InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Out of Time ❯ Epilogue ( Epilogue )

~~Epilogue~~

 

Darkness surrounded everything where she was. Layers of nothing, layers of everything comforted her, soothed her, protected her. It didn't hurt.

 

`Is it a dream? Reality? Where am I? What happened? Where are the others? Where is . . . he?'

 

Walking through a field of wild flowers. The whisper of her name on the breeze . . .

 

Memories flowed in a stream, so quietly that she had to listen to hear them sing to her. She'd forgotten something, or was it someone?

 

`I'm not supposed to be here,' she thought suddenly. `I'm supposed to be . . . there?'

 

Daylight slowly faded away, leaving her in darkness. She saw a light, but it was so far off . . . Could she reach it? Pink, shimmering, calling to her, over and over until the sound of her name echoed through her head. To block out the noise, she ran toward the glimmer, toward the gentle aura.

 

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

 

“Is she awake yet?”

 

Sango shot InuYasha a quick glance before wringing out the cloth and replacing it. “You've been sitting here for the last six hours, InuYasha. You don't know that she's not?”

 

Miroku sighed, seeing that he would have to intervene to stop the ensuing argument. At their wits' ends, Kagome's fever still hadn't broken, and if it frazzled Sango, then it was playing hell on the hanyou. “You're not doing her any good with your fighting. Now focus, okay?”

 

“InuYasha, you promised to protect Kagome! Why did you let Naraku hit her so hard?”

 

InuYasha made a grab for the kitsune but luckily missed. Unwilling to give up his seat next to the unconscious girl, he snorted instead. “Feh! I told her to stay back! She never fucking listens!”

 

The girl groaned, hand slowly rising to touch her forehead and the huge purple lump. She hissed as she touched the tender flesh and her hand dropped as her eyes fluttered open.

 

“Where am I?”

 

Sango grinned as tears of relief blurred her vision. “You're in the village. Kaede went to gather more herbs for your fever.”

 

“The village . . .? But . . .”

 

“We were worried,” Miroku remarked. “Naraku hit you with one of his tentacles, and you've been sleeping ever since.”

 

“How . . . how long?”

 

“A week,” Shippou piped up.

 

Kagome groaned softly. “Is Naraku . . . wait!” Eight hands reached out to push her back as Kagome struggled to sit up.

 

“I don't know how you did it, exactly, but you purified him,” Miroku answered. “He's gone . . . see?”

 

Kagome stared at the place in Miroku's hand where his kazaana should have been. “Where's the jewel?”

 

InuYasha dug it out of his haori and put it in her hand. Kagome lifted it, stared at it, frowned in confusion. “This is . . . Midoriko's jewel? The Shikon no Tama?”

 

“Well, yeah,” InuYasha said slowly, eyeing Kagome as though he was worried that she might still have a fever.

 

Miroku pulled Sango to her feet. “Come, Sango, Shippou . . . let's leave Kagome alone for awhile. She needs her rest.”

 

“I'll check on you later, Kagome!” Shippou called over his shoulder as he darted out of the hut.

 

“Sango . . . remember that promise we made? That after we defeated Naraku that you'd live with me and bear my children?”

 

Sango eyed the monk rather dubiously as her face pinked up. “Maybe . . .”

 

Miroku laughed and dragged Sango out of the hut.

 

Kagome stared at the jewel still in her hands. Midoriko's jewel. The Shikon no Tama.

 

“You okay?”

 

She started and shifted her gaze to meet InuYasha's. He moved to the side of the futon and slowly reached out to feel her forehead. “Your fever's gone.”

 

“I had a dream while I was sick,” she said softly. “You were all there . . . and Naraku came back.”

 

“Feh! That bastard is dead. His body disintegrated and blew away. There ain't no chance he's coming back.”

 

Kagome swallowed. She had heard those words from him before, in her dream. Or was it a warning? “I wished the jewel away in my dream,” she said slowly, “on something foolish and stupid . . . . I wished that it would protect you and the others, but I should have known . . . Uou protect us. We protect each other, right?”

 

InuYasha stared at her, brows furrowing together, as though he had to concentrate on what she was saying. “Then keep the jewel. Don't use it, not unless you need to.”

 

“Don't you see? As long as we have the jewel, we'll never be safe, like you and Kikyou . . . but I think I know what to wish for—this time.”

 

“What?”

 

She smiled, a brilliant smile that lit the depths of her eyes. InuYasha's breath caught as she stared at him. The Shikon no Tama pulsed, brightened. In a sudden flash of pure white light, it exploded, shattering into nothing but dust that settled over the hut, in InuYasha's hair, on Kagome's eyelashes.

 

He reached for her, catching the back of her neck, pulling her forward as his lips feel over hers, kissing her gently, tenderly, lovingly. She stroked his cheek, rubbed her nose against his. Suddenly he laughed. She did, too.

 

“Tell me more about this odd dream of yours,” he said sinking back on his haunches but still smiling.

 

Kagome's grin widened. “Sesshoumaru was there. He had two sons that were really interesting . . .”

 

InuYasha got up and retrieved a bowl of food for her. “Interesting? How?”

 

Schooling her features as she took a bite, she slowly chewed and swallowed before answering. “They hypnotized Sango and me . . . wanted us to be their women.”

 

“I don't fucking believe it!” InuYasha snarled, shooting to his feet again and pacing back and forth. “Ow!”

 

She sat up straighter. “What's wrong?”

 

He hobbled over and sat down, muttering curses under his breath. Kagome blinked in surprise as the hanyou lifted his foot, exposing a rusty nail that he'd obviously stepped on. “You're going to need a tetanus shot for that,” she remarked with a wince as he jerked it free.

 

“Feh! What's a tet-nass shot?”

 

Kagome frowned. `Wait . . . that was how the dream started out, too . . .'

 

Miroku stuck his head inside the hut. Deciding that all was in order, he pulled Sango in behind him. Kagome noticed that they were holding hands—and that the monk had a very noticeable red hand-shaped mark on his cheek. She smiled.

 

“What's all over your hair, InuYasha?” Sango asked, staring at the shimmering dust that coated the hanyou.

 

InuYasha tugged his hair over his shoulder and stared at it a moment. “Oi. Kagome made her wish. The jewel's gone.”

 

Miroku looked surprised. “What did you wish for, Kagome?”

 

She shrugged. “It was simple. I wished that pure evil, like Naraku, could never come back.”

 

The End.

 

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

A/N:

 

Ok, y'all. This was never meant to be a `full size' fic. More in the vein of a `filler' episode, but I still hope you enjoyed it. Sorry about the last chapter. I wanted to end the fic that way. Unfortunately, it tended to lend itself to a more light-hearted feel, so I thought it really was best to give EVERYONE a happy ending after all!

 

As I said in the beginning, this story is just a re-upload, not a new story that I just wrote. It's one of the ones I'm not overly fond of, just because I know good and well that I didn't take as long with it as I could have/should have. There was one place in particular that I felt it sort of fell flat, and while I could probably change it, I wouldn't be able to without putting a lot of time and effort into it that I frankly don't care to. I still hope it was enjoyable enough, such as it is. Thanks again for taking the time to read!

 

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Out of Time): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~