kagome was out of tears, and she merely laid her head silently upon the monk's chest. She looked up and glanced at the little tree growing next to Miroku's lifeless form. A sudden realization hit her. There were no pine trees on the shrine grounds in her time. She reached over her love's dead, cold body, and resolutely eased the tree out of the ground, the delicate roots not having enough hold to remain in the ground.
"It's a different tree… a different time. This tree is not us. We are not eternal, nor were we meant to be. Miroku-san…" She looked down upon his face for the first time since awakening, and saw a completely placid smile left upon his still face. Two glistening streaks cascaded down her cheeks, for beneath that bed of starlit candles, their souls had been unknowingly wrenched apart with so much left to say; one destined to travel on and one destined to remain on the earth. She fiddled with the pink bauble around her neck, the source of so much unhappiness and pain in the world, before walking away with a small, watery smile. "I hope you found your peace, love."
Fin.
A/N: Acontium is a plant that grows in Asia that's been used in traditional medicines, but is quite potent and can be extremely poisonous. The Ainu people in Japan used acontium to hunt bear.