'So, this is how it ends.'

Dangling limply in Naraku's clutches, Kagome passed a bleary eye over the battlefield. 'Why is Miroku lying down? Why can't I…ah, that's right.' Thoughts came together sluggishly. A particularly nasty blow had knocked her in the head, and the blood from the headwound had gushed so much that her left eye was crusted shut.

The chaos that she and Sesshoumaru arrived to was nothing short of apocalyptic. A cloud of demons darkened the afternoon sky, and at the center was none other than their expected nemesis. Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku were already in the fray, but evidently outnumbered.

"About fucking TIME!" Inuyasha managed to yell through gritted teeth.

Sesshoumaru had bounded her far into the treetops to survey the scene. The tentacles that had invaded the well all but turned to ash in the upward blast Sesshoumaru had set off as soon as they landed in the well. From what they could see, the frame work had miraculously survived, though not without some charring. With a curse, Naraku severed himself from the deteriorating limbs. As his outraged red gaze landed on them then shifted back to the well, Kagome let out a frantic screech.

"Inuyasha! The well!" His startled gaze met hers from across the field. "The well!" She screamed frantically. Mom. Souta. Jiji. She feared her heart would rip through her chest. Inuyasha sliced through the tengu before him, then with a pained look of understanding turned the Tetsusaiga towards the well.

One swing was all it took.

She blinked, and it was gone.

In the fading light of the blast, Sesshoumaru shook her. The battle wasn't over, not by far, and this was not the time for grieving. From the shrewd look in his gaze when he turned to her, she knew what he wanted.

"You're not leaving me here. I'm going in, and that's that." At his stern gaze, she raised an eyebrow and started undoing her obi. "Well? Are you going to help me here, or let me trip to my death?!"

After stripping her down to the black camisole and running shorts she wore beneath her kimono, Sesshoumaru deposited her in the safety of the tree line. He tried to ignore how severely underdressed she was for a battle, since it was clear she would not be deterred. His eyes, sharp and luminescent, darted as they followed the battle, looking for the most effective entrance. With one final, intense look, he pushed Tenseiga into her hands.

"Be safe, mate."

"Ah!" The squeeze of a tentacle brought her back from her sluggish memories. With a wince, the miko gasped for breath. The flesh of the tentacle was cold and clammy beneath her hands, and if she'd been less experienced she may have retched in revulsion. Naraku was reeling her toward his body, a sick grin of his across his predatory maw. Renewing her struggles to free herself, she made another desperate, one-eyed sweep of the battle, praying that help was on its way.

Koga and his brothers had arrived midway through the battle, but even they had not given the group much relief from the barrage of lesser demons. Naraku had been playing keep-away with his miasma which only Sesshoumaru could breach, but even he could only fight so many demons at one time. Her mate was getting desperate, she could feel it.

Cursing her luck, Kagome gasped for more breath, wiggling for all she was worth while keeping a solid grip on Sesshoumaru's sword – for all the good it would do her. The Tenseiga, powerful as it was, could not cut her free from Naraku's bonds. She'd tried that, just in case – those inu blades tended to do strange things when in her hands.

The ground was getting further and further away, until the tentacle carrying her upward stopped altogether.

"Kagome, Kagome,"

The hair of her arms and the nape of her neck stood on end as the voice sang in her right ear.

"The bird in the cage,
When, oh when will you come out?
In the dark of daybreak
The crane and turtle slipped.
Who is behind you now?"

Slowly, Naraku turned her to face him. The chill down her spine had nothing to do with the tentacles. His smile would have been handsome had it not been for the manic edge to his lips and eyes.

"Ahh, Kagome. How long I have waited for this present. And with what beautiful wrapping!" As his deep laughter ran through her, his hand skimmed the tops of her breasts until it landed on the raised welts along her collarbone.

"So unlike your predecessor, yet so like her, to spread your legs for a dog."

Suddenly, he bore down on the sore flesh with inhuman strength. Kagome couldn't prevent the yelp that escaped her, but she bore down to keep a longer scream in. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction, or give her friends any more cause for worry.

Predatory scarlet eyes watched her, unaffected by her show of bravery.

"Kagome, Kagome – do you know the answer?" His hand left her neck to stroke her face tenderly, toyingly. When she didn't answer, his fingers pressed against the sides of her jaw.

"What? What do you want, you sicko?!"

"Do you know?"

"Do I know what?!"

"When will you come out?" he crooned the line again. Then, drawing her in closer, he whispered hotly in her ear, "NEVER."

In the next moment, time slowed. Event as the remnants of the Shikon were ripped from her neck, the realization came crashing upon her with startling, frightening clarity.

He was never going to let her go.

He would keep her as a slave. Or absorb her. She didn't know which was worse. But…

Forever. Forever with Naraku.

Could she even last forever? No doubt he would find some sick way to keep her in his hold.

Sesshoumaru…wasn't he supposed to be her 'forever'? At least as long as she lived? That couldn't happen as long as Naraku lived. So long as that cursed Jewel lived!

Her chunk of the jewel was slowly fusing with the dark remnants floating between Naraku's hands.

A pulse in her right hand startled her.

'Tenseiga?'

Two pulses. It hadn't been her imagination. It was reacting to something.

My thoughts?

A pulse.

The jewel?

Another.

'My forever with Sesshoumaru – ruined, as long as Naraku lives. As long as the jewel…lives. The…the JEWEL LIVES!'

Tenseiga thrummed like a tuning fork.

'Tenseiga, you better be right!'

With a warrior cry, she lunged.