InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 130

I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi


Chapter 129


For a moment, the conversation died as the women looked up at the newcomer.  

Hisa gestured to Emi’s empty seat. “Please, come and sit down, Chiya-chan. You’re welcome to sit next to me.” She moved to her seat, and picked up the teapot.

Chiya looked around the room while Nahoi went to sit next to her mother, taking in the women in the room.

“Don’t just stand there, Chiya-chan,” Fujime said. “Have one of Mariko’s rice cakes. They’re very good.”

As she stood there, Hisako bent towards Kagome. “Well,” she said, quite softly, “I thought that she’d be too busy at the temple today helping. I’d heard she organized food and everything.”

“I’d heard that, too.” Kagome spoke just as softly.

Sango nodded. “Organized is the word. Kimi-chan and Yaya-chan were the ones going to do the actual work.” Although her voice was soft, there was an edge to it, unlike Sango’s normal tone.  

Chiya’s eyes landed on Kagome and Sango. “Thank you for inviting me in, even if you did forget about me, Hisa-sama,” she said. She frowned, seeing Sango, but turned to the headman’s wife, giving her the slightest of bows, and ignoring the honor of sitting next to the hostess. “I’ll go sit near Koume and Nahoi, if you don’t mind.”

“Mind? Why should I?” Hisa replied, giving her a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “This is a day for pleasantness, not for obligation.”

“Ah, pleasantness,” Chiya said. “You are pleasant company, Hisa-sama.” Chiya said. “It’s more that I’m here with Nahoi,” and giving Kagome, Sango and Hisako a dismissive glance, she continued, “and to be honest, I prefer the company on this side of the room. Things will be more pleasant that way.”

She strutted across the room, ignoring the glance Sango gave her back and the uncertain look on Hisa’s face as she settled down between Fujime and Koume.  

Fujime, pulling her basket with her, scooted over closer to Akiko and Mariko to make room. “Did you bring anything to work on?” she asked.   

“Not this time, Obasan,” Chiya said, settling down between Fujime and Koume. “I just dropped by. My afternoon’s a bit too busy to do sewing parties today.  Between the temple and the fields and my family...”

“But not too busy to put in an appearance, I see,” Koume said, focusing on her sewing and avoiding looking up. The tone, though, was not approving.

“Well,” Chiya said, “I did run into Nahoi, and she told me where she was going, and I just tagged along. I was really headed up the hill, and this was on the way.”

“A good bit away from your fields,” Koume continued. “How is your father-in-law doing, by the way?”

“Ah, he’s doing better,” Chiya said. “He’s back out working in the fields today, even though Michio wanted him to stay home another day. He made Masato go with him today. Masato’s such a good boy. He never gives us any trouble.”

“Must take after Michio’s side of the family,” Fujime muttered, softly to herself. She cut the thread she was sewing with and reached for her thread winder for a new length.

Akiko nudged her mother, who ignored her, and continued sewing.

“So Nahoi, what was so important that you came running me down?” Koume said, to change the subject.

“You were right, Okaasan. That weaving pattern’s gone all wrong,” Nahoi said. “I don’t know what to do to fix it.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll come look and help,” Koume said. She looked up at her daughter and sighed. “I thought you tied up your loom wrong. I told you something looked off. But fixing it will wait a day. Today’s too far gone to start that.”

“But what will I do until then?” the younger woman asked, frowning. “It’s either weave or weed. And you know that roughing up my hands will make even more problems with the weaving.”  

“I have some sewing you could do if you need something, child,” Hisako said. “My father needs a new kosode.” She patted the ground next to her.

Nahoi got up and moved closer to the old woman. “I might as well. At least sewing won’t harden my fingertips.”

“Still, it’s a good day for weeding,” Akiko said, looking up from her work and tilting her head as she looked at the younger woman, an amused smile on her lips. “You’re sure you wouldn’t rather be doing it? I have some hand protectors if you really rather.”

“Nahoi choose to go to the field?” Koume said. “Not while there’s cloth or weaving around.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing, Okaasan,” Nahoi said, frowning as she accepted the lengths of fabric Hisako handed her. “You don’t mind it when we get paid.”


“My son says the merchants on market day think highly of your cloth,” Chime said.

“When she doesn’t mess up the warping, that’s true,” Koume admitted. “Well, we all have our talents.”

“Some of us are better with a hoe, some with a needle,” Hisa said, moving around the room with her  teapot.

“And some,” said Chiya, looking at Kagome and Sango, “seem to have rather unusual talents.”

“It takes more than a hoe and a needle to make a village work,” Hisa said, pouring Fujime a new cup of tea. “Where would we be if there were nobody to make indigo or hoes or defend the village?”

“And don’t forget the silkworms,” Fujime said. “That’s a handy little business for some of us.”

“If you have the knack for it,” Akiko said, sighing. “I never got it.”

“I seem to be better in the garden,” Mariko said. Her son stirred, and she patted him on the back until he rested better.

“But you do such nice linen, Akiko,” Fujime said, patting her daughter’s arm. “You know that’s a talent too.”

“So, Chiya, how’s your okaasan doing?” Chime asked as Hisa offered Chiya a cup of tea.

Chiya sighed, and then pursed her lips. It was not a pleasant look on her face. “I saw her last night, and she was weak and barely able to walk,” Chiya said. “It’s a shame this happened to her. How could people push her to such anger? ”

“We know who made her so angry,” Hisa said, moving past her to Koume. She looked back at the young woman, displeased. “And it wasn’t anybody who belongs to this village, not even your nephew, who is at true fault here.”

“Counts what you mean by belongs here,” Chiya said. “None that were born here, anyway.”

“Well, the kami has blessed all the newcomers,” Fujime said. “My husband, he saw it himself.  So you can’t mean any of them.”

Koume nodded. “Kimi-chan saw it, too, before it was all over. She was rather amazed. It’s not every day a kami manifests that way.”

Chiya looked at the older woman, her lips touched with a small, but rather condescending smile. “She always was easy to impress,” she said. “I remember when we were girls...”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Koume said, finally looking up from her stitching. “I seem to remember hearing a story or two about you, as well.”

Chiya shrugged, and sipped her tea.

Kagome looked up at her. “Kaede-obaasan stopped by to see her this morning.”

“Really?” Chiya said. She glanced at Kagome, and twisted her mouth into a grimace before turning to look at Nahoi. “It must be nice to just be able to stop and visit like that, don’t you think? Even if your okaasan is irritated, she’ll talk to you. Chichi-ue has made it clear that I am only allowed evening visits. He seems to think it’s not good for her to see so much of her daughter.”

“Surely, Chiya-chan, it’s not that bad,” Chime said. “Have you talked to your otousan today?”

Chiya shook her head. “He’s made himself scarce,” she replied, staring into her teacup. “I looked for him, but didn’t find him.”

“He came by early today to talk to my Choujiro about some work,” Yurime said. “I don’t know where they went.”

“Ah,” Chiya said.  

“Amaya-chan told me about them fixing up the house near the river,” Kagome said. “Perhaps he went there?”

“Odd,” Chiya said, not looking at anybody in particular, but looking rather petulant, “how someone outside of the family should know more about what’s going on than a child of the family.” She sipped her tea again. “How right is that?”

Hisa, having made the rounds with the tea, began offering around the tray of mochi cakes. “Please, Chiya-sama, have one,” she said. “I’m sure we can smooth the way between your mother and you. Everybody’s just being cautious.”

“Why do they need to be cautious about me?” she asked Hisa, who had no answer to give her.  Sighing, she looked at the rice cakes. “Who made them?” Chiya asked.

“Teruko-chan,” Hisa said.  

“They’re fresh,” Teruko-chan said, nodding. "I baked them this morning."

“Well, maybe,” Chiya replied. “Although they won’t be quite the same as my Haha-ue’s.”

“True,” Teruko said. “Everybody knows she makes the best ones in the village. I wish I knew her secret.”

“Me, too,” Chiya said, and sighed.

Conversation stilled for a few minutes as Chiya ate in silence and the women attended to their sewing. She broke the silence. “Kaede never showed up? I was hoping to talk to her.”

“No. I’m not sure what happened,” Hisa said, returning to her place and picking up her own work.

“She had to take care of Aki-kun,” Kagome said. “He got into a tree and got pecked. She was going to bandage him up. But I expected her here by now.”

“That boy,” Koume said. “I told Haname . . . ”

“You told her what?” Chiya said, putting her teacup down. The sad, but petulant child look she had been wearing sharpened into a wary look. “My nephew is -”

“Your nephew has been a trouble waiting to cause your okaasan a heartbreak,” Koume said. “And it finally happened.”

“If Isao - ” Chiya started. Her face hardened.

“If Isao hadn’t been beaten up by your nephew, we might not know how much Aki-kun had been hiding about what he had been doing,” Hisa said. Sango poured her some tea. “Thank you,” she said, lifting the tea cup. “He was well and bloody battered by the time I got to him.”

Chiya frowned and tried to think of what to say next, when Emi walked in, carrying a sleeping Mitsuo and followed by Aomi, and Sango’s twins.

“The children are starting to get tired and a little cranky,” Emi said. “I’ll go lay Mitsuo down in the back.” Aomi followed her as she went.

“That’s not all who’s getting cranky,” Hisako said, loudly enough only Kagome could hear. Kagome raised her eyebrows, but said nothing, and went back to her sewing.

The twins, though, hurried to surround Sango.  

“Look, Okaa!” Yusuko said, holding out a large rock. It was broken and had shiny mica flakes on the exposed face. The little girl moved it back and forth in the light, watching how it glittered as she moved it.

“Very pretty, Yusuko,” Sango said. “Do you want me to hold it?”

The little girl nodded. Her sister looked at Kagome for a moment, then spied the dish of rice cakes next to Hisa.

Hisa, looking up from her sewing smiled at the girl. “Do you want another one?” Hisa asked.

Noriko nodded, then bashfully moved towards her mother’s side.  

Hisa took two small ones off the dish. “Here’s one for you,” she said. She handed the other to Yusuko. “And one for you.”

Noriko sat down between her mother and Kagome. “Tired?” Sango asked.

“No!” Noriko said, but laid her head against her mother’s side as she ate her treat.

Chiya drank the last of her tea, rested the cup on the ground, then leaned towards Koume and mock-whispered in a voice loud enough that everybody could hear clearly.”Isn’t it interesting, our village? My father keeps his daughter away from her mother. The headman protects youkai, and allows a married miko. And those two,” she said, looking straight at Sango and Kagome. “One marries the man with dog ears, and the other one marries a monk and bears litters. And a kami comes out and says everything’s all right. Such a strange place.”

Koume gasped. “Chiya...” Her gasps were echoed across the room as hands stopped work.

Sango, her head up at the rude comment, held her daughters close to her. “Litters?”

Kagome’s eyes went wide, and she stood up, letting the fabric in her lap flutter to the floor. “How dare you,” she said.

“Oh, look. The married miko is going to try to use the same tactics on me as she did to my okaasan.”

“Chiya-chan,” Hisa said, standing up. Her tone was the voice she used when Susumu or Kinjiro acted up, and those who knew it, knew trouble was going to follow. “I was standing with Kagome-chan that day. She did nothing to your okaasan. And Sango’s daughters are beautiful and welcome. There is nothing wrong with them. Is there some reason you come to my house to insult my guests?”

Naoya, hearing the noise, woke up and began crying. Kagome, giving one more look to Chiya, and seeing the tears starting to form in Sango’s eyes, picked up the baby, and knelt next to her, handing Sango her son and wrapping an arm around her.

“Don’t listen, Sango-chan,” she said, glaring over her shoulder at Chiya, who was glaring back with something like triumphant glee.

The girls, sensing something wrong themselves began to cry as well. As Erime and Chime went to help, Chiya gave a sharp single laugh. Teruko’s and Mariko’s babies joined in as the crying grew louder and almost drowned out her voice with their crying.

Akiko stood up, moving toward Teruko, who was picking up her baby and putting him over her shoulder. “Look what you’ve done. Take your petty jealousies and problems with your mother somewhere else. Why are you doing this?”

“What I’m doing?” Chiya said, above the children crying. “Look at you all. The whole world’s turned upside down and you sit down to have a sewing party.” She walked close to Hisa. Fujime grabbed Chiya’s sleeve, afraid she was going to slap Hisa. Chiya, jerking, pulled her arm free. “I’m not the one who brings a married miko and a woman who lives with a monk under her roof,” Chiya said, standing. “You might like scandals, but I for one, am tired of it all. ”

“There, there, baby,” Sango said, rocking her son. She opened her top and began to nurse him, after Erime finally managed to pry Yusuko off her arm.  

Chime brushed the girl’s bangs, and gave her a smile. “It’s all right, little one. Don’t be frightened.”

Yusuko let out a fresh wail.

“Leave, Chiya,” Hisa said, clenching her fists. “I’m going to assume the only reason you’re acting like this is that you’re distraught over your okaasan. I’ll find Kaede and have her see if you need some medicine. If I thought you were in your right mind...The only one causing scandal here today is you.”

Chiya’s eyes flared, and although the look Hisa gave her could give grown men the feeling of being small boys being caught doing bad things, it had no such visible effect on her. Instead, she breathed deeply, trying to assert her dignity, and stood up. “Leave? I don’t even know why I let Nahoi talk me into coming. Maybe I thought there was some virtue left in this village. But it looks like I’m wrong. I would prefer not to be in this type of company anyway.” She lifted up her chin and passed the older woman. “I’ll join the others helping the men at the temple. I prefer to have the Buddha’s blessing over a group of people who think that...people like this are acceptable company.”

And with that, she walked out.