AN: This is the final chapter!! This is the first story, that is not a one-shot, that I've stuck with until the end!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Unbreakable Love
By: Mika Saito
Chapter 11- EpilogueKagome sat sullenly at her desk, her history book open before her. She was supposed to be reading, she had a test coming up soon, but her mind was not on the lesson. The week since the well had been re-opened had gone by so slowly, it seemed like it had been longer
Inuyasha had not tried to come and get her yet, though without a doubt he was anxious for her to return. They were waiting for her to decide what to do with Isamu, and had agreed not to do anything with, or to, him without her approval. What to do with Isamu had been on her mind the whole week, and she had yet to decide what to do with him that would both be fair, and yet also a punishment. So far, she had come up with nothing. Several cruel ideas had come to mind, of which she was sure Inuyasha would agree with him, since he was keen on killing Isamu. Lately she had been thinking that she might as well let him, it would be a quick end to the problem, and Inuyasha would be satisfied with it… and afterwards, she could return home and start trying to live a slightly normal life.
But would that be enough? In the past, she had wanted to live a normal life, but now she was not so sure that that was what she wanted. In the past year, she had missed her friends, and had to force herself to forget them, which had not worked to well.
With a sigh she closed the book and stood up. Now was as good a time as any to go discuss what was going to happen to Isamu with Kaede. Kaede might have some insight, some thoughts, which might show her something she had not thought about, Kaede was good at giving advice and helping people work things through. Quietly Kagome grabbed her coat and went out into the hall and down the stairs. She found her mom in the kitchen humming quietly to herself as she washed the dishes.
"I'm going out, I'll be back later." Kagome called to her mother, heading straight for the door.
"Have fun. Tell everyone hi for me!" Her mother did not even turn around. She knew where Kagome was going, and she knew that Inuyasha would not let anything happen to her daughter.
"I will." Kagome told her as she stepped out into the cool night air. She walked slowly toward the well house, memories of the prior week replaying in her mind. Because of those events, she was both eager to return to the past, and nervous. Inuyasha had not exactly been the warmest he could have been, but something had been different between them, though she could not place what it was. It was almost as if Inuyasha had been refraining from something.
When Kagome looked up, she saw that she was already inside the well house standing next to the well, looking down into it. With a sigh she sat down on the edge and let her feet hang over the edge, then jumped in.
On the other side of the well Kagome found Shippou on the group, waiting. The moment Kagome pulled herself out of the well Shippou was up and talking excitedly about something, Kagome could not tell what because the young kitsune was talking to fast.
"Shippou! Slow down, I can't understand a word you're saying." Kagome interrupted as she took the kitsune in her arms and started toward the village.
"I was telling you how Inuyasha killed that Isamu person!" Shippou bounced excitedly in Kagome's arms.
"What!" Kagome stopped and looked at Shippou, waiting for him to continue.
"He got free somehow and Inuyasha went after him. Inuyasha didn't try to recapture him, he just used the wind scar and killed him." Shippou smiled, jumping from Kagome's arms to run ahead of her. "Come on!" Kagome shook her head at the excited kitsune and followed.
Shippou reached Kaede's newly built hut before Kagome and disappeared inside with a quick glance back at Kagome.
The moment she stepped inside the hut Kagome knew something was up. Inuyasha sat alone against the far wall, watching her as she moved fully into the room.
"Where is everyone?" Kagome asked curiously, looking around the hut as she attempted to keep her mind off the sudden attention Inuyasha was giving her.
"They left for a little while to give us some time to talk." Inuyasha said simply, smiling at the questioning look Kagome gave him.
"What do we need to talk about?" Inuyasha stood slowly, focusing his mind completely on Kagome to keep from feeling the nervousness that crept up on him at the thought of what he was about to do.
Inuyasha moved to stand in front of Kagome, stopping when he was inches from her. Without a word he pulled her into his arms and gently pressed his lips to hers.
Slightly pulling back, Inuyasha whispered what had been on his mind since she had left over a year ago.
"I love you."
Kagome smiled happily and wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck.
"I love you too, Inuyasha." Kagome responded, her words slightly muffled.
"That wasn't to hard, now was it, Inuyasha?" Miroku's voice cut in and Kagome turned to find Miroku, Sango with Kirara on her shoulder, and Kaede, with an energetic Shippou in her arms, standing in front of the doorway leading off into a private room where Kaede treated some of the villagers. Inuyasha growled at Miroku for the interruption while pulling Kagome back into his arms. Kagome laughed at Inuyasha's actions, but did not fight it, she was too happy about Inuyasha having finally admitted his feelings to say something about his possessiveness.
"Is what Shippou said true?" Kagome asked suddenly, glancing at her friends for and small reactions that most would miss. "About Isamu escaping and Inuyasha killing him?" Miroku nodded.
"Yes. We are sor…" Miroku started.
"It's alright." Kagome interrupted Miroku with a smile. They looked at her curiously, obviously wanting an explanation for her being fine with Inuyasha having killed Isamu when just a week ago she had been adamant that they should decide on a proper punishment for him. Kagome just kept smiling at them, she did not feel like explaining herself just now, maybe later she'd explain, but she didn't want to think about Isamu more than necessary.
"Alright…. Now we get to try to convince you to stay here with Inuyasha." Sango broke the awkward silence; grabbing Kagome's arm and pulling her away from Inuyasha to sit on the ground by the fire.
"You don't have much to do," Kagome laughed, "I want to stay here." As she spoke her smile faded, her mind wandering off in thought.
"Then we can see about building the two of you a hut." Sango continued with a big grin on her face, seemingly unaware that the couple whom she spoke of was blushing fiercely at what she was implying. Kaede chuckled, knowing what must be going through their minds at the moment, and stepped in to help them.
"Do not rush them Sango, they have only just admitted their feelings, give them some time to adjust before ye start planning on moving them in together." Kagome sent Kaede a grateful smile over Sango's head.
"There is plenty of time to plan things Sango, but right now I think Inuyasha and I need to adjust to this. I also need to go back to my time, I've got some things I need to do if I'm going to live in this time period." Kagome spoke more to herself than to Sango, hr mind wandering over what she had to do. Sango nodded understandingly.
-A week Later-
"Be sure to visit." Mrs. Higarashi smiled at Kagome, tears in her eyes.
"I will mom." Kagome returned her mothers smile and hugged her again before turning to Sota and affectionately ruffled his hair.
"Stop it." He complained while pulling away. Kagome laughed.
"Good-bye." She said again as she swung her feet over the lip of the well and jumped in.
As she climbed out of the well Kagome smiled. She was home. No matter what happened, whether things worked between Inuyasha and herself or not, she was home.
-End-
AN: I wasn't planning on having Inuyasha kill Isamu, but I couldn't think of anything else that would have been a fitting punishment (I liked your suggestion Alex, but I just couldn't seem to make it fit.) If I had given myself another month or two I might have been able to either work in Alex's idea, or think of someway to kill him, but I didn't want you to wait that long for the final chapter. Thank you everyone who reviewed, and those who read but didn't review!