InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 26

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi

Chapter 26


“I think I’ll go see if our two lovebirds have made it back yet,” Miroku said.  “Want to come?”

Sango was walking by her garden bed, her two daughters in tow as they chattered to each other about  something only they could understand.  She bent over and pulled up a small weed.

“Not right now,” she said.  “Rin’s coming by, I think, and it’s not long until lunch.  I need to get started on that once I’m through here.”  She looked up at him.  “Maybe after lunch, if they’re home. Any special reason?”

“Tomorrow’s market day.  I just thought it might be a good thing to make sure they’re ready,” he said, deftly picking up Noriko who was looking too interested in one of the daikon plants at the edge of the garden.

Sango dusted off her hands, and took Noriko from the monk.  “Well, let me know if they’re home.  Don’t tease them,” she said.  

“Would I do that?” he asked.  Yusuko motioned to be picked up, tugging at his robe. He picked her up.  “Do I tease?” he asked the girl.

She nodded yes, which made Sango laugh.

“Go on, husband, and when you come back for lunch, you can tell me all the news.  I want to know how InuYasha liked the noodles.”  Grabbing Yusuko, she headed back to the house.  “But behave yourself!”

“But how am I supposed to have any fun?” he said.  Shrugging, he began the walk to his friend’s house.

Miroku really expected to find an empty house, but he was surprised as he neared to hear someone shout out, “Watch out!” followed by the sound of a tree crashing to the ground.  

“Surely nobody’s doing something stupid,” he muttered, hurrying up the path, “not with Tameo-sama putting the word out that they are under his protection.”

He was rather relieved when he made the final bend and entered the clearing where he could see the hanyou’s house.  A small group of women were standing outside, one of them taking a peek around the corner.

The woman peeking was Matsume, the wife of Tameo’s younger son Kinjiro. Already she had her wrap skirt hiked up to make room for her unborn child, due at the end of summer.   She was laughing at whatever it was going on behind the house.  Under the front porch, Kagome was standing next to Chime, the elderly wife of Daitaro.  Both women seemed just as amused as Matsume.

Kagome, spotting the monk, got her laughter under controlled and waved.

“You’re looking well today, Kagome-sama.  Your little adventure yesterday must have agreed with you,” he said giving her a knowing look.

To her credit, and to Miroku’s minor disappointment, Kagome neither looked embarrassed nor blushed.  “Yes we did.  We got back just after nightfall last night.  It was a good thing we got home instead of staying the night because we’ve been busy all morning.”

“Ah,” he said.  “And you, fair ladies,” he said, bowing.  “What brings all of you outside this lovely day?”

Around the back of the house, someone shouted “Kuso!” quite loudly.  

“That,” Chime said.  “We came over just to visit, but our husbands got an idea of something else to do this morning.”

“I wonder what happened this time” Matsume said, laughing again. “That’s the third kuso in the last half hour.”

“InuYasha and Kinjiro-sama and Daitaro-sama decided to cut down some trees today,” Kagome said.

“Is that what all the noise is about?” the monk asked.

She nodded.  “The men made us promise not to go around back while they were working, but it’s been rather . . . interesting . . . to listen to them from here.”

Matsume went back to the side of the house and looked.  “It’s not fair! I can’t see anything from here.”

“You’re looking well, Matsume-sama,” Miroku said.  “The blessing I gave you helped with your morning sickness?”

“That, or the ginger tea Kaede-sama had me drink,” Matsume said.  “I’ve been feeling quite well since then, thank you.”  She peeked around the building again.  “And to think we really only stopped by to welcome Kagome-sama into the family. But then InuYasha-sama mentioned that he was going to have to pull some trees down, and the next thing you know, they’ve organized a work party.  I wonder if they’re having any trouble?”

“If anything was really wrong, we’d know it,” Chime said.  “One or the other men would come running to get help.  Taking down trees is a lot of work.  I suspect my husband will have a sore back come the morning.” She laughed gently, at another round of complaints. “I’m not sure who’s having the most success, the men or the trees.”

“We were just about  to go inside and have some tea.  Would you like to join us?” Kagome asked, heading towards the front door.

Miroku shook his head.  “You’ve made me too curious to see for myself. I’ll think I’ll take a peek at what they’re doing,” he said.  “Perhaps later, ladies.”

There was another shout.  Miroku walked around the edge of the house while the three women went inside.  The first thing he noticed was a downed tree.  The second thing he noticed  was a flash of red and white, InuYasha without his jacket walking along its trunk with ropes in his hands, while Daitaro and Kinjiro fastened leads to a team of oxen.

“You’re sure your oxen can handle this?” InuYasha.  “It was a big tree. I could limb it first.”

“We already had that conversation, InuYasha-sama,” Kinjiro said “Let’s just get the tree out of the way.  I’ll be plowing here tomorrow, and I’d rather not have a lot of branches scattered where I’ll be working.”

The hanyou studied the tree trunk, and tied the ropes on, making sure they were secure.  Kinjiro prodded the team and the tree started to move just as InuYasha hopped off.  They began dragging the tree to a spot near InuYasha’s firewood area to join one tree already there.

“Oi, Houshi-sama!” Kinjiro said, waving.  “Come to do some real work?”

InuYasha, seeing Miroku, walked up to join him.  “Yeah, Bouzu.  We’ve got two more trees to take down today.”

He walked to the water bucket next to the house, while Miroku followed. Lifting the ladle up, he took a deep drink.  

“I wasn’t even sure you’d be home yet,” Miroku said.

“Keh,” the hanyou said, dropping the ladle back in the water.  “Thought about spending the night.  Kagome really liked the hot spring, but we decided to come home.  Glad we did - it’s been a busy morning.  People were dropping by to welcome Kagome into Tameo’s family, and then Kinjiro and Daitaro decided we ought to go ahead and drop the trees today.”

InuYasha wiped his forehead with the back of his sleeve.  “It still feels strange, people wanting to do stuff for us.  Is that what being part of a family is like?”

“I think so,” Miroku said.  “But my background’s not normal either.  There were only Mushin and a couple of other old monks at the temple where I grew up.  After my father died, a lot of the monks moved on.  I think they thought the temple might be under a curse.”

He sighed, as if troubled by a memory, but didn’t elaborate on it.  “Still, from what I’ve seen from the villages I’ve wandered through, that this is really quite normal.”

InuYasha filled the ladle again and took another drink.  “Wonder if they’ll realize one day what they’ve done, letting someone like me into their family?”

Miroku laughed.  “Oh, I’m sure they already know.  You and Kagome were quite the talk yesterday.”

The hanyou raised an eyebrow.  

Miroku smiled. “Not much bad talk, either.  You can relax a bit, friend.  The villagers aren’t ready to run you or Kagome-sama out, not at all.  Somehow, most people have decided you are luck for the village, especially when there are bandits around,  and Kagome-sama coming back was more proof that the kami are happy.”

“Luck can change,” InuYasha said.

“True.”  Miroku nodded.  “But not yet. And not so easily with people like Tameo-sama on your side.  So,” he said, changing the subject, “are you ready for tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” InuYasha asked.

“Market day, when we go spend your hard earned cash.”  He gave InuYasha a knowing and a rather gleeful smile.

“I guess,” the hanyou said, shrugging.  He dropped the ladle back into the water bucket.

“You want Sango to come over this afternoon and help Kagome go over the list one more time?” Miroku asked.

“If she wants.  I know they talked about it a couple of days ago. I think Kaede and Chime have been giving her some advice, too. I suspect she has it all figured out.”

Daitaro called InuYasha’s name. The hanyou looked up, and nodded.   “I have to get back to work.  Going to market isn’t any worse than cutting trees.”  He started back walking to where the two men were beginning to untie the tree they had dragged.

“Maybe no worse,” Miroku said, “but it’s a good bit more interesting.”  He headed back to the front of the house chuckling to himself.  “I wonder how much I can get out of that wicked cloth merchant who took advantage of Sango last month . . . ”