InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love Potion # Kyuu ❯ Epilogue

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.


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Kagome spent the rest of her summer break with Inuyasha and their other friends back in his time. They followed two more possible leads to Naraku, one of which turned out to be a dead-end when they took care of a nasty rat-youkai infestation, although the other lead still looked promising. They had slain an oni causing trouble in a nearby fishing village, but what had the incident standing out in their minds was the fact that when they’d shown up for the fight, the oni had spoken of their group as if he’d been expecting them, mumbling something about how he was under orders to kill them and take their jewel shards, though of course that didn’t happen. They had unfortunately been unable to learn anything about who had sent him, and it was always possible that the oni’s immediate master had been another enemy other than the dark hanyou himself, but when it came to seemingly random youkai targeting them directly, or in this case luring them out by attacking an innocent village, the odds were slim to none that Naraku didn’t have his hand it in somehow or another.

Once school started back up again Kagome tried her best to keep her trips into the future few and far between. Because of her continuous ‘health’ issues, Mrs. Higurashi was able to enroll Kagome in home schooling, which caught the miko by surprise although the gesture was greatly appreciated. That meant that instead of having to continually find new ways to excuse all of her absences only for the poor girl to get bombarded with a huge collection of past-due school work, Kagome was actually able to acquire, via her mother, all of her lesson plans at the same time her friends in school were studying them. She did her best to be honest in her schoolwork, now that she could actually take that work with her, and so even though she wasn’t at home, she spent at least a couple of hours studying every day. Besides, the Sengoku jidai was her home now. Only having to return to the future for her actual tests, but not for the extra few days in advance she’d always needed before to borrow her girlfriends’ notes to cram for the quiz, meant that the miko was spending more and more time in her future home, which was ironically in the past. The future itself was in her past, now, and she was looking forward to moving forward in her new life with Inuyasha.

A few times on rare occasion Kagome and Inuyasha were faced with prejudice, when a person with spiritual powers could sense the bond shared between them and expressed their immediate disapproval, but for the most part their travels remained peaceful as they continued to watch how they acted when in the company of strangers. The local villagers back home in Kaede’s village, on the other hand, were another story entirely. The hanyou and miko both knew that they would eventually want to settle down and start a family, and so they’d both decided that there was no point in putting off finding out whether or not they would ultimately be welcome to do so within the borders of the village they had both come to think of as their new home. Kaede too had immediately been able to sense the changes within Kagome, and within Inuyasha, as well, after they had completed the soul-bond. She had personally commended them on their level of commitment, and had reiterated the fact that they would always be welcome in her village, but everyone understood that Kaede’s word wasn’t necessarily law, and therefore with their permission word was spread, mostly via Shippou’s joyful chatter, of how the miko and hanyou had admitted their feelings to one another and gotten together. During their initial return trip to Musashi Inuyasha had relented that he didn’t want the runt to grow up without a family, as he himself had been forced to do, and so he and Kagome had more or less adopted the boy, telling him he would be welcome to stay with them once they built themselves a home in the village - provided he knew when to make himself scarce, Inuyasha had added with a smirk that had caused Kagome to blush and slap his arm playfully. But with Shippou’s happy chatter that he had a family again, as he played with the village children, it was pretty much guaranteed that in no time at all every member of Kaede’s village knew of Inuyasha’s relationship with ‘Kagome-sama’. There had been momentary concern that the villagers would turn against him for corrupting their precious miko, but instead, it thankfully turned out that with their revere for Kagome as Kikyou’s reincarnation, and because of the level of trust they had in Kaede and her judgment, Inuyasha was instead openly accepted by just about everybody, and even named the official youkai protector of their village. The forest surrounding the village had already unofficially been his for the last five decades, but no longer would thoughts of entering ‘Inuyasha’s forest’ concoct images of fear, of monsters hiding in wait for their next victim. The village headman even designated a plot of land near the border to his forest that he told the hanyou they could use to build their hut whenever they were ready, and the local carpenter already told both he and Kagome that he would accept meat and fur as payment in exchange for his assistance with its construction. Inuyasha had also feared, momentarily, that he wouldn’t be able to provide for Kagome like a normal husband - not everything could be found in the forest, after all - but it looked like that wasn’t going to be an issue after all because whenever they did need to buy something, he would be able to use meat and fur in trade. If there was one mundane skill at which Inuyasha definitely excelled over his human counterparts, it was hunting.

Despite the atmosphere of finality surrounding her last departure, Inuyasha continued to see Kikyou on rare occasion over the next few months, although they were strictly business meetings at which Kagome was also present, as everyone became more and more willing to put their differences aside in order to work together towards their ultimate goal of defeating Naraku. To prove she held no animosity towards the pair, the undead miko even went as far as to offer them her blessing on their wedding day. The ceremony was held shortly after Kagome’s sixteenth birthday, a private affair her friends had been told was for family members only. Some could argue that the ceremony was pointless since it wasn’t a legal wedding, that they were merely going through the motions for the sake of going through the motions, but that was precisely why performing an official wedding ceremony was important, to wed the duo in the eyes of the kami. The gods didn’t care about signatures or paperwork. It was to perform the ritual itself that was so important to Kagome’s grandfather, and in fact, to Kagome herself. Though Inuyasha was convinced his bride would never have complained a day in her inordinately long life if he had not wanted to go along with the human custom, he knew that deep in her heart she had wanted to marry him, just as any teenage girl dreamed of marrying the boy they were in love with. He had never seen her smile so brightly before.

A smile that was replaced quickly enough with the downward curve of a determined scowl, teeth indenting her bottom lip as her brow creased in concentration before letting the next arrow fly. The final battle against Naraku had been a long time in coming, but when the dark hanyou had finally grown tired of sending his incompetent underlings to collect the last of their jewel shards for him, he had come to the age-old conclusion of knowing that if you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself. Or so that was the belief he had carried with him onto the battlefield, until it quickly became apparent that the inu-tachi were not going to be as easy to eliminate as he had previously thought.

Kikyou, having finally found peace within herself, fought along side her reincarnation as if the two miko were twin sisters, the pair channeling each other through their shared soul in such a way that they didn’t need to communicate with words in order to know where or when the other was going to fire next. Having immediately picked up on the dark hanyou’s scent once Naraku had lowered his barrier, it didn’t take long for Kouga to arrive on the scene next, and grumbling something under his breath about how the wolf better behave himself, Inuyasha reluctantly acknowledged that any assistance against Naraku was not to be turned away. With a mentality of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ Kouga felt the same way, his eyes widening in surprise when he realized the hanyou had bonded with Kagome, though he kept his mouth shut on that particular subject, the only hanyou to face his wrath being the one with black hair and a crazy red eye in the middle of his chest.

The inu-tachi and their two unlikely allies didn’t face off against Naraku by themselves, with even more reinforcements arriving on the scene shortly after the battle got underway. Sesshoumaru had been tracking the spider for months, and he did not hesitate to make his presence known as he proceeded to engage the dark hanyou directly, ignoring Inuyasha’s cursing when he pushed his half-brother aside to become Naraku’s primary target. The inu-hanyou was momentarily stunned though, when as Naraku taunted Sesshoumaru as to what the old dog must be thinking, knowing the colossal weakness of Inuyasha’s heart to have not only fallen for a human woman, but to have actually committed the ultimate sin of bonding his soul with hers, Sesshoumaru’s reply to the spider’s words was unquestionably a compliment to his brother’s strength.

“Inuyasha’s weaknesses have never been in question. He is half human, after all.” the daiyoukai started, and everyone had thought that’d be it when he suddenly smirked before pushing Naraku back, adding matter-of-factly, “But to fall victim to the lure of a human female is a weakness he shares with our father, who was the strongest daiyoukai of his time. To perform the soul-bond takes not only precision, but a tremendous amount of youki. No sniveling fool could have accomplished it.”

The truth was, while Sesshouarmu was disgusted with what Inuyasha had done, he was also equally impressed, never having suspected the hanyou was strong enough, or smart enough, to accomplish such a thing. His decision to actually perform such a ritual with a human proved to the daiyoukai that the hanyou had an irreparable impairment of judgment, but his physical strength could not rightfully be questioned. On this day, against this enemy, he would ignore his disdain for his half-brother. Naraku had to be eliminated, and that was all there was to it.

Quickly getting over his shock, Inuyasha decided, for once, to not fight with his brother for alpha status, silently relinquishing his position as leader of the fight against Naraku as he fell back to cover Sesshoumaru’s attacks. As everything got more crazy, weapons fire running rampant, Miroku and Sango suddenly learned what Kaede had meant when she’d said she could also sense a change within Inuyasha, thanks to his bonding with Kagome. It was because she was a miko with a magical aura of her own, an aura that had risen up to bond with Inuyasha’s just as securely as his had bonded with her. He hadn’t just enveloped her with his youki like a youkai taking possession over a normal human’s body. They were one being, one soul split between two bodies, and even though Inuyasha could not sense that same type of link between himself and Kikyou, the way Kagome and Kikyou were almost reading each other’s minds, he did share that type of a connection with his mate. All he had to do was shout her name, and she knew precisely why he was calling her and what he wanted her to do, as she jerked away from where she had been aiming to instead fire her arrow without looking towards the direction of Inuyasha’s voice, her projectile joining forces with the blast from Tetsusaiga he launched at the same time to take a nice sized chunk out of Naraku’s ever rejuvenating hodgepodge of a body. A few moments later, thanks to an unnoticed severed tentacle reaching around Kagome’s ankle, causing her to stumble, her next arrow went zipping straight for Inuyasha. Shouting his name in panic, he looked over just in time to react on reflex, catching the arrow midair like he could do normal arrows. Sesshoumaru wasn’t automatically impressed with that skill, as he himself could catch Kagome’s arrows, her miko powers being no match for his level of youki, but the major difference was that when he had caught her arrow that one time, his youki had enveloped and destroyed her reiki, rendering the arrow powerless. The daiyoukai was hard pressed not to widen his eyes in astonishment as Inuyasha looked down at the glowing pink projectile he held in his hand, Kagome’s purifying energy neither harming him nor dissipating at his touch. Smirking, he quickly spun around and hurled the arrow in Naraku’s direction, the missile making contact and causing as much damage as it would have had it been sent straight to its target from Kagome’s bow.

The battle was long and hard, but eventually won by the good guys as Naraku’s final words were curses to them all. Having stated she knew how to defeat him, and feeling the sincerity behind her preincarnation’s words, Kagome trusted Kikyou’s judgment when she asked for their jewel shards. Kouga hadn’t wanted to give up his treasure without a fight, but one look in Kagome’s pleading eyes had made him cave, the wolf still having a soft spot for the miko somewhere buried in the back of his heart. Kikyou apologized to Inuyasha, stating that she had never meant to betray them when she had previously given Naraku the part of the jewel that she had, but she had not realized just how powerful he would become. Those words had been spoken moments before seemingly betraying them all again as she rushed to Naraku’s side only to give the dark hanyou the rest of the jewel with a wicked smirk, which he happily accepted and fused together with his own as he laughed at the shocked faces of his enemy. Kikyou got the last laugh, however, when it was suddenly revealed that the only reason she had ever wanted Naraku to have possession of the entire jewel was because she could then channel the last of her purifying energy to perform what she had originally intended to do with Inuyasha...use the Shikon no Tama to make a hanyou human. As each of his absorbed youkai were purified one by one Naraku screamed in agony, until there was nothing left but the man he had once been. Onigumo’s curses were still echoing in their ears as Kikyou opened the gates to Hell beneath their feet, the undead miko turning and sending Kagome and Inuyasha one last smile before she and the man who had once been Naraku descended together in the afterlife. A bright flash of light had everyone momentarily covering their eyes, and when they looked back, the pair were gone, balls of light everyone recognized as Kikyou’s ‘borrowed’ souls ascending up into the heavens. With the exception of one ball that sailed directly towards Kagome, who welcomed its return with open arms, both proverbially and literally. Inuyasha felt at peace knowing that Kikyou was not truly suffering in Hell. How could her soul linger in Hell when she had already been reincarnated? It was a paradox he honestly should have considered before. Yes, she had passed on into the afterlife, only to immediately rejoin herself within Kagome, just as she had said she would. After all, there could not be two of the same soul existing in different places at the same time. One soul could be split in two, as Kagome’s had been between them, but that was only while Kikyou still walked in the world of the living. To decent into the afterlife would have meant that a part of Kagome’s own soul was in Hell, and that just wouldn’t be possible. It also explained why he hadn’t been able to feel a connection with Kikyou while she had still been ‘alive’, because Kagome had been the main vessle of their shared soul, only a little portion of it existing in Kikyou’s body while it truly lived within Kagome’s. Kikyou had died fifty years ago, and all that had been functioning in that clay shell had been Kagome’s buried memories of the miko, the essence of herself that had been Kikyou. Yes, Inuyasha believed she had been the real Kikyou, in a sense, but he would never think of her as he looked into his mate’s eyes. Kagome was Kagome, and even Kikyou had come to accept that she had never been meant for him in that life.

Now that Naraku had been defeated, it finally meant that the rest of them could start living the lives they had been meant to live, as well. Not three months after the fall of Naraku was Sango already expecting, the lecherous monk having finally worn down Sango’s defenses to agree to some ‘alone time’ of their own, on occasion. Inuyasha helped the pair with the construction of their hut, using his strength and speed to quickly supply them with all the necessary lumbar, while the local carpenter offered his invaluable knowledge when it came to how huts were actually constructed. Kagome and Inuyasha were not without their own enjoyable moments of solitude, though the family end of things would still have wait a while since she didn’t want to juggle high school and parenthood. Not that Inuyasha was complaining, those magical little pills of hers ensuring they got in plenty of practice for the day they would eventually have a baby.

Kagome had been worried for a split second, though she’d tried not to show it, that with Kikyou’s plan to purify the jewel along with Naraku, it would mean she would be stuck in the past without getting to finish school after all, or even getting to say goodbye to her family, but that worry had been erased as quickly as it’d come when the piece of soul that had been Kikyou’s returned to her, and she felt her preincarnation’s confidence that she would still be able to travel between the two worlds. In fact it was true, the Bone Eater’s Well had its power to transcend time because of being constructed from the wood of the Goshinboku. It didn’t have anything directly to do with the sacred jewel at all, it had only been the added power boost from the jewel that had allowed Kagome to travel through the well when initially, by herself, she had not been powerful enough to do so. But now thanks to their bond, the pair had no intention of splitting up between the timelines, anyway, and they quickly discovered that with the two of them together, Kagome and Inuyasha were still able to travel back and forth without issue, just as Inuyasha had been able to bring Kagome back into the past with him on the rare occasions that they hadn’t had any jewel shards. Even though the future-born miko still had every intention of settling permanently with Inuyasha on his side of time, she was grateful for the fact that she would be able to visit her family on occasion. She was certain her mother wouldn’t want to miss out on playing with her future grandchildren.

Work on Kagome and Inuyasha’s hut was started shortly after Sango and Miroku’s home was finished, and it didn’t take long for life to settle into a peaceful tranquility the hanyou had never thought he’d get to experience. He had thought that village life would be boring, especially after their previous mission of trekking across all of Japan in search of Naraku and jewel shards, but normal day to day life proved to be quite challenging in its own right. He patrolled the surrounding forest, his forest, twice a day, at dawn and dusk, to make sure there wouldn’t be any surprise youkai problems from some pest or another. Kagome split her time between studying her high school lessons and learning things from Kaede, the elderly miko teaching Kagome all she would need to eventually one day take over as the village miko when her mortality caught up to her. That the local villagers were still willing to have Kagome function as Kaede’s successor even considering the fact that she was living with a hanyou and would one day be the mother to demonic children...Inuyasha didn’t know whether to cry, or pinch himself in an attempt to wake up. It certainly felt like a dream.

Actual work came in the form of he and Miroku taking up the career of being exorcists for hire. The monk had to make a living too, after all, now that he had a wife and baby to care for. Sango gave birth to a healthy baby boy, which earned much praise among the local villagers. The first few years together seemed to fly by, and before they knew it, Kagome was graduating high school with honors. She accepted her diploma with grace and dignity, and even though the hanyou didn’t understand half of the things she’d been studying, he was glad that Kagome had achieved her goal of completing her lessons and making her family proud. Inuyasha was the one to receive a present on graduation night, however, when she cooed to him seductively that she had neglected to take her pill that morning. His eyes had widened marginally before lowering in desire. Shippou spent the night at Kaede’s.

It was only a few short months later that Kagome was helping Sango to string up laundry when a sudden and overpowering urge to throw up came over her, forcing the miko to mutter half apologies moments before spinning around to empty her stomach on the grass. Sango only smiled knowingly. Inuyasha and Kagome had both been able to smell the change within her, but the intensity of her morning sickness, or what she deemed would be more appropriately named ‘any random time of the day’ sickness, was still something she wasn’t used to. It reminded her of that awful hangover she’d experienced the morning after drinking Miroku’s special tea, although as she thought back on it, the miko couldn’t help grinning at the memories.  

Unsure what their child was actually going to look like, though fearful of the potential consequences of giving birth to a hanyou baby in the 21st century, Kagome spent the last two months of her pregnancy in the Sengoku jidai. Her mother had been concerned but also understanding, and thanks to Inuyasha’s blood flowing through Kagome’s veins, giving birth in the past wouldn’t be anywhere near as dangerous for her as it was for the normal human mothers of the time. When it was finally time, Kagome had her sensei’s invaluable experience to help guide her through, Kaede having aided in countless childbirths over her decades as the village miko. Though granted, this was her first hanyou birthing, but Inuyasha had assured the elderly miko that Myouga had assured him that there should be no unforeseen difficulties for Kagome because of their child’s quarter-inu status. Under normal circumstances men were not permitted in the birthing room, but because Kagome was from a time when husbands were not only allowed to be with their wives as they gave birth, but they were actually expected to help them through the process, Kaede relented and allowed Inuyasha’s presence, provided the boy stayed out of her way. Inuyasha had no issues with that, sitting up by Kagome’s head and letting her squeeze his hand as hard as she could while he let Kaede take care of all the work going on down below. It was still a painful event, but thanks to her bonding with Inuyasha she was able to grin and bear it a lot better than most, not to mention the fact that Inuyasha could virtually feel her discomfort himself, which made him cringe in more than just sympathy ever time a contraction rushed through her. Through it all, Kagome miraculously managed to avoid cursing her husband’s existence, never once threatening that he would never be allowed to touch her ever again, as Sango had done. Inuyasha still chuckled at the memory of Miroku’s face when they’d heard her shout the threat from the inside of Kaede’s hut while he’d been pacing back and forth outside.

Inuyasha had learned long ago not to piss Kagome off during her pregnancy, having earned a few extra osuwari’s from time to time over the last few months, but in that moment, as she squeezed his hand and he wiped the sweat from her brow, they were in this together, and teasing her or telling her to ‘suck it up’ was the furthest thing from his mind when she was in the process of giving him the greatest blessing he had ever experienced. When Kaede announced that the baby was a girl, Inuyasha could sense the momentary worry that passed through Kagome’s mind, as if he really agreed with all the hogwash of girls being useless and every man wanting a male child. Did she honestly expect him to be disappointed? He was a father. Projecting her his love, his awe in that moment, Kagome could immediately sense his feelings on the matter and smiled back up at him as Kaede handed her their baby to start nursing. Their daughter had a small tuft of salt and pepper hair on her head, almost like an older person with black hair halfway in the process of going gray, except the faded locks weren’t gray but a bright stark white, the same silvery brilliance as her father’s shimmering tresses. Kagome mused that it would look quite beautiful once it grew out even longer. Curious rummaging through the downy soft locks quickly revealed, much to Kagome’s joy and Inuyasha’s hesitant pride, a set of floppy dog ears, the fuzzy flaps pressed closed against the baby’s head to protect her from the newness of how loud the outside world could sometimes be. Tired eyes blinking up at mommy revealed twin orbs of molten gold.

“She’s perfect.” Inuyasha whispered in awe.

“Everything’s perfect.” Kagome replied before giving her husband a peck on the cheek.

Agreeing with his mate and wife, Inuyasha knew that although life was often far from perfect, that moment in time certainly was. As the inu-hanyou wrapped an arm around Kagome and let her lean against him as she continued to feed their daughter, patting the spot at his other side in invitation when Shippou peaked his head inside to see if he was allowed to enter yet, Inuyasha knew that no matter what life threw at them, they would endure and overcome. His life was about to get a whole lot more difficult than it had ever been before, and he welcomed the challenge with a warm smile, silently thanking the kami for gifting him with the woman at his side. He had absolutely no idea what he could have possibly done in this life or any of his previous ones to deserve Kagome’s love, but he had been telling the truth when he’d vowed to spend the rest of his life earning her affection. There was nothing he could to do earn the miracle that was the bundle currently snuggled up in Kagome’s arms, but the thought of his soul being indebted to her for the rest of eternity was not an unpleasant one. She owned him, all of him, and he had the mark on his neck to prove it. It was the only scar on his body, and he would wear it with pride.