InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 30

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


Chapter 30


InuYasha and Miroku sat in a corner of the house watching Kagome.  She was humming to herself as she arranged cups and bowls and boxes on the small kitchen cabinet that now replaced the low table she had been using to hold their dishes and fix their meals.    

She stepped back to look at her progress. “That will do,” she said, and closed the cabinet door.

“She seems rather content,” Miroku said.

“Keh.” InuYasha said, watching her move to the big clothing cabinet.  Kagome knelt down gracefully and began putting their bedding into it. The hanyou stood up.  “I better figure out where to put the tub.”

Stepping outside, he picked up the big wooden tub and started walking back inside.

“Your house, InuYasha-ojisan, everything’s looking so different!”

He turned around to see Rin walking up to the house.  For a moment she stared at the new garden and the downed trees waiting to be cut. Turning back to him, she smiled  “You must have been  busy.  That’s a big garden.”

“Yeah, kid,” he said, smiling at her, and then held the door open so she could come in. “Wait until you see it inside.  It looks even more different.”

She walked in, and InuYasha followed her.  “We’ve got company,” he said.

Kagome, closing a drawer on her clothes cabinet turned around. “Oh, hello, Rin-chan,” she said.  “Did Kaede-obaachan send you here?”

The girl  shook her head.  “No, Rin was with Sango-obasan.” Stepping up on the wooden floor she turned a small circle, looking at the new furnishings, then looked back at the hanyou. “Did you buy Kagome-sama all these nice things, InuYasha-ojisan?”

He leaned the tub in the far corner of the storage area. “Keh,” he said, making sure it wouldn’t fall.  “Think they’re good enough for her?”

Rin nodded. “Kagome-sama, Ojisan must think a lot of you.”

Kagome smiled at the girl, coloring a little, then gave her husband a fond look.  “Maybe you’re right, Rin-chan.”

“So,” Miroku said, changing the subject.  “Did Sango need something?”

“Ah, I almost forgot,” the girl said, tapping her forehead. “She sent me to tell you that lunch was ready.”

“Lunch,” Kagome said, looking up from where she was working.  She slapped her own forehead.   “I forgot all about it!” Turning around, she picked up her new sewing basket, and  pulled out a length of white cloth from one of the drawers in the clothing cabinet. “She’s supposed to give me a sewing lesson after lunch.”

InuYasha looked at Miroku.  “I guess that means we’re eating at your place.  How come you didn’t say something?”

The monk shrugged.  “It’s the first time I’ve heard about it.”  He stood up. “Plans sometimes get made without anybody telling me anything.”

“Same here,” the hanyou said.  He turned and looked at his wife.

Kagome, smiling, walked by the two men.  “If you’d pay attention, instead of wandering off to talk about who knows what, you’d have heard,” she said.  “We made all these arrangements this morning.”  She held out her hand to the younger girl. “So Rin-chan, are you joining me in my sewing lesson?” she asked,  heading towards the door.

“Kaede-sama said it was a good idea,” Rin replied, taking the offered hand.  “And Sango-obasan said all I need is a little practice, and I’ll be ready to start going to the girl’s sewing circles.  But I don’t know very much.”

“Me, either,” Kagome admitted. “So we can learn together.”  She looked up at the two men just standing there. “You two better hurry up or there won’t be anything left to eat.”

And together, she and Rin went outside.

InuYasha shook his head, like he was trying to get something out of his ear. “I feel confused.”

Miroku laughed. “Women can do that,” he said, slapping InuYasha on the shoulder.  “It’s their magic. You’ll get used to it.  Let’s go get lunch.”

He moved to the door, and InuYasha hurried to follow.

Lunch was over, and the dishes put away.  Naoya had fallen asleep in Rin’s arms as she rocked him, and carefully she placed him in his basket cradle.  Sango, just as carefully, slid the door to the sleep room and stepped outside.

“The twins are asleep,” she said. “Finally.”

Walking back to her place, Sango didn’t sit down, but instead, picked up a piece of cloth she had sitting on her sewing basket. Unfolding it she lay it on the ground.  “This will be a good time to start cutting out some towels.”

Miroku gave InuYasha a nudge.  “Sounds like our cue to give them room,” he said.

The two went outside, just in time to see Kaede walking up the path.

“Ah, InuYasha, Miroku,” she said, giving the two men a slight bow of greeting.  “I assume Kagome-chan and Sango-chan are inside?”

“Oh yes,” Miroku said.  “We ourselves just escaped as they began to wield their scissors on an unsuspecting piece of cloth.  It seemed safer out here to us.”

Kaede laughed.  “Well, I have no fear of scissors, so I will join them.  I’m glad Kagome-chan’s here.  I have the miko garments she’ll need to wear tomorrow.”

She went inside, and soon laughter was heard coming through the windows.

InuYasha, scowling, found a seat under one of the trees nearby.   Miroku joined him.

“They’re going to be at this all afternoon, aren’t they?” InuYasha said.

“Probably,” Miroku said, settling down next to him.  “They seem to like this sort of thing.”

“Feh.”  InuYasha rested his sword against his shoulder.  

Miroku gave his friend a careful look.  The hanyou was sitting there, stern faced as he stared out the house. “Hmm.  You were in a much better mood during lunch, friend. Something’s bothering you?”

“I just need to . . . ” The hanyou let his voice drop.  He stood up.  “Can’t just sit around here and wait.”

“Waiting’s not what’s bothering you,” Miroku said.

“What do you know?” InuYasha said, slipping his sword back into his belt.

“I know enough to know when you’re troubled.”  The monk stood up as well.

“I’m going back to the house,” the hanyou said, and began to walk off.

“Wait,” Miroku said. “I’ll walk with you.”

“Do whatever you want,” InuYasha said.  “I’ve got work to do.”

The two men headed back to the little house silently, InuYasha brooding and Miroku holding his peace,  knowing  that his friend would break the silence when he was ready.  When they arrived, the hanyou stripped off his jacket, picked up his axe and began cutting limbs off of one of the trees they had felled before the garden was put in.

Miroku found a comfortable place to sit, well away from accidental wood chips, and watched InuYasha hop lightly through the frame of the downed tree, flashing the axe, and tossing the cut branches to the side.  The tree had barely begun to leaf out, so it was easy to keep track of what the silver-haired man was doing.  InuYasha untangled one particularly troublesome branch, and after dragging it to the cut pile, walked into the house, and came out with a bucket of water.  After dipping the water ladle into the bucket, he took a long drink.

“You can talk to me about it, you know,” Miroku said.

The hanyou dropped the ladle back into the bucket and said nothing as he moved to pick his axe back up.

“You tensed up once Kaede mentioned the miko robes for Kagome,” the monk said.

“What if I did?” InuYasha said, examining the tree trunk to pick his next target.

Miroku watched as InuYasha brought the axe down, a flash of silver hair and steel and white-clad arms. “And Kagome-sama starts her apprenticeship tomorrow.”

InuYasha raised his axe again, cutting through the branch.  It was a particularly hard blow. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“You keep hitting the wood like that, you’ve going to need a new axe handle, InuYasha.” Miroku sat up straighter.  “They weren’t made for your particular strength. Even after everything that’s happened since Tameo decided to put Kagome under his family’s protection, you’re still  worried that people are going to cause trouble.”

“Feh.” InuYasha wrestled the branch free, and walked it to the pile, tossing it on top. “Why should I have any worries?  Married woman being a miko.  Woman married to a hanyou dressing as a miko.  Bet people in Tsuneo’s family are gathering their clubs and rocks already, just in case.”

“They didn’t run me out when I married Sango-chan,” Miroku said, standing up and moving to the water bucket.  “Monks aren’t normally married, either.”  He picked up the water ladle.  “Don’t you trust Kaede-sama?” He took a drink.

“Trust Kaede-babaa?” InuYasha attacked another branch, but moderated the strength of his blow this time.  “Yeah, I do.” He hit it three more steady blows, chips flying with each, and then the branch was off.

“The villagers trust her as well.  They trusted her about me, they seem to trust her about you. They’ll trust her about Kagome.” Miroku dipped the ladle again and took another drink.

“Until something goes wrong,” InuYasha said.

“We’ll deal with that when it comes,” Miroku said, letting the ladle drop back into the bucket. “You know, you’re not alone.  Besides my excellent companionship, Sango and Kaede and even Tameo and his sons are standing with you.” He smiled. “Daitaro’s family, too. And Kagome-sama herself is not to be discounted.  You have a formidable wife.  It’s not good to be on the wrong side of her anger.”

InuYasha snorted, then took a deep breath.  Miroku could see that he made some mental adjustment as the tension he was holding let go. “I know that one,” he said. “Maybe we can see if the women are done?”

“Good idea, friend.”  He threw the hanyou’s jacket to him.  InuYasha caught it easily.  “I’d like to have my home back at least for a few hours.”

“No ofuda against that woman’s magic?” the hanyou said, tucking in his jacket.

“No, alas.  Even the Buddha doesn’t have sutra for that.”  Miroku shrugged.  “But they’re worth it, nonetheless.”

InuYasha leaned his axe up against the wall of the house, and put his sword back in his obi.  “Yeah.”

Together, they walked back to the monk’s house.