Title: The Time Has Come
Pairing: Miroku/Inuyasha
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 647

The monk was gone.

Miroku had been gone for hours, off gathering supplies, as he called it. The hanyou didn't care about the dishonest way that he got the supplies, but as time went on, he grew more concerned. Concerned enough to go after him and leave the girls alone, though they never saw his concern. Just an irritated attitude backed up by an annoyed front.

His trail was easy to follow. It lead to a little clearing in the middle of the woods, far from any town. He was prepared to see the monk sitting lazily, contemplating nature, or watching the clouds roll by, or perhaps even seducing a villiage local. But not for this.

The monk was sitting cross legged, staring in disbelief at his warded hand, tears streaming down pale cheeks. Inuyasha couldn't begin to comprehend what was going on. Slowly, he stepped out of the trees, frowning. "Monk?"

Blue eyes shot up to meet with his own, shock lancing through them. "In. . . Inuyasha?" Miroku gazed up at the dog demon sadly, before his voice took on a fearful note. "Don't come any closer! Just go away, okay?"

Inuyasha growled softly. Something wasn't right. "Why, you dumb monk? The girls were worried about you, and you should come back now okay?"

Miroku chuckled sadly. "There wont be any coming back for me, Inuyasha. Just go back. Forget what you saw here. Forget me. I. . . I failed." He curled up, crying into his knees.

Yellow eyes narrowed, and the hanyou took a step closer. Did he mean. . . ?

"Miroku?"

"Go away."

Inuyasha slowly walked over to Miroku, whose sobs were getting louder now. "Miroku. . ."

"I don't want to die, Inuyasha."

The hanyou blinked. "You're not going to die, baka."

"You're a demon. . . surely you can feel it? The stress of the kazaana?"

And if he tried, he could feel it. The wind in the clearing, the closer he got to the monk, was crisper, more biting. Painful.

"I failed my family. . . I failed my faith. . . I didn't even have an heir. . ." Miroku quietly stated, staring at the ground. "I was dishonest, and deceitful. And I never told the truth. Especially not to you."

Inuyasha stared down at the monk. What the hell was he talking about?

Miroku slowly got to his feet. "There's a reason I never had an heir."

The hanyou snorted. "Yeah, no girl wanted to be with a hentai like you."

The monk smiled softly. "No. . . there were a couple of girls I could have gone for. I just felt no need to after I met you."

Something twitched in Inuyasha's chest. "You should have done it. If you thought it was going to happen this soon."

"No. . . I didn't want to. I thought I could save it for someone else. But that's gone now." Miroku gazed sadly at him. "Leave. It's going to happen soon, and Kagome would never forgive me if I took you with me."

Inuyasha grabbed his arm. "No! I'm not leavi---"

He was cut off by a kiss from the monk. Wide eyed, he gazed down at that tear streaked face, and relaxed into it. It wasn't so bad.

And suddenly, he couldn't move. His eyes blinked open to see a spirit ward dangling between his eyes. "Miroku!"

"That will keep you safe until I'm gone." Miroku sighed, brushing the hanyou's cheek. He bent down to retrieve his staff, but on second thought, left it. "Put that on my grave, please? It'll be obvious where it is." With that, the monk walked off. His ears could have been tricking him, as he was screaming for the monk to rip his stupid ward off, but he thought the monk might have whispered "Aishiteru."

It was minutes later when there was a deafening noise in the direction the monk walked off in, and the ward on Inuyasha's forehead turned to ash.



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