InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 99

[ 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 98


As the group filed back into the office, Aki’s head shot up, and his eyes grew wide and his mouth nervous, studying each of the men as they walked back into the room. Tameo, nor Daitaro looked his way as they passed by.  As InuYasha walked by to take a seat next to Miroku, Aki noticeably cringed.

 Susumu looked at the boy thoughtfully.  Aki began to say something, but  Susumu shook his head.  The village guard’s  voice was firm, but not overly harsh. “Just don’t. It’ll be better for you if you just stay quiet. You’ve been making it worse for yourself all morning.”

Aki closed his mouth, then closed his eyes and dropped his head as Susumu settled down next to Daitaro.

“So,” Toshiro said, turning to the headman. “I take it everything was all right?”

“Indeed,” Tameo said. “InuYasha was just standing there, waiting for us to show up.  No catastrophes today so far.  Let us hope that there will be no more. For that, I am grateful, as hard as this morning has been. Yesterday was bad enough.”

“You talked to the kami?” Miroku asked, the curiosity in his face telling the hanyou that he was going to be grilled later.

InuYasha  nodded, giving Miroku a look that warned the monk to back off. Miroku took a deep breath and sighed.

“So,” Daitaro asked, pulling out his jug and setting it on the table.  “What did the kami want with you anyway, besides demanding a share of my sake?”

InuYasha’s ear twitched.  “Just to talk.”

“Talk,” Miroku said.

“Yeah, talk.” InuYasha replied.  “You got a problem with that?”

“Not at all, my friend,” the monk replied. “You want some tea?  Hisa left the teapot. I’ll go get it.”

The hanyou nodded, and Miroku got up and moved over to the side of the room where Hisa had been sitting.

“Our kami does like to talk. He’s done that to me - just showed up and wanted to talk,” Tameo said, grabbing his writing things and getting ready to record the decisions of the meeting. “But not quite in the same fashion.  He usually makes me go to him.”  He looked at the sake jug and then at Daitaro. “Maybe we should save that for later.  I’m sure at least one or two of us would like to get this sad business done, and save the drinking for afterwards.”

“Yes,” Kinjiro said.

Miroku walked around the table with the teapot. “While I’m up - more?” he asked Toshiro.

Toshiro nodded. “All in good time,” the elder told Kinjiro. He watched Miroku fill his cup, then picked it up, and  took a sip.  “We all have things we’d rather be doing.  So let’s get this finished.”  He put the cup down, then looked at the village headman. “So, Tameo, have you made up your mind about what ought to happen to Isao-kun?”

“Tea, Tsuneo-sama?” Miroku asked.

Tsuneo was sitting there, barely paying attention to the chatter around him, looking down at the table.  His face was gaunt and his eyes were sad and angry both.  He looked up at the monk, surprised, as if the question had pulled him out of deep thought. “Yes, please.”  Picking up the fragrant liquid, he took a quick look at his grandson and sighed.

Tameo looked down at the scroll in front of him for a moment, and then glanced at both of his sons, Kinjiro giving him a knowing look, Susumu a hopeful one. “Well, sons, you saw Hisa as we walked in.  What do you think?”

“She’s already taking charge of him,” Kinjiro said. “You know how she is when gets an idea in her head. Don’t know how she’ll react if you send him away. She won’t be happy.”

“Looked like it to me,” Susumu replied, nodding. “And you know how Haha-ue is once she had decided someone ought to be under her care - dogs, children, stray heroes.” His eyes briefly met InuYasha’s eyes and he smiled. “Once they’re hers, they’re hers forever.”

Miroku poured tea for InuYasha. The hanyou, in return, picked up the tea pot and offered to pour some back, but the monk shook his head.  

“Too much already,” the monk said.  He turned to Tameo.  “So, you’re saying that for all of her gentle ways, Hisa-sama seems to be a woman with a certain...determination.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Susumu said, smiling at the monk.

“Bah,” Tameo said, shaking his head. “You sound like she pushes me around.  You know better than that. Your mother and I have...a certain understanding.  Enough talk about her. Let’s get back to Isao. He’s been doing bad things, but no more than several of us here did that at his age.  But yesterday and today both prove Isao’s  not a bad boy at heart. Hisa-chan has a gift for reading hearts - she’s never been wrong.  If you are determined to bring him in as your charge, Susumu, I am willing.  But you will have to see to him.” He turned to the boy’s grandfather. “ Are you content with this, Tsuneo?”

The elder looked up and nodded. “Thank you. I think it’ll be good for him. I’ll talk to his mother and send his things over when I go home.”

Heads nodded. “Well,” Miroku said, speaking what most were thinking. “That’s one thing down.”

Tameo prepared his ink, and dipped his brush in it and began to write something down on the scroll in front of him.  “We’ll have to think of something for him to do that seems like punishment work,” he said to Susumu. “You can’t just treat him like your apprentice. You understand that, don’t you”

The village guard nodded. “But Haha-ue will skin any of us who put him to work before she thinks he’s well enough.”

Tameo rubbed his lip with his knuckle.  “We’ll have to start with something light, then.  Well, we can figure that out later.  Now about Aki-kun.”

“Bah,” Tsuneo said, glaring at his grandson. “Do with him what you want.” He turned back to look at the table. “I’m ready to send him off to Kofu in Kai or Odawara. Let him go see what real bad luck is.”

InuYasha frowned.  He could smell the hurt and anger radiating off the old man, and the fear coming from the young boy.  It reminded him of a time much earlier in his life. “You don’t really want to do that,” he said.  

“What do you do with a child that’s trying to become a monster?” The old man shook his head, and looked at the hanyou thoughtfully. “You think any of us have what it takes to get whatever deviltry that’s in him out?”

“Ojiisan...” Aki said.  His voice was choked.  “I’m sorry...”

InuYasha shrugged. “Won’t know unless we try, but sending the brat away won’t make him any better.  Getting kicked out can take a long time to get over.”  He looked back at Aki, and then at his grandfather, his eyes filled with memory.  “He’s a brat, but that...”

“If anybody here would know what that feels like,” Miroku said, too softly to be heard by most of the room.

InuYasha’s ear flicked, though, and he gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Tsuneo looked at InuYasha curiously, but then back at his grandson and sighed. “So what do we do?”

“I can think of a thing or two,” Kinjiro said, scowling at the boy.  “If Matsume wasn’t carrying...”

“We want to separate the boys,” Toshiro said.  “I’m afraid your house is too close, anyway. And I’m about to have a new baby in mine, too.  Sayo, as good as she is, might pack up and leave. My boy Yasuo might even follow her.”

Aki sobbed.


“So who would be willing?” Tameo asked. “I’d like to keep it in the family, but if there’s nobody willing, we might have to ask someone else.”

“Maybe Takeshi?  Or one of our lower ranked branch families?” Toshiro suggested.

The room fell silent.  Daitaro poured some sake into a cup, ignoring the look Tameo gave him. “For what I’m going to say, I need this more than tea.” He took a sip. “I’m willing. It’d be simple if I didn’t have Shinjiro’s wedding coming up.”  He drained the cup.  “Everything’s too busy at home right now. I couldn’t pay him enough attention, and my women folk would probably throw me out.  Chime’s determined everything for the wedding day has to be perfect. Five days from now, I could do it. Anybody willing to watch him until then?”

Daitaro turned and looked at the boy, who stared back at him with wide eyes, full of surprise, and a touch of fear.  “I won’t eat you, son.  I promise, even after what you did to my sake.”

Tameo raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure, cousin? You’re the one he’s done the most to.”

“Well then, he owes me the most,” Daitaro said. Tsuneo gave him a small, grateful smile. “Chichi-ue said taking care of the cattle was the one thing that saved my own hide from being shipped off. Let’s see if the same thing will work for Aki. Cleaning up after the cows for a while is a great way to study the error of your ways.  Manure shoveling teaches you a lot of things.”

Kinjiro gave a small laugh.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” Susumu said. “I did more of that than you.”

“Which is why it’s funny,” the younger brother said.

“My foster-father used to say the same thing about scrubbing the temple floor,” Miroku said. “I learned a lot from that, myself.  Many hours.”

“Seeing how you are today, Houshi-sama, many hours may not have been enough,” Daitaro replied.  

Waiting for the laughter to settle, Toshiro finished his tea. He looked across the table at Daitaro. “Have you talked to your woman about this?” Toshiro said. “Another mouth to feed, and a surly one at that.”

“I...” Aki said, but Susumu shot him a look and he returned to studying the floor.

“You ever try to talk to a woman organizing a wedding?” Daitaro replied. “Not really.”

There were a couple of snickers around the table.

“Well, you know her better than I do,” Toshiro said. “What about you, InuYasha, Houshi-sama? That’d put the boy near your homes.  Does this bother you?”

“Be honest,” Daitaro said.“Don’t want any bad blood between us.”

“Aki-kun has never made a move to bother me or mine,” Miroku said. “I would recommend he continue upon that path. I know how to use my staff, and my beloved wife, well she’s a taijiya, and packs a mean punch.” He rubbed his chin, knowingly. “Although if he needs extra work, there is plenty of work around the temple.  Scrubbing floors, painting, tending the garden, helping the men when they work on the roof...”

Daitaro snorted.

“Feh,” InuYasha said. “Do what you want. I can take care of me and Kagome.  Not sure why you’re doing it, but...”

“I have a weakness for getting involved with the people other people don’t want to get involved with.” Daitaro looked knowingly at the hanyou, and InuYasha’s ear twitched as it dawned on him that he too belonged to that group. “That is, if we find someone willing to put up with his sorry butt until I get Shinjiro and Erime-chan settled down.”

“We could put him in the lockup until you’re ready for him,” Kinjiro said, looking longingly at Daitaro’s bottle, but choosing to drink his tea instead.  

“You can’t put a boy in that box for five days,” Tameo said, both shocked and frowning. “Barely enough room to lie down in, much less stand.”

Aki began rocking back and forth, whimpering softly. Only InuYasha was able to hear how he was crying for his grandmother.

“Oh, I wouldn’t leave him there during the day,” Kinjiro said. “There’s lots he could be doing. Daitaro’s cow trampled through Kagome-chan’s garden. There’ll be a lot of work cleaning up the damage the cow did and replanting.” He looked at Daitaro, with a small disapproving twist to his mouth.  “Don’t know what you’re feeding that animal of yours. She left plenty of cow pies to pick up. She wasn’t like that when I sold her to you.”

“Nothing that you aren’t feeding yours,” Daitaro said. “Must be all the excitement.”

“Plenty of that right here,” Tameo said.

“You want to take responsibility for him until then?” Tsuneo asked.  “I’m not sure about the lockup, but no doubt we can find a safe place for him to sleep. You think you can keep him from getting to Isao?”

Kinjiro made a fist. “If he tries...”

“You will not abuse that boy,” Tameo said, scowling at his son. “We’re here to heal what’s wrong with him, not damage him. I’ll find someone else.”

“Have I ever abused man or animal?” Kinjiro asked.

“Worked’em hard, though,” Daitaro said.

“That’s not abuse,” the young man said, looking back at the old farmer.

“Counts whose back’s doing the talking, I suspect,” Daitaro replied.

“Enough,” Tameo said, holding up a hand. “It’s only for a few days. I guess we’ll do that then. What do you think, Toshiro?”

“If everybody’s happy,” Toshiro said. “Tsuneo?”

The old man took a breath.  “It’s better than I hoped. I would like you to keep Aki away from his grandmother for a couple of weeks. She needs to time to heal and get used to the idea.  It’d pull on her too much.  I know my wife.” He looked at Daitaro. “Thank you, friend. You can keep him as long as you think he’s worth it. Don’t cover for him.”

Daitaro nodded.

Tameo wrote some notes with his brush.  “Well,” he said, putting it down. “We’re just about done.  Tsuneo asked to have some words with InuYasha and Kagome-chan, and have his offer put in the register.  After I tell Hisa what’s up, we’ll get to the last item. Kinjiro, Aki’s under your authority. You’re free to go to work.” He stood up.  

“About time,” the young man said, looking at his new charge. The boy’s crying got louder.