SessyRyo: Yo! ^_^ It's been a while since I've posted anything.....anyway, I wrote this for Sweet Ruby Moon and her Sessh/Kik online boards/webpage. This is for you, Rubeh-sama! ^-^ It's a bit of a tear-jerker, you might want to get a few tissues ready. ^^;; Anyway....please enjoy!

***

It was silent. But only for a moment.

The sky above roared, the clouded horizon a deep sludge gray, tinted with black anger, and rumbled in remonstration as it was quite quickly blown over to the flat wasteland. The wind silently hissed a reprimand at the sky, scattering dust from the hard barren earth and fluttering the miko's raven black hair.

Her breath was ragged and heaving, she leaned heavily on her bow, which had practically snapped in half after defending a blow from a large beetle demon's fist. The majority of her upper-half was covered in both her blood and that of others, and some other vile black liquid, her hair long since ripped from its elastic tie, the silky raven tresses falling in a disarray over her dirt-stained face. A long cut running down her pale cheek was still oozing blood, the crimson pouring down her neck and onto her collar.

Her sandals made slow, barely audible crunching noises as they took staggering steps over the hard ground, sometimes stumbling as they tripped over a carcass of some nameless slain youkai, other times halting completely as she stopped and fell to her knees, gasping for much-needed breath. Her delicate hand shot to the ground to support herself, her chocolate brown eyes closed tight as she gripped her side, the wound still fresh and screaming pain.

A flash of lightning illuminated the sky above, the white-hot jet of electricity erupting in the air some hundred feet above Kikyou's head. The deep brown orbs shot open again, the determination renewed, an she once more got up, wobbling somewhat as she suffered a sharp twinge of pain from the gash running up her calf and thigh. Her fist tightened around the splintered wood, small slivers digging into her palm as she gritted her teeth and walked faster.

She had to get to him..... she –had- to.........

As she rounded a small, dusty hill, nails digging into to crusty earth as she clawed her way up in pure exhaustion, he finally entered her line of vision. Her pupils dilated and she struggled to right her posture once more, her bow clattering to the ground unnoticed, her voice echoing an octave higher than normal across the flat deserted battlefield.......

"-Sesshoumaru-!!"

Her hand still holding its viselike grip on her ribs, the miko shoved herself up onto her feet and took off in a desperate run, her feet clapping down hard and fast, nearing her destination with every costly step. Her ankle, which was most likely broken, was throbbing horribly with every step, but she barely felt it as she continued to run.

The thunder rumbled again, this time much louder and deeper, and even more shots of lightning crackled overhead, but neither reached Kikyou's ears at all, the only thing pulsing in her mind was, I must get to him, I must get to him.........

As she was finally neared the taiyoukai, her ankle gave way and she fell in a wounded heap on the ground near his side. She gave a small gasp of pain but then jerked her head off the ground where it had lain between her arms.

/Please be okay....../

At first, the miko thought, in a quickly rising panic, she was too late. His golden eyes were staring up at the steel-hued sky dully, the pupils blank and glassy, his arm hung limply over the large hole in his chest, the blood seeping into the dirt and staining the whole five foot radius around him a dull maroon. She choked back a sob and hesitantly reached her arm, the graceful fingers tentatively grazing his ghostly white cheek.

"Sesshouma....ru......?"

All of a sudden the eyes focused again, blinking for a moment and then snapping open.

"......Kiky......ou?"

She gave a small, teary sigh of relief and smiled. "Yes...I'm here," she surveyed the damage done to his beautiful body, the panic once again surfacing, the stinging at the back of her eyes increasing, "I'm here...."

The Lord of the West Lands' hand slowly rose up from where it had rested and weakly clutched at Kikyou's, he smiled softly and sighed. "Are you well?" His gorgeous amber eyes slowly shifted to look at her, taking in the entirety of his lover. Upon seeing the many cuts and wounds that marred her fair body, his eyes creased slightly in concern. "It appears you are not."

The miko tried to force a smile. "Oh......no, I'm fine, really. But you......" she tried to keep her voice steady as she tried to not look at the blood all over the ground, "......you're hurt. Please, don't speak, you need to save your energy."

The youkai prince gave a sharp intake of breath, his grip tightening on Kikyou's hand almost painfully, his slitted pupils narrowing, his brow furrowed, and his teeth bared in a fresh wave of pain. A splurt of blood escaped from his mouth, and the bleeding from his chest worsened.

The realization slammed into the raven-haired priestess. He hadn't stopped bleeding. He had gotten that wound over an hour ago........this was bad. This was very bad. If the wound had not stopped bleeding, then that meant that the wound was too severe, even for his full youkai healing ability. And if the wound did not heal.........

A strange, choking sound escaped her soft lips, her free hand flew to her mouth and the tears came anew. -Sesshoumaru was going to die-......... She was far too weak to try to heal him, she doubted she could even come close to taking care of her own minor scratches at this point, let alone the huge gaping hole in her beloved's abdomen.

-Sesshoumaru was going to die.........-

The youkai in question was finally relaxed, a small smile playing at his lips as his eyes slowly closed and opened again, once again staring at her, his gaze fixed on the crystaline tears that now spilled unchecked from his koi's own soft brown orbs.

"Do stop that. You know.......how much I hate......seeing you cry, my dear Kikyou."

The rain, which had lingered so ominously for that whole period of time, finally let itself loose. A few sprinkles of soft drops at first, but soon it strengthened to a steady downpour, the sky's tears pitter-pattering onto the parched earth that had been forsaken so long. Kikyou's hair, already untidy, fell in wet limp groups into her face, only to be brushed away by her dying lover. Her shoulder were now shaking with the effort of repressing her sobs, she grabbed his hand to her cheek, the tears streaming freely

"Sesshoumaru, you can't.....you can't let the Lord of the Western Lands be beaten by some low-class youkai rabbles, can you?"

Sesshoumaru did not seem to hear her. His eyes were getting cloudy; he was looking straight at Kikyou, but did not see her.

"Kikyou......." He whispered something so quietly that she could not hear him. She bent her face closer to his, her tears mixing with the rainwater dappling his pale complexion. "What is it, koi?"

"Aishiteru......" Sesshoumaru's eyes then fluttered closed and did not open, his chest stopped its already ragged rising beneath her hand and did not continue. The miko by his side felt as if had had the wind struck out of her, she clutched at her chest for a moment.

"Sesshoumaru......?" Kikyou gently shook him. "Sesshoumaru?! Sesshoumaru!!" Her vision got blurry once more and she toppled over on top of him, her body now racked with heart-wrenching sobs. "Sesshoumaru!! Sesshoumaru!!!!" Her cries echoed through the vast emptiness of the sky and desert, only the rain and thunder answered them....

***

Chocolate eyes opened slowly, her vision was fuzzy and unclear. She blinked a few times, trying to clear them, slowly bringing the back of her hand and rubbing her eyes. She was sitting beneath a tree, where she had no idea, and the rain had not let up, the occasional drop falling from the foliage above and dripping onto her tear-stained face.

/Why am I here............?/

The miko racked her brain for answers, and sadly, found them. Sesshoumaru......he was......

"NO!" She stood up quickly, instantly dizzy with loss of blood, causing her damaged ankle to throb nastily. She had run. Blindly.......

"No! No, no, no......." Why? Had she not suffered enough already? To lose her first love, to die, and now, to lose the one she cared for more than anything, the one that revived her life and humanity, the one that truly made her feel loved and cared for? Why?

"Why him.....? Why not me.....?" Kikyou whispered brokenly, the tears reappearing and coursing down her features. Her head jerked up, her brow furrowed in hate at the heavens that tortured her so. "I am not your toy.... I will not be your source of amusement any longer...." She got up with unusual steadiness, her ankle and other injuries still untreated. Her steps were hard and determined.

Her own steps in the mud from the night before led her back to the battlefield, and she noted how many times she had stumbled and fallen, there were almost countless Kikyou-shaped imprints in the wet earth.

Her bottomless eyes scanned the flat wasteland, finally finding the grave she had unconciously made for her beloved. Her steps now becoming agonizingly painful, she trudged to the grave and fell with a dull 'thud' to her knees next to the unmarked gravestone. She ran her hand over the rough stone she no doubt found from some youkai's broken armor. "Sesshoumaru......" She groped around the ground, hands searching through the numberless corpses she and her lover had slain the night before. A crooked grin reached Kikyou's face as she found what she had searched for; a rusty knife lay crimson-stained and muddy on the ground. Shakily taking it in her hands, she painstakingly etched the name of the one she loved so dearly into the stone. "We'll be together soon.....we'll be together soon...." The knife had served one of its purposes, now was time for the other. She scooted back about a foot, staring dazedly at the ground as she brought the knife up in her hands.

The rain was lifting; the last few clouds slowly ceased their downpour and then departed. A smile still plastered on her fair complexion, Kikyou plunged the blade, which shimmered with merciful sharpness even after its duty of engraving Sesshoumaru's name, into her chest. She gave a pained gasp, but then smiled sadly at the stone, her vision turning red before she fell heavily to the ground nearby the grave, the blood quickly seeping through her already stained garments and staining the freshly dug up and buried soil. Her arms twitched feebly and her feet gave weak kicks as her body gave a last fight at staying functional, but they soon stopped and she lay peacefully, bathed in the new sunlight of the dawning morning.

"I'm here......."

~Owari~

***

SR: Soooooo.....how'd everyone like it? Did I do a relatively good job? ^_^;;

Kikyou: O_O....What was that? That was entirely too sad!!

SR: A sad ending was probably the only way this COULD end, now wasn't it?

Kiky: Well.....yeah....but still!

SR: -__-;; *sigh*