Cut Asunder

For a few moments his eyes flickered with recognition. "Aneue –" he whispered, reaching for her –

Their fingers touched –

And then, the unthinkable happened.

The shard abruptly burst from Kohaku's back; blood splurted, staining the walls and floor of the dark hut as the boy collapsed towards the floor, the borrowed life he had been granted fleeing instantly from his body the moment the life giving gem was stricken from his body.

She heard a scream rip from her too-tight throat as he collapsed; she slammed to her knees, catching his young body into her arms and hugging it tightly to her, but there was nothing left, not even a reminiscent last few sluggish beats of his heart.

That which had begun so long ago was over, just like that. Naraku had finally released Kohaku from his reanimated slavery, but he hadn't done it out of regret or a desire to do right –

No; he had done it to keep her from attaining that single comfort left in the world for her.

"NO!" she screamed in anguish, hugging her dead brother tightly to her own bloody and torn body. "NO!"

Just a few moments – she had only needed a few moments to tell him that she loved him, to tell him that she would meet him on the other side shortly. Just a few moments.

He had stolen her life, and he wouldn't give her a even few meager moments in return.

Gingerly, the slayer released the now-empty shell that had only moments ago held the life force of her brother. She stared at his sweet, waxen face, and her heart twisted painfully within her chest.

"NARAKU!" she screamed hoarsely, leaping to her feet and bursting from the hut. "NARAKU!"

She skidded to a halt directly before him; his boldness surprised her. He wasn't even bothering to hide. Instead, he stood there, not more than two man-lengths before her…

"I hope you can forgive me – I needed this," he spoke with silken mocking. In one hand he held the shard that he had taken from Kohaku –

In the other, he held the Shikon Jewel, complete except for that one, final shard…

"The war is over, and I am victorious thanks to you! You brought me the final shards - how does it feel, taijiya? How does it feel to be the one to deliver the killing blow to everything you hold dear? Your friends will die effortlessly now that I possess the Shikon Jewel!"

Sango narrowed her eyes; her jaw was clenched so tightly she was afraid she might split a tooth. She watched as slowly, carefully, Naraku pressed the final shard into place…

The jewel sparkled beautifully for a few moments, and then abruptly turned pitch black in his hands. Naraku threw his head back with maniacal laughter as power radiated from the jewel, the wave-like pulses crackling like lightning. Sango waited –

'These are fake shards. They're close enough to the real thing to fool him. There are enough here to complete the jewel – but only with the addition of your brother's.' Kikyo had looked at her with something akin to sympathy in her eyes. 'Your brother will die without his shard, but there is no other way.'

'I know,' Sango had whispered hoarsely.

She waited for something to happen to indicate that the shards had been fake, but nothing did; Naraku absorbed the dark jewel into his chest and continued to laugh gaily as he burst from his human form to his demon form; the power crackled visibly through is countless tendrils. Cold fear clenched her gut.

'She – she betrayed me.'

No; this couldn't be happening. Could Kikyo really have given her real shards to give Naraku?

More importantly: had Sango truly just handed over the final shards to him?

'No… This can't be happening…' All blood drained from her face as she realized that Naraku's words were true. She had just assured his victory. With the Jewel in his possession, Naraku would effortlessly murder her friends.

She couldn't let that happen.

"NO!" Sango screamed, tearing coursing down her cheeks as she charged Naraku.

Power-charged tendrils whipped angrily at her from all directions. She couldn't even begin to block them; they burned her as they lashed through her defenses, but still she didn't stop.

Her skin, already laced with stinging lashes and wounds from earlier, was ripped and torn angrily by Naraku's protrusions, but she lashed angrily with hiraikotsu. She flung her boomerang bone at the great demon but he effortlessly batted the weapon aside at the last instant, sending it skidding across the cobblestone and out of her reach.

But Sango wasn't paying attention to her beloved hiraikutso; while Naraku irritably batted aside the weapon, the slayer drove through the path the boomerang bone had cut through his defenses, her katana drawn and raised –

"FOR THE TAIJIYA!" she shrieked, the short sword a silver blur through the air as she descended; when Naraku turned, he found himself face to face with the foe he had underestimated for all these years…

Suddenly, she couldn't breath; her entire existence was white-hot pain, but she ignored the liquid fire coursing through her veins. She slammed the blade down with everything she had; the sheer force of the impact drove the katana straight through his collarbone. The sword didn't stop it's descent until it reached his chest – she had sliced right through him.

Abruptly, she became aware of the fact that she was no longer falling. Slowly, she looked down to see one of the root-like tendrils protruding straight through her chest -

She had to die so that the others might live.

Naraku slowly looked down at his own chest, but to her horror he only laughed at the katana buried deep within. "You said yourself you could not kill me, you fool!"

He laughed.

Tears streamed down her face as she tried to twist the blade in his body.

Another tendril slammed through her, this one ripping through her flank as he continued to hold her suspended in the air before him. She tried to draw the breath to scream but instead only choked on blood.

He continued to laugh.

She had failed; she had betrayed her friends and had given Naraku everything he needed to succeed. Instead of placing her trust in those people who had given her a home even when she had done nothing to deserve it, she had placed it in a woman she never should have…

And now, she would die a traitor to those she loved, and an ally to the man she despised more than anything. Her soul would die for her deceit – or, if it weren't to die, it would be forced to wander forever as a haunt on the earth, forced to witness the fruits of her treachery for all of eternity – forced to watch Naraku torture those she loved to death.

All was lost.

Everything was going a little dark, but even so, her trained hunter's eyes easily picked out the subtle movement behind Naraku. Her dark eyes flickered uncertainly, trying hard to focus on the red and white movement –

Her heart swelled with overwhelming joy. The demon holding her paused, his eyes flashing with anger and confusion as his dying victim laughed breathlessly.

"What do you find so amusing?" he snarled angrily, feeling suddenly very threatened by the unpredicted behavior.

Sango's reply was grab his face dig her fingernails into the flesh, confusing him even more. It never occurred to him that she was doing it to keep him from looking behind him…

And so he literally and figuratively never saw what hit him.

"She didn't betray me," Sango breathed – his eyes widened, but it was too late.

You don't need to bother
I don't need to be
I'll keep slipping farther
But once I hold on
I won't let go 'till it bleeds

Kikyo's purifying arrow slammed into his chest; he cried out, and Sango sunk her nails deeper into his face, holding him in place as she fired another…

And then, something strange happened.

A bright white light shone and burned from Naraku's chest. Sango watched with wide, fearful eyes as the jewel revealed itself –

The Jewel of Four Souls swirled and brightened for a few moments, but then, suddenly, several of the shards turned dark. All at once, the jewel exploded within his chest – the half of the jewel that contained the dark shards pulsated and broke off from the rest, bursting into individual shards and shooting out from his body.

It was grotesque. Naraku raised his head to scream as shards burst from him and went flying through the air, similar to the way Kagome had described happening when she had broken the jewel so many years ago – only this time, only half of the jewel burst.

The half that had contained fake pieces.

Naraku screamed as Kikyo fired another purifying arrow into his body and shards continued to rip from him; his entire body spasmed, sending Sango flying from him. She slammed into the cobblestone roughly, leaving a bloody trail behind her until she finally skidded to a halt. It was all she could do to turn her head and watch as Naraku's body was completely and irrevocably shredded…

And abruptly, it was over; his body literally disintegrated into nothing, leaving the priestess and demon slayer alike stare numbly at the half of the Shikon Jewel that stood where he had been only a moment before.

Kikyo swooped down and picked up the jewel, her hand clenched white around it. "It is done," she announced with quiet coolness.