InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 181

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


Chapter 180


“So you think that’s funny, do you?” InuYasha asked, stuffing his hands in his sleeves as he glared at Kagome.

Kagome walked up to him, and rested her hand lightly on the bit of wrist peeking out between his sleeves, then moved it under the red cloth until she reached his hand, giving him a large, lovely smile. “I’m not laughing at you, InuYasha. It was the look on your face. Did you think I would be mad because you forgot about the bag?”

“Uh,” he said, letting her pull his hand free, then laced his fingers into hers. “I...”

She laughed again, and his ear twitched at the sound, but his face relaxed as she leaned forward, very close, giving him a quick peck on the lips, before stepping back. “I never did know what had happened to it. I guess I thought it had been destroyed or something.”

“No, it was at Kaede’s for a while,” he said. “She decided, after I couldn’t get through the well to bring it back to you, to put it in the shrine for safe keeping.”

Kagome walked back over to her carry cloth. “Well, if it’s still in good shape, I may start using it when we go on these trips. I can carry more in it.” She picked up the bundle.

“Keh,” InuYasha said, standing up. “I remember how much stuff you used to cram into that bag.”

“At least it wasn’t filled up with my school book when I came back that last time,” she said.  “Clothes, I think mostly.” She slipped the bundle over her head. “But I don’t really remember. I was kind of scared and excited, both from graduating and getting ready to face the battle with Naraku.”

“We all were kind of excited and nervous about that,” he said, reaching down to pick up her basket.  He handed it to her. “So where’d you want to go? To the meadow or to the hot spring?”

She tilted her head, thinking for a moment. “I’d love to go to the spring, but we didn’t tell anybody where we were going, and I didn’t bring enough to stay out overnight. And it might be good to practice looking for the herbs Kaede showed me yesterday.” She slipped the strap she had attacked to her gathering basket over her head. “Maybe we should just go to the meadow.”

“Keh,” he said, kneeling down to let her climb on his back. “Won’t take us long now.” Making sure his wife was securely seated, InuYasha took off at a comfortable run.

It didn’t. A few minutes later, InuYasha cleared a rock face, and landed gently in a large grassy field. A few spring flowers bobbed their heads in the sunshine, dancing in a light breeze. A line of shrubs and then trees marked the boundary of the grass. Kagome could hear a stream rushing down from the rocks, hidden by them. To the north, there were scars that could have been old paddy fields, terraced into the hillside, long abandoned. The forest was slowly reclaiming them, a few young trees and more growth pushing up among the earthworks.

As they landed, a deer looked up, flicked its ear, and with a quick swerve, crashed into the underbrush.

“I guess the deer didn’t like our company,” InuYasha said, as Kagome slid off of his back.

Kagome chuckled. “I guess not.” She took a few steps, looking around the meadow and the landscape beyond.

“What a nice place,” she said, bending down to touch a small blue flower. “I’m so surprised there’s no village nearby. It looks like it has everything.”

“Used to be,” the hanyou replied. He pointed to the east edge of the field. “There’s what’s left of a few houses over there. Not much of them left any more.”

The young miko shrugged off her carry cloth bundle. “What happened, I wonder?”

InuYasha took the bundle out of her hand and began looking for a good place to put it. “Legend says it was a curse from a youkai. Shows how much they know.” He spotted a flat boulder not far from where the stream ran, and started heading that way.

Kagome followed him. “So what really happened?”

“They got sick. Must have been...” He thought for a moment, frowning. “What, maybe a hundred years ago? A hundred and fifty? Long time ago. It was that sickness that makes all those bumps and scars. Some of the villagers have the scars, like Takeshi. I forget what to call it...”

“Smallpox?” Kagome asked. “When I was in school, I read there were some horrible smallpox outbreaks.”

“I guess,” InuYasha said, putting down the bundle on the rock. “It was bad here. All the villagers who didn’t have it ran off.”

“How’d you know that, InuYasha?” Kagome asked, sitting down on the rock.

“Got here not long after everybody left. It was bad. Not a lot of people, maybe twenty of’em. Had to chase off the scavengers, then I burned the bodies and buried the remains.” He sat down next to her.  
“You took care of the bodies?” she leaned against his shoulder.

“They stank,” he said, putting his arm around her. “Anyway, nobody deserved to end up like that.” His ear twitched, and his eyes looked out at the distance, not really seeing what was here and now. “So I did what I could. Maybe their ghosts rested easier knowing that they weren’t totally forgotten. I passed through here sometimes, and never did see any ghosts. A few years after all that happened, I’d see flowers and stuff, like people were coming by to pay their respects, but after a while, that stopped too, and the stories about the youkai curse grew up. Or maybe it was the smallpox demons. Housougami. Whatever.”

Kagome took his hand. “You did a good thing, you know.”

He looked down at their joined hands. “I guess.” He stood up, not letting her hand go, shook his head once as if to chase away the memory, and gave her a little smile. “So, you want to look around? I don’t know if anybody’s picked herbs here in a long time.” He leaned in, resting his forehead against hers. “Or, if you want, we could do other things first.”

She laughed and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Let’s look first. Maybe we’ll find a better place to lay out the blanket.”

Standing straight, he helped her to her feet. “Good idea.”



Standing in front of Michio’s house, Daitaro watched his son walk ahead. The younger man walked with just a slight bit of a limp, then stopped, turned around, crossing his arms.

“Coming, Otousan?” Shinjiro asked.

“I didn’t mean to put him in a bad mood,” Arimasu said. He looked at his own son. “We have enough of that around here without me wanting to make it worse.”

Michio frowned at his father, but only crossed his arms.

“Maybe I should catch up with him,” Daitaro said. “He’s getting a bit grouchy.  I was hoping to keep the bridegroom jitters away, but maybe I did it too well.”

Arimasu snorted. “A banged up knee the day before his wedding? No wonder he’s grouchy. I’d be grouchy, too. Hope it doesn’t spoil anything for him tomorrow night.”

Daitaro guffawed as he signaled for his son to wait, but Michio was not as amused.

“Otousan,” Michio said, shaking his head. He took a deep breath. “Maybe I should go check on the soybean field.”

Michio’s father gave him a hard look. “You’re not planning on doing anything stupid, now are you?”  

“What? Getting back to work?” The younger man shook his head. “I’m no match for Seiji alone. I’m not stupid.”

His father tapped him on the back. “No, but you’re hardheaded and have my temper. Wait a minute, and you can go with Masato-kun and me. It’s time to get the hemp field ready.”

“Heh,” Daitaro said. “If you hurry, we can walk with you part way.” He took another look at his son, who frowned at him. “But better make it quick.”

“It’ll take me too long for that,” Arimasu said, rubbing his chin, looking at Michio and then at the irritated Shinjiro. “Why don’t you take Michio with you? Me and Masato, we’ll catch up with you when we get the cart loaded.”

Michio looked at his father.

“It’ll do you some good, son. Walking helps.” He rested his hand on his son’s shoulder. “If you meet up with Tameo before we catch up with you, let him know what you’re worried about. He’s a good man. He’ll listen.” He dropped his hand. “He’s had enough problems with that stupid Seiji. I know he’d like to know what’s up.”

“Good,” Daitaro said. “I need someone to help me with that grump of a son of mine. He was in a good mood earlier. Don’t know what happened.”

“Hard floors, sore knees, and a new wife? What’s to be happy about?” Arimasu said, and laughing, turned to go join his grandson.


In Kaede’s garden patch, Rin looked up at the solemn youkai in front of her. His beautiful, pale face revealed little emotion, but there was a softness about his lips and in his eyes as he studied the girl in front of him.  

For a moment, neither one of them spoke any more. Sesshoumaru’s hair stirred slightly in the breeze, and the fur of his mokomoko did likewise. Rin’s smile on the other hand, stirred something within the inscrutable youkai, and after a moment he rested a hand upon her shoulder.

“Are you well, Rin?” he said after a moment.

The dam of happiness that had been holding Rin’s voice back broke. “Oh yes, my Lord. Rin has been very well. She has been learning about sewing from Sango-obasan, and helping Kaede-obaasan with her garden and making medicines. There was a girl who was here last week who had been attacked by a bakeneko, and Rin got to help her get better. And oh, Kagome-obasan has returned from her place beyond the well. But Rin is even more well today because you have come to visit her.”

The youkai took this line of chatter in stride, listening most to the timber of her voice, more than the content of her words. His eyebrow rose slightly at the mention of his brother’s miko. He had scented her in the area, but Rin’s calling her obasan caught his attention, but other than that, he merely let her chatter until she took a pause.  


He liked how she looked. She seemed and smelled healthy and content, her growth, slow but steady, and he could sense her happiness radiating almost as strongly as if it were youki.

A dog barked, not far away, and a boy yelled at it. The youkai looked up just in time to see the youth spot him. The boy clapped his hands over his mouth, grabbed his dog by the collar, and hurried off, no doubt to tell the others. Even after three years of appearing from time to time, his comings were something that unnerved the farmers.  

“Come, Rin,” he said, turning to head back into the forest.

“Rin wishes,” the girl muttered very softly as she followed, thinking about the days when she used walk with him across the countryside. If the youkai heard her, he said nothing. “Is Master Jaken here?” she said in a louder voice.

“In the woods,” Sesshoumaru replied, turning his head just slightly.  

“Jaken, Jaken, why are you so green?” she sang, remembering the song she used to tease the little youkai with. Giggling, she hurried up to follow the silver and white of her youkai lord.