InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pack Law ❯ Epilogue: Life Goes On ( Epilogue )

Pack Law

 

Epilogue: Life Goes On

 

 

InuYasha grinned at the moving van in the drive-way. `Finally,' he sighed, `She's where she fuckin' belongs!'

 

Stepping through the door, InuYasha halted again, letting his eyes slide lazily closed and taking a deep breath. It was a scent he knew he'd never, ever tire of. `Maybe I should tell her today.'

 

Flowers and decorations still dotted every part of the main room - mementos of the celebration that had taken place just the night before, commemorating Kagome's, Tsukiyoshi's, Hitomu's and Sarah's successful graduations.

 

`It's about damn time,' he grumbled to himself, kicking a deflating balloon out of the way. The last few years had been excruciatingly long and painful for the hanyou, who'd believed he'd suffered quite enough. Nonetheless, Kagome had refused to move in with him until after graduating high school.

 

“What would everybody say?” she asked him when he'd posed the question to her, not hours after she was confirmed as a member of the pack despite her age. “Not only that, but I know you,” she continued, giving him a look rather reminiscent of those she and Sango would give Miroku when they journeyed into new villages while on the hunt for Shikon shards.

 

InuYasha's innocent face hadn't convinced her. “Oh, no. I'll still visit, but I need a place where I can get privacy when I need it and where I can study without any interference.” InuYasha had suggested she stay there anyway, and everybody could help her with her studies. She'd argued that she could get help when she was visiting.

 

After three years of visits (extended on the weekends, of course), InuYasha had finally been allowed to take Kagome as his mate on her 18th birthday, even though she hadn't completely graduated yet. She'd been close enough by that point, her mother conceded, that it really wouldn't affect things. Even after that, however, she'd refused to move in. He hadn't seen much of her the past couple weeks as she buried herself in books for her finals.

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome stomped into the room, followed by Sango and Miroku. The two were grinning ear-to-ear. Kagome was not. In fact, she looked downright pissed. InuYasha blinked. This was not the happy “welcome home” he'd been expecting and hoping for.

 

“Ye-e-es?” He noticed what she held in her hand and immediately tensed. `Oh, shit!'

 

Kagome leveled him with a glare that would have scared a lesser youkai. Hell, it kind of made him tremble. He waited for the gauntlet to fall, aware that the pups of his pack had gathered on the stairwell nearby, watching with amusement.

 

“It appears to me, InuYasha,” Kagome hissed, “that you have failed to tell me something rather important.”

 

InuYasha put a fang through his lip and looked beseechingly at Miroku. His wingman (`The fuckin' traitor,' InuYasha thought venomously) simply took a step back, shaking his head. The message was clear: You're on your own.

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome snapped his name again, making sure his attention was on her. “I made it remarkably clear when I moved here that I wanted to go to college. I have been accepted at the University of Tokyo for their pre-med program. I worked very hard to get to this point. Now, it would appear I am unable to do so. You know why, don't you?”

 

As she spoke, Kagome stepped closer and closer to InuYasha, until his eyes were crossed to stay on her face. He took a deep breath and subconsciously relaxed. `She smells sooooo good…'

 

“Don't you?” She snapped again, slapping him on the chest. He let out a growl at the man-handling. Kagome raised an eyebrow.

 

“Oh, you didn't like that?” She smirked, “Then you're not going to like a lot of things for the next nine months!”

 

“Okay, so I…” InuYasha stopped. He'd sworn to himself he'd never lie to her, never again. Could he really say he was upset? `No,' he admitted to himself. `I've waited a damn long time for this.'

 

“Look, I know I should have said something,” he started again, fidgeting under a look that promised nothing but pain in the coming months. “I know I should have told you right away-”

 

“How long have you known?” Kagome asked. “Just how pregnant am I, InuYasha?”

 

The hanyou shifted, looking back at the pups and snarling his displeasure at being the center of attention. Sarah winked at him. Hitomu was turning red from holding in his laughter. The tapping of Kagome's foot echoing in the large room reminded him she was waiting for an answer.

 

“Listen. It's not that I didn't want to tell you! You've just been so busy with exams and studying and you haven't been over as much-” InuYasha realized at this point he was babbling, but just could not stop himself.

 

“And you forgot where I lived, is that it?” Kagome's arms were crossed. This conversation was not going the way InuYasha had hoped.

 

Sighing, he reached out and folded her into his arms. She remained stiff as a board, obviously still fuming.

 

“You have all the time in the world to do what you want,” he said softly, “You'll have your talisman soon, you know.”

 

“How. Pregnant. Am. I?” Each word was bitten out.

 

“A month?” InuYasha cringed as Kagome shoved away from him. He reached out to grab her again - not out of love, this time, but out of self-preservation.

 

He missed. “Osuwari!” Kagome stomped her foot, glaring down at the subdued hanyou. `Fuck, I forgot how much that could hurt,' InuYasha whined mentally. It'd been about a year since she'd been mad enough to do that. “Osuwari, osuwari!”

 

“Fuck, wench! Knock it off!” He shouted when he could finally pull his face from the floor. “Can you fucking blame me for wanting a family of my own? I've waited a long damn time for this and I don't feel like waiting anymore!”

 

InuYasha felt lower than he was laying as Kagome's ire almost immediately turned to sniffles. She slumped to the floor, now sobbing. Sango kneeled, wrapping the girl in her arms and glaring at InuYasha.

 

“Shhh,” she soothed the miko, “You'll be fine. You're going to live quite a while, you know, and I'm sure we'll all help you. You can probably finish at least one semester.”

 

“The fuck she can,” InuYasha snarled, “Not carrying my pup she ain't walking around that campus unprotected.” He regretted his hasty words as Kagome sniffled.

 

“But Jii-chan won't be around forever and he wanted to see me go to school and be a good doctor,” she mumbled dejectedly. “It's not that I don't want a family… I just wanted to live a little first.”

 

Shooing Sango away with a glare, InuYasha took his place by his mate's side. He rubbed her back, refusing to recoil at the miserable look she sent his way. A new round of sobs emerged, though, as his ears drooped in reaction to the anger she was obviously feeling at the situation.

 

“I-I-I don't w-want,” she hiccupped, trying to take deep breaths, “you to be mad. I-I'm s-s-sorry. You're right,” she said, beginning to compose herself. “You deserve a family. I made you wait for centuries.” Her lip wiggled as she remembered how lonely he had been…

 

“No, no, no,” he rushed to reassure, wrapping her in his arms again. “You didn't make me wait. I did. It's fine. I'm sorry I didn't tell you… I'm sorry you don't get to go to school now. I promise I'll help and you'll still be able to do things.”

 

Kagome sniffled. “No, I won't. You'll keep me in bed half my pregnancy, I know you,” she accused.

 

InuYasha blushed. “I won't be that bad. Would you rather I didn't worry at all?”

 

“Can't you find a happy medium?”

 

Kagome was growing angry again. `Kami-forsaken hormones,' he sighed, looking up as Kagome stomped away. Before he could chase after her, Miroku intercepted him.

 

“You've got eight more months of this to go, you know,” he said conversationally, looking at the young woman's retreating figure. “And 16 years of chasing that kid around, too. If not more.”

 

InuYasha's ears twitched as he heard Sango intercept Kagome. `Feh, leave it to the women,' he decided, turning and heading in the opposite direction, Miroku at his heels. “Keh,” he scoffed, “We'll be fine. She's just gotta get used to the idea.”

 

Miroku shook his head. 500 years later… it seemed like the more things changed, the more things stayed the same.

 

 

A/N (long, sorry!):

 

Oh my God. It's OVER.

Thank you, all of you, for sticking around through the conclusion of the story.

 

For those of you disappointed by the lack of lemons… well, sorry. I don't put them in for the sake of putting them in. Lemons occur when they fit, and they just didn't fit in this story. If you're looking for a PWP, I can recommend them… but I don't write them.

 

If you enjoyed the ride, I hope you'll stay on board for my next story. I am venturing into uncharted waters and working on a fairly large-scale piece tentatively titled “Control.” Not only is it an Inu/Kag, San/Mir fic… but it's an attempt at a Sess/Kik story, set in the canon world (a divergence from the manga chapter “Light”), and my first attempt at a non-canon pairing.

 

Another fic I'm working on is “Falling”. The first chapters have already been posted at MediaMiner, though they'll be getting a bit of re-working.

 

I want to take this time to thank some very fantastic people.

First, to the amazing angelica incarnate and the fabulous Phalon. Without you two, I'd have floundered so many times throughout this fic. Your help, guidance, and occasional beatings helped make this story what I really wanted it to be.

 

And to all of you who reviewed, you have no idea what the feedback means to me. I can only hope you'll tag along on my upcoming adventures! Special thanks go out to kokoronagomu, Sovereignty, Deathmvp, wbk, Ichigohime, angel-up-above-heaven and Lunabell for being my most consistent reviewers.

 

And lastly, to areefa, inuyashaloverr, kryptoinuyasha, and catbaker for nominating this at the InuYasha Fanfiction Guild (where it is currently up for voting for Best Inu/Kag Romance). Also, I cannot go back and find out who nominated it, but thanks to those who nominated this for the Feudal Association awards. I've been absolutely honored by the responses.

 

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other characters from the anime/manga. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

 

I do, however, own the original characters in this story. Please don't steal them! (I may let you borrow them if you ask politely.) Arata is the creation of the fabulous Phalon - I've done a bit of tweaking, but she is for all intents and purposes not mine.