Never Say Goodbye
WARNING: THIS IS EXTREMELY SAD. IT DOES NOT END HAPPILY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
It had been a good long run of over 40 years, InuYasha thought as he watched the sun go down that day. Kagome had come back, Naraku had been vanquished, they'd married and managed to raise three beautiful quarter-youkai children, the youngest of which was the equivalent of twenty now. Kaede was long gone to join her sister, having passed just days after their daughter was born. They'd named her Kaede in honor of the wise miko. InuYasha had passed his robe of the fire rat down to his oldest son when he'd reached maturity, and now wore shrine attendant's robes, though of course he wore red in place of blue. Tessaiga remained on his hip at all times, though the past decades had been quite peaceful. He ran his hand absently over the rough cords of the handle, thinking over the events of his life.
His son had come into the world not long prior to Kagome's 21st birthday. He was a spitting image of his father in every way but his eyes, which were exactly his mother's eyes in every detail. He was, in fact, so like his father in every way growing up that Kagome had often called him "little Dog". Two and a half short years later, another son joined their family, delighting the twins, who by then were getting quite big. They quickly volunteered to care for the new baby, a black-haired and golden-eyed bundle of joy—until, that is, he learned to crawl. All bets were off as to what the two boys would be up to (or into) next. Kagome swore off children for a while after that, but, just five unbearably short years later, their precious daughter had been born in the middle of a thunderstorm on a new moon. To say everyone had been on edge was an understatement. But there wound up being no need to worry about her or Kagome. Both were fine, and if the oldest looked just like InuYasha, then the youngest was exactly like kagome in every way but her ears, which were more pointed, but not very noticeable.
They had spent long afternoons and even longer years raising and teaching their children everything they needed to know about the world and how to live among humans. Having helped take care of the children for a few years, Rin was well prepared for her own, and in time, the children had cousins to play with, though they aged so much slower as half-blood than quarter. Rin's two children looked very much like sesshomaru, having somehow inherited his crescent moon. The younger sibling had inherited his grandfather's jagged facial stripes as well, and no one knew how or why. Rin had aged gracefully and still looked young, probably a by-product of being a Daiyoukai's mate, but InuYasha couldn't shake the nagging thought that before long, her children would have to finish growing up without their mother.
That thought brought him back to the present rather jarringly as the last rays of sunlight faded and the moonless night set in. he felt his youkai blood receding as his ears shifted to the sides of his head and his hair faded to night-black. Tonight, he was human; tonight, he could be wounded easily; tonight, he could die. He looked to the ground in front of him, where the earth had been dug away by his own claws, forming a deep, wide pit. Kagome lay placidly at the bottom, looking for all the world to be peacefully sleeping. InuYasha knew better. He'd been there just hours before as his beloved mate had breathed her last, life claimed by something she called 'new-moan-ya'. She'd battled it for a few weeks, getting better, then worse again. He had always known this would come eventually. He'd feared this day since she'd grown ill while pregnant with their daughter, and with every passing year the fear grew stronger. They both had known he would long outlive her- he barely looked thirty, while she was late in her sixties. She'd often expressed jealousy of the fact InuYasha barely ever seemed to age. Not that it mattered now.
He knelt down by the side of the pit, which was lit by a single lantern sitting at the top, over Kagome's head, to light her face. "thank the Kami you chose tonight to go, Kagome,' he murmured, hopping nimbly down into the pit beside her. He'd widened it that evening, after the children had left again, back to their respective villages. Their daughter was the shrine maiden, keeping it in the family until Kagome would eventually be born, so long in the future…he sat down beside her cross-legged, pulling tessaiga from his hakama ties and setting it in front of him, hilt turned to the right side.
'Kagome…' he murmured, not turning his eyes from the sheathed katana in front of him, 'I promised I'd always be there. You might hate me for that promise now, but it's one I intend to keep.' He shifted, sitting up on his knees, and reached forward, taking the sheath in his left hand and the handle in his right, drawing the blade out with a barely audible rasp. Once it was free, he put the sheath down again, taking the hilt in both his hands. He knew that a puncture through the gut was survivable, at least for him; he'd survived such an injury multiple times. He had to act quickly and thoroughly. Slowly, methodically, he turned the blade in his grip until the point of tessaiga rested against the center of his chest, razor-sharp. It would not transform tonight, but that would not be necessary anyway. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was to come. No matter what, this was going to hurt. 'gomen ne, Kagome,' he breathed.
Tessaiga did its work flawlessly. InuYasha let out a terrible, gurgling gasp as his heart, so vital these 250-odd years of his life, stopped suddenly. He had just enough strength left to pull it back out before it dropped from nerveless human fingers, clattering loudly against the sheath on the ground. He shifted, more of a jerking twitch, and collapsed to the ground. He turned his head to the side and reached fumblingly for Kagome's cold fingers. He managed a tiny, slightly bloody smile before his deep brown eyes glazed over.
The scent of blood on the still night air woke Kaede. She jumped from her futon instantly and ran down the steps from the shrine building, running for the edge of town, already fearing where it was coming from.
'OTOU-SAN!'