Disclaimer I don't own Inuyasha all characters from the show belong to Rumiko

Rated: T for cursing

'Italics' - thoughts

"Speaking"

A Demon's Life

Chapter 8: Wedding and Plans for the Future

Western Lands, 1593 (Three Months Later)

"Stop fidgeting and looking so pensive Inuyasha, she is still getting dressed. The attendants will let us know when she is on her way to the wedding hall so be patient," Kagome calmed her best friend.

Inuyasha huffed, "I know, but why do I have to wear this crap," he pinched the fabric of his bright red haori that had intricate designs stitched along the lapel and sleeves. His fire rat robes had been neatly folded and left in his room.

Kagome chuckled at his discomfort.

"No woman let alone a demoness wants to mate a demon wearing fire rat robes that haven't been washed in weeks except for the few occasions where you end up being thrown into a lake by Lord Sesshoumaru. Really I do wonder how you managed to land such a great catch like Nanda," she shook her head.

Nanda, the half dog half wolf demon is a sweet demoness. She is one of the healers of Sesshoumaru's palace and apparently had grown quite close to her best friend during the war twenty-five years ago, when he had been injured for a few days and under her care. According to Inuyasha, their courting had only begun three years prior after decades of denying his attraction to her. She was proud to hear from him that he worked on letting Kikyo go for good in his heart. He had loved her, but she had wanted to change him, while Nanda much like Kagome loved and accepted him as he is. Except she didn't have nearly as fiery of a temper as his soon-to-be mate.

Inuyasha knew he and Kagome would have never have worked out. He could readily admit now that he had been blinded by his first love and the subsequent betrayal that led to him being stuck to the Goshinboku for fifty years. So the chip on his shoulder that had just begun to thaw under Kikyo had become a giant block of ice, when Kagome set him free. And by the time he realized how great Kagome was he knew she no longer held those same affections. He knew she would always love and care for him as a friend, but as a lover and mate it just wouldn't have been possible for them. His imaturity and crass actions had seen to that.

Though he'd still worried about settling down the promise to protect Kagome before and after she became a demon still ever present in his mind. However, he learned that his days as her sole protector weren't necessary. Kagome was way stronger now. Actually she had always been strong, he just been a fool and held her back from her great potential with her controlling and insecure self afraid that if she became stronger she might turn cold and leave him like Kikyo. Another mistake on his part. Cause Kikyo was Kikyo as Kagome is just Kagome. The past forty-six years since Sango and Miroku's death had shown him that. He left Edo to travel with Kagome and Shippo from time to time, when he wasn't needed in the village. And those times he could only watch as she moved with grace and deadly precision taking down rogue demons before either he or Shippo could sense them. The teenage girl he'd protected for years from bandits, demons, hell even creepy crawly bugs had blossomed into a powerful demoness, who despite less years spent as one than he who was born one, moved strategically and confidently when they took on the rare jobs that involved complex plots and enemies that required them to involve the taija's descendants who had revived the demon slayer techniques. He honestly tried to deny it, but over and over she proved that she know longer needed his protection anymore.

Sure she would always need his friendship, but she could hold her own and didn't need his hovering and worry-wart self. So when Sesshoumaru brought Rin back to spend her last day of life with her descendants, he told Kagome he would be going with him that the village would be changing and while he knew the village would never reject the half-demon who had protected them for almost eighty-five years it was time to move on.

"I really don't know sometimes, she's special though Kagome. It is different from what I had with Kikyo, but I am truly grateful for that. Our relationship wouldn't have lasted I see that now with how easily we were tricked by Naraku to betray one another. Kikyo wanted to change me, just as I wanted her to let loose from her strict upbringing and be free like me and forget leave her duties behind. Similar to what I did with you as far as your schooling and letting you train with Kaede and Miroku. But with Nanda I can be myself and she loves my brash and crass attitude, but still pushes me every day to express my feelings instead of bottling them up and lashing out aggressively. She also calms my beast, while I love how much effort she puts into perfecting her craft and making new concoctions to heal her patients. Although I do try to keep her from over-working herself with patients and not constantly stressing when she can't save every life. It took way to long for me to recognize how immature in the past and that I caused you a lot of heartache and headaches. I never really said it aloud, but I truly do regret and I am sorry for all of the pain I caused you. I knew you weren't Kikyo and yet I kept fooling myself into thinking just because you were her reincarnation and had similar features you should think and act like her. A bigger part of me let my stupid insecurities keep you from progress afraid you would turn into Kikyo and eventually leave me too. But you're not her and she could never have been you. You were the first to really show me that it was okay to be a half demon; to accept who I am. You taught me about to be kinder, how to make lasting bonds of friendship, and to cherish those meaningful bonds. I want you to know I am grateful that you put up with my shit and stayed my friend through it all and to know that me marrying Nanda today would have never have been possible if you weren't the person you were and still are whether as a human or demon. And if Nanda and I have a daughter one day I would be honored to name her after you and hope she is half as great as you are."

Kagome felt tears well up in her eyes at his heartfelt apology and felt honored he would name his future daughter after her.

She knew he was sorry for what had happened in their past with him constantly comparing her to Kikyo and flipping back and forth between them, but to hear him speak those words soothed a place in her heart where her fifteen year old self had hid those painful, heartbreaking memories.

"Thank you Inuysha it means a lot truly. You were my first love and are my best friend and shall remain so until the very end of my days. I forgave you a long time ago and am grateful that Nanda could allow you to voice them even if I already knew you regretted your words and actions back then without saying so. But it still means a lot to hear you say it. It brings me relief and makes me believe she truly is a special demoness to bring out this side of you," she wiped her eyes, just as an attendant came in to tell them the bride had arrived for the ceremony.

"Alright no more tears huh," she wiped away tears before they could mess up her makeup, "Okay lets get you out there and to your bride!"

Inuyasha smiled as he nodded, "Yeah, time to make her mine."

"Oh my god, you're such a guy! Sound just like Koga."

"Feh whatever woman. Koga wishes he could be half as good looking as me."

She shook her head as the walked towards the wedding hall.

Hours later Kagome sat under a copse of cherry blossom tree a good thirty feet away from the wedding reception partaking in demon sake in relative peace. The full moon bright above in the sky and reflected in the exquisite koi pond that separate her from the rest of the party. The glow from the lanterns strung up throughout the expansive gardens provided a beautiful ambiance to the area the lights reflecting off of the fishes scales swimming in the pond. The view made even more picturesque as Shippo fired off fireworks he'd brought with him from his last flight to Ming. The other youkai guests and a few trusted human guests carried on the jovial celebrations with their laughing, dancing, and all around drunken antics. Inuyasha had already left with his sweet mate hand in hand to consummate and finalize their mating in private. The wedding party would continue well on into the early morning and she was sure there would be more couples to be made tonight, or at the very least dalliances to be had.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the presence of a familiar youkai approaching and the crunching of grass.

"Sesshoumaru-sama I thought you had already retired for the night."

Said lord looked just as regal as ever, he inclined his head with his signature 'hn.' His physical appearance now looked to be near his mid-twenties now versus the nineteen year old image he had maintained for most of the years she had know him. It had been nearly fifteen years since she last saw him so it wasn't really that surprising. He looked more like his father now, remebering the portrait Inuyasha had shown him before of the great Dog General, InuTaisho.

"You've grown in power again," he spoke his baritone voice like smooth butter to her ears. "Impressive for only a century having passed. Most vixens it would have taken at least three to four hundred years to attain your level."

Her tails flicked off to the side of her, one curling around her leg, tinkling with the motion of the bells.

"Thank you Sesshoumaru-sama. Praise from you is a rarity so it is most appreciated," she waved her hand and a cushion appeared along with a cup. She extended towards him, which he accepted gracefully and sat down with one leg bent and leaned on the other raised knee. She leaned forward with her magical gourd, him extending his cup which she filled before refilling hers.

His eyes closed as his savored the sake that burst with flavor of some sweet fruit that was intermixed with the taste of spiced cherries. A bold flavor to say the least but not totally unappealing and quite strong which he preferred since as a higher lord and demon it took much to give him a nice buzz.

"This one heard news from your kit that you plan to leave Nippon to head to the mainland again," his amber eyes piercing as he gazed upon her.

The miko who had traveled behind his half-brother like a lost puppy had changed dramatically over the years. Hearing about her rebirth from Rin had been shocking enough even though he outwardly hadn't shown it. The woman had earned his respect with her bravery and bold mannerisms, but he found it far-fetched to think she had turned into a demon by a kami no less and had gone off to train with her kit. He simply believed that the woman had died during the final battle with Naraku and to spare his wards feeling they had told her a far-fetched tale to explain her absence from the group. It wasn't until the battle Komatsutchi that he even glimpsed the miko-demoness in her new form.

The battle had been raging and despite his stronger jaki which repelled the purity of the four dozen priests that were scattered amongst the battlefield, his army were not nearly as strong. He had been about to change to his primal form after witnessing his retainer being shot to death from these new handheld cannons that he now knew were called rifles, when blue fire crashed down incinerating some of the warrior priests trying to sneak up on him.

There fifty feet above the ground a large black six tail fox with blue flames with tendrils of pink and black surrounding its paws and blue stars dotting below its eyes and nearly on par in size with his own primal form spewed flames from its maw. His army were easily capable of moving from the path of destruction, but the human armies had to retreat that day. And when the black fox lowered to the ground before morphing into a young female vixen with an aura that was familiar and different at the same time his curiosity was piqued. Despite her primal form's size she was shorter than he would have imagined for vixen with six tails, standing at only five feet four inches. With six tails he assumed she had to be at least three centuries old and thought perhaps she had an illusion in place as vixens loved their magics and charms, but he sensed no guises from her. Which only made the demoness more impressive in his eyes, because to be so young and possess so much power as to achieve such a rank she had to be of high class daiyoukai blood and had considerable training and experience.

Hair a bluish black that flowed behind her nearly to her ankles with bangs that fell well past her budding bosom and framing her chunky face. Eyes different from any fox he had seen before; her eyes black slits with electric blue iris' and blue stars that seemed to twinkle as she grimly surveyed the battlefield. She wore no armor rather she wore a fire-rat kimono the bore eerie resemblance to his half-brother's only she wore a black kosode underneath and the attire was free of any wrinkles and black and white obi was tied intricately to complete the look. She held herself with grace like a true demoness of nobility, yet her feet were bare of any geta. Instead there were more bells upon her ankles and her claws on her feet were painted a bright blue like the fire she'd just spewed from her lips. Behind her, six sleek, black tails swished back and forth with tinkling bells attached to each. And when his brother injured appeared out of the hushed silence that had descended over the battlefield with her arrival and yelled out the miko's name his mask actually slipped momentarily, surprised to learn that his ward had indeed told the truth and that the miko was now a demoness.

Her childlike beauty had matured since then. The last vestiges of baby fat having almost left her, leaving behind a slender, heart-shaped face with striking cheekbones, eyes that held wisdom beyond her years, and he knew from earlier during the ceremony now stood nearly four inches taller than that first meeting after her rebirth. Granted he had seen her fifteen year prior when she came to bring some news of the political stirrings to the South and to see Inuyasha, but he'd been busy with paperwork and the alarming rate with which the humans were encroaching upon his lands to pay notice her appearance. And afterwards it was usually her kit who would come bringing any new pieces of important information and charms that had helped his people to hide from the humans so far. It had been something he would have scoffed at nearly a century ago at accepting, but now knew to be a necessity and was grateful for.

In his few centuries as a demon lord this past three decades had been most trying, even moreso than the spider hanyou had been. While there had been moments he felt challenges that came from his father's old foes and the few times his departed ward was targeted, he had the confidence he would pull through on top as he is the killing perfection and his goal supreme conquest. Now he felt less certain he would be, or at the very least those he had made an oath to shelter and protect. Thoughts of supreme conquest had tapered down with earning back his arm and achieving his own sword Bakusaiga. The loss of his retainer and many serving under his banner had lost their lives in the war and the raids that were happening more and more frequently at the border of his lands had taken its toll. While he would not say it out loud, his half-brother had done well with the allies he'd made during his journey for the jewel shards. Many of the taija had helped set up a network to ferry youkai who could not readily disguise themselves towards his lands, while the half demon Jineji whom they befriends helped keep his shiro supplied with herbs to held with the wounds his demon army had issues with healing. Even his father's old retainer, Myoga, who served Inuyasha helped provide his crow spies to provide a better warning system for armies coming their way faster.

And he knew those bonds hadn't been just because of the welp, but rather the miko who had been right beside him helping him forge said bonds.

The miko who was currently now sitting across from him. Now a powerful demon, whom he already owed several debts at this point in his life. As a demon of honor he would repay those debts, though how he had yet to truly figure out. As the vixen was already proficient in controlling her youki and fox magic. He wasn't all too sure if she would like to learn swordsmanship, or weapons training. What he did know was that she didn't desire riches, or fame so he left the debt open waiting for an opportunity to be presented to repay what was due. Which seemed like he may not be capable of fulfilling as she got stronger every year at an accelerated rate.

Already she had acquired two more tails since that battle as well and he was curious to know how that had come about as one every forty-fifty years was usually standard. After all he had been privy to witnessing one fox before achieving his seventh tail. The event had been a harrowing ordeal for the fox whose youki surged and threatened to engulf him as the power coalesced to create his new tail. And he had been nearly three hundred and sixty-two years old. Yet even now despite it being kept tightly under control and wrapped around her he could feel how immense her youki was and wondered what it would be like to feel it unleashed.

As a youkai lord and a high-ranking daiyoukai, he did not consider many to be his equal even a few of the cardinal lords he considered well beneath him, but he could admit Kagome was one of those few he considered his equal. And despite the outfit she wore tonight, her mannerisms and etiquette were impeccable in proper situations and she'd even kept him apprised of his ward's family through magical correspondences and letters when she visited them even after Rin's death. He would never admit it out loud but it hurt him greatly at the loss of his ward, who had become like a daughter to him. He had stopped his extended visits to her after her eldest son Maru married and had given his ward her first grandchild. However, when Kohaku passed away it was Kagome who sent him a letter stating Rin wished to see him at least once more, but his ward hadn't wanted to interfere with her father-figure's life by asking him to come thus neglecting his important duties in the West. Naturally he came and instead of seeing her one last time he decided to bring her back with him. After all, all of her children and grandchildren had long grown up and no longer needed her hovering over them constantly, and mostly he wished Rin to spend her last years in comfort with him.

He didn't regret letting her live in the village to live amongst the humans, because even though his ward had thawed out his heart. He knew her heart belonged to Kohaku since they'd first met and that he feared having her resent him by making her choose a demon mate to extend her life rather than a sedate and short human life. And in those last fourteen years of life he found that it was thank to Kagome that she had lived as long as she had. The woman had brought medicine and medical practices that help extend human lives. Not anything grandlike, but he knew most humans died at less than half the century unless they were holy people or nobility. However, all of Kagome's friends and family had live an extra twenty to thirty years beyond that. His little Rin had lived to be eighty-one and surprised and pleased him greatly to have that extra time with her.

"Yes, Inuyasha told me that he let it slip that I am from the future, but what he may not have told you is what my time is like," she glanced at him over the rip of her cup and saw he was listening intently so she continued. "I was born nearly four hundred years from now in the twenty-first century and in my timeline there were no demons, only humans. Youkai are seen as myths that humans created to explain away disasters and diseases. Even I felt the same and knew nothing of them outside of crazy stories my Ji-chan would tell us. That was until my fifteenth birthday when the ancient well on my family's shrine became active thanks to the Shikon Jewel being born inside me and Mistress Centipede being revived subsequently to pull me five hundred years into the past. I had even known I was a miko since most priests and priestesses in the future do not even possess active spiritual energy or miko-ki."

Sesshoumaru hadn't expected to hear that, he had indeed heard from Inuyasha that Kagome was from the future when he was speaking with the kit on one of his visits a few years back. Although, it had truly been Rin who told him first. But to hear there were no demons at all was mind-boggling to say the least.

Kagome glanced up at the moon and the stars twinkling above. A view that she would have never been able to see as clearly in the future from her hometown in Tokyo.

"I am not saying there are no demons, as the last time I was in the future I was still very much untrained. On the other hand, given that Inuyasha and I fought a pied piper and other ancient creatures who seemed to awaken after going to the past I began to think it possible they could just be in hiding. Especially given the charms my teachers and I worked on to help hide the youkai in this time. I was only still skeptical, because even with charms Inuyasha still should have been able to smell some of them. Yet he never did. Well to get to the point I know there are some events that cannot be changed or it could be disastrous effects for my timeline, but Shippo convinced me that as I have already made small changes even as I was traveling back and forth between both times a century ago I could help save the demon race from extinction," she eyed him trying gauge his thoughts.

'Will he scoff at the notion of demons becoming completely extinct?'

After all the Sesshoumaru she knew was prideful and thought demons better than humans. She hoped that the events from the war and these past few decades would help with showing him that her timeline could be a very real possibility if they did not act soon. And while she would do her best to achieve it on her own if he refused, she wanted to save as many as she possibly could and that couldn't be done with just her power and knowledge alone.

"Hn," Sesshoumaru pondered her words, "It is...quite unimaginable to this one's ears to think the youkai race extinct in your timeline due to humans. At least it would have been this one's thoughts a few decades ago, but much loss during and after the war of Komatsutchi along with the constant supply of reports to this one's desk of youkai villages being decimated by priests or human armies has allow this one to accept your knowledge of the future tidings of the youkai race. However, what would you have this one do? Supplies are strained as more seek refuge in the West and while this lord is capable of withstanding the reiki from these weaker holy people and even the paltry weapons they use against this one's people do not possess the same skill or overpowering youki to do the same," he queried her.

She had to not gape like a fish when her spoke. It seemed to unrealistic to be able to have a full conversation with Sesshoumaru like this. And felt a little disappointed it took the possible extinction of the youkai race to bring it about.

"Well I may have found a solution. Do you remember Horai Island, the island of half demons that only ever appeared every fifty years?"

His brows furrowed before raising, "You mean to do the same? Is it possible for you to do it?"

Kagome nodded, "I think I can, although I may need a little help. Actually it's why I came here. I mean sure I came to support Inuyasha's mating because he is my best friend, but mostly because I needed you to speak with your mother."

"My mother?"

"Yes, Inuyasha told me she lives in a palace in the sky that you can't find unless she allows it to be so and that she knows powerful and ancient magic. Well I happened to come across a few larger islands off the coast between her and Josean lands that could support the youkai population and with her expertise we could possibly create a safe haven for youkai that even in the future humans wouldn't be able to locate. It will take time I know as many youkai even no are stubborn and stuck in the old ways, but trust when I say it will only get worse. There are more lands, wholes continents past the Ming dynasty Sesshoumaru-sama with even greater inventions and weapons to come that will decimate this land and with it both demons and humans. As I said I can't change everything with human history, but perhaps I can change youkai history."

"Then this one must summon the great mother to have an audience with...and this one thanks you greatly Lady Kagome."

Kagome had to keep her jaw from dropping at the words of thanks or that the great demon lord Sesshoumaru had actually said her name.

"It's nothing, truthfully I am honored and so thankful for Shippo pleading to Inari-sama on my behalf all those years ago to save my life. Because now it means I can save his life and the lives of the rest of my family and friends. I have met and know many good, honorable demons and to know that because of my birth-race's bigotted ideals and the actions of a few of the worse members of demon society that they might not live saddened me greatly. Plus, I am a demon now and I wish to live a long life and see my birth family again. I know it will be a long wait and that they will be shocked, so I want to be able to stand before them with plenty of adventure and stories to tell them. I want them to be able to see the people who mean so much to me and helped me on my long journey back to them."

"Then this one shall assist you towards that goal," Sesshoumaru proclaimed.

She smiled and poured him another cup for the next coming days would be busy ones and they should relax now while they had this moment.

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