Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha.

AN: This epilogue was the hardest thing I've ever written. I don't know how good it is…but at least I tried. Enjoy, and don't complain if you hate it (-.-);;

Epilogue 2: For Love

Give me forever in a nutshell
This is how the story ends
This is how the story ends
This is how the story ends

I don't have a unique story. The story of my life isn't all that different from the stories of the other six billion plus people who share air on this planet. I didn't take a road less traveled or any thing like that. My story's about a boy who met a girl and almost lost the girl because he was too full of shit to know a good thing when he had it. Boy chases girl to ends of the earth to apologies, girl forgives boy for being a stupid ass. They start over. Rinse. Repeat. You all might think I'm kidding, but this is my life with Kagome in a nutshell, with a few exceptions, of course. Like, she no longer runs to the ends of the earth (probably because she doesn't trust me to watch the kids for long periods of time) but she has an annoying habit of locking me out of the bedroom when she's pissed. But I'm getting already of myself.

It took me a year to convince Kagome that she really did love me enough to marry me. A year of working for Sesshomaru in our Kyoto branch, a year of living in a cold down town apartment while she lived in the shrine with the old woman and the kid.

A year of going to therapy three times a week to work on our 'communication' skills.

A year of slowly getting to know parts of her that I'd never taken the time to explore.

A year of falling in love with her again.

And again.

And again.

Each day brought new surprises, and made me wonder if I'd ever really known her at all. Miroku and Sango visited as often as work and a new baby allowed, and Kagome and I became close with the wolf and his brood. It was a good year, but it was only the beginning.

We got married in America a week after Kagome's little brother graduated from college. None of our friends could attend, but seeing Kagome's eyes when she found out that her father was going to walk her down the aisle was worth the disappointment. After that we moved back to Tokyo and started working on our dreams.

Kagome opened her own interior decorating firm and started to over charge the rich and famous of Japan.

We bought a house and a car and worried about whether to send Shippou to a private school or a public school.

Kagome got pregnant. I suggest we name the baby Kikyou. She locked me out of the bed room. I apologized with a night out and flowers. We named our first little girl Sae.

What you have to understand is that Kikyou wasn't just the other woman. She had been my best friend since I was three and getting picked on for having ears and funny hair. She'd been there when we buried my mom, and a year later when my dad died. She helped me pass the seventh grade when the stress of living with Sess became too much. She'd been a big part of my past, and if Kagome would just let go of the past, she'd remember that Kikyou had been her best friend too, once-upon-a-time. I just wanted a way to remember the good times without always focusing on the bad things that happened way back then.

Kagome might not have understood my feelings for Kikyou, but she still stood by my side and supported me when my childhood friend finally died. There weren't many of us there at the funeral, just Miroku and Sango, Kagome and I, and a few of the nurses who had taken care of Kikyou for the years that she'd been in the coma. I can truly say that I couldn't have made it through without Kagome. She didn't say much, but just the fact that she'd come with me was enough.

Four months later, when we found out we were having another little girl Kagome suggest that we name her Kikyou. We never really talked about her change of heart, but that doesn't really matter. Naming our third child Kikyou was Kagome's way of telling me that the past was finally firmly behind us and I was too glad to ask questions.

How do you put forever in a nutshell? How do you condense the emotions of a life time of really living into such a small space?

We lived through births and deaths (we buried the miscarried child, but Kagome couldn't bring herself to name it).

We survived our children going off to college and retirement.

We survived years and years of marriage to the same person and still manage to feel butterflies.

Our story isn't all that different from all the other billions of stories that are being created right now. But it's our story and it doesn't have an end.

I've lived every minute of every day for love. Kagome's my forever in a nutshell.

- - -

The End

I'd like to thank every single person who has ever read this story, whether you review or not. It's been a long time coming, and wasn't supposed to take nearly this long. I want to encourage you all to live with as much passion as you can muster. I know it sounds cheesy, but try to squeeze everything you can out of your time here sharing air.

Goodbye.