InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomorrow ❯ Epilogue ( Epilogue )

Epilogue

 

That painting's still there today, in a shrine on Hokkaido, five hundred years after it was painted, almost as long after its mortal artist's time ran out.

 

What, does that seem like a kinda random ending? No happily ever after? Be serious. How often do they happen? Besides, if I told you everything that happened after that, I'd be talking for years. Because everything happened after that. Five hundred years, for example. Even the stories that seem to end at logical times aren't ending. Things happen afterwards, things that you never get told because they aren't as interesting. But I suppose I can give you the highlights.

 

Yeah, parents and kids were reunited. There was crying, and hugging, and “I can't believe it's you!”s exchanged, the latter mainly with Shippo. And eventually, these gave way to “Where's Yuki?”s. There was more crying. They never really forgave themselves, I guess. Isamu and Haruka, I mean. They still remember. They go back to that shrine every year.

 

We've still got relatives up there. Sango and Miroku, Rin and Kohaku- their mortal lives ran out eventually, of course, as did those of many of their descendants, but soon enough, pretty much everyone on Hokkaido had youkai blood. By then, youkai were mere legends. From something everyone feared, we became something children only knew of from their parents' warnings and had never seen, and then creatures of old folk's tales. Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends. Why do people never wonder about where they came from?

 

Most of us have emigrated back to the mainland by now, I believe. InuYasha and Kagome carefully watched dates, and made a surprise appearance at Sota's High School entrance ceremony. Shippo and Satsuki ended up travelling the world. Shippo's become quite a famous stage magician a few times, but of course he had to pull one hell of a vanishing act every few years. SesshoMaru, not really unexpectedly, has made a killing in business investments. Part of it, I suppose, was his sister-in-law's tip-offs as to what was gonna be big. It helps that this means he's moving in circles which make it easier, on the sly, to get new documents every couple of decades to testify that he can't be older than forty, and people don't ask if you pay them enough.

 

Kazuki and Mitsuko are still around too, I think. Last I heard, they were making some kind of independent documentary on endangered species of India. Like tigers, probably. I could go through everyone else, the descendants- youkai and mortal- of everyone, but it really would take forever, and i'm trying to end the story here, where it ended when it was told to me.

 

Like I said, Otou-san and Okaa-san come back to the shrine every year, and I usually come with. After all, Yuki-oba-san is my namesake.

 

The painting's really beautiful, by the way. She's dressed like the Tenn'yo in the storybooks (Though I have it on very good authority that they can be real bitches), and she's standing on some loose stone with her arms outstretched, palms up. In each hand is a little fireball. Snow is falling, gathering around her feet, on her shoulders, and in her hair. And on her face is a smile of pure serenity.

 

I guess she got a happy ending. It's a little sad to think that things have to be that way, but really, for there to be a happy ending, there has to be an ending. But doesn't mean that there can't be happiness.

 

Sengoku O-Togi Zoushi. Maybe not happily ever after, but happily for long enough.

 

~Yukiko

 

The End

 

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I'm sorry that this took forever! I'd thought that maybe I'd flesh out the ending a little more, but in the end, I never had time, and unless I get this out now, I'm going to forget. So… I hope it doesn't seem that clumsy. ^_^;

Anyway, thanks for reading. Please leave a comment!

 

InuYasha is the property of Takahashi Rumiko-Sensei, and I claim no ownership of any of it. All couples not involving original characters will be strictly canon. Aside from Haruka, Yuki and Kazuki, I made up all of the kids, though since birthdates other than Kazuki's were never really stated in the manga, nor names, I've made these up as well. This fanfic will make little sense if you have not read the entire manga, and I'm afraid that to read the last twenty or so volumes you will have to (at the time of writing) venture into the internet, but I strongly suggest that you do buy the Tankoban volumes for yourself, so that Takahashi-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with her imagination. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the fic. ^_-