InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Minoue ❯ Epilogue ( Epilogue )

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

Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha or any of the manga/anime characters. They belong to the wonderful genius Rumiko Takahashi. Any original characters do belong to me.

AN: I must thank inufan626 and knittingknots one more time for their help with this story. I truly appreciate both of you for sticking with it and beta'ing for me for over two years on this one fic alone. You each have helped to make it a better story.

And thank you again to those of you that have taken the time to leave a review. I really do appreciate that you took a few extra minutes to give me your thoughts on the story.

And now, the end.

Minoue

Epilogue

Miroku carried Sango across the threshold of their new apartment.

“Can you believe it's been a whole year?” she said.

He set her down gently and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back to his chest so that he could lovingly rub her rounded belly. “That all seems like such a lifetime ago, even though time has gone by so quickly. I just feel like I've known you my whole life.”

Sango turned into him and cupped his face in her hands, drawing it to hers for a soft kiss. “I never would have thought when I walked into InuYasha's dojo that things would turn out the way they have.”

“Do you regret—” Miroku started.

Sango stopped him by pressing her finger across his lips. “I only regret that we had to tangle with Naraku, but in the end, even that was worth it…”

“Because we got your brother back, and they're able to help him now,” Miroku finished for her.

She nodded before she called, “Kirara? Where are you?”

The firecat waddled out of the second of the three bedrooms.

“Apparently she's already been checking the place out while we've been reminiscing.” Miroku chuckled as he closed the front door and locked it. “Do you think she's claimed a spot yet?”

“I just hope she has her kittens here and not out on Sensei's property somewhere,” Sango commented. “I wonder if the male will want to come and visit…”

“Yoerrrrr…mrrrrrr…” The twin tail responded while curling up on a spot on the sofa.

“Probably not, but when the kittens are old enough, we'll have to take them for him to see,” she says.

“I guess we should have suspected there was a reason she wanted to roam around InuYasha's woods so much,” Miroku mused. “She and that male must be some of the last remaining of their kind. I know they were just about wiped out during the last century. People didn't even know they were youkai - they were hunting them just for their hide and twin tails. They were also afraid of the superstitions that surround them, like being able to shapeshift and animate the dead.”

“Unfortunately, the bad tales that surround them seem to outnumber the good ones. We'll have to make certain that these are protected,” Sango said, moving to stroke Kirara's soft fur.

“InuYasha has already said that they'll be welcome on his property. Not all of them take to living with humans. Some prefer to be wild, like the male that's the father of this litter. Have you seen him?” Miroku asked.

Sango nodded. “He's magnificent. I can't wait to see the kittens.”

Miroku wrapped his arms back around her. “And I can't wait to see ours. Can you believe we're having twins?”

A broad smile crossed her face. “I guess we'll have an instant family. I can't believe that we got married and I got pregnant before Kagome.”

He pulled her into his lap on the sofa. “Considering everything, it is amazing - but Kagome's still young so they want to wait until she's through with school to have kids. And I don't blame them for waiting until Christmas Eve for their wedding like they'd planned. It wasn't that much longer after ours, and it was everything that Kagome ever dreamed of. It was also everything that InuYasha ever wanted as well. He never thought he'd find someone to truly love him for himself.”

“I'll have to admit that at one time, I felt the same way,” Sango said softly. “Especially after what happened. I didn't think anyone would ever be able to look past the scar on my back. And I certainly didn't expect to fall in love with someone as lecherous as you.”

“Hey!” Miroku protested. “You know that I've given up those ways. I only have eyes for you now.”

“I'll just be glad when the rest of the student body gets that through their heads. Getting married didn't get you out of their sights as fast as Kaede-san thought it would.” Sango couldn't help but to chuckle, but then became serious again. “I wonder how she's doing. Did anyone ever tell her what really happened that day?”

“You mean about Kikyou being killed and brought back to life by Sesshomaru?” Miroku asked.

Sango winced, knowing that the woman had died at her brother's hand. “I don't know if they ever told her the truth about that, but they did reconcile. Apparently Kikyou has settled down and become quite domestic while waiting for her husband to be released from prison. Because of all of the help he gave the authorities, he was given a shorter sentence and should be out in a few months. In fact, the only one that got a long-term imprisonment was that gay one - they managed to tie a string of homosexual murders from a couple of years ago to him. Whatever crimes the others had committed apparently weren't in Japan but in other war-torn countries. Kikyou also apparently has a new opinion of youkai seeing as how she was brought back to life by one - though she still doesn't know that Nishimori Shuichi and Sesshomaru are one and the same since they try to keep his identity a secret.”

Miroku shifted to get more comfortable. “Is Kaede still going around to the shrine and visiting Kagome's grandfather?”

That made his wife giggle. “According to Kagome she is. She's never seen her grandfather so happy as he is when he's with her. Apparently they each have a lot of stories to tell, and they really enjoy each other's company. Kagome about died when she walked in on them kissing.”

Miroku joined his wife laughing at the thought of Kaede and Jii-chan. “I don't know why Kagome would be embarrassed about something like that considering how she and InuYasha go at it like two rabbits.”

Sango slapped him on the shoulder. “Like we're ones to talk! It's just different when it's family. You don't think about them…well… you just don't want to think about your parents or grandparents having sex, even though you know they had to for you to be here! And mentioning grandparents - how's Sesshomaru's mother doing? Have you heard?”

“We'll get to see for ourselves Saturday evening. From what InuYasha has told me, she's gone from completely denying that she has a grandchild to being the totally doting grandmother. She has now declared that the child is her protégé though before she was stating she didn't know anything about the girl or pretending she didn't exist. It seems like the baby started flying before she even began crawling. Apparently that meant more to the old inuyoukai than the fact that the baby is technically a half-breed. So suddenly Sesshomaru is her heir again and back in her good graces, and Kagura is the model mate and mother.” Miroku sat back against the couch and stroked Sango's arm with his thumb.

His wife couldn't help but observe, “It hasn't occurred to her yet that Sesshomaru doesn't need any of her money or her castle, has it?”

Miroku shook his head. “Her head is up in the clouds - literally. But enough about everyone else. We've been married for one year as of today. We've got the rest of our lives together; we have this wonderful new apartment—”

“Which happens to be almost directly below my old one, which makes Kirara very happy,” Sango finished.

The cat mewed in agreement. The apartment was on the second level and faced the park like the previous one did.

“We have good friends that we know will do just about anything for us; we have some powerful allies in the form of Sesshomaru and Kagura as well as the Higurashis - I had no idea they had so much pull in the city,” Miroku finished.

“But more than anything, we have each other,” Sango said, snuggling up against her husband.

“Would you like to go and christen our new bedroom?” Miroku waggled his eyebrows at her.

Sango grinned. “Shall we start there or finish there?”

Miroku slid his arms so that he could lift her in front of him as he stood. “Well, considering the other two bedrooms don't have furniture yet…”

“Good point. The master bedroom it is.”

“Then there's the kitchen, and the living room, and the bathroom…” Miroku teased.

Sango laughed. “Once a lecher, always a lecher.”

Miroku laid her down on their queen-sized bed. “No, just a man very much in love with his wife.”

Sango smiled as he turned off the lights. Their great adventure through life was only just getting started, and she knew that she couldn't have a better man to make the journey with.

*finis*

And so ends this epic fic. I hope that all of you that stuck with me up until the last chapters and epilogue have enjoyed it. I did my best to keep the characters true to their canon selves in spite of being older and thrust into an entirely different set of circumstances. I have to admit that I've enjoyed writing it over the last two and a half years or so. I never dreamed when the idea struck me in early 2007 that I would be working on it for so long.

I also know that I could not have answered every question you might have had over the course of the story - I simply had too much background and extraneous information in my head that helped define the characters and actions in the story to include it all. Partly because of this, I will be posting endnotes for Minoue before the end of the month. If there was a question you would like answered, or you are simply wondering what happened to someone along the way (or at the end) that was not resolved in the story, just ask and I will try to include it. Chances are that you aren't the only one wondering about that particular person or circumstance.

I do not have any plans for another long fic at the moment, but you never know when that will change. An idea has to hit me rather strongly for me to pursue it, and so far there hasn't been another - just the desire to bring this story to its conclusion.

Once again, thank you to everyone who nominated, seconded, or voted for this fic at one of the award guilds as well as to everyone who has ever taken the time to leave a review or send me an email. I really do appreciate your comments and encouragement and have read each and every one of them. I truly hope that you have enjoyed the story.

Until next time,

doggieearlover ^~^