This is it! The last slice of cake! Finito!(?) Complete! And at almost exactly one year after I started this baby! October 3rd 2010-September 30, 2011! Wow... Well, I'm finally able to finish it and move on to bigger and better stories! Not that I don't love this story, I do! The longest one yet plus with the most reviews! But Now I can be able to concentrate on lesser stories and another multi-chapter one! I hope you all enjoyed this long awaited conclusion and hope you're able to read my other works!

Final Chapter's reviewers:

Coka Cookie Cola - Thanks so much for being so supportive! This might be short but I hope you enjoy it! And yes, more Inu/Kag love stories to come!

Dene - You get your wish! They do, and the names are borrowed from my other stories. And Thanks for the sweet words!

DiscipleOfAnime - Another great supporter! I'm glad you enjoyed this story! It means a lot! It is sad, yes, but now there will be more stories, yes? Enjoy the epilogue!

InuKag4eva - Thank you! This will be short but I hope it satisfies you and the long wait!

SweetHunniiBunnii - Sorry for the long update! It's short but I'm happy and sad it's over, approaching it's 1st birthday! Enjoy!

S0me18skittles - Of course I will! I got some more ideas in my head!(Interruptions, hint hint-Glad you're liking it!) More stories to come! All Inu/Kag of course!

Disclaimer: For the last time, I'll never own the sexy, gorgeous hanyou hunk! He and co. all belong to Rumiko Takahashi! This idea was the only thing I owned-besides Akio and the four names for the pups used her(all borrowed from my other stories, of course.)

"Love is a butterfly, which when pursued is just beyond your grasp, but if you will sit down quietly it may alight upon you." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Epilogue

It was decided that the couple would remain with the mother and her daughter for the duration of the winter, since it wouldn't be wise considering where they were and the unfamiliarity of the land. Plus InuYasha was dead set on not leaving and letting his mate and wife go through winter in the vast and brutal wilderness, although he could provide warmth, food and shelter for her easily. It just made sense to stay with people who so far had accepted them.

But they knew the peace and comfort was temporary. The hanyou and his miko wife knew they had to move and travel to a new place and a new life. They could trust no one except for their faraway friends and Shizu told them they would be welcomed anytime they wished. When the warm weather finally broke free of winter's cold grasp, InuYasha and Kagome bid farewell to the kind and hospitable family and began their journey, hugging the coastline in search of new findings and hopefully a place to call their own, and to start a new life and a family.

Whenever possible they avoided villages, especially if one was heavily populated and/or had a priest or monk presiding there. Only if necessary, Kagome would walk into a village to purchase blankets or even arrows since she had some money, courtesy of Sango and her letters. Inuyasha did most of the hunting and did well to feed his mate before himself, and she made sure to pick familiar herbs and berries when given the chance. The hanyou also stopped to give Kagome a suitable place to rest and made sure there was a clean source of water close by. Of course, the miko watched her hanyou carefully to make sure he didn't overexert himself. The young woman could look after herself if need be but the young man that was her husband would have none of it. He was dead-set on guarding her until they could find a suitable home for them both, one in which they could live in for a long time, and possible raise a future family.

Mostly at night every couple of weeks Kirara would find them and land at their campsite with news and more money to help. The fire-cat would then spend the night with them before flying off in the morning after a seafood breakfast. Kagome read in the scrolls that Souta was becoming a dashing young man and was learning the ways of the family business. Rin, close to womanhood, spent more time under Kaede's care and even graduated to wearing shrine clothes. The miko felt so proud of them. She wished them nothing but happy days ahead. Her mother was beside herself when she heard the news but was getting along with the help of the village wives and her family. Her father was a different story.

Just hours after she left, he sent out his hunting party and made a few days trip to try and find them. The efforts proved in vain, especially since learning that she and InuYasha took off with the aid of a friend and was miles away. Sango and Miroku-who hung around for sometime, as promised spoke nothing of the escape. Souta, Rin and Kaede also kept quiet. Akio Higurashi had a nasty temper and he was easily angered for days after that. Not only did he loose the half-blood but his only daughter too. He would forever be troubled by the runaway daughter and hanyou, but he pulled himself together, for his family's sake.

If Kagome knew her father as well as she did, then it was a slim chance that she would be able to show her face to him and be accepted back. But she was sure that she couldn't go back. She was no longer a Higurashi. But she was still a couple's daughter, an older sibling and idol to her cousin and brother, and a beloved apprentice to an older woman of such kindness and a cherished friend to a slayer and former monk. She'd always be something to those she left behind.

Kagome was also the mate and wife of a once orphaned and neglected inu hanyou, who helped her out of her inner mist while helping him learn to trust and love once more.

Some months later, the couple found a perfect spot for a home. It was nestled in a mountain forest, smelling of fruit, oak, herbs, and fresh stream water that held an abundance of seafood nearby. There was little scent of wild youkai but nothing the duo couldn't handle. Kagome helped as much as she could while she left the chopping, slicing, dicing, and building of strong and proper tree bark into a fine sturdy hut to InuYasha. On nights they'd keep in a small cave not too far away. It was during this time that the two were thinking about children, or pups. The hanyou felt a pull on the full moon, like so during the lunar eclipse many moons before. On that night, when Inuyasha's demon was strongest, he mounted and bred with his female until the morning sun broke through the trees.

Nearly two months after, their home was finished. The winter season was nearing again so the winds were chilling and often howling through the trees. It was also during this time that the full moon that called for the inu hanyou's blood was successful in causing Kagome to be with pup. Both were joyous, celebrating the first night in the two room hut with a warm fire and making love all night long.

Their first winter was harsh. The hanyou often had to go out, either during a gentle snowfall or brutal blizzard, to cut down trees for logs to keep their fire burning. With his mate now pregnant, he wasn't taking any chances. He hunted enough meat to last them a while and Kagome made sure to keep any number of herbs and native fruit available. When the snow finally melted into spring, the forest came to life again. Kagome, with her rapidly swelling belly took in the fresh and crisp clean smell of their new home. The birds were lively, the blossoms that bared fruit and flowers were starting to bud, the fish were coming back upstream. It felt more alive than her woods back were she used to live. She would ask to be taken to the river to bathe, and someway down the mountain a hidden hot spring that the hanyou came upon during one horrid blizzard night.

The hanyou and miko, without any hindrances and doubts to stop them, finally enjoyed the freedom they both craved. Their bond was as strong as ever, their passion never died, their devotion and faith never faltered. Their love burned through the many trials and tests they've been put through but they persevered. They had each other through thick and thin.

In the waning days of spring Kagome finally gave birth to their first child, a healthy inu hanyou baby girl, one that looked identical to her father. They welcomed the child, blessed to be able to parent and love such a creature that couldn't have existed without the determination and patience of a miko that was rescued by a rogue half demon.

As the years went by, their life grew. Once in a while they would travel down to Yokohama-only a few days journey, to visit Miroku. The merchant had proposed to Sango a year after the couple escaped and was now married with a child on the way. The slayer and ex-monk happily welcomed them and got aquatinted with the growing hanyou child, who not only looked like InuYasha but was starting to act like him too. Kirara too was living there and greeted her old friends. The two couples promised to meet as often as they could, and Kirara would send word once Sango's child was born.

Amaya soon got some siblings. Kagome went through a painful birth of delivering twins, two more daughters. Black hair, ears like their proud father and bronze colored eyes. InuHaru and InuMika were too adorable. The bigger sister at seven would make sure to protect and teach her younger siblings like her parents would. Two years afterward, the miko birthed a healthy son, one without ears and dark gray hair. Other than the ears, the boy had the rest of InuYasha's abilities.

The family of six made a habit to visit Miroku and Sango whenever the weather was right. The happy parents who by now had two older twin girls, a son and another daughter a couple of months older than Takeshi, the only son of InuYasha. News was swapped back and forth between the woman while the man conversed while watching the little ones. Rin was now a capable 23 year old medicine woman, taking after Kaede, who sadly passed away of old age three years before. She ran a thriving medicine hut, curing the ill and helping the injured. Kagome wasn't surprised to hear Sango's younger brother Kohaku taking an interest in her cousin and was now courting her. Souta, alongside his father at the age of nineteen, ran the company was reporting to be doing quite well. Rumors had it that the young man, who was once a skinny and timid little boy, was preparing a voyage across the Pacific, and he too had a love interest. The miko wasn't surprised yet again to hear it was the blacksmith's daughter. Her brother always had a crush on her.

Everyone seemed to be moving on with their lives. Kagome's mother and father retired years later to let the proud man Souta has become and the beautiful maiden Rin blossomed into, to keep things moving smoothly for the family. Masako was graying with age and was developing a nasty case of arthritis thus keeping her from moving. Akio, with his graying her and wrinkles marring the once flawless face never left her side. The two died peacefully in their sleep.

InuYasha and Kagome had made their new life as easy as possible for their growing family. In the beginning, through many secrets and hardships, to pleasant memories and the vows of their friends and family, the two were hopeful that a future was foreseeable. Nearly impossible but not completely hopeless. But they succeeded. Freedom was what they won, because of the triumphs and victories they obtained. They never gave up, never lost the love that was raging in their hearts and souls.

The woman that was once lost in her own mist, unable to see a future with freedom and possibility of adventure, encountered a boy with inu blood that was lost in his own soul, afraid of humans. Together, the heavy settling mists lifted and the shroud surrounding the mind and heart of the hanyou broke away.

In a way, they were heading into another mist after escaping that cold winter night. Only this time, it was one that held much promise and mystery, full of adventure and excitement instead of dread and uncertainty.

And it was something InuYasha and Kagome were able to go into together; head held high, hands connecting to each other with hearts beating simultaneously.

That's it! The End! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! Check out my other stories if you love InuYasha & Kagome!

My poll closes tonight! A new poll will be up tomorrow for the top three most popular! Vote NOW!

For the final time...

Sayonara!