InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 47

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


Chapter 47

Kagome put the last of the dishes away on the shelf in her kitchen cabinet and  then stacked the trays on top. Hanging up her towel to dry, she walked over to InuYasha, who had folded his jacket and laid it on top of one of their chests.

“Well, let me see where your sleeve got torn,” she said, smiling.

InuYasha stood up, and looking a little sheepish, held out his arm.  The tear was L shaped, about two inches long. “Not that bad,” he said.

Kagome poked her finger along it and sighed a little.  “Not that bad, but yes, your kosode will definitely have a scar,” she said, looking up at him.  “First though, you’ll have to take your shirt off for me to fix it.”

“Won’t be the first scar,” he said, unfastening the garment and pulling the kosode’s tail out of his hakama.  “Last one Sango fixed for me.”

Kagome went over to the clothes cabinet and opened the door where she kept her sewing basket. “That was nice of her.  How’d you rip it that time?”

His ear flicked. “Uh,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed as he handed her the garment.

She smiled at him as she took the shirt from him, then sat back down.  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

He shrugged. “Might as well. It was stupid,” he said, with a little sigh, as he sat down next to her. “It happened one new moon night last summer.  I was over at Miroku’s house, and it was hot.  I was down to my kosode and fundoshi.  Went outside to use the latrine, and tripped over a root.” The hanyou looked at her, something between a grimace and a grin on his face. “Skinned my knee, tore my kosode. Miroku laughed about it for weeks.”

Trying not to laugh, Kagome covered her mouth with her hand. “Trees seem to not be liking you as much as you like them.”

“Feh,” he said, crossing his arms in front of him. “I get my revenge when it’s time to make firewood.”  

“Maybe so,” Kagome said, trying to keep her voice neutral as she went through her sewing basket, looking for needle and thread.  Finding what she wanted, she unwound a length of thread and ran it through the eye of the needle.

“This will take a few minutes,” she said. “I doubt it will be as good a fix as Sango’s, but it should least work while you’re taking care of business at Hiseo’s village.”

He nodded, watching while she ran her hand into his sleeve and began stitching the tear closed.  “It’s all better than I can do.”

“Well, at least Miroku doesn’t have to  know about this rip,” Kagome said as she worked.  “I really ought to patch it, but I’m not sure the best way.  I’ll talk to Sango when you get back, maybe after I get your new kosode made.”

“Keh,” he said, nodding.

“But I’ll make sure he’s not around when I talk about it,” she said, looking up at him.  He was watching her hands intently, as she whipped the rip closed.

“You’re good with a needle,” he said.  “Don’t know why you talk like you don’t know stuff about sewing.”  

“I know a little,” Kagome said. “Mama taught me.  I just never had to make anything serious before. It was all for fun.  There’s a lot I’m sure I don’t know.”  She knotted the thread, then finished it off.  Putting her needle back in her pincushion, she held it up.  “Maybe not as good as new, but it’ll keep until you get back.”

He took it from her, slipped it on, but didn’t fasten it yet.  Instead, he ran his finger over where she had sewn it closed.  “For fun, huh?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “To make special items, things you couldn’t buy at the market, maybe to show someone how much you cared.”

InuYasha looked up at her, his eyes intense, but warm. “Everything you do shows how much you care.” He reached up and cupped her cheek. “There’s been times I’d been lucky to have a single shirt.”

Her pulse picked up at the intensity in his eyes. “All that’s changed now, InuYasha.”

“Still doesn’t mean it’s not special to me,” he said. “Changed doesn’t begin to describe it.”

Before she could pull away, his hand slid up to her neck and pulled her down into a  kiss, tender at first, but quickly escalating. Her hand in turn, found the bare skin beneath his unclosed shirt, and slid around to his back. He began to fumble with the tie to her wrap skirt

There was a knocking on the door, faint at first, and then louder.  “Kagome?” a small voice called from outside.

“Dammit,” InuYasha said, pulling away.  “Where did Shippou come from? Is everybody out to interrupt us today?”

Kagome sighed, and gave her husband a small, bittersweet smile. She  stood up. “I guess we’re destined to have other things to do,” she said, rubbing his ear briefly. “That’s my promise for later.”  Then smoothing her clothes, she began walking to the door.

InuYasha, scowling, fastened his kosode, and grabbed his jacket. “He must have come back from his training. Wonder if Kaede-babaa sent him up here?”

She lifted up the doormat, to see the small kitsune beaming up at her.

“Kagome! You’re still here,” Shippou said, leaping up into her arms. “Miroku said you were, but I was still afraid you had left.”

“Of course I’m here,” she said, ruffing the boy’s red hair.  “This is where I live now. It’s you who’s always coming and going.  I never know where you’re at.”

“I’ve been learning more kitsune magic,” he said, smiling up at her. “There’s a lot to learn.”

“I bet,” she said.

“Feh,” InuYasha said, fastening his obi. “You might need to learn it, but better be careful who you use it on around here.”

Shippou ignored the hanyou.  “Did you see the two people who Kaede-sama has at her house?” Shippou asked. “Kaede sent me to Miroku’s when the guy almost ran out when I walked in.”

“Did he really?” Kagome asked.

The kit nodded.  “And I didn’t even do anything yet.  I just walked in.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” InuYasha said, walking next to Kagome.  He rested his hand on her shoulder.  “Doubt if he’s ever seen a kitsune up close.”

“He kind of shrieked when he saw me,” Shippou said, “and threw himself over the girl’s body.  Then Rin started to giggle.  He wasn’t too happy about that.”

“That’s Hiseo-kun and his sister Yume.  I helped Kaede with them earlier.”

InuYasha took a deep breath and moved  back to his seat by the fire pit.  Kagome watched him move off, then chewed her bottom lip as she thought about what to say next.

Shippou spoke first.  “What’s their story anyway?  Kaede-sama was too busy sending me off to tell me.”

“Poor Yume-chan.  InuYasha and Miroku think she’s been attacked by a youkai, which is why Hiseo-kun was so nervous.” She looked around the room, glancing at her husband, who was staring into the fire,  poking at the ash with a stick, and then spied her washtub. “So, Shippou-chan, are you here just for a visit?  If so, you can help me do the laundry.”  

The kit took a glance at the wash tub, which although unfilled, had several pieces of cloth in it, and shook his head. “No thanks.  I came by because Miroku sent me.  He wanted to ask if you were coming over for your sewing lesson this afternoon.”

Kagome let the kit down. “I don’t know,” she said. “I really was thinking about doing laundry today.”

“Maybe you should go,” InuYasha said, throwing the stick into the fire and  standing up. “The laundry can wait.”

She tilted her head, surprised at his response.  “Are you sure?”  

InuYasha nodded.

“Well then,” she said. “Shippou-chan, go back and tell them I’ll be there in a little while.  I’ve got a few things to do first before I go.”  She smiled at the kit. “Unless you want to help.”

Shippou shook his head. “I’ll go tell him. Sango said she was making some sweet dumplings.” He gave her a big smile.  “If I don’t get back, the twins might eat them all.  See you there!”  The young fox hurried out of the door.

Once the doormat closed, InuYasha walked over to Kagome and  turned her around. Sliding his hand into her hair, he gave her a quick, chaste kiss.  “You were right about us having other things to do today.”

“I’m surprised you want me to go,” Kagome said, frowning slightly as she looked up at InuYasha.  “You certainly didn’t seem that way before Shippou showed up.”

“Keh,” the hanyou said, shrugging.  “I got distracted and forgot.  Miroku asked me to ask you if you would come over today.”

“Did he tell you why?” Kagome went over to the clothes cabinet and got her latest sewing project out. “I probably won’t get started on the kosode today, even if I have Sango to help me.  I’d like to finish the last of these towels.”

InuYasha nodded and bent over and picked up her sewing basket and  handed it to his wife. “I think Sango gets anxious before he goes on an extermination.  He says she fusses over him too much sometimes. And he told me he needs to do some stuff to get ready.  Maybe he needs to make some more ofuda.”

“Ah,” she said, tucking the unfinished towel into the basket.  “I guess that makes sense. She probably wishes she could go, too.  I can understand that feeling.”  She frowned a little. “This has been an aggravating afternoon. Nothing seems to be going the way I was hoping today.  I can’t even get the rabbit stew started.”

He moved behind her, and kissed the back of her neck.  “I know.  Not what I wanted, either.” His hands slid around her waist, and drifted lower.

Kagome turned around and looked up at him. “I guess we’ll have a lot to do this evening.”

He let her go, and watched as she put a few more things into her basket.  “At least that’s something to look forward to.  Maybe it’ll make the time go faster.”

Having gotten everything she wanted in one basket, she gave InuYasha a quick peck on the cheek and a rub to his ear.  “Maybe. Let’s go.  The sooner Miroku can get his preparations done, the sooner we can come back and get back to what we really were planning.”

Moving to the door, she gave him a smile, slipped on her sandals and stepped outside.