"No! No! Sango, don't! Run away from me! Save yourself! Sango!"

"Miroku, wake up!" Sango cried.

Miroku opened his eyes. As he looked up to a weeping Sango, Miroku gently placed his hand on Sango's face and caressed it softly. He asked, "Sango, why are you crying?"

As she grabbed hold of Miroku's hand, Sango sniffled, "You scared me, Miroku. I thought I was going to lose you back then."

"I'm sorry, Sango."

Sango continued, squeezing Miroku's hand tighter, "I've lost almost everyone I've ever loved. I couldn't stand the thought of losing you too."

"Sango . . . "

Sango wept. "When your wind tunnel went out of control, I panicked. I lost sight of our goal to kill Naraku. All I could think about was you. I couldn't leave you and I didn't want you to leave me."

"Sango, I . . . "

"I love you, Miroku! I love you more than anything! Please don't ever leave me!"

Kohaku froze in place outside the door to Miroku's room.

"Sango." Miroku sat up on his futon. He reached gently for Sango's crying face with his free hand and smiled. "I'm not going anywhere, Sango. I want you to have my babies. I love you, Sango."

Sango smiled as Miroku embraced her. "I'll have as many babies as you want."

"Kohaku, what are you doing?" Shippo asked.

"What? Oh . . . I . . . " Kohaku stammered.

"You checking up on Miroku?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess."

"Miroku, can we come in?" Shippo asked through the door.

Miroku wiped the tears from Sango's eyes as he replied, "Come in, Shippo."

Shippo and Kohaku stepped into Miroku's room. Miroku was still holding Sango although her sobbing had stopped. "So, when are you two going to get married? It's already been three days since we defeated Naraku." Shippo questioned.

Kohaku's eyes darted to Sango. Sango caught Kohaku's glance as Miroku spoke. "In a couple of days, I suppose. We need to discuss the shikon jewel first now that we have all the shards."

"Yeah, I guess we don't want to be fighting demons at your wedding." Shippo responded.

Kohaku stared silently at the ground as Sango asked, "Kohaku, are you . . . "

"I just wanted to know if Houshi-sama was feeling better." Kohaku blurted out.

"Kohaku, you can call me Miroku." Miroku replied. "We are going to be family after all."

Kohaku began to smile as Sango repeated her question. "Are you . . . "

"Well, I'll let you rest." Kohaku rushed out of the room.

"That was odd." Shippo remarked as Miroku looked at a concerned Sango.

Kohaku bolted out of the village. He ran aimlessly until he found himself at the bone eater's well. As he fell to the ground, he cried, "What am I going to do?"

"Kohaku?"

"Sango!"

"Kohaku, what's wrong?"

Regaining his composure, Kohaku replied, "Nothing."

"Kohaku, don't try to fool your big sister. Something's wrong. Please tell me what it is."

"I'm scared, Sango." Kohaku took a deep breath. "What's going to happen to me? When you remove my shard, am I going to die?"

"Kohaku." Sango sighed. "We're going to save your life."

"But Houshi-sama said you were going to talk about what you are going to do with it." Kohaku countered.

"He meant how we are going to use it to save your life. We only have one chance. We don't want to do it wrong."

"Sango! I don't want to die!" Kohaku cried.

"No!" Sango grabbed hold of Kohaku. "It'll be okay. We want let you die."

"Really, Sango?"

"Yes. I love you, Kohaku." Sango hugged Kohaku tight. "I don't want to lose you."

"But, Sango," Kohaku sighed. "You said that to Houshi-sama."

"Yes. I love you both. You both mean the world to me. I don't ever want to lose either one of you."

"Sango." Kohaku wept in Sango's arms.

Sango comforted Kohaku. "It's okay, Kohaku. Everything will be okay."