InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mating Season ❯ IT’S ABOUT TIME!!! ( Chapter 100 )

[ 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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A/N:


Whoa, it was a good thing I decided to go ahead and put an end to this story, because I just noticed that the numeric chapter dropdown list MM provides when uploading a story only goes to 109. I guess if anyone wants to make a story longer than 109 chapters, they gotta do it in "sequel" format.

Anyway, just a quick Author’s Note to let everybody know that there’s a large Author’s Note at the end of this chapter. I would greatly appreciate it if everyone could take the extra few minutes after completing this story to read the entire length of that Author’s Note. After all, it is sort of my last hurrah as far as Author’s Notes go, at least as far as this story is concerned.

And now…the moment you’ve all been waiting for!!!!!


Chapter 100 - IT’S ABOUT TIME!!!







“Extra blankets?”

“Check.”

“Vacuum sealed seeds for future gardens?”

“Check.”

“Books?”

“Everything that I could think of, except for History, of course.”

“What about-”

“Mama…” Kagome interrupted with an understanding smile, “We’ve got everything we need, really.”

“Can I help it if I’m worried about my baby?” Nodoka responded with a small smile of her own. Pulling her pregnant daughter into a warm hug, she kissed the top of her head, while murmuring “I suppose all little birdies have to fly away sometime.”

Removing herself from their loving mother/daughter embrace, Nodoka offered to make them all something to eat, as she hurried into the kitchen, wanting to distract herself from thinking of the pending separation between herself and her only daughter. She could only pray that she would in fact see them again one day, as she had stated so confidentially that she believed she would, back when the three of them had first discussed the probability of the well sealing after purifying the jewel. While she knew that under normal circumstances, her daughter and Inuyasha should both still be alive and well in her time, she just couldn’t help being worried for their survival over the centuries, knowing how dangerous the past tended to be, especially towards those of youkai blood.

Sensing her mother’s unvoiced concerns, Kagome attempted to reassure her by softly stating “I’m in good hands, Mama.” as she followed Nodoka into the kitchen. She knew her mother was worried about her, but she also knew that ultimately, her mother trusted in her decisions as a grown woman.

She had told her as much over two years ago, when - at the time - it had looked like things between herself and Inuyasha were never going to escalate beyond friendship. Kagome had never appreciated her mother more than she had in that moment, when she’d told her to follow her heart; when she’d told her that she trusted her to make the right choice in life. And Kagome had made the right choice in the end, she had decided to return; she had decided she could not forget about Inuyasha, and that she wanted to stay by his side, no matter what. Something in their relationship had changed on that day, as he’d told her how he’d never trusted a living soul before herself, and how he felt light and happy whenever she was near. Something had changed in their relationship as they’d walked away from the well smiling, hand in hand. It was like a weight had been lifted from both of their hearts, and they had become closer friends from that point onward. Arguments between them after that day more often than not turned into friendly banter, with angry scowls being replaced by laughter and playful insults that neither of them truly took to heart. Sure, there were a few times that Kagome had gotten hurt, and had returned home in tears, but she was the one who had made the decision to remain by his side despite his feelings for Kikyou, so eventually, she would always bite the bullet and return, knowing that in the long run, she would be more miserable if she stayed away.

It was because they’d shared that higher level of friendship between them, that Kagome had thought nothing of tackling him when he’d gripped onto that box of pocky on that fateful spring day nearly a year and a half ago. Wow, how time did fly, she mused, as she rubbed her swollen belly affectionately. She still remembered the playful way in which they’d wrestled with each other, something the old them would have never done. She remembered the way he’d smirked when he’d called her a bitch, and the way she’d laughed as she’d called him a baka, just before jumping on him. Smiling at the memory, Kagome remembered the look of panic in his eyes at the realization that her movements were giving him an erection. He had been utterly horrified when she’d discovered the feel of his stiffness below her, and had bound away in humiliation before she’d even had a chance to figure out how to tell him that she wasn’t disgusted by him.

Well, she thought as she rubbed her belly once more, things had certainly worked themselves out in the end. Her cheeks heated at the memory of catching him masturbating by the river, and of course, it had to be right at that moment that said hanyou walked into the kitchen, smirking at his mate’s pink cheeks while unabashedly sniffing the air around her.

“Well…” He spoke with an air of confidence that made Kagome proud, despite her embarrassment, to know that she was the one responsible for him finally coming out of his shell. “Something sure smells good.” he said, staring her right in the eyes.

At Nodoka’s reply of “Thank you, dear. Lunch will be ready soon.” as she continued to work with her back to the pair, Kagome’s cheeks only grew hotter.

Despite his teasing glances, though, Inuyasha behaved himself, as he settled himself at the kitchen table, offering Kagome a foot rub while they waited on their meal. The pregnant miko was all too eager to comply, as she pulled out another chair, facing it in his direction as she sat down, plopping her tired feet in his lap.



At that same moment, roughly three hundred miles away, an older Kagome sighed wistfully to herself, as she went about cleaning their apartment. Inuyasha was currently at the hotel, taking care of a dispute between the manager and the head of guest services, leaving her to her own devices as she tidied up the living room. The TV was tuned to an American satellite radio station, as ‘80s hits in English filled the air, only partially drown out by the sound of the vacuum cleaner. Kagome sang along with the music, a bounce in her step, as she twirled around the carpet with her power-assist upright, as though the appliance was her dancing partner. A pair of red eyes stared at her in bemusement, but she merely glared back, defending her actions by muttering “What?”, as though the nekomata would have something to say regarding how foolish her current mistress was behaving.

Kirara merely rolled her eyes.

For the longest time, the two-tailed nekomata had remained in the slayer village with Kichiro and his mate, keeping watch over Sango and Kohaku’s descendants, but eventually it’d become apparent that her presence wasn’t truly required, and she’d made the ultimate decision to move to Osaka. While Chouko had been a decent enough companion, Kirara had found that she’d truly missed the miko. Even the inu-hanyou hadn’t been that bad. While cats may be independent animals by nature, she had long grown accustomed to her ‘pack’ life, and found her relative solitude in the human village unsettling. Nobody there had thought of her as a true companion. Nobody there had ever fought along side her in battle, and most of the villagers not descendant from either Sango or Kohaku had thought of her as some sort of glorified pet. Although Kirara did not possess a humanoid form, she was just as intelligent as any other sentient being, and as such, she’d finally decided that a change was in order. Her presence was welcomed at Osaka Castle when she’d shown up at the gates one day, the resident humanoid felines easily able to translate for her, as they’d articulated her desire to remain in the West to the younger Inu Lord and his mate. Inuyasha and Kagome had both happily welcomed the neko-youkai into their home, having missed their four-legged companion, as well.

It was sometimes easy to forget how old the feline actual was, especially given her perpetual “kitten” appearance, but they were well aware that she had fought along side Midoriko, having then remained in the original slayer village as that had been where her mistress had met her end, in the cave that rested not far from the town gates. She had befriended the slayers easily enough, since they’d known she was not evil, and had never attempted to slay her, rather, welcoming her into their village with open arms. She’d chosen to stay with the Headman’s family, and was eventually “given” to Sango during the girl’s late childhood. It hadn’t taken Kirara long to develop a loyal kinship with the female warrior who easily reminded her of her first mistress. While it was true that Sango had not possessed miko powers, she had still been a warrior, and she had been strong.

Kirara would never forget the love she’d felt for the female slayer, and the monk that later became her husband, but deep inside her heart, Kirara now felt that her place was simply beside Kagome and Inuyasha, rather than Sango’s descendants. She knew how deeply Sango and Miroku had cared for the couple, like siblings, not to mention the fact that Kagome was currently the most powerful miko in all of Japan, and deep down, Kirara felt that her place was beside the warrior priestess, just as it had been countless centuries before.

Of course, she understood that times were different now, and that the days of battles and bloodshed were over. In a way, the feline viewed it as a long earned retirement of sorts. She was one of the oldest living youkai in all of Japan, after all.

Kirara had spent the vast majority of her time at the castle in either Kagome or Inuyasha’s presence, back when the pair still resided there, keeping herself entertained when they were unavailable by playing with one (or several) of the mixed kitsune pups that lived on the premises. Although she had wanted to go with the hanyou and miko when they’d first moved out, she also hadn’t wanted to intrude, so she’d held back for a few years, allowing the miko and her mate some much needed alone time. As soon as little Susumu had made his appearance, however, ensuring that the couple’s “alone time” had come to a screeching halt, she’d shown up one day, scratching at the door.

Kagome had been surprised, at first, since Kirara had obviously been wearing her concealment charm, which she rarely used. But despite the fact that she’d appeared to the miko’s eyes to be your average looking house cat, it had only taken Kagome a moment to recognize the demonic aura she could feel coming off the feline in waves. The feline who appeared to be waiting patiently for an invitation before crossing the threshold, so with a large smile, Kagome had bid her entry.

Then it’d been Inuyasha’s turn to be surprised, when he’d come home later that afternoon to discover Kirara resting peacefully in his mate’s lap, as the two indulged a toddler Susumu by watching his favorite cartoons. His look of shock had quickly morphed into one of understanding, though, as he’d smiled at the pair, sitting down beside them on the sofa. His son remained fully enthralled by the TV, as he sat on the floor in front of the couch, his ears forward, eyes never leaving the screen.

“Hey there, squirt.” The adult hanyou had greeted playfully, patting Kirara on the head, and her expression, if you could truly read expressions on a cat’s face, had been one of relief.

She hadn’t known if she would be welcomed by the alpha male, now that he and his mate had separated themselves from the larger pack, but she should have realized that she’d had nothing to fear. Kirara was, and always had been, a part of his pack. Inuyasha had considered Sango like a sister, and although he was used to watching mortals growing old and dying around him, witnessing Sango and Miroku pass on had been hard on him, and Kirara knew that. Her presence was a constant reminder of the past, but it brought him good memories, and he welcomed them, and her.

“You gonna be staying with us now?” he’d asked the nekomata directly, knowing very well that Kirara understood human speech as clearly as any human.

Meowing an affirmative, he’d nodded his consent then, joking “Just keep your nose to yourself, and when the bed’s a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’.”

Kagome had proceeded to blush terribly, slapping his arm lightly, while Kirara merely rolled her eyes, and Susumu looked over his shoulder at his parents in mild confusion, before becoming engrossed in his cartoons once more.

Smiling at the memory, Kagome continued to putter around the house, dusting this and that, and picking up Susumu’s scattered toys.

I swear, that pup had better learn the concept of a toy box… she groused silently, as she scooped up the tiny plastic figurines that ranged from Shimajiro to Pokémon, and everything in between.

As if sensing his mother’s ire, Susumu hesitantly made his appearance from up the hallway, wondering if it was safe to tell her that he was hungry. Kirara rubbed against Kagome’s leg affectionately, but she hadn’t really needed the neko to tell her that her son was present. Despite the radio, she could easily hear his footsteps as he approached, not to mention the rumble of his stomach.

“Please put your toys away when you are done with them.” she said without looking up, as she dumped all the plastic creatures into the small lidded box that sat in the corner by the TV, before switching the power off on said device, silencing the music. “Now,” she began, finally raising her eyes to greet her son, whose worried expression melted away at the sight of his mother’s smile, “What would my baby like to eat for lunch?”

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I don’t have time for this shit… Inuyasha thought, rolling his eyes in exasperation as he continued to pretend to listen to the two men bickering over…whatever the hell they were bickering over. Those two had never gotten along.

Like I give a shit…

“Taisho-sama,” the manager started, “I have received several complaints from our guests, stating that - - - - -”

Hmmm, I wonder what Kagome’s making for dinner tonight.

“This is an outrage!” spouted the head of the guest services department, namely ‘room service’. “I have worked in the hotel industry for - - - - - -”

I should stop by the fish market to pick up something fresh for Kirara, she’s been helping out with Susumu so much lately.

“That’s preposterous!” the manager bellowed, at having been accused of…something.

Damn, what’d I miss? Oh well, fuck it…I can take care of this easily enough.

“Okay okay…I’ve heard enough.” he started as calmly as he possibly could, when all he really wanted to do was grab the two men’s heads and bash them together. “Now I want each of you to look me in the eye, and if you’re guilty of something, I’ll know it.”

The manager gulped. He had heard of Jiro Taisho’s stare down technique. How he always managed to discern the guilty from the innocent with just a look was anyone’s guess, but so far, he’d always been able to successfully pick out anyone who’d been doing anything inappropriate. Charging his own bottles of alcohol to guests’ room service bills, and trying to blame the ‘mistake’ on the head of that department when a few people caught it and complained, definitely constituted inappropriate.

‘Jiro’ proceeded to stare each man down, though he wasn’t really looking for anything with his eyes. Since he could create his human appearance with his youkai senses still intact, he merely sniffed them out for the truth. All he detected from his guest services supervisor was rage and disgust, appropriate emotions for an innocent man having been accused of doing something he found distasteful. The hotel manager, on the other hand, reeked of fear and guilt, not to mention sake. Bingo.

With a predatory grin, wishing for all the world he could show his fangs, Jiro looked the manager right in the eyes, and very calmly stated “Your office shall be cleared of personal effects by the end of the hour.” Smirking inwardly, he would admit at least to himself that sometimes, adopting Sesshoumaru’s calm superiority was more intimidating than losing his temper. He then turned to his guest services supervisor and apologized for the trouble the hotel manager had caused for his department.

Leaving one man smiling in triumph, and the other sputtering in disbelief, Jiro turned on his heel, planning on heading out as quickly as possible, right after stopping by the front desk to let the assistant manager know of his promotion.

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Kagome was wiping down the glass top of their electric range when the tranquility of mid-afternoon was shattered by a ringing phone. Kirara looked up momentarily from her spot on the living room sofa, but having long gotten used to the device, she quickly decided to ignore the ringing in favor of returning to her nap.

“Moshi-moshi.” Kagome greeted cheerfully, her Caller ID already telling her who was on the other line.

“Konnichiwa Okaa-san.” Emi greeted in return, her voice filled with just as much happiness as her mother-in-law’s.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asked her firstborn’s mate, already believing she knew the answer, as she gazed at the calendar hanging on her fridge. The one with a bunch of big red X’s on it, with the exception of tomorrow’s date, which was surrounded by a big red circle.

“It is nearly time, ne?” Emi asked, giddy anticipation in her voice.

“Hai, tomorrow’s the big send-off.” Kagome confirmed, butterflies running rampant in her stomach. “I’m so nervous.”

“Well, that’s understandable.” her daughter-in-law conceded, “After all, from your perspective, you haven’t seen them in centuries.”

“I’m still not sure how to go about greeting them.” she confessed, “I mean…like you said, it’s been so long. I’ve changed so much.”

“I’m sure Obaa-san isn’t expecting you to look exactly the same.”

“I know…but still…”

Emi could sense the elder miko’s hesitation. “Surely you’re not considering backing out?”

“No!” Kagome insisted right away. “Of course not! I couldn’t live with myself if I allowed Mama to think anything bad had happened.”

“So then grab that mate of yours, and that little tornado you call a son, and get your butts over here.” Emi insisted behind a laugh, “You can camp out in our guest room and head over to the shrine as soon as the light show’s over.”

Kagome appreciated the offer, but… “Inuyasha and I have decided that we’re going to give it a day. So much will happen tomorrow, and we don’t want to overwhelm anyone.” she explained. “We’ll let everything settle down, and then think of a way to contact Mama sometime the following morning.”

Emi frowned at their plan, but relented to her in-law’s wishes. “I’ll tell ‘Zuki.” she said, “Although I don’t think he’ll be too happy about it. He was looking forward to surprising everyone as soon as the well-house doors closed.”

“What was he planning on doing?” Kagome laughed, “Jump out and yell ‘surprise’? I don’t want to give Jii-chan a heart attack, nor do I think ‘Zuki would appreciate having a sutra slapped to his forehead, even if they are fairly harmless.”

Emi laughed as well at the imagery. “On second thought, surprising your grandfather with unknown youkai is probably not the wisest of ideas.” she admitted, still chuckling.

“Besides,” Kagome added, “I know your youki-masking powers are strong, but we shouldn’t risk the possibility of our past-selves sensing our presence.”

“You weren’t concerned during the wedding.”

As nervous as Kagome had always been when it came to avoiding the shrine, lest she accidentally damage the timeline, her fears hadn’t stopped her from witnessing her own wedding. Or rather, the reception, as that part of the ceremony had been held outdoors and in the open. With some masking sutras from Emi to nullify their auras, plus some invisibility charms from Shippo, who had long ago mastered that particular illusion, much of their immediate family had been present to witness the ceremony. Rooftops make excellent vantage points for activities happening in one’s backyard, especially when you have advantages like youkai hearing.

“True, true…” she conceded, recalling how Inuyasha had insisted upon going, and even recorded the ceremony with their video camera. “But our minds are already made up.” the elder insisted.

Emi sighed. “So we’ll see you the day after tomorrow, then?”

“Hai.” Kagome agreed, “We’ll be by first thing in the morning.”

Hanging up, Kagome smiled at the look of anticipation in her son’s eyes, as at some point during the conversation, he had made his way into the kitchen in order to listen in.

“We’re going to Obaa’s on tomorrow’s tomorrow?” he asked in his young, excited voice. The little tyke was nearly four years old, and had been looking forward to meeting his human grandmother for as long as he could remember. He was too young to truly understand the concept of there being younger versions of his parents living at the shrine, so they had only told him that he would meet her ‘one day’, not bothering to explain the reason for the delay.

“Yes.” Kagome answered behind a Cheshire Cat smile, scooping up her little one into a loving embrace. “Tomorrow’s tomorrow.”

“Yay!”

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“My baby girl’s all grown up.” Nodoka said behind tears of joy, embracing her daughter for all it was worth.

“Mama…” was all Kagome could say in return, as she took in gulping quantities of her mother’s loving scent.

The feudal era was her home now, and her family knew that, but still, they were her family.

I’m going to miss you most of all…she thought as she reluctantly removed herself from the embrace, not unaware of the Wizard of Oz aspect to her thoughts. But as much as it pained her to admit it, she would never hesitate to make the same choice over and over again. The thought of hugging Inuyasha goodbye, of never seeing him again…she wouldn’t have been able to go on. Even before they were mated, she knew her place was beside the hanyou she loved, forever and always.

“Okay now, no more stalling. Off with you.” her mother attempted to chuckle behind her tears; tears that Kagome’s sense of smell fortunately assured her were mostly of happiness.

While Nodoka was sad to see her baby go, as was perfectly understandable, she had never before felt so proud, or so happy for her daughter. Nothing in life could surpass the greatness that was to merely spend your days in the presence of the one you loved. She also knew much of the young hanyou’s past, even if some of the more harsh details had been spared her knowledge. But she was well aware that he had had a hard, lonely life, and she was overjoyed that her daughter was the one to finally give the boy all the love she knew he deserved. Youkai blood was of no consequence to her; Inuyasha was a good man. She could never have selected anyone for her daughter that would treat her more kindly, or more honorably, than the hanyou she was mated to, and to know that it was her daughter that was giving the young man the companionship he so desperately needed in return, gave her a sense of motherly pride that brought even more tears to her eyes. Her only regret was that she would not get to witness the birth of her first grandchild, but even that thought merely passed her by with a small sense of melancholy, as her serious concerns regarding Kagome’s pregnancies in the feudal era had long been alleviated.

Glancing over everyone one last time, Kagome knelt down and patted Buyo on the head. She had her to thank for everything, after all. It was almost like the cat could sense that this was goodbye, as she stood quietly beside everyone else.

Inuyasha was waiting for his mate beside the well-house, the last of their supplies having been dragged through the well the evening before. He wasn’t wearing a hat to hide his ears at the moment, as they’d temporarily closed the shrine to visitors, needing privacy for the send-off. It would just seem far too weird to have tearful hugs goodbye before somebody merely walked into a small building, and much too hard to try to explain should an observer wish to question what they saw. So with signs posted on the outside gate stating that the shrine would be open again in one hour, everyone gathered outside to witness the last time Kagome would be traveling through the well. This time, making it a one-way trip.

Her mate demonstrated that he was in fact capable of patience as he waited quietly for her to complete her goodbyes. They couldn’t put this off forever, but he understood her need to commit everyone’s scent to memory. He also supposed it would be incredibly rude of him if he ignored everyone while his mate gushed her eyes out about the whole thing.

“Take care of yourself, runt.” he said to Souta while roughing up the boy’s hair. That manly show of virtually nonexistent emotions didn’t slide, however, as the boy quite suddenly launched himself into a tight embrace, wrapping his arms securely around Inuyasha’s waist.

It was only awkward for a moment, before he reluctantly gave into the human emotions that everyone knew he possessed anyway, hugging the boy tightly in return. Jii-chan even shook his hand, which almost gave him a heart attack. He would have figured that if anyone was going to keep with tradition and bow, which was a perfect excuse to not engage him in physical contact, that it would have been her grandfather. Her mother had hugged the life out of him earlier that morning at breakfast, but he would have almost found it weird if she hadn’t pulled him into an embrace. He’d even lowered his head in her direction, allowing her to tweak his ears one last time, for old time’s sake.

“Okay, this is it.” Kagome said with an air of hesitation that suggested she was desperately trying to convince her legs to move towards the well-house door.

Silently, Inuyasha came up behind her, resting a protective hand over her belly, as he offered her the support he knew she needed at the moment. They had everything they could possibly think of. They had gone over the lists repeatedly for weeks, and if they actually had forgotten something by that point, then it obviously wasn’t important. There wasn’t any genuine reason to delay their departure any longer, and her family offered their own support the best way they knew how, as he managed to get Kagome to head towards, then inside, the small building that housed the Bone Eaters’ Well. Their harmonized chants of “Bonzai!” could be heard even as he swooped her up in his arms bridal-style, as they began the leap through time, even as the swirling blue lights of temporal energy engulfed them.

“Well now…” her mother attempted to speak with a happy tone, “…who’s hungry?”

Souta, knowing what his mother was trying to do, put on his biggest smile, as he said “Do you even have to ask?” Kagome always used to tease him that he was a bottomless pit.

Jii-chan muttered something about ancient artifacts that needed dusting, as he disappeared into the storage shed, leaving Mrs. Higurashi to walk back towards the main house in her son’s wake, right after officially reopening the shrine grounds to visitors. She gazed longingly toward the Goshinboku for a moment, but before anyone had a chance to notice, her gentle smile was back in place, as she thought about what to prepare for her son’s lunch.

She didn’t see the happy eyes that were watching her walk away; eyes that turned sad as she’d glanced at the sacred tree. She didn’t feel the pulse of youki as a sutra was removed, the strip of paper having outlived its usefulness. She didn’t see the look of determination that was set in her observer’s jaw, as he quite suddenly decided to hell with what he’d been told.

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As the late afternoon sun warmed the earth with its brilliant rays, Nodoka made no excuses as she quietly walked outside. None were needed, anyway, seeing as her son was currently attempting to numb his own pain by launching himself into a full-blown death match with one of his online video games. Modern technology always seemed to baffle her, like how Souta could be playing his game against other real people he’d never actually met. But at least, in one way, he was interacting with other people, she supposed, smiling at the sight of him yelling triumphantly into the headset he wore.

Walking down the pathway from the front door, she needn’t even look up to see where she was going, her feet knew the path so well. She could hear her father-in-law still puttering around in the storage shed, but quickly turned the other way, having a different destination in mind than what she teasingly referred to as his ‘play room’.

Coming upon the Goshinboku, Nodoka took a moment to clear her mind, breathing in slow, calming breaths. This tree had always given her a sense of peace and well being in the past, and it wasn’t failing her now, as everything just seemed ‘right’ in the world, whenever she stood underneath its branches. Somewhere in the back of her mind she started to develop the nagging sensation that she was being watched, but quickly pushed those thoughts aside, focusing instead on the reason why she’d come out there in the first place. There were still one or two visitors mulling around the shrine grounds, after all. So what if they were watching her, wondering what she was doing just standing there in front of some tree? It was none of their business, anyway.

Remaining where she stood, it didn’t take long for a smile to come to her lips as she remembered all of the precious times she’d shared with her daughter. One time in particular sprang to mind, as she remembered sitting with Kagome underneath the shade of this very tree, as she’d told her of the details surrounding her father’s proposal, and how she trusted her to make the right decisions in her own life. Though she hadn’t known, precisely, what the problem had been, it was clear that her baby girl had been plagued with dealings of the heart. Though not so much a baby, she relented. Kagome had been a young woman then, and was a loving wife and mother-to-be now. Mrs. Higurashi may not get to see her grandchildren, but she had zero doubt that they would be raised up right, and would possess both their mother’s love and understanding, as well as their father’s loyalty and honor.

“Will I ever see you again, Kagome?” she whispered quietly, much too quietly for the human ear to pick up.

“Don’t worry, Higurashi-san, you’ll see your daughter again.”

Gasping, and whirling around with her hand on her chest, she glared at the strange man standing much too close for comfort. Where had he come from? How had she not heard his approach? More importantly, though, how did he know of Kagome? Then her eyes settled on the beaded necklace resting against the man’s chest, and her fear vaporized.

“Inu…yasha…?” she quested hesitantly.

This man ‘sort of’ looked like the hanyou she knew and loved, or at least, a human version of him, with slightly shorter hair tied back in a low ponytail, and well kempt bangs. Inuyasha had spent a lot more time on their side of the well over the last few months, to spend time with his mate while she spent time with her family, and as a result, Nodoka had bore witness to his human form on more than one occasion. The man standing before her was much older than the boy she’d just sent off through the well, of course, but she supposed it only stood to reason that they would have aged some during the last five centuries.

Her confusion grew, though, at the man’s initial answer of “I’m afraid not.”

Seeing her confused look, he smiled, then added “I know Oyaji and I look a lot alike, but that baka’s got it in his head that they’re going to contact you sometime tomorrow morning.”

Seeing her eyes widen at his words, he continued to explain “I was told not to approach you today, but I just couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stand seeing you look so sad, so uncertain…”

He let his words trail away as her expression clearly indicated she was about to explode with a hundred questions. His own expression became one of amusement as he said “Go ahead…”, gesturing with his hand for her to ask away.

First things first.

“Inuyasha is your father?” she asked. The family resemblance was definitely unmistakable.

“Yup.” he grinned, his fangs currently invisible.

“…and…Kagome…?” she asked hesitantly.

He only chuckled.

“What? You think Otou would ever be unfaithful?” he asked sarcastically, but her smile only grew wider, not offended in the least. “Hai, Obaa-san, Kagome is my mother.”

Not even bothering with formal introductions, not even pausing to ask his name, Nodoka pulled the man before her into a tight embrace. Then she registered what he’d said about Kagome and Inuyasha having planned on contacting her the following morning, but how he couldn’t personally stand to wait and had decided to go to her now of his own accord.

“So nobody knows you’re here?” she asked as she released him. He chuckled again.

“Not yet, but we’re going to change all that, ne?” he winked.

“Oh you better believe it.” she agreed, muttering something that sounded like “…keep me in the dark, wondering…” under her breath.

“I suppose I should formally introduce myself first, though, before we go harassing the folks.” he said next.

“Oh my goodness!” she blushed, having realized her lapse in manners.

He merely waved off her concerns, while extending his hand for her to shake in the Western fashion, as he stated “My name’s Kazuki Taisho.”

“Kazuki-kun,” she repeated in greeting, smiling as she shook the proffered appendage. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Well,” he said next, his smile broadening, “In an unofficial way, we’ve already met…or at least…you’ve met me.” he stated cryptically.

“Huh?”

Laughing outright, he explained “Your daughter was nearly five months pregnant with me when she jumped through the well this morning.”

“Oh goodness…” Nodoka repeated, finding everything a bit overwhelming as she fanned herself with her hand.

“Shit!” he cursed as he rushed forward to catch her when she stumbled, but his panic was short lived when that time, it was Nodoka who laughed.

“I suppose I am a bit overwhelmed,” she confessed as she righted herself, “But I’m definitely glad that you spared me from having even one single night filled with doubts about my baby’s future.

Seeing as everyone else had long since left the shrine grounds, the facility open for public prayer during daylight hours getting ready to shut down now for the evening, Nodoka asked her grandson then, “Are you wearing some sort of concealment spell?”

“Absolutely,” he replied, confirming “Ordinarily, I look almost exactly like my ol’ man. My eyes are a darker amber, and they say I have my mother’s nose, but other than that...” he shrugged.

“May I see?” she asked with eyes full of wonder.

Sniffing the area to be doubly sure there were no strangers present, he nodded his consent as he lifted the rosary from around his neck. “Unlike pop’s, these beads come right off.” he chuckled.

She gazed at the inu-hanyou standing before her with a sense of pride. She’d been right, of course, Kagome had raised her kids up right. Or…kid…at least.

“How many children do Kagome and Inuyasha have?” she asked next. Then she thought of something in the way he’d described his concealment rosary. “Wait a minute, in all this time, Kagome’s never removed the beads of subjugation from your father?”

Was Inuyasha truly still worried that he might lose control, even after all this time? Surely the beads were no longer necessary, as they no longer faced life or death situations, right?

“Oh never mind that…” Kazuki waved off, sensing where her mind was going. “He hasn’t really needed the subduing rosary in a long time; they just kept it around for nostalgic reasons. It’s more of a…toy…now, than anything else.” he explained behind a mild blush, adding “And Okaa does remove it on occasion these days, as it gets in the way of his business suits.”

Quickly changing the subject, he answered her original question, explaining “They tried to take it easy over the years, cherishing their moments of private time between pups, so there’s only nine of us. Well, ten if you count Shippo, the kitsune she’s told you about in the past.”

She blanched. Only nine? Well, she supposed…over a course of five centuries…

“Details! Details!” she chirped happily, while leading the man she understood to be her firstborn grandchild indoors.

Kazuki and Nodoka continued to talk well into the late afternoon and early evening, as he gave her a rundown of his various siblings, and other happenings of the family. She had squealed in delight to learn that her youngest grandchild was still a child, and was already coming up with various ways to spoil the boy. She’d almost developed a headache at the paradox of her daughter actually owning the Densetsu Hotel, but got over the initial shock quickly enough. She also took learning what had become of the jewel rather well, expressing her gratitude for Midoriko, and the gift she had bequeathed his father. She’d expressed prideful awe over what Kazuki told her his father had accomplished in the old days, as liaison to the ruling humans, with his ability to turn himself mortal prior to the invention of concealment charms. She’d also chuckled that she was glad he could also become a pure youkai at will, to ensure that all of her grandbabies had his adorable ears, as she’d then proceeded to tweak Kazuki’s ears, much to the overgrown pup’s amusement. At one point in time, Souta was even able to pry himself away from his video games long enough to meet his nephew, who promised to teach his young uncle all sorts of ‘cool guy stuff’. Jii-chan didn’t even attempt to purify him when he’d first come inside to discover the middle-aged hanyou speaking with his daughter-in-law, instead also mistaking the lad for his father until a brief recap of his earlier explanation was repeated for the old man’s sake. Kazuki then proceeded to surprise the aging shrine priest by pulling him into a hug, before shoving a scroll in his hands. “My life’s work.” he explained with a grin, as Jii-chan unrolled the document to discover it was a very accurate account of the Higurashi family tree, dating all the way back to the very first Higurashi of the shrine, who’d married the miko shrine keeper in the feudal ages. Kazuki then proceeded to explain that the Higurashi family tree most certainly didn’t stop with them, where he’d left off on that particular parchment, as they had a lot of relatives descendent from Kagome milling around all of Japan. All of whom he’d been dutifully cataloging on a separate scroll, since it would be far too complicated to document descendants that lived at the same time period as their ancestors on the same piece of paper. He continued to explain that after the initial contact his parents were planning on making the following morning, plans were going to be underway for a family reunion of sorts, so that they could meet everyone else.

Nodoka smiled at the idea of the family gathering, but frowned at the prospect of not seeing her baby girl again until sometime the following day. She then grinned wickedly as she recalled the beginnings of a plan that she and Kazuki had been forming outside.

“Uh-uh, oh no, you get that father of yours on the phone right this instant. I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.”

Kazuki smirked evilly in return. This should be good.

“Here’s his cell number.” he said, handing her a business card. “He goes by ‘Jiro Taisho’ in the human world, just FYI.”

Smirking, Nodoka made her way over to the kitchen phone.

``````

Three hundred miles away, Inuyasha was sitting at his desk in his brother’s office building. He still wasn’t really sure what Sesshoumaru needed with an office building, but he supposed it helped make the Taiyoukai seem more official. The place was used as the Western Land’s YA headquarters more than anything else, each of the various offices leased out to different members of the Alliance, or humans in the know. They all kept up the appearance of the place being your standard issue human establishment, of course, but it spared Sesshoumaru from having to continue to make business deals out of his home. It came in handy for more than just dealings with the Alliance, though. Although it wasn’t really that big of a deal to invite fellow youkai delegates into the castle, it was becoming an increasing inconvenience to make sure all the kitsune behaved themselves whenever one of the ‘unaware’ human businessmen he dealt with required a meeting. After all, Sesshoumaru was a silent partner in many human corporations that had nothing to do with the Alliance, and Inuyasha supposed that was really the main reason behind why his brother had purchased the skyscraper. That, and so he could have a shiny metal plaque with his name carved in it.

He snorted. It wasn’t even his real name. But then again, his office door didn’t bear his real name, either.

Like he was really one to talk when it came to offices. While he could have declined the offer when his brother had said he could make use of the corner office, he had decided it would be nice to be able to separate work from home, so that he could give his mate and son the undivided attention they deserved when he was present. Not having them around as a distraction while he tried to do his work also ensured that he actually got his work done a lot sooner, so ultimately, he was able to spend more time with his family by keeping his work at the office. It was certainly an incentive to get his work over and done with as quickly as possible, so that he could get back home to his family, and it also wasn’t as though he spent five days a week in the stuffy building to begin with. He didn’t have nearly as much responsibility piled on his plate as his Aniki did, but there were a few things he was in charge of here and there.

He was just finishing up for the evening, having gone through several applications for potential assistant managers for the hotel (as the previous assistant manager had been promoted to manager the day before), when his cell started vibrating in his jacket pocket. Looking at the number, he recognized the Tokyo prefix, though the number itself didn’t seem familiar. Shrugging, as they had several family members from Kazuki’s side residing in Tokyo, he answered the phone.

“Moshi-moshi, Jiro Taisho speaking.”

“Hello, Inuyasha.” a tender, motherly voice sounded from the other end of the line. It may have been five centuries, but he would know that voice anywhere.

“Hig…Higurashi-san?!” he stuttered in surprise, pulling his phone away momentarily to glance at the screen, as though the electronic device could confirm the caller’s identity for him. “How…er…um…that is…”

Her gentle laughter was like a life preserver tossed in to rescue him from his drowning. Then in a rare moment of clarity, everything suddenly made perfect sense.

“Kazuki’s there, isn’t he?” he asked, the tone of his voice clearly indicating he wasn’t that upset.

“Well, you certainly know your own son, as any good father should.” was her amused reply.

He knew he should be mad at the boy for disregarding their wishes, but what’s done was done, and in a way, he was actually grateful. He would admit that he had been just as nervous as Kagome, if not more so, regarding how exactly to go about making ‘first contact’, as it were, and now…that stressful duty had been done for him. Maybe he would send Kazuki a thank-you card…

“Now no more of this business I hear about you coming by sometime in the morning.” Nodoka continued, a smile in her voice despite how strict she was attempting to make her command. “I expect to see you and my daughter, and that adorable little boy of yours, around my kitchen table for dinner tonight. Do I make myself clear?”

Chuckling despite himself, Inuyasha attempted to point out “Well, we’re all the way in Osaka, so I don’t think-” but he was cut off.

“Don’t give me that.” she said, “My husband used to make that commute all the time. The bullet train only takes two and a half hours.”

She’s got me there…

Centuries of survival skills were hard to ignore, even in today’s modern world of concrete and microchips, and Inuyasha knew when he was backed into a corner. But he also knew that the hand that reached out to him was friendly, and he would never snap at her, instead letting Mrs. Higurashi pet him as she wanted to do. It was a silly dog analogy, he knew, but for him, it worked. Besides, hadn’t she said something about dinner? And ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ was another dog analogy he had grown to accept over the years. Kagome’d drilled that one into his head long ago, in regard to dealing with his asshole brother. Sesshoumaru could still be a royal prick at times, but it was solely thanks to his full-youkai brother that he himself was a “royal” anything, instead of the vagabond he had been as a pup. Sesshoumaru claimed he was repaying a debt, trying to make up for how horribly he had treated Inuyasha in the past. It was also said in not so many words that the Taiyoukai felt gratitude towards his brother for opening his eyes to what their father had originally attempted to teach him, about how true strength came from the need to protect the ones you love. Shrugging, Inuyasha’s reply had always been that it was no big deal, feeling indebted himself to Sesshoumaru for all that the Taiyoukai had given him, rank and status included. He would never have been respected by youkai society as the prince he rightfully was from birth, were it not for his brother publicly decreeing it so. It was actually Kagome who had eventually gotten the two brothers to agree that all things considered, they should just call it even.

“Okay, okay.” he relented with an amused sigh, coming out of his thoughts. Kagome wasn’t the only Higurashi woman with a stubborn streak, after all, and he’d learned long ago that it was better to just agree right away than to attempt to argue his case when ultimately, he would still be conceding, regardless. “We’ll see you tonight.”

“Don’t be late!” Nodoka sing-songed happily before hanging up, leaving Inuyasha to once again glance at his cell in disbelief.

Kagome’s gonna shit a brick. he thought behind a smirk.

``````

Kazuki politely excused himself for the evening so that Nodoka could start getting everything ready. She suspected that was merely his excuse, perhaps fearing his father’s verbal wrath should he stick around, but she also appreciated that he respected the sanctity of tonight’s dinner. He said he’d be back soon, for the family gathering, at which time she could meet his mate and children, and their mates and children, and their mates and children, and so on. Nothing could faze the Higurashi woman by that point, though, as she merely hugged her grandson goodnight, tweaking his ear despite his concealment charm already being back in place, as she said she couldn’t wait to meet everyone else.

Souta joked that they’d need to buy a Palm Pilot to keep track of everyone’s names and who they were related to, then Kazuki proceeded to reach into his jacket pocket, and toss him his iPhone, saying to consider it an early birthday present. Nodoka could only smile as her son squealed happily before rushing to hug his centuries old nephew, before finally letting the man go so they could start preparing for their dinner guests.

Let’s see, oden for Kagome…

She knew her baby girl, despite how much she may have aged over the years, would always love her mother’s oden. So what if oden was traditionally a winter dish and it was currently late summer? She had all of the necessary ingredients on hand, so in her mind, that answered that. There was also plenty of ramen left over from the last time she’d bought the supply, since in the end, Inuyasha had decided it would be best to simply go cold turkey. She wondered momentarily if the hanyou still had his taste for the salty noodles, knowing that it’d been five centuries since the last time she’d had him over for dinner, but then quickly thought What am I thinking? Inuyasha…no longer like ramen…? Yeah right.

She was still attempting to keep herself busy in the kitchen three hours later, lest her anxiety get the better of her, when there was a sudden, yet gentle, knock on the door.

``````````````````````````````````````````````````

To say that Kagome was shocked to hear what her panting mate had to say as he stood catching his breath in the doorway would have been the understatement of the century. Check that…the last five centuries. Still, after regaining the function of her limbs, she had dashed through the apartment to their bedroom, throwing on more appropriate clothing, before quickly getting Susumu presentable as well, while a winded Inuyasha told Kirara how she’d be having the apartment to herself for the night. He had decided to leave his car in the parking structure at work, considering he could run much faster than rush-hour traffic, but in his frantic attempt to get to Kagome as quickly as inhumanely possible, he had temporarily forgotten to breathe!

Kirara meowed her understanding, moving to curl up for a nap, leaving Inuyasha to chuckle to himself at the recent memory of Kagome’s shocked expression at his news. She had literally gaped at him like a fish out of water before suddenly disappearing down the hallway at youkai speed. Said miko reemerged from their bedroom not five minutes later, their youngest son in her arms, both of them sporting their best semi-former dinner attire. They weren’t going to a snazzy restaurant, after all, but she most certainly didn’t want them to go looking like slobs. Her dark blue blouse and matching knee-length skirt was conservative, yet feminine. Since Inuyasha had just been at the office, his suit and tie worked just fine for the occasion.

“We should just drive to the Tokaido Shinkansen station.” she said, even knowing how that would add at least an extra twenty minutes to their trip. “I don’t want to risk getting spotted leaping from building to building.”

While Kagome didn’t mind Inuyasha doing it by himself, that was one thing. He was by himself, and as such, could go much faster, and be a bit more reckless to avoid detection, than he could be while carrying passengers. Sure, leaping around the city like that was technically illegal, according to the Alliance law that stated no blatant displays of youkai abilities were allowed where humans could possibly see them, but since when did Inuyasha give a damn about following the rules? Even when they were rules that he himself had originally written.

He understood his mate’s concerns, though. It was true that he couldn’t be nearly as stealthful while carrying both her and their son, so with a nod he conceded “We’ll need to take your car.”

``````````````````````````````````````````````````

Nervously twiddling her thumbs, a habit she’d picked up a couple of centuries ago, Kagome waited with bated breath as Inuyasha, with a false air of confidence, calmly knocked on her mother’s door.

“Relax.” he whispered to her quietly, “She’s your mother. It’s not like you’re preparing for a job interview with the CEO of Toshiba.”

Only a modern-day Inuyasha could make such a comparison.

“I’m fine…I’m fine…” the miko insisted absentmindedly.

“Yeah, freaked out, insecure-”

“I just haven’t seen her in a while, that’s all.” she interrupted, rolling her eyes.

“You saw her just a couple of months ago, at the wedding.” he pointed out.

“That may be true, but she didn’t see me.” You could tell that deep down, part of her was still worried about her mother’s reaction to her appearance.

“You look beautiful, Mommy.” spoke somebody obviously not her husband, and she smiled down at the boy by her side. “Thanks baby.” she responded, just before the front door opened.

Nodoka didn’t appear shocked at all, as she stood there grinning broadly at her guests. She knew what to expect when she opened the door, as Kazuki had briefed her on their current appearances prior to his departure, also reminding her of the fact that the boys would probably appear human, concealed for safety’s sake until they got indoors. Smiling more genuinely than Kagome could ever recall seeing her mother smile - and her childhood memories were just as vivid as ever - it only took the women a matter of seconds before they enveloped one another in a tearful, heartfelt embrace.

``````

Dinner went off without a hitch. Nodoka wasn’t bothered by the fact that her daughter more closely resembled an older sister than the young woman she had just sent off through the well that very morning. Souta felt awkward, at first, until the middle-aged woman in question proceeded to pull him into a bear hug, complete with noogie, and then he loosened right up, bombarding the couple with question after question regarding what life had been like for them over the last five hundred years. They tried hard to keep up with the lad’s inquisition, but had to ask him to slow down and catch his breath on numerous occasions.

Nodoka squealed with delight when Susumu’s concealment rosary was removed, seeing the darling boy in his true hanyou appearance. She also noted that Inuyasha wasn’t currently wearing his rosary at all, just like Kazuki had said, as the beads certainly would interfere with his professional business look. He looked ridiculously handsome in his dark gray suit and red tie, both in human form, and hanyou. Jii-chan was fascinated over Inuyasha’s ability to control his youkai blood, as he proceeded to demonstrate for everyone what Kazuki had told them he was capable of doing. Mrs. Higurashi commented that she found his youkai crests rather striking, as he now possessed the demonic stripes even in hanyou form, and also that she was proud of what he had accomplished as liaison back during the late sengoku period, with his (then unique) ability to look human. She was also flabbergasted to learn that it was one of Kagome’s kitsune grandchildren, along with Kagome herself, who had more or less single-handedly invented the “concealment charm” for today’s youkai populous. Her daughter bashfully tried to explain that the designs were constantly being improved upon, and that Hikaru’s daughters and their mates were actually the ones who came up with the way to incorporate the magatama beads into things other than your standard issue rosary necklace, but Jii-chan still insisted that she take credit were credit was due, as merging the kitsune magic within the Shinto holy beads in the first place had originally been her doing. She then explained that the whole thing had actually been Kazuki’s idea, as he hadn’t wanted to go walking around with a leaf on his head, invisible or no.

Everyone chuckled at the mental image, having already met the hanyou in question.

Kagome then continued to explain that in this day and age, while standard issue concealment charms were provided for free by the youkai government, custom made concealment charms were somewhat of a hot commodity, and a lot of people paid good money to have a concealment charm made-to-order to their personal specifications. Many hanyou wanted to choose what they looked like in human society, instead of merely getting stuck with their natural born mortal appearances. The custom made designs were even more popular among pure-blooded youkai, who didn’t even have a natural human appearance to begin with. While more powerful youkai were capable of creating a human guise on their own, and had no need for a concealment charm, there were a lot of weaker species out there who would probably have been hunted to extinction by now were it not for the magical trinkets, especially in China. Boar youkai suddenly came to mind, and she couldn’t suppress a tiny smile at the old memory. There was pork in her mother’s oden, after all.

Jii-chan had never been more proud of his granddaughter, even if the priest in him was a little unnerved to discover just how many youkai were actually still around in their modern day world. And not just in Japan and China, but apparently, according to Kagome, there were youkai of some type or another living in nearly every country on the planet. The youkai of the world had also succeeded in doing what humans themselves were still failing miserably at, in that they had decreed “world peace” between their governments…even among species that at one point in time, were natural born enemies of one another. She explained that it was relatively easy for the youkai of the world to unite with one another when they all had a common goal, continued existence in the ever-growing human world.

Politics was hardly appropriate dinner table conversation, though, so it wasn’t long before the subject was brought back around to more pleasurable topics, such as children.

Kagome’s mother was all a flutter over little Susumu, who was thoroughly enjoying the attention. He would probably be their last little one, Kagome confessed to her mother, quickly assuring the Higurashi woman that even though their own grandchildren - her great-grandchildren - were mostly adults by that point, she had plenty of preadolescent great-great-grandchildren, and even great-great-great-grandchildren, to keep her occupied. Nodoka merely chuckled at that information, saying she couldn’t wait to meet each and every one of them.

“Well, you won’t be able to meet Hikaru just yet.” Inuyasha commented through a mouthful of ramen. “He and his mate Hoshi live in the States.”

When they’d first sat down at the table, Nodoka had teased the elder hanyou “Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter’s mate?” at the sight of him eating his ramen slowly and neatly. He’d blinked in surprise, honestly being used to being “refined” by that point, as Kagome had put it. But at her mother’s insistence that he simply be himself, one look of approval from Kagome had been all it’d taken for the hanyou to revert back to his previous eating habits, slurping the delicious noodles as though they would disappear before his eyes if he failed to eat them quickly enough.

“He’s the one who first invented the concealment spell for non-kitsune, right?” Nodoka wished to clarify, as she knew the name sounded familiar, but they’d already run through the names of several relatives by that point.

“Yeah.” Kagome spoke up, as Inuyasha was currently mid-slurp, with a few strands of noodles dangling from his mouth. She desperately tried not to laugh at the sight as she elaborated her answer.

“Officially, that’s still his job, to provide the native hanyou of America with concealment charms.” she explained. “At first, it was almost sort of like a missionary type gig, but it’s completely official, now. The American youkai have formed their own government of sorts, and Hikaru is like their ambassador to Japan or something. Though a lot of the native ‘skin walkers’ are powerful enough to pass themselves off as humans without his help, hanyou of those races have the same problem as local hanyou here, in that they have animal features they cannot hide. Many skin walkers were afraid to take human mates for that very reason, because they feared for their children’s safety, but now, thanks to our help, their hanyou population has boomed in the last century. There’s apparently nobody with kitsune type magic native to America that’s strong enough to create concealment charms of their own, so the country as a whole relies solely on Japan to continue to furnish them with the product.” she explained.

“And you are a part of this?” her mother asked in awe.

Nodding, she said “I learned how to make and bless magatama beads a long time ago. I have help, now, as I could never make enough beads all on my own. So I have other people make the beads for me, and then I bless them. I ship Chris several hundred beads twice a year; more if he needs them, but most youkai don’t breed that quickly, and it only takes the strength of one or two beads per person to create most illusions.”

“Chris?” Souta asked then, blinking in confusion. What’d he miss?

“Oh!” Kagome chuckled at the slip-up, but this time Inuyasha continued with the explanation, as he had since swallowed his mouthful of noodles.

“Chris is Hikaru’s ‘American’ name.” he said, as he went on to explain how he and his mate had avoided all that nasty WW2 business by altering their forms to appear Caucasian. They were so used to their American forms now, that ‘Chris and Liz’ saw no point in changing back.

“Well, Chris must do very well for himself, being the sole provider of concealment charms for all of America.” Nodoka commented in wonder.

“Nah.” Inuyasha waved off, “It’s still all charity work, so he only charges if somebody places a special order, wanting to look a certain different way, cause that’s harder for him to do. Or, like Kagome said, standard issue concealment charms, that just automatically make a hanyou look like their natural human form, are provided for free.”

“Then what does he do to support himself?” Souta asked next.

“In the human world, he’s in the entertainment industry.” Kagome explained.

“Yeah, brat lives in Las Vegas, of all places.” Inuyasha continued. “Got some kind of TV show now or something, where he uses his kitsune magic to amaze crowds of humans, and everyone just assumes it’s a trick.” he snorted.

Leave it to a kitsune to find a loophole with that whole ‘no unlawful displays of youki’ rule. Like he was one to talk. But he supposed it didn’t count if the humans just thought it was all human magic tricks. But how the hell would a human make a speeding car disappear into thin air out in the middle of the desert? Mirrors? Yeah right. His favorite was when he did close-up, gross stuff, like swallowing a coin and then having it crawl under his skin until he cuts it out. That one’s actually pretty cool.

The topic of conversation continued to drift around to this and that throughout the remainder of dinner. Kagome’s family learned of their adventures in America’s “Wild West”, as well as their direct and indirect involvement in the war. They were happy to answer any questions her family may have had, and boy, did they have a lot of questions. One question that threw Kagome off guard, though, was voiced by her mother shortly after Nodoka learned of Kagome’s modern-day alias. She asked her daughter point blank if she and Inuyasha had been the couple Daiki had spoken of, whom he’d met one day on the bullet train. Upon confessing that it had in fact been them, Nodoka pulled them both into a loving embrace, telling them briefly of how he had spoken of them to her when he’d come home that evening, and how she could instantly see that something in that woman’s words - in Kagome’s words - had truly touched his soul. Kagome desperately tried not to cry, as she was both humbled and overjoyed by her mother’s words, while also saddened at the reminder of her father’s passing. For someone who had long gotten used to a youkai’s lifespan, a mere few years went by in a heartbeat, so for her, the wounds of witnessing all that had taken place were still a little fresh.

The conversation became a little more lighthearted again after that, as they began speaking of plans for the upcoming family reunion. Kagome said it wouldn’t take that long to orchestrate, as a lot of people were on stand-by, having already been made aware of their ‘first contact’ date, as it were.

“Which is supposed to be tomorrow.” Inuyasha pointed out, grinning, “So we’ve got an extra day.”

“Well, you don’t honestly think I’m going to send you three off back to Osaka in the middle of the night, do you?” Nodoka grinned then.

Souta didn’t mind sharing his room with Susumu that night. For a three and a half year old, the hanyou boy seemed remarkably smart for his age, which Souta chalked up to being half youkai. There was no mistaking that the pup was a young child, as his desire to play virtually knew no bounds, but he also understood when it was time to sleep, and to obey his parents when they instructed he do so. They had something they had to take care of out in the well-house before retiring for the night themselves, but they wanted little Susumu out of the way before his mother started tossing around her miko powers. Once that was taken care of, she and Inuyasha were eager to call it a night, as well.

It was a snug fit, it had always been a snug fit, but Kagome and Inuyasha didn’t part from one another for the entire night, as they spent it cuddled together in each other’s embrace on the small pink bed that still carried the mixed scents of their younger selves. Not that either of them usually ever had trouble sleeping, but that night was by far the most peaceful sleep that either of them could ever recall. They were home.

``````````````````````````````````````````````````

“Yes…that’s right…and three hundred, no, you better make that four hundred crab rolls…yeah...” Kagome checked off buffet items on her list as she spoke with the caterer over the phone. “…Okay…read it all back to me please…”

Inuyasha, meanwhile, just rolled his eyes as he continued to entertain Susumu over on the sofa. When a knock sounded on their front door, he just yelled “Come in!”, his youkai senses already telling him who it was.

Kagome kept a trained ear on the caterer’s voice as he read back her order, but she was nothing if not a multi-tasker, as she turned and greeted Kenta with a polite wave as he and Aki entered their living room.

“Well, hello there, Susumu-kun.” Aki purred, deliberately adding the suffix that rhymed with his name, knowing how he didn’t like it and giggling behind her hand at the way he scrunched up his face.

Inuyasha chuckled a little as well, but then getting down to business, he looked up at Kenta as he asked “Got everything put together?”

Sitting down on the other end of the couch, the younger hanyou nodded with a fangy smile - his version of a toothy grin - having removed his concealment rosary the instant he and his mate crossed over the threshold.

He and Aki had agreed to help them orchestrate the family gathering, so that it wouldn’t be too stressful for his parents to try and pull off all by themselves. While Inuyasha and Kagome took care of the “party” aspect, such as renting the tables and chairs, and ordering the food, Kenta and Aki were in charge of the “guests”. Meaning he was the one who got to call dozens upon dozens of relatives, drilling into them the importance of this event, and how they had better show up…or else. Accommodations certainly weren’t an issue, as anyone traveling from a fair distance was offered a room at The Densetsu Hotel, free of charge. Of course, nearly everyone in the immediate family fell in line without even having to be asked, as they had been looking forward to the day Kagome got reunited with her shrine family almost as badly as the miko herself had been. The only exception was Hikaru, who apologized profusely, but explained that he simply couldn’t up and leave in time for when they were planning on having the party. He swore that he and Hoshi would make a trip home to Japan as soon as they could, which was good enough for Kenta. They had expected that he wouldn’t be able to come, as he was currently in the middle of touring with his TV show. The task of gathering RSVPs got a little more daunting when it dwindled down to second and third cousins, especially when the responses of “Who?” started flowing in, but everyone who was coming all knew and loved their miko relative wholeheartedly, be she great-grandmother, great-aunt, or sister-in-law.

Yes, even Sesshoumaru himself said that he couldn’t wait to meet the miko’s family. He had been present during their covert attendance to the wedding, of course, but hadn’t dared making his presence known, even with his aura concealed and a glamour in place to mask his youkai appearance. So this upcoming gathering would be the first opportunity he would have to actually converse with the girl’s mother and grandfather, and he was looking forward to it. One of the first things he would say would be to thank them for willingly allowing his brother to publicly join their family. While the mating had already taken place, and there was nothing that either of them could have done to keep the girl from being with him, Sesshoumaru knew that it would’ve broken his brother’s heart if his mate had been disowned from her own family because of his doing. He knew that even in this day and age, finding true love between youkai and humans was rare, but even rarer was finding a human whose entire family approved of the joining. Most humans who fell in love with a youkai ultimately had to choose between them and their family. Of course, most humans became afraid when they learned who - or rather what - their youkai companions truly were, and proceeded to end the relationship for that reason.

One of the pros, and cons, of concealment charms, but at least nobody ever made their knowledge of youkai public after their would-be lovers revealed themselves. A fortunate statistic, if ever there was one. It was probably fear that kept them quiet, at least for those who hadn’t previously been aware of the existence of youkai, which pretty much consisted of the entire human population, save for high ranking Government officials, those of Taijiya decent who still worked in partnership with the YA, and anyone of a spiritual background with connections to the Sect.

And speaking of the Spiritual Sect…during the wedding, the Taiyoukai had wondered at the priest who had performed the ceremony. It was clear that the man had a decent amount of spiritual powers, and while he hadn’t suspected that he would detect their presence with Emi’s youki masking charms in place, as her powers naturally surpassed the priest’s due to sheer age and experience, he had found it curious how the man had not found it odd that Inuyasha was not wearing a concealment charm. While standard issue concealment charms only altered their outward appearances, doing nothing to hide their demonic auras from those powerful enough to sense them, meaning that the priest would have still been aware of Inuyasha’s hanyou status, he should still have been wearing a concealment charm, regardless. Of course, their past-selves had been unaware that such trinkets even existed, but the Shinto priest believed young Inuyasha to be from their time, and modern-day youkai simply did not go about unconcealed. Sesshoumaru’s curiosity regarding the apparent slip-up was satisfied later in the evening, when he overheard the two miko speaking amongst themselves of how they had found it brave and honorable of Inuyasha to lower his concealment during the ceremony, presenting his true form before the Kami of the shrine, even though it’d been clear in the beginning that he’d feared their persecution for marrying a fellow miko.

Well, that answered that.

He was just glad that his brother and his mate’s past-selves had finally departed on a permanent basis. It had been somewhat…frustrating…keeping tabs on the whelp, making sure he’d stayed out of trouble on the few rare occasions that he’d ventured out into Kagome’s world. At least the pup’s older-self had warned him in advance about the two main instances that would - and did - require immediate damage control. Namely, the “Noh Mask” incident, and the Jr. High’s cultural festival. Some members of the Alliance had demanded that the mystery, headstrong hanyou be brought to justice, made accountable for his actions and blatant disregard for Alliance law, but thanks to Kouga being in on the secret of Kagome’s origins, their votes had always been deadlocked, and in the end, nobody out of the loop had ever been made aware of just who the young hanyou truly was.

Thinking back on all the trouble he’d witnessed his father’s past-self get into over the last few years, Kenta remembered that he’d especially enjoyed the time he’d actually made the news for saving a child from a fire, as they’d shown the little girl’s crayon rendering of his likeness, while sporting the baseball cap that Souta would never see again. He still ripped his ol’ man on the incident, even to this day, when the moment called for it. But even so, Kenta had to admit that his father wasn’t the only one who had his bumbling moments, and when it came to catching a snag on the fabric of time, it was always his mother who had made her presence the most memorable.

They had shared with him long ago, or more like his father had bitched about it to him, what had happened during the last leg of their American adventure, after he and his parents had parted ways in Arizona. Kenta had found it ridiculously amusing to hear the tale of the alligator youkai they’d had to fight along the mucky shore of the Mississippi River, while wearing their best Victorian garb, no less. His mother had grumbled something under her breath about Inuyasha never letting her live down what had happened after that, when that riverboat pilot had confronted them, and she’d basically ended up blabbing their entire life’s story to the total stranger. He had never forgotten his parents’ story, including the human man’s name, so when by chance he’d come across something rather interesting in the foreign literature section of the local library, he hadn’t hesitated to investigate further.

He still remembered the day he’d shared his findings with his parents…

“Low and behold.” he’d chuckled, slapping an older looking paperback down upon their coffee table.

“Just what exactly am I looking at?” Inuyasha had asked, able to read the English words just fine, but not sure what an old American storybook called “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” had to do with anything.

His parents’ eyes had slowly grown to the size of saucers, and beyond, as he’d explained how “Samuel Clemens” and “Mark Twain” were the same person. While it turned out that the man had never broken his vow to not reveal the secrets he had learned in his youth, it definitely appeared as though he had at least been inspired by them, as the novelist had published his time-traveling work of “fiction” back in 1889, where a young man from Connecticut mysteriously travels back in time to early medieval England. While the plot of the story didn’t really mirror Kagome’s adventure at all, it was almost as if he had depicted what would be the complete opposite, showing what happens when somebody chooses to directly interfere with the course of history, as opposed to Kagome’s vow to protect it.

Of course, as it would turn out - at least where Kagome was concerned - ‘protecting’ the timeline, and interfering with it, were one and the same. “Kagome the History Muse strikes again.” Kenta had joked, laughing good-naturedly at his parents’ flabbergasted expressions.

Everyone had long ago accepted that the Fates knew what they were doing when it came to Kagome’s lot in life, using her as their catalyst whenever they saw fit. It had gotten to the point where the miko no longer bothered worrying about what she was doing, and merely accepted that everything was as it should be. Her husband’s recent purchase of the Densetsu Hotel was an easy reminder of that.

Speaking of…

“We’ve reserved the entire 35th floor.” Inuyasha said, breaking his son out of his wandering thoughts, as Kenta blinked a moment before realizing what his father was talking about.

“So far, I’ve got eighty-five confirmed RSVPs, not including children.” the younger hanyou told his father, “But I’m still waiting to hear back from some of Kichiro’s kids. Emi wanted all of her living nieces and nephews to be there, as the Higurashi Shrine means almost as much to her as it does to Mama.”

Nodding his understanding, Inuyasha said “I’ll reserve the 34th floor too, then, just in case.”

“Okay…no, that’ll be everything…yes. Thank you.” Kagome said before hanging up the phone. “Okay, the food’s all ordered.” she told the others as she sat down beside her mate on the couch.

“Do I want to know how much it came to?” Inuyasha asked hesitantly.

“Probably not.” Kagome answered honestly, and Kenta and Aki both laughed.

“What, no ‘Taisho’ discount?” Aki asked her mother-in-law with a twinkle in her eyes.

While things may have seemed awkward at first, Aki had actually adjusted to her knew life remarkably well. Not only did she go from living in America to Japan, from believing youkai were nothing but myths to mating into a family of them and having her once human lifespan dramatically increased to match their own, but she also went from being relatively poor to being part of one of the richest families in the country. Aki, too, was a “Taisho” now…and for a girl who’d spent her early years serving hamburgers, her change in status was by far the hardest change to adjust to, even more so than keeping up with all the advancements of modern technology over the last six decades, or raising three part-youkai children.

But she was a kind woman. She was what Kenta’d needed in his life; who Kenta’d needed in his life, and they had welcomed her with open arms the day he’d brought her home with him after the war. Smirking, a twinkle in her own eyes, Kagome answered her daughter-in-law’s question behind a playful shrug “He may have mentioned something about complimentary desserts.”

Whistling low, it was her son this time that commented “You go girl.”

At his father’s comical look of surprise at the expression, he defended “What?” chortling under his breath. “Can I help it if I’ve got a sweet tooth?”

Thinking to playfully embarrass her mate in front of his parents, Aki spoke up with a more sultry tone, as she asked “Is that why you bite me so often?” But her plan backfired when he merely rose to his feet and pulled her into a tight embrace, ignoring her yelp of surprise, as his huskily responded “Sure is.”

“Well, look at the time!” Kagome suddenly spouted, jumping up to her feet as well, while both adult males in the room chuckled at her antics.

“I suppose we should get ready…for bed.” Aki agreed somewhat distractedly as her mate started nuzzling her neck.

“You wanna borrow the guest room?” Inuyasha asked his son, only half kidding.

“Inuyasha!”

“What?”

“Never mind…” Kagome muttered with a shake of her head, chuckling as well, while Aki finally managed to disentangle herself from her mate’s persistent embrace, and Inuyasha rose to his feet to join everyone else over by the front door.

Susumu just watched everyone with that confused “adults are weird” expression that all young children adopt at some point in time or another.

Feigning a sigh of defeat as he gently released his mate, Kenta turned back towards his parents as he confirmed before heading out “So this Saturday, then?”

“Yup.” his mother answered with one of the purest smiles he could ever recall seeing her wear. “This Saturday.”

````````````````````````````````````````````````` `

“No, I want the folding tables over there.” Kagome pointed. “Stack all the chairs over there.” she said to somebody else while pointing in the same direction. “Yes, the lanterns go up there.” A third person. “No” “Yes” “No” “Yes” “Over there.”

Argh!

“Boo!”

“Eeep!”

Kazuki couldn’t help but to laugh at being able to catch his poor mother off guard, but truthfully, he couldn’t blame her for her distraction, as he observed delivery drivers and caterers scuttling about in every direction. His mother looked like the conductor for a bizarre-o world rendition of Stomp.

“Sooo…” he drawled playfully, hands in his pants pockets as he rocked back and forth on his heels, “…how are things going?”

At his mother’s evil glare his invisible ears lowered upon his head, as he whimpered in the back of his throat the instinctive whine for submission.

Kagome’s expression loosened into a more friendly smile, then, as she shoved a piece of paper under his nose. “You wanna help? Go check off the food list and make sure everything’s here.”

“Hai, Okaa-san.”

The shrine was a mad house. Kitsune and part kitsune children were running around everywhere, though they were thankfully all bearing their human disguises. Shippo had drilled it into all of his great-grandkit’s heads that if any of them let their concealments go before they were told it was all right, he would let Sesshoumaru personally decide their punishment. That in and of itself had been enough of a threat to ensure that they all kept their illusions in place.

Kagome’s mother thoroughly enjoyed meeting Shippo, whom she remembered from Kagome’s stories was the little orphaned kitsune child they had come across in the past. While he obviously wasn’t a little boy any longer, she was still pleased to finally meet the lad that, in a sense, was her first grandchild, if not first biological grandchild. And speaking of Kazuki, earlier that morning Nodoka had the pleasure of meeting Emi, as well as their four children, and their mates and children, and their mates and children. They were one of the first groups to arrive as they all lived fairly close to the shrine. Souta hadn’t been kidding when he’d joked about needing a Pocket PC to store everyone’s names in, in order to keep track of them all, and that was only one branch of what she’d come to understand was a very complicated family tree.

Now, she was busily attempting to memorize all of Shippo’s grandchildren’s names, but she felt a little bit better when the human woman that suddenly appeared by his side joked that even she still had trouble keeping track of them all. Shippo didn’t hesitate to introduce Rin, then, whom Nodoka remembered from her daughter’s stories, as well.

“Ah, yes. You were the little girl that Inuyasha’s brother adopted.” she stated rather than asked, not needing confirmation as Kagome had already informed her of how the human orphan in question had grown up to become the mate of her adopted kitsune son.

“Yes.” Rin nodded, bowing her friendly hellos, before turning to her mate and questioning “Where is Otou-sama, anyway?”

“I think that’s him, speaking with Jii-chan.” Souta piped up, having come into the last part of the conversation, now that he was finally done with the latest task his sister had given him.

“Oh goodness.” Nodoka commented to herself, noticing the striking young man in a pristine white business suit who was currently speaking with her father-in-law. He hardly looked the roll of Inuyasha’s older brother, although she had already been informed of his Taiyoukai status - which included much slower aging - so as not to feel intimidated by his presence when she finally met him. She could understand her daughter’s concerns in that regard, because even she could feel his demonic aura, now that her attention was focused on him, and she had pretty much no spiritual powers to speak of, whatsoever.

“Where’s your sister?” she asked Souta then, averting her attention so as not to appear rude were she caught staring.

“Uh-uh, I’m not going anywhere near Sis. The last time I checked on her, she handed me a marker and a stack of ‘Hi, my name is…’ name tags. It took me nearly twenty-five minutes to get all the kitsune cubs to agree to wear their badges.”

Chuckling under her breath, Rin said “Now that’s a good idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Hello Mother, Farther.” suddenly addressed a man appearing slightly older than the two people in question, pulling everyone from their thoughts.

“Ah, Noboru, there you are. So good to see you again.” Shippo grinned, clasping Akiaka’s hand lovingly before ruffling up their eldest daughter’s hair, much to the adult demi-wolf’s chargin.

It was all Nodoka could do to keep up with introductions, as she met Shippo’s second-born son and his mate, who happened to be the first-born daughter of the wolf-youkai whom she remembered from her daughter’s tales had, at one point, been Inuyasha’s rival for her affections. It was all starting to give her a headache, not that that affected her mood in the slightest, as she wore a happy, genuine smile while next being introduced to their wolf/fox/human mixed children.

That was pretty much the last of Shippo’s family, she counted off in her mind, having already met Hikaru’s twin daughters and their mates and offspring, as well as Shippo and Rin’s own two youngest, who were currently in charge of baby-sitting their preadolescent grandnieces and grandnephews while Natsuko and Natsuki enjoyed some much needed time off. Shippo and Rin’s eldest daughter, Hinata, was also wandering around somewhere, with her human date, Yori. While Nodoka didn’t know all of the details surrounding their daughter’s love-life, she got the distinct impression that the woman had experienced heartbreak at some point in the past, as her parents seemed overly pleased to learn that she had been escorted to the party by that particular human male, whom she had apparently known for some time now.

Rin had made a point of glancing at each side of Yori’s neck, despite the fact that her enhanced sense of smell would have easily been enough to inform her if her daughter and the human man were mated. “No mark yet, hmmm?” she’d teased, earning a blush from Hinata, which proceeded to darken to an even deeper shade of red when the human man at her side merely shrugged, before replying with his own grin “Not yet.”

They were a cute couple, but the joking between the kitsune-hanyou and her mother triggered a question regarding youkai customs that Nodoka soon realized she found confusing, in how it always seemed that it was the male’s place to mark the female, just like the mark Rin bore from Shippo, or her daughter’s mark from Inuyasha, but in the case of a female youkai being with a human male, it was then suddenly the women who would mark their mortal partners. Rin explained that the concept of a mating mark, which was separate and independent from the blood-bond, was most closely related to the Western custom of wedding rings. It was a symbol to other youkai that you were claimed by another, if you possessed a mating mark, and it was something that the dominating youkai partner was driven to do on an instinctive level, laying claim over the submissive as their possession. Even though most species of mammal-based youkai were inherently male dominated, a female youkai’s spirit would know it was the dominant against a mortal partner, refusing to submit to someone so weak, so their own youki rising to the surface to demand that they place the mark themselves was simply a side-effect of being the physical dominant in the relationship. It was actually a good thing that any human mated to a youkai would bear a mark, be they male or female, because it prevented other youkai from seeking that human as a possible mate. Because humans were more promiscuous by nature, the general youkai population had accepted long ago that a potential human mate may have already had previous partners, so determining whether or not a human was available by scent alone could often prove difficult, especially for those with a weaker sense of smell. Possessing a mark made it crystal clear.

Rin was a great conversationalist, and Nodoka was thoroughly enjoying the woman’s company, but suddenly seeing somebody else waving eagerly in her direction caused the woman to realize that she was neglecting her other guests. “If you will excuse me,” she stated guiltily, bowing out of their conversation as politely as she could. “But it appears I am needed elsewhere.”

Following her line of sight, Shippo only laughed, muttering a comical “Good luck.” under his breath, but deliberately loud enough for Nodoka to hear.

She smirked to herself at his comment, as she approached the young raven-haired woman who proceeded to pull her into a near bone-crushing embrace as soon as she was within reach.

“Obaa-san!” she squealed happily, “It’s so great to finally meet you!”

“Likewise…” Kagome’s mother replied with a smile, if not a bit out of breath, as she managed to detangle herself from the woman’s embrace, asking “…and you are…?”

“Oh! How foolish of me.” she said while proceeding to bop herself on the forehead. “My name’s Michiko.” she announced.

“Kagome’s seventh born, right?” Souta asked, appearing beside his mother a few moments later, with another stack of adhesive nametags.

“Uncle Souta!” Michiko bellowed with a joyous grin, hugging the boy as well.

“Looks like your sister found you again.” his mother observed behind a chuckle, gesturing toward what he held in his hands. Souta chose not to dignify her comment with a response, save for sticking out his tongue, which promptly earned more chuckles, by both women, as he finished scribbling out Michiko’s name on one of said labels before handing it to her.

“Oh good, she gave you a low-odor marker.” his niece commented, dutifully applying her name badge.

“There you are.” said a handsome young man who suddenly approached Michiko from behind, tenderly nuzzling the mating mark on her neck, which caused the woman in question to squirm while playfully demanding “Stop that!”

Nodoka only smiled while Souta had the good grace to look embarrassed.

“Uncle, Grandmother, meet Nekorou.” she managed to say through some restrained giggles. Damn him! He knew how ticklish her mark was…

“Nice to meet you.” Souta’s mother piped up, while the boy proceeded to make yet another name tag.

“So you’re the cat, huh?” he asked, just as Buyo took that moment to appear out of nowhere, rubbing her back against the man’s pant leg.

Laughing playfully, he nodded his response to his mate’s young uncle, while commenting aloud “Looks like she’s relieved she’s not the only feline here, surrounded by so many dogs.” Chuckling heartedly as he lowered himself to a crouch before the mortal cat, who gazed back at him beseechingly, he said “Don’t worry,” while ruffling up her furry head, “You’ll get used to it.” He then proceeded to tell Buyo something in the instinctive cat tongue, but at Nodoka’s look for clarification from Michiko, the inu-hanyou merely shrugged. She didn’t speak meows, after all, but whatever her mate had told the mortal cat got the feline’s scent to radiate curiosity as she scampered off. Michiko figured Nekorou had probably told Buyo of the other feline at the party.

A beautiful middle-aged woman approached them from the side, then, her flowing locks of pearlescent topaz shimmering in the noonday sun, as the billowing skirt of her American-style summer dress danced playfully in the warm breeze.

“Hey Chouko.” Michiko greeted happily, her smile widening as she took in the woman’s appearance.

Said woman smiled knowingly to the inu-hanyou and her neko mate, before offering a friendly bow to Kagome’s mother. “I’m a close friend of the family.” she explained as way of introduction, while politely accepting a name tag from the young man at her side.

“I’ll say,” Michiko agreed, “She’s mated to Sango and Miroku’s boy. Doesn’t get much closer than that.” she explained to her human grandmother. Even though Michiko was too young to have ever known the human couple herself, she had heard plenty of stories over the years. “In fact, she is a member of the family, actually, if you think about it. Sister-in-law twice removed, being mated to Emi’s brother an’ all.” she explained. “Their kids are ‘Zuki’s nieces and nephews through marriage.”

“And they’re all fluttering around here, somewhere.” Chouko commented absentmindedly.

Nodoka nodded in recollection after a moment, remembering Kagome mentioning something about her and Kichiro in an earlier conversation. The woman’s appearance didn’t go unnoticed, either, and she made it a point to question as politely as possible “No concealment charm?”

She didn’t figure there were grounds for being secretive regarding the comment of such trinkets aloud, when the woman standing before her had pointed ears, pale blue hair, sky blue eyes, and dark blue antennae.

“The delivery crews have all left, and Mother’s spell is in place, so I’m letting everyone know that it’s safe to remove their concealments now.” The butterfly-hanyou explained.

“Finally...” Michiko sighed in happy relief. “I’ll so never get used to black hair.”

At Chouko’s self-dismissal, and Nodoka and Souta’s moderately confused expressions, Michiko chuckled lightly while explaining “Etsuko, Chouko’s mother, is a full-blooded butterfly-youkai. She can create what we call ‘blanket illusions’, meaning she’s cast a spell over the entire shrine grounds to give any outside observer the impression that we’re all just a bunch of ordinary humans, regardless of our actual appearances.”

On that note, she proceeded to remove the small beaded necklace she wore whenever she left the castle. It was less bulky than the original rosary design, but still served its purpose quite nicely. Upon its removal, her raven locks instantly shifted to silver, while canine ears simultaneously appeared upon her head as her human ears vanished, and her dark brown eyes lightened to a golden honey hue. Her smile broadened as she saw her grandmother’s gaze shift up to her ears, her toothy grin revealing a set of glistening fangs.

“It was Mother’s idea, since the shrine grounds are closed to the public today.” she explained further, twirling the petite necklace around her claw-tipped index finger as she added “She wanted you to be able to meet the real family, meaning no concealment charms. It helps to have butterfly magic at your disposal.” she concluded with a smirk, pocketing her beads.

The man beside her took that moment to remove the discreet bracelet he also wore, as his head of neatly trimmed midnight tresses instantly shifted to brownish red. His mahogany eyes lightened to a distinctively feline yellow, complete with vertically slit pupils, and while his ears remained in the same position, they developed daintily pointed tips. As his grin widened, a set of longer, narrower fangs than those of his mate could easily be seen peeking past his lips.

Nodoka’s eyes widened in amazement as one by one, over half the people around her suddenly adopted either white, silver, red or auburn hair. While some people’s raven locks did remain, that was mostly among the accompanying humans that had mated into the family at one point in time or another. A few select people of youkai blood did possess black hair as well, however, including the middle-aged doggie-eared woman currently heading in their direction.

The fewer alterations in physical appearance from human to hanyou had Nodoka believing that she had already met this woman, so it took her by surprise when whom she believed to be the mother of three bowed politely before stating “So nice to finally meet you.”

Souta blinked, noting her difference in attire, but feeling just as confused as his mother. “But…didn’t we already meet you and your kids about half an hour ago?” he asked.

“Ah, that must have been Miyako.” Michiko piped up, to which the raven-haired hanyou before them smirked knowingly.

“Miyako and Minako are twins.” the younger, silver-haired sister explained.

“Oh yes, that explains it then.” Nodoka commented, having momentarily forgotten that particular bit of information. She couldn’t be expected to remember everything her daughter had briefed her on, after all.

“So ‘Minako’, is it?” asked Souta, as he began writing out her name.

“Yup.” replied the elder twin by two hours, taking the proffered nametag. “Sorry I’m so late.” she commented irritably, “But Amrita insisted that we take her car, which proceeded to run out of gas, and then she-”

“Hey,” snapped a young woman with tanned skin, spiky brown haired and raccoon-like patches around her eyes. She had a bit of an accent, but her Japanese was perfectly legible. “I realize you’re half dog, but don’t be such a bitch.” she chuckled heartedly, coming up to stand beside her companion.

Nodoka’s eyes widened momentarily, but a comical smirk replaced her shocked expression when she realized that the two women knew each other, and that the insult had been taken in jest.

Rolling her eyes, Minako waved off what she considered to be a bad pun that had really run it’s course, before slapping her smile back in place and introducing “Obaa-san, Amrita Patel. Amrita, Nodoka Higurashi.”

“Nice to meet you.” the Higurashi woman said behind a polite bow.

“Likewise.” replied the hedgehog youkai.

“So this is the ‘fiery she-devil’ you met in India.” Michiko teased, relishing the sight of her older sister’s reddening cheeks, especially since it was nearly impossible to get under Minako’s skin.

“Uhh…” the older hanyou murmured, thoroughly embarrassed, but her friend and partner only chuckled at the comment, asking with a smirk “So what else has she said about me?”

“Oh wouldn’t you like to know.”

“That’s enough, sweetheart, leave your poor sister alone.” Nekorou attempted to scold behind a playful smirk of his own.

Souta looked thoroughly confused, which only fueled everyone’s amusement all the more, as Minako mumbled something about wanting to introduce her ‘friend’ to her parents, as the pair proceeded to excuse themselves from the conversation.

“Where are Kaa and Tou anyway?” asked Michiko, scanning the surrounding area with her nose, as she’d never hope to find them relying on sight alone. There were silver-haired inu-hanyou and raven-haired humans literally everywhere.

“The last time I saw Nee-chan, she was over there.” Souta spoke up while pointing in one direction, although it appeared his sister had since moved away from the last place he’d seen her. Kagome was the hostess, after all, so it only made sense that she’d be busy ‘doing the rounds’, as it were. After all, there were a lot of people here even she hadn’t met.

“Chichi! Haha!” squealed a redheaded youkai woman that suddenly and quite literally dropped out of the trees.

As if completely unfazed by his daughter’s rather unorthodox entry, Nekorou proceeded to introduce Mami to her human great-grandmother. Nodoka only continued to smile, acting as though she too found nothing odd about the way the woman had rather abruptly appeared out of nowhere. Just like her daughter and son-in-law, she had gotten used to “weird” a long time ago, and was genuinely happy to meet yet another relative.

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As the day continued on into late afternoon, Nodoka, Souta and Jii-chan had each taken their turn at meeting every single one of Kagome and Inuyasha’s children, as well as their mates, and their children and their mates, and their children and their mates, and so on. Souta was certainly making use of his early birthday present, as he made sure to jot down each and every single person’s name and number, along with a quick asterisk notation of who they were related to and how.

Nodoka found the day, as a whole, to be one of the best days of her entire life, and while she thoroughly enjoyed meeting each of her various descendants, that was only half of it. She would never forget, for as long as she lived, the nervous anticipation she had felt when Sesshoumaru had taken it upon himself to make introductions. Any brief apprehension she may have felt at casually conversing with a Taiyoukai of his stature was quickly laid to rest when he expressed his genuine gratitude for how she had willingly permitted his half brother to openly join her family. Under the pretense that she could quite possibly never see her daughter again, no less. Smiling, she had explained that as a human mother, with a human heart and human compassion, she could do no less. She loved her children and wanted nothing more in the world than for them to be happy, and she knew that his brother, her daughter’s mate, made her happy. What kind of mother would she have been, had she forced Kagome to choose between the love of her life, and her family? She was somewhat unsettled to learn that apparently, that was the case with most human families when one of their members fell in love with a youkai. How awful. She was quick to assure the Taiyoukai that she had been raised better than that. The proverb ‘if you love something let it go’ was easily translatable into a maternal setting. All little birdies had to leave the nest at some point, and she was only ever so fortunate that, five hundred years later, her little birdie came back.

She had heard from her son-in-law that it was his human heart that enabled him to love Kagome so fully, that pure-blooded youkai couldn’t grasp the concept of love as deeply as humans did, but Nodoka doubted very much that was true when she saw the smile in the Taiyoukai’s eyes as he introduced to her his own mate. Mrs. Higurashi also remembered, quite clearly, who Kagura was from her daughter’s tales, and expressed her own gratitude in return for how the wind-youkai had turned her own life around, thus influencing the lives of everyone else around her as a result. Though she was far too tactful to come out and say it, directly, there was an unspoken acknowledgment, even in Sesshoumaru’s own eyes, that agreed that had it not been for Kagura joining his life, his behavior regarding his brother and Kagome’s relationship could have been vastly altered. To say nothing of their two wonderful children who would have never existed. Nodoka knew fatherly pride when she saw it, and the Taiyoukai’s eyes had shown with nothing else when he’d introduced his two adult children to the human woman they had heard so much about over the centuries. Although they were pure-blooded youkai, being half inu and half wind, Mrs. Higurashi still considered Suishoukaze and Daichi to be members of her extended family, as well. The fact that they were of no blood relation to herself was irrelevant. Sesshoumaru and his mate and children were Inuyasha’s family, and therefore, her family, no ands, ifs, or buts. The Taiyoukai had been mildly surprised by her declaration, but had then softened his gaze, honoring the human woman with one of his rare smiles.

As the party started winding down, and the more distant relatives, including the hordes of kitsune, all began taking their leave, Nodoka was finally able to track down her daughter and son-in-law in what was left of the havoc.

Poor Kagome was dead on her feet, despite the fact that youkai blood flowed through her veins. Inuyasha would have loved to have helped her more with the organization of everything, but he had had his own hands full, having been in charge of keeping an eye on Susumu. Especially earlier that morning while the human delivery crews were still on the premises, as Susumu was still having a little trouble grasping how it was necessary to keep what he was a secret from those who didn’t already know about him. Kagome had actually been forced to seal his concealment charm to him in a rosary the pup couldn’t remove on his own, much like his father’s subjugation beads, although she would never dare slam her child’s face into the ground. Now, as there was nobody present who was unaware of youkai, and Etsuko’s blanket illusion was still firmly in place, Susumu was currently playing ‘let’s see how far I can jump from the roof’. For simplicity’s sake, the butterfly-youkai had chosen to make Susumu completely invisible to outside observers for the time being. Everyone within the shrine grounds merely shook their heads and chuckled at the young pup’s antics. Kagome wasn’t fazed in the slightest that her toddler was climbing up onto the roof of the house, only to leap back off again. Let the little guy tire himself out. Jii-chan only hollered in shock the first time, before quickly accepting that the pup apparently couldn’t hurt himself, when he botched his landing and looked for all the world like he broke every bone in his body, only to bounce back up to his feet and glare at the roof as though it were personally responsible for his lack of grace.

Inuyasha also had a mild scare himself, when little Susumu had made a mad dash for the well-house earlier that afternoon, but that was before he remembered that his mate had placed a permanent seal on the Bone Eaters’ Well the first night they’d joined her shrine family for dinner after their past-selves’ departure. His miko mate had explained to her family that while they had never bothered attempting to come through the well again after their final goodbyes, that that wasn’t to say that they would forever be able to guard the thing against any other youkai who may randomly find their way through the portal. There really was no way to predict how the thing truly worked, after all, and it wasn’t as though they had kept a steady vigil over the well in the past, once they’d moved to the castle. While Kagome hadn’t wanted to place any sort of seal on the well back in the past, for fear that for whatever reason, she would not be around to remove the seal before her fifteen-year-old-self was destined to fall through the time-slip, she had reasoned then that - presuming they lived to her time in the future as planned - she would merely place a seal on the well then, after their past-selves had departed for the final time. Because the two time-lines ran parallel to one another, placing the seal on the well at that time would protect the future against any possible youkai who had hypothetically found their way through the well without their knowledge, while at the same time ensuring that she didn’t accidentally interfere with her and Inuyasha’s own past.

It was a wise precaution, and one that had been executed as planned without a single glitch. Sometimes, the gods were on their side.

As the reunion pretty much came to a close, Kenta, Aki, Kazuki and Emi, as well as most of their children, all agreed to stay and help with the cleanup efforts. Kagome couldn’t help but cry tears of joy over how successful the day had been, and how happy she was now that her family - her entire family - was all together, at last. She was so proud of her ‘Higurashi family’, how she distinguished them in her mind, and how well the three mortals had taken everything. She was sure that for anybody else to suddenly learn how many descendants they actually had, all of whom were of youkai blood and most possessing distinctively demonic characteristics, it would have been enough of a shock to drive them into cardiac arrest. But not Kagome’s family. The Higurashis were strong, if Kagome herself was any indication, and her mother, as well as her brother and even her grandfather, all reacted to the news of their drastically altered family tree with wide smiles and welcoming arms.

One thing her mother did comment on, more out of curiosity than anything else, was how so many of the more distantly removed descendants, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of youkai, didn’t possess very many youkai features. Nodoka wondered, was there cause for concern that, eventually, there could be “people” running around with youkai ancestry who didn’t even know it? She had witnessed with her own eyes that people with only one-eighth youkai blood looked, for the most part, perfectly human, the main remnants of their demonic traits effecting their physical strength and senses, rather than outward appearance. It was a valid concern, Kagome consented, but since any individual who may possess a youkai great-great-grandfather or something of the sort, would have that great-great-grandfather in question still very much alive and an active member of their family, there was really not much of a chance of anyone becoming unaware of precisely whom they were descendant from. Also, regardless of how small a quantity of youkai blood any individual may possess, when opting to choose a human mate it was an actual requirement by youkai law that “those descendant from youkai” must inform their pure-blooded human intendeds of who and what they were. The only slack given in that regard to those of hardly any youkai blood was decided based upon whether or not they were physically capable of performing the youkai mating bond. If it was not within their power to create a mating mark, then they were obviously not bound by the requirement to do so, and were then permitted - legally and ethnically - to carry on in a “human” type fashion when it came to physical intimacy. The law stating that their potential life-mates be made aware of what they were prior to their joining then defaulted to the custom of human marriage, as that was the mortal world’s equivalent of declaring you wished no other in your life besides the person now standing beside you.

Kagome continued to explain that, generally speaking, the youkai bloodlines of the world were not really becoming that diluted, as while there were a few individuals here or there who kept on mating with humans throughout the generations, most part-youkai people ended up finding themselves partners who were also part-youkai. Most people one-forth youkai or less (not including her own grandchildren who were of Taiyoukai decent) were not strong enough to create the blood-bond that would guarantee the lifespan of a human partner, and who wanted to be forced to watch their life-mate age and die before their eyes? You can’t help who you fall in love with, of course, but for that reason most quarter-youkai didn’t allow themselves the opportunity to fall for a human in the first place. Individuals of mixed decent were also still a bit on the rare side, generally speaking, even though their current approval rating was off the charts compared to a few centuries prior. While hanyou were no longer looked down upon by the general youkai population, and were protected by YA law which prevented most rogue purists from doing anything too drastic, most species of youkai simply had imbedded within their instincts the natural desire for self-preservation, which included survival of their race by keeping the bloodlines pure. Those who chose to mate with humans were no longer shunned, but the simple fact of the matter was that most youkai chose not to mate with humans. Which meant that the human Governments had nothing to worry about in regard to speculation that, one day, the entire world as we know it could morph into some kind of Island of Dr. Moreau where everyone walking the streets possessed animalistic tendencies.

Inuyasha actually laughed at the notion when his mate made the comparison, being familiar with the story as he had recently taken a liking to nineteenth century American fiction. He then proceeded to perform the near impossible, making his mate of five centuries blush all the way to her ears, when he whispered in one of said appendages how he certainly had no trouble walking around on his hind legs, although he did prefer it when she was on all fours. A quick glance around the yard revealed that most of their children had heard his comment as well, but they were long used to fact that their parents were still active in certain aspects of their lives, and aside from some smirks and shaking heads, everyone pretty much ignored the remark.

Inuyasha was in such a good mood, though, that it wouldn’t have bothered him even if he had received a horde of nasty glares for his inappropriate thought process. His pleasant disposition had become exceedingly apparent when he’d permitted Myouga - the ever loyal and cowardice nuisance that he was - to feast on himself for a few seconds, unsquished. His excuse had been that if the flee youkai increased in size a bit, it’d make it easier for Nodoka to meet with him, as he was admittedly hard for the mortal eye to focus on in his standard size. Myouga had just felt honored that Inuyasha had actually wanted to introduce him to his mate’s mother, but aside from Sesshoumaru, Myouga had functioned as just about the only family the hanyou’d ever had, especially during his earliest years, so it had been somewhat important to him that Kagome’s mother got to meet the man who had basically raised him from childhood after his mother’s death. And once again, Nodoka had amazed him with her unwavering understanding and acceptance, appearing completely oblivious to the fact that the tiny man on her son-in-law’s shoulder was an insect-youkai, as she’d introduced herself and engaged in polite conversation as though the old flee was any other “normal” individual of society.

Souta had also thoroughly enjoyed meeting Kirara, as the fire-neko wouldn’t have missed today’s proceedings for the world. He had been scolded long ago that he couldn’t play too roughly with Buyo, as the mortal cat was getting on in years, so when Inuyasha had winked at the two-tailed feline, telling her to take it easy with Souta, the boy had developed just about the largest grin Inuyasha could recall seeing since the day the human adolescent had first met his hanyou hero. The game of “cat and mouse” that ensued soon afterwards, with Souta in the role of “mouse”, ensured Nodoka that her son would be sleeping like a log the following day.

At least tomorrow was a Sunday, so she didn’t have to worry about getting him ready for school. And speaking of school, Kagome’s mother had asked her if she was planning on revealing the truth to her old school friends, but after debating the possible repercussions back and forth, she and Inuyasha had mutually decided against revealing themselves to the trio. She had already said her goodbyes, and as far as they were concerned, Kagome and Inuyasha had moved far away. They were already under the assumption that they would probably never see nor hear from her again, so why mess with that now? Besides, it wasn’t exactly as though they ever really got along all that great to begin with, and she most certainly didn’t feel like doing ‘teenage girl’ things any longer. She didn’t want to say that she’d out-grown her old friends, as that sounded a little rude to her ears, and she would certainly always cherish the memories she had of them back when they were all the same age, but they were simply a part of her past, now, and she had learned long ago that you simply couldn’t live in the past. Time continued to move you ever steadily towards the future whether you wanted it to or not, so it was much better to just sit back and enjoy the ride, rather than struggling against the current every step of the way. At least, thanks to their older appearances now, Kagome didn’t have to worry about them recognizing her if they ever accidentally bumped into one another, not that she frequented WacDonald’s all that often these days, either.

In some ways, Kagome was the same Kagome that her mother remembered, as some things simply always stayed the same, no matter what. But in many other ways, Kagome was an entirely different person now, not that that was a bad thing. Nodoka was nothing if not proud of her daughter and all that she had accomplished. She felt abnormally humbled, herself, to wonder why she was the one who had been graced with such a blessing of a daughter.

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< br> In the months that followed Kagome and Inuyasha’s return appearance, life went back to as close to normal as normal could be for the Higurashi household. While the secret of the well would have to remain a family secret for all time, and Nodoka therefore couldn’t be introduced publicly as Kagome’s mother, it wasn’t as though she and Inuyasha ever attended very many of Sesshoumaru’s public functions to begin with. Nor did Nodoka really feel like attending such flashy formalities, anyway. What “Chiyo” and “Jiro” did in their spare time, on the other hand, was nobody’s business but their own, and they made sure to have dinner at Kagome’s family home at least once a week. Publicly, there was no connection between Kagome and her family, as her name was Chiyo Taisho now, and the world at large believed that Kagome Higurashi was an eighteen-year-old girl, which she most certainly was not, no matter how you looked at it. How the Taishos knew the Higurashis was nobody’s business, but fortunately, because they had done a successful job of keeping Kagome’s teenage mysteries a secret from the YA, nobody truthfully even cared about the old family shrine that, as far as the general populous was concerned, had nothing to do with anything.

Jaken had seen to that, the ever trustworthy and loyal servant that he was, when the Taishos had been required to make a donation to the Higurashi shrine to prevent its untimely closure a few decades back. Some members of the Alliance closer to Sesshoumaru had openly wondered what was so important about that particular old shrine, whose caretakers were not even members of the Sect, and remained unaware of the existence of youkai outside of the “legends” that the shrine priest told to their visitors. The last thing they wanted was for anyone to start snooping around, and realize just how powerful that particular shrine actually was, or more specifically, the tree of ages that grew on the premises, so Sesshoumaru had proceeded to pretend that he didn’t really know anything about that particular shrine, stating that he had instructed his “assistant” Jaken to make several donations to various shrines in the Taisho name, for publicity reasons. The kappa, whose concealment charm gave him the appearance of a human “little person” of Japanese decent, had worked hard to turn his Lord’s words into the truth, by making several other donations to several other shrines all over Japan. Not that Sesshoumaru really cared all that much about helping out dilapidated houses of human worship, but it was actually Inuyasha’s money. That the donations technically came from Sesshoumaru’s account rather than Inuyasha’s was deliberate, because the hanyou and his wife greatly preferred their privacy, and hardly ever did anything that would draw the public eye to themselves in such a manner. This was before the purchase of their rather famed hotel, after all. For Sesshoumaru, it was easy to claim that all of his various donations tended to blend together after a while, and that he never really paid all that much attention to them in the first place because selecting who got what was his “assistant’s” job. After all, what would Ichiro Taisho find significant about some small shrine on the outskirts of Tokyo, other than the tax breaks he acquired for his donations, and a favorable mention on the evening news? The Taiyoukai had casually suggested that anyone attempting to find a deeper meaning behind his actions was an imaginative fool.

Now, decades later, with the destined events they had sought to protect finally over and done with, it was as if a great weight had been lifted from everyone’s hearts. Life goes on, as the saying goes, and life did indeed go on for the Taishos and Higurashis alike. Kagome and Inuyasha continued to run their hotel, while Sesshoumaru and Kagura continued to run their own various businesses that resided scattered over much of Japan. Kagome’s mother and grandfather continued to run the family shrine, but they suddenly found themselves with an overabundance of assistance that was greatly appreciated by the aging Shinto priest and his daughter-in-law. Jii-chan finally got over his whole obsession with flinging useless sutra at friendly youkai, and readily accepted Kazuki’s aid when the hanyou offered to take over where his father’s past-self had left off, in regard to helping the old man clear out the storage shed. He wasn’t getting any younger, after all, and those heavy old boxes certainly weren’t getting any lighter. Besides, it was amusing beyond belief for the hanyou to witness his great-grandfather’s reaction when he told him that most of the trinkets in the storage shed had originally been collected by Emi and himself during their travels in the sengoku era.

Jii-chan actually enjoyed hearing all of Kazuki’s various stories, as for once in his life he remained quiet to listen to the tales of someone even older than himself. The origins of many of the oldest artifacts in the storage shed had forever remained a mystery that his first-born great-grandson had just miraculously spread a world of light on. Kazuki continued to explain how eventually, he and Emi had been forced to move away from the shrine, to preserve the course of history, and as a result, all of their little treasures had been left behind. He also expressed mild concern regarding the ancient bones of youkai that he knew had continued to be dumped down into the Bone Eaters’ Well until he finally built the first well-house to encase the magical portal, but he could feel that the power of his mother’s seal on the well was strong, and should last for all time. So, worst case scenario, there may one day be a bunch of new bones laying at the bottom of the well, but nothing was getting out of the well on their side of time ever again. Besides, without a source of power equal to that of the Shikon no Tama, none of those bones should be in any danger of reviving, anyway, so then it really didn’t matter.

Nodoka enjoyed spoiling her youngest grandchild when Susumu celebrated his fourth birthday. Some of the pup’s adult siblings were playfully envious of the century the whelp was growing up in, as their toys hadn’t been anywhere near as sophisticated. But Inuyasha’s oldest children also had fond memories of their own childhoods that they knew their youngest brother would miss out on, like learning how to hunt in the forest. In the end, everyone supposed that it really did boil down to just being a product of your time, and while the centuries old youkai of the world had all learned how to adapt to today’s modern age, the new youkai children of today’s world would never fully comprehend what life used to be like in the past, no matter how many times they heard the stories. Still, some traditions Inuyasha insisted upon keeping, no matter what society threw at them. Their youngest pup was still a little too young, for the time being, but Kagome had agreed that once they deemed Susumu old enough, Inuyasha would be making a trip into the far off and desolated volcanic regions of a certain beady-eyed blacksmith that the Taisho family had diligently been keeping tabs on over the years.

As the months continued to blend into one another, it was rapidly approaching one full year since their past-selves’ departure, and one anniversary that was happily celebrated along the way was their wedding anniversary. It was a little amusing to debate whether or not it was their first anniversary, or five-hundred and something’th, not that it really mattered all that much as the ceremony had never been legally binding to begin with. Inuyasha hadn’t had any form of modern-day identification back then, after all. The ceremony had been a formality, a way to save face, and honor, as nobody in attendance had been aware of its lacking in legality. It had been real to Kagome’s family, and hell, it had been real to Kagome and Inuyasha, themselves. In the time period they spent their lives in, the time period they raised their children in, all that was required for a wedding to be “legal” was for somebody of a holy position to publicly decree that two people were wed. There were no forms to file or certificates to sign. Now, “Jiro and Chiyo Taisho” were legally married on paper, but that had been done by manipulating public documents. To this day they had never participated in another wedding ceremony, no matter how many times over the years they were forced to change personas. As far as they were concerned, there was only one wedding date that mattered, and there was only one wedding date they celebrated, completely ignoring what the courts had on file regarding their current aliases.

That year, they made sure to celebrate their anniversary with her shrine family, as the wedding had been a ceremony for all of them, not just the married couple themselves. That year was also extra special in that it was the first year that actually took place after the wedding - damn those temporal paradoxes - and Kagome had an extra special present set aside for herself and her mate. A present her mother had been diligently keeping an eye on for her for the last year. Kagome had made a promise to herself all those years ago, after all. She had sworn that even if she had to wait five hundred years to eat year old cake, she and Inuyasha were eating year old cake, and her mother had kept the top tier to their wedding cake in her own freezer all that time, both before, and after their reunion. They hadn’t wanted to move it after their reappearance to her family, not wanting to have it defrost only to have to freeze it again. Kagome was already sure the icing wouldn’t be the same, and depending on how well her mother had sealed it, it may taste more like broccoli and peas than cake, but that wasn’t the point.

Inuyasha indulged her without complaint, something she wasn’t sure would have happened if only one true year had passed for them, considering how uncooperative he used to be regarding certain things. Especially what he ate. Kagome’s own advanced senses made her more sympathetic to her mate’s position, but when she glanced in his direction, all he did was offer her a playful smile, before scooping up a dollop of grainy, hardened icing with his index finger, smearing it on her nose. The flash of her mother’s new camera preceded Kagome’s laugh by mere milliseconds, and then the next thing she knew, she and Inuyasha were wearing as much year old cake as they had forced themselves to consume. Several more flashes released in rapid succession almost made Kagome regret getting her mom that digital camera last Christmas…almost.

Sometimes it bothered Kagome to think of the future, but she very rarely allowed her mind to travel down that darker road, as she enjoyed her days with her family. She was looking forward to watching Souta grow up, fall in love, and get married himself someday. Maybe his current crush Hitomi would be the one. Maybe he’d meet somebody knew. Heck, maybe he’d eventually hook up with somebody of youkai descent, considering he was one of the few humans outside of the Japanese Government or Spiritual Sect that was already aware of their existence. She was as mentally prepared as she figured she could be for the day her grandfather finally passed on, but so far, her Jii-chan was still alive and kicking, and boring her with the various stories Kazuki had told him regarding some of the objects in the storage shed. Kagome just didn’t have the heart to tell her grandfather that she already knew all about the history of most of those trinkets, at least as far as what they were, and when they were made. Although, sometimes the specifics of how her son had come into possession of a certain artifact or two was genuinely amusing. All in all, life was good, and even though they’d traveled their fair share of bumpy, unpaved roads in order to get where they were, she wouldn’t trade a thing for the world.


The End (sort of)

Phew! Okay, 1...2...3...


AUTHOR’S NOTE TO END ALL AUTHOR’S NOTES! (At least for this story!)
I took the time to write it, so please take the time to read it…




Well, it’s been one hell of a ride, but it was worth every minute of it! I still can’t believe I’ve been updating this story continually ever since January of 2006! The “Family Tree” has certainly grown more complicated than I’d originally anticipated, so per request, I have created a visual illustration, of sorts. Please forgive this humble author for having a small family, and not really knowing what a Family Tree should look like! I didn’t bother trying to create anything artistic whatsoever, sticking to simple names and connecting lines, and in my opinion, it came out looking more like some kind of circuit board or pipe system than anything else. Still…it explains who is related to who, and how, though not WHEN. Adding dates would have been way too complicated. Even I don’t know when everybody’s birthday really is. I did make each various group of siblings listed in order by birth, in regard to where their names are connected to their parent line, but the length of the various lines themselves connecting who is who is in no way meant to represent any sort of passage of time. I sometimes had to make the lines longer simply so that I would have room to type. Where they are connected to the parent lines shows who is who’s older brother or sister, but that is all. I also include a species guide, so to speak, to help keep track of everyone’s quantity of youkai blood, or lack thereof. It’s simple enough - everyone’s species is just listed in smaller print below their names. The names themselves are also color-coded either blue or pink, for boys or girls.

Once I started working on this little side project, I quickly realized that I really had made the family tree more confusing than I’d originally planned. Drawing this thing took a lot of time, some of which was spent simply rereading through my older chapters, to make sure that I hadn’t forgotten anybody. I only go so far, of course, listing all of the various characters already named within the chapters of the story, otherwise it could literally go on forever, and I wanted to make the whole thing view-at-a-glance, without the need for scrolling down. So some people who are mentioned in passing as having mated and having children, but their mate’s and children’s names were never listed, are not shown here as being connected to a mate at all. I do mention that the family line continues further, stating simply that the details were never cataloged. If you’re ready to see what I mean, and stop listening to me babble on, you can take this oportunity to view the attached picture file associated with this story. I originally included a link below that went directly to the image posted elsewhere, but the website I used to use for my picture hosting stopped supporting FTP space.

(Just don’t forget that there’s lots more author’s note. It would mean a lot to me if you read it through to the end.)

Note: Once you click on the picture to see the "full image" size, your browser may still compact the image slightly, which makes it nearly impossible to read. If this is the case, then your cursor should appear as a magnifying glass with a plus-sign in it in order to enlarge the image to its full-screen size for proper viewing. Simply click anywhere on the picture and it’ll expand.

I have also created a text version of the Family Tree that also explains who is who, including those who have unnamed mates, that will be posted after this chapter as an “End Notes” page. If you still find yourself somewhat confused, though, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me with any questions, and I will be more than happy to explain who anyone is. For that matter, please feel free to e-mail me with anything you’d like to ask or say. For those of you who may not have an account with MM, and therefore cannot use the direct e-mail link they provide, my e-mail account is simply SplendentGoddess@aol.com.

Phew! (okay, breathe) I can’t believe this story exploded so horribly out of control, in such a wonderful way! I feel like I should give some sort of speech…so I will!

First and foremost, I would like to thank each and every one of my loyal readers, many of whom I can’t name because you don’t post reviews. But you know what? Don’t sweat it! I’ve never been one of those authors that uses reviews as some sort of blackmail or guilt trip, and for those of you who DID post a review - and there’s a LOT of you - I thank you all the more!

There are far too many of you to name each and every one, and I would be paranoid that I skipped somebody if I attempted to make a list that large, but for those of you who have been posting regular reviews in conjunction with my updates, I would just like to let you all know that I do recognize a repeated screen name when I see one, and your continued loyalty has been appreciated!

I would like to take a moment to directly thank InuGrrrl for being one of the greatest authors out there, and whose stories I’ve been reading since before I started writing my own. It was finding stories from authors like you that inspired me to start posting my own works! But mainly, I wanted to thank you, InuGrrrl, for being the one who posted my FIRST REVIEW on THIS story…back when it was only a five chapter hentai, no less. You’ll never know how much that meant to me! I don’t venture beyond MM for my stories very often, but you were totally worth it!

I would also like to thank Inufan625, shawna560 and Vyncent, for nominating Mating Season for Best Lemon back in the 2006 Second Quarter of the IYFG. That was awesome!

I would like to thank azaroth for suggesting I create a visual family tree. While it was a tremendous pain in the butt, I’m sure it eased a lot of other people’s headaches, and that alone made it worthwhile.

I would also like to thank Megan Consoer and yasha_21_21, for harping that I continue this story back when it was only five chapters. BEST SUGGESTION EVER! To everyone who’s been in love with this story for the last two and a half years, you have those two people to thank, as well.

I would also like to take this moment to let anyone who’s made similar requests on some of my other stories know that your voice has been heard, and many of my older stories that I’ve received requests to continue will be continued, or given at least sequels. Just have patience, is all I ask. After all, there’s only one of me, and this hundred-chapter project has taken a lot of my time. Stories you can look forward to seeing sequels for include “Watching Her Sleep”, “Basic Instinct”, “The Tempest” and “The Backward Blanket”. I also plan on adding an epilogue to “Fate will find a way…”. If there are any other stories that you would specifically like to see continued, feel free to drop me a line, and I’ll see what I can do. I will be honest up front and let you know that most of these sequels will probably just be one-shots, or at least shorties with less than ten chapters…however…I plan on making the sequel to “Watching Her Sleep” another fairly decent sized story. It will be entitled “Waking In Her Arms”. Can’t say I plan on approaching the hundred chapter mark a second time, but you never know, right? *grins*

I have also received several requests to make a sequel and/or spin-off of Mating Season, and while a story along those lines may be a little later in coming, as I simply have so much other stuff I want to try and get posted, I can definitely guarantee that you haven’t seen the last of the “Mating Season Universe”, as it were.

To some other great authors out there: Akihana, Alterfano, BlackMamba07, bluezinthos, bookworm810, CMK2CMM, Darth Mer-Mer, doggieearlover, Drake Clawfang, EmilyBlood, Fenikkusuken, FlameTwirler, inufan625, InuSaga, InusDemoness, ji-an, JMaxwell, Knittingknots, kokoro no miko, Majicman55, Nokomarie, Priestess Skye, Quillwing717, Roxotaku, Simonkal of Inuy, terri botta, TuxedoUranus89, Wheezambu, White Luna, Wolf Blossom, xbitternessx, and yanna_enoah…(just to name a few)…I would just like to let YOU all know that I’ve also found your stories not only entertaining, but also inspirational, and whenever I’ve been in my own writing slump, reading one of your works has always perked me right back up. To those of you who have been writing for longer than I have, I have also been reading your works prior to starting my own, and you are equally to blame along with ‘da grrrl’ for helping me finally make the decision to get out there and write.

For anyone out there who is unfamiliar with any of these authors, I strongly recommend reading their stories. Everyone listed in the paragraph above can be found right here on MM.

Some readers out there, on occasion, have even placed me in the same status as some of the names I’ve listed above, and well…to be considered part of such a great list of authors…I’m truly honored. I know at least some of these guys have me listed as a “recommended author” on their home page…and that just blows my mind.

To another great author, TwistedHilarity, (formally known as szaugglaughs), I didn’t forget about you, and I’m ecstatic to see that you’ve begun posting on MM again, even if it’s a little slow in coming. I just wanted to let you know that you were another great author that was totally worth following to another site! I look forward to the day the rest of your stories are back here on MM, but in the mean time, I’ve got the link to your other site tucked safely away in my Favorites!

I would also like to give an honorable mention to the wonderful author Come Hither, who I’ve somehow managed to brainwash into becoming an e-mail buddy. It’s all her fault, I tell you! She started it, back when she gave me an honorable mention in a quick A/N at the beginning of her story “Five Hundred Miles in Penny Loafers”. She and I had never spoken when she did that, not once, but I was a fan of her works, and apparently, she of mine. I saw my name mentioned in her author’s note, and I was like “Zuh…?” Down at the bottom of the story, there’s a more elaborate note that playfully explains how she was inspired for that one-shot while on a cruise. Not to give away the angle for her story, if you would care to read it (Which you totally should!) but let’s just say that somehow or another, she was reminded of a specific chapter of Mating Season, and more specifically, a particular scene I had done within that chapter, that then inspired her to write a particular scene in this one-shot. (Curious yet?) I ended up posting a fairly wordy review for that one-shot as a result, and then she took it upon herself to respond to my review in a direct e-mail. The rest, as they say, is history.

To Ariel Himura, thank you for having so much faith in me as an author that you actually requested that I write a one-shot based upon one of your own ideas. I was glad to do it, and “Don’t Let Go” has become one of my better one-shots. Hell, it was even nominated in the IYFG 2007 Second Quarter for Best Drama! I loved writing it. It broke up the monotony of Mating Season for a short time, and made me feel good about myself in the sense that somebody actually asked me to write a story for them, when they could have asked anybody else… At least that’s how I saw it. The same goes for you, ladytoko, and that little poem of yours that blossomed into my “His Eyes Are Golden” one-shot. That one actually took me out of my element a little bit, and the positive responses it received as a result truly made me feel good about myself. I have also been requested to write a full-length story by imthurns@(I’ll leave the e-mail anonymous, you know who you are). To imthurns, I haven’t forgotten about you either, and I still have all of our back and forth e-mails saved for my notes on that story. Like I said before, it may take me a little while to get to, since you want a longer story, but I will do it. And as for you, littlewhitefox, you can look forward to seeing your song-fic sooner, rather than later, as it’s only a one-shot and shouldn’t take me that long. *grins*

I would also like to thank He_Who_Shall_Live, who had so much faith in my abilities as an author, that he took it upon himself to e-mail me one day, not to ask that I write a story for him, but to more or less be his beta for the story that he is writing. You have so much potential as a writer. Your style is good, and your plotline is great. Don’t you dare allow yourself to fall into that slump that threatens to consume us all, your story falling to the wayside as cyber cobwebs coat the corner of the Net in which your project resides. You will complete your story! I won’t let you do otherwise!

To dogdemon2592, who was so inspired by my stories that you humbly asked my permission for you to write your own stories based off of my ideas. My answer remains the same now as it had been then, and this goes for the rest of you, as well. If you are so thoroughly inspired by one of my stories, not just Mating Season, but any of them, that you want to use that idea, twist and rework it in your own way, then I say unto you that I am HONORED that you think so highly of me as to find your inspiration in my works. Aren’t we all just messing around with characters that truly belong to Rumiko Takahashi, anyway? I hold no more claim over Inuyasha than any of us, and there are only so many possible plot ideas out there before somebody is bound to redo something that’s already been done. Plagiarism is one thing, but I’m not talking about that cheating, copy and paste crap. I mean real inspiration, where you are writing the story in your own words…if it simply mirrors one of my plots, I’d just like to know about it so that I can read along! I would be curious to see what different ideas somebody came up with that maybe I hadn’t thought of. Heck, you might inspire me, and our ideas and stories will start bouncing off of each other like a ping pong ball. All I ask is that you post a modest disclaimer if you’re using one of my original characters, which Mating Season is chalk full of. I know for a fact that somebody out there is already planning on doing an offshoot based upon some side characters from Mating Season, and he has my full support.

Which brings me to my last acknowledgment. To Bastion…how’s it going? It’s been quite a wild ride, hasn’t it? To all of you, let this be a lesson to you, never fear speaking your mind. I first met Bastion when he posted a less than favorable review on Mating Season…which I have not deleted, by the way. I was not so upset as I was…amused, I suppose would be the right word, and I e-mailed him, more or less telling him where he could put his stupid opinions. I quickly found that we were evenly matched when it came to intellectual sparring. I was so pompous in my first e-mail that I think I was channeling my inner Sesshoumaru, but gradually, we both dropped the pretense of propriety, and actually started conversing. He thought my writing style was too cheesy and cliché; I thought his writing style was emotionless and drab, but rather than waste our time insulting each other, we actually started to help each other, instead. Many of the later chapters in Mating Season were inspired in part by something he had said. One of his complaints was that I hadn’t given Miroku and Sango enough time in the spotlight. Well excuse me for focusing my attention on Inuyasha and Kagome in an Inuyasha and Kagome story! LOL. But because of his observations, I created the issues with Sango’s second pregnancy, and Miroku’s subsequent paranoia over possibly losing her. This event alone triggered the eventual creation of the original characters Etsoku and Hideki, who parented Chouko, who in turn mated Kichiro, the very son whom Sango nearly perished from bringing into this world. Oh what a tangled web we weave…

But inspiration between us has not been one-sided! As I already mentioned in the last chapter’s A/N, Bastion has written a wonderful one-shot based off of Mating Season, entitled “I’ve Seen It All”. To anyone who is not familiar with this one-shot, I strongly recommend, nay, request that you read it. Also, please be sure to read all the way through, past the song lyrics, for a special epilogue. For some bizarre reason the story doesn’t come up if you search under fanfic titles, at least for me, but if you search under author names for “Bastion” in the Inuyasha category, then it comes right up. I will not spoil the plotline for you, but I will tell you that I’ve used several details originally mentioned in his one-shot in my last few chapters here, besides the names of Kagome’s parents. This is what I meant by my comment about myself and somebody else inspiring each other back and forth. He originally wrote his one-shot back in April of 2007, and while he threw in a few details from Mating Season here and there, such as their bonding marks, Inuyasha’s ability to turn human at will, the incident with the pocky, and so on, some of the later details of Inuyasha and Kagome’s lives mentioned in that story came from his imagination. I hadn’t gotten that far with my story yet! So when I did get to that point in Mating Season, I used “I’ve Seen It All” as a source for some of my details, to help make sure that the two stories stayed in sync with one another. It was solely because of something he wrote Kagome saying as a passing comment, that I created their trek to America! I wasn’t originally going to do that! Bastion has also helped me with several other story ideas I’ve been working on, as I do plan on writing many more stories now that Mating Season is finally completed. So for your continued friendship and support, Bastion, I thank you.

So in conclusion, you haven’t seen the last of me! I have so many more story ideas all scratching and kicking at the inside of my brain, just waiting for their chance to break free. It took me over two years to complete Mating Season, and for those two years, many of my older story ideas have been sitting so far on the back burner, that they slipped off the edge of the countertop and spilled onto the floor of my living room. Gotta love open floor plans, LOL. Also, during the last two years, I’ve thought of many more story ideas to add to my “to-do” list, and I am NOT EXAGGERATING when I tell you that there are well over 50 different ideas in my “future stories” folder. Granted, many of those are shorties and one-shots, but still, that’s a lot! And I plan on completing each and every one of them, even if it takes me ten years! So long as people keep reading Inuyasha fanfics, I’ll keep writing Inuyasha fanfics. So, as long as you can promise me that you’re not going anywhere…then neither am I!

But…before I start busting out a ton of new stories, I have a lot of work to do with revising my old ones! If there’s one thing this fiasco that was Mating Season has taught me, it’s that my writing ability totally sucked in the beginning. I have grown so much in the time that I’ve been updating Mating Season, as is evident if you reread the first few chapters. You live, you learn, and not to keep quoting Alanis Morissette, but it’s true. My writing style has evolved tremendously. I plan on first going back through the various chapters of Mating Season, repairing a few things, and revamping a few others, so for those of you who have me saved as a “favorite author” I apologize in advance for the bombardment of e-mails you will receive stating that chapter such and such of Mating Season has been revised. Then, I will go back through my older stories, virtually rewriting some of them. Some of them need it. I’m sure most of you have probably read all of my other stories by now, and I’m sure that if you did, you could instantly tell which ones were newer vs. which ones were older, and not by just checking the “first posted” date. Still, most of you who state that you have read all of my stories also claim to have loved each and every one of them, and for that gesture, I’m truly grateful. I won’t be changing any of the actual plot in any of my older stories, I’ll just be sprucing them up a bit.

Still, some of them might be worth rereading, as they will be undergoing enough of a makeover that you may not recognize them if you were familiar with the original versions. Also, if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see changed with my older stories…now would be the time. I know you want more of an ending for “Fate will find a way” and more of a lemon in “Divine Intervention”, but how about the rest of them? Any grotesque errors or oversights staring you in the face that you’d just love to see me change around? Drop me a line. I am also taking requests for stories, if anybody else has an idea they’d like to see me produce for them. I only request that most ideas are compacted into acceptable one-shot format, and also warn that you may be required to “take a number” as it were…but if your idea is a reasonable one, then I will gladly work with it. Consider it a challenge, like those story challenges from LJ that get posted here from time to time. Why not? I think it could be fun. I won’t turn down any “reasonable” challenge idea…and any of you who’ve read “Strapped” knows that I’ve got a pretty broad spectrum when it comes to reasonable!

Come on!

Don’t be shy!

You know you want to!

Bring it on!

*Bows*