InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 106

[ 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 105


InuYasha glared at Aki. “I can think of a lot of things more tasty than this stupid kid,” he said to Shinjiro. “Like your okaasan’s pickles.”

Shinjiro laughed. “Haha-ue does make good pickles. I hope she teaches her secrets to Erime.” He shifted his eyes from InuYasha to Aki. “But I don’t think you’re here to talk about food. So, this boy’s been giving you trouble?”

In the field behind him a cow lowed, then slowly meandered over toward the fence line. Aki spit again, getting the last bit of bad taste out of his mouth, and dragged the back of his hand across his mouth. Looking up, he noticed the cow heading their way. “Is that...” Aki asked, eyeing the cow with serious wariness.

“Oh yes, that’s the beauty that you pestered and who chased you up toward InuYasha-sama’s house.” Shinjiro gave the boy a wicked grin. “They say cows have long memories. I could let her out and see if she remembers you.”

The boy began to pull, trying to break free of InuYasha’s grip. “Don’t...she tried to bite me!”

InuYasha stood there, letting the boy tug away. “Poor animal doesn’t deserve that, getting a mouthful of this brat, even if he earned the bite,” the hanyou replied. He looked at Aki. “You can tire yourself out all you want. I don’t think you’re going anywhere.”

The cow reached the fence, swished her head and lowed again. Shinjiro turned around a moment, walked up to the fence, and scratched her ears. “It’s all right, good girl. It’s just that bad boy causing trouble again.”

“Stop pulling, brat,” InuYasha said as Aki tried to lunge away again. “Hard to believe how stupid you are today. I might be mad because you interrupted my lunch,” the hanyou said. “But it’s Kinjiro who’s going to be dealing with you when we get back. I’ll bet he’ll make me seem calm.”

“Kinjiro, eh?” Shinjiro said. He gave the cow one more pat, and walked next to InuYasha and the boy. “You’re right. I doubt if he’s going to be very happy. And an unhappy Kinjiro is...” He shook his head. “Chichi-ue told me that Kinjiro had him today. I hear we’re going to get the pleasure in a few more days.” Shinjiro spit.  

“That’s what your old man asked for,” InuYasha

“That’s Chichi-ue for you. But Haha-ue must have suspected something was up. Even with all she has going on, she wasn’t upset at all and took the news a whole lot better than I did. She’s got a big heart. But if he’s going to act like this...”

“I know. It seems a shame to dump him on Chime,” InuYasha said. “I know she doesn’t deserve this baka. If he gives her a rough time, maybe you should come get me.”

Aki shook his head. “Don’t...”

The farmer ignored Aki for the moment. “Me either. I’ll have to remember your offer.” Shinjiro said. He turned towards Aki, crossed his arms and glared. “You, boy, better get some sense in you before then. I don’t look forward to chasing runaways when I ought to be paying attention to my new wife.”

Aki returned his glare. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

Shinjiro tugged Aki’s ear. “You will, or I won’t have any qualms about sending InuYasha-sama out to look for you.”  

“Ow! Let go!” Aki said.

Shinjiro snorted, and released him. “Better yet, maybe I’ll just let Chichi-ue’s old bull take care of you. He doesn’t take to stupidly very well.”

The farmer looked up at InuYasha. “What do you think? Me, I’d take him at least to Edo. Sure there’s someone willing to use another pair of hands. He could spend the next ten or fifteen years preparing fish to dry.”

InuYasha shrugged. “I suspect Tsuneo might say the same thing once he hears about what happened today.” He looked at the boy. “Your ojiisan was really getting fed up, brat. You heard everything he said today.”

“Let me go!” Aki said. His face reflected a mix of fear and anger. “I want to go home!”

“Your home is with Kinjiro right now,” the hanyou said. “And that’s how it’s going to be. I want to get you back there as soon as possible.”

“And Kinjiro wants him back now.”

The two men swerved and saw a very angry Kinjiro walking toward them, a rope in his hand and a hoe over his shoulder.

“No!” Aki said, pulling hard against InuYasha’s grip. “Let me go! He’s going to beat me!”

“I don’t think so, boy.” The hanyou glared at the struggling youth. “And even if he does, you need to learn to take your punishment like a man.”

In a few minutes, Kinjiro had the hoe slung across the boy’s shoulders, with his hands tied to the handle, and a lead tied around his waist. “I’ll be back,” Kinjiro said. “But first, we’re going to go back to my place.” He looked up at InuYasha and Shinjiro. “Chichi-ue has some useful things he keeps in his office to deal with people who break the peace. If I can’t find some leg irons, then I’ll put him in the lockup until I can get back and get my things. I’ve wasted enough time today on this...” He groped for the right word.

“Cow patty?” Shinjiro suggested.

“I hear that,” InuYasha said. “We all have.”

Aki began to cry. “I want to go home. I want Obaasan...”

“Not today,” Kinjiro said, and holding the rope lead, gave it a tug. “You’ve got two weeks to learn to be worthy of the right to see her. Let’s go.”

The two men watched Kinjiro herd a reluctant Aki back to the road and then to the village beyond.

“I’d say he has his work cut out for him,” Shinjiro said, shaking his head.

InuYasha nodded.“I hope your old man knows what he’s getting into.”

“You’re not the only one,” the young farmer said. “Back to work.” He headed back to the fence, and with a practiced ease, clambered over it. InuYasha turned and went back up the hill.


Dealing with Aki had left a bad taste in his mouth. Going home didn’t make the feeling any better. Pausing in front of his house, he studied the small building, the woodpile, the clothes line - everything that was his.

“A house. Damn not much of one. I don’t know if Haha-ue would ever have even seen the inside of a place this small. But after they kicked me out, I never even thought I’d have even this much to my name,” he said. “Kagome - a woman who loves me. A place that’s mine. Even some respect.” He squatted down, looking at it all, the washtub leaning up against the front, the place where he accidently gouged one of the boards under the window with his claw, a scattering of wood chips that had trailed from his wood cutting block to the front.

“I...” he muttered. Suddenly, he slammed his fist into the dirt next to him, punching a depression into the ground. “A cage. A cage I just can’t leave. I don’t want to leave. Damn it. It’s too much too fast. Why does everything have to be so difficult?”

He took a deep breath, felt the forest around the clearing, thinking about how it felt to be alone, with no sound but the wind, then heard his wife inside singing some little song.  

“My house. My wife. I can’t let a stupid brat like Aki tie me up in knots and ruin everything.” Standing up, he dusted off his hand and walked to the door. He took a deep breath, trying to calm the knot in his gut, and then he lifted the door mat and stepped into the little building.

All signs of their meal had been erased. Emi’s pot, empty and clean, stood at the edge of the wooden platform, waiting to be returned. Kagome sat where the light came through the one window of the little house. The light touched her ebony hair with bright highlights. She sat there working on her sewing, the kosode he knew she was sewing for him. She looked peaceful and content, and something in him lurched seeing her there. His throat grew tight.

She looked up and gave him a big smile, until she saw the sternness on his face. Her smile quickly turned to a hesitant frown.

“Did...did you find Aki?” she asked. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, he wasn’t hard to find.” InuYasha moved across the floor, and with his usual grace, dropped down next to her. “He was hiding up in a little hole in the ground that I used to use on new moon nights. I dragged him out, and was heading back when I found Kinjiro.  He’s taking the boy back to his place.” InuYasha shook his head. “That brat’s got problems. I never thought I’d say it, but I feel sorry for Joben, having that kid for a son.”

“Sometimes, children that age...” Kagome said. She dropped her sewing in her lap, and reached out to rest a hand on InuYasha’s arm. Her face was concerned, a little worried. “I wonder if any of what they are trying to do is going to work on him.”   

InuYasha shrugged. “There’s a point a person’s got to decide for himself, no matter what people are trying to do. I don’t think it’s really sunk into his hard head how much trouble he’s in. Kinjiro is pissed.”

“That’s probably putting it mildly,” Kagome said. She  tucked her sewing in her basket. “Today hasn’t been easy for you, either. I look at you and can sense how much he’s twisted you up.” She let her hand slide down and cover his. “I don’t know how to make it better. Is there anything I can do?”

He turned and looked at her. She breathed in a bit at what she saw - his eyes were hot amber. “InuYasha?”

“It’s just...” he started. “It’s like the walls are closing in on me.” He took a long breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Get out?” She studied his face, not exactly sure of what he meant.

“I...I need to just get away from everybody for a while,” he said, taking her hand in his. “Too many people. It feels...feels almost like I’m in a cage. I have to do something. Run. Go where there’s nobody asking me stuff I don’t know the answer to, some place where there’s no rotten kids or kami or things they think I know but never had the chance to learn.”

“Leave?” Her eyes flashed panic. She started to pull her hand away from his. “You want to leave the village?”

He didn’t let her hand get away, and rested his other on top of hers. He shook his head. “Feh.  That’s not what I said. I don’t want to move out of the village or anything,” he said. The panic he caused flickered out of her eyes. “It’s not that. I just need to get away for a few hours. Ever since we left to go to that blasted village and get that cat, there’s been one thing after another after another. I...”

“It has, hasn’t it?” Kagome said. She scooted closer to him. “It’d be nice to just have some time alone.”

He nodded. “I feel...”

“Overwhelmed?” Kagome asked. She rested her head against his shoulder and he pulled her close, resting his head on top of hers.

“Overwhelmed. Yeah, I guess that’s the right word. I’m scared if anything else happens today, I’m going to do something stupid. You don’t know how I wanted to kick that stupid kid the way I do Shippou. Would have, if I wasn’t scared he’d get too hurt.”

“At this point, I bet Tsuneo wouldn’t say a thing,” Kagome said.

InuYasha snorted. “You’re right. He probably wouldn’t, not today. But he would tomorrow.”

Kagome nodded. “So what do we do?” She idly wrapped a lock of his silver hair around her finger. “I’m nearly as wound up as you are.”

“I know.” He tapped his nose. “Let’s get out of here and go for a run.”

“A run?” Kagome searched his face.

“We can go for a while where there’s nobody but me, you and the sky,” he said. There was a deep longing in his eyes, the set of his mouth. “I need to do this. I have to do this. But I really would like you with me. Please?”

Kagome, seeing the pleading in his eyes, nodded. “Let me get my bow and arrows. I need to get used to bringing them with me.”

“That’s a good idea,” he said, nodding. “I’ll go tell Sango and let her know in case anybody comes looking. I’d like to be gone before Kinjiro gets back up here.”

She nodded, and he dashed out of the hut.