It had been months since the end of the war. Naraku was dead, but so were her friends and family. The well had been destroyed long ago, but now so had her only means of continuing with life.
Her two best friends had died in each other's arms. Her lover had sacrificed himself to protect her and finalize that terrible hanyou's death. What was left of the broken hearted miko traveled through the wilderness; traveling for her mind was lost in the abyss of pain and sorrow. The Shikon no tama was around her neck, was still sought by demons and bandits of the past, and still bringing pain by the feel of the weight against her chest.
After months of travel, her belly swollen with the child given to her in the last moment by her lover, she came across a kind looking village. The villagers gave her a place to stay until the baby was born. Some saw she was a miko, but they couldn't be certain since she was with child, since it was not tradition for a miko to have a baby. No one spoke to her in the beginning, since no man escorted her, and no ring was around her finger.
When curiosity grew too great, one woman asked the miko a few questions while bringing her food
"Milady, please forgive the personal intrusion, but where is the father?" The old woman asked. The miko's eyes watered up and tears trailed down her cheeks.
"Dead," her one word response had the women of the village speaking with her, helping her, making clothing and things for her and the baby. Pity was given to the grieving widow, though many rumors spread about her through the village.
"I heard her husband was killed by a demon!"
"I heard he ran away with another woman!"
"I heard that when he found out she was a miko, he threw her away!"
The rumors made their way back to the ever hearing ears of the wounded miko. She tossed and turned in her sleep, nightmares plaguing her. Memories of her last night with her lover, Naraku coming and killing them swam in her head even when awake. Dreams of him coming and ripping into her belly, pulling the baby out and eating him had her waking with screams.
The old woman, Jakki, also a widow, came every night to sit by her and be the mid-wife for whenever her baby was born. She aided the miko with no husband and no claim to a name. Once, Jakki asked the girl about the pink jewel around her neck. The miko tucked it back into her kimono with sad eyes.
"It is the end..." was her only explanation.
A week after she arrived, the miko went into labor. Jakki aided her with the help of another younger woman. This woman was as gossipy as they come. Her name was Yuki, but she was no where as pure and innocent as snow. She was married to the head of the village, and had been unable to produce a son. She was jealous of the miko's apparent beauty, and gloated on her misfortune. The only reason she had volunteered to aid the miko and the old widow was to find out first what the child was—boy or girl.
"What torment to bear a son to inherit no name or land!" She had scoffed to her female companions the day before. "What a sad soul to bring into the world!" The girls had laughed.
The miko exhausted and in so much pain, cried out a name into the humid room. She cried for her lover's strength. She needed him there...there to hold his child...
Jakki put a cold cloth on the miko's forehead. She had fallen into fever during the child birth and may not be able to live through it if they didn't get the fever down.
A wail erupted through the room as she baby was pushed into the waiting blanket and arms of Jakki. It was covered in its mother's blood. It cried and wailed to be held warm. Jakki cleaned the baby, pronounced it a boy, and handed it to its mother. The blanket covered its head and its little body. Yuki seethed with jealousy. The miko, fever still high, held her son.
"Your father...would have loved you...Inuichi. My Inuichi." The miko whispered.
'Inuichi?' Yuki thought, in bewilderment. 'Inuichi means....first son of a dog?!'
Two days past, and word of the miko's son with a 'dog' spread like wild fire. The miko recovered while rumors about her swarmed into lies and hatred. Jakki, unlike the rest of the village, staid by the miko's side and helped her recover and care for her son. Jakki, unlike the miko, was surprised to see two small white patches on the baby's head. By the second day, they grew strength and started moving on their own. Jakki was astounded to see that they were ears.
"The villagers were right! A demon... no... worse than a demon! A half-breed!" Jakki relayed the news to the village. An angry mob was created, and fire set to the miko's hut in the night.
The fire spread as the young mother slept with her baby. A voice whispered in her ear, soft at first, then rising with urgency.
"Kagome! Kagome, wake up! Get up, My Love. Save yourself!" The voice cried, as she sat up. Her ears rang with her lover's voice, which was repeating in her head over the baby's wailing and the fire raging.
Panic filled her as she picked up her son and fled the hut, running into the waiting arms of the seething mob. Inuichi was snatched from her by a pair of strong and slender woman's hands.
"No!" His mother cried out, struggling to get to him. "Give me back my son!" The crowd was like a snake, devouring the child. His wails turned into pained screams. The miko felt herself loosing control of her powers and began striking out with hot beams of pink light. The villagers panicked, screaming for their own lives.
They ran from the miko who was killing anyone who came between her and her son. The fire spread from the hut she was in to the other huts, and soon the whole village was a blaze.
"Inuichi! Inuichi! Where is my son? Give him back to me!" The miko screamed as the people kept fleeing from her. Tears flooded down her cheeks as she searched. "Shikon-no-tama...help me find my son..." she begged as she searched. The sun was beginning to rise in the east as she kept searching. The raging fires had burned all of the huts to the ground.
Walking to the village center, she saw a small sack where it sat having been thrown carelessly onto the ground. Blood stained the bottom of it. Her heart stopped in her chest as she ran to it. Tearing open the reed tie and peering inside, she found the body of her son. His body was cut and bruised. His chest did not rise and fall and no sound left his lips. Lifting his body from the bag, the miko knelt there, hugging his body to her.
"My son...his son....our son..." she whispered over and over, rocking and hugging him. A few village men had come back, now that the village was a smoldering ring, and the sounds of the miko's screams had silenced. They saw her holding her son's body.
Guilt raged through them as they turned and hid behind a stone wall to watch her.
The miko stood, her body trembling. Her body glowed pink in her attempt to heal her son. In the back of her mind, she was crying out for her mate's healing sword. Though it did nothing to help her friends or her lover, it may help her now... Her heart was desperate, but deep down, she knew it was too late. His skin was long cold, and his blood long drained. She ran her fingers over where his ears had been before some angry heart had cut them off.
Her body shuttered as her heart died. Her soul glowed blue, her pink aura gone. The innocence she once was had been assassinated. The Shikon no tama around her neck weighted down. Pressing her hand to the pink orb she prayed and wished with a whispered breath.
"I wish the shikon would no longer be able to grant any wishes and the power of the it return to the earth to heal it..." she opened her eyes, feeling the pink energy disperse and shoot down into the earth to do as she wished. Then, her son still in her arms, she turned her energy on herself and glowed a hot red. Flames engulfed her and her son's body as she purified herself and her son together.
The men stared in shock as she disappeared into ash. A soft wind blew and scattered her ashes over the village. Any bare ground was seeded with flowers and grass and soon began to grow. The men stared in shock as vines grew up over the stone wall and covering the entire village with green beauty. It held a holy feeling to it, almost magical and godly. The men returned to the rest of the villagers and told them what had happened.
"But why would she bless the land where her son was killed and she took her own life?" Jakki wondered out loud. "We should not build there again. Leave it to be holy ground." The villagers agreed, some for their guilt, some for their fear. What if she came back and haunted and killed them? Best to leave the dead have their burial sites.
**
A white light surrounded her. A child's laughter met her ears. Voices were there, celebrating, calling to her. Her eyes opened to see the greenest green trees and grass around her. It felt so plush and brilliant she had to touch it. Her slender pale fingers ran through the soft grasses.
"Kagome!" A female and male voice said at the same time. Miroku and Sango ran up to her, holding hands. The three embraced
"Look, my family is here," Sango said with a smile. Indeed, her younger brother ran with some other children in the distant fields of green. Her father and mother watched over them.
"Mine as well." Miroku said, pointing with his healed hand. "Everyone we knew and love is here!" He said, hugging the two of them.
The miko pulled away. "Everyone?"
"Kagome," A very familiar voice called. She turned her head and saw her mate and lover coming towards her with their son in his arms.
"Inuichi was telling me how you died... It was very noble of you to give the shikon to the earth instead of asking for us all back..." Sesshoumaru said softly. Tears welded up in Kagome's eyes as she launched herself at her mate.
"Oh, Sesshoumaru!" She sobbed as she hugged him and their son. "It was so painful..." They embraced tightly for what seemed like eternity. It could have been. When breaking apart, they were smiling.
"I'm glad I didn't use the shikon to bring you back. It's so much happier here."
"That it is, my love. That it is."