Epilogue


InuYasha peeked over from the contracts in his hand as Kagome glanced up at him yet again. 'She's up to something,' he thought as he hid a smile. Shippou and Inuakamori were spending the night with Miroku and Sango, and InuYasha had a feeling that sneaky wench was up to her old tactics again . . . .

She unfolded her legs and stood, ambling out of the living room with a very definite air of nonchalance—too much nonchalance. InuYasha waited for a few minutes before he followed.

Peeking through the crack in the open door, InuYasha grinned as he spotted her, lying on the bed with his journal in front of her face. Stretched out on the bed, she presented a vision much too enticing to ignore for very long. One leg bent at the knee, the other stretched out with her pretty little toes extended, he took in the sight of her with a very low whine. The soft curves, the rising contours . . . . She was singularly the most devastating creature alive, and she didn't even have a clue. 'How does she do that? How can she turn me completely inside out without even looking at me?' He shook his head slowly, considering how long he ought to wait before he pounced.

"Hrumph," she mumbled as her eyebrows drew together. He chuckled to himself. Lately he'd been given to keeping two journals: this one packed with things that he knew would irritate her, and the second, the real one . . . the one hidden in his desk drawer in his study. She wasn't the only one who could be sneaky, was she?

Kagome gasped, her features clouding over even more. "You always said you like my cooking, you baka!" she murmured, indignant color filling her cheeks. InuYasha figured he'd better stop her before she got any more irritated with him.

"Oi, wench!" he bellowed as he smacked open the door. She jumped as the journal went flying. "Trying to read my journal again?"

Very nearly laughing out loud would have betrayed the absolute irritation in his face, and he carefully schooled his features as he leaned his shoulder on the doorframe.

"You shouldn't sneak up on me," she pointed out, her cheeks bright red as she struggled to regain her composure. "It isn't nice."

"Keh! About as nice as you snooping in my journal. I told you, if you'd ask, I'd let you read it."

"That's ridiculous," she pointed out. "I have asked."

"You haven't. You've tried to bribe and barter and wheedle . . . among other things, but you've never asked."

Kagome wrinkled up her nose. "You wouldn't let me if I just asked," she pouted.

Crossing his arms over his chest and unable to hold back the smile any longer, InuYasha grinned. "Try me, wench."

Shifting her gaze to the side, she narrowed her eyes at his show of misplaced humor. "May I read your journal?" she asked, her tone cautious, aloof.

InuYasha stared at her for a long moment before shoving himself out of the doorway and heading back toward his study—the one room in the house he rarely used, which was why it was the perfect place to hide the real journal. Turning his ears back as far as they could rotate, he heard Kagome following him.

Pulling open the bottom drawer on the immense cherry desk, InuYasha moved aside his mother's diary and the scroll of missing pages to find the real journal beneath. Pausing long enough to run hid claws over the cover of the ancient book lovingly, he sighed before lifting out his real journal, closing the drawer and standing up again. "Here."

She stared at the book with her mouth hanging open, an incredulous expression lighting her deep brown eyes with an indignant light. "You tricked me!" she gasped as she stared at the journal he held out to her.

InuYasha rolled his eyes. "Cut the act, wench. I ain't buying."

She sighed and grabbed the journal out of his hand. He caught her wrist and pulled her into his arms as he leaned back on the desk. "I want to go read this," she protested as he nibbled at her bottom lip.

"So read it. I ain't stopping you."

Her eyes drifted closed as she leaned in closer to him. "You . . . are," she argued.

"You're stronger than that, wench," he taunted, mouth moving to the curve of her jaw.

"But . . . we can't . . . ."

"Give me one good reason we can't."

"Full moon," she murmured, fighting against the pull of his body on hers.

"The pups need a sister," he countered as his lips settled against the pulse in her throat.

Kagome shivered as the journal fell from her slack hand. "Oh, kami . . . ."

InuYasha grinned. 'I win.'


A/N:

It's been a helluva ride.

I really don't know what else to say, other than thanks for all the lovely reviews and words of encouragement. I hope you have enjoyed the monstrosity known as Chronicles (btw . . . I will be changing the name soon . . . maybe BERTHA... LMAO! Joking!!)

I've already started my next project, but for anyone interested who hasn't found it yet, it is called Metamorphosis, and is being posted on the same sites that I use now. Feel free to check it out! Included at the end of this will be a sample of the first chapter of Metamorphosis . . . It should be interesting . . . .

Thanks again, and you guys . . . you're wonderful!


Frequently Asked Questions:


Did anything happen to the plagiarist?

Yep, she has been forced to remove the offending fic from mediaminer, and so far as I know, I think she was banned by ffnet for it ... however she still has a chapter of the fic on animespiral and she 'claims' it is in 'edit' to remove any similarities to Chronicles.


Will there be a sequel to Chronicles?

At this point, there isn't one planned. I think they sort of earned their 'happily ever after'... Which is not to say that I won't ever change my mind, but for the moment, there's not a scheduled redux . . . though I have had a few ideas for some 'Oneshots'... like the catsuit . . . the games box . . . among other stuff . . . .


Do I plan on writing another asslong fic?

Probably. Though I am never certain how long my fics will be to start, Metamorphosis shows the same promise as Chronicles did for being a quite long saga . . . .


Will the others live as long as InuYasha and Kagome?

Uhh... no... Tetsusaiga was only strengthened via Kagome and InuYasha's blood bond. They're the ones who are bonded, and while Blue Tetsusaiga does keep her alive, it wouldn't necessarily do the same for the other humans . . .


OOCness?

Interesting. I don't think anyone was actually OOC at any given time. The main one I would say who COULD have been considered OOC would have been Present-Sesshoumaru . . . but he had good reason (IMO)... As for InuYasha's changes in his actions and emotions? Well . . . To write a story, the point is, to change characters through natural evolution. No one stays the same, anywhere, including him. If he had remained the same from beginning to end, what would have been the point of writing the fic, in the first place? None. As in normal life, experience tempers behavior. InuYasha found the ability to let go of the past in order to facilitate the changes that led to his future with Kagome. Isn't that the happy ending every InuYasha fan is looking for?


Was Chronicles planned out before I wrote it?

Um, parts. I had more of a concept for it than I normally do. Torrent was a wing-it fic . . . meaning I knew what I wanted, TONS of angst . . . Purity was the same, minus TONS of angst (IMO... Purity isn't overly angsty ... ) Out of Time was just a quick break between fics . . . and Chronicles? Well, I had 'ideas' and I had a rough estimate as to what went where, etc, but as for sitting down and writing it out part by part? Nope . . . The whole backstory of death and Sesshoumaru trying to change it all was developed about halfway through, about the time Katosan crossed over to the 'good side' . . . . Which also left me with loose ends that I really hope have been, at this point, completely tied and wrapped up in beautiful silver foil paper with a satin bow on top... LoL!


Final Thought from Kagome:

... I won ...


Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Chronicles): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

Sue


::000::


"InuYasha and Kagome discover that sometimes loving your friends means giving up a little part of yourself, too..."

Chapter 1

I am Kagome


The kitsune tiptoed through the tall grass, pausing to sniff the air now and then. The myriad of late spring scents combined into a sweet aroma, a delicious succulence that made him smile, made him want to run, to jump, to laugh out loud. Shaking his head slowly, he focused again. He could smell her close at hand. Her scent was warm, invigorating, like clothes dried in the sunshine.

Kagome caught the swaying grass off to her left as she pretended not to notice Shippou's proximity. The nearly nineteen year-old girl sighed and tried to concentrate on her text books. 'Six more weeks, Kagome. You can do it! Concentrate!' It was a very real concern to her, passing her final exams. If she did well on these, she'd graduate on time and in decent class rankings---both of which had been in question not so long ago.

Flicking her raven-black hair over her shoulder as she leaned in closer to her books, Kagome Higurashi frowned in concentration as she absently fingered the slightly glowing pink orb that hung from a thin silver chain around her neck: the Shikon no Tama. The Sacred Jewel of Four Souls. Completed shortly after their final battle with Naraku just before her sixteenth birthday, she'd been protecting the jewel ever since. The original plan had been to purify the jewel right away, to destroy it so that it couldn't inadvertently fall into the wrong hands.

Funny how plans change. Kagome sighed and closed the book with a loud snap. The first wish they'd tried to make was that Midoriko, the miko whose soul was trapped inside the jewel along with a host of youkai, would win her battle with evil. The jewel didn't change at all. The second wish they'd made was that Kohaku, Sango's young brother—another victim of Naraku—would be brought back to live out his life as he should have done. That hadn't worked, either. The third wish had been that the well that connected Kagome's real world in modern Tokyo to this world in Sengoku Jidai would remain open to allow her to pass back and forth between the two since it was nearly impossible for her to make that sort of decision on her own. Again, the jewel had ignored the wish.

So they'd given up on trying to purify the jewel until they could figure out exactly what they needed to do to accomplish it. Now, three years later, the jewel still existed, Kagome still used the well, and they still were no closer to finding answers than they had been on the day the jewel was completed.

Rolling her slender shoulders to alleviate the tension below her neck, Kagome sighed and let her head fall back, absently noting how nice the warm sun felt on her skin. With an exaggerated gasp of surprise as a blurry ball of giggling fuzz landed in her lap, Kagome hugged Shippou. "I'm getting better, huh?" he demanded, his eyes bright, proud of his own ability to stalk his prey: in this case, her.

"Absolutely," she agreed, giving Shippou another quick cuddle before the kitsune hopped out of her arms and dug into her backpack.

Pulling out a box of milk chocolate pocky, Shippou plopped down and tore into the treat. "Next time maybe InuYasha will take me with him when he goes hunting."

She refrained from comment on that. InuYasha had left early this morning on one of those hunting trips—or so he claimed. That he went on these secretive little journeys about once a month, and that he always stayed gone for at least a week was something that bothered her even if she didn't ask him about it. She had come close on a few occasions to asking him if he had gone to see Kikyou during those times. Somehow she never had. 'You're scared of his answer,' her conscience spoke up. 'You're afraid he'll look away from you without answering . . . you're afraid to see the guilt in his eyes as his ears droop . . . and you're afraid to feel like you're just a stupid, stupid girl.'

InuYasha. The hanyou. The son of a human mother and a youkai father, and not just any youkai, but the Inu no Taisho—possibly the most powerful youkai of his time. Half dog youkai, InuYasha was gruff, rude, arrogant, condescending, irritating to a fault, jealous without any real reason—every single thing that a girl her age shouldn't ever want in a man. So why did she?

She sighed. She'd been drawn to him from the start, before she even discovered how simple it was to be lost in the swirling gold of his gaze, before she'd even spoken to him. She released him from the magical seal that bound him to the Sacred Tree—Goshinboku. In return, he'd tried to take her head off with his claws, all because he wanted the Shikon no Tama. That was all water under the bridge. In time, he'd come to trust her, and she'd come to . . . . Well, it was safe to say that she cared more for him than she ought to.

Already a handsome boy, the passage of time hadn't changed InuYasha very much. His silvery hair was a little bit longer, hanging well past his waist, unruly bangs that always fell into his eyes, the most adorable fuzzy little ears that flicked and turned like tiny triangular radars atop his head. His eyes were uncanny, such an intense shade of golden, of amber that if he didn't normally snap something rude when he caught her staring at him, she'd probably be more than happy to gaze into them all day.

It was difficult to remember that he still appeared very boyish when those eyes burned into hers. Only when he had his eyes closed was she able to discern the softness, the vulnerability that he fought so hard to hide. There had been times in the past when she had felt like he might return her feelings. The isolated moments were few and far between but remained precious to her, and in the deepest part of her soul, she knew that those memories were the ones she loved best, and that those memories were what compelled her to return time and time again.

Not that she could really blame everything on him. She hadn't actually told him how she felt, had she? Wrinkling her nose in the bright sunshine, Kagome's shoulders dropped as she raised her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. The biggest part of her reluctance to tell InuYasha how she felt was that she always got so tongue-tied around him lately. Something had changed about him, and while she still felt completely safe when he was around, there was an underlying sense of nervousness there, too. It was hard enough to deal with the confusing twist in her belly whenever she caught him looking at her, but there was something entirely frightening about the way she forgot to breathe when he was near, when he was close enough for her to smell the wind in his hair, the balmy scent of the woods that always clung to his clothes.

Tightening her arms around her shins, noting with a sigh that she could feel her own heartbeat against her legs, she let her chin drop onto her knees as she wondered how long InuYasha would be gone this time. She had overheard him talking to Miroku late last night. She had gone to bed early even though she wasn't tired. InuYasha had mentioned an old sage who might know something about the Shikon no Tama. Kagome frowned. It seemed to her that he was suddenly in a rush to purify the jewel. 'Maybe,' she thought with a small grimace, 'InuYasha's finally decided that he should go with Kikyou, to hell.'

Miroku, the ex-monk, and Sango, the youkai exterminator, had told her time and again that InuYasha definitely cared for her, that he certainly wasn't planning on going to hell with Kikyou . . . Kagome wanted to believe them, and most of the time she did. Still, the lingering doubt remained, the slight worry that she was wrong, that InuYasha would go, and that she would be left alone. There were no real guarantees. She sighed again.


Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Metamorphosis): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

Sue