A/N: So this is it...the end has arrived. I cannot believe that this story is actually over. It has been great writing it and hearing your feedback, and on that note I have to say that your support was absolutely amazing. Thank you all. :)
Enjoy the last chapter of Timeless!
RxExR!
Timeless
Chapter 20 - A New Beginning
The next couple of weeks flew by as if they were nothing. Normal life continued in the village as Kagome got used to being the miko in residence once more. Sango prepared for the upcoming birth of her and Miroku's child and Miroku and Inuyasha went off again on demon extermination quests. Shippo went back to his kitsune master to continue his studies, but promised to be back for the birth of the child and Kirara vanished for a good two or three weeks before returning and taking up the position of being Sango's guard.
Ayumi continued to live her life peacefully, enjoying the slow tempo of the countryside and the joy that she found in working on the fields with Kaede, learning the ins and outs of herbs and their many uses. It was a wonderful life for her and she felt some guilt in admitting that she enjoyed it more than she had ever enjoyed her life in the modern day. The simplicity of this life appealed to her, there was no other way to explain it.
"Ayumi!" Rin ran up to the young woman, grinning from ear to ear as she held out the lunch that Kaede had prepared for the two of them.
"It's already noon?" Ayumi looked up to see the sun hanging low in the sky. It had snowed recently and due to that, some of the rarer herbs had made their appearance which Kaede had instructed her and Rin to collect.
Normally Jinenji would be joining them too but he had been looking after his mother, who had caught a cold, lately and was therefore unable to come. He had asked them whether they could collect some of the herbs for him too, which they had agreed to do.
"Yeah, the time's flown by." Rin smiled as they settled underneath a bare tree, the snow sparkling around them as the sun hit it.
"It sure has." Ayumi smiled, knowing that Rin wasn't only talking about today. The last couple of weeks had really flown by. Kagome joined them about half of the time, also learning about the many different herbs and their uses from Kaede and Jinenji. The other half she spent directly with Kaede, learning how to be a miko and how to use her powers properly. Kaede had pretty much elected her as her successor after all.
Today Kagome wasn't joining them though as Inuyasha had asked whether she could be excused for today. Kaede had smirked when he had asked and had teased him a bit for agreeing to his request. The two of them were pretty sure that they knew why Inuyasha wanted Kagome to himself today but Kagome, as usual, was completely ignorant to it.
It certainly was amusing to watch.
"I wonder if Lord Sesshomaru is going to join us soon." Rin said after a couple of minutes of comfortable silence, which Ayumi had wisely used to eat her lunch. Rin was a very talkative person so she knew that the young girl would not stay quiet for long.
"Probably. I mean, he mentioned that he would come and collect us so that we could join the Taishou Court, right?" Ayumi still had her qualms about that in particular. Okay, so she knew a couple of pretty decent demons (something that she still had trouble wrapping her head around) but from what she knew, most demons were not like that. Most couldn't even tolerate being in the presence of humans. How would this work out again?
"Mm-hmm." Rin nodded enthusiastically. "But apparently we can go back here after it's all over. Knowing Sesshomaru's mother though, that might take a bit longer." Rin looked slightly pensive at that.
"What's she like?" Ayumi asked, taking a bite out of her apple.
"Hm?" Rin looked up at her, having been lost in thought.
"Lady Satomi Taishou." Ayumi clarified. "From what I saw the last time, or rather heard of it, she's not the easiest person to be around."
"Yeah. I've only really ever met her once, and that was when she revived me," Ayumi marvelled at how nonchalantly Rin had said that, "And she is quite funny. Well, theatrical as Lord Sesshomaru called it." She smiled brightly. "But she's not that bad." Ayumi felt a sweatdrop at the back of her head, really, nothing was 'that bad' for Rin, the girl was exceedingly optimistic.
"Do you think it's going to be soon?" Ayumi looked up at the sky, noting that clouds were beginning to form a darker mass. It was going to storm soon.
"Yeah. I mean, Sango's going to give birth any day now so that's really the only thing that would prevent the travelling." Rin mused. "Probably within the next two or three weeks." She smiled. "Or something like that." She shrugged.
"Yeah." Ayumi smiled. "Come on, let's get those herbs before it starts to storm, those clouds don't look too friendly." Rin looked up at the sky and nodded.
"Okay." And she jumped up, her boundless energy making Ayumi grin.
She really did like the feudal era after all.
~.~.~.~.~
"Inuyasha, where are you taking me?" Kagome asked, feeling pretty certain that nothing good could come out of Inuyasha blindfolding her and then leading her somewhere. At least, nothing good had ever come out of situations like these as far as she was concerned.
You just had to ask her about her eighth birthday and she would tell you all about it.
"Patience Kagome." Inuyasha grinned as Kagome pouted at that. She hated being told what to do and hearing the word 'patience' coming from him was going to irk her in particular. He and patience had always had quite an antagonistic relationship after all.
"Inuyasha." Kagome wasn't amused, not at all.
"We're nearly there." He was almost bouncing with nervous excitement, this was possibly one of those life-changing moments and he really wanted it to be perfect. The only thing preventing the perfection at the moment were those horrible grey clouds. He really hoped that the storm would wait for at least another couple of hours, or maybe just one, so that he could do this.
"Okay, we're here." He said and carefully led Kagome over to a rock, the one where he had put a blanket on.
"Wait here for a second." He instructed her and let go of her hand. He dashed about the small meadow, the one where the well was, and grinned to himself as he realised that everything was ready.
"Okay, you can take off the blindfold now." He told her and Kagome removed the blindfold, ready to tell Inuyasha exactly what she thought of his act. No words escaped her mouth however as she took in the sight in front of her.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
Small, delicate snowflakes drifted through the air, glittering brightly in many different colours as the light from the small flames reflected off of them. Inuyasha was kneeling in the middle of a ring of fire, literally. Well, on second glance they were actually small bowls that were lit up with small fires within them.
Kagome's hands flew to her mouth as she realised that the form of the small fires (or large candles) were a copy of the Shikon no Tama.
"Inuyasha, what-" She glanced around the meadow, taking in the beauty of the scene and his kneeling form once more.
"Kagome," Inuyasha cleared his throat, feeling more nervous than he ever had in his entire life, "I know that at times I can be annoying, well, more like frustratingly annoying if you ask our friends and that I really can be pig-headed. I have quite a few flaws and am far from perfect and how you ever saw anything worth something in me four years ago, I do not know.
What I do know however, is that I love you. And I have loved you for the better part of the last four years although I might not have realised it at the start. You are the most brilliant and kind person that I have ever met and you are beautiful, both inside and out.
And while I know that we will probably fight in the future and that we will always have different views on things, ahem, eating vegetables, ahem, I promise to always stick around until the end of the fights and never walk away. Actually to never walk away from you ever. And now that we actually have eternity, I think that should count for something.
But I know that I'm rambling and the point of this ridiculously long and sappy speech is just one thing.
Kagome Higurashi, will you marry me?"
He produced a small ring, one that his mother had given him before she died, telling him to give it to 'the right one'. Interestingly he had never thought of giving it to Kikyo, it had always seemed that it didn't suit her.
At least he now knew why. Kikyo was a brilliant person and would have made someone very happy. That person just wasn't him though and it had taken him nearly too long to realise that.
Inuyasha didn't take his eyes off her, just as he hadn't taken them off of her during his speech. Really, Miroku, Shippo, Kaede and Sango combined had given him a lot of pointers on what to say to her. In the end he had sort of rambled his way through it though, which strangely felt a lot better.
Kagome swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked furiously as tears threatened to fall down her cheeks.
As the seconds ticked by and Inuyasha grew more and more tense, Kagome realised that she hadn't actually said anything yet.
"Of course I'll marry you, you idiot." And she ran forward into his arms and hugged him tight. The kiss that they shared was electrifying, toe-curling.
Gently Inuyasha slipped the silver ring onto Kagome's finger.
"It's a perfect fit." He smiled.
She grinned in reply, her head resting perfectly in the niche between his head and his shoulder.
"Of course it is."
He smiled.
~.~.~.~.~
"Where are Jaken, Kohaku and Ah-Un?" Yukari asked, her eyes closed as she rested on the bed where she had been resting for the past three weeks.
"Out." Was Sesshomaru's monosyllabic answer.
"Out where?" Yukari cracked an eye open to stare at him, blinking a couple of times as the light blinded her.
"Business." Was his next answer.
Yukari sighed. Ever since they had found this cottage and she and Sesshomaru had worked on somehow restoring their 'bond' (which she still had no clue about as Lady Satomi had once again remained purposefully vague) they had been stuck there.
Well, stuck in the sense that she was lying on the bed, waiting patiently for her wound to heal while Sesshomaru waited not so patiently for her to be able to move around again without injuring herself further.
(They had been reduced to the maximum of ten metres apart once again.)
"Sesshomaru." His name was uttered in complete exasperation. Ever since they had determined that she would not die and take him with her to the grave, he had reverted to the Sesshomaru of four months ago. Which meant no talking, monosyllabic answers when he felt like it and a general avoidance of her.
And having to deal with that while being confined to a bed was not fun in the least.
"They are preparing for our return to the court." He finally managed to say after a couple of minutes of her directing a fierce glare in his direction.
"See, was that really so hard to say the first time around?" She asked, annoyance radiating off of her.
"Yes." And Sesshomaru walked out of the door, intent on being the maximum distance apart from her.
"Bloody idiot." Yukari closed her eyes, intending to fall into a deep sleep once more. The quicker she got better, the quicker they would be able to leave.
~.~.~.~.~
"Where the bloody hell is Miroku?" Sango swore as she pushed again, just as Kaede had instructed.
"He's outside, you know he's not allowed to come in." Rin tried to soothe the other woman, something that Sango was obstinately fighting against.
"Well let him come in so that I can strangle him!" She shouted and outside the cottage Miroku winced as he heard his wife's cursing.
"I'm a dead man." He muttered, leaning against the wall of the cottage dejectedly.
"Once this is over, she'll be fine." Inuyasha said, attempting to stop his friend from entertaining such detrimental thoughts.
"She won't kill you." Kohaku mentioned from his other side, having arrived two days ago, afraid that his niece or nephew had already been born. Luckily for him, they hadn't.
Miroku sent them both a look. "I'm dead, no matter what you say."
"You won't be." Inuyasha insisted.
"Hopefully." Kohaku muttered quietly underneath his breath, knowing full well that his sister might hold a grudge. Then again, this was kind of different to the time when he stolen a piece of her favourite cake when they were kids. She had held onto that grudge for months.
But, as he had said before, this was something completely different.
"Where's Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked, looking over at Kohaku in an attempt to divert at least some of Miroku's attention from his screaming wife a couple of metres away.
"He and Lady Yukari are on their way here." Kohaku said, his brow furrowing as he thought about the demon lord's strange behaviour over the last couple of weeks. "We left Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Yukari two weeks ago. According to what we know, she should be pretty much healed by now and they should be able to move and come here."
It was by some unspoken consent that neither Miroku or Inuyasha asked about why they were only able to move as an entity.
"Miroku, you two-faced bastard! Come in here and be a man and bear some of this pain as well!" Sango's screech had Miroku shivering and Inuyasha and Kohaku winced from the amount of malice in that voice.
"Oh no you don't." Inuyasha said and pulled Miroku back down to sit next to him.
"You are not going anywhere, especially not in there. Kagome, Kaede and Rin will have your head if you do. Not to mention what my sister might do once she's back to normal." Kohaku agreed, tightly gripping Miroku's other arm.
"So, what did you actually do over the past month or so?" Inuyasha asked, twitching as he attempted to not show his discomfort at the whole situation. As a hanyou, his sense of smell and hearing was much better than any human's and right now it was proving to be a disadvantage yet again.
He did not really want to know the exact details of childbirth, yet in order to keep his friend there and to make sure that he didn't either go inside, or run for the hills from the sudden panic that appeared to be overtaking him at the moment, he was doing this.
Miroku'd better be aware of how much of his sanity this was costing him and he'd better appreciate it.
Or he could just completely ignore it and go about his usual business once this all was over. If he thought about it, it didn't really make that much of a difference after all.
Kohaku shivered from the cold and quickly made a small fire in order to keep them warm outside the cottage while they waited and began to tell Inuyasha and Miroku of all the places that he had travelled in the past month in order to prepare for Sesshomaru's return to the court.
Really, if it always took this much effort just to go to the court, then nobody really had to wonder why Sesshomaru preferred not to even be there in the first place. It was incredibly tiring, having to negotiate and be diplomatic about everything. Kohaku was just glad that it was finally over. Or at least for now anyway.
"So where's Jaken? Shouldn't he be here as well?" Miroku asked, finally allowing himself to be slightly distracted by Kohaku's tales. At least half a day had passed since Sango had gone into labour and he was grateful that both his best friend and brother-in-law were trying to help him, but Sango and his child were never far from his mind.
In fact, they were right at the forefront of it all.
"Fine senses." Kohaku tapped his nose knowingly. "He said he wouldn't come within one hundred metres of the cottage, apparently having such good senses is a definite downside in this case." He said, shooting Inuyasha a glance that told the hanyou that he was aware of how much his senses were being overloaded by stuff that he really didn't want his senses to be overloaded by.
"Ah, okay." Miroku apparently, was still too distracted to really notice that though.
"Push!" The shout from Kaede was followed by a shout from Sango and all three men winced. Really, why was this so difficult?
This continued for quite some time, when suddenly a shrill scream filled the air. Miroku immediately jumped to his feet, ready to barge into the cottage when Inuyasha once again restrained him.
"It's the baby Miroku, leave them some time to get the child cleaned up." Inuyasha said softly, knowing that shouting would not help Miroku right now. The man's nerves were already frayed enough as it was, he didn't need his best friend adding to that stress.
"Sorry." Miroku suddenly realised how Inuyasha knew that this was happening.
"It's no problem." Inuyasha said gruffly and Miroku nodded in thanks, gratitude clear in his eyes.
"There's another one coming!" Kaede's surprised shout had Miroku stumbling and Kohaku cough on the warm broth he had been drinking.
"What?!" Both Kohaku and Miroku looked first at the cottage and then at Inuyasha who was smirking broadly.
"Congratulations my friend, it looks like you're having twins." He grinned and Miroku suddenly narrowed his eyes at him.
"You knew this, didn't you?" He asked, suspicion colouring his voice.
"It's bad luck to let the couple know of the amount of children and their gender before they are born." Inuyasha shrugged, but the slight mischievious look in his eyes remained.
"I'm having twins. Sango's having twins. We're having twins." Miroku was pacing up and down through the snow and Inuyasha and Kohaku watched his progress with interest.
"It's only two right?" Miroku looked at Inuyasha desperately, seeking to know the answer. He was worried for Sango who, despite the apparent immortality the Taishou Crest offered them, was still susceptible to the ordinary diseases that followed the mother after childbirth. At least, that was what Sesshomaru had told them in a rather roundabout way. And she was giving birth twice, technically speaking, so there was twice the risk than with only one child.
"Relax, it's only twins." Inuyasha attempted to be soothing, but was pretty sure that his voice only served to aggravate Miroku more.
"I think he's finally snapped." Kohaku said calmly, watching his brother-in-law nervously clawing at the sleeves of his clothes.
"Push!" Kaede's voice was loud and clear.
"We haven't even decided on one name yet, let along two!" Miroku despaired and Kohaku and Inuyasha watched him with sympathy. This was something that their friend was going to have to work through on his own.
"Oh yes, and I believe congratulations are in order?" Kohaku turned to Inuyasha who blushed slightly underneath the scrutiny of the younger man.
"You proposed?" Miroku spun around on the spot to face his best friend. "When? And how come Kohaku knows but I don't?" He was staring at Inuyasha, his gaze accusatory.
"First, yes I did propose. It was this morning, right before Sango went into labour. And Kohaku probably knows because he was with Sango when she called for us and we told her that we were engaged and she told us that she was going into labour. I then ran off to get you." Inuyasha summarised quickly, praying that they wouldn't ask for details. He would never live it down.
"And you conveniently forgot to tell me?" Miroku looked slightly affronted. "Ah, congratulations by the way. I can't say that I didn't see it coming." He grinned briefly before another of his wife's shouts commanded his attention once more.
"You and everybody else apparently." Inuyasha muttered underneath his breath. "I was more focused on getting you back here for the birth of your children." He added wryly.
"Oh god, children. She's going to kill me." Miroku blanched and began to sway on the spot, finally ceasing with his pacing.
"She's not going to-" Kohaku began.
"Miroku-san?" Kaede's head appeared as she stepped out of the door. "Do you want to come in and see your children?" She smiled gently at the extremely nervous and pasty man in front of her. Gone was all the exuberant confidence that he had always possessed, gone was the façade that he had always put up before really settling into the group.
In front of her was a new father, nervous, excited and absolutely terrified.
"Meet your daughters." She smiled as she handed him one of the baby girls after walking to where Sango was lying in the room and watched as Miroku's eyes widened.
"I have two baby girls?" He croaked and Kaede nodded. Slowly Kagome and Rin, whom he'd nodded at when entering the house, left through the front door, knowing that he would now want his privacy.
The pregnancy had gone well. The children were safe and well and Sango was also okay, despite being extremely tired. Giving birth to twins tended to do that to one.
Slowly she slipped from the room as well, leaving behind a beaming Sango and the stupefied Miroku.
"Can I?" He asked, gesturing to the spot on the futon next to her.
"Of course." Sango's voice was strained but she was smiling as she shuffled over slightly, holding their other daughter in her arms.
A gurgle broke him out of his trance and he smiled gently at his daughter in his arms. Slowly, he lowered himself to the spot next to his wife and other daughter and settled down.
"Amaterasu." He said and Sango looked at him in confusion.
"What?"
"I'd like to call her Amaterasu, she's like a shining heaven, literally." Adoration was clear in his eyes as he stared at the small girl in his arms, marvelling at how fragile she appeared. The name was perfect, fitting her delicate appearance,
"Then she will be called Chiyoko." Sango looked down at the sleeping child in her arms, her heart swelling as she watched her daughter breathing in and out.
"Fitting." Miroku smiled. "And absolutely beautiful." He shared a loving look with Sango and the two of them shuffled even closer, mindful of the babies between them.
As exhaustion overcame the whole family, they marvelled at their good fortune and prayed for luck in the future.
A child of a thousand generations, that was something that both girls were.
~.~.~.~.~
A week later found Jaken slowly going stir crazy as he waited for Sesshomaru to arrive and even Kohaku was starting to grow agitated. It wasn't like the demon lord to be tardy and he had told them specifically to be here by this time.
They were starting to get worried.
That morning Ayumi awoke to a small robin singing outside her window and she stretched, feeling something strange in her bones. Today was the day, she could just tell it.
Apparently she wasn't the only one as dawn found all of them gathered at the road where she and Kagome had appeared nearly half a year ago. They had already said their farewells to Kaede and the villagers, promising to be back soon.
Sango and Miroku stood there, nearly falling asleep as they cradled their daughters closer, yawning every couple of minutes as the sun's rays hit them and the countryside around them.
Inuyasha and Kagome stood next to each other, their hands entwined as they enjoyed the silence, something that most would have thought of impossible before. Ayumi was truly happy for her friend, she had never seen Kagome more elated and she knew that Inuyasha was feeling the same.
She allowed a brief smile to cross her face. She had taken it upon herself to give Inuyasha the 'hurt her and you'll die' speech in the place of Kagome's family and her other friends. It had been amusing to say the least.
Kohaku, Jaken and Ah-Un observed the countryside carefully, no fatigue showing at all. Ayumi wondered whether it had something to do with them serving Lord Sesshomaru or whether they simply were that way. She really couldn't decide.
Rin was standing next to her, bouncing up and down in excitement while Kirara and Shippo sat in her own arms, appreciating her calm and relaxed posture.
"They're here." Kohaku squinted at the sky as he saw them approaching, noting that Sesshomaru wasn't flying as fast as he normally would.
Yukari wasn't completely healed then.
They arrived gracefully, Yukari sliding down from his mokomoko-sama, wobbling only slightly as she stood up straight.
"Let's go into the depths of hell then." Inuyasha remarked, sighing in resignation as he finally accepted that, yes, this was happening and no, there was nothing he could do about it.
"Hn." Was Sesshomaru's only answer.
And off they went, their goal being the Great Western Lands.
Lady Satomi smiled sadly to herself as she watched their leaving through a crystal ball with Rina.
They had no idea how much the stay would change them all.
Second A/N: Tada! The end has arrived, but fear not, a sequel is in the works! This time, I'm planning on writing about half of the story before posting it so that the long waits between chapters are eradicated. ;) I also want to finish my other stories first, or at least finish another one or two...so you'll probably not hear about the sequel before the summer as I have exams coming up and reality simply takes priority over fiction.
I hope to see you all again and thanks again for the amazing support over the past two years! :)
-SunRae5