Well… here it is. .:drumroll:. The FINAL chapter of 'Soul Mates' and the last Nar x Sess story that I will write using this storyline. This is the end, folks. No more Ashe, no more 'Inmates' references, but plenty more yaoi lovin'. I'm sure you're all just ready to burst with anticipation. Enjoy chapter seven!

Awesome quote: Kagura: "Naraku…is trying to take Sesshoumaru's body…into himself!" Book 23. XD, just had to share that.

…

A slow, unexpected shiver suddenly raced down Sesshoumaru's spine. The demon woke with a start, wondering why his body felt so strange. He was puzzled to feel that half of him felt unbearably hot while the other half was next to freezing cold.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him, he suddenly realized why. He was lying on top of the neatly made covers of a large bed, cradling another warm body in his arms. Someone had left the windows open, and the deep cool of night had come creeping in, attacking the inu youkai's exposed flesh with icy teeth.

Sesshoumaru couldn't have cared less about the cold; he was focusing too intently on the man lying next to him—the warm, breathing, beautiful man whose open, sparkling eyes looked like the perfect crimson petals of a winter rose.

"Naraku…" Sesshoumaru breathed, almost too happy to believe he was seeing. "You… you are still living." His eyes darted down the kumo's body. "You are well again."

Naraku didn't answer; he didn't need to. It was obvious from the rosy glow in his skin and the twinkle in his eyes that all trace of the sickness had left him. Naraku reached a hand slowly up and brushed it against Sesshoumaru's cheek, lightly caressing his skin.

Sesshoumaru crooned low in his throat and closed his eyes, embracing the warm touch eagerly. It felt so good to touch Naraku again, to be touched by the beautiful demon. He could hardly believe it, could hardly believe he'd been so blessed.

"Naraku, I missed you so much!" Sesshoumaru couldn't keep the feverish love from his voice. "I never stopped thinking about you, wondering if you were alright. I dreamt about you; I wanted to see you so badly."

Naraku was still silent, though his hand continued to caress Sesshoumaru's cheek. The dog demon faltered over all the things he wanted to say. He wondered why Naraku wasn't speaking, why the demon looked so calm when they should be celebrating. He wondered why Naraku didn't scoop him into his arms and make love to him for the first time in so long.

Sesshoumaru stared at his lover nervously. There was something different about him. The inu youkai supposed this was normal, since he'd just gotten over a serious illness, but somehow that just didn't seem to cover it. Something more had changed than just Naraku's abrupt shift in health.

The demon looked radiant. Unnaturally so. His skin had become as sheer and glowing as the stars peeking in from the open windows. His eyes were so startlingly red, clearer and more beautiful than they'd ever been before. For the first time, Sesshoumaru realized that Naraku's body wasn't just warm; it was hot—nearly scalding.

"Naraku, tell me what's wrong," Sesshoumaru whispered as Naraku continued to look at him oddly, hand brushing against his skin in the lightest of touches. The kumo closed his eyes slowly, as if willing some strength to flow into him from within, and finally, he spoke.

"Sesshoumaru," Naraku's voice was as clear and smooth as a willow's song, "I want you to know how happy I am right now. I'm so glad to be with you again. More glad than you could ever possibly know."

"Why can't I know, love?" Sesshoumaru asked, nearly pleading as he saw the intense look in his lover's eyes. "Why can't you tell me? Now that we're together again, we have all the time in the world for you to tell me."

Naraku's shimmering crimson eyes became plagued with indecision. "Sesshoumaru…you know what it is that I am going to tell you. You can feel it. You can feel it in your soul, but right now you wish you could deny it."

Sesshoumaru opened his mouth, and immediately shut it again. What was Naraku talking about? Why did he look so heartbroken? They were together again; they were both healthy and together, and they'd beaten Ashe's curse, just like they'd always known they would.

Somehow, these thoughts seemed hollow to Sesshoumaru, and he began to piece together what Naraku was trying to say. His mind screamed with protests, but the inu youkai could no longer deny what was right in front of him.

"The cure didn't work," he whispered, flinching away from the sting these words carried with them. "We were too late. The cure didn't work."

Naraku merely gazed at him for a moment, and Sesshoumaru hoped beyond hope that he was wrong. His prayers were shattered however, when Naraku nodded sharply, as if he too wished the words would prove false. The inu stared at his lover, his stunning, sickness-free lover, and knew the sickness had only left because it had already won.

Sesshoumaru bit his lip against the tears gathering in his molten gold eyes. "How is this possible? The curse couldn't have worked! You're still alive! I can feel you right now…" Sesshoumaru broke off as he realized what he was saying. He could feel Naraku, but he knew his lover didn't feel normal. He was so hot… so unbearably hot.

"Naraku… you can't be… you…" Sesshoumaru broke off and bit his lip harder, refusing to shed tears over what he already knew to be true.

"I'm not dead, my love, but it's only a matter of time. My body can't fight the curse off any longer. When you left to find the cure, I was already far past the point where you could have saved me. I lived with this curse inside me for months, ever since we first left Ashe's castle. Those months were the happiest in my life, and if I had the choice, I'd do everything all over again in order to have them."

"But you're going to die!" Sesshoumaru's voice was an angry whisper. "How can you say that when after everything we went through, we still won't be together?"

Naraku smiled, a sad, gentle smile, the smile of one who has no hope left in the world. He placed one hand on either side of Sesshoumaru's face and brought the inu down to lie on his chest. Sesshoumaru snuggled close to his lover, cursing the gods for making Naraku feel so alive to him in the moments before his death.

He couldn't bring himself to think about it, to think that Naraku could leave him at any moment when right now he felt so real, so living.

"So, all that work…all that hope…all those dreams of a life together, and happiness…it was all for naught. You'll die, my love, and I'll have nothing left but my sorrow and my shattered heart."

Tears spilled out of Sesshoumaru's glazed eyes, thick with misery and heartache. Naraku brushed these tears away with slender fingers and gazed into his lover's eyes. "All is not as lost as you think. Your efforts gave us this at least: one final night together."

Naraku leaned down and softly kissed Sesshoumaru's lips. The dog demon responded slowly but eagerly. It felt strange to him—familiar and wonderful, yet oddly frightening. He loved Naraku with all his heart and soul, and the thought of living without him made his very being hurt. He hesitated and then kissed Naraku back with relish; he would not let their final night together be wasted.

His body cried to be filled with his lover's again, and his soul ached for the unity that would come from such an act. Sesshoumaru parted his lips and groaned slightly as Naraku's tongue slipped into his mouth, hot and wet and sweet. There was nothing rushed about their kiss, nothing urgent or needing; their touch was filled with the most profound love imaginable.

It was a touch that said they finally understood one another; they finally understood why they never could have avoided falling in love. Sesshoumaru moaned low in his throat as he felt his body merge with that of his lover's in a pleasure more exquisite than his mind could comprehend.

In the final moments of their union, right before release and during, the two lovers were blessed with a total understanding of their twisted fate. Somehow, they'd always known it would be this way. They never could have escaped it. And if escaping it had meant never having each other, they would have held on no matter what.

…

When Sesshoumaru woke up the next morning, he didn't even have to move to know Naraku was already dead. The demon had died, peacefully and quietly, asleep in his lover's arms. Naraku's body still felt warm to him, and Sesshoumaru knew it was because he had never let go of his lover—not once during the night.

A kind of sick indifference stole over the inu's mind, and he knew it was shock that would eventually wear away and leave him breathless in the wake of his despair. Cold tears flowed over his ethereal features, sharp and biting against his skin.

Even though his numb mind wouldn't let him feel it, his heart was shredding into a thousand bloody strips. His love was dead. Truly dead. Gone forever to a place that would never welcome the inu willingly. His soul mate was lost to him forever.

Sesshoumaru bit back the howls and croons of heartache that wanted to erupt from his proud form. He wouldn't shame Naraku's memory by acting so disgracefully. All the beautiful demon could do was hold his lover's lifeless body close and try to gather his sanity.

What should he do? Go fetch a servant? Stay and wait for someone to find him? How could he stand to let Naraku's body be taken from him? How could he stand to truly admit that… he was gone?

Sesshoumaru's eyes stung as tears poured constantly down his fair cheeks. It was too much. It hurt too much. He couldn't stand it. No knife could ever have dealt him such pain. A flesh wound would hurt for a little while and then fade, leaving not even a scar behind.

This wound, the demon knew, would never heal. It would drip his noble blood onto the thirsty ground for the rest of eternity, and sorrow would infect him like a disease. His life would never be the same, and all because he'd given his very soul to one wonderful, beautiful, exquisite man.

The pain welled up within him, the final, bittersweet cry in Naraku's requiem. Sesshoumaru prayed for it to go away. It was overwhelming. He couldn't stand it anymore. Surely it would rip him to pieces before it would give him up.

If only they could have had the life they'd always wanted. If only they could have escaped together, to a place where nothing mattered but the love they carried in their hearts. The Shikon no Tama would no longer matter, nor his brother, Inuyasha, nor the people they killed or deceived to reach whatever harsh end they'd strived for that year.

If only they could have spent the little time they'd had in true contentment. As his grief built up within him like a powerful torrent, Sesshoumaru felt a strange sensation come over him. It was almost like relief, relief from his tragic loss.

He could feel himself slipping away, though he couldn't understand it. Were the gods finally taking pity on him? Were they taking away his pain? But, no, it was more than his pain that was being taken away.

Sesshoumaru laid a gentle kiss on the cool brow of his lover and settled down onto the bed, still cradling Naraku's form in his arms. He could feel it clearly now, the peace he'd been hoping for just minutes before. It was washing over him like a warm bath, easing the shredded wounds in his heart until the sinews came together again.

He felt wonderful and hazy; a cloud had stolen into his very core. And then, he no longer felt anything at all.

…

Light. As far as Sesshoumaru's eyes could see…there was nothing but the softest, most brilliant light imaginable. It was the kind of light he'd always hated as a demon—as a creature of the night—but now it did nothing but soothe.

Sesshoumaru didn't recognize where he was, but somehow he understood. He wasn't really anywhere. He turned his head to look around, yet he still seemed to be standing still. There was so much motion in this strange place, there was no motion at all.

The inu shook his head slightly. What an odd riddle this new world was. Everything was everything, yet it was nothing, too. And then, he saw him. Another form strode over to him from the brightest patch of life.

A moment of fear crept into Sesshoumaru's heart. Would he be judged now? Would they send him to the fiery lakes and Brimstone Mountains he'd always heard of? But as the figure strode closer, Sesshoumaru recognized him and was overjoyed.

Naraku stood before him, healthy and perfect, but not the bewitching healthy he'd been before. This was him—really him, nothing more and nothing less. Sesshoumaru ran forward and threw himself into his lover's arms, smiling as Naraku's scent filled his nose like the most pungent of perfumes.

"My love…" Naraku whispered against his ear, yet he wasn't whispering at all. He wasn't saying anything. He wasn't even there, yet he was there. So was Sesshoumaru, but he wasn't. The demon no longer cared what was or wasn't. In this place, there was no 'is' or 'isn't'. 'Am' and 'are not' no longer existed.

All Sesshoumaru could feel was pure, blissful happiness. Such a feeling did not exist on earth, and the demon relished it. He wasn't certain he could call himself a demon anymore. There was no demon now, no human, no monster, no anything. Just peace. Endless, incredible, dazzling peace.

There was just him and Naraku: two lovers finally brought together in a land where they could love freely, love like they'd never been able to before. There was nothing stopping them now. No petty quarrels or selfish desires or hungers for power and dominance. There might not have been a life for them together, but at least there was a death.

…

Months later, one lone man stood outside Sesshoumaru's former castle, perfectly still against a backdrop of green rolling hills. The man had long silver hair that lifted with the slightest breeze, and startling gold eyes that had softened of late. He stared forward, lost in thought as he gazed at the markers before him.

The virgin ground had been transformed into an elegant marble monument, a tribute to the elegance of the man whose ashes had been buried within. A name was written on the stone, a name that Inuyasha had dreaded since practically the day of his birth.

The hanyou thought back to the last words his brother had said to him before his death. He thought over all the things the demon had asked of him, and of how he had single-handedly seen to every one.

Inuyasha now watched over the lands that had been his father's, and his brother's after that. He had buried his brother on these lands, as was appropriate for the Lord of the Western Lands. He had adopted Rin as his own, and seen that the girl received the same kind of quiet affection that Sesshoumaru had always shown her.

Even though the preparations had long since been dealt with, Inuyasha lingered here. He couldn't seem to leave this grave, to turn his thoughts away from the soul that lay there. Inuyasha had loved his brother, even before his final days. He'd always loved him. It had just been buried deep within, in the same place that Sesshoumaru had buried his own love for his brother.

Sesshoumaru had been an aristocratic assassin, just as everyone said. But he had also been a person, alive as much as any other. Inuyasha couldn't help but wonder if his brother had gotten what he'd wanted out of life. His death had been so sudden…and so unexplained.

Inuyasha had found them that morning, so many months ago. He'd walked into Sesshoumaru's chambers, expecting to intrude on a scandalous love scene between his brother and the healed Naraku. Instead, he had found the two lovers entwined together in the last motion they would ever make. It had shaken him to see how peaceful they both looked.

Inuyasha had tried to tell himself that he knew this was coming, especially after what Sesshoumaru had said to him the day before, but it had still been a cold slap in the face. His brother was dead, and he'd died on the eve of the day when they'd finally come to value one another.

A tear had rolled down Inuyasha's cheek before he'd even realized his sorrow. His heart knew what it was missing, even if his stubborn mind didn't. It had wasted no time in informing him of his loss, and when it had, Inuyasha had wept. Truly, honestly wept, in an infant's endless wail. It had been like losing his parents all over again.

Inuyasha fought back a fresh wave of tears as they threatened to wash over him. He'd allowed his sadness to control him too much already. His eyes shifted from the grave in front of him and settled on a spot slightly to the left.

Another grave stood nearby, made of identical white marble. A different name was carved on this one, and Inuyasha let his eyes rove over the characters that spelled out the name of his former greatest enemy.

Naraku had been dealt with, and with his death came the peace of many upset lives. Still, Inuyasha despised the way the kumo had died. Naraku had only gotten the barest months out of over fifty years to spend as a happy man. No one deserved that.

Then again, Inuyasha thought with a bitter smile, if there's any hope to be had in the afterlife, perhaps my brother and his love really are together again.

Inuyasha let that idea mill through his mind. He closed his eyes and gave a silent prayer, since it was the only thing he could now do for his brother's immortal soul. Please, God, or whoever's listening, if I only get one wish in life, let it be this: Sesshoumaru mustn't be without the only reason behind his life. Let him be with Naraku. Let them both forget the hate and blood that ruled their lives and find tranquility together in death.

Inuyasha opened his eyed again just as a bright face popped into his vision.

"Inuyasha-sama!" Rin called as she ran towards him, carrying two small bundles of flowers. The adorable little girl stopped in front of him and gently laid the flowers down on the graves.

They were freesia flowers—flowers that meant 'innocence' in the language of plants. Inuyasha chuckled at the appropriateness of the girl's choice and pulled her into his arms. Rin's face was surprisingly dry, but he supposed children were better at dealing with death than adults gave them credit for.

He didn't think Rin really understood what had happened, but she surely knew that her guardian's soul was finally free.

"Come, Rin," Inuyasha whispered into her perfumed hair as he set her back on the ground. "It's time to go."

He took her small hands in his and led her back to the castle, turning his back on his brother's grave, but never his brother's memory. He would always know the man who had been Sesshoumaru: silent, proud, deadly, and caring in the most surprising way. He would always remember his brother's love, for him and for the man who he'd followed to the grave.

As Inuyasha walked away from the proud, but solemn graves, he didn't suppose he would ever return.

The end.

You have no idea how hard I cried while I was writing this. The entire time I was planning on a nice, fluffy ending where Naraku lived and everything was happy and full of lemons… but then… I just couldn't so it. I knew this was going to be the end of my story, and I didn't want to leave it off on this happy ending that was finished and yet not finished. There had to be something definite. Their love HAD to live forever, and I knew the only way to do that was to give them something more than life.

I know I'm going to get so many reviews threatening my own life for this, but just understand that as a writer I know I picked the right ending. Gomen na sai, mina sama. Fill your lives happiness and your hearts with love, and I hope to hear from you again. Sayonara.