The terrain grew rougher as the small group left the forest behind for the mountains. Kohaku could feel a pull on the jewel shard. Lady Kikyo had explained to him a while ago that Midoriko was trying to pull the Shikon Jewel together. He knew they were getting closer and closer to him fulfilling his purpose.

"Where are we?" Hotaru asked as they started climbing up a particularly steep craig.

"I don't know." Kohaku replied. "But Lady Kikyo senses Moroyomaru, so Naraku's heart must be around here somewhere."

"Naraku's heart?" repeated Hotaru.

Kohaku explained the story of the infant and Hakudoshi. Hotaru took in the information without comment, as she did with most things concerning Naraku lately. It had been two days since they left the village that Naraku had destroyed behind. Hotaru had started asking for more and more information about the demon. She no longer seemed as concerned with getting back to her own world. Her focus had shifted to learning as much as she could about Naraku. I dragged her into my fight. Kohaku thought, guilt clawed at his stomach.

Suddenly, Lady Kikyo stopped. Hotaru did, too.

"There's an enormous aura in the valley over this ridge." Hotaru told him. "It has the feel of death."

Soon, even Kohaku could see a thick miasma rising from one of the passes below. With a flash of light, Hotaru changed into what Kohaku recognised as her battle outfit. A long naginata like weapon appeared in her hands. They hurried towards the demonic aura.

"It's not just Moroyomaru. That much miasma could only be Naraku." said Kohaku.

"Yes." Lady Kikyo said. "And Moroyomaru's and Naraku's jewel shards are combining."

They picked up speed.

"Kikyo, wait!" Kohaku froze as he saw Kirara swoop through the air to cut them off. His sister and Kagome jumped off her back. Sango's eyes were terrified and desperate as she looked at him. No. She couldn't be here. He had already hurt her so much.

"Kohaku..." Sango said.

"Hello, sister." He replied weakly. He forced himself to meet her eye, though it was almost more than he could bear. She knew. She knew what he planned on doing. She had fought so hard to keep him alive throughout the past year. Even when he hurt her over and over again. He knew how much she wanted her baby brother back, but he wasn't her baby brother anymore.

Kagome turned on Kikyo. "Kikyo, you plan on using Kohaku's jewel shard to defeat Naraku, right?"

Kohaku didn't reply, his stomach twisted when he heard a confused voice from behind him.

"But Kohaku's jewel shard is what's keeping him alive," Hotaru said. He turned to look at his friend. "How can you use it for anything else without..." Her eyes turned from confusion to realization to horror in a matter of seconds. "Kohaku?"

His throat felt tight. It was bad enough to hurt Sango. Sango had her friends. She had people who loved her to comfort her after he died. Who would Hotaru have after he and Kikyo were gone? He hadn't even thought about it before now.

"Naraku must be defeated." He said, turning away from her so he couldn't see her face. "This is the only way."

"It's not!" Sango protested. "Please, Kohaku, I can't just watch you die!"

"This is the path I've chosen." He told her.

"I can't accept that! I won't accept that!" Sango said.

"I'm sorry, sister." Kohaku looked away.

So instead Sango turned to try to appeal to Lady Kikyo.

"Lady Kikyo, please, don't do this!"

"Completing and purifying the Shikon Jewel is our only hope for defeating Naraku. I hope you can someday forgive me."

"But he's a child."

"Stand aside." Lady Kikyo commanded. "There is no time!"

"I won't." Sango said stubbornly. "I'll fight you if I have to."

"Sister…" How could he make her understand?

"Kikyo, please." said Kagome, "This isn't the answer, Inuyasha has gotten a lot stronger! Give him a chance to defeat Naraku without sacrificing Kohaku!"

"Naraku can not be defeated with a sword."

"Please, just hold on a little longer." Kagome pleaded, she jumped on Kirara's back. "Sango, don't let Kikyo use Kohaku's shard!"

Sango protested Kagome's departure, but with no luck. She turned back to her brother. Kohaku's resolve hadn't weakened. He would still do what needed to be done. Even if he had to fight off his sister. His heart was twisted in a tight knot. It took everything he had to remain standing strong. He loved Sango so much. The last thing he was going to do in this world was break her heart yet again. He hadn't even dared to look at Hotaru who remained silent through all of this.

"We must go." Kikyo announced, "Moryomaru now has Koga's shards."

Sango positioned herself between Kohaku and Lady Kikyo. He didn't know what he was going to do if she seriously tried to fight Lady Kikyo. Kohaku caught Hotaru's eye for a second. She had completely guarded her emotions making her face completely unreadable. They followed Kikyo to the edge of a ravine. Inuyasha and Kagome were fighting Naraku.

It looked like Inuyasha and Kagome were holding their own pretty well, but neither of them were making any headway. As they watched, Koga broke away from somewhere inside Naraku. From the other side of his body the infant appeared.

"EVERYBODY GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Kohaku's head spun around to see Miroku across the ravine from them. "WIND TUNNEL!" Kohaku saw Hotaru's hair and clothes react to the sudden wind before he felt its pull himself. He pinned her to the side of the cliff face to protect her.

Inuyasha shouted in protest.

"STOP!" Sango screamed. "IT'LL KILL YOU!"

"What's going on?" Hotaru cried, her eyes were wide. She covered her ears to block out the roar of the wind. "What's happening?"

Kohaku didn't answer, he concentrated on holding her as tight as he could. Neither of them weighed much, but he hoped together they would be heavy enough not to be pulled in.

"STOP!" Sango pleaded, "YOU HAVE TO STOP BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"

"I CAN'T DO THAT!" Miroku shouted back.

"MIROKU!" Sango screamed. Kohaku saw as Sango struggled to run to the monk, but Kikyo intercepted her and held her back. "MIROKU!"

Suddenly the wind stopped. Kohaku looked to see that Naraku had disappeared and Miroku collapsed into Inuyasha's arms. Sango fought her way out of Kikyo's restraint and raced across the ravine. Kikyo followed. Kohaku and Hotaru stumbled after her.

They made it to Miroku. The monk's skin was sickly gray and blood was streaming from his eyes and mouth. Kohaku couldn't even tell if he was still alive at first. He did this for me. Kohaku realized. He was willing to sacrifice his life so I wouldn't have to sacrifice mine. He did this for Sango. So she wouldn't have to lose me again. Guilt gnawed at Kohaku's belly.

Kikyo knelt down next to Miroku.

"I may be able to save him." She said, surveying the monk "But know, even if I can manage to purify it, a body that has absorbed this much miasma is likely to never truly recover."

"Please, do whatever you can." Sango begged. Her anger at Lady Kikyo seemed to have dissolved in the face of Miroku's peril.

Kikyo nodded. "We must first get to somewhere more sheltered."

"There's a forest just beyond this mountain range." Koga told them.

"Why would you want to help us?" Inuyasha demanded.

"I'm not heartless, dumbass!" snapped Koga. "I won't let your friend die just because I hate your guts."

Inuyasha snarled, but he didn't argue. He lifted Miroku into his arms and ran off after Koga. Sango climbed onto Kirara's back, Kikyo joined her.

"We'll meet you there." said Kagome.

Sango looked at Kagome, then her eyes lingered on Kohaku. He could tell she was torn between her fear for Miroku's life and her desperation to speak with him. Fear won out and she nodded. She and Kikyo flew after Inuyasha.

Only Kagome, Shippo, Kohaku, and Hotaru remained. It was a long, silent walk. Kohaku's mind was all over the place, but it kept going back to the look on Hotaru's face when she realized Kohaku was planning to give up his shard to defeat Naraku. She didn't speak to him now, she wouldn't even look at him. Night was starting to fall before they finally made it to the woods, crickets were chirping and fireflies were beginning to appear in through the trees. They saw the light of a campfire some ways off. When they arrived in the clearing he saw his sister sitting on one side of Miroku while Kikyo sat on the other. Hotaru hung back, wandering away from the others. She sat down on the edge of the clearing. Her back was to Kohaku.

"Hotaru..." He started.

She turned to look at him, her eyes were solemn and thoughtful. "How long were you and Kikyo planning to sacrifice your life in order to defeat Naraku?"

He should have expected her forwardness; but somehow he still wasn't quite used to it.. It took him a moment to reply.

"It's the whole reason I started traveling with her." He finally admitted.

"So the whole time we've known each other, you knew how this would end."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I..." He started to say 'I don't know', but her eyes banished the lie from his mouth before he could say it. "I didn't want to see the look on your face when you found out." It was cowardly, yet another reason for him to hate himself.

She looked at him for what felt like a long time, then nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Kohaku wondered if she was going to start to cry, but she didn't. She opened her eyes again.

"I'll stay with you." She said, her voice was tight, but steady. She wasn't going to allow herself to weep, at least not in front of him.

"What?" He asked.

"If you really must give up your life in order to defeat Naraku, then I'll be with you when you do." She vowed. "I'll be with you. I'll hold your hand. I..." Her voice caught the tiniest bit. She closed her eyes again, her face twinged the tiniest bit, but she took another breath and continued without losing her composure. "I won't let you die alone."

His eyes grew wide, then they grew watery. He wanted to respond. To tell her how much her words meant to him. How sorry he was that he had hidden the truth from her. But speaking was too difficult. He couldn't cry, he knew that. He wouldn't allow himself to cry in front of her, not when she was clearly trying so hard to keep herself from crying in front of him. He couldn't speak and trust himself to remain stoic. She seemed to understand.

"The poison your sister's friend absorbed did a lot of damage." She finally said, looking past him. "Kikyo can purify the miasma but she can't repair the harm already done to his heart and lungs. I'm going to go see if I can help."

"Okay." He was sure she was aware of his emotions and was purposely leaving so he could be in private to work them out. He was grateful for that. As soon as she was out of sight he wiped his eyes.

She hadn't tried to argue with him, she hadn't tried to talk him out of it or plead for him to reconsider the way Sango had. She was clearly upset. He had seen the pain in her eyes, but she didn't weep for him. She had understood the situation and accepted it, trusting that he wouldn't have come to the decision easily. She hadn't tried to guilt him out of it. Instead she vowed to stay with him until the end. He realized how grateful he was for that. His chest swelled with emotions that he couldn't work out. He suddenly became fully aware just how much she meant to him. How she seemed to understand him in a way he himself didn't even understand yet.

Author's Notes: For anyone coming here after reading my first edition, this is one of the scenes I wanted to rewrite the most. I really hope everyone likes it. Thank you to Atea1793 for pointing out that I had been misspelling Naraku. Please review. Hope you're staying healthy