Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha.

Sango woke up in the night gasping. She had gone to bed, free at last shebelieved from her pain. The sweet bliss of no knowledge, the absence of thought had rolled over her for a moment and then it was shattered unexpectedly by her rambling dreams. Memories spoke out loud and they shook her into consciousness. Sango turned over. A black sea of coldness surrounded her. Her brows knitted up in despair. "Help me!" the warrior moaned, groaning and gritting her teeth against a wave of pain which tightened her chest. She wanted anything to let this a pain go, just to die and be at peace at last, with Kohaku.

Sango stumbled upright. Everything was blurry around her, not so much from the blackness of the night as from the darkness in her soul, the emotional pain that left all unfocused. It clutched her mind and chest with its entirety. Sango swayed upon her feet and tried to look up at the stars, but they were too far away. She reached out a hand, but she could not reach them just as no one was there to reach out a hand to her.

Inuyasha stirred. It was the night after Kohaku had died. He opened his eyes and saw Sango stumbling by the fire, staring into it with a blank gaze akin to the dead. "Sango?" he asked gently with a little concern.

Sango's shoulders tightened. She half-gasped out a rolling sob but instead of letting herself go, she stopped herself with a mighty wrench and fled out into the woods. Not too far away and within Inuyasha's hearing, she let go a torrent of wails screaming out her agony and her unspoken desire to be at the end of all things. She tried to be brave. She tried to pause with her teeth folded on a trembling lip. But the tears kept coming for several hours and the grief never stilled. Instead, her mind was flooded with desperation, with thoughts, memories and regrets which consumed her and tormented her endlessly. Her pain was greater than that of any injury she had ever received in battle. Her brows furrowed in anguish and she bent over to hide her head between her knees, letting her hair drape unnoticed around her like a curtain.

Sango's mind rambled on senselessly. At last it thought back to the fireplace. Miroku. That lecherous monk, that traitor. It was all his fault Kohaku had died. If only he had been there. If only her hadn't betrayed her. Sango shuttered in her rage. A fire lit around her and for a minute she wished for nothing but the monk's destruction. She shivered with anger her weapon in her hand but then she calmed and her gaze shifted instead to its sleek blade. How she wanted to end it.

Yet, as she sat there trying to look at her reflection within the blade reminded her of something. It reminded her of the time Inuyasha had caught her wrist trying to keep her from killing Kohaku and herself. She had fought Inuyasha. She had stabbed him with this sword, thinking him the one who had caused her such pain by killing all the villagers. Instead she was wrong. He had helped to bury all the villagers and Kagome had marked the graves.

"Stop Sango," he had said. He had been there, behind her, supporting her. "Killing Kohaku will accomplish only one thing. It will make Naraku happy." Sango had been confused a the time, but she had decided in the end he was right.

"Sango is it? You bug me any more and I'll drop you off right now." He had spoken in his usual gruff, rude voice yet he spoke it as he was carrying her on his shoulders. She had attacked him while she was wounded, and instead of leaving her there to bled to death as she deserved, she was borne up by his strength. She had woken up with a feeling of warmth and safety, pressed against his back.

"Don't worry," he had said. "We will kill Naraku. " Or, "I'm sorry, we weren't able to stop him." So many phrases which Inuayasha had said flooded though Sango's mind and she was touched by his concern, touched by his loyalty and strong heart.

Sango trembled, and in her grief her repressed emotions came out. Why was she stuck with Miroku? Why had she ended up with the perverted monk? Even the kitsune was better. Suddenly how she had acted long ago while intoxicated at the valley of enchanted mists made sense. Back then, she had grabbed onto Inuyasha and begged him to leave that, "wimpy schoolgirl," and be with her instead. Inuyasha had been horrified and Kagome, also drunk, had sat him practically into a smear. But here again the unbidden emotion came tumbling out.

Kagome was her friend really. She deserved Inuyasha, but why should she keep him all to herself? Sango was confused in her grief. Why did she have to suffer with the bad one, eventually coming to this betrayal instead of having someone like him? Sure, he was bad-tempered and she didn't know what to do with him. But she envied the love Kagome and Inuyasha had for one another with a thirst. If only, in life, someone had loved her like that. If only she could feel such love as they held.

Sango sobbed, still unseeing in her grief. Rational thought was impossible for her, all thought coming to her like an endless sea of churning saltwater. She pulled a small bottle from her shirt with her only ambition to steal, to take that which she was denied though she knew she could never have it. But all sense was rolled away by her irrepressible emotional distress and she poured the contents of the bottle all over herself. It was the cologne, Dark Night's Obsession 22.

Sango waited, unsure of what would happen. Her thoughts began to slow and her heart beat with fear, half afraid he would come and half afraid he wouldn't. She stood up, and in the faint light of the moon stripped off all her clothes.

Inuyasha had been awake at the campfire for the last few hours, listening to her cry. As far as a half-youkai could, he mourned for her loss. "Poor Sango," he muttered. "She always seems to lose everyone doesn't she?" He looked over at Kilala and hoped the firecat would have a long life for Sango's sake. Kilala's hearing was good, so he had thought his vigil might be joined by the two-tail. But it seemed Kilala was tired by the long journey and had way too much catnip before bed. She napped peacefully with the firelight gleaming off her white coat.

Inuyasha got up on his feet and stretched out his back. He cricked his neck from side to side and mussed up his silvery tangled mane. He yawned and opened one golden eye in Sango's direction. The slayer had stopped crying.

"Sango?" asked Inuyasha uncertainly. He had been far happier with her constant wails of grief. He remembered how dangerous she could be to herself. He waited impatiently for a few minutes but when Sango showed no signs of returning, he hopped up in a tree to get a better view.

The moment his feet lighted on the branch, a strange andbeckoning scent met his nose. His eyes began to go out of focus and he shook his head. Then he looked out across the treetopsand sawdozens of male youkai streaming in to attack in one knot above the treetops.

Inuyasha leapt off his branch and bounded through several trees. He jumped down and ran full speed the short distance to Sango. He stopped there to see Sango standing in a pile of dead youkai, the moonlight gleaming off her porcelain skin.

"Sango, what happened," began Inuyasha but as he looked at her Hirakatose which she had demurely placed in front of herself the scent waved itself around him and he was consumed by the fog. His eyes slid fully into blurriness and then became red, a vivid and full red. He sniffed the air with his fangs protruding. The demon before Sango licked his lips and uttered a sensual growl.

Sango watched the transformation. Normally she would have been terrifiedbut now she didn't care. He could tear her into a thousand pieces and end her grief.

But for now, she wanted something more. She let her wide weapon drop, revealing her nakedness in all its reality. She held out her arms wide to either side.

She didn't have to say a word. The demon before her pounced on her and pressed her to the ground. He was rough, cruel. He scratched her. He bruised her. He pressed against her arm until she thought it would snap. She forced himself into her until she was begging him to stop and he slapped her in the face to silence her. He grabbed her by her hair and dragged her back to quiet her sudden reluctance. He raped her until she lay motionless and sticky in her sweat.

The demon before her settled back at last the moonlight pooling over his own celestial skin. He stared at her seated on his haunches, claws ground into the earth. Sango watched as the red began to leek out of the corner of his eyes. She raised herself onto her shoulder and dragged herself to her clothes. "I'm sorry," she said taking a pouch from her personal articles. She drew open a draw-string bag of poison powder and held it in her hand.

The demon growled angrily and ran towards her. Sango threw the powder at him just as he approached with is claws outstretched. He stopped midair, twitching and falling faint.

"I'm sorry," reiterated Sango. She dragged herself onto her feet and stood there swaying, letting the sweat dry. Then she reached over and tugged the clothes on him. It was a tremendous chore. Her every bone ached. Then she stumbled away, leaving her victim behind. She took her clothes with her.

Sango stumbled into a river. It wasn't a deep one and she lay down in the cool water at its bank. She listened to its trickle and in a few moments she passed out from the strain. She fell once more into the bliss of no knowledge, no thought, no dreams but it was not eternal. Hell would await her when she woke.

Inuyasha woke up groggily the next morning. He opened his eyes and wondered why he was sprawled out on the ground. Maybe Kagome had sat him. He remembered nothing of the previous night or how he had passed out except that he had seen Sango by herself out in the night. Without her clothes on. He was extremely puzzled and as he pulled himself off the ground he blanched with fear. His nose was assailed by scent. It was everywhere, on his clothes, on the ground, in his hair, and still in remnants on the air. His stomach turned over sickeningly because he recognized all to well what the stench meant.

"Shit," he said panicking. The hanyou leapt off into the air and fled to the nearest river, ending up several miles upstream of Sango. He buried himself in the water to soak.

Miles downstream, Sango rose. For a while, she too wondered why she was lying there. Then memories of the previous night came flooding back like bits and pieces of a torn tapestry. The enormous weight of what she had done crashed down on her and she sobbed.

There was hell-to-pay in the camp. Both Sango and Inuyasha came back about a day later. Shippo had stuck a finger in Inuyasha's face and said he could tell he had been, "cheating on Kagome."

Miroku (yep still there but highly unpopular) had asked him what he meant and the little youkai had narrowed his eyes. He then announced that Sango smelt like Kagome had when he had gotten her pregnant with Aijo. Inuyasha did not deny it and Kagome had gasped and broken down into tears. It was a terrible moment.

Miroku had stormed off and Kagome began sitting Inuyasha half-determined to sit him to death when Sango had shouted for her to stop. "Stop," she said with tears in her eyes pulling out the empty bottle. "I did it. It was all my fault. I made him do it."

Kagome had stopped the sitting. She stood for a minute in stunned silence and then raged on Sango instead. She balled up her fist and punched her friend.

"How dare you!" she had cried. She shoved Sango and the demon slayer willingly fell over. Kagome pulled on her hair and beat her head with fists and Sango just let her.

"Stop this craziness!" said Inuyasha pulling himself out of the dust to grab hold of Kagome from behind. She turned around and glared at him.

"Sit!" she said leaving him in a good-sized crater.

Sango gathered herself to her feet. "I'm sorry Kagome," she said breaking into sobs. "I'm so sorry." She cried on and on in despair and Kagome wasn't so sure what to do. "I'm so sorry Kagome. It's just that... after Miroku... and Kohaku, I'm so sorry."

"That's okay Sango," said Kagome slightly embarrassed for trying to beat her up.

So in the end, Sango calmed down and promised Kagome when the child was born she could keep it. "It's rightfully yours," she said her lip trembling.

Kagome didn't quite see the logic in that but she looked up at Inuyasha. He nodded his head but didn't say a word. Sango collapsed at his feet.

"I'm sorry, so sorry," she had said with tears like blood. Inuyasha tried to ignore her but then when she wouldn't go away he ran off to climb a tree. After a tense hour or so of waiting for him to come down, he finally looked Sango in the face.

"Sango," he said sternly. "We have fought together side by side for a long time. Let's not let this ruin that." Sango had nodded her face streaked with tears. They avoided each other all afternoon and in the late evening, Miroku showed up terribly drunk. He passed out and Inuyasha kicked him. "This is all your fault lecher," he said scathingly.

So their journey continued. Their friendships were screwed up. Their "marriages" were in rags or completely decimated. Their fighting suffered but still they carried on searching for Mouryoumaru. He held the entire sacred jewel in his hand, and their quest was not complete. Why Miroku stuck around was anyone's guess. Sango stayed because she was in pup and wanted revenge. Inuyasha and Kagome, well, they were stuck with each other and still in love with each other but they were severely strained and their precious mark began to fade, unrenewed. It was a terrible situation. But as fate had ruined their lives forever, fate would eventually heal them. A few weeks passed.