InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 223

[ 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 222

Away from the problems that were going on at Tameo’s place, a happy and grateful Tsuneo had finally gotten Haname to sit down next to the small fire pit in the add-on room.

“You’re sure you’re comfortable, wife?” he asked.

“You’re getting as bad about that as all the women around here, husband,” she said, looking at him fondly, but still waving him off. She looked at Kaede and the rest. “We never did get to have that cup of tea, Kaede-sama. Perhaps Akina would like to finish making it?”

Her daughter-in-law for some reason blushed. “There was so much happening, Haname-okaasan. I forgot.” She hurried back to check her tea kettle, to see if it was hot enough.

Kaede stood and shook her head. “We will do it another time, Haname-sama. Today, these old bones have seen too much excitement, and I am thinking it is time to go home.”

“Not yet, Miko-sama!” Tsuneo said. “I can’t let you come by, and have you and the young miko-sama work marvels and then just go home.”

“This time, friend,” Kaede said, “I think it’s necessary. Shinjiro’s wedding is this evening. I would like to rest some before that bit of entertainment happens.”

Kagome and InuYasha also stood up.

It was not easy to leave. Tsuneo and Haname both wanted to be able to do something that showed their gratitude, but Kaede was firm, and with promises to see them later, the old miko managed to extricate both her and her apprentice and InuYasha out of the house of the old elder and down the path that led to the main village street.

“So, that’s the last stop for the day?” Kagome said.

“I am pretty sure we’ve done enough for one morning,” the old miko said. “Unless you want to check on Chiya-chan?”

“Like hell,” the hanyou said, crossing his arms. Kagome frowned for a moment, and then yawned. “See, you’re tired, woman,” he said to her. “It’s time to go home for a while.”

The old miko gave InuYasha a knowing smile and a nod of her head. “That is pretty much what I thought, myself.”

As they entered the main village street, Kaede looked thoughtfully at the young couple.  “It’s going to be interesting when word about this gets out,” she said. “Be prepared for people to come up and ask you to try to heal this or that.”

“Feh,” the hanyou said. “It’s not like she healed a regular illness. She purified the woman. Just tell them that she used her spiritual powers to take care of some dark magic.”

“I will tell people that, InuYasha, but desperate people do desperate things.” Kaede sighed. “Well, we’ll figure out what to do.”

The only people on the street were a few children who ignored them, and Benika, a friend of Chiya’s, coming back from the well. She looked at them curiously, but merely put her buckets down to bow a greeting as they passed.

“At least she wasn’t at Tsuneo’s house when this happened,” InuYasha muttered, frowning as they passed. “Woman likes to spread all the news. And with a nasty twist, if she can.”

“Benika always was too fond of gossip,” Kaede said, nodding. “Although after what happened with Sango-chan after Hisa’s sewing party, I suspect she’s going to be very careful about playing games like that. Still, what happened today will no doubt be the talk, maybe more than what Seiji did yesterday.”

“Feh,” the hanyou said. “None of their business.”

Kagome chuckled. “Since when has that ever stopped people from talking?”

“Maybe,” Kaede said, “After the wedding you should take a couple of days off. Perhaps they would bother you less if you did.”

“Would that really help?” Kagome asked. “Besides, shouldn’t we be thinking about the amulet? What type of magic did he bring into the village? Are we safe?”

They looked at Kaede.  

“I put a seal on it, and stored it in a safe place,” the old miko said. “Perhaps we should take it out and look at it again. But not today. I would not be willing to release anything that might be dark until we are prepared to deal with it,” the old miko said.

“Yeah,” InuYasha said. “Maybe you should have Miroku there, too, if it’s that bad.”

“A good point,” the old miko said. “I will have to contemplate this.” She was quiet for a moment. “So, child, Koume-chan told me she asked you to go with her to the next market day. Have you decided? If you are, I might want you to pick up some things for me.”

After a promise to discuss what she might be able to get for the miko later, InuYasha and Kagome decided to take the back way through the paddy field dykes home, and bid farewell to Kaede-sama.


As they began their walk back to their side of the village, Sango and Miroku were enjoying their own walk together, one with much less purpose except to enjoy a respite from their everyday routine.

Their journey had started up on the hill, where they had moved at a fairly brisk pace until they had made it  past the activity at Daitaro’s home. But after that, they had slowed down noticeably once they had escaped into the dyke paths in the paddy lands beyond, taking their time as they strolled by the fields mostly planted with barley and a little wheat, green with springtime growth.

On their way they had passed Momoe’s house. She and her daughter-in-law and grandson were out working in their vegetable patch. All three had waved as the couple walked by, Momoe getting the monk to stop by and give her house a quick blessing, something he had promised her several days ago. Intoning the heart sutra with a resonating voice, the monk complied. In return, the anxious woman pressed a basket of spring greens on them. The peace that it brought to the little family, and the laughter that the grandson’s song about frogs had pleased Sango, and she had no resentment. With a promise to stop by again soon, they had continued their walk.

Halfway to where they found themselves now, they had come across Daitaro and Shinjiro on a different path, one paddy field width apart. The bridegroom was carrying a fish in his hand, and his father carrying fishing poles. The younger man walked with a nervous lope, his father pleased and relaxed. Although they didn’t stop to talk, the two men waved as they headed home.

“Wedding days seem to be a stressful thing,” Miroku had remarked as they passed the two. Sango had agreed, and both felt lucky in a way to have missed all that excitement. For a few minutes they speculated what it might have been like if they had the family left to do something like Chime was doing for Shinjiro. Sango, though, had started to get sad, remembering her lost family, and Miroku had changed the subject to the next market day, and how some of the women were going. It did the trick of saving their excursion.

Passing through the farm fields, Miroku led his wife towards the river to find a bit of land that was not used for farming or other chores. There was a path that ran through the grasses, which proved it did get some use, but also gave the young couple a nice place to get away from it all.

“It feels so strange to be going somewhere without keeping an eye on the twins, doesn’t it?” Sango said, smiling at her husband.

“I get to do it a bit more often than you, but yes.” Miroku gave his wife a big smile in return.

“And it feels strange to be walking without Naoya on my back.” She looked up at her husband. “It’s like something’s missing. But...”

Miroku shook his head. “You are an excellent mother, Sango my dearest, but if you miss that this much, perhaps we haven’t been taking these simple pleasures often enough,” Miroku said. He took her hand. “It’s so seldom I get to do this with you. It almost seems like a guilty pleasure.”

Shifting the basket that Momoe had given them, Sango laughed at Miroku’s comment about guilty pleasures. “Aren’t those the type you seem to like best, husband?”

He grinned at her. “You know me too well, my Sango, too well.”

She beamed at him, and laced her fingers into his free hand. “Just don’t take advantage of all the girls in the village to babysit for you so we can do it.”

“Would I do that?” he asked, pretending to be insulted.

“Yes,” Sango said. “I know you and your guilty pleasures. If you thought it would get you something you wanted...”

He wrapped his arm around Sango’s waist and pulled her close. “But what I want is merely to be with you.”

“But you can do that at home,” she said, coy and smiling, but pulling away.

“But it’s more fun when we can sneak off together like today,” the monk said, not letting her go. His eyes sought hers. Transferring his staff to the hand wrapped around her waist, he used his free hand to brush his fingertips across her cheek, and then let one gently trace her lips. “Don’t you think?”

She kissed his fingertip lightly. Her eyes smoldered, but he knew from long experience that she had great control over that fire, and it wouldn’t be until she was ready that she would let him blow it up into an open flame. He kissed her forehead, and not her lips as he wanted to do, and let her loose, especially realizing that there were on a stroll, and would have to go back to a house filled with children. It was enough, he decided to keep that smolder hot until tonight.

They began walking again until they drew close to the river. This particular stretch was not used much for daily chores like laundry; there were a lot of rushes and willows growing in the area, and the bank had more mud than rock except for one large wedge of stone, longer than a man was tall, jutting out into the stream, half hidden by willow branches.

“Is this the outcrop I’ve heard some of the boys talk about?” Sango asked as they came closer.

“It is indeed, Sango,” Miroku said. “I’ve come here a few times when I wanted to just meditate by the water. Sometimes, though, the boys have claimed it for fishing before I’ve reached it. They like it because nobody comes here to wash clothes or get water.”

Sango nodded, but pointed a finger at a stand of rushes not far from the rock. “It looks like we’re not quite alone.”

“Who’s that?” Miroku asked.  

A young woman, her skirts hiked up to her knees and her sleeves tied back, was wading at the water’s edge. She looked to be about fourteen. Holding some rushes, she flashed a knife, and cut them clean. Putting them over her shoulder, she brought them away from the water’s edge to join other ones that she had cut. With a practiced skill, she tied all the loose ones into a bundle, and tossed the bundle on top of the two other bundles she had already made.

“It looks like Furume,” Sango said.

“Isn’t that Masu’s daughter?” Miroku asked. “One of the people the bandits kidnapped last year?”

Sango nodded.

“She seems to be doing pretty well for having gone through all of that,” the monk said, watching her get up and go and step back to the water at the river’s edge where she began cutting more rushes. “It seems too cool a day to be wading in the water if you ask me,” Miroku said. “I wonder why she’s doing that?”

“She and her mother make mats and baskets, I believe,” Sango said. “Koume-sama mentioned having them make some for her once.”  

“Ah,” the monk said, nodding. “I guess she has to get the supplies from somewhere, but it still seems too cold to go wading.”

“Sometimes, husband, you do what you have to do. But then, I know you know that,” Sango replied, “or we would have never met, and you’d still be staying at Mushin-sama’s temple, getting sloshed every evening.”

“Ah, Master Mushin. True, true,” the monk replied. “He has a good heart, but after all the things he went through...”

“You should go check on him soon,” Sango said. “You ought to see how he made it through the winter.”

Miroku headed towards a large willow tree, somewhat out of the line of sight of the busy girl. “No doubt you’re right, Sango my dearest. Maybe we’ll be able to do it when we go pick up the sutra.”

“Has InuYasha agreed to that yet?” Sango asked.

“He’s...weakening,” Miroku said, giving his wife a wry, but knowing smile. “I believe he’ll come to accept it’s one of those things that he needs to do because it needs to get done. If Kagome-sama hadn’t come back when she had, we might have already gone.”He ducked under the canopy of the willow’s branches and held out his hand. “But that’s for another time. Let’s talk about what needs to be done today,” he said, holding out his hand.

Smiling, she took it and followed. “And what is that, husband?” She ducked under a trailing willow branch.  

He led her a little further into the willow stand, where they were isolated from anybody’s sight. “Today, that thing I need to do is walk by the river with a beautiful woman, because a kindhearted girl and her best friends could be persuaded to watch the children for an hour or so,” he said, grinning at his lovely wife.

“I still don’t know how you persuaded Tazu and Iya to help Rin watch the girls,” Sango said. “You and your charm.”

He leaned his staff against the trunk of the willow tree, then took both of Sango’s hands. “Sometimes, it’s not hard at all.” He leaned his staff against a tree trunk, then wrapped his arms around his wife. “Sometimes, all it takes is the right motivation.”