Evanescent

By: HalcyonMoments11


This is going to break me clean in two.
This is going to bring me close to you.

- The Fray (She Is)


The quiet of the past several weeks had lured the inu-tachi into a false sense of security; they had little warning before a small horde of demons fell upon them in the early hours of the morning.

"Miroku-sama!"

Violet eyes glanced up at the sound of his name, finding Sango astride Kirara in the sky as she threw her hiraikotsu in his defense. He nodded in response, wincing slightly as he closed his fist around his kazaana; some of the reptilian youkai that had surrounded them must be venomous, he could feel their poison slowly bleeding into his veins. He quickly wrapped his prayer beads around his wrist and extended a hand out for the taijiya to catch. He swung up behind her quickly, striking down an advancing youkai with his shakujō as he did.

"Are you alright?" Sango called back to him as he settled in behind her.

He nodded, chin brushing her shoulder. "You have my gratitude, Sango-san," he said as he wrapped one arm around her waist to steady himself on Kirara's back as she banked back towards the fray.

The sun was finally starting to crest the horizon, casting an earie red-orange light upon the field they had made camp in the night before. As Sango cast out her hiraikotsu again, Miroku sought out their other companions, watching as Inuyasha jumped back to prepare another attack on a small portion of the youkai hoard, placing himself deliberately between them and Kagome and Shippō, who fought off several others with reiki tipped arrows and kitsune-bi.

They had been fighting since the first rays of light had stretched across the sky that morning, when the first few youkai had deliberately targeted the slumbering miko for the Shikon no Kakera around her neck. Inuyasha had dispatched them quickly, leaping from his perch on a low branch brandishing Tessaiga. The battle had commenced from there, Sango reaching for her hiraikotsu as Kirara transformed, Miroku casting a few sutra at errant demons rushing in from other parts of the tree line, and Kagome and Shippō scrambling for bow, arrows, and tools of defense after the sudden awakening to a surge of youki.

"Careful, Sango-san!" Miroku warned as he struck down a leaping frog demon with a sutra while Kirara dipped close to the ground so that Sango could retrieve her weapon.

Chestnut brown orbs glanced back at him, "Arigato, Houshi-sama, I–"

Her gratitude quickly soured into annoyance as his wandering palm dipped lower, cupped luscious curves. The clap of her palm against his cheek left this ears ringing.

"Now is hardly the time, hentai!" she cursed.

"Ah, but Sango-san, I was simply reassuring myself of your wellbeing."

Before the furious woman could respond, Kagome's shout drew their attention.

"Inuyasha, a shard!"

Amber eyes turned in the miko's direction as he withdrew Tessaiga from the corpse of the youkai before him. "Where?!" he demanded.

Kagome pointed in the direction of the large snake youkai that slowly emerged from the trees, slithering stealthily into the clearing. She visibly shuddered as its vibrant green eyes landed on her. "In its tail!"

"Why is it always snakes?" Sango cursed under her breath, exasperated. Miroku nodded his agreement.

They watched Inuyasha leap in the direction of the snake youkai, leaving Kagome and Shippō without reinforcement. Violet eyes widened slightly in apprehension.

"Sango-san!"

The taijiya was already moving, coaxing Kirara in the direction of their miko and kitsune companions. She dipped and Miroku leapt to land near the pair.

"Miroku!" Shippō called out to him as he landed, quickly swiping his shakujō at a demon that had turned to attack him as he found his footing. The kitsune leapt for him, casting a barrage of kitsune-bi behind the monk as he clutched at the houshi's shoulder. "Well done, Shippō-chan!" he praised, casting his gaze back to the sky, seeking the taijiya and neko as they circled back in their direction. He quickly collected the kit in his arms and smiled reassuringly when anxious green eyes met his violet. "Up you go!" he said before tossing Shippō—whose eyes widened comically—up into Sango's waiting arms.

Miroku turned back to seek out his miko companion then and spotted her nearby as she notched another arrow onto her bow. He reached out to her with his reiki almost instinctively as he cast a few sutra in her defense and cut down a closer youkai with his staff. Blue eyes glanced quickly in his direction, the tension in her posture eased slightly and she reached back briefly with her chakra before drawing her bow. Something in him hummed at the contact despite their current predicament, unease lightening in his chest at her noticeable relief in his presence. He turned to fend off several other youkai as they charged. He began to unwind the beads around his wrist, thinking to chance the kazaana again despite the numbness that he felt slowly spreading up his arm from his palm. 'Damn, definitely poisonous.'

Moments later, her scream made his heart skip a beat. Violet orbs turned in the direction that his miko friend had just been standing, firing an arrow into the horde of youkai that had followed the shard bearing demon Inuyasha pursued into the clearing. Her cobalt blue gaze met his as the snake demon that had caught her in the grasp of its tail pulled her further away from the protection of their group and squeezed.

This time, he screamed with her, "Kagome-sama!"

Inuyasha turned his gaze in their direction, cursing at what he saw. Miroku glanced in the direction of his hanyou friend and then at the taijiya as he cut down several demons with his shakujō. They were too far, with too many demons in between. They wouldn't make it in time. Dread settled like a cold fist in his gut.

When her cries stopped her name tore from the back of his throat, "Kagome!"

His violet eyes turned up to where he had last seen her and his breath caught at what he saw. She was floating, as if still suspended by the snake youkai that had held her, but there were no longer any demons around her. Her skin glowed a vibrant cameo pink, eyes open wide and completely white, raven black hair billowing around her, mouth open in a silent scream.

Miroku's gaze turned towards Inuyasha, heart thundering in his ears. "Inuyasha, get down!"

The houshi threw a protective sutra in the direction of the kitsune, the taijiya and her neko, then threw himself in the hanyou's direction. A small barrier erected around his friend as he placed himself in front of him, arms spread wide, one hand fisted around his loose rosary and the kazaana, facing Kagome. The light around her body pulsed, sending out wave after wave of purifying energy. The force of it made him stumble back slightly.

Miroku had never felt her power like this, not even in the moments where he was present for her arrival from the Hone Kui no Ido. Each wave passed over him like a wall of heat, leaving his skin tingling, feeling seared, like he was fraying at the seems, leaving a metallic taste on his tongue; the feeling was unnerving, breathtaking. The youkai around them vaporized.

Miroku's violet eyes watched as her eyes gradually faded back to their original blue and the light encasing her body faded away as she slowly fell to the ground. He moved forward to catch her, pulling her weight against his chest as her feet touched the ground.

She looked up at him through long, dark lashes and a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding fell, shuddering from his lips.

"Miroku-sama?"

"It's alright Kagome-sama," he pulled her closer, tucking her face into the crook of his neck, running his fingers through her hair, "you're safe now."

He couldn't decide if those words were spoken more for her, or for him.


A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed lately, I appreciate you! I'm hoping to update on Mondays whenever possible. A portion of this chapter was originally posted as chapter 85 of Iridescent, my completed modern!Miroku/Kagome story for which this story is a prequel. I hope you enjoyed it; please review? -HM11