Beginning of the End

Kagome stared across the expansive valley before for. Her eyes saw both the future and past within the scene before her and a part of her was saddened that what was here now would not be in the future—save the part of Inuyasha's forest preserved around her family's shrine. Was that some play made by herself or had some distant member of her family done that?

Shaking her head against the mind-turning logistics involved in her current line of thinking, Kagome cleared her brain of those things and smiled to herself. Sesshoumaru was due to come and see her again today, after all.

"Now is the winter of our discontent…," she said aloud, remembering her schooling from literature and quoting the famous—in her time—William Shakespeare. And truly it had been a winter of discontent, personally, but the sun shining upon her now. The winter snows had passed and brought with their death the warmth of the sun…which led to the fertility of the soil and the hopes and dreams of the lower masses. Little did they know her own dreams were embodied and expelled during this time as well.

There had been so much she'd gone through—and not her alone. All of them had grown and moved because of her simple decisions and now, more than ever before, Kagome was aware that even her own actions, no matter how slight, held such great sway upon the very facts of life. Though she'd been altering history for years with her travels though the well, she'd never realized just how much influence she exposed until this situation with Sesshoumaru.

But everything felt right…everything felt as if it were suppose to be.

The cloud that had previously been passing over the sun moved on and Kagome closed her eyes against the brightness offered. She breathed in the clean air, wishing so much she could share this vision with her family in the future.

At her back she felt the familiarity she'd become accustomed to over time and leaned back confident. Her shoulders came into contact with the firmness of Sesshoumaru's body and the rest of her relaxed from there on. Behind her, Sesshoumaru dipped his head to sniff gently at the fragrance of her body. "What would you do if it were not I?" he asked, as he took her scent deep within himself.

"Purify his ass," Kagome answered automatically as she turned to face the daiyoukai. "But I could never think of another as you."

Though his face appeared as infallible as always, Kagome had come to learn the tiny nuances involved with him. It was all about the little things, after all. Sesshoumaru was more than pleased by her answer and Kagome was more than happy because those were her honest words. "How in the world could you think I'd mistake someone else for you?" she questioned.

The daiyoukai had no opinion on the matter, his lips as sealed as always. Instead he seemed more intent upon exploring the depths and tastes of her mouth as he leaned forward to lay claim to her mouth.

Kagome broke away from the heated contact of his kiss to once more face the scenery before her. "Whatever lays ahead," she said as she felt his arms wrap around her, "We will face it together. Beginner's luck is on our side."

Though he knew not what this beginner's luck was, Sesshoumaru chalked it up to being something from her time. Still, he understood enough to know basically what the miko was speaking of. "Yes," he agreed as he buried his face within the mass of her unbound hair to lay his lips against the smoothness of her neck. "Together. This one has finally found you again."

Finish.

a/n: Yes, it's over! Thank you to everyone for all your support and comments. Extra special thanks to LordRandallsLady for being my beta through most of this and for her unending aid. She let me bounce a lot of BS across her palate so that I could come up with something that worked. This wasn't suppose to turn into a chapter fic, but I am kind of glad that it did. Until next time, LC