InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 225

[ 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 224


“So,” Kagome said, ready to change the subject about InuYasha and hastiness, “Michio was with Tsuneo when you got there?”

“Yeah,” the hanyou replied. “I think Tsuneo’s trying to talk him into taking Chiya back home, but he’s not ready.”

“Considering everything that happened,” Kagome said, “I’m not really surprised.” She looked up at her husband. “You’re getting along well with Tsuneo. When I first heard how his family felt about you, us, I never would have believed it.”

“Yeah, me either,” InuYasha said. “I knew Tsuneo didn’t care much one way or the other, but the way his wife and his son felt...never ever expected to be invited into their home, much less to be treated like a friend.”

As they walked near the end of the field they were passing, InuYasha’s ear flicked, and then there was a high-pitched whine and a sudden crash into the young barley field. Almost as fast, a hawk rose into the air, carrying a small rodent, which he carried off to a more convenient perch.

“Eeek!” Kagome said, jumping into InuYasha’s arms as the bird dropped down and flew off.  he hanyou conveniently wrapped his arms around her. “Where did he come from?”

“Up there,” the hanyou said, pointing up. He had a small grin on his face that he was really trying hard to control.

“I never had a bird like that land so close to me,” the young miko said, untangling herself from her husband’s hold. “It’s like it came out of the blue.”

“Speaking of coming out of the blue,” InuYasha said, brushing a stray bit of Kagome’s bangs out of her face, “What did you do to Haname that made the old thing behave like I was a real person?” He looked at her with real curiosity. “That’s the first time since I’ve been here that she even talked to me instead of about me.”

Kagome shook her head. “I’m not sure.” They started walking again, crossing over to the next field. Kagome kept looking up, to see if there were any more hawks flying over.

“It felt weird,” the hanyou said. “I don’t know if it’s right or not, but I knew where I stood with Haname. And now? It...it’s just kind of got me off my track.”

“It’s hard to explain,” Kagome said. She stopped examining the sky, looked at her husband, and sucked on her bottom lip while she organized her thoughts for a moment. “There was something stuck in her chest right about here,” she said, pointing to a spot about 3 inches below the base of her throat. “It was like she had a curse lodged right there. It wasn’t like one of the shards, where it was a real piece of a stone. I could feel it with my spiritual powers, but when we examined her, there was no physical way to tell it was there.”

“Huh,” the hanyou said. “So it wasn’t like the Shikon jewel, where the magic had taken real form?”

She shook her head. “It was different. When I tried to purify it directly, I couldn’t touch it,” Kagome said. “I could purify the effects that were running through her aura, but that wasn’t going to end her problem.”

Isamu, one of the regular supporters of Miroku’s temple came down the path from the river, carrying a bundle of willow branches on his back. They were too far apart to meet; by the time their path intersected the one he was on, he’d be well past them, but he called out a friendly greeting and waved.

“Must be going to make some baskets,” InuYasha said, waving back. “So if it wasn’t physical, what was going on?” he asked Kagome.

“This is the weird part,” Kagome said, frowning, as she tried to explain. “I’m not exactly sure how it was happening, but it was like the darkness was using her own spirit to make a shield around it. Kaede said she had a spiritual wound, so maybe it was like what happens when you get a physical infection because you get a splinter of something under your skin...the body tries to protect itself, and the object gets surrounded with some nasty stuff.”

“That kind of makes sense,” the hanyou said, nodding.

“I couldn’t quite figure out what to do. Kaede had told me I shouldn’t send my purification powers too deeply into her, but I gave it one last purification poke, much stronger than I had used before then.” She watched as her husband bent down and picked up a small rock. She looked at it questioningly, but didn’t stop her explanation. “It must have been like when you lance a boil. Right after I did that, she started coughing, and she coughed something awful up. It was black and smoking and smelled like sulphur. That was from Haname’s own soul, I think, bruised and battered by what the dark magic had done. It was so bad it was starting to take physical shape. Inside though, was the little kernel of something. It surely felt like jyaki to me, youkai magic, not senki, wizard magic, like if the amulet the yamabushi had was made by a youkai and not a sage.”

There was some motion in the field on their right. A rabbit hopped up onto the road. With a lighting fast toss, InuYasha hit it with the rock he had picked up. Twitching once, it lay there, still. He raced ahead a bit, and picked it up.

“Did you need to do that now?” Kagome asked, catching up to her husband, but uncomfortable with having witnessed one of InuYasha’s kills.

“Tsuneo told me that rabbits cause him and the other farmers problems. He even asked me to hunt over by his fields. I heard it, so I thought...”


“Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Me, either, until he said something.” InuYasha made sure to carry the rabbit away from her line of sight. He decided to get her back on her story. “So why were you able to purify that thing she coughed up?”

“I guess it was because it wasn’t in her body any more, and her own soul wasn’t trying to keep it surrounded,” Kagome said, unable to stop herself from trying to look at what he was carrying, but he was deft in keeping it out of sight. “It purified as easy as one of the shikon shards. But when I did it, it totally evaporated.”

“Well, if anybody was wondering if a married miko could still have spiritual powers, this is going to kill all that talk,” InuYasha said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some folks get...well, they’ll either want to get close to you or do what they did to Kikyou, and try to put you on a pedestal.”

“I don’t think I want to be treated like I’m some sort of...what, a kami?” Kagome said.  She wrapped her fingers through one of InuYasha’s hands. “And they better not think I’m so special that I should be locked up at the shrine or something.”

“Yeah?” InuYasha said. The fire in Kagome’s eyes pleased him.

“Yeah. I might be able to do what I did to help Haname, but I’m InuYasha’s wife first,” she said.

He gave her hand a happy squeeze, and they continued on the road home.


Down by the river, hidden in the willows, Sango looked up at her husband. “So all it takes is the right motivation for you to get a way to get me all to yourself? What motivation was that today? You’re sure it wasn’t that charming tongue of yours?”

Miroku liked the fire he saw in his wife’s eyes. “Alas, today it had nothing much to do with my charm, I think. This time, I believe it was because Emi-sama has brought all of her children over to Fujime’s house, and Fujime and Kimi are busy playing hostess to the crowd That made Tazu very willing not to go home. And Iya and Tazu right now are far more charmed by Rin’s talk about Sesshoumaru-sama than they ever will be with me. Between Tazu wanting a good reason not to go home, and my promise to tell them some stories about InuYasha’s brother, it really was quite easy. I got the impression that Tazu would rather babysit our beautiful girls than Susumu’s little boy. I hear he can be a handful sometimes.”

“And our girls aren’t?” Sango asked. She leaned up against the willow tree, feeling the bark of it rub against her back.

“Perhaps it’s because our girls are a handful in the way that girls can be, instead of the way boys are,” Miroku said, waggling his eyebrows. “Boys are just different.”

Sango gave him a knowing smile as he demonstrated what he meant. Her husband, there in the privacy of the willow tree, and mostly hidden by its branches, let his hand drift down to her shapely bottom.

“You, Houshi-sama, have always been a handful. Or grabbed a handful,” Sango said, giggling. “You always did push your limits. Should I slap you like I used to?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary any more, dearest Sango,” the monk said, removing his hand, then turning to lean back against the same tree trunk. He found her hand and laced his fingers into hers. “I used to be amazed by how well you stood up to me. You’re right. I’ve always been very good at pushing limits. Most women enjoyed my silliness, and didn’t put up any fight and let me get away with it, or ran the other way.  But you, my lovely wife, made it clear about where you drew the line - but at the same time, you didn’t really run away. Such a strong, bold woman you were. But you don’t need to slap me to remind me of how worthwhile you are or how strong you are.” He turned to her, and let his fingers run into her hair. “You prove it to me every day. How else could you put up with my foolishness?”

They drew closer. Miroku could feel Sango’s breath on his cheek, and began to bend low to give his wife a kiss, but their moment was spoiled by a sudden, loud yell.

“Help!” a woman screamed, back at the water’s edge. “Help, someone! A woman’s in the river! I think she’s drowning!”

“What the hells,” Miroku said. “That’s Furume. What’s she seeing?”

“We better go,” Sango said. “She wouldn’t do that if there wasn’t something going on.”

With a quick nod, he grabbed her hand, and the two of them began running out of the trees towards where they left Furume.

She was standing on the big outcrop, walking back and forth frantically, looking for something that she could use to grab whoever she saw in the water, never stopping her yelling for help. Picking up a branch, she shook her head and tossed it aside.

“What’s happening?” Miroku called out as they grew close enough for her to hear them.

Furume turned as they neared, and began gesturing wildly, pointing upstream. “Come quick! Look, look, Houshi-sama!” she yelled. “See! Someone’s in trouble!”

The river was fairly deep this time of year; it was still swollen with the spring flood, definitely over a man’s head deep in the center channel, and the current was swift. In the center of the flood, a woman was being carried along. She was splashing a little as she worked to keep her head above water, but showed no signs of panic, nor was she making any effort to swim to shore.
 
“Damn it, what is that woman doing?” Miroku said. Taking a quick assessment of what his options were, he pulled off his purple gesa wrap and then his black robes, and stood there in the white, close fitting, knee length pants and kosode that he always wore under them.  “Furume! Go get help! Momoe, Daitaro, anybody.”

The girl nodded, ran off the rock, and went for help.

Sango grabbed her husband’s arm right before he jumped in. “Be careful, Miroku. I don’t want to lose you.”

He handed her his staff. “I will. You’re not going to lose me. Hold onto this. Try to follow where I end up going. I might need to grab it.” And then, not giving Sango any time to try to talk him out of what he was planning, he jumped in.

“It’s too damn cold for this,” he said, as he surfaced after he leapt in. “Why does it have to be me who thinks he has to rescue every damsel in distress?”

“Because they’re women!” Sango said from the bank.

“Maybe so,” he said, and began swimming.