Human Compensation

Sango flew down to Miroku careful to avoid getting in the currents of his wind tunnel.

"Oh no you don't!" Inuyasha yelled. He was knocked down by several demons before he could take off.

They attacked him and Sesshoumaru all at once. The last battle had almost been too easy for them, but this one required all their strength, all their concentration. One screw up, one distraction could cost them their lives. The demons were bigger, stronger than the others and there were still so many of them. Before, they had gotten by without a scratch, now they were covered in cuts from their face to their legs.

Miroku saw something from the corner of his eye and looked up. He stared in mesmerized astonishment as Sango floated down to him like some kind of dark angel. She was wearing her usual battle clothes and her hair flew loosely in the wind. She was beautiful and he'd never been so happy to see her. It didn't occur to him that she was 'flying' down to him. He didn't even notice the blank look on her face or the emptiness in her dark eyes. All he knew was that she had returned to him safely. Everything was forgotten as the wind tunnel disappeared so he could run to her and hold her in his arms.

"Miroku! Don't go near her. She's not Sango anymore!" Shippou warned him as he watched his friend running to meet her.

It was too late, Miroku had caught her in his arms and was holding her tightly mumbling her name over and over.

"Sango, Sango my love. I was so worried about you." He said with his face buried in the crook of her neck.

"Miroku...my love," Sango said. Her voice was soft but sounded almost mechanical. She saw Shippou running towards them still shouting to Miroku. Reaching behind her, she casually pulled her boomerang from her back and slung it at him.

Shippou stared at the giant weapon whisking through the air at him and turned around to retreat. Too late, the boomerang caught him up and pinned him tightly to a nearby tree.

"Can't breathe.." he wheezed trying to push it away from him.

"Sango, are you okay?" Miroku asked looking deep in her eyes. "Did he hurt you?"

"Miroku...my love," she said again and pulled his face down to her lips kissing him as passionately as she could pretend to. She felt nothing in the kiss, not even a tiny spark. It was merely a distraction so he wouldn't notice her pulling out the dagger from behind her back.

Miroku kissed her just as passionately and ran his fingers through her hair. It only took him a few minutes to realized how cold her lips were and how differently she was kissing him from the past. Before he could pull away to ask what was wrong, he felt a sharp pain in his back. It felt like a huge dagger piercing through his heart. He let out a loud painful cry and staggered against her.

"Miroku!" Shippou yelled from the tree still struggling to get loose. He had realized too late that he could have used his powers earlier as he disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared in front of the tree. Still, would he have made it to Miroku in time? "Miroku!" He yelled running to him.

Miroku continued to hold Sango. One arm was wrapped around her as he felt behind him to find the knife sticking in his back. "Why?" He mumbled as he coughed up blood. His dark eyes stared into hers in disbelief, hurt and betrayal. "Sango...why?" He whispered as he struggled to breathe. He stared into her eyes, noticing for the first time the emptiness in them. This was not Sango, not the one he fell in love with. This was only a mobilized body without a soul. "My love, they took away your soul? I'm sorry, I'm sorry I failed you." Tears sprang into his eyes and began to run down his face. He knew he was dying and yet all he could think of was how he had failed in protecting the only woman he'd ever loved.

Naraku watched the scene from above and laughed. He'd also taken the formula, but only half of it. Just enough to make him powerful. He hadn't wanted to loose his soul. "Such a touching scene," he mocked them. "Sango perhaps you should join your love. The least I can do is send you two lovebirds away together." He pointed a finger at them and black energy burst from the tip like lightning, striking the couple and killing them immediately. They fell to the ground in a heap in each other's arms.

"NOO!" Shippou shouted. Tears were running down his face as he ran to the two. He was too stricken by grief to be afraid of Naraku. He knelt down beside his friends and cried.

Kagome finally awaken and groaned from the headache that took over. Her vision was blurry as she looked around in confusion and wondered where she was at. Two blurry figures were in front of her. She squinted her eyes and stared trying to figure out who they were. As her vision begin to clear she realized that it was Rin and Jaken. Her eyes widened in horror and disbelief at what Jaken was about to do. She stretched out her arm and yelled out to warn Rin, but it was too late. Jaken had used the pointed end of his staff to stab Rin through her lower back.

Rin stiffened at the sudden pain going through her back to her stomach. She stared down and gasped in shock when she saw herself impaled on the wooden staff. It was yanked out as quickly as it had went through her and she fell to her knees. The blue symbol on her neck began to glow brightly.

Kagome didn't know where she got the strength from, but her blood started boiling and her heart speeded up at an inhuman beat. She flew off the couch and grabbed the staff from Jaken. Before Jaken could react, she'd stabbed him with his own staff over and over in blind rage until he laid on the floor covered in his own green blood, his eyes still opened, but lifeless.

"Kagome..." She heard Rin's soft voice.

Kagome dropped the staff in shock at what she had done when she finally came to her senses. She turned around immediately forgetting about Jaken and kneeled down beside Rin. "It's going to be okay, Rin." She comforted her as Rin knelt on the floor with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

"Kagome, I want to be with Sesshoumaru," Rin said. She knew she wouldn't make it and she wanted to be with her husband before she took her last breath.

"Sesshoumaru? Where is he? Why are we down here?" Kagome asked in confusion. All sorts of emotions were running through her, confusion, anger, fear.

Rin pointed to the screen above them and Kagome stared in shock as she watched Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha battle an army of demons. Her memory came back to her and her heart sunk in her chest.

"Please Kagome, take me to him," Rin begged her as tears flowed down her face.

Kagome stared at her and nodded. She could see Rin was losing a lot of blood. She wouldn't make it, not with this wound. Her best friend's last wish was to go to Sesshoumaru and she was going to risk her life to take her there, even if she had to walk right through the war. She stood up and gently lifted Rin on her back. Her heart was pounding from what she was about to do and everything that was happening. The demon blood was still coursing through her veins making it easy for her to carry Rin. She used its strength and speed to get out of the mansion.

Sesshoumaru had made his way through the demons to Naraku. He had been his only goal as he fought off the demons. Naraku floated in the air above him, his attention focused on the two lovers he'd just killed. He didn't notice Sesshoumaru leap high into the air behind him. It wasn't until Naraku felt his presence a minute too late before looking up and seeing Sesshoumaru come down on him with his sword raised high.

"Die," was the only word that came out of Sesshoumaru's mouth as his sword ripped down Naraku's body.

Naraku tried to move out of the way but Sesshoumaru was too fast for him. His eyes budged out in horror when he realized he was about to die. "I started the war too soon. I never got the chance to master my new powers." Those were the last words he said before his body split in half and fell to the ground.

Sesshoumaru continued to float in the air as he watched. "Your arrogance was your death," he said. Naraku had been so busy gloating over his new found powers and over the death of his two employees, he hadn't even noticed Sesshoumaru coming for him. The demons were still rising from the ground even after Miroku had sucked up a thousand. Inuyasha was still in the middle fighting them off. Sesshoumaru turned his attention to Kikyo, she was still chanting from that book. He moved to put an end to her when he felt it. The intense pain through his stomach that sent him crashing to the ground. It wasn't really the pain itself, but the source it came from that had sent him in a state of shock. Rin. His Rin was hurt, his Rin was...dying.

Kagome had made it outside. The first the thing she saw was Miroku and Sango, dead. She let out a shocked cry and turned away from the terrible sight. She had to get Rin to Sesshoumaru. She saw her own husband battling the demons, but she kept going. Already, she could feel Rin slipping away. She was prepared to go straight through the battle when Sesshoumaru appeared in front of her. She stared into his pale face as she slowly lowered Rin to the ground in front of him and backed away. Sesshoumaru took a step to his life mate and fell on his knees beside her. He gathered her in his arms and held her close to him.

"You will not leave me," he demanded softly.

Rin stared up at her mate and reached up to caress his cheeks. "I know you tried to protect me, but perhaps it is my time to leave. Sesshy...I've always...loved you..." Rin's words faded away in the wind as her spirit slipped away.

Sesshoumaru continued to hold her body in his arms. His own spirit slowly dying with her. Nothing mattered to him anymore without her, not the war, not his brother, nothing.

Inuyasha felt Kagome's presence even as he fought. She was near. Why was she here? He leaped up into the air away from the battle and spotted her a few feet away with Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru was kneeling and holding Rin in his arms. A cold, dreadful chill crept over his heart. He looked to his left and saw Miroku and Sango. His body began to shake in rage. His friends...they had murdered his best friends, no...his family. He looked around for Naraku and found his body split in half. The demons began to rush to Sesshoumaru and Kagome when Inuyasha leapt out of their reach. He couldn't protect them and fight the demons off alone. Sesshoumaru wouldn't help him. He'd lost his mate. His spirit was gone. Now, he was only a shell of what he use to be. He was already dead in Inuyasha's eyes. He saw Shippou heading toward Kagome and watched in relief when he wrapped his arms around her and disappeared a second before they covered Sesshoumaru and Rin. Inuyasha winced and turned away knowing his brother wouldn't fight for his life and there was nothing he could do to save him. His eyes turned to Kikyo. She was the cause of this never ending battle.

"Grrr, why don't you stay dead, bitch!" He growled coming at her.

Kikyo stopped reading and smirked up at him. Inuyasha crashed into an invisible protective shield she'd put around herself. She looked back down and continued to chant.

Inuyasha banged at the shield causing sparks to fly. At this rate, the demon army would be big enough to take over the entire city. He needed more back up, he needed to get rid of Kikyo first to stop them from multiplying and then the demons or Kagome would die. Just the thought of Kagome suffering from the same fate as his friends and brother caused the beast to awaken inside of him. He pounded furiously against the shield and every time he was shocked the beast inside him grew.

Shippou sat up in the highest tree holding Kagome tightly as the watched the demons spread out.

"They're surrounding us!" He said trying to hide the fear in his voice from Kagome.

"This is just like my dream," Kagome mumbled. "It's just a dream, that's all. It's another nightmare I haven't woke up, yet."

Shippou glanced at her. She appeared to be in a state of shock. He looked up in the sky at Inuyasha pounding away at the force field surrounding him, then at the demons surrounding them. A couple of the smaller ones were slowly making their way up the tree. He didn't know if he would be able to protect Kagome, but he would with his last dying breath, he would. He held her closer to him preparing to fight for her life when they reached the top.

Suddenly he heard a loud howl from a distance and glanced up to see a silhouette of a tall young man with a tail standing on top a hill nearby. The sun was setting behind him making him appear as a dark shadow. Shippou squinched his eyes trying to see the figure and gasped when what seemed to be over a thousand wolves and youkai appeared. They crowded the hill and ran straight down towards the demons as if they were on a mission.


A/N: I know you guys probably hate me right now for what happened in the story. sighs Oh well, there's two more chapters left. You never know...disappears so she won't be attacked.

The next chapter...The Choice