InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mating Season ❯ It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday ( Chapter 93 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: SplendentGoddess 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.24.2007 | Updated On: 09.27.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 7.7K | Visits: 8.0K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.24.2007 | Updated On: 09.27.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 7.7K | Visits: 8.0K | Status: Completed
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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A/N:
This chapter is going to feature several time-jumps. I’m going to try to make everything the least confusing as possible, not that I doubt your ability to keep up, but I want to make it less confusing for me. *grins*
I’ve never done anything exactly this way before, so I hope it doesn’t come out being all stupid. It might feel a little epilogue-esque, but don’t worry, this isn’t the epilogue!
We will be starting this chapter off ten more years after when the last two chapters took place. A brief recap of characters and their ages is as follows:
Inuyasha: (like it matters) 229
Kagome: 44
Kazuki: 25
Minako and Miyako: 21
Kenta: (Kagome had previously been pregnant with him) 10
Miroku: 47
Sango: 45
Emi: 25
Kichiro: 22
Aiko: 16
Megumi: (Sango hadn’t yet conceived her in the last chapter) 7
Sesshoumaru: Unknown, and if he has his way, it shall remain so for all time.
Kagura: 28 (In literal terms, though much like the wind, she is ageless.)
Suishoukaze: 25
Daichi: 22
Shippo: 36
Rin: 37
Hikaru and Noboru: 21
Hinata: 14
Kohaku: 40
Kaori: 40
Kumiko: Unmentioned, but let’s say somewhere around 60 at this point.
Yuudai: (Previously unnamed, though briefly mentioned, Kohaku and Kaori’s son) 19
Satomi: (Previously not yet conceived, Kohaku and Kaori’s daughter) 8
Etsuko: Unmentioned, and for reasons of simplicity, shall remain so.Hideki: Unmentioned, and for reasons of simplicity, shall remain so.
Chouko: 17
Kouga: Unmentioned, and for reasons of simplicity, shall remain so.
Ayame: Unmentioned, and for reasons of simplicity, shall remain so.
Akiaka: 26
Kouga and Ayame have no additional children at this time.
Well, I think that’s it, but if I missed anyone of importance, feel free to let me know and I’ll correct it. Oh, well of course there’s Kirara, she’s still around, staying with Sango and Miroku, but she falls under the “unmentioned” category as far as her age is concerned. The same goes for Jaken, as well as any other youkai in the West. Age unknown, and irrelevant. Also, keep in mind that this is just to help you get your baring for when this chapter starts, ‘cause like I said, this chapter will contain multiple time-jumps, so everyone’s age will be much different by the end of the chapter. I’m also going to stop worrying about keeping track of anyone’s age after this, as it gives me a headache, LOL. I had to do it this time, here, because there are a couple of new children that hadn’t been born yet that I needed to make you guys aware of. Also, I will go ahead and warn you now that there will be a little bit of sadness near the end of this chapter. Unfortunately, it can’t be helped.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s do the translations now, rather than at the end, for those of you who might be curious.
Kenta is broken down at behindthename.com into its separate components, this version of ken meaning “healthy, strong” while ta in this context means “thick, big”
Minds out of the gutter, people.
Megumi, on the other hand, is not deconstructed. It is simply stated that the name means “blessing.” Most appropriate for Sango and Miroku’s last child, wouldn’t you say?
Yuudai: Yuu means “hero, manly” while dai means “large, great.” Damn, there goes that gutter mind again. But all joking around aside, I felt this to be the perfect name for Kohaku’s first son, as surely he would train the boy to become an exceptional Taijiya.
Satomi: The listing for this name states that sato can either mean “village” or “wise”. In this case, I’m going with “wise”, while of course, mi means “beautiful”. Wise and Beautiful. What a wonderful name.
Okay, enough of that. On with the show!
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Chapter 93 - It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday
Peaceful bird song could be heard throughout the quiet morning village, as the majority of the women from the slowly growing town gathered for their morning trek to the washing station. Having to do laundry in such a fashion would make any modern-day woman cringe and begin offering blessings to the god of Maytag, but such was life in the feudal era.
As the young maidens and older wives began their morning routine, it wasn’t long at all before the idle chitchat of womanly gossip could be heard. There wasn’t anything that went on in the village that remained secret for long. The television, telephone, and even telegraph may have yet to be invented, but “tell a woman” was operating in full force.
Twin sets of raven colored dog-ears flickered involuntarily while instinctively catching every word spoken around them. A nearby group of older wives were unknowingly permitting their whispers to be louder that what would be considered wise in the company of inu-hanyou.
Miyako blushed and stole a glance at her sister, who smirked knowingly and gestured that they pretend not to hear them and merely keep washing their robes. Youkai-silk may never need to be replaced, after all, but that didn’t mean that it still didn’t occasionally need to be washed. What had caught Miyako’s attention were the whispers being spoken about her. Not her and her sister, just her. Not a single woman in the group uttered any words resembling “half-breed”, “freak”, or any variation thereof, but apparently, one of the older women’s sons had taken a fancy to the raven haired, dog-eared beauty. The wives were playfully snickering as to when the shy boy would get off his duff and ask Lord Inuyasha’s permission to court his daughter. Miyako knew very well of the young man in question, too, which was the main reason for her crimson cheeks. She honestly wouldn’t mind if that particular human male did court her, as Yoshi had certainly proven himself worthy of her affections in her own eyes. He was one of the few who never showed any ounce of difficulty with telling her apart from her sister, for one thing. Though their looks were virtually identical, their personalities had grown to be near polar opposites over the years, but of course that was only recognizable to those who had grown close enough to them to catch the differences. While Miyako wasn’t necessarily shy, she was much more subdued, and polite. Minako, on the other hand, was a brunette, female version of their father.
The human women were pulled from their musings when a third half-demon girl made her way onto the scene, carrying a modest basket of laundry. Chouko had grown into quite the young beauty, as well, and wasn’t without her own fair share of admirers. The butterfly hanyou possessed wavy flowing locks of iridescent powder blue, much like her mother’s, while her skin was as fair as the most delicate of porcelains, regardless of how much time she spent in the sun. Her eyes were the same shade of blue as her mother’s, as well, matching the brilliance of the clear morning sky. She possessed the standard pointy ears of those with full-youkai blood, but her hanyou heritage easily made itself known in the form of dark, royal blue antennae, perched daintily upon her head. She also possessed a fair amount of butterfly magic, which was based on illusion, though it was more of an illusion of the mind, rather than body. A butterfly youkai could only make you think you saw what you were seeing, and most often, their spells worked on a more subconscious level, much like the dream-state attacks of their moth cousins.
Nobody feared her or her mother, however, and soon enough, the human women resumed their moderate gossiping, diligently incorporating the butterfly girl in the form of placing wagers as to how long before he appeared, if she were now among them.
“Ah, ladies!” was suddenly heard from across the way, causing one of the women to smirk triumphantly to her disgruntled coconspirators, as she presented her hand palm out and quietly joked “Pay up.”
Chouko shot the women a dry look, but couldn’t help but to smile at Kichiro’s approach all the same.
Wearing a modest male yukata, as the weather was most permitting, Kichiro effortlessly made his way down towards the object of his desire, taking the necessary moment to flash a flirty grin to each and every woman that he passed along the way, married or no. While it was true that, with regard to profession, Kichiro had followed in his mother’s footsteps in becoming a Taijiya, there was no doubt that he was most certainly his father’s son. The faint traces of spiritual power lining his aura had nothing to do with it.
“Ah, Chouko, my darling…”
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Th e months to follow were pleasant ones for those living in Inuyasha’s village.
New wives bore their husbands many healthy babies, while slowly but surely, Inuyasha was forced to search longer and harder for suitable trees that would provide enough timber for the construction of new huts, not to mention the land on which to build said huts. But he knew that, eventually, much of the surrounding land would be over run by concrete, so keeping that in mind, it was in the general direction that his memory recollected the major city would one day reside in, that he chose to expand his growing village. He felt little remorse in chopping down trees that he already knew would one day cease to exist, regardless.
With winter coming back around, Inuyasha’s wasn’t the only village duty to increase nearly tenfold. Kagome also had her hands full, quite literally at times, with tending to the sick and injured of all ages. She may still be the village miko - which basically meant she was more or less a spiritual figure, as her mate was their main protector against attacks - but she was also the village healer, which meant she was the only equivalent to a doctor for miles around.
Sango often went with her on her rounds, the middle-aged ex-slayer finding comfort in providing a form of service to the village other than fighting, as she’d finally given up the violent profession a few years back. Or at least she’d given up “active duty” as Kagome had jokingly referred to it, as Sango often still shared her knowledge with not only her own children, but any of the village youths who wished to learn the art of youkai slaying. Just because her “old bones” couldn’t haul Hiraikotsu around quite as easily any more didn’t mean that she was suddenly useless; far from it, in fact. She enjoyed being an instructor to the future generation of Taijiya, and she enjoyed being Kagome’s nurse.
On their way to check on yet another expectant mother, Sango couldn’t help but to comment on their village’s unusually high population rate. Kagome speculated that it was most likely because with such assured protection, none of the villagers felt the same uncertainty for the future that many people did across the land, still living in the “warring states era” as they were. Everyone knew that theirs was at least one village in which it was safe to raise a family.
Everyone knew that…human and youkai alike. Any humans who may have had a problem with living in such close quarters to youkai had taken it upon themselves to relocate years ago, and with the passage of time, none of the elders who had still recalled Inuyasha’s Naraku-manipulated attack for the sacred jewel still lived. The eldest members living in the village today all remembered only how the sealed Inuyasha had been released from his spell upon Kagome’s sudden arrival in their world, and how their parents had entrusted in Kaede’s judgment when she declared that neither Inuyasha nor the strange girl meant them any harm.
Sango had agreed with her “sister’s” assessment of the situation, jokingly stating how she understood all too well what fear of the future could do to a person with regard to having children. For a brief time, Sango had been furious with Miroku after he’d confessed what he’d been doing, but it wasn’t long before the slayer had made a confession of her own. Of how she fully understood Miroku’s hesitations; of how she herself held fear regarding the unknown. You never knew what the future might hold, she had told him. She reminded him rather bluntly of how her entire village had been wiped out by Naraku, and pointed out that it didn’t necessarily take an act of the gods - such as a miss-birth - to bring about one’s demise in the world. It hadn’t been long after their talk that Aiko was conceived.
Their family grew even larger than anticipated when Hachiemon paid them an unexpected visit one summer, shortly before Megumi’s birth. Master Mushin had survived for far longer than anyone would have believed, given his affection for sake, but Inuyasha had joked that that was probably what had kept the old coot alive for so long…as nothing rotted when you preserved it in alcohol. Miroku had made it back to his old shrine in time to spend his master’s final days with him, and then, upon the elder monk’s passing, Hachi was invited to become yet another permanent fixture in Inuyasha’s village.
Coming out of her revere as she assisted Kagome with tending to the young soon-to-be-mother, Sango couldn’t help but to wonder how her own eldest daughter was doing. Emi and Kazuki had left the village a few years back, to “travel and do good” as Emi had put it. They returned for visits often, but as Emi had stated, their village didn’t need two miko, and there were others out there in the world that could undoubtedly use their help. Sango had wondered aloud, in a mostly joking manner, how the world at large would take to a young inu-hanyou mated to a young miko, wandering from place to place. Kagome had smiled knowingly, while stating with confidence that it’d been done before. At least, both agreed with genuine relief, their children would never have to know the worries of a perilous mission such as gathering jewel shards or defeating a monster such as Naraku. Both women knew that their children could easily handle anything the world may throw at them.
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Treating the last of the sick, Emi wiped the sweat from her brow. The small village lacked any sort of spiritual protection, and therefore, they had not detected the youkai among them. Had it not been for Kazuki’s nose tracking the threat, and her own extensive knowledge of herbs and purification, it may have soon very well been a village of corpses.
When they’d first approached the village, merely to inquire in a manner of friendly curiosity as to whether or not they were in need of any sort of assistance, they had been greeted rather hostilely. Though the mating marks on Emi’s throat and wrist were completely concealed by her traditional miko garb, the village headman nonetheless had stated that he wanted nothing to do with a “dark miko who beds with half-breed filth.” They were just about to leave, rather indignantly, when both Kazuki’s ears, as well as even Emi’s bond enhanced hearing, picked up the panicked questions of the fearful villagers frantically asking their headman if they had been the ones responsible for the plague.
Curious, and most definitely stubborn, Kazuki had turned right back around and demanded to know what plague. The village headman had been reluctant to give the “half-breed” any sort of information, but some of the other villagers weren’t so quick to judge. If he truly knew nothing of the plague, then perhaps he and the miko could actually help them. Hadn’t that been what they were inquiring about in the first place? Most people lost their prejudice fairly quickly when the choices were either accept the aid of a half-demon, or remain sick and die.
It was faint, so faint she almost didn’t feel it, but tiny youki signatures besides herself and her mate were present within the village. Emi quickly realized that what she felt was coming from the villagers themselves, or more specifically, the “sick” villagers. This was no ordinary virus. It was around the same time that Emi realized what she was sensing that Kazuki declared that he could smell the faint hint of youkai, suggesting the scent had been attempted to be masked. That announcement caused most present to gasp in fear and plead that they help them. Neither would ever turn down the request for help. Putting his nose to work, ignoring the cursed demands of the headman that they leave at once, Kazuki began sniffing the air, the ground, the people (though they were weary of that one) until he discovered the traitor amongst them. The headman was no ordinary human, but a very low level carrion feeder, capable of mastering human form, yet so weak he possessed virtually no demonic aura whatsoever. Infecting the humans gradually, he had more or less provided himself with an endless buffet of dead flesh to feed upon when they would fall one by one at the hands of his poison. The original village headman had been his first victim, making it easy to walk among the sheep that knew not of the wolf in their fold.
Upon quick and effective slaughter of the chameleon-like youkai, one of the village elders took it upon himself to welcome the strangers into their midst, practically begging for their continued assistance with the plague that the false headman had left them with. Emi was quick to set to work with purifying the demonically based virus, while Kazuki hunted for herbs she would later use to brew teas that would aid in faster recovery. The flu-like symptoms ranged from person to person depending on the natural strength of each individual’s immune system, so she therefore worked from the logical standpoint of treating the sickest villagers first. There were no more deaths after the “hanyou protector and his miko savior” arrived in the tiny village. Somewhat better titles than what they had originally received.
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As the years went by, knowledge of Kazuki and Emi’s good deeds became more wide spread, and they were gradually met with less and less hostility at the human villages they often stopped at. Though they usually stayed within the large boarder of what fell under Lord Sesshoumaru’s jurisdiction, there were several times when they had ventured, for whatever reason, beyond the unmarked boundaries of the Western Lands. Even during those times, they were met with little to no resistance from the youkai half of society. More often than not, whenever they were greeted by some random youkai within the woods who had originally been drawn by Emi’s human scent, the reaction they received upon recognition was usually along the lines of…
“You…you are the son of Lord Inuyasha, younger brother and Beta to Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands.”
At which point Kazuki would grin smugly, while crossing his arms with pride and simply declaring “Yes, yes I am.”
The sword Inuyasha had forged for his second son and first flesh-born was a strong, fierce blade indeed, but never once did Kazuki have to use it against anything intelligent enough to recognize him for who he was. When the choices given by the Inu no Taisho were “adapt or perish” nearly everyone readily chose adapt.
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Back at the village, life continued to move forward, as life often did, at least for mortals.
It was somewhat unsettling for Kagome to watch everyone growing older around her, but it was a fate she had accepted long ago. While it would always trouble her in some ways, she could never deny that a part of her actually longed for the centuries to go by. She had done well her in lack of homesickness over the years, but she had been given a recent shocker when she discovered, during his night of weakness, that Kenta’s human form bore a striking resemblance to Souta. She supposed it made perfect since, as they were family after all, but it was a painful reminder all the same, until a little meditation with an aging Miroku helped her put everything into a more positive light. She had been given a reminder of her goal, was all; a symbol from the kami that her desires did not lay forgotten. His words had helped her greatly, and then her heart had saddened once more, catching a glimpse of the wisps of silver in his mane, and the unfamiliar wrinkles residing around his eyes. Instantly taking notice of her change in demeanor, he waved off her concerns with a genuine smile, quickly muttering something about how he truly envied her bravery in facing such a trying life, lightening the mood with mild humor as he added how he was surely not as man as she to accept such a challenge.
Kagome had chuckled at his words while her eyes thanked him for the deeper meaning she knew lied within, though thoughts regarding immortality did not leave her. Part of her suspected that it may have been for that reason, remaining the same while watching others grow old, that Emi had chosen to travel the lands rather than remain at the village.
She had chosen the same fate as Kagome, having decided that there was no way in all the ten hells she was going to permit herself to grow old while Kazuki was forced to sit back and watch his mate wither and die, and while the elder miko knew that just like herself, Emi would never regret making such a choice, Kagome could always see it in her eyes, whenever the two of them would stop by for a visit. Emi was somewhat disturbed to see her younger siblings steadily becoming older than herself. To see the girls that had still been children upon her previous visit suddenly raising children of their own. At least while she and Kazuki were out on their own, she could pretend to forget about everything in the world that was changing around them.
It was an understandable feeling, though, and Kagome did not admonish the girl for experiencing it. She knew that just like herself, Emi would never regret her decision to mate Kazuki, and Kagome also knew that the young miko’s parents had commended her bravery when it came to facing the world of a near immortal.
She also wasn’t the only one, as it would turn out, with Chouko’s youki also being strong enough to allow her to perform such a bond with her mate, as well. Kichiro wasted no time with fathering his share of little quarter-butterfly angels, and unlike his sister, Kichiro stayed put, enjoying a relatively peaceful life in the village, and adopting his father’s monk-like outlook on life in general. He was still a practicing Taijiya, however, which was cause for talk in its own right. A youkai slayer with the mentality of a monk, mated into a family of youkai? What was the world coming to? But he did surprisingly well for himself and his family with his profession of choice. He was available for hire to those in need, along with his cousin Yuudai, who served as his partner in battle. Kohaku’s son was jokingly jealous over his cousin’s youkai enhanced senses, which as one may suspect, often came in handy during battle. To an outsider, it may seem like a strange way to live his life, but no one could dispute that the boy was happy.
Miyako was another story. While she loved her mate dearly, it was for that reason that she respected his decision to remain mortal. It saddened Inuyasha and Kagome to no end, to know of the pain their daughter would undoubtedly be forced to face, and relatively soon in the grand scheme of things, but the hanyou girl attempted to keep everyone’s spirits light as the months bled into years right before her eyes. She said she would always cherish these moments, these times she had with her husband - they had married in the human tradition - and never would she love another as she loved him. Yoshi meant “good luck” and he often boasted that he was indeed lucky to have found her. She felt the same.
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Having turned his table in such a way that a fresh breeze blew over him from the nearby open window, Sesshoumaru attempted to maintain concentration on the letter he was writing to his brother. Certain…odors…were proving distracting at the moment, but he was not so weak as to fail in overcoming such an inconvenience. At least that was what he kept telling himself until he felt a pair of warm arms gently wrap themselves around his torso.
“Woman…” he growled low, pinching his eyes shut in a desperate fight for control as he felt his fertile mate somehow slip her hands within his robes, slowly allowing the material to fall open and slide down his back.
Kagura took a moment to apply gentle pressure to the smoothed end of her mate’s left arm, which currently rested just above where the elbow would be. It was a slow process, but eventually, the entire limb would regenerate itself.
Having understood the deeper meaning in her mate’s warning growl, and knowing very well that she was currently in heat, Kagura disregarded her mate’s concerns as she spun him around, cushion and all, to face her. A wicked finger placed against his lips prevented the Taiyoukai from protesting, as the strain in his hakama became quite visible, even with the aid of a fundoshi holding him down. Sesshoumaru would never admit that in the tiniest of ways, he sometimes envied his little brother, in that the hanyou at least possessed the ability to numb his sense of smell during Kagome’s heat. Of course, all was not lost in their quest to postpone future offspring, as Kagura quickly pointed out. There had to be a way that so many youkai were capable of waiting centuries between children, after all.
“You know very well that there is more than one way to mate me.” she whispered behind a seductive purr, and what Sesshoumaru had once thought of as distasteful suddenly sounded like a very good idea, indeed.
He would finish the letter to his brother later.
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The Youkai-Alliance may have gotten off to a rocky start, but with the exception of the continued exclusion of the southern bear youkai, nearly every other major faction eventually accepted Lord Sesshoumaru’s proposal, even the panther youkai.
Having received notice that everyone else was on board, Kagome had quietly mused that the kuma would be much like the nonbelievers of Noah’s Arc in Christian mythology. They would laugh until the flood of humanity was upon them, but then, it would be too late. Though, she hoped that if such a thing were truly to take place, that she would somehow be able to persuade her brother’s mate to assist - perhaps not Osamu himself - but at least his people. The innocent civilians who said nothing harsh regarding Kagura’s standing did not deserve to be hunted to extinction merely for being born in the Southern realm. Though with regard to asking Lord Sesshoumaru for such leniency, Kagome would wait to cross that bridge when they all came to it.
Rin and Shippo had come to the same conclusion Sesshoumaru and Kagura had with regard to children, deciding that they too could wait a few years (or decades) before worrying about having any more babies.
Suishoukaze was slowly - very slowly - growing out of her youkai equivalent to adolescence, deciding to milk her youth for all it was worth, while Daichi, who was virtually the exact same age as his sister as far as youkai were concerned, was determined to prove that he was already a man. Sesshoumaru had spoken rather crudely to his son, stating that if any humans who had been alive during the time of his birth were still alive, excluding those mated to youkai, then he was not yet a man. It was a rather blunt way to look at it, but considering how Inuyasha had still appeared (and acted) to be in his late teens at over a century of age, the Taiyoukai had actually made a rather valid point. Being full-blooded, Daichi would age even slower than his half-human uncle had when he was his age, so even though he had stopped growing in the literal sense of things, it would be a long time before he lost his childlike appearance in everyone else’s eyes.
Wishing to rush headlong into adulthood wasn’t an issue for Hikaru or Noboru, however. The male kitsune hanyou both thoroughly enjoyed their relatively carefree lives. Word had been given long ago that the Western Lands were an official safe-haven for those of mixed blood. Sesshoumaru could do no less after having publicly acknowledged the various hanyou in his own pack, after all. The boys were free to be boys, never once having faced any of the hardships that had once haunted their “jii-chan” on a daily basis.
They were also quickly coming into their kitsune abilities, especially Hikaru, and despite being half human, the pup had scored a decent rank in Kitsune Youjutsu, when his father had given permission for him and his brother to visit the Inn a couple years back. So long as they both swore to never harm a human in any way - not that they would, having been raised by a human mother - Shippo permitted his boys to indulge in the nature of kitsune trickery to their hearts’ content.
Hinata, on the other hand, had developed her mother’s love for the gardens, often assisting Rin with her planting. She also shared her father’s love for art, and bore the guilt for being the one responsible for finally using up the last of the crayons. It was amazing how long those things had actually lasted, but truthfully, crayons weren’t really the type of thing that would “go bad” after only a few decades. Shippo had long ago saved what had remained of the colorful wax sticks for his children, quickly acquainting himself with the brush to nullify his own itching artist’s hand, though black and white portraits easily grew tiresome. It wasn’t long before he figured out how to make a few rough water-based paints from the color stains of berries. While Hinata was never able to capture the essence of life quite as well as her father could in his inkings, she still possessed an appreciative eye for art, and quickly merged her two passions in the form of fanciful landscape design.
She and her brothers visited Inuyasha’s village with their parents often, and she was always amazed to see her father transform himself from the strict, yet loving, no-nonsense man she had grown up with, to the carefree, playful kitsune that he became in the miko’s presence. Shippo may actually be a few inches taller than Kagome these days, but he would always be her little boy, no matter what.
Inuyasha and Kagome’s biological children had no problem with the kitsune being acknowledged as their elder sibling, though when Minako tried to politely - for her - discourage Noboru’s advances, the kitsune-hanyou was quick to point out to his “aunt” how they were not truthfully related. Nothing ever became of the boy’s attempts at courting the still available hanyou-bitch, much to Noboru’s dismay, though Rin had managed to find it amusing, in a motherly sort of way, how her shy little baby was seemingly drawn to the girl’s rather outspoken personality. It reminded her, in a way, to Kouga’s relationship with Ayame, and Rin was fully convinced that somewhere out there was the perfect girl for her son. For both of her sons. Noboru’s quiet nature may make him drawn to a dominating presence, but Hikaru would need someone tough to put up with his ass.
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She knew it was coming. Even if she had forgotten, Kumiko had functioned as a reminder, when the old widow had passed quietly in her sleep. That had been a few years back, and Kagome still recalled how Sango had spoken of Kohaku’s sadness, having grown to care for his wife’s mother as his own.
A few years back…was it really only a few years ago that that’d happened? Or was it more like ten, twenty, thirty? How had she lost track of time so easily? All Kagome knew for certain, at that moment, was that a lot of time had indeed passed them by, as she held the frail form of her almost-sister, as the old widow that she too had become continued to cry quietly against her shoulder.
Sango had successfully achieved her most secret goal. After the scare she had given Miroku when she’d nearly died birthing their only son, she was bound and determined to never abandon him in death. Now, at age 76, the long-retired slayer gazed with tearful eyes at the body of her late husband, Miroku’s elderly form a picture of tranquility upon the funeral pier. He had vastly surpassed the standard life expectancy of their era, as she herself was continuing to do, and it was all thanks to Kagome and her modernized knowledge regarding health and nutrition.
However, as it was said, people could indeed die of a broken heart, for it wasn’t but a few months after Miroku’s passing that Sango followed her husband into the next life. Both had been firm believers in reincarnation, such being only obvious as Kagome herself was a reincarnated spirit, and before her passing, Sango had attempted to lighten the mood with the friendly reassurance that, perhaps, though she may not remember their past on the surface, she and Kagome would meet each other again, one day. The miko had smiled at her friend’s kind words, and had responded only that she had no doubt such a thing would take place, and that she looked forward to it. Sango had nodded her understanding, then, and shifted her gaze upward to the ceiling of Kagome’s hut, where the miko had moved her after she’d fallen ill.
Her last words were “I’m coming, Houshi-sama.”
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Inuyasha worried for his mate.
Having known that it would happen “one day” and having that day come and go were two very different things. She was not adjusting to Miroku and Sango’s passing as easily as he’d hoped she would. On the surface, she still appeared as cheery as ever, when treating the sickly villagers, or offering her services as the town’s only spiritual leader, but the senior inu-hanyou wasn’t fooled, and neither were their children.
Kazuki and Emi had moved back to the village shortly before Miroku’s passing, Emi finally realizing how much time she’d missed with her family. Though, truth be told, she had visited her parents more often than most poor girls who married away into rich families did. And it was true, she had married into a rich family, as Lord Sesshoumaru and Lord Inuyasha continued to grow in their joined power as Founders of the Youkai Alliance. Though in reality, Inuyasha let Sesshoumaru take care of all that political mumbo jumbo on his own. But Kazuki was a prince in his own right, and Emi had always known of his birthrights, though again much like Kagome, she hadn’t truly cared. She loved him for him, and for her, sleeping under the stars in a tree would be enough to sustain them.
Upon her mother’s passing, and Kagome’s subsequent, however subtle, drop in disposition, Emi gradually began assisting her “aunt” and mother-in-law with her miko duties.
So much was changing.
Kohaku and Kaori weren’t much longer for their world, either, though they were survived by their children as well as several grandchildren, most of which continued to keep up the tradition of the Taijiya.
Though Emi and her brother both mated into demonic families, and were blessed with longer life spans as a result, their younger sisters Aiko and Megumi both married human men, and continued to age as mortals. Though the girls both practiced youkai slaying, as well, they also didn’t hesitate to start families of their own. Though the Taijiya tradition naturally needed to change and adapt with the times, it was still a family tradition they continued to pass on to their children, just like their cousins. Slowly but surely, they were becoming one big clan again, and it was Satomi who first suggested that they attempt to repopulate the abandoned slayer village. Perhaps there was some validation to the village aspect of her name’s meaning, after all.
Miyako’s husband Yoshi was also aging rapidly, as his flesh bore only the claiming mark her inu half had required she place upon his neck, as she was physically the dominant of the two, while her human heart permitted her to leave his mortal blood free from youkai bonding, no matter how desperately it pained her to watch him age. She was nothing if not loyal to her mate, despite the increasing “age difference” between them, and she would continue to remain faithful, even after his passing. She had three darling little quarter-inu reminders of his time in her life, and for that, she knew she truly was lucky.
Minako, on the other hand, had yet to take a mate of her own, not that the opportunity hadn’t arisen on a few occasions. She just hadn’t managed to find that special someone whom she could put up with, yet. She visited often, but had long ago abandoned permanent residence in her father’s village, in search of “adventure” as she’d called it, which Inuyasha reluctantly permitted, as the world was slowly but surely becoming a somewhat safer place for hanyou.
It was finally decided that, with Kazuki and Emi both remaining as permanent fixtures in the village, that Sango’s daughter’s original logic still stood that they didn’t need two miko, nor did Inuyasha believe that they needed two hanyou protectors, as Kazuki was a fine, strong young man. It was with that train of thought that the decision was finally made that Inuyasha and Kagome would relocate to the Western Lands, a choice that was also assisted by the fact that Sesshoumaru was sending more and more frequent correspondence with regard to Inuyasha’s (however undesired) involvement in the ruling decisions of their realm. It would be better for everyone if they just moved to the castle and got it over with. That way, Inuyasha thought, Kagome could forget about the constant heartache she was bombarded with by continuing to watch everyone mortal aging around her, by moving to a location where the only resident human was also immortal.
Though their youngest child, Kenta, was also a grown man by that point, he was unmated and decided to relocate with his parents. Miyako remained in the village for a few years while she spent her remaining time with her husband, but after Yoshi’s passing, she too joined her parents in her uncle’s castle, her three unmated adult quarter-inu pups following after mother. Minako was made aware of the move, and continued to visit her family often, but still preferred to spend the majority of her time on her own.
Emi and Kazuki, having decided to wait a while before starting a family of their own, took it upon themselves to keep track of everyone else’s family tree. You never knew when such information might be desired, and as it would turn out, Kagome often enjoyed hearing about the latest grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of her deceased best friends. When the news could be told in a happy manner, of who else had been born, or who’d married whom, you were spared the hard reality of aging and death.
Though truth be told, Kagome was a lot tougher than she knew her family feared. She appreciated that everyone was worried about her, but it wasn’t as though she had collapsed into a puddle of miserable goo. Of course it had saddened her to witness her life long friends grow old and die, but she fully believed what she had told Sango, that she did in fact believe they may meet again in some other life. How could one not come to find it depressing to watch those you remembered being born die of old age, while you remained the same? But just because she was human, and so such things as mortality played at her heartstrings, that didn’t mean she had developed one big negative outlook on life. It saddened her when people died, sure, but it overjoyed her to witness new life being born. She was certain that Emi, too, would be okay, as the girl was now faced with the fate Kagome had seemingly abandoned in her relocation. The elder miko would never forget the first time Emi had delivered a baby all on her own, during her training to become the replacement midwife, and the way her eyes had brightened with the light of the kami themselves as she’d gazed down at the new life she’d held in her arms. Yes, Emi would be just fine, and so would Kagome.
Still, the move needed to be made, if for no other reason than Inuyasha needed to get his butt to the West and start tending to the business he needed to be tending to. If he wanted to believe that the move to a fully youkai environment had been mainly done to benefit Kagome’s outlook on life, then let him continue to believe that. She knew that he felt guilty for having caused her exposure to such things, having explained in an apologetic manner once that that was precisely why most mortals did not wish to do the blood-bonding. She had promptly told him to shut up at that point, pointing out how her entire family was youkai. He was youkai, their children were youkai, and she was glad that she too, was part youkai. She would never have been able to forgive herself if she had put him through what their daughter had just experienced, Miyako’s disposition having plummeted for the time being. Though no one could blame her, and understanding how different the situation truly was when the gradual decades-in-the-making death you had just witnessed was your own mate, everyone knew to let the hanyou girl grieve for however long was necessary. They would be there for her, when she was ready to talk about it.
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A/N
Well, I hope I haven’t bummed everyone out too much. We all know this story will have a generally happy ending, but I’m just trying to keep it more realistic. Sometimes life sucks. It can’t all be raindrops on roses.
Also, I’m sure it’s obvious that this story is fairly off-canon, what with Kagura being alive and mated to Sesshoumaru and all, but I just couldn’t help tossing out that little bit regarding the Kitsune Youjutsu. I don’t know how many of you read the manga, but I’m sure some of you caught that reference. I just figured…why not?
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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A/N:
This chapter is going to feature several time-jumps. I’m going to try to make everything the least confusing as possible, not that I doubt your ability to keep up, but I want to make it less confusing for me. *grins*
I’ve never done anything exactly this way before, so I hope it doesn’t come out being all stupid. It might feel a little epilogue-esque, but don’t worry, this isn’t the epilogue!
We will be starting this chapter off ten more years after when the last two chapters took place. A brief recap of characters and their ages is as follows:
Inuyasha: (like it matters) 229
Kagome: 44
Kazuki: 25
Minako and Miyako: 21
Kenta: (Kagome had previously been pregnant with him) 10
Miroku: 47
Sango: 45
Emi: 25
Kichiro: 22
Aiko: 16
Megumi: (Sango hadn’t yet conceived her in the last chapter) 7
Sesshoumaru: Unknown, and if he has his way, it shall remain so for all time.
Kagura: 28 (In literal terms, though much like the wind, she is ageless.)
Suishoukaze: 25
Daichi: 22
Shippo: 36
Rin: 37
Hikaru and Noboru: 21
Hinata: 14
Kohaku: 40
Kaori: 40
Kumiko: Unmentioned, but let’s say somewhere around 60 at this point.
Yuudai: (Previously unnamed, though briefly mentioned, Kohaku and Kaori’s son) 19
Satomi: (Previously not yet conceived, Kohaku and Kaori’s daughter) 8
Etsuko: Unmentioned, and for reasons of simplicity, shall remain so.Hideki: Unmentioned, and for reasons of simplicity, shall remain so.
Chouko: 17
Kouga: Unmentioned, and for reasons of simplicity, shall remain so.
Ayame: Unmentioned, and for reasons of simplicity, shall remain so.
Akiaka: 26
Kouga and Ayame have no additional children at this time.
Well, I think that’s it, but if I missed anyone of importance, feel free to let me know and I’ll correct it. Oh, well of course there’s Kirara, she’s still around, staying with Sango and Miroku, but she falls under the “unmentioned” category as far as her age is concerned. The same goes for Jaken, as well as any other youkai in the West. Age unknown, and irrelevant. Also, keep in mind that this is just to help you get your baring for when this chapter starts, ‘cause like I said, this chapter will contain multiple time-jumps, so everyone’s age will be much different by the end of the chapter. I’m also going to stop worrying about keeping track of anyone’s age after this, as it gives me a headache, LOL. I had to do it this time, here, because there are a couple of new children that hadn’t been born yet that I needed to make you guys aware of. Also, I will go ahead and warn you now that there will be a little bit of sadness near the end of this chapter. Unfortunately, it can’t be helped.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s do the translations now, rather than at the end, for those of you who might be curious.
Kenta is broken down at behindthename.com into its separate components, this version of ken meaning “healthy, strong” while ta in this context means “thick, big”
Minds out of the gutter, people.
Megumi, on the other hand, is not deconstructed. It is simply stated that the name means “blessing.” Most appropriate for Sango and Miroku’s last child, wouldn’t you say?
Yuudai: Yuu means “hero, manly” while dai means “large, great.” Damn, there goes that gutter mind again. But all joking around aside, I felt this to be the perfect name for Kohaku’s first son, as surely he would train the boy to become an exceptional Taijiya.
Satomi: The listing for this name states that sato can either mean “village” or “wise”. In this case, I’m going with “wise”, while of course, mi means “beautiful”. Wise and Beautiful. What a wonderful name.
Okay, enough of that. On with the show!
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Chapter 93 - It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday
Peaceful bird song could be heard throughout the quiet morning village, as the majority of the women from the slowly growing town gathered for their morning trek to the washing station. Having to do laundry in such a fashion would make any modern-day woman cringe and begin offering blessings to the god of Maytag, but such was life in the feudal era.
As the young maidens and older wives began their morning routine, it wasn’t long at all before the idle chitchat of womanly gossip could be heard. There wasn’t anything that went on in the village that remained secret for long. The television, telephone, and even telegraph may have yet to be invented, but “tell a woman” was operating in full force.
Twin sets of raven colored dog-ears flickered involuntarily while instinctively catching every word spoken around them. A nearby group of older wives were unknowingly permitting their whispers to be louder that what would be considered wise in the company of inu-hanyou.
Miyako blushed and stole a glance at her sister, who smirked knowingly and gestured that they pretend not to hear them and merely keep washing their robes. Youkai-silk may never need to be replaced, after all, but that didn’t mean that it still didn’t occasionally need to be washed. What had caught Miyako’s attention were the whispers being spoken about her. Not her and her sister, just her. Not a single woman in the group uttered any words resembling “half-breed”, “freak”, or any variation thereof, but apparently, one of the older women’s sons had taken a fancy to the raven haired, dog-eared beauty. The wives were playfully snickering as to when the shy boy would get off his duff and ask Lord Inuyasha’s permission to court his daughter. Miyako knew very well of the young man in question, too, which was the main reason for her crimson cheeks. She honestly wouldn’t mind if that particular human male did court her, as Yoshi had certainly proven himself worthy of her affections in her own eyes. He was one of the few who never showed any ounce of difficulty with telling her apart from her sister, for one thing. Though their looks were virtually identical, their personalities had grown to be near polar opposites over the years, but of course that was only recognizable to those who had grown close enough to them to catch the differences. While Miyako wasn’t necessarily shy, she was much more subdued, and polite. Minako, on the other hand, was a brunette, female version of their father.
The human women were pulled from their musings when a third half-demon girl made her way onto the scene, carrying a modest basket of laundry. Chouko had grown into quite the young beauty, as well, and wasn’t without her own fair share of admirers. The butterfly hanyou possessed wavy flowing locks of iridescent powder blue, much like her mother’s, while her skin was as fair as the most delicate of porcelains, regardless of how much time she spent in the sun. Her eyes were the same shade of blue as her mother’s, as well, matching the brilliance of the clear morning sky. She possessed the standard pointy ears of those with full-youkai blood, but her hanyou heritage easily made itself known in the form of dark, royal blue antennae, perched daintily upon her head. She also possessed a fair amount of butterfly magic, which was based on illusion, though it was more of an illusion of the mind, rather than body. A butterfly youkai could only make you think you saw what you were seeing, and most often, their spells worked on a more subconscious level, much like the dream-state attacks of their moth cousins.
Nobody feared her or her mother, however, and soon enough, the human women resumed their moderate gossiping, diligently incorporating the butterfly girl in the form of placing wagers as to how long before he appeared, if she were now among them.
“Ah, ladies!” was suddenly heard from across the way, causing one of the women to smirk triumphantly to her disgruntled coconspirators, as she presented her hand palm out and quietly joked “Pay up.”
Chouko shot the women a dry look, but couldn’t help but to smile at Kichiro’s approach all the same.
Wearing a modest male yukata, as the weather was most permitting, Kichiro effortlessly made his way down towards the object of his desire, taking the necessary moment to flash a flirty grin to each and every woman that he passed along the way, married or no. While it was true that, with regard to profession, Kichiro had followed in his mother’s footsteps in becoming a Taijiya, there was no doubt that he was most certainly his father’s son. The faint traces of spiritual power lining his aura had nothing to do with it.
“Ah, Chouko, my darling…”
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Th e months to follow were pleasant ones for those living in Inuyasha’s village.
New wives bore their husbands many healthy babies, while slowly but surely, Inuyasha was forced to search longer and harder for suitable trees that would provide enough timber for the construction of new huts, not to mention the land on which to build said huts. But he knew that, eventually, much of the surrounding land would be over run by concrete, so keeping that in mind, it was in the general direction that his memory recollected the major city would one day reside in, that he chose to expand his growing village. He felt little remorse in chopping down trees that he already knew would one day cease to exist, regardless.
With winter coming back around, Inuyasha’s wasn’t the only village duty to increase nearly tenfold. Kagome also had her hands full, quite literally at times, with tending to the sick and injured of all ages. She may still be the village miko - which basically meant she was more or less a spiritual figure, as her mate was their main protector against attacks - but she was also the village healer, which meant she was the only equivalent to a doctor for miles around.
Sango often went with her on her rounds, the middle-aged ex-slayer finding comfort in providing a form of service to the village other than fighting, as she’d finally given up the violent profession a few years back. Or at least she’d given up “active duty” as Kagome had jokingly referred to it, as Sango often still shared her knowledge with not only her own children, but any of the village youths who wished to learn the art of youkai slaying. Just because her “old bones” couldn’t haul Hiraikotsu around quite as easily any more didn’t mean that she was suddenly useless; far from it, in fact. She enjoyed being an instructor to the future generation of Taijiya, and she enjoyed being Kagome’s nurse.
On their way to check on yet another expectant mother, Sango couldn’t help but to comment on their village’s unusually high population rate. Kagome speculated that it was most likely because with such assured protection, none of the villagers felt the same uncertainty for the future that many people did across the land, still living in the “warring states era” as they were. Everyone knew that theirs was at least one village in which it was safe to raise a family.
Everyone knew that…human and youkai alike. Any humans who may have had a problem with living in such close quarters to youkai had taken it upon themselves to relocate years ago, and with the passage of time, none of the elders who had still recalled Inuyasha’s Naraku-manipulated attack for the sacred jewel still lived. The eldest members living in the village today all remembered only how the sealed Inuyasha had been released from his spell upon Kagome’s sudden arrival in their world, and how their parents had entrusted in Kaede’s judgment when she declared that neither Inuyasha nor the strange girl meant them any harm.
Sango had agreed with her “sister’s” assessment of the situation, jokingly stating how she understood all too well what fear of the future could do to a person with regard to having children. For a brief time, Sango had been furious with Miroku after he’d confessed what he’d been doing, but it wasn’t long before the slayer had made a confession of her own. Of how she fully understood Miroku’s hesitations; of how she herself held fear regarding the unknown. You never knew what the future might hold, she had told him. She reminded him rather bluntly of how her entire village had been wiped out by Naraku, and pointed out that it didn’t necessarily take an act of the gods - such as a miss-birth - to bring about one’s demise in the world. It hadn’t been long after their talk that Aiko was conceived.
Their family grew even larger than anticipated when Hachiemon paid them an unexpected visit one summer, shortly before Megumi’s birth. Master Mushin had survived for far longer than anyone would have believed, given his affection for sake, but Inuyasha had joked that that was probably what had kept the old coot alive for so long…as nothing rotted when you preserved it in alcohol. Miroku had made it back to his old shrine in time to spend his master’s final days with him, and then, upon the elder monk’s passing, Hachi was invited to become yet another permanent fixture in Inuyasha’s village.
Coming out of her revere as she assisted Kagome with tending to the young soon-to-be-mother, Sango couldn’t help but to wonder how her own eldest daughter was doing. Emi and Kazuki had left the village a few years back, to “travel and do good” as Emi had put it. They returned for visits often, but as Emi had stated, their village didn’t need two miko, and there were others out there in the world that could undoubtedly use their help. Sango had wondered aloud, in a mostly joking manner, how the world at large would take to a young inu-hanyou mated to a young miko, wandering from place to place. Kagome had smiled knowingly, while stating with confidence that it’d been done before. At least, both agreed with genuine relief, their children would never have to know the worries of a perilous mission such as gathering jewel shards or defeating a monster such as Naraku. Both women knew that their children could easily handle anything the world may throw at them.
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Treating the last of the sick, Emi wiped the sweat from her brow. The small village lacked any sort of spiritual protection, and therefore, they had not detected the youkai among them. Had it not been for Kazuki’s nose tracking the threat, and her own extensive knowledge of herbs and purification, it may have soon very well been a village of corpses.
When they’d first approached the village, merely to inquire in a manner of friendly curiosity as to whether or not they were in need of any sort of assistance, they had been greeted rather hostilely. Though the mating marks on Emi’s throat and wrist were completely concealed by her traditional miko garb, the village headman nonetheless had stated that he wanted nothing to do with a “dark miko who beds with half-breed filth.” They were just about to leave, rather indignantly, when both Kazuki’s ears, as well as even Emi’s bond enhanced hearing, picked up the panicked questions of the fearful villagers frantically asking their headman if they had been the ones responsible for the plague.
Curious, and most definitely stubborn, Kazuki had turned right back around and demanded to know what plague. The village headman had been reluctant to give the “half-breed” any sort of information, but some of the other villagers weren’t so quick to judge. If he truly knew nothing of the plague, then perhaps he and the miko could actually help them. Hadn’t that been what they were inquiring about in the first place? Most people lost their prejudice fairly quickly when the choices were either accept the aid of a half-demon, or remain sick and die.
It was faint, so faint she almost didn’t feel it, but tiny youki signatures besides herself and her mate were present within the village. Emi quickly realized that what she felt was coming from the villagers themselves, or more specifically, the “sick” villagers. This was no ordinary virus. It was around the same time that Emi realized what she was sensing that Kazuki declared that he could smell the faint hint of youkai, suggesting the scent had been attempted to be masked. That announcement caused most present to gasp in fear and plead that they help them. Neither would ever turn down the request for help. Putting his nose to work, ignoring the cursed demands of the headman that they leave at once, Kazuki began sniffing the air, the ground, the people (though they were weary of that one) until he discovered the traitor amongst them. The headman was no ordinary human, but a very low level carrion feeder, capable of mastering human form, yet so weak he possessed virtually no demonic aura whatsoever. Infecting the humans gradually, he had more or less provided himself with an endless buffet of dead flesh to feed upon when they would fall one by one at the hands of his poison. The original village headman had been his first victim, making it easy to walk among the sheep that knew not of the wolf in their fold.
Upon quick and effective slaughter of the chameleon-like youkai, one of the village elders took it upon himself to welcome the strangers into their midst, practically begging for their continued assistance with the plague that the false headman had left them with. Emi was quick to set to work with purifying the demonically based virus, while Kazuki hunted for herbs she would later use to brew teas that would aid in faster recovery. The flu-like symptoms ranged from person to person depending on the natural strength of each individual’s immune system, so she therefore worked from the logical standpoint of treating the sickest villagers first. There were no more deaths after the “hanyou protector and his miko savior” arrived in the tiny village. Somewhat better titles than what they had originally received.
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As the years went by, knowledge of Kazuki and Emi’s good deeds became more wide spread, and they were gradually met with less and less hostility at the human villages they often stopped at. Though they usually stayed within the large boarder of what fell under Lord Sesshoumaru’s jurisdiction, there were several times when they had ventured, for whatever reason, beyond the unmarked boundaries of the Western Lands. Even during those times, they were met with little to no resistance from the youkai half of society. More often than not, whenever they were greeted by some random youkai within the woods who had originally been drawn by Emi’s human scent, the reaction they received upon recognition was usually along the lines of…
“You…you are the son of Lord Inuyasha, younger brother and Beta to Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands.”
At which point Kazuki would grin smugly, while crossing his arms with pride and simply declaring “Yes, yes I am.”
The sword Inuyasha had forged for his second son and first flesh-born was a strong, fierce blade indeed, but never once did Kazuki have to use it against anything intelligent enough to recognize him for who he was. When the choices given by the Inu no Taisho were “adapt or perish” nearly everyone readily chose adapt.
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Back at the village, life continued to move forward, as life often did, at least for mortals.
It was somewhat unsettling for Kagome to watch everyone growing older around her, but it was a fate she had accepted long ago. While it would always trouble her in some ways, she could never deny that a part of her actually longed for the centuries to go by. She had done well her in lack of homesickness over the years, but she had been given a recent shocker when she discovered, during his night of weakness, that Kenta’s human form bore a striking resemblance to Souta. She supposed it made perfect since, as they were family after all, but it was a painful reminder all the same, until a little meditation with an aging Miroku helped her put everything into a more positive light. She had been given a reminder of her goal, was all; a symbol from the kami that her desires did not lay forgotten. His words had helped her greatly, and then her heart had saddened once more, catching a glimpse of the wisps of silver in his mane, and the unfamiliar wrinkles residing around his eyes. Instantly taking notice of her change in demeanor, he waved off her concerns with a genuine smile, quickly muttering something about how he truly envied her bravery in facing such a trying life, lightening the mood with mild humor as he added how he was surely not as man as she to accept such a challenge.
Kagome had chuckled at his words while her eyes thanked him for the deeper meaning she knew lied within, though thoughts regarding immortality did not leave her. Part of her suspected that it may have been for that reason, remaining the same while watching others grow old, that Emi had chosen to travel the lands rather than remain at the village.
She had chosen the same fate as Kagome, having decided that there was no way in all the ten hells she was going to permit herself to grow old while Kazuki was forced to sit back and watch his mate wither and die, and while the elder miko knew that just like herself, Emi would never regret making such a choice, Kagome could always see it in her eyes, whenever the two of them would stop by for a visit. Emi was somewhat disturbed to see her younger siblings steadily becoming older than herself. To see the girls that had still been children upon her previous visit suddenly raising children of their own. At least while she and Kazuki were out on their own, she could pretend to forget about everything in the world that was changing around them.
It was an understandable feeling, though, and Kagome did not admonish the girl for experiencing it. She knew that just like herself, Emi would never regret her decision to mate Kazuki, and Kagome also knew that the young miko’s parents had commended her bravery when it came to facing the world of a near immortal.
She also wasn’t the only one, as it would turn out, with Chouko’s youki also being strong enough to allow her to perform such a bond with her mate, as well. Kichiro wasted no time with fathering his share of little quarter-butterfly angels, and unlike his sister, Kichiro stayed put, enjoying a relatively peaceful life in the village, and adopting his father’s monk-like outlook on life in general. He was still a practicing Taijiya, however, which was cause for talk in its own right. A youkai slayer with the mentality of a monk, mated into a family of youkai? What was the world coming to? But he did surprisingly well for himself and his family with his profession of choice. He was available for hire to those in need, along with his cousin Yuudai, who served as his partner in battle. Kohaku’s son was jokingly jealous over his cousin’s youkai enhanced senses, which as one may suspect, often came in handy during battle. To an outsider, it may seem like a strange way to live his life, but no one could dispute that the boy was happy.
Miyako was another story. While she loved her mate dearly, it was for that reason that she respected his decision to remain mortal. It saddened Inuyasha and Kagome to no end, to know of the pain their daughter would undoubtedly be forced to face, and relatively soon in the grand scheme of things, but the hanyou girl attempted to keep everyone’s spirits light as the months bled into years right before her eyes. She said she would always cherish these moments, these times she had with her husband - they had married in the human tradition - and never would she love another as she loved him. Yoshi meant “good luck” and he often boasted that he was indeed lucky to have found her. She felt the same.
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Having turned his table in such a way that a fresh breeze blew over him from the nearby open window, Sesshoumaru attempted to maintain concentration on the letter he was writing to his brother. Certain…odors…were proving distracting at the moment, but he was not so weak as to fail in overcoming such an inconvenience. At least that was what he kept telling himself until he felt a pair of warm arms gently wrap themselves around his torso.
“Woman…” he growled low, pinching his eyes shut in a desperate fight for control as he felt his fertile mate somehow slip her hands within his robes, slowly allowing the material to fall open and slide down his back.
Kagura took a moment to apply gentle pressure to the smoothed end of her mate’s left arm, which currently rested just above where the elbow would be. It was a slow process, but eventually, the entire limb would regenerate itself.
Having understood the deeper meaning in her mate’s warning growl, and knowing very well that she was currently in heat, Kagura disregarded her mate’s concerns as she spun him around, cushion and all, to face her. A wicked finger placed against his lips prevented the Taiyoukai from protesting, as the strain in his hakama became quite visible, even with the aid of a fundoshi holding him down. Sesshoumaru would never admit that in the tiniest of ways, he sometimes envied his little brother, in that the hanyou at least possessed the ability to numb his sense of smell during Kagome’s heat. Of course, all was not lost in their quest to postpone future offspring, as Kagura quickly pointed out. There had to be a way that so many youkai were capable of waiting centuries between children, after all.
“You know very well that there is more than one way to mate me.” she whispered behind a seductive purr, and what Sesshoumaru had once thought of as distasteful suddenly sounded like a very good idea, indeed.
He would finish the letter to his brother later.
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The Youkai-Alliance may have gotten off to a rocky start, but with the exception of the continued exclusion of the southern bear youkai, nearly every other major faction eventually accepted Lord Sesshoumaru’s proposal, even the panther youkai.
Having received notice that everyone else was on board, Kagome had quietly mused that the kuma would be much like the nonbelievers of Noah’s Arc in Christian mythology. They would laugh until the flood of humanity was upon them, but then, it would be too late. Though, she hoped that if such a thing were truly to take place, that she would somehow be able to persuade her brother’s mate to assist - perhaps not Osamu himself - but at least his people. The innocent civilians who said nothing harsh regarding Kagura’s standing did not deserve to be hunted to extinction merely for being born in the Southern realm. Though with regard to asking Lord Sesshoumaru for such leniency, Kagome would wait to cross that bridge when they all came to it.
Rin and Shippo had come to the same conclusion Sesshoumaru and Kagura had with regard to children, deciding that they too could wait a few years (or decades) before worrying about having any more babies.
Suishoukaze was slowly - very slowly - growing out of her youkai equivalent to adolescence, deciding to milk her youth for all it was worth, while Daichi, who was virtually the exact same age as his sister as far as youkai were concerned, was determined to prove that he was already a man. Sesshoumaru had spoken rather crudely to his son, stating that if any humans who had been alive during the time of his birth were still alive, excluding those mated to youkai, then he was not yet a man. It was a rather blunt way to look at it, but considering how Inuyasha had still appeared (and acted) to be in his late teens at over a century of age, the Taiyoukai had actually made a rather valid point. Being full-blooded, Daichi would age even slower than his half-human uncle had when he was his age, so even though he had stopped growing in the literal sense of things, it would be a long time before he lost his childlike appearance in everyone else’s eyes.
Wishing to rush headlong into adulthood wasn’t an issue for Hikaru or Noboru, however. The male kitsune hanyou both thoroughly enjoyed their relatively carefree lives. Word had been given long ago that the Western Lands were an official safe-haven for those of mixed blood. Sesshoumaru could do no less after having publicly acknowledged the various hanyou in his own pack, after all. The boys were free to be boys, never once having faced any of the hardships that had once haunted their “jii-chan” on a daily basis.
They were also quickly coming into their kitsune abilities, especially Hikaru, and despite being half human, the pup had scored a decent rank in Kitsune Youjutsu, when his father had given permission for him and his brother to visit the Inn a couple years back. So long as they both swore to never harm a human in any way - not that they would, having been raised by a human mother - Shippo permitted his boys to indulge in the nature of kitsune trickery to their hearts’ content.
Hinata, on the other hand, had developed her mother’s love for the gardens, often assisting Rin with her planting. She also shared her father’s love for art, and bore the guilt for being the one responsible for finally using up the last of the crayons. It was amazing how long those things had actually lasted, but truthfully, crayons weren’t really the type of thing that would “go bad” after only a few decades. Shippo had long ago saved what had remained of the colorful wax sticks for his children, quickly acquainting himself with the brush to nullify his own itching artist’s hand, though black and white portraits easily grew tiresome. It wasn’t long before he figured out how to make a few rough water-based paints from the color stains of berries. While Hinata was never able to capture the essence of life quite as well as her father could in his inkings, she still possessed an appreciative eye for art, and quickly merged her two passions in the form of fanciful landscape design.
She and her brothers visited Inuyasha’s village with their parents often, and she was always amazed to see her father transform himself from the strict, yet loving, no-nonsense man she had grown up with, to the carefree, playful kitsune that he became in the miko’s presence. Shippo may actually be a few inches taller than Kagome these days, but he would always be her little boy, no matter what.
Inuyasha and Kagome’s biological children had no problem with the kitsune being acknowledged as their elder sibling, though when Minako tried to politely - for her - discourage Noboru’s advances, the kitsune-hanyou was quick to point out to his “aunt” how they were not truthfully related. Nothing ever became of the boy’s attempts at courting the still available hanyou-bitch, much to Noboru’s dismay, though Rin had managed to find it amusing, in a motherly sort of way, how her shy little baby was seemingly drawn to the girl’s rather outspoken personality. It reminded her, in a way, to Kouga’s relationship with Ayame, and Rin was fully convinced that somewhere out there was the perfect girl for her son. For both of her sons. Noboru’s quiet nature may make him drawn to a dominating presence, but Hikaru would need someone tough to put up with his ass.
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She knew it was coming. Even if she had forgotten, Kumiko had functioned as a reminder, when the old widow had passed quietly in her sleep. That had been a few years back, and Kagome still recalled how Sango had spoken of Kohaku’s sadness, having grown to care for his wife’s mother as his own.
A few years back…was it really only a few years ago that that’d happened? Or was it more like ten, twenty, thirty? How had she lost track of time so easily? All Kagome knew for certain, at that moment, was that a lot of time had indeed passed them by, as she held the frail form of her almost-sister, as the old widow that she too had become continued to cry quietly against her shoulder.
Sango had successfully achieved her most secret goal. After the scare she had given Miroku when she’d nearly died birthing their only son, she was bound and determined to never abandon him in death. Now, at age 76, the long-retired slayer gazed with tearful eyes at the body of her late husband, Miroku’s elderly form a picture of tranquility upon the funeral pier. He had vastly surpassed the standard life expectancy of their era, as she herself was continuing to do, and it was all thanks to Kagome and her modernized knowledge regarding health and nutrition.
However, as it was said, people could indeed die of a broken heart, for it wasn’t but a few months after Miroku’s passing that Sango followed her husband into the next life. Both had been firm believers in reincarnation, such being only obvious as Kagome herself was a reincarnated spirit, and before her passing, Sango had attempted to lighten the mood with the friendly reassurance that, perhaps, though she may not remember their past on the surface, she and Kagome would meet each other again, one day. The miko had smiled at her friend’s kind words, and had responded only that she had no doubt such a thing would take place, and that she looked forward to it. Sango had nodded her understanding, then, and shifted her gaze upward to the ceiling of Kagome’s hut, where the miko had moved her after she’d fallen ill.
Her last words were “I’m coming, Houshi-sama.”
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Inuyasha worried for his mate.
Having known that it would happen “one day” and having that day come and go were two very different things. She was not adjusting to Miroku and Sango’s passing as easily as he’d hoped she would. On the surface, she still appeared as cheery as ever, when treating the sickly villagers, or offering her services as the town’s only spiritual leader, but the senior inu-hanyou wasn’t fooled, and neither were their children.
Kazuki and Emi had moved back to the village shortly before Miroku’s passing, Emi finally realizing how much time she’d missed with her family. Though, truth be told, she had visited her parents more often than most poor girls who married away into rich families did. And it was true, she had married into a rich family, as Lord Sesshoumaru and Lord Inuyasha continued to grow in their joined power as Founders of the Youkai Alliance. Though in reality, Inuyasha let Sesshoumaru take care of all that political mumbo jumbo on his own. But Kazuki was a prince in his own right, and Emi had always known of his birthrights, though again much like Kagome, she hadn’t truly cared. She loved him for him, and for her, sleeping under the stars in a tree would be enough to sustain them.
Upon her mother’s passing, and Kagome’s subsequent, however subtle, drop in disposition, Emi gradually began assisting her “aunt” and mother-in-law with her miko duties.
So much was changing.
Kohaku and Kaori weren’t much longer for their world, either, though they were survived by their children as well as several grandchildren, most of which continued to keep up the tradition of the Taijiya.
Though Emi and her brother both mated into demonic families, and were blessed with longer life spans as a result, their younger sisters Aiko and Megumi both married human men, and continued to age as mortals. Though the girls both practiced youkai slaying, as well, they also didn’t hesitate to start families of their own. Though the Taijiya tradition naturally needed to change and adapt with the times, it was still a family tradition they continued to pass on to their children, just like their cousins. Slowly but surely, they were becoming one big clan again, and it was Satomi who first suggested that they attempt to repopulate the abandoned slayer village. Perhaps there was some validation to the village aspect of her name’s meaning, after all.
Miyako’s husband Yoshi was also aging rapidly, as his flesh bore only the claiming mark her inu half had required she place upon his neck, as she was physically the dominant of the two, while her human heart permitted her to leave his mortal blood free from youkai bonding, no matter how desperately it pained her to watch him age. She was nothing if not loyal to her mate, despite the increasing “age difference” between them, and she would continue to remain faithful, even after his passing. She had three darling little quarter-inu reminders of his time in her life, and for that, she knew she truly was lucky.
Minako, on the other hand, had yet to take a mate of her own, not that the opportunity hadn’t arisen on a few occasions. She just hadn’t managed to find that special someone whom she could put up with, yet. She visited often, but had long ago abandoned permanent residence in her father’s village, in search of “adventure” as she’d called it, which Inuyasha reluctantly permitted, as the world was slowly but surely becoming a somewhat safer place for hanyou.
It was finally decided that, with Kazuki and Emi both remaining as permanent fixtures in the village, that Sango’s daughter’s original logic still stood that they didn’t need two miko, nor did Inuyasha believe that they needed two hanyou protectors, as Kazuki was a fine, strong young man. It was with that train of thought that the decision was finally made that Inuyasha and Kagome would relocate to the Western Lands, a choice that was also assisted by the fact that Sesshoumaru was sending more and more frequent correspondence with regard to Inuyasha’s (however undesired) involvement in the ruling decisions of their realm. It would be better for everyone if they just moved to the castle and got it over with. That way, Inuyasha thought, Kagome could forget about the constant heartache she was bombarded with by continuing to watch everyone mortal aging around her, by moving to a location where the only resident human was also immortal.
Though their youngest child, Kenta, was also a grown man by that point, he was unmated and decided to relocate with his parents. Miyako remained in the village for a few years while she spent her remaining time with her husband, but after Yoshi’s passing, she too joined her parents in her uncle’s castle, her three unmated adult quarter-inu pups following after mother. Minako was made aware of the move, and continued to visit her family often, but still preferred to spend the majority of her time on her own.
Emi and Kazuki, having decided to wait a while before starting a family of their own, took it upon themselves to keep track of everyone else’s family tree. You never knew when such information might be desired, and as it would turn out, Kagome often enjoyed hearing about the latest grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of her deceased best friends. When the news could be told in a happy manner, of who else had been born, or who’d married whom, you were spared the hard reality of aging and death.
Though truth be told, Kagome was a lot tougher than she knew her family feared. She appreciated that everyone was worried about her, but it wasn’t as though she had collapsed into a puddle of miserable goo. Of course it had saddened her to witness her life long friends grow old and die, but she fully believed what she had told Sango, that she did in fact believe they may meet again in some other life. How could one not come to find it depressing to watch those you remembered being born die of old age, while you remained the same? But just because she was human, and so such things as mortality played at her heartstrings, that didn’t mean she had developed one big negative outlook on life. It saddened her when people died, sure, but it overjoyed her to witness new life being born. She was certain that Emi, too, would be okay, as the girl was now faced with the fate Kagome had seemingly abandoned in her relocation. The elder miko would never forget the first time Emi had delivered a baby all on her own, during her training to become the replacement midwife, and the way her eyes had brightened with the light of the kami themselves as she’d gazed down at the new life she’d held in her arms. Yes, Emi would be just fine, and so would Kagome.
Still, the move needed to be made, if for no other reason than Inuyasha needed to get his butt to the West and start tending to the business he needed to be tending to. If he wanted to believe that the move to a fully youkai environment had been mainly done to benefit Kagome’s outlook on life, then let him continue to believe that. She knew that he felt guilty for having caused her exposure to such things, having explained in an apologetic manner once that that was precisely why most mortals did not wish to do the blood-bonding. She had promptly told him to shut up at that point, pointing out how her entire family was youkai. He was youkai, their children were youkai, and she was glad that she too, was part youkai. She would never have been able to forgive herself if she had put him through what their daughter had just experienced, Miyako’s disposition having plummeted for the time being. Though no one could blame her, and understanding how different the situation truly was when the gradual decades-in-the-making death you had just witnessed was your own mate, everyone knew to let the hanyou girl grieve for however long was necessary. They would be there for her, when she was ready to talk about it.
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A/N
Well, I hope I haven’t bummed everyone out too much. We all know this story will have a generally happy ending, but I’m just trying to keep it more realistic. Sometimes life sucks. It can’t all be raindrops on roses.
Also, I’m sure it’s obvious that this story is fairly off-canon, what with Kagura being alive and mated to Sesshoumaru and all, but I just couldn’t help tossing out that little bit regarding the Kitsune Youjutsu. I don’t know how many of you read the manga, but I’m sure some of you caught that reference. I just figured…why not?