InuYasha staggered back, his hand clutching the puncture in his chest. His thoughts drifted and his energy diminished quickly after the dagger was pulled from his heart. Kikyo laughed cruelly, licking the blood from the blade.

"I had first intended to kill that girl, but I think seeing her face when she finds you dead will be satisfying enough." Pulling her bow from her shoulder, she loaded an arrow into aim. InuYasha struggled for breath, digging his claws into the wound.

"Blades...of Blood!"

Kikyo screeched as she dodged the searing red darts, only one able to strike her on the leg. "You'll pay for that, you..." But he was already out of sight.

Kagome ran breathlessly back to the deserted village, her every thought leaning toward the hanyou. The beat in her head had long since vanished, leaving her worrying for his safety. 'InuYasha, please, be alright! Please, hold...' She stopped inches from the first hut, InuYasha stumbling wearily toward her, his hand over his heart. "InuYasha!" The hanyou never acknowledged her before collapsing to the bitterly cold ground. "InuYasha! InuYasha!" Racing to his aid, her body was thrown back. Regaining her senses, she crawled forth and stretched out her hand, immediately withdrawing it as the red shield glimmered. 'My dream...no!' "InuYasha, listen to me! You've got to get outta there!" The hanyou raised his head, finally aware of her presence. As if in direct reenactment, he pushed to his knees, one hand still pressed to his chest.

Opening his crimson dripping hand, he revealed the jewel in his palm. "No, InuYasha, you don't understand! You have to get up! You have to..."

"Puts new meaning to 'broken hearted', does it not?"

Kagome eyes jerked back and forth from hanyou to priestess as she began to fight determinedly against the shield."InuYasha, move! She's coming for you!"

With the last of his strength, he threw the pink orb in her direction. Kagome watched the jewel's path until it fell, then she turned back to him. His lips silently formed an apology before opening for a shrill shriek of pain to rip from his throat.

"No!" Kagome's eyes never left the spiked blade of Kikyo's sword as she withdrew it, leaving a gushing hole in place of his stomach. "No, InuYasha! No!" The hanyou stayed on his knees for a moment, eyes glazing, before falling forward in a bloody heap. Shaking her head angrily, she set forth an arrow, ripping through Kikyo's magic and allowing her passage. Dropping her bow a few feet back, she fell at his still form, her hands searching for an uninjured place to rest on his stomach. "InuYasha, please...stay with me." The hanyou's eyes fluttered, but did not open as he repeated her name within strangled breaths. Her hands trembled as her thumb stroked his cheek, smearing blood underneath his eye.

"Ka...go...me...I"

"Sssh, don't talk. You need...to save your strength." Kagome bit her lip in restraint from Kikyo's howling laughter behind them.

"Kagome!"

"Kagome!" Miroku and Kouga appeared first, followed closely by Sango and Shippo.

"Oh, no..." Sango's hand rose to her mouth at the sight, Shippo peeking out from behind her leg.

Kagome lowered her head to his chest, no longer able to fight back the tears that threatened. She was going to lose him. She knew it and so did he.

"Kagome, y...you have to...fin...ish...this..."

"No, we have to get you out of you here. You can make it."

"No...Ka...gome...I can't..."

"Don't say that! It's just a little pain! You can survive!" What happened to his 'I can live through anything' attitude? He was giving up so easily. She drew back in disbelief at the smile that crossed his face.

"You...you're...s...startin'...to sound...like...me..." His smile faded. His eyes closed as his head fell limply to the side.

"No...no...please, no! InuYasha, wake up!" Kagome threw back her head in a cry of grief, new rain beginning to fall around her. Sango crouched at Kagome's side for comfort, the men staying back. Kouga even felt a twinge of pain in his heart at the loss of his rival, but that was not enough to keep him silent.

"We've got to get outta here." He nudged the mourning monk beside him, his eyes locked on the smiling priestess awaiting their comeback.

"We can't leave InuYasha!" Sango argued, leaving Kagome's side.

"I agree, Sango, but there's no time." Miroku's eyes read sadness and confusion at the thought of leaving his companion. Kouga growled impatiently making a step toward Kagome.

"If we stay, we'll die. Let's just get Kagome and..."

"INUYASHA!"

All eyes fell on the younger miko, rocking back and forth with the hanyou in her arms. Her entire body shook as she stroked his blood stained silver hair, leaving her hand to rest on the puncture wound in his chest. Her head snapped up, the look she had locked on the priestess sending chills down her comrades' spines.

"Kikyo!" She stood, her voice split in dual tones as she addressed the older miko. "Die." Her hair flowed about her lithe form as she approached closer, Kikyo taking a step back with each step she took forward.

"Do you honestly think you can kill me? You are my reincarnation!"

Kagome's eyes narrowed, her irises completely whiting out in a vengeful glare. A energetic flame licked and spat around her, proving her ability to control the power she never knew she possessed. "I know I can. Unlike InuYasha, I feel no remorse or pity for your damned spirit...not anymore." She lowered her head and stretched her arms out to her sides, her fingertips flickering against the night. "I have no problem with sending you to Hell!" Her voice carried throughout the desolate area as she threw her arms toward her nemesis, a scorching energy crackling from her palms. Kikyo was barely able to avoid it, being thrown back even with her shield protecting her. She rose back to her feet in front of her young rival, her face taking on a slightly panicked edge.

'Where did she receive this power?'

Miroku lowered his head in a prayer, outstretching his hand just above the hanyou's battered body. "May you find peace, my friend...my brother." Unable to bear it any longer, he stood and turned Sango away with him, unaware of InuYasha's rolling and flickering eyes under his wet bangs.

'No...Kagome's...in danger...I...I can't...leave...her...' His golden eyes shot open, a sudden breath lifting his chest. 'Not yet...'

"It's over, Kikyo!" A renewed burst of energy flowed from the younger miko, clashing with Kikyo's with enough impact to wipe out mountains.

"I...think...not!" Kikyo thrust her dark energy toward the girl, swallowing her pure light in a cloud of darkness. Kagome's joints locked, her entire body writhing in unimaginable pain.

"Kouga, do something!" Shippo jumped up and down, throwing every trick of fox magic that he knew, only to have it reflect off Kikyo's barrier.

"I'm on it!" Kouga burst forward, determined to strip through the shield. Kikyo spotted him from the corner of her eye and threw her free hand toward the oncoming attacker.

"No, you don't!" The impact of her power sent him hurling helplessly into a tree, his body tumbling limply to the ground.

"Kouga!" Sango and Miroku ran to his side, neither noticing the weak hanyou sluggishly rolling onto his stomach.

Digging his claws into the soil, he used all that he had to pull his entire body toward Tetsusaiga. Stopping for breath, his tired eyes widened at the sight of Kagome. Her body convulsed as she used her last drop of energy to fight against the dark magic consuming her. Turning so that his forehead pressed against the ground, he drew his knees up under him with a whispering cry. His chest jerking with strangled breaths, he placed his hands firmly below him to struggle onto all fours. 'I'm...com...ing...Kagome...'

"This is useless, girl. Give up now and I will make your deaths quick."

Kagome's face locked into a powerful grimace as her shaking head raised. "N...never!"

Kikyo's arrogant smile faded quickly. "So, be it! May you join him in Hell!"

"I'll see you there first!"

Kikyo's attention turned to the staggering hanyou, leaving Kagome to fall out of her spell. "You...you were dead!"

"Shows...what you know!"

"InuYasha!"

"InuYasha, you're alive!"

Kikyo's entire being shook with both fear and rage. How could he have survived? The two stood staring while Kagome gathered her bearings. Shaking her senses back into place, her eyes watered at the sight of InuYasha. Alive, but dripping from head to toe in his own blood. 'How can he...he was...I saw him...' She flinched as his eyes met hers for a mere heartbeat before drifting back to Kikyo. 'No, don't fight, InuYasha!' Her mind began screaming at him, her voice unable to produce even the slightest of squeaks. She closed her eyes as the corner of his mouth lifted in a bloody smile.

'I've...got...one shot...' He turned back to Kagome, willing her to look at him. That she did, her chocolate eyes echoing deep into his own. 'I need you...you know what to do...' She seemed to read into his thoughts, nodding when his face softened into what looked like a plea. InuYasha set his sights back on his old love, waiting for the demonic winds to appear.

"You will not escape death twice!" She folded her hands in front of her, a bubble of red energy spilling from her palms.

Kagome looked on nervously, her bow now lying on her lap with an arrow already placed. 'What are you waiting for, InuYasha? Do it!'

The hanyou stood, unflinchingly, blinking to clear his sight. The winds were swirling in front of him, but he had yet to see the scar.

"Burn in Hell, half breed!" Kikyo shoved her arms out in front of her, a somatic wave of power racing toward him. As her attack was unleashed, the wind scar sizzled into his view, a wicked smile playing his features.

"You first, bitch! Tetsusaiga!"

Kikyo's eyes widened. A scream tore from her lungs. The attack hit dead on. Kagome saw her cue. She released her enchanted arrow, burrowing it deep into Kikyo's dark possessed heart. A stream of light ripped through village as if daylight was approaching, every hero shielding their eyes. Kagome lowered her arm, viewing the single pile of black robes blowing in the increased wind.

"We did it!" She jumped to her feet, her arms held high above her head in victory. "InuYasha, we did it! InuYasha, we..." Her spirit broke. Her heart fell. His hand still gripping the hilt of his sword, InuYasha laid face down in an unimaginable puddle of his own crimson fluid. "InuYasha..." She tediously approached him, afraid of what she would discover. "InuYasha?" Kneeling beside him, she pulled his hand away from the sword and pulled him against her. To her relief, his eyes fluttered open.

"Kagome...you...okay?"

"I'm fine. You?" Her tearing eyes searched every flowing wound on his body before meeting his withering gaze. "You must...be...in so much pain..."

"It...d...doesn't...hurt...that...bad...anym..."

Kagome dropped her head against his. No warm air coursed her neck. There was no rhythm against her palm on his chest. Just silence. Only death.

"Kagome?" The rest of the group quietly approached, Miroku supporting Kouga. Sango reached a comforting hand to touch Kagome's shoulder, feeling it jerk with her sobs. "Kagome, he saved us. If not for his sacrifice, we'd all be dead." Kagome jerked around, her hold on the man in her arms never failing.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better! Knowing that the idiot killed himself for me!"

"Kagome, I didn't mean..."

"Just leave me." Her hard glare faded as she lowered her head. "Please..." The group obeyed, leaving her to her goodbyes. Her knuckle stroked the side of his pale face, mixing the rain and her tears against his cheek. "You were always...so reckless...for me. Why did you have to be so stupid!" She pulled him up to rest her face in his shoulder, praying for movement. Wishing for an insult. Yearning for a heartbeat. There was nothing. Only the sound of her own muffled sobs and the rain pecking the ground. Her hanyou was gone. Her love had died. Now she had nothing. Nothing but a cursed jewel full of memories.

No, this is not the end. There are still a few more Chapters to go. Thanks for all the support. Let me know what you think!