Disclaimer: Never. v.v

A/N: Well, so here's a little ficlet I conjured in my spare moments of time during my vacation in Europe. It's tragedy- you have been warned. I realize the plot is rather unoriginal, but I've been wanting to do something dark and haunting like this for a while. So here it is.

On a second note, the poem is attributed to the renowned Japanese poet and author, Zembo Motoyasu. I altered some words here and there primarily to set the tone for a love story.

On a third note (sorry), here's some of the translated Japanese, in order of usage.

shakujou- The staff Miroku wields.

gomen- Japanese for "I'm sorry."

Ane-ue- An honorific term for "sister." This term is archaic nowadays, used only for literary art.

Iie- Japanese for "No."

yamete- Japanese for "Stop," or "Stop it."

oyasuminasai- Japanese for "Good night," or "Sleep well." "Oyasumi" can also be used to strike a less formal tone. If translated, it would mean "G'night," or something of the like.

Chichi-ue- An honorific term for "father." Just like Ane-ue, this term is rarely used.

daijobu- Here, it is Japanese for "Are you alright?" However, it can also be used as an answer to that question, or a statement like "I am all right."

-

Their Fragile Dream

And lightly she ran

Plucking at her beloved's sleeve

And though their tears might seem like the long woe

Of nightingales that weep,

They were tears of the greatest meeting joy,

Of happiness too great for two human hearts.

So think we…Yet, oh, that we might change

This fragile, sacred dream of joy

Into the lasting love of awakened life!

-

The last time Kohaku came to us was when he was sent by Naraku to kill Sango in her sleep.

He is the same Kohaku that has visited us so many times before; a resisting human soul against the hold of his master, who withholds the secrets from him, the past that he never wanted to know. For as long as our fight against Naraku has been, he has always been the same.

And yet, he is different.

Every time we meet him he is consistently more immune to the grapple that Naraku has on his mind.

It is a suicide mission that Naraku has sent Kohaku on. Because both me and Inuyasha lie awake, waiting for such an instance as this. Because there is no chance that Kohaku is getting away, unless another one of Naraku's henchmen materializes from the darkness, Kagura smirking, riding on that feather of hers.

But at the same time, it is not.

For it is the same case every time, and the reason why Kohaku is such a valuable pawn in this horrible game that Naraku plays us with.

We cannot kill him.

But he, living in a soulless shell, can kill without regret.

Which is why he walks straight into our camp and raises his chain sickle.

I don't know why I react faster than Inuyasha does, or Kirara does. I blame them for their lack of intuition tonight.

But I should really blame myself. Paying too much attention to the woman I love…Is a separate thing from protecting her. But it is beyond me why anyone would want to harm anyone like her. This woman, so strong awoken that she is startlingly frail in her sleep.

I would know.

I have watched her, when nobody else was watching, when it was my turn to stay alert for any demons coming into our camp, but instead I watched her face. Despite what the great poets say about their beloved's face in sleep, peaceful and still, I know Sango's never would be like that.

She cries.

I have watched her cry in her sleep.

And they are exactly like the tears she sheds when she isn't dreaming; they are so silent that nobody suspects they are there.

And what if she is crying in her sleep now?

I can't let her die like that.

I can't let her die unhappy.

I won't let her die at all.

So I spring up, and the shakujou falls from my hands, as I sprint towards her. I sprint towards her as fast as these human legs will carry me.

But he is closer. And he is running as well.

Kirara mews, only now sensing the danger.

Curse it.

A sort of divine wind is knocked into me, I suppose, and suddenly, both of my feet leave the ground, indefinitely, and it happens so abruptly that I appear to have left my mind elsewhere. It takes me a few seconds to realize that I'm jumping…

Jumping straight into the path of Kohaku's chain sickle.

The weapon slices cleanly into the flesh in my right arm, but as it does, I suddenly see Sango beneath me, still sleeping.

And I go numb as I hit the ground with a pregnant thud.

She's jolted awake, and her head snaps up, towards Kohaku's blank face. When she faces me I see tears on her face.

And I have to wonder…How long have those been there?

Inuyasha snarls, running in between him and us, clutching Tetsusaiga. "I'll take care of Kohaku! Sango, you and Miroku go someplace safe!"

Kagome by now is also stirring, but she doesn't seem to grasp the situation as quickly or as clearly as Sango or I did.

Sango crawls out of her sleeping bag and touches my arm.

"It's only a flesh wound," I gasp. But it isn't. I'm gripping my arm tightly, so tightly that I think I'm injuring myself more than Kohaku did.

Suddenly, she's gathering Hiraikotsu, and she tosses my staff to me, the rings jingling so joyously, like bells.

"Come," she says quietly, so that if I weren't listening for a reply, I wouldn't have heard. She tugs on my uninjured arm, which is holding the shakujou, and helps me up. Together we walk into the woods.

Suddenly she tosses her head back, and her hair shimmers like liquid from the moonlight that soaks into the clearing.

And I realize what she's looking at.

Because a moment later we hear a high, arrogant sounding laugh, and the rustle of the trees as the wind sweeps by them.

"Inuyasha!" Kagura shouts, tucking her feather back into her hair. "Your battle is with me!"

Sparing only a moment to look at each other, Sango and I begin running.

She looks at me worriedly; I'm running slower than usual. Then she speaks. "Are you sure you'll be all right?"

I smile, but I think it looks like a stifled grimace to her. "I've survived worse."

Unsurprisingly, she is not convinced. She hangs her head. "I'm so sorry, Houshi-sama," she says.

"It is nothing of importance, this wound. We can tend it later," I say, looking behind us for Kohaku. "If Naraku has employed all three of them tonight, he truly must be plotting our deaths."

"He…always is," says Sango, unsmiling.

I don't know what it is about this wound, but it's no ordinary one, and I can't hide this sort of thing. I quickly begin to tire, and I sit down on a rock to catch my breath.

"Let me see it," she demands, peeling back the cloth of my kimono. To my surprise, there is a distinct black residue around my lesion.

"Poison?" I ask uncertainly. She just nods, and I think she's trying to prevent herself from crying silent tears again.

"It's not fatal," she reassures me, standing up. "But it debilitates body functions. You're tired, aren't you?"

I simply pant for an answer.

Suddenly Kohaku springs from out of the foliage, nearly grazing me, and I fall from my seat on the rock.

Getting up, I grab my shakujou.

Sango looks sternly at me, but her voice is shaky. "Houshi-sama. This is my business."

"True…" I say. "But if it concerns you, you cannot ask me to simply sit back and watch."

She doesn't reply, as she is concentrating on Kohaku, who takes a step forward. She keeps her ground. She hates to be even the slightest off-balance.

He makes the first move, by flinging his chain sickle at her. Sango swings the Hiraikotsu in front of her, blocking it easily, and then she charges forward.

Kohaku retreats a step, but throws the chain at her ankles. She cannot control her direction in midair, and it catches, sending her sprawling head-first into the dirt.

As he's approaching her, I step in his path.

"Houshi-sama!" shouts Sango, legs still bound by his chain.

"I've watched for too long," I say. "Gomen, Sango."

I look at his eyes. Still nothing.

And so I prepare to fight, raising my shakujou at a readied level in front of me.

Again, he is the first to strike, but we are fighting too close; the chain is still wrapped around Sango's ankles. She works feverishly to get them off.

I work to evade him, but the poison is already coursing through my veins, and often I have to strike a counter attack to gain myself some time.

Much needed time…

A clink of chains, and Sango is standing up right behind me.

Kohaku gathers the rest of his weapon, and bounds into the woods.

Without a second thought, she disappears into the trees right behind him.

And I'm doing my best to follow, jogging along.

-

The next time I see either of them, neither is brandishing a weapon. They are sitting down on the ground, in the warm embrace of siblings.

"I don't want to hurt you anymore, Ane-ue," Kohaku is saying softly.

"You don't have to. We'll help you, I promise."

"I'm beyond help. But dying seems like peace, the way everybody describes it," he says. "I'm not completely alive, when I think about it. This horrible thing in my back…"

"You can't die," Sango chokes on the words. "I won't let you."

"I want to see Father again…" says Kohaku. "I want to explain to him what happened."

"Iie," murmurs Sango.

"I'll see him again," he says, smiling faintly. "I'll see everyone else, too. Maybe I'll get to meet Mother, if she wants to meet me."

Kohaku stands up.

"I'll see you again, Ane-ue."

"I'm coming right after you!" she says, through sobs.

"Iie." For once Kohaku sounds firm. "How can you do that? When you have friends who care for you? That man- I don't know his name- he got hurt by me so he could save you! And how can you push him away just because you care for me?"

He sounds as if he were the older sibling. But all she sounds like is a child who has worked so hard to achieve something- a child with her hands outstretched, groping for something that isn't there. And she pushes the thought of me away, though not easily.

"I care for you," Sango tries to reason.

"It'd be selfish of you," Kohaku says. "And all I do is bring danger to you and your companions."

"We can change that!"

"No. No more killing." Kohaku shakes his head forlornly. "All it is…Is killing and more killing. I want it to stop. Please…yamete…"

Sango seems to realize that Kohaku cannot be shaken.

She looks at the ground, and picks up Kohaku's chain sickle.

She is the child no longer.

Defeated, she hands him his weapon.

"Goodbye, Ane-ue."

-

Minutes later she stumbles away from the spot where Kohaku lies dead. She comes straight to me, falling gently into my chest, dropping the shard that had been embedded into his back to fall upon the grass.

The tears aren't silent anymore.

I put my arms around her and she seems so small, so frail, so weak of soul that if you pressed hard enough, she would shatter into hundreds of teardrops, or glass.

I wish I could share some of the burden with her.

If only there was some way that Buddha could divide the tears among us evenly. Or unevenly. I would gladly cry rivers, if Sango were happy. She has had her share of weeping.

I kiss her forehead, but I don't stop to marvel at how much it seems to calm her. Instead, I go back to worrying.

All her tears fall down the front of my robes, and I just stand there, trying to shush her, trying to make her somehow see that I care.

Her arms are around me as well, letting me know in the only way possible that she appreciates my concern.

Concern is the least I can spare.

No matter what she tells me, or how many times, I know I never will be able to comprehend what demons that plague her soul.

I never will, but she understands.

-

We bury him in the exact spot that he died and ascended to heaven. There was always the prospect of burying him in the exterminator's village, with everyone else he knew, but Sango refused. It would be ridiculous to carry his body all the way there, she says. The important thing is that he is with them in spirit.

Kagome-sama and Inuyasha return to Kaede's village. She says that she plans to return home briefly, just to bring back some of what she calls First Aid supplies. But I think she is also leaving to collect her thoughts. She felt guilty for taking Kohaku's shard.

Inuyasha has quite a few wounds, much more serious than mine, but he insists that it'll heal. I wait mine out, simply letting the poison take its acute course through my bloodstream.

The people from the nearest village, meanwhile, greet us and ask us what is about. They say that there was a large commotion last night, do you know anything about it?

Sango gives a succinct story about how her brother was killed by demons here.

They mull over that for a while, saying oh that's too bad, can we help you in any way, and I can't help but feel sorrier for Sango to have strangers trying to comfort her in ways that I couldn't.

Finally they offer us a place to stay in, and say that we can stay however long we want, until we're ready to move on.

Sango says, No thank you, I'd rather stay here for a while.

But they insist.

-

So we're taken to the headman's manor house, and they give us a rather nice room and say they'll bring dinner to us in a minute.

Only one room, however. With only one futon.

They have the wrong idea.

Or, perhaps, the right one.

Suddenly Sango's the same old Sango, and she asks the person who escorted us in if they have any extra rooms. He answers no, that this is the only guest room.

I can't help but smile at Sango's blush.

She remains red all throughout dinner, and I try not to react in anything more than a smile, such as a comment, or a laugh.

But she knows the words are on my lips.

She seems to have gotten over it by the time nighttime falls.

She stubbornly takes all the bedsheets and bundles up at the end of the room.

I lay on my side in bed, patting the empty space beside me, and smiling.

"Oyasuminasai, Houshi-sama!" she snaps exasperatedly, turning on her side so she doesn't face me, and blowing out the candlelight.

I keep smiling like a fool as I roll onto my back, looking at the ceiling.

"You'll catch cold," I tell her, even though I'm the one without the sheets.

She mutters something that sounds something like "That's what you think," and bundles up under the covers even more.

A few minutes later I smile triumphantly as she sits on the edge of futon, her eyebrows furrowed in thought and confusion.

"I don't bite," I say.

"It's not your teeth I'm afraid of," she replies, and lies down on the bed.

"Oyasuminasai." I heave a sigh, and roll onto my side to prevent temptation.

Soon enough, she forgets that we are sleeping in the same bed, and she sleeps, breathing even.

I know she is crying.

So I turn over and listen quietly, and her breath turns into the smallest of wails I've ever heard.

I can't think of anything else to do, so I gently wrap an arm around her.

She wakes, and her hand is holding mine, suddenly. She seems nearer to tears than before, so I hold her close. She rolls over so that she faces me, and the tears smoldering on her cheeks are set alight by the moonlight that wafts in through the open window.

I give her a chaste kiss on the forehead. And she doesn't resist.

I didn't really think she would, anyways.

-

We did it.

Somehow, we did it.

Together the alliance of all the factions and armies in the Western Lands waged war on Naraku.

And we won.

We owe most of it to people other than us.

Sesshoumaru, of course. Sesshoumaru, who used the influence of his late father to add people to our cause. Other people who had also been left in the devastated wake that Naraku left everywhere he went.

He never admitted that he was helping us. For every action he could find a separate reason; an advantage or personal gain.

Demons and humans alike were formed into a massive army for the Western Lands. Naturally, Sesshoumaru left the humans alone.

Kagura. She betrayed where Naraku kept his heart, the only thing that, if destroyed, would completely destroy him. She paid for it with her life, but at the moment of her death, she disappeared into the flow of the wind. She was free.

Kikyou-sama, whose arrow combined with Kagome's penetrated the enormous barrier of the heart Naraku guarded. Somehow, she received her vengeance in his death. She learned to let go of Inuyasha and move on, and so died.

The various clans of Wolf Demons also came to our aid, though by leading the diversion on Naraku's castle, cut their numbers almost in half. Kouga and Ayame survived; I hear that they plan to unite their clans and rule jointly. Whether or not this requires getting married, I do not know.

It was amazing. In the field of all the demon carcasses, Sango helped me up, and despite what Saimyoshou poison I had taken, I whirled her around like a little girl, and we kissed in the baleful wink of the setting sun.

My kazaana has disappeared.

The Shikon Jewel is complete.

But I couldn't care less. I feel that a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders, leaving me this woman, and I have no doubt that she is the one whom I will marry and have children with and be happy with our entire lives.

I can only hope that she will never cry in her sleep again.

-

We are married in the frail light of the morning dawn. It is Master Mushin who carries out the ceremony, a simple, beautiful wedding held in the temple that I was brought up. There is only Inuyasha, Kagome, Myoga, Shippou, and Kirara to bear witness.

Kagome-sama is throwing rice at us, a custom she insists is usual in her time. Inuyasha pretends to be bored, and Shippou is bouncing around just as eagerly as Myoga the flea. Kirara just mews.

There is so much affection between me and my bride that I wonder why not even a fraction of it was there before. Only gropes and slaps and death threats.

Our audience soon leaves us to be alone, on what Kagome-sama has excitedly been calling our "honeymoon," or a journey for newlyweds.

I suppose it is that. Because Sango and I travel to make homage to the ruins of her village. We gather a few flowers to scatter here and there over the mounds of dirt.

Finally she kneels before one grave in particular- her father's.

"Hello, Chichi-ue…" she says softly, smiling and gently pulling out a few blades of grass.

She pauses with her mouth open, considering exactly what words to say.

"I just want you to know that I am happy. I have married a wonderful man, a houshi named Miroku." She pauses again. "Maybe Kohaku already told you. He is with you, isn't he? And you're all listening to me. I have gotten our village's vengeance, but now I think I deserve to settle and live my life."

She turns to look at me, then looks back at the grave. "I'm going to try to be happy now. I think I've nearly forgotten what it feels like. Miroku will help me." Sango sighs. "Rest in peace. Say hello to Mother and Kohaku for me. I'll join you. Someday…"

Sango stands up, and I put an arm around her shoulder. Together we walk away from the tajiyas' village.

-

We lived in Kaede's village thereafter, happily going on with lives that, as Sango so wisely said, we deserved to live.

There is so much to do, so much in the world I have not yet experienced, that I wish to do it all at once.

Inuyasha and Kagome haven't yet professed their love for each other, but with Kikyou lying peacefully outside of the picture, we all know that it is just a matter of time. He seems bored, and says that with Naraku gone, his sword skills are probably rusty. I expected Kagome-sama to come less often after the Shikon Jewel was complete- but she still comes, and passes the time here training to become Kaede-sama's successor, the new priestess and protector of the village.

Sango is still the powerful, graceful tajiya, and from time to time ventures away from the village to exterminate a lesser youkai.

I'm still the houshi, and I often still do exorcisms.

But everything's so different.

What is it?

Everything is…

Everything's perfect…

Soon after our marriage, we together decided it was the time to have children. I remember Sango still blushing at the thought, and me laughing patiently.

Gradually, though, she became familiar with my body, and me with hers, and it just seemed to better our understanding of each other.

And this is why Sango rushes out of our hut, right in the middle of the breakfast meal.

She's been doing this for quite a while. She seems to be able to smell everything, to be so sensitive to every movement.

She comes back, clutching her stomach tenderly as if waiting for another lurch.

She manages a smile over her grimace.

And I think that is why I love her so much. Because of the strength inside of her to conquer her vulnerability and to continue on.

Kagome-sama looks at her concernedly. "Daijobu, Sango?"

She nods, but it is uncertain. "I'm fine."

"Maybe…Some rest?" I ask her.

She grits her teeth into another smile. "I'm fine."

-

And that brings me here, several months later.

I've cared for her as she grew round. We made plans, beautiful plans. We thought of names. Kimiko if it was a girl, Kohaku if it was a boy.

My hands are sweaty; so is my forehead. In fact, I think I'm perspiring everywhere.

I dare to run to the brook, to dip my hands into the water and take that cool refreshing wetness and throw it in my face. Then I run back to the hut, the droplets flying everywhere.

I return to pacing back and forth nervously.

Kagome-sama and Inuyasha are not here with me; they left for her era some time ago. Shippou sits here, but all he does is nag and ask if Sango is all right.

Suddenly I understand why Inuyasha thinks of him as such a pest.

I try to be patient, and tell Shippou that I know no more than he does.

A few nights ago, the pains came. Sango began waking in the middle of the night, clutching her stomach, saying she hurt.

We sought out Kaede, who replied that it was perfectly normal.

Now, in labor, Sango lies in the hut, and Kaede emerges from it.

"This might take some time, Miroku-sama."

I comply. There is nothing else I can do.

Soon enough, I can hear Sango's heavy breathing from outside.

Soon enough, she begins to scream.

I clamp my hands down on Shippou's ears, though the selfish part of me wishes that I had done so for my own.

I ignore Shippou's pleas to let go, that I am hurting him. My fists are clenched so tight that it hurts.

I've never heard such screams before.

Not from Sango.

My beautiful Sango.

Finally, Kaede emerges from the hut again.

I stand up quickly, letting Shippou go.

"Come in here, please, Miroku."

I tell Shippou that he can too, but he declines, frightened.

But I venture in, eager to see my wife, and my child.

My first step into that small hut, my first glance at both…

I wanted to throw up.

I almost did. And I would have, if the horrible feelings would go away and never come back.

There was too much blood.

It wasn't right.

Nothing was right.

Sango's tears are streaming in rivers down her red cheeks. But it's not blush that lines her face; it's frustration, sadness, confusion.

She breathes in slowly, but loudly, and stares up at the ceiling, biting her lip. Then she looks over to Kaede, who is tending the baby.

She chokes on the tears, or rather, the words she is about to say.

"The baby's dead."

I take another glance at it, although it is more of a blank stare.

It's a boy. That would make it…

Kohaku…

The words fit like a horrible banner in my mind, drenched in all the blood that lies on the floor of the hut.

He's dead…

"No. It's not dead…" I try feebly.

I try not to look at it's face, but I fail. It is a chubby, twisted face. It had been screaming just as Sango had, though silent.

We wanted to have a child.

But that child could not be had.

Kaede leaves the hut.

In a sedated flow of movement, I fall to my knees next to Sango.

I stroke her hair, holding her close despite the blood.

She struggles to lift her head, to press her lips to mine softly.

It's the touch I revel in.

It's the touch I am about to lose.

Sango's breathing grows rattly, like something has fallen loose in her lungs and is banging around against the walls.

"I love you," she whispers, her voice cracking.

"Don't leave me," I reply.

She closes her eyes, and the sunlight fades from her face.

I'm still stroking Sango's long, wet, tangled hair when Kagome and Inuyasha return. Kirara curls up by Sango's stomach, blood soaking her cream colored fur.

They stare at me, stare at Sango, and they are shedding tears. But I hardly notice.

I hardly notice because I'm shedding more tears than I ever have in my whole life.

My heart…

It's breaking.

It's breaking in front of them, and I don't care.

I stayed there all night. After they left. Until the dawn of the next morning interrupted my mourning. I told her how much I loved her again and again.

Again and again, and she couldn't speak.

Again and again, and she couldn't hear me.

She was drowning in those tears of hers, again.

Except this time, they killed her.

I move my hands down to her white throat, cold, and unbeating.

Dead…?

I remember how much we hated how we hated Kikyou, how Inuyasha loved her.

I…I thought it was stupid.

I thought, she's dead and gone, so get over it.

I understand now.

I never will.

I will continue to love Sango, even though she is just a shadow in my mind, gone from existence in this world.

I killed Sango.

And that is the truth.

And I killed our child.

He would have been wonderful, like her.

I was the hitch.

She killed me back, though.

I already am dead. I suppose tears are lifeblood. Sango shed too much, so she died. And I…

I just want her back.

My Sango…

I will see you again, in my dreams.

These fragile things we fool ourselves with.

-

A/N: Review.