The Final Truth

" No!" Kagome screamed as both the dragon and the girl flew up into the sky toward the massive black hole with wind strength a hundred times Miroku's own wind tunnel.

" Saeka!" Rin shrieked from the air. She tried to jump, but Jaken held her back by the neck of her kimono. " No you stupid girl, if you die, Lord Sesshomaru will have my head!" he yelled.

Saeka, up in the claws of her father as they plummeted upward toward their deaths, shut her eyes as the tears of failure and remorse began to fall slowly, becoming lost in space as she drew nearer and nearer.

It's all over. I'm coming to see you, mother.

All of a sudden, however, Saeka felt a horrible vibration in Amanamaru's foreleg and he let out an earsplitting roar. A sudden weightlessness followed and then the feeling of something snatching her out of the air and moving rapidly away from the black hole. Saeka, still in shock barely watched as her father bellowed angrily as he was drawn in, vanishing within the dark void. As the target she'd aimed for was vanquished, the black hole suddenly emitted a bright light from within, swelled up and disappeared into nothing.

" Saeka."

The familiar voice was like a dream, just in her grasp, yet she couldn't reach for it.

" Saeka." It said again. It was so familiar, but she felt a heavy sensation on her brain and it was becoming harder to focus. It was probably from the loss of blood. Her vision was becoming blurry. She raised her head. At first, all she saw was a white blur. But as her vision cleared for a moment, she realized that she was seeing Sesshomaru. Then, it came back to her. She'd seen it, but hadn't fully clarified what had happened. Sesshomaru had flown up to Amanamaru and herself, lopped off the dragon's arm that held her and caught her as her father was sucked in. Now, he was carrying her back to earth in the one arm he still had. He was staring down at her. " Saeka." He said a third time and she was wondering why he didn't sound frustrated at her silence. He knew she was awake, but she wasn't sure if he knew that she was mute for the time being.

" Lord…Sesshomaru." She murmured. " I'm sorry I failed." Her head began to droop.

" You did not fail."

" Huh?"

" Amanamaru is dead. Your sword took care of that. You destroyed the one who stole that strain of illness that infected me and did exactly as you should have done."

" Oh." Was her only reply. She was too weak to talk anymore. The wound in her chest was beginning to become infected, she knew. Even if she survived, she'd still become very frail, no use at all anymore, as a healer or a demon.

Sesshomaru touched down and set Saeka down gently. She lay still, breathing quietly with her eyes closed. The others all hurried over.

" Is she okay?" Sango inquired anxiously. Sesshomaru stood up. " She is fine." He turned and moved off several yards. He took a seat on a fallen stump and stared out over the ruined field that had been destroyed by Kazuna's sphere. A leftover wind passed through and to everyone in the ruined forest, it was a blessed relief from the terror in the skies that had been the threat to them all not minutes before. Sango looked at Kagome and tilted her head quickly to the side. Kagome went over and Sango whispered in her ear. " Kagome, do you think that Sesshomaru cares about the healer? Why did he save her? Why did he continue to intervene in her fights against Kazuna?"

" Amanamaru may have been half-right. Sesshomaru might not exactly love Saeka, but he does seem to care for her a great deal. But with him, you never know." She said smiling.

Saeka was getting worse. Her breathing was rapid and labored and she was leaning against an embankment, her eyes misting over, from fatigue, not death though. Sesshomaru was standing nearby, waiting for anything she might say. At one point, however, she looked up at him and muttered something. Kagome, who was watching was surprised as he nodded and called to Jaken to bring Ah-Un and Rin, announcing that they were moving on. She was even more shocked when he helped Saeka get to her feet and she climbed on Ah-Un's back with Rin, her bag on her lap. Jaken took hold of the dragon's reins and followed Sesshomaru down the path toward a large portion of forest that had survived the recent events. Saeka was leaning on Ah-Un's back, her eyes shut wearily. Soon, they disappeared in the trees.

" They didn't even say goodbye." She muttered. She looked down at her hands.

" Feh." InuYasha said. He had been sitting next to her and observing the scene as well.

" I don't know who Sesshomaru thinks he's kidding. He's just gonna kill her when Rin and Jaken are asleep. It isn't like she didn't have it coming to her."

" InuYasha, SIT!"

Thud! Thud!

InuYasha fell down both embankments and lay on the ground, groaning. Kagome heard Miroku chuckling behind her as he came and sat down. He sighed and positioned his staff on his shoulder. " Kagome, I think everything turned out okay." He said.

" How? Saeka's going to die. She told me so." Kagome muttered sadly.

" I know. But I think it's what she wanted when she wielded the sword, Kassenah. When the power of it was released, I thought that I saw something in it as it flew up to protect her."

" What?"

" I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw the image of a lady. A young woman who looked almost exactly like Saeka. She was smiling down at the girl just before the black hole emerged."

" Saeka said that the sword was forged from bones."

" Yes. And I have reason to believe that those were the bones of her mother, Lady Saaya, whom she mentioned in her story. Like InuYasha's sword was made from his father's fang, Kassenah was made from her mother's bones in order to protect her. Saeka is exactly the same as InuYasha as far as demonic blood is concerned. The sword was made to prevent Kazuna from escaping. And when she did, to stop her. I think that the spirit of Lady Saaya was infused into the sword so she could be with her daughter." He said, gazing up into the sky.

" How sad." Kagome said, staring off in the direction Sesshomaru had disappeared in. She sighed and faced forward.

Suddenly, she gasped. " Oh no! Saeka forgot her sword!"

And sure enough, Kassenah still lay in the earth where Saeka had placed it.

She had accidentally left it behind.

A/N: There's only one more chapter after this! Then, after that chapter, it's the third book in the series!!! Da-da-da-daaaaahhh!! Hehe, I just like to do that once in a while. I would like to give a personal thanks to the reviewers who have been checking out the story in the few weeks since I published The Healer up until now. That's, Silentmoondemon, Serenityrain, Shadowdragon2005 and Kinkatia. I apologize to anyone if I spelled any pen names wrong. But you whom I mentioned are the only ones who reviewed the story, and even though Kinkatia already knows what happens, I love that you do! THANK YOU!!!!