Final Comforts by BoxingBunny

Final Comforts

Disclaimer: I don't own, please don't sue!

Warning: Major character death (but don't worry, it'll work out in the end!)

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Final Comforts

Kagome's body hit the blood-soaked battlefield before rolling for several feet and stopping in a heap. She had taken a blow for an already injured Inuyasha so that he could deliver the final blow to Naraku, but Naraku had been aiming for a fatal shot. His goal would be accomplished even if it wasn't with his intended target.

Kagome could feel the hole in her stomach burning with poison and it brought tears to her eyes. She could feel her blood leaving her body to soak into the earth leaving her cold and weak. Breathing became increasingly harder as she lifted her head to see how Inuyasha was fairing.

He and Sango were the only people left fighting Naraku and both were injured, but Naraku was quickly being pushed back. It was good to know that his evil would leave the world that day. But tears sprang to Kagome's eyes anew with a new, and possibly final, wave of pain wracking her body. Was this really how she was going to die?

She had always thought that she would die of old age after having a family, whether it was in her time or the past with Inuyasha. The thought of dying in a gory battlefield had never crossed her mind. All of the fairytales said that they good guys triumphed over their evil foe and went home together to celebrate. Too bad life wasn't always fairytale-perfect.

Kagome felt the fear of death enter her soul as she realized that her life was at its end, but sorrow consumed her when she realized that she would die alone. Her friends wouldn't find her body until after she'd left the world of the living. She would die in a pool of her own blood entirely alone. Glancing up once more, Kagome saw that her friends were indeed still on the other side of the battlefield consumed in the final moments of battle. Turning her head, Kagome couldn't allow that to be the last image she saw in her life.

But the image that greeted her on her right brought mixed emotions. There lay Sesshoumaru, beautiful even covered in his own blood, with his eyes closed. He'd taken several blows in order to get close enough to weaken Naraku close to the battle's beginning. And having left Tenseiga with Rin to protect her, the sword was unable to keep him alive.

It was a shame, Kagome thought. Rin would surely mourn his death for years to come.

But Kagome saw him as her savior from a lonely death. It may have been selfish, but she was scared and weak. She didn't want to be alone in her final moments.

Sliding her hand across the ground, Kagome gripped the demon lord's large hand in her much smaller one and held onto him with as much strength as she could muster. His hand was still warm and soft and gave her the illusion of company. While the fear of death remained, it was easier to accept with someone by her side. They may not have been close in life, but who was to say they couldn't be a comfort to the other in death?

Kagome felt her chest become heavy as her vision began to blur. She blinked several times to clear her vision, but it only caused her eyelids to become as heavy as her chest. The only thing that brought her back to the world for a moment more was a light pressure around her fingers.

Kagome's eyes looked to her hand which was wrapped within Sesshoumaru's long fingers before shifting dulling blue eyes up to see his face. Golden eyes which were rapidly losing their light locked gazes with her and a silent understanding was reached between them that they would go into the afterlife together.

For all of the time he insisted on spending alone, Kagome fleetingly thought on how young Sesshoumaru was by demon standards. He likely wasn't much older than she was by their species' respective aging standards. They were both being cut down in the prime of their lives, but it was all for a greater good that would protect those that they cared about in his time and hers.

She watched as Sesshoumaru calmly closed his eyes for the final time and soon followed suit. Her pain was already numbing and, despite the pain she'd been in earlier, Kagome easily slipped into unconsciousness as her heart and lungs slowed to a soft stop.

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Five hundred and some odd years later, a young woman hummed as she went through the motions that went with her after-school job at a small coffee house in Tokyo. Her medium, wavy hair was pulled up into small ponytail and her blue eyes sparkled.

She called out the next order for the pickup counter as she rang up the order on her register. A tall man reading a book came to pick up the drink and placed the money for his order on the counter before turning to sit back down and continue the homework he'd been working on.

"Sir! You forgot your change!" The young woman called out.

When the man closed his college textbook and tucked it under his arm, he took the few steps back to the counter with and extended hand for the coins.

Neither man nor woman paid much attention to each other until their hands brushed in the money exchange. The young, blue-eyed woman instantly noticed that the man's shoulder-length black hair seemed to already be turning white despite his youth. But when her eyes locked with brown orbs so light that they bordered on a honey-gold, she felt as though she'd met the college student somewhere before.

The two stared at each other in a small trance until the next customer in line cleared his throat and broke the moment. The young woman noticed that they'd been holding hands around the change and quickly released the coins with a blush and embarrassed giggle.

She returned to her work and the young man returned to his studies, but the two would occasionally exchange glances while thinking the same thing; had they met somewhere before?

After the small rush had passed and the coffee house calmed, the young man returned his cup and saucer directly to the counter before nodding at the girl at the register and leaving.

Just when the high school student thought that she would never get an answer to her question, she noticed a paper napkin underneath the cup left at her counter that had a phone number written on it.

She smiled seeing the strange man's phone number and pocketed the napkin for later. Even though she was almost positive that they'd never met, she could shake the comfortable feeling she'd gotten while they held hands.

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AN: Just something random that popped into my head while I was working on some other stuff. Haven't written anything with Sess/Kag-centric in a while. It was nice! I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading ^_^