"You can not do it Lady Kagome," Miroku said with heaviness in his heart.
"What," she cried out "why not? This is our ticket home Miroku. It is our only hope at freedom, at seeing them again."
"It would be selfish," Miroku said with a growing sense of dismay "and it would make everything that we have fought for meaningless."
He could feel the moment that his words sunk in. Where once there had been a happiness that could have lifted him to the heavens he now felt sadness so absolute that it threatened to swallow him whole. "Oh", was her only reply as she held the jewel to her chest. As she embraced it one thing did happen though; it began to glow and brightly enough that they could once again see. At least now they would not be consumed by darkness.
That night as she slumbered he took the liberty of watching her. It had been really hard for a lecher to be deprived of the sight of a woman, and he was extremely pleased that his companion was such a beauty. He loved Sango and did not feel as though he was betraying her by admiring Kagome. Their beauty was different. Where as Sango's body was hard and defined from years of vigorous training; Kagome's was soft. Not in a bad way, but in a way that screamed of feminine grace. Her body was soft in all of the right places, and demanded to be appreciated and caressed. He realized how fortunate he had been to be traveling all of those years in the company of women who so completely defined beauty. And for the first time he was glad that he considered himself spoken for.
Inuyasha could not take it anymore as he watched Sango make the finishing touches to the home she intended to share with Miroku. "They are going to make it," he suddenly blurted.
"I know that Inuyasha," she replied.
"Sango," he went on. "They are going to make it, but you are not. At least not long enough. They will not emerge from that stupid void for at least five hundred years."
"I see," she said having to take a seat at the table in her small home. "But you will make it won't you Inuyasha, you will live to see them again."
He hung his head and felt guilty. He hated that he would get to enjoy Kagome's touch again, but Sango had never even got to tell Miroku goodbye.
"When you see him again," she requested "no matter what may happen, will you tell him that I lived a happy life. And, that I never stopped loving him." She then got up and wet into her bedroom. She had no doubt that the half breed could smell her tears, but she would be damned if anyone saw her cry.
Inuyasha however didn't even notice the tears. Something that Sango had said was bouncing around in his head, and a plan was beginning to form.
That smell, it was familiar, but it shouldn't be here. Copper; no not quite. Whatever it was it was enough to cause Miroku to awaken, and when he did he felt sick and panicked at the same time. Apparently the sadness that Kagome had felt earlier had ran deeper than he had realized and she had been unable to deal with the realization that she could never leave the void. While he was sleeping Kagome had taken his staff and used the razor sharp edges to deeply cut her wrist. He grabbed her up even more alarmed by the cold he felt that had seeped into her body. Quickly he bandaged her wounds further tearing his already ripped robes. Having stopped as much of the blood as he could he wrapped himself around her trying to use his own body to warm her.
Inuyasha couldn't take it anymore. Sango had been crying for hours. He knew that this was a really bad idea but he had to do it. She was Kagome's friend he reasoned and Kagome would not want her like this. Finally he walked into the room and blurted "I can stop it."
"What," Sango asked? "What do you mean you can stop it? Can you stop them from coming back five hundred years from now? Can you stop me from dying before I ever get to see his face again?"
"Yes," she quietly replied.
Hope filled her eyes as she looked at him. "You can bring them home?"
"No," he said unable to look her in the eyes. "But, I can make you live to see them again."
Sango's eyes widened as she realized what he was proposing. "How can you even think of that?"
"Because, it is the only way. You will die before they ever return otherwise," Inuyasha explained.
"They would never forgive us," she reasoned.
"They would if it meant that they could have you again, and you know it," he told her.
He didn't wait for a response. Even the thought of carrying out his plan was too much for him. He knew that everything he said was true. But, just because the mind could know something did not mean that the heart could believe it. The walls of the hut suddenly seemed too confining to him so he went to the tree to rest. The tree that started it all, the God Tree.