Death or Little Death, that is the Question

A/N Well, this is the end. Finally. No more lemons, no more limes, just a few laughs and a little WAFF, I hope. Couldn’t resist, pulled a ‘wrap up a whole bunch’ epilogue. Just havin’ some fun and all. Ah well. Thanks yet again, all the great, wonderful reviewers!! Have a great New Year!

Epilogue – Long Live the Monk

Miroku sat by the fire, terribly aroused and trying desperately to hide it from the women. Two sets of demon claws were currently stroking through his unbound hair and he knew from newly won experience that trying to move them would probably result in being taken away by one, most likely both, parties and screwed until he couldn’t walk anymore. The annoying part was, the cause of his suffering knew he was aroused, and continued with their ministrations anyway.

Sometimes, being with demon blooded males was a pain in the ass.

Although sometimes it was a pain in the ass in the best kind of way.

Miroku felt Inuyasha’s other hand run covertly, lightly down his arm.

“Inuyasha, stop it.” He whispered. “I need to concentrate and you know I won’t be able to unless you cut it out!”

“Oh, all right.” The hanyou grumbled as he pulled his hand back and continued to fiddle with Miroku’s hair. Miroku was completely unsurprised to feel Sesshoumaru’s hand briefly run down his other arm as well before returning to the other side of his head.

It had been this way for weeks now. Ever since the last battle with Naraku, actually. In the middle of the extremely vicious fighting, Sesshoumaru had appeared to step in front of Miroku and take a hit that had been aimed for the monk. It had seriously injured the youkai, but everyone there knew it would have killed Miroku instantly. On seeing Miroku just barely escape the fatal strike from Naraku, Inuyasha had gone into an absolute frenzy. His rabid attacks, combined with Sango’s skill and Kagome’s powers, had eventually worn down the bastard and finally destroyed him.

Now…

Now, everything had changed. Kagome had the restored Shikon no Tama. Sango had a tenseiga-revived Kohaku. And Miroku…well, he had another mate in permanent residence.

Before that defining moment in battle, that wasn’t the case. Not at all. Every couple of weeks, Sesshoumaru would come, alone, and either screw Miroku into the ground, taunt Inuyasha, or both. However, he had never failed to leave as quickly as he appeared, a situation that made Miroku feel just the slightest bit used again. Now, after Sesshoumaru’s intervention during the battle, things had been different. Leaving as soon as he’d healed, Sesshoumaru had returned within days, followed by Rin and Jaken. In that superior tone that always managed to drive Inuyasha crazy, Sesshoumaru told them he’d decided that Inuyasha was obviously insufficient to protect Miroku and he would be joining them to ensure his safety. Although Miroku still thought ‘joining’ might be the wrong term: gracing them with his august presence might be a more apt description.

Surprising everyone, the addition had actually gone fairly well. Jaken was an ass-kisser extraordinaire, but once he’d realized what Miroku was to Sesshoumaru, he’d obviously decided that humans were the way of the future and had turned his grumblings down to low, periodic murmurs. Rin was a sunny, adorable little girl who was ecstatic that Sesshoumaru had taken a ‘wife.’ While Miroku was still rather embarrassed that the child had decided to call him ‘okaasan,’ which he couldn’t understand as she never called Sesshoumaru father, after all, in some ways it gave him a warm little place in his heart. He knew he’d never have children, not with the choice he’d made, or the choice that was made for him, in partners. Having a child essentially adopt him had immense appeal.

And of course Kagome and Sango approved of the little one whole heartedly and played with her for hours on end.


As for the women, after the first shock of realizing that both Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha treated Miroku as a mate, Sango and Kagome seemed to find it immensely entertaining. Although he thought that might stem from the competition the two brothers had been engaging in for the past few weeks. Based on Kouga’s comment on scents, Miroku had the feeling they were competing in some sort of scent one-upmanship. Every time one of them would touch him somewhere, even for a moment, the other was guaranteed to touch him as well, for just a hair longer. Miroku had just had two straight weeks where he didn’t go for more than 5 minutes without some sort of fleeting touch or caress by one them, and by the end of the day they were both essentially plastered against him as they glared at each other, hands moving over his body in ways that had him blushing and stammering and had the girls giggling as they watched until one or the other of the brothers picked him up and walked out of camp with him, followed by the other.

Which was immensely annoying. It wasn’t like he couldn’t walk. Although admittedly not as quickly as his lovers could, which meant that if they picked him up, they were going to get somewhere secluded much faster, which meant orgasms would happen much faster, and was the reason he still hadn’t protested being picked up like a child too strenuously just yet. He was going to, he really was, he just wanted a few more orgasmic moments while it lasted.

And he had to admit, annoying it might be, but it was a better way of fighting, at least, using his body as the battlefield instead of a more concrete, deadlier one. He’d noticed a drop in antagonism between the two ever since Sesshoumaru had saved his life, and he wanted to keep it that way. Although he thought the near hatred between the two might be gone for good at this point. On recalling Sesshoumaru’s protection of Miroku, Inuyasha had now often been heard to say that he could see some benefits of having the taiyoukai in their lives. As for Sesshoumaru, he still talked little, and got irritated easily, but he seemed softer as well. Although maybe part of that was perception on Miroku’s part. It was very hard for him to view Sesshoumaru quite the same way once he’d seen him bedecked with flowers from a small child’s hand, sitting there without protest as she ruined his self-important image.

A man like Sesshoumaru did not put up with something that far beneath his dignity unless he had something softer and loving hidden inside. Maybe it was very,very deep inside, but Miroku found it intriguing nonetheless. And it didn’t hurt that the man’s blow jobs just got better the more he learned about Miroku’s body. Really, who could resist someone who could make a him cum in less than a minute?

Miroku tried to focus again on what was happening around them. He was, honestly, very honored that he was allowed to be near. At the moment, Kagome was about to make the wish on the jewel. He’d assumed that he and those with demon blood might be too much risk of contamination to be near at this point, but Kagome had not only disagreed, she’d angrily done so. She didn’t think Inuyasha’s blood was polluted, because she didn’t think either youkai or human blood was evil. Intentions were what counted. And in that vein, she insisted that they stayed nearby. In a rare private moment with Miroku, she’d confided that she thought that the more love they could surround themselves with during her wish, the better.

He’d been so touched by her honest sentiments and her continued acceptance of his relationship, especially with Inuyasha, that he’d almost been moved to tears. Sango’s whole hearted acceptance still touched him deeply as well. He didn’t deserve these friends, he thought, looking down at his two smooth, bare hands, he really didn’t.

Especially when he was secretly watching them all the time, trying to determine if they might actually be getting together. He couldn’t help himself. It was just too hard to completely drop such a long held fantasy, especially as they’d taken up residence together in that little hut with Kohaku. And Inuyasha and Seshsoumaru refused to tell him whether they could smell sex on the women, so he still didn’t know if they were simply friends, or something more. Although to be fair, asking either of his mates about it was likely to get him a very long and involved bout of sex, so he wasn’t exactly heart-broken over having to ask periodically.

Hearing Kagome take a deep breath, he looked back up quickly. Kagome was gazing into the jewel, her face grave. She looked up at him a moment and smiled before closing her eyes. The jewel flared brilliantly for a moment before rising into the air as an incandescent light. Everyone watched it, wondering, until it suddenly split into two glowing balls. The new orbs vibrated for a few seconds and then suddenly moved, one slamming into Miroku and knocking him backwards while the other hit Rin, who fell over with a cry.

Inuyasha started bellowing at Kagome while Sesshoumaru demanded to know what she had done. Shaking off the tingling feeling from his body, along with the pain in the back of his head from the rock he’d hit when he’d fallen, Miroku pushed at Inuyasha’s arms that already had him sitting up and cradled against the hanyou’s chest.

“Inuyasha, I’m fine.” He said, putting his hand up to rub the white ears above him, calming him. They both looked over at Rin in Sesshoumaru’s arms, relieved to find her sitting up as well and already chattering rapidly about what had happened. Inuyasha sighed deeply and then, once again, went on the warpath.

“Kagome, what the hell did you do, wench!?”

Kagome’s hands fiddled nervously with her skirt. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t know it would do it like that!”

“Do WHAT???” Inuyasha refused to put Miroku down, to his embarrassment, and so the monk continued to rub at his ears in an attempt to keep him from becoming so agitated that he did something too stupid.

“I wanted you to be happy.” She said softly, “I- I know that you and Sesshoumaru are going to be alive so much longer than the people you love, just because your blood is different, and you’d be with each other such a short time. So, so…I wished that Miroku and Rin would have long lives like you two do, so you wouldn’t have to lose each other that way.”

Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru stared at her with identical expressions of shock on their faces. Miroku knew he must have a similar look to his own countenance, yet he couldn’t help but wish he were an artist. How much would he have paid if someone could capture that particular expression on Sesshoumaru’s face? And the fascinating discovery that both males looked exactly the same as they sat, mouths agape and eyes wide. He smiled to himself. Maybe he could come up with something someday to get that same look again.

“You wished for the monk and the child to age as a youkai?” Sesshoumaru asked quietly.

Kagome nodded, she and Sango getting a little teary as Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru looked at each other. Sesshoumaru walked over to them and knelt down, allowing Miroku and Inuyasha to hug a confused Rin while Sesshoumaru embraced Miroku fiercely. Miroku was having a hard time breathing for a moment as Inuyasha wrapped his arms around him as well, squeezing tightly, and he couldn’t have cared less.

He wasn’t going to leave them alone. It was the most wondrous thing he’d ever had anyone do for him.

He really, really didn’t deserve such wonderful friends.

Because he was still going to catch them being intimate, if it was the last thing he did.


Inuyasha was the first to let go in their little group, and he went and embraced Kagome with equally as much force. “Thank you so much, Kagome. I can’t tell you- “

“I know. Just be happy, okay?” she smiled at him, rubbing his ears a moment like she used to before letting him go.

He smiled back brilliantly and leapt over to the others. Picking up Rin, he handed her to Jaken. “Watch the squirt for a couple hours, ‘kay? We got some celebrating to do.”

Sesshoumaru turned as Inuyasha yanked up Miroku by the waist. “Inuyasha is mistaken. Be prepared to watch Rin until nightfall.”

“Nightfall?” Miroku yelped. “But that’s 7 hours away!”

Glowing amber eyes watched him from two sets of beautiful male faces.

“I know.” Sesshoumaru said.

Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha shared a glance and both of them smiled wickedly. Turning away from the camp, they literally ran off with Miroku, his stammered protests fading as their bodies grew small with distance.

Kagome and Sango looked after them.

“I don’t know whether to feel sorry for Miroku or happy for him.” Sango joked.

Kagome smiled softly. “Happy, Sango. Definitely happy.”


The End