Author's Note: This is the epilogue. It's really short.

Tumblr: nocanonhere

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Ch. 12

Three years later…

Inuyasha woke up to crying, just as he had every night this week in three hour intervals.

He groaned, cursed, and grabbed the baby monitor, leaving his bedroom and padding down the wooden floored hallway with bare feet.

Marina's bedroom door was always left cracked open. Sometimes, Inuyasha dreamed of the day where he wouldn't have to wake up every night to check on his daughter. Kagome always told him to be careful what he wished for.

'You'd be surprised. You're going to miss waking up every few hours and going to take care of her.'

Inuyasha felt a small ache in his chest. He really missed Kagome.

Inuyasha turned on the bedroom light and squinted. Marina was crying loudly (Kagome said she got her loud voice from her father), and Inuyasha started shushing her unconsciously.

He walked over to the crib and reached a hand in.

"What is it?" He said calmly. As soon as Marina heard his voice, she calmed down slightly, but was still hiccupping.

"Are you hungry? Do you want to be held?" Inuyasha asked, knowing fully well there would be no response. He reached both hands in and gently picked up his daughter, bringing her to his chest and cradling her.

The crying stopped, and Inuyasha smiled.

"You just want to be held. You're so demanding, 'Rina."

Inuyasha walked back and forth slowly, bouncing her gently, talking to her in a soothing voice about things she couldn't understand and probably didn't care about. He ran a hand over her head full of long, dark hair. It was just like her mother's.

"I miss Kagome." He said.

Marina cooed, and Inuyasha laughed. "You miss her too, huh? Let's see if we can call her."

Inuyasha left the room and walked down the hall back to his bedroom. He pushed the door open with his foot, and walked over to his desk.

Sitting down in his chair, he shifted Marina so that she was cradled in one arm, and he used the other to log onto his laptop and type away.

"It should be around 4 p.m. there." He said out loud. Marina was looking up at him with her big, wide, golden eyes, wringing her fingers together.

"Let's see if she answers." He said, waiting on the video call request to transfer. It rang for about fifteen seconds before it stopped, and there was noise on the other end.

Kagome's face popped up with a full smile and a shout.

"Look at you two!" She said. Inuyasha could tell she was using her phone and not her laptop. He could also tell she wasn't in her hotel.

"Say hi," Inuyasha said, raising Marina up to look at the screen. Her little hands waved around excitedly, and she started gurgling when she saw Kagome.

"Oh, my little 'Rin 'Rin." She cooed. "I miss you two so much. So much."

"We miss you too." Inuyasha said. "How's New York?"

Kagome sighed. "Do you see my face?"

"Yeah. You look tired."

"Yea," Kagome said, flicking her long hair behind a shoulder, "that's how New York is."

Inuyasha laughed, setting Marina down in his lap. She was still gurgling, and trying to mess with Inuyasha's long hair.

"Where are you right now?" He asked, unconsciously moving Marina's hands away.

"I'm about to go to a meeting. I'm just in a waiting lobby." Kagome answered, frowning a bit. "But I miss Japan."

"Japan misses you too. Tokyo's Own isn't the same without you. Yura's good on the camera, sure, but she's not you."

Kagome laughed. "How sweet. Yura's great. I might just have her take my job, then I can retire early."

He laughed. "Retire at twenty five? I don't think so."

"Yeah. So, then you could bring home all the bacon."

"Let me guess, that's an American phrase you've learned." He said, narrowing his eyes.

"Yep! I'm ready to go home though. This is the last time I'll volunteer to go on a business 'excursion'. Not unless I'm going to some dreamy island in the Maldives. In that case, you can come with me."

"Yes. And we can leave Marina with Sesshomaru."

Marina made a noise of excitement, making both of her parents laugh.

"She loves him." Kagome said.

"It's weird." Inuyasha said, shaking his head. "Every time she's around him, she clings to him and won't let go."

Kagome smiled. "Well, one day when Sesshomaru is a father, he will already have some good practice under his belt from dealing with his niece."

"What poor woman would want to have his child?"

"I don't know." Kagome said dumbly. "Maybe, perhaps, Kikyo!"

Inuyasha laughed. "I still can't accept it."

"Well, accept it. It's been a year."

"Anyway," he said quickly, "when are you- Marina stop." He pulled her hands away from a gel pen on the desk. "When will you be coming home?"

"One more week," Kagome said tiredly, smiling. "One more week and I'll find my way back to you."

888

When Kagome did finally arrive back in Tokyo, there was a welcome back party help for her at Sesshomaru's mansion.

Kagome was sitting in the living room with Marina in her lap, bouncing and feeding her small bits of food. Sango was next to her, rubbing her own swollen stomach and observing.

Miroku, Kouga, and Ayame were on the couch adjacent to them.

"I am stuffed." Kouga said, leaning back on the couch and rubbing his own stomach.

"I think I've got you beat." Sango said. Everyone laughed.

"Are you excited?" Kagome asked Miroku.

Miroku beamed. "More than ever."

"Where did the other three run off to?"

"There in Sesshomaru's office, I think." Kagome answered.

After the celebratory dinner, Sesshomaru politely asked Kagome if he could borrow Inuyasha for a moment, and Kagome complied. Kikyo had also gone along with them.

"Can they not work for one day?" Ayame asked.

Kagome smirked. "They're the physical representations of workaholics. All three of them."

888

When it was late into the night, everyone else took their leave except for Kagome, Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and Kikyo.

Ayame and Kouga volunteered to take care of Marina for the night, so that Kagome and Inuyasha could work in some 'alone' time.

It didn't matter if Kagome had had a child, and had sex multiple times, statements such as those still made her blush.

Inuyasha was extremely grateful for their service, and all but rushed them out the door when it was time.

And now, while Kagome lay on her side with her head rested on Inuyasha's bare chest, she realized she had really been in need of this 'alone' time.

"How ya feeling?" He asked. His voice was still heady.

"Sore." Kagome answered. Her voice was still raw.

Inuyasha laughed lowly, just like he always did. "A good thing?"

"Mm, absolutely." Kagome answered.

The two hung on to each other in the large bed of Inuyasha's old room. The covers and sheets were still the same, the lamps were the same. It was like time was at a standstill in that particular room, and they both let it take them away for the hours they were in there.

"You know," Kagome began, lifting her head up to look into Inuyasha's eyes. "This is the second time we've done it in this bed."

Inuyasha smirked. "I was thinking about that earlier."

"Symbolic, huh?" She asked. She reached a hand up to play with the ends of his long, silver hair, reveling in the softness of its touch against her warm fingers.

"If you want to think of it that way."

Kagome furrowed her eyebrows, and then shifted so that she was on top.

"What, you don't find it romantic?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "I'd find anything romantic with you on top of me like that."

Kagome laughed richly, just as she always did. It was a clear, welcoming sound to Inuyasha's ears.

"I missed you." Kagome said quietly, almost in a whisper.

"I missed you too." Inuyasha responded just as quietly.

Kagome placed both of her hands on either side of Inuyasha's head, and she started down at him.

Inuyasha watched her eyes; they trailed from his face, and down his torso until they reached the area the blanket was covering.

"Please tell me you won't be going on anymore business excursions anytime soon." Inuyasha pleaded.

Kagome smiled. "Nope."

She leaned down, and ghosted her lips right on his jaw. Inuyasha felt her warm breath fanning his face lightly.

"Good." He said. His voice was deeper this time. "Because I hate not having you here."

"Did you miss me that much?" Kagome asked while she trailed her lips to his throat. She kissed there lightly, making Inuyasha's eyes flutter closed, and his arms wrap around her smooth back.

"You know I hate being apart from you."

Kagome stopped suddenly, and sat back up. Her face was sporting a concerned expression, and Inuyasha watched her reach a hand up and brush her hair back.

Kagome tilted her head so that her small mark Inuyasha gave her was visible. It was light, pink, and barely there, but it was there, and that was all that mattered.

Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand and brought it up to massage that mark on the back of her neck.

"We don't have to go through that ever again." Kagome said quietly. She trailed her free hand up Inuyasha's torso, traced his jaw, and placed it on his cheek.

"I know." Inuyasha answered. "I'm sorry I worry sometimes."

Inuyasha had, unfortunately, acquired a new problem ever since he and Kagome had reunited. Even on his best days, it danced around the edges of his mind and always made him think that he needed to be on alert ever second of their lives. It made him restless, it made it hard to sleep at night, and even when Kagome would beckon him back to bed with soft hands, he would stare up at the ceiling at night, wide awake.

He had a fear of separation.

It didn't help that he had a daughter either, because that was another person to worry about. And it wasn't just the regular parental worries, it was severe. It gave him bad dreams and even worse days.

Kagome always did what she could to comfort him, and that was more than enough. Being around her and Marina fought away that cloud of apprehension that hung over his mind. And as time went on, the cloud started to dissipate some.

"You don't have to apologize for anything." Kagome said. "Just know that I'm always here, and I always will be, undoubtedly," She paused and pressed Inuyasha's hand to her mark harder, "yours."

Inuyasha smiled. "Mine."

"Yes." She giggled. She leaned back down, and Inuyasha placed his hands on her back again, and Kagome moved her hips in lazy circles over him, and it drove him crazier than he hinted.

"And if things get a little wild," Kagome began, kissing his lips softly.

Inuyasha grabbed her hips to still her, and looked into her eyes.

"We'll find a way."

Kagome smiled and kissed him again, deep and unfocused, just how Inuyasha liked it.

"Yeah." She whispered. "We always do."

Wow. Why did this take me so long to finish? Why? I don't know. I took my focus off this story to write others, and I totally abandoned it for a while; specifically five months and some days, to be exact. Oh well. I enjoyed writing this, and I hope you all enjoyed reading this.

I am definitely writing another Inuyasha fic, except the pairing will be KougaKag. If you read my other story 'Her New Love' then you know how much I love that pairing, and I've already started writing the new story. It's called 'One-Sided.' So, expect that to be posted in the near future.

Thank you again, and goodbye for now!