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The cherry blossoms were perfect this year.
Kagome adjusted the blanket one more time, smoothing out a wrinkle that didn't really exist, and surveyed their hanami setup with the critical eye of someone who'd been perfecting picnics for five centuries.
The pale pink petals drifted down around them like snow, and she couldn't help but smile at the memory—their first meeting in that cave, when actual snow had been falling and she'd lobbed that first, audacious snowball at the great Lord Sesshoumaru.
"Thinking of something particularly amusing, mate?" came a familiar voice behind her, warm with centuries of affection.
She turned to find Sesshoumaru approaching with their latest contribution to the family gathering—a lacquered box of wagashi from the bakery he'd been quietly patronizing for the past decade. Even after all this time, he still insisted on bringing something "appropriate" to family functions, though these days it was less about impressing her relatives and more about maintaining what he called "proper standards."
"Maybe, maybe not," she answered vaguely, then immediately reached over to adjust the placement of the saké cups. "Just setting things up for everyone."
His mouth curved in that private smile she'd fallen in love with centuries ago, the one that still made her heart skip beats despite the literal lifetimes they'd shared. "Fine, keep your secrets."
Kagome grinned and rose to brush a few stray petals from his hair—a habit born from years of finding cherry blossoms in the most unexpected places during hanami season. Today he was dressed in modern casual clothes, though he still somehow managed to look like he was posing for a magazine spread. Some things never changed.
"Oi, bastard! You brought fancy shit again!"
Kagome winced as Inuyasha's voice carried across the entire park. Some things never changed—even after five centuries, he still had the subtlety of a brick through a window.
"It's called having standards," Sesshoumaru replied coolly, setting down the wooden box on the blanket. "Perhaps you should try it."
"Yeah? Well your standards can kiss my—"
"Mate," Shiori interrupted smoothly, appearing at Inuyasha's elbow with that particular brand of patience that came from decades of marriage to a loud-mouthed hanyou. "We talked about this."
Kagome caught Sesshoumaru's eye and tried not to laugh. Their kids—now adults with children of their own—had stopped finding Uncle Inuyasha's antics amusing somewhere around their second century. But she still got a kick out of watching her mate's eye twitch every time his half-brother opened his mouth.
"Mom, where do you want the—oh." Sota appeared, juggling what looked like half a convenience store's worth of snacks, and nearly dropped everything when he spotted the assembled group. He still had a serious case of hero worship when it came to his brother in law, the legendary inudaiyoukai.
"Just anywhere is fine, sweetheart," Misako Higurashi called out, quickening her pace to catch up to her son. Although she had had years to adjust to her daughter's unusual circumstances, she still got nervous when the whole supernatural crew showed up at once.
Kagome greeted them with warm smiles and open arms, helping them arrange the food on the picnic blanket. She heard the sound of car tires stopping nearby and turned to look at it.
"Kagomeeeeee!" Shippo rushed over as soon as he was out of his car, looking exactly the same as he had centuries ago except for the wedding ring on his finger. "Soten's running late—she got held up at work. Something about quarterly reports? I don't know, modern demon bureaucracy is weird."
"Tell me about it," muttered one of Kagome's sons—Itsuki, the youngest at barely two centuries old and therefore still in his rebellious phase. "Try explaining to your high school teachers why you are allowed to have a driving licence."
"That's what you get for wanting to drive your own car to school," his sister Mitsuki pointed out helpfully. "Should've just taken the subway like mom used to."
"Easy for you to say. You had dad escorting you everywhere." Kagome's eldest, Isao, just shook his head. "You're both ridiculous."
"Will you three knock it off?" Kagome sighed, though she was fighting a smile. "Sometimes I wonder if any of you grew out of your onesies."
"Anyway," Mama said loudly, clearly trying to wrangle everyone back on topic, "should we eat before everything gets cold? I made way too much food, as usual."
"Define 'too much,'" Shippo said hopefully. Fox demons, as it turned out, had bottomless stomachs regardless of age.
"There's enough for everyone, as always." Misako started unpacking containers with the efficiency of someone who'd been feeding supernatural beings for decades. "Though I still don't understand how your husband eats so little but stays so... substantial."
"Demon metabolism," Kagome explained automatically. "Plus he's weird about food texture."
Sesshoumaru haughtily rose to his defense. "I am not weird about—"
"You cut the crusts off your sandwiches," Kagome deadpanned.
Narrowing his eyes, he retorted, "That is called proper preparation."
"You're weird," all three of their children said in unison.
Sesshoumaru looked genuinely offended, which just made everyone laugh harder. Kagome felt that familiar warmth in her chest—the same feeling she'd gotten during their first hanami together, when she'd realized that this ridiculous, wonderful family was hers.
As the afternoon wore on and the food disappeared with alarming speed, Kagome found herself just watching. Sota arguing with Itsuki about some video game. Mama fussing over Shiori's pregnancy—their first after centuries of trying. Grandpa attempting to teach Shippo how to properly insult someone without using profanity, much to Soten's horror when she finally arrived. Inuyasha regaling anyone who'd listen with increasingly creative stories about his "demon-fighting days."
"Penny for your thoughts?" Sesshoumaru said quietly, settling beside her as cherry blossoms drifted down around them.
"Just... this." She gestured at the controlled chaos around them. "All of it. I was thinking about that first hanami we had together."
"Everything is different, yet the same where it truly matters."
"I know." She leaned against his shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of him mixed with cherry blossoms and spring air. "I love that some things never change."
"Hn." His arm came around her automatically, a gesture so natural after all these years that neither of them really noticed anymore. "Though some things do."
Kagome brows furrowed. "Like what?"
He gestured to the old man sipping saké and laughing loudly. "Like the fact that your grandfather does not attempt to stick ofudas on me when I visit."
Kagome snorted even as her lips curved into a smile. "Fair point." She tilted her head back to look at him. "Any regrets?"
It was their old question, the one they'd been asking each other since that first summer when everything changed. But she already knew the answer from the way his gold eyes softened, the way his thumb traced small circles on her shoulder.
"None whatsoever," he said quietly.
Around them, their impossible family continued their cheerful chaos, while cherry blossoms continued to fall like snow. Kagome thought, not for the first time, that some things really were worth waiting centuries for.
Even if those things included Inuyasha trying to steal food off everyone else's plates and Shippo getting into arguments with a cat who was definitely not just a cat.
Kagome smiled and settled more comfortably against his side, already looking forward to next year's hanami. And the year after that. And all the years to come.
Some things, she thought drowsily as the afternoon sun warmed her face, were definitely worth the wait.