Setting: Set immediately between chapters 287 and 288 of the manga. In other words, shortly after Mt. Hakurei and (depending on how the story plays out) immediately before Miroku proposes a life together to Sango. Naraku has his new body. Kagome was briefly possessed by the baby while Inuyasha was looking for clues regarding Kikyou, who is believed to be dead. There is only one shard left that they don't know the whereabouts of.

—

Sanctuary

Part I: Existence

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here, everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next? What happens next?

- "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot

—

He stared into the abyss, captivated.

What now, he wondered, what now? What was his choice, his decision?

What happened next?

It all depended what he wanted more.

He wanted life.

He wanted to breathe air, to feel his lungs expand with each inhale and his heart to pump the blood through his veins, unfaltering.

He wanted to see the years go by, to see his hair turn gray and then white with age, to touch his face and trace lines that hadn't been there before.

He wanted children, to see them grow and smile and play and learn, to see them fall in love and have their own children.

He wanted to take hold of the opportunities that were now possible, all but lying in the smooth, so-smooth palm of his hand like they never had before.

But he also wanted more. That was his nature, wasn't it? So selfish, so demanding, so willing to risk everything for something he didn't deserve, that he'd never deserve. He was a fool for even wanting it, for desiring it alone when everything else he'd dreamed of was here, in front of him.

Was he really willing to throw it all away for something he was so uncertain of?

He stared into the abyss, and it mocked him.

—

To the ragtag group of wanderers, the small village on the outskirts of the Mushashi domain was something of a sanctuary.

Had they given it much thought, it was a ridiculous notion. They lived in a time where war, chaos, marauding criminals and ruthless demons reigned. It wasn't a secure village. No defensive walls were erected for protection, even if walls could stave off an inhuman attack. Beyond the village in most directions, there were only flat and featureless rice paddies and crop fields as far as the eye could see, and on the other side, a strange forest from which any manner of villainy could emerge.

Yet, for all its faults, they still considered the commonplace little village their sanctuary. It was a shelter from the outside world they so often traveled, a place to sit down awhile and recuperate from any hardships they'd encountered.

Trouble, however, has a nasty penchant for arriving on one's front doorstep.

The usual group, two heads short, was gathered in a bright clearing near the outskirts of the forest, a short distance from the village's shrine. In the midst of that same clearing was a well, a weathered wood barricade built around it to ward off any possible mishaps. Despite that, there were few that would bother to seek it out these days, as it had long since run dry.

They, however, were not there for water.

"Calm down, Inuyasha," commented the only woman present from her spot on the ground where she was resting against the wooden barricade, "Can't you stop pacing? Kagome-chan will be back soon enough. You shouldn't act so anxious, just because she made you wait an extra day."

"I happen to agree with Sango," said the young man perched on the lip of the well. Although the seat afforded little comfort, he seemed enough at ease by the way he grinned faintly and how he slouched forwards, allowing a good fraction of his weight to be held up by the staff that he held against his shoulder. "I don't see why you let yourself continuously fall into this habit of irritability every single time she visits home. Shouldn't you have learned some degree of patience by now?"

Inuyasha finally paused in his pacing to give the monk a glare before returning to his pastime. "No one asked you, Miroku. Shut up."

Miroku let out a hefty sigh. "As I said, I was merely agreeing with Sango." He paused before craning his neck to peer down at the young woman seated near his feet, her knees drawn loosely to her chest. Kirara dozed in the shade a short distance away, curled into a fluffy little ball with her nose buried between her two tails. "By the way, why are you sitting on the ground?"

"Is there something wrong with it? We all sit on the ground at some point or another," Sango reminded him with a glance.

"Yes, but it's hardly comfortable." Snapping his fingers, Miroku set aside his staff and moved to sit besides her, settling into a cross-legged position. "Come, Sango. I can guarantee that you'll find my lap to be a much more suitable seat!"

"No thank you, Houshi-sama," she said coolly, eyeing him and his hands warily and leaning away slightly, though she wasn't inclined to scoot away quite yet. She shot a half-conscious glance towards her Hiraikotsu, which was leaning on a tree a short distance away. "I'll manage."

The monk sighed in a very put out manner, at which she rolled her eyes.

Inuyasha, who had heard the entire exchange, snorted in none-too-subtle disgust. He muttered something distinctly along the lines of, "You two are more annoying than Shippou…"

They ignored him, something they were quite adept at after the months' worth of practice they'd acquired traveling alongside him. Then, after several minutes of silence, Miroku turned back to Sango and began to tease her again, which caused Inuyasha to groan audibly and seriously consider jumping down the well to go find Kagome. At this point, he was quite sure that the risk of her annoyance was quite worth getting away from the little sideshow the monk had created with Sango. He could only thank his luck that the demon slayer was strong-willed enough to resist Miroku, something that prevented the monk's public displays of flirtation from becoming public displays of things the hanyou most certainly did not wish to see.

Inuyasha's thoughts continued along that line for a good while as he debated whether or not he should just take his chances with Kagome. Usually, bothering to weigh the pros and cons of a decision like this would be something he considered a waste of time.

This time, though, he had to take into consideration how unusually fragile Kagome's temper was. Given all that had happened lately - particularly Kikyou's apparent death at Mount Hakurei and how Kagome had fallen under the influence of Naraku's baby - he had capitulated to her request to stay an extra day in her time when he'd gone to fetch her the night before. Better that than risk riling her wrath and disrupting the tenuous peace between them.

Inuyasha wasn't too keen on that prospect. But, at this rate, even that might be worth it… and it wasn't like he had ever made it a point to obey her demands before. Besides, hadn't she been happy to see him anyway? And anything was better than listening to Miroku try to push Sango's buttons...

He sighed, trying to tune out the pointless banter being exchanged, and, after that split second, several things happened in succession.

First, Inuyasha realized that for the past few minutes, a certain scent had been on the light breeze. It was something that was all too familiar and ill-boding, and it was coming closer by the second. Fast.

Secondly, there was a cry of anger, followed by the crack of Sango's hand striking Miroku's cheek. Stupid pervert monk.

Then, as he tried to focus on the elusive odor, a much more prominent and diverting scent reached his sensitive nose; Kagome had returned. Scowling at the distractions, he reluctantly jumped down the well to help her out into the sunlight of the feudal era. When she saw him, the girl who doubled as the not-so-secret object of his affections immediately began to greet him as he took the yellow backpack from her hands.

"Shut up," he told her, grabbing her around the waist and launching them both out of the well.

"Excuse me?" Kagome said as he set her feet on the ground again, incredulous at the abrupt command.

He ignored her, looking at Miroku and Sango, who both had risen to their feet when he'd gone to retrieve Kagome from the bottom of the well. "Oi. Do either of you sense that?"

They exchanged a look at the unexpected question, but when Sango's brow furrowed just a bit and Miroku acquired a look of concentration, Inuyasha could tell that they were focusing their senses on finding what he had already smelled. It was the monk who nodded first. "I feel it. It seems as though a horde of demons is making its way here quickly," he said, confirming Inuyasha's suspicions.

When Inuyasha said nothing, Miroku shifted his gaze to Sango, who quirked an eyebrow before slipping off to go change into the uniform she typically wore in battle. Miroku wistfully watched her disappear into the foliage; he would have very much liked to follow her and watch her as she did so, but it was a goal he could hardly achieve with Inuyasha and Kagome present, never mind the present situation.

When Sango returned hardly a minute later, slinging Hiraikotsu over her back, Kagome was frowning and sending the occasional glance skyward. She'd found arrows and already had one ready in the bow. "Shouldn't we head to the village? The demons are usually most likely to attack there."

One of Inuyasha's ears twitched. "No. They're coming from in here, the forest, and from the sound of it, they're heading right towards us." He drew Tetsusaiga, his face wrinkling in disgust. Kirara, who had awoken from her catnap some time before, transformed into her larger form, responding to the tension that filled the clearing.

There was a crash, as though something large had pushed its way through some underbrush, and everyone tensed. The sounds grew louder, more frequent, and then—

Youkai of all sorts erupted into view, some fifteen to twenty of them. A few had the appearance of boars and oxen that could stand upright, others were plainly spider demons, and one or two were lizards that were twice the average height of a human man in length. Many were twisted and deformed, like things out of nightmares with no resemblance to any normal living creature.

At once, the awaiting warriors sprung into action.

Miroku fought alongside Sango, protecting her back as she did the same for him. Hiraikotsu cut through the air, ripping and slicing demon flesh as it circled through the air, and his sutras glowed dimly in the sunlight. It was something that came easily to them, this moving together that enhanced one's own skills without hindering the other's abilities. They had mastered it soon after Sango had joined their little group, never even realizing what they were doing as it happened. They were a team within a team, much like Inuyasha and Kagome were, and neither ever found any need to question or otherwise discuss it.

The battle was going well. At one point, Inuyasha nearly used the Kaze no Kizu, but a yell from Kagome reminded him how near he was to the well. As rash as the half-demon could be at times, he wasn't stupid enough to invoke the wrath of Kagome, were he to destroy her only way home. Thus, he quickly changed his tactics and shredded the lizard-like youkai with his own claws, its dark, brackish blood splattering his haori.

Within minutes of that small occurrence, most of the attacking demons had been dispatched, and the only injuries sustained were a deep gash across Inuyasha's arm and a cut on Sango's cheek. As Miroku made a note to make sure her injury got tended to, no matter how shallow it was, a flash of movement caught his eye.

Another demon—a rather large and spider-like one—was charging towards Kagome from behind. Inuyasha, her usual protector, was preoccupied with two other opponents and hadn't yet noticed, which made it his job to protect his friend.

Giving Sango a shout to let her know he wasn't going to be defending her back anymore, Miroku leapt to Kagome's aid, raising his staff for a strike.

But he wasn't fast enough. He'd misjudged the demon's speed, and the demon crashed into him and then Kagome, sending them both flying through the air. As Miroku fell, he felt his head hit something hard with a crack. It sent a wave of pain lancing down his neck, but the landing that should have knocked the breath from his lungs didn't come.

His last coherent thought, in that breath of a second before he blacked out, was that he really should have hit the ground by now…

—

"Miroku-sama?"

His head felt heavy and ached with a dull throb, and all he could see was that it was dark. A moment longer, and he could feel something warm beneath him. It was…someone? In groggy confusion, Miroku wondered if he was back at Mount Hakurei, passed out from the strain of absorbing so much Saimyoushou poison and trying to carry Sango to safety. But, no… that had been nearly two weeks ago, hadn't it?

"Miroku-sama, please get off of me!"

He blinked, finally realizing both the fact that he had been spoken to, and also that he recognized the voice. "Kagome-sama?"

"Yes! Please, get off. You're really heavy!"

Obliging her, the monk rolled away quickly, trying to remember how they had gotten that way in the first place. Abruptly, he recalled the fight and the way the spider demon had knocked them across the clearing. They must have landed here, in this dim place, where he could hardly hope to distinguish anything from the darkness that pressed in. But where was here, exactly? He verbalized that question to Kagome, who had seemingly stood up and dusted herself off by the sound of her movements, something he had yet to do.

"I think… we're at the bottom of the well. She was quiet for a moment, and he could see her almost imperceptible silhouette move to what he assumed to be the well's stone walls. "My side of the well."

"What?" Miroku asked, more sharply than he had intended to. "How could that be? Only you and Inuyasha can go traverse through it."

"No," Kagome murmured. "It's too dark to be the Sengoku Jidai. I can usually see the sunlight or the moonlight when I'm there. We're inside our shrine's well house, I think. I don't know why, or how… You…" She stopped, then spoke again with a sense of direction in her voice, the uncertainty gone. "Come on, let's get back and figure out what's going on. Inuyasha and Sango are still fighting. Plus, I told my family I wouldn't be back for a while, so there's no need to worry them."

"Alright," Miroku agreed, still surprised. Idly, he wondered what it would be like to stay awhile, if this really was Kagome's era. She had told the group so many stories of what her time was like, and he wanted to see for himself the wonders that she had described in such amazing detail. But, no… He had responsibilities to attend to. He needed to get back to the fight, to leave the time traveling to Inuyasha and Kagome and make sure Sango hadn't gotten hurt while he was stuck at the bottom of this well…

'But… Since when have you ever been responsible?' whispered a traitorous thought, but he made himself ignore it. He did need to go back, to get back to… He didn't know where or what to, just that that his era was where he needed to be. Not for himself, not really, but he wasn't quite ready to be that honest with himself, not yet. Even so, he set his hands on the ground and pushed himself up, only to fall back with a cry of alarm.

Kagome started, almost letting out a surprised shriek at the sudden noise. "What is it?" she asked, recovering from her own shock and quickly dropping down to her knees to check on him. He couldn't see her, but he could feel her hand on his shoulder and her worried presence. He was worried too; scared, even.

"My hand." He stared at his cloth-covered right palm, trying to make it out in the blackness. "I put weight on it, and it..."

"The… Kazaana?"

"I don't know." Suddenly realizing the potential danger of the situation, he used his left hand to push himself up, nearly stumbling into Kagome as he did so. "If it is, I don't want to risk absorbing you or damaging the well. I need to get out." She nodded, even though he couldn't see her still, guiding him to the ladder she had brought into the well ages before to make it easy to get out. Swallowing down his fear, Miroku ascended it as fast as he could with only one usable hand. As soon as he reached the lip of the well, he pulled himself over and headed for the door, which was outlined by the late afternoon sunlight that peeked through the frame.

Knocking the door open wide, he pulled the cover from his hand, leaving on the beads that sealed its dangerous winds, and nearly fell over in shock.

"What is it, Miroku-sama?" Kagome called, lingering cautiously in the well house doorway and looking worried.

He stared at his palm, where instead of a depthless void, there was only a dark, lingering sort of bruise, all black and blue. But that was all.

Miroku swallowed, his mouth dry as he struggled to find the words he needed to speak. When they finally came, his voice was nothing more than a dry rasp.

"The Kazaana… It's gone."

—

Originally Posted November 2006