A/N: We all want flowers and fairy dust, but a story isn't all of that. But I won't spoil anything for you readers but know that I am not a tragic writer. Also past readers, you'll notice that the song lyrics once entwined in the story will not be presented in the matter I used them before. Enjoy, readers.

Her hands feel much colder than they usually do. And her beautiful cheeks which are usually so rosy are pale like a fish's belly.

–Kouga, Inuyasha episode

It was a silent slow motion, like falling in a dream and not waking when you reached the bottom.

"No, no, no," she mumbled, wide eyed. She is so stunned, so dazed, so gone.

She wails for the beautiful man that lies under her, a lifeless man. Her shoulders trembled, her voice is a harsh cry, and she is breaking. And in this soundless movie her cries break from the screen. She cannot hear Inuyasha calling out to her, trying to quiet her, comfort her. She cannot hear the monk's soft prayer, a confused and scared Shippo, a torn Sango reaching out to her friend. The friends close in on her, but she resists every touch, pleading for freedom from the feeling spreading in her chest like a disease; is this loss?

'He loved me and I was finally getting to know him. I was not done with him. I am not done with Kouga.'

They must move her. The must get her as far away from Kouga as possible, but she would not let. Kagome bulked her knees around his form, locked her arms around his neck.

"Wake up," she whispered to his silent face. "Wake."

The wolf who kidnapped her one day then flirted the next. Inuyasha was too caught up in the fuss to think it curious how much she wanted to stay by his side. One thing at a time, calm her down. He screamed to her, but it was like she was somewhere else, gone. Finally, he managed to pry her away from Kouga and carried her from the room, the others following behind.

"How could this be?!" Tomoshibi-Sen, the Sorcerer of Light, cried.

He walked through the flattened mass of village huts, examined the corpses, smelly debris and destruction.

"This is...impossible. The half-blood and monk did all this? I should have never undermined their despicable strength. Dammit all."

His words echoed the length of the corridor, not a morsel of rage escaping the reverberation.

"Very well. I must merely find these men and kill them." Pain from his recent battle welled in his chest, and he groaned, clutching the injury. After I take some much needed time to recover.

He pulled back his cloaked sleeves and clasped his hands together. The sound pulsed through the castle.

"Shabiya! Come here directly and see to this chaos."

A tiny girl materialized itself before her Lord. Brown rags hung limply from her body, and she bowed low before her master, meeting his narrowed gaze with big, colorless eyes. A blue tint frosted her skin, and her lips were swollen.

"Straight away, My Lord Sen. Without delay."

Sen walked away from the mess, stomping down the hall like he was king of the world.

The water could grate off skin, but she didn't care. It felt natural to her to lie in this hot, steaming spring. She felt so numb and unreal, so blank and pale. She had witnessed death so many times before, but she had never felt it like that. Like a hole gapin inside her, the lost of something special. Was she real? Was she dead with the Wolf Clan leader?

She looked down on her bare legs through the pale blue water of the hot spring. The water stabbed at each tender bruises on her body.

'No,' she realized. "Death is freeing. Not painful."

A tear dropped from her eye, colliding with the water. with a deep breath, she sank deeper into the water, lowering her body until all you could see was her ebony strands of hair. Her pale skin seemed to fade with the water, making her invisible.

She didn't notice the flash of light that crossed her face just as she began to sink under. But if she had lifted her head and opened her eyes, perhaps she might have seen the glowing figure, smiling just above her, a blood red veil in hand.

"One drop is all it takes to turn your grief around, beautiful." He whispered.

But she was too far gone to hear it.

And he waited, hardly patient.