Thank you Firyfeline… I believe that your question should be answered in this chapter…

Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to me… pauses… Not! I own nothing at all.

One for sorrow

Two for joy

Three for a girl

Four for a boy

"Sango, child, would you go and get me some water from the well, please." The old miko was hunched over a cooking pot, stirring away at what could only be described as a delicious smell. Shippou sat in the God tree, probably missing the tricks he could be playing on Inuyasha.

As long as he doesn't play any on me! Sango got up from where she had been sitting, leaning against a tree.

There had been few happenings the last two days. After Inuyasha had gone, Sango had basically moved in with Kaede, and so had Shippou. There had been one youkai attack – a weak wasp youkai had buzzed in to try to get the jewel shards – but Sango had dealt with it easily.

It seems that the challenge has gone out of fighting.

The well water was cold and Sango poured a bucket over her own head before re-filling it and taking it to Kaede. Feeling refreshed, she sat down again, under the God tree, wondering what to do.

I guess that we've spent so much time and effort trying to kill Naraku, I've forgotten what normal life is about.

Strange, really. She had always thought that she could live happily ever after, though the expression was cliché, after she had avenged her family.

With Miroku.

"Sango," Shippou dropped down from the God tree and stared at the teen hopefully.

"Will you play ball with me?"

"Of course Shippou."

Soon the air was filled with happy shouts.

Maybe this is how life is meant to be.

>

The sun shone hotly down as he dragged himself through the land. Though the grass was green and the sky was blue, he felt as though he was in the hottest of deserts, burning sun and scorching ground were the same to him as he crawled another few paces and collapsed.

A figure loomed over him as the darkness crept over him. A tall, imposing figure that did not seem human.

The last thing his brain registered was a voice saying strangely garbled words.

>

Sango strolled along the outside of the woods, looking for wood to burn on the fire. Though it was dark once more, she was not tired. The moon was now only a sliver of silver in the blanket that was the sky, and the stars twinkled bright as ever. The air was clear and seemed almost alive in the summer night, the breezes carrying messages from the sky and beyond. It was a good night to be out.

Sango smiled to herself as she bent down to pick up another piece of wood and add it to the armful of dead tree limbs that she was already carrying. Life was good just now, though she did have a few regrets. At the present time, these were pushed to the back of her mind.

Behind her, there was a rustle. She turned quickly, but…

Must've been my imagination.

Being a Taiija had its downfalls, sometimes. And one was that she was always tense.

She turned back to her piece of wood… to find that it wasn't there. Not that it was a few feet to the right, or a few feet to the left – it had vanished.

Sango was not one who would normally react to something strange. She was a female youkai exterminator, for crying out loud, and she had travelled with a lecher (who called himself a monk) a kitsune, a neko, a hanyou and a girl from five hundred years in the future. But this was a new one. And Sango did react, jumping forwards and sideways simultaneously, dropping the wood she had in her arms and snatching at a long tree branch to keep herself upright.

Afterwards, she was very glad she did.

Sango stood and gasped vainly for breath, watching the long thin katana that had hit the ground a second after she had left it. She calmed her thundering heart as she tried to assess the situation.

The one holding the sword was tall and dark. That was her first impression. He was cloaked and wore dark boots, but she could see glinting red eyes set in a harsh, pale face underneath a dark hood. Her attacker was not human.

"You carry the shards of the sacred jewel." It was not a question, merely a statement of fact, rasped out of a mouth that distorted the words. Nope. Not human.

"I do." Said Sango slowly, surreptitiously looking around for a weapon.

"Give them to me and you will not be hurt."

Yeah right. Why did I even carry the blasted things with me anyway? And why did I leave the village without a weapon? Amy weapon would have done. But nooo…Aha!

Sango did three things instantaneously. She jumped backwards, grabbed a long branch that vaguely resembled a staff and yelled her answer.

"Why! So you can kill innocent people with them?"

"Why you…!"

The battle had begun in earnest.

Sango whipped her makeshift weapon around her head, trying to remember everything that Miroku had taught her about staff combat.

"Hold your weapon in both hands until the enemy attacks. Then pick a hand."

Great. Everything had just sort of left her head.

Don't panic. Rule number one. Don't loose it in a fight.

Each time Sango attacked with her staff the youkai countered. Each time she struck it was ready; each time it lunged she had to use all of her strength to stop it.

This is insane!

Sango was no longer fighting to kill the youkai, She was fighting for her life!

Suddenly, something Inuyasha once said came to her mind…

Sitting round a fire, Sango and Miroku watched as Kagome tried her best to bandage the stubborn hanyou. Inuyasha, of course, was having none of it.

"It's just a scratch! Sheesh wench! Don't baby me!"

Sango eyed the silver-haired boy reflectively. "Why did you do that anyhow?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"When you could have countered with Tetsusaiga and made an opening, you flipped and came at the youkai from the back. Why?"

"Because," Inuyasha replied, "I don't fight like you'd expect; if I did, then I'd be dead by now. That youkai thought I was going to do that, which is why I came at him from behind."

"So basically, you made it up as you went along?" Kagome looked stunned.

"Yep."

"You IDIOT!"

Sango spun her staff in an attempt to ward off a blow.

Go where he's not expecting. Make it up as I go along. I think I can do that.

Sango yelled her fiercest battle cry and jumped forwards, dodging the sword stroke. Then, rather that brain her attacker, as she would have preferred to have done, she grabbed his shoulders, pulled herself over them, kicking him in the face as she did so, and somersaulted onto her feet.

All of this took perhaps five seconds. By the time she had landed, the youkai, having lunged too far when he had reacted to her kick, was trying desperately to pull his katana out of a tree trunk.

Thank you Inuyasha!

Sango ran forwards to finish her enemy off. He, however, had other plans. Abandoning the katana, he fled into the forest, leaving Sango, her pile of wood and a tree with a large slash in it behind. Sighing, Sango retrieved the wood and the sword and continued about her task.

>

"There! That'll satisfy Kaede!" Sango stood up, clutching the latest addition to the large bundle of wood in her arms. Then…

Swish… crack…

Sango glanced around. Crap! It's that youkai again!

She dropped her wood for the second time that evening and yanked out her newly acquired weapon.

Thwack!

Sango spun around, hitting something in the face. It was not the youkai.

"Owch, idiot. What was that for?"

"I… Inuyasha!"

"Who'd you expect? That mangy wolf? The ghost of the old oak tree? Of course it's me!"

"I thought you'd gone with Kikyo!"

"Yeah… well…"

"…?"

"Aw hell, damn it. She… talked to me and… I… she gave me some time before I…"

Wait… does that mean that Inuyasha's not going with her? Or is he just going later? But why wait? There's nothing here for him…

"Anyway. Got something for you."

Sango blinked. "What?"

"Hoi! Kid! Get over here!"

Kid…?

A boy with dark hair, eyes and brown clothes emerged from the undergrowth.

"Kohaku!" Sango's sudden tears left a sparkling trail behind her as she flung herself on her little brother, who started crying too.

"Told you you'd like it," Inuyasha remarked.

>

The fourth magpie flew in to join the other three as silently as the night breezes that Sango had been pondering earlier. The four of them watched the people below them, fluttering their wings slightly as they did so.

Sango was holding Kohaku as though she'd never let go as Kaede served up their meal. Inuyasha looked around. Honestly, nothing about this place ever changed. It seemed… timeless.

That's probably an after-effect of being pinned to a tree for fifty years. There were bound to be some.

Inuyasha himself was sitting around the fire, trying to dodge questions from Shippou. The kitsune was prancing around, babbling non-stop. Inuyasha couldn't even understand what the runt was saying, let alone answer him.

"..andweallthoughtthatyou'dgonewithkikyotohellorheavenorwhereeveritwasshewasgoing,whichwasitanyway?and…"

Inuyasha shook his head. Sometimes that kid was more trouble than he was worth.

"So, Inuyasha." Kaede effectively silenced Shippou's babbling. "How long has my sister given you?"

Inuyasha looked up. "Don't know. But I don't have a lot of time to do what I came to do anyway."

"What's that?" Sango asked around a mouthful of rice.

"I…" Inuyasha eyed Shippou, and then abruptly changed the subject. "I found Kohaku and returned him to his sister. Ain't that enough?" he said callously.

Sango took the hint. "Kohaku, Shippou, come on, its late and you must be tired."

"I'm not!" Shippou wailed.

"I am." Kohaku gave Inuyasha a wink. Inuyasha slowly flicked his ear back at him.

Good kid. He knows what I'm trying to do.

Ignoring Shippou's yells of protest, Kohaku firmly grabbed him by the hand and lead him to the hut that Kaede had set up when he had arrived.

"Now… what're you really here for?"

Inuyasha sighed.

Should've figured they wouldn't be fooled.

"Kikyo gave me… an idea."

"Go on."

"Well…" Inuyasha paused, considering what to tell them.

No need to tell them what she said before. I'll just say about her idea and leave it at that. He decided.

"…She still has a chance…" Inuyasha gazed at Kikyo in shock, barely taking in what she was saying.

"A… a chance?"

"A young boy has recently been restored to life. Surely another three souls could be as well?"

Inuyasha was shocked. Why is she doing this? He thought.

"Who… and how…?"

"His name," replied the girl with dead eyes, "was Kohaku. And I think you know how. Your brother, with his sword the Tensaiga."

Inuyasha gasped. Who'd have thought Sesshomaru had enough heart to do that?

"Give me your answer later… go now, you still have time. Their souls will remain on this earth until the new moon. You have until then."

But how long will your soul remain here? How long do you have left? What should I do?…

"So you came back," said Sango slowly. "To try to save our comrades."

"Yup."

"But why not tell Shippou?"

"Didn't want to get his hopes up. We've got barely a week, and it's my brother we're dealing with here – likely as not he'll say no."

"Then why…?"

"It's a chance, isn't it?"

"But Inuyasha, you're risking loosing Kikyo to save Miroku and Kagome and Kiara."

"…"

"Why?"

Inuyasha didn't answer – he jumped into the tree – his tree – and leant down.

"Get some rest. You'll need it for the morning."

Sango left the fireside. As she went, Inuyasha heard her muttering.

"It's a good idea – I don't think it'll work." And from Kaede's retreating back came:

"It's a good thing we haven't yet buried them."

Inuyasha closed his eyes and lent back on his branch. He hadn't slept since he had left the village with Kikyo, two nights ago. He was tired; he wasn't ashamed to admit it to himself. But sleep eluded him still.

He remembered Sango's question. "Why?" He knew why… he had chosen not to say. He thought back to his conversation with his first love.

"Give me your answer later… go now, you still have time. Their souls will remain on this earth until the new moon. You have until then."

But how long will your soul remain here? How long do you have left? What should I do?…

Kikyo smiled at him, the same smile that she used to smile… the same one Kagome used…

Suddenly a memory came back to him.

"If you could make one wish, what would it be?" Shippou paused in his eating, and looked at his family.

"Uh…"

"Sango?" the kitsune asked, hopefully.

"I guess it would be to see my family again, get to say goodbye…say 'sorry'."

"What about you Miroku?"

"Oh, I would wish for my darling Sango here to bear me twenty children… Joke!" Miroku gulped as the youkai exterminator's eyes glowed. "I think that I'd wish to live without my curse.. maybe have a family."

"Yeah, that'd be mine too," Kagome decided. "To live a long and happy life, with the man I loved. Who could ask for more?"

"Inuyasha could!" Shippou exclaimed. "He'd… Gack!" Inuyasha thonked him on the head.

Inuyasha's uncertainty vanished at that point.

Kagome wanted a full life… a happy life. And I can give that to her. No matter what, I'm gonna get my brother to bring her back. Her and Miroku and Kiara… he thought.

In the present, Inuyasha's eyes started drifting shut.

No matter what it takes…

The magpies seemed to smile.

>

>

Ok… that's my longest so far. Tell me what you think!

And I'm sorry about the fight scene if it was bad – but I don't do martial arts at all. The most I can do is hit someone with a book. (Though that can be useful sometimes!)