Aaayyyy, It's the end! You made it, hooray! So the Miroku-Inuyasha confrontation in this chapter is the whole reason I wrote all the other chapter to begin with. I personally really like it. I may add more, but for now it's done, don't hold your breath or YOU'll be the one having to 'get used to drowning'! *rimshot* *shot dead* Again, we can connect on my blog as well at (ShinjiteFlorana . tumblr . com)

Anywho, quick warning Inuyasha's potty mouth shows up in this one. Songs I wanna share have all been stated before except for Imagine Dragons - My Fault, for the lyrics mostly.

Enjoy!

End

It was impressive, really, how deep Inuyasha had managed to get himself flung into the forest.

He wasn't hard to track.

Smashed trees, broken branches and a straight trail of freshly fallen leaves were easy enough to follow. Miroku could even take a leaf out of Inuyasha's book and follow his nose with the wick smell of fresh greenwood left in the destruction's wake.

Even more impressive than the distance was the location. Miroku finally found him, pushing aside a final bush to enter the small glen. Inuyasha had seemingly just disentangled himself from the thicket he had come to rest in. He swayed on his feet as he stood, dragging Tessiga behind him as he took steadying steps into the clearing.

He didn't look good.

If he knew Miroku was there he didn't show it. Instead his eyes glanced around the glen, resting on the massive tree in the center. Golden orbs trailed up the immense roots, thick trunk and to the countless boughs above before falling back down to stare and the large oval shaped scar that marred the camphor's front.

Miroku couldn't see his face, but Inuyashs gave the lowest, deepest, hollowest laugh he had ever heard, the sound of which was enough to make him want to throw his hands against his ears to stop the sound.

When Inuyasha did swivel to face him, still threatening to fall at any moment, he addressed Miroku with soulless eyes.

He really didn't look good.

Blood riveted from his nose and over his lip to stain his mouth red as cherries. He reached over his right arm, sword still in hand, to press against the upper arm of the other. The fingers of the hand peeking out from the sleeve of his limp left arm looked pale, stark against the brilliant red that methodically curled around the slim digits to catch on sharp claw tips before dripping to the thirsty forest floor below.

"You're injured."

Inuyasha rolled his tongue around his bloodied mouth, collecting the gore and causing it to begin escaping in a thin stream down his chin before turning his head to spit the mess into the grass.

"Brilliant deduction there, Miroku." Inuyasha said thickly, mouth still coated in savage red. He turned dazedly, seeming disoriented a moment. "I was being stupid…let the thing catch me by the arm…bastard pulled the damn thing out."

"Not the only thing you've been foolish about lately."

Miroku's eyes remained stern, unfazed even as Tessaiga suddenly flew past him to embed itself in a tree behind him, hissing as it returned to its rusted avatar, falling lower in the now loose notch it sat in.

"You should come back." Miroku said after a moment.

"Oh, so we can play house some more? Do I get to be the family pet?" Inuyasha was smiling in a way that didn't reach his eyes. The gold and onyx twins remained sharp, framed by large dark half-moons the color of an old bruise below them, pupils snapping into focus at his words and staring Miroku down with livid attention. When the monk didn't flinch he turned with a huff, trudging toward the Sacred Tree, left arm swingy uselessly by his side as his right hand gripped the shoulder like a vice.

"I know this isn't easy for you, but you shouldn't separate yourself so much. It's not good for you. She wouldn't want you to, either."

Inuyasha continued to limp toward the base of the tree as Miroku spoke, falling against its trunk to stay upright.

"Thanks for the wisdom, Monk. I've seen the fucking light." Inuyasha heaved before turning himself to brace his dislocated left arm against the tree. He hissed in pain as he fell hard against his shoulder.

"I know how you feel, Inuyasha."

The half demon took an unsteady step away from the tree before throwing himself against the trunk, ramming his shoulder against the tree with a gruff yelp of pain. The tree visibly shook.

"You don't have to go through this alone."

Obviously unsuccessful in his first attempt, arm still hanging uselessly by his side, Inuyasha staggered back for another go at knocking his dislocated shoulder back into place.

"Do you now?" He managed through grit teeth before throwing himself at the tree a second time. High above in the dappled canopy, the leaves swayed at the impact. There was an audible pop followed by guttural shout. Inuyasha heaved unsteady breaths before the pain subsided enough for him to continue to speak.

"Sorry if I don't believe you up front, Miroku. Let me just go throw Sango down a well and then I'll get back to you." He rolled his now connected shoulder with no small amount of pain—but at least he was back in control of the appendage.

Miroku's fist clenched at his side.

"Kagome's not dead, Inuyasha, and this isn't grieving." He said, desperately grasping at sheds of his self control while his vision tunneled. "I almost wish she was, then at least there'd be some finality to it. Maybe you'd be able to move on from it then-"

Abruptly Miroku wasn't standing but hanging. Tight fistfuls of his robes were caught in either of Inuyasha's claws before he was slammed against a tree, the breath knocked from his chest.

Inuyasha wasn't speaking, but his growl was thunderous in Miroku's ears, inches from his face. The half demon bared still bloodied fangs at the monk, close enough for the coppery smell of red to stain his senses.

The pain of being shoved cleared his head, and if nothing else, his motive for self preservation came flooding back.

Miroku gave a dry swallow before continuing.

"I'm sorry. That was out of line."

Inuyasha's grip only tightened. The monstrous face snarling at him didn't seem human, didn't seem like Inuyasha at all. Miroku suddenly remembered that Tessaiga wasn't sheathed safely at the half demons side but embedded in the tree to the left of him. He took a very deep breath before matching eyes with the near feral Inuyasha.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha." He spoke each word carefully. He ventured lifting a hand up to gently grip the wrist of one of the fists forcing tree bark to scrape skin from his back even through his thick robes. Inuyasha's growl softened, along with his grip, and Miroku slid the few inches needed to land back on solid ground.

Inuyasha's head was ducked, face covered by shadows. Abruptly, he shoved away from Miroku, stumbling over to the tree beside them. Pulling the untransformed katana from the fresh notch in the wood, he deftly sheathed the weapon. There was a moment when neither of them spoke, allowing the pulse of the moment to steady from its fanatic pace. Inuyash reached a sleeve up to roughly wipe across his mouth and nose, undoubtedly smearing the blood there from cheek to jaw.

Still refusing to face Miroku, the half demon turned and began walking.

"Where are you going?"

"Away." He replied in a voice like sandpaper.

"So you're running again?"

Inuyasha stopped.

"You're running away? Thought I'd never see the day."

Inuyasha turned on him then, eyes wild and seething.

"What do you know? What do you know about any of this?" he flung out an arm in an encompassing gesture, as if presenting the problem to him. "You've got your 'happy ending.' Despite what you think, we aren't some little family unit. Nothings' keeping me from going wherever the hell I want—doing whatever the hell I want. What's it to you anyway, Miroku?"

"This is quite a relapse. She hasn't even been gone for all that long." Miroku tried to causally adjust his sleeve as he continued speaking. "She's not dead. From what you tell me the portal at the Bone Eater's well connecting her world to here just stopped functioning. How do you know it won't just start working again?"

"I don't, Miroku, that's the point." Inuyasha's voice was shaking with the words, high and frantic. "I don't know why it stopped working or if it'll start working again, when that will happen or if there's something I can do about it…" Inuyasha had been staring at Miroku with wide eyes as he ranted, looking more through him than at him. The Monk retuned the gaze with a solemn face.

He definitely did not look good.

The blood that had been dripping from his nose, staining his mouth to then trail off his chin, had been smeared off to one side of his face by the sleeve earlier. His features held a wide-eyed desperation that seemed so wrong on the normally stubborn youth's face. The look was only enhanced by the dull, bruise like shadows that had begun encircling their sockets. His pupils were blown wide in the diminishing sunlight of the evening, trailing through the canopy to speckle the forest below.

Annoyed, angry, gleeful—even if it was normally at another's misfortune—were expressions common to the half demon's face. Searching? Lost? It was wrong. It felt wrong.

Realizing the vulnerability he was showing, Inuyasha broke the eye contact, taking two frustrated steps away. While he moved he ran clawed fingers vigorously through his bangs to fist in his hair at the top of his head just in front of his twitching ears. His eyes bounced around the glade in search of another focal point, anything besides the cool assessment of his companion's eyes.

His golden gaze stilled when it reached the Sacred Tree, fixated on the scar encompassing its front.

"…Is it my fault?"

The words were so soft that at first Miroku didn't believe they were from the boy in front of him.

"What?"

"What if it's my fault?" Inuaysha's hands fell from his head before pivoting to face Miroku once again. "Did I do something that fucked this whole thing up? Naraku is dead. The Jewel is gone. We did it, right?"

Miroku blinked, unsure if he really wanted an answer. He continued without one.

"Is that the reason it stopped? Because it's all over?" Inuyasha shook his head, frustrated with his own line of thought. "No, that can't be it. The well didn't open up for the jewel or for anything—anyone but Kagome. Did it stop because Kagome wanted it too? Why would she do that? I thought—"

Inuyasha stopped and in his eyes Miroku saw Nirvana.

"I'm doing it again. All over again." His voice was level now, face stern. He walked over to the tree nearest him and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. He fell against the trunk before sliding down to sit at its base. After a moment Miroku came to join him.

"Doing what again?" he asked as he situated himself next to his friend. Inuyasha gave a hollow scoff that might have been the distant relative of a laugh.

"The one thing Kagome never did to me."

"And that is?"

"Doubted me."Inuyasha's hands fell from his eyes. He looked so tired. "That's what saved us, in the end, in the Jewel. With all the tricks it tried to play, Kagome believed in me. It's what saved us."

Miroku let the silence between them hang a moment as he very carefully picked his next words.

"Naraku's gone, Inuyasha. This isn't some trick like…like it was last time."

"I know." Was his simple reply. He pulled one leg up to rest his arm on, head falling back to press against the tree trunk behind him.

The conversation quieted a moment and Miroku waited patiently beside the boy as he sorted through the mess of thoughts in his head with this new revelation of his now in play. The monk adjusted the prayer beads wrapped around his right hand. The beads themselves were pointless now, other than their intended use in meditation, but he was finding the habit of wearing them hard to break. Glancing over, he saw his companion messing with his own beads, lifting the magenta necklace to an open mouth, playing with it the same way a bored child would. Miroku smirked at the seeming unconscious habit.

A moment later, the necklace dropped from his hands. Inuyasha's eyes were wide and attentive now, speaking enlightenment. Miroku could almost hear a bell go off. Instead all he got was Inuyasha leaning forward a bit to slam his head back into the tree with enough force for Miroku to feel the bark tremor against his back.

"Fuck."

"Indeed." Miroku confirmed.

"I've been a fucking idiot."

"Well it hasn't been the first time."

"Hey."

"Nor will it be the last."

"HEY!"

Miroku stood with the pleasantest of smiles on his face, ignoring the wrath behind Inuyasha's voice completely.

"Now all you have to do is wait for Kagome, be patient and trust in her! Good talk, Inuyasha." Miroku slapped a hand onto the half demon's shoulder as he joined him on his feet. "She said she still wanted to be with you even after you've done much worse things before, anyway."

Inuyasha shrugged the hand off his shoulder with a sneer.

"Yeah, well being patient ain't really one of my strong suits."

"Practice makes perfect!" Miroku quoted helpfully as he began walking out of the glade.

Inuyasha began grudgingly following him before stopping.

"Wait a minute, when did you hear Kagome say she wanted to stay with me? T-there was just the two of us then!" Inuyasha sputtered.

Miroku ignored him completely.

"You don't need to worry about apologizing for your actions lately, either. I already forgive you."

"Miroku!"

The Monk paused a moment, finger poised thoughtfully against his chin.

"Sango, on the other hand, might need some convincing.

"Stop ignoring me!"

Miroku slammed a fist into his open palm.

"I've got it!" the Buddhist turned to Inuyasha while placing a hand on the tree beside him. "Don't know if you noticed since you were having fun spinning around with that ogre, but the thing managed to make quite the mess of our front yard and it seems we'll be needing a new shed. Why don't you take a few logs back with you as a peace offering?" he patted the tree beside him.

"Having fun?" Inuyasha's brow twitched before getting his mind back on track. "And don't give me that, I know by now when you're suckering me into free labor."

Miroku shrugged.

"Suit yourself. It's not my grave I'll be digging when we get back."

"Gah, damn it, fine!" Inuyasha drew his sword. "I'll bring back the whole damn forest if you want."

"Inuyasha, wait-"

"WIND SCAR!"

After a bit more yelling then necessary and a bit more roughhousing than was really needed, the two trudged up the hill, the sun setting at their back. Sango dusted her hands off, having just finished sorting the last of the rubble mess in their front yard into salvageable and unsalvageable. Upon hearing the two approach she squared hands on her hips, prepared to round on her husband and half demon with a scowl for the more stubborn of the two. As they came into view, though, Sango could only smile at the bruised and bickering face of the white-haired yellow-eyed boy, arms full hauling two impossibly big and impossibly cumbersome logs up the hill.

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Yay, ALLLLLL done! (for now) I've got a few tie-ins in mind, but eh. Please PLEASE review! I'd love to hear from you!