Chapter 43: Epilogue - The End of the Story

Kagome flopped back onto her bed with a deep sigh of relief and a smile at her mate.

It had been a long several days since they'd returned from the caves and the defeat of the Obake and Naraku. She and Inuyasha had returned to tell her family the news, and after a few hours of explanations and joy they'd gone back through the well for the celebration at the village.

The next morning they'd come back to her time and stayed with her family, just enjoying the idle time they now had to spend. After all, there was no more Naraku and no more jewel to hunt for, so they could pretty much do what they wanted.

At that thought Kagome's brow furrowed, but before she could really think too much, Inuyasha's voice broke in.

"Oi, wench, what's with that look?"

She turned her head slightly and looked at him where he was situated quite comfortably at the foot of her bed, and shook her head. "It's just... I was thinking about those notebooks we found here - we still don't know who left them."

He looked surprised, then nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, we don't - and I'd really like to know. But how do we go about finding out? I haven't been able to catch a scent I could track, so whoever it is knows how to hide it." He frowned. "Come to think of it, that kinda makes me uneasy," he said slowly. "That could only mean that it's either a youkai or a human with substantial holy powers."

"Well, maybe tomorrow we can figure it out," she said after a few moments. "I'm wiped out. Following mama around all over the place like we did today was too much."

Her mate scowled. "Yeah - never knew humans could be so energetic," he said sourly. "Maybe we should get some sleep - who knows what she's gonna do to us tomorrow."

Kagome nodded and the two were soon ready for bed, curling up together and drifting off to sleep, happy and contented.

The next morning dawned bright and clear and Kagome woke slowly, rather reluctant to get up. For some reason she was feeling really tired, but after a few moments she shrugged it off and crawled out of bed at her mate's urging.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," she groused, shooting him a rather dirty look.

"Oi, don't look at me like that, wench. You need to get up - what, were you planning on staying in bed all day?" he asked.

She shot him a dark look. "Would it matter? It's not like we've got somewhere to be, right?"

He looked at her, horrified. "Hell yes, we do!" he shot back. "You're mom's making breakfast, and it's almost done. We have an appointment with the table!"

With a roll of her eyes she let the hanyou chivy her out of her grouchy mood, and they both headed downstairs to the kitchen. Breakfast was a rousing good time, everyone teasing each other and laughing.

Kagome couldn't help but smile as she watched Inuyasha joke around with her family like he'd always been a part of it - he'd been alone for so long, and mistreated for just as long and she got so much joy out of just watching him be free and happy.

This was the best part of being his mate for her - seeing him this way.

It was while she was helping her mother clean up from breakfast that the doorbell rang and she went off to answer it, Inuyasha crowding behind her protectively. What they found stunned them speechless, and both were abruptly aware of just who it was who had been leaving those notes.

This man who looked exactly like his ancestor was just as charming, just as powerful - and just as much of a flirt, as was proved when they invited him in and he promptly began complimenting her mother, who had come out of the kitchen to see who was at the door.

Both Kagome and Inuyasha were happy to know that their friend's family line had weathered the centuries and made it into the modern era - quite strongly, as it turned out, as there were thirty-six known direct-line descendants living in and around Tokyo.

When they asked the man, ironically named Miroku after his most famous ancestor, how he'd known so much about Naraku and why he'd done what he'd done, they were rather surprised at his answers.

It seemed that Miroku and Sango would at some point decide to make a detailed history and accounting of the spider hanyou and everything he'd done, and entrust it to their family as a sort of sacred trust so that his evil would never be forgotten.

When the modern-day descendant of their Miroku had first been handed the accounts as the eldest male, he'd read them but not really believed it - of course, in their day and age who would? But then he'd found the information about Kagome and where she lived - and he'd just had to come and find out if it was true or not.

Imagine his surprise when his ancestor's words had proven quite true.

At that point he, being a criminal profiler, had taken the account of the hanyou Naraku and done a profile on him, wanting to help in any small way that he could - and leaving the notes for them had hoped that it would be a help. He was most pleased to find that they had been.

After a leisurely day of talking to Miroku, the modern-day hentai had taken his leave, more honored than he could say that he was following in his revered forefather's footsteps, and asking them if they would send his respects to his ancestors. They both shrugged and agreed, not seeing the harm in it.

After he'd finally left with contact information exchanged, the two looked at each other and took off heading for the well, leaving a laughing mama behind as they ran off, unable to wait to drop this little bombshell in their friend's laps.

It was an odd but not unwelcome footnote to the tale, and just one more thing for the shard-hunting group to celebrate - which they most certainly did, though a certain hentai monk and his taijiya betrothed did more celebrating than most, as was made obvious several months later when the first of their children began making his presence known in the slightly rounder figure of his mother.

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The years passed as they always do, and Sango and Miroku's brood began to be joined by certain silver-haired little hanyou, offspring of a certain miko and hanyou, as well as a couple of red-haired kitsune hanyou... that also had a miko mother.

Yes, Kikyou and Hikaru, after an almost six month courtship made a match of it, and Inuyasha and Kagome couldn't have been happier. Both beings had suffered much, died, and then been reborn - in more ways than one. If anyone did they deserved this second chance, and they both relished that chance, every second of it.

Because of Hikaru's soul containing what was left of Hakkaku, Kouga and Ginta were frequent visitors to the village; though Inuyasha wasn't too thrilled with that he never said much, simply making sure the wolf was never left in his mate's company alone. He still didn't trust him - after all, there was a reason people talked about a 'wolf on the make', and he wasn't about to allow that mangy pest to get even a tip of a claw anywhere near his mate.

Kagome just rolled her eyes and didn't say a word - considering it had never worked before, she knew it never would - Inuyasha would never see Kouga as anything more than a rival, no matter what anyone said.

And as for Sesshoumaru? That was the strangest story of all - how the human-hating Lord of the West ended up in love with and mated to a human.

Yes, after all his disdain for humans, a little human girl named Rin became that legendary demon's downfall, and once she was seventeen he finally folded and mated her, refusing to live without the girl that he'd let follow him for almost ten years.

Jaken simply cried, though no one was really sure whether it was because he approved or in sorrow that his master had fallen to the curse of the house of Taisho - a weakness for human females.

Whichever it was made no difference, and before long Inuyasha's own children were playing with several cousins...

And they all lived happily ever after.

Well, mostly, anyway. They were youkai, after all, and sometimes youkai just like a good fight.

But they were still happy.

Owari

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A/N: And it is officially OVER! Yes, after so long, Malice is finished, done, ended... and I'm incredibly happy about that! So many times I had to fight with the muses that just wouldn't work with me on this one, but I refused to leave a story only partly finished, and in the end I did it!

I hope everyone enjoyed the story, and I want to thank all those who've read and reviewed. And Cherry Blossom - I hope you loved your story!

Amber

End note-I left the original A/N alone, since it works just as well this time around except the fact that it was already written and finished, I simply extensively edited it and made it flow much better. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much this time around!

Amber