Disclaimer: I dont own Inuyasha. Listen up, this one-shot was written in memory of INUOBSESSION, one of my good friends who passed away last month, before she could finish her Inuyasha fanfic. She was a great writer, and a wonderful woman. This is dedicated to Joanne.

Screams rang through his ears. Naraku's maniacal laughter making his ears bleed. Crimson ooze ran from his eyes and mouth. His heart beat was going as fast as you could blink.

" Inuyasha...!" gasped Kagome, in the clutches of Naraku's extended, clawed hands.

She was crying. He had always hated seeing her cry. The blood staining her school uniform ached his heart. He wasn't able to prevent her wounds from happening.

Miroku lay there on the ground, bleeding as well. Luckily, not dead...yet. Inuyasha couldn't prevent that either. They had always looked out for each other in battle, and now he had failed him.

Sango was sprawled out next to Kilala and Shippo, merely unconscious. Sango was hurt badly, and Kilala beared many blood clots in her fur. Shippo, thankfully, just had a few scratches.

Inuyasha looked back at Kagome, the only one besides himself left awake to acknowledge the pain in their bodies. Tears escaped his eyes as well. Was this the end?

Naraku kept laughing. Inuyasha growled with frustration. He was so tired of hearing it. He wanted it all to stop. Laughing. Crying. Laughing. Screaming. Inuyasha searched deeply for the strength to lift tetsusaiga. It was taking so long.

" Inuyasha!" Kagome yelped as Naraku tightened his grip on her fragile form. " Inuyasha, I love you...and always will...even in death."

Inuyasha's eyes widened with relief. " I love you, too, Kagome. Even in death!" he shouted hopefully. He wanted her to hear him say it aloud.

She smiled warmly at him, despite her pain.

No. Don't smile at me, please! It only proves it. The truth. I don't want you to die, Kagome, I don't!

" This is the end, Inuyasha! Kagome shall die, and you will be next!" Naraku roared as malevolantly as the sad, howling wind surrounding them.

Inuyasha dragged tetsusaiga as he tried to run. He had to save her. She was his everything. His hand reached out for Kagome.

Kagome, still crying, continued to smile at him. With her last bit of strength, she gripped the arrow she had secretly kept hidden and stabbed it into Naraku. It should help Inuyasha finish him off.

And in a second, Naraku squeezed Kagome harder, and her breathing ceased. Inuyasha froze as Naraku released her, shrieking with agony. Inuyasha gazed upon Kagome's corpse, shaking with fear.

That second had gone by so quickly, he hadn't the right amount of time to react. It wasn't fair! Why did it have to be her? Why did he have to lose his love to Naraku...again?

He felt so hopeless. He couldn't save her life this time. What would the others say when they awakened? Her family in the future? How could he live with this? With himself?

I'll start by doing what I should've done a long time ago.

He finally found it. He forced all his pain, rage, hatred, and love for Kagome into one blast of power as he raised the great fang.

" WIND SCAR!" he shouted, his hurt voice echoing throughout the emptiness which engulfed he and Naraku. And with that, Naraku let out one more cry and was then destroyed. His remains turning into ash as they blew away with the force of the attack.

Inuyasha sheathed the sword and kneeled next to Kagome. He wept.

" I'm so sorry, Kagome. I'm so sorry. I swore to protect you, and you still died!" he screamed. " I love you...even in death."

He would miss her so much. The thought of his future, full of coping and moving on, scared him. He had always treated Kagome with disrespect, but he had admitted his love to her before her last breath of life. He would never be able to escape himself, now that she was forever gone. So he would stop running, and do what Kagome had intended for him to do.

He was to live.