InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 178

[ 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 177


At the second son’s house by the river, Hana stood outside of the building which was to be her home for at least the next two weeks. She had a towel in her hand that she was twisting and releasing, twisting and releasing, watching her cousin Hiroki work.

“How long do you think it’ll take them to get here?” she asked. “I hate waiting. I don’t have anything left to do.”

“Too soon for my taste. Chiya-obasan is sure to be in a bad mood with everything,” he replied. His sleeves were tied back, and he was chopping wood. “You were too young, maybe, but I remember the last time Michio-ojisan and her got into a fight.” He put a piece on an old tree trunk section that had been used many times as a base for cutting firewood. It was full of slices and nicks where the splitting maul had missed the wood. Lifting his maul, he let fly, and added another nick.

Hana nodded. “No, I don’t really remember. Only thing I really remember is Haha-ue didn’t let me come over to visit Ane-ue until she went home. I snuck over once, but she sent me right back home.”

“You didn’t miss anything good.” He picked the maul back up and looked at its edge and shrugged. “She drove Haname-obasan crazy.” Sighing, he kicked a piece of wood. “I hate chopping firewood.”

“At least Tsuneo-ojisan sent Denjiro-ojisan over with some wood, when he brought Chiya-obasan’s spinning wheel over,” Hana said, watching the young man put the block of wood back up on the block. “You didn’t have to go find the firewood.”

“I guess,” Hiroki said. He struck again, and this time the maul went to its goal, and the wood split neatly into two pieces. “Bad enough I have to split it.”

“At least you have something to do,” she said, tucking the towel she had been torturing into the waistband of her wrap skirt. “Chiya-obasan’s going to have a lot to do, too. Tsuneo-ojisan sent so much hemp fiber for her to spin,” Hana said. “Do you think she’s going to be here a long time?”

“How would I know?” the young man said, putting another chunk of wood on the platform to split. “I never could figure out the way she and her husband fight. You better be careful, or knowing Obasan, she’s going to try to get you to do the spinning for her.”

“I can’t spin as well as she does,” Hana said, shaking her head. “Everybody would know if I did it.” She twisted her towel again. “Do you really think she’d try to do that?”

Hiroki put down the maul and gathered up the wood. “I don’t know. Maybe. Haha-ue - well, she says things about her sometimes. Maybe she just doesn’t like how Chiya-obasan treats Michio-ojisan.”  

Hana shrugged. “There’s a place to store the wood inside, at the back of the domo,” she said. “Do you want me to carry some?”

Hiroki shook his head. “You’re going to have your hands full soon enough. It’ll be, ‘Hana-chan, make me some tea,’” he said in a fair imitation of the older woman’s voice. “‘Hana-chan, heat up the bath water,’ ‘Hana-chan, wash my kosode.’”

“But it’ll be, ‘Hiroki-kun, go ask Chichi-ue if I can get my own quilt,’” Hana said, laughing at the young man’s performance. “‘Go home and get me some of Akina’s headache medicine,’ ‘Go bring me some - ’”

“So,” said a man’s voice behind them, “You think you have her all figured out?” The voice was joined by a woman’s laughter.

The two young people turned to see a smiling Kisoi and Nana walking up to the smaller house.

“Ah, Kisoi-ojisan,” Hana said, bowing politely. “We didn’t hear you coming.”

“It’s all right,” Kisoi said, chuckling. He was carrying a covered tub. “You put on quite a performance, the two of you. Perhaps you both ought to be actors. So she’s not here yet?”

“No,” Hiroki said. “It can’t be much longer, though.”

“Well, good,” Nana said, pleased. “That means we got here in time.” She held up a pot. “ I’ve brought some rice and soup. I suspect you two are going to be a bit busy once she gets here. Not having to cook is one less problem. I just didn’t know how Chiya-sama would take it if she found out I made it for her.”

“Busy’s probably not quite the word for it,” Hiroki said, frowning. “Terrorized, maybe.”

“Hiroki-kun!” Hana said. She glared at him, but he merely shook his head.

“Well it’s true,” the young man said. With a sigh of a person condemned to a fate he didn’t want, he headed for the door to put down his load of firewood.


On the road to the house by the river, Miroku turned to look at the retreating form of Seiji. The big man, clenching his fist in his free hand, stomped off.

“Now that is a man with an attitude,” the monk said, leaning on his staff and frowning. “I remember when the bandits attacked last and he tried to keep InuYasha from rescuing them.  It seems that wasn’t a spur of the moment bit of anger. Is he always like this?”

“He wasn’t always,” Tameo said, shaking his head. He scratched the back of his neck. “When he was a boy, he was pleasant enough. Spent enough time at our place. I thought there for a while that he was a good influence on Susumu.”

That made Miroku’s eyes widen. “Hard to believe that now.”

“It’s a long story,” Susumu said. “And not a happy one. He really was my best friend once.”

Miroku looked at the guard. “You’re going to have to tell me all about it. Sounds like a sad story.”

“But true,” Susumu said. He looked at the retreating figure as well, and sighed.

Tsuneo, a sad resignation on his face, rested a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “And now I have to worry about Seiji causing problems, and not just you, daughter? Are all the ills that can happen to my family going to happen this week?”

She said nothing, but looked on the ground.  

“He always favored you,” the elder said. “It sounds like he still does. You remember what happened when we announced you and Michio were going to be married.”

“I...I didn’t encourage him,” Chiya said, pulling up to her full height and meeting her father’s eyes. “You know that. I hated him. He always acted like I was something he could own.”

“On this, we are agreed,” Tsuneo said, nodding. “But he was nothing if not obstinate. He kept trying to get me to agree to a marriage with you. He sent everybody he could think of to plead his cause, but I didn’t like how he acted. I still don’t. Your okaasan might not have been happy about your marrying Michio, but to me, Michio was a godsend - and you two obviously wanted to be together. It was the one way I could make sure you were safe from him.” He shook his head. “There are days, like today, I wonder if I should have waited a bit longer...” The old elder’s voice trailed off for a moment. “You are so much like your mother.”

Chiya bowed her head once again. “Chichi-ue...”

“It took some doing, making sure that marriage happened.” Tameo said, nodding as he remembered. “Seiji was so angry when the word got out. I thought he was going to burn down Michio’s house there for a few days. We had to chase him away a time or two.”

Susumu rubbed his chin. “It was a painful experience. That last time - the look in his eyes. He beat me up pretty good.”

“He did indeed.” Tameo patted his son’s shoulder. “It was a good thing he ran off right after that. Your mother has no fear. I’m not sure what she would have done, as angry as she was at how injured you were. She never has been afraid of people bigger than she is.”

“He ran away?” Miroku asked.

“He did what he and I had talked about for a long while,” Susumu said. “He took a horse, a spear, an old rusty sword that had been his grandfather’s and ran off to Odawara to become a soldier.”

“Stole his father’s favorite,” Tsuneo said. “The old man - he was almost as obstinate as his son. I thought he was going to run off to drag him home.”

“He didn’t need to,” Susumu said. “A few years later, he stumbled back home. No horse, that scar on his face, and the sure knowledge it was my fault that everything that went wrong in his life could be laid at my feet.”

“Why?” the monk asked.

“Because I thought it was better for Chiya to marry a man she wanted to, instead of the man who wanted her no matter what she thought.” Susumu said, crossing his arms. “He’s never forgiven me for that.”

Chiya’s head popped up, hearing that. “I...I didn’t know that.”

Susumu shrugged. “The past is the past.”

“Sometimes,” Miroku said, “the past has a way of biting the present.”

“Too true,” Tsuneo said.

And with that, they continued heading for the river.


Back up the hill, InuYasha and Kagome watched Daitaro and Shinjiro walk off.

“The things people do to get out of working,” Choujiro said. He pounded a second wedge into the log he was working on, which caused the wood to split down the length a bit. Moving to where the new crack had formed, he added a wooden wedge and began to tap it into place.

“I doubt if he did that on purpose,” Kagome said.

“Me too,” the woodworker said, looking up from his work, grinning. “I don’t think getting hurt the day before his wedding was something even Shinjiro would do, not with how much effort his okaasan’s putting in to make everything special.”

“Chime seems really happy about having Erime as a daughter-in-law,” Kagome said. “She likes her a lot. And so does her other daughter-in-law. I don’t know why everybody’s talking like she’s some pushy woman about this.”

“Luck,” Choujiro said. He tapped the wedge he was working on and the sound of splitting wood followed. “After what happened to Shinjiro’s first wife, I think everybody’s trying to keep it hidden from the bad luck spirits that Chime’s such a kind thing. Maybe the men are worried if they don’t keep up the story, the spirits will come by and try to take advantage of her.”

“That sounds stupid,” InuYasha said.

“People do dumb things for luck,” Choujiro said, nodding. “But whatever works. If the spirits think that mother-in-laws should be harsh and pushy, it doesn’t hurt to pretend.” He gave the wedge another tap. “And anyway, it’ll be over tomorrow.”

Tired of the subject, InuYasha crossed his arms, stuffing his hands in his sleeves. “You need any help with that?”

“Don’t think so,” the man said, moving the wedge down a bit before hitting it again. He stood up straight. “I’m going to split this log in half, and then split the halves into quarters, and that’s best done by one person.” Dropping his maul for a minute, he rubbed his hands together. “The hard part is getting the log cut into good size. That’s done.”

“Good,” Kagome said, looking at InuYasha. “That means you’re all mine this afternoon. Let me put this medicine up and go get my gathering basket. It’s such a nice day. I’d like to go get some herbs.”

The hanyou looked at her questioningly.

“Better bring the futon in while you’re at it. No telling how long it’ll be before we get back,” she said, heading for the door.

Not sure what she was up to, but sure she was up to something, he just watched her for a moment. “Now what’s all that about?”

“Better go see what she wants,” Choujiro said, continuing to split his log. “Woman does that has something in mind.”

“Keh,” InuYasha said, and followed her into the house.