AN: Well, I had a lot of writer's block on this one, but thanks to a couple of nightmares and a dire need to write fluff, I got it finished. I think I managed to put a little comedy in this as well. I do, however, apologize for how long this chapter took. Gah! I finally found Acrophobia again and my stupid connection won't let me play…. *dramatic sigh* Hopefully this is just a sweet enough ending to leave everyone satisfied. ^^

Lily Thorne: Perky.

Dragon Man 180: *preens* Thank you. The age difference will eventually write itself. The other nice thing, which Rin neglected to make clear: as the butterfly demons are supposed to procreate at least once a year during this time, Sesshy should have some fun. Then again, one has to wonder what a butterfly/dog demon would look like….

Liz: well pooh to you! Figuring out who my big surprise could have been! I knew that I should have made her be Ayame to explain why she liked Kouga!

Mybyrdy: Ah, Rin and Sesshy. Rin's just so… cute. I hope I don't leave you disappointed with this chapter. My muse just upped and left on me! I do, actually, have a good idea for another story, I just wonder if it has been overly done or not. Maybe I'll go ahead and do it anyway. Either way, it could be fun. ^^

Enjoy! And see you all next fic, as always… And I didn't finish with a very overused 'happily ever after', but for all those who find this somewhat lacking, simply add on the last line from 'Ever After'.

"And while they did live happily ever after, the point, gentleman, is that they lived."

Chapter Thirteen: Beginnings and Endings

He folded his arms around her waist, laying his head on her stomach, blissfully ignorant of the beads of sweat on her skin. All he knew was that she smelled good, she was squishy to lay on, she was willing to let his teeth and claws near the soft underside of her body, and that she was happy and satisfied. Inuyasha licked her skin, smiling when she let out a soft laugh that melted into a contended sigh. She slowly reached up and played with his ears, scratching the harder side and rubbing the softer one. Inuyasha held her tighter. He never wanted to let her go.

"Which one did you like better?" she asked, though she was uncertain if Inuyasha was the type of person who liked to talk after sex. Last time they had been too tired to talk. This time she was left with a warm, fuzzy feeling that encased her whole body, and was only slightly tired.

"I don't care," he said, closing his eyes and relaxing. When her fingers squeezed a bit too hard, he reinstated his answer. "I… kind of liked them both. I liked this one because it lasted longer and seemed… happier. No," he corrected himself, recalling the place from where Kagome had saved him. "I liked it because it was more loving. Because I could tickle you and make you laugh, and then… well, what do I need to tell you what I did when you were laughing? You were there. But I like the other one because you're so cute when you try be feral. And it gave me an excuse to bite you and wrestle for positions and everything."

Kagome laughed and sat up, pulling Inuyasha up with her from her shoulders. She began to kiss his chin, her lips and nose feeling her way in the darkness of Inuyasha's bedroom. "You know, I kind of liked the wrestling bit too. I like making you fight for your rewards. In all honesty, I also kind of liked the growling and biting that you do."

Taking her hint, a rumble started in his chest, and he ran the tip of his fangs over her bottom lip before kissing her. Kagome managed to sneak out a snicker before he pulled her over backwards, laying her down on the blanket that she had made for him. Reaching behind him, he grabbed the pillows, grinned, and hit her with it gently.

Her anger flared up as he knew it would. Inuyasha watched, feeling his arousal start to grow as she struggled to get the pillow from him and retaliate. As she stretched to grab the pillow just out of reach, he suddenly stopped, worried. His white ears twitched. Seeing his concern, Kagome also stopped.

"Do you hear that?"

"Yes," she giggled. "Sango and Miroku have worn themselves out."

Shaking his head, he put the pillow down and climbed off the bed, striking up a candle. Turning back to Kagome, he took her wrist and around it, he wrapped his hand, taking her pulse. Kagome didn't notice this as she stared at the blanket.

"Inuyasha?" she gently called out her name, running her free hand across the patchwork blanket. It felt like Inuyasha's hair. The patches she had sewn were outlined in midnight black, the squares themselves were woven from silver strands that shimmered blood red and ocean blue depending on how it was hit by the candlelight. It hadn't been looking this since before…. "Before we had sex," she recalled.

Her half demon husband hadn't heard her. He was too busy counting her heart beat and then calculating how many times her heart would beat in a minute. When he had it, he dropped her hand. "Kagome, your heart beat is half of what it should be. Are you feeling okay?"

"What?" she whispered. She held her own wrist. He was right: her heartbeat was strong, but frighteningly slow. "But… but I feel perfectly fine! Why, why would this happen? I mean, I'm speaking normally, right? I'm thinking and breathing at the normal rate. It should be impossible that I would have a heart rate like this and still be this hyper or energetic… I mean, I just had goddamn sex! Why…."

He kissed her cheek and rubbed her back, letting her lean against him. He heard her heartbeat return to normal and told her that. She let out her captured breath and relaxed, pondering this phenomenon. Slowly, her mind drifted away from her unsettling heartbeat as Inuyasha placed soothing kisses down her neck. He stopped at the crook of her neck to take extensive measures to ensure that this new problem was far from them. In a manner of speaking, this was their honeymoon night, and Inuyasha didn't want to leave the bed for anything, let alone thinking that something was wrong with Kagome's heart.

Her head fell back, giving him more room so that he could lick her neck, meticulously grooming her. "Inu…" He suddenly stopped before she could finish moaning his name.

"It changed again."

Kagome's head shot back up. She was no fool. She immediately saw the connection. Kagome thought about something else, thinking of the most boring things she could: carpets, leaves, dirt, and rocks. Her heartbeat returned to normal, and she all but threw herself on to Inuyasha, lavishing his skin with kisses and rubbing her naked form against his. In a flash he was vying for control, his teeth grazing her skin. As they passed by sensitive flesh, she let her mind wander again, imagining his hands….

It happened again.

"Inuyasha, it changes every time I think about you." He gave her a look of disbelief. "No, really! Every time it's happened, I was thinking about you touching me in some way or another." She managed to smile faintly. "Now all I have to do is to figure out why…"

She was cut off from the sound of something scratching at the window. Had they been in their cottage, Kagome easily might have written it off as a branch scarping against the pane, but there weren't any trees near Inuyasha's window. They glanced at each other and got out of bed. Kagome threw on a robe while Inuyasha, having no sense of modesty, opened the blinds. They found a white owl hovering at their window, scraping his claws against the window, demanding entry. He held a large envelope in his beak.

Kagome pulled open the latch to allow their visitor into the bedroom. Whoever he was, he was a messenger. Inuyasha, only slightly grumpy from having his possible intercourse with Kagome derailed because of something neither or them understood and a pesky owl, said something rude about what he would do to the owl if he shed in the bedroom.

Opening the letter, Kagome smiled and clapped, jumping on Inuyasha's back. She was trying to put him in a good mood by rubbing him the right way. "Inuyasha! Look! It's from the oracle!"

"Well, don't just screech in my ear, woman. Tell me what it says."

Kagome read the letter outloud.

Dear Kagome,

My power has shown me that you have rescued Miroku and Inuyasha. Congratulations! I knew you could do it all along. It also showed me that you finished your weaving. Sango and I, while talking as you were freshening up before you left our company, mentioned that you knew nothing about this cloth, save that you were supposed to think of your love for Prince Inuyasha has you wove it. Whether or you have invoked its power is not any of my business, but please, allow me to explain to you about this cloth and why you must treasure it.

I told you that you would find a way to prolong your life so that you and Inuyasha would age in sync in with each other, that way you would not grow old and die while he still lives. The cloth that you carried was, in fact, the way. It is spun from the silk of a certain demon who enjoys playing games with the hearts of humans, creating odd couples and trying to drive other ones apart. By thinking of Inuyasha as you spun the silk of this –if you pardon the pun- 'love bug', you entwined together its power of uniting people and your love for Inuyasha.

Nobody, as of now, is quite sure how and why these two things manage to weave together so thoroughly, or how the magic they create when woven are able to create the affects desired by the weaver. However, if my theory is correct, it will help prolong your life. The blanket you made, once spread out on you bed or used to keep you warm when wrapped around you, will actually slow down your aging. It will only slow it down so long as you are in contact with the blanket, sleeping on it or under it or wrapped in it. It will also only work so long as Inuyasha shares it with you, or you are thinking about him, because that's the person who is woven into the cloth with you.

I do not yet know how these powers are able to manifest themselves yet in your body. Perhaps everything will simply slow, or maybe it won't even be noticeable. Perhaps you will become more demon-like, sharing their invisible powers of slower aging. Either way, I pray that this letter comes to you in time, and that you won't worry should there be any side effects once you start using the blanket.

Sincerely,

Kanna

P.S. Write back, please! It's so boring here with that damn goat-demon watching the bridge.

They thanked the owl and sent him down to the kitchen for some food and rest, telling him to stay the night and leave the next evening. It would also give Kagome time to write back a letter to the Oracle. Kagome folded up the letter neatly and tucked it away in the desk drawer.

Inuyasha stared at the blanket he was sitting on. "I suppose that must be what prompted the change in the blanket. It was activated once we started using it… wait. We were using it for awhile, but it didn't change. Not until we… Kagome, if the cloth reacts to the object of your thoughts when you spun it, and if you follow it through, then the same subject, so… did you actually spin this whole thing while thinking about having sex with me?"

"No!" Kagome protested, blushing deeply. "Inuyasha, I love you because of more than just the fact that I'm attracted to you. So I thought about your smile, and cuddling with you, and watching you bake and how good your baking tastes." She slid into his lap and wrapped her arms around him, her fingers sliding through his silver hair. "I thought about listening to the stories of your childhood and watching you fight, and I thought about you playing with Kirara and helping me in the garden. I thought about you always being there to catch me, and how much I miss you when you're away. In closing," Kagome said with a grin, "I thought about every single thing about you that makes me love you."

His hands began to undo the knot of her robe, allowing her scent to surround him as it drifted off her body. "Then why is it that this no aging thing only started now as opposed to a when we were on the road and sharing the blanket?"

Kagome thought for a second, as hard as it was with his breath tickling her skin and the feeling of his hands pressing against her body. "Maybe it was because that up until last night, you were just my fiancé. Now you're my husband though, so maybe that's what activated the magic." As his lips kissed her neck, she began gently stroking his ears. "Inuyasha… haven't you been satisfied already?"

"No," he growled, his teeth scraping her neck. "You better get used to it, Kagome. Face it, you're not even going to be let out of bed until this night is over."

At that same time….

"Get back here you…." Sango let out a long line of obscenities that she had picked up in her years of knighthood. Miroku looked back in the room, barely able to believe what she had just said. She glared at him from on the bed. "What?"

"I can't believe that I kissed that same mouth." Miroku came back in the bedroom and sat beside her on the bed, smiling all the while patiently. He'd finally got Sango right where he wanted her to get payback for getting kicked off the bed so many times, and slapped for grabbing her so many times. She couldn't kick or slap if she couldn't move her hands and legs. He kissed her swiftly, and licked his lips, contemplating. "And yet you still taste sweet."

He sighed as he groped her, hearing her growl when she squirmed to slap him. Miroku laughed at her, until his laughter suddenly died out. He groped her harder, and she let out a squeak. Usually Miroku wasn't that rough. He apologized and removed his hand from her derriere. Sitting away from her, he –nearly- forgot all about Sango as he ran a finger down the center of his hand. His body broke out into a cold sweat.

'It has to be my imagination. It has to be a lingering memory. It… my hand feels like it did when I was with the Sorceress. It feels like… like the wind tunnel is gone….'

Sango sat up, tossing the rope over the side of the bed. She came up beside him and pushed the rope off from around her ankles with her feet. Miroku didn't know how to tie knots. She cuddled into his chest, and arm wrapping around his. Thougfh concerned, she was already plotting her own revenge. "Miroku, what's wrong?"

"My… my hand…." Pointing it away from them, he slowly unwound the prayer beads looped around his hand. He just… needed to be certain. The cloth that covered his hand fell down, but nothing happened. There wasn't even a breeze coming from the center of his palm. Miroku pulled his hand back, staring at it. The hole was gone.

And there was a butterfly in its place.

Looking confused, they watched the butterfly float away, winding around them and leaving sparkling fairy dust in its wake. Sango smiled when she realized it was nothing more than a sign left behind by the person who had healed the hole. She smiled, ignorant of the diamond-like dust settled in her dark hair. "Thank you," she told the butterfly. After that, it vanished, as if to go and relay her message to the Sorceress.

Miroku rose an eyebrow as he turned to look at her, as if realizing that she was there for the first time. For him, it almost was like the first time. It would be the first time his skin could feel hers as they held each other at night, or the first time the paln felt her hair, and he didn't have to worry about prayer beads catching on anything. His knuckles were white as they wrapped around his wrist, holding his shaking right hand steady.

Noticing the shaking of his hand, Sango reached out to touch his, and he quickly pulled away. He reached out to begin closing his hand up again. "No. It might not be safe. It's probably some kind of mental trick, or illusion again, or I'm probably dreaming…."

"Do you trust me?" Sango asked calmly, her brown eyes steadily gazing up at him with love and respect. He nodded.

Sango smiled at him lovingly and took his newly remade hand in hers. She kissed his fingertips and then pulled off the beads the rest of the way, placing them around his neck. Sango removed the rest of the glove and threw it across the room. Taking the cloth that had always kept his hand covered, she tied it in her hair. Sango wanted a souvenir. She left the ring on his finger. Pulling on the beads, her smile grew into a grin as she pulled her shocked fiancé down to her level for a kiss.

Placing her lips against his, she kissed him softly, barely touching him. Sango rested her forehead against his, letting their lips touch as she spoke. "I am so proud of you." She closed her eyes, giving him another little kiss. "I love you, houshi-sama. Can I please put Dread Pirate Roberts on hold so that I can have my future husband for tonight?" Sango asked hopefully, in a husky and soothing voice.

"As you wish," he chuckled, his voice raspy from his shuddering breath. Without the kazaana, without knowing how it was taken away from him, he felt suddenly very small, and without the wrapping on his hand, his worry that it was all a trick increased. But the trust her, and so his nose nudged hers and he closed his right hand around her fingers, letting her nails scratch at the skin carefully, wanting to rekindle as many memories of what it felt like to have a palm as was possible. "Sango, I don't understand it though…."

Her cheeks turned pink. "You stupid, perverted monk," she told him lovingly. "You're not supposed to understand. It's a girl thing. The Sorceress had the power to heal your hand for you, and she did, out of the kindness of her heart. Deep down, I think it's because that I somehow led her to the person she wants to spend the rest of her life with, the say 'I do' with you type, and she wants us to be as happy as she is. And that means that you'll be able to brush my hair without getting the beads tangled in it, and you can feel things again, and many other things. Oh, and it means I can finally do this!"

She snuck her head out from under his to bring his hand to her lips, and she gave the palm a gentle kiss before sliding it up to her cheek, rubbing it against her cheek as if it were velvet. Letting out a sound of contentment, she moved her mouth closer to the center of his palm and kissed him again. Her lips moved up to his fingers, and Miroku slowly felt himself become more at ease. His hand slid down her body, and he pressed against her.

Unable to forget the fact that one minute ago he had not had a complete hand, or that he could accidentally kill everyone he loved, or the fear that the responsibility given to him might in fact, return, he none the less bowed to her trust, and for the first time it what would become a very long time, the Dread Pirate Roberts and Sir Sango were nowhere to be found. Instead, it was simply Miroku and Sango.