Epilogue. :P Enjoy.
"He didn't sleep last night, I take it?"
"No. Or the night before that. Or the night before that. Well, not much, anyway."
"Miroku couldn't go that long, obviously. We had to take turns. It's easier now that he's older."
"That won't last much longer."
Kagome and Sango laugh as Arae-Yin Nae pulls lightly on Surinotu's ear, silently admonishing the raion's jest toward the slayer.
"Well, he's not wrong," Sango says, raising one hand and laying it on her slightly swollen belly. "We have a few months yet, to get as much sleep as possible."
A shrill squeal breaks the comfortable serene setting, and the three women and one demon turn toward the lake, seeing a dark-haired toddler splashing in the shallows, a wet kitsune a few feet farther in the water trying to control his irritation, and a completely dry nekomata rolling on her back on the sand in amusement.
"I think Kilala probably helped Kuro," Arae-Yin Nae says, smiling at the trio.
Kagome and Sango nod, before glancing back to the boys sleeping with their heads in the girl's laps. The miko feels a smile come onto her face, when a tiny yawn reaches her ears.
"Does he still watch her?"
Kagome nods, without looking up to see who had asked the question. "Yes. Every night. It's like he's amazed that he had a part in bringing her into the world," she says, gently scratching the base of her daughter's small, silver ears.
After a few minutes, the infant yawns again, before settling back down. Kagome smiles, moving her hand to the ears belonging to her husband, who is holding the little girl in the crook of one arm while he sleeps.
Or so she thinks.
"Talking about me again?" he asks, echoing his daughter's previous movements by yawning widely, then taking Kagome's hand and kissing her palm before placing it over his eyes.
"No, Inuyasha. She's talking about Kobi's real father."
The monk stops, laughing under his breath at the warning growl the hanyou is sending him.
"I wouldn't tease him, Miroku. You know he gets cranky when he hasn't slept," Sango says, winking at Kagome, who grins.
"What do you mean, 'when he hasn't slept' ? Inuyasha is cranky all the time."
The three humans laugh as Inuyasha growls again, aiming his words at the two ghosts sitting on the opposite end of the picnic blanket. "See what I have to put up with?"
"I don't see anything," Surinotu says quickly, earning another ear-pull from the priestess.
Kagome laughs with the others, then leans over her husband and kisses him lightly. Inuyasha tries holding onto his frown, but eventually breaks, smiling and pulling the miko's hand down--kissing her palm again before laying it on his chest.
"The feeling I get--when I'm watching her--there's...there's nothing like it," the hanyou says quietly, turning his head and pressing his lips gently to the tiny demon's brow.
"I know what you mean, Inuyasha. It's like life can't be any more perfect than at that moment," Sango whispers, looking toward her son, who is trying to knock Shippo into the lake again.
The slayer turns a watery smile to the monk in her lap, drawing her hands down his cheek until the boy catches them, bringing her fingers to his lips and echoing her expression.
"And we have another one on the way," Miroku says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at his wife. Kagome, Inuyasha, Surinotu, and Arae-Yin Nae laugh as Sango brings her other hand up and smacks the boy lightly on the cheek.
"I am happy for you," Arae-Yin Nae says after a quiet moment, smiling when the foursome glances at her and Surinotu. The ghost pauses, tilting her head slightly while she gazes at the tiny demon. "Do you ever use her full name?"
Kagome shakes her head. "Rarely. Yorokobi is too long and awkward for Kuro to say, and once he messed up her name the first time, it was to cute to correct."
Arae-Yin Nae nods, smiling again as she glances past the toddler and the two demons, who are slowly making their way back to the adults, taking time to play in the grass as they come. The ghost aims her gaze at a point near the far shore, where she can see Surinotu's shrine as it reflects the bright sunshine against the water, the black stone shimmering beautifully in the light.
Beside it--on it's own raised platform--sits the priestesses' new shrine: a seashell the same size as Surinotu's lion, made from the pale white granite from her cave. The rock is intricately detailed, the same precision that was included in her former altar showing itself in the way each of the cuts catches the darker lines in the stone--making them seem to come alive, so that shell looks as if it's come straight from the ocean.
"How did you make it look so real?" Surinotu asks, somehow knowing what the miko was looking at, even though she's behind him. The demon-ghost leans up on his elbows, grinning toothily to himself when Arae-Yin Nae wraps her arms around his neck.
"We know someone who works with stones," Inuyasha answers, allowing a smirk to cross his face. "They're very good."
The raion raises a brow at the hanyou's words, but doesn't comment. Instead, he sits all the way up and pulls a surprised Arae-Yin Nae into his lap, kissing her passionately while Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and Inuyasha laugh.
"Surinotu! What are you doing?" the miko asks, blushing madly, despite the paleness of her cheeks. "They are sitting right there."
The demon grins again. "I know. I've been waiting a very long time to do that in front of an audience," Surinotu says, leaning forward to kiss the priestess again, to the sound of more laughing.
After a minute, the raion releases Arae-Yin Nae, who sits up on her knees, absently trying to straighten her robe and calm the flush on her cheeks, purposely refusing to look at any of the others.
"It's nice. That you're together now; after so long," Sango says softly, giving the ghosts a small smile. "I'm sorry that it couldn't have been like this when you were alive."
Everyone pauses a moment as they remember the two ghosts reunion, half saddened, and half amused. Arae-Yin Nae had been so overwhelmed when she had seen the raion floating toward her behind the others, that she had promptly fainted.
Twice.
The dead miko had woken up the first time to find Surinotu holding her in his arms, and had immediately closed her eyes again, going completely limp in his arms. Once she had awoken again--and could finally believe what she was seeing--the priestess had cried in happiness for hours.
Surinotu shrugs. "It's almost better this way. Now I can do that for eternity," the lion says, turning to send the miko an almost leering glance as he grins at her.
Arae-Yin Nae holds his gaze for minute before looking back down at her robe, trying again to hide her blush as everyone laughs. "When do you think the marks will disappear?" she asks without looking up, hoping to divert the conversation away from herself and Surinotu.
"I...don't know," Inuyasha says, glancing sideways at the shell just showing beneath the sleeve on his t-shirt; the one that had appeared after Kagome had 'tested' the theory that the hanyou had to live in her time.
"Mine disappeared after Inuyasha and I...uh, got married," Kagome says, hoping that no one could see the blush on her cheeks, since her marks had vanished the morning after, instead of at the end of the actual ceremony. "All...how many did I have? Four?"
"Five. Someone...slipped...when he was congratulating the bride," Inuyasha growls, turning his head to glare at a certain monk a few feet away.
Miroku grins innocently, until Sango slams a small rock down on his forehead. "I knew Kagome's kimono was too pink," the slayer says, narrowing her eyes at her husband in a silent promise that he will be in more pain when they get back home.
"How many do you have now, Inuyasha?" the hoshin asks, rubbing his head with one hand, but not looking very apologetic.
The hanyou glares at the other boy for another minute before closing one eye, thinking. "Tw...three. The one from the mountain, and two from when Kagome went back to her time without me," Inuyasha says. "Shoulder blade, bicep, stomach."
"Stomach?" Surinotu asks, frowning slightly.
Kagome nods, grinning as she pulls Inuyasha's shirt up, exposing his stomach and the dark shell on one side of his belly button. She moves her hand down, lightly running her fingers over the mark and feeling Inuyasha clench his muscles, a light growl floating up to her ears. Kagome stifles a laugh, moving her hand slowly back up to pull his shirt back down.
"I think it's random. Where they show up. And don't even bother asking, Miroku," the girl says, seeing the monk open his mouth out of corner of her eye.
"I was just going to ask why you thought Inuyasha still had his. He's living in your time now; they should be gone," Miroku replies, slightly indignant.
The group is quiet for several minutes--thinking--before Arae-Yin Nae speaks. "You said...you promised to live in Kagome's time, correct Inuyasha?" She continues when the boy nods. "Was there anything else? Remember that I told you that the wording was important."
The hanyou frowns to himself, then raises his eyes to his wife, seeing her expressions echo his. "Uh...I...don't..."
Almost as if they had planned it, both Inuyasha and Kagome gasp--their eyes widening in surprise--which is then followed by a soft, double, 'Oh Kami,' then a groan from both the young miko and the hanyou while they shake their heads.
"Why didn't we remember before this?" Kagome asks, placing her hands on her temples and rubbing them as if she was trying to force herself to have remembered much earlier than this moment.
"I don't know; with everything that was happening, we just forgot," Inuyasha mumbles, a small growl coming from his throat.
The boy quickly cuts it off when Kobi utters a soft whimper. He turns and whispers nonsense syllables into the baby inu's tiny, triangular ears until she settles down again, snuggling against her father. The ghosts, three humans, and trio that has just arrived wait until Kobi is quiet, before Shippo speaks softly.
"What did you forget?" the kitsune asks, sitting down in the middle of all the adults and trying to wring out his wet clothes. Kilala hops onto Kagome's shoulder, while Kuro-- somewhat tired from playing with the two demons--climbs into his mother's lap and nods when Sango puts one finger to her lips then points to Kobi. The boy then lays his head against his father's and wraps his small arms around Miroku's neck, turning his eyes to the infant and watching her with something close to wonder.
"Inuyasha said, 'After we finish everything here,' before he made the promise to live in my time. But...what exactly does that mean, Arae-Yin Nae? He didn't say what we had to finish before he would come with me," Kagome says, raising her free hand to pet the nekomata, while the other traces random circles on Inuyasha's shirt, until his hand stills her movements.
The older priestess frowns for several minutes, ignoring everyone's concerned gazes that turn, first, to Inuyasha, then to the miko herself while she thinks. Eventually, Arae-Yin Nae raises her eyes to the couple, but her words are aimed at no one in particular.
"I thought that the wording of the actual promise was the only importance. Is it possible that intention, also, has bearing on the vow that is made?" the priestess asks, almost rhetorically. "That the pledge being made is not completely dependent on what the person actually says? That what the person desires has significance?"
All the living creatures within earshot of the miko seem to stop breathing, mostly in complete confusion. Shippo actually shakes his head, patting his ears as if he's got something stuck in them, and didn't hear the priestess.
"What?" he asks after a second, voicing what everyone was silently thinking. To everyone's surprise, it's Surinotu that answers, instead of Arae-Yin Nae.
"I...see what you mean, Arae-Yin Nae," the demon-ghost says, continuing slowly when he discovers that he is now the object of everyone's gaze. "Kagome, remember what I told you to explain why the Canthathirls couldn't touch you? That it was because the magic was very old, and that you--essentially--already belonged to Inuyasha?"
The young miko scowls, placing one hand firmly over her husband's mouth as he smirks up at her, to quiet giggling from the rest of the group. She nods, then narrows her eyes at the raion in an expression that clearly says Surinotu had better make his point clear. Quickly.
"What if...that wasn't the reason? I was making an educated guess, based on what I knew about the cave's magic. But what if it's because you yourself had already made that decision? That...even though you didn't say it in so many words, you had no intention of letting anyone other than Inuyasha ever touch you? If so, your promise would work like an iremono. The cave's powers would have protected you much like the shell protected Sango."
Thoughtful silence follows the lion's words, during which only quiet snoring from a sleeping Kuro can be heard over the lapping of water against the black beach's shore. A bird calls somewhere from the forest, which is answered a moment later by it's mate. Eventually, Kagome speaks, her voice almost a hoarse whisper.
"I guess...that makes sense," she says, continuing to speak in an effort to hide the light blush coming onto her cheeks. "But...wouldn't that also mean that whenever we've finished with whatever Inuyasha was referring to--when he promised--that then he won't be able to return through the well? That he will be...stuck...in my time? Forever?"
"You mean...the only reason I can come back now...is because I said that we still had things to do?" Inuyasha asks, his face paling slightly. "That because I was thinking of completing the jewel, and helping Miroku, and saving Kohaku, and... That once we've done all of those... I won't be able to return?"
Sango, Miroku, and Shippo turn to the hanyou, each of their faces echoing his slightly horrified expression as Inuyasha finishes his sentence, unconsciously tightening his hand on Kagome's, before he abruptly frowns.
"But...we've done all those things, already. If that were actually true, why can I still come back?"
"Maybe...maybe there's still something you have to do Inuyasha," Miroku says. "Was there anything else you had planned on...fixing?"
The hanyou frowns, almost pouting while he thinks. He starts to shake his head, then stops, rolling his eyes at the blue sky above them.
"Sesshomaru," Inuyasha says, his voice betraying slight annoyance. Or maybe guilt. "I thought that it might be nice if we didn't try to kill one another everytime we met," he growls, sneering slightly.
"That would be nice," Arae-Yin Nae says absently, drawing confused gazes once again. The miko ignores her audience however, and simply stares blankly at the lake for a few seconds, before speaking again. "You said that you would live with Kagome, correct Inuyasha?"
The half-demon stares at the miko, wondering where she'd just gone and why she was asking a question to which she already knew the answer. Inuyasha glances at Kagome, then Miroku and Sango, and finally Shippo, mumbling a quiet 'yes,' when they all shrug. They didn't know what the miko was getting at either.
"Then...I believe that you will be able to continue to return, as long as Kagome is with you," she says quietly, oblivious to the frowns she's getting. Surinotu speaks when Arae-Yin Nae doesn't say anymore, his voice almost excited.
"I get it. Inuyasha made two wishes, not just one. They both hinged on the fact that he would live in Kagome's time, but one wish was that he would live there after he had finished things here, and the other was that he would live with Kagome. That's why you still have the marks. And why you probably always will, as long as you continue to return here. Because this is not Kagome's time," the demon says, when he looks at everyone's confused faces. "Because the girl can still come here whenever she wants, and part of the wish was that you had to live with her. But as long as you are with Kagome, you can continue to return, " Surinotu says, turning a grin on the miko beside him.
Arae-Yin Nae finally glances up, echoing the raion's look before leaning against him and putting one of her arms through his. The others stare in slight astonishment for several minutes before they finally relax, again enjoying the sun shining down on them, even though every one of them is still completely lost.
"Whatever. As long as Miroku doesn't want to know where the next one shows up," Inuyasha mumbles, going back to his nap and ignoring the laughs floating over his head.
Ok...need to tell you guys a few things that I didn't explain. The jewel was completed and used to save Kohaku, who is with Sess and company right now, who was worried about Inu. That's why he showed up at the end for a brief moment. Uh...Yorokobi means 'joy,' and Kuro means 'trouble.' Fitting? Maybe when the boy gets a little older. He is Miroku's, after all. I hope that I didn't make things too confusing. It's hard to remember all this stuff... Feel free to ask questions, if you want. Uh...oh, must thank everyone who reviewed, b/c you guys are awesome! Every one of you made me soo happy. :) I'm so easy...
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