Chapter Thirty-One: Immortality of the Light

Atsuna walked down the hall, humming a soft tune, as she carried a lunch tray of sandwiches for her and her husband. The stubborn man refused to leave the side of their sons for a moment to eat, opting to instead watch them fidget in their bassinets, completely enamored with the way they moved and the gurgling sounds they made. Every day it was the same for them, but he never got tired of it. Ever since they moved into their new home near to a month before, he had taken most of his time watching over their children with a vigilant eye.

The Champion of Light turned the corner and walked into their bedroom, preparing to announce her presence and their lunch, but found the room void of Tasuki, as well as their baby sons. She opened her mouth, confused, and placed the sandwich tray on their dresser. She walked over to the window and found her husband sitting out in the yard under the sun, both babies nestled in the crooks of his arms.

Sighing and shaking her head, she watched him for a moment as he spoke quietly to the children in his arms but couldn't make out a single word. His body movements, the expressions on his face, told of a sage lesson that he would preach to his sons as they got older. She could only imagine what he was telling them.

Turning on her heel, she walked for the front door, opting to walk upon the soft blades of sun-kissed grass in her bare feet. She came up behind her husband, kneeling down next to him with a smile. "What are you doing out here?" she asked, her voice soft. "I left you for only ten minutes to make our sandwiches. How did you manage to sneak out?"

Tasuki tossed her a toothy grin. "I'm sly like that, babe," he said with a wink. "An' it's a nice day. Shame to waste it."

Atsuna settled down to her knees, adjusting into his side and gazing down upon the two alert babies in his arms. "Well, there are clouds on the horizon," she informed, lifting her finger over the mountains above. "I suspect the nice day is going to be changing soon. I don't believe it will storm, but the sun will surely be hidden for a good part of the day."

"Doesn't matter to me, an' I don't think it matters to 'em, either," Tasuki replied, looking down at Houjun and Ryuuen. "They like it out here. I think they're both gonna enjoy spendin' most o' their time outside. Probably won't be able to get 'em in the house when they're old enough to come out here an' play."

"Tamahome was like that," Atsuna said with a smile. "My father would always try to get him to come inside. I would even try to get him to come inside. But my mother…" Her voice faded off, her eyes growing full of recollection. "She liked to spoil all of us. She was pregnant with Yuiren at the time. I remember her allowing Tamahome to spend as much time outside as he wanted. And once I saw just how much fun he was having, I would join him. Him and I would be out until well after the sun set. And it was wonderful. It was only then that our mother would call us in to get ready for bed." She slid a hand over Tasuki's arm. "Somehow I have a feeling I won't have the heart to tell them no, either."

"Hell, I don't see any harm in it if ya don't," Tasuki said with a shrug. "If they're happy an' healthy, I really don't care what they do. I want 'em to appreciate everythin' they got. Can't let 'em do that if they don't have a childhood."

Atsuna reached forward, her fingers grazing gently over the thickening mass of orange hair over Houjun's head. "No, certainly not," she agreed. "They will have a childhood. I will be sure of it. And I will protect them to the best of my ability. I won't let what happened to me happen to them. They don't deserve it."

"Hey now, none o' that," Tasuki warned. "Nothin' like that is ever gonna happen to our kids. I'd die first."

"I know," she whispered, lowering her head. "And I know every day after I disappeared, my father died a little inside, especially when the official search for me ended. They deemed me dead, and when I severed my connection with Tamahome, they were certain that I had been killed. I don't ever want to feel what my father felt when he realized I had been kidnapped." Her hand fell away from Tasuki's arm and curled into a fist atop her lap. "I just hope I am able to prevent anything like that from happening to Houjun and Ryuuen or any other children we may have in the future."

Tasuki scowled and hugged the babies closer to his body. "I thought ya said ya put all that behind ya. Doesn't sound like it to me."

"Believe me, Tasuki, I have put it behind me," Atsuna assured him. "But I would consider myself inhuman if I didn't worry at least a little about something happening to our boys. There is still darkness in this world, and people are plagued by it. I have done all that I can for some people, but it's not always just my influence that can help them. They have to accept the light I offer them; otherwise, the darkness in their hearts just consumes them. That's what happened to Ryozo." She shook her head and sighed. "I can't hope to wonder why some people thrive on darkness and evil, and why they choose to act in the manner they do. All I can do is try to help them and make their lives, and the lives around them, better."

"Ya do all that an' more," Tasuki replied. "Ya manage to raise our sons, put up with me, an' ya still help the people in Konan battle their demons. Hell, ya helped me do it, too. I think we all have demons inside us, but some o' us are just better at ignorin' 'em."

"Yes, you're right," Atsuna agreed with a firm nod. "There is no one alive in the world that has a heart full of purity, myself included. There is a bit of darkness in my heart, as well, but the light far outgrows it. When I fought with Ryozo, I let that darkness rule me for a bit. I wanted him to die. I wanted to see him suffer as he made me suffer. I didn't like the way it made me feel, wishing such pain on someone. But that is what happens with humans. We are flawed, and darkness and light must coexist with one another. There can't be one stronger than the other, or the entire world will pay the consequences."

Tasuki scoffed. "I would rather see light be stronger over anythin'."

Atsuna rested her head against his shoulder, giggling lightly. "Yes, I know. But that is not the way of the light. The light needs the darkness just as the darkness needs the light. We can't have one without the other. And those ruled by the light don't wish for supremacy. They want balance, and that is how I was able to defeat Ryozo, as well as Kuro, in the end. Balance has been obtained, and now we are free to raise our sons in a world that is no longer rife with war."

"An' then we can start thinkin' about havin' more kids," Tasuki added with a glint in his eye. "I want a whole gang of 'em."

Looking upon him amusedly, she wrapped her arm through his, careful of his hold on Houjun. "Oh, I look forward to it. You didn't like me being out of your sight for more than five minutes the whole time I was pregnant. You wouldn't even let me bathe alone! You either insisted on bathing me or at least standing outside the door while I was in there. You wouldn't let anyone near me!"

"Hey, that's what a husband is supposed to do," he pointed out matter-of-factly. "An' ya liked when I gave ya a bath." He leaned in, his lips grazing the shell of her ear. "I felt how ya shivered under my hands, baby. Ya wish I would do it more often."

Ignoring the annoying rise of heat in her cheeks, Atsuna snapped her head away. "We shouldn't be talking about this now. The babies are right here, and they can hear what you're saying."

Chuckling, Tasuki looked down at the unknowing far-off look in his sons' eyes. "They don't know what's goin' on, but when they're old enough, I'll explain everythin' they need to know about women an' how to please 'em."

Atsuna released an incredulous laugh. "You'll teach them, will you? I'm not sure that's a very relieving thought. How much did you really know about women before you met Miaka and myself?"

"Woman, I knew all I needed to know about 'em," Tasuki said with a huff. "The further away I was from 'em, the less trouble I got myself in."

A smirk curved onto her lips. "Trouble? I have to wonder what kind of trouble you're referring to," she replied, her voice uncharacteristically husky.

Tasuki stared at her for a moment before matching her expression with a grin of his own. "Ya better watch yerself," he warned. "I'm about five seconds away from puttin' the boys down fer bed so I can show ya just what kinda trouble I mean."

Atsuna covered her mouth with her palm, masking her laugh. "Eager to find if I am healed enough to partake in those activities again?"

"When ain't I?" he asked. He suddenly pushed himself to his feet, looking down at the babies in his arms. Their eyelids were drooping, and their fidgeting had all but stopped. "I think the boys are tired. They want some sleep, an' there's something I think ya want that I'm gonna hafta give ya. It's my duty as yer husband."

Atsuna stood up next to him, sliding her hand up to his shoulder. She pushed herself up onto her toes, leaning in to his ear. "Well, you can get the boys put down for bed. I'll be in our bedroom waiting for you." Before he could respond to her, she spun around and walked towards the house, the swaying of her hips causing a slew of impure thoughts to rush through the bandit's head.

"Well, I think it's time fer ya two to take a nap. I have some business to take care of with yer mom." Tasuki followed her tracks to the house, muffling the chuckle in his throat as he wondered just what bliss he would bestow upon his wife.

Shivering off the remains of his climax, Tasuki fell in a heap over his wife's naked body, his lips finding solace against the side of her neck. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, keeping him close to her as he remained nestled within her body.

"Damn, that was good," Tasuki groaned as he trailed his tongue in gentle circles over the spot of her neck he'd been kissing. "I've been waitin' to do that to ya fer months."

Atsuna giggled and reached up, sliding wayward bangs from her husband's amber eyes. "I think it's safe to say I'm relatively healed from childbirth. Although I'm not too sure whether that could be a good or bad thing."

"Never a bad thing. Always a good thing," Tasuki said, finding her lips and capturing the air from her lungs in one long kiss. "I'll spend the rest o' my life tryin' to show that to ya if I gotta."

"Believe me, Tasuki, that you proved that to me the first time we made love," Atsuna admitted, her fingers roving over the dewed plain of his back. Her eyes weighed down, she gazed upon him slyly. "You know, there is always a possibility that I have conceived again. Just what would you do if we had another baby on the way when our sons are just over a month old?"

Tasuki held himself over her with strong arms, draping her like a protective canopy. "If that's the case, then all the rooms I built in here will go to use," he replied with a grin. "I worked long an' hard on our house, an' all these rooms hafta be used for somethin'."

A slender brow arched atop Atsuna's forehead. "So you mean to tell me you aim to fill every room we have with a child? Is that it? Are you trying to send me to an early grave with endless childbirth?"

Tasuki laughed, shaking his head. "Hell no. Yer a strong woman, babe. I know ya can handle it. If ya can have two babies at once, then havin' just one at once should be a piece o' cake fer ya. An' besides, what if Houjun an' Ryuuen want a sister? We'd hafta work on it."

"Somehow I don't think there would be much work involved," Atsuna said sarcastically. "You seem to believe you are rather fertile, not to mention I don't think a day will go by where we won't be in a compromising position such as this while our twins sleep in the next room."

"Damn straight. I try to excel in all areas fer ya," Tasuki with a teasing glint in his eye. He finally decided to roll off her, pulling her along into his chest. "We probably have some more time before they wake up. Wanna go to sleep?"

Atsuna shook her head. "No, I'm not tired. I like just laying here talking to you," she said, nuzzling her cheek against his heartbeat. "I'm a bit sore now."

Tasuki craned his head, looking upon her worriedly. "Yer sore? I guess I was a little rough with ya. Sorry, baby. Didn't mean to be."

"No, it's okay. It's to be expected. It will take some time before I can say I'm fully recovered. It may even take another month or two before I can really say that I am," Atsuna explained.

"I didn't realize it was gonna take ya so long to get better. I guess yer hurtin' too much to do it again anytime soon, huh?" he asked, his voice firm and his expression serious.

Atsuna cracked a small smile. "Well, a hot bath will do some good for me. I suppose we'll see how I feel later on tonight after we put Houjun and Ryuuen down for the night. I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to have you make me fly, after all."

"Heh. Glad to know ya haven't forgotten about my expertise," he said, puffing his chest out proudly. "So, what do ya wanna do fer the rest of the day? It's warm out, an' even though it's cloudy, we could still do somethin'. Ya wanna take the kids out an' show 'em off to the people? I want 'em all to see that we make some damn good-lookin' boys."

Atsuna's laughter was sweet and light as it echoed against the walls of their bedroom. "Well, actually, since you mentioned it, I would like to go to Hakukou Village. I think my visit is long overdue."

Tasuki perked his head, looking down upon her. "Yer home? Ya wanna go there?"

Atsuna nodded. "Yes. I think it would be a good idea for Houjun and Ryuuen to meet their family for the first time." She closed her eyes and sighed. "It's not exactly how I hoped it would all turn out, but I suppose the only thing I can do is instill all of my memories about them into our children. I just wish they would have had the opportunity to know them all. My mother and father would have adored them. They would have spoiled them to no end, that is for certain."

"Yeah, they would've," Tasuki agreed, his voice quiet as his wife mused over her deceased family.

"Yuiren would have loved to have babies around. I think she would have been happy to know she wasn't the youngest anymore," Atsuna said with a short laugh. "And Chuei, Shunkei, and Gyokuran would have loved them, too. Chuei, I think, would have been very protective of them. Shunkei, too. And Gyokuran would have loved to play with them. I can see her playing with her dolls and trying to make them play with them, as well. It would have been a lovely sight to see, watching my younger sisters play with our sons."

"I know, baby." Tasuki pressed his mouth against her temple. "Are ya sure ya wanna go? I don't want it to be too hard on ya. Maybe we should ask Koji to watch the boys an' we'll go together first. We'll take 'em some other time, when yer ready fer it."

Atsuna shook her head. "No, I would like for all of us to go together as a family," she said. "Maybe one day I will go alone and have my time with them, but for now, I would like to introduce them to Houjun and Ryuuen. I don't think it will ever be easy for me to know my entire family is gone, and that our sons, as well as any other children we may have, will never know them as I did. They will never know Tamahome as you and I did, how close we both were to him. They will never know how much he would have cherished having them around, how he would have taught them everything he knew."

Tasuki nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Tama woulda loved 'em a lot. All our friends would've. But they wouldn't want us to be sad fer 'em. They would want us to keep livin' on an' be strong. Nuriko would be kickin' my ass right now if he saw how ya were bein'."

Atsuna lifted her head from his chest to look at him, her smile weak but certainly there, and certainly real. "Why would Nuriko hurt you because of the way I'm acting?"

"Because he would be tellin' me to watch out fer ya better an' to do everythin' I could do to make ya happy again. He never liked to see any of his friends sad, especially Miaka. He was always cheerin' her up somehow," Tasuki replied. "He cheered all o' us up when we needed it an' made us laugh when we coulda been sad an' cryin'. So ya know what? We'll go to yer family's graves, an' if it looks like yer gonna start cryin', then I'll do what I can to make ya laugh an' smile again. How's that?"

Atsuna made a content hum in the bed of her throat and settled her head upon his chest again, concentrating on the quiet lull of his heartbeat. "I think that sounds doable."

Atsuna felt her stomach tighten into knots as she and Tasuki walked into the clearing where Tamahome had buried their family. Holding Ryuuen against her chest, she came to a stop before the makeshift headstones, gazing down upon them as if they were a figment of her imagination. Tamahome had carved their names into each stone with careful precision.

"I wonder who has been puttin' flowers on their graves," Tasuki spoke up from behind her, taking several steps forward to look upon the mounds of dirt. "They look nice."

"Some of the villagers come here and pay their respects," Atsuna replied. "I know a lot of them feel bad for what happened. They felt they could have done something to save them, but Suboshi would have just killed all of them, too. I don't hold it against them for staying in their homes and protecting their families. Any other sane person would have done the same thing."

Tasuki shifted in front of her and fished Ryuuen from her hold. "Go. Pay yer respects to 'em, an' then we'll introduce 'em to the boys. I'll be waitin' over there by the tree. Just come an' get me when yer done." He leaned down, pressed a swift, gentle kiss against her lips, and walked away from her, saying soothing words to the cooing babies in his arms.

Atsuna watched him go, silently thanking him for the opportunity to spend time with her family. She knelt down before her parents' graves, rubbing the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come and see you, but…but I'm here now. A lot has happened lately. Tasuki and I are married now, and we have two sons. My purpose as Hikari's champion is over. I've fulfilled the prophecy. I am free to live a life with Tasuki and our children. I know that's all you ever wanted for me, for Tamahome, for all of us."

She paused, her eyes settling on the grave of her father. "You did everything you could to give us a healthy, carefree life after Mom died. You did well. I don't think I ever thanked you. I never had the opportunity, and a day doesn't go by when I wonder just how things would have been different for all of us if I would have just revealed myself to all of you when I got free of Ryozo. I should've come to you, let you know I was alive and well."

Sniffling, she turned over her shoulder just slightly, gazing upon Tasuki for a moment. His attention was on their sons as he leaned against the tree. He was still speaking with them. She wished she knew what he was saying. "Tasuki has been taking good care of me," Atsuna murmured, turning back to her father's grave. She released a choked chuckle, marred by her tears. "At first you probably wouldn't have known how to take him, but once you got to know him, I think you would have grown to love him as much as I do. Everything is going to be okay for us. I have him, and I have Chichiri, to watch over me. They will protect me and will protect the twins from anything that comes our way. We will live on for you. I know it's what you would have wanted more than anything in this world. You did everything you could for your children, and I want to be just a devoted a parent as you were. I will do everything in my power to be what you wanted me to be, although I'm sure I already am. You were always proud of all of us. I know that."

Her fingers grazed over the rigid surface, over the etchings of her father's name. "Thank you for everything you did for me, Dad, for all of us. I know you, Mom, Chuei, Shunkei, Gyokuran, and Yuiren are smiling upon me. I can feel your presence all the time, and I know you're there. Sometimes I wonder if I turn over my shoulder, I will see your face looking at me. I could only wish for something like that, but I know it won't be that way."

Atsuna drew her hand back into her lap and gazed upon the graves of the rest of her family. "I love all of you. And I know it's a long time from now, but one day we will be reunited, and we will be a family again. Hikari and Suzaku will make it so. And when that time comes, I won't fear death, because I know you will all be at the gates of Heaven waiting for me."

As if on cue, gray clouds parted above her head, giving way to a small sliver of light that fell upon her head. She looked up and sighed, thanking Hikari with a silent prayer for gracing her with the sun's vibrancy and warmth.

When she turned around to call for Tasuki, she found that he was already mere steps away from her. He knelt down next to her and smiled, handing her Ryuuen once more. "Feel better?" he asked.

She nodded. "I do. Thank you. I think I needed to do that for a long time, but could never do it. And I would hardly like for our sons to see me like that."

"There's nothin' wrong with it, really, but ya needed this more than ya knew," Tasuki replied. He turned his head and looked upon every grave. "So, ya wanna introduce 'em?"

Atsuna looked down at Ryuuen, who was gazing up at her, his little hands curled into fists. "Kou Ryuuen, Kou Houjun, I want you to meet the Sou family. They are your grandparents, your aunts, and your uncles, and even though they're not right here with us, they will always be watching over you, keeping you safe from harm and guiding your way when things seem rough. As you grow older, I will tell you stories about them, and perhaps one day it will be as if they have always been right at your side the whole time." She turned to Tasuki and smiled. "How's that?"

"Sounded pretty good to me, babe. It wouldn't o' sounded as good if I said it," Tasuki said with a smile. "I'm glad we came out here. I think things are gonna be all right fer us."

"I know they're going to be all right," Atsuna agreed. She leaned over, pressing a kiss against his cheek. "When it comes to us, it's never over. At one end, there is another beginning. And it will always be the beginning for us."

The End

A/N: Thus ends the trilogy! I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and review each story. I hope you all enjoyed it! Check out my other stories on my profile, and be sure to check out my writing blog (the link is also on my profile) for writing announcements and other fun stuff. Thank you so much! ~Halo