DISCLAIMER: I do not in any way own InuYasha or anything that has to do with InuYasha. And if I make any references to any songs, I do not own them either unless otherwise stated.

A/N: I understand if people have given up on this story and I understand if you are mad at me for not updating. I have no reason(except laziness) for not putting this out sooner. Please, hang in there and I will try to finish this story and not rush it too much in the process.

I will understand if people flame me for this chapter. There is some OOC-ness and I allowed Sango to be able to do something that I'm pretty sure she can not do. Also, I do feel that my lateness is also cause of flames.

I hope that those of you who will read this do like it on some level.

Happy Reading!

:

'One more day...'

In one more day, InuYasha, Sango, Kirara, Kohaku, Rin, Koga, a pregnant Kagome and the two small wolf cubs would be in Kaede's village. Out of everyone in the group, InuYasha was the one who could not wait to end this little voyage that they have been on the last month.

InuYasha was in front of everyone else. Not even Kirara would come near the hanyou for fear of being yelled at by her mistress once again. Yes, Sango had snapped at her little companion for jumping up upon his shoulder two days ago.

Sigh...

The only thing that kept playing in InuYasha's mind was the day that he had told Sango about him pushing his scent onto her without him even knowing it. She was shocked at first, but then become very enraged at him and has not said one word to him since then.

Flashback:

The day after Koga first met up with the five travelers, Kohaku volunteered to find them something for dinner. Sango smiled and pet Kirara when Rin jumped up at once and said that she would go with him.

InuYasha just snorted and sat down beside Sango. "Saves me from doing it." He looked over sideways to the small neko. "Kirara, go with them. Would ya?"

Kirara meowed in reply and happily rum over to the young pair who were entering the dense forest and were soon out of sight.

After only a moment of silence, InuYasha looked over at the beautiful taijiya who sat smiling beside him. He, himself, could not help but allow his own lips to curl just a little at the sight. He began to wonder what could bring on this wonderful smile and before he could stop himself, he asked. "What's got you so happy?"

Sango's smile grew at little more when she looked at her friend and saw that grin on his face. "I was just thinking about Kohaku and Rin. They seem to like one another very much. I just wonder if one day, when they are older, if they might find love in one another."

InuYasha could not help but frown. She had been thinking about her brother finding love. That made him think that she had also found love. Love in Miroku.

"What's wrong, InuYasha?" Sango saw his face harden as she spoke and wondered what had caused such a change. "Is there something on your mind?"

InuYasha stood, crossed his arms over his chest, turned his back to his friend and walked a couple feet away from her. He could hear her stand, but she did not dare walk over to him.

"I have something I need to tell you, Sango." The hanyou cleared his throat and then growled softly. He turned his head to the side and saw that Sango had her left arm around her stomach and her right hanging by her side. "I don't know an easy way to tell you this... So... I will just come out and tell you..."

InuYasha paused because his mouth become dry as the words stopped at the end of his tongue. He then heard her soft voice ask, "What is it, InuYasha? You can tell me."

The Hanyou sighed and turned around. "Without knowing it... I have somehow placed my scent onto you..." Her eyes grew wide. He figured that she might know something about this since she was taught to know about youkai from a young age. "I'm sorry... I did not mean to cause-"

"InuYasha," She cut him off. "do... do you have feelings for me? I always was told that things like this only occurred when a youkai or hanyou had strong feelings for a potential mate..."

InuYasha could not help the shiver that went down his spine at the thought of having Sango as a possible mate. He soon recovered and tried, and succeeded, to place a scowl on his face. "I never planed on this. I'm sorry. I know that this will only cause you and Miroku problems. If a youkai or hanyou thinks that he has come between mates, they will try to kill him for doing so."

"Is there a way to stop this? To take it away?" Her voice sounded so small and whatever part of InuYasha's heart that was not broken, was now.

"I'm... I'm sorry... No..." He locked eyes with her and saw that they looked like glass with the unshed tears that so wanted to fall. "Sesshomaru said that there is no way to take it back. Once done... it's done... I'm sorry."

"Stop." the taijiya's voice was still soft, but held a very dangerous edge. "Stop saying that you are sorry. I do not believe that you could do something like this and not tell me. You knew about this days ago and still said nothing! I don't want to hear anymore of this. If you did not want this to happen, it would not have." She walked up to InuYasha until their toes almost touched. "You just did not want me to marry Miroku and us to be happy. It would leave you to be all alone. That's why you have been trying to sway me into not marrying him... This will never be brought up again and I will not be speaking with you until I can find a way to undo this..."

After Sango had finished her rant, She sat down once again and tried to regain herself, because she knew that the others would return soon. She glared as InuYasha sat beside her. She stood and walked over to the fire. Happy that he did not follow.

End Flashback:

Koga had been carrying Kagome. He could tell that his mate was becoming very tired and at this, he spoke to the others. "We will stop here and continue tomorrow."

Everyone, but InuYasha nodded. InuYasha jumped up into a tree far away from the others, but close enough to watch over the taijiya and be able to come if he was called upon. Even if InuYasha knew that that would never happen. Not once in the days that have passed have they even noticed that he was there.

It was as if InuYasha was no longer a part of there group. Sango had taken over the job of preparing their meals and made sure not to make anything for him. The thought had hurt him, but he was able to catch his own food and would not allow this to bring him down any farther then he was.

'Can I go any lower?'

The hanyou sighed. He did not like that his pack of friends were not even acknowledging the fact that he was even alive. 'I have hit the bottom of this life I call my own.' He could not help but growl. It sounded like something that Miroku would say and that thought just upset him.

At this point, he could only just hope that the houshi would make her happy. Her happiness was what kept his heart from stopping. He knew that even if she was mad at him, she would be sad if he was no longer alive. She was just that kind of person. She cared deeply for others.

InuYasha was go caught up in his own thought that he almost did not see the figure walking towards the tree that he was sitting in. He jumped down in front of a very uneasy looking taijiya. "What are you still doing up?"

He knew that it was a long shot that she would answer, but he hopped that she would. She looked upset and he did not like that at all. He was a little taken back by the soft sound of her voice speaking to him and him alone. Oh, how he had missed the sound.

"Something is... not right..." She looked up into the hanyou's amber eyes and spoke as if nothing had brought them apart. "I have had this feeling for the last few days. I... I don't think that I can keep trying to push you away. You are my friend and I care for you very much. I feel as if I have been bringing you down and I hate that I have been so childish..."

InuYasha watched as she lowed her head. He sighed and waited a moment until he placed his clawed hand under her chin and raised her very emotionally filled face to look at him once again. "Sango... I feel as if I have hit bottom and I have nowhere to go..."

InuYasha stopped himself. Her eyes looked so sad and he could not help but feel as if he was the one who had brought this sadness into her life. He was so mad at himself. He was about to tell her that he never wanted to hurt her, but she spoke before he was able.

"When you hit rock bottom you've got two ways to go; straight up... and sideways." Sango moved a hand to the side of his face and she smiled slightly when he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. "You just have to choose to go straight up..."

InuYasha slowly opened his eyes and was about to say that, for her he would try, when he turned away from her and looked in the direction of Kaede's village. "Something... Something is wrong..." He turned back to Sango. "Do you... Feel it?"

The taijiya closed her eyes and allowed herself to open up to the world around her allowing her senses to find if in fact there was something out of place. Her eyes opened at the realization that someone was very sad and someone was fading away...

"Kaede..."

InuYasha heard her whisper and hated to have his thoughts be confirmed. With that thought, he picked Sango up bridal style and ran towards the hut the belonged to the old priestess. Once there, InuYasha saw Kaede laying in the far corner and Miroku kneeling beside her praying. They were too late to even say goodbye.

"She's... gone..."

Miroku looked over his shoulder when he heard InuYasha. The houshi stood and walked over to the pair. He placed a hand upon the hanyou's shoulder and lowered his head. "She has been bad for a week now. She wanted to say her goodbyes to you, but she just could not hold on any longer... I'm... sorry... There was nothing I could do..."

InuYasha growled low in his chest he was sad for the lose of Kaede, but he would not allow anyone to know how much. He watched was Sango walked over to Kaede and said her own prayers.

"I need to have a word with you InuYasha." Miroku's voice was sad, but had the hint of something the hanyou could not place.

"Outside."

InuYasha turned when he saw the houshi nod at his statement.

Once outside, InuYasha sat beside a tree a good twenty feet away from the hut that Sango was currently occupying. InuYasha allowed his eyes to stay on said hut. If Sango was to walk out, he wanted to be the first to see her.

"Kaede... before she passed, she had a vision. One that involved our lives."

InuYasha looked at Miroku and waited for the houshi to finish.

Miroku sighed. "She told me that I was not going to spend the rest of my life with Sango. She... She told me that I would mate with a youkai..." Miroku had a small smirk on his face. "I don't know if I can really see that happening, but who knows. Visions at death are visions of the future..."

InuYasha growled softly at the information. "What does you matting a youkai have to do with my life?"

Miroku's smile grew slightly, but his eyes were anything but cheerful. "You, my friend, are to mate Sango and marry her in my place..."

InuYasha's eyes grew slightly and his face paled. "Me... Me and... Sango..." The hanyou looked at the houshi and saw that this was not a joke.

"Yes. I'm not sure about you, but I will not go against a vision at death. I have seen bad things happen to those who have. I will not marry Sango." Miroku looked to his friend and his features darkened. "InuYasha, promise me that you will not mate with Sango because of what I have said. Mate her when you have fallen in love. Not just because of this. I do not want to see either of you two hurt. You are both my family."

"Hmph. I thought you said that I was not to go against this vision." InuYasha looked away from his friend as his mind began to play pictures of a happy life. A life with Sango as his mate and love. These thoughts, however, were short lived when he was brought out of them by Miroku.

"I'm saying that you should not marry her now. Wait until you two have fallen in love and you both want to spend the rest of your lives together." The houshi gave a sigh and sad smile. "Just... Just make her happy, InuYasha. Please. Make her and yourself happy."

With that being said, InuYasha watched as Miroku walked back to the hut that Sango was praying over the body of the old miko.

:

InuYasha waited until the sky began to lighten with the first signs that the sun was going to begin a new day. Just when he was about ready to go and find out why Sango and Miroku were still in the same hut and why neither of his friends have come out to tell him what was going on, Sango walked out.

InuYasha was up on his feet and by her side in a heartbeat. He could smell the tears and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. When she raised her head to look at him, he saw that she was tired, but also sad and relieved.

"Sango, you need to rest."

The taijiya gave her friend a weak smile at his soft words. "Not now, InuYasha." Her eyes filled with what InuYasha would call hope. "We need to talk."

InuYasha tightened hid hold on the beautiful taijiya and tried to smile, only his face did not comply. "Sure."

His voice was soft and held what one could call 'gruffness', but Sango knew that this was InuYasha and she was not sure about what was to happen. "Let us go to the well. No one will be there." Sango pulled herself away from InuYasha's hold and started to walk away. "I think that we should have his discussion in private."

InuYasha watched her take a few steps before his mind cleared enough to register that she was walking away from him. At that the next moment, he picked her up and held her tightly in his arms as a man would hold his bride.

"Put me down, InuYasha." Her voice was slightly demanding, but she did not struggle since she was rather fatigued. "I can walk."

"No." The hanyou tightened his hold slightly and looked down to see her with a slight blush on her face. "You are tired and we will get there faster this way."

Sango felt her face grow slightly warmer as she looked away. She could tell that her friend was thinking of her and it made her heart flutter. Before she could think long on her own thoughts and feelings, InuYasha was setting her down on her own two feet and sitting himself onto the dew kissed grass.

InuYasha was already leaning against the old well when Sango finally sat herself down beside him. The hanyou could not help but to close his eyes and inhale deeply when the early morning wind picked up gently and her scent flowed to him on the tender breeze.

When he felt her looking at him, InuYasha opened his eyes and locked his gaze with hers. "It's kinda hard to believe that she's gone..." The hanyou shook his head slightly and gave a grim little grin. "I guess it's for the best. She has been weak for a long while now."

"InuYasha." Sango let out a sigh and looked up to a sky that was filled with clouds, some white and some different shade of gray. "That's not what I wish to talk about." The taijiya looked over to her friend with an expressionless face and eyes full of curiosity. "Miroku told me that we are not to be married." She watched as his eyes grew slightly and then he looked away as she continued. "He told me of Lady Kaede's vision and that you know of it. That... he is to mate a youkai."

InuYasha looked to her when he heard her voice catch at her last statement. 'Did he tell her about us?' He reached out a clawed hand and gently held hers into his own as she looked down and away from him. "Sango... I'm... sorry. I know that you love him. I'm... I'm sure that..."

Sango snapped her head up quickly and cut off whatever it was that the hanyou was going to say. "I know that you are not sorry, InuYasha." He voice was slightly chilled and her eyes slightly hard. She watched as her friend recoiled slightly and she knew that she had hurt him. He really was sorry. He wanted her to be happy and he had made that fact clear. He was not one to truly care so much for another and she was turning her back on him and that thought killed her. Her eyes suddenly become very soft and she moved so that she was sitting on her knees and leaning closer to him. "I'm sorry. I did not mean that." She placed her hands on either side of his face and held him locked in her soft and caring gaze. "Miroku also told me that we were to be matted."

InuYasha felt his eyes grow wide and he wanted to pull away, but could not bring himself to pull away from the warmth that her body was bring to his own. He reached his right hand up to cup her left and leaned into her touch.

"I now know that might not have mint to place you scent onto me, but that you really do love me. Miroku said that he even knew that you cared for me and that he always wondered why I never left him for you." Sango closed her eyes and sighed when InuYasha took both of her hands into his and brought them one at a time to his lips and kissed each on in turn, only to place them into his lap.

"Sango, I know that you can not bring yourself to fall out of love with him and in love with me in one day." He let one of her hand go and cupped her chin in his right hand and watched her blush once again as their gazes locked once again. "Please... Just... give me a chance. Let me prove to you that I can be a good mate. All I ask for is a chance. Sango, allow me this?"

Sango knew that he was trying his best to sound demanding with the end of his small speech, but to her, it sounded more like a plead from a desperate man. Not a deadly hanyou. "I would like some time with my own thoughts before I can give myself to you. I would like for my wounded heart to heal before I give it to you, InuYasha. You do not deserve damaged goods. I would never do that to you." Sango pulled away from her friend and stood and turned her back to him. "I can not be with you for now. If I was, I would always be thinking of him and pretending that you are him. I can not do that to you."

By now, the hanyou was standing and went to place a hand on her shoulder, but thought better of that. "Sango..." He sighed deeply and if she was looking at him, she would see the hurt and admiration in his eyes. 'I just wish that I was able to hold her close and make her forget about the houshi, but I know that she is right. She is thinking of not just herself, but me as well...' "I understand."

Sango could hear that he was fighting himself and she was beginning to fell as if she had hurt him with her pushing him away when he had always been the one to help her when she needed a friend. She was not sure how much more she could take before her tears feel once again. Everything was weighing on her and she just needed to get away for just a little while.

With that last thought, she ran.