InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 197

[ 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 196

A/N Back from my brief trip, but I brought back a virus with me and have been pretty ill. I’m afraid this chapter is a little shorter and not up to my usual standard.  Hopefully by Thursday everything will be back to normal


Grumbling ever so softly, Shinjiro moved to do what his mother asked, grabbing the bucket to begin hauling water.  

Chime in turn gave him a fond look as he headed towards the family’s well. “I think,” she said, “that I will be so glad when everything’s over and done.”

“I think he will be too,” Kagome said, nodding.

“And so will Erime,” Mariko said. “Things were a bit hectic over at their house this morning, too.” She picked up her son and put him back into her child carrier. “Would you like me to make some tea, Okaasan?”

“That would be lovely, dear,” the older lady said.Mariko slipped her son onto her back and headed towards the front door. “Check the beans while you’re there, Mariko-chan. They ought to be about ready to cool down. I’ll make the bean paste later.”

“Can’t have a wedding without your sweet cakes,” Mariko said, walking to the house.  

“Why?” the young miko asked.  

“Why what?” Chime asked.

“Why would things be hectic at Erime’s?” Kagome moved closer to the older woman. “The wedding’s going to be here, correct?”

“It’s the first time Takeshi is losing one of his girls,” Mariko said. She paused by the front door, and turned to look at her mother-in-law.

“True,” Chime replied. “That’s part of it. The first one to go is the hardest.” She sighed.

“Erime’s mother should be happy,” Mariko said. “At least you’re not in a village a day’s journey away.”

“True, true,” Chime said. She picked up her cleaning cloth and ran it across the low table she was sitting next. “I wish sometimes my girl was closer.”

“Ah, Musu will come up tomorrow, I bet,” Mariko said. She stepped inside.

“Maybe,” Chime said. “It counts whether the fish are running or not.”

“Musu is your daughter?” Kagome said. She picked up a cleaning rag. “Are you dusting the furniture? I could help while I’m waiting.”

“That I am,” Chime said, smiling at Kagome. “Yes, Musu is my child between Shinjiro and Genjo. She married a good man, a fisherman down on the coast. We get to visit once or twice a year, sometimes more.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “They have three children now. The youngest looks like he takes after Daitaro-chan. He’s going to be a handful for them when he’s a little older, I bet.” She gave Kagome a soft pat on the hand. “That’s the way the world works. Girls leave home to be with their men.”

“That’s...that’s what I did, I guess,” Kagome said. For a moment, a shadow crossed her eyes.

“It is indeed, isn’t it?” Chime said, patting the younger woman’s hand once again. She put her smile back on. “They say it’s good luck to start an important event like a wedding or a holiday in a clean house. Or that’s what my mother told me.” She brought a finger up to her nose. “But between you and me, I wonder if it was just so she could chase the men out so she could get her cooking done.”

“She may have had a point,” Mariko said from within the building.  

“She was a wise woman,” Chime said. “If you want to, Kagome-chan, you could dust off the chest over there,” she said, pointing to an old, well cared for piece of furniture. “Sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get everything back in.”

Nodding, Kagome went to do as she was directed. “What will the wedding be like?” she asked, dragging the cloth over the dark wood.

“You don’t know?” Chime said.

“I’ve been told they do them differently where I come from,” Kagome said. She looked up from her work. “There’s a big ceremony where everybody goes to the shrine. The bride and groom make promises to each other and share a drink in front of a kami’s shrine, then they go somewhere to have a big party, where all of their friends and relatives show up and people make speeches.”

Chime shook her head, “Oh my,” the older woman said. “That sounds like even more work. Did you hear that Mariko?”

“Sounds like a lot of walking,” the other woman said from within the house.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Chime smiled at the young miko. “Although the bride and her family will walk through the village to our house. Then we’ll seat Shinjiro and Erime-chan next to each other, and they’ll share a cup of sake.”

“And then,” Mariko said, coming back out with a pot of tea and three cups, “the part that Genjo’s waiting for - the food. And there’ll be some jokes and singing. Eventually, after all the teasing, we’ll let Shinjiro and Erime get away. We’ve set up the little room behind the main house so they can have some privacy.”

“It sounds like the big party is the important part here, too,” Kagome said. Mariko handed her a cup of tea, which she accepted.

“Special times need to be marked with ways that show the kami we know how to share,” Chime said. “It’s auspicious.”

“I’m not so sure Otousan’s songs are,” Mariko said, handing a cup to her mother-in-law.

“Just wait until you hear Takeshi-sama’s,” Shinjiro said, walking back to the group of women and plopping down on the veranda.

“You don’t think he’d sing that one with his daughter getting married, do you?” Chime asked.

Shinjiro shrugged.

Mariko giggled, Shinjiro looked long-suffering and Chime chewed her bottom lip. “I wonder if I should talk to him about that?” the older woman said.

“What...what song is that?” Kagome said, looking from one of them to the other.  

Chime leaned over, and whispered something in Kagome’s ear. She turned a pretty shade of red.



Further down the hill, almost crossing the main road to the village, Genjo turned to look at his red draped companion. “You know, this is not really what I had in mind to do this afternoon.”

“Keh,” the hanyou replied.  

“Isn’t it enough that Haha-ue’s tearing the house up and kicking us all out today?” Genjo said. “And now Okuro has to add to everything?”

“Maybe he wanted to get away from everybody, too,” a voice to their right said.

The two men stopped, and turned towards the speaker.

“Oy, Kinjiro, I thought you were going up to my place,” InuYasha said.  

“I was,” Kinjiro said, rebalancing his hoe on his shoulder. “Worked on your garden and left Aki-kun with Choujiro.”

“He’s still up there?” InuYasha raised his brow at that one. “You think that’s wise?”

“I think so,” Kinjiro said. “Never saw a bow get fascinated with wood working fast as Aki did watching Choujiro split out a board. I wouldn’t worry, cousin. It seems he’s come to terms with things. Maybe the promise of getting to see his obaasan made a difference. Besides that, he thinks he owes you something for pulling him out of that tree.”

InuYasha made a small scowl, not quite sure of the farmer’s decision. “A new shirt, maybe,” InuYasha said. “Those birds he pissed off did a number on it.”

“I thought it was Houshi-sama’s roof that did that,” Genjo said, looking at the hanyou. “You got a real rip when you fell.”

“Feh,” InuYasha said, not wanting to be reminded. “Stupid roof. It just finished what the birds started.”

“Well, cousin, I don’t think he’s in any position to get you a new kosode right now. Helping to make boards is about the best he can do,” Kinjiro said, scratching the back of his head. “So Okuro got out, eh?”

“Seems to be,” Genjo said, nodding. “You know his sense of timing. He’s a master at giving me more to do than I want.”

The corner of Kinjiro’s mouth turned up, almost a smile. “He does seem to have that talent. So where’s your otousan?” he said.

“Heading for Momoe’s,” Genjo said, shifting the weight of the equipment he was carrying on his left shoulder, and getting a firmer grip. “Chichi-ue thought he’d be heading that way.”

“Smells like it,” the hanyou said. He knelt down, and his nostrils flared as he worked on the scents there. “Both of them have passed this way not long ago from the smell of it.” He stood up, and tucked his hands into his sleeves. “The old lady’s about the only one who lives this way.”

“And she should have brought her cow over yesterday,” Genjo said. He shifted his load from one shoulder to the other. “I told Chichi-ue I thought she was getting bully.”

“Well,” Kinjiro said, tapping his cousin on the shoulder. “Well, let’s go see how many fences we’re going to have to fix today.  At least he wasn’t running to my place.  Easier to round him up out here than in the center of the village.”

They headed down the path next to a dry paddy field, filled with spring barley.

Before they had gotten very far, they heard Daitaro’s laughter.

“That’s one sound I didn’t expect to hear,” Genjo said, looking at his companions. “I’d expect cursing, maybe, but laughter?”

“Maybe we should see what’s going on.” Kinjiro, as curious as his cousin. He adjusted his hoe on his shoulder as the three men hurried their steps.

They reached the grounds of Momoe’s small house. The old woman was there, as was her grandson and Daitaro. The boy was picking up an armful of wood to take into the house, but Momoe was sitting down on the verandah. Daitaro sat on the ground in front of her, drinking a cup of sake.

“Here’s to smart women everywhere,” the old farmer said, as he quaffed the cup. “That’s one thing we won’t have to deal with today.”

“It was the kami, I’m sure,” Momoe said, but looking pleased. I know my luck isn’t that good.”

“Otousan?” Genjo said. He dropped his prods on the ground in front of his father. “Where’s Okuro?”

“Doing his business,” the old farmer said. The sound of cattle, not next to the house, but not far away, drifted over them.

“What?” Kinjiro asked.

“Momoe-sama here is one smart woman,” the old farmer said. “She saw my boy coming and opened the gate.”

“Maybe my luck is changing,” Momoe said. She looked up at InuYasha thoughtfully. “To be there at the right time. Ever since I ran into the young miko-sama and you, InuYasha-sama, things have been doing better.” She bowed in his direction.

InuYasha’s ear flicked and he shifted his weight, not sure of what to say, so he nodded once in her direction. He was saved from having to react more fully by Genjo.

“Well, that was convenient,” the young man said, plopped down next to his father. He cupped his face in his hands. “Maybe your luck is changing. I don’t know if mine is.”

Momoe gave him an odd look, and Daitaro seemed surprised. “You wanted to run down Okuro when he’s like this? On the day before your brother’s wedding?”

“Better than facing Haha-ue. Now I’ll have to go home,” the young farmer said. “No telling what she’ll try to get me to do. Who knows, maybe she’ll have me scrub the floors.”

The old farmer laughed.