Epilogue

Kaippou entered his home - a big, traditional building, housing the main branch of his family. It belonged to his father and was located in a nice, peaceful neighborhood. The police man smiled at his notebook and opened it on the right page.

'Higurashi Kagome, Inuyasha.'

The man couldn't believe his own luck. He had to quickly shower and change after his work, then post a photo of himself with the autographs on Facebook. He couldn't wait to see all his friends write jealous comments. Getting the Inu no Miko's autograph was fairly easy if you got lucky and she was in a good mood. The Inu no Taisho's was totally another matter - the general of the Lord of the West was very firm about not signing anything with his name. Kaippou once had begged him long enough to get him to write 'Keh' and he was almost sure he had did it only because he was Shippou's son.

'Who would think,' he thought while walking down a corridor and turning off his concealment. Three fluffy orange tails with white points swayed behind the man - appearing much younger now - when he was making his way to his room. 'Who would think I'd meet them during a simple patrol, sitting in a park as if they were ordinary people. I was a little surprised to feel youki in that area and when I saw the boy stalking them...'

A sudden crash in the other side of the house brought him back from his musings. Kaippou turned on his feet and ran in the direction of the sound, which was shortly followed by shouts. Was someone attacking? He saw a shoji open and his father ran into the corridor.

"Run!" he exclaimed, his green eyes frantic. Kaippou couldn't sense real fear from his father. And there was no anger - his father should be angry if someone tried to attack him in his own home. Instead there was a spark of mischief in his eyes.

"Father! What's going on?" Kaippou called in confusion and saw a clawed hand grab one of his father's seven tails and yank him back inside. "Father!"

Kaippou ran in the room, ready to fight to save his father. But when he witnessed what and who was in the room...

...His inner child started to bounce on his tiny little fox feet.

Under one wall, adorned with a blossoming branch, sat Kaippou's mother, calmly sharing a cup of tea with a woman in red and white. Kaippou's father was currently pinned to the floor by a knee placed against his back. Above him was towering an inu hanyou. He had his right hand pressed to the floor by a huge boulder. He looked magnificent, fierce and feral - the Inu no Taisho so many people admired like Kaippou. The three-tailed kitsune smiled - the visits of these two were not rare, but he usually was in work.

"Hello, Kaippou," Kagome waved her hand at him when he tore his eyes from Inuyasha demanding to be freed of the boulder immediately. "How was your day?"

Kaippou's mother seemed not worried about the well-being of her mate or her house, despite the threats growled by the hanyou. Kaippou's father was snickering despite having the inu hanyou cracking his knuckles above him. It was always like this, for as long as Kaippou could remember - the pair would come to visit and his father would prank the most deadly hanyou in the country just for heck of it. The three-tailed kitsune bowed politely and sighed.

"It was a pleasant day, aunt Kagome," he said. "I met your younger selves."

With a wicked kitsune grin he showed Inuyasha his own autograph and fleed the room, followed by angry shouts of the inu. After all, Kaippou was Shippou's son. Teasing Inuyasha was his second nature.

.

Hojo woke up on a car couch. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a luxurious car, a limo maybe. A woman was sitting on the other couch, facing his own. He quickly sat up and focused his eyes on her. She definitely was a sight to behold.

She had silver hair bound in two ponytails, but her face wasn't that old-looking. She had two strips on both cheeks and a crescent moon tattooed on her forehead. A pair of piercing golden eyes was observing him, sparkling with mischief. She was dressed in a purple kimono with floral pattern and held his notebook on her knees.

"Human boy," said the woman with a soft voice. The boy realized the car was moving, but he couldn't see anything outside because of the dark windows. "My name is Akita Rumiko, but you can call me Noble Mother."

Hojo suddenly felt cold and numb. The woman in front of him was the author of the note in his notebook. And now she had him in her car, taking him to wherever she wanted.

"Um...

"Human boy," she tilted her head. Hojo blinked when he noticed her eyes were pointed. "You didn't listen to my advice."

"I... Mrs. Akita, I merely wanted to know the truth. I didn't mean to..."

"Oh, yes, you did," the woman smiled. "You witnessed far more than a human should and now I have to decide what to do with you."

Hojo felt swat run down his forehead. The woman was speaking in a friendly tone and was smiling, but the glint in her eyes and the fact she was taking him somewhere were making him more than anxious. His mind drifted to yakuza and he briefly wondered if she was going to kill him and throw the body in the ocean.

"Am I... Are you going to kill me?" he asked, his lower lip trembling. He balled his fists, desperately trying to think about a way out of this situation.

"That's what my son advises to do," she shook her head, her ponytails swaying behind her back. "But I think you're too cute to just be killed."

"Oh," he relaxed in relief. So he was going to be alive. But... "Will you keep me captive for the rest of my life?"

"Why should I?" she giggled and lifted his notebook. "You're a seeker of truth. I will answer your questions. So ask, you have time until we reach the tea house where we'll meet up with a dear friend of mine. After having a tea with her you'll be free."

That was... Unexpected. Hojo needed a while to realize what this woman was giving him. He was going to be fine. And he was going to learn the truth from a person who seemed to have all the answers! This was like an ending of many criminal stories - the part where all questions were answered and clues pieced together. He swallowed and took a deep breath, relaxing in his seat and collecting his thoughts.

"Okay, Mrs. Akita," he smiled shyly at the strange woman. "Why there are two Higurashis and two Inuyashas?"

"This's easy. Because there are a pair of the past and a pair of the future. The two you saw fighting today are the future selves of the pair you met earlier in the park," she replied without a second of hesitation.

"Of the past and future? I am afraid I don't understand," he confessed.

"The Higurashi you know fell in a magical well which took her five centuries back in time. There she met Inuyasha and the rest of us. She was splitting her time between the past and the school here until one day she chose to stay in the past. Since she mated Inuyasha her life span was extended to match his. They lived the five centuries until now. So now you have the older pair living here and the younger coming out of the well so Higurashi can take her tests. Soon she will stop coming back because the well will seal."

Hojo needed a while to think about this. It sounded like something form a SF movie. It was too crazy to be real, and yet he didn't call the woman a liar. He wanted to hear everything she wanted to share with him before telling her his thoughts.

"You said... They lived for five centuries? How is this possible?"

"Easy. Inuyasha is a hanyou, a half-youkai. A dog to be precise." she grinned. "He's roughly seven centuries old."

"He's a... Youkai? But they're just folk stuff!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"I can assure you youkai are real. And he's a half. I, on the other hand, am a full blooded youkai," she laid a hand against her chest. "And the monster they fought in the park was a youkai as well."

Hojo closed his mouth before saying anything. He thought about the monster, the fight like from a movie. He thought about certain pair of dog ears twitching in agitation.

"Most youkai are usually harmless for humankind," the woman said. "We're just trying to blend in and live our lives. But some are evil or simply stupid, so they attack humans or reveal themselves. Luckily we always manage to keep our society a secret. You humans wouldn't stand it if there was another race living beside you, you would just try to destroy us."

"We wouldn't!"

"Come on, human boy. You can't tolerate humans with different skin color, how could you tolerate people who, for example, can change to animal form?" the woman appeared amused and a little sad at the same time.

They talked for almost a half an hour while the car was moving. Hojo was asking questions about the youkai, about Higurashi, everything. The female in front of him was providing him with answers, often prompting him to ask more questions. It seemed his eagerness to know was amusing her and his reactions was often making her laugh. Finally the car stopped and a male opened the door before offering his hand to help Mrs. Akita out. Hojo quickly followed and found himself standing in front of a huge building. It looked old, but well-kept, with lanterns shining around. The boy looked at the male who had helped the woman leave the limo and gasped.

The man wasn't a human, he had a humanoid body, but a fox's head and... tail. Hojo blinked when he realized that the man had in fact two tails moving lazily from side to side. His fur was pale orange, as was his hair.

"Honorable Guest, your friend is waiting for you," the fox youkai said and glanced at Hojo. "Are you sure, my lady?"

"Of course. Don't worry." she waved a hand at him and wrapped her other hand around Hojo's. "Come, human boy. Let's meet my friend and have some tea."

Hojo realized he was staring at the fox man and bowed in apology before the woman dragged him in the direction of the tea house. His head was spinning with the amount of information he acquired since waking up. It was hard to believe, but there were evidences - the fox human being one of them. Hojo felt overwhelmed and confused. He knew he would have to think about all this for a while. There was a hidden society and only a few humans knew about it. One of them being the nice librarian, Mrs. Akita's granddaughter. Youkai existed - heck, magic existed! Suddenly the logical, reasonable world was full of shape shifters, spells, artifacts and immortal beings superior to humans in so many ways.

The school boy barely noticed the main room of the tea house with its low tables and mats, with guests sipping tea and talking. Mrs. Akita led the boy to a secluded table behind a privacy screen adorned with cranes. A woman was sitting there and was currently pouring tea to two cups.

"I came here when I saw Kagome and Inuyasha crossed the time portal," she smiled up at Hojo. "Hello, Rumiko, Hojo."

"Aiko!" Mrs. Akita let go of Hojo to jump and wrap her arms around the human woman's neck. "It's so nice to see you again!"

"Oh, we met the last time you were in Tokyo," Mrs. Higurashi didn't try to free herself from her friend's embrace. Instead she mentioned to Hojo to sit down and take a cup of tea. "How are you, dear? You look a little pale?"

"Um..."

"I told him everything," Mrs. Akita announced and sat down. She picked up her tea and took a sip while the other woman took out of her purse a very familiar looking ID card.

"Here, better return it to Inuyasha before he realizes it's gone," she winked at Hojo. "I am sorry I lied to you and the others, but I am oath bound to keep the youkai secret."

"You knew? From the start?" Hojo gasped.

"Come on, I am a shrine keeper and a miko. Of course I know about youkai," Mrs. Higurashi giggled. "And I had the pleasure to meet my daughter's older self and her mate when Kagome fell in the well for the fist time. This is why I never was against her traveling to dangerous time and skip school."

"Oh..." Hojo gave a small nod of understanding. It made sense for the woman to know the outcome of the adventures her daughter had in the past.

"Okay, Aiko, work your magic, I need to take him back home before my son finds out I ditched him and comes after me to drag me back to the Keep," Mrs. Akita waved a hand. Hojo blinked while Mrs. Higurashi took out of her pocket a small pale orb on a chain. The boy looked at the sphere in surprise because it seemed to glow faintly in the woman's hand. Higurashi's mom let the gem hang freely and with a gentle move of her wrist made it sway sideways. Hojo had enough time to realize the pink light around it brightened before everything went blank.

.

Hojo woke up on his bed. He sat up and looked at the alarm clock showing it was five minutes after six am - the alarm was going to go off in ten minutes. The boy rubbed at his eyes and noticed his red notebook laying beside him. He probably had fell asleep while browsing and updating it last night. He reached for it and opened it with a proud smile. The notebook contained his precious research data. His gaze slid over straight lines of words and pictures - he was cataloging Tokyo birds and the previous day he had spent almost all afternoon taking photos in the park. It had exhausted him so he had fallen asleep in his clothes on top of his bed covers.

When the alarm rang Hojo switched it off, put his notebook away. He ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower and prepare for school. As he undressed and stepped in the shower he reached for a pale pink orb hanging around his neck. It was his lucky charm and he hoped it'd make his wish come true.

"Oh, I wish for a girl as kind, smart and pretty as Higurashi to fall madly in love with me," he prayed and let go of his charm to reach for a soap. He never noticed the light glow swirling inside the charm.

A/N: Here you have it, the fic's done! ~happy dance~ Hope the epilogue was to your liking, guys!
At first I was not going to include the first bit with Kaippou because it made the epilogue so long, but I thought you'd not mind and would like to meet him again. And, yes, Shippou's still pranking Inuyasha, after all the time. Hope I answered all your questions!