Hot off the presses, sorry for any errors. I do try to catch them, but I am just one tired author.

This is the last story and I am so pleased to be able heave a big sigh of relief as this finally falls off my plate. It's been a long struggle, but I hope it was successful. Luckily, the two other fanfics I'm working on have easier themes throughout, though I've hit a snag or two in those from time to time. If I've left anything hanging and you have questions go ahead and ask them, I always answer if I have the ability. Or not. I'm not doing anything for this upcoming American holiday, so give me something else to think about all week.

Disclaimers made. Leave me alone, I have to go do laundry.

What Dreams Come True

Sesshoumaru stood staring out the wide window of the den he shared with his alpha and their young intimate pack. His eyes were seemingly glued on the browning expanse of lawn that spread from the front door of the house he'd built all those years ago. The seasons were changing again, though all of the pack had been so busy over the past years that there was little time to note when spring changed to summer and summer into fall.

Despite his appearance, Sesshoumaru wasn't really looking at the yard of drying grass beyond noting that all of the pack pups were out playing in various levels of closeness. The pups were how the pack marked the passage of time, for no other member showed their growth and development quite so obviously as the youngest members of the pack. All had grown taller, gaining reach and greater personality as they aged and experienced new things.

All those years ago, there wasn't a way for any feral to rejoin society after falling from grace. You were dubbed completely insane, incapable of higher understanding and killed on sight. Such was why Sesshoumaru had waited in the woods. If Akemi had ever come back to him, the wilderness is where they would have had to stay. He had actually expected to have to go back to the forest after bringing her to Kagome at the beginning of all this. Much as the Taishou pack would have accepted keeping their lost pack mate, the expectation was society and council would not permit it.

Sesshoumaru had obviously underestimated the determination and capability of Kagome and Sango when motivated. They had found precedent for Akemi's inclusion in society and had it ratified by the ruling council within hours of the feral's appearance that day. Now, Akemi joined Sango on her jobs to judge if each reported Feral in question could be assimilated into society, and if they couldn't, she helped the Exterminators lead the starving and desperate to a new wilderness that would provide the necessary resources for survival. Nobody could better judge a feral's development than Akemi.

Oftentimes, they were lead right to the smallish woods on Taishou property for closer supervision and aid. Most ferals who were relocated fell back into close proximity of Akemi within months. She comforted them simply by being. Ferals held her up as protector and sympathizer and proof that there was an end, though none had verbalized it so explicitly. The speaker for the MateMatcher's had explained it to the council best, Akemi was a Shikon level alpha. As such her mere presence could work wonders.

As experienced within the Broken Pack itself. The number of fully mated members had steadily grown with the passage of time. There were still a few who remained too anxious to take that step with their suitors, but those numbers had dwindled to almost single digits. Akemi's help had done wonders even without reinstating those pointless classes that had so frustrated Sesshoumaru during her pregnancy.

It had all gone exponentially easier when Kagome had convinced a few eager human psychologists to come out to the estate and offer individual and group therapies. They hadn't tried to diagnose anyone, but mainly focused on getting both sides to talk and build trust. Even Sango and Miroku had joined the couple's sessions, partially to help break the ice showing as humans were more willing to vocalize issues than youkai were, but also proving to the more stubborn and reluctant males that problems didn't just stop with mating. Akemi attended all of the first efforts, putting her personal stamp of approval on it as she also made certain nothing harmful would come of it. For the first few weeks, Sesshoumaru and their tumbling, toddling pups had also attended, never leaving the alpha's side. Not surprisingly the presence of such young pups was mildly protested by the "counselors" until they realized the Broken Pack loosened up all the more for their presence.

It was hard to be anxious talking about fears with four cheerful pups bounding through the room and willing to crawl into the laps of any pack member exhibiting signs of upset. Despite what was required for the conception of pups most of the Broken Pack had aspirations of having pups of their own. Therapy revealed that most of them believed they would never have the offspring they wanted regardless of the open possibilities of an unknown future. The associated males present when that little gem came out were stunned.

Akemi wasn't. She was already working out how to fix Crissandra's supposed infertility. The rumor of Crissandra's difficulty to conceive and the preliminary doctor's finding that she was incapable of having pups of her own had made the rounds. All of the others who had suffered the same as Crissandra feared they would suffer the same. It was, it turned out, a big issue to be addressed.

Ultimately, it proved to be a gateway to the rest of the issues suffered by the individuals attending the therapy sessions. It wasn't the biggest fear of the Broken Pack, but opening up about this one very hidden yet widely held fear served as a launch pad for everything else. It also was the best way to bring a few of the more presumptuous males into the reality that their promised partners had valid solid reasons for being so reluctant to let off the breaks and allow a relationship to build naturally. The youkai mentality that procreation was important in any relationship was still very much in existence, fertility had been grounds for more than one dissolution in recent years. The females had enough self-knowledge to know they would never survive such an occurrence, especially as that kind of break up always seemed to result in ridicule and alienation of the female rather than the male.

A number of the volunteer psychologists were cranking out professional articles detailing and theorizing over the untapped subject of youkai psychology, societal conditioning and coping mechanisms, comparing them to their human counterparts. It was a rapidly growing field that was getting a lot of notice from authorities that come in contact with abused youkai children and young adults.

Officially, it wasn't happening, but everyone involved was making certain all cases of abuse found their way into the Exterminator's pile of jobs and was instantly bought to the attention of the Broken Pack and Akemi. Or at least the more conscientious members of law enforcement and social service agencies did, the ones that genuinely wanted to do the best for the terrorized and traumatized individuals that came to their attention. There were still many who refused to trust in a feral or the new fangled ideas coming out of the reintroduction of the voluntarily exiled factions of youkai society. Such numbers were swiftly dwindling though, Sesshoumaru sighed with gratitude for that.

Akemi's unique position in society was gaining respect everyday, thanks to the slow swelling number of ferals stepping peacefully out of the woods.

The Ferals that had wandered out of the wilderness on the day that Akemi birthed her litter had actually proved to the world that Akemi wasn't a special case. As it turns out the alpha of that little group really was Sesshoumaru's long lost older brother, driven feral by – once again – the willful denial of his true nature by the Taishou, his father. Katsuro had been betrothed at a young age as was the customary practice to the present day. The problems arose when the Taishou managed to notice his heir wasn't interested in the female chosen for him at all. This was hardly unusual given that most pairs barely knew each other prior to the mandatory year of courting prior to either reaching maturity (Sesshoumaru and Akemi were a special case as Akemi had no other living relatives when matched with him). The young lady was willing enough given the Taishou line's power and natural good looks, but Katsuro wasn't even moderately curious about the inu who was promised to be his mate.

There were clues, as a young youkai would hardly think to hide his true nature when such was openly accepted in the wider society. Katsuro was a little too attached to his buddies. Hugged them just a little too often, occasionally seemed just a little too sensitive. Not once during the trying time of his coming of age did he take any notice of attractive females thrown his way. Most males, while not literally jumping on any female that passed by, would certainly take notice, Katsuro did not. A few males on the other hand.

And in true Inu no Taishou fashion, the head of the clan went about trying to fix his heir. There was no way the Taishou could sire a male so fruity, so unlikely to produce offspring of his own. It was already disgraceful enough that the old man hadn't been able to produce more than the heir and Sesshoumaru.

Things came to a head when Taishou tried to force the mating between his eldest and the female chosen for him. It wasn't the only thing the inept father had done to his boy, but it was the straw that broke the camels back. Katsuro went feral and the clan counted him as lost, leaving Sesshoumaru, then too young to know the difference, to step up to his brother's recently deserted post.

When Akemi had finally recovered from having four pups in one birthing and managed to meet this new small pack, the Taishou had been present.

Sesshoumaru smirked gently at the memory. In the Growling way of Ferals, the two alphas had conferred about reentry, wilderness experiences and just generally being feral. When the exchange was over, Akemi had laid into the Taishou so vehemently the old man had been terrified to come near either feral for months.

Not that either feral cared to notice. Katsuro's pack consisted of the male he was attached to and refused to let out of his sight. The two were about as close to Sesshoumaru's bond to Akemi as could be found without an actual mating bond. There were two females, and Akemi had openly surmised that the only reason they had stuck by the alpha male was because he so clearly wouldn't touch them even were they to go into heat. Kagome had been certain to take both females in hand to help them prevent suffering another such fertility period unwillingly. Their undying gratitude had won the miko their permanent trust and Akemi's guileless relief as she too learned the use of those special herbs herself.

It was the final member of the group though, that had probably done the most good for Ferals coming back into the world. The last was a male who, for reasons unknown, still maintained the mentality of a child who had not reached maturity. It was clear something had caused this to come about and the poor male had been driven feral by the sudden urging of a body he couldn't mentally comprehend. The psychologists believed it was a mental condition that had existed from birth and only became glaringly apparent at puberty.

The pups had taken him in hand immediately, the slayer's youngest especially. With Takara always around for the first few months and Mari's natural ability to observe and act on what she saw, they soon had him playing naturally with all the other pups. Occasionally the male had to be reminded to temper his strength when he got too involved to remember, but he was safe enough in their care.

A year or so back, Mari had declared her intention to keep him. Most of the pack had worried at the – now teenage – human girl trying to mate with a male so unable to understand such a connection, but not Akemi. Akemi had treated the situation as she had any other pack member planning to mate. She had taken the male aside and asked him seriously about what he wanted.

After their serious private conference concluded, Akemi had declared she held no reservations over the match though Mari's parents insisted she wait until she reached legal maturity before going through with it. In the mean time, the two were seldom apart.

Rin had grown and was currently attending college. She no longer lived on the Taishou grounds, but returned often to visit with her near constant escort Kohaku. The Broken Slayer was actually doing better around youkai these days as prior to the return of Akemi the boy couldn't be forced onto the grounds without extreme violence. He refused to stay overnight though, even if Rin often did.

Takara had just started university. Both young females were determined to break ground in the new fields associated with Feral reintroduction, though the partial youkai's reason was most likely due to her mother's constant fight and clear exhaustion. The pup had never grown out of her desire to help promote harmony among the pack and helping her mother educate the ignorantly prejudiced masses was just the next obvious step to her mind.

Hiro never outgrew his pranking ways, though with Shippou's help and gentle guidance, he never again strayed down the path of cruelty. He was currently studying to be a priest and pursuing everything that moved in a skirt. Shippou had found ample ammunition to tease him about his many exploits and occasional embarrassment and the younger male was taken in on more than once by cross dressers and trans gendered individuals. Shippou was open to all the alternate sexualities as by nature, most of his illusions took him into the same realm himself, Hiro's embarrassment was what made teasing him about it fun.

Shippou spent much of his time since achieving his maturity and being reintroduced to his betrothed out on his family property. Everything had been held in trust for him from the death of his parents the many years previous. All of Sango's exterminator teams made a point to check on him often when Hiro wasn't staying with him for company. Akemi made it out there at least once a month if the kitsune didn't make the time to come home.

As independent as the boy was trying to be, he needed the occasional contact with his alpha. Kitsune, like inu, were social creatures and relied on pack ties and cunning for protection and comfort. He loved when she came out, though he never said so. It was in the way he simply had to show her everything he had done and was doing to improve the productivity of the place. She didn't understand it and couldn't be properly impressed by any of it, but he simply had to show her and bask in her presence and approval.

Truthfully, Sesshoumaru smirked again, Akemi was simply proud that the kit was thriving on his own and that was all she needed to know. She had a way of assessing the well-being of all her pack that left each member unaware that she was doing it. He didn't know when she was doing it to him half the time, and he knew that she did it.

It had taken four years before the Taishou had overcome himself and settled back into being the pompous willfully ignorant ass they all knew him to be. Oh he'd become more subdued in a lot of things, but the numbers of the Taishou pack was never something the old youkai would drop as it was one shame that he believe couldn't be blamed on him. Four years after Akemi had birthed her litter and the old inu had begun badgering for more.

Kagome had growled at her father in-law the first time she heard him bring it up. It was unusual for the miko to react that way, but she was breeding herself at the time and well acquainted with the Taishou's unrelenting pressure to breed. Kagome herself was only on her third and believed that until everyone had caught up to Akemi's four the alpha should be off the hook for any further badgering.

The Inu no Taishou had found himself run around the property by one hormonal miko, four pure blooded youkai pups – always eager to chase anything -, Kagome's two previous kids, Sango's three, and Rin while Akemi simply blinked at the sudden circus. Dr. Chorin had huffed at the male's gall before turning pointedly to Akemi and declaring in hard tones that "You'd better wait a few years before attempting it again. As rough as your last pregnancy was, you don't want to go through that with the added stress of four young pups!"

Sesshoumaru had agreed. Akemi was stretched pretty thin without being pregnant, much as he would have loved to see her heavy with growing life again. Akemi had merely nodded her understanding before turning her attention back to Crissandra.

That was some years ago, though the memory was still vividly amusing. Sesshoumaru had never thought to live in such a wildly diverse and fluctuating pack, though once a member they were never completely lost. Every mated member of the Broken Pack visited often, even when they weren't attending follow up therapy sessions or seeing Dr. Chorin in the on site clinic. Dr. Chorin was in high demand, and a number of highly respected hospitals had offered to take her on for her expertise. She refused one and all, dedicating her time exclusively to the care of the ever growing pack. She was kept plenty busy as it was. She'd expressed need for a support staff for the clinic some time back as the Broken Pack began to mate and then reproduce. She wasn't comfortable with her ability to care for children beyond new borns and desired to ensure the best care was received by all.

Kagome had come to her rescue by bullying the Taishou into supporting an enlarged staff. A few more rooms were ceded to the clinic use as more and more members began to move out. The incoming ferals had no use for the above ground rooms anyway and the basement rooms were unsuitable for public use.

Most of the ferals that came in felt most comfortable in the old pack sleeping rooms that had been the first structures created under the house. Sesshoumaru's four pups often joined them without care, somehow secure in their welcome and safety.

In fact, the pups were rather pointedly planning to sleep there for the next several days. Dr. Chorin had given them the go ahead and Akemi had conceded to forgo the herbs used to keep her heat at bay. They were going to try for pups again.

Sesshoumaru stared out the window trying to keep his growing anticipation at bay. This was a first for him, despite the pups bounding around the grass outside. They were his pups, his blood, and he loved them, but they, like Rin and Shippou, were in a vague kind of way also not his simply because he couldn't consciously remember his part in conceiving them. This would be different, and while his affection for all the pups that looked to him to protect them would be as equal as he could make it, this would be special.

Akemi's mild scent in the air on any given day was enough to send a heady rush of arousal through his blood, but the scent of her fertility was certain to be something special, drive him beyond normal bounds experienced when they pursued proper coitus. And they did that often enough to keep them both well sated.

This would be different, because they wouldn't just be seeking pleasure and company, they would be seeking to create life.

Akemi had retired to their den hours ago in preparation. Sesshoumaru couldn't scent a change yet, but he trusted her to know when best to extract themselves from company for this. They hadn't told anyone else about their plans, though the pups had caught on and told them not to expect them home for a few days. It was their way of offering subtle approval. Sesshoumaru could only imagine the pups were thinking about the near future. Their baby girl would be going off to school next year as was custom before her betrothed could his puberty. Their boys would be hitting puberty about the same time and most pups began to withdraw from the parents at that time. They worried they'd leave their parents feeling lonely.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help the sappy smile that spread over his face. AS if he could ever feel lonely with Akemi.

The sudden dropping of Akemi's scent barrier caused her beta to stiffen instantly where he stood, shocked by the sudden irresistible call of pheromones flooding the air. In the next instant the area by the wide window was empty where the sun slowly withdrew from the interior floor.

The pups played outside oblivious to the sudden absence of their observer until the encroaching darkness and growing chill drove them from sight into the big house on the green.