Authors Note: Well as much fun as it's been keeping you all at the edge of your seats I must inform you that this is the last chapter. All questions answered, all mysteries revealed. Enjoy!

Chapter Six

I Want Forever

The void. It calls to us in times of desperation, sickness, and even in death. A deep black nothing envelops us. Trapping us from life and shielding us from emotion. Some stricken with a deathly fear seek that void, but Sango never did. She always came back to the light.

Her vision was blurry at first. There was something large and hot in front of her… a fire? Yes that must be it. Straining, she could make out the familiar sounds of a camp. What was going on? Hadn't she been running just a moment before?

Her hand lazily found it's way onto a wooden floor. Okay, they were inside, but where and why? She shifted, trying to stand up but a shooting pain through her whole torso made her stop and choke a cry of pain.

"Sango?!" came a soft cry of worry. Gentle but stern hands came about her, steadying her until the pain ebbed. "Ye should not try to move so soon after thy battle with Naraku," came Kaede's comforting voice to her ears.

"We're back at the village?…..Wait…what battle with Naraku?" Sango asked holding her head in her hands, trying to think. At first her mind was blank…how could she not remember something that important? Had they won? Was it finally over?

"I am not surprised ye do not remember. Ye were under the control of the tainted shards of Naraku during thy battle…"

The sounds of Kaede's voice began to fade into the background as Sango's faded memories began to surface. At first they were only flashes, snapshots, and brief moments of clarity. Then, as Kaede went on the hazed images began to clear… and she remembered. She remembered the pain of the Jewels entering her body… and leavening it… She remembered…she remembered her orders…to kill… her attack on the whole group…on Miroku. Her eyes flew open with a sharp gasp. Miroku?! Had she killed him? "Oh Kamie!" she whispered stopping Kaede in her explanation.

"Sango?" She asked bewildered. Even with her experience as a priestess she could only imagine what kind of effect Naraku's tainted jewels had had on her.

"Oh Kamie…what have I done?" Sango whispered again… It…it wasn't her fault! She'd been trapped…trapped in her own body… forced to watch the hideous results of the control Naraku had over her… In the deepest parts of her soul, the parts that the jewels could not touch, it killed her every time she felt her possessed body form an attack…

Would any of them ever look at her the same way again? Would Housie-sama ever forgive her? She could still see his pained gaze before her…like he just couldn't continue anymore… That was what had stopped her…made her strong enough to resist the jewels magic. But… but what had happened after she'd let him go? …That part of her mind was blank…

"Ye needn't trouble thyself so Sango. No one was to greatly injured…" Again Kaede's voice just barely broke through her barrier of inner thought. But it was enough to make her think of her friends current status. He gaze flew about the room and landed quickly on the Miko, Hanyou, and Kitsue nearby. Thank gods they seemed alright!

"…T'was the young Kagome's Miko powers that saved thee. When she saw thee in such grave danger they came to the surface and she was at last able to control them. She used her shards and her power to cleanse the tainted shards and call them too her. After that they three companions all let lose there attacks. It took all the force of the Miko's powers merged with those of the jewel, the Tetsiga, and Miroku's Kazzana to bring Naraku down, but they did it. You've all finally won Sango…"

Sango couldn't listen to anymore…not right now. "Gomen Kaede.. I-I must go for a walk I think."

Kaede could only sigh as Sango picked herself up, more carefully this time, and made her way out of the hut. On any other occasion she would've protested, but not now. The poor girl had so much on her mind. She sighed once more and resumed her resting place by the fire with one small glance and Inuyasha and Kagome. She couldn't help but smile a bit. They were mostly unhurt, but would be out for a long time from their exhaustion. It was amazing that they managed to bring Sango and Miroku back at all. They definitely deserved the rest. And besides, the hanyou her sister had once been so fond of actually looked very serene lying next to Kagome. This really was the end of their journey. Everything had come full circle, and it was time for a new age to begin. One without the pain and burdens of the last one. An age of peace.

~~~

Sango didn't really pay attention to the time or distance of her walk. Movement was what was important now. Any sort of movement. Just as long as she was doing something to express her inner frustration…short of killing something. In truth her journey wasn't at all long. She only made it about ½ a mile to a small hill overlooking the village. She sat down on that soft grassy mound of earth and just was for a moment. It was a short, peaceful moment of existence before she was forced to sort out her thoughts.

"It's over…" she breathed, looking up to the stars and closing her eyes to tears. "It's finally over…and what did I do to help? I nearly killed everyone…." Her tears slipped out of their lidded cage and ran freely down her cheeks. "If anything…I nearly cost them the entire quest…"

"Now, I didn't think you were that dense," came a cheerful, familiar, voice from behind her.

"Houshi-sama!" Sango cried, nearly jumping up with surprised. Her injury was the only thing that prevented her from leaping up and smacking him for startling her.

"Careful…" Miroku chided soothingly. "You shouldn't be up about with your injuries to begin with." With that he simply sat down next to her looking happily into the Dusk. "If anything you're the reason that all this is finally over."

"NANI?!" Sango stared at Miroku with utter disbelief. Had she really hit him that hard?

Miroku chuckled a little before turning in her direction and explaining. "If you hadn't had a jewel shard lodged in your chest then Naraku may never have thought to implant you with the rest, and we may never have been able to keep him in one place long enough to finish the battle. You were the real key to everything Sango.

For once in her large mouthed, opinionated, temperamental life the demon huntress was absolutely speechless. Miroku, who had also fallen silent, deep in his own thought, was suddenly pulled back to reality by the warmth of a gentle embrace. "Arigato…Miroku…" she breathed into him, blushing uncontrollably. She really hadn't meant to call him his real name… It had just sort of slipped out, like a tingling whisper upon her lips that had finally found it's voice.

His arms hesitated only five seconds or so before seizing her in a tight, possessive caress. "Miroku…?" she whispered his name again.

"I tried Sango, I really tried… I'm so sorry…" Miroku paused for a moment, struggling to keep his voice steady. "I just… I just couldn't do it…"

"What are you-?" she started.

"I just couldn't keep you safe…and I couldn't stay away…"

"Miroku?" she asked pulling away enough to look him in the eyes, but her wouldn't meet her gaze.

"If I'd been paying more attention to you in that battle… If I could've kept my feelings under control… you would've never had to go through more pain… You would've never had the shards imbedded, you would've never been controlled by Naraku… I-"

"Miroku what are you saying?" she asked lifting his chin slightly so him amethyst pools could meet her own amber ones.

Miroku sighed, almost painfully, unable to look away. "I'm saying I love you Sango… I know I have no right to. It's wrong for so many reasons… I never should've let it get to me… especially when we still had Naraku still to defeat…If only I… I'm sorry I hurt you… You had every right to slap me that morning, to slap me again for that matter… I just…couldn't keep you far enough away to stay safe…" he looked down in the deepest form of defeat. "I…" he said glancing up into Sango's eyes briefly, "I'd better go…" Without a moment of hesitation he rose to his feet and, in a weighted down manner, began to trudge away… back to… existence. Life just wasn't…really real without at least the dream of her…

Sango still sat, wide-eyed and motionless, on the hill where Miroku had confessed himself to her . "Did he just…" Sango's eyes snapped to attention, suddenly realizing what was going on. He had just bared his soul… and she was letting him walk away. She leapt up, paying her wounds aches no mind and rushed up behind him. "Miroku!" she gasped out as she finally reached him.

"Sango I-"

In one swift motion she grasped his hand and spun him about, into a single, heart stopping, kiss. Both of them shaking and breathless with their emotions, clung to each other in the darkness. It was over. Their dance was finally over. All of their sacrifice, all of their pain were just memories now… just dust on the wind.

"Aishiteru Miroku…"

"Aishiteru Sango…"

Authors Note: Wow.. I guess I'm finally done! ^_^ I really hope you liked reading my story as much as I liked writing it. Sorry for the wait for this last chapter. For the last two days my dad's been doing taxes on the comp and I couldn't get on _. Well anyway there you have it. ^_^ Dust On The Wind.