Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy this last chapter.

Note: I haven't updated this in over five years, and I freely acknowledge that this ending is almost as crappy as my former lack of punctuation and spell checking. But I wanted this done and not weighing on my conscience, so this is hopefully a small consolation prize to the readers. Sorry again for losing interest in the fanfic and the show, and for any plot inconsistencies either in the story or said show. Cause yeah, it's been a long, long while.

Tell Me A Story

"-of course only someone as incredibly stupid as Ferio would think that ambushing us that way was a smart idea, since ambushing one of us is foolish, especially when we generally sense the presence of our would be attackers long before they come into view. In this case he didn't even try to sneak up though, but came stomping up to us like a very large and dull witted lemming, seeking his end on our blades instead of just killing himself and saving us the trouble." Shaking her head at the memory Sora had to take a moment to marvel at the stupidity of some male demons before turning her attention back to the various children who were sitting or sprawled out on the grass in front of her, giving her their full attention as they impatiently waited for her to continue even though the older ones had heard this particular story at least a hundred times by now. It was a favorite.

"And when he attacked you you all tried to cut up his heart cause you thought that that was why he kept being able to put himself back together again, right?" Ronin's three year old daughter Haruhi piped up excitedly, to spur her aunt on.

"That's exactly what we did." Sora agreed with a nod and knowing wink. "Of course it wasn't a great or particularly exciting battle, if you can even call it that since Ferio was one of the stupidest demons ever created and couldn't fight with any real skill. It was his ability to live even when logic dictated he should have died centuries ago that made him even worth our time so to speak. And even when we put a plan into action and all grabbed a tentacle so that he couldn't protect his heart anymore, and your grandfather slashed it right down the middle, he still wouldn't die!"

"Because it was a rune that had been tattooed on his heart that had to be destroyed." Kyou's son Daiki boasted from Andrea's lap, his mother shushing him so that Sora could continue telling the story.

"That's right, which we of course didn't know because it wasn't like we could see it, or know that he'd gotten that protective spell done long before we met him. We had all just assumed that he'd been born with the ability to regenerate, which was a foolish assumption to make."

"Cause when you assume it makes an ass of you and me." Hermione chimed in knowingly, just shaking her head when she got weird looks from the rest of the group. Most of them didn't know more than a handful of English words, and her mother had never really bothered to try and teach any of them because it wasn't like the language would come in handy in this time period.

"I got it." Aiden assured her from her side, beaming when she gave him an affectionate pat on the head. The two were closer than ever, though there was still plenty of speculation as to whether or not they were actually dating, much less if anything would come of it. But they were happy, and that was the main thing.

Shaking her head again, her long white hair like a curtain around her face, Sora turned her attention back to the children, knowing that bad things tended to happen when those of her blood lost their patience. Boy was it a bad thing, especially the older they got.

Returning to her story Sora explained that they had continued to fight Ferio with a great deal of frustration, nearing the point where only the fear of how it would no doubt drastically alter the future kept them from just getting the hell out of Kohaku's way and letting the eldest son of the Lord of the West draw his blade and use it. But completely and totally decimating everything for a few miles was no small thing, hence the fact that Kohaku had opted to never use his blade to its full potential.

Meanwhile, while all the fighting had continued, Triton and Andrea had tried and failed to figure out some clue to the creature's destruction as Ferio's mind was so chaotic and oddly empty in places that they couldn't get a firm grip on what thoughts he had, especially when he was in such a battle rage. At this point Ferio had been fighting with pure animal instinct in between ranting and raving at a decibel that had hurt all their sensitive ears.

"And it was that frustration and a desire to protect him ears that led to Ren calling for us to restrain Ferio again, which we did, and then he dove his hand into that disgusting demon's chest and pulled the creature's heart right out of his chest, intending to shove it down Ferio's throat to keep him from whining!"

All eyes went to the visiting wolf demon, who smiled smugly as he arrogantly pointed out that it had been pretty obvious that the thing, he didn't believe that Ferio deserved to be called a demon, had obviously been protecting his heart, and so it had only made sense to him to get a better look at the thing.

"As if." Mika punched him in the side for emphasis, which she tended to do whenever he tried to make out like he'd saved them all by yanking out Ferio's heart. "You were just so frustrated with the whole thing you decided to try choking him to death with his own internal organ and got lucky!"

"You're just still sore that you didn't think of it."

"Oh please." Mika sniffed at the idea that Ren could ever be superior to her in any way. She'd go to her grave laughing before she'd ever believe that tall tale. "For your information, Ren, you don't think, you're a wolf demon. And two, you weren't thinking, you were reacting like an idiot, so again, YOU JUST GOT LUCKY!"

Leaping to his feet with eyes flashing, Ren pointed a threatening finger in Mika's direction. "Now that's rich coming from you! You're the empress of doing incredibly stupid things without thinking them through first. Everyone who's ever met you knows that!"

Sitting back to enjoy the show, just like the rest of the family as Mika and Ren launched into one of their hilarious discussions on which one of them was more stupid and impulsive, Sora could only shake her head over the fact that some things never changed even after decades. First came the fighting and name calling like the two were still toddlers who hadn't gotten their scheduled naps, and then the real fun started when the two got physical, which was an inevitable conclusion where the duo were concerned.

As predicted actually fighting soon broke out, the grappling and literally throwing the other across the grassy plane leading to some complaints by the older generation since they didn't appreciate dodging the flying bodies, not to mention the fact that the women at least didn't approve of the two beating each other to a pulp in front of the children.

So Inu yasha got up from his seated position and threw the wolf demon who'd landed near him as far away from everyone as possible and then ordered his daughter to follow the moron and fight over there where they could still watch but were out of the line of fire.

"You can come back when you're ready to behave." Kagome added tartly, not appreciating their behavior at all even if one of them was her daughter. The whole thing was especially exasperating since the more the two fought these days the more people started comparing the pair to the way she and Inu yasha had fought when they were younger. Only this fighting was a lot more physical, she noted wryly, but then that only made sense since her daughter could handle and dish out a great deal more damage than she could. They never really hurt each other long term though, which she had to remind herself on days like this when they were really going at it.

It was just the way they were, Kagome thought with a sigh, which hopefully, one day, they would grow out of. Though by that time she might be dead and fail to see it, which would certainly be unfortunate since she wanted to be there to tease Inu yasha about it and tell him she'd told him so.

Some of the older kids deciding that watching Mika and Ren fight was far more interesting than listening to the familiar story again, so they headed off to get better seats with Aiden, Hermione, Kiyoshi and Nomi following after them to supervise and make sure that the little ones didn't get to close to the fighting. All the parents agreed that was for the best since the two idiots involved tended to only see each other when they got like this.

Once their numbers had been depleted the little ones started calling for Sora to continue with the story, which she agreed to do before asking them where she'd left off, pretending that she'd forgotten. Of course immediately they all started talking at once, which made the adults smile and chuckle, but Sora was able to piece enough together to get a good sense of what they were trying to tell her was the last thing she'd said, which aligned with her own memory.

"Ah yes, so Ren had Ferio's heart in his hand and Ferio went utterly ballistic trying to get it back, to the point where Kyou actually went flying because he couldn't keep his grip on the tentacle he'd grabbed earlier-"

"It was disgusting and slimy and that was so not my fault!"

Everyone ignored Kyou's outburst, something they were all accustom to doing, and Sora continued by explaining that Ren had had the sense to take the heart over to Triton, who had quickly examined the rune and given his opinion that the rune had to be obliterated in order for the battle to end once and for all.

Happy to do precisely that Ren had tried to cut out the rune with a claw, but the sensation that action had cause in his body had made him drop the thing like it was human waste, fighting the urge to not throw up because of course Mika would have teased him endlessly about it. Apparently touching the rune made the person doing the touching sick, which only made sense since it had come from Ferio's body and therefore was worse than human waste.

And so, in the end, it was actually Shippou, who'd had a small blade on him, that had popped out in front of the still beating heart and had carved the rune out of it, which had led to Ferio simultaneously combusting as soon as he'd succeeded. All over them.

Sora paused so that the children could all make the expected sounds of gross disgust out of the way, as well as their cheers for Shippou, who bowed deeply for everyone's amusement.

"Then what happened, Grandfather?" Hotaru's youngest asked Inu yasha, as she was currently perched on his knee and she liked when he told stories. His were usually funnier than Sora's, though he didn't mean them to be, grandmother said.

"Well then your Uncle Triton screwed with all our memories so that we couldn't remember what had happened." Inu yasha glared in the water demon's direction when he said that, still annoyed as hell about that even though it had technically happened decades ago.

"It was, as I've explained multiple times, necessary." Triton's voice, as usual, carried very little in the way of emotional indicators. "Ferio's arrival in the past disrupted the natural order and timeline already in place for future events. Important events that shaped the future and brought about occurrences that would ultimately lead to the reality we were living in before we followed Ferio into said past. If I'd left you with the memories of the alterations, it would have caused untold changes and consequences later on in your lives."

"And we remember and tell you about it, Dad, remember? Like we're doing now."

Giving his son a dark look Inu yasha took some small satisfaction when Kyou's gaze dropped away. He still had it, grandfather or not.

Coughing delicately to get their attention again Sora finished the story by explaining that thanks to the water demons in their family everyone who belonged in the future had managed to go back to the exact time and place where they'd left it, and upon arrival had indeed found out that their parents didn't remember meeting them and defeating Ferio with them at all.

Triton had messed with their memories before they'd left without telling anyone what he was going to do.

Thinking to save her husband, especially since he wouldn't try to save himself by ever apologizing because he'd done the right thing in his mind and heaven help anyone who tried to make him think otherwise, Rin suggested that Inu yasha tell the story of how he and Aunt Kagome had ultimately destroyed Naraku, who'd been a demon worth bragging about in terms of great foes.

Worked like a charm.

)

Sitting out on one of the verandas, his eyes lifted up towards the sky as he enjoyed the warm summer breeze, Sesshoumaru found himself in a contemplative mood. It was the story his daughter had told earlier that was responsible for it, though he'd certainly heard the telling plenty of times since he'd first learned some of the pieces of what he'd been made to forget. And as always, when he was alone, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but wonder just what pieces he didn't have. How the story would have been told if he'd been the one speaking it. What he would tell, and more importantly, what he wouldn't. He had no illusions as to the man he'd been in that time and place, how he had most likely behaved when faced with a future so at odds with the life he'd always envisioned for himself. Mostly he was curious about what had happened between him and the woman who was his wife, but she could no more answer that question than he could.

And so he sat and contemplated and wondered, content to be alone until the breeze he'd been appreciating blew a scent his way that had his lips curving ever so slightly, which was generally as close to a smile as he liked to get unless his reason for smiling was to strike fear into the heart of his enemies.

Turning his head he watched her come over to him, taking a seat in his lap like she had every right to use him as a cushion.

"Wife."

"Husband." Her voice ripe with mischievous humor, Sango laid her head against her man's broad shoulder, as she'd done countless times over their years together. "Needed a break?"

"Unlike my brother's family I have an appreciation for the quiet."

"That you do." And not about to try and talk him into going back inside, he'd do so when he was good and ready, Sango asked him instead what he'd been thinking about before she'd joined him, smiling when he answered. "I wonder that sometimes too. How maybe what happened explains why you and I got together in the first place. A part of us remembered, even if the rest of us didn't. Life is a cycle after all."

"I'm-grateful I was never successful in my attempts to kill you."

Sango's whole body shook with laughter at his dry, honest statement, her love for him in her eyes as she framed his face between her hands and lowered his head so that she could kiss him, which not only affectively cut off her laughter, but stated, without words, that she was glad she hadn't killed him too.

The kisses stayed light and affectionate, both content to leave it at that until later when their house was full of sleeping guests and not very awake and loud ones, Sesshoumaru lifting his head only when the scent of his daughter reached his nose, his interest piqued due to the scent that was mingling with Sora's.

Eyes narrowing, Sesshoumaru's eyes tracked the two who were apparently unaware they had an audience as they walked hand in hand in a direction that took them away from the house, not to mention his very watchful eyes.

"Sesshoumaru…"

"Why is that fox holding her hand?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to point out that this wasn't the first time Shippou had held their daughter's hand, the girl wore a necklace the fox demon had given her practically every day since she'd gotten it which was a statement in and of itself, but Sango's mother hadn't raised her daughter to be a fool and so Sango didn't say that. Instead she used her ultimate weapon so to speak, especially since it was the simple truth.

"I love you, even when you're being all Lord of the West."

And on that note Sango went about distracting her husband with a kiss that was decidedly more heated and passionate, and knew Sesshoumaru was letting her have her way when he returned the gesture.

Life was good….even when you're daughter was maybe being courted by a fox demon. Finally.

The End