When someone dies, a world falls away. Kagome felt like the floor was shifting under her feet, felt the air turn cold and stale with dread. Heat crept into her face as her vision seemed to falter. She took a deep breath. 'Don't forget to breathe', she thought. Her safety net was shredding with every moment. The feudal era suddenly seemed like a dark, frightening land.

But she could still save Kaede.

Inuyasha's arms encircled her. They raced out of the library, overtop roofs and in between factories. His grip was tighter than Sesshomaru's, as if he feared she would fall away and leave him. Kagome's body shook with every rough landing.

"I haven't been practicing." The wind stole her voice from her, ripping the meek words from her lips.

"You'll have to try." Inuyasha's raw voice was laced with fear. She rarely saw him so openly scared, and it unnerved her.

Sesshomaru followed them, forgotten. His softly carved features revealed nothing of what transpired behind his beautiful face.

"What if I can't?" Kagome asked, more to herself than anyone else. The shrine loomed black in her vision.

Inuyasha landed at the base of the hill. He raced towards the well, Kagome in his arms. "Then she will die." The finality of his blunt words hit her like a punch in the stomach.

They were in the shrine. Inuyasha raced over the wooden panels and leapt clear down the hole. Sesshomaru drifted behind. His streamlined body cut through the frosted air as he followed them. A flash of blue light filled the room, and then they were gone.


"She wants you to go in alone."

Kagome grasped Inuyasha's hands tightly. She didn't want to greet death without another life by her side. "Please, Inuyasha…"

The hanyou forced a smile to surface. "You can do it, Kagome. Just try. I'll be right outside."

The harsh yellow sun suddenly seemed ominous, illuminating the sad scene below. There were no shadows for her to hide in. Kagome eyed the woods and thought of running far, far away. She wanted to run and keep going, until she collapsed and her thoughts were smothered with exhaustion. Somewhere among the trees, Sesshomaru waited.

Kaede's weak voice reached out of the empty hut. "Enter, child."

Kagome's was drawn through the entranceway, away from the sun and Inuyasha's protection. She knelt by the old woman's side, somehow reluctant to admit that this was happening.

The woman's smile faded into a slow, aching sigh. "Hello." Tears beat down Kagome's barriers and slid mournfully along the contours her face. She could sense Kaede's death hovering around them like fog. The aura of blackening life choked the tiny wooden hut. The woman's strong, sturdy shoulders appeared weak and frail as she lay overtop a few blankets. Her entire body was still; only her chest struggled to rise and fall. A thick gurgle streamed over her lips, followed by another sore cough. Kagome took the woman's hand in hers.

"I don't know how to heal you." Kagome 's breath hitched. Failure gripped her pounding heart.

Kaede's kind eyes were calm as she took in the distraught Miko. "I did not," she rasped, "Fetch ye here to heal me."

Kagome burned with dread. "You can't die! I have to heal you… I have to try…" She closed her eyes and concentrated on finding her centre. She tried to focus on the sluggish beating of her heart; she tried to picture the blood rushing through her veins. But her thoughts kept drifting to the woman at her side, and she lost any chance of finding her rhythm.

Kaede's eyes seemed to stare at nothing, but her face was sketched with wonder. "Death, child, not what ye should fear." She smiled a little and squeezed Kagome's hand in her fragile grip.

Kagome wanted to run. She wanted to pray, or heal, or cry, or scream; she wanted to do anything but watch her mentor deteriorate. "You'll be gone." The scene seemed surreal and distant, and Kagome felt oddly detached from the world. What a sad, quiet demise! No glorious battle ended the life of the Miko who'd seen so much. Time's careless force had leaked all the life out of her.

Kaede continued in a whisper. "But I shall be the wood, the raindrops, flowers." She smiled sadly at Kagome's pained face. "I'll be your tears. So many forms, so many." Calmness radiated off of the old woman. "It is… my natural state."

Kagome's eyes ran along the length of Kaede's weak body. Selfishly, she didn't want her to go. She wanted to hold tightly on to her and drag her over from the brink of nothingness.

Death was winning their tug-of-war. Kaede's breaths were leaking slowly, sluggishly from her lungs. She turned her wrinkled face to Kagome's. Her serious expression lent way to a proud smile. "Kagome, listen. Ye… were meant for greater things." She paused and tried to collect her fleeting strength. "The final battle will end. Hang on to it, Kagome. Hang on. You will unite them. Fate's mistake will be…" She faltered, no longer able to force air through her empty lungs. She couldn't force the full message past her lips; she couldn't tell Kagome the full story. It was coming too soon now. She pooled all of her remaining energy together, summoning enough to push her last breath into the cold air. "Erased." It was here now.

Kaede's eyes fluttered shut. Her entire being seemed to freeze in its last moments, any signs of life ebbing away. She was dead.


Sesshomaru watched the hut from beneath bare trees. A pure veil of snow crunched underneath his shifting feet. He thought of Kagome, alone in the hut with a corpse. He stretched back into his clouded memories and recalled his first brush with loss.

His mother was holding him. She was sick, everyone said. She was dying. The woman clutched him tightly to her chest, her breaths shallow and pained. They were in a room with silk walls and a large, open window. The air was thick with spring lilies and the sour smell of illness. Her smooth hands were running up and down his arms, soothing and soft. "My little one." She was murmuring, her head against plush pillows. "I won. Did you know that? I'm sick, but I did it. You're my life." Sesshomaru snuggled up to her and didn't understand anything.

Kagome emerged. Inuyasha ran to her, trying to be strong but obviously upset. They clasped each other tightly. Kagome buried her head into Inuyasha's shirt. They stood together in front of the hut for a few moments, leaning into one another. After a long, sad moment Inuyasha detangled his arms. With leaden steps he entered the hut to bury the dead. Kagome turned away from the shelter, looking out at the trees. A bird sang in Sesshomaru's silence. He watched her cry.