InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 97

[ 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 96


InuYasha looked at the little man standing expectantly in front of him, not really knowing what to do or say. “Uhhh...”

“Don’t tell me I shocked you that much,” Kazuo said.  “I know you’re met up with kami before now.”

The hanyou shook his head like he was trying to clear his thoughts. “Uh... yeah, at least a couple that I know about,” he said.  “Never met any who just wanted to talk to me because I was...interesting...or who I knew had done something good for me.”

This made the kami laugh. “It’s probably a good thing that people don’t often get to see the kami who look out after them.  There have been more than one or two who’ve kept an eye on your progress. You just didn’t see them working from the shadows.”

“Feh,” InuYasha said. “Could have fooled me. All the stuff I’ve been through over the years, I would have guessed they hated me.”

Kazuo nodded.  “The path fate threw you...you’ve had a rather odd destiny, boy.  Small kami like me, even if they love you a lot, can’t usually fix that.”  He sighed.  “I’ve really tried a time or two, and it didn’t work out so well. Destiny is a stronger power than I’ll ever be.” Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his cap back and forth on his head. “Let’s get out of this garden.  It’s too...neat and pretty for me.  Don’t you tell Hisa-sama that, though.”

That made InuYasha smile a little.

“I see that grin. You’ve heard about her look, eh?” Kazuo said, grinning back.  “Bet she’s already used it a time or two this morning, knowing that bunch, and Daitaro starting them drinking before lunch.”

The hanyou’s smile broadened. “You’re right.  Susumu particularly seems in awe of it. Didn’t know a kami would pay attention to stuff like that.”

“You’d be surprised what I notice.  It’s kind of my job, you know?” Kazuo said.  “And Hisa - well, I don’t think she’d turn that look of hers on me. I hope not, since I’m the one who gave her that look as a gift.  That boy of hers was really wild there for a while coming up.  I thought it would come in handy.  And it did.”

“Do you watch over everybody like that?” InuYasha asked.

“When I can,” Kazuo said, nodding. “I was a farmer before I was a kami.  I guess it’s just me tending my own fields. In return, they built this pretty shrine and garden for me.  Hisa-sama loves tending the garden, and I don’t want to make her unhappy.”

“Huh,” InuYasha said, looking at the little kami thoughtfully. “Never thought about what kami do before.”

“We’re not all like me,” Kazuo said.  “Some of us are pretty rotten bastards, but we all have jobs to do.  This family and the welfare of the village, too, is mine.”  He tapped the hanyou on the back. “Enough of just standing around. There’s a place up on the hill I like better,” the kami said. “I want to take you there to talk.”

“But what about - ” InuYasha started, pointing to Tameo’s office.

“Don’t worry about them,” Kazuo said. “They’ll be out here in a few minutes anyway, once they realize I’m out of my cage again.  I sneak out more than they realize, but if I want to talk to someone, well, Tameo’s got a good nose on him for my aura.  As does that lovely little wife of yours. Let’s take advantage of it while we can.” He began to walk to the far side of the shrine.

InuYasha, not sure what else he could do, followed.

Beyond the shrine, there was a trail heading up the hill.  Kazuo nimbly headed up the path, and InuYasha stayed close behind.  They eventually reached a clearing where the land opened up into a tree-shaded flat spot.  A small bit of meadow opened up in the middle, where a downed tree had cleared enough of its fellows in its fall to bring in the sun.

The kami plopped himself down on a fallen log and stretched out his legs in front of him.  “It’s always nice to get up here.”  He looked up at the hanyou, who was turning around in the clearing, with an amazed look on his face.

“Sit down, man,” Kazuo said, tapping on the log with his hoe, showing the hanyou where to sit. “I’m going to get dizzy watching you do that.”

InuYasha snorted, then sat down where the kami indicated. “I never came back up here after I woke up,” he  said. “But it looks just the same.”

“Ah,” Kazuo said. “You recognize this place?”

InuYasha nodded.  “It’s not something I could forget.  But I thought it’d look different after fifty years. That’s a lot of time, even for a forest.”

“Might be my fault,” Kazuo admitted. “This was always my favorite place to get away, even before I became a kami. “When the work got too heavy, or I had too many people pulling at my attention, or I knew the crop was going to fail, I’d come here - scream, yell, or just let the quiet calm me.  Look.” He pointed.

InuYasha looked at the direction he was pointing in. The village was spread out before them, green fields, houses, even the alarm tower.

“If the rice paddies were flooded, they’d be glinting in the sunlight.  It’s a pretty sight,” Kazuo said.  “I’d look out and think maybe I was accomplishing something when I saw it. Still can.”

“So why does it look the same as the first time I came here?” InuYasha asked.

“Kami secret,” Kazuo said. “A little drop of magic, I guess you’d say. It doesn’t just look like it did fifty years ago.  It looks like it did when I was new to the kami business.”

They fell quiet, lost in memories.

“Remember the first time you were here?” Kazuo asked a moment later.

“How could I forget?” the hanyou replied. He sat up, tilted his head back to look at the sky, then closed his eyes. “The day was a lot like today.”

“You didn’t see me that day, but I was standing over there, underneath that pine.” Kazuo nudged the hanyou and pointed to an ancient pine tree to their left. “I wasn’t manifested, because I didn’t want her or you to feel me hanging around. But I was told you were going to show up. I wanted to see what type of person you were.”

“Feh, some impression I must have made,” InuYasha said. He looked down at his hands. “I thought I was so good,” he said. “I slipped through the trees, very, very quiet. It was something I had learned to do a long time ago, at first because I was hunted, later because I was the hunter.” He reached down, picked up a fallen leaf, and twirled it in his fingers. It was old, an overwintered leaf, very brittle,  and it broke in his fingers. “It had been a long time since anybody caught me coming.”

His ear flicked, even as his eyes grew distant, lost in the past. “I was standing in that tree,” he said, pointing to his right. “I thought it’d be easy to sneak up on her.  I jumped, but when I touched down, claws out, she was waiting for me, arrow pointed at my chest. Never did figure out why Kikyou didn’t shoot me that first time.”

“She had a soft heart,” Kazuo said, “and a heavy burden.  That cursed jewel was already wearing her down.  I pleaded with the heavenly court to let her out of her destiny, but...and then you showed up.”

InuYasha took a deep breath.  “She was the first person who treated me like I was a person and not a monster in so long I had forgotten what it felt like.” He looked around the glade. “We came here a lot.”

“Your soul and hers, they had been fated.  I wasn’t sure what to think, when I first found out,” Kazuo said.  “A hanyou and a miko.  Who would have thought it?  And the jewel, distorting everything near it.  Still, even that first day, I could see inside your heart.  And I liked what I saw.”

“Feh,” Inu looked down. “I sure didn’t.  Not then.”

“Sometimes,” Kazuo said in a soft tone, “it takes someone else to see the worth of a thing. Underneath all that roughness, I could see what was really there.”

“If...” InuYasha said, turning to the kami. “I never wanted things to go like they did.”

Kazuo rubbed his cap over the top of his head, and looked at the hanyou with a sad smile. “It wasn’t meant to be.  Naraku had to be born to get rid of the jewel. I don’t know why, but that’s what they told me when I went to beg for Kikyou’s destiny to be changed. And her soul, as sweet as it was, wasn’t really ready.”  He shook his head. “You two...your souls were destined, but your lives...you two were there to give birth to what it would take to get rid of that blasted thing, and then later, to destroy it. And at such a high price.” Kazuo thumped his thigh with the palm of his hand.   Sparks flew at the contact, like miniature fireflies that melted in the sunlight. “How did we get on such a sad subject?  That’s not what I wanted to do.”

The hanyou’s brows knit, and he looked at his companion with a somber face, not yet free of the memories of bygone days.“So what did you drag me out here for?”

“Not to relive the past, that’s for sure,” Kazuo said.  He let out a breath slowly, and then regained his smile.  “After everything that happened yesterday, it just seemed the right thing to do.”  

“I’m still taking all that in,” InuYasha said. He looked down at the ground for a moment and scrubbed a toe across the leaf litter. “When we were coming down the hill this morning, one woman looked at us like we were a good luck charm.” He looked up at the kami. “That was a first. Me, a good luck charm.  I’m used to being the first one blamed when anything happens.”

“Heh,” Kazuo said.

“But then,” InuYasha said, tilting his head as he looked at the kami, “I saw what you did to that Morio guy.” He paused a moment.  “That was...”

“Needful, although I know you don’t really approve,” the kami said.  His smile faded and he rubbed his hat over his head again.

“You keep doing that,” the hanyou said, slipping his hands in his sleeves, “you’re going to rub a sore place on your head.”

Kazuo chuckled. “Old  habit. I must think it helps me think.”

InuYasha snorted, but then followed that with a frown. “But you’re right, I don’t approve. Why didn’t you just kill him?”

“Morio...was complicated,” the kami replied. “You know he stirred up the bakeneko that you took care of.”

The hanyou nodded.  

“He’d done a bunch of other stuff, including stealing an amulet that belonged to a much more powerful person,” the kami continued. “His reiki wasn’t really that strong. Without it, he wouldn’t have been able to cause that much harm to Haname. It’s going to take her a while to get over it. Let’s just say justice was done.  Besides, Tsuneo’s family kami was getting fed up with Joben.  Morio’ll keep that boy busy for a while, too busy to give you any grief.  ”

“Still...” InuYasha’s voice trailed off.

“It’ll work out for the best. You’ll see. Kami eyes see things that humans and even youkai can’t.” Kazuo started to rub his hat across his head one more time, and caught himself with his hand in midair. He laughed.  “I must be needing to think more than I realized. Time to change the subject. Instead of thinking about the ways of evil yamabushi and divine retribution, let’s think about that pretty wife of yours.” The kami gave InuYasha a friendly slap to the back.

“Keh,” InuYasha said. Suddenly, the sadness and irritation he had been feeling fell away. He looked at the kami, who was smiling back at him, and even though he suspected his mood swing was something Kazuo had done, he didn’t care.  His thoughts drifted to Kagome.

“Tell me about her,” the kami said.

InuYasha took a deep breath. He untangled his arms and then leaned forward, elbow on thigh, head in chin. “It’s like...” He frowned. “Kuso, I don’t have the words.  I was empty, and knew I was, but not how empty I was, and then she’s here and that emptiness has been filled up.” He sat up and turned to the kami.

“That day, when suddenly I could smell her scent - I thought I was imagining things at first.  And when I lifted her out of the well...”  He gave the kami a soft grin. “I had always hoped. It was the only thing that kept me sane. But when it really happened, it felt like a miracle.”

“Nothing you two didn’t deserve,” Kazuo said. “She’s a special one, your Kagome.  My granddaughter who’s not my granddaughter - it’s still the same soul, but now she’s ready for the life opening up before you.” He sighed. “I couldn’t save Kikyou, but the lords of destiny have tied you two together, and at least for a while, they’re going to let me smooth the way for you two. It won’t all be roses, but it won’t be winter snow, either.”

InuYasha’s ear flicked. Kazuo gave the hanyou a gentle tap on his head.  “And you, you need to stop worrying.”

“I’m not worried,” InuYasha said. “It’s just that...”

Kazuo shook his head. “Kagome is not destined for the sadness your mother had, and your destiny is nothing like your father’s. You’re being given a special blessing from the lords of the August Fields. I guess they finally decided they owe you two something after all the darkness they put you through to get here. ”

“Darkness,” InuYasha said. “That’s one way to put it.”

“Well that’s over.” Kazuo stood up.  “And now, our talk is almost too.  We’re going to have to head back.  They’ve figured out what to do with Isao-kun. He’s a good boy.  Aki...” the kami sighed.  “Well, he’ll get something out of it.”

The two headed down the hill. “I can’t do this often, manifesting like this when there’s no emergency,” Kazuo said as they neared the shrine. “It upsets the balance of things. The earth is more for people like you to walk than me. I usually pass over it like a breeze, unseen and seldom felt. But come talk to me sometimes. Who knows what can happen?”

“I will,” InuYasha said. “I...”

They stopped in front of the shrine. “I know. Take care, son. I really have to go now.”  He tapped his hoe on the ground, and suddenly there was a large surge of power. “Don’t forget to tell Daitaro, that scoundrel, about the sake.”

And with a flash of bright light, he was gone.