InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 77

[ 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 76


InuYasha could smell her tears as Kagome wrapped herself around him. It was a scent he hated, but had been expecting.  Not sure of what to do, he simply  held her for a while, running a hand gently down her hair and back, planting small kisses on the top of her head.

“I wish . . . ” he said, softly as he held her, “I should have been here for you.  I don’t know why, but I just knew something was going to go wrong today.”

She clung to him for a moment more.  “But they needed you too,” she said, in a soft, tear-choked voice. “That youkai would have killed people if you hadn’t gone.  They all wouldn’t have been able to get away like Yume did.”

“Keh.”  He pulled her a bit closer.  “But if you have gotten hurt . . . ”

Kagome pulled back so he could see her face, and looked up into his somber, caring amber eyes, and swallowed, trying to think of what to say next.  He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. Not liking the tear streaks down her cheeks, he very delicately wiped at them with his thumb.

“Still,” she said.  “So many people were here to help me.  That village needed you.”

He sighed, knowing it was true. Kagome took that moment to move out of his hold. “I’m sorry.  I didn’t want to do that,” she said, wiping at both of her eyes with her sleeves. “I know how you don’t like to see me cry.”

“Baka,” he said, wrapping her back in his arms.  “Sometimes, tears are the right thing.”  She relaxed against him, letting her cheek rest on the fabric of his  jacket, her face turned away from his view. “Even with people to back you up, things can hurt.”

“I...I knew there could be bad days, and people who would say things to hurt me because I was living with you,” she said.  “You even warned me. I knew Haname didn’t like you here, and would be unhappy about us.  I knew it in my head. But...but,” she said, her voice cracking, “I didn’t know how much it was going to hurt.”

She wrapped her arms around InuYasha tighter.  He began to rock her slowly.  “Feh,” he whispered. “The hell with people like that. Don’t listen to them.”

“Haname...” Kagome said.

“What did that old hag do to you?” InuYasha said. “Shippou said she slapped you.”

Kagome nodded her head. “When she heard how Aki was in trouble, she came to Kaede’s and said we’re to blame for her family’s bad luck. I don’t think she knew I was there.  She called me a...a...prostitute for being with you.”

She could feel InuYasha stiffen as she talked, but he didn’t loosen his hold on her.

“Ugly old hag,” InuYasha said. “A good thing I wasn’t around.”

Kagome sat up, and InuYasha let her loose, but kept hold of her left hand, stroking it gently with his thumb.

“She and Kaede went off to see where Daitaro had Aki. Tameo and Tsuneo had gone up already.”

“That’s why I smelled so many people up by Sango’s house,” he said.  

“I guess,” Kagome said. “I think Tameo was worried something might happen because of her.  He sent Susumu to take me to Hisa. There are always a lot of people at Tameo’s compound. Yume had started feeling a lot better, and she and her brother and Rin had  gone there to play with Emi’s children. I thought I could help keep an eye on them while I waited for everybody to come back, so I could go to Sango’s.” She pulled her hands away from InuYasha.  “You want to eat now?  I could make some rice.”

The hanyou shrugged.  “Only if you want to.”

She sighed. “I don’t really want to eat yet. I just feel like I ought to be doing something.”

He slipped a finger under her chin and lifted her face up. “You’re sure?”

Her eyes were reddened from crying, but her mouth was set determinedly. She nodded.  

“Maybe I should go get some water, then,” he said.

“Yeah,” she said. “I think there’s enough left to rinse the rice, but not much more.”

He stood up and offered her his hand, and helped her up. Pulling her close, he gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

Grabbing a bucket, he headed out to the stream.  Laying the bucket on its side, he waited for the current to fill it, his face devoid of emotion, but his right ear twitching.

Suddenly, he punched the ground, leaving a large indentation. “Dammit. I knew I shouldn’t have left her here alone.”  He punched it again.

He heard a chuckle. “Trying to dig a pond?  Interesting technique.”

InuYasha swerved.  “What’re you doing here, Shinjiro?” he called out to the man walking down the path.

“Running errands,” the man said walking up towards InuYasha. “That’s all I seem to do today. Chichi-ue and Haha-ue keep thinking of things they want me to do. I knew I should have gone fishing this morning.”

InuYasha snorted. “I thought when I built this place, I’d be out of the way of everybody coming and going.”

“Well, don’t think many people except Chichi-ue and I go this way much. I wouldn’t have this time, but I was instructed to leave this with you.” He handed InuYasha a small covered jar.

“Well, here I am.” The hanyou stood up, and grabbed his water bucket, and then took the jar that Shinjiro offered him.  “What’s in the jar?”

“Pickles, I think,” the younger man said. “Doesn’t shake like Chichi-ue’s sake. She seems to think you can’t get enough pickles or something. Evidently she heard from Sayo-sama who heard from someone else about your fondness for them.”

“So that’s what they’re saying about me. After everything that happened to do, it could be worse.” InuYasha tucked the jar into the crook of his elbow. “Tell Daitaro I don’t need any more sake for a while. He can save it for the wedding.”

Shinjiro sighed. “Weddings. You had to mention that. I just hope I don’t go crazy from all the noise everybody’s making about it. Five more days, and it’s getting crazier the closer it gets. If Haha-ue wouldn’t disown me for it, I’d go off to the mountains until it was time. Although I’m looking forward to the sixth day, I think. Sometimes, you know, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. After Kyome died, I didn’t think I’d ever let anybody get that close to me again. But Erime...You think it’s worth it, getting married? Even with days like today?”

InuYasha gave Shinjiro a small chuckle and  a crooked smile. “Yeah, it’s worth it.”

“Even if you’re out here beating up the ground, trying to dig a pond?” Shinjiro asked.

“Wasn’t because of anything she did. Even if I had to kick the butts of half the village and run off to the mountains, it’d be worth it.”  

Shinjiro clasped the hanyou on the arm. “Thanks.  I needed that. Bridegroom jitters I guess. And don’t worry. You wouldn’t have to kick those butts alone.”

InuYasha nodded, not sure of what to say.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble. I hear today was a pretty hard one for her.”  Shinjiro dropped his arm. “That Haname and her tongue.”

“Yeah,” the hanyou replied.  

“Well, at least Chichi-ue and Tameo-obasan were there to help.  We’re not all like that shrew.  Most of us are happy you’re here. I’ll see you later.  Off to see what Haha-ue has for dinner.”  And with a bow of his head, he headed down the hill.

InuYasha watched him walk off, then headed back to the house. When he lifted the doormat, the first thing he noticed was the smell of fresh tears. Putting the bucket of water down, he leapt up on the wooden floor to find Kagome sitting down next to a bowl of wet rice, her hands covering her face.

He knelt down next to her, and gently moved her hands away from her face. “Kagome?”

“I guess...” she said looking up at him, her bottom lip trembling. “I guess I hadn’t cried enough yet.”

InuYasha put the jar down and pulled her back into his arms, kissing her gently, and tucking her head under his chin. “It’s all right.”

“I’m still seeing what happened at Tameo’s in my head,” she said. “I’ve never seen anybody get as angry as she got.” Kagome buried her cheek in his jacket. “She called me a witch who had turned everybody against her.  It was my fault there were youkai here. It was my fault her son got in trouble. It was my fault that her husband thought Aki-kun should be punished.”

“Damn bitch.”  He pulled her close enough to rest his cheek on her head.  

“She slapped me, and I just stood there and couldn’t believe it. I was standing there with Hisa-obasan and Emi-chan, and she called me all these names and slapped me.” Kagome’s fingers dug into InuYasha’s jacket, holding a handful of fabric in each hand, and her voice grew very small. “Nobody’s ever slapped me before.”

“Nobody ever will again, if I can help it,” InuYasha said, almost growling. “And Kaede’s taking care of the hag? After all that?”

Kagome could feel the anger rising in his youki, although he was trying hard not to let it bleed into how he was holding her.

“The yamabushi...he had given her some sort of amulet that unhinged her. It wasn’t all her fault. The magic was making her crazy. But it was so awful. They had to get me away from her. She was going to try to do more than slap me.”

InuYasha tightened his hold on Kagome, the sleeves of his firerat covering her body as if he could protect her by wrapping himself around her. “I’m sorry, Koibito, I’m sorry,” he said.“I never wanted you to go through something like this.”

“I know,” she said.

He swallowed, then cupped her face in his hand. “Promise me,” he said.

“Promise what?”

He kissed the top of her head. “If...if it gets too hard for you...if you need me to let go...I just want you to be happy.”

Kagome looked up and studied his eyes, amber, somber, glistening.  “Let go?”

“You deserve better than days like today,” he said. “If it wasn’t for me...”

Her eyes went from sad to angry. “If you want me to be happy, don’t talk that way.”

She pulled out of his hold, and he let her go. “But - ”

 “Don’t push me away to keep me safe.” Her voice got louder, and her face began to redden. “That’s what they want when they try to hurt me.  That’s what Morio wanted to do.  He wanted to rescue me from you. You promised me you would never do that again.” Clenching her hands into fists, she rested them on his chest. “Don’t try to save me from you. I can’t be happy without you.  Don’t even think about sending me away because of - ”

Her rant was interrupted as he circled her wrists with his hands, and covered her mouth with his.

Very quickly his hands dropped her wrists as he deepened the kiss, cupping the back of her head with one, and snugging her body as close as he could with the other. At first, her eyes looked at his, surprised, but very quickly, she closed them and melted into his touch, opening her mouth to his tongue and taste.  

After a moment, he pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. “I promised, didn’t I? I will never push you away again. I don’t think I could. But...but if you needed to...I wouldn’t want to keep you where you are unhappy.”

“Baka,” she said, sighing. “I can only be happy where you are.” She gave him a light, quick kiss. “I just wish I could make people not act like that.”

He pulled her into his lap. “Keh,” he said. “Yeah, you’re not the only one.”

She rested there for a moment, playing with a lock of his hair. “Does it get better and not hurt so much when people act like that?” she asked, then blushed, dropping her eyes, realizing what a stupid question that was.

“You get...used to it. Like a callous, maybe.”  He lifted up one of his hands, and looked at the callouses he had from using his sword.  “You can still feel it. It just doesn’t blister like tender places do.”  He sighed.  “I don’t know if my mother ever got that callous.  But she had nobody to stand with her after my old man died.  You...you have me, and Miroku and Sango, and it sounds like a whole lot of the village on your side.  Maybe...maybe you won’t need to get that callous.”  He kissed her gently.  “You’re too good to have to need that type of thing.”

She leaned against his shoulder, content for the moment just to be held, until she noticed the jar next to InuYasha.  “What’s that?”

“Chime sent it. Pickles, I think.”  He kissed the top of her head, one more time.  “Funny.  Some places would gossip about the big bad hanyou doing evil things in their village, like Haname tries to.  But here, it looks like they gossip about me being a fiend for pickles.”

“Must mean you’re in the right village,” Kagome said, snuggling up against him for a moment more.  “But it’s not gossip, it’s true.”

“Feh,” he said.

She started  to move out of his embrace, but he was reluctant to let her go.

“I’ll prove it if you let me get up and finish putting the rice on,” she said pulling on his arm. “Then we’ll see how many pickle slices you try to steal.”

Pleased  that the crisis about her day seemed to be passing for the moment, he let her go.