Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha . . . Dogs and Thunder is written by Sarah Harmer and is sung by Weeping Tile (A few of the words have been changed to fit the situation).
Note: Thanks, once again, to Meggie-chan, whose smart remarks always seem to give me good ideas. . .
Naraku is defeated, the Shikon Jewel is retrieved, and the Feudal Era as we know it has gone back to the way it was; but not without its casualties. . .
A rifle sits behind your sleeping ear,
Sango arose from the pallet she now shared with Miroku as silently as she could. Clenching her teeth against the early winter cold, and struggling to see in the dark, she dressed as quickly as she could. She winced once as Miroku, turning over in his sleep, jarred the dagger he slept with under his pillow. Even in these peaceful days one couldn't be too careful. Casting a last loving glance at her sleeping companion, Sango lifted the mat covering the door and stepped into the frostbitten night.
An echo on the cold wall closest neighbour couldn't hear.
She tried to ease the mat back against the doorframe quietly, but didn't quite succeed, the resultant clatter carrying across the snow-dusted clearing towards the trees.
Sango could hardly make out the outline of the great god tree positioned only a little behind her and Miroku's house. They were isolated out here, the village outside the forest being a good fifteen-minute walk from their clearing. She and Miroku didn't mind the silence – after all that had happened it was nice to be alone with their thoughts.
Sango's own thoughts turned to earlier that fall as her footsteps led her to a location just inside the forest that was special to all of them.
We dug a hole in the fall,
So now it's a frozen burial.
Inuyasha and Miroku had dug that hole in high spirits, joking and laughing that it was a grave for their as-good-as-vanquished foe. But Naraku had proven tougher than anyone had expected, and the battle, though won by Inuyasha and his tetsutsaiga, had consequences none of the party had been prepared to deal with.
She's gone just before the New Year.
In the heat of battle Naraku had lashed out with his demonic powers, inflicting wounds fatal to any who suffered them. And Kagome had been right in the dark magic's path.
Sickness had overtaken her, and her companions had been forced to watch, helpless, as Kagome grew weaker and weaker. Not even medicine brought from her own time by the distraught Inuyasha had done any good.
One cloudy morning in late fall, just as the first flakes of winter were falling, Kagome breathed her last.
Sango fought to keep the memories from overwhelming her as she walked among the trees. A faint shadow in the distance told her she was nearing her destination.
Well I'm gonna build a cross for a spot between the trees,
And stick it in firm so it won't sway in their breeze.
Sango silently squeezed Inuyasha's shoulder as she knelt down beside him at the gravesite. A patch of disturbed earth was all that revealed a grave being there at all. Sango had wanted to put up a permanent marker of some sort, but Inuyasha had vehemently refused.
The half-demon had been uncharacteristically mute ever since Kagome's death. Instead of ranting and carrying on the way Miroku and Sango had expected, he had retreated inside himself, becoming quiet and resigned. He took up undeviating guardianship of Kagome's grave, only allowing those he trusted to come near. He had growled dangerously at Sango when she had even mentioned the marker.
Now Sango heard Inuyasha sigh sadly in the dark, and shift positions to be more comfortable.
You and I have trouble making up our half-assed minds,
But she'd seen sixteen years of our kind.
Sixteen. That was how many years Kagome had had before her life was snuffed out prematurely by the enemy she'd worked so hard to defeat. She had had her whole life ahead of her, with school, a future, and a half-demon who loved her more than life itself. . .
And what's it like when your memories start to freeze?
As of late it was getting harder and harder to remember Kagome before those last days. Sango could only remember her lying on the floor of Kaede's house, her body wracked with fever from her wounds. She could only remember Kagome's voice as it screamed against her hallucinations. She could only remember those big brown eyes as they closed for the last time.
Oh, and I wonder what it is about dogs and thunder,
What they hear coming over the fields.
Sango tried to block out the memories of that final fight. Naraku had been like a menacing cloud over all of them, and, though he had been defeated, Inuyasha still lived to this day wary of him ever returning. Inuyasha had always seemed to be able to sense where Naraku was, but that hadn't helped save the one person he valued most.
Back house shelter, warm nights in summer,
Sango strained to remember happier times, when all five of them; herself, Miroku, Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo, would stay up late telling stories, or camp out under the stars, but the bloodiness of that battle pervaded over all.
Shaking the ground that you lie under.
It had started out like any other of the many battles they had fought against the forces of evil. Inuyasha was taunting Naraku, trying to boost his own confidence. He lashed out with his windscar, but Naraku had a different plan. Gone were the multiple decoys and doppelgangers; Naraku had the power of the Shikon Jewel on his side, and had proven more than Inuyasha and the others could handle. When Naraku had sent forth his dark arrows of destruction, Kagome had simply been in the way.
Well I know you're not here,
But at least you don't feel it anymore.
Her death had almost been a relief. The infection Kagome has been afflicted with was lingering and torturous. She had cried herself hoarse from the nightmare it had brought on. Pleading Naraku not to kill her friends, begging to see her mother and grandfather, and telling Inuyasha she loved him again and again. Kagome believed her dreams utterly, and according to them everyone else was dead.
Her death could be seen as a merciful end to her pain.
And I came to see you,
On the day that it happened.
Sango remembered coming into Kaede's house for the last time. Miroku had met her ouside, sadly whispering what was happening into her ear. Sango wanted the chance to say goodbye to her friend alone.
She was lying on a pallet away from the light, looking small and frail. Her long black hair was tangled and matted, her face streaked with sweat, and her schoolgirl's uniform was covered in blood. The entire of her lower torso and most of one leg were swathed in bandages. As Sango looked on she saw Kagome's eyes flicker open and focus on her. For a short while the fever had lost its grip.
You said, "Hey, sorry Sango, but I gotta go."
Sango saw her lips form the words, and then, with a sad smile, Kagome let her eyes drift close.
And I was trying to read some subtle reaction,
She heard a slight movement behind her, and, turning around, had found Inuyasha behind her, his face stony and devoid of all emotion.
Some things you just can't show.
Inuyasha shifting positions beside her jerked Sango out of her musings.
So I guess it's time I go.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and stood to go back to the house. Turning her back to Inuyasha and the unmarked grave, Sango could see the long shadow of herself stretched out across the snow.
Across the snowy clearing, just past the house and shed,
A shadow of me in the moon,
Well I was in a movie in my head.
Sango unconsciously braced herself for what she knew was soon to come.
This pile of dirt on the ground will shift when nobody's around.
A sharp cracking noise filled the air as winter-hardened earth was torn apart. Sango saw another shadow rise up behind her – broken and distorted, and wearing a tattered schoolgirl uniform.
Kagome's body, still imbued with Naraku's dark magic, could sense the presence of the Shikon Jewel nearby, and sought to reanimate itself as a shambling parody of the girl it once had been.
It was a nightly occurrence.
And winter covers everything,
But everything's not dead.
Sango heard the hiss of a sword leaving its sheath, and closed her eyes as the sounds of death filled the clearing. She stood stalk still as silence fell yet again.
Oh, and I wonder what it is about dogs and thunder,
What they hear coming over the field.
Continuing back to the house, Sango pretended she couldn't hear Inuyasha's soft sobs as he buried the mangled body of his true love once more.
Back house shelter, warm nights in summer,
Shaking the ground that you lie under.
Sango filled her mind with memories of happier times: Inuyasha and Miroku getting drunk off of sake, she and Kagome singing around the campfire, and the five of them travelling around the countryside.
More memories surfaced as she walked; memories of Kagome: Kagome stressing over exams, Kagome laughing at Shippo, Kagome worried over Koga. An extremely mad Kagome screaming, "Sit!" at the top of her lungs.
Well I know you're not here,
But at least you don't feel it anymore.
The Shikon Jewel – that was the reason for this. All the terror and heartache of the past years was because of one pretty stone. Their entire quest - all that Inuyasha and Kagome had lived for - had been finally putting all the pieces back together. Kagome hadn't lived to see her quest completed.
Well I know you're not here,
But at least you don't feel it anymore.
This time Sango let her tears run freely in grief for her friend.
Reaching beneath the neck of her kimono, Sango briefly touched the cause of all the pain. Given to her by Kagome in those last precious moments of alertness, it was the Shikon Jewel.
Stopping at the doorway to the house Sango looked up into the sky, letting the sorrow engulf her, her tears falling unheeded into the snow. She gripped the Jewel tightly, hating it.
Well I know you're not here,
But at least you don't fear it anymore.