Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all of it's characters are property of the brilliant Takahashi-sama and I claim no ownership of them. Only the story belongs to me.
Summary: Book 2 in the Alpha Pack Mates series. A new pack member, blossoming romances, a wedding, completion of a quest, and learning how not only to be a pack, but also to be a family. Find out what else is awaiting the inu-tachi and get answers to some questions from Alpha.
Pairings: Inuyasha/Kikyou, Sango/Miroku, Sesshoumaru/Kagome.
Follows: The Anime and movies.
"spoken" 'thought' (translations)
AN: Alright this is the last chapter for They are Pack. This is also the last story I will be posting on a single spark. From now on all of my Kag/Sess stories will be at dokuga(dot)com and all my stories at fanfiction(dot)net. If you haven't read it already there's a FAQ on my ff(dot)net profile that should answer any questions you may have. Hope to see you at my next stories The Void and whatever I end up naming that second one lol.
Special thanks to my betas PockyThief, Kiyota and Ethereal Siren.
Epilogue
The next morning I was woken up with the sun, despite the fact that I hadn't had very much sleep the night before. Him knowing I had gotten to bed late, did not stop Inuyasha from shaking my shoulder, mere moments after dawn. "What do you want Inuyasha?" I demanded, opening my eyes to glare at him.
"Come outside Kagome, we need to talk." he told me before straighting up and heading back outside. Not liking his tone in the least, I quickly jumped up off of the futon and hurried out after him, not even bothering to get dressed. Once outside, I found Inuyasha sitting down next to the fire pit as he tried to get it started.
As I neared, he glanced up and gave me a once over. Raising an eyebrow at me, he wondered, "Why didn't you get dressed?" Sending him a glare, I moved to sit down next to him and helped get the fire going.
"Inuyasha, you woke me up at dawn, told me we needed to talk in a very serious tone of voice and you expect me to take the time to get dressed? Now what did you want to talk about Inuyasha?" I questioned once the fire was going and I turned my full attention to him.
"I think it's time to get rid of the jewel. The way things are going, it's not going to be too long before the pack grows and with this many kids already, it would be a good idea to prevent some demons from attacking. And the jewel is nothing more than a beacon."
"I agree Inuyasha. Let me make one more trip to the future to say goodbye and we can call a meeting tonight. With the time that's past, maybe someone will be able to come up with a selfless wish this time." I told him with a smile before standing and making my way back toward my hut to get dressed.
"I'll cross over to make sure it's safe, be ready to go when I get back." Inuyasha called back to me and I turned back to nod at him before going inside. Deciding it would be best to give Souta the chance to say goodbye as well, I made my way over to the boys' room. Noticing Sesshoumaru was absent from his usual spot, I shrugged and decided not to worry about it for now.
"Souta." I called from their doorway as he was finishing putting on his shoes, seems they had woken up already. Turning his attention to me, he waited for me to continue. "I'm going to make one last trip to the future to say goodbye, figured you might want to come. If so be ready, I'll be leaving once Inuyasha gets back."
"Okay onee-chan, be right out." he told me with a smile as he went back to tyeing his shoes. Heading back to my room, I quickly got dressed and headed back outside where I found Souta waiting.
"We'll be back soon, listen to the adults." I told the kids with a smile before Souta and I began walking over to the well just as Inuyasha had returned.
"It's safe." he told me and with a nod I reached up to take the rosary off of around his neck. Turning to Souta, I quickly put it around his neck, mentally reminding myself to not say sit.
"We'll be back in a couple of hours. Anything I should pick up while there?" I questioned as I turned to glance at everyone. Shouts of 'ramen', 'crayons', 'shampoo', and a host of others things could be hear at the same time. Laughing I said, "So a normal supply run then?" Everyone just nodded in reply. "Alright, see you guys in a bit."
Giving Inuyasha a quick nod, I turned and jumped into the well, the bright, blue light surrounding me instantaneously. Behind me I can hear Souta say goodbye as well before jumping in after me.
As I climbed out of the well, I turned back to help Souta up. Giving him a slight smile, I walked over to open the well house door and almost ran into Ayumi. 'Oops.' was my only thought as she looked a me strangely before glancing over at the well. "I was just in here a minute ago, Kagome-chan, how did you get in here?"
"Why don't we go inside and I'll explain." I told her with a smile as I started walking towards the house. Just as I was about to open the door, it opened to reveal my aunt standing there.
"It's time isn't it?" she questioned after glancing at Souta and I. Guess it's not too hard to figure out since I normally come back with Inuyasha or alone.
"Yes aunt Sakura." I told her with a smile and she moved out of the way so we could enter. Saying something about making tea, she headed back toward the kitchen. "Let's go sit in the front room." I decided as I began making my way toward the couch. Glancing over where my grandfather's chair used to be, I took a deep breath to prevent myself from crying and began telling Ayumi everything that had happened from the day I fell down the well to the present.
By the time my aunt walk back into the room, carrying a tray full of tea and snacks, Ayumi had been caught up entirely on the last four years of my life. "So all those times you stayed home from school sick?" she wondered after a moment.
"I was really back in the past, though I was never really sure why everyone bought all of the illnesses, some of them I wasn't enough old enough to get." I told her with a slight laugh.
"Yeah I thought some of them was weird, but I don't get it Kagome-chan, we are your friends, how come you never told us the truth? Didn't you trust us?" Ayumi questioned, the hurt evident in her voice.
"I trust you Ayumi, but truthfully I don't trust the other two not to gossip about it. You know how they can be. And if it was just about me, I would have told you in a second, but I had the others to worry about. And while I knew they couldn't use the well to get back into the past, what was to stop them from trying to capture Inuyasha and do experiments on him?"
"Okay, I guess I can understand that, but if that's the case, why are you telling me now?" Ayumi wondered, clearly confused.
"Like I said, Ayumi-chan, I do trust you and after today it won't matter. This is the last time I am coming back to this time."
"That's what your aunt meant by 'it's time'. But why can't you keep coming back?"
"You know the jewel I was telling you about?" I questioned and waited for her to nod before continuing, "That's what allows me to travel through time and we are about to wish it away. Once it's gone, I won't be able to go back into the past if I come back here and I decided I wanted to live out my life there."
"But how did Inuyasha and Souta get through the well?"
"This." I explained as I held up the rosary around Souta's neck. "This connects them to me and allows them to come through much like the jewel does for me."
"Well why not just use one of those yourself?" she questioned and I could tell she was just grasping a straws, anything to keep me being able to come back to visit.
"It won't work. It's hard to explain but think about it this way. Would it make any sense to connect myself with myself? That's pretty much what it would be doing and I can't take the chance of not being able to go back. I've got too many people depending on me back there and here has too many bad memories. Don't get me wrong Ayumi-chan, I'm really going to miss you and aunt Sakura, and as much as you want me here, they need me there more.
"They look to me as they leader, come to me for advise, trust my word above all else. Even though it is my fault their lives got screwed up so much. All because I shattered the jewel and even though they don't blame me for it, I still blame myself. I will spend the rest of my life making it up to them, if that's what it takes. But even this isn't what makes me stay there, I just belong there. I can't really explain it, you've just gotta trust that I made the right choice.
"There I can help make a difference. I can save lives, stop evil from destroying the world, heal the wounded, teach others to have more tolerance to those that are different. And maybe, just maybe, I can make enough difference so that for what ever reason there are no more demons in this time, gets changed. I truly believe that in order for the world to be in balance, they have to be here too. There are a lot of amazing demons I met in my travels and it kills me every time I come back here and I can't sense a single one.
"Inuyasha, Shippo, Kirara, Kouga, Sesshoumaru, Jinenji, Jaken and so many others, all gone. It's not fair, after everything they did, they risked, they gave up to save this ungrateful world, not a single word is spoken about them in the history books and they are long forgotten. Since I started going back and learned that demons were in fact real at one time, I began searching every history book I could find, even ones just on legions, there's not one single word about them.
"There's not even anything about Miroku or Sango, or any of the other humans I know. I refuse to allow them to be forgotten, to be wiped off the face of the earth as though they were never here to begin with. I will do what ever it takes to ensure the demons survive this time around and every day I write in my diary, so that this time they will not be forgotten. So I want you two to do me a favor, in one year from now, I want you to go down in the well. There will be a loose brick, in it will be my finished book, stories from over the years.
"If for some reason I am unable to keep them alive, I want you to make sure the world does not forget them. Does not forget everything they did to ensure this world did not fall to ruin." I told them passionately before reaching up to wipe the tear tracks from my cheeks. I breathed a sigh of relief once they had both nodded their heads.
"Why wait a year though? Wouldn't it be there already if you've already made the decision to do so?" Ayumi wondered confused.
"Time is a fickle thing." I told her laughing. "Some times it takes a while for it to catch up with itself. And since I will probably be changing a lot of the past, it may take some time for everything to fix itself. We should be heading out, I don't want Inuyasha to get worried since he can not come to get me. I'm going to miss you guys." I told them as the tears started in again and I stood up to embrace them.
Wiping the last few remaining tears off of my cheeks, I climbed out of the well, helping Souta up after me. Right away I could tells the others knew I had been crying, but I just waved off their worries. Saying goodbye to my aunt and Ayame had been hard, just like I knew it would. It's not easy leaving you life and family behind, even with knowing you would have a new one here.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to remove the rosary from around Souta's neck and placed it in one of my pockets. "You're not putting them back?" Inuyasha wondered confused. I couldn't help but smile at his confused expression.
"There's no point anymore anija-chan." I told him with a smile, which only served to confuse him even more. "You don't need them anymore to go back into the future after today." I explained as I removed my backpack and handed it over.
"But what if I transform again?" he wondered and around me I could see the others nodding their heads in agreement.
"I'm pretty sure your sword will prevent that now." I assured him, though the look he was giving me clearly stated he wasn't assured. "Remember what Totosai said? He told us the sword wasn't strong enough because it was using one of your fangs rather than your father's, but you're strong enough now Inuyasha. You've surpassed what you father wanted of you and besides we can just have Sesshoumaru knock you out if I'm wrong." I told him, laughing at his expression.
Hearing a slight snort from Sesshoumaru, I turned to him with a smile. "Ah don't worry Sesshoumaru, you surpassed what you father wanted a long time ago." I assured him, to which he raised one elegant eyebrow.
"Explain."
"When you were able to revive Rin with your sword, you became the great demon your father wanted you to be."
"I was merely testing the sword." he replied, not buying my explanation for a moment.
"You can tell yourself that all you want Sesshoumaru, it won't make it true. It may have been what you wanted to believe at the time, but your sword works like Inuyasha's does. It will only work when trying to protect or help humans. I know this because your father wanted you to learn compassion toward humans, that's why he gave you 'that' sword. The fact that it worked means, whether you know it or not, you wanted to help Rin."
"Alright kids, why don't you go play. It's time for the adults to have a meeting." I told them with a smile before I started heading toward the fire pit. As I sat down, I turned back to the others to find Jaken looking between the fire, where the others were now sitting down, and where the kids were playing. "Go play Jaken." I told him with a smile and laughed as he nodded before rushing off. Guess playing with the kids was the lesser of the two evils to him.
"Okay so we need to come up with a selfless wish to get rid of the jewel. Inuyasha brought up this morning that with the way the pack will be expanding soon and with the number of kids we already have with us, keeping it around is just asking for trouble."
"But won't you miss your friends and family on the other side, Kagome-chan?" Sango questioned, glancing over at Kagome with sympathy-filled eyes.
"Of course I will Sango-chan, but this needs to be done and they understand. I mean how long are you two going to put off having children? It won't be safe to do so until the jewel is gone." Kagome told her, smiling as the question caused her to blush and Miroku to smirk like the pervert he is.
"I have the perfect wish." Kikyou said after a moment, causing everyone to look over at her in question.
"It's not to turn Inuyasha human is it? Cause that wouldn't be selfless." Sango pointed out, casting a worried glance in Kikyou's direction.
"No, it's not to turn Inuyasha human. Or full demon for that matter." Kikyou replied casting a glance his way before turning back to Kagome. Sending a glance Inuyasha's way, Kagome waited until he nodded before turning back to Kikyou and handing her the Shikon no Tama.
Though she whispered too softly for any of the humans to hear, the demons heard her wish loud and clear, and even Sesshoumaru was hard pressed to stop the smile from forming on his face. "I wish that Kagome is able to find the happiness she has helped others to find."
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