Chapter Fourteen
The End

Akito had woken up the next morning. He woke with the strange feeling of missing something. Yet, he could not comprehend why he felt that way. After sitting on his futon for a few moments, he recalled what he could from the day prior. That woman, Kagome if he remembered correctly, had done something to him. What, he could not remember, all he knew, was that he was here, but there was no one else. They had left him alone, and he didn't know what happened after she rendered him unconscious.

Getting up, he realized that he felt better than he had ever felt since he was born. The feeling of missing something, was not necessarily a bad feeling, just strange. Walking towards the door, he was about to open it, when it was opened for him.

Shigure had decided to bring Akito his breakfast, as Hatori was still sleeping and he didn't want to disturb him. Besides he already got some pictures of him cuddled up to Kagome, so it was worth it. Opening the door, Shigure had found Akito already awake and standing in front of him.

Walking a bit further in, and setting the tray on the low table in the corner, Shigure turned around and calmly shut the door. He was ignoring the heated looks that Akito was sending his way. No doubt that he wasn't too happy to have been knocked out. He probably also didn't know that the curse was actually gone. Shigure knew. He had already hugged Tohru and not transformed. That was rather fun, at first Yuki and Kyo were so upset with him, that they failed to realize that he hadn't transformed. Once they did, however, Yuki and Kyo, received their fair share of hugs from Tohru.

Looking over at Akito, he motioned to the tray and said that it was time for breakfast. Akito made no move towards the tray. Instead, he chose to stare at Shigure with his cold gaze. Silently commanding him to give him the answers he sought.

Shigure sighed when he noticed that Akito was not about to move. He figured that he really didn't want to prolong the explanation, so he started to talk.

"Kagome removed the curse." Not wanting to beat around the bush, he got straight to the point.

Shock showed on Akito's face for a mere second before it was replaced with a neutral expression. Shigure noticed his countenance and knew that Akito didn't believe him. Akito had lived with the curse as a part of him for most of his life. The idea that it was just gone, was impossible to him. Shigure sighed again and tried to explain further. After all, he didn't want Kagome hurt just because Akito didn't believe her.

"After Kagome... put you to sleep. She began to use her powers to literally pull the curse out of you. She proceeded to destroy the curse, and it is no longer in existence. The curse is gone, and we can now hug others without the fear of transforming. I already tried it and am one hundred percent sure that it is gone." Akito continued to look at Shigure with a small look of distrust, and even a bit of... hope. Shigure continued when he saw that Akito was warming up to the idea, "You are free. You are no longer the holder of the curse, you no longer have to die young. You can live." Shigure said the last part with a small smile.

He and Akito used to be friends, but once he became head of the family. Everything changed with them. Shigure always felt rather helpless that he could do nothing to help his family, but now... Now they were free, and they could live their lives to the fullest. They could truly find love, and be with the ones they loved.

Akito roughly grabbed his chest, and realized that the empty feeling he had felt, must have been the missing curse. He looked up into Shigure's gray eyes, and he laughed; a full, hearty, happy laugh. It may have seemed strange, but to Shigure and Akito, it was like old times. This was the Akito that Shigure had missed, and now their family members would be closer than ever before. And the tale of the family's curse would be passed down from generation to generation. And Shigure had no doubt that Kagome and Hatori's children would be the first of that new generation. Now all that was left was to get married.

Kagome and Hatori had woken up from their nap, to find that Shigure had already told Akito, and the meeting that they had feared was to happen, never did. Akito had even given them his blessing, if not in a rather rough way. He still consented.

The entire Sohma family had thrown a party to celebrate. Both the removal of the curse, as well as the wedding between Kagome and Hatori. They were to get married as soon as Kagome graduated from high school in the following year.

Kagome's mother and grandfather were both excited, as was Souta. He was assigned the job of ring bearer. While Momiji wanted the position; he let Souta have it. After all, he was the bride's younger brother.

Tohru and Kyo had been dating since the curse was removed, and Kagura had surprisingly understood. Though she didn't give him up without a fight, Kagome soon whipped her into shape and set her straight. She was now dating a guy she had met in college, who used to live on a small farm that raised pigs. They got along really well.

After the curse was lifted, Yuki began to be a bit more open, and was now starting to date a girl from the student council. He actually didn't mind too much that Tohru had picked Kyo over him. He had felt that Tohru was more of the mother figure he had never had, or a sister, and not a lover or girlfriend.

Kagome and her cousins were closer now that the curse was gone. She never had to worry about any of them finding out, so they hung out with each other more often.

In the years that followed their wedding, Kagome ended up having the first set of twins in the Sohma family line. As strange as it seemed, the Sohma's had never had any twins throughout the many generations.

They had one boy, Ryuu, who was named after his father, as his zodiac was the dragon; they both thought it rather ironic. Their second twin was a girl, Mai, who took on her mother's middle name.

They stayed happily married for a good sixty-five years, at which time Hatori had gotten a heart attack and died in his sleep. Kagome followed him after four more years of living without him. Their legacy lived on in their children.

Ryuu grew to become a doctor, and took over his father's practice. Along with their second daughter, Sumiko, who had married Kyo and Tohru's eldest son. Their youngest, and fourth daughter, but eighth child, Rumiko, had remembered all of her mother's tales about a girl traveling into the past through a well and all of her adventures, and wrote them as a manga series once she had married. She thought it was appropriate to use her mother's name in the story, as she was the one who told them. But she kept all of the other character names the same.

Takara, their seventh child, and third daughter, had grown up to become a teacher and taught math to the preschoolers up to the elementary children. While their other twins boys, Akio and Takuma, the third and fourth born, followed their uncle Souta in soccer, and made it to the professionals. They later settled down, and were working on families of their own. Their last son, Kouki, had fallen in love with Hiro and Kisa's second daughter and were married, and lived in the Sohma estate.

Akito had even found someone and they lived their lives out and passed the title of head of the family to their eldest. He was a great leader and he ruled the Sohma's fairly and justly. The other Sohma's greatly respected him, and it showed in the closeness of the family members.

To this day, Kagome and Hatori continue to watch over and protect their family, both distant and non. They were buried behind Hatori's home, in the garden. Where both the snow falls, and melts into spring. Where the flowers grow and bring happiness to those that ever look upon the scene.

They had found love, and they would never be apart ever again.

~The End~

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

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It helps me write better for my next stories!