Bear in mind that Rin is 9months pregnant in this. It was finished late because I had writer's block, which was caused by the fact that I was nervous about getting my hair HACKED off. It used to be just passed my shoulders. Now it is short. Yes, you read that right. Short, short. People say it suits me. All I know is that I look like my brother. (Which, although slightly disturbing, is infinitely better than looking like my sister – which I so do not.) But hey; I can wash it in two seconds. No wonder guys are always so quick when they shower.

But I digress. On with the epilogue.

#~#~#

{-`'`'-}

Three years later

{-`'`'-}

Sesshoumaru was in the garden with Natsumi when he smelt Rin's tears. His mind instantly assumed his mother, who was visiting them, had done something to upset her, but the youkai was also outside.

Going into the small house he went into the room the two of them shared. Rin looked up when she heard the shoji slide open and quickly wiped her cheeks, sniffing.

"Rin, what is wrong?"

"Noth- "

"Tell me," he sat down beside her and pulled her onto his lap. "Rin, I'll help."

Sniffing again, she dissolved into tears and clutched her pregnant stomach as she cried onto her mate's shoulder. "It's just that I've been so busy, taking care of you and Natsumi, and now your mother, and soon I'll have another child and I'm just so tired…"

Sesshoumaru rubbed her back soothingly while waiting for her to calm down. He knew she had been feeling stressed for a while – side effects of her pregnancy – and having his mother appear definitely did not help. He had not expected her to live in such a tiny house for any length of time, and because of this he had gone to visit her with Rin when they had just become mates – on their way back from seeing his father. She had stayed for a month so far, and had said nothing about leaving.

"Would it help if we went to the western palace?" he asked. "We needn't stay much longer after the child is born, and I know you miss Kagome."

She nodded. "I do, but could we leave when your mother is still here? Wouldn't it be rude?"

"It's fine. If we put off leaving for any amount of time, the child might be born here. We should leave immediately to prevent that."

Rin sniffed and wiped her eyes again. "Alright."

Sesshoumaru moved her hair away from her neck and kissed it tenderly. She giggled, being ticklish, and he kissed her again, pulling her kimono away from her shoulder. She turned toward him and pulled his mouth up to hers, engaging him in a passionate kiss while pulling apart his haori. Without breaking the kiss he shifted them around so that she was lying on her futon with him hovering over her.

The shoji opened suddenly, hitting the end of the runner with a loud crack.

Sesshoumaru broke his lip contact with Rin but neither of them moved from their positions. "What?" he demanded, still staring at his mate.

"Your child is crying," his mother said.

The pair reluctantly got up and fixed their clothes. Rin started to go out to door, but Sesshoumaru stopped her. "I'll take care of Natsumi," he said.

She beamed at him. "Thank you."

As he went to comfort his two-year-old daughter, he considered how strangely his life had turned out. Instead of living in a palace training to succeed his father and become the next lord of the west, he lived in a cottage in some woods that few had heard about, spending his days eliminating minor threats. Instead of choosing one of several inuyoukai suggested by his father and/or his mother to be his mate, he chose a human slave. Instead of strong, full-blooded heirs, he had nearly two hanyou children, heirs to nothing.

And yet, he thought the next day when his family of three-soon-to-be-four left the small cottage for his former home, he was not unhappy. As he saw his tired father and aging – he begrudgingly granted Izayoi the title for his father's sake – stepmother, he knew that he had no regrets of giving up his inheritance. His half-brother nodded a greeting while their mates exchanged an embrace. He almost smiled at the scene of the two "sisters" – who were such in more ways than one. Kagome had been a good companion for Rin on their rare visits to the castle, as the servants did not accept either of them to be worthy of the status of "mate" to the princes of the west. It had taken Inuyasha a while to recover after the loss of Kikyou, but eventually claimed Kagome. They both enjoyed the company of Izayoi, but often spent time alone because they were the same age.

"Oh," Rin gave a gasp of pain and clutched her stomach. Sesshoumaru was instantly at her side, anxiety evident in his eyes. "I'm alright," she assured him. "But I think – the child is coming."

And she was ushered off by Izayoi and Kagome to the birthing room. As human births dictated, Sesshoumaru waited impatiently in his own room for a particularly long labor to be over, with his father occasionally coming to reassure him that everything was going to be fine. It was the one time the young taiyoukai wished Rin was also youkai, so it would be expected for him to be with her for the birthing process.

Eventually one of the servants came to fetch him, and he was hurried to his exhausted mate and child with Natsumi skipping after him cheerfully.

"Omedetto, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome smiled at him before he entered the room, her own pregnancy only just beginning to show. "You have a son."

Rin was sitting up holding a gurgling bundle of cloth. She looked up at him with love in her eyes as he and Natsumi sat beside her.

"Hold him?" she asked.

Sesshoumaru hesitated. Even now he wasn't entirely comfortable holding Natsumi. When she squirmed he was always afraid he would drop her without a second arm to support her.

He felt Rin's hand on his arm and looked at her shining eyes; shining with trust in him. He slowly nodded and accepted the newborn she placed carefully in his grasp.

He was a beautiful child, Sesshoumaru observed with pride, as Natsumi was. Large amber orbs stared up at him with awe, and he saw two tiny furry ears twitch on the top of the baby's head, almost hidden in the dull silver hair. While it pained him that his child resembled Inuyasha, the brother he had hated his entire life, he was glad that both children looked very much like their mother despite only being half-human.

A smile tugged at his lips as a tiny hand reached up toward his face, five miniscule fingers grasping the air.

Yes, he truly had no regrets about how his life had turned out.

#~#~#

shoji – sliding paper doors

omedetto – congratulations

This is it! The very, absolute end! I can't believe I actually finished something so long. Wow! A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed and put me on author alert. You guys inspired me to keep writing. I'll try and get some more longer stories on the go soon. Maybe I should continue Tragedies of the Past – I haven't written anything for it in months. Oops! (Sheepish). Well, I can't get enough inspiration on it, so it's pretty much on hiatus. I'm thinking about a fantasy fanfic, so I can create my own world – like in Star Wars. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Keep a lookout for it! It's called The CoreGirl. Probably won't be up for ages, though.

Oh yeah. PLEASE REVIEW!