Chapter 25: Moonless Night

(Sometimes things don't turn out how you expect them to, and things aren't what they seem to be… but sometimes, things could turn out to be far more amazing than you could ever imagine.)

Months had passed since Kagome had made her choice and had rejoined the pack. She had run off with Inuyasha that day into the forest, her heart so full of freedom she thought that it would burst. To her astonishment, Inuyasha never told the others who she was and what she had been originally. Apparently, when they appeared at the new den, a few miles away from the old one, they had started to expect the worse.

Shippo, who had been crying since never came back, tackled her to the ground and cried as he laid down next to her that night. He had truly believed that he had lost his second mother.

When they demanded to know what happened when they left, Inuyasha said that he had run after Naraku and had finally been able to kill him in a one-on-one fight to the death. But once he finished him, he had been too badly injured to move so they had to wait until he could recover enough strength.

Sango and Miroku looked a little skeptical at first, but when Kagome went along with the story, they seemed to just accept it.

'Well,' Miroku said. 'You both came back. That's really all that matters.'

'I do have some good news,' Inuyasha yawned. 'Overheard a human girl say that her father was going to turn Areno Woods into a park or something like that.'

'A national park,' Kagome laughed rubbing her head against his. 'A forest preserve.'

'What's that?' Kohaku asked curiously.

'It means,' Kagome said happily. 'You—we—don't have to worry about hunters coming here again.'

'Really?' Sango gasped.

'That's right,' she laughed. 'Hunting will be banned here. We can all live in peace without worrying about being killed.'

'So we don't need to go up the cliffs anymore?' Shippo barked happily, almost dancing. 'We don't need to worry about scary humans coming here with those weapons?'

She shook her head as she touched the end of his nose with her own. 'No,' she promised. 'We're free.'

It was a celebration that day. To celebrate the end of hiding and running… celebrating the whole pack reuniting and a whole new life ahead of them all they talked and laughed the rest of day and well into the night. It was only when everyone else collapsed in exhaustion did Kagome get her chance.

She pushed herself back up and went out the den. It didn't take her long to find Inuyasha; she found him baying at the moon. She laughed as she went over to snuggle his face with her own, her body already used to this wolf shape again.

'Why didn't you tell them?' she asked.

'Tell them what?' he question, his head still looking up at the countless stars.

She rolled her eyes. 'You know exactly what. About what I was before?'

'Doesn't matter anymore,' he said, looking down at her. 'Thanks to you, we don't need to worry about it anymore.'

'But…?' she began. 'It's my family's fault that Shippo's an orphan.'

'Yeah, and you did your best to raise him,' he answered her. 'Sure, he's a little monster, but hey… at least he's happy.'

'But I'm a human,' she reminded him. 'And you really don't mind?'

'Could've fooled me,' he retorted looking at her. 'You may have been born a human, but you aren't anymore. Inside you're a wolf.'

She sat there with him by her side, thinking over what he just said before she leaned up against him. 'You're right,' she said softly. 'I'm a wolf… both inside and out…'

And that's how it has been. The mating season had come and gone… and now it had been almost three months since that day.

It was one particular moonless night when Inuyasha was found pacing up and down in front of the den. Miroku was lying on the ground next to him with Shippo and Kohaku on either side—watching him.

'Inuyasha,' Miroku complained. 'You can calm down. I know it's a long wait. But we can't rush anything. I'm sure that Kagome's fine.'

'Oh, shut up!' he barked at him. 'It's been since this afternoon! What's taking so long?'

'I know it's tough,' Miroku told him in a soothing voice. 'I remember when it was me out here waiting.'

'Just be patient,' Kohaku piped up. 'Sango's with her.'

At that moment, they heard Sango's bark, 'Ok! You can up in now! Just be quiet though. I don't want to wake up the little ones!'

Inuyasha froze in mid-pace as Miroku jumped up and laughed. 'That's how I reacted when Kagome told me that I could go in.'

Shippo gave him a small nudge in the back and said in a teasing tone, 'Go on… dad…'

Inuyasha took a quick snap at his tail, but the little wolf already went running off to hide behind the others. 'Pups…' he thought bitterly.

'Hey!' Shippo called to him annoyed. 'I'm not a pup! I'm a full-fledged wolf!'

'Keep telling yourself that,' he barked as he wandered into the den with a swish of his tail. He saw that Sango was already resting in a corner with her own brood of pups. She and Miroku had mated and it was only two weeks ago did Sango have three pups. Two girls… Satsuki and Koharu, and a boy… Hachi.

He glanced over them. The two girls were almost identical in color to their mother… and were already starting to wander the den on their tiny, little legs. The boy, who looked just like his father was sound asleep, curled up against his mother's side and snoring when his mother came back to him.

But he went immediately to the back of the den where Kagome was already curled up in a ball, on a bed of soft leaves. He sat down next to her and licked her ear, 'Kagome, it's me.'

Kagome opened one of her eyes and raised her head up to feel his face. 'I was waiting for you,' she said, sounding so tired. 'I have some special someone's for you to meet.'

He looked and was astonished to see them. Four… four pups all curled up against her side. She pushed the largest one with her nose. She was as black as night like her mother. 'She's the first…' she told him. 'I want to name her Kikyo. After my best friend… after all, if it hadn't been for the jewel she gave me, then we wouldn't be here now would we?'

He didn't know what to do, so he bent down and sniffed her. He smiled at her scent, she smelt like him and like Kagome. 'She's beautiful,' was all he could say.

She smiled then pulled out another ball only this one was mostly black with some silver markings. 'This one is the only boy,' she laughed. 'And we're naming him Sota… after my brother.'

'And the other two?' he asked her as he stared at his son.

'Two more girls,' she said. The next girl was the third to be born, and looked like her mother just like Kikyo. 'This one… I thought about her name… and I decided that I really like the name Hitomiko. And the runt of the litter…?' She then laughed as the final ball of fur rolled over onto her back and made little yelping sounds.

Inuyasha stared. 'She looks just like…'

'The spitting image of you,' she smiled. 'Shiori… that is gonna be her name. We have four pups… and I can tell that the youngest is going to be as troublesome as her papa.'

The little silver pup went sniffing around, trying to find something warm to cuddle up too. Inuyasha laughed as he used his nose to push her closer to her mother. It was a tender moment as the new family sat together. Kagome nuzzled her head against Inuyasha, their tails intertwined with each other.

The two of them shared a special glance and reared back their heads to let out a single long howl… a song that echoed across the forest.

A song of welcoming a new family.

The End

(And that is the end of this story. Thank you all for bearing with it for so long and I hope that the ending didn't disappoint you all.)