Title: Only Two I
Category: Drabble
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: InuYasha © Rumiko Takahashi-sama & Challenge © MonkandMiko at LiveJournal
Rating: T
Challenge: Worldly
Word Count: 500 - exactly!
Author's Note: Ummm... I'm a little late for this challenge, but I'm slowly getting around to all of the ones I missed. And I FORGOT about Shippou, so just over look that, m'kay? There is a second part to this.

Kagome sat and watched as Miroku's hand gripped his staff through the vicious winds his hand sucked in. The rings of his staff blew hard and chimed in the distance. Everything was becoming hazy, and the wound on her back that drained her blood and infected her soul with shouki was throbbing.

The fabric of her skirt whipped her legs angrily, and her blouse flew up and tore the scarf from around her neck. Her stomach was exposed, and she was sickly aware that she was too young to die. But if she had to choose between Miroku or what kept her from his Kazaana, she would pick him, because even if he was a lecherous monk, he loved her.

She could barely make out the agonizing scream of his tortured body buckle under the pressure of his hand. But she couldn't look away. She couldn't bring herself to turn from his defiant eyes, and shinning remorse.

She could read his face like never before. She thought, perhaps it was because she would die at his hands, or perhaps she was finally seeing what he hid all this time. She could feel the skin around her eyes and mouth begin to pull out from her bones, and she cringed because she knew that it wouldn't be long now.

She was held firmly in the agonizing embrace of Naraku. His tentacles were on her skin, and his thick, blood-curdling voice whispered in her ear. But she couldn't hear him anymore. Not past the roar of Miroku dieing right in front on her.

She fisted her tiny hands prayed for the distant help from a soul recently departed. She asked Kikyou to give her strength, and guidance to die in peace, like she did just a few months ago. She could feel the first tendril of power spiral through her veins and wrap around her heart.

It was soon join by other, and many more, until they twisted under her skin and burst through her fingertips. There was a white-hot light that shot from her eyes and enveloped her body from head to toe. Naraku's skin burnt under the light, and he pulled back enough to release her from his barrier.

Her skin burned and cracked in the howling wind as she dropped to her knees and gave Miroku one last, desperate look. She begged for death. She could already feel her body being pulled to him, towards death, and almost certain silence. And she was satisfied in her departure from this place, because she knew that Miroku would only be seconds behind her.

There was an otherworldly light, and the faint smell of fresh spring water. Kagome smiled through the dissipating darkness because she knew that in this place, she would no longer feel her skin peeling away, or the shouki-infested slash that crippled her in another life. She could smell dumplings, and hear the faint laughter of children in the distance, past the haze of memories she couldn't quite remember.