Epilogue

By Danyealle

(fanfiction/MF/HC/Abuse)

Present Day Japan

Arm casually looped around Sesshomaru’s waist, Kagome leaned against her mate, giggling, as she watched her twins, Ryuu and Kenta, chasing Daoe all over her family’s shrine.  Of course the bird could have easily lost the boys if the wanted to but like he had done with Takehiko when he was growing up, he made sure that he was close to the boys.  As with so many things in the world, Daoe seemed to know what this was and was content to let it go on.  Soon, as would be expected, the other kids that were present at the gathering joined in and a true chase was on, laughter filling the air.

…ks…ks…ks…ks…

It was about 500 years since the day that Inuyasha had once more been pinned to the tree by Kikyo and much had changed for the pack as would be expected.  But there was much that also remained the same even though the world around them had changed so drastically.

Unfortunately for them, though 500 years had passed, the battle with Naraku still was on, just very different than it had been in the feudal era. No, the Shikon No Tama was no longer in play; the pack had taken that from the kumo hanyou during what the packed called the first Great War.  They had ‘won’ in the fact that they had defeated Naraku and retrieved the jewel.   But the evil had not been eliminated.  Naraku had vanished, mostly dead, leaving no sign of where he might have gone to or what he may be up to next.  Kagome, five months pregnant, had healed the jewel and vanished the gem from the earth with a wish.  But that wish, that the Kamis give someone or multiple beings the strength the evil that was Naraku, had a strange effect they didn’t realize until years later.

In the aftermath there had been a lot to deal with.  Kohaku didn’t survive it nor could Sesshomaru bring him back, he had tried, because he had been the walking dead for too long, only kept alive by the jewel in his back.  However, they had been able to free Kanna much to Kagura’s great joy and relief.

As it turned out, freeing Kanna was a bonus in more ways than the taiyoukai could ever have imagined.  The void child was fiercely loyal and had taken over the task of protecting Takehiko after he was born.  Much to Sesshomaru’s pleasure the child was rabid about what she saw as her duty as well as his son.  As far as he was concerned his heir could have no better protection than they quiet child.

Shortly after the battle Kouga, Kuni and Anikia mated as had been expected.  And as all the pack had thought the ookami prince most certainly wasn’t the one in charge in that family.  He led his tribe and did what was required of males but everything else was handled by the two onnas.  And if he irritated one both ended up mad at him.  As everyone predicted, Kouga was in trouble but he loved every minute of it and wouldn’t change it for the world.

A couple months after Kouga did the deed, Sango and Miroku followed suit.  Then, about a year later, much to everyones surprise, they were joined by, then shortly afterwards, mated with Kagura.  As it turned out the kazi really wasn’t attracted to men, quite understandable after her treatment at the hands of Naraku, and had fallen for the slayer.  Like any good hentai, Miroku was all for this and the duo had become a trio.

But, about 20 years later, a funning thing was noticed.  They all began to realize that the monk and slayer hadn’t aged at all.  Because everyone was around each other all the time no one noticed until Rin and Shippo were about to be mated and everyone realized the passage of time.  It appeared the fates had chosen the pack as the ones that would defeat Naraku and all the human were meant to be there until the very end.

About 200 years later came the next big battle with the spider.  Again, they had defeated him and thwarted his plans but hadn’t been able to kill him off yet again.  But after that the rules of the game began to slowly change.  As the world changed and slowly became more modern so did the fight with the spider.  Instead of fighting on Japan’s soil, they had to start tailing him all over the world as his quest for object to make him more powerful spread far and wide.

Of course, Inuyasha didn’t participate in any of the battles up to that point.  He was still in the custody of his uncle.  As everyone expected it hadn’t been easy dealing with the hanyou.  But after about 300 years the old inu had finally succeeded and the hanyou was set free once more, very different from the old one.

The Inuyasha that had been released was very changed from the being they had all known for so long.  Though Sesshomaru had his doubts at first of the boys sincerity it turned out to be real.  Inuyasha truly had changed and was contrite for all he had done, though it had taken him time to prove it.  His temper and self control were both under control and he no longer did anything that could even be remotely construed as abusive nor did he talk to anyone, other than enemies, in a way that could deemed as disrespectful.

As they all expected, the boy did try to get Kagome to forgive him but, unlike times in the past, he did it the right way by proving he had changed not by demanding it or stalking her.  Eventually she did forgive him, as anyone would expect from her, but she hadn’t ever been able to overcome her fear of him.  Whenever he was around she would talk to him normally but would all but cling to Sesshomaru.  Inuyasha seemed to understand but the hurt look in his eyes was fairly evident to all.  But he didn’t revert back to the former behavior.  In fact, he worked very hard to make sure he didn’t revert back and continued to change for the better and grew.

Long after he had left his uncle, the hanyou kept up with what he had been taught and more.  By ‘modern’ times he was in group therapy with other hanyous.  As it turned out there were many other half-breeds with similar problems.  Somehow the mixed blood produced problems with the human side and youkai instincts but, as Inuyasha would tell anyone, that was no excuse.  Since Kagome he had not been involved with any woman.  No, it wasn’t that he couldn’t get over her but because he didn’t trust himself to be with anyone.  The same went with kids.  The kids born to those in the pack except Takehiko, the taiyoukai’s oldest son had always keyed off his mother and had never trusted Uncle ‘Yasha though he had never been told what had happened, adored him but he wouldn’t stay around them long, afraid reverting back to the way he used to be.

But, by far, it was the mighty taiyoukai that had changed the most.  Though his public persona was in place still, among the pack and his family he had softened a lot.  Though Kagome had changed him a great deal the birth of his first child had done quite a bit as well.  The first time he held his tiny son in his arms it was true love at first site.  He loved his son in a way he hadn’t thought possible.  And he was proud as hell of every one of the boy’s accomplishments.   He was proud as hell when the boy outgrew him, what his miko knew about nutrition and things like that was what Sesshomaru attributed to that, and even was able to defeat him a few times.  He had never thought he would be proud that someone was bigger, stronger and able to win in a fight but he was and made sure everyone knew that was his son.

But the love he felt for Kagome was unlike anything else and never seemed to fade over the years.  In many ways it was her, and how much she cared for him, that had helped him become the great leader he had always been destined to be.  In the modern times youkai were thought to be nothing more than legends but he was still the Western Lord and had as much power in many ways as he always had, whether the humans knew it or not. 

…ks…ks…ks…ks…

As Kouga’s kids joined the chase after Daoe, everyone else sat down and watched the kids, talking quietly.  Monday they were all off to India to once more hunt for Naraku so they did what they always did just before the battle once more commenced, plan things out.

A.N.- After four months, 154,000 words (by Word’s count) and 1100 handwritten pages it’s finally done!  When I started this I had no idea it was going to end up as big as it did nor did I think anyone would read it because of the topics I was working with.  Boy was I surprised!  And for that I thank all of you.

Now comes the inevitable… a few thank you’s…

A big thanks to r0o, Tiger, Grey and Soul Daddy who do my beta-ing as well as a few others that did some.  They certainly do make me sound better than I really do and fix my booboos!  I can’t do without them and plan to keep all of them busy in the future.

A huge thanks for all of you who e-mailed me and left the wonderful reviews this got.  No, I don’t write for reviews, ask for them or even review whore and demand them.  I write for me because I like the story I got and want to tell the tale.  But those reviews can make the process a whole lot easier than it usually is.  Thank you all!

One more comment on this… In this story I tackled two very serious issues: domestic violence and stalking.  In my way I tried to make them as realistic as possible and the outcome the same and hope I succeeded.  No, they aren’t nice and the outcomes never are.  My last word on the topic is this… hitting your partner is wrong and nothing justifies is.  If you’re being abused GET HELP NOW!  It won’t stop.  And always take stalking seriously.

Now, I’m going to take a couple days off and rest.  I think I’ve earned it don’t you?  Then I will be writing a oneshot before hopping into the next mult-chapter monster. Keep a look out!

Love,
Danyealle