EPILOGUE

Title: The Sunset
Author: DawningAurora
Prompt: WANTED! Challenge –Into the Sunset
Genre:Romance, Drama
AU/CU: Alternate Universe
Rating: K+
Warnings:Crack pairings, murder of grammar, assassination of characters.
Word Count: 916
A/N: Finally, we come to the conclusion. Their happy endings. Today is the second last day we are allowed to make submissions into the contest. I know I took my own sweet time. But this piece makes me happy. I hope that you will have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
Summary: Of heart-mates and family.
Link: s/8728969/6/Abstractions

"There is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the story."
― Frank Herbert

.

.

.

When Kagome was little, Mama used to read her stories. A single peculiarity of her stories was that Mama always ended her stories with- "They walked into the sunset together, hand in hand" or "as the sun set lit their road home". This led Kagome to associate happy endings with sunset.

In the intervening decades between the autumn days of her confession, her rejoinder to Sesshomaru and the present, a lot had happened. Kagome and Sesshomaru realized the fledgling feelings that bloomed between them. Quite a feat considering Sesshomaru's stubbornness.

Between the halcyon days she had lived a life, rich in its experiences. She had borne witness to the birth Sango and Miroku's three children. She had lived as a beloved aunt to them through their lives and then she had become guardian to their children and then their children and their children.

She had solemnized the union of Rin with the love of her adult life, Inuyasha. They lived a hill and a half world away.

She had held Sango's hand as her life slipped her away. She had guided Miroku through his grief until he too joined Sango in the AfterWorld.

She spent her life wandering the world, healing the weak, guiding the lost until grey streaked her hair.

She had felt the wonder of countless souls reborn. She had marveled at the resilience of her kind through all ills. She had weathered the deaths of her beloved people.

But the most sacred, wondrous of all that she had ever seen or felt was Sesshomaru. The depth of his integrity and his love. He never restrained her to his side. She had always felt free to leave to do what she had to. He always welcomed her with open arms. A sulk, perhaps, for being gone for so long but always open arms.

The infinite patience he had for her. He always waited for her. No matter how long she took. She remembers the gentle care he bestowed on her after Sango's funeral. She had felt numbed by grief, by loss and rage at her helplessness.

He had stayed by her side despite her demands to leave her alone. He gently coaxed her from her pain-wrought shell, hiding her tears within the threads of his kimono. He slowly recounted his feelings after his father's death, sparing no feelings. The raw emotion within his quiet voice shocked her from her bout of depression, making her realize that the people around her needed her too.

It was he who had encouraged her to use her abilities as a miko to guide people and heal them. Looking back, if it weren't for him, she would have lived a half-lived life. She would be merely Sesshomaru's heart-mate. Not that that was a bad predicament, her miko powers were granted to her for a reason and to not use them was like forgoing the use of a limb. Something Sesshomaru understood entirely too well.

Something bumped into her, jolting her to the present. Rin sat next to her, sipping tea placidly. She looked radiant, despite the passage of nearly four centuries. Kagome looked at the hanyou hugging her shoulders and smiled. Her daughter, Rika, was entirely too restless when her cousins came to visit.

Placid as her father, she looked steadily at her with bronze eyes which were a legacy of her mother's. The long fall of silver hair only served to emphasize her beauty. She looked like her father but held her mother's powers as a miko. It was a running joke in the family. A hanyou miko.

The clang of swords met her ears. The women rolled their eyes. Their sons', like their fathers, greeted each other by sword rather than words. Nothing they could say would ever change that tradition.

"Shall we bring out the deal breaker," Rin asked her, laughter evident in her eyes.

"Why, I thought you'd never ask." Kagome winked at her.

Rin called the boys to dinner. As expected, the fight stopped in seconds as all attention turned towards thoughts of food. Even Rika slunk away to help Rin. Kagome stood with one last look backwards.

The sun set over her family and just like in any of Mama's story, hers too heralded the happy ending.

Thank you for sticking with me for so long guys. It's with a little bit of relief and a lot of melancholia that I complete this story. I thank everyone who has favorited, reviewed and followed my story. Your encouragement has been rejuvenating. I hope you will continue to do so. Thank you for everything you've done so far. As always, I would appreciate a review. :)

Posted on 30 May 2012.

Fin.

Aurora.