InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Simple and Clean ❯ Alpha's Omega ( Chapter 35 )

Wow, it's extremely hard to believe that this is actually the last chapter of Simple and Clean. I know that the minute I post this I'm going to start bawling my eyes out (okay, yes, I know I'm slightly more emotional than some, but still…). It's certainly been a long time coming, and though at times it has been a bumpy road, especially when it seemed that people were beginning to lost interest, it was really all worth it in the end. The thing that kept me writing was always the encouragement that I got from all of my reviewers and the knowledge that people were actually enjoying my story. Though I know not all of you will transfer with me as I start my next story, simply because many of you are Inuyasha fans first and foremost, I will be posting a new story, tentatively called “Ai, Yai Yai: A Modern Romantic Story” which is an Alternate Universe Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X (it has elements from both the OAVs and the Anime) Fic. If you enjoy the series (the mood leans towards the OAVs more because the anime was a little too happy for what I wanted to write about) and you liked the style in which I wrote this story (though my next will be a little more serious, it will still have humor, and yes, romance), I really encourage you to read it. Please keep supporting me and all of the other writers of Fanfiction .net and MediaMiner .org alike. Thank you so much for your overwhelming positive attitudes and encouragement. I couldn't have done it without you!

Recap:

The lovers felt a mother's embrace as they dissolved into the colors, a warm light engulfing their star crossed hearts. And when they were gone, Midoriko sat in the field of life and color and lifted her face to the rain as if challenging all the forces to work against them, because she knew those two could, and would, overcome all that challenged them. Running a hand over a bud, she helped it open, and smiled as it bloomed on its own. The powers of lust and evil and deceit were strong enough to bring Naraku to another world, yet love, and friendship, and knowing yourself were so much stronger that they engulfed the evil altogether. In two worlds that seemed lost in war and sorrow, eight people who found love and themselves in the process connected these worlds and lit a candle that did not flicker in the strong gale winds of destiny, but instead fought against it to clear a path in the dark.

 

Chapter 35

Alpha's Omega

 

Thanks to

gossa, InuYashaJunkie, Keiko Farwind, PrincessAngel, Akeryou, singerme5791, xobabygurl4lifexo

who reviewed ever so nicely

 

-I-

Midoriko sat back against her uncomfortable office chair, a small yellow, sticky-note clasped between her graceful fingers. Her loopy, almost cryptic writing was scrawled across it. It had taken her almost two hours to fish it out from all of the paper's that had been piling up on her desk since she had been gone. She breathed out in relief, tossing it into the trash and burying it for good. There were some times, she decided, best forgotten about.

Yet, she reconsidered; this was not one of those times. Fishing out the sticky note and taping it under her magnificently un-useful and extremely heavy crystal pyramid paper-weight (one of those, “thank you for 5 great years of service!” gifts); she nosed about until she discovered her cordless mouse from under a pile of used Starbucks double-shot cans. Putting her console on safe mode (she had gotten into the habit after the entire network had been infected by the latest virus), and she got out of her chair, wincing as it creaked. Immediately there was a fluster of moving chairs and papers as the rest of the workplace glared at her simultaneously, heads sticking comically out sideways from their cubicles. It seemed everyone she worked with just happened to have supersonic hearing and a superiority complex. She bit her lip to keep from saying something sarcastic, reminding herself that the only reason she even had this job was because neither heaven, nor hell wanted her, and the Tooth Fairy was fired because the tooth-dollar exchange had been dropping as of late. She ignored the Easter Bunny's furry glare, making her way towards the glass-walled office space that most of the worker's at G.O.D. (Governmentally Obscure Diplomacy) Corps. tried to avoid at all costs.

“I'm here to speak to Him, yadda yadda and such,” She told the receptionist, her sarcasm escaping. The little elf looked down at his Blackberry pressing a few buttons and silencing it abruptly when it began playing a faintly familiar song that sounded suspiciously like the first words were “Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta…”, before he looked back up at her. “I don't have any appointments for Him at this time,” He informed her mildly. Midoriko rolled her eyes as she scoffed, “Well obviously, He didn't think I'd manage it,” She said offhandly, shrugging, “but, of course, I did. I always do.” She winked at the elf and let herself in the door, ignoring the elf's retorts of indignation about how she didn't have an appointment.

Closing the door in the elf's face, she took a seat in the comfy swivel chairs that occupied His office like large exotic tigers in a land of housecats. “When did that happen?” She motioned to the angry elf now miming furiously at her through the glass, “Or did he come with a candy-cane up his butt?” God sighed as he shuffled a large, yet still quite orderly, Midoriko noticed, stack of papers. “What would you like Midoriko? And if it has anything to do with installing a cappuccino machine into your computer or bringing one of your poor assignments back to life, the answer is no.” Midoriko pouted dramatically, “But I'm not over the 5-life limit yet,” she whined theatrically, “Anyways, that's not why I came.”

God raised an eyebrow and surveyed her curiously. She smiled happily as she announced, “I finished my assignment.” She paused for a moment to enjoy the feeling then continued, “And I did it all on my own.” God sighed again, “Fine, Midoriko, what would you like?” She surveyed her fingernails, picking at a hangnail momentarily (Midoriko was a chronic nail biter…) and said loftily, “That cappuccino machine is sounding pretty good about now… but I think I'll settle for a nice new office chair please.” God nodded, scribbling something on a post-it note very similar to the one she had been just holding, “Give this to Barnaby and he'll make sure you get what you want.” Barnaby was now pressed up against the glass like a mad gorilla. He peeled himself off as Midoriko left the office, running after her on his short legs, “The nerve of it all,” He mumbled furiously under his breath as he waddled.

“Here you go,” Midoriko chirped in a cheery tone as she handed Barnaby the sticky-note. He looked dejectedly at the piece of paper and began typing feverishly on his little Blackberry planner. “Your next assignment will be sent to you when the chair arrives,” He told her venomously. Then he paused, as if pondering whether he should tell her the rest. Reluctantly he added, “Until then, please take a vacation.”

Midoriko waltzed out past her cubicle-ridden co-workers, ignoring their icy stares as she plopped down contentedly in her chair. Leaning back in her uncomfortable desk chair, she closed her eyes, and sighed under her breath, “Just another day at the office.” Smiling now, she wondering how her charges were faring back on earth and tried to decide between a romantic getaway to France or the sandy beached of the tropics.

-II-

 

It was a strange sensation, crossing through worlds, times, dimensions, as if your entire body was spread out, each particle ripping apart, then forming together into something that felt so different, yet not wrong at all. It felt different than the first time that Kagome had traveled through the worlds, for she did not rip open a hole at all, but instead seemed to sift through the tiny openings in the fabric of the dimensions as if she were millions of grains of sand. She gracefully formed anew on the other side, and as she did so, a blurry image began to form and solidify. Her body pressed against a hard plastic surface and her nose filled with the smell of sterilized air and clean bed sheets. She was back in the hospital room.

It felt, to the best of her knowledge, as if nothing in the least had changed from the way she left it. She glanced around wide-eyed at the other people in the room. Kikyo was blinking as if to clear her vision, her arms poised as if she had been grasping a bow and arrow. She dropped them suddenly and inhaled sharply. Sango and Miroku were next to her, their hands clasped tightly, and Koga was slumped against another one of the hospital chairs looking slightly uncomfortable, but nevertheless perfectly fine. There were two things that seemed strange to Kagome.

One, Sesshomaru was there, but instead of a young girl with him, a woman, her eyelids flickering in a light sleep lay in his arms. The other bothered her even more. Inuyasha was not one of the people in the room. She turned quickly, tears starting to well in her eyes before catching sight of him: he was sitting up in the hospital bed, looking slightly puzzled, his head cocked to the side in a silent question. Throwing her arms around him, she sniffed as she pressed her cheek against his chest as if to check if his heart was alive. Indeed, as she did so, his heart beat out a rhythmic song against her skin. “What happened?” She whispered softly.

“I was going to ask the same thing to you,” Kikyo said sarcastically, brushing herself off as she watched Inuyasha put a hand around Kagome's frail shoulders. She was wearing a business suit, and there was no trace of dirt on her face. It seemed for the world as if the entire time they had been gone had never existed at all. Sesshomaru looked thoughtfully at the young woman, as if surprised that she hadn't disappeared yet, “I think we'd all like to know that…”

The door to the hospital room opened and the seven conscious inhabitants jumped slightly as if afraid that their secret would leak out with the open door. “Relax kiddies, it's just me,” Midoriko said happily as she closed the door quietly behind her, “No doubt you're all wondering what in G.O.D.'s name just happened.” She smiled as she pulled up a chair alongside Inuyasha's bed. “First of all, you're not all insane, it really did happen.” A few sighs of relief were let out around the room, “But, now this is where it gets tricky, though everything happened, no time was actually spent in the world of Sengoku Jidai.” Quizzical looks were exchanged, and glances at the young woman in Sesshomaru's arms were stolen. Midoriko continued despite these distractions, “Because there cannot be different lengths of no time, you all arrived, due to your souls completing themselves in theoretical terms, at the same time in this world. The events that took place were actually trapped in a fold of time between the world of Sengoku Jidai and your own, so anything you, or for that matter, Naraku, did, will not affect the flow of history.”

Kagome looked up, her brown furrowed, “But what about Kagura and the other little girl?” Midoriko tapped her nose with a sly smile, “You don't miss anything. Kagura and Kanna, yes that was her name, were unfortunately trapped in the fold. Because of this, it is like they didn't exist.” Kagome felt her heart grow slightly heavy, “That's horrible!” She said, shocked. Midoriko nodded her head sadly, “It sometimes happens. You may be comforted to know that though they never existed in that world, their souls will be reborn into another.” Midoriko poured some hot water from the bedside table into a white mug and placed a tea bag into it, swishing it around for a while. “Undoubtedly, Sesshomaru, you also are wondering what it to become of Rin.”

Six shocked pairs of eyes turned to the girl in Sesshomaru's arms. He nodded slightly, expression unchanging. “She will wake up and be as much alive as a normal human being, but she will not change back to the younger form she started with,” Midoriko told him, her eyes watching his expression shape. He just nodded again, but the spirit saw something else that she had not seen before in his eyes. Softness had begun to warm his cold stare, and his hands seemed to cradle the girl in a gentle embrace. She bowed her head slightly and stood up gracefully, taking one last sip from her mug before placing it back down on the bedside table.

“You have all completed the destinies that I have set for you, but in the process, you have created your own fates. You were never supposed to have come back from this journey, but the bonds, whatever they may be, with the people in this room, are much stronger than the feeble strings of fate. I am sure that many more journeys are ahead of you, and that you will conquer them all.”

-III-

The alarm clock on Kagome's bedside table rang incessantly, the clanging seemed to echo inside her head like a stubborn reminder of summer's end. She slammed her hand down on the button, dragging her heavy body out of bed like a corpse. The television was on, the voices muffled by the sounds of her door, but she knew what they were saying… something about the start of a new school year. She pulled on her uniform and ran a brush through her dark hair, pausing only for a moment to see if she was passable.

The knock at the door came as she was scarfing down a waffle chased with a glass of milk. “Coming,” She forced out through a mouthful of waffle. Scooping up her backpack on her way to the door, she skidded across the wood floor. “Just a minute!” She called once again, almost choking on the last of the waffle as she crammed her shoes on. Panting slightly, she opened the door.

Kagome smiled, and the warm feeling she always got when she saw Inuyasha uncurled in her stomach. “Ready to go?” He asked her, and she nodded happily, noticing that he wasn't wearing his uniform at all, but a white shirt and red cargo pants. Some things never change, she thought to herself as she hopped on her bike. Inuyasha still could hardly ride his (She and Sango had decided to teach him to ride over the summer-there was still so much about just being a kid he didn't know), but he could manage.

She couldn't wait to see all of the friends she hadn't seen over the summer, and the teachers as well. Mr. Houchin had decided to retire early after becoming infatuated by traveling, and Miroku had taken up his job. He had promised Sango that he would wait until she had finished high school before going forward with their relationship, but Sango had made it clear that she was going to a university after graduating.

Kikyo had started her own law office, and in a strange twist of fate, had started dating Kouga. She was much to busy with her new job to visit, but she and Kagome often exchanged letters. Kouga had finished his internship, and for now had decided to stay on in the hospital for a while.

Sesshomaru had just released his new fall clothing line, called “Dance of the Wind”, and in an interview with a prestigious magazine, he had been quoted as saying the theme of the line was “freedom.” The bigger news from the fashion designer was the new woman who he had escorted to the runway debut of his line, and every event since. She was quite a mystery, and no one seemed to know who she was.

Inuyasha and Kagome were dating, and though her mother was doubtful, Inuyasha proved to be quite a bit more mature than he had originally seemed. The two hadn't decided what they would do when high school was done, but there was time before that, and like Midoriko had said, many more journeys to travel on the road of life.

-Author's Notes-

Well, I guess this will be my last hoorah for this series. Thank you all for everything, whether you were an obsessive reader or just happened to read this story every now and then. Looking back on the beginning of this story, I really think that like my characters, I've made quite a journey of my own. I hope that I can apply everything that I learned about myself while writing this series to my next one, and I wish above all else that somewhere in the deep recesses of this tangle of words that you found something new as well. Thank you all so very much.