InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Minoue ❯ End Notes ( EndNotes )

End Notes

 

First, I'd like to profusely thank everyone who has ever nominated, seconded, or voted for Minoue at any of the awards guilds. It has won honors at the InuYasha Fanfiction Guild (IYFG), Feudal Association (FA) and Eikyuu Kosai (Miroku/Sango specific awards). Categories it has won or placed in include Best Alternate Reality/Alternate Universe, Best Characterization and Best In-Character, Best InuYasha/Kagome Romance, Best Miroku/Sango Romance, Best Lemon, Best Drama, and Best Multi-Chaptered Work and Best Serial. I am truly honored at the number of awards received, including Best Miroku/Sango Romance of the Year for both 2007 & 2008 at the IYFG.

 

Next, I'd like to thank the awesome artists who gifted me with art for Minoue. They include paynesgrey (quirkyslayer), dementdmonky, and Rihannon. I truly appreciate and enjoy the moments from the story that you brought to life on canvas.

 

I'd also like to thank everyone who has taken the time to leave a review. I truly do appreciate those who took a few minutes to leave their thoughts for me to read or sent an email. The majority of you seemed to enjoy it a great deal and some were also quite insightful on things that might be coming up. I also know that some thought the story wasn't moving fast enough - or that it was really an InuYasha/Kagome romance even though it was labeled as Miroku/Sango. Many did come to realize that I was using the Inu/Kag relationship as a springboard for the Mir/San one. It must be kept in mind that InuYasha and Kagome had known each other for five years when the piece started, whereas Miroku and Sango met for the very first time in the first chapter. I really wanted to write them through their growing relationship and a romance.

 

I'd known from the beginning where it was headed - in fact I'd known the fate of the Shikon no Tama for over two years. However, there was a lot of ground to cover and the attempt to make the story an actual romance rather than having the pair declare their love for each other right after they met and jumping into bed together. Minoue wasn't about that - this was not intended to be an extensive lemon fic or PWP. I know some gave up because it didn't have Miroku & Sango going at it like wild bunnies within the first dozen chapters, and others did when it turned more towards the Mir/San relationship from the Inu/Kag one. Unfortunately, you can't please everyone so I had to stay true to my story and the characters in it. This also includes those who seemed to think that I would change my fic according to their reviews. While I do try to work answers to questions into the story line where I can, I never just go the direction a reader might be trying to direct me. I don't write by multiple choice - I write according to what fits with the plot and what I had planned.

 

I will have to admit, I found it ironic when the manga ended that Naraku did wish on the jewel and it didn't grant his wish in the way he expected, and that Kagome had to wish it out of existence (though in the manga she was actually trapped inside it), because that was what I'd been planning since the summer of 2007, no matter where the manga went with it.

 

I also know there are some questions that readers had from reviews that were left during the duration of the story, so I'll answer some of them here. First of all, InuYasha was more mature than in the anime/manga because he was somewhere between 270 and 300 years old in Minoue. He knew his father and in fact his father kept him sheltered away from those who wished to harm him (including his half-brother) until the father was murdered. However, in spite of his actual age, physically his body was that of a man in his upper 20's (and in prime physical condition, obviously). He was still very much the insecure hanyou we know and love, despite the number of years he'd lived and the self-confidence he learned while living with the monks for 50 years in China (as opposed to 50 years pinned to a tree). He remained reclusive and withdrawn after the exposure of what he was. Before that he did what was expected to as part of his influential family. If it had been up to him, he'd stayed out of it and remained at home alone. He also was pretty much clueless when it came to women, partly because he believed he couldn't have an intimate relationship unless he revealed what he was, and he never reached that point with any of them before Kikyou. He really was quite shy and didn't particularly care for strangers.

 

Sesshomaru, as mentioned in the fic, was around 600 at the time of this story. However, he appeared to be a man in his mid 40's both as youkai and when wearing his concealment charm. He inherited his position as the Daiyoukai much as the Emperor inherits his, by blood. If those who murdered his father thought Sesshomaru would be a pushover and easy to take the title of Daiyoukai from or to heavily influence, they were sorely mistaken.

 

When they were younger, Sesshomaru and InuYasha did fight to some extent when they were together for one reason or another. Sesshomaru was not happy that he had a half brother tainted by human blood. InuYasha had to fight to protect himself, though in truth, he never wished his brother any real harm. However, Sesshomaru, once he assumed his father's position and was forced to work with humans, discovered they were not the vile creatures he had always assumed. Just as in youkai, some were very good and very honorable, and some were not. He had to broaden his views in order to be successful and by doing so, discovered he no longer loathed his half-brother. However, he was still a bit envious that InuYasha inherited Tessaiga because he had witnessed his father use it and knew what it was capable of. He considered it a waste in InuYasha's hands until Myouga finally told him it was needed to seal the powerful blood of their father. After confirming that it was most likely true, he no longer sought to find a way to claim the sword for himself.

 

Another thing I noticed through reviews was that some were having difficulty dispelling the mating mark plot device. When I started Minoue, I already knew that it would be handled differently. While I have used mating marks myself in some of my other fics, I wanted to have something new for this one. So instead, especially with the knowledge that Sesshomaru's mother was still living in the manga which means she was still around when their father was with InuYasha's mother, I decided to make it more of a matter of convenience in the Youkai community. They would partner up either based on political alignments, mutual attraction, need to produce an heir, etc. Some of their partnerships would dissolve rather quickly, and others would end up lasting a lifetime if they were happy and comfortable with each other, or somewhere in-between. However, if two youkai wanted the same mate, they could either fight it out for them or they could decide to live as a happy threesome (or more). It all depended on the type of youkai and their natural instincts.

 

One of the other things I never found a place to work in was who was buried at the garden by the pond that InuYasha tended to. The single stone marked his mother's grave.

 

Regarding the youkai that was found in the freezer with the family - it was actually a female and the humans she was with did not find out she was youkai until the freezer incident when she revealed herself trying to help them break free. She had been the children's nanny.

 

As far as the ending - it really ended the way I wanted it to with the conflict with Naraku and the Jewel resolved, and Miroku and Sango together. The male firecat that was mentioned in the epilogue was actually there the entire time - in fact I almost mentioned him earlier in the fic but never really had a good place to work him in. The closest I came was when InuYasha was telling Miroku that the youkai on his property knew they had a good thing and not to mess it up if they wanted to stay.

 

And after it's all over? I like to leave something to the readers' imaginations. Those who are familiar with my fics know that I don't generally try to finish out the rest of their lives. So, now that you know how things are for most of them one year later, you can use your imagination to project where they might be in ten, twenty, or even fifty years.

 

All I can say is thank you again to everyone who stayed with the story for the entire ride. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

 

I'd also like to thank my two betas again - inufan625 and knittingknots. Inufan625 not only helped with the grammar and punctuation and such, but with some of the Japanese things I had difficulty finding. I do nearly all of my own research but she was invaluable on some of the more obscure things that aren't so easy to locate if you don't read Japanese. Knittingknots helped make sure that everything was worthy of the IYFG so it wouldn't be DQd for punctuation or grammar (and even if there was rarely much to correct by the time she got it, I still appreciate her efforts). I also must thank a friend that will remain unnamed for she was the one who gave me all of the info that I needed on dojo and the inner workings along with some other suggestions that were incorporated along the way. I will say congratulations to her and to her 14 year old daughter who just recently earned her black belt (she had to break boards and everything).

 

So, that's all for now. If you have any questions you're just dying to know the answer to or something you didn't understand, feel free to email me at doggieearlover@att.net and I will do my best to respond to you. You wouldn't believe how much background info I have in my head for before, during, and after the fic that just didn't make it into the story.

 

Thanks again and until next time,

 

doggieearlover ^~^