A/N: it has been such a long time. I really am sorry…I don't have any excuses except for the inevitable events of human drah-ma. I'm almost positive everyone has stopped reading this but I do believe this is the finale. It's kind of sad and..okay just read already P

It wasn't easy to get into the room. Kagome and Remus both had to attempt several times to even get into the room. But once they were allowed inside, Kagome almost immediately wished they hadn't.

Inside the Room of Requirement, it was war. Spells ricocheted off the walls but none of them seemed to be doing anything. They appeared to be in a huge room that was empty, save for a throne, a glass of wine, a few glowing mirror, and the occupants of it. Kagome stared at the Dark Lord who had once been Naraku. His physical appearances changed dramatically, not quite for the better. Remus had already joined the throng but because no one seemed to have noticed her, Kagome stayed in the back, plotting and dodging spells that did not seem to be directed to her. She studied Harry and noticed how damp his clothes were, how much blood was seeping out of him, how slow he was being while Voldemort still looked in top shape, save the dark circles under his eyes (probably caused from Kagome and Harry bombing all the Death Eater camps) and a few nicks on his face and hands.

Kagome realized what she was to do. Closing her eyes, she murmured a few words and, like when attempting to find miko powers, a white hot ball grew in her hands and she launched it at Harry.

"What're you playing at?" He shouted at her, dodging. Naraku/Voldemort simply smirked and said, "Finally decided what's best for you?"

"No," Kagome shouted as a reply. "I realized what's best for us." Everyone turned to stare at the glowing ball, the spells flying around momentarily forgotten. It changed course and went directly for Harry again, much quicker than last time and he could not dodge it. It lightly touched his head. The bruises, obvious lack of sleep, and cuts disappeared. The routine was repeated to Remus, then it flew over to Voldemort, who was all the way across the room that had been steadily getting bigger and now resembled a church without the pews. Kagome closed her eyes and concentrated to the best of her abilities.

Please…please, she begged inwardly. Make this work!

And it did. The glowing ball stopped suddenly a few feet in front of the Dark Lord, who was no longer looking amused but rather, livid. Slowly it shrunk and lost its color until it fell to the floor, looking much like a small pebble. The villain started to laugh, losing control as he laughed harder and harder.

"What is this, Kagome? Your absolute best? I'm disappointed at you." Kagome simply continued to smile at him.

"Yes, I recently made up this spell. I do hope it will work as planned." He laughed again and bent down to pick it up.

"This?" Kagome immediately thought that he would pick it up and was disappointed when he simply levitated it with his wand. It would've made things much easier if he had simply touched it. "This is nothing but a tiny bomb you concealed in that ridiculous healing ball. Pathetic."

"Maybe that was a cheap trick," Kagome admitted. "But…don't you wonder where the ball might be?"

Acting on instinct, Voldemort whipped around, Kagome chanted and concentrated harder than ever before. When he had looked forward again, all he could see was white flame.

The explosion was louder than anything. Louder than all the bombs Harry and Kagome had used to diminish the number of Death Eater camps. Louder than what had seemed the loudest to Kagome—the beating of her heart.

"Run!" Kagome screamed at Harry and Remus before running herself, plugging her ears. They ran until they couldn't anymore, until Hogwarts was no longer in sight.

"Never again," Harry panted. "Never again do something like that without telling us."

"It was spur of the moment." Kagome replied.

"Did it kill him?" Remus asked. Kagome gave him an appraising look, odd seeing as how she was younger.

"Of course not," She said matter-of-factly. "Only one person can do that." They all looked at Harry, who then looked down at dust and rubble.

"I don't think I can." He said, just loud enough for the two others to hear.

"Harry," Kagome said urgently. "Look at me. You can do this. You have to."

There was a silence.

"But why? Everything's gone anyways. Even Voldemort doesn't really have a reason for keeping control over this wasteland, there is no one here anymore."

"Harry." Remus spoke suddenly, harshly. "Harry, think of everyone. Your friends, Dumbledore, Sirius, your parents." Harry winced.

"They are all watching you, waiting for you to finish this. End this. Your parents died to give you this chance, you cannot throw it away because there is always something left. They are still there, they are still waiting. You will see them eventually, but it isn't time to die now. It is time to fight."

Kagome stayed silent.

"Alright." Harry said finally. "I'll try my best.." He still sounded doubtful but Remus accepted it anyways.

"Right then." Remus said briskly. "I will go look around for more dangers. And maybe I'll find a place where we can hide."

Kagome and Harry sat alone in dirt for a long while in silence. Then finally, Harry spoke.

"You are truly amazing." He told her. Kagome blushed and was glad that Harry couldn't see that under all the grime and ashes.

"Thank you. And although you've probably heard this millions of times, you are too." Kagome said.

"I-I think," Harry stammered. "I think I even…well..loved you…before. For a while. But you're not available. And I have someone else…that I'll see…someday."

Kagome looked at him for a long time. "You will see that person, I know it." She told him.

"But I'm not taken…I'm not trying to insinuate anything of course," Kagome added hastily.

"You aren't?" Harry looked at her in confusion. "Sesshoumaru?"

Kagome blushed so deeply this time, she was sure Harry could see. "We were never…actually..we never really got the chance."

"Oh.." Harry said. "Well..you still have a chance."

Kagome looked at him again. "What do you mean?" She asked sharply.

Harry shrugged.

"Dumbledore said that the machine..the one that would make the demons think they lived in an artificial world or something…he said that made the demons nearly indestructible. So, you know, he could still be laying there." It sounded hopeless to Kagome and she shook her head.

"Or…" Harry grinned mischievously for the first time since the destruction. "We can check the Marauder's Map." He pulled out a frayed looking piece of parchment, his green eyes flashing.

"What is that?" Kagome asked curiously.

"It used to be my dad's." Harry told her proudly. "He and his friends made it, it's a map of Hogwarts and everyone in it."

"But," Kagome said, perplexed. "Hogwarts is in ruins now."

"Yes.." Harry admitted. "But it still shows it as Hogwarts and shows where everyone is…even if they aren't alive and they're buried under rocks." He said heavily, his smile fading.

"How do you make it work?" Kagome asked, looking dubiously at the old, yellowed parchment.

"Like this," Harry demonstrated, pulling out his wand and tapping the parchment. He said clearly, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Spidery font crawled over the page. Soon, Kagome could recognize it as what Hogwarts had once been. She saw hundreds of dots, with people's names labeling them. But none of them were moving except…

"Harry, look!" Kagome pointed. "Several dots are still moving." She and Harry looked intently at the map.

"But that can't be right…" Harry murmured. "They aren't going anywhere just..kind of bouncing around."

"Maybe they aren't going anywhere." Kagome suggested. "Maybe they're just….twitching. It might've been possible for a few to survive. And look! The ghosts are still moving!"

"We have to help these people," Harry thrust the map into Kagome's hands and sped off.

"Harry, wait!" Kagome called. He stopped and turned. "What about Voldemort?"

"Voldemort isn't there any more!" Harry called back. "He must have gone to a Death Eater camp."

Disbelievingly, Kagome checked the map and Harry was right; she could not see Voldemort's name anywhere. While attempting to catch up with Harry, she scrutinized the map, looking for Sesshoumaru's name. She found it. And her breath caught in her throat.

The dot labeled Sesshoumaru was moving.

It wasn't simply twitching as the rest of the dots were. The dot was moving at a slow but steady pace.

"Harry!" Kagome gasped once they had reached the ruins.

"Yeah?"

"You do it on your own, I'll be right back, I think Sesshoumaru's.." She didn't finish, simply handed the map back to its rightful owner and walked in the direction where the map had said he was.

"Er..alright." Harry said awkwardly but Kagome was already out of sight. Leaping away from the rubble that had been walls, dodging the sickeningly quiet unmoving people, Kagome ran as fast as she could. And then she saw him.

"Sesshoumaru…" Kagome murmured as though in her sleep. He was moving rocks out of his way, bruises and scratches covering his body. Then she saw his eyes. They were not right. Dazed and unfocused, they forced Kagome to realize that he was still under a spell, he was still in an artificial world. Kagome started to cry, right then and there.

"KAGOME!" She heard a terrified yell echo throughout the vast destruction she was standing in. Harry.

"HE'S HERE! RUN!" Kagome knew what that meant...Voldemort had returned. And then she heard it. The two words that Harry had survived once but she knew that he would not survive it again.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

How could she have heard all of this when she was so far away from the two that had been fighting? Kagome knew what the outcome was…Harry had not lived. Something inside her crumpled and she fell to her knees, sobbing red. There was nothing anymore. No hope, no nothing. Why would anyone want this? How could anyone live through this? Kagome had had enough.

"Kagome…" Kagome opened her eyes. Voldemort, in all of his gruesome royalty, leered at her. She wanted to die more than anything in the world.

"There's no one left but you now…That stupid werewolf..the stupid boy who lived…and lives no more!" He laughed maniacally.

"This is the last time I will ask you this…will you join me on the path of greatness or die?"

"What greatness?" Kagome hissed through her teeth. "Destruction? A total desert with no more than 50 death eater's willing to serve you out of fear?" She managed to somehow laugh, which seemed to infuriate Voldemort more than the words she had said. His distorted face contorted in fury and he brandished his wand menacingly.

"Then all I can say is….good bye!" He laughed again.

"No." Kagome whispered. But somehow, that made him lower his wand. "I can't die…you'd have to catch me first!" She laughed again and conjured her most powerful miko shield that even the Dark Lord could not penetrate, at least for the time being. Kagome saw that Sesshoumaru was already a long ways away from the two, completely unaware of his true surroundings. Then something caught Kagome's eye. A out of metal…still sparking with magic….still working. Still useable.

In one swift motion, she picked it up and apparated until she was right next to Sesshoumaru who was moving at a strangely rapid place. She held his hand, although it was limp and then conjured an image in her head. They were going somewhere else. All she could picture in her head was a waterfall at that moment. And that was where they went, temporarily safe from Voldemort's wraith. Sesshoumaru was looking at her…no through her with the blank expression. The waterfall was bloodstained and drying up; it made Kagome sick to look at it. Still, she poked her head behind the waterfall and discovered a small cave that looked big enough for maybe five people.

She forced Sesshoumaru to crawl into the cave then followed him. She smiled at him and pecked his cheek. He did not respond. Then, she fumbled with the cube for a few seconds and pointed it to herself. A thin ribbon of light shot through her chest..and she went limp. The two of them…dead to the real world.

Kagome awoke to a grassy forest, with the canopy of the ancient trees protecting her from the sun. All seemed drenched in green, with the scent of the forest wet and fresh, and bird chirping. Kagome saw a tall demon with flowing moonlight hair, who was turned away from her, apparently lost in thought.

Giggling, Kagome poked Sesshoumaru in the shoulder. He turned to her in surprised. And promptly engulfed her in a hug, which she happily responded to.

"How did you get here?" Sesshoumaru asked slowly. Kagome looked in to the amber eyes that were now full of fire and full of life.

"It doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore except for the two of us." Kagome replied. Taking her hand in his, Sesshoumaru led Kagome to a clearing. Slowly he leaned in, Kagome closed her eyes and responded. They stayed together like that for a long time, neither one of them afraid any longer.

------The End

I'm not sure if my reviewers (if there are any left anymore) liked the ending but I gave it my best. Finally, DENIED LOVE is finished and I think I've finally returned to Fanfiction. Thanks for reading, this story I think has been one of the most helpful stories I've ever written, helping me improve my talent as a writer. And of course, I have my reviewers who have stuck with me, complimented me, and criticized me, to thank for that.