InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 63

[ 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 63

Tameo with Tsuneo right behind  him walked up toward the main house of his compound.  Hisa, surrounded by the children she was telling a story to, looked up and smiled.  As the two men moved forward, they were followed by Kinjiro and Daitaro, with an obviously frightened Aki between them.  Susumu, still in his head band and armor, had caught up with the men at some point and with a halberd staff in his hand, walked behind them.

Kagome watched the small procession, feeling her throat tighten a bit in nervousness, not sure of what was going to happen next.  Emi, after catching her mother-in-law’s nod,  wound up her thread with the spinning wheel and stood up.   

“I think, children, it’s about time for lunch,” she said, moving over to her youngest daughter and taking her hand. “Let’s go see what Matsume-obasan has made to eat.”  She began herding the group of children toward Kinjiro

Shippou jumped on Kagome’s shoulder.  “Are you coming?” he asked.

“I’ll be there in a minute, Shippou-chan. Go with the other kids.”  She picked him up and placed the kit on the ground.

“Are you sure?” He frowned. “InuYasha will skin me for sure if anything happens to you.”

She smiled at him.  “What can happen?  Susumu-sama is here, as well as Tameo. There’s nothing to worry about.  I hear Matsume-chan was making sweet dumplings, and I know how much you like them.”

“Don’t take too long,” he said, pouting.  “If you do, I’ll eat your share!”

“I won’t,” Kagome said.  

He nodded once, and joined Rin and the children from Kagemura as they followed Emi to Kinjiro’s house.

Mitsuo, though, was having none of this. Breaking away from his sister’s grasp, he ran towards the men.  “Ojii!”

Tameo stopped walking and smiled at the boy. “Well look who’s here,” he said.

Mitsuo stopped in front of his grandfather, ignoring the other men with him,  arms outstretched, waiting to be picked up.  “Ojii!” he said. “You’re  back!”

Tameo bent over and picked him up.  “Yes, I am.  I told you I wouldn’t be gone all day. Have you been good for your Okaa?” he asked.  

The little boy nodded.

“That’s my good Mitsuo.  But now Ojiisan has some work to do.”  He let the boy slide out of his arms.  “Where’s your obaasan?”  

Mitsuo pointed, but even as he did, Hisa was walking toward the group.   As she neared her husband, she bowed a greeting to the others.  

“Tsuneo-sama, Daitaro-sama, welcome, welcome” she said.

“Eh,” Daitaro said, returning her bow.  “I wish it was for a better reason, cousin. Still, it’s always good to see you.”

Tsuneo said nothing, but held his face immobile as he nodded her greeting.

“Please, come in,” Hisa said. “I am sure you’ll find it more pleasant to discuss whatever you need to in the house.”

“This is official business,” Tameo said. “I think we’ll do it in the office.  But could you bring us some tea?  And Toshiro should be here soon.  Shinjiro went to go find him.”

“Of course, of course,” Hisa said, and moved back toward the house.

Hisa moved inside.  Emi came and retrieved her son.

“Here, Otousan, let me take him,” she said, as she bent down to pick him up.

“Don’t wanna,” the boy said.  

“But you have to,” Emi replied. “It’s time for lunch.”

“She’s not,” Mitsuo said, pointing to Kagome.

Kagome walked over to them and  smiled at the boy.  “Yes I am, Mitsuo-chan.  I just haven’t left yet.”

Before she could follow Emi, Tameo called to her.

“Ah, cousin,” Tameo said.  “I see you made it here.  Good, good.  Matsume-chan is an excellent cook. I was hoping to share lunch with you, but it looks,” he said, waving at the cluster of people behind him, “like I’ll be too  busy for that today.”

“It could be worse,” Daitaro said, catching up to the headman.  “You could be stuck in the meeting with us. Endless talk, tea, my cousin trying to sound wise.  Nicer ways to spend an afternoon.”

That made Susumu chuckle.  “Tea, old man? I bet I know what you’ll be drinking.”

“You’re just jealous that I didn’t bring enough for everybody,” Daitaro replied.

This made the younger man laugh again.

“Enough,” Tameo said.  “We have serious things to talk about. The kami will not be happy if we don’t realize the seriousness of what’s going on today.”

“True,” Kinjiro said. “Today is costing me my lunch and I have more work to do up in InuYasha-sama’s garden because of today.  I take this very seriously.”

Daitaro sighed and nodded. “You’re right, of course.”

Aki said nothing, but looked at the men as they talked with wide eyes, and lip trembling, reached out and touched his grandfather’s hand.  Tsuneo looked briefly at the boy as he felt the contact and shook his head, but mostly, he was looking at Kagome with a somber, thoughtful eye.

“So, Miko-sama, you’re the girl my wife’s been complaining so much about lately,” he said at last. “Seems you’ve managed to stir up the village once again.  As much, maybe, as when you showed up the first time.”

“Have I?” Kagome asked, uncertain how to take this, and frowning slightly.  “I haven’t tried to make any problems.”

“If not the whole village, certainly my family,” he replied. “Such a little thing, too, to make such a stir.  But then, Haname is little, too, and look what she can do. I hope you realize what you’re getting yourself into.”

Kagome took a deep breath, and nodded. “I think so.”

“I hope so, woman.”  He frowned, but the tone of his voice was not angry. “There may be days where you look back at today like it was a good day.” Tsuneo turned to his grandson.  “You will start your reparations and act like a man now.  You owe Miko-sama an apology.”

Aki’s eyes grew huge.

“He doesn’t have to . . . ” Kagome said, looking at the boy who was obviously frightened of her.

“Yes he does.” Tsuneo said. “I have been remiss.  I don’t want him to turn out like his father.”

Aki tried to shrink back. “Ojiisan . . . Obaasan told me . . . ”

“I don’t care what your obaasan told you about her,” Tsuneo said, pushing the boy forward. “You let out a cow that walked through her vegetable garden.  You will apologize.”

Reluctantly, the boy bowed.  “I...I....I apologize, Miko-sama.”  Done, he dashed back to stand behind his grandfather.

Daitaro rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder.  “Well done, Aki-kun,” he said softly.

Aki looked up at the old man, surprised.

“Thank you, Aki-kun,” Kagome said.  

“Well,” Tameo said.  “We need to get this done.  Come on, men.  Let’s get started.”  He led the others toward his office.

Hisa came out and stood next to Kagome as she watched the men move toward the building that Tameo did his official business in.

“I don’t think I understood everything that just went on,” Kagome said. “Am I that dense?”

“No, I suppose you don’t,” Hisa said. “Oh, all villages have these quirks about how people get along. Tsuneo’s relationship with his son is . . . well, not the best.” Hisa sighed.  “Time for lunch, child.  Things will work out.”

Kagome nodded, then turned to go to Matsume’s house.  “Or they won’t.”.

“That, too, is sometimes how things turn out.  We will deal with it.”  She gave Kagome a small smile.  “If you like Matsume’s pickles, be sure to ask her how to make them. I hear your husband likes pickles a lot.”

Kagome smiled back, and gave a tiny chuckle.  “Yes he does.”  And as Shippou stepped out on the verandah of Kinjiro’s house, frowning at her, she went to join the others.

While Kagome went to join the others for lunch, Joben did without, and instead, he and  Morio the yamabushi stood in front of his family’s shrine, tucked in a small garden behind his father’s house.  Morio walked around the grounds shaking a  sakaki branch and staff with the sacred paper streamers, chanting something unintelligible.

A door slid open in the house.  Haname stepped out, walked up to the shrine, and stared at the two men as Morio did his sacred dance.

She crossed her arms, scowling. “How long are you going to play at these games?” she asked.
Joben looked up.  “Okaasan, this is for all of us.”

“Huh.” Haname said.  Her voice was cold and icy, soft the way Joben knew was merely a screen for the fire ready to explode.  “Your son is in Tameo’s hands.  Instead of hurrying back to make sure that . . . that . . . whatever of a father of yours isn’t selling us out, you’re here making pretty chants.”  She shook her head.  “A real man would be there, ready to fight or take his son and run with him if he thought that the people who grind him under their heel day and night are doing it now to his child.”

Joben took a deep breath and closed his eyes,  fighting to stay calm. “Okaa . . . ”

“Never mind,” Haname said, turning around.  “I know there are things you cannot do. If you want to take over for your father, you have to grovel.”

Her son looked at Morio, who nodded, and Joben left the area in front of the shrine and walked towards Haname. “I...”  He swallowed.  “Okaasan, what do you want me to do?”

“Nothing. Just like normal.”  She took a deep breath.  “No, I take that back.  Go to the field where your wife is working her fingers into the mud so you can eat, and tell her why your son is in Tameo’s hand.  Explain how her father-in-law has succumbed to youkai magic and is handing his own grandson over to that family.  Explain why you couldn’t do anything to help Aki-kun.”

As small as she was, and slight, Joben shrank beneath her gaze and her voice.  

“Otousan ordered me to stay here. Do you want me to go barging in?” Joben said.  “What if they . . . ”

Haname reached up and popped him on the head with her closed fist.  “Be a man, not a boy.  Or do I have to do it for you?”

“Okaasan, I am not a child anymore.” Joben rubbed the side of his head.  “You can’t knock any more sense into my head than I already have.”

“Gah.   That’s a pity.  You are so useless.”  She reached up again, but he caught her wrist.  Pulling away, she crossed her arms and turned around. “ Stay here, then, and pray with your holy man.  I am going to Tameo’s.  I am not going to let that family get their claws into my grandson any more than they already have or let them bewitch him the way they are.”

Torn, and feeling barely able to move, Joben watched his mother walk away.  “I’m sorry, Morio-sama, that you had to witness that,” he said, after a moment, then turned around.  “Morio-sama?”

There was nobody in the shrine area.  He took a deep breath.  “I wouldn’t have wanted to hear that either,” he said.  “Damn my life! My parents, always using me like a bone they fight over. Could today get any worse?”  Walking up to the shrine, he mumbled apologies to the kami, and went back to the house.  

His mother was gone, and Morio was not there either.  Sinking to the ground on his knees next to the fire pit, he stirred the flames and began to heat water for tea.