A really, really short epilogue and I'm sorry. I'm just really occupied lately. I'm currently writing a story called Search and Destroy on , check it out, it's definitely my pride and joy by far. I have a link on my bio page that will take you there, though my screen name isn't the same on I hope you enjoyed this story. I might make…a better epilogue someday, but I just couldn't think of how to end this story, I've been working on it since forever…and now that it's over I'm like…whoa. Ok, for my Inuyasha fanfics…I might be putting them on the backburner for awhile, I'm really sorry, but I'm swamped with stuff right now. But I WILL come back when I've settled into a better grove and work on Murder Man and Ecstasy. I promise. I never quit anything; no matter how much I may personally hate it and think it sucks.
If you have a better idea for an epilogue then the one you're about to read, email it to me and I might consider doing it your way. M'kay?
EPILOGUE.
Spike tapped on the microphone, "Is this thing on?" He got a strange feeling of déjà vu as he heard his own echo. He looked out at the crowd, and although 4-C was darkly lighted he could still make out the silhouette of hundreds of people. He smirked. "Alright guys as you know tonight's free-for-freaks-Friday, so finally that little abnormality of yours comes in useful."
A few people laughed at this.
"Well anyway…everyone needs to get themselves a drink…and yes, we have alcohol and mixed drinks tonight, but I'm sorry, you can't buy any unless you have a stamp on your hand. No exceptions. I don't care if you're dying tomorrow."
He heard a few groans.
Spike sighed; he was still having problems getting used to the fact that he worked at 4-C now, almost everyone did…everyone who wasn't a PACK member. Oh he wasn't a very happy camper at this. He kept wanting to run out into the crowd and jump around…but no, he had to make announcements and tend the bar. He hated working, and the dead guy costume/uniform he had to wear was beginning to itch, but nonetheless….
"In ten minutes we'll be starting our battle of the bands. Thanks…and uh…please throw your trash away. I'm not going to stand around here at three in the morning cleaning your shit-"
Rei elbowed him. "You can't say stuff like that you idiot. Do you want to loose your job?" She heard herself over the speakers, forcing her to shutter.
He gave his girlfriend a very sadistic look. "Nothing would make me happier."
Rei laughed. "Suck it up and be a man. How the hell do you expect to support my ass anyway?" the entire room snickered at her words. She had a habit of being hypocritical just to be cheeky.
"Ok folks." She took the mic. "Seriously though, we'll be starting really soon. Buy yourself a drink, sit back, relax…make out with your girlfriend in the corner like there is no tomorrow," she elbowed Spike again earning a few more laughs. "Hey do whatever you want…in a legal sense, to keep yourself occupied…whatever floats your boat and rocks your dock…but don't go anywhere ok?"
She grabbed Spike by the arm and pulled him off the stage as the lights dimmed off, both of them going their separate ways to do their jobs. An underage bartender and a waitress.
Shippou stood at the entrance, checking IDs and stamping a few selected hands, taking cash and giving the few people with bodily distinctions that were able to gross him out free passes.
Meanwhile Sango and Asuka stood in the middle of the mosh pit, handing out flyers for upcoming concerts and things in that genre.
Kagome, Inuyasha, Katsumi, Miroku, Duo, and Kouga stood backstage getting their equipment together and whatnot. And, of course, Kagome was having another panic attack. She was the savior of the world and here she was getting neurotic over singing a few songs in front of a bunch of people. What is this world coming to?
Ryoko was getting all the bands organized, checking names and calling out slot numbers, adding in last minute changes and arranging props along with Asami, who at the moment seemed to be yelling at anyone who crossed her path. Everyone made a note to walk on eggshells around her.
Sano was, unfortunately, trying to buff tables…with Taki…who was finally hitting his demon puberty, but as luck would have it…he kept electrocuting and shattering everything he touched.
Kenji was trying to exterminate an argument between a bartender and a customer, and you know Kenji…he ended up loosing his temper and frightening everyone within a ten-mile radius.
And then Daisuke was up on the catwalk amongst the rafters in the ceiling, working the sound booth and lights.
Everyone was together though. All the people who had experienced the Sigfreed Suicide were there… together, taking Kagome's back and protecting her. They had a feeling it was going to be like this for a very, very long time.
Kagome stood by Inuyasha's side, holding onto his arm nervously.
He rolled his eyes and kissed her cheek. "Would you chill out, you're the last miko…get a grip…you're making yourself look bad." She burnt his skin with a touch of her finger, making him yelp.
"You know…who needs love and affection from their girlfriend when they can have utter hatred."
Kagome giggled. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know you love me…you can't pull that stunt on me."
He smirked and kissed her again. They stood side by side for another few minutes until Kagome suddenly thought of something, she didn't know why this hit her like it did but she was curious:
"In…a few years…where do you think we'll be?"
He gave her a strange look. "In college…where else?"
She shook her head. "No, no, no, no…I mean relationship wise. I don't want to sound like an obsessed girlfriend or something…I was only curious where…where you see us heading?" she hated herself for asking this question, she really did. She used to vow to herself she'd never be like she was right then, but she couldn't help it. The moment just sneaked up on her.
Inuyasha just laughed. "In college, together…with everyone else…making fools of ourselves. Playing at local bars, going to class, getting into arguments and having sex afterwards…typical couple stuff."
Kagome groaned. "I can't believe God paired me up with you. Fate is against me." But she had to admit…she did like his version of their ending. She pictured it of them heading off into different colleges, seeing other people. Her friends are everywhere else but where she is and she's all alone…she could only hope he was right.
Inuyasha vowed he'd protect her. And he would, he'd stay by her side forever. He felt like some kind of guardian placed in control of a precious treasure worth more then life itself. He'd be right. He'd make sure of it.
"Alright PACK!" Ryoko called. "Get your asses up on that stage!"
Inuyasha took Kagome's hand and lead her out onto the dark stage, the others behind them.
Kagome glanced over at Katsumi nervously through the darkness. And Katsumi just smiled back.
"Don't worry, babe. This will all be over soon."
Kagome nodded, and almost immediately Daisuke turned the spotlight on and flashed it onto the group collected on the stage.
Kagome and Katsumi went into procedure band mode, turning into deadly like women with fierce glares and menacing smirks. They waited as the music of their song Lie to Me began in the background, and when their cue came up Katsumi began to sing first, and then Kagome echoed it in the background:
I want to hear it, whether it be a truth or a lie,
I have to hear it, tell me my love can't die.
Their voices seemed melancholy and yet dangerously sly, only projecting into the microphone above a whisper, but the silent room still heard every word. They now sang together in full force:
He was supposed to be immortal, living his life with me
We were supposed to be together forever for all eternity.
So why am I staring down at a rain worn grave?
Why is it that his life I could not save?
I see a face in that tombstone.
I watch that face smile at me as the wind makes the trees moan.
He died for me. He took the pain for me. He took the devil's wrath for me
I don't comprehend why God wants me to endure this agony.
This song had no chorus due to the fact that it was actually a poem, but they sang certain lines more powerful then others to get the full effect:
I feel cold tears pour like a creek from my eyes.
I never even got to say my good-byes.
So why do I even bother living in this lie?
When all I have to do is take my knife and die.
I could bury the blade inside my flesh,
Letting the blood trickle down and stain my dress.
Kagome took the spotlight now with a solo, one that she wasn't ready for and stuttered slightly at the beginning, but it still sounded good to the now jumping audience:
Suicide.
It's a choice I have…a choice to die.
I fear death but not as much as I do life,
I had plans, plans of being his wife,
And yet I am a coward, a coward of the lonely days.
I'm sentenced to endure this life of a bloody phase.
Katsumi joined back in here, singing these lines as if they were a repeat of the chorus:
Sweet death could kiss me on the lips,
Take it in, take the poison; it's just within my fingertips.
Or over the edge of that cliff I could fall,
Into the oceans waves, waves that maul.
Or that fire, burning its passion into my gaze.
I could let the flames take over me, take me into that crimson maze.
Kagome quieted as Katsumi began to sing her heart out:
Tell me my lie.
Take the truth and let it falsify.
Tell me my lie.
Without it in this world I can not survive.
Can't you see?
The pain that is visibly surrounding me?
Don't you want to make it go away,
Bringing me back to the good 'ol' days?
I feel the fire blaring already within my soul,
Taking away the only part of me that made me whole.
Don't you want to protect this little girl?
Protect this little girl from the lonely world?
Kagome joined back in, their voices falling in sync in an almost chanting tone:
The only part of my completion is gone. He is gone now,
Gone to take his final heroic bow.
And so the night went on, with Kagome messing up on two songs, Taki electrocuting four customers, Spike and Rei getting caught making out and loosing their jobs. Kenji almost got beaten up for loosing his temper before Asuka came and saved the day with her powers.
Time went on. Month by month the past seemed to get easier and easier to deal with. Kagome and the others graduated a year later before they all headed off to college. A few of them split up, but most of them stayed together for Kagome's sake. They had made a packed together the day she'd gone to the hospital, not only did they promise to never take her for granted, but they vowed to watch over her. Even if they couldn't really protect her, they still had to watch her for the sake of knowing her safety themselves. And so the story ends…only to begin again….
…Two Years Later…
…Inuyasha rolled over and groaned, covering his face with a pillow as the light peered into the room violently.
He glanced over at the girl by his side, his eyes focusing on the tense expression on her face. He lightly shook her until she woke.
"Hey you." She croaked with a groggy smile. "Morning."
He sighed. "Same nightmare again huh?"
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nodded. "Yeah…same one about that man and boy dying. I always feel like I know them but I can never see their faces." She laughed sadly. "Don't guess you could tell me what it means?" She was taking a wild stab in the dark but you never know.
Inuyasha did know the answer, but she had made him promise a long time ago to never tell her about what happened to Dante and Sion. "Yeah…it a warning to not take for granted the time you have left with everyone because you never know when you could loose them."
Kagome seemed to accept this as she slowly tried to drift off to sleep, but he wouldn't allow that.
"Nope. Up and at 'em, sleepy head."
Kagome shot him a one-finger salute. "Some boyfriend you are."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. What happened to taking me for granted?"
Kagome snorted. "Screw that."
He laughed as he picked her up bridal style and carried her into the bathroom, where he turned the shower on and stuck her fully clothed under the faucet.
She was awake now. "Damn it, Inuyasha!" she growled as she mentally locked onto him and pulled him right in there with her.
"Ah. Cold."
"No shit, Sherlock."
They took their shower together before they got dressed and headed down to the cafeteria, two buildings across the campus from the dorms.
They collected their food before taking a seat at their usual spot, munching away as they watched the news from the television that hung over head.
Rei, Sango, and Miroku joined them moments later.
"Hey guys." Kagome laughed.
Rei groaned inwardly. "Hey."
Kagome's eyebrow raised. "What's wrong with you?"
Sango answered: "Spike's tried out for a fraternity out of a joke…and last night he got arrested for streaking across campus."
Kagome snorted. "Are you serious."
Rei's expression was furious. "I swear to God I'll kill that boyfriend of mine."
That was all who was left now. Katsumi and Duo had gone to a local technical school, and were planning to get married in seven months.
Asami, Daisuki, Sanosuke, Asuka were all still seniors in high school, and Taki a junior.
Ryoko hadn't gone to college, instead she decided to move in with Hiro and help him run 4-C.
Kenji was taking a year off from college, so he and Asuka could enter together, just like Miroku had done for Sango.
Kouga was dating Ayame now; both of them had gone off together to a college in New York. He going with a football scholarship, and her a volleyball.
It was sad, Kagome felt like some of the major parts of her life were gone now. Like she'd never see half of her friends again, and all she had left now was Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Rei, and Spike. She missed everyone, but they had all vowed to see each other every time they could. They had even made plans for a group trip to Cancun on their spring break. And soon Asuka and Kenji would be joining them at the same college. It was only a year away. And then a year after that before Kagome would be able to see Taki again everyday.
And of course, PACK was nothing more then a stage of the past; leaving nothing but fleeting memories of what it was like to watch everyone be together. They were all gone from her now. She cried often about this. She liked to look back and wish she had never graduated, and that they were still back at the beginning of her junior year, practicing for the tournament of a lifetime.
She still had Inuyasha, and she felt like he was all she would ever need, but that didn't change the fact that she wanted her friends.
Sango laughed, pulling Kagome out of dream world. "I can't believe he was dumb enough to go through with his initiation."
"I dunno." Miroku sighed. "I've heard way worse."
Kagome smiled. Sure she'd probably never get the feeling of having things as they used to be, but she could adjust, but never forget.
You can cry now. It's over. Written very horribly, but done. That's right. Now go on; leave. Nothing to see here, leave a review on your way out…lol. I loved it while it lasted, and I LOVE everyone who read this, added it to their favorites, watched me, and commented on Rumors Ruin Reputations.
I hope everyone enjoyed it, and that there is someone out there I made extremely happy, because that made the whole year it took writing this worth while. God bless.
If you ever just want to talk to me, IM me or e-mail me if you want to. I love having fans to talk to, or people who utterly hate me. It's fun to hear opinions or just get to know you.
This story is in dedication to two people:
Melissa Eberhardt, my best friend since I was five. And Kristina Kuenzler, my hooch for two years now, but the only one to ever get to this close to me.
I will see you guys later through my two other stories, and ones I plan to start in the future when I can find the time.
I love you.
