A/N: Here's the next chapter! Hope you guys like it! Please review and let me know! Thanks!

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Dream of Me
Chapter Twenty-One

Kouga arrived once again in the feudal era and took a deep breath. There was no one in the clearing near the bone eater's well, and from what he could tell, the closest sign of life was from the old woman's village, just beyond Inuyasha's forest. He sighed deeply. How was he supposed to go about the task that he had been given? How was he supposed to find Sesshoumaru, the ruler of the Western Lands? Surely Sesshoumaru would kill him on sight.

Frowning at the thought, Kouga raised his nose to the air to see if he could catch wind of the infamous dog demon. He was surprised to realize that Sesshoumaru wasn't that far away, and followed his nose straight into the old woman's village.

Sesshoumaru was exchanging words with Kaede, who nodded slowly when she saw Kouga come out of the woods. "I think you have other business you need to be concerned about right now, Lord Sesshoumaru…" she pointed to him.

Kouga nodded. "Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha sent me here. He requested that I tell you that we are going to need help, and that if you come with me you should bring your sword tenseiga. Will you assist us?" he asked quickly.

Sesshoumaru seemed to be thinking this over. "Where has my idiotic half-brother gone off to?" he sighed after a moment.

"Into the well." He answered softly.

"Into the…" Sesshoumaru blinked. "Fine. Just take me to him quickly." He commanded, and again, Kouga nodded.

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"Kirara, can you sense Shippo at all from up here?" Sango asked her demon cat companion. Kirara growled negatively, and turned her head so as to look her caregiver in the eyes. Sango sighed in disappointment. "It's all right, girl. I'm sure we'll find Shippo soon enough. Don't worry about him." She smiled.

Miroku frowned deeply. "I can not wait until all of this is over," he whispered into Sango's ear. "I would like nothing more than to return to a normal life and finally get the chance to settle down that I've always wanted."

"We all wish to return to our normal lives, Miroku. Maybe that can happen soon, but not until Naraku is finally dead and gone." She replied.

Miroku nodded. "Yes, my dear Sango. I know that. I also know that day is near. Soon, I will be able to settle down, relax, and have a family of my own…maybe even with you." He said the last part in such a low voice that Sango barely heard him, but she did.

She gasped. "With me?" she repeated.

Again, Miroku nodded. "Yes…If we survive all of this, I want to be with you, Sango. You and no one else." He smiled at her.

Sango blushed twelve different shades of red before she was finally able to take a deep breath. "I…would like that very much." She managed to say after a moment. "And it's not if Miroku, it's when we survive this…" she added.

"Inuyasha! Are you two all right down there?" Miroku called as Kirara circled over their heads.

"I said to get away from here, Miroku! Are you all nuts? Get out of here!" he commanded.

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Inuyasha drew back his sword, and it began to glow with energy. He was preparing for the Backlash Wave. Kagome, standing firmly next to him, was loading an arrow into her bow and staring at Naraku with hatred and disgust glowing in her eyes. Inuyasha's features softened when he noticed the single fugitive tear that was sliding down Kagome's cheek. She was mourning the loss of her family. Inuyasha nodded in understanding. Naraku had absorbed them. Killing him meant saying goodbye to them in a very permanent way.

"Are you ready?" he whispered to her once more.

After a moment, she nodded. "I'm ready…but what if it doesn't work?"

He smiled at her. "It will." After a short pause, he tightened his grip on his sword. "We'll take him down together, just like I said, okay?"

Kagome nodded, focusing her energy. Hojo, or Naraku rather, had still not made his move.

"Ready?" Inuyasha paused once more. "Backlash wave!" he shouted.

Kagome released her arrow. "Heartbreaker!" she screamed.

She watched. Just like in her dream, the demon energy from Inuyasha's attack seemed to intertwine itself with the mixed demon and miko energy from her own attack. Her arrow seemed almost to be moving in slow motion. She watched as it seemed to multiply right in front of her as it headed straight for Naraku. She watched it hit him. When the light died down, though, he had not fallen.

Both Kagome and Inuyasha gasped in surprise at this.

"You son-of-a…" Kagome growled. "You should have died!"

"Well, I didn't, now did I?" he smirked.

"Damn you!" screamed Kagome.

In a flash, Hojo was in front of her, and had jerked her away from Inuyasha. Kagome looked very surprised. She glanced at Inuyasha with worry in her eyes.

Miroku and Sango gasped. "Kirara, down! We have to help them!" Sango commanded.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome whispered.

"Inuyasha," Hojo smirked in a much louder voice, "the girl's scent has changed. This is…an interesting development. Am I to take it that this means that you plan to take the girl as a mate?" he smiled.

Inuyasha growled from somewhere deep within his throat. "Let her go." He said rather calmly, although his jaw and fists were both clenched in anger. He seemed very…relaxed, considering the current situation.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome repeated. She was starting to sound rather upset.

"Kagome…" Inuyasha glanced toward the sky. Sango's weapon was soaring towards Hojo and Kagome with incredible speed. Hojo gasped, and Kagome bit him hard and tried to jump out of the way. Hojo managed to dodge the oncoming attack as well, but it had at least shocked and surprised him enough for Kagome to have time to get free. She was once again standing next to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha turned suddenly. Kouga had finally returned, and he had with him Inuyasha's brother, Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru was standing there, but did not say a word to anyone. He merely nodded.

Kagome cleared her throat, and sent out another one of her purifying arrows. It soared at Hojo.

Sesshoumaru allowed an eyebrow to raise in surprise. The girl's purifying powers were somehow much stronger than they had once been. What had happened? Had she finally learned how to control her own powers? This could turn out interesting…

Hojo barely dodged the purifying arrow. He glared at Kagome with immeasurable hatred glowing in his eyes. Then, suddenly, a smile spread across his face as if something funny had just occurred to him. Kagome studied his features a moment, but could not figure it out.

"Inuyasha…he's smiling…" she whispered.

Inuyasha nodded. Behind him, Sango and Miroku were back on the ground, ready to attack if they were needed. Inuyasha glanced at them a moment before returning his attention to Hojo. "What the hell are you smiling about, huh?" he demanded.

"This," he smirked, and suddenly, from out of nowhere, something came up from underground, piercing through Inuyasha's chest. He made no sound as he fell to his knees. Kagome screamed. There had been a demon under their feet, and it had just snuck up on them. The demon did not remove its arm, which was sticking through Inuyasha's chest and out the other side, and Inuyasha was growing more and more pale by the moment. Finally, his sword dropped to the ground at his side, and reverted to its normal form. As this happened, the demon retracted its arm, and Inuyasha fell straight to the ground.

Kagome blinked several times. She dropped to her knees, saying nothing, and took Inuyasha's head into her arms. He was gone. The mark on her neck burned as if she was holding an open flame to her flesh. She permitted several tears to slide down her cheeks, but still said nothing. She kissed his forehead, set him down, and stood silently as Miroku and Sango rushed forward.

"You…" Kagome growled. "You…have taken…everything from me…and for that, you are going to die…" Kagome could feel that her anger was about to get the best of her. She could feel her demon half gaining more and more control over her actions, and her eyes flashed red with her fury…but she no longer cared about any of that. Revenge. That was her only concern.

"Kagome…" Kouga whispered, his voice slightly fearful.

Kagome's only response was a growl.

Sesshoumaru frowned, and took a step back. This was not going to be good…

Kagome continued to growl. For some reason, she was examining her bow. She snapped the chord back and forth, as if testing its strength, and finally, after she had finished with this, she picked up Inuyasha's sword. It did not transform. She studied it a little, nodded, and picked up her bow.

"What are you doing, Kagome?" yelled Kouga, seemingly finding some of his strength.

"Don't bother her right now. She can't hear you anyway. It's her demon side. It has taken over…" Sango whispered.

Kouga gulped, nodded, and watched the scene before him.

Kagome was trying to position Inuyasha's sword into her bow. It took her some fumbling around for a moment, but finally she managed to steady the flimsy blade, and she aimed it straight at Hojo.

What the hell is she doing? Sesshoumaru wondered.

Kagome released the string, screaming, "Heartbreaker!" as the sword rocketed forward. Kagome's miko energy, along with a great deal of demonic energy, swirled around the blade. Sesshoumaru and the others watched with interest as Inuyasha's blade seemed to multiply in front of them, and headed straight for Hojo. This time, he had no where to go, and the attack hit him directly.

Kagome dropped her bow to the ground as Hojo began to scream, and the blades hit his body. Before he disintegrated, he sent out a strong wave of demonic energy, knocking everyone but Sesshoumaru flat. Behind the group, even the old well house fell until nothing but the bone-eater's well was left.

Kagome took a deep breath, exhausted, and collapsed fully to the ground. "Inuyasha…" she whispered as she fell.

Sesshoumaru took several steps forward, and again, his eyebrow rose in surprise. Somehow, the girl was bleeding heavily from a wound in her stomach. His brother Inuyasha had died, and lay next to the girl, a large deep wound in his stomach as well. After a moment, Sesshoumaru realized what this must have meant. They were going to mate…

Miroku and Sango stood, and ran into Kagome's house to search for Shippo. Kouga was on his knees, shocked, surprised, and grieved.

Sesshoumaru, meanwhile, was still studying his fallen brother and the miko woman.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Kouga. "Why aren't you bringing them back? They died to kill Naraku…so whether or not you want to admit it, they just saved your ass and everyone else's!"

Sesshoumaru wheeled around as if he was going to hit the wolf demon, but stopped short. He turned back around without another word. The miko went into her demon form, he thought to himself. She picked up tesseiga and shot it out of a bow…

Finally, after putting some thought into the matter, Sesshoumaru unsheathed his tenseiga. The blade pulsed having its brother close by, but at that moment Sesshoumaru was not interested in the tesseiga. He was, however, very interested in everything that he had just witnessed. He would have to ask questions about it later. He swung the tenseiga twice, and a few seconds later, both his brother and his brother's woman were once again living.

Kagome looked up. "Thank you…Sesshoumaru." She whispered.

"I had my own agenda to bringing you back into the world of the living, miko. I have questions, and I did not intend to see my lands plunge into turmoil. I see now that my brother has found his mate, and that you are an honorable woman, and a strong hanyou. I approve of the union."

"You can thank your brother. He trained me." Kagome replied.

Inuyasha blinked. "Since when in the hell did you have to approve anything that I did?" he demanded.

"Since always, little brother. I am Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, and your father's son. As such, it is my job to make sure that you meet my approval…or that you would have met father's."

Inuyasha's eyeball twitched, but he said nothing else. He jumped up, helped Kagome up, and brushed himself off. Finally, he managed to think of something to say. "So, what did I miss?"

"Quite a lot." Smirked Kouga.

"Kagome!" Kagome smiled in thanks when she saw the small kitsune Shippo running towards her with his arms outstretched. It was a sight at one point in the battle that she feared she would never see again. She picked him up, nuzzled him to her cheek, and sighed deeply as she stared at what used to be her home.

A sudden gust of wind from the east brought the scent of flowers to her already sensitive nose. She turned to see that the sacred tree was in full bloom…the way her and her family had always thought it was most beautiful. She carefully put Shippo down and jumped into the tree. Seconds later, she returned to the ground with the three largest blossoms she could find.

There were no bodies or remains for her to bury and say goodbye to. Naraku had stolen that chance from her. Without saying a word, she walked into her house.

"What is she doing?" whispered Shippo.

Inuyasha looked down and picked up the kit. "She has to have her time to say goodbye, Shippo…" he explained, and the kit nodded.

Miroku and Sango stared at the door to the house, and after a moment, they too went inside. Kagome returned several minutes later with a stick of incense, a photograph inside a picture frame, and her mother's wooden cutting board from the kitchen.

Kagome sat at the base of the sacred tree, removed one of her arrows from the quiver on her back, and began to scratch something into her mother's cutting board. She then set that aside and began to dig a small hole at the base of the sacred tree. Inuyasha could finally smell the salt of her tears that he knew would come. She was crying.

She placed the picture in the hole…the last one taken of her whole family before her father passed away, and replaced the dirt. She then set the wooden cutting board up against the tree, so that what she scratched into its surface was legible to everyone, and lit the incense and placed it on the ground.

On her mother's cutting board was written: Mama, Souta, and Gramps…Gone, but not Forgotten.

Finally, she allowed herself to stand, and she turned towards Inuyasha. "Come on," she whispered. "Let's go home." She took his hand and was already heading towards the well when Sango and Miroku finally emerged from the house. They had found what they had been looking for…but now was not the time for that.

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The old woman Kaede was waiting for them on the other side of the well. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was glowing a faint pink color.

"Are ye all right, child?" Kaede smiled to Kagome, who was still allowing her tears to fall, however silently. "What happened?" she asked Inuyasha when she received no answer from Kagome.

Inuyasha sighed deeply. "Everything is finally over…but everyone has paid such a high cost for it."

Miroku smiled. His wind tunnel was finally no more. "Everything isn't over, Inuyasha…everything is finally beginning." He whispered.

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Without the bother of his wind tunnel to worry about, Miroku no longer had to fret about whether or not he would live to see each new day. This development also meant new horizons for himself and Sango. With Naraku gone, and his wind tunnel no longer a threat to anyone, the two of them were finally able to settle down as Miroku had wanted.

Sango's little brother Kohaku was no longer under anyone's control. He found Kaede's village after several days of wandering around, but soon left to follow Sesshoumaru and the aging Rin…neither of who seemed to mind his company.

Kagome and Inuyasha finally mated as they had wanted to, but not until Kagome abandoned the Shikon jewel in the future and sealed the well in the past. They adopted Shippo, and were due to have their own pup any day now.

The day of the birth, even Sesshoumaru was on hand to witness. The pup was a girl, whom Kagome named Mine. She looked exactly like her father, sparing no features.

"Remember what happened the day we defeated Naraku?" whispered Sango to Miroku. He nodded. "Now is that time…" Sango told him.

Miroku smiled, stood, and walked toward his and Sango's hut. Kagome glanced at him with mild interest for a moment, but was understandably distracted.

"If she looks this much like her father, let us just hope that she adopts some of your mannerisms, Kagome." Joked Kaede.

Kagome nodded. "I know what you mean. If I have to deal with two huge egos…" she frowned at the thought, and Inuyasha laughed playfully.

Miroku had returned. In his hands was something Kagome recognized. She thought for sure that all those types of things had been left in the future, but Sango and Miroku must have grabbed it before they left.

"Where did you get that?" she whispered.

Sango smiled, taking the photo album from Miroku and handing it to Kagome. Kagome opened it up. In the beginning of it were old pictures of her family and of herself when she was young. She gasped. Her mother had arranged this one specially somehow, and at the top and bottom of each page were small comments written by her. She flipped through, reading each, until she got near the back of the album. At the top of one page was written. 'Thought I'd surprise you…'

On the next two pages were photos of just her and Inuyasha. Photos she never realized anyone had taken. This made her smile…but the end of the album made her cry. Written on the bottom of the page which held an enlarged photo of her and Inuyasha snuggling under the sacred tree was 'May you and Inuyasha live a long and healthy life…and may I have many grandbabies to spoil…'

Kagome laughed out loud as she looked from Inuyasha to her daughter and back again. "We will mom…and so will you…even if you aren't here to see everything." She whispered to the photo album.

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A/N: Fin. Kind of an open ended ending, but I wanted to leave this one kind of open so that I could come back to it later and elaborate if I so wished. Make sense? Hope so. Anyway, thanks to everyone for their support of this story, and please review and let me know what you think!