I Wish For Tomorrow

A/N: This is it! The last chapter!

---

Aniue - Big Brother
Arigatou - Thank You
Hanyou - Half Demon
Ima Made Arigatou - Thank you for everything
Miko - Priestess
Ningen - Human
Youkai - Demons

---

Chapter VIII
The Beginning of the Rest of Their Lives

"This is the end, Jaki!" Midoriko turned to Kagome. "Kagome, I'm weak. You know that. Help me defeat the Time Demons. They've tampered with time far too long."

Kagome nodded and stood by Midoriko's side. Inuyasha watched, clutching the useless Tetsusaiga in his hands. "Inuyasha," Midoriko said, turning her head. "Don't interfere unless you want us all to die." He frowned, but stood back and let the women fight.

Kagome felt an unnatural calm drift into her body. It didn't seem right that, right in the middle of a battle of immense importance, she felt so calm.

Don't worry, a voice whispered inside her head that Kaogme recognized at Midoriko's. I'll take care of everything.

Midoriko and Kagome held stretched their arms towards Jaki and the other Time Demons, hands poting vertically at them. The Time Demons watched with fear, even Jaki was stupefied. He'd never seen Midoriko before, the one who'd imprisoned him here four hundred years ago. The great demon lord was powerless at the sight of the woman so pure, purer than Kagome, whom he had fought easily.

"It ends," Midoriko said, and their hands glowed the same bright white. "You will torment the worlds no longer. Kagome and Inuyasha will live together happily, and time will continue you turn without your tampering with all of its evils, driving them towards even more hatred and unhappiness. Lord Jaki of the Time Demons, you end now!" Twin beams shot out of Midoriko and Kagome's hands, directed at the Time Demons.

But Jaki was an experienced fighter, and he leapt out of the way. Barely, but he dodged just the same. The other Time Demons screams as their souls were purified, and, being creatures of evil, they dissolved into ashes and blew away. Jaki snarled and leapt at Midoriko, gnarled hands around her delicate neck in an instant.

"Heh heh heh!" he laughed. "Evil always wins, fair miko! You end here!" His claws dug into her ivory throat, staining it red with blood.

"Midoriko-sama!" Kagome gasped. She leapt at Jaki and wrenched at his greasy body with little avail.

"Kagome," Midoriko choked. "Bow of..purity...Use it.." A bow and a single arrow materialized in Kagome's hands, and she looked at them, dumbfounded.

"You don't mean to..kill you?" she asked, looking the older miko in the eye.

"It's the..only way.." She gave a small scream as Jaki, oblivious to all else, burrowed his claw further into her throat.

"Ha! Foolish ningen," he laughed. "You thought you could defeat me? I, Jaki, lord of the Time Demons? What foolishness! I shall end it here, killing the purest of the mikos!"

By that time Kagome had strung the arrow and pointed it at the Time Demon, and Midoriko. Jaki turned his head to laugh in her face, but was met by the glowing pink light of the purity arrow. He screamed in his defeat and dissolved into ashes just like his underlings had.

Kagome rushed towards Midoriko but stopped when she saw what was happened. The miko had turned into the Shikon no Tama, and the storm inside of it had quelled. Kagome touched the little orb, but it vanished upon contact.

Arigatou, Midoriko's voice said. At long last the war between humans and youkai is over. Shikon no Tama has been destroyed and it will no longer curse any of the worlds. Kagome, Inuyasha, you have fulfilled your destiny. And now you must alter your fates. You've earned it. You've proven your love to one other. You've proven, in the eyes of a great miko, that you love one another with all of your hearts.

Jikanjiku, your brother will rest in peace. His spirit may come and visit you as often as he likes. I believe you've paid for the crime you committed four hundred years ago. You will continue you guard the Gates for all of eternity, but now their is no evil to constantly hamper you.

Inuyasha had stepped over to Kagome and taken her hand when Midoriko had begun to speak, and now they looked up in wonderment. Their time was nearly up. They were both so unbelievably tired. Kagome especially; she had done an amazing exorcism just then, and it sapped her strength.

Jikanjiku cried, for when Midoriko addressed her, her brother had faded away. "Aniue..I'm so sorry."

"But..we haven't any time left to find our fates up there," Inuyasha said. "What are we going to do? Just die here? After all of this?"

It's alright, Inuyasha, Midoriko said. I'll take you there.

A blinding white light engulfed the three. When it faded and their eyes readjusted to the dimness of the Gates of Time and Fate, Kagome and Inuyasha felt fooded with a warmth they couldn't quite comprehend. But they knew. Jikanjiku composed herself and explained.

"If you touch it, you will understand what you have to do," she said. "Twist the strands just enough to change that one factor and it will be done. This is where we part. Farewell, Kagome the Miko, Inuyasha the Hanyou." She embraced them both. "It had been fun knowing the two of you."

"You've been a great help, Jikanjiku," Kagome said, hugging the elf back. "Arigatou. Ima made...arigatou."

"Yeah..thanks," Inuyasha said awkwardly, stiffly patting the elf on the back.

And Jikanjiku disappeared from their lives forever. They would never forget her, of course. The anguish and kindness of the elf was too much to ever forget. But they had other things to look forward to.

Inuyasha and Kagome looked to one another and reached to touch their intertwined strands, and everything that had happened in their lives since they had met all that time ago.

And they understood. How, they couldn't explain. But they comprehended what it was they had to do.

Inuyasha the hanyou adjusted his strand in the slightest, and Kagome followed in suit. A familiar bright light engulfed them once again, and the two lovers were transported to Kagome's world, where they would begin the rest of their lives.

~~~

Kagome and Inuyasha found themselves at the Bone Eaters Well. The well that they knew too well, the well that led them to one another's time. But now...

"This is my time," Inuyasha said, turning to look at his beloved. Their wings had disappeared, now that they served no purpose. Kagome looked up at him. He was still her Inuyasha. "I'll live as long as you do. I have a human lifespan, now." She smiled. A clawless hand cupped her face.

"I'll miss your ears," Kagome said, twinkling up at him. "But it's a small sacrifice to make, since I'll be with you for the rest of my life." He silenced her with a gentle kiss on the lips.

This was now. This was the beginning of the rest of their lives.

---

And that's it! ;.; I thought it was a neat little series. I hoped you enjoyed it. n_n I doubt I'll write an epilogue, but it's a possibility. If I get enough reviews. XP