Hey, guys! How is everybody? You liking the story? I updated the summary and my profile. If you look at it and see a lot of round things, that's a screw-up and it's not supposed to be there – I just went back and fixed it a few minutes ago. A lot of the time lately, will mess up the stuff I update. I tried to put up the last chapter… 12, right? Yeah, 12… I tried to put it up and kept changing things and putting weird spaces and making typos. It took me hours and hours to make it work. But I like it anyway, personally, so it's okay.

I didn't know whether I should bring Kikyo into it, but I figured she had to have some part, and when I started to write the chapter I just decided that she should be good. Lots of people love Kikyo bashing, and I don't mind it so much myself, but in this story I wanted to have her do something nice for them. After all the really horrible stuff she did over the books, like kissing Inuyasha and making Kagome watch, or trying to drag him down to hell, don't you think she should do something nice? I mean, she's powerful, even if she is dead, and with her on their side it'd be a lot easier for them to win. She was like a twelfth ally. Hey, and she came in on the twelfth chapter! How do you like that. What a coincidence.

If you're actually bothering to stop and read the top of the page, will you answer something for me? It's been a long time since I read the manga, and I've forgotten exactly how Sango's family died. I know they went to a village to exterminate a giant demon and a tiny spider bit Kohaku, forcing him to kill his own family – but was it Naraku, or another lord, who was controlling the kid? I thought I remembered Naraku coming out and killing the one who was controlling Kohaku, but then wouldn't that mean Naraku saved Sango's life? I always thought he was the one who killed her family, which was why she hated him… anybody want to take a shot at explaining that to me? I mean, if Naraku's really as evil as to do what he did to Kikyo and Inuyasha, why would he then go and save Sango? It doesn't make sense. Please put an end to my confusion! (Yes, this means review!) The first person who can tell me what really happened gets the dedication in the very last chapter.

So, I'll stop my babbling and say the disclaimer. I don't own Inu or any of its characters. I wish I did, but I don't. Like I said before, it's probably a good thing that I don't, but then if I did I could sue you guys for using them! Only I wouldn't do that, 'cause then there wouldn't be any awesome fanfics for everybody to read…

Thanks to HahaI'mBetterThanYou for reviewing Chapter 12. You were the first one, congrats! I agree, even I didn't see that coming until it was suddenly on the paper and I was like, oh, well I guess that works…

And thanks to Shadow-Seeker-13 for reviewing Chapter 11. Thanks, and yes, I will be putting in some more Sess fluff. Chapter 12 has a little more, and I'm hoping that the last chapter of the fic will be mostly romance, so keep reading and it'll come, I promise!

Thanks to socialkween, sister dearest, for reviewing 8 and 9. Thanks, and keep reading… that goes for everybody!

Last time…

In the intense silence that rang through the clearing at that moment, two sounds echoed.

One was the horrible kukuku of Naraku's slow laughter, painfully loud in their ears.

The other was a softer, gentler sound, barely heard but so much more significant.

Tenseiga was pulsing.

Chapter 13: A New Beginning

They all heard it, though at first they thought it to be their imaginations. Slowly, one by one, they turned to Sesshomaru, whose stoic expression had a look of slight surprise on it as he gazed down at the sword.

The insistent sound was getting steadily stronger, as though attempting to make itself heard. Naraku fell silent as he, too, noticed its gentle humming. His lifeless, dark eyes turned towards it, filled with confusion and contempt aplenty. After a moment in which Tenseiga grew louder, glowing slightly against Sesshomaru's hip, Naraku let his laugh ring out once more, stronger this time.

"Kukuku," he sneered, turning those nightmarish eyes on Sesshomaru himself. "Look at that. The sword that cannot even cut flesh thinks itself able to defeat me."

Sesshomaru looked up, almost as confused as the others, and met Raori's gaze. She gave him a curious look and he shrugged slightly, not knowing what the sword wanted him to do. It was powerless, as far as he was concerned – yes, it could restore life, but wasn't that the last thing they wanted now? They were attempting to take away Naraku's life, not return it to him.

Suddenly Kagome's eyes widened slightly. "Tenseiga," she said softly, seeming to understand.

They all turned to look at her, including Naraku, whose laughter had once again fallen silent.

"Of course," Kagome said with a slight laugh, her eyes tearing up again as she gazed down at the sword. Its light seemed to grow brighter under her gaze and she shook her head slowly. "This whole time, it was Tenseiga. It's always been Tenseiga."

"What are you talking about, Kagome?" Sango said hesitantly.

Kagome's gaze never moved from the sword, which still pulsed gently. "Naraku is right," Kagome said softly. "He's not just a man. He is darkness. That's why our weapons couldn't defeat him." She looked up at Naraku, who looked slightly angry, as though he understood what she was getting at and didn't like it.

"Our weapons are meant to destroy," Kagome said quietly, comprehension dawning on her like a bright light in a neverending twilight. "But Naraku is destruction. That's why we could never kill him. To destroy something that is the nature of destruction itself, you have to attack with its opposite… with something of the nature of healing." Her eyes turned back to the sword, which was glowing even brighter now. "Tenseiga."

Sesshomaru suddenly understood. The sword was more powerful than he had at first wanted to admit, he realized, but now that the miko had explained it, he saw that she was right. Tetsusaiga was made to destroy, but the wise ones of the world can tell you in a heartbeat that the power of death is in no way more valuable to hold than the power of life.

Sesshomaru, safe in his violent and uncaring way of life, had never understood this, and had always desired what he did not have. Tetsusaiga was his wish, that he would have such power over death at his command.

What he had failed to see was that his own sword was just as powerful, if not more so. Yet for years, decades, it sat unused at his hip, ignored by its master as it waited for its time and purpose to be fulfilled. Sesshomaru's heart lacked the compassion it took to wield the Tenseiga, and so he never knew its true power.

Now, as he gazed down at the sword, he realized there was more to it than he'd known, than he could've possibly guessed.

His father was wise – Inuyasha, whose spirit was wild and untamed, was given the Tetsusaiga, and with it the power of total destruction. Yet the sword was forged to protect humans, and in giving it to his son, Inutaisho was attempting to convey to Inuyasha that it was not wrong to have compassion for them, no matter how weak they may seem. Inuyasha was given a weapon of immense power, and in using it to protect others, he had to learn to harness that power and exercise restraint in using it. Tetsusaiga would teach Inuyasha the virtue of discipline.

Sesshomaru, with such a cold heart that refused to be thawed by anyone, was given the sword that was the opposite of his nature. Inutaisho, he realized, was attempting to teach his older son to soften his heart and use the sword for others. He was trying to help Sesshomaru open his heart to others, and to care for something other than himself.

With a slight shock, Sesshomaru realized that it had already happened. The moment he had turned back to the little girl lying in the path and drawn Tenseiga, the moment he had made up his mind to save her life, he had unknowingly done exactly as his father had wished. His heart had softened, melted, a little more every day since Rin came into his life. And now, as he considered himself after this entire adventure, he saw another sort of care within his own heart that had not been there before – love.

His eyes met those of Raori, which softened slightly. He knew then, without a doubt in his mind, that he loved her, and that he wouldn't give the feeling up for anything in the world.

Suddenly he knew what he had to do.

Time seemed to slow, and he looked over them all. Kagome had a new light of hope shining in her eyes, and was begging him with her eyes to use the sword and destroy Naraku once and for all. His eyes traveled to the two exterminators, whose gazes reflected their determination to get the battle overwith. The monk had the same hard look in his gaze, and gave Sesshomaru a small, encouraging smile. Raori, Kouga, Kagura and Takinoshi, all full youkai like himself, gave him looks of trust. After all they had seen of him, Sesshomaru realized, they trusted him, trusted what was inside him, and it meant more to him than they could know.

The taiyoukai's gaze turned to Inuyasha, who had a look in his eyes that took Sesshomaru a moment to place. At first he thought it was contempt, but when he looked closer, he saw with a slight shock that the look in his half-brother's eyes was that of pride.

Inuyasha was proud to be Sesshomaru's brother.

After getting past the overwhelming surprise he felt at that realization, Sesshomaru felt his mind go back, and he remembered the first battle he had been in with Inuyasha, back before they even met Raori, when he had saved Inuyasha's life and they had exchanged that look, the one that bound them as allies from that point forth. He remembered that, and wondered at how a journey across Feudal Japan to defeat the greatest evil it had ever seen had managed to bring the two together. Whether he had realized it or not, Inuyasha and he were not nearly as cold and hateful towards one another as they one had been, which was something he was grateful for. It made life so much easier, knowing that he didn't have to be on his guard whenever Inuyasha was around, and he knew it made things easier for the hanyou to know Sesshomaru wouldn't jump at him all of a sudden.

Sesshomaru's eyes softened slightly, realizing that Inuyasha had come around in the end. The hanyou had acknowledged that Sesshomaru would be the one to finally destroy Naraku, and for once, he wasn't being a total jerk about it.

Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps Inuyasha is not as bad as I once believed. Perhaps, with Naraku gone, we could all live our lives anew, without all the pain and suffering that has so corrupted our existences.

Sesshomaru once more turned his gaze to Naraku, knowing with a sudden confidence that he was no longer alone. There were those who believed in him, and they would stand behind him all the way. In one decisive motion that sealed the fate of the dark hanyou before him, Sesshomaru drew Tenseiga.

The sword hummed softly in his hand, and Naraku drew back slightly, eyes widening in fear.

Sesshomaru stepped forward, grasping Tenseiga in his hand. A warmth spread from the sword throughout his body, washing over his heart and inspiring him. His gaze traveled up the blade and to Naraku, hardening as he stared down his enemy.

Visions and stray thoughts passed through his mind, flashing before his eyes. He remembered all that Naraku had done to the world and to those who did not deserve what they got. Naraku had broken the hearts of Inuyasha and Kikyo, caused the death of the innocent priestess, and in turning them against one another, sealed Inuyasha to a tree for fifty years. Naraku had taken everything from Sango – her family, her entire village – even Kohaku, who she had been forced to fight. He had made her kill her own brother to get a shard of the cursed jewel. Naraku had caused just as much suffering in Miroku's family – his father and grandfather alike were sucked into their own hands by Naraku's curse, and Miroku was forced to live every day not knowing whether it would be his last or not, simply because Naraku enjoyed causing pain to others. Kouga's kin, hundreds of his friends and family, had been brutally slaughtered on Naraku's orders, and the wolf had lived with that pain and sorrow ever since.

Sesshomaru remembered all this, and his thoughts pounded inside his head along with the pulsing of Tenseiga, which had seemed to strengthen with his determination.

Naraku narrowed his eyes and stumbled back, already slightly subdued by the powerful aura the sword let off. Sesshomaru matched his retreat with an advance, and came forward, raising the sword and preparing to strike down the evil that cowered before him.

For a new beginning, he thought firmly, and struck.

One slash was all it took. Naraku screamed as the brightly glowing sword seared across his already torn body and emitted a light that blinded all of them for a moment. When the light cleared, they opened their eyes, and they saw that Naraku was, at last, defeated.

The light of the day shone in through the clearing, no longer blocked by the foul darkness that was Naraku, but even it could not outshine the light within their own hearts.

Finally, after so many years of pain and despair, hope and love had triumphed.

It was over.

Sorry, I kind of made this chapter kind of short, but I did that on purpose. I mean, I was going to make it longer at first, but that seemed like a good stopping point, even if it is really short compared to the last chapter. Don't worry, I'm already starting the next one, and I won't keep you waiting long!

But hey, since you are waiting, why don't you review? Just a thought…

See you next time!