#anyway I don't do much romance stuff but I do like the idea of Metal continuing to be a bioscientist so it'd be neat to see something like

[mecha--maniac]

If anyone's into it feel free to take this off my hands cause I don't want it:

Metadow where Silver's their kid, facilitated by Metal's mucking about with genetic splicing -- since apparently he's interested in biotech, judging by Heroes -- so insert whatever shipping stuff one wants with them during the 200 years or whatever, and eventually someone gets the bright idea for a test tube baby for some reason, and huh weird it came out looking a lot like that one guy they used to know from the future *wait a minute--*

[dynamic-k]

Me me has a quetions :3 when did you start writing and where do your ideas come from?

-BK

Ooh, that's a tough one.

Hmm. Well, I know I started getting a like for writing in the 3rd grade. I'd done some random school two-paragraph assignment and Mrs. Meusen, my lovely teacher whom I still remember to this day, had returned everyone's papers with our grades.

And she liked to write custom messages along with the overall score and stars.

She told me in her little markered note at the top of my paper, that my writing was well structured and I make a good author. Something like that, I don't remember exactly how it was phrased, but it was a compliment to my writing.

I have no memory of what I wrote, though. It wasn't significant.

That was probably the first jump-start encouragement I got, though how it affected me in the future was probably subconscious for the most part. It's not the driving force that I remember on a regular basis as "Ah, yes, this event here is what started it all."

That long ago compliment just came to mind when I really started thinking about what the answer to your inquiry was.

My ideas just spawned into existence from my imagination. I was always the kid that found immense joy in reading books and also staring off into space. The wall. The ceiling. Out a window.

I once got lost in space during my 2nd grade Spanish class, while we were doing TESTS.

And I was lost in space, not really looking at what I was looking at... Well, I was apparently looking at someone else's test, lol. Got scolded. XD

My dreams were often the source of cool ideas also. I had entire MOVIES worth of action and everything. Sleeping was always a well anticipated privilege...

I wonder why. 👉👈

I remember my very first fanfiction was written for a comic series, Mega Man by Ian Flynn.

Cool robots, action, adventure, fights, suspense, a whole assortment of my favorite types of things to enjoy from any media, be it novel, comic, or movie.

It was... really bad. My family tells me it was good for my age at the time. The ONE friend I randomly decided to share the old google Docs with also gives me positive feedback, but... ehhhhhh.

There's reasons I haven't continued it further for years. It was pretty bad, in my eyes. I definitely had so much fun writing it though. It was a self-insert, sort of? But with an OC that had cool characteristics I just liked. Not really me, but a character that was an amalgamation of ninja skills, smarts, and powers. And was very much, as the term goes [that I would learn about just a few years later], a "Mary Sue". An overpowered character.

At least, my character still had a plethora of issues, and as the story progressed, I found ways to insert Nora [the aforementioned OC] into problems and lessen the overpowered aspects a bit.

I learned from that work. A lot.

I guess, if anyone is really interested, I can post the links to the old docs. I don't suppose I mind all that much, though I'm warning you all. I ATTEMPTED ROMANCE.

AND IF YOU ALL KNOW ME AND MY CURRENT HABITS... YOU KNOW I SAY ON A REGULAR BASIS THAT I CAN'T WRITE ROMANCE.

It was written by 13-year-old Scarlett. She doesn't exist anymore.

I think I somehow got off topic, why am I talking about my first fanfic...

Anyway!

I wrote a lot of other stories also.

I had originals.

I had fanfics. [My hyperfixation on Beyblade Metal Fusion remains dormant to this day, but I still remember all the ideas I never wrote down yet]

I had dreams that I attempted to normalize and remove dream-weirdness from for story material.

I had school assignments that were fairly tame as far as action, but I kept the docs anyway.

And then I tried to publish stuff.

[By this, I mean, on the Archive. I had technically posted fanfiction before on fanfiction.net but we don't talk about those abominations...]

I was in a Lego Monkie Kid hyperfixation at the time, and was currently on the cliffhanger of season 4. [Before the special came out, I mean.]

And I had a very very vivid dream scenario one night, where my brain decided to imagination its own ending and wrapped up plot for the cliffhanger of season 4.

I decided to post it. And I still have more ideas that I have yet to sort out and add more chapters to the fic, but that was the first published work on the Archive, I think.

And... it was romantic focused, actually. The one OC was a character that fit well into the series, and wasn't just an annoying rendition of overpowered characteristics. (I TELL YOU. I LEARNED FROM "NORA")

And, well, my dreams are good at imaginating romantic scenes. It's just my brain doesn't know how to make it sound good with words yet.

I'll get there... 😅

To get back to the point I seem to keep deviating from as I reminisce over older works and my author journey as a whole: I have come very far.

My first Alan Becker fanfic, was A Second's Tale. Which, until Super Sticks appeared, remained my most popular fic.

It started so SO simply. All I knew was, "NEW HYPERFIXATION GO BRRR!" and "I wanna write a fanfic and post it"

Then it escalated.

The AVA/AVM fandom is still my all-time favorite, and I think it's honestly going to stay that way forever. It's definitely the longest fixation I've ever had.

All my others are dormant, or active in spurts. I have a list of like, 60? 65? fandoms I'm into, lol.

Uhm, anyways, yeah.

That's the summary.

Man, that's another thing I suck at. Summarization.

Look at this long schpiel of words!!

No one gonna read this. XD

TL;DR

I have come far from the 3rd grade.

I still aim to make a difference. Make someone's day with my weird unique sense of humor. Make others inspired. ;]

And my imagination go brrrr for ideas. Dreams are just the best thing ever.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk--

[melodyssolarsystem]

Horizon Forbidden West music headcannons!

Something that's been on my mind for a while now is, if the GAIA gang were in modern day, what music would they listen to? Thats what im writing and rambling about today because its my blog, my posts people

Aloy

Aloy is quite a complicated person to work with with this sort of stuff, if i'm honest. I think the music she’d listen to would be recommendations from her friends, because, ya know, she’s too busy doing the equivalent of saving the world in modern day. But on those rare occasions she did listen to music, I feel like she’d be into Imagine Dragons and such. Since, ya know, war music and stuff /j

My gut tells me her favourite song would either be The Phoenix by Imagine Dragons or generally anything that's similar to that

Varl

Varl would definitely be the person who listens to music. I think he’d quite be into pop music and maybe some older music as well. I think he’d also be the person who listens to the radio instead of his own playlists. His favourite music stations might be Heart or Radio 1 (look them up, i live in britain ok). I don't think he generally focuses on one artist, he’ll just listen to whatever and whoever he’s in the mood for. His favourite song i think would be Counting Stars by One Republic, but he’ll listen to anything that's in the pop genre

Erend

Erend.. He doesn't need much explaining, does he? He already found Old Ones music haha. Anyways, as we see in the game, he’s into heavy metal and punk(?) (I'm not very experienced in this genre im so sorry if this is wrong). Based on what I've heard from friends, his favourite artists would be My Chemical Romance and Panic! At The Disco and the like. Again, i’m not as experienced in this genre as i am in other genres, so i’m going to pick a song my friend recommended to me and say his favourite song is Check Yes, Juliet by We The Kings. If you have any better ideas please let me know

Zo

I think Zo’s playlist would consist of 90s and earlier music and classical music with the occasional pop song that's only still on there because of Varl and just doesn't have the heart to remove. In terms of classical music, her favourite composers would be Mozart and Beethoven. In terms of 90s and earlier music.. I’m not sure, actually. I lean more towards pop and more modern day music so i don't know many artists please don't hate me. Her favourite songs would be anything in the genres she likes

Alva

Ah yes, I've been waiting for this. Alva would probably be into calmer music, leaning towards people like The Lumineers and Taylor Swift's calmer music and such. She also has the occasional pop song as long as it isn't anything too crazy. She despises rap music (like me) but she doesn't really know why. She just does. Her favourite song would definitely be Ophelia by The Lumineers

Kotallo

Kotallo doesn't listen to music. That's it. Like he doesn't understand why people listen to music

but he secretly loves Mr Sandman /hj

Beta

I think Beta would prefer music that's on the sadder side, lyrics and melody wise. She just prefers music that she can relate to and have a good cry with if needs be. She would like music that has a depressive feel to it with equally depressive lyrics. Her favourite song I think would be Lovely by Billie Eilish because again, she likes a song that she can relate to in terms of lyrics. Other favourites would include Alien Blues by Vundabar, Human by Christina Perri, hey little girl by sophiemarie.b and other songs like that

[sarah-writes-stories]

Chapter 9: Forever

A Post-Canon Inuyasha Romance/Adventure Epic

Find it on: Fanfiction.net / AO3 / Wattpad

Words: 4,037

Prologue  •  Chapter 1  •  Chapter 2  •  Chapter 3  •  Chapter 4  •  Chapter 5  •  Chapter 6  •  Chapter 7  •  Chapter 8  •  Chapter 9  •  Chapter 10  •  Chapter 11  •  Chapter 12  •  Chapter 13

⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯

He ran.

Faster than he ever had before, through gardens and over rooftops. He didn't bother using the road. Instead, making a straight line for Kaede's hut.

When he reached the door he didn't stop there either, barging in before skidding to a halt.

Kaede gasped at the sudden intrusion. She'd been waiting up for Kagome, sipping a cup of mild tea, but when she took in the sight of the young Miko unconscious and cradled in Inuyasha's arms, terror etched across his face, she immediately got to her feet.

"Inuyasha! What has happened?"

Inuyasha's eyes were wild. "I don't know! She was fine one minute and the next…" He trailed off, looking down at her still face, willing Kagome to show him some sign that she was going to be alright.

"Come, place her down over here." Kaede had already made up a futon for Kagome to sleep and was now thankful for her forethought.

Inuyasha placed Kagome down gently before moving back to give Kaede space to work. "Is she gonna be alright?" His voice was a panicked whisper.

"I cannot answer that until first ye tell me exactly what has happened."

"We left Miroku and Sango's and went by my hut so I could show it to her. We were… talking… and the next thing I knew she was surrounded by her own power, only it was like a blanket or a shell. I couldn't even get close enough to touch her. Burnt my hand when I tried. It sounded like it was hurting her. It felt like forever, but I think it was only a minute or so. She kept whimpering and groaning and when the power finally pulled back, she collapsed like this!"

Inuyasha could feel the fear rising within him all over again at the retelling. 'Oh, Kami,' he thought. 'Please don't take her away from me. Not when I just got her back.'

Kaede was worried as well, but her years of training kept her mind focused as she began running her hand above the child, using her spiritual senses to assess Kagome's aura for any signs of sickness, pain, or disease.

Before she could get halfway through the examination, Kagome began to stir. "Wha–?" She said groggily. "What happened?"

Kagome put one hand up to still the pounding in her head, using the other elbow to raise herself up slightly and look around.

"Kagome, child, be still. Inuyasha brought ye here. Ye were unconscious."

And suddenly Kagome remembered. "I– I passed out from the pain, I think."

"Ye were in pain, child? Can ye point out where the pain was?"

"It was everywhere. It felt like every part of my body, inside and outside was on fire." Kagome closed her eyes against the memory, the pounding in her head continued. "Could I maybe get a drink of water?"

"Here, let me." Inuyasha jumped up immediately, happy to be able to help even in this small way. He wasn't used to feeling so helpless.

He filled a cup from the water barrel by the door and brought it over to Kagome. Pressing it into her hand, he searched her face. "How are you feeling now?"

"I don't know. Fine, I guess, except for a pounding headache."

Kaede asked, "Do ye mind if I continue my examination?"

"No, go ahead." After taking a long drink Kagome handed the cup back to Inuyasha who had yet to move away from her side. She lay back down on the futon.

Kaede moved to place her hands again over Kagome's body, guiding them around as she reached out with her senses. "So this pain ye spoke of. It was all over? And Inuyasha said it was caused by ye's own power?"

"Yes, that's right." Kagome nodded.

"That is what has me confused. One's own power should never be able to do its own bearer harm. Did ye feel like ye were being harmed?"

Kagome thought about it for a moment. "Not… really? I don't know. It was hot, burning hot, but there was also this surge of… something. It felt kind of like how I'd imagine a battery might feel if it was overcharged."

Looking at the confusion on Kaede's face over her modern comparison, she mumbled in embarrassment. "Not that you'd know what a battery is, Kaede-sama. Sorry."

"A battery is like a container, but for power. It holds power but can be drained and refilled." Inuyasha tried to explain it to Kaede in the same way Souta had once explained it to him.

"I see… And so that was what it felt like, child? As though ye were being overfilled with power?"

"Kinda, I guess." The idea made her uncomfortable. She wasn't used to having this kind of power, especially after being back in the modern world for so long where her spiritual powers always seemed to be only weakly present at best.

Kaede continued her questioning, "And immediately before it happened, Inuyasha said the two of ye were simply speaking with one another? What was it ye were discussing?"

Kagome reached back in her mind, trying to remember what had happened in the moments before the pain began and had stolen all her thoughts away.

It was Inuyasha who replied when he saw that Kagome was struggling to remember. He blushed as he spoke, "I– I had asked Kagome to be my wife and she'd said yes and–"

"Inuyasha, Kagome, this is wonderful news!" Kagome blushed at Kaede's interruption of genuine happiness for the both of them.

"Thanks, baba. Yeah, we were pretty happy. We were talking about spending the rest of our lives together and I– I remember that that was the last thing she said." Inuyasha was as red as his fire-rat confessing their romantic moment to Kaede, but he continued. "She said she wished for us to spend the rest of our lives together and the next thing I knew she was crying out in pain!"

"Oh… Kami!" Kagome's eyes went wide as a thought crossed her mind.

"What? What is it, child?" Kaede asked.

It was Kagome's turn to blush as she spoke, "When we were walking down by the river earlier Inuyasha and I were talking about youkai and hanyou lifespans. How they age and stuff." She closed her eyes before continuing, "I remember there was a moment when I was… really sad because I realized that Inuyasha was going to stay the same and I was going to… grow old and die."

She couldn't bear to look at Inuyasha as she whispered the words, "Your life was always going to be so much longer than mine."

"Kagome…" Inuyasha didn't know what else to say to that. It was the harshest reality of their relationship. He reached out to touch her hand where it lay beside her on the futon.

She opened her eyes to look at him, the pain she felt at that truth reflected in his own golden depths. "Inuyasha, you asked me to swear to you that I would never leave you alone. That I would stay with you for the rest of our lives… Only, the second I did…"

She trailed off as his eyes widened, understanding where her thoughts were headed.

"You don't– You don't think…?"

No one in the room spoke for a long moment until finally, Kaede broke the heavy silence in the room.

"Are ye saying, child, that ye think ye may have done something to yourself?"

"I think… I think maybe yeah, though what I'm not sure. It's not like I planned it or even thought about it consciously, but–" She sat up suddenly cutting off her own words.

"Kaede-sama, would you please pass me a knife?"

"Whaaaaaatttt? Wench, don't you dare!" Inuyasha knew Kagome well enough to know when she was about to do something crazy or stupid… or both.

"Inuyasha," her voice was firm as she stared him down. "Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do, but–"

She didn't let him finish, "If you trust me then you'll let me do this."

"No, Kagome, you can't! I'm not just gonna sit here and let you hurt yourself, or worse!"

"Inuyasha, there isn't going to be an 'or worse,' please trust me. Kaede is here and can help me if I'm wrong about this."

"But–"

"Inuyasha…" She said his name in a tone that sent "sit" flashbacks dancing through his mind.

"You wouldn't." Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest, sticking both hands in either sleeve of his fire-rat. He turned his face away from her, chin in the air, as though that would be the end of that discussion.

"Aisuru…" Kagome spoke softly this time, pleading with him… And Inuyasha felt all the fight melt out of him when he realized she'd called him her love.

He turned back to her and wrapped his arms around her. "What're ya gonna do?" He mumbled the question into her hair.

"I'm going to cut myself – I'm thinking maybe on my thigh – and we'll wait and see what happens. If it heals quickly then I'll assume that whatever happened has super-charged my cells, giving them the ability to regenerate quickly."

Inuyasha pulled back and cocked his head, not quite understanding what her strange future words meant.

She smiled at him. "What I mean is that if I do heal quickly then it probably means that my ageing will also be significantly slower as well… Just like yours. Cells are just a fancy name for all the teeny bits of your body that control growth, healing, ageing, and all that stuff."

Inuyasha seemed satisfied by her explanation, and he could hear the hope in her words as she spoke. He grumbled and sat back, NOT liking this plan one bit, but willing to try it. If this was true, if she could heal… The idea of having centuries with Kagome rather than just decades made his heart flutter in his chest a bit.

"Kagome, are ye sure about this, child? If it does not heal, ye will have injured yourself needlessly."

"Kaede-sama, just trust that I have a feeling about this, okay? But we should probably dip the knife in a pot of boiling water first. No sense taking any unnecessary chances."

"Boiling water?" Kaede was confused by this.

"Hai, because of the germs. They're something that won't be discovered for another two or three hundred years. Maybe I've mentioned them before? Anyway, they're tiny…bugs I guess you can call them… that live on things like metal knives. When they get into a wound, they are what cause infections. So if you kill the bugs by boiling them in hot water first…"

"Ah, yes, I see. Then they will not be able to cause an infection. How interesting your modern knowledge is, Kagome."

She gave Kaede a rueful smile, "Yep, I'm a regular walking, talking encyclopedia of knowledge… except for when it comes to what's going on with my own power it seems." Kagome shook her head in resignation then. "Let's just get this over with."

"I'd just boiled the pot for tea prior to Inuyasha's arrival with ye. it should not take more than a few moments to return to boiling."

Kaede was right. By the time she had located a sufficiently sharp knife for the task at hand, the water in the pot was boiling rapidly once more.

"Just stick it in all the way to the hilt and hold it there for a minute or so," Kagome instructed.

"As ye say, child." Once done, Kaede walked over to Kagome, handing her the hilt of the knife.

Seeing the knife in Kagome's hand threw Inuyasha into another fit of worry. "Kagome, are you sure about this? I can't stand the thought of you hurting yourself!"

Kagome reached forward and cupped his cheek in her palm. Instinctively, he leaned into her touch.

"I love you, Inuyasha, and I never want to leave you. If I have to grow old and die then I am resigned to that fate, as long as we can be together until that happens." He made a distinctly canine whimper at those words.

"But if by some Kami-blessed miracle I have escaped that fate and we can be together for as long as we both shall live, I want to– No, I need to know. I think that's worth a little bit of pain, don't you?"

He couldn't tell her otherwise. "Okay fine, but that doesn't mean I gotta like it!"

"Here," Kaede interrupted before Inuyasha could try to dissuade her again. "Take these rags and tuck them under your leg to catch the blood. And just in case, I would suggest ye make the cut up and down. From my experience, those sorts of wounds heal more cleanly than a cut that runs crossways."

"Thank you, Kaede-sama." Kagome gave her surrogate grandmother a reassuring smile.

"Alright, alright. Let's get this over with already." Inuyasha didn't think he'd be able to take much more of this.

Kagome took the knife to the outside edge of the midway point of her thigh. She pressed the tip to her soft flesh, felt the prick as it pierced her skin… and stopped.

"I– I don't know if I can actually do this," she faltered, looking at Inuyasha.

"Here." He whispered softly.

"Are you sure?"

"No, but I'll do it."

She let him take the hilt of the knife. The tip never leaving the spot on her thigh where she had already pierced the skin.

She closed her eyes. "Here goes nothi– Ahhhhh!"

Kagome screamed, followed quickly by a loud, hissed intake of breath as the blade sliced a mid-depth gash straight up the side of her leg.

Kagome panted against the pain that shot up and down her leg from the wound. Black spots swam in front of her eyes for a moment and she wondered if she might pass out all over again.

"Inuyasha!" She called out for him instinctively, grabbing for his hand and squeezing it against the pain.

"I'm here, Kagome, just breathe." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

Kaede shook her head at the obvious pain the girl was in. "And now we wait," she said finally.

Kagome couldn't yet bring herself to look down at the wound. "How long would it normally take you to heal from something like this?" She turned her eyes towards Inuyasha.

He couldn't seem to take her eyes off the bloody gash. He watched as Kagome's blood slid down the outside of her leg onto the rags that had been set there to collect the blood.

He hated the smell of her blood.

"Keh, it would probably close up in an hour or so. Then it'd be a scar after a couple hours and probably be gone completely by morning. It's only when I get impaled on stuff that it tends to take longer to heal." He smirked at her then. "But don't you go trying anything like that!"

Kagome chuckled, glad to ease some of the tension in the air.

"Well, if we shall be here for a while, I will make us some tea." Kaede got up from where she was sitting near Kagome and went back to the kitchen area. She returned several minutes later with a tray with tea for all three of them.

They sat again in silence for a long while before Kagome couldn't take the waiting any longer. If she didn't do something to keep her mind off the waiting she thought she might lose her mind. She mentally scrambled around for something to distract her until a thought crossed her mind, something she had been wanting to ask Kaede about.

"Kaede-sama, how did you convince Sesshōmaru to leave Rin here?"

Kaede looked up at Kagome in surprise. After such a long period of silence, she had not been expecting such a pointed question. She took a moment to reply.

"Ah, yes. Well, it was after the final battle with Naraku. Ye had been pulled into the Meidō and Inuyasha had followed ye in. The Bone-eater's Well had disappeared and the village was smouldering." She shook her head at the memory.

"The poor child was dirty and hungry and tired. I told him that he would be welcome to return to the village with me and allow me to see to her, in case she had any injuries. He did not say much but seemed to consent to my request, though Rin herself seemed… disinclined… to come into the village. Sesshōmaru told her it was what he wished and, as ye all know Rin, she obeyed her lord." Kaede shook her head at that and smiled a small smile.

"I fed the child, helped her bathe, and urged her to rest. She'd inhaled a great deal of miasma and was weak. It was after she'd fallen asleep that I found Sesshōmaru sitting just outside my hut, though I know not where he'd sent the kappa and the dragon off to." She sighed, shifting herself into a more comfortable position.

"I could tell that he did not wish for my company but I'd often wondered, ever since ye both had told me about the small girl following the Inu lord, why it was that he allowed such a thing. I asked him as much. His reply was that Rin could do as she chose. He would not say more than that. I asked him then why she had been reluctant to return to the village, and all he would say was that Rin did not like humans, which was confounding to me, as I did not know of her history at the time."

"Her history?" Kagome interrupted.

"Aye, her family was murdered in a bandit raid on her home village when she was a small child."

Kagome gasped. "Oh, poor Rin!"

"Aye, it was then that the idea came to my mind. I asked him if he did not think it would best if she stayed here, in a village with humans. If she was so alienated from her own kind and knew not what it was like to live in a village that cared for her – where she was safe – was it not in her best interest to learn such a thing, especially amongst other women who would be able to guide her in the inevitable changes that all females face as they grow."

Kaede smiled a small smile remembering Sesshōmaru's face when she had said those words. It was the closest she had ever come to seeing a reaction on the daiyoukai's stoic countenance. He'd almost looked uneasy at the thought.

"I could tell that the idea of leaving her did not sit well with him, so I suggest that she might stay here just until she was old enough to truly choose the life she wanted, and if that choice was to return to him, well…" She let her words trail off. "That seemed to appease him some and he told me he would consider my words."

She gave a small shrug before continuing. "The next morning Sesshōmaru told Rin that she was to stay here in the village with me, that there were things she still needed to learn from humans, and that for her own protection she would be safer here… for now. The poor child was distraught. She looked as though she would bolt after him the second he turned away, but he knelt down to her then and spoke to her softly. He told her that this arrangement was not forever and that she need not fear as much. That he would visit her often and if she was troubled, or anxious, or sad, or any other time… that she could call for him and he would come to her, even if they were far apart… That it was fine for things to be this way for now, as long as she retained her trust in him.*"

"He did NOT say that?!" Inuyasha was incredulous. Clearly, Kaede had never told him this part before.

"He did, indeed," Kaede confirmed.

"That's… wow, he really cares for her." Kagome was just as shocked as Inuyasha.

"Aye, it would appear so." Kaede was silent for a moment before finishing her tale. "I could sense that he stayed nearby for a few days. I expect he was wary of her actually calling out for him, or perhaps he wanted to make sure that she was indeed safe and settling in. Finally, after Inuyasha had reappeared with the Bone-eater's Well, Sesshōmaru left the area. I can only assume it was because he trusted Inuyasha to protect her, should the need arise."

A scowled "Keh" was Inuyasha's only response to that.

"Since that day, he has come and gone from the village as he pleases. He will usually visit Rin once a season – as well as on her birthday – for a few days at a time. Sometimes he will take her for a short trip, but he brings her gifts each time, regardless."

"When is Rin's birthday?" Kagome asked.

"At the end of the autumn, a few weeks prior to the solstice."

"Ah," she murmured in response. Then another thought crossed her mind. "Actually, my nineteenth birthday is next week! It's… It's also the anniversary of the day I released Inuyasha from the Goshinboku." She blushed a little and gave him a happy smile, joyful tears coming to her eyes at the memory.

"Inuyasha, do you think, maybe, that it could also be our wedding day? It kind of seems fitting, doesn't it?"

He took one of her hands between both of his, cupping it and gently stroking the pad of his thumb over top. "Yeah… Yeah, it does."

Kaede smiled at the young couple. "I concur that it would be a most auspicious day, and it should be more than sufficient time to prepare the village for the festivities." If any two people deserved to be happy, Kaede thought it was these two.

"Thank you, Kaede-sama." Kagome smiled up at the old woman for another moment before her attention was drawn back to the pain in her leg… Or rather, to the lack of pain, to be precise.

She gave a small gasp, reaching her hand toward the wound, before pulling her fingers back. It was still obscured with blood. "Kaede, would you pass me a wet cloth? I think…."

Kagome didn't finish. Kaede was passing her the cloth then, and she was tenderly wiping the blood away from the edges of her wound.

When finally it was cleaned, all three of them peered down at her leg. It was still an angry shade of red, swollen and sore, but the wound itself was closed… surely an impossible feat if her body still behaved like that of a mortal woman.

"Well," she smiled weakly down at her leg and then up at Inuyasha, whose jaw had dropped open as she'd been wiping the blood away and had yet to move from that shocked position. "I guess that settles that. Inuyasha, it looks like you're gonna be stuck with me for a long, looooonnnnng time."

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*A/N: For those in the know, these words were inspired by Sesshōmaru's actually canon proposal to Rin! Google "Rin's tongue-twister proposal" to read the full exchange.

Also, I do not own Inuyasha, or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. (I only own this original story.)