Chapter 7: Death of the Lovers that Never were



Monkey boy`*ahem* Naraku, stepped into the small clearing. And, as usual, he was clad in his nasty baboon pelt.
Kagome tried her best to see Naraku, she could just barely make out his outline.
Miroku was worse off, he could only see a dark form.

Sango still could not see anything, but, judging by Inuyasha's previous growl, their opponent had arrived.

Inuyasha growled yet again, "Don't you ever take that off?", he glared pointedly at the baboon pelt.

Naraku either chose to ignore the comment about his bizarre choice of attire, or simply didn't care, "So, you have arrived? And I see that you brought your little friends with you as well, just as I thought."

"Shut up and fight Naraku, your wasting my time!"

"Very well....any last words?"

By now, the others were about ready to charge blindly at Naraku...thankfully, they stayed put.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?"

"Fine then, lets get this over with."

And then the two began to fight.

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Sango still saw nothing. But she knew Naraku and Inuyasha had already began their fight, she could hear *that*. The sound of the tetusaiga slashing through the air was far from not being noticeable. She burrowed her back up farther against Kirara, relishing in the warmth of her cat demon friend as the cool wind blew against her face. It was strange, for Kirara not to be fighting with Inuyasha..she could probably see...And then she noticed something for the first time..although she *could* hear the sound of Kirara's heavy breathing and occasional
growls...the cat demon wasn't moving at all...

Had Naraku put some kind of spell on her? To make sure she didn't interfere...but that didn't seem right..Naraku could probably easily take out Kirara..granted, she really did aid a lot in battle, but on her own..she didn't pose much of a threat to someone like Naraku...so why would he make sure she couldn't move..? Unless of course..it wasn't the fight against him that he didn't want her to interfere with..
But then..what could it be?

Something felt very wrong..'Somethings missing..'..she glanced around nervously into the darkness, seeing nothing. Whatever it was that was making her so uneasy, other than the fact that they were battling their worst enemy...had something to do with Kirara..she had figured that much out.

Then it dawned on her and she wandered how come no one else had noticed it before. 'Naraku is here alone! Where is Kanna and Kagura...and....Kohaku? Shouldn't they be here fighting as well?' Then she realized something else....they probably were..Naraku had rendered Kirara paralyzed so that she couldn't protect her friends that *couldn't* see.. She needed to tell the others.

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Miroku saw two forms ferociously attacking one another. But each one easily dodged the others attack. It appeared as though their powers were equally matched. He knew his air rip was useless, no doubt in his mind that the insects were around. So what could he do? Nothing..he realized...nothing but watch..
Suddenly, Sango's voice startled him out of his thoughts.

"Naraku is not here alo-" Sango began, but she was silenced by another voice. A very frightened voice that yelled out her name in warning. Kagome.

" SANGO!!"

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Kagome watched as the two blurry figures fought each other. All the jewel shards that Naraku possessed gave off a dim light. She wandered if she as the only one who could see it, if it was just an effect of being the shard detector. 'probably...lucky me'... But at least the light made it easier for her to see the battle, and to tell which fighter was which. One of the fighters appeared to be a big red blurry form, while the other was a big white blurry form. It went without saying that neither of the blurs were winning.

Then she sensed something she hadn't sensed before. The jewel shards from Naraku had seized all her attention at first, the aura of which was so strong that it had blocked out any others.. but know she was beginning to notice something else. More jewel shards, and they definitely were not coming from Naraku.She looked around cautiously, trying to sense the direction they came from, it was hard, trying to block out the ones from Naraku, but, concentrating as hard as she could, she was able to sense them.

To her horror, she realized they didn't come from just *one* direction. There were three separate ones, one was still a safe distance away, the others however, were dangerously close.

She looked around once again, trying to spot the knew enemies. Then she saw them. Although even more dimly lit than Naraku, as they clearly did not possess as many jewel shards as him, they were still visible to Kagome. It was Kohaku and Kanna, and where they were sent chills all over her body. For, the two evil beings, were so close to Sango they could reach out and touch her, or kill her...Kagome figured they intended to do the latter. And as if farther proof of this, she saw Kohaku reach for his the handle of his chain sickle..

"SANGO!!!"

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Sango knew what Kagome meant when she yelled her name like *that*. It was the same way Kagome yelled Inuyasha's name when ever he was in danger, or whenever she feared for his life...

'Ok, so, I am in immediate danger, and I can't see a thing...grrrrreeeeeat, what am I supposed to do now...'
oh kami, I hope that swishing sound isn't what I think it is...'Before that thought could process anymore, it was interrupted by another distressed yell.

"SANGO!!", That wasn't Kagome. No, she knew that voice oh to well, and it definitely wasn't Kagome.
And then she felt a huge force slam her to the ground.

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Miroku heard Kagome yell Sango's name *that* way. He knew what that yell meant.

He jerked his head over to where he had last saw Sango, sitting up against Kirara. At first, all he saw was a startled Sango, looking around blindly for any sign of danger.

Then, straining his eyes he saw them, Kanna and Kohaku, but it was the latter that struck terror in his heart.
Kohaku was posed in a threatening stance, grasping his chain sickle by the handle. A rather sharp and pointy sickle, and, Miroku realized, he held it over his head with every intent of stabbing his sister to death with it. Then the sickle was traveling down at Sango..

Miroku didn't have time to consider what he was about to do. He knew that if he didn't do *something* Sango was done for. His options were limited, in fact..at this point..there really was only one.
But, if it meant saving Sango, he was perfectly alright with it.

'Well Sango, I hope this makes up for all those times I groped other girls..."

With that thought sounding in his mind, Miroku dove onto Sango, in hopes of taking the blow himself. He felt his body hit Sango with full force and thankfully, he realized his own body had covered her own.

If not for the situation, Miroku noticed that he would have rather enjoyed being in this position with her..but soon those thoughts were stifled by an icy cold pain as the sickle tore into the small of his back.

His time was now very limited, with each blow death crept closer..but..that really had been how he had lived his whole life, death was always just peaking around the corner..and for once, that thought wasn't quite as scary.

But he wasn't about to die like this, no, there was something he had to say first, to at least give Sango some kind of closure, so that, years from now she wouldn't be wandering whether he had been serious or not...just so that she would know that he did in fact love her...never before had he regretted not saying something so much.

"Now I know what true pain feels like.', he said aloud, his voice haggard and in a slow whisper, hoping Sango could here him. His face contorted into a pained grimace, as the sickle went into his back countless more times,

'Its not the pain of the sickle, its the pain of knowing that I'll never get to be with you if I die...please Sango..know that I've always loved you...'

And with that last sentence, everything fell into a pit of complete darkness and the world turned to nothingness.

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Kagome could only watch, horror stricken as Kohaku's sickle came down upon her unknowing friend. Kohaku that seemed to have no knowledge that the person below him was his own sister, Kohaku that had not an expression on his face, with eyes so lifeless he might as well have been dead...perhaps he was...his soul at least...

But then before Kagome a noble deed was done. Sango had been saved. Someone had sacrificed their own life in order to save Sango's.

She watched as the body that had blanketed Sango was stabbed repeatedly by the Naraku-controled Kohaku. She watched as the solid white Kanna just stood back and laughed. And she knew who had performed the ultimate sacrifice, she knew there was only one person who cared for Sango enough to give their own life.

Tears ran down her face as she realized Miroku was dead.

And then, the body of Miroku was thrusted into the air, followed by a tortured scream of angst.

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It took Sango a minute to realize what had happened. She had been slammed to the ground. At first she had thought it was either Kohaku, Kanna, or Kagura who had done it, attempting to harm her in some way.

Then she noticed that the body on top of her was not doing anything but holding her..no, not holding her..the body was shielding her!

And then she heard the voice, his voice, though full of pain and raspy, his voice spoke to her,
and the words broke her heart.

"Now I know what true pain feels like", said the voice, and there was a pause as the one on top of her was stabbed yet again, "It's not the pain of the sickle, its the pain of knowing that I'll never get to be with you if I die...please Sango..know that I've always loved you ", the voice, *his* voice, trailed off and she
felt him go limp on top of her.

"Miroku.."

And, with a resolved scream, she hurled his body off and proceeded to face the one who had killed Miroku.

"Who was it, Kagome, which one killed him?", she stood, trembling, her voice shaking.

"Sango...It was Kohaku...", Kagome wasn't sure how Sango would take that..it *was* her brother..

The demon exterminator almost laughed, it figured didn't it? It *would* be him..that would be the way Naraku would want it..always loving to push the limits..

"So be it then.", The voice that escaped her mouth hardly resembled her own, it was frighteningly low and far too harsh for herself...was this what hatred did to you?

She turned her head to where she had heard Kagome, "Where is he Kagome?"

"Looking for me?". It was a bitter and particularly taunting voice..her brother had never sounded like that..but it was him..standing directly behind her.

Sango turned and rushed blindly at the voice. She knew the body was her brother, but she also knew that his soul was gone. With a fury she didn't know she could possess, she mercilessly beat Kohaku with her boomerang, ignoring the sharp pains of his sickle as he stabbed her any chance he got.

'If I cannot avenge my people, if I cannot save my brother, if nothing else, I will avenge the death of the man I love, if not, I will die trying.'.

With that thought, she raised her boomerang and delivered a fatal blow to Kohaku's head. The shell of Kohaku collapsed onto the ground, and Sango went with him.

It had become quite obvious to her that Kohaku had obviously gotten enough stabs in to prove fatal. But at least she had avenged Miroku, at least she had made sure Kohaku couldn't get to Kagome.

As, she lay there dieing from her wounds, covered in her own blood, as well as Miroku's and her brother's, she whispered one last sentence, praying silently that Kagome would hear it.

"Make sure that this was not all in vain Kagome, make sure that Naraku dies."

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Kagome stood in complete shock as she witnessed Sango try her best to avenge Miroku.

She could only stare in horror as Sango hit air with her boomerang countless times, not being able to see in the dark. And she watched as Kohaku took these opportunities to stab her.

Tears ran down her cheeks relentlessly, but she made not a sound, she only watched. She felt like a spectator at a street fight, she felt like she was watching TV, she felt like she was anywhere but there..or maybe she would just rather that be all it was...just the TV, just a silly little fight...but there was one similarity between those two and what was actually happening, in all three situations...there was absolutely nothing she could do. Sure, she had became quite skilled with the bow and arrow, but there was absolutely no way she would be able to hit a target moving like Kohaku, especially in the dark..and further more..this wasn't her battle to fight..Sango wouldn't want her to interfere..

She wanted to scream when she saw Sango go down to the ground with Kohaku, she wanted to scream when she realized she wouldn't be coming back up. But she couldn't, all she could do was watch...and mourn for the loss of her two friends.
It was heart wrenching to hear the dieing Sango's voice, asking her to make a promise she wasn't sure she could keep. But she nodded, oh, she nodded, because she would do her best, she would try harder than anything to fulfill her now dead friend's last wish.

Their lives would not have ended without reason.

This would not have all been in vain.

She would have just stood there until the battle with Naraku was over, the victor unknown, until the sun came up, until everyone had forgotten about the Shikon No Tama, Naraku, and all things related, until the world ended, had she not heard that awful sound.

Kanna, the laughing Kanna. Despair was soon replaced with rage, and, without even thinking about it, she took an arrow and shot the still laughing Kanna straight through the heart. But that didn't stop the laughing. Kanna continued to laugh as she fell to the ground, and she continued to laugh as she lay there dieing.

She just wouldn't shut up..the sound would drive anyone mad..Thankfully, Kagome had a pretty good idea of how to silence her.

Stepping over the body's of two of her best friends, the lover's that never got to be just that, she stood over the ever laughing Kanna and retrieved the jewel shard embodied in her stomach.

That silenced her, the ever white, Kanna's eyes turned lifeless, and the laughter finally stopped as if had never existed in the first place. She then walked over to Kohaku, and retrieved the jewel shard that Naraku had planted in his back.
Having done that, she returned to her friends. The sun was beginning to rise already. And now Kagome wished it was still dark, so that she wouldn't have to see her friends this way. The sight of Sango was almost unbearable, not only was she covered in a combination of her blood, Miroku's, and Kohaku's, but there were also many stab wounds littering her body.
Miroku was laying on his back, sparing Kagome the horror that she was sure to face if she were to turn him over, but his once navy robe now had a crimson hue to it.

Kagome shuddered, but she had too do this, she had to leave them some dignity in death. She could not just leave their body's laying beside the very one that had killed them. So Kagome drug their body's over to Kirara, leaning them both up against the whimpering cat demon.

Kagome noticed, that if one ignored the blood, they might only think that they were sleeping. How she wished that were so.
As an after thought, she placed Sango's hand in Miroku's, as a final ode to the lover's that never were.

**********A/N****

Revised/Edited 2/21/03

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