InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ His Past, Her Present, Their Future ❯ Purpose ( Chapter 37 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: No own InuYasha.

MISTAKE CORRECTION: Katie is a big doofus. Yep. I messed up in chapter 31 when I said the next sunRISE…I wanted it to be sunSET….so yeah. Fixed now, but for those of you with astounding memories, I messed up. I wanted her to be able to say goodbye to the children, so this it was just a stupid mistake on my part. Gomen!

This second chapter is my apology for my late update. I pushed it out just for you.

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His Past, Her Present, Their Future
Chapter 37 - Purpose

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“Momma!” cried a little ball of fluff, tears of joy already falling free from his cheeks. Kagome smiled sadly and ensnared the fox cub in a tight hug, her own tears falling as well.

“Oh, Shippou-chan! Have you been good?”

“Of course! I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too, sweetie,” she said sweetly, nuzzling his ruddy head.

“Kagome-chan!” a little voice cried, pulling her from the soft hair of her adopted son.

“Rin-chan, hello sweetie!” she called, crouching down and opening an arm for the little one to join the embrace. Sesshoumaru looked on with soft eyes and a straight face.

“Where have you been?” Shippou asked curiously, his emerald eyes blinking up at her.

She pulled both children to sit on the edge of the courtyard’s fountain, mockingly close to where she had seen Sesshoumaru kissing Yaone all those years ago. A child seated on either side of her, she smiled, “Well, instead of going back to my time, I went to the past instead. I got to be right here when Sesshoumaru was younger, and met his mother and father.”

“Sugoi!” Rin chimed, her eyes wide, “Was Sesshoumaru-sama little like Rin?”

The older woman giggled, “No, Rin-chan, he just looked a few years younger. He was very different then, though,” she said with a glance up at the seemingly apathetic youkai lord. It was then she remembered the pictures and rifles through her oversized yellow pack, “In fact…”

Recovering her prizes she showed them to the children with a smile, watching their expressions as they looked at the younger Sesshoumaru, “He looks the same,” Rin pouted.

Kagome giggled, “Yes, he does, just a few small differences that are hard to see in pictures. Here is one of his parents, and one of all four of us,” she said with a smile.

“Sesshoumaru-sama’s mother is very pretty!” Rin cried, and Shippou nodded emphatically. Kagome turned to Sesshoumaru and handed him two of the three pictures.

“My gift to you, koibito. They won’t last the whole time, but they will have to do until you find me again, we can make bigger copies of those I already have.”

He smiled just a bit larger than he usually would, and inclined his head, “Arigato, koiishi,” he whispered and gazed down at the picture of his mother and father, a far-off look in his eyes.

“So you’re gonna stay now, right Kagome-chan?” Shippou asked, his eyes unblinking and searching.

Kagome turned and her smile faltered as sad tears filled her eyes, “I’m afraid not. I only have until sunset to spend with you, then I have to go back to my home.”

“But!” Shippou cried, “You and Sesshoumaru are mated now, you can’t go!”

This brought on a deep red blush to the girl, “That was five hundred years in the making, Shippou-chan.”

Rin had stayed quiet throughout this exchange, and a tear fell down her cheek as she stared at her hands, “You don’t want to stay with Rin and Sesshoumaru-sama, Kagome-chan?” she whispered.

Kagome’s eyes overflowed and she ensnared the girl in a hug, “Oh, Rin-chan! I would stay here if I had a choice! I wish I never had to leave any of you…but I don’t get to choose. I’m so sorry sweetie.”

The girl sobbed and clung to the furisode Sesshoumaru had brought to Kagome that morning, and Kagome stroked her back. Sesshoumaru looked on in obvious discomfort, his only hand twitching as if he wished to pat the child. Kagome held tightly to her and Shippou patted her head in his own attempt at consoling.

“Kagome-chan, are you sure you can’t stay?” he asked sadly, eyes watering.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. It was the price I had to pay to bring everyone back after Naraku. I’m so sorry.”

Rin sniffled and looked up, her eyes puffy, “Will you remember Rin when you go?”

“Kami-sama, of course Rin-chan! I will never be able to forget any of you so long as I live!”

“That…that’s good,” she said with a tentative smile.

“Do you promise to remember me too?”

“Yes, Kagome-chan!” the little girl chirped, her tears practically forgotten.

“Shippou, I have asked Sesshoumaru-sama for permission for you to stay here…I want you well taken care of, and I trust him completely.”

The little kitsune nibbled his lip, obviously contemplating her words. He nodded slowly, “If it is okay with Sesshoumaru-sama. But would it be alright if I went to stay with Sango and Miroku for a while? I mean…I want to spend time with them while they’re still…around…” he trailed off, his eyes on the floor.

“Kitsune,” Sesshoumaru broke in.

“Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama?” he replied with almost no fear. Kagome was glad that over the months he had relaxed around the Taiyoukai.

“You will send word to the houshi and taijiya to acquire permission, and you will send word to me once you wish to return.”

“Hai!” Shippou sung with a glowing smile to the demon lord.

“Thank you Sesshou,” Kagome said softly, walking to him and placing a hand on his arm.

He smiled just the slightest bit to her and placed a chaste kiss on her temple, “I told you I would take care of him, and so I shall. He will survive to see you again, on my honor.”

She smiled and reached up on her toes to place a feather-light kiss to his lips, gaining another small smile from the outwardly stoic lord.

A giggle pulled her away from him, seeing Rin and Shippou standing with wide grins, “Kagome-chan was kissing Sesshoumaru-sama!” Rin cried loudly, and Kagome cringed inwardly knowing that half the youkai in the castle would have heard that. Not that it mattered, she had been fated to be the Lady since before many of them had been born.

“That’s cuz their mates,” Shippou said with a sagely nod, “That means their gonna be together forever, and have lotsa pups!”

“Really? Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome-chan are going to have babies?!” Rin screeched, and Kagome was thankful she did not have youkai hearing.

“Someday, but not now…uhh…right, Sesshoumaru?” she added nervously.

He shook his head minutely and she could see the laughter in his eyes, “No, not now.”

“Sugoi!” Rin called, running circles around her two favorite adults, “Will you name one of your babies Rin, so Rin can know you remember Rin?”

Kagome’s head spun at the third-person sentence, but laughed, “I’ll have to ask Sesshoumaru-sama that one, but I don’t see why not.”

She squealed and hugged each of their legs, “Wanna come to the gardens with Shippou and Rin and pick flowers?” she inquired.

“After lunch, Rin,” Sesshoumaru said sternly, earning a rigid bow from the girl.

“Hai!!!”

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The day went by amicably, Kagome sitting in the cool fall afternoon by Sesshoumaru’s side as the children pranced about the gardens. The servants and guard had been stunned that the long-lost Lady of their lord had returned, not understanding how a ningen could survive five hundred years. Not that they asked, but Kagome could sense the questions in the sometimes hostile glances her way throughout the day.

As the sun began to fall, Kagome’s nerves were frazzled, and uncaring of whomever might be watching Sesshoumaru pulled her into his lap. He cried silently, watching the two playmates chase one another without a care.

“Are you sure you can wait five hundred more years?” Kagome asked worriedly into his chest.

“I would wait another millennia for you,” he replied, his arm tightening around her.

“But is it alright? I feel guilty…”

“Why would you?”

She shrugged lightly, her face still pressed into the silk covering his chest, “I don’t know. I just don’t want to ever be your obligation…”

“Never,” he cut in, moving his arm to turn up her face, “You will never be a mere obligation.”

“I love you, Sesshoumaru.”

He smiled and kissed her gently, her hands working their way up to cup his face. The kiss turned desperate, needy, and tears once again slipped silently down Kagome’s face. The kiss broke and he quickly dried her tears with his lips, his nose pressing into her skin.

Goodbyes were tearful from the children as the sun threatened the horizon, and they were sent away from the mourning couple to have a moment together before the end came. She simply laid in his arms and sighed miserably, “I wish I didn’t have to go.”

“As do I.”

“Stay safe, and take care of those kids, okay?”

“Of course.”

“Seriously, Sesshoumaru…Rin especially. That little girl looks up to you like you hung the moon…she is only human. Give her the love she needs, you’re the closest thing to a father she has.”

Sesshoumaru blinked several times, “She thinks of me in such a way?”

“Of course she does, you’re her hero! She has a major Daddy’s Girl complex,” he rose his eyebrow in question and she laughed, “Meaning in my time she would argue with other kids about how her dad was the best person ever, and no one could compare. He makes the sun rise, and no one could ever be stronger or more wonderful.”

Sesshoumaru’s face softened the most she had ever seen in his current era, “I will do my best.”

Kagome’s held her breath as the sun sunk down and quickly tightened her grip, “Come for me, please!”

“Always.”

As the sun finally met with the skyline, Kagome could feel herself fading fast. With a quickly planted kiss she faded away, staring into forlorn golden eyes that shone more brightly than the sun.

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Instead of white, she was surrounded in a deep, calming luminous blue, and Midoriko stood before her with a wide smile, “Thank you, Kagome. I am finally free to completely rest in peace. I thank you, child.”

Kagome’s eyes were still pained, but she managed a weak smile, “You’re welcome, Midoriko-sama. I hope your rest is fruitful.”

“It shall be…I cannot wait to see my friends again.”

“Can you please tell me all that I accomplished without knowing? I do not see more than a few small instances in which I could have changed anything.”

“You changed nothing. Remember my words…

“You had to make things that had already happened, happen. If you had not done these things, it would have been disastrous.”

“This was to tell you all along that you were meant in your own time, but the fates also needed you in both of the other time periods you have visited. The future you know would not exist if not for your actions, Kagome.”

“You completed the circle, and all things as you know are now assured. Actions seeming minute have more of an effect than you may think. And your destiny was to find your love. You and Sesshoumaru have been fated together since his own birth.”

“So then,” Kagome said quietly, “Fate is predetermined.”

“Iie.”

Kagome looked at her confused, “I don’t understand?”

“It is a difficult thing to. You could have done a million things differently…you might have not tried to lead Mistress Centipede from the village, causing you to go to InuYasha…but you did. You did not have to be so understanding when he wished to see Kikyou, but you did. You may not have taken in your friends as family, but you did. Your purity and selfless heart made you do these things, but any of them would have altered the future irreparably.

“While in the farther past, you might not have attempted a friendship with your Sesshoumaru, but your heart told you to. You might not have helped the Eastern Lady birth, but you did. A lesser soul would not have cared for the Southern Lord’s heart, but you were sure to. So many small things that make up what you know.”

“Then tell me, tell me what I’ve done!”

“Not all of it will make you happy, you know. Several things were in fact terrible things that had to happen nonetheless.”

“Please…just tell me.”

“Hai. First of all, you told the truth to Mattaki. By doing this, you assured he would allow himself to take a human mate after Kaori’s death since he knew to you it had already happened. It also gave him the idea to use the sealing spell for InuYasha’s blood on Tessaiga.”

“Wow, I did that just by telling him the truth?”

“Hai. Next, you befriended young Sesshoumaru, and eventually the two of you fell in love. Without thoughts of you, if he had even survived the shock of his mother’s death, he would have killed Izayoi the day he discovered she was pregnant. It was Mattaki confessing his future connection to you that stayed his hand. InuYasha would have died several times over if Sesshoumaru didn’t know how important to you he was, even through his sense of betrayal towards you.”

Kagome cringed and nodded, “I am glad he understands now.”

“As am I, for that would have surely changed the plotted future, but even I am not aware of the reaches of fate. When you went out with Mattaki, there was no reason for you to help that little boy, but you did without knowing who he was. I gather you realized it later, though?”

“Hai, he was an ancestor of Miroku.”

“Indeed. So by that you made sure that your friend would exist. Your next task was a very small one, but you did it and it assured something very important to you. By simply talking to Gyakusetsu as you did, when his second mate was killed a decade later he fell in love with a widowed kitsune vixen with several children, and despite the political implications of taking an unknown woman like her, he did because of the small talk you had. Her oldest son was Shippou’s father.”

Kagome smiled widely, “Aww! Setsu-kun, I’m so happy for him.”

The older miko smiled, “I thought you might say that. The next thing was when you rescued the human girl in the forest, and sent her on her way to the Taijiya no Sato with my companion Kirara. Not only did you assure Sango’s lineage by referring the neko to the village, but the girl you sent with her was actually an ancestor of little Rin.”

“Rin-chan? At the Externimator’s village?”

“No, the child of the woman you sent there would leave the village, and so on until young Rin.”

“Is that it? You said there were bad things?”

“Hai, there are, but I wished to give you all the good ones first.”

“Please…tell me.”

“Of course. Some of what I will say will hurt you, but you mustn’t blame yourself, child. You had no idea of the outcome, and simply did what you always did.”

“Just tell me.”

“All right. There were only two instances, but both caused terrible but necessary events. The first was the village you and Mattaki saved…the boar’s were stirred up by the Shikon, though it was not even awake at the time. Just its presence in open space made youkai more on edge and jittery, though they did not know why. So, because they stirred you and my lord were sent after them…and because you killed them all, the village was safe from future attack.”

“I don’t understand, why is that bad?”

“One of the men in that village was a bandit…one of the ones responsible for the fall of Futaridori, in fact. Far in his future, his descendant would be one you knew was Onigumo.”

Kagome’s breath hitched, and she shook her head, “So…inadvertently, I saved Naraku?!”

“Hai.”

“Gods…R 21; she said, cinching her eyes closed.

“Do not be upset, child, Naraku had to come to be. If not, you would not have existed and neither would have your adventure. Countless other innocents and their family lines would have died as well with unknown results, so it is not your fault.”

“Mm,” she said softly, shaking her head, “It just hurts a bit.”

“Expected. The next will likely affect deeper.”

“Kami, its bad, isn’t it?”

“Hai, it is. But again, it was not your fault, simply a chain reaction. Because of your presence in the House of the Moon, as well as your imminent confrontation with him, much animosity grew between the Northern Lord and Mattaki-sama.”

Kagome gulped visibly.

“It broke several already tenuous treaties, and it was an assassin of their house that was sent to kill both Kaori and Sesshoumaru.”

Kagome flinched and her breathing accelerated, “Gods, no! You’re telling me that its my fault that Kaori-chan died?!”

“No, the fault was in the bigoted brain of the Northern Lord, not you. You were simply a trigger for what likely would have happened anyway. As much as I loved her, if Kaori had lived then Mattaki would never have gone to bed with Izayoi in his greif, and InuYasha would never have been conceived. But there is still more, child.”

“Kami, how can it get worse?”

“Mattaki eventually found out who had hired the assassin, and the Northern Lord was killed in retaliation. Thusly, his son, Ryukotsusei, took over as the Northern Lord. When Mattaki took Izayoi, Ryukotsusei made an attempt on her life, which in turn made Mattaki go after him and leave his new mate in her home village. It was that night he sealed Ryukotsusei and lost his life due to his wounds, and his necessity to save Izayoi from the human samurai at her home.”

Tears fell freely now from Kagome’s eyes, “So both Sesshoumaru’s parents died because of me. They were like family to me! How could I have been the cause?!”

Midoriko’s eyes were sad as she wrapped her arms around the girl, “Again, you were not. It had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with fate. Their deaths were necessary in the long run, no matter how painful. I know they would not blame you.”

“But…I…blame…me!” she choked out between sobs.

“That will pass with time, child. Even I do not know the extent of the things you did, but I know many things effect the time you come from as well. All will be revealed with time, and know that you only did that which your soul told you was right. Remember that part of my soul is within you, and I would have done the same which you did. It was all you could do.”

Eventually her weeping slowed and the older miko pushed her back, drying her tears with a motherly caress, “Now you must go back, and you must live your life. Your destiny is not yet complete. Be well, my child, and be strong. I am proud of you.”

The woman and the blue glow faded, leaving Kagome standing in front of her family home. She could hear her brother’s shouts, asking her mother where his school clothes for the next day were. Kagome smiled sadly; it had been over a half year since she left. Her sorrow lessened just the slightest bit and she spun around, looking everywhere for a hope of seeing a flash of silver…but none was there. ‘Then again, dates weren’t kept back then, so I can’t expect him to be here on the very day I come back. He will come.’ she assured herself, and smiled sadly at her home.

The shoji front door slid open, “Kagome?” a shocked gasp came.

“Mama?” Kagome said hopefully, her eyes lighting.

“Oh honey!” she cried, racing forward to embrace her daughter, “I was so worried!”

“I’m alright mama…but kami, do I have a lot to tell you!”

“Then come in, there’s leftover Oden from dinner. I’m so glad you’re home!”

And so Kagome allowed herself to be led inside, hope and love in her heart alleviating the ache of Midoriko’s words. All would be right with time.


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A/N: DONE! HAHAHAH, joking. No worries, we still have another few chapters to go. Can’t leave it like that, after all. I’d say another 3-7 chapters left, loves, we’re in the final stretch! Hope I am continuing to entertain you all as this story winds its way down.


Quick rant: OMFG I WAS NOMINATED FOR THINGS?! -*heaves shakey breaths and eyes glisten with tears*- I am honored and oh-so happy. You have no idea. sesshys_jaded_samuri, nishi_no_shiro_inu, WinterzForgotten, and Rhiannonofthemoon: THANK YOU for your noms and seconds in the IYFG. I am honored, truly.

This is the place where authors go: “VOTE FOR ME!” but I will do no such thing. For one thing, Thirds still must take place so thusly it is pointless to solicit voters, and for another…well, the highest honor has already been bestowed. Just to be noticed enough to have been nominated in the first place is enough for this gal’s pride. I don’t need to receive a single vote to be entirely at peace and flattered beyond belief. So again, thank you so much you guys.