Ah, man, that last chapter was just so.. short.. Hmph, I will try and make this one even longer, even if it takes me a while longer. I'm thinking about ending this in maybe two more chapters.. Then there's always the possibility of a continuation (sequal, is the word I'm looking for?).. haha, yeah right.. Anywho, enjoy..

- Your Polyamorous Friend

Chapter Eight...

Upon arriving, the monk and the taijiya were surprised to see an unconscious Kaede on the ground, blood surrounding her. She was obviously dead. Looming over her, with the broken and empty vial in hand, stood Jin. His face was turned so they were unable to see his expression. His hand suddenly tightened around the top part of the vial and it shattered, the rest of the red droplets landing near her eyes, almost in a mocking resembalance to tears.

Jin turned his pale head in their direction, tears flooding his face, but only anger was to be seen on his face. His eyes, however, were filled with pain beyond imagination, which seemed to fit the situation because the only one who ever loved him was dead. But it all seemed to strange for him to be crying, as he had never actually cried before. There had been times as a child, but throughout his whole life, he had only cried twice, including this time

"You're going to pay for killing Lady Kaede!" Sango suddenly snarled, feeling almost like crying herself at seeing the sight of one of her, no, one of their friends dead, and most likely because of that Jin fucker. It was almost as bad as seeing her clan dead, and almost half as bad as seeing Kohaku die.

"Sango, stop, look.." Miroku gestured tword Jin's tearstained face as he glared angerily at them.

Jin, however, let out a low growl, and his head lowered a little before a rather large fireball appeared in his hand, the flames seeming to lick at his unprotected skin, as if thirtsy for blood. The fire seemed not to harm him at all, and he slowely took a few steps foreward, before suddenly lunging at them both, both his hands on fire, and it seemed to lash out at them, but luckily they both managed to evade it, and Jin whirled right around, seeming to get only angerier.

"What did you do to Kaede?" Sango asked, glaring at him, holding her (1)boomerang in front of her, shielding herself.

"What did you do to Kohaku, Sango?" Jin seemed to mock her, his voice cold and uncaring, it was almost cold enough to make a shiver run down her spine. "I know what you did, you let your family down.. You let them all die, Sango.. You let Naraku kill them all off... one... by... one... Now poor Kohaku, and it's all your fault!" He snarled, attacking her weakness. "Dead, dead, dead.."

"Shut up!" Sango yelled, her facial expressing contorting into a pained one, before she looked as if she were going to cry, but her stance did not weaken, infact those words almost seemed to encourage her to kill him. "You.. have no idea.." She said, her voice low, and she shifted a little, adjusting herself behind her large boomerang.

Jin seemed a little surprised at her reaction, and was even more surprised when something hard hit him in the back of his head, and he stumbled foreward, everything momentarily going black before he felt it hit again, and he fell, the fire quickly spreading onto the grass. The blackness seemed to be engulfing him, beckoning him to come, but he resisted the familiar pull, and soon found himself standing up, a young monk in his grasp. His eyes seemed to widen momentarily as he flexed his fingers that were tightly holding onto Miroku's neck.

A small smile came onto his expression, and with his free hand, he made a diagonal line away from them, creating a rather large protective shield of fire around them, which of course, made it pretty hot on the inside. He seemed to chuckle, hearing Sango desperetly trying to get through to save the monk, because she loved him. His smile seemed to vanish and the all too familiar smile was on his face again, glancing momentarily at the deceased Kaede before his attention returned to Miroku who's face was going a little red now as he struggled to breath and get free. Jin tilted his head again, holding out his hand which morphed into a sword, making sure the monk didn't use the kazaana.

Slowely, he cut across Miroku's chest, making sure it didn't kill him, enjoying the choked sounds coming from him. He seemed to be carving something into Miroku's chest, a twisted smile on his face, but he stopped halfway, admiring his work, but was unable to be read, as it mainly just looked like a bunch of strange squiggles. He turned his hand back to normal and grabbed onto Miroku's hand which held the kazaana and twisted it quite a bit, almost to where it could break, holding it like that.

"Do you know what love is?" Jin asked, and knowing the monk couldn't answer he continued. "It's all a lie. Love is only a feeling, only something fools feel. Nothing lasts, reality is all just a blur. We're born one day, then we die the next. No one ever actually loves us for who we are because as humans we have a tendency to be what we are not, and that's what love is, something that we can never truly obtain. It's just an illusion we all create to feel needed." He paused, enjoying Miroku's struggling. "Sango's lost everyone, right? So have you, except that Mushin.."

He paused, the memory of being rescued by a young boy that looked exactly like Miroku and a man name Mushin came flooding back to him, but his grip didn't tighten nor loosen, he frowned and studied Miroku, silent now.

Miroku, however, was not having as much fun as Jin was. His vision was slowely fading to black, and his chest felt like it was going to blow up any second. The sensation of having the arm with the kazaana on it being twisted, quite hard, was not pleasurable either. He tried to cough, to kick and struggle, he tried almost everything, but now felt almost a little like crying, believing he was going to die and never see the lovely face of his Sango again, and that's all he could really think about now was Sango. Sango. His one and only true love.

"Miroku.. Mushin.. Miroku.. Miroku.." Jin seemed to be rambling to himself, and suddenly the fire shield was gone, and he narrowly dodged Sango's latest attack before he threw the monk away from him, seeming even angerier. He glared at Miroku, turning around and grabbing Sango by the neck just as she tried to attack him again. He considered simply ripping her head off and throwing her head and body at the monk, but then he threw her away from him as well, and slowely advanced tword them, eyes narrowed.

They were completely helpless, he knew. The monk was still gasping for air, seeming dizzy and if he'd pass out at any moment. The taijiya had hit her head on a tree and seemed in a similar situation, but she was standing now, a rather large cut on her arm from her own sword, which had happened while she landed on the ground. He almost wanted to laugh at their situation, knowing they were no match for him, and yet he felt remorse beyond recognition, and he frowned, standing over them, the blackness returning again and calling for him.

"I won't fucking go!" He suddenly snarled, dodging Sango's boomerange and dodging it came back. He took a few steps closer, knocking her down, hard. She hit the same tree again, and fell to ground, slowely trying to get on her hands.

"Sango, r-run.." Miroku gasped, his vision still rather messed up, and his hand seemed to be broken as well. It truly wasn't his lucky day, at all.

"No, if we die, we'll die together.." She said, slowely managing to get onto her knees. "I love you.."

The monk seemed to smile, and he almost seemed not to care that he was going to die. "I love you, too, Sango.."

Jin suddenly flinched, his face contorting into a pure angery one, and one hand went on fire, still not seeming to care about the now ravaging fire that was almost surrounding them. The hand went into a fist, which seemed to make the flames more intense, and he let out a loud, long growl. "Don't you two listen?" He snarled, raising his hand, and moving it twords them. "Love is not real! No! You're going to die! Fucking die!"

Sango grabbed onto Miroku's hand, squeezing it as she managed to get as close as she could to him, and closed her eyes, waiting for the final blow, silently and mentally begging for forgiveness from her clan, and begging for forgiveness about how weak she felt all of a sudden. But she felt no pain, in fact, she didn't feel anything at all. A startled and pained gasp filled their ears, and they looked up, eyes widening at the same time.

Jin's eyes stared right back into theirs, and he let out a cough, blood droplets spilling out of his open mouth, a few from coughing landing on Miroku and Sango's surprised faces. The fire demon's eyes were wide, unbelieving, and his head seemed to lower for a moment before it jerked up again, tears threatening to spill again.

"W-why..? I love you..."

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(1) I dunno what Sango's weapon is actually called (and I have no clue how to spell it) so forgive me for that one...

Another bloody cliffhanger. I really, really hope this is longer, and don't be surprised that when I finish it, I start.. revising it, or whatever they call it. Anyways, you all must really love cliffhangers.. not.. Hn, anyways, I'm working on the next chapter right now. I plan on one more, then like.. an epilouge? Is that what you call it? Yeah, I think so. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it!

REVIEW PEOPLE! You know you have to, it's almost as instinctive as thinking. Except you type your love/hatred of this story, and you tell me, so I can feel loved/hated too! (Moonyme, where'd you go? Ah, well, just review. ) )

- Your Polyamorous Friend

(Mirango)

REVIEW! Please? I got muffins AND cookies...