Happily Ever After by mynightshining

Happily Ever After

Summary: It was worth it in the end, everything they overcame, if the rest of their lives were like this.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Author’s Notes: This is my delayed submission for Day 5 of SessKag Week 2021! I did it; I finished! I had so much fun participating in my first writing event last week! Thank you everyone who has read my submissions so far, you are rock stars and your feedback is greatly appreciated. I love hearing your thoughts.

Since this is my first time participating in an event, I had to set up some rules for myself (I was getting carried away with very little time on my hands).

- Fics will be set in cannon, but will diverge.

- Fics will be short, no word limit, but no massive one-shots (like I was planning to do)

- Fics will be stream of consciousness writing with very little editing or futzing

- Only use color as the main prompt, and if I happen to include the others, then it's a happy accident.

Half of my submissions were heavy angst, so here is some family fluff to make up for it!

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Happily Ever After

Prompt: Blue

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Crystal clear ocean waves crashed upon the shore, sending white foam along the fine sand in a rush. Squeals of laughter erupted as the foam chased fleeing bare feet. When the wave receded, the same feet chased it back to the nebulous water’s edge.

“Mama!” Shippo screeched as another wave chased him and his sister back up the shore. “Mama! Come play!”

Kagome, who sat not too far from where the children were playing on a large blanket under an open fabric tent for shade, smiled and waved at him as best she could with a nursing infant at her breast.

“Not yet, Shippo. Sashiro hasn’t finished lunch.” She pushed her sunglasses (one of the few remnants of the future she had left) farther up the bridge of her nose. “Looks like you and Rin are having more than enough fun on your own anyway, sweetheart.”

She watched her eldest children frolic for a while longer and snickered when they got distracted from their game of tag with the sea by a large tangle of seaweed and a colony of hermit crabs.

A slight prick on her breast drew her attention back to the cerulean-eyed babe in her arms. At only three months old, the infant looked much older with round, rosy cheeks and chubby thighs and arms that Kagome and her mate loved to squish. Her head was crowned with thick, downy white hair that flopped into her eyes, obscuring the blue crescent moon on her forehead marking her lineage. One little clawed hand curled up between the crook of Kagome’s arm and her own temple, while the other kneaded the soft skin of her mother’s breast as she nursed. Tiny claw tips pricked Kagome’s skin again with the movement.

As more laughter floated to her ears, Kagome trailed her fingers along Sashiro’s forehead, brushing the bangs from her daughter’s eyes, then tracing along her temple down to the fine tip of her pointed ear.

“You have quite the appetite today,” Kagome said. “Although, I suspect you’re only trying to finish what your sister didn’t.”

Sashiro’s response was a slow blink and deep gulp of milk.

Another squeal, this one clearly from an infant, carried over the crashing of the waves, and Kagome spied her mate at the water’s edge. A shirtless Sesshomaru, with his hakama rolled up to his knees, crouched down at the very edge of the waves. The water just barely caressed his feet before sliding back down the sand. In large, strong hands, he held their other daughter, Tamaki, just above the water, dipping her tiny little toes into the surf every time it came close. Deliriously happy and covered in drool, she thrashed her chunky arms and kicked her dinner-roll legs, little floppy puppy ears twitching all the while. Born only moments before her twin, the first heir to west had bright, gilded eyes much like those of her inu family. Her markings were beautiful: sweeping purple stripes across her face and body, indicating she had inherited her father’s Dokkaso, and a blue crescent moon displayed proudly on her forehead. As she laughed, she shook her head full of midnight black locks that were just as unruly as her sister’s.

“Mama, Mama!” Rin hollered as she and Shippo came barreling over to the blanket. “Look!”

“We found a hermit crab that needed a house, and we gave him a new one!” Shippo exclaimed, breathless, shoving the little creature right into Kagome’s face.

She leaned back and with her free hand, grabbed Shippo’s wrist and gently guided it back to a respectable distance. She slid her hand down to cradle his, and watched the newly-housed crab as it sat content in his little hand.

“How very nice of you two to help someone in need. Their new house looks perfect.” Kagome watched her children’s eyes sparkle with pride. In a whisper, she leaned closer and said, “You should show your father and have him help you release them back where you found them.”

Both children ran to their father, showing him their little friend. Kagome watched the exchange as, after careful examination of the crab’s new home, her mate stood up, propping Tamaki on his hip and followed Shippo and Rin to the seaweed where the crab colony congregated.

Snippets of their conversation carried over: the children begging to keep the crabs as pets, and Sesshoumaru explaining in soft, deep tones that wildlife must remain wild. There was something utterly domestic about the exchange, and Kagome’s heart seemed to grow exponentially as the scene unfolded. Unbidden tears of joy and contentment gathered in the corners of her eyes.

When she returned the feudal era from the future many years ago, she had only hoped that she would somehow find a Happily Ever After. It was another thing entirely for it finally exist.

“You are crying,” Sesshomaru commented as he and Tamaki joined Kagome on the blanket. “Did Sashiro bite you again?”

“No,” Kagome responded laughing through the tears. “I’m just… really happy. I love our family. I never thought life could be like this beautiful, but I am so happy I was wrong.”

“Hn.” Sesshomaru leaned over and kissed her tears, Tamaki and Sashiro wiggling between them. “I, too, experience an overabundance of joy when reminiscing about our family and what we have overcome. I am thankful for all that you have given me, Kagome.”

Kagome turned her head to meet his lips, her free hand tangling in his wind-swept hair. The kiss was chaste, but no less intimate.

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips.

“The sentiment is returned, my cherished one.”

“Can you please stop being gross and play with us?” Shippo called from the wet sand just above the surf, Rin beside him digging furiously.

“We’re making an onsen!” she cried full of excitement as more sand was tossed in the air.

“Go, I’ve got the twins,” Kagome said before giving her mate one more kiss. “I can’t move anyway.”

“Sashiro’s stomach has become a bottomless pit.”

 “We’re in for another growth spurt soon.”

“Hn,” Sesshomaru agreed, untangling silver strands from the mighty fists of his first born. Once free, he laid Tamaki in front of his mate, giving all three quick kisses before speeding off to a squealing Shippo and Rin. Sesshomaru transformed into his true from and ran through the waves with the laughing children on his back.

Yes, they had overcome much to be here, more than expected, more than anyone should have to face, but it was worth it in the end, if the rest of their lives were like this: surrounded by love, joy, and laughter.

Their happily ever after.