Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. Sadly.
The cold wind blew, rustling in the fall leaves, stirring the hair of one uncaring hanyou. He was sitting, staring at a grave, with a name engraved on it. Kagome.
She was gone now, struck down in that final battle against Naraku. The hanyou's golden eyes stared, tears pooling on the edge of his vision.
"Why?"
That single question haunted him, and his head fell forward against his chest, as the memories flowed freely.
Flashback He
panted, holding Tessaiga in front of him, staring at Naraku, who had
finally grown brave enough and had collected enough shards to fight
them. Sango stood nearby, her broken Hiraikotsu held uselessly in one
hand, her sword in the other. Her eyes glowed with a hatred
previously unseen. Naraku had killed Kohaku at the beginning of the
battle, claiming his shard. In Kohaku's last moments, his memories
were returned and he screamed and cried as he died staring at his
sister.
Miroku stood, barely, by leaning against a tree. Naraku had rendered his Wind Tunnel useless when the miasma spread, and he had already used the Wind Tunnel on some before he could stop. He was dying, and they all knew it.
Kagome stood next to him, tears flowing from her eyes, arrow drawn and ready to fire. Naraku was tauntng them, and they all knew it. Blinking once to clear her vision, she shouted, and released the arrow.
Its purifying power was immense, destroying part of Naraku. Even as she drew to fire again, he was regenerating. InuYasha swung, the Wind Scar wrapped around his blade, sending a powerful blast out. At the same moment, Kagome fired her last arrow.
The resultant blast of power threw them away from the site and each other. More damage was done than that though.
End
"Damn you, Naraku! Why couldn't you die and leave it as that? Why did you use the last of your power for something so childish?!" His tears began to flow freely. The memories continued in a silent march.
Flashback He picked himself up, using the
Tessiaga to help himself balance. Moving slowly, because of his
injuries, he set off to find the others.
He found the monk first.
End
"Couldn't leave without tearing the Wind Tunnel wide open, could you? You just couldn't leave well enough alone..." He turned his head towards the second grave. "Just...couldn't resist, could you?"
Flashback His arm that had previously
had the Wind Tunnel in it was gone, and so was part of his chest. Her
was still breathing, but barely. He spoke, knowing his last word
would be heard.
"InuYasha...We got
him...right? The bastard...is dead...and my Wind Tunnel...it's gone.
Ha. Got him in the end...didn't we? I just wish...I could live to see
Sango...one last time. Tell her, InuYasha...tell her I loved
her..." "We knew...I will tell her..." The
monk died then, a smile on his face at the end of his quest.
End
He bared his fangs. He never did carry out the monk's final wish. His head turned to the third grave. "Sango..."
Flashback
He found the slayer a few minutes away. She was unconcious, and clearly dying. Her broken Hiraikotsu lay next to her, a silent testament to the sheer terror of the battle. Her sword was impaled in her stomach, from when she had been thrown backwards in the blast. He picked her up carefully and carried her to lay next to the monk.
He watched her
breathing slow and finally stop. Then he moved on to look for the
remaining three. End
His golden orbs turn to the last two, smaller graves. "Shippo...Kirara...you fought well beside us. That battle was hard...yet you fought well."
Flashback
Shippo and Kirara stood together in the battle, using Fox Fire and fangs to bring down many of the smaller youkai. The blast at the end had blown them, still together, into the forest, farther than the others. He had found them, after a search. Laying together, as kitsune and kitten, eyes closed, wounds still leaking blood, but the bodies cold. He had cried then, seeing the loyalty left, even in death, for these two. He had carefully picked them up, and carried them, still hanging onto each other, back to the other two. He stared for a few minutes after, at the monk and the slayer, the kitsune and the fire cat. Then he trudged off again.
End
"That was when I found you, Kagome..." His eyes turned back to the first grave. "I found you...and carried you back to be with the others."
Flashback
He stood, staring at the battered remains of the little miko, who he had loved. Her body was impaled on a broken branch, her bow smashed...But she held the purified Shikon no Tama in her hand...and somehow, she was still breathing.
He shook then, holding
back terrified sobs. She glanced up at him, her head rising from her
chest to look at him. "InuYasha..."
He glanced up
sharply. "Remember what I told you in the battle with
Kaguya? I leave this jewel to you...make the right choice..."
The effort of speaking was too much. Her head fell forward again and she stoped breathing.
He howled his distress to the sky for hours.
And then he carried her to the others, tears streaming down his face.
End "
A small smile flickered at the corner of his mouth.
"I put my fight with Sesshomaru to rest. I gave him the Tessiaga, after seeing him protect Rin from a large horde of demons. He looked surprised I would give it to him, but I turned and left, no explanation."
He played with the small jewel in the palm of his hand. It looked like a pearl almost...
"And now I have returned to your era, and these graves. And I know what to do with it now..."
And the hanyou did. He made his wish, then stood and turned around, smiling at the five whose graves he was at. He ran to embrace Kagome, to hug Shippo, Sango, and even the monk and Kirara. Then, together once more, they looked at the graves, and the body of the hanyou who lay at the foot of one. Then they left, forever together, never to part.