EPILOGUE
3:10 PM Tuesday April 14th 2012, Tokyo.
The doorbell rang. Mrs.
Higurashi answered. "Hello?"
"Hello, is Higurashi
Kagome at home?" asked a twenty-something young man. A woman
stood at his side clutching a package tied up with brown paper.
"She's just getting
back from the shrine, would you like to come in?"
They were escorted inside
and seated in the living room. Mrs. Higurashi went to get tea.
The visitors looked around the room and waited. They muttered
to themselves about the old, rusty-looking sword hanging on the
far wall in a place of honor.
From upstairs they heard
a commotion and a child's laughter.
"Come back here you
little demon!" a young man's voice shouted in a playful
tone. A red ball bounced down the stairs. A young boy appeared
at the top and looked surprised and a little scared to see strangers
in his house. His hair was white.
"Sota, make sure he
doesn't fall down the stairs!" another man's voice called.
"I'm on top of it!"
Sota scooped him up and noticed the strangers. "Oh, hi!
Are you waiting for someone?"
They stood and greeted him,
announcing again who they were there to see. Sota introduced
his little friend. "This is my nephew, Yousuke. Say hi,
kiddo."
The boy hid behind him. They laughed.
"My sister should be
here any second."
They nodded and were about
to ask about the old sword on the wall when a young woman dressed
in full Priestess attire rounded the corner. The boy beamed and
ran to her.
"Mama!"
Kagome put her hand on his
head and gawked at the strangers.
"Hello," the man
smiled pleasantly and began. "You must be Kagome."
She nodded, unable to speak.
Her son noticed her unease and watched the strangers, trying
to see what his mother saw. Usually when there was bad energy
or evil about, he could feel it too. Yousuke clutched her gown
and furrowed his little brows.
"My name is..."
the man began.
"Miroku!!!" Kagome
shouted at last. She pointed at them in disbelief. "Miroku
and Sango!"
A commotion was heard from
upstairs. A man with short, black hair appeared at the top. "Kagome!?
What's going on!?" He too looked where she was pointing.
"Holy shit!"
He leapt over the banister
and landed with a thud. "It CAN'T be!"
The strangers looked warily at each other. "Well, those
ARE our names... but how did you know them?"
"You're not Miroku..."
the man asserted. "The voice is too high."
"Then... who are you?!"
Kagome kept a hand on her boy. Sota looked confused.
"I'm Honda Miroku, this
is my sister, Sango. We've come to deliver this to you."
Sango extended her arms and
handed the Priestess the package. "It has been handed down
in our family for countless generations. We were instructed to
give it to a woman named Higurashi Kagome in the spring of the
year 2012." Her voice trembled a bit in anticipation.
Yousuke was picked up by
his father and watched his mother like a hawk. Kagome took it,
asked them to have seats and opened the wrapping. Inside was
a worn, ancient book. On the cover it read: Inuyasha - Sengoku
O Togi Zoushi.
"What....?" Kagome
grinned in disbelief and opened the cover. "Dear friends,
we miss you more than can be said, but have decided to allow
you to miss us less," she read the introduction. "Herein
please find the details of our lives and the story you have given
us: the story of Inuyasha and the quest for the Shikon no Tama
as told by those who experienced it. You will be in our hearts
always. Love to you Kagome and Inuyasha, from Sango, Miroku
and Shippou!"
"Please!" Honda
Miroku begged. "We've lived with this tale all our lives.
Tell us. Is this... real? Was there really a fox demon named
Shippou? Was there really an Inuyasha!?
"Che." Inuyasha
grinned and adjusted his son on his hip. "You're lookin'
at him."
"Is this true?"
Sango squinted. "You don't look like Inuyasha...."
Her brother flipped to a page with an illustration.
"Oh my God! Look!"
Kagome pointed. "It's my Polaroid!"
The watercolor rendition
even had the proper white border. Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippou,
Miroku and Sango were depicted fairly well in the crude painting.
Her sailor-fuku was a little misrepresented, but it was close.
The Honda siblings were in
shock. "So this all really happened!? You are that Kagome
and Inuyasha!?"
"Uh huh," Inuyasha
smirked. "But... those days of action and adventure are
over now..." He gave his son a light noogie.
"Thank goodness!"
Kagome added.
The strangers talked into
the evening and by the time they left, they were friends.
Kagome and her husband
Inuyasha said good night to the Hondas, agreeing to meet a week
later and put their son to bed.
"Mama, Papa," Yousuke
whispered. "If Papa is a hanyou am I a hanyou too?"
They gave each other a glance.
Inuyasha kissed him on the forehead. "We'll talk about
it tomorrow. It's past your bed time."
The five year old wrapped
himself tightly in his comforter and dreamt of chasing demons
with his parents.
And so it went for many more happy years. It would be another decade before action and adventure paid a visit to the Higurashi Shrine... but that's another story.
GLOSSARY : Sailor Fuku = Japanese Schoolgirl shirt
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