InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 220

[ 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 219

As InuYasha continued to follow Tsuneo through the various buildings near the elder’s house, suddenly their talk was interrupted by a young man’s singing.  

InuYasha noticed it first. As his ears focused in the direction of the sound, he smiled at the content of the words.

“Look at that girl
down by the river,
yoi, yoi, yoi,
look at that girl
down by the river,
her mouth is like
a crocodile,
yoi, yoi, yoi,
her mouth is like
a crocodile,
the better to eat you.”

“Who’s that singing?” InuYasha said, once he thought it would be loud enough for the other men to hear.

The three of them turned to the sound of the voice.

“Look at that girl
down by the river,
yoi, yoi, yoi,
look at that girl
down by the river
her tongue is as sharp
as a soldier’s sword,
her tongue is as sharp
as a soldier’s sword,
ready to cut you down.”

“Ah, I recognize that voice,” Michio said. “I believe it’s your missing farm worker, Otousan.”

“I believe you’re right,” Tsuneo said, nodding. “Now to find out what he’s been up to.” He took a stance in the middle of the path.

The singer came into the complex pushing a handcart. His cart was empty of everything except a pitchfork. It rattled as he pushed the cart over the beaten dirt that surrounded the outbuildings.

“Look at that girl
down by the river,
yoi, yoi, yoi,
look at that girl
down by the river,
her eyes are as red
as an oni’s,
yoi, yoi, yoi,
her eyes are as red
as an oni’s,
because of what you did.”

Michio said. “Well, it looks like he’s been doing something, at least.”

InuYasha recognized him as the young man who tried to talk some sense into Seiji’s brother the afternoon they reroofed Miroku’s temple.  The farm worker seemed in a rather pleasant mood as he moved closer to the three men.

“The question is, what?” Tsuneo said, crossing his arms.

“Is he singing about that girl you think he likes?” Michio asked. “Eyes as red as an oni? Doesn’t sound like much of a love song.”

“If he is, I don’t think he likes her any more,” InuYasha said.

“Yo, Tadaki!” the elder said, as the young man neared.

Hideo, now carrying a bucket of water for the oxen, stopped long enough to watch what was going to happen.

Tadaki, slender and tall, waved at them as he neared the area where the straw was stored. He stopped for a moment and bowed a greeting. “Ah, Tsuneo-sama! You’re out of the house today. It’s good to see you outside. It’s a good day to be working. Are you coming out to work in the fields today?”

Evidently, this was not the reaction Tsuneo was expecting from the young man, and he was taken aback. He scratched his head, trying to cover his surprise. “I was thinking of it. I’m curious how the south field was doing,” the old farmer said.  

Hideo, realizing that whatever his brother had been up to, it wasn’t going to cause a scene, picked up the water bucket, and went back to his watering duties.

“I think its doing well,” Tadaki said. “I was coming back for some more rice straw. Soil’s warming up nicely. It’ll be ready for the eggplants soon.”

“Good, good. Maybe tomorrow we get busy getting the plot ready,” Tsuneo said, nodding. “See anybody while you were out?”

“Yoshimi stopped by for a little bit,” the young man said. “He said he was going for firewood in the woods. Had an axe with him, so I guess he was.” Tadaki shook his head. “I’ll never figure him out. He ought to be helping his brother get their beans planted, but instead, he’s wandering around. Smelled like stale sake, too.”

“So that’s why he wasn’t by Seiji’s place,” the hanyou said, softly. “I was wondering where Seiji’s brother had gone.”

“You were there today?” Michio asked, surprised.

InuYasha nodded. “That’s one of the stops Kaede-babaa made. Only person there was Nakao.”

Tadaki thought a moment, scratching his head. “There was something else I wanted to tell you.”

“It didn’t have anything to do with a pretty girl, did it?” Michio asked, giving the young man a knowing look.

“I didn’t see any girls while I was working,” Tadaki said, shaking his head, his look a little regretful. “Yaya-sama’s daughter was stuck at home today working with her mother getting ready for market day, if that’s what you wanted to know.  The only woman I saw on my way here was Hisako-sama. She was walking towards the east side. She’s a woman for sure, but I don’t know if I’d call her a girl.”

“You have a point there,” Michio said, nodding. “She packs a mean cane, though.”

“That she does,” Tsuneo said, chuckling.

“She must have been in a good mood. She didn’t shake it at me today,” the younger man said, his face growing serious as he remembered what he was trying to recall. “Oh yeah, I remember what I wanted to tell you. I saw deer tracks while I was up there. We’re going to have to keep a watch.”

“If it’s not deer, it’s rabbits,” Tsuneo said, nodding. “Good work. Get some onions planted up there, too, then.”

“I’ll do that,” The young man said, nodding. “That’s what my ojiisan always said to do. I’ll get to work on that.” Picking up his cart, and humming his song, he headed off to pick up another load of straw.

“So he wasn’t mooning over that girl down by the river,” Michio said.

“I guess not,” the older farmer said. He turned to the hanyou. “You should come over to my side of the village more when you want to hunt, InuYasha. We could use a hand keeping the rabbits and the deer under control.”

They began to move back towards the farmhouse.

“Never thought about hunting over here,” InuYasha said. “They’re causing you problems?”

“Sometimes. If there are too many of them. We’ve hunted them some, but I hear you’re better at it than most of us. Last summer, we had a real problem with rabbits in Amaya’s garden, but they hit the eggplant beds, too.”

“And my beans, too,” Michio said. He was surprised by the hanyou’s question. “When don’t we have problems with deer and rabbits and birds and whatnot?  You really don’t know much about a farmer’s life, do you?”

The hanyou shook his head. “Most farmers I knew tried to run me off. They usually thought I was bad luck or something.”

“Ah, it’s a hard life sometimes,” Tsuneo said. “We need the rains to be right. And there are so many things that want their share of what we grow - rats and rabbits and deer and birds and insects, and after that. it’s the bandits and the tax collectors, and finally, our own stomachs. If the kami are generous, we have a little extra for the markets. It’s usually enough to get by.”

“But not every year,” InuYasha said, nodding. “I’ve seen years when that happens.”

“No, not every year. Six years ago, that was a hungry one,” Michio said. “I remember eating - ”

He was interrupted by a loud, penetrating scream coming from the main house.  

“What the hells was that?” Tsuneo asked.

InuYasha’s ears were focused tightly on the direction of the sound. “It’s a woman’s voice. It sounds...it sounds like Haname.”



Back in Tsuneo’s house, Kaede looked thoughtfully at her young apprentice. “Purification might help...”

“Will it hurt?” Haname asked. “Will it harm me?”

“I don’t think it will harm you,” Kagome said, “but I don’t know if it will hurt.” She looked up at Kaede. “All I need to do is go into the ki channels. I stayed above them earlier,” the young miko said, “just like you told me. I wouldn’t have to go deeply, I think. Just brush them with my spiritual powers. It might be as easy to do as purifying the shards was.”

“You’ll have to be careful,” Kaede said. “You don’t want to channel too much reiki into Haname’s center. It could cause another wound.”

Haname closed her eyes, then nodded. “Try. If it works, I’m healed. If it doesn’t, I’m already crippled.”

Kagome gave the ill woman a kind, understanding look.“I will do my best,” she said, and took the woman’s hand again, this time securely gripping it and feeling her pulse.

She closed her eyes, and let her spiritual power rise. Briefly, she thought of the time she threw back a curse. This wasn’t exactly the same thing. This was more like the time where her touch healed Kikyou for a time. But on this occasion, though, she thought as she let her reiki touch the edge of Haname’s network of ki channels, she was going to have to use a much lighter touch.

The young miko let go of Haname’s wrist, and got up on her knees. Instead of directly touching her, Kagome let her hands hover over the ailing woman. With her eyes closed she could see what was wrong with the woman better, the filaments of darkness weaving in and out of Haname’s aura. She started with the woman’s right arm. As her hand passed above Haname, she followed the ki channels, letting a fine tendril of her spiritual powers walk along them. Wherever it went, the darkness faded.

What the women in the room saw was different from what Kagome was seeing. She began to glow as she tapped into her reiki. The light around her was  visibly pink. As she moved her hand over the woman, the flow from her body encircled Haname, encasing her with a bubble of pink light that grew more intensely the longer she worked.

Finally, there was just one area still needing Kagome’s purifying light. As she moved her hand over the area of Haname’s chest where the amulet had rested, the woman tensed, arching up. A long, high-pitched cry of pain reverberated through the room as the magic touched whatever was injuring her.

It was an awful sound, and Akina couldn’t take it. “What is she doing to Okaasan?” she cried, trying to push past Kaede to stop the young miko, but Kaede grabbed her, and kept her from interfering.

At the sound of the woman’s agony, Kagome stepped back, although the pink light that surrounded them both did not dim. As she did so, Haname stopped screaming, and her body collapsed back on the bed, but just for a moment.  The ailing woman bolted up with a cough. It wasn’t just one cough, but a coughing spell, hard and heaving, that had her wrap her arm around her middle, a choking cough like a person could get when trying to cough up something that didn’t go down right. Nearly retching, she leaned to the right, her arm outstretched and pushed against Kagome. Not expecting this, Kagome lost her balance and she tumbled to the ground. The glow surrounding them both faded.

Suddenly, something black flew out of Haname’s mouth and landed on the floor, smoking in the morning light. The room was filled with an awful smell, something like burning sulfur and rot.

As Kagome got to her feet, Akina moved to pick the black thing up.

“Don’t touch it, child,” Kaede said, blocking her again. “That’s dark magic. If you touch it, it could do to you what it did to Haname.”

Akina recoiled, and looked at the miko, torn between running and the need to do something. Instead, she just watched. Haname slumped forward, looking dazed, which broke Akina’s trance. The younger woman went to her mother-in-law’s side, and tried to ease her back into bed. Haname shook her off.

“That...that...I felt so warm...what...” She sat up straight with no help. “I...I feel...” The confusion in her face faded quickly to be replaced by a feeling of amazement. “I feel like a load of lead was just lifted off of me.”

“It worked,” Kagome said, straightening up after her fall. Her face beamed in satisfaction and triumph as she smiled at the woman. “It worked!”