I do not own InuYasha or YuYu Hakusho. I wish I did, but sadly, it was not meant to be. I own a Kirara plushie, though. Does that count?

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The next Monday, Kagome and Shippou went to school like always, with Rin. Surprisingly enough, Rin, who could face down any youkai when armed with her fan and a knife, was so nervous she was shaking slightly. She held tight to Shippou's hand as he and Kagome lead her into the office. Kagome smiled winningly at the secretary who greeted them with a scowl.

"Ohayou gonzaimas, Hiwatari-san! I have a new student for you, I believe the arrangements were made for her yesterday? This is Tashio Rin." Rin smiled weakly up at the formidable secretary who continued to glare as she slammed Rin's schedule down on the counter, and told her, as she had told Shippou months ago

"There. Don't break any of the rules. Don't get lost. Have a good first day." Rin gulped, and nodded, her hand slipping back into Shippou's once she had her schedule.

"She's scary…." She murmured, just loud enough for Shippou and Kagome to hear. Kagome giggled, and Shippou shuddered.

"I know. BELIEVE me, I know." He answered in a very sincere voice, making Rin smile in relief. Kagome stopped them before they entered the main hallway.

"Ok, Rin. I'm going to warn you now, Shippou has something of a… fanclub here at school. A lot of girls will be trying to get his attention. Please, do not do anything to them. Feel free to glare, and if it gets too bad, slap them. But don't do anything… extreme." Rin grinned.

"So you're saying no Dance of Blades, right?" She asked mischievously. Kagome grinned back.

"Sorry, no Dance of Blades. Although, I imagine it will be VERY tempting…" Rin giggled as they stepped out into the hallway, where Shippou was immediately pounced upon by one of his rapid fangirls. Kagome was relatively certain this was the one who had been elected president shortly after his arrival

"Ohayou, Higurashi-kun! Daijoubu desuka?" She asked, batting eyelashes that were coated with entirely too much mascara. Shippou grimaced.

"Daijoubu des, Erani-san. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to class…" The fangirl pouted at him.

"But Higurashi-kun, I wanted to talk to you!" Rin glanced at Kagome, who was resisting the urge to gag at the fangirl's overstated attempts to get Shippou's attention. A small, slightly evil, smile flitted across her features. She tapped Shippou on the shoulder.

"Ne, Shippou-kun, where's our homeroom class? I can't figure it out… oh, gomen nasai, am I interrupting something?" She asked innocently. Shippou's face held a look of deepest thanks, then a look of mischievous glee, before melting into a normal, slightly affectionate look that he allowed the fangirl to see.

"Not at all, Rin-chan. I was just about finished talking to Erani-san. Oh, right. Rin-chan, this is Erani Misa. Erani-san, this is my fiancée, Tashio Rin." Rin smiled sweetly at her, and bowed politely.

"It's very nice to meet you, Erani-san." She murmured. Misa just stared in horror at Rin.

"Di-did you say she was your… your… fiancée, Higurashi-kun?" Shippou smiled.

"Hai!" At this point, Kagome, who was fighting back laughter stepped into the fun.

"Rin-chan, Shippou-kun, we better get headed to homeroom. Let's go." Rin and Shippou nodded their agreement, and followed her away, leaving a stunned and slightly horrified Misa behind them.

The entire day followed this process. It was not long before Rin came to be considered public enemy number one among the girls of their school, and by physical education, there were plans in action to eliminate her. The class was playing tennis at this point in the school year. Rin found herself being overwhelmed by 'off-course' tennis balls, and even the occasional racket that 'slipped out of someone's hand' mid-swing. Fortunately, between Kagome's abilities, and Rin's own skills, which she had previously only put to use in fighting youkai, the two girls were able to fend off most of the projectiles. However, both girls were a bit battered by the time physical education was over. Silently, Kagome decided to tell Shippou that one of them needed to be with Rin at all times inside the school, or they would have an extremely irate Sesshoumaru-sama on their hands, demanding to know why they had let a bunch of pathetic ningen kill his beloved daughter, not to mention the fact that Shippou would suddenly find himself without a fiancée.

Meanwhile, in the boys' physical education, the study of basic martial arts gave Shippou plenty of opportunities to explain to the boys of his class that Rin really was not available. By the end of the class, any boy who had even said something as innocuous as "Tashio-san is very pretty, isn't she?" found himself pounded into the ground by Shippou. The boys were much quicker than the girls to understand Shippou's message: Rin was his, and any idiot who tried to change that would find himself facing some very nasty consequences.

Shippou met up with the girls at the beginning of lunch period, and quickly took in the bruises that decorated the two, especially a particularly nasty one on Rin's left cheek. His eyes flickered red for a moment. Kagome noticed this with a flicker of worry, and glanced at Rin.

"Who did this?" Shippou asked in a low, very angry growl. Rin smiled reassuringly at him.

"Daijoubu desu. I just got in the way of a tennis ball during physical education. No harm done. Let's sit down and eat, Shippou-kun!" Shippou's expression softened at her usual cheeriness, and he allowed himself to be lead to a table. They were immediately swamped by a large group of girls, who promptly tried to shove Kagome and Rin off the benches. Kagome, who was used to this tactic, held her spot fairly well. Rin remained unmovable, despite the girls' best efforts. She made a mental note to thank her otou-sama for all the lessons in how to avoid getting moved during a fight; she was finally putting them to use. Throughout the lunch hour, several of Shippou's male friends came and attempted to aid their friend. A few came and dragged girlfriends who doubled as fanclub members away, as Shippou mouthed 'gomen nasai' to the draggers. Others, like Hojo, forced their way onto the bench, shoving off obsessive girls. All of these were happy to meet Rin, and were very, very careful not to imply anything untoward about her. They were all stunned to see that Shippou was indeed capable of being affectionate towards a girl besides Kagome. As Hojo muttered to Kagome over the course of lunch,

"I know you said that he had someone he liked, but it's different seeing it. Besides, he's turned down half the school. A good number of people were starting to have suspicions that he would be after a boyfriend, not a girlfriend." Kagome giggled in response.

"No, not at all! Shippou and Rin have been like this for a very long time. Besides, he wouldn't be interested in a girl who just threw herself at him like these do. Rin was much more of a challenge!"

By the end of the day, all three of them were tired, and ready to collapse at the shrine. As they trudged along home, Rin turned to Kagome.

"Kagome-oba-sama, PLEASE tell me you have barriers to keep murdering fangirls out of the shrine." She demanded dully. Kagome smiled at her.

"I have separate barriers up to keep out murders and obsessive fangirls. One of the two ought to keep the murdering fangirls out." She assured Rin.

"Good. Once we get home, I am going to crash. That was almost as bad as training with Otou-sama!" Shippou shuddered, remembering a few such training sessions with Sesshoumaru-sama from his own past.

Unlike Shippou and Rin, Kagome did not choose to go take a nap in her room before starting her homework. Instead, she climbed to the lowest branch of the Goshinboku, and let the thoughts she had been holding back all day as she watched her son and future daughter-in-law interact overtake her.

InuYasha… I miss you so much. I wish you were here to see Shippou and Rin together, with your onii-sama's consent. Goodness knows I wish you were here to see someone besides yourself stuck with beads of subjugation. Watching Sesshoumaru-sama receive the 'stay' command would have made you laugh so hard. She reached up, and used her sleeve to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her face. But you're not here. And I know you wouldn't want me to be sad forever. You'd tell me I was being a baka, and that I ought to get over you, because you were just a stupid hanyou, who wasn't worth crying over. You would be wrong about that; even if you were a hanyou, you are worth crying over. But… you have a point. She gazed out, over the shrine from her perch, not really noticing anything. It's been over a year since I last saw you, on the other side of the well, and as much as it hurts to say it… I need to move on. I can't live in the past forever, no matter how much I might want to. I don't think you'd like that. She closed her eyes. I love you InuYasha, and a part of me always will, but this is the last time I will cry over you. From now on, I am going to look forward, not backwards. I'm moving on.

"Kagome-san!" Kurama's voice broke into Kagome's reverie, and her eyes snapped open, to take in the Reikai tantei standing with Botan at the base of the Goshinboku. "Can you leave now? We have a job to do, if you would care to join us." Kagome smiled down at him, somehow knowing that he would be a large part of the future she was embracing.

"Hai, Kurama. I'm coming."

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Aaaaand.... that's it! I may get the creative urge to write an epilogue, but I kind of doubt it. It would probably get posted as a separate one-shot, at any rate.

For those of you who would like some clarification on the meaning of my lovely ending between Kagome and Kurama, Kagome has decided, rather sensibly, that she needs to move on. Sorry, Inu fans, but in this story, he's dead. At any rate, once she's made her decision, Kurama asks her if she's ready to go on a mission with the rest of the tantei, and, in particular, himself.

For those of you who like deeper meanings in stories, you can probably discern that Kagome and Kurama are clearly going to end up together because of this. And, as much as it pains me to say it, because I positively LOATHE deeper meanings, you'd probably be right; they do appear to be heading in that direction.

But Kagome doesn't know for certain. I rather like that, because no one can really know the future.

At any rate, I hope you all have enjoyed "A Long Awaited Meeting". I've had fun writing it, and I look forward to hearing from you all again, if I ever come up with a new fan fiction.....

Thanks for all your lovely reviews, favorite stories, story subscriptions, and the like, they have been wonderful! I love hearing that people enjoy my writing!

Until next time, then!

-jellolids