Part Seventeen: Epilogue

Dodging the knife thrown at his head, Inuyasha flipped backwards out of the way just in time before the weapon could be planted in his skull.

"Will you stay still so I can kill you?" Hiten growled in annoyance.

"What would be the fun in that?" Inuyasha asked as he charged at the man.

At the last minute Hiten was able to slip past him but not without getting a deep scratch on his side. He swore as he saw the blood starting to seep through his clothing. He turned angry eyes on Inuyasha. "I am so sick of you fucking Takahashis. You just don't know when to die."

"The same could be said for you Hiten. All you've done is ruin lives. Just like your father. May the devil keep his soul."

"Do not talk about my father," Hiten said as he attacked and landed a solid punch to Inuyasha's stomach. Inuyasha swung back at the man and caught him under his jaw. The two fought in a matched battle. When one hit landed, the other would strike back. They were each other's toughest opponent and this would be their biggest win.

"I should have killed your bitch when I had the chance," Hiten said as he ducked a blow Inuyasha threw his way. He spun kicked Inuyasha and hit him square in his chest sending him across the room. "I had the chance ya know. I saw her and her little friends from that school. I didn't think she would be a problem for me since she didn't even know who she was."

"Killing her would only piss me off more," Inuyasha said as he attacked Hiten with a series of kicks and punches. He grinned sickeningly as his claws dug into Hiten's face. "But since you're thinking of it, maybe I should take that off your mind."

"We've got to get out of here guys," Miroku's voice came over the earpiece.

"What's up?" Sesshomaru asked him.

"Hiten must have been expecting us. This place is wired to blow. We've got about five minutes to get out of here."

"Shit," Sesshomaru swore. "Where are you?"

"Heading towards the boat. Where the hell is Inuyasha? Why isn't he responding?"

"I don't know," Sesshomaru said as he made his way outside of the compound. That night had been pretty successful. Because of their surprise attack, their men were able to get rid of the enemy with minimal loss to their side. All they had to do was get out unharmed and that would be the end of things. Too bad no one knew where Inuyasha was.

"Fuck!" Inuyasha cursed as he leapt out of the way of the sword thrown at him. Almost in slow motion he watched as the blade whizzed past his head. "Shit that was close."

"Not close enough," Hiten said from the other end of the room. The men were too equally matched. Neither was easy to defeat.

"You're not going to kill me Hiten. You might as well surrender now."

"When I get my hands on you, you're so dead," the voice said in his ear causing him to freeze in mid step.

"Rin?" Sesshomaru asked in surprise. How the hell did she get this frequency?

"No. It's Santa and I know that you've been naughty. How could you leave your mate behind Sesshomaru? All alone and defenseless?"

Sesshomaru snorted. "You are never defenseless Rin. Besides you were safer at home than here with me."

"Oh really. Well your bitch of an ex-girlfriend broke into your house where I was supposedly nice and safe."

"Are you okay?" Sesshomaru asked, fear seeping into his bones.

"A little broken up but you should see the other guy," Rin joked.

"Rin this is no time for jokes. Are you alright?" Sesshomaru asked. He heard his mate sigh on the other end.

"I'm fine Sesshomaru. Seriously. But I'm so going to kick your ass for leaving me the way you did. I'm assuming the guys are with you."

"They're here somewhere," Sesshomaru admitted.

"You guys better come back safe Sessh or you won't like what I'd do to you."

"I'm coming back to you sweetheart. That I will promise you."

Hiten spat the blood out of his mouth and turned angry red eyes towards Takahashi. He'd already resigned himself to the fact that he might die during this battle but he swore that he would take Takahashi to hell with him. The man was good. Way better than he expected him to be. Seemed he underestimated the man.

He back flipped out of the way when Takahashi thrust his sword towards him. He was grazed on the side of his face and he could feel the blood running down the side of it. He then charged at the man with his sword ready and swung. Steel hit steel as the men battled it out. They moved across and out of the room to the hallway. He picked up a priceless vase from the hall table and threw it at Takahashi's head. Unfortunately the man destroyed it with his blade before it could make contact.

Hiten took that opportunity to thrust the sword at him managing to cut him across his left shoulder. The red of his hakama deepened until it was almost black in color. He smirked at the sight. He'd finally been able to get at the man. He'd attacked a few more times; trying to strike at the man but every time it was deflected by the hanyou's sword. Hiten knew then he had to get the sword away from Inuyasha.

"Aren't you tired yet Takahashi?" Hiten asked the man.

"Not even, but obviously you are. You can always surrender Hiten. I may kill you quickly if you do."

Hiten only smirked at the man as he swung his own sword with all of his might and struck at Inuyasha's sword. He almost cheered when the sword flew out of the man's hand and skittered across the room. "Seems like you lost your weapon. Too bad for you."

Inuyasha smirked as the red began to bleed into his eyes. "Yeah. Too bad," he said before he leapt at the man. Not suspecting it, Hiten swung wildly at Inuyasha not managing to hit the man at all. In fact he lost his own weapon in the attack. The other man had forced him to fight hand to hand combat no. he ducked and dodged each of Inuyasha's attacks but it was getting harder to do. He had barely made it out of Inuyasha's way when the man threw a punch at him. Inuyasha ended up punching a whole through the wall and Hiten looked at him with confused eyes.

What the hell happened to the hanyou? He thought all of his might came from the sword but it seemed as if he had underestimated the hanyou. Catching wind of the scent in the air, Hiten was even more confused. Said hanyou didn't even smell hanyou anymore. He smelt like a full blooded youkai. Well that certainly changed things. When Inuyasha was gearing up for another attack, Hiten knew what he had to do. He went completely still drawing in energy from around him and clapped his large hands. A loud booming sound rang out into the air shaking the building with its force. He saw the confused look on the hanyou turned youkai.

"You didn't think I was called a thunder brother for nothing did you?" he asked with a smirk.

Inuyasha smirked as well. "A trick. Well let's see how it stands up against my claws."

Blow for blow, they went. Back and forth at each other always managing to deflect each other at the very last minute. Every time Inuyasha tried to attack the man, Hiten would do another of his booming thunders that shook the building and threw him off balance. He had to stop him from doing that and the only way he could think to do that is to remove his ability to clap.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer," Hiten said to the man. "After I'm done with you, I think I will go after your mate after all. She's a sexy little thing and would serve as a good play thing until I tire of her."

The red in Inuyasha's eyes darkened until it was almost impossible to see the pupil. The hanyou's fangs grew as well as his claws and right now he resembled a wild animal. He became eerily still as he watched his opponent. The air around them crackled with negative energy. From across the room, Hiten watched Inuyasha, waiting for him to move. He was prepared to bring lightning with his thunder. He would bring down the building around them. His blue eyes, caught the slightest hint of movement from the now youkai across the room and he started to clap.

When no sound came after, Hiten stared stupidly in the space of his missing hand. What the fuck, was all he could think as he saw his appendage laying on the floor at his feet. He raised wild eyes towards the hanyou who stood not five feet from him with claws dripping with blood. The hanyou had a wild look in his eyes and for the first time in a long time Hiten felt fear.

"INUYASHA!" a voice yelled over the ear piece. "It's time to get out little brother. Forget Hiten if you must."

"I'm almost done here," Inuyasha growled as he looked at his opponent. Hiten knew he was beaten but refused to give up. He would go down fighting and hopefully he would take the mutt with him.

"NO! Get out now! The place is wired to blow and we don't have much time," Sesshomaru yelled at his brother as he ran towards one of the high powered jets. He and Miroku were leaving now. He just hoped Inuyasha would meet them up soon.

"Leave without me," Inuyasha said as he cracked his claws. "I'm going to finish this."

"Yash you're being stupid. It's time to go bro," said a different voice, Miroku this time. He was already on the boat and awaiting the arrival of the other two men.

"No. I'm not going to give him a chance to get away. A chance to come after us again. This is going to end tonight. Goodbye," Inuyasha said as he removed his ear piece and threw it across the room to shatter against the wall. "It's just you and me now Hiten."

Despite his pain, Hiten smirked. "Somehow I knew it would end like this." He then charged at Inuyasha with all his might. The men battled fiercely for a few minutes before they were both thrown sideways by the first explosion. It rocked the whole house. Inuyasha looked over to an equally bleeding Hiten and saw the smirk the man was giving him. He crawled to his feet an instant before the next explosion and was thrown down again. Around them the room was falling apart and the ceiling was starting to cave.

"Not going the way you planned is it?" Hiten asked as he too struggled to his feet.

"No," Inuyasha admitted. "But things change. I'll just have to kill you quicker than I intended.

When Inuyasha attacked this time, Hiten was ready for him. Instead of throwing a blow like the other man expected, Hiten through his arms around Inuyasha and brought him close. He held on as tight as he could while Inuyasha struggled to get away.

"You were right Takahashi. We're going to end this tonight but you're going with me."

Inuyasha fought against Hiten's hold but for some reason he couldn't break free of him. He dug his claws into the man's back and although the man cried out in pain his hold remained steadfast. The building rocked again with the explosion and Inuyasha could see the flames licking their way towards them. He felt another shift and they were falling. The floor was falling out from under them and they would no doubt be buried in the ruble and killed. The shift was exactly what Inuyasha needed to get free of Hiten for it had thrown off his balance.

Throwing the man's arms off of him, Inuyasha sliced his neck clean off with his sharp claws. Adding insult to injury, Inuyasha spat on the man's headless body and turned to run. The only escape was out the window and he was more than five storeys up. Well better broken than dead. With no time to spare and little thought, Inuyasha jumped out of the window pushing himself off in hopes of falling to the sea below. He may survive that instead of hitting concrete.

Instead of the feeling the expected falling sensation, Inuyasha felt as if he was flying. Confused he tilted his head to look up into the angelic face of his mate. How the hell didn't he hear the chopper above? He could only grin at her as she held onto his outstretched arm with both of her hands.

"You're not going to get away from me that easy," she teased before she started to pull him up. When he was settled in the safety of the helicopter, he was able to see Rin in front of the controls with Sango beside. She'd moved back to her seat after helping Kagome reign in Inuyasha.

"What the hell…how the hell…you're…" he couldn't even finish a thought he was so happy to see her.

"I love you too," Kagome said as she leaned in to kiss him. Inuyasha held her close as they flew away from the burning mansion. He didn't look back at the scene. It was his past and he was leaving all of that behind.

With tears in her eyes, Kagome watched the couple profess their undying love to each other. It was a long time coming but it was well worth it. Rin was a beautiful bride and she'd never seen Sesshomaru so happy before. She was almost a little scared to see him smiling so much.

From across the way she caught Inuyasha's eyes and smiled when he winked at her. Soon the bride and groom were presented to the crowd and was proceeding back down the aisle. The bridal party of course followed. Kagome happily linked arms with Inuyasha.

"Do you wish we did it differently?" Inuyasha asked her.

Kagome glanced up at her husband and thought back to their own wedding. It was performed at her family shrine after it had been rebuilt. The small sacred ceremony was performed by her grandfather and only their immediately family was in attendance. It was the most wonderful day of Kagome's life and she wouldn't change a thing.

Shaking her head no, she leaned further into him. "No. I loved every moment of it."

The reception was to be held in the same garden as the wedding so they all just moved over to the designated areas. The evening wore on in celebration and soon the night had fallen and they were all dancing under the stars. Inuyasha held Kagome close as he took a look around. Rin and Sesshomaru were too lost in each other's eyes to notice anyone else…as they should be. His parents were in the corner chatting with another couple. Sango and Miroku were also on the dance floor but they weren't alone. They held their two year old daughter in their arms as they swayed to the music. Inuyasha always had a chuckle at that. A lech like Miroku had a daughter of his own. Karma really was a bitch.

He then glanced down at Kagome. Her cheek was pressed up against his chest and her eyes were closed. She was humming along with the music and had a smile on her face. She was so beautiful. He was afraid that one day he would wake up and this would have all been a dream. That she didn't exist and his life was still the nightmare it was before he met her. He pulled her even closer at the thought of her not existing. If she thought his behavior was weird she didn't say anything. She just held him closer. He was about to say something when he was shocked into silence by a solid thump against his stomach.

He released her so he could look down at her swollen stomach in surprise and wonder then into her shining eyes. "Did he just..."

Kagome nodded. "Yeah. He's been doing that for a while but now you can feel him too."

Inuyasha hugged his wife close and kissed her passionately. "I love you Kagome. I love you so much. Thank you. Thank you for loving me, and forgiving me when I made stupid mistakes. Thank you for giving me back my family and thank you for coming back to me." Kagome smiled as silent tears ran down her face. He would get like this at times and for every time it would touch her deeply. "Thank you for bringing me to life. I wasn't truly living before you. Thank you."

With a deep sigh, Inuyasha drew Kagome close. He rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes as they both swayed to the music. Finally, they were at peace.

A/N

Okay that's it folks. This story has finally come to an end after all this time. I'm sorry for the delay. Unfortunately life got in the way but I did promise that I would finish it. Thanks goes out to all my faithful readers and all of those who believed in me and sent words of encouragement. It meant a lot. Well I hope you enjoyed this story and any others I may have in the future.

Jinxx