InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 135

[ 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 134

While Michio and Chiya were having words near the temple, other words were being said at Hisa’s sewing party.

The room had gotten much quieter as the infants, now fed, began to drift off to sleep. Aomi, Emi’s daughter, played with her stick doll next to her mother, but Yusuko had fallen asleep sitting in Erime’s lap. Sango held onto Naoya, rocking him back to sleep.

“I might as well put this away,” Akiko said, folding her half-made kosode and tucking it back into her sewing basket. “I can tell I’m not going to be getting any more work done.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Fujime said. She put the last of her sewing tools away as well, and moved nearer.

They weren’t the only women in Hisa’s house that had given up any pretense to sewing. Hisako and Chime had long since gave up even trying, and instead, kept their focus on the two younger women.

Hisa, kneeling in front of Sango, refilled her tea cup. Putting the pot down, she touched Sango’s arm. “You don’t have to tell us anything if it’s too uncomfortable, Sango-chan.” The taijiya nodded. “We’re here as your friends. We want you to feel welcome here, unlike whoever it was that made you feel unwanted.”

“Those stupid women in Chiya’s circle,” Hisako said, knitting her eyebrows together. “Sora, Chisuzu, Kou...Who else did this to you? I doubt if it was Kimi or even Amaya who made you feel unwanted.”

“Kimi’s always been nice,” Sango said, nodding. “She’s even helped me with the twins once when they had colds.”

“That sounds like her,” Mariko said. “I don’t know why she lets Chiya get her involved with things.”  

Akiko shrugged. “I think Kimi has hopes she can get her to improve. I tell her she’s not Kwannon, but she tries.”

Sango nodded, watching her son as he grew closer and closer to sleep. For a moment the room grew quiet.   

Staring at her friend thoughtfully for a moment, Kagome tilted her head. “You don’t think Miroku’s doing anything wrong with her, do you?” Kagome asked. “Maybe not wrong, exactly, but that encourages her?”

Sango shook her head, and gave Kagome a bittersweet smile. “No. After all those times he drove me crazy...He still likes to look sometimes, I know, if he thinks I’m not watching, but, no ever since the last battle, and even before...and since the twins were born, he really has changed.”

Fujime smiled. “I remember how he was back when he first showed up...no, no, he’s nothing like that any more.”

“He’s had some opportunity, too. A couple of the girls that got married last year - they had real crushes on him,” Mariko said, smiling at Sango. “He is a good-looking man.”

“I believe Chou was particularly smitten,” Teruko said. She pulled a cloth over her sleeping baby. “It’s probably good that her family married her out of the village. It was almost embarrassing to see how moonstruck she was. I felt sorry for her brother who had to keep pulling her home.”

“Chou always was a silly thing,” Hisako said. She pulled her basket in front of her, and looked at it thoughtfully, as if trying to decide whether to pick up her sewing, but shook her head. “Still, I hear she’s happy. She and her mother-in-law get along well. It’s a good thing, since her husband’s off fishing so much.”

Koume, who never had put her needlework down, nodded as she took another stitch. “That’s what I hear. My husband goes down that way every couple of months or so. So anyway, at least we know whatever’s going on, it’s not Houshi-sama’s fault.”

Sango stretched her sleeping son down and covered him, and seeing her chance, Noriko let Kagome to crawl into her mother’s lap. “Tired, baby?” Sango asked.

Noriko nodded, and snuggled up closer to her mother.

Sango stared down at her daughter’s hair, and gently brushed a lock of it back into place. “You know, it didn’t start out this way.” She looked up. “When I first met Chiya, she acted so different.”

“I’m sure it didn’t,” Hisa said, nodding. She passed around the tray of sweets.

“It never does,” said Koume, taking one. “When things go bad like this, it’s not all at once. It’s just one little thing at first. And then another, and another.”

Nahoi picked her sewing back up, obviously restless. “That’s how it was with me. He was so nice at first.” There was a wistfulness in her voice that made Koume look at her sadly. The older woman reached out and touched her hand. “If it had only been like that all the time...”

“I know, child,” Koume said.

Sango sighed, watching them. She turned to Kagome. “Chiya had always been rather nice to Miroku. Sometimes, before the last battle, I’d find her flirting with him. But she was even nice to me before we killed Naraku and you went away.”

“I remember,” Kagome said. “She was always nice to me, too. InuYasha says it was because of Kikyou.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. But she even helped while Miroku was unconscious.”

“She did, didn’t she?” Sango said. “Things started to change, though, after you left.”

“I don’t think she liked the idea of InuYasha-sama staying in the village,” Fujime said.

“And I know,” Mariko said, picking her own sewing back up, “she wasn’t pleased that his brother comes to visit that girl staying with Kaede-sama.”

“But Rin-chan is so sweet,” Kagome said, surprised.

“And Sesshoumaru-sama is so powerful,” Hisa replied. She refilled Chime’s teacup, and then Kagome’s.

“Once it was clear InuYasha wasn’t going away, and Miroku and I were going to be married, and he and InuYasha were going to be partners, something happened. I’m not sure when it happened.”

“Oh, I do,” Hisako said, taking another sweet. “It happened right after you two moved into your house. She was wondering why you two should have such a nice house. After all he was a monk.” Unwrapping the chimaki, she popped it into her mouth. “I was going to Kaede’s, and she was hanging up clothes with Sora-chan. And there Sora was nodding the entire time, poor woman. She’s always been too willing to listen to what Chiya’s told her. Hasn’t done her or her husband much good.” The old woman chewed thoughtfully.

“But that shouldn’t have been enough to make you feel unwanted,” Fujime said. “Chiya talks badly about everybody at some time or other.”

“I thought perhaps you were just shy,” Chime said. “If I had known...”

“The first thing I noticed was at the village festival our first summer here. I had been asked to help set up some of the decorations, but when I got there, Chiya and someone else, Chisuzu, I think, said they had all the help they wanted.”

“So that’s what happened,” Emi said, frowning. She lifted her teacup. “Since I had asked you to come and help, I was surprised when you didn’t show. Chisuzu said that Houshi-sama had something for you to do at the temple grounds. I’m sorry I didn’t come and talk with you afterwards.”

“They didn’t,” Kagome said, her brows knitting together.

“Evidently, they did,” Hisa said, also getting angry. She smoothed the fabric of one of her sleeves as she got her frown under control. “Go on, Sango-chan.”

“Later, when I was carrying the twins, you were having sewing parties at your house, Fujime-obasan,” Sango said, laying the now sleeping Noriko down next to her brother.

“Yes, I remember. It was my turn that winter.”Fujime smiled. “Drove my husband crazy. But you only showed up once.”

Sango nodded, looking at her hands. “Chiya came up after the first one and told me that you thought it might be bad luck for the winter if I came to any more of the sewing days. It had snowed hard the day after that meeting. Chiya wasn’t alone. She had Sora and Benika with her that day. They just showed up and told me I wasn’t welcome. I was making the sewing group nervous.”

“She didn’t!” Fujime said, her voice rising angrily. She started to rise, then caught herself, realizing it wouldn’t do any good. “I wondered why you stopped coming.” She shook her head. “I wish you had come and talked with me. I wish I had gotten around to going to see you. I thought it might have had something to do with your pregnancy.”

Sango sighed. “It’s...it’s just...And I heard people talking about how strange I had to be, not being...how I wasn’t trained like a real woman.”

“Bah, I bet that comes from the same quarter,” Hisa said. “Chiya, Haname, and their friends.”

Emi nodded. “Mostly Chiya, I think. I heard her tell jokes to some of the other women when you went by sometimes. They weren’t very nice.”

“It got worse after the temple was opened,” Sango took a drink of her tea. “She’d come around a lot, bringing little things, food, flowers, sometimes even money. But if I were there, or the children, she’d pretend we didn’t exist and talk right over us. And she was always finding a reason to come by.”

“Did you tell your husband what was going on?” Teruko asked. “I see him with you and your little ones. I know you mean the world to him. He ought to know.”

Sango shook his head. “I knew he wasn’t doing anything wrong. I...” She looked up. “I was raised differently than most women. I thought...I thought maybe it was me. When other girls were learning about how to do women’s work, I was learning how to use a sword and to fight youkai.”

“Bah,” Akiko said. “You’ve always been a lovely person to know.”

“And...and her family has always donated a lot to the temple. I...I thought if it was my fault...”

Kagome took Sango’s hand. “It’s not your fault, Sango-chan.” Her eyes flashed, obviously angry. “Miroku needs to know what she’s doing.”

“He does indeed,” Hisa said. “We’re going to make sure of that. And if Isao can’t pry him loose on his own, well, I’m sure Tameo will make sure he gets to hear all of this.”

“You make much better company, Sango-chan,” Koume said. “We might not be able to stop all the bad things, but this is something we women can do something about.”