Those we remember

The cliff stood a solid one hundred meters overlooking the beaches below, towering above the white sands and blue waters. Upon the rocks three figures stood, two of them short in height and with clasped hands. The other towered above them, and stood alone. A distance back away from the edge stood one more, shortest in height of any of them, guarding a twin headed dragon that lay sleeping on the ground.

The two figures with clasped hands looked at one another before gazing out at the setting sun in the evening air. Their faces with flushed with perhaps a bit of shyness, but sadness was also etched on their faces, along with the evidence of recently shed tears. The boy, Kohaku, was holding hands with the girl, Rin. Both of them remembered what had happened not so long ago, and both of them had lost people that they had liked, and loved each.

Kohaku had lost his sister Sango, and her husband to be, Miroku. The houshi monk had opened his wind tunnel for the final time, sucking in most of Naraku, along with himself and the demon exterminator, although Naraku’s tentacles had already critically wounded her. In the end it was a painless death, and one that they had both accepted to be, even with the images that Naraku had terrified Sango with of the death of Miroku's father.

But now, Rin and Kohaku had one another, and they both had a protector in the form of the tall figure standing some distance away, his gaze traveling out over the cliff and directly into the boiling cauldron of the setting sun's rays. He was Sesshomaru, elder brother of the now human Inuyasha. Although he had fought well and hard in the final battle against Naraku, ultimately it was not he who had finished Naraku, but rather it was Kagome with her awakened powers that had dispatched Naraku, along with the powerless sacred jewel, into the pits of hell.

But the human miko had paid a steep price, as had his half brother in the battle. The evil of the sacred jewel had corrupted Inuyasha's soul and turned him into a full demon. In the process of being transformed, he had injured Kagome severely, and probably would have killed her if it weren’t for his intervention. When he had come to, he was so filled with grief that he fought Naraku with abandon, not caring whether he lived or died in the process. But without Kagome at his side, he was nothing, and it was when Inuyasha had been struck down that Kagome had come to.

Seeing the love of her life killed right before her very eyes is what had unlocked Kagome's powers, and the miko had battled Naraku then, with Sesshomaru's help. Using the Tensiega, Sesshomaru had revived Inuyasha, and the half demon joined in the final battle. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha finished destroying what was left of Naraku's giant spider body after the houshi had sucked in most of it with the wind tunnel, allowing Kagome to send his soul, along with the sacred jewel, to hell.

But it was a final wish, made on the part of Inuyasha, without Kagome's knowledge that had actually allowed the jewel to disappear. In a selfless act, he gave up his desires of becoming a full demon, of staying a half demon, giving up his father's blood, his power, and his heritage. All of it to become human, to where he would always be in control of himself, and would never again hurt Kagome.

When the miko had learned of his wish, she was saddened by his choice, but also at the same time she was ecstatic. Inuyasha had proposed to her soon afterwards, and in a joyful moment, the two of them had shared their first ever kiss together. But even with the happiness of being together, the fact that they had lost Miroku, Sango, and Kirara, and that they were still injured, meant they off in Kaede's village, mourning the loss of their friends as well as recovering from their injuries.

Sesshomaru had smiled for them when they had joined together, how could he not, for he well understood the emotions of two lovers, and those of humans. After all, he had gone to the depths of hell to retrieve the girl Rin, all because he refused to lose the smile of her face, his adopted daughter. And he too, at one point, had a lover. At this reminder, Sesshomaru gazed upwards into the sky, at the clouds slowly drifting about.

He is dead now, my love. The one who enslaved and killed you is gone forever.

The woman that he had loved was a demon, one who controlled the winds at will, and had a free, even somewhat cold spirit like his, but one that, like he, had softened towards the humans, and in the end, she had sacrificed her own life for the one that was now holding hands with Rin.

Sesshomaru had loved her, even to the point where he had broken his sword upon the armored shell of one of Naraku's minions who had taunted her passing. If not for her death, he surely would have made her his mate. The fact that he wasn't able to save her with Tensiega had been a hard blow to him, one that drove him with resolve to keep the ones around him alive, and to stop at nothing until Naraku was dead.

A soft breeze brushed across his face, almost as if the one he loved was answering him. The caress of the wind burned his cheeks. He brought up his left hand, which had been hanging near the hilts of the Bakusaiga and Tensiega, to his eye, and gently rubbed it. When he pulled it away, he saw a single tear glistening on his index finger.

The End