"Please...Kikyou...you can't..."

Naraku's choked, trembling voice was barely audible. Kikyou smiled, ever so faintly, her hand reaching up to lace with his. It was so cold...he let out a strangled sob, holding her to his chest. This couldn't be happening...it was only a month ago, This couldn't be happening...it was only a month ago that they had reconsiled...

"We knew...this would come someday, Nara-kun," she whispered, eyes glazing over. "When Urasue's spell would come undone..."

He shook his head, fighting back more tears. "Never so soon...Kikyou, you can't die..."

The miko's calm shook him. "I'm already dead..."

It felt as if someone had taken knives and slapped him across the face. His fault...this was his fault. Naraku's eyes looked up to the night sky. She had requested to come outside, so she could see the stars as she passed. How many nights had they spent under the moon, finally in one another's arms...? The tears finally won, and ran down his face. Not enough nights...not nearly enough.

Kanna, the only servant he had left, stood nearby. Her pit-black eyes seemed softened, and in one of her rare displays of emotion, sympathy was etched across her face. Naraku had given the young youkai her heart...and freedom...ages ago, but she had stayed out of loyalty. And, perhaps, love. He smiled at her, bitterly...he didn't see the knowing look Kikyou and her shared.

"The Shikon!" Naraku suddenly said, looking to his dying lover. "We...we have most of it. Perhaps...someway..." his voice trailed off as she shook her head.

Her hand stroked his cheek, and Kikyou gave him a gentle smile. "No matter what...protect the Shikon no Tama. Get the last of the shards...and send that bastard InuYasha to He--"

A coughing fit suddenly overcame her, and Naraku could only hold her as cracks rippled through her skin, a pale blue glow showing through. He tried to speak, to say the words he had never spoken...even to her.

"Kikyou...I..."

She looked up to him, breath coming in shallow gasps. "I know, dearest...I..."

A sudden flash of blue light cut off her words, and when Naraku blinked, his arms were empty. Only a thin line of sand covered the ground, swirled by the soft midnight breeze. She was gone. In his hand lay a shard...the Core Shard...her shard. He opened his other hand, gazing at the nearly complete Shikon Jewel. Suddenly...it lost it's meaning. A gleam of silver shone in the faint light.

He didn't see Kanna, rising from the ground to which she had fallen. He didn't see her eyes, the ever so faint glow of rich maple that tained them, nor how she had suddenly become taller...older. Kanna blinked, touching her hand to her chest.

"The soul merge...it worked," she murmured. "I didn't want to mention it in case it didn't...but...it did. Maybe now I..."

Naraku raised his katana, and thrust it through his body with a cry. The metal peirced his chest, and the heart which he had come to loath. The air rushed from his lungs; when he went to take another breath, no air came back in. Slowly, he crumpled to the ground, blood streaming from his mouth. Everything faded in a blur, but he felt arms around him.

"K-kanna..."

"Onigumo, you fool," her voice murmured, sorrow breaking her words.

He looked up at her, the last of his life slipping away. Kikyou's voice...and Kanna's...

"I...love you..." he whispered. The light in his eyes vanished, and tears stung her eyes as she gently laid his lifeless body on the ground.

Somehow, she couldn't find it in her to weep. As the soul in his gaze had died, so had hers...Her eyes fell onto the Shikon no Tama, and she picked it up in her hands. Shaking, she looked to Naraku's katana, and pulled it from his body. A familiar scent caught her attention, but only briefly.

"Miroku, I don't know why--Kanna? What the...dear hells..."

Looking over to InuYasha, she saw the stunned look in his eyes, and the eyes of his companions. Kagome sunk to the ground, staring at her, and the monk even shuddered...Miroku was gazing at his hand, glove removed.But it was InuYasha who moved, seeing the girl's transformation, and making a move to come to her side.

"Kikyou...Kanna...whoever you are now, what happened?"

"He thought I died," she said, and he stopped, hearing the flat tone in her voice. "He killed himself...more than you ever would have done, InuYasha."

He ran foreward as she drew her mirror, tossing it to the ground and smashing it with the Shikon Jewel, shattered the glass with a brilliant blue flash that blinded InuYasha and his group.

"NO!" he screamed.

She raised the bloodied katana.

"STOP THIS, KIKYOU!"

The girl smiled, but it was devoid of life. "I shall..." she said quietly, her eyes travelling to the body of her love. "Naraku...I will...always love you."

The katana plunged down, and the world turned to darkness.

And with much depression, so begins the sequel. :S Give the review faeries some work, okay? Lemme know what you think!