Status: Part 1/2
Time taken: Half an hour.
Background: Have you ever gotten an itch to put knuckles to keys and crank out a story? That's what happened here. This is also a tribute to all Sess/San fans that have been waiting for some real (based) interaction.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and am not responsible for the translations of the manga quotes used.

(Warning manga spoilers for Chapters 530-543.)

Swallowed Light -Geraldine Hake

Like slow fire, a small piece of Sango's black and white heart burned obsidian.

Sesshoumaru, if you want to rip me apart—go ahead.

It wasn't as if, as if her soul weren't already shattering against her skin, grating like little pieces of broken glass against the frail insides of her stomach. Her head reeled; she would have staggered, had Kirara's stable bulk not been beneath to steady her.

Once—she had spoken to him. She had been too intent on the momentary crisis to notice how glittery his eyes (his skin, his hair, his claws) were, but now, seeing only murky shapes in the damp sweat of Naraku's hollow body, she could clearly etch out every detail of his gleaming silhouette.

And it ached with power, and anger.

Anu-ue was being fooled by an illusion!

Yes, yes, an illusion; an illusion of such magnificence. An illusion of Naraku disemboweled, split by the awesome weight of her Hiraikotsu. At all costs, Naraku should die. Sango ached with that knowledge, every night, and every day. But she had not the capacity in her bent spirit to imagine a universe where she and Naraku coexisted in harmony.

Kagome's eager lips had spilled hopeful fairy-tales about surviving the final battle, and terribly, Sango couldn't believe that Kagome wouldn't make it out alive—but for herself, she doubted that fortune. She was glad for the younger girl, her friend, because she knew what would happen inevitably.

But how had it come to this?

The blood—the almost blood—of a little child on her hands, Kohaku's friend. How could she, the last of the pure line of demon slayers, heft her weapon at an innocent child? But she had.

I have no intention of making excuses, or begging for my life!

The dark awareness under his narrow eyes told her of what would come next. Sango had aimed to kill a child that was somehow, inexplicitly close to the demon Lord; as close as Kohaku lay to her heart, perhaps.

Sango's eyes, filming with tears of rage and revulsion, cast away from her kid brother's face. He was crying too.

She saw the Hiraikotsu wedged deeply into Naraku's inner wall of flesh, and shuddered. No man had ever thrown her weapon with the intent to kill. Few could lay a hand on it, or raise it above their shoulder (she remembered her monk and tasted misery on her tongue) and fewer felt its length without splitting their flesh on its edge.

However…

Well recognized with the impalpable fury of one who has faced a kin-slayer, Sango didn't harbor the misapprehension that Sesshoumaru would gladly make peace with her, for her foolishness.

Cold stabbed down though her bones, sharpening every knob in her spine; making her sit erect, motionless, for fear her burden would break her back open. However…His brow descended, like an axe swinging down to pass judgment.

Sango gasped—

Until Naraku is defeated…and the curse of Houshi-sama's Kazaana is broken…I'd like you to wait.

The darkness of the place pressed her from all angles, pushing her dark bangs up against her forehead. They stuck to the sheen of sweat there, as her eyes dug mercilessly into Sesshoumaru's. 'Let him give me time,' she thought, as the closely-knit layers of Sango's shell wrinkled, and then stretched unbearably thin.

Kirara flexed under her legs, and Sango noticed, but didn't really notice, that her finger nails were carving into the flesh beneath her.

Houshi-sama, the foolish, stupid man would kill himself before she could leave this world—and he wasn't supposed to die!

'I aimed for a child.'

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened, finally, in a bewildering sort of surprise. Hadn't he known that she did it all for the monk, that no action inside this cage was her own, it was for someone else's greater good?

The whisper of her brother's voice called out to her belatedly. He had tried to save her, tried to ease the revenge that Sesshoumaru had rightfully, to some other source. Sweet child.

Let me live a little longer, Sango asked silently. If Sesshoumaru could hear the murmur, he did not gesture it so. Her thoughts, her will, reached out to him ever so gently, carefully touching the smooth pale line of his cheek, tracing the flawless navy moon on his forehead, the fine strands of silvery hair.

'Give me, give this chance, one more go. It is all I ever need.'

She waited.

A/N: It was my intention to mirror this scene in the manga with a more in-depth look at Sango's psyche, but since there was a suspension in the plot, I'll be updating with the second part next week.

Quotes (spaced in the center of the page) come from Chapter 543, title was a tip of the hat to an earlier Inuyasha chapter. The Broken Console is a great resource for keeping up with Inuyasha. (I can't stand by while the anime drags its heels!) I reccomend it to all fans of the series. Site link is: adinuyasha (dot) thebrokenconsole (dot) com (slash) TOC (dot) html.

I'm looking for a beta for my stories; both this, and my older pieces were published without a beta, and I'd like to re-evalute them with some help. If you're interested in betareading for one, two, or all of my stories, send me a message. (I'll return the favor, if you're interested.) Thanks for reading!