lostmoonchild: I'm so mean, I know, not updating for so long. This is the final chapter and I don't want it to end but a sequal is in progress. I'm thinking of posting it the first of October or something so you all know. Anyway, I don't own Inuyasha, YYH, or anything else unless I say otherwise.

Chapter Forty Three

"The actions of the past will repeat itself if the actions of the future do nothing to change. We all dream of a better future for the next generation, for our children, but if we do nothing now to change, our children won't have a future."

The air was thick with anticipation as the small castle was surrounded by youkai, ningens, and hanyous all drawn together for a single purpose. Kagome found it impossible to believe that in the next five hundred years, the only thing separating youkai and ningens was a barrier dividing their worlds. There was nothing to prevent hanyous from being among either ningens or youkai, only discrimination that would lessen as youkai became fairy tales to either frighten or excite children. A hanyou's hate would only be decided by them, if they couldn't see the beauty of their race and be proud to be the result of a love that was once upon a time seen as forbidden between two races.

A roll of thunder drew everybody's attention to the dark sky above them. What would happen after the battle? Who would die today and who would live to see tomorrow? Would the future be bright for everybody and the group from the future have a home to return to? Or would there be no future, only a world full of darkness that had long ago conquered light? Nobody knew the answers, and they were certain that even the Gods above didn't know.

Miroku cleared his throat as he stood in front of the army, Kagome standing next to him. Calmly, Miroku began to say a prayer for everybody while Kagome said it proudly in the demon's language. Inuyasha listened and looked around at the small army, a sense of pride growing as he saw his brother nod in acknowledgement. After seeing that his brother would make it to the modern era and hearing about what his older brother was willing to reveal about surviving through time, he held a new respect for the taiyoukai.

Earlier in the morning the camp had awoken to find that a few of its members were dead. Nobody knew what had happened but they were all willing to bet that Naraku had something to do with their deaths. The ones who had been found dead were buried and everybody determined to fight to avenge their comrades.

Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama all transformed to their youkai states, surprising everybody. Kagome smiled and bowed, showing pure respect for her youkai friends. "Are you ready to fight, my Kings?" Kagome questioned with a small smile.

A laugh left Yusuke's lips as he nodded. "Just remember, Kags, don't try to be a hero. Know when to retreat." Yusuke whispered, embracing his cousin tightly.

"Hai. Aishiteru."

"I love you too, Kags."

With a sharp crack of thunder, the group charged at the castle where Naraku and his incarnations stood with a small army of their own, each one of the members shouting at the top of their lungs. Inuyasha growled as he drew the Tetsusaiga, feeling his father's fang pulse with power. With a single swing, Inuyasha broke through Naraku's barrier allowing everybody to enter the castle.

Naraku frowned as he watched the group charge. He could clearly see Inuyasha running ahead, a determined look settled on his face. With a calm look, Naraku looked at his incarnations and at the army of youkai that were willing to fight for him. Those youkai, he knew, wanted to kill the humans and any halfbreed they found among the army. He also knew that those youkai felt that any pure blooded youkai who sided with humans had to be eliminated immediately.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kagura draw her fan while one of her hands went up to her hair were a feather was kept. Kanna moved closer to the demoness, as if they were both planning on escaping sometime before or during the battle. As soon as the barrier broke, the two demonesses were taking off.

With a growl, one of the demons tried to stop the two demonesses but an arrow quickly took care of the demon. Naraku quickly turned his head and saw the strange looking priestess, her eyes narrowed and bleeding red. Hate burned at Naraku's heart as he stared at his beloved Kikyo's reincarnation deciding then and there that the wench had to die.

Kagome moaned with pleasure as she felt the fire of her demon blood course through her being. Kagura and Kanna, she knew, held no loyalty to Naraku and would escape the first chance they got. When she saw that one of the demons Naraku had on his side was about to take their lives, Kagome reacted. Only a lowly youkai would think of striking somebody down while their back was turned and in response to the sight of the manner, Kagome's youkai blood was screaming for blood to be shed in return for the blood that was nearly spilt in such a cowardly act.

Inuyasha picked up the scent of Kagome changing from mostly human to her pure blooded youkai form. Growling at Naraku, he began attacking the evil hanyou. Today, Naraku would die and Inuyasha would drag the bastard's soul to Hell himself if needed be. Anger threatened to blind Inuyasha as he thought about all the innocent people that had died at Naraku's hands, the innocent people he had manipulated through the years.

Sango and Miroku both noticed the anger in Inuyasha's eyes and even that the young priestess was beginning to transform. Both wanted to fight Naraku but it had been made clear the night before that Naraku was Inuyasha's to kill. Neither one would be sad that Naraku died, both of them would happily celebrate Naraku's death.

Sango's heart jumped to her throat when she saw her brother standing with his chain-scythe raised. "KOHAKU!" Sango screamed.

Kohaku looked up and attacked his sister, the boy's brown eyes totally empty. Both taijiya fought against each other, one trying frantically to avoid hitting the other. Kohaku was dead, Sango realized, and he had been ever since the day that Naraku had the boy kill their father. With tears rolling down her face, Sango took her sword and stabbed her brother through his chest, taking out the shikon shard without any problems.

With tears of grief rolling down her face, Sango began attacking those on Naraku's side after quickly hiding the shikon shard for Kagome to join with the rest of the Shikon no Tama.

Hiei and Kurama both noticed Sango's tears and made it a point to avoid her so she wouldn't accidentally kill them. Kurama's now silver hair was stained red with some random youkai's blood while Hiei's Jagan eye glowed with power, easily controlling the minds of the weaker youkai. Out of the corner of Hiei's eye, he could see Yusuke in all his demonic glory fighting alongside Kuwabara.

Yusuke could see his cousin was changing into her youkai form and nearly smiled. She was a mixed blooded person, just as he was, but unlike him Kagome had absolutely no official race. She kept dancing between races, never once staying with them for very long. "Hey, Urameshi! Your cousin's changing again!" Kuwabara shouted, using his spirit sword to cut a demon in half.

"Yeah, I know!" Yusuke shouted. "SPIRIT GUN!"

When Naraku's army was gone, all that remained was Naraku. Everybody gathered around the evil hanyou and Inuyasha, watching the look of pure hate in Inuyasha's eyes grow. "You care more about destroying me than your own love." Naraku said with a cold smile.

"You're wrong. I've already claimed my mate."

"Oh really? Then why do I have Kikyo near death?" Naraku questioned with a smirk.

Inuyasha growled in annoyance and said, "You're an idiot if you think I'm sticking with somebody who wanted me to change into something I'm not."

"Inuyasha… prepare to die!"

A dangerous growl left Inuyasha's lips as he and Naraku fought against each other, both of them evenly matched. Kagome's eyes widened when she saw the incomplete glowing sphere inside Naraku and shouted, "INUYASHA! HE'S USING THE SHIKON NO TAMA!"

"They're evenly matched." Mr. Higurashi said putting a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

Kagome's mind raced as she began trying to figure out if Naraku was truly playing with Inuyasha or if they were really evenly matched. From the way Naraku was gasping for air, he and Inuyasha were evenly matched. "Impossible…" Yusuke said, his eyes widening as he watched. "I thought you said that any demon who used Shikon shards got HUGE power ups."

"Unless…" Kagome said softly, her eyes never leaving Inuyasha for a minute.

"Kagome…"

"Naraku's about an A-class with the Shikon Shards…"

"So Inuyasha is…"

"An A-class naturally."

Inuyasha smirked as he watched Naraku gasp for air. "You hear that, Naraku? Only with those shards are you strong. I don't need those stupid shards to be strong, I'm that way naturally. You need the shards."

"Shut up, half breed."

"ooh, tough words."

Naraku attempted to escape but found himself being stopped by everybody he had managed to annoy in the time he had been alive. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Naraku shouted.

"Miroku, shall we?" Kagome questioned, a smile spreading across her face.

"We shall."

Everybody watched as the monk and priestess formed a barrier around Inuyasha and Naraku, preventing Naraku from escaping. "HEY! NARAKU!" Inuyasha shouted raising Tetsusaiga over his head.

Naraku spun around and a loud yell escaped his lips as the sword came down upon him. Everybody looked away for a minute and when they looked back, Naraku was lying on the ground with blood pouring from his skull. Miroku and Kagome allowed the barrier to drop and Kagome jumped into Inuyasha's arms. "You did it, mate, you did it." Kagome murmured pulling away from Inuyasha and taking the incomplete Shikon no Tama from Naraku as Sango gave Kagome the piece she had gotten from Kohaku and Kouga turned over the shards he had.

"No," answered Inuyasha as he looked around after Kagome put the Shikon no Tama together again, "we ALL did it."

We won the battle against Naraku and the Shikon no Tama was put back together again. Kikyo died again and Ka-ka received the remaining half of her soul. Uncle Miroku, aunt Sango, brother Shippo, Inu-papa made their wishes on the Shikon no Tama but when Ka-ka got her turn, she looked at her father and told him she loved him and would always hold onto her human blood before she made the wish to become a full inu-hanyou.

I got to make the final wish. Having nothing I wanted, I closed my eyes and wished that the legend of the Shikon no Tama would live on forever, so everybody would be remembered through time. Later on, the tale of our adventures turned from the Legend of the Shikon no Tama into the Legend of Inuyasha, the story I grew up loving so much. But when I opened my eyes after saying my wish, I could see a blur of colors which adjusted allowing me to see everybody. With tears rolling down my face, I hugged Kagome and cried, "I can see again, mama! I can see!"

Watching Ka-ka now and seeing the love in her eyes, I realize that no matter what was thrown at her, she always held a strength that few had and even fewer chose to let show. She made all of us stronger and passed her strength to Inu-papa and to everybody else that had the pleasure of meeting her. A strength that I've come to believe that Kikyo didn't possess.

She and Inu-papa adopted the two babies that Ka-ka had been waiting for a month after Naraku's death and not long afterwards she had given birth to Inu-papa's son. Shippo and I remain best friends and willingly accepted the responsibilities of being older siblings. Nothing would tear us apart since we had a strength of our own. A strength we didn't even know existed.

Uncle Miroku and aunt Sango got married the summer after. They're now expecting their first baby and already we can see the baby growing up to be perverted like its father. Uncle Sessho marked Rin as his own when Rin was around sixteen. Wanting to make it clear to even humans that Rin was off limits, uncle Sessho had a demon marriage performed. They now have twins.

Maybe that's what kept me alive during the time I spent as Naraku's prisoner. My own strength kept me going while I was doing the same thing Ka-ka and everybody else was doing. At least, until they saw what Ka-ka wanted them to believe. So we stopped doing that one thing and started doing our own thing. What'd we stop?

We stopped waiting.

My name is Hana Higurashi, and while this is the end of one part of our story, this is also the beginning of another.

lostmoonchild: Oh my gods... the story's done! Honestly, I"m not sure if I should be pleased or not that this story is done but something tells me that I'm going to miss this story with a passion. Oh well, read and review, flames are accepted!