***Author's note: hey guys, thanks for the awesome reviews. So I have great news. I'm making a sequel, and I know exactly what's gonna happen. It might not be posted for a little bit though. So that will be worked on after this fic is over. This is the last chapter for this fic guys, and I'm feeling the loss. Ah, and yes, I'm in high school.

FYI: I don't own Inuyasha, but the characters I have made up belong to me.

Chapter 27

The next morning Kagome woke up at ten and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Her mother was already up, with Sota, Shippo, and Grandpa. They were eating eggs and bacon, and Kagome sat down next to Shippo. Shippo jumped in her lap.

"Happy Graduation Day, Kagome," he told her. He gave her a little box. "It's from all of us."

The little box was wrapped in gold paper, and when Kagome unwrapped it, it was a little velvet box. Kagome looked up at them, and they smiled and nodded. Kagome looked back at the box, and slowly opened it.

Inside was a silver necklace, and it had a graduation cap charm on it. Kagome picked it up, and looked at it. "It's beautiful, guys. I love it."

She unhooked the clasp and tried to hook it again, behind her head. Shippo jumped on her shoulder, and hooked it.

"Thanks Shippo," Kagome said. She pulled him off her shoulder and hugged him. Then she put him down in his seat, and went around the table and hugged everyone else. Then she sat down at the table next to Shippo.

When Sango woke up, it was eleven o'clock, and she was going to be late for graduation. She jumped out of bed, woke up Kohaku in the room next to hers, and took a quick shower. She threw on sweatpants and a t-shirt, and hurried downstairs to get breakfast.

After she was done eating a quick bowl of cereal, she told Kohaku to get ready, and hurried up the stairs to get herself ready.

She hurried around her room, and searched through her closet and drawers, trying to find something reasonable to wear to the graduation, underneath the cap and gown, so when she took those off later to go out and eat, she wouldn't look under-dressed. She just about threw every article of clothing around her room, when Amaterasu popped up.

Amaterasu looked around the room, almost alarmed, and watched Sango run around the room for about a minute, and then Sango spotted her.

"Hey," Sango said, after jumping halfway out of her skin. "You've got to stop doing that."

"Doing what?" Amaterasu asked innocently.

Sango smiled, but just shook her head. "If you excuse me, if I don't find something to wear now, I'm going to be late, and look like a bum on my graduation day."

"It's my graduation day too," Amaterasu said.

Sango gave her an annoyed look. "And how many have you had?" she asked, looking back in her closet.

Amaterasu smiled. "Right, I see your point," she said. "Ah, and I'm here to save your ass. You won't have to graduate in that." She nodded to what Sango was wearing.

Sango stopped what she was doing and looked up at Amaterasu, observing her. She then saw the little gift bag in her hand.

Amaterasu walked over and handed it to her. "A graduation gift, sunshine."

Sango walked over to her bed and sat down, opening it. She pulled out a pink, short, thin strapped dress. It had a design that was sewn on, and it looked like a swirling pattern.

Sango smiled at it. It wasn't overly formal, and it wasn't casual either. she set it on the bed, and hugged Amaterasu. "You're a lifesaver. You really are."

"Thank you. I try," Amaterasu said, smiling. Amaterasu pulled away, and looked back at her. "I have to go. I'll meet you at the school." She disappeared.

Sango sighed, and smiled again. She picked up the dress and hurried into the bathroom. After she got dressed, she started on her hair. She decided to curl it.

She went downstairs when she was done getting ready, grabbing her cap and gown on the way down, and Kohaku was there waiting.

"Ready?" he asked.

Sango nodded. "Let's go." She hurried out the door, to the car, putting her cap and gown in the back, and getting in the driver's side as Kohaku got in the passenger's side.

Amaterasu was helping Mrs. Higurashi tie the two male figures' ties. "Aren't you supposed to know how to do it yourself?" Amaterasu asked Grandpa. "You're a man for crying out loud."

"Do not question me, young lady!" Grandpa said. "I have been wearing suits since before you were born!"

Amaterasu gave him a look that said, 'Demon, remember?' and he corrected himself. "Well, since before you entered high school for the first time," he mumbled.

Amaterasu finished tying the tie, smiling. "I'm probably older than you, Gramps." She straightened up. "Therefore, I've been tying ties longer than you."

Grandpa chuckled.

Kagome came down in a purple dress, it was plain, and went down to her knees. She was wearing the necklace that her family had given her earlier. Her hair was up in a ponytail, with a purple ribbon to match the dress.

Amaterasu smiled. "That's cute. Oh, I got you something." She handed Kagome a gift bag.

"Oh! I got something for you too!" Kagome told her. She hurried upstairs with the bag, and came down with one of her own. She handed it to Amaterasu.

She opened it as Kagome opened hers. Inside the bag that Amaterasu was holding, was a small cap with a picture of all of them in it.

Kagome opened hers and found a box, which contained a silver bracelet, that had a symbol charm. The charm was a swirling pattern, and along with that charm, there were little graduation caps.

"What's the charm for?" Kagome asked. She looked at Amaterasu who was still looking at the picture.

"It's for safety measures. A lot of wind demons hate humans, and wouldn't hesitate to harm you. You'll need that charm to let them know that you were accepted as one of us, when you visit me," Amaterasu explained, not looking at her. "I haven't given one to anyone else yet, since they seem more capable at protecting themselves than you are."

"Hey," Kagome said. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm fine at protecting myself."

"Sango is a demon slayer, Inuyasha's a half demon, and Miroku can fight, let alone make sutras. You are only human, you can't fight, and you have no idea how to make sutras. Therefore, you are most vulnerable," Amaterasu told Kagome almost coldly. Amaterasu was changing, Kagome could feel it, and she seemed like she just spoke to Kagome in cold, hard authority. Amaterasu still didn't look at her.

"Amaterasu?" Kagome asked. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Amaterasu looked up at her, suddenly going back to herself. "Don't worry about me, Kagome. I'll be fine." Amaterasu stood up. "Are you ready?" She looked around at everyone.

They nodded.

Amaterasu smiled. "Alright then. See you there." She disappeared.

Kagome realized that Amaterasu hadn't really answered her question. She directly brushed it off, and had given her an open answer. It could be taken any way, and Kagome bet Amaterasu hoped she didn't pick that up. She hadn't directly lied to her.

Kagome sighed sadly. Amaterasu was probably just worried, and told her like that to get the point across. Amaterasu got funny when she was worried about people and mad. Kagome was her most vulnerable human friend, and Kagome knew that. Amaterasu was probably mad about Kagome trying to say she knew how to protect herself, because in a sense, Kagome had no idea how to against the people Amaterasu was worried about.

Her family piled into the car, and drove to the school. At the school, they met Amaterasu, Jurou, his parents, and Chiyo at the doors to the stadium. Inuyasha was there too, with Sesshomaru and Rin, Sesshomaru who was hovering closing and protectively around Rin. She was allowed to walk on her own this time, and she was showing, very much. She was about a month in, and for demon babies, or even half demon babies, a month was far in.

Inuyasha straightened up, and smiled when he saw Kagome. He was leaning on the wall, with his hands in his pockets, and now he was walking over to her with a big smile on his face.

"Hey," he said. He leaned down and kissed her. "I need to talk to you later."

"Okay," Kagome said. She left her graduation gift for him at her house, because she wanted to give it to him afterward.

Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, and Miroku's uncle, Musheen, all walked up together now. Sango and Miroku walked up.

"Come on, guys, we have to go under the bleachers," Sango said. She was carrying her cap and gown, just like everyone else was. They all hurried under the bleachers, where the teachers and students were.

They pulled the gowns on, and then put the caps on. The girls had white gowns and caps and the boys had green.

As they were called out when the ceremony started, the students' friends and family clapped and whooped. It was sunny out, bright and warm, but not uncomfortably warm. It was a nice warm. When Kagome was called out she saw everyone sitting together in the bleachers, and they clapped for her, as they did before for Miroku, and as they were going to do for Sango, Amaterasu, Inuyasha, and Jurou.

When everyone was called out, the principle made a speech about moving on to the next phase in life, and several people in the group on the field cried, and a few in the bleachers cried. The principle announce what college they were going to, and called them up to get their diploma. He stated all of their accomplishments, and handed them their diploma. Kagome couldn't believe how fast everything was going, it seemed like time sped up, and her mind was going at normal pace.

When everyone sat down after getting their diploma, the principle said good luck and goodbye to the class, and some of them threw their caps in the air. When they walked out in single file, following a backward pattern of how they came in, the song Good Riddance by Green Day started playing.

They all found each other under the bleachers, then walked out to find their families.

Outside they were all waiting for Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Jurou, and Amaterasu to come out. When they saw them, they hurried over to them and congratulated them and there were many hugs. Amaterasu gave Jurou a present, and the other boys, and everyone gave each other gifts. They all got gifts from Jurou's parents, and Miroku's uncle, and they each gave each other a present.

After, they all went to a pizza place and ate dinner. They talked and laughed about the ceremony, and talked about when they started school. They had a couple of months before they all started college, so they planned a trip to the beach together for Senior week. Kagome's mother told Amaterasu and Sango that they'd both have to sleep over during the summer, so they could all hang out together for a little before they went to college and had absolute no time to hang out.

Makoto and Harumi invited them all out to their cabin on the lake, for a summer party, and a little extended stay. Chiyo, Sota, and Shippo sat together and talked, and eventually Kohaku went over to join them. Kagome planned on getting a job during the summer, and she planned a couple of other things, like the baby shower for Rin. She'd be able to tell what the baby is in about two weeks at the most, and Kagome was starting a date for the baby shower. She wanted to know what the baby was, so she could get the appropriate things for it, and everyone else agreed.

At around seven, Harumi and Makoto stood up.

"We have to be going, my friends," Makoto stated. He seemed a little sad about it too. "We have an early morning tomorrow, and Amaterasu does too." He smiled at her.

She smiled back. "Yeah, we should be going too," Amaterasu admitted. "Chiyo needs to go to sleep soon, when I go to sleep. I don't want her awake by herself."

Jurou nodded. "I'll go with you," he told her.

Amaterasu went around and hugged everyone, just and Jurou and Chiyo did, and Makoto went around the table and shook everyone's hand.

"It was a pleasure meeting all of you," Makoto said, and Harumi smiled at everyone.

"Jurou has such nice friends," she said. "I hope we all meet like this again sometime soon."

They nodded.

"Of course," Sesshomaru said. "We hope you can make it when we have the baby shower, we'll surely invite you."

They nodded and smiled, and Harumi and Makoto disappeared. Amaterasu picked Chiyo up and turned to everyone else.

She sat down in the chair again. "I think I'll stay here for a little bit longer." Jurou was giving her a look, a serious one, one that said stop messing around. Amaterasu sighed. She really did need to go back. "Or maybe not." She looked at all of them again. "See you guys soon." They disappeared.

Jurou nodded to them all, and disappeared too.

Everyone else sighed.

"We should go home too, Inuyasha. Rin can't be walking around much. We don't want the baby to hurt her," Sesshomaru said.

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah." He got up.

"Well then, we should all go too," Miroku said.

Kagome nodded. "It won't be as fun with everyone gone." She stood up and started to gather all of her things.

Her family followed her, and Inuyasha walked over to her and grabbed her hand. As they walked out to the cars, which were all parked next to each other, he told Kagome that after they got home he wanted to talk to her.

Sango heard as she walked passed them to her car, and Miroku heard Inuyasha as he walked with his uncle back to their car.

They drove home, everyone did. When Sango and Miroku got back to their separate houses, Sango called up Amaterasu, and told her about what she heard Inuyasha say, as Miroku called up Jurou and told him what he heard Inuyasha say.

Inuyasha waited outside of the car for her when they got home. When she got out, she walked over to him and smiled.

"Go for a walk with me?" he asked.

Kagome smiled wider. "Hold on. I have to get something," she told him and darted away. She went up to her room to get the gift she had for him. She came back down and he was still there, and when he saw her he smiled.

"Now are you ready?" he asked when she was next to him.

She nodded and grabbed his hand. They started walking and Kagome hugged his arm. It was warm out tonight, and the stars were showing, and it was quiet. Nothing like their day had been.

"So you wanted to talk to me?" Kagome asked. She looked up at him then. They were walking down the sidewalk.

Inuyasha rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "Heh. Yeah," he mumbled. His stomach was in knots, and he had butterflies, all at once. "It's nothing. Not really important," he told her.

"Oh," Kagome said quietly. She was still hugging his arm as they walked along. She didn't even notice where they were going until they entered the park.

"Where are we going?" she asked. She stopped hugging his arm and looked around. She wasn't able to see much, except a few trees around them, and Inuyasha.

"You'll see," he told her. They walked a little farther and stopped at a tree. Their tree.

"Our tree," Kagome mumbled. She looked around, then at Inuyasha again.

"I have something for you," she told him. She held out a little wrapped box.

He took it slowly and opened it. Inside the box was a locket, a heart shaped one, and he opened the locket. It had a picture of each of them in it.

"Heh. I don't want it," he told her.

"Why not?" she demanded. She pulled her hand away from him and turned away.

"Because it's a heart," he muttered. But he never gave it back to her. Instead, he put the box in his pocket.

Almost one hundred feet away, Amaterasu and Sango were watching this, when she turned from him. They looked at each other worriedly, and then walked along to get a better view, when they stumbled over two other people in their distraction.

Amaterasu sat up, and looked at the two they tripped over. In the dark, she saw Miroku and Jurou look at them with the same surprised expressions.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sango demanded.

"We could ask you the same thing," Jurou said. "But apparently, you're here for the same reason we are." They were whispering.

Amaterasu sighed. "To find out why Inuyasha wanted to talk to Kagome." Amaterasu rolled her eyes but smiled. "I think it's something we want to leave them alone for, so they can tell us later," she stated. She nodded toward their direction. "It seems like he's gonna drop the Big One."

Miroku smiled and huffed. "That a boy!"

"Shh!" the girls said.

"We don't want them to hear us!" Amaterasu told him. "We shouldn't be here anyway! This is their moment!"

Amaterasu grabbed Jurou's elbow when they didn't leave. Jurou was holding Miroku's arm and Amaterasu grabbed Sango's wrist and made them disappear from the park.

"Kagome," Inuyasha sighed. "I didn't mean to be a jerk."

Kagome still didn't turn around. "Well, you were." She felt like crying and there were tears in her eyes. She hoped he could smell them.

"Kagome," Inuyasha said quietly. He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Please don't cry. I didn't mean it. I-I'm really... sorry."

She looked at him. "Really?" she asked.

"You know I am," Inuyasha told her. "And I really wanted to talk to you about something tonight, and I don't want to fight, please."

Kagome nodded and turned back around to face him. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

Inuyasha scratched the back of his head again with his hand, a sign of extreme nervousness. "It was actually a question I wanted to ask you," he mumbled. Kagome couldn't stop the reaction her heart had. "I'm really no good at being romantic or anything, I know that, and I'm not trying to be," he told her. He stuck his hand in one of his pockets. He didn't pull it back out though.

Kagome felt her heart pounding in her chest. She could see it looming ahead. He was going to ask her.

"Since you're already stuck with me forever, would you marry me?" Inuyasha asked. He didn't get down on one knee or anything when he asked it, and he brought the little box out of his pocket, opened it up, and showed her the object inside.

It was a ring, obviously, and it had diamonds embedded into the silver band. It wasn't anything flashy or a big diamond, it just had many diamonds embedded in it, almost in a swirling pattern down the band.

Kagome looked at it, then back to him. She smiled at him, and lunged herself at him, knocking them both to the ground. She landed on his chest, and she kissed him several different times, and in between kisses she said, "Yes, yes, yes!" She smiled at him when she was done kissing him, and she rested her head on his chest.

Inuyasha picked up the box that fell when she launched herself at him, took out the ring, and slipped it on her ring finger on the right hand. "Good, because you're mated to me anyway. I want it official in human standards too," he mumbled.

Kagome nodded and looked up at the night sky while still laying on Inuyasha's chest. They looked at stars together and pointed out different constellations, and shooting stars. They were happy and peaceful.

Amaterasu was back with Jurou and Chiyo, sound asleep. Miroku was awake, talking to Sango on the phone, and Shippo and Sota were playing videogames. Somewhere, Kikyo was locked up in a jail cell, and she was planning her revenge. At Amaterasu's house, Mayonaka was plotting to get back her leadership. Everything was utterly peaceful and calm, dreams were being dreamt and people were having fun, talking, playing games, or just being together, and everything was perfect.

But that was just tonight.