Once Upon a Stormy Eve by blockmatebee

The End

Chapter One: The End

It is not supposed to end this way, Kagome decides idly. She leans against the cold stone wall of the cave and stares into the pouring rain. It is not supposed to end this way at all. After the final battle, she is supposed to give the completed jewel to Inuyasha, she is supposed to tearfully bid farewell to her best friends and second family, she is supposed to return home. Maybe, by some fluke of destiny, Inuyasha is actually supposed to give the jewel back to her and maybe Kagome is actually supposed to wish for Kikyo's resurrection; her selfless wish caused the jewel to disappear into thin air as if it had never existed and had never nearly destroyed the known world. Maybe all of that is supposed to happen. But the well is certainly not supposed to stop working, she is certainly not supposed to be stuck in feudal Japan, and it is most certainly not supposed to start raining. It is not supposed to end this way, Kagome fumes, but it did and it does and now she and her group of ex-shard hunters are huddling in a cave to wait out the sudden summer storm. Along with Kikyo. Along with Lord Sesshoumaru, Rin, and Jaken who also happen to be seeking shelter in the cave. Though she has long since made her peace with the newly resurrected priestess as Inuyasha has with his brother, a certain awkwardness still lingers in the air. Thus, Kagome finds herself staring out into the rain in an effort to avoid said priestess while the brothers sit on opposite sides of the cave, their respective companions accompanying them.

It is not supposed to end this way.

"Kagome," Sango calls softly, "come sit by us near the fire. You'll catch a cold over there."

Kagome reluctantly returns to the group and takes her seat next to Shippou, her heart clenching a little as she sees Miroku and Sango, Inuyasha and Kikyo, all together, all happy. They are all happy, she notices. And why shouldn't they be? After all, Naraku is dead, the jewel is gone, the world is saved. Why shouldn't they be happy?

She sighs. Why shouldn't she be happy? Why isn't she happy? She realizes that the reason for her melancholy has surprisingly little to do with the well; the feudal era has long since replaced Tokyo as her home, and her second family consisting of her ex-shard hunters has somewhere down the road become her first and only family. The latter disturbs her. But after three years, the pain of being separated from her mother, grandfather, and brother has faded until it has become only a distant memory. That disturbs her as well. She hates thinking that she has abandoned them, that she has let go of them. She hates forgetting them.

It scares her sometimes, forgetting.

Another sigh. What is she going to do now? Naraku is dead, the jewel is gone, the world is saved. What is she going to do? It suddenly occurs to her that she had never once in her three year jewel quest thought about what she would do after the end. Perhaps she had never thought it would end, perhaps she had never thought she would see it to the end. Perhaps she hadn't wanted it to end.

But it has ended, it is the end, and now she is left with nothing.

Shippou crawls into Kagome's lap and tugs on her sleeve urgently. Maybe he has sensed that his surrogate mother, no, his mother, is uneasy and wants to comfort her as she has done so many times for him. Maybe he has heard her sighs that have gone unnoticed by the rest of the group, maybe he is worried for her. Either way, the young miko is soothed by his presence and flashes him a weary but genuine smile.

She had often wondered if it would be worth it. They had paid so much, they had given up, sacrificed so much, that she had often wondered if it would be worth it in the end. But as she stares at her companions, her companions who look happier than she has ever seen them, she realizes that it is, it is worth it. And she would do it again, she would do it as many times as needed with the same outcome to see them smiling and chatting the way they are now.

Miroku glances at her questioningly – Kagome always knew he was smarter than his lecherous ways – but she just smiles and announces that she is tired, that she will go to sleep. She moves to the back of the cave, Shippou at her heels, and pulls her sleeping bag out of her yellow backpack, placing it on the ground. She crawls under the familiar warmth and exhales exhaustedly as she feels her muscles slowly relaxing. Shippou sits near her and pats her head as she drifts off to sleep.

Unbeknownst to the kit and his mother, two pairs of eyes are watching them from the back of the cave, one pair slightly more concerned than the other.

"Is Kagome-onee-chan all right, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin whispers worriedly, turning her small body to look up at the demon lord.

"She is fine," he reassures her. "She is just tired."

"Rin-" She pauses. "I," she corrects, "I am glad because I like Kagome-onee-chan." She lowers her voice as if she is telling Sesshoumaru a great secret. "I like onee-chan a lot."

Sesshoumaru says nothing and merely continues watching the kit and miko. Despite the half-truth he tells Rin, Sesshoumaru knows that Kagome is not all right. She is not all right at all. It confuses him at first, her distress. He can think of so many reasons why a simple human miko as she should be happy, but even as he thinks of these reasons, he knows that she is not just a simple human miko. She has proved time and time again to be more than her species permits and, try as he might, he cannot help but look upon her as an equal, an ally, a friend.

In fact, he would not have even joined her war against Naraku at the last minute had it not been for her. For once in his life, he found his curiosity getting the better of him, curiosity for the time-traveling human miko, and before he knew it, he had pledged his allegiance to her and her cause. It was not so bad, he realizes now. He had not planned on getting close to her – she was supposed to be a tool with which he would use to rid the world of a great evil – but curiosity and fate kept throwing the two of them in the same direction and before long, a friendship was formed between the two unlikeliest of partners. He had not noticed before, but he realizes now that they had spent a great deal of time in each other's company prior to the final battle. He has come to a deeper understanding of humans through their meetings, perhaps something even akin to a mild toleration of the species. He has even patched up his relationship with his brother to the point where he no longer views the hanyou as a stain upon the great House of the Moon.

It is only because of their frequent meetings, their discussions about life, death, and everything in between that he is able to notice the barely discernible distress lingering on her aura now. But try as he might, he finds the cause of her unease ever elusive, and so he can only sit back against the stone wall and wait for her awakening.

"The rain's stopped for now, so we're going to go look for some food." Inuyasha states suddenly as he and the rest of the group stand and make their way out of the cave. Before he follows the rest, he stops and stares at Sesshoumaru uncomfortably, scratching his head as if to say something.

"Do you wanna, you know ... come with us?" He offers, a sheepish half-grin on his face.

Sesshoumaru almost smirks at Inuyasha's expression; he looks much younger this way, all embarrassed as if afraid of his elder brother's disapproval.

Sesshoumaru shakes his head. "I shall stay here and watch Kagome and the children."

Inuyasha looks surprised for a moment, but he soon nods and heads off after his companions, shooting his brother one last questioning glance before he disappears into the surroundings.

Sesshoumaru sighs.

It is quiet again. But not for long. His acute sense of sound picks up on Kagome's labored breathing even before the kit does and he is by her side in an instant, Rin trailing behind.

Her whimpers tug at his heart for reasons he does not quite understand and he places his strong, newly regenerated left arm (thanks to the miko in question) on her shoulder. Much to his pleasure and Shippou and Rin's relief, her cries cease at once and she slowly returns from her realm of dreams to blink dazedly at Sesshoumaru.

"Are you all right, Kagome?" He asks her, taking a seat next to the young woman.

"Um ... yeah, I'm fine." Kagome murmurs slowly, her eyes still slightly glazed over with sleep. She glances around the cave. "Where did everyone else go?"

"Inuyasha and the others have gone to find food." Sesshoumaru states plainly. "They shall be back in a little while."

Kagome says nothing and stares at the demon lord, a small smile forming on her lips. Sesshoumaru notices this and stares back, the question evident in his eyes.

Kagome laughs. "I just think it's funny how you actually call Inuyasha by name now."

Sesshoumaru gives a noncommittal grunt, earning him a playful punch from the miko.

"You've changed a lot, you know." She says, looking into his golden eyes that are as cold as ever, though she can see a spark in them that she has never noticed before. "You've changed in a good way, the best way." She adds.

"I like you better this way." Kagome decides, smiling when the demon lord's eyes widen slightly in surprise.

"Me too! Me too!" Rin shouts brightly, "Rin- I mean, I like Sesshoumaru-sama a lot too!" She nudges Shippou innocently. "Shippou too?"

Shippou stutters for a second, unsure of what to say, before inclining his head slightly as he has seen Sesshoumaru do so many times. The move is uncharacteristic to the kit and Rin squeals with laughter, launching herself at the boy happily.

Kagome feels her heart swell as she watches the children play and her previous doubt and unease for the future fades away slightly. She leans against Sesshoumaru and instinctively places her head on his shoulder when his arm ever so slightly wraps around her waist. She is still not happy, per se, but this is the closest she has felt to it in a long, long time.

Shippou and Rin stare at their respective parents and smile knowingly to each other.

As happy as Rin is with her Sesshoumaru-sama, she cannot help but long for a mother, a mother to tell her bedtime stories and sing her lullabies, a mother to pick flowers with, a mother like Kagome. And as happy as Shippou is with Kagome, he cannot help but long for a father, a father to teach him how to fight and protect, a father to show him what it means to be a man, a father like Sesshoumaru. They are two halves of the same whole, they realize, two parts of what could be a perfect family. Two parts of what will be a perfect family, they decide.

Thus, it is settled. The two children make it their personal mission to ensure the happiness of both the demon lord and the miko, a happiness the children are convinced that one cannot achieve without the other. They will work out the specifics of the plan later, but for now, they are content to leave the couple be, so they tell their parents that they are going outside to play. Neither Kagome nor Sesshoumaru notices the mischievous looks on their faces; Sesshoumaru nods and sends Jaken after them, and Kagome tells them to call if they need anything.

The children are gone. It is quiet again.

The demon and the miko sit in comfortable silence and wait for their companions to return. Occasionally, they chat about nothing in particular, but mostly, they are content to sit in each other's presence, enjoying the silence. It is not so bad, Kagome realizes. It is not so bad at all. She is still uneasy about her future, but for the time being, she lets herself forget, she lets herself relax. After all, she decides, the future can afford to wait a couple more days, at least until they make it back to Kaede's village. The future has all the time in the world, and now, so does she.

Kagome grins and breaks the silence. "You know, Sesshoumaru, three years ago, you never would've let me sit this close to you, let alone put my head on your shoulder!"

A shadow of a smile crosses Sesshoumaru's lips. "A lot can change in three years, Kagome. You know that better than anyone."

She laughs, the sound echoing slightly in the mostly empty cave. "I suppose I do, don't I?"

No, it is not so bad, Kagome decides as the pair once more lapses into silence.

Perhaps it is even supposed to end this way.

Perhaps it is supposed to end this way.

Pages: 3.25

Words: 2,278

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