Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha, Kagome, or any of the other fine inhabitants of that certain Feudal Fairy Tale we all love so much. This is just a one shot and not very long, but I hope you enjoy it.
"Kagome.. this can't be happening. Say something Kagome, open your eyes."
Mukostsu's poison had done its job, aided no doubt by the heat of the flames from the burning monastery. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Dimly, he could hear Shippou sobbing somewhere nearby. His mind processed that Shippou had said, 'they stopped breathing' and he knew that the young kitsune had meant Sango and Miroku as well. He knew it, but somehow he couldn't get past Kagome. Even with the flames and smoke, he could smell her hair, holding her this close. There was the tang of the poison she'd been exposed to, but he knew that's not why his eyes were stinging. It wasn't the heat of the fire, or the acrid harsh smoke either.
For the first time in a very long time, Inu-Yasha was crying. He almost expected Kagome to open her eyes then, to catch him doing it so that she could point it out to him, and he could deny it like he denied any show of more tender emotion. He could almost hear her voice in his head, hear himself arguing with her despite the salty evidence on his cheeks. He could feel his heart contract, when in his mind they got to the part where she would surely issue the command word. "Sit!" He could almost smell the dirt beneath him already in his nose, but in his mind for once she didn't say sit. He refused to think about why she couldn't ...
He couldn't have really explained to anyone how he'd gotten them all outside, after he'd done it. This couldn't be the end could it? Part of him wanted to comfort Shippou for once instead of smacking him down. He'd told the kitsune that he'd been very brave, protecting them all with his foxfire in the face of the kitsune's obvious distress, and maybe he was surprised to know that he'd meant every word. He could have run, saving himself but he'd refused to leave the others in an unwavering belief that somehow Inuyasha was coming to save them. In his own heart he wondered, what would it be like to have such a deep faith in another person? But he answered himself, because he already knew what it would be like. Kagome.
She had to make it through this. No matter what his mind told him, his heart and senses refused to believe that he would have to continue on without her. For just a moment, he let himself believe that she would just wake up. She would wake up, they'd fix Sango and Miroku too with something out of her pack, didn't Kagome always have something in her pack to fix everything? He didn't feel his hands stroking her dark hair, wasn't hearing himself cry over her. In the real world this all took such little time. But in his mind, years were passing.
Years in which they struggled to find all the shards of the Shikon jewel, overcame hardships and finally had the sweet taste of victory over Naraku. In his mind it had been her arrow, Kagome's arrow of purity that had struck the final blow. The battle over and she had turned to him, to let him choose ... and that most fleeting of images came after of Kagome standing before a small hut with a small silvery haired little child at her side.
It was the hardest thing he had ever done, to pull himself away from that slew of fantasy images. He only did it because even his grief would not allow him to ignore the scent of Sesshomaru approaching ...
The End.