After the Battle

Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Not Mine

Author's note: Welcome back, I won't delay any further, here's number twenty!

"Shippou is still around?" Kagome asked, cocking her head excitedly. She ceased her arguing with Inuyasha for a few seconds to turn happily towards Sango and Kei.

"Feh. Little runt." Grunted Inuyasha from where he was currently resting against a tree. "Haven't seen him around for quite some time. I bet he's still a shrimp."

"Come on, don't you want to see him?" Sango asked, even though Kei knew that no matter what Inuyasha said they would be off to see Shippou anyhow. He just grumbled again, so in a little less than twenty minutes they were off down a winding path, Miroku, Sango and their little daughters leading the way while Inuyasha brought up the rear.

They arrived in a quaint little village with tiny flower patches scattered at random that were covered in miniature rainbow butterflies. Small children were playing happily and loudly near a giant tree while women crushed herbs, washed laundry, or fitted arrows. Men were cooking, fishing in a stream, and sharpening weapons. The small town almost seemed to hum with life and activity, and Kei was instantly charmed by it.

"Where does he live?" Asked Kagome, already craning her neck and peering at everyone. "I haven't seen him in so long..."

"Just wait here." Sango said, and walked up to a wooden hut in the village center. She stepped in, and they could hear voices from inside for a few minutes, and then Sango emerged once more. She was followed by a tall, young man who looked about twenty-two years old with a long brown pony tail and a small, meek looking girl who looked about Kei's age. Even though the girl looked shy, she was ravishing. Her long ebony hair was tied up in a tight knot and gleamed in the afternoon sun. Her skin was lightly tanned and she had natural rosy cheeks and lush full lips. Her mild green eyes sparkled with happiness and excitement and she stood a few inches taller than Kei herself. She nodded to Kei politely, and fell in close behind the man Kei assumed to be Shippou.

"Kagome, let me introduce you once again to Shippou. This is his wife, Kisa."

Kagome gave a squeal of happiness and launched herself at the equally as excited looking fox demon.

"My god Shippou! You've grown since the last time I've seen you! I can't believe you're married! Have you had any children yet?" She asked, beaming from ear to ear. She almost looked happier than when she realized Inuyasha was alive. Almost, but not quite.

Shippou smiled again, and released Kagome and put an arm around Kisa.

"Yes, we have a small baby daughter named Eri. She's being taken care of by Kisa's mother. How about you, Kagome? Who is that young woman who takes after you?" His warm brown eyes were now resting on Kei, and she couldn't help but notice how handsome he was. She blushed immediately after realizing what she had thought. Stupid hormones. He was married for god's sake!

"This is my daughter, Kei." Kagome said, and smiled lovingly at her daughter. Kei suddenly felt really shy, and could only smile up at Shippou nervously.

"Ah. I knew she was Inuyasha's child. She definitely has his eyes. She does have Kagome's beauty though."

At the comment about her eyes, Kei heard a loud 'feh' from where Inuyasha was sitting.

"Are you denying my child, Inuyasha?" Kagome said angrily, narrowing her eyes at the now afraid looking hanyou. "Are you saying that I went through ALL that trouble raising my baby, dropping out of high school, dealing with my elderly grandfather, and trying to give Kei a good life for you to say I was just some random slut?"

Inuyasha obviously didn't mean it that way, and immediately blushed. He wouldn't take it back though, and when Kagome noticed he wasn't about to, she launched herself on him, tackling the shocked hanyou and holding him on the ground shouting at him.

"YOUGODFORSAKENSTUPIDUGLYDIRTYFITHLYSMELLYUGLYSTUPIDDUMBIDIOTICBASTARDFATDUMBSMELLYUGLYMORONPINKUGLYSTUPIDDIRTYIDIOTICSTUPIDSTUPIDSTUPIDSTUPID..."

Shippou laughed quietly while his wife looked on with an expression of mild horror.

"I can't believe it, they're just how I remember them..." He chuckled softly, and Miroku and Sango joined him in nervous laughter.

"...FITHLYSTUPIDSTUPIDDUMBUGLYLAZYSMELLYSTUPIDTERRORIZINGLYINGCHEATINGSTEALINGDUMBFILTHY..."

Kagome went on for about ten more minutes, her face growing redder and her hair flying around wilder with each insult. Inuyasha was beginning to shout back, although his words were completely drowned out. By now the entire village had stopped what they were doing and were watching the yelling couple still laying on the ground.

They stopped, out of breath and panting, and the village erupted in cheers. Inuyasha and Kagome turned, shocked.

An elderly lady came up to them, grinning from ear to ear which looked rather odd because her skin was all full of wrinkles.
"My, my!" It's been so long since entertainers came to our village! What do we owe you for that splendid performance?"
Kagome and Inuyasha stood, looking completely shocked. Behind them, Shippou, Miroku and Sango were rolling in the dirt, laughing hysterically while Kisa and Kei raised an eyebrow at each other.

"Feh." Inuyasha grunted once more. "That was our pleasure."

They said goodbye to Shippou and Kisa, telling them that they must visit them with their daughter some time. Kei was ready for a good night's sleep, but when they arrived in the clearing everyone began to pack up.

"What are we doing?" Kei asked, and couldn't help but yawn. She wasn't used to so much excitement in one day.

"We're going back to the village." Kagome said while rolling up a bedroll. "It's time we went back already. Everyone will wonder why we stayed so long."

Kei's thoughts immediately went to Hiroki. Would he still be able to find her? He hadn't been by in a while and she hoped that he was okay. She didn't want Sango to be angry at her again, so she just packed up without saying a word about the son of Jyn-Xian.

They arrived in the village without any trouble and they soon were relaxing in the cool evening starlight. Sango and Miroku were busy putting their daughters to bed while Inuyasha and Kagome were talking quietly to each other without any of the hatred or anger from earlier. Sango must have been right. They just had an... well, 'odd' relationship. She watched them for a while, content that her mother was happy and well. She had wished for this day for her entire life, and now that she actually knew who her father was it was like she had known him her entire life.

Sango came over, interrupting her thoughts, and sat cross legged next to her.

"Still want to know how Miroku and I got together?" She said, and giggled in a very un-Sango like manner. Her eyes were sparkling mischievously, and she looked like an excited teenager. Kei nodded enthusiastically, and soon Sango began.

"Well, as I said before, it was after your mother and Inuyasha had left. We pretty much thought that we'd never see the both of them again and were actually sad about that. I mean, they had been our best friends for quite a long time, and now we had no idea where they were. Miroku was being his usual self..."

..."Lady Sango!"

Sango looked up from her chore of making breakfast to see a tall, rather handsome monk obstructing her view.

"Hello, Houshi-sama." She said dully, hoping he wouldn't make any advances on her today... well, part of her was hoping that. The other part wanted to sink into his arms, kiss him, marry him... She shook her head before she went too far. He was still standing right in front of her, and he'd never want marriage, especially to her. He could choose from any girl, anytime, anywhere, so why would he choose her? She assumed she was just something to play with when the only women were wicked demons or small children.

He knelt beside her, and she clenched her fists and closed her eyes, waiting for the feeling of a familiar hand in a place it shouldn't be. It never came. She squinted out at the monk next to her, and saw that he wasn't even looking at her. He had his hands clasped and eyes shut, and seemed to be talking to himself.

"Houshi-sama, what are you doing?" She asked quietly, suddenly a lot more aware of how alone they were...

He opened his violet eyes slowly, and turned on her. That was when Sango noticed a light blush across his cheeks and she felt her heart begin to beat faster.

"Lady Sango... I thought we knew each other well enough so that you could address me by my first name..." He choked out, without any of the regular smoothness in his voice. Suddenly Sango was worried. He never had acted like this before. Was he dying?

"Houshi-sama! What's wrong?" She asked urgently, and was confused when he began to chuckle softly.

"Even if I was dying you wouldn't call me my name, would you, Sango?" He said quietly without meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry, but I thought after all this time together... that our feelings would be the same about each other. This was the hardest thing I've ever had to say Sango, but I want you to know the truth. I... Sango... well, what I'm trying to say is that I love you..."

Sango gasped. This was clearly something she was not expecting.

"Ho... Mirkou?" She said, unable to stop her eyes from welling with tears. "I... love you too. I was afraid... you would run off with some other woman... and leave me here alone... so I could never tell you..." She gasped. Miroku shook his head solemnly.

"Sango, I could never leave you."

He leaned forward slowly until their lips met. Sango leaned into Miroku's arms, deepening the kiss until she couldn't breath any longer. She broke the kiss for air, and slid up into his lap. His strong arms encircled her and held her close to his chest. They didn't speak anymore that night, only watching the stars until they fell asleep in each other's embrace...

"Sango! That's beautiful!" Kei said after she had finished. Sango now had a dreamy look in her eyes, and only nodded and smiled.

"I agree, it was quite beautiful..." Miroku said, walking up from behind them and plopping down next to Sango. They smiled at each other, and even though it was cute Kei knew she didn't want to stick around much longer in case it got... serious.

She said good night to Sango and Miroku, and went off to look for her parents but they were also gone from the camp. She shrugged, and rolled out her sleeping mat and went straight to sleep.

A.n: Eh. I really couldn't think of how to end that. I'm sorry. In case you're wondering, I'm still going to keep myself basically on hiatus because I have A LOT going on and I really don't want to promise updates and have them never happening. The only real reason I'm updating is because I had a really happy day. I just felt like it. :D I'm going to London over New Years! YEAAAAH. Thank you to my lovely reviewer who motivated me to update. I'm sorry that I'm a slacker. Siiiigh. I don't deserve reviews.. but guess what I want for Christmas?
Push the button, please and thank you.