InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 96

[ 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 95

InuYasha spun around at the sound of the voice,  caught somewhere between embarrassment at being overheard  and being ready to attack.  As he turned, he stifled a growl, but could not stifle the urge to flex his knuckles.

“It can be dangerous to sneak up behind me like that,” he said, scowling at the  man who stood there.  

“I believe I’ve heard that somewhere before,” said the man, smiling at the hanyou. His smile was honest amusement, with no threat attached.  InuYasha relaxed slightly as the man gave him a small bow in greeting.  “Still,” the stranger said, “I do believe I also heard that it’s rather hard to actually do that to you. I’m surprised I succeeded.”

“Feh,” the hanyou replied, still irritated from the embarrassment, if not from the threat.  “And how’d you know about Daitaro and his sake?”

The man grinned and rubbed his soft black cap back and forth a little over his head.  “Wherever Daitaro goes, so goes his sake.  Everybody knows that. Weren’t you just talking to him a few minutes ago?”

InuYasha, still feeling fuzzy-headed, but alert enough to know that there was nobody who had watched his conversation with the two men, tilted his head and studied the man in front of him. The stranger was a small fellow, older, but not as old looking as Tameo or Daitaro, with a weathered face that looked used to smiling a lot.  He was a good head shorter than InuYasha, dressed in a blue kosode, straw vest and black eboshi cap.  Wearing a peasant’s knee-length hakama and leg wrappings, he had no tabi on, and  his toes were muddy where they rested on his straw sandals.  He carried a hoe across one shoulder, and a water container dangling from a rice rope cord across his chest.  In other words, he looked just like all the farmers living in all the villages near the shrine.

The hanyou’s  brows knit, and his frown deepened. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.  Do they know you’re here at the shrine? Are you one of the headman’s relatives?”

The little man grinned, took his hoe off of his shoulder and used it as a staff to lean on.  “You could say that, son.  Or maybe you could say that Tameo-sama’s a relative of mine.”  For some reason this made him chuckle.  “I do make an appearance from time to time.  Tameo knows me well.  And I’ve known him since he was a small thing.”

“Hn,” InuYasha said.  “You don’t look as old as he does.”  He stuffed his hands in his sleeves and began to walk away from the shrine.  The little man followed him.

“Looks can be deceiving, but you know that already,” the little man said.

InuYasha turned sharply.  “What in the hell do you know about me?”

“Oh, quite a lot, actually, InuYasha-sama,” the stranger said, refusing to be frightened or put off by the hanyou’s irritation. “You’re quite famous in these parts.  I’ve been watching you for a while now.”

InuYasha felt uneasy.  The sake was clearing from his head, but something else, was happening that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise.  His hand strayed to the hilt of Tessaiga, and began to clutch it tightly.

“Looks are deceiving, eh?” the hanyou said.  He shook his head.  “Something’s not right here.”

“You have to excuse an old man a little fun,” the stranger said. “I don’t get to play with someone as interesting as you very often.”

“I know your scent,” InuYasha said, glaring at him. “I’ve smelled it all over the village sometime or the other, but I’ve never seen you before. You turn up just when I happened to stop by the shrine, which I never do.”  His glare began to fade into curiosity, and then into surprise.  “And . . . and . . . ” The hanyou took a deep breath.  His right ear twitched.

“And I don’t smell quite human, am I right?” the stranger said,  chuckling a little.  “But almost, I’d bet.  There’s a reason for that.”

InuYasha’s ear twitched as he stared at the little man, when certainty dawned on him.  “Playing with me is right.” His eyebrows knitted one more time.  “I can feel your power.  Not youki, not reiki.  You have to be . . . ”

The little man gave a slight bow.  “I am Kazuo no Kami, if you want to be formal about it.  Me, I’m not that much interested in formalities, but you interest me.  I’ve been meaning to have a chat with you. Let’s go for a little walk.”


Back at Tameo’s office, Daitaro settled down next to Susumu with a sigh.  “These old bones aren’t what they used to be,” he said, shifting to get comfortable. He looked down the table and saw the cup in front of the guard.  He snorted and looked up at the grinning face of his younger relative.  “So, while I was out front, you started drinking that rotgut?”

“Couldn’t help it,” Susumu said.  “It was time for a drink and you went off and took the best stuff.”

“I guess I did, didn’t I?” Daitaro said, ignoring Tameo’s chuckle.  “Well, when you don’t have any other choice . . . ”

This caused a ripple of laughter across the table.

“Sometimes,” Miroku said from the far end of the seated men, “one must make do with what Buddha has provided, and give thanks.”

“Diplomatic, are we?” Tsuneo asked, sitting down between the monk and Toshiro.

Kinjiro, sitting across the table from the older man, and closest to Aki, snorted.

Tameo gave both ends of the table a look almost worthy of Hisa, then picked up the scroll in front of him, and readied his brush. “Ready to get back to it?” Tameo asked.  “I don’t want to push anything, but . . . ”

Tsuneo nodded.  “I’ll be all right.  You remember how you felt when Susumu got in trouble.”

“Oh yes, but we got through that,” Tameo said, looking at his oldest son with an obviously mock look of disapproval.  He waved in his son’s direction. “And now look at him.  Thinks he can make jokes about his father’s sake at his father’s own table.”  

Susumu coughed at that comment.  Daitaro laughed and nudged the younger man. “Your Otousan’s still got a thing or two on you, son.”

“True, true,” Susumu said. “Haha-ue has the look, but Chichi-ue, he knows how to use words.”

“Well then, let’s get back to work,” Toshiro said.  “So, Susumu, right before our two companions came inside, you said you had an idea about Isao-kun.  Does anybody have any idea of what to do with Aki-kun?”

“Maybe,” Daitaro said.

Tameo pursed his lips, curious at what might have happened.  Turning, he caught Tsuneo’s eyes.

“We talked about it,” Tsuneo said.

“Ought to wait for InuYasha to get back before we go into it, though,” Daitaro said.  “He might have an opinion.”

“Well,” the headman said,  “Let’s just remember that whatever we decide, we’re talking about more than punishment.  If we wanted to do just that, we could call a public meeting and just have them given a sound whipping.”

From his corner where he was tied up, Aki gave a small sob.  

Tameo glanced that way, sighed, and continued. “But we’ve learned over time, that’s not necessarily what’s best.  We want to insure that these boys learn something from their experience.  It also has to be something we all agree will make everybody feel that justice is done.  If someone goes away thinking we were unfair, well, that just causes bad blood.”

There were nods and agreements from around the table.

Isao, from where he sat with Kagome pressing a cool compress to his cheek, reached out and pulled her arm away.

“Please,” he said to Hisa and the young miko.  “That’s enough.”

Kagome reached out and gently touched the bruising.  “Are you sure?”

He nodded.

“You want to sit near them?” Hisa asked.

Isao nodded again.

“Well, if they say it’s all right,” she said. “Here.”   She handed Isao his medicine cup.  “Remember, if the pain gets too big, drink it.”

“I will,” he said, and then walked across the room, giving Aki a wide berth as he moved toward the men.

“Well, let’s pick this up,” Hisa said softly, putting compress cloths back in the bowl they were using. “Then, I’ll give them teacups in exchange for their sake cups, and maybe we’ll get this done by lunch time!”

Kagome smiled at the older woman and nodded.  With a quick flick of her wrist, she tossed in the wet cloth she was still holding in her hand into the bowl Hisa held out to her, and followed her back to where the men were sitting.

Isao bowed as he reached the table, standing between Susumu and Kinjiro.  “May . . . may I sit near my Ojisan?” he asked in a quiet voice.  His face was bruised, his lip swollen, but his eyes, although reflecting the pain he felt, were calm.

Tameo looked around the table and saw no disagreement.  “If you’re ready to act like a man, who am I to try to keep you from doing it?”

The boy nodded and when to sit by Tsuneo, who gave him an approving smile.

“I suggest,” Tameo said, “that rather than wait for InuYasha-sama to return, we can discuss what to do with Isao, since it affects him less, I think.”

“About time,” Kinjiro said.  “I have other things to do, you know.”
“Yes, yes, son, we all know that.  You’ve made it quite clear,” Tameo said.  He turned towards Miroku. “Houshi-sama?”

Miroku, who had been toying with his sake cup, looked up.  “Yes?”

“You can stand in for your friend during this.  InuYasha has less claim on what happens to Isao-kun than Aki, but you know him.  Speak up if you think there’s something that would really matter to him.”

The monk nodded.  “I will do my best.”

Hisa began to move among the men, picking up the sake cups and handing them to Kagome.  “I am making more tea,” she said.

There were a few nodded heads as she walked around the table.  “I’m sure Kagome-chan would also be willing to add anything, if it needs to be said before her husband gets back.”

“Good, good,” Tameo said.  He turned to his oldest son.  “Now, Susumu, you had an idea of what to do?”

Susumu looked at the boy, who returned his gaze shyly, and nodded.  “Yesterday, when we had the . . . difficulty in the afternoon, Isao-kun, even though he was still dealing with getting injured, helped at a critical moment that allowed us to protect our cousin Kagome-sama  and also probably kept Haname-sama from getting . . . more injured than necessary.”

Hisa, moving back to the fire box, turned a moment. “I was rather impressed by how quickly he reacted,” she said.

“The boy has a good spirit,” Susumu said.  “And he knows to put important things first.  It’s a shame his father is nowhere to give him the guidance he needs.”  He looked up at Tsuneo.  “How long has Katsume-sama been away now?”

Tsuneo scratched under his chin.  “Six or so years, I think.  We get a letter from him from time to time . . . ”  He leaned forward.  “Still, the boy is under my protection.  We take care of our own.”

“I am sure you do what you can, Tsuneo-sama,   I know you don’t take your responsibilities as head of your family lightly,” Susumu said.  “Still, it has to be hard on him having a missing father.”

Isao took a deep breath and stared down at his hands.  “I barely remember him,” the boy whispered.

“So?” Toshiro said.

“It seems to me that Isao mostly needs more supervision, and to be separated from Aki-kun for  a while.  I admire his spirit. I would like to bring him into my own household,” Susumu said. “I think he’s got good potential to be worth training for the village guard.”

Hisa and Tameo’s eyes met.  Tameo raised an eyebrow and looked at his son. “And you were going to talk to me about this when? I am still the head of the household you live in.”

“Uh . . . ” Susumu said. Color touched his cheeks, but he wasn’t willing to step back.  “I meant to talk to you about this last night.”

“I don’t know,” Toshiro said, rubbing his chin.  “Sounds more like a reward than a punishment.  Maybe half the boys would like you to be their teacher, man.  You’re the best man in the village with sword or bow, and they all look up to you, even my rowdy bunch.”

“Half the boys in the village didn’t jump in when I needed a hand,” Susumu said.  “I think the boy has earned a chance.”

“What about punishment?  People will expect to see that, and there’ll be talk if it looks like he moved from a bad deed to something like this,” Toshiro said, scratching his head.  “It might give some of the other boys the wrong idea.  I can think of two or three right now.”

“Well, if we agree to do this, I’m sure there’s plenty of hard work we can find for him to do,” Tameo said, rubbing his chin.  “There’s the rice straw to chop and spread, and the oxen to care for, and plenty of other things.  I’m not saying I’ve agreed to this yet, but any boy who saw what Isao would be doing for the next few months wouldn’t think it was necessarily a treat.”  He  looked at Tsuneo.  “You have some say in this.”

Tsuneo looked at Isao, who looked back at him quite surprised. “Well that’s an offer I didn’t expect.”

“So what do you think?” Toshiro said.  

“It’s interesting.  Isao is a second son, so that won’t be a problem if we shift him out of his house.  Amaya-chan still has her oldest boy to take care of her.”  Tsuneo turned toward the Toshiro and Tameo and gave a small nod.  “We probably do need to keep the boys  apart for a while.”

“You better,” Kinjiro said. “After what I saw today . . . ”

Tsuneo nodded, and  patted his grandnephew on the shoulder, “It can be hard growing up. Isao needs space to learn how to deal with Aki.  This could help.”

“What do you think, boy?” Tameo asked, looking at the boy. “Do you think you could handle being Susumu’s assistant?  You’ll have to work long and hard hours, and do what he tells you to do. You won’t have much time for playing.”

Isao looked up at Susumu.  “Me?  You really want me?”

“Yes, son, you,” Susumu said, smiling.  

Tameo was about to say something, when suddenly something else caught his attention.  He looked around the room in surprise.  He looked at Miroku.  “Did you feel that?”

Miroku, who also seemed startled, nodded. “It felt like a big surge of spiritual energy.”

“That feels like the kami,” Tameo said.  “What is Kazuo-sama up to this time?”

“Isn’t InuYasha there in the shrine garden?” Susumu asked.

Kagome’s face went white, and she dropped the piece of wood she was about to put under the tea kettle, stood up and headed for the door.  “I have to go see.”

“If you’re going, I guess I have to go, too,” Tameo said, and he got up to follow her. “He probably just wanted to talk, but you never know when people like this get together.”

Kinjiro watched Daitaro and Susumu get up to follow the headman out.  He turned to Toshiro. “Damn it,” he said. “We’re never going to get this meeting finished.”