Thank you all for reading and for the kind reviews that I have received. I really enjoyed writing this story. I believe I shall end it here, unless I feel inspired to add to it.

Sorry Naraku, that I made you a little sappy once in a while in it, suck it up Princess. You hot, hot thing you. Obsidian

******

I climbed out of the well and let myself into the house with a heavy heart. "Hi Mom, I'm home" I called and then was enveloped in an enthusiastic hug from her. At the feeling of soft arms holding, I broke down for the first time.

"Kagome, what is the matter dear?" she asked after my tears were done. She poured me a cup of tea and sat me down at the table, waiting for me to tell her what was bothering me. I told her everything about Naraku and I, leaving out only the details that might shock her.

She summarized it "so he killed your friends, married you when you were half dead and slept with you under false pretenses? Yet you love him? I thought that you told me he was your enemy,"

I nodded "when I got to know him, I realized that he wasn't as bad as he appeared at first and then I fell in love with him. I guess that you must think that I am pretty stupid," I said feeling the tears start again.

"No" she said, I looked up at her with startled eyes. "Kagome, you are not a stupid woman who gives her heart lightly and foolishly. If you love Naraku then there must be something in him that is worth loving or you wouldn't. Your purity would not allow you to be deceived for long"

"There is more," I said with hesitation.

"What is it?" she asked patiently.

"I am pregnant; I carry Naraku's baby" I said waiting for her to reprimand me or order me out of the house.

Instead I was surprised when she put her hand on mine "did you tell him?" she asked softly.

"No, I ran away after I telling him that I would be coming back. His second in command told me that he will kill our child and I can't risk that she might be right"

"Kagome, no matter what he has done in the past, a man has a right to now about his own baby and have a say in any decisions concerning its future."

"But I doubt we would have a future. How long before his enemies catch up with him and kill him? Then we would perish along with him; there is no way that they would allow his heir to live. The only chance this baby has in here and now, not in feudal Japan," I said defensively.

"Kagome, you and my grandchild will always have a home here, but I am disappointed in how you are handling this. I think that you will regret your cowardice one day. If you love him as you say you do, you should go back to feudal Japan and tell him the real reason why you left. If he rejects you, then you and your child could return. It will hurt but at least your conscious would be clear and he would know the reason for your fear."

"I left him a note" I said my tears running down my cheeks.

"That was a fool's way out; you left him no choice in the matter"

"You don't understand; we have no future together there," I sobbed.

She handed me a tissue and said "you are my daughter and I will support you in any decision that you make. But keep in mind, no one future is certain no matter where you live"

I was a zombie throughout my pregnancy and only our child kept me from wanting to die. When the ultrasound revealed that the child was female I whispered, "we are having a girl Naraku" to the phantom that seemed to haunt me. Every day I thought about him and missed him. Every night I dreamed about making love with him, only to wake alone and reaching out to his side of the bed. I went through all the discomfort and pain associated with pregnancy and childbirth with my mother by my side in place of my husband and kept wondering how he would have aided me. So many times I stood before the well with my swollen belly wanting nothing more to descend into its depths and seek him, but fear kept me in the 21st century. When Midori was born she was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, the doctor recoiled in surprise when she opened her crimson eyes for the first time, but in my own eyes it only made her look more beautiful. I thanked Kami and Naraku for my precious gift as she was placed into my arms. We have a daughter; light mated with dark and she is the result.

******

I waited a week, hoping that she would change her mind and return to me. I had barely eaten, bathed or slept in that time. I have become a caricature of myself, a figure of fun. Gone was my normally well kempt appearance and in its place was a creature with messy, tangled hair that reeked of neglect who simply wore the same wrinkled clothes left in a heap from the night before. My eyes swollen from crying and dark circled from lack of sleep, I could no longer sleep in my bed because her scent remained, yet the same reason kept me from moving to another bed. I ate only when food was placed in front of me and even then only half the amount as I lacked appetite. I don't want to visit the bathhouse, it reminds me too much of all the happy times that I spent in there with her playing and teasing which would lead to our making love. Yes, I will admit it now, we haven't been just copulating for a long time; we have been making love. She is the woman I love; she was the woman I loved.

I miss so many things, the way that she seemed to enjoy combing my hair until it lay like a silken curtain down my back. The way that she nagged me about eating properly. The way that she seemed to just be content in my company, even the way she teased me unmercifully about my taste in clothing by handing me a particularly dainty fan or parasol and saying that it completed my outfit of that day. She gave me unconditional tenderness, devotion and caring without asking for anything in return. She brought me the only peace I have ever known. With her I learned that I wasn't an emotionless monster, that I was capable of being a friend, a lover and husband to her. Yet she didn't want me in the end. Perhaps it was just that the priestess in her sensed my loneliness and tried to be charitable to me by offering something that never was mine to claim. She said she loved me. "Kagome; why did you lie?" I whispered biting my lip against the tears that threatened to fall again.

******

There was a knock at the door and I went to answer it. Standing on the doormat was a tall, pale young man with long wavy black hair. I couldn't see his eyes because he wore sunglasses. He smiled politely "Mrs. Higurashi?" he asked.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Is your daughter, Kagome home by any chance?" he inquired.

"I am sorry but she had to take her daughter to a doctor's appointment. Can I tell her who stopped by?" I asked.

At the mention of her daughter his looked annoyed, then resumed his polite expression. He handed me a card and said "please tell her that she can call me at this number if she wishes to get back in contact with me. We are old friends," he said.

I read his card:

Crimson Designs

Naraku Akuma

President

He turned to go "Naraku? "I breathed. Wait you're......." I called after him, and then realized that I couldn't betray Kagome by telling him about Midori until she was ready to.

He turned and asked "I'm what?"

"I've heard of you" I finished faintly.

"Hopefully not all bad" he said with a tight smile.

"No definitely not. I will have her call you," I said looking at my son-in-law for the first time in my life.

******

Midori is now two months old and I had returned from a doctor's office, relieved to hear that she seemed to be developing normally. Between my Miko purity and Naraku's collection of demons I had to wonder about Midori. She seemed to be a regular human child despite it all.

I put her down for a nap and went to talk to my mother. She handed me a card that changed my life.

"Nakaru's alive, but how? What did he look like? I demanded. My mother described him to a t. "What should I do Mom?" I asked her.

"It looks like the gods are giving you a second chance to make things right between the two of you. Don't waste it," she suggested.

I went to my room and looked at his card again. His choice of Akuma or demon as a last name was so his sense of humour. I picked up the phone and then set it down wondering what this phone call would set in motion. I wondered what he had been doing and how a hanyou could still be alive after 500 years. That life span is only to be expected of a youkai. With trembling fingers I dialed the number and almost dropped the phone when his familiar silky voice answered. "Kagome?" he said without preamble.

"Naraku?" I said in a hesitant voice.

"Good to hear from you, wife. Might I see you this evening? He requested "We have much to discuss and call me old fashioned, but I prefer not to do so on the phone" I shivered at the sound of his voice.

I knew that this encounter was inevitable, so I said as bravely as possible "Okay when and where?"

"I will have a car pick you up this evening and bring you to my house. If your family can spare you for the evening" he ended distastefully.

"That will be acceptable," I said bravely.

"Good, it will be nice getting caught up" he said and hung up.

The limousine turned into our driveway at precisely 6pm. I got my coat on and went to say goodbye to my mother. She held Midori in her arms.

"Shouldn't you bring Midori? He will want to meet her," she said.

"I am not going to bring her along until I know what he wants. I won't endanger her life if it is some kind of revenge thing" I replied and kissed my daughter goodbye. As the limousine drove me to the undisclosed location, I felt happy and sad at the same time. Part of me couldn't wait to see him and the other part wanted to turn and run.

We pulled up in front of a dark mansion and I was escorted by an actual butler in a modern version of Naraku's dark silken bedroom. At the window was a familiar figure that stared out of it. I drank in the form that I could have sketched it from memory; taking in the abundant black raven locks of his hair, his slender but powerful form and long legs. I had been right about his looking good in black fitted jeans; with this he wore a red silk shirt that completely matched his eyes. As he turned to me I also noted that he wore a black wife beater underneath the open shirt. There was no sign of his wedding ring. He hadn't aged a day since last I saw him. I could read weariness and loneliness in his eyes, bespeaking of too many years spent alone and betrayal by someone; me.

"Kagome" he said in a wistful voice before pulling himself together. "Nice to see you again. Should I ring for sake?"

I shook my head "I can't, I am breast feeding. Tea would be fine," I said hesitantly. I suddenly sensed the presence of a youkai with my youki. "Naraku, you became a youkai!"

He smirked, "I found the shards without your help and made my wish, it was granted"

"Then what happened?" I asked intrigued.

"I stopped my murderous ways and took to travelling so that my enemies wouldn't come after me. I amassed a great fortune on the way through careful investment and 'finding' antiques. Eventually I started company that designs silk kimonos and now we the largest distributor of those," he said with a slight smiled.

"So no more evil Lord Naraku?" I asked sitting closer to him.

"Only as far as my competition is concerned," he replied with the same ghost of a smile.

"So what type of demon are you?" I asked him.

"Apparently the Shikon no Tama had a sense of humour; I am a spider demon" he said with an ironic smile.

"You don't mean to say that your marks are?" I asked I said indicating his back.

"Right in the middle of my back where the scar used to be when I was a hanyou. The only difference is that it is blue now and no longer a scar" he said with a laugh. We both shared a companionable laugh and then looked at each other almost shyly. This entire time I had been struggling not to throw my arms around him and beg him to take me back.

"Kagome, I want you to know that I thought about killing you many times, but I just don't have it in me anymore believe it or not" he said ironically.

"That I am very glad to hear" I said with some relief.

"Kagome why did you leave me?" he said in a soft voice. I turned to look at him then averted my gaze to see the naked pain so apparent in the eyes of so proud a man.

"Didn't you get my note? I gave it to Karuga to give you" I asked him wondering where he was going with this.

"I got your note, but I don't understand why you left me for him"

"For who? I asked confused.

"Your husband from the present, your baby's father" he replied.

Then I realized what Kagura must have done. "That fucking bitch! Where is she? I will kill her!"

Naraku flinched back with surprise at my language "my minions vanished when I became a youkai" he explained.

"Naraku, I only have one husband and he is my daughter's father," I told him in an even tone of voice.

"I know, I read your note," he said in a regretful tone of voice.

"There is someone you need to meet," I said holding out my hand to him.

He looked at it "I don't want to meet him" he said.

"You are meeting my daughter" I replied. I called my mother to tell her that we were coming. She said would stay at a friend's place for the evening so that we wouldn't be disturbed. "Do you have a car?" I asked him. Naturally he had a candy apple red corvette and we got there in no time.

My mother let us in and left with a sly grin on her face. I wasted no time and took him into Midori's nursery.

"Why did you bring me here? There nothing to be gained from this experience but painful memories for me" he admitted.

I picked up my sleeping daughter and held her before him. I gently tickled her nose until she opened her eyes. "Naraku, I would like you to meet your daughter Midori. You should have known about her a long time ago but I was stupid enough to listen to Kagura rather then my heart"

At the sight of her eyes, so much like his own, he staggered as if I had dealt him a physical blow.

"But how, but when?" he stammered very much in shock.

I raised my eyebrows at him "I am sure you already know how. Or is it necessary for me to explain how babies are made? As for the when; that would be the night that we made love after you saved me from the snake demon"

"Why didn't you tell me?" he hissed at me.

I put Midori back into her crib and then took his hand and led him into my bedroom.

"Kagura said that you would view her as a liability and kill her" I explained.

"You believed her?" he said in a hurt tone of voice. He was trembling as if still in shock, I touched his arm. He pulled himself away from me "All this time I thought that you left me to marry someone else and now I find out it is because you thought I would try and kill a baby!"

"Naraku I loved you but I was afraid for her because she was your child too, you made lots of enemies and they might have tried to take it out on her." I explained to his back as he had turned away from me.

"Loved me? Then you don't love me any more," he said sadly. I answered him by putting my arms around him and placing my face against his shoulder blade. He tensed.

"I never stopped loving you, I missed you every day. You don't know how I longed to hold you just like this," I whispered into the silken fall of his hair. Then I realized that he was silently sobbing. I gently sat his down on the bed and held him while whispering how much I loved him.

"I love you too," he whispered in a voice so low that I barely heard him. We spoke of the past and of the future and then we made gentle love, saying with our bodies what our words couldn't convey so well. It was wonderful and healing at the same time. As we lay in each other's arms, as if we had never been parted, he looked at me and said, "stay with me"

"Yes, after I go back to the past and explain to you in person why I left. I can't leave you hurting like you were." I explained.

"What if you change the future outcome and I never become as I am today. Also would you really expose Midori to feudal Japan? You might right about it being too risky for her there" he said in a worried tone proving just how much he had changed.

I brushed him hair aside to reveal his back and traced the outline of the blue spider there. "I owe it to you and I owe it to us to set things right" I explained, "Does this mean that Onigumo is finally dead and that you only are one demon now rather then the collective?"

"Yes, it is just me. Which is kind of refreshing; it used to get a little busy" he said with a trace of humour. "So when are you going to be back?" he asked.

"A few days" I replied.

He looked suspiciously at me "the last time you said that I had to wait five hundred years"

"No seriously, a week tops then if you want me, I am yours," I replied.

"Are you going to sleep with the me from back then?" he asked.

"He is still you," I said with a laugh. "Don't tell me that you could get jealous of yourself!"

"I don't know, there is something about that guy that I just don't trust," he said and I attacked his with a pillow.

We stood in front of the well at dawn "are you sure that this is a good idea?" he asked, he was holding Midori in his arms. "I will never get over her," he said smiling down at her.

"You won't have to, she is yours for life, just as I am" I replied and kissed him goodbye, meaning it this time when I told him I would be back.

I arrived in Kaede's village and sought out her hut. She looked surprised to see me with a baby.

"Kagome, ye are unhurt! And who's baby is this?" asked the aged priestess peering at Midori. She started back when she saw her red eyes. "Naraku's! Kagome what have you done?"

"I made a mistake that turned out well in the end" I replied feeling no remorse.

"But he is your enemy! He killed many innocent souls and even your friends. If you have tainted yourself with him you can no longer be a priestess!"

"I have been thinking of that and I realized that no one ever asked me if I wanted to be one the first place. You all just assumed that because I was the reincarnation of Kikyo that I would be with Inuyasha and take over as priestess for this village when you die. Inuyasha was never mine; he loved Kikyo. As for living here in the past; I don't want to anymore." I said calmly.

"Ye choose that evil Lord to light?" she asked.

"No I choose the Naraku of the future of how he will become and I will help the one here and now achieve that" I replied.

"That creature doesn't deserve your help," she said.

"All creatures deserve help; you once told me that. He is my husband and the father of my child, so I intend to help him however I can" I replied standing up.

"Ye have changed much Kagome"

"I have grown up" I replied, "I won't be around so much, you have been a dear friend and for that I thank you. Don't worry about Naraku anymore, I will handle him"

I took a few days to get there, but I reached his castle in what seemed like no time. I didn't even bother knocking on the door, I just pushed it open and went to his brooding window as I call it. Sure enough he was there.

"Kagome?" he said surprised.

I replied by simply saying, "Come meet your daughter" He had a similar reaction to his future self.

"Who?" he asked. "Woman you make so sense, you claimed that you would only be gone a few days and now you say have that we have a daughter?"

"Oh and red eyes are common?" I said sarcastically. "You certainly cannot deny that she is yours" I thrust her in to his arms, and his own eyes got wide at the sight of hers.

******

All I could to was stare helplessly into the tiny baby's face as she smiled up at me and weaved her tiny fist into my hair, giving it a swift yank. "This is the reason why you were sick every morning?" I asked as I gently removed her fingers from my locks. I was fascinated by her. I hadn't even thought that I would be capable of fathering a child in this body; the demons intended it for destruction, not to create life.

"Come, let's go into your room" Kagome suggested. She put Midori on the futon of the bedroom next to mine and then joined me. She wasted no time and began kissing me, knowing what she wanted, I quickly helped undress her and in no time was just inside her, I slid into her almost agonizingly slow and just held myself still inside her, until she begged me to pleasure her and pleasure her I did. I made her look at me as I took her, watching with greedy eyes every time I brought her to the peak. She looks like and angel when she comes, her expression almost that of surprised and so innocent looking. I held her in my arms afterwards, feeling more contented then I had in months. She suddenly said. "You know that I haven't slept with anyone else right?"

I stroked her back and said, "I know you Miko, you can only sleep with someone you love. You loved me when you slept with me after the demon attack" I stated. "I know that now"

"Yes, but you should know that I am not a priestess anymore" she replied.

"Why not?"

"I don't want that, I want you" she said and told me of what my future would bring.

"A kimono merchant? That sounds kind of strange" I said with amusement.

"Are you going to punish Kagura?" she asked.

I smiled at that "I would but she is already dead." Kagura had taunted me by saying that Kagome left me because I failed to satisfy her. Something inside me had snapped, I ripped her clothing from her and did what she feared most; I took her virginity. I made her my whore for a week refusing to allow her to wear anything so that I might fuck her when I wished. I fucked her many times and each time I made sure that someone was present to watch her humiliation. To humiliate her further I would play with her erroneous zones endlessly while I raped her, wringing orgasm after orgasm from her unwilling body and I would taunt her after each one. Then I would make her watch each rape replayed in Kanna's mirror so that she might see herself come for me. On the seventh day I crushed her heart in front of her and reabsorbed her dead body into my own. "I think she was punished enough" I said with a smile.

Kagome shuddered "I don't want to know do I"

"No you don't"

******

I stayed with Naraku until we found the final shards, there was no bloodshed involved, I just asked the villagers for them and then turned them over to Naraku. Once the Shikon no Tama was complete he surprised me by wishing for both of us to become youkai.

"But why?" I asked after the transformation.

"It wouldn't do for you to have only sixty or so more years while I have thousands more myself" he replied.

A couple days later, we stood on the dock as he prepared to board his boat. "You could come with me," he suggested "That way we could face the future together."

"I would love to honey, but Midori deserves to be in the future where she can get a proper education and have lots of prospects. I know that asking you to wait five hundred years for me is unreasonable, but in the end we will be together." I promised him.

"You don't expect me to faithful in all that time, do you?" he asked.

"Lets consider you single until we are reunited. Just take your wedding ring off when you have sex with other people" I requested hating the idea of him having sex with other women, but I had to be fair. I kissed him goodbye for a final time and got teary eyed when he kissed Midori on her soft cheek. Tears ran down my cheeks as he sailed away, I waved after him until I could no longer see him.

When I got back to the future I found Naraku visiting my mother. He seemed happy to see me and nothing had changed about him. The only things missing were the suspicion and crushing loneliness in his eyes that was so apparent when we were first reunited. He even asked me how lesser-Naraku was.

Yes, within a week we moved in with Naraku, he and I officially shared mating marks and became married on demon terms, then got re-wed in the court house at my request; I wanted to be conscious this time.

To say he is a natural father is stretching the truth, he used to hold Midori like she was a football and would panic when she cried. He still remains a work in progress but I have infinite patience and lots of experience with stubborn men.

5 Years Later

We live in an upper class neighbourhood of Tokyo; I am checking on my daughter as she sleeps, she is five years old with dark hair and pale skin. I look down on her angelic face as she clutches her ragged old stuffed rabbit in her sleep. She is a typical little girl, loves Barbie dolls and wants to be either a princess of ballerina when she grows up. I softly brush her hair from her face, she opens her eyes and smiles sleepily at me, she had her father's eyes; they are crimson in colour. I tuck the blankets around her and she goes back to sleep. My husband comes into the room and smiles tenderly down on our daughter as if she is a precious gift. He gestures that we leave the room and we softly pad out.

We check on our other daughter, Aiko, she is two-year-old youkai who has yet to grow her marks.

We returned to the living room and he lit a fire and poured himself a sake. The soft light danced and reflected on his glossy hair and highlighted his crimson eyes. He pulled me on to his lap and touched my slightly swollen belly. "Do you think you can give me a son this time?" he asked in the silky voice that used to strike terror into my heart in the past; now it comforts me.

I looked into his angelic face, seeking the monster that used to dwell within and see only my beloved. "Who knows what the future will bring?" I said honestly.

Yes light married dark and somehow perfect harmony was created.

The End