TheRoseAngel

Coming right up, anon!

There are so many angst-filled InuKag stories with happy endings out there, we had a hard time picking only 20! In an attempt to narrow the field a little bit, we tried to choose fics that really put your heart through the wringer and then thoroughly soothe the pain at the end with copious fluff. Our selects are all complete, and span all kinds of settings, ratings, lengths, and types of anguish to hopefully provide something for everyone.

This is only the tip of the angst iceberg, so be sure to browse the "Angst With A Happy Ending" tag on AO3, check out our other angsty lists on our Index of Posted Lists, and add your favorites in the reblogs/replies.

Happy suffering!

Picking Up the Pieces by lemonlush (E) Kagome and Inuyasha have both lost their spouses due to different calamities. As the parents of newborns, they now find themselves coming together to raise their children through sheer necessity, and learn to create a new family from the ashes of tragedy.

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Unworthy by adrierose (M) Addict. Junkie. Worthless.

He has been gone for three years and is ready to come home, but his biggest enemy is still the one inside.

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Cruel Summer by akitokihojo (E) What would you do if you met your soulmate at the wrong time?

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Episodes Of You by princess_pumpernickel (E) Kagome is back home for Miroku and Sango’s engagement party—a weekend of celebration, champagne toasts, and familiar faces. But none more familiar, or more complicated, than Inuyasha: Best Man, childhood friend, and the boy she never quite stopped wanting.

It’s been over a year since they last saw each other. A year since everything almost changed. Now, with nostalgia pressing close and old emotions flaring just beneath the surface, Kagome finds herself drifting into the past: moments of laughter, jealousy, late-night drives, touches that meant more than they should have. Episodes of him.

But memory can only carry her so far. And when the weekend forces them into each other’s orbit once again, Kagome must decide if she’s brave enough to stop looking back—and start asking for what she’s always wanted.

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Superhero by @dyaz-stories (T)

"You probably don't remember but you saved me from some bullies once in middle school and goddamn it every year you just get hotter" AU. Inspired by that AU's name, suggested by one of ArtisteFish's posts.

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A Walk Through Hell by King Baka (E) Inuyasha and Kagome walk through hell. While this is technically a figure of speech, it is doubtful that our heroes would appreciate the difference. Will they be able to escape their torments? And if so, will they emerge from their trials unscathed, or will the burden of their actions prove too much to bear?

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Cinnamon Hearts by @fandomobsessions016 (M)

"So, you may be wondering, what’s this story about anyway? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s about how this queen, almost lost her crown, her throne, but worst of all… it’s about how this queen almost lost her king…

Hindsight, of course, has perfect vision, but at the time I did not. I was a girl becoming a woman who fought bitterly against change that was inevitable. I didn’t want to open my eyes. I didn’t want to see what was right in front of me.

What I wanted more than anything was to keep Inuyasha.

High school forced my eyes open, tested our “unshakable” bond and made me confront my biggest fear. All because…

I caught feelings for my best friend.

I like-liked my king."

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Heart in Hand by @shikonstar (T)

Hearts are delicate. Breakable. Once they slip through one set of fingers, can they ever find a home in those hands again?

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Second Chances by FrameofMind (M)

Naraku is gone, Kagome is back, and finally Inuyasha will have the chance to live the life he never dared dream of. Or so he thinks.

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Chasing the Vortex by @fawn-eyed-girl, @neutronstarchild, @ruddcatha, & @mickisketch (E) Inuyasha knew what happiness was. It was him alone with a tornado, because tornadoes were predictable, and simple. And being alone meant no more getting hurt. Then Inuyasha’s Ph.D. advisor dropped the ultimatum on him: to host a plucky photographer from Chicago to help get their weather institute funded, or else.

Kagome Higurashi, for her part, couldn't wait. She’d always wanted to chase tornadoes, and wanted to see how close she could get to one, to get that perfect shot. And lord knew the chaser needed the help! And for that week stuck together in tornado alley, it’s not just the debris that’s flying.

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From the Delta by @goshinote (M) Inuyasha's three-day weekend in his tiny hometown reunites him with an old heartache, a lost love, and the mistakes he'd made before leaving for his dream job in New York City. She was the dream he'd left back home, and Kagome never expected to run into the man she'd loved six years later. Sometimes fate has odd ways of sneaking up on you.

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Metamorphosis by Sueric (E) InuYasha and Kagome discover that sometimes loving your friends means giving up a little part of yourself, too…

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Kintsugi by @soliska (M) AU. Failing to be chosen as her village's miko, Kagome had resigned herself to a humble life. An unexpected summons returns her to the city where she's forced to reconcile the taught virtues and the spiralling, warped reality created by those that abuse their power. She holds the key to repairing the fracture between humans and youkai, and the freedom of her new hanyou friend.

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Under the Northern Lights by @lostinfantasyworlds (E) Kagome Higurashi has her dream job, working as a photographer for the internationally well-known Yugen magazine. Her career whisks her all around the world, leaving her feeling lonely sometimes but mostly just incredibly grateful to be doing what she loves. When she gets assigned to Alaska for a month to photograph a series of celestial events, she runs into Inuyasha, a half-demon who lives on his own in the middle of nowhere. A mutual attraction draws them to each other, but Kagome's time there is limited. Will giving in to their desire lead to love or heartbreak?

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Guilty Hero by Eggry (T)

The city is recovering after a crippling war against Naraku. But while time moves on, Inu-Yasha doesn't. Plagued with guilt over a terrible deed, alcohol is his only escape from the nightmare of reality. At their wit's end with him, Sango and Miroku are on the verge of giving up until Kagome Higurashi arrives to take him under her wing. Modern-day, AU.

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Lethe by @elkonigin (M) "Drink from the river Lethe and seep down into oblivion. Forget your mortal troubles, and find your freedom in the absence of longing."

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Death Becomes Us by @kstewdeux (T) Sometimes confessions come a moment too late.

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The Price of a Wish by Lazy8 (T) When a daiyoukai showed up at Kagome's village and demanded she do the impossible, against all odds, she somehow managed to do it anyway… but at what price?

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When I Almost Lost You by Corpses playing poker (M)

After a fight with Kagome Inuyasha storms off. But when he doesn't come back the group begins to worry, and finds evidence that something terrible has happened to him. How far will Kagome go to get him back?

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Petals Painted With Blood by @alannada (T) Youkai never got sick. Hanyou never got sick. So why was he lying in the pool of his own blood,puking flowers, waiting to die?

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Suppose this a prequel to this post.

hey so I wrote a thing after a kajillion years ---

He just couldn’t believe he was here.

But he was. She was. They were.

Only hours ago, the hut was a whirlwind of energy and excitement; people were coming in and going out, various items were tossed and shuffled about, voices ranged from hushed tones to flat out screaming and everywhere in between, and yet Inuyasha couldn’t remember a single thing after the verbal statement that caused the frenzied event. All he remembered was the wide-eyed and panicked stare his wife gave him when she quietly uttered the words:

“Inuyasha… My water broke.”

After that, all hell had broken loose.

And now he was here, long after everyone had left and Kagome had fallen asleep from her intense 9 hours of labor, holding the fruit of her effort delicately in his arms.

She was so…tiny.

Inuyasha had barely moved a millimeter from where he first sat after Kagome had fed their little bundle of joy; he was transfixed by the sight, smell, and aura of their newborn daughter. She was a perfect mixture of himself and Kagome; her raven hair, much like her mother’s, the shape of her eyes, just like his. Her aura thrummed with both youki and reiki--she was strong, especially for a quarter demon. Hell, she might be the only quarter demon to ever exist!

And here she was, sleeping soundly, as if she hadn’t been born just a short while ago, as if she wasn’t a literal miracle child, as if she hadn’t turned her father’s—he’s a father!—world neatly on its head. Sure, he knew that because he had gotten Kagome pregnant, and was with her every step of the way during her pregnancy, that there was a child growing within her.

But it’s a lot different when you’re actually holding the kid.

And of course, his doubts had started creeping in the moment it sunk in. What if he couldn’t be the father that this child needed? He didn’t know how to be a dad, he never had one. He’d never been around anyone he’d consider a father figure, either. They hadn’t even picked out a name for her, what if he couldn’t even do that?

A small sniffle snapped him out of his musings, and he looked down at his daughter, who was sleepily looking back at him. He stared into her swirling brown eyes that were so much like his mother’s and held back a small gasp as she wrapped her little hand tightly around his finger. A lump forming in his throat, Inuyasha spoke his first words to her, gently, quietly, “H… Hey, kid… You got a strong grip, don’tcha?”

The little girl yawned, a tiny noise escaping her, and Inuyasha felt the telltale stinging the back of his eyes. How was it that he felt so weak, and yet so strong in this tiny creature’s presence? It was like wielding the most powerful sword in battle, like he could win any battle, any war; and yet, it made him feel vulnerable, kept him humble, and reminded him that he had to be wise and careful to avoid losing what he loved.

And then she smiled, her little gums showing between her lips.

That was when he knew.

He couldn’t hold it in anymore. She radiated contentedness, snuggling further into his arms, and didn’t even flinch as she felt a drop of moisture hit her pink little cheek before dozing off again.

And from a little ways away, Kagome shed a few tears of her own when she caught sight of her husband’s red-rimmed eyes, but smiled wide as she heard his next few words.